The pine, and let thee out. Ari. I thank thee, master. : Pro. If thou more murmur'ft, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails, 'till Thou'ft howl'd away twelve winters. I will be correfpondent to command, Pro. Do fo: and after two days Ari. That's my noble master: What fhall I do? fay what? what shall I do? Το every eye-ball else. Go take this shape, Mira. The ftrangeness of your ftory put Pro. Shake it off: come on; We'll vifit Caliban my flave, who never Mira. 'Tis a villain, Sir, I do not love to look on Pro. But, as 'tis, We cannot miss him: he does make our fire, Cal. [within. There's wood enough within. for thee... Come, thou Tortoife! when? Enter Enter Ariel like a Water-Nymph. Fine apparition! my quaint Ariel, Hark in thine ear. Ari. My lord, it shall be done. [Exit. Pro. Thou poisonous flave, got by the devil himself Upon thy wicked dam, come forth. SCE NE IV. Enter Caliban. 3 Cal. "As wicked dew, as e'er my mother brush'd "With raven's feather from unwholfom fen, ૯ Drop on you both! a fouth-west blow on ye, "And blifter you all o'er! [cramps, Pro. For this, be fure, to night thou fhalt have Side-ftiches that fhall pen thy breath up; urchins 3 Cal. As wicked dew, as e'er my mother brush'd With raven's feather from unwholfom fen, Drop on you both.] Shakespear hath very artificially given the air of the antique to the language of Caliban, in order to heighten the grotesque of his character. As here he ufes wicked for unwbolfome. So Sir John Maundevil, in his travels p. 334. Edit. Lond. 1725. at alle tymes brennethe a Vefjelle of Griftalle fulle of Bawme for to zeven gode fmalle" and odour to the Emperour, and to voyden awey alle WYKKEDE Eyres and Corrupciouns. It was a tradition, it seems, that Lord Falkland, Lord C. J. Vaughan, and Mr. Selden concurred in obferving, that Shakespear had not only found out a new character in his Caliban, but had also devised and adapted a new manner of language for that character. What they meant by it, without doubt, was, that Shakespear gave his language a certain grotesque air of the Savage and Antique; which it certainly has. But Dr. Bentley took this, of a new language, literally; for fpeaking of a phrafe in Milton, which he fuppofed altogether abfurd and unmeaning, he fays, Satan had not the privilege as Caliban in Shakespear, to use new phrase and diction unknown to all others- and again to practice diftances is fill a Caliban file. Note on Milton's paradife loft, 1. 4. v.945. But I know of no fuch Caliban ftile in Shakespear that hath new phrafe and diction unknown to all others. C 2 Shall, Shall, for that vaft of night that they may work, As thick as honey-combs, each pinch more stinging 66 Cal. I must eat my dinner. "This Island's mine by Sycorax my mother, "Which thou tak'ft from me. When thou cameft first, "Thou ftroak'dft me, and mad'ft much of me; and would't give me "Water with berries in't; and teach me how "Curs'd be I, that I did fo! all the charms "Who first was mine own King; and here you fty me Pro. Thou most lying flave, Whom Stripes may move, not kindness; I have us'd thee (Filth as thou art) with humane care, and lodg'd In mine own cell, 'till thou didst seek to violate The honour of my child. Cal. Oh ho, oh ho!I wou'd, it had been done! Thou didst prevent me, I had peopled elfe This Ifle with Calibans. Pro. 4 Abhorred flave; Which any print of goodness wilt not take, Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour 4 Abhorred flave;] In the common Editions this speech was given to Miranda. Mr. Dryden in his alteration of this play rightly transferred it to Profpero. One One thing or other. When thou couldst not, savage, natures Could not abide to be with; therefore waft thou Who hadft deferv'd more than a prison Cal. You taught me language, and my profit on't Is, I know how to curfe: the red plague rid you, For learning me your language! 5 When thou DIDST not, Savage, KNOW thy own meaning, but wouldft gabble like With words to make them known.] The benefit which Profpero here upbraids Caliban with having bestowed, was teaching him language. He fhews the greatnefs of this benefit by marking the inconvenience Caliban lay under for want of it. What was the inconvenience? This, that he did not know his own meaning. But fure a Brute, to which he is compared, doth know its own meaning, that is, knows what it would be at. This, indeed, it cannot do, it cannot shew its meaning to others. this certainly is what Profpero would fay, When thou COULDST not, Savage, SHEW thy own meaning, The following words makes it evident, but wouldft gabble like A thing most brutish. And And when once [ew] was corrupted to [know] the transcribers would of courfe change [couldft] into [didf] to make it agree with the other false reading. There is indeed a Sense in which Know thy own meaning— may be well applied to a brute. For it may fignify the not having any reflex knowledge of the operations of its own mind, which, it would feem, a Brute hath not. Tho' this, I fay, may be applied to a brute, and confequently to Caliban, and tho' to remedy this brutality be a nobler benefit than even the teaching language; yet fuch a fenfe would be impertinent and abfurd in this place, where only the benefit of language is talked of by an exact and learned Speaker. Befides, Profpero exprefly fays, that Caliban had purposes; which, in other words, is that he did know his own meaning. C 3 Pro. Pro. Hag-feed, hence! Fetch us in fewel, and be quick (thou wert' beft) What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps; Cal. No, 'pray thee. I must obey; his art is of fuch pow'r, And make a vaffal of him. Pro. So, flave, hence! SCENE [Exit Caliban. V. Enter Ferdinand; and Ariel invifible, playing ARIEL'S SONG. Come unto thefe yellow fands, Curt'fied when you have, and kift (The wild waves whift ;) Foot it featly here and there, And, fweet fprites, the burthen bear. Burthen, difperfedly. Hark, bark, bough-waugh: the watch-dogs bark, Baugh-waugh. Ari. Hark, bark, I hear The ftrain of ftrutting chanticlere Cry, Cock-a-doodle-do. Fer. Where fhould this Mufick be, i'th' air, or It founds no more: and, fure, it waits upon |