I'll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough. I'll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee, TRIN. A most ridiculous monster; to make a wonder of a poor drunkard, CAL. I pry'thee, let me bring thee where crabs And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts; with me? 4-Sea-mells-) This word has puzzled the commentators: Dr. Warburton reads Shamois; Mr. Theobald would read any thing rather than fea-mells. Mr. Holt, who wrote notes upon this play, observes, that limpets are in some places called Scams, and therefore I had once suffered fcamels to stand. JOHNSON. Theobald had very reasonably proposed to read fea-malls, or Sea-mells. An e, by these careless printers, was easily changed into ac, and from this accident, I believe, all the difficulty arifes, the word having been spelt by the transcriber, Seamels. Willoughby 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 affertion. 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 Trinculo, In Cavendish's second voyage, the failors eat young gulls a the ifle of Penguins. STEEVENS. I have no doubt but Theobald's propofed 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 fea gulls have been efteemed 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 pewits, with a plate annexed, at the end of which he writes, accounted a good dish at the most plentiful tables. they being To this it STE. I pr'ythee now, lead the way, without any more talking.--Trinculo, the king and all our company elfe being drown'd, we will inherit here.Here; bear my bottle. Fellow Trinculo, we'll fill him by and by again. CAL. Farewell master; farewell, farewell. (Sings drunkenly. TRIN. A howling monster; a drunken monster. CAL. No more dams I'll make for fish; Nor fetch in firing At requiring, 5 Nor Scrape trenchering, nor wash dish; 7 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. may be added, that Sir Robert Sibbald in his Ancient State of the Shire of Fife, mentions, amongst fowls which frequent a neighbouring ifland, feveral forts of fea-malls, and one in particular, the katiewake, a fowl of the Larus or mall kind, of the bigness of an ordinary pigeon, which some hold, says he, to be as favoury and as good meat as a partridge is. REED. 3 Nor Scrape trenchering,) In our author's time trenchers were in general use; and male domesticks were sometimes employed in cleanfing 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 willingly performed; Scrape-trenchers, &c. MALONE. 6 'Ban, 'Ban, Ca - Caliban,) Perhaps our author remembered a fong of Sir P. Sidney's: Aftrophel and Stella, fol. 1627. MALONE. 7 - Get a new man.) When Caliban fings this last part of his ditty, he must be supposed to turn his head scornfully toward the cell of Profpero, whose service he has deferted. STEEVENS. 1 ACT III. SCENE I Before Profpero's Cell. Enter FERDINAND, bearing a log. FER. There be some sports are painful; but Delight in them fets off: & fome kinds of baseness 8 There be some sports are painful; but their labour Molliter aufterum studio fallente laborem. Hor. fat. 2. lib. ii. The labour we delight in physicks pain. " After "and," at the same time must be understood. Mr. Pope, unneceffarily, reads But their labour," which has been followed by the subsequent editors. In like manner in Coriolanus, A& IV. the same change was made by him. « I am a Roman, and (i. e, and yet) my services are, as you are, against them." Mr. Pope reads I am a Roman, 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 ،، The mistress that I ferve," &c. It is furely better to change a fingle 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 be) 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 trifyllable. MALONE. Mr. Malone prints the passage as follows: " As heavy to me, as odious; but The word odious; as he observes, is sometimes used as a trifylla 7 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 he'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 baseness Had ne'er like executor. I forget: 2 Alas, now! pray you, Enter MIRANDA; and PROSPERO at a distance. MIRA. Work not fo 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 neceffary monofyllable'tis; which completes the measure, without the flightest change of fense. STEEVENS. I forget: Perhaps Ferdinand means to say-I forget my task; but that is not furprising, 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 bufy-lefs, when I do it.) The two first folios read : '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 fun will fet, 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; I'll carry it to the pile. FER. No, precious creature : 1 I had rather crack my finews, break my back, FER. No, noble mistress; 'tis fresh morning with me, When you are by at night. I do beseech you, (Chiefly, that I might set it in my prayers,) What is your name ? 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 againft." By the advice of Dr. Farmer I have omitted the words in Italicks, as they are needless to the sense of the paffage, and would have rendered the hemistich too long to join with its fucceffor in making a regular verse. STEEVENS, Stis fresh morning with me, When you are by at night.) Tu mihi curarum requies, tu node vel atrå Tibul. Lib. iv. El. xiii, MALONE. 6heft (For behest; i, e. command. Sp before, A&I, fc. ii: . Refufing her grand hests STEEVENS. |