Re-enter ARIEL loaden with glisterimg Apparel, &c. Even to roaring:- Come, hang them on this line. PROSPERO and ARIEL remain invisible. Enter CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO, all wet. Cal. Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may not Hear a foot fall 5: we now are near his cell. Ste. Monster, your fairy, which, you say, is a harmless fairy, has done little better than played the Jack with us. 6 Trin. Monster, I do smell all horse-piss; at which my nose is in great indignation. Ste. So is mine. Do you hear, monster? If I should take a displeasure against you; look you, Trin. Thou wert but a lost monster. Cal. Good my lord, give me thy favour still: Be patient, for the prize I'll bring thee to Shall hood-wink this mischance: therefore, speak softly, All's hush'd as midnight yet. Trin. Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool, Ste. There is not only disgrace and dishonour in that, monster, but an infinite loss. "that she grew old, and cankered, and that her mind was become as crooked as her carcase :" a speech, which, according to sir Walter Raleigh, cost him his head, and which, we may therefore suppose, was at that time much talked of. This play being written in the time of king James, these obnoxious words might be safely repeated. MALONE. Hear a foot fall:] This quality of hearing, which the mole is supposed to possess in so high a degree, is mentioned in Euphues, 4to. 1581, p. 64: "Doth not the lion for strength, the turtle for love, the ant for labour, excel man? Doth not the eagle see clearer, the vulture smell better, the moale heare lightlier ?” 6 has done little better than played the Jack with us.] i. e. He has played Jack with a lantern; has led us about like an ignis fatuus, by which travellers are decoyed into the mire. Trin. That's more to me than my wetting: yet this is your harmless fairy, monster. Ste. I will fetch off my bottle, though I be o'er ears for my labour. Cal. Pr'ythee, my king, be quiet: Seest thou here, This is the mouth o'the cell: no noise, and enter. Do that good mischief, which may make this island Thine own for ever, and I, thy Caliban, For aye thy foot-licker. Ste. Give me thy hand: I do begin to have bloody thoughts. Trin. O king Stephano! O peer! O worthy Stephano! look, what a wardrobe here is for thee! 7 Cal. Let it alone, thou fool; it is but trash. Trin. O, ho, monster; we know what belongs to a frippery: - O king Stephano! Ste. Put off that gown, Trinculo; by this hand, I'll have that gown. Trin. Thy grace shall have it. Cal. The dropsy drown this fool! what do you mean, To doat thus on such luggage? Let's along, t And do the murder first: if he awake, From toe to crown he'll fill our skins with pinches; Ste. Be you quiet, monster. Mistress line, is not this my jerkin? Now is the jerkin under the line?: now, jerkin, you are like to lose your hair, and prove a bald jerkin. 7 Trin. O king Stephano! O peer! O worthy Stephano! look, what a wardrobe here is for thee!] An allusion to an old celebrated ballad, which begins thus: "King Stephen was a worthy peer" —; and celebrates that king's parsimony with regard to his wardrobe. 8 we know what belongs to a frippery :] A frippery was a shop where old clothes were sold. Fripperie, Fr. The person who kept one of these shops was called a fripper. Strype, in his Life of Stowe, says, that these frippers lived in Birchin-lane and Cornhill. +"Let it alone," -MALONE. 9 under the line:] An allusion to what often happens to people who pass the line. The violent fevers which they contract in that hot climate, make them lose their hair. Trin. Do, do: We steal by line and level, an't like your grace. Ste. I thank thee for that jest: here's a garment for❜t: wit shall not go unrewarded, while I am king of this country: Steal by line and level, is an excellent pass of pate; there's another garment for't. Trin. Monster, come, put some lime1 upon your fingers, and away with the rest. Cal. I will have none on't: we shall lose our time, And all be turn'd to barnacles, or to apes2 With foreheads villainous low.3 Ste. Monster, lay-to your fingers; help to bear this away, where my hogshead of wine is, or I'll turn you out of my kingdom: go to, carry this. Trin. And this. Ste. Ay, and this. A noise of Hunters heard.* Enter divers Spirits, in shape of hounds, and hunt them about. PROSPERO and ARIEL, setting them on. Pro. Hey, Mountain, hey! Ari. Silver! there it goes, Silver! Pro. Fury, Fury! there, Tyrant, there! hark, hark! [CAL. STE. and TRIN. are driven out. Go, charge my goblins that they grind their joints With dry convulsions; shorten up their sinews 1 -put some lime, &c.] That is, bird-lime. 2 to barnacles, or to apes—] Skinner says, barnacle is Anser Scoticus. The barnacle is a kind of shell-fish growing on the bottoms of ships, and which was anciently supposed, when broken off, to become one of these geese. 3 With foreheads villainous low.] Low foreheads were anciently reckoned among deformities. 4 A noise of Hunters heard.] Shakspeare might have had in view Arthur's Chace, which many believe to be in France, and think that it is a kennel of black dogs followed by unknown huntsmen with an exceeding great sound of horns, as if it was a very hunting of some wild beast. With aged cramps; and more pinch-spotted make them, Than pard, or cat o'mountain. Ari. Hark, they roar. Pro. Let them be hunted soundly: At this hour Lie at my mercy all mine enemies : Shortly shall all my labours end, and thou Shalt have the air at freedom: for a little, [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. Before the Cell of Prospero. Enter PROSPERO in his magick robes; and ARIEL. Pro. When first I rais'd the tempest. How fares the king and his ?† Ari. I did say so, Say, my spirit, Confin❜d together cell; In the same fashion as you gave in charge; your Goes upright with his carriage.] Alluding to one carrying a burthen. This critical period of my life proceeds as I could wish. Time brings forward all the expected events, without faltering under his burthen. STEEVENS. And the remainder mourning over them, From eaves of reeds: your charm so strongly works them, That if you now beheld them, your affections Would become tender. Pro. Dost thou think so, spirit? And mine shall. Ari. Mine would, sir, were I human. Pro. One of their kind, that relish all as sharply, Passion as they 8, be kindlier mov'd than thou art? Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick, Yet, with my nobler reason, 'gainst my fury Do I take part: the rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent, Ari. I'll fetch them, sir. [Exit. Pro. Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves; 9 And ye, that on the sands with printless foot 7 8 a touch, a feeling -] A touch, is a sensation. Passion as they,] I feel every thing with the same quick sensibility, and am moved by the same passions as they are. 9 Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves;] This speech Dr. Warburton rightly observes to be borrowed from Medea's in Ovid. |