Cal. As wicked dews 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!

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

Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins32
Shall, for that vast of night 53 that they may work,
All exercise on thee: thou shalt be pinch'd
As thick as honeycomb, 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;

48. We cannot miss him. We cannot do without him; an expression still in provincial use.

49. Thou earth, thou! The terms in which Caliban is summoned suffice to proclaim the essence of his being. He is earthiness itself, grossly material; in elemental and entire contrast to Ariel.

50. When? An exclamation denoting impatience.

51. Wicked dew. "Wicked" is here used by Shakespeare as Spenser uses it in his expression "wicked weed," for baneful or harmful property. So, on the contrary, we still say the "virtues," or "virtuous" qualities in medicinal herbs and plants.

52. Urchins. An old name for hedgehogs; and also for evil sprites and mischievous fairies. lechins Thall forth at

One thing or other: when thou didst not, savage, Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like

A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes With words that made them known: but thy vile race, 55

Though thou didst learn, had that in't which good

"old

58. Old cramps. "Old" is frequently used by Shakespeare "old abusing," in the sense of excessive abounding; as, coil," "old utis," &c.

59. Achès. This word was formerly pronounced as a disWhen used syllable, especially where the rhythm demanded it. as a verb, it was generally spelt with a "k," and sounded hard, as a monosyHable.

60. Setebos. The name found in books of travel, in Shakespeare's time, for a demon-deity.

Both these plea61. Court'sied when you have and kiss'd. customary at the commencement of sant observances were

But certainly a maid. Fer.

No wonder, sir;

My language! heavens!

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

Pros.
How! the best?
What wert thou, if the King of Naples heard thee?
Fer. A single thing, 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.

Alack, for mercy!

Mir.
Fer. Yes, faith, and all his lords; the Duke of
Milan,

And his brave son, being twain.

Pros. [Aside] The Duke of Milan, And his more braver daughter, could control thee, If now 'twere fit to do't.-At the first sight

dances, in "the good old times of merry England." The next line seems to mean-" The waves hush'd to silence the while." 62. Of his bones are coral made. The false grammatical concord in this line is one of many that we shall have to notice, where the preceding noun ends with "s." Such licence was, in Shakespeare's time, allowable.

63. The earth owes. "Owe" was formerly used for own possess. See the name thou ow'st not," a few speeches farther on. 64. Control. Confute bring a contrary account. Bacon uses the word in precisely this sense.