I'll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough.
A plague upon the tyrant that I serve!
I'll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee,
Thou wond'rous man.

Trin. A most ridiculous monster ; to make a
wonder of a poor drunkard,
Cal. I pry'thee, let me bring thee where crabs

grow;
And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts;
Shew thee a jay's nest, and instruct thee how
To snare the nimble marmozet; I'll bring thee
To clust'ring filberds, and sometimes I'll get thee
Young sea-mells * from the rock: Wilt thou go

with me?

a

4

-Sea-mells-) This word has puzzled the commentators: Dr. Warburton reads Mamois ; Mr. Theobald would read any thing Talher than sea-mells. Mr. Holt, who wrote notes upon this play, observes, that limpets are in some places called scams, and there, fore I had once suffered scamels to ftand. JOHNSON.

Theobald had very reasonably proposed' to read fea-malls, or sea-mells. An e, by these careless printers, was calily chauged joto ac, and from this accident, I believe, all the difficulty arises, the word having been spelt by the transcriber, seamels. Willoughly mentions the bird as Theobald has informed us. Had Mr. Holt told us in what part of England limpets, are called scams, more regard would have been paid to his assertion.

I should suppose, at all events, a bird to have been design'd, as young and old fish are taken with equal facility; but young birds are more easily surprised than old ones. Besides, Caliban had already proffered to fish for Trincuio. In Cavendish's second voyage, the sailors eat young gulls a the ille of Penguins. STEEVENS.

I have no doubt but Theobald's proposed amendment ought to be received. Sir Joseph Bauks informs me, that in Willoughby's, or rather John Ray's Ornithology, p. 34, No. 3, is mentioned the common fea, mall, Larus, cinereus minor; and that young sea gulls have been esteemed a delicate food in this country, we learn from Plott, who, in his History of Staffordshire, p. 231, gives an account of the mode of taking a species of gulls called in that country powits, with a plate annexed, at the end of which he writes, “s they being accounted a good dilh at the inost plentiful tables. To this it

Str. I priythee now, lead the way, without any more talking.-Trinculo, the king and all our company else being drown'd, we will inherit here.Here; bear my bottle. Follow Trinculo, we'll fill him by and by again. Cal. Farewell master; farewell, farewell.

( Sings drunkenly. Trin. A howling montier ; a drunken monster. CAL. No more dams I'll make for fish;

Nor fetch in firing

Al requiring,
Nor scrape trenchering,' nor wash dish;

Ban Ban, Ca=Cat ban,

Has a new master-- Get a new man. Freedom, hey-day! hey-day, freedom ! freedom,

hey-day, freedom ! Ste. O brave monster! lead the way. Exeunt.

6

7

may be added, that Sir Robert Sibbald in his Ancient State of the Shire of Fife, mentions, amongst fowls which frequent a neighbouring illand, several sorts of sea-malls, and one in particular, the katie wake, a fowl of the Larus or mall kind, of the bigness of an ordinary pigeon, which some hold, says he, to be as savoury and as good meat as a partridge is. REED. 3 Nor scrape trenehering, )

In our author's time trenchers were in general use; and male domesticks were sometimes em- , ployed in cleansing them. " I have helped ( says Lilly in his History of his Life and Times, ad an. 1620 ), to carry eighteen tubs of water in one morning ; -all manner of drudgery I will. ingly performed ; scrape-trenchers, » &c. MALONE.

6 'Ban, 'Ban, Ca-Caliban, ) Perhaps our author remembered a song of Sir P. Sidney's : « Da, da, da_Daridan. »

Astrophel and Stella, fol. 1627. MALONE. - Get a new man.) When Caliban sings this last part of his ditty, he must be supposed to turn his head scornfully toward the cell of Prospero, whose service he has deserted. STEEVENS.

7

1

ACT III. S CE N E I.

Before Prospero's Cell.

Enter FERDINAND, bearing a log.

Fer. There be some sports are painful; but

their labour Delight in them fets off: 8 some kinds of baseness Are nobly undergone; and most poor matters Point to rich ends. This my mean task would be

3

8 There be fome Sports are painful ; but their labour Delight in them sets off :)

Molliter aufterum studio fallente laborem. Hor. fat. 2, lib. ii. The old copy reads : " -and their labour, » &c, STEEVENS. We have again the same thought in Macbeth :

. The labour we delight in physicks pain. " After .. and, - at the same time must be understood. Mr. Pope, unnecessarily, reads -66 But their labour. -," which has been fol. lowed by the subsequent editors.

In like manner in Coriolanus, AIV. the fame change was made by him. - I am a Roman, and ( i. e, and get ) my services are, as you are, against them.» Mr. Pope reads- - I am a Roo man, but my services,» &c. MALONE.

I prefer Mr. Pope's emendation, which is justified by the following passage in the same speech:

This my mean task would be “ As heavy to me as 'tis odious ; but

6. The mistress that I ferve, » &c. It is surely better to change a single word, than to countenance one corruption by another, or suppose that four words, necessary to produce sense, were left' to be understood. STEEVENS.

9 This my mean task would ber-) The metre of this line is defe&ive in the old copy, by the words would be being transferred to the next line.

Our author and his contemporaries generally use odious as a trisyllable. MALONE. Mr. Malone prints the passage as follows :

- This niy mean task would be " As heavy to me, as odious; but The word odious į as he observes, is sometimes used as a trisylla

2

As heavy to me, at 'tis odious; but
The mistress, which I serve, quickens what's dead,
And makes my labours pleasures : O, she is
Ten times more gentle, than her father's crabbed;
And lie's compos’d of harshness. I must remove
Some thousands of these logs, and pile them up,
Upon a fore injunction: My sweet mistress
Weeps when she sees me work; and says, such

bareness
Had ne'er like éxecutor. I forget:
But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours;
Most busy-less, when I do it.'

Enter MIRANDA; and PROSPERO at a distance. MIRA.

Alas, now! pray you, Work not so hard: I would, the lightning had Burnt up those logs, that you are enjoin'd to pile! Pray, set it down, and rest you: when this burns, 'Twill weep for having weary'd you : My father Is hard at study ; pray now, rest yourself; He's safe for these three hours. ble.----Granted ; but then it is always with the penult. short. The metre, therefore, 'as regulated by him, would still be defe&ive.

By the advice of Dr. Farmer, I have supply'd the necessary monofyllable'tis; which completes the measure, without the Dightest change of sense. STEEVENS.

-I forget : Perhaps Ferdinand means to say I forget my task; but that is not surprising, for I am thinking on Miranda, and these sweet thoughts, &c. He may however mean, that he forgets or thinks little of the baseness of his employment. Whichsoever be the sense, And, or For, should seem more proper in the next line, than But. MALONE. 3 Most busy-lefs, when I do it.) The two first folios read :

. Most busy left, when I do it.” 'Tis true this reading is corrupt; but the corruption is so very little removed from the truth of the text, that I cannot afford to think well of my own fagacity for having discovered it.

THEOBALD.

FER.

O most dear mistress,
The sun will set, before I shall discharge
What I must strive to do.
MIRA.

If you'll fit down,
I'll bear your logs the while : Pray, give me that;
1'll carry it to the pile.
FER.

No, precious creature :
I had rather crack my finews, break my back,
Than you should such dishonour undergo,
While I fit lazy by.
MIRA,

It would become me
As well as it does you : and I should do it
With much more ease ; for my good will is to it,
And yours against.
PRO,

Poor worm ! thou art infected;
This visitation shews it.
MIRA.

You look wearily.
FER. No, noble mistress ;, 'tis fresh morning

4

with me,

your name?

When you are by at night.' I do beseech you,
(Chiefly, that I might set it in my prayers,)
What is
MIRA.

Miranda :-O my father,
I have broke your hest 6 to say so !

4 And yours against. ) The old copy reads

« And yours it is against. » By the advice of Dr. Farmer I have omitted the words in Italicks, as they are veedless to the sense of the passage, and would have rendered the hemiftich too long to join with its successor in making a regular versę. STEEVENS,

-'tis fresh morning with me,
When you are by at night.)

Tu mihi curarum requies, tu noče vel atra
Lumen

Tibul. Lib. iv. El. xiii. MALONE. 6 -hell-( For beheft; i, e. command. So before, A& I, fc. ii:

Refusing her grand heftscars STEEVENS.