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Pro. Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself

Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!

Enter CALIBAN.

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!

Pro. For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have

cramps,

31

Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath
up; urchins
Shall, for that vast 32 of night that they may work,
All exercise on thee: thou shalt be pinch'd
As thick as honey-combs, each pinch more stinging
Than bees that made them.

Cal.
I must eat my dinner.
This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou tak'st from me. When thou camest

first,

Thou strok'dst me, and mad'st much of me; would'st

give me

Water with berries in't; and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night: and then I lov'd thee,
And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,

The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place, and fertile :

31 Urchins were fairies of a particular class. Hedgehogs were also called urchins; and it is probable that the sprites were so named, because they were of a mischievous kind, the urchin being anciently deemed a very noxious animal. In the phrase still current, "a little urchin," the idea of the fairy still remains.

32 So in Hamlet, Act i. sc. 2, "in the dead vast and middle of the night;" meaning the silent void or vacancy of night, when spirits were anciently supposed to walk abroad on errands of ove, or sport, or mischief.

H.

Cursed be I that did so! - All the charms

Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,

Which first was mine own king: and here you sty

me

In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o' the island.

Pro.

Thou most lying slave,

Whom stripes may move, not kindness, I have us'd

thee,

Filth as thou art, with human care; and lodg'd thee In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate The honor of my child.

Cal. O ho, O ho! —'would it had been done! Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else

This isle with Calibans.

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,
Know thine own meaning, but would'st gabble like
A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes
With words that made them known: But thy vile

race,

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 rid 33 For learning me your language!

33 Destroy.

you,

Hag-seed, hence!

Pro. Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou wert best, To answer other business. Shrug'st thou, malice ? If thou neglect'st, or dost unwillingly

34

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.

No, 'pray thee!

Cal. [Aside.] I must obey: his art is of such power, It would control my dam's god, Setebos,3 And make a vassal of him.

35

Pro.

So, slave; hence!

[Exit CALIBAN.

Re-enter ARIEL invisible, playing and singing;
FERDINAND following him.

ARIEL'S Song.

Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands:

34 Aches was formerly a word of two syllables, and is required by the measure to be so here. Of this there are many examples in the old writers. Some of our readers may have heard of the clamour that was raised against Kemble for pronouncing the word thus on the stage; wherein some may still think he followed an old custom at the expense of good judgment.

H.

35 Setebos was the name of an American god, or rather devil, worshipped by the Patagonians. In Eden's "History of Travaile," printed in 1577, is an account of Magellan's voyage to the South Pole, containing a description of this god and his worshippers; wherein the author says: "When they felt the shackles fast about their legs, they began to doubt; but the captain did put them in comfort and bade them stand still. In fine, when they saw how they were deceived, they roared like bulls, and cryed upon their great devil Setebos, to help them." Sycorax, as we have seen, was from Algiers, where she doubtless learned to worship this god. So that here the Poet has but transferred into the neighbourhood of his scene the matter of some of the then recent discoveries in America.

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H.

Court'sied when you have, and kiss'd
The wild waves whist, 36

Foot it featly here and there;
And, sweet sprites, the burden bear.
Hark, hark!

Burden. [Dispersedly.] Bough, wowgh.
The watch-dogs bark:

Burden. [Dispersedly.] Bowgh, wowgh..
Hark, hark! I hear

The strain of strutting chanticlere
Cry, Cock-a-doodle-doo.

Fer. Where should this music be? i' the air, or the earth?

It sounds no more; and sure, it waits upon
Some god o' the island. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the king my father's wreck,
This music crept by me upon the waters;
Allaying both their fury, and my passion,
With its sweet air: thence I have follow'd it,
Or it hath drawn me rather:
- But 'tis gone.

No, it begins again.

Burden.

ARIEL sings.

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:

Ding-dong.

Hark! now I hear them,― ding-dong, bell.

Fer. The ditty does remember my

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drown'd

36 . e. "court'sied and kiss'd the wild waves" into silence ;a delicate touch of poetry that is quite lost, as the passage is usually printed; the line, The wild waves whist, being made

This is no mortal business, nor no sound

That the earth owes : 37-I hear it now above me. Pro. The fringed curtains of thine eye advance, And say, what thou seest yond'.

Mira. What is't? a spirit? Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir, It carries a brave form: - But 'tis a spirit.

Pro. No, wench: it eats and sleeps, and hath such senses

As we have, such. This gallant, which thou seest,
Was in the wreck; and, but he's something stain'd
With grief, that's beauty's canker, thou might'st call
him

A goodly person. He hath lost his fellows,
And strays about to find them.

Mira.

A thing divine; for nothing natural

I ever saw so noble.

Pro. [Aside.]

I might call him

It goes on, I see,

As my soul prompts it: - Spirit, fine spirit! I'll

free thee

Within two days for this.

Fer.

Most sure, the goddess On whom these airs attend! -Vouchsafe, my

prayer

May know, if you remain upon this island;
And that you will some good instruction give,
How I may bear me here: My prime request,
Which I do last pronounce, is, O you wonder!
If you be maid,38 or no?

parenthetical, and that too without any authority from the original. Such are the improvements sometimes foisted in by those who prefer grammar to poetry, and cannot read a song without thinking of Syntax,

H.

37 i. e. owns. To owe was to possess or own, in ancient language. 38 Ferdinand has already spoken of Miranda as a goddess:

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