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Ari. Close by, my Master.
Pro. But are they, Ariel, fafe?
Ari. Not a hair perifh'd:

On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
But fresher than before. And as thou badit me,
In troops I have difpers'd them 'bout the isle:
The King's fon have I landed by himself,
Whom I left cooling of the air with fighs,
In an odd angle of the ifle, and fitting,
His arms in this fad knot.

Pro. Of the King's fhip

The mariners, fay how thou haft difpos'd,
And all the reft o'th' fleet?

Ari. Safely in harbour

Is the King's fhip; in the deep nook, where once
Thou call'dft me up at midnight, to fetch dew
From the ftill-vext Bermoothes, there fhe's hid:
The mariners all under hatches ftow'd,

I

Who, with a charm join'd to their fuffered labour,
I've left asleep; and for the reft o'th' fleet
(Which I difpers'd) they all have met again,
And are upon the Mediterranean flote,

Bound fadly home for Naples;

Suppofing, that they faw the King's fhip wreckt,
And his great perfon perish.

Pro. Ariel, thy charge

1 From the fill-vext Bermoothes,] Theobald fays Bermoothes is printed by mistake for Bermudas. No. That was the name by which the Iflands then went, as we may fee by the Voyagers of that time; and by our Author's contemporary Poets. Fletcher, in his Woman pleased, fays, The Devil fhould think of purchafing that Eggshell to victual out a Witch for the Bermoothes. Smith, in his account of these Islands p. 172. fays, that the Bermudas were fo fearful to the world, that many call'd them the Ifle of Devils. -P. 174. -to all Seamen no less terrible than an inchanted den of Furies. And no wonder, for the clime was extremely fubject to Storms and Hurricanes; and the Islands were furrounded with fcattered Rocks lying fhallowly hid under the Surface of the Water.

Exactly

Exactly is perform'd; but there's more work:..
2 What is the time o'th' day?

Ari. Paft the mid feafon, at least two glaffes,
Pro. The time 'twixt fix and now

Muft by us both be spent most preciously.

Ari. Is there more toil; fince thou doft give me pains,

Let me remember thee what thou haft promis'd,
Which is not yet perform'd me.

Pro. How now? moody?
What is't thou canft demand?

Ari. My liberty.

Pro. Before the time be out? no more,
Ari. I pr'ythee,

Remember, I have done thee worthy service;
Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, ferv'd
Without or grudge, or grumblings; thou didst promise
To bate me a full year.

Pro. Doft thou forget

From what a torment I did free thee?

Ari. No.

[ooze

Pro. Thou doft; and think'ft it much to tread the

Of the falt deep;

To run upon the fharp Wind of the North

To do me bufinefs in the veins o'th' earth,
When it is bak'd with froft.

Ari. I do not, Sir.

Pro. Thou ly'st, malignant thing! haft thou forgot The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy

2 Pro. What is the time o'th' day?

--

Ari. Paft the mid feafon.

Pro. At least two glasses.

In this reading, both the Question and the Anfwer are made impertinently. Profpero asks what time of day it was, when he knew it was two glaffes paft the mid feafon: And Ariel replies indefinitely, that it was paft the mid season.

The Question and Reply fhould be divided thus,
Pro. What is the time o'th' day?
Ari. Paft the mid feason, at least, tavo glasses.

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Was

Was grown into a hoop? haft thou forgot her?

Ari. No, Sir.

[tell me.

Pro. Thou haft: where was fhe born? fpeak; Ari. Sir, in Argier.

Pro. Oh, was fhe fo? I muft

Once in a month recount what thou haft been,
Which thou forget'ft. This damn'd witch Sycorax,
For mischiefs manifold and forceries terrible
To enter human hearing, from Argier,

Thou know'ft, was banifh'd: for one thing fhe did,
They would not take her life. Is not this true?
Ári. Ay, Sir.

[child,
Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with
And here was left by th' failors; thou my flave
As thou report'st thy felf, waft then her fervant.
And, for thou waft a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refufing her grand hefts, fhe did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers,
And in her moft unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprifon'd, thou did'ft painfully remain
A dozen years, within which space fhe dy'd,
And left thee there: where thou didst vent thy groans,
As faft as mill-wheels ftrike. Then was this Inland

(Save for the fon that she did litter here,

A freckled whelp, hag-born) not honour'd with
A human shape.

Ari. Yes; Caliban her fon.

Pro. Dull thing, I fay fo: he, that Caliban,

Whom now I keep in fervice. Thou best know'st,
What torment I did find thee in; thy groans
Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breafts
Of ever-angry bears; it was a torment
To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax
Could not again undo: it was mine art,

When I arriv'd and heard thee, that made gape

VOL. I.

C

The

The pine, and let thee out.

Ari. I thank thee, master.

Pro. If thou more murmur'ft, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails, 'till

Thou'ft howl'd away twelve winters.

Ari. Pardon, master.

I will be correfpondent to command,
And do my fp'riting gently.

Pro. Do fo: and after two days

I will discharge thee.

Ari. That's my noble master:

What fhall I do? fay what? what shall I do?
Pro. Go make thy felf like to a nymph o'th' fea.
Be fubject to no fight but mine: invisible

To every eye-ball elfe. Go take this shape,
And hither come in it: go hence with diligence.
[Exit Ariel.
Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well;
Awake

Mira. The ftrangeness of your ftory put
Heavinefs in me.

Pro. Shake it off: come on;

We'll vifit Caliban my flave, who never

Yields us kind answer.

Mira. 'Tis a villain, Sir,

I do not love to look on

Pro. But, as 'tis,

We cannot mifs him: he does make our fire,
Fetch in our wood, and ferves in offices
That profit us. What ho! flave! Caliban!
Thou earth, thou! fpeak.

Cal. [within.] There's wood enough within.
Pro. Come forth, I fay; there's other business
for thee.

Come, thou Tortoife! when?

Enter

Enter Ariel like a Water-Nymph.

Fine apparition! my quaint Ariel,
Hark in thine ear.

Ari. My lord, it fhall be done.

[Exit.

Pro. Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself

Upon thy wicked dam, come forth.

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3 Cal. "As wicked dew, as e'er my mother brush'd "With raven's feather from unwholfom fen,

Drop on you both! a fouth-weft blow on ye, "And blifter you all o'er!

[cramps, Pro. For this, be fure, to night thou fhalt have Side-ftiches that fhall pen thy breath up; urchins

3 Cal. As wicked dew, as e'er my mother brush'd With raven's feather from unwholfom fen,

Drop on you both.] Shakespear hath very artificially given the air of the antique to the language of Caliban, in order to heighten the grotesque of his character. As here he uses wicked for unbolfome. So Sir John Maundevil, in his travels p. 334Edit. Lond. 1725. at alle tymès brennethe a Vefjelle of Criftalle fulle of Bawme for to zeven gode smalle and odour to the Emperour, and to voyden awey alle wYKKEDE Eyres and Corrupciouns. It was a tradition, it seems, that Lord Falkland, Lord C. J. Vaughan, and Mr. Selden concurred in obferving, that Shakespear had not only found out a new character in his Caliban, but had alfo devised and adapted a new manner of language for that character. What they meant by it, without doubt, was, that Shakespear gave his language a certain grotesque air of the Savage and Antique; which it certainly has. But Dr. Bentley took this, of a new language, literally; for fpeaking of a phrafe in Milton, which he fuppofed altogether abfurd and unmeaning, he fays, Satan had not the privilege as Caliban in Shakespear, to use new phrase and diction unknown to all others. and again to practice diftances is fill a Caliban file. Note on Milton's paradife loft, 1. 4. v. 945. But I know of no fuch Caliban ftile in Shakespear that hath new phrafe and diction unknown to all others.

C 2

Shall,

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