Ari. No, Sir. Pro. Thou haft: where was the born? speak; tell me. Ari. Sir, in Argier. Pro. Oh, was she fo? I muft, Once in a month, recount what thou haft been, Which thou forgett'ft. This damn'd witch, Sy corax, For mischiefs manifold, and forceries terrible Thou know'ft, was banifh'd: for one thing fhe did, Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with child, And here was left by the failors: thou my flave, A dozen years, within which space she died, A freckled whelp, hag-born) not honour'd with Ari. Yes; Caliban her fon. Pro. Dull thing, I fay fo: he, that Caliban, Whom now I keep in fervice. Thou best know'st What torment I did find thee in: thy groans Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breafts Of ever-angry bears; it was a torment To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax Could not again undo: it was mine art, B 3 When When I arriv'd, and heard thee, that made gape The pine, and let thee out. Ari. I thank thee, master. Pro. If thou more murmur'st, 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, Pro. Do fo; and after two days Ari. That's my noble mafter: What fhall I do? fay what: what shall I do? Pro. Go make thyself like to a nymph o' the sea. Be fubject to no fight but thine and mine; invifible 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! I Mira. The ftrangeness of your ftory put Heavinefs in me. Pro. Shake it off: come on; We'll vifit Caliban, my flave, who never The frangeness] Why should a wonderful ftory produce fleep? I believe experience will prove, that any violent agitation of the mind cafily fubfides in flumber, especially when, as in Profpero's relation, the laft images are pleafing. JOHNSON. The poet feems to have been apprehenfive that the audience, as well as Miranda, would fleep over this long but neceffary tale, and therefore strives to break it. First, by making Profpero divest himself of his magic robe and wand; then by waking her attention no lefs 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 bufinefs of the fable while Miranda fleeps, by which the is continued on the stage till the poet has occafion for her again. WARNER. Mira. 'Tis a villain, Sir, I do not love to look on. Pro. But, as 'tis, We cannot mifs him: he does make our fire, That profit us. What ho! flave! Caliban! Thou earth, thou! speak. Cal. [Within.] There's wood enough within. Pro. Come forth, I fay; there's other business for thee. Come, thou tortoife! when ?——————— Enter Ariel like a water-nymph. Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel, Ari. My lord, it shall be done. [Exit. Pro. Thou poisonous flave, got by the devil him felf Upon thy wicked dam, come forth! Enter Caliban. • Cal. As wicked dew, as e'er my mother brufh'd With raven's feather from unwholfome fen, Drop on you both! a fouth-weft blow on you, And blifter you all o'er! 2 Cal. As wicked dew, as e'er my mother brush'd With raven's feather from unwholjome fen, Pro. Drop on you both!] Shakespeare hath very artificially given the air of the antique to the language of Caliban, in order to heighten the grotesque of his character. As here he ufes wicked for unwhalfome. So Sir John Maundevil, in his travels, p. 334. edit. Lond. 1725.- at alle tymes brennet he a veljelle of criftalle fulle of bawme for to zeven gode jmalle and odour to the emperour, and to voyden away alle WYKKEDE eres and corrupciouns. It was a tradition, it feems, that lord Falkland, lord C. J. Vaughan, and Mr. Seldon concurred in obferving, that Shakespeare 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. What they meant by it, without doubt, was, that Shakespeare gave his language a cer B 4 tain Pro. For this be fure, to-night thou shalt have cramps, Side-ftitches that fhall pen thy breath up; urchins Shall, 3 for that vaft of night that they may work, All exercife on thee: thou fhalt be pinch'd As thick as honey-combs, each pinch more stinging Than bees that made 'em, tain grotefque air of the favage and antique; which it certainly has. But Dr. Bentley took this, of a new language, literally; for fpeaking of a phrafe in Milton, which he fuppofed altogether abfurd and unmeaning, he fays, Satan had not the privilege as Caliban in Shakespeare, to use new phrafe and diction unknown to all others and again—to practise distances is fill a Caliban file. Note on Milton's Paradife Loft, 1. 4. v. 945. But I know of no fuch Caliban ftile in Shakespeare, that hath new phrafe and diction unknown to all others. WARBURTON. Whence thefe critics derived the notion of a new language appropriated to Caliban, I cannot find: they certainly mitook brutality of fentiment for uncouthnefs of words. Caliban had learned to speak 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 underftanding than Shakespeare has thought it proper to bestow upon him. His diction is indeed fomewhat clouded by the gloominefs of his temper, and the malignity of his purpofes; but let any other being entertain the fame thoughts, and he will find them easily iffue in the fame expreffions. As wiched der,] 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 berls. JOHNSON, 3 -for that vaft of night that they may work,] The vast of night means the night which is naturally empty and deserted, without action. It has a meaning like that of nox vasta, It should be remembered, that, in the pneumatology of former times, these particulars were fettled with the most minute exactnefs, 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 belong'd to others. Among thefe we may fuppofe urchins to have had a part fubjected to their dominion. To this limitation of time Shakespeare alludes again in K. Lear. He begins at curfew, and walks till the fecond cock. STEEVENS. Cel Cal. I must eat my dinner. This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou tak'ft from me. When thou camest first, Thou ftroak'dft me, and mad'ft much of me; would'st give me Water with berries in't; and teach me how The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place, and fertile. Who first was mine own king: and here you fty me Pro. Thou moft lying flave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness: I have us'd thee, Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodg'd thee Cal. Oh ho, oh ho!I wou'd it had been done! Pro. 4 Abhorred flave; Which any print of goodness will not take, • Abborred flave ;] This fpeech, which the old copy gives to Miranda, is very judiciously bestowed by Mr. Theobald on Profpero. JOHNSON. The modern editions take this fpeech from Miranda, and give it to Profpero; though there is nothing in it but what the may speak with the greatest propriety; efpecially as it accounts for her being enough in the way and power of Caliban, to enable him to make the attempt complained of. The poet himself fhews he intended Miranda fhould be his tutorefs, when he makes Caliban fay," I've feen thee in her, my mistress fhewed me, "thee and thy dog, and thy bufh;" to Stephano, who had jus affured the moniter he was the man in the moon. HOLT. |