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Alon.

I heard nothing.

Anto. O, 'twas a din to fright a monster's ear,
To make an earthquake! sure, it was the roar
Of a whole herd of lions.

Alon.

Heard you this, Gonzalo? Gonza. Upon mine honour, sir, I heard a humming, And that a strange one too, which did awake me : I shaked you, sir, and cried: as mine eyes open'd, I saw their weapons drawn: there was a noise, That's verity. 'Tis best we stand upon our guard, Or that we quit this place: let's draw our weapons. Alon. Lead off this ground; and let's make further search For my poor son.

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Ari. Prospero my lord shall know what I have done : So, King, go safely on to seek thy son.

:

[Exit.

SCENE II.

- Another part of the Island.

Enter CALIBAN, with a burden of wood. A noise of Thunder

heard.

Cal. All the infections that the Sun sucks up

Prosper fall, and make him
His spirits hear me,

From bogs, fens, flats, on
By inch-meal a disease!
And yet I needs must curse.

But they'll nor pinch,

Fright me with urchin-shows,2 pitch me i' the mire,

1 Inch-meal and limb-meal were used just as we use piece-meal.

2 Urchin-shows are fairy-shows; as urchin was the name of a certain description of fairies. See page 66, note 80.

Nor lead me, like a fire-brand,3 in the dark
Out of my way, unless he bid 'em but

:

For every trifle are they set upon me;

Sometime like apes, that mow 5 and chatter at me,
And after bite me; then like hedgehogs, which
Lie tumbling in my barefoot way, and mount
Their pricks at my foot-fall; sometime am I
All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues
Do hiss me into madness. Lo, now, lo!

Here comes a spirit of his;

and to torment me

For bringing wood in slowly. I'll fall flat;

Perchance he will not mind me.

Enter TRINCULO.

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Trin. Here's neither bush nor shrub, to bear off any weather at all, and another storm brewing; I hear it sing i' the wind yond same black cloud, yond huge one, looks like a foul bombard that would shed his liquor. If it should thunder as it did before, I know not where to hide my head: yond same cloud cannot choose but fall by pailfuls. - What have we here? a man or a fish? Dead or alive? A fish: he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind of not-of-the-newest poor-john. A strange fish! Were I in England now, as once I was, and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver: there would this monster make a man; any strange beast there

8 The ignis fatuus was thought to be the work of naughty spirits. 4 Sometime and sometimes were used indiscriminately.

5 To mow is to make mouths. So Nash's Pierce Penniless: "Nobody at home but an ape, that sat in the porch, and made mops and mows at him." 6 Pricks is the ancient word for prickles.

7 A bombard is a black jack of leather, to hold beer, &c.

• Poor-john is an old name for hake salted and dried.

makes a man: 9 when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. Legg'd like a man! and his fins like arms! Warm, o' my troth! I do now let loose my opinion; hold it no longer : this is no fish, but an islander, that hath lately suffered by a thunderbolt. [Thunder.] Alas, the storm is come again! my best way is to creep under his gaberdine; 10 there is no other shelter hereabout: misery acquaints a man with strange bed-fellows. I will here shroud till the dregs of the storm be past. [Creeps under CALIBAN'S garment. Enter STEPHANO, singing; a bottle in his hand.

Steph.

I shall no more to sea, to sea,

Here shall I die ashore;

This is a very scurvy tune to sing at a man's funeral: well,

here's my comfort.

[Drinks.

[Sings.] The master, the swabber,11 the boatswain, and I,

The gunner, and his mate,

Loved Mall, Meg, and Marian, and Margery,

But none of us cared for Kate;
For she had a tongue with a tang,"

Would cry to a sailor, Go hang !

12

She loved not the savour of tar nor of pitch:
Then to sea, boys, and let her go hang!

9 Sets a man up, or makes his fortune. The phrase was often used thus. So in A Midsummer-Night's Dream, iv. 2: "If our sport had gone forward, we had all been made men."

10 A gaberdine was a coarse outer garment. "A shepherd's pelt, frock, or gaberdine, such a coarse long jacket as our porters wear over the rest of their garments," says Cotgrave. "A kind of rough cassock or frock like an Irish mantle," says Philips.

11 A swabber is one whose special business it is to sweep, mop, or swad the deck of a ship.

12 Tang was used of what has a pungent or biting taste or flavour.

This is a scurvy tune too: but here's my comfort. [Drinks. Cal. Do not torment me: — O!

Steph. What's the matter? Have we devils here? Do you put tricks upon's with savages and men of Inde, ha? 13 I have not 'scaped drowning, to be afeard now of your four legs; for it hath been said, As proper a man as ever went on four legs cannot make him give ground; and it shall be said so again, while Stephano breathes at's nostrils.

Cal. The spirit torments me: —O!

Steph. This is some monster of the isle with four legs, who hath got, as I take it, an ague. Where the Devil should he learn our language? I will give him some relief, if it be but for that. If I can recover him, and keep him tame, and get to Naples with him, he's a present for any emperor that ever trod on neat's-leather.14

Cal. Do not torment me, pr'ythee:

I'll bring my wood home faster.

Steph. He's in his fit now, and does not talk after the wisest. He shall taste of my bottle: if he have never drunk wine afore, it will go near to remove his fit. If I can recover him, and keep him tame, I will not take too much for him: 15 he shall pay for him that hath him, and that soundly. Cal. Thou dost me yet but little hurt;

Thou wilt anon, I know it by thy trembling:
Now Prosper works upon thee.

Steph. Come on your ways; open your mouth; here is

13 Alluding, probably, to the impostures practised by showmen, who often exhibited sham wonders pretended to be brought from America. Inde for India, East or West.

14 Neat is an old epithet for all cattle of the bovine genus. So that neat'sleather is cowhide or calfskin. So in The Winter's Tale, i. 2: “And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf are all called neat."

15 A piece of vulgar irony, meaning, “I'll take as much as I can get."

cat : 16 open your

that which will give language to you, mouth; this will shake your shaking, I can tell you, and that soundly: [Gives him drink.] you cannot tell who's your friend; open your chops again. [Gives him more drink. Trin. I should know that voice: it should be but he is drown'd; and these are devils : — O, defend me!

Steph. Four legs, and two voices, a most delicate monster? His forward voice now is to speak well of his friend; his backward voice is to utter foul speeches and to detract. If all the wine in my bottle will recover him, I will help his ague: [Gives him drink.]- Come, - Amen! 17 I will pour some in thy other mouth.

Trin. Stephano!

Steph. Doth thy other mouth call me?- Mercy, mercy! This is a devil, and no monster: I will leave him; I have no long spoon.

- thy

Trin. Stephano! If thou be'st Stephano, touch me, and speak to me; for I am Trinculo, be not afeard, good friend Trinculo.

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Steph. If thou be'st Trinculo, come forth: I'll pull thee by the lesser legs: if any be Trinculo's legs, these are they. [Pulls TRINCULO out.] Thou art very Trinculo 18 indeed! How camest thou to be the siege of this moon-calf? 19

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16 Shakespeare gives his characters appropriate language: "They belch forth proverbs in their drink," Good liquor will make a cat speak," and "He who eats with the devil had need of a long spoon."

17 Stephano is frightened, and put to his religion; and Amen! is the best he can do towards praying.

18 That is, the real or veritable Trinculo. The Poet often has very so. 19 Moon-calf was an imaginary monster, supposed to be generated or misshapen through lunar influence. So in Holland's Pliny: "A false conception called mola, that is a moone-calfe; that is to say, a lump of flesh without shape, without life."—Siege is an old word for seat. So in Measure for Measure, iv. 2: "Upon the very siege of justice."

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