tyrant 3; a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of this island.

ARI. Thou liest.

CAL. Thou liest, thou jesting monkey, thou; I would, my valiant master would destroy thee: I do not lie.

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.- -[TO CALIBAN.] 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.

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 a.
ARI. Thou liest, thou canst not.

3-a TYRANT ;] Tyrant is here employed as a trisyllable..

STEEVENS.

Mr. Steevens, after frequently ridiculing the notion that hour, and other words of that description, can be pronounced as trisyllables, is willing to make one of tyrant, in order to force Caliban's speeches into metre. MALONE.

4 I'll yield him thee ASLEEP,

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 an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, &c. : for he was fast asleep," &c. STEEVENS.

CAL. What a pied ninny's this? Thou scurvy

patch!

I do beseech thy greatness, give him blows,
And take his bottle from him: when that's

gone,

He shall drink nought but brine; for I'll not shew him

Where the quick freshes are.

STE. Trinculo, run into no further danger: interrupt the monster one word further, and, by this hand, I'll turn my mercy out of doors, and make a stock-fish of thee.

TRIN. Why, what did I? I did nothing; I'll go further off.

STE. Didst thou not say, he lied?

ARI. Thou liest.

STE. Do I so? take thou that. [Strikes him.] As you like this, give me the lie another time.

TRIN. I did not give the lie :-Out o' your wits, and hearing too? A pox o' your bottle! this can sack, and drinking do.-A murrain on your monster, and the devil take your fingers!

CAL. Ha, ha, ha!

STE. Now, forward with your tale. Pr'ythee stand further off.

s What a pied ninny's this?] It should be remembered that Trinculo is no sailor, but a jester; and is so called in the ancient dramatis persona. He therefore wears the party-coloured dress of one of these characters. See fig. xii. in the plate annexed to the First Part of King Henry IV. and Mr. Tollet's explanation of it. So, in the Devil's Law Case, 1623:

"Unless I wear a pied fool's coat." STEEVENS..

Dr. Johnson observes, that Caliban could have no knowledge of the striped coat usually worn by fools; and would therefore transfer this speech to Stephano. But though Caliban might not know this circumstance, Shakspeare did. Surely he who has given to all countries and all ages the manners of his own, might forget himself here, as well as in other places. Malone.

CAL. Beat him enough: after a little time, I'll beat him too.

STE. Stand further.-Come, proceed.

CAL. Why, as I told thee, 'tis a custom with him I' the afternoon to sleep: there thou may'st brain him,

Having first seiz'd his books; or with a log
Batter his skull, or paunch him with a stake,
Or cut his wezand with thy knife: Remember,
First to possess his books; for without them
He's but a sot, as I am, nor hath not

One spirit to command: They all do hate him,

6

Remember,

First to possess his BOOKS; for without them

He's but a sot, as I am, nor hath not

One SPIRIT TO COMMAND:] Milton, in his Masque at Ludlow Castle, seems to have caught a hint from the foregoing passage:

"Oh, ye mistook; ye should have snatch'd his wand,
"And bound him fast; without his rod revers'd,

“And backward mutters of dissevering power,

"We cannot free the lady."

In a former scene Prospero says,

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I'll to my book;

STEEVENS.

"For yet, ere supper time, must I perform
"Much business appertaining."

Again, in Act V.:

"And deeper than did ever plummet sound,
"I'll drown my book."

In the old romances the sorcerer is always furnished with a book, by reading certain parts of which he is enabled to summon to his aid what dæmons or spirits he has occasion to employ. When he is deprived of his book, his power ceases. Our author might

have observed this circumstance much insisted on in the Orlando Innamorato of Boyardo, (of which, as the Rev. Mr. Bowle informs me, the first three cantos were translated and published in 1598,) and also in Harrington's translation of the Orlando Furioso, 1591. A few lines from the former of these works may prove the best illustration of the passage before us.

Angelica, by the aid of Argalia, having bound the enchanter Malagigi:

As rootedly as I: Burn but his books;

He has brave utensils, (for so he calls them,)
Which, when he has a house, he'll deck withal.
And that most deeply to consider, is

The beauty of his daughter; he himself
Calls her a non-pareil: I never saw a woman',
But only Sycorax my dam, and she;
But she as far surpasseth Sycorax,

As great'st does least.

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?

"The damsel searcheth forthwith in his breast,
"And there the damned booke she straightway founde,
"Which circles strange and shapes of fiendes exprest;
"No sooner she some wordes therein did sound,
"And opened had some damned leaves unblest,
"But spirits of th' ayre, earth, sea, came out of hand,

ઃઃ

Crying alowde, what is't you us command?" MAlone. 7 Calls her a non-pareil: I ne'er saw woman,] The old copy reads:

66

Calls her a non-pareil: I never saw a woman." But this verse, being too long by a foot, Hanmer judiciously gave it as it stands in my text (I ne'er saw woman).

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.

STE.

Ay, on mine honour.

ARI. This will I tell my master.

CAL. Thou mak'st me merry: I am full of plea

sure;

Let us be jocund: Will you troll the catchR
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 ;

Thought is free.

CAL. That's not the tune.

[ARIEL plays the tune on a tabor and pipe.

STE. What is this same ?

TRIN. This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of No-body9.

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!

8 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:

66

fashion."

"A fellow that will troul it off with tongue. Faith, you shall hear me troll it after my To troll a catch, I suppose, is to dismiss it trippingly from the tongue. STEEVENS.

9 This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of NoBODY.] 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 sign 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.