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I'll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough.
A plague upon the tyrant that I ferve!

I'll bear him no more fticks, but follow thee,
Thou wond'rous man.

TRIN. A moft ridiculous monfter; 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 neft, and inftruct thee how

To fnare the nimble marmozet; I'll bring thee To cluft'ring filberds, and fometimes I'll get thee Young fea-mells from the rock: Wilt thou go with me?

-fea-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, obferves, that limpets are in fome places called Scams, and therefore I had once fuffered fcamels to ftand. JOHNSON.

Theobald had very reafonably propofed to read fea-malls, or fea-mells. An e, by thefe carelefs printers, was eally changed into ac, and from this accident, I believe, all the difficulty arifes, the word having been fpelt by the tranfcriber, 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 fhould fuppose, at all events, a bird to have been defign'd, as young and old fish are taken with equal facility; but young birds are more easily furprised than old ones. Befides, Calibau had already proffered to fish for Trinculo. In Cavendish's fecond voyage, the failors eat young gulls a the isle of Penguins. STEEVENS.

I have no doubt but Theobald's propofed amendment ought to be received. Sir Jofeph Banks 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 Hiftory of Staffordshire, p. 231, gives an account of the mode of taking a fpecies of gulls called in that country powita, with a plate annexed, at the end of which he writes, they being accounted a good difh at the moft plentiful tables." To this it

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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 mafter; farewell, farewell.

(Sings drunkenly.

TRIN. A howling monfter; a drunken monster.
CAL. No more dams I'll make for fifh;
Nor fetch in firing

At requiring,

5

Nor fcrape trenchering, nor wash dish;
'Ban 'Ban, Ca-Caliban, 6

Has a new mafter-Get a new man.

7

Freedom, hey-day! hey-day, freedom! freedom, hey-day, freedom!

STE. O brave monfter! lead the way. Exeunt.

may be added, that Sir Robert Sibbald in his Ancient State of the Shire of Fife, mentions, amongft 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 fome hold, fays he, to be as favoury and as good meat as a partridge is. REED.

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3 Nor Scrape trenchering,) In our author's time trenchers were in general ufe; and male domefticks were fometimes employed in cleansing them. I have helped (fays Lilly in his Hiftory 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.

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Caliban,) Perhaps our author remembered

a fong of Sir P. Sidney's:

7

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Aftrophel and Stella, fol. 1627. MALONE. -Get a new man.) When Caliban fings this laft part of his ditty, he must be fuppofed to turn his head fcornfully toward the cell of Profpero, whofe fervice he has deferted. STEEVENS.

ACT III. SCENE I

Before Profpero's Cell.

Enter FERDINAND, bearing a log.

FER. There be fome sports are painful; but their labour

Delight in them fets off: fome kinds of bafeness Are nobly undergone; and most poor matters Point to rich ends. This my mean talk would be,

8 There be fome Sports are painful; but their labour

Delight in them fets off:)

Molliter aufterum ftudio fallente laborem. Hor. fat. 2. lib. ii. The old copy reads: and their labour, &c,, STEEVENS.

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We have again the fame thought in Macbeth: "The labour we delight in phyficks pain. After « and," at the fame time must be understood. Mr. Pope, unneceffarily, reads. But their labour, which has been fol lowed by the fubfequent editors.

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In like manner in Coriolanus, A& IV. the fame 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

man,

but my fervices," &c. MALone.

I am a Ro.

I prefer Mr. Pope's emendation, which is justified by the following paffage in the fame fpeech:

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This my mean tafk would be

"As heavy to me as 'tis odious; but.

"The miftrefs that I ferve," &c.

It is furely better to change a fingle word, than to countenance one corruption by another, or fuppofe that four words, neceffary to produce fenfe, were left to be understood. STEEVENS.

9 This my mean tafk would be) The metre of this line is defective in the old copy, by the words would be being transferred to the next line. Our author and his contemporaries generally ufc odious as a trifyllable. MALONE.

Mr. Malone prints the paffage as follows:

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This my mean task would be

"As heavy to me, as odious; but

The word odious; as he obferves, is fometimes used as a trifylla

As heavy to me, at 'tis odious; but

The mistress, which I ferve, quickens what's dead,
And makes my labours pleafures: O, fhe is

Ten times more gentle, than her father's crabbed;
And he's compos'd of harfhnefs.
I must remove

Some thousands of thefe logs, and pile them up,
Upon a fore injunction: My fweet mistress

Weeps when the fees me work; and fays, fuch bafeness

Had ne'er like éxecutor. I forget:

2

But thefe fweet thoughts do even refresh my labours; Moft bufy-lefs, when I do it.'

Enter MIRANDA; and PROSPERO at a distance. MIRA. Alas, now! pray you, Work not fo hard: I would, the lightning had Burnt up thofe logs, that you are enjoin'd to pile! Pray, fet it down, and reft you: when this burns, 'Twill weep for having weary'd you: My father Is hard at ftudy; pray now, reft yourself; He's fafe for thefe three hours.

ble. -Granted; but then it is always with the penult. Short. The metre, therefore, as regulated by him, would ftill be defe&ive.

By the advice of Dr. Farmer, I have fupply'd the necessary monofyllable'tis; which completes the measure, without the fighteft change of fenfe. STEEVENS.

2 -I forget: Perhaps Ferdinand means to fayI forget my task; but that is not furprising, for I am thinking on Miranda, and thefe Tweet thoughts, &c. He may however mean, that he forgets or thinks little of the bafeness of his employment. Whichfoever be the fenfe, And, or For, fhould feem more proper in the next line, than But. MALONE.

3 Moft bufy-lefs, when I do it.) The two first folios read: Most bufy left, when I do it."

'Tis true this reading is corrupt; but the corruption is fo 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 moft dear mistress,

If you'll fit down,

The fun will fet, before I fhall discharge

What I muft ftrive to do.

MIRA.

I'll bear your logs the while: Pray, give me that; I'll carry it to the pile.

FER.

No, precious creature:

I had rather crack my finews, break
finews, break my back,
Than you should such dishonour undergo,
While I fit lazy by.

MIRA.

As well as it does you

It would become me

and I fhould do it

With much more cafe; for my good will is to it, And yours against."

PRO.

4

This vifitation fhews it.

MIRA.

Poor worm! thou art infected;

You look wearily.

FER. No, noble miftrefs; 'tis fresh morning

with me,

When you are by at night.' I do befeech you,

(Chiefly, that I might set it in my prayers,)

What is your name ?

MIRA.

I have broke your heft 6

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Miranda :-O my father, to fay fo!

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 needlefs to the fenfe of the paffage, and would have rendered the hemiflich too long to join with its fucceffor in making a regular verfe. STEEVens,

S

-'tis fresh morning with me,

When you are by at night.)

Tu mihi curarum requies, tu no&te vel atrâ

Lumen

Tibul. Lib. iv. El. xiii.

MAlone.

heft(For beheft; i. e. command. So before, A&I, fc. ii:

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