As proper a man as ever went on four legs, cannot make him give ground: and it shall be said so again, while Stephano breathes at nostrils. Cal. The spirit torments me: 0! Ste. This is some monster of the isle, with four legs; who hath got, as I take it, an ague: Where the devil should he learn our language? I will give him some relief, if it be but for that: If I can recover him, and keep him tame, and get to Naples , Cal. Do not torment mė, pr’ythee; STE. He's in his fit now; and does not talk after the wiseft. He shall taste of my bottle : if he have never drunk wine afore, it will go near to remove his fit: if I can recover him, and keep him tame, I will not take too much for him; he shall pay for him that hath him, and that soundly. CAL. Thou dost me yet but little hurt; thou wilt Anon, I know it by thy trembling :' : 8 too much — ) Too much means, any fum, ever so much. So, in the Letters from the Pafton Family, Vol. II. p. 219: i And ye be beholdyng unto my Lady for hyr good wurde, for sche hath never preysyd yowe to much.- i. e. though she has praised you much, her praise is not above your merit. It has, however, been observed to me, that when the vulgar mean to ask an extravagant price for any thing, they say, with a laugh, I won't make him pay twice for it. This sense sufficiently accommodates itself to Trinculo's expression. Mr. M. Mason explains the paffage differently. — “I will not take for him even more thau he is worth., STEEVENS. I think the meaning is, Let me take what sum I will, however great, I shall not take too much for him : it is impossible for me to fell him too dear. MALONE. I know it by thy trembling :) This tremor is always 1 2 3 Now Prosper works upon thee. STE. Come on your ways ; open your mouth; here is that which will give language to you, cat; open your mouth : this will shake your shaking, I can tell you, and that soundly: you cannot tell who's your friend; open your chaps again. • TRIN. I should know that voice: It should be But he is drown'd; and these are devils : O! defend me!- Ste. Four legs, and twở voices; a most delicate monster! His forward voice now is to speak well of his friend ; his backward voice is to utter foul speeches, and to detract. If all the wine in my ! bottle will recover him, I will help his ague: Come, --Amen!“ I will pour some in thy other 4 mouth, Trin. Stephano, STE. Doth thy other mouth call me ? Mercy! mercy! This is a devil, and no monfter: I will leave him ; I have no spoon.' represented as the effe& of being possess'd by the devil. So, in the Comedy of Errors : - Mark how he trembles in his extacy!,, STEEVENS. cat;) Alluding to an old proverb, that good liquor will make a cai speak. STEEVENS. 3 His forward voice, &c.) The person of Fame was anciently described in this manner. So, in Penelope's Web, by, Greene, 1601: « Fame hath two faces, readie as well to back-bite as to flatter." STEEVENS. - Amen!) Means, stop your draught: come to a conclusion. I will pour somie, &c. STEEVENS. s I have no long spoon.) Alluding to the proverb; A long spoon to bat with the devil. STEEVENS. See Comedy of Errors, A& Iv. sc. -iii. and Chaucer's Squier's Tale, 10916 of the late edit. « Therefore behoveth him a full long fponé, “ That shall ete with a feudo- TYRWHITT. Vol. III, G 2 4 moon-calf? TRIN. Stephano!--if thou beeit Stephano, touch me, and speak to me; for I am Trinculo;-be not afeard,-thy good friend Trinculo. STE, If thou beest Trinculo, come forth; I'll pull thee by the lesser legs : if any be Trinculo's legs, these are they. Thou art very Trinculo, indeed : How cam'st thou to be the fiege of this Can he vent Trinculos? TRIN. I took him to be kill'd with a thunderstroke :_But art thou not drown'd, Stephano ? I hope now, thou art not drown’d. Is the storm over-blown? I hid me under the dead moon-calf's gaberdine, for fear of the storm: And art thou living, Stephano ? O Stephano, two Neapolitans 'scap'd! STE. Pr’ythee, do not turn me about; my stomach is not constant. Cal. These be fine things, an if they be not fprites. That's a brave god, and bears celestial liquor: I will kneel to him. STE. How did it thou 'scape? How cam'lt thou bither ? swear by this bottle, how thou cam'st hither. I escap'd upon a butt of fack, which the sailors heav'd over-board, by this bottle! which I made of the bark of a tree, with mine own hands, since I was cast a-shore. 6 – to be the fiege of this moon-calf?) Siege fignifies stood in every sense of the word, and is here used in the dirtieft. So, in Holinshed, p. 705: « In this yeare also, a house on London-bridge, called the common hege, or privie, fell downe into the Thaines,» A moon-calf is an inanimate shapeless mass, supposed by Pliny to be engondered of womau only. See bis Nat. Hift. b. x. ch. 64. STEEVENS. 7 Cal. I'll swear, upon that bottle, to be thy True fubject; for the liquor is not earthly. STE. Here; swear then how thou escap'dst. 6 TRIN. Swam a-fhore, man, like a duck; I can fwim ? like a duck, I'll be sworn. STE. Here, kiss the book : Though thou canst swim like a duck, thou art made like a goose. Trin. O Stephano, hast any more of this? Ste. The whole butt, man; my cellar is in a rock by the sea-side, where my wine is hid. How now, moon-calf? how does thine ague ? CAL. Hast thou not dropp'd from heaven? 8 STE. Out o' the moon, I do assure thee: I was the man in the moon, when time was. CAL. I have seen thee in her, and I do adore thee; My mistress fhew'd me thee, thy dog, and bush.9 • Cal. I'll swear, upon that bottle, to be thy True subject, &c. Ste. Here; swear then how tkou escapat.) The passage should probably be printed thus : Ste. (to Cal.) Here, swear then. (to Trin.) How escap'dit thou? The speaker would naturally take notice of Caliban's proffered allegiance. Belides, he bids Trinculo kiss the book after he has answered the question; a sufficient proof of the ređitude of the proposed arrangement. RITSON. I can swim ---) I believe Trinculo is speaking of Caliban, and that we should read---- 'a can swim, » &c. See the next fpeech. MALONE. 8 Haft thou not dropp'd from heaven?) The new.discovered indians of the island of St. Salvador, asked, by signs, whetlier Co. lumbus and his companions were not come down from heaven. TOLLET. 9 My mistress Mhew'd me thee, thy dog, and bush.} which exhibits this and several preceding speeches of Caliban as 7 The old copy, STE. Come, swear to that; kiss the book: I will furnish it anon with new contents; swear. Trin. By this good light, this is a very shallow monster ;-Í afeard of him ?-a very weak monfter : -The man i' the moon ?-a most poor credulous monster :-Well drawn, monster, in good footh. CAL. I'll shew thee every fertile inch of the island; And kiss thy foot : I pr’ythec, be my god. 3 Trin. By this light, a most perfidious and drunken monster; when his god's alleep, he'll rob his bottle, Cal. I'll kiss thy foot: I'll swear myself thy subject. STE. Come on then; down, and swear. TRIN. I shall laugh myself to death at this puppy-headed monster: A moft fcurvy monster ! I could find in my heart to beat him,STE. Come, kiss. Trin. But that the poor monster's in drink: thee berries; profe (though it be apparent they were designed for verse,) reads My mistress shew'd me thee, and thy dog and thi bush.» Let the editor wño laments the loss of the words-and and thy;: compose their elegy. STEEVENS. 1 I afeard of him?-a very weak monster &c.) It is to be ob served, that Trinculo the speaker is not charged with being afraid ; but it was his consciousness that he was so that drew this brag from him. This is nature. WARBURTON. And kifs thy foot: I pr’ythee be my god.) The old copy redundantly reads : And I will kiss thy foot, » &c, RITSON. 3 WW |
