From what a torment I did free thee?

Ari. No.

Pro. Thou doft; and think'st it much, to tread the ooze

Of the falt deep;

To run upon the fharp wind of the north;

To do me bufinefs in the veins o' the earth,

When it is bak'd with froft.

Ari. I do not, fir.

Pro. Thou lieft, malignant thing! haft thou forgot The foul witch Sycorax, who, with age, and envy, Was grown into a hoop? haft thou forgot her?

Ari. No, fir.

Pro. Thou haft: Where was she born? speak; tell me. Ari. Sir, in Argier 7.

Pro. Oh, was the fo? I muft,

Once in a month, recount what thou hast been,

Which thou forget'ft. This damn'd witch, Sycorax,
For mifchiefs manifold, and forceries terrible

To enter human hearing, from Argier,

Thou know'ft, was banish'd; for one thing fhe did,
They would not take her life: Is not this true?
Ari. Ay, fir.

Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with child,
And here was left by the failors: Thou, my flave,
As thou report'ft thyfelf, waft then her fervant:

And, for thou waft a fpirit too delicate

To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refufing her grand hefts, fhe did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers,
And in her moft unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprifon'd, thou didst painfully remain

A dozen years; within which fpace the died,

And left thee there; where thou didst vent thy groans,

As faft as mill-wheels ftrike: Then was this inland,

(Save for the fon that she did litter here,

A freckled whelp, hag-born,) not honour'd with
A human shape.

7 -in Argier.] Argier is the ancient English name for Algiers.

STEEVENS.

Ari. Yes; Caliban her fon.

Pro. Dull thing, I fay fo; he, that Caliban,
Whom now I keep in fervice. Thou beft know'st
What torment I did find thee in: thy groans
Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts
Of ever-angry bears; it was a torment
To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax
Could not again undo; it was mine art,
When I arriv'd, and heard thee, that made gape
The pine, and let thee out.

Ari. I thank thee, mafter.

Pro. If thou more murmur'ft, I will rend an oak,

And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till

Thou haft howl'd away twelve winters.

Ari. Pardon, master:

I will be correfpondent to command,
And do my fpriting gently.

Pro. Do fo; and after two days

I will discharge thee.

Ari. That's my noble mafter!

What fhall I do? fay what? what fhall I do?

Pro. Go make thyself like a nymph o'the fea; be fubject

To no fight but thine and mine; invisible

8

To every eye-ball elfe. Go, take this fhape,

And hither come in it: go, hence, with diligence.

[Exit ARIEL. Awake, dear heart, awake! thou haft flept well; Awake!

8 Go make thyfelf like a nympho the fea: be fubject

To no fight but thine and mine; invifible &c.] The wordsbe fubject"- having been transferred in the first copy of this play to the latter of thefe lines, by the careleifnefs of the tranfcriber or printer, the editor of the fecond folio, to fupply the metre of the former, introduced the word to reading, like to a nymph o' the fea." The regulation that I have made fhews that the addition, like many others made by that editor, was unneceflary. MALONE.

-a nymph o' the fea;] There does not appear to be fufficient caufe why Ariel fhould affume this new fhape, as he was to be invisible to all eyes but thofe of Profpero. STEEVENS.

Mira. The ftrangeness of your fory put Hearinefs in me.

Pro. Shake it off: Come on ;

We'll vif: Caliban, my fave, who never
Yields as kind answer.

Mira. 'Tis a villaia, fir,

I do not love to look on.

Pro. But, as 'tis,

We cannot mis him: he does make our fire,
Fetch in our wood; and ferves in orices
That proft us. What, ho! flave! Caliban!
Thou earth, thou! fpeak.

Cal. [within.] There's wood enough within.
Pro. Čome forth, Ifay; there's other bulinefs for thee:
Come, thou tortoife! when?

Re-enter ARIEL, like a water-nymph.

Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,

Hark in thine ear.

Ari. My lord, it fhall be done.

[Exit.

Pro. Thou poisonous flave, got by the devil himself Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!

Enter CALIBAN.

Cal. As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd
With raven's feather from unwholefome fen,
Drop on you both a fouth-west blow on ye,

And

9 The frangeness] Why should a wonderful ftory produce fleep? I believe experience will prove, that any violent agitation of the mind eafily fubfides in flumber, especially when, as in Profpero's relation, the laft images are pleasing. JoHNSON.

The poet feems to have been apprehenfive that the audience, as well as Miranda, would fleep over this long but neceflary tale, and therefore ftrives to break it. First, by making Profpero diveft himself of his magick robe and wand; then by waking her attention no less than fix times by verbal interruption; then by varying the action when he rifes and bids her continue fitting; and lastly, by carrying on the business of the fable while Miranda fleeps, by which he is continued on the ftage till the poet has occafion for her again. WARNER.

i Cal. As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd

With raven's feather from unwholesome fen,

Drop on you both!] It was a tradition, it feems, that Lord

Falkland

And blifter you all o'er!

Pro. For this, be fure, to-night thou fhalt have cramps, Side-stitches that fhall pen thy breath up; urchins 2 Shall, for that vaft of night that they may work 3,

All

Falkland, Lord C. J. Vaughan, and Mr. Selden concurred in obferving, that Shakspeare had not only found out a new character in his Caliban, but had alfo devifed and adapted a new manner of language for that character. WARBURTON.

Whence thefe criticks derived the notion of a new language appropri ated to Caliban, I cannot find: they certainly mistook brutality of fentiment for uncouthnefs of words. Caliban had learned to fpeak of Profpero, and his daughter; he had no names for the fun and moon before their arrival, and could not have invented a language of his own without more understanding than Shakspeare has thought it proper to bestow upon him. His diction is indeed fomewhat clouded by the gloominess of his temper, and the malignity of his purposes; but let any other being entertain the fame thoughts, and he will find them eafily iffue in the fame expreflions. JOHNSON.

As wicked dew,-] Wicked; having baneful qualities. So Spenfer fays, wicked weed; fo, in oppofition, we fay herbs or medicines have virtues. Bacon mentions virtuous bezoar, and Dryden virtuous berbs. JOHNSON.

2-urchins] i.e. hedge-hogs. Urchins are enumerated by R.Scott among other terrifick beings. They are perhaps here put for fairies. Milton in his Mafque fpeaks of "urchin blafts," and we ftill call any little dwarfith child, an urchin. The word occurs again in the next act. STEEV.

In the M. W. of Windfer we have urchins, ouphes, and fairies;" and the paffage to which Mr. Steevens alludes, proves, I think, that urchins here fignifies beings of the fairy kind:

"His fpirits hear me,

"And yet I needs must curfe; but they'll nor pinch,

"Fright me with urchin-fhews, pitch me i'the mire &c. MALONE. 3 for that vaft of night that they may work,] The waft of night means the night which is naturally empty and deferted, without action; or when all things lying in fleep and filence, makes the world appear one great uninhabited waffe. So in Hamlet:

"In the dead waste and middle of the night."

It has a meaning like that of nox vafta.

It fhould be remembered, that, in the pneumatology of former ages, these particulars were fettled with the moft minute exactness, and the different kinds of vifionary beings had different allotments of time fuitable to the variety or confequence of their employments. During thefe fpaces, they were at liberty to act, but were always obliged to leave off at a certain hour, that they might not interfere in that portion of night which belonged to others. Among thefe we may fuppofe urchins to have had a part fubjected to their dominion. To this limitation

C 4

All exercife on thee: thoa fhalt be pinch'd

As thick as honey-combs, each pizca more flinging

Than bees that made them.

Cal. I must eat my dinner.

This ifland's mine, by Sycorax my mother,

Which thou tak & from me.

When thou came frût,

Thou troak'dit me, and mad'ft much of me; would'st give me

Water with berries in't; and teach me how

To name the bigger light, and how the left,

That burn by day and night: and then I lov'd thee,

And fhew'd thee all the qualities o' the ile,

The fresh fprings, brine pits, barren place, and fertile ; Curs'd be I, that did fo!-All the charms

Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!

For I am all the fubjects that you have,

Which first was mine own king: and here you fty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The reft of the island.

Pro. Thou moft lying flave,

Whom ftripes may move, not kindness: I have us'd thee, Filth as thou art, with human care; and lodg'd thee

In mine own cell, till thou did feek to violate

The honour of my child.

Cal. Oh ho, oh ho!-'would it had been done!
Thou didit prevent me; I had peopled elfe
This ifle with Calibans.

Pro. Abhorred flave ';

Which any print of goodness will not take,

Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,

Took pains to make thee fpeak, taught thee each hour

limitation of time Shakspeare alludes again in K. Lear: He begins at curfero, and walks till the fecond cock. STEEVENS.

4All the charms ] The latter word, like many others of the fame kind, is here ufed as a diffyllable. MALONE,

5 Abhorred flave;] This fpeech, which the old copy gives to Miranda, is very judiciously bestowed by Theobald on Profpero. JOHNSON. Mr. Theobald found, or might have found, this fpeech transferred to Profpero in the alteration of this play by Dryden and D'Avenant.

MALONE.

One