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Pro.

Hag-seed, hence!

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

What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps; Fill all thy bones with aches; 34 make thee roar, That beasts shall tremble at thy din.

power,

Cal.
No, 'pray thee! -
[Aside.] I must obey: his art is of such
It would control my dam's god, Setebos,"
And make a vassal of him.

Pro.

35

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:

4 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 dscoveries in America.

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 kneil:

Ding-dong.

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

Fer. The ditty does remember my drown J father.

36 i. 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 wares whist, being made

This is no mortul business, nor no sound

37

That the earth owes : 3-I hear it now above me. Pro. The fringed curtains of thine eye advance, And say, what thou seest yond'.

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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 soal 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 !
you be maid, or no?

If

38

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.

Mira.

But, certainly a maid.

For.

No wonder, sir;

My language! heavens! I am the best of them that speak this speech, Were I but where 'tis spoken.

Pro. How! the best! What wert thou, if the king of Naples heard thee?

Fer. A single thing,39 as I am now, that wonders To hear thee speak of Naples: He does hear me; And, that he does, I weep: myself am Naples; Who with mine eyes, ne'er since at ebb, beheld The king my father wreck'd.

Mira.

Alack, for mercy!

Fer. Yes, faith, and all his lords; the duke of

Milan,

And his brave son, being twain.

The duke of Milan,

Pro. And his more braver daughter, could control" thee, If now 'twere fit to do't.-[Aside.] At the first sight They have chang'd eyes:- Delicate Ariel, I'll set thee free for this![To FERD.] A word,

good sir:

41

I fear, you have done yourself some wrong: a word

Mira. Why speaks my father so ungently? This Is the third man that e'er I saw; the first That e'er I sigh'd for: Pity move my father To be inclin'd my way!

he now asks, if she be a mortal; not a celestial being, but a maiden. Of course her answer is to be taken in the same sense as his question.

H.

39 i. e. a weak, feeble thing. The Poet elsewhere uses singie in this sense; as in Macbeth: "Shakes so my single state of man."

H.

40 To control here signifies to confute, to contradict unanswerably. The ancient meaning of control was to check or exhibit a contrary account, from the old French contre-roller.

41 i. e. lone wrong to your character, in claiming to be king of Naples

Fer.

O! if a virgin,

And your affection not gone forth, I'll make you The queen of Naples.

Pro.

Soft, sir: one word more. [Aside.] They are both in either's powers: but this swift business

I must uneasy make, lest too light winning

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Make the prize light. [To FERD.] One word more I charge thee,

That thou attend me: thou dost here usurp
The name thou ow'st not; and hast put thyself
Upon this island, as a spy, to win it

From me, the lord on't.

Fer.

No, as I am a man.

Mira. There's nothing ill can dwell in such a

temple :

If the ill spirit have so fair a house,

Good things will strive to dwell with't.

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Come:

Speak not you for him; he's a traitor.
I'll manacle thy neck and feet together;

Sea-water shalt thou drink, thy food shall be
The fresh-brook muscles, wither'd roots, and husks,
Wherein the acorn cradled: Follow.

Fer.

I will resist such entertainment, till

Mine enemy has more power.

Mira.

No:

[He draws, and is charmed from moving

O dear father,

Make not too rash a trial of him, for

He's gentle, and not fearful.

Pro.

What! I

say:

My foot my tutor !

Put thy sword up, traitor;

Who mak'st a show, but dar'st not strike, thy con

science

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