5 Their pricks at my foot-fall; sometime am I Enter TRINCULO. Here comes a spirit of his; and to torment me, Trin. Here's neither bush nor shrub, to bear off any weather at all, and another storm brewing; I hear it sing i'the wind: yond' same black cloud, yond' huge one, looks like a foul bumbard' that would shed his liquor. If it should thunder, as it did before, I know not where to hide my head: yond' same cloud cannot chuse but fall by pailfuls. What have we here? a man or a fish? Dead or alive? A fish: he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind of, not of the newest, Poor-John. A strange fish! Were I in England now, (as once I was,) and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver: there would this monster make a man9; any strange beast there makes a man: when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. Legg'd like a man! and his fins like arms! Warm, o'my troth! I do now let loose my opinion, hold it no longer; this is no fish, but an islander, that hath lately suffered by a thunder-bolt. [Thunder.] Alas! the storm is come 5 Their pricks] i. e. prickles. 6 7 8 wound with adders,] wound, or twisted about. looks like a foul bumbard-] This word means a large vessel for holding drink, as well as the piece of ordnance so called. this fish painted,] To exhibit fishes, either real or imaginary, was very common about the time of our author. STEEVENS. make a man ;] That is, make a man's fortune. 9 again my best way is to creep under his gaberdine;' there is no other shelter hereabout: Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. I will here shroud, till the dregs of the storm be past. Enter STEPHANO, singing; a Bottle in his hand. Ste. I shall no more to sea, to sea, Here shall I dye a-shore; This is a very scurvy tune to sing at a man's funeral : Well, here's my comfort. The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I, [Drinks. Lov'd Mall, Meg, and Marian, and Margery, For she had a tongue with a tang, She lov'd not the savour of tar nor of pitch, This is a scurvy tune too: But here's my comfort. Cal. Do not torment me: O! [Drinks. Ste. What's the matter? Have we devils here? Do you put tricks upon us with savages", and men of Inde? Ha! I have not 'scap'd drowning, to be afeard now of your four legs; for it hath been said, As proper a man as ever went on four legs, cannot make him give ground: 1 his gaberdine ;] A gaberdine is properly the coarse frock or outward garment of a peasant, but here means a loose felt cloak. MALONE. savages,] salvages was the spelling and pronunciation of and it shall be said so again, while Stephano breathes at nostrils. Cal. The spirit torments me: O! Ste. This is some monster of the isle, with four legs; who hath got, as I take it, an ague: Where the devil should he learn our language? I will give him some relief, if it be but for that: If I can recover him, and keep him tame, and get to Naples with him, he's a present for any emperor that ever trod on neat's-leather. Cal. Do not torment me, pr'ythee; I'll bring my wood home faster. Ste. He's in his fit now; and does not talk after the wisest. He shall taste of my bottle: if he have never drunk wine afore, it will go near to remove his fit: if I can recover him, and keep him tame, I will not take too much for him: he shall pay for him that hath him, and that soundly. 3 Cal. Thou dost me yet but little hurt; thou wilt Anon, I know it by thy trembling ;* Now Prosper works upon thee. Ste. Come on your ways; open your mouth: here is that which will give language to you, cat;5 open your mouth: this will shake your shaking, I can tell you, and that soundly: you cannot tell who's your friend: open your chaps again. Trin. I should know that voice: It should be But he is drowned; and these are devils: O! defend me! Ste. Four legs, and two voices; a most delicate monster! His forward voice now is to speak well of his too much Too much means any sum, ever so much. It has, however, been observed, that when the vulgar mean to ask an extravagant price for any thing, they say, with a laugh, I won't make him pay twice for it. 4. I know it by thy trembling;] This tremor is always represented as the effect of being possessed by the devil. 3 cat;] Good liquor will make a cat speak. 6 His forward voice, &c.] The person of Fame was anciently described in this manner. friend; his backward voice is to utter foul speeches, and to detract. If all the wine in my bottle will recover him, I will help his ague: Come,-Amen! I will pour some in thy other mouth. Trin. Stephano, Ste. Doth thy other mouth call me? Mercy! mercy! This a devil, and no monster: I will leave him; I have no long spoon. 8 Trin. Stephano! - if thou beest Stephano, touch me, and speak to me; for I am Trinculo; - be not afeard, thy good friend Trinculo. Ste. If thou beest Trinculo, come forth; I'll pull thee by the lesser legs: if any be Trinculo's legs, these are they. Thou art very Trinculo, indeed: How cam'st thou to be the siege of this moon-calf?? Can he vent Trinculos? Trin. I took him to be killed with a thunderstroke: But art thou not drowned, Stephano? I hope now, thou art not drowned. Is the storm overblown? I hid me under the dead moon-calf's gaberdine, for fear of the storm: And art thou living, Stephano? O Stephano, two Neapolitans 'scap'd! Ste. Pr'ythee, do not turn me about; my stomach is not constant. Cal. These be fine things, an if they be not sprites. That's a brave god, and bears celestial liquor: I will kneel to him. Ste. How did'st thou 'scape? how cam'st thou hither? swear by this bottle, how thou cam'st hither. I escaped upon a butt of sack, which the sailors heaved overboard, by this bottle! which I made of the bark of a tree, with mine own hands, since I was cast a-shore. 7 Amen!] Means, stop your draught. 8 I have no long spoon.] Alluding to the proverb, A long spoon to eat with the devil. 9 to be the siege of this moon-calf?] Siege signifies stool in every sense of the word, and is here used in the dirtiest. A mooncalf is an inanimate shapeless mass, supposed by Pliny to be engendered of woman only. Cal. I'll swear, upon that bottle, to be thy True subject; for the liquor is not earthly. Ste. Here; swear then how thou escap❜dst.1 Trin. Swam a-shore, man, like a duck; I can swim like a duck, I'll be sworn. Ste. Here, kiss the book: Though thou canst swim like a duck, thou art made like a goose. Trin. O Stephano, hast any more of this? Ste. The whole butt, man; my cellar is in a rock by the sea-side, where my wine is hid. How now, mooncalf? how does thine ague? Cal. Hast thou not dropped from heaven? 2 Ste. Out o'the moon, I do assure thee: I was the man in the moon, when time was. Cal. I have seen thee in her, and I do adore thee; My mistress shewed me thee, thy dog, and bush.+ Ste. Come, swear to that; kiss the book: I will furnish it anon with new contents: swear. Trin. By this good light, this is a very shallow monster: -I afeard of him? a very weak monster3 The man i'the moon? -a most poor credulous monster: Well drawn, monster, in good sooth. Cal. I'll shew thee every fertile inch o'the island; And kiss thy foot: I pr'ythee, be my god. Trin. By this light, a most perfidious and drunken monster: when his god's asleep, he'll rob his bottle. Cal. I'll kiss thy foot: I'll swear myself thy subject. 1 Ste. Here; swear then how thou escap'dst.] Mr. Ritson proposes to alter this line thus: Ste. [to Cal.] Here, swear then. [to Trin.] How escap❜dst thou? 2 Hast thou not dropped from heaven?] The new-discovered Indians of the island of St. Salvador, asked, whether Columbus and his companions were not come down from heaven? +"and thy dog, and thy bush." MALONE. 3 I afeard of him? a very weak monster: &c.] It is to be observed, that Trinculo, the speaker, is not charged with being afraid; but it was his consciousness that he was so that drew this brag from him. This is nature. WARBURTON. "And I will kiss”. - MALONE. |