For yet, ere supper-time, must I perform SCENE II. Another part of the Island. [Exit. Enter STEPHANO and TRINCULO; CALIBAN following, with a bottle. Ste. Tell not me;-when the butt is out, we will drink water; not a drop before: therefore bear up, and board 'em: Servant-monster, drink to me. Trin. Servant-monster? the folly of this island! They say, there's but five upon this isle: we are three of them; if the other two be brained like us, the state totters.7 Ste. Drink, servant-monster, when I bid thee; thy eyes are almost set in thy head. Trin. Where should they be set else? he were a brave monster indeed, if they were set in his tail. Ste. My man-monster hath drowned his tongue in sack: for my part, the sea cannot drown me: I swam,9 Perhaps, however, more consonantly with ancient language, we should join two of the words together, and read 7 "Who are surpriz'd withal." Steevens. if the other two be brained like us, the state totters.] We meet with a similar idea, in Antony and Cleopatra: "He bears the third part of the world."-" The third part then is drunk." 8 Steevens. he were a brave monster indeed, if they were set in his tail.] I believe this to be an allusion to a story, that is met with in Stowe, and other writers of the time. It seems in the year 1574, a whale was thrown ashore near Ramsgate: "A monstrous fish, (says the chronicler) but not so monstrous as some reported-for his eyes were in his head, and not in his back." Summary, 1575, p. 562. Farmer. 9 I swam, &c.] This play was not published till 1623. Albumazar made its appearance in 1614, and has a passage, relative to the escape of a sailor, yet more incredible. Perhaps, in both instances, a sneer was meant at the Voyages of Ferdinando Mendez Pinto, or the exaggerated accounts of other lying travellers: five days I was under water: and at length "Got up and spread myself upon a chest, "Rowing with arms, and steering with my feet: Steevens ere I could recover the shore, five-and-thirty leagues, off and on, by this light.-Thou shalt be my lieutenant, monster, or my standard. Trin. Your lieutenant, if you list; he's no standard.1 Ste. We'll not run, monsieur monster. Trin. Nor go neither: but you'll lie, like dogs; and yet say nothing neither. Ste. Moon-calf, speak once in thy life, if thou beest a good moon-calf. Cal. How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe: I'll not serve him, he is not valiant. Trin. Thou liest, most ignorant monster; I am in case to justle a constable: Why, thou deboshed fish thou,2 was there ever man a coward, that hath drunk so much sack as I to-day? Wilt thou tell a monstrous lie, being but half a fish, and half a monster? Cal. Lo, how he mocks me! wilt thou let him, my lord? Trin. Lord, quoth he!-that a monster should be such a natural! Cal. Lo, lo, again! bite him to death, I pr'ythee. Ste. Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head; if you prove a mutineer, the next tree-The poor monster's my subject, and he shall not suffer indignity. 1 or my standard. Trin. Your lieutenant, if you list; he's no standard.] Meaning, he is so much intoxicated, as not to be able to stand. The quibble between standard, an ensign, and standard, a fruit-tree, that grows without support, is evident. Steevens. 2 • thou deboshed fish thou,] I met with this word, which I suppose to be the same as debauched, in Randolph's Fealous Lovers, 1634: See, your house be stor'd "With the deboishest roarers in this city." Again, in Monsieur Thomas, 1639: 66 saucy fellows, "Deboshed and daily drunkards." The substantive occurs in the Partheneia Sacra, 1633: ners." A hater of men rather than the deboishments of their man When the word was first adopted from the French language, it appears to have been spelt, according to the pronunciation, and, therefore, wrongly; but ever since it has been spelt right, it has been uttered with equal impropriety. Steevens. Cal. I thank my noble lord. Wilt thou be pleas'd To hearken once again the suit I made thee?3 Ste. Marry will I: kneel and repeat it; I will stand, and so shall Trinculo. Enter ARIEL, invisible. Cal. As I told thee Before, I am subject to a tyrant;4 A sorcerer, that by his cunning, hath Cal. Thou liest, thou jesting monkey, thou; Ste. Trinculo, if you trouble him any more in his tale, by this hand, I will supplant some of your teeth. Trin. Why, I said nothing. Ste. Mum then, and no more.— -Proceed. Cal. I say, by sorcery, he got this isle; From me he got it. If thy greatness will Revenge it on him-for, I know, thou dar'st; But this thing dare not. Ste. That's most certain. [To CAL. Cal. Thou shalt be lord of it, and I'll serve thee. Ste. How now shall this be compassed? Can'st thou bring me to the party? Cal. Yea, yea, my lord; I'll yield him thee asleep, Where thou may'st knock a nail into his head.5 3 I thank my noble lord. Wilt thou be pleas'd To hearken once again the suit I made thee?] The old copy, which erroneously prints this, and other of Caliban's speeches, as prose, reads to the suit I made thee;" But the elliptical mode of expression in the text, has already occurred in the second scene of the first act of this play: 66 being an enemy "To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit." Steevens. - a tyrant;] Tyrant is here employed as a trisyllable. 5 I'll yield him thee asleep, Steevens. Where thou may'st knock a nail into his head.] Perhaps Shakspeare caught this idea from the 4th chapter of Judges, v. 21: "Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temple, &c. for he was fast asleep," &c. Steevens. But only Sycorax my dam, and she; Ste. Is it so brave a lass? Cal. Ay, lord; she will become thy bed, I warrant, And bring thee forth brave brood. Ste. Monster, I will kill this man: his daughter and I will be king and queen; (save our graces!) and Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys:-Dost thou like the plot, Trinculo? Trin. Excellent. Ste. Give me thy hand; I am sorry I beat thee: but, while thou livest, keep a good tongue in thy head. Cal. Within this half hour will he be asleep; Wilt thou destroy him then? Ste. Ay, on mine honour. Ari. This will I tell my master. Cal. Thou mak'st me merry: I am full of pleasure; Let us be jocund: Will you troll the catch' You taught me but while-ere? Ste. At thy request, monster, I will do reason, any reason: Come on, Trinculo, let us sing. [Sings. Flout 'em, and skout 'em ; and skout 'em, and flout 'em ; Cal. That's not the tune. [ARIEL plays the tune on a tabor and pipe. Ste. What is this same? verse, being too long by a foot, Hanmer judiciously gave it, as it now stands in the text. By means as innocent, the versification of Shakspeare, has, I hope, in many instances been restored. The temerity of some critics had too long imposed severe restraints on their successors. Steevens. 9 Will you troll the catch-] Ben Jonson uses the word in Every Man in his Humour: "If he read this with patience, I'll troul ballads." Again, in the Cobler's Prophecy, 1594: "A fellow that will troul it off with tongue. "Faith, you shall hear me troll it, after my fashion." To troll a catch, I suppose, is to dismiss it trippingly from the tongue. Steevens. Trin. This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of No-body.1 Ste. If thou beest a man, shew thyself in thy likeness: if thou beest a devil, take't as thou list. Trin. O, forgive me my sins! Ste. He that dies, pays all debts: I defy thee:-Mercy upon us! Cal. Art thou afeard?2 Ste. No, monster, not I. Cal. Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not. Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming, I cry'd, to dream again. Ste. This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I shall have my music for nothing. Cal. When Prospero is destroyed. Ste. That shall be by and by: I remember the story. Trin. The sound is going away: let's follow it, and after, do our work. Ste. Lead, monster; we'll follow.-I would, I could see this taborer:3 he lays it on. 1 This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of No-body.] A ridiculous figure, sometimes represented on signs. Westward for Smelts, a book, which our author appears to have read, was printed for John Trundle, in Barbican, at the signe of the No-body. Malone. The allusion is here to the print of No-body, as prefixed to the anonymous comedy of " No-body and Some-body," without date, but printed before the year 1600. Reed. 2 afeard?] Thus the old copy.-To affear is an obsolete verb, with the same meaning as to affray. So, in the Shipmannes Tale of Chaucer, v. 13,330: "This wif was not aferde, ne affraide." Between aferde and affraide, in the time of Chaucer, there might have been some nice distinction, which is at present lost. Steevens. 3 I would I could see this taborer:] Several of the incidents, in this scene, viz.-Ariel's mimickry of Trinculo-the tune played on the tabor,-and Caliban's description of the twangling instru |