PRO, [Aside to ARIEL, above.] Now I arise: Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. Here in this island we arriv'd; and here Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit Than other princess' can, that have more time For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful. MIRA. Heavens thank you for't! And now, pray you, sir, For still 'tis beating in my mind,―your reason For raising this sea-storm? a I PRO. Know thus far forth. By accident most strange, bountiful FortuneNow my dear lady-hath mine enemies Brought to this shore; and by my prescience I find my zenith doth depend upon A most auspicious star, whose influence If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes Will ever after droop.-Here cease more ques tions: Thou art inclin'd to sleep; 't is a good dulness, And give it way;-I know thou canst not choose.[MIRANDA sleeps. Come away, servant, come! I am ready now: Approach, my Ariel; come! a Now I arise:-] The purport of these words has never been satisfactorily explained, because they have been always understood as addressed to Miranda. If we suppose them directed not to her, but aside to Ariel, who has entered, in visible except to Prospero, after having "Perform'd to point the tempest," and whose arrival occasions Prospero to operate his sleepy charm PRO. My brave spirit! Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil Would not infect his reason? ARI. Not a soul But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd Some tricks of desperation. All, but mariners, Plung'd in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel, Then all a-fire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand, With hair up-staring, then like reeds, not hair,Was the first man that leap'd; cried, Hell is empty, And all the devils are here. PRO. Why, that's my spirit! But was not this nigh shore? ARI. Close by, my master. PRO. But are they, Ariel, safe? ARI. Not a hair perish'd; On their sustaining garments not a blemish, But fresher than before: and, as thou bad'st me, In troops I have dispers'd them 'bout the isle. The king's son have I landed by himself; Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs, a And are upon the Mediterranean flote,-] Mr. Collier's annotator suggests, "And all upon," &c.; but what is gained by the alteration we cannot discern. Flote is here used substantively for food or wave, as in the following from Middleton and Rowley's Safely in harbour Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd, PRO. Past the mid season. play of "The Spanish Gipsie," Act I. Sc. 5,- More check my rash attempt, than draw to ebb a At least two glasses-the time, 'twixt six and nowMust by us both be spent most preciously.] By the customary punctuation of this passage, Prospero is made to ask a question and answer it. The pointing we adopt obviates this inconsistency, and renders any change in the distribution of the speeches needless. b Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, serv'd-] The second thee, which overloads the line, was probably repeated by the compositor through inadvertence. c Argier.] The old English name for Algiers. To do me business in the veins o' the earth When it is bak'd with frost. I do not, sir. ARI. PRO. Thou liest, malignant thing! Hast thou forgot The foul witch Sycorax, who, with age and envy, Was grown into a hoop? hast thou forgot her? ARI. No, sir. PRO. Thou hast. Where was she born? speak; tell me. ARI. Sir, in Argier. PRO. O, was she so? I must Once in a month recount what thou hast been, Which thou forgett'st. This damn'd witch Sycorax, For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries terrible PRO. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with child,d And here was left by the sailors: Thou, my slave, As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant; PRO. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban, Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know'st What torment I did find thee in; thy groans Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts 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 The pine, and let thee out. ARI. I thank thee, master. PRO. If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters. ARI. Pardon, master : I will be correspondent to command, Do so; and after two days I will discharge thee. MIRA. [Waking.] The strangeness of your story put Heaviness in me. MIRA. (Waking.)] Mr. Collier claims for his annotator the merit of having first added this not very important stage direction. We cannot miss him:] We cannot do without him. e When?] See note (f), p. 449, Vol. I. 4 4s wicked dew-] Wicked here implies baneful, pernicious; as in opposition we hear of the virtuous properties of "herbs, plants, stones," &c. e Urchins-] Hedgehogs were formerly so called, it is doubtful, however, whether urchins in this place does not signify some fairy ARI. My lord, it shall be done. [Exit. PRO, Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself Upon thy wicked dam, come forth! Enter CALIBAN,(5) CAL. As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd With raven's feather from unwholesome fen, Drop on you both! a south-west blow on ye, And blister you all o'er ! (6) PRO. For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps, Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins Thou strok'dst me, and mad'st much of me; wouldst give me Water with berries in 't; and teach me how Cursed be I that did so!-All the charms beings; as in "The Merry Wives of Windsor," Act IV. Sc. 4,46 -we'll dress Like urchins, ouphes, and fairies," &c. f Vast of night-] By "vast of night" the poet may have meant the chasm or vacuity of night, as in "Hamlet," Act I. Sc. 2,"In the dead vast and middle of the night." But some critics have conjectured we should read," urchins Shall for that, fast of night." Which first was mine own king: and here you sty me In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me PRO. Filth as thou art, with human care; and lodg'd thee In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate CAL. O ho, O ho!-would it had been done! PRO. Abhorred slave, Which any print of goodness will not take, Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee, Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour One thing or other: when thou didst not, savage, a PRO.] This speech, in the folios, has the prefix "Mira," but it plainly belongs to Prospero, to whom Theobald assigned it, and who has retained it ever since. b Which any print of goodness will not take, Here, as in many other places, capable signifies impressible, susceptible. e Race,-] That is, Nature, essence. d The red plague rid you,-] See note (a), p. 447, Vol. II. Fill all thy bones with aches,-] Mr. Collier remarks that "this word, of old, was used either as a monosyllable or as a dissyllable, as the case might require." This may be questioned. "Ake," says Baret in his " Alvearie," "is the Verbe of the substantive Ach, ch being turned into k." As a substantive, then, Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes With words that made them known. But thy vile race, c Though thou didst learn, had that in't which good natures Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou Deservedly confin'd into this rock, Who hadst deserv'd more than a prison. CAL. You taught me language; and my profit on't Is, I know how to curse. The red plague ridd you, For learning me your language! PRO. Hag-seed, hence! Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou 'rt best, To answer other business. Shrugg'st thou, malice? If thou neglect'st, or dost unwillingly What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps, Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar, That beasts shall tremble at thy din. е |