And left thee there; where thou didst vent thy groans A freckled whelp, hag-born-not honoured with Pro. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban, Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know'st What torment I did find thee in thy groans Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts When I arrived, and heard thee, that made gape Ari. I thank thee, master. Pro. If thou more murmurest, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till Thou hast howled away twelve winters.1 What shall I do? say what? what shall I do? Pro. Go make thyself like to a nymph o' the sea; Be subject to no sight but mine; invisible To every eyeball else. Go, take this shape, 1 Twelve winters.] It was formerly common to say winters for years. Though that I might a thousand winter tell.' Chaucer's Friar's Tale. I trowe thirty winter he was old.' Chaucer's Ship man's Tale. 2 Gently.] Meekly, or with good will, And hither come in 't: hence, with diligence! [Exit ARIEL. Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well; Mira. The strangeness of your story put Heaviness in me. Pro. Shake it off: come on; We'll visit Caliban, my slave, who never Mira. I do not love to look on. Pro. ’T is a villain, sir, But, as 't is, We cannot miss him: 1 he does make our fire, Cal. [Within.] There's wood enough within. Pro. Come forth, I say! there's other business for thee: Come forth, thou tortoise! when? 2 Re-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 slave, got by the devil himself Upon thy wicked dam, come forth! Enter CALIBAN. Cal. As wicked dew 3 as e'er my mother brushed Miss him.] Do without him. 2 When?] This was formerly a common expression of impatience. 'When, Lucius, when? Awake, I say.' Jul. Cæsar, ii. 1. 3 Wicked dew.] Dew accursed and made malignant by the ban of witchcraft. With raven's feather from unwholesome fen, Drop on you both! a south-west blow on ye, Pro. For this,, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps, As thick as honeycombs, each pinch more stinging 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; wouldst 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 loved thee, And showed thee all the qualities o' the isle, The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place and fertile :— 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 of the island. Pro. Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used thee, Filth as thou art, with human care; and lodged thee In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate 1 Urchins.] A kind of dwarf spirits that delighted in mischief. See the Editor's Comus of Milton, p, 45. 2 That vast of night, &c.] are permitted to be abroad. Those waste hours of night, when they See the editor's 'Hamlet,' p. 22, Note 1. 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 wilt not take, Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour 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 confined into this rock, Who hadst deserved more than a prison. Cal. You taught me language; and my profit on 't Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you For learning me your language! Pro. Hag-seed, hence! Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou'rt best, To answer other business. Shrugg'st thou, malice? If thou neglect'st or dost unwillingly What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps,1 = 1 Old cramps.] Enough of cramps. The word old was often used in colloquial language as an augmentative abundant or in excess. 'We shall have old swearing that they did give the rings away to men.' Merch. of Ven. iv. 2. 'Yonder's old coil at home.' Much 'Ado, &c. v. 2. 'Here will be old abusing of the king's English.' Merry Wives, i. 4. 'If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key.' Macbeth, ii. 3. 'Here's old turning these chemics, seeking to turn lead into gold, turn away all their own silver.' Brewer's Lingua, iv. 1. Fill all thy bones with aches,1 make thee roar, Cal. No, pray thee! I must obey his art is of such power, Pro. [Aside So, slave! hence! [Exit CALIBAN. Re-enter ARIEL invisible, playing and singing; Ferdinand 'Aches.] The noun ache was pronounced aitch; the kindred verb was spelt ake. That the noun was pronounced like the name of the letter H, is evident from Much Ado, &c., iii. 4, where Beatrice, being asked if her illness and sighing is 'for a hawk, a horse, or a husband,' answers, 'For the letter that begins them all, H.' The great tragedian, John Kemble, was derided for pronouncing the noun ache in this way. 2 Setebos.] Eden, in his History of Travayle (1577), says of the Patagonians: 'When they saw how they were deceived, they roared like bulls, and cried upon their great devil, Setebos, to help them.'3 Whist.] That is, being whist or hushed. When all were whist, King Edward thus bespoke.' Peele's Honour of the Garter, 1593. 'So was the Titaness put down and whist.' Spenser's F. Q. VII. vii. 59. 'The winds with wonder whist Smoothly the waters kissed.' Milton's Ode on the Nativity. |