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PRO.

And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers,
And in her most unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprison'd, thou didst painfully remain
A dozen years; within which space she died,
And left thee there; where thou didst vent thy

groans [islandAs fast as mill-wheels strike. Then was this Save for the son that she did litter here,

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

ARI.

Yes, Caliban her son.

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But, as 'tis,
We cannot miss him: he does make our fire,
Fetch in our wood, and serves in offices

That profit us. What ho! slave! Caliban!
Thou earth, thou! speak.

CAL. [Within.] There's wood enough within.
PRO. Come forth, I say! there's other business

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CAL. As wickedd dew 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! (6)

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

Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins
Shall, for that vast of night 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 'em.

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MIRA. (Waking.)] Mr. Collier claims for his annotator the merit of having first added this not very important stage direction.

b We cannot miss him:] We cannot do without bim. • When?] See note (f), p. 449, Vol. I.

d As wicked dew-) Wicked here implies baneful, pernicious; as in opposition we hear of the virtuous properties of "herbs, plants, stones," &c.

• Urchins-] Hedgehogs were formerly so called, it is doubtful, however, whether urchins in this place does not signify some fairy

beings; as in "The Merry Wives of Windsor," Act IV. Sc. 4,

44 we'll dress

Like urchins, ouphes, and fairies," &c.

f Vast of night-] By "vast of night" the poet may have meant the chasm or vacuity of night, as in "Hamlet," Act I. Sc. 2,"In the dead vast and middle of the night." But some critics have conjectured we should read,

Shall for that, fast of night."

urchins

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PRO. At least two glasses the time, 'twixt six | To do me business in the veins o' the earth

a

and now

Must by us both be spent most preciously. ARI. Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains,

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When it is bak'd with frost. ARI.

I do not, sir.

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d This blue-ey'd hag-] Blue ey'd has been ably defended; but it must be confessed that blear-cy'd, a common epithet in our old plays, seems more applicable to the "damn'd witch Sycorax." Thus in Beaumont and Fletcher's play of "The Chances," Act IV. Sc. 2, where old Antonio bids his servant

"Get me a conjuror,

One that can raise a water devil:

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a At least two glasses-the time, 'twixt six and nowMust by us both be spent most preciously.]

By the customary punctuation of this passage, Prospero is made to ask a question and answer it. The pointing we adopt obviates this inconsistency, and renders any change in the distribution of the speeches needless.

b Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, serv'd-] The second thee, which overloads the line, was probably repeated by the compositor through inadvertence.

• Argier.] The old English name for Algiers.

any blear-ey'd people

With red heads, and flat noses, can perform it."

PRO.

And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers,
And in her most unmitigable rage,

Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprison'd, thou didst painfully remain
A dozen years; within which space she died,
And left thee there; where thou didst vent thy
groans
[island-
As fast as mill-wheels strike. Then was this
Save for the son that she did litter here,

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

ARI.

Yes, Caliban her son.

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But, as 'tis,
We cannot miss him: he does make our fire,
Fetch in our wood, and serves in offices

That profit us. What ho! slave! Caliban!
Thou earth, thou! speak.

CAL. [Within.] There's wood enough within.
PRO. Come forth, I say! there's other business

for thee:

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CAL. As wickedd dew 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! (6)

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

Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins
Shall, for that vast of night 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 'em.

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& MIRA. (Waking.)] Mr. Collier claims for his annotator the merit of having first added this not very important stage

direction.

b We cannot miss him:] We cannot do without him. e When?] See note (f), p. 449, Vol. I.

d As wicked dew-] Wicked here implies baneful, pernicious; as in opposition we hear of the virtuous properties of "herbs, plants, stones," &c.

• Urchins-] Hedgehogs were formerly so called. it is doubtful, however, whether urchins in this place does not signify some fairy

beings; as in "The Merry Wives of Windsor," Act IV. Sc. 4,

we'll dress

Like urchins, ouphes, and fairies," &c.

f Vast of night-] By "vast of night" the poet may have meant the chasm or vacuity of night, as in "Hamlet," Act I. Sc. 2,

"In the dead vast and middle of the night." But some critics have conjectured we should read,

urchins

Shall for that, fast of night."

[graphic]

Which first was mine own king: and here you | Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like

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Here, as in many other places, capable signifies impressible, susceptible.

e Race,-] That is, Nature, essence.

d The red plague rid you,-] See note (a), p. 447, Vol. II.

Fill all thy bones with aches,-] Mr. Collier remarks that "this word, of old, was used either as a monosyllable or as a dissyllable, as the case might require." This may be questioned. "Ake," says Baret in his "Alvearie," "is the Verbe of the substantive Ach, ch being turned into k." As a substantive, then,

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It was customary in the "good old times," for the partners in

FER. Where should this music be? i' the air,
or the earth?

It sounds no more:-and sure it waits upon
Some god o' the island. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the king my father's wreck,
This music crept by me upon the waters,
Allaying both their fury and my passion
With its sweet air: thence I have follow'd it,
Or it hath drawn me rather:-but 't is gone.
No, it begins again.

(*) Old text, cock-a-didle-dowe.

should be read parenthetically, in the sense of, the wild waves

being hushed. The original punctuation, however,

"Court'sied when you have, and kiss'd,

The wild waves whist:"

(when you have curtsied, and kissed the waves to peace) affords

some dances to curtsy and salute before beginning; and if an

allusion to these ceremonies is intended, the line,

"The wild waves whist,"

an intelligible and poetic meaning.

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