Act II
Scoena Secunda.[1]
[ Enter Caliban, with a burthen of Wood (a noyse of
thunder heard.)]
Cal.
All the infections[2] that the Sunne suckes vp
From Bogs, Fens[3], Flats, on Prosper[4] fall, and make him
By ynch-meale[5] a disease: his Spirits[6] heare me,
And yet I needes must curse. But they'll nor pinch,
Fright me with Vrchyn-shewes[7], pitch me i'th mire,
Nor lead me like a fire-brand,[8] in the darke
Out of my way, vnlesse he bid 'em; but
For euery trifle, are they set vpon me,
Sometime like Apes, that moe[9] and chatter[10] at me,
And after bite me: then like Hedg-hogs, which
Lye tumbling in my bare-foote way, and mount
Their pricks at my foot-fall[11]: sometime am I
All wound with Adders, who with clouen tongues
Doe hisse me into madnesse: Lo, now Lo, [ Enter Trinculo.]
Here comes a Spirit of his, and to torment me
For bringing wood in slowly: I'le fall flat,
Perchance he will not minde me.
Tri.
Here's neither bush, nor shrub to beare off any
weather at all: and another Storme brewing, I heare it
sing ith' winde: yond same blacke cloud, yond huge
one, lookes like a foule bumbard[12] that would shed his
licquor: if it should thunder, as it did before, I know
not where to hide my head: yond same cloud cannot
choose but fall by paile-fuls[13]. What haue we here, a man,
or a fish? dead or aliue? a fish, hee smels like a fish: a
very ancient[14] and fish-like smell[15]: a kinde of, not of the
newest poore-Iohn[16]: a strange fish: were I in England
now (as once I was) and had but this fish painted; not
a holiday-foole[17] there but would giue a peece of siluer:
there, would this Monster, make a man: any strange
beast there, makes a man[18]: when they will not giue a
doit to relieue a lame Begger, they will lay out ten to see
a dead Indian[19]: Leg'd[20] like a man; and his Finnes[21] like
Armes: warme o'my troth: I doe now let loose my opinion;
hold it no longer; this is no fish, but an Islander[22],
that hath lately suffered by a Thunderbolt: Alas,
the storme is come againe: my best way is to creepe vnder[23]
his Gaberdine: there is no other shelter hereabout:
Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellowes:
I will here shrowd till the dregges of the storme
be past.
[ Enter Stephano singing.]
Ste.
I shall no more to sea, to sea, here shall I dye ashore.
This is a very scuruy tune to sing at a mans
Funerall: well, here's my comfort. [ Drinkes.]
[ Sings.]
The Master, the Swabber, the Boate-swaine & I;
The Gunner, and his Mate
Lou'd Mall, Meg, and Marrian, and Margerie,
But none of vs car'd for Kate.
For she had a tongue with a tang,
Would cry to a Sailor goe hang:
She lou'd not the sauour of Tar nor of Pitch,
Yet a Tailor might scratch her where ere she did itch.
Then to Sea Boyes, and let her goe hang.
This is a scuruy tune too:
But here's my comfort. [ drinks.]
Cal.
Doe not torment me: oh.[24]
Ste.
What's the matter?
Haue we diuels here?
Doe you put trickes vpon's with Saluages[25], and Men of
Inde? ha? I haue not scap'd drowning, to be afeard
now of your foure legges: for it hath bin said; as proper
a man as euer went on foure legs[26], cannot make him
giue ground: and it shall be said so againe, while Stephano
breathes at' nostrils.
Cal.
The Spirit torments me: oh.[27]
Ste.
This is some Monster of the Isle, with foure legs;
who hath got (as I take it) an Ague: where the diuell
should he learne our language? I will giue him some reliefe
if it be but for that: if I can recouer him, and keepe
him tame, and get to Naples with him, he's a Present
for any Emperour that euer trod on Neates-leather.
_
Cal.
Doe not torment me 'prethee: I'le bring my
wood home faster.[28]
Ste.
He's in his fit now; and doe's not talke after the
wisest; hee shall taste of my Bottle: if hee haue neuer
drunke wine afore, it will goe neere to remoue his Fit:
if I can recouer him, and keepe him tame, I will not take
too much for him; hee shall pay for him that hath him,
and that soundly.
Cal.
Thou do'st me yet but little hurt; thou wilt anon,
I know it by thy trembling[29]: Now Prosper workes
vpon thee.
Ste.
Come on your wayes: open your mouth: here
is that which will giue language to you Cat; 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 againe.
Tri.
I should know that voyce:
It should be,
But hee is dround; and these are diuels; O defend
me.
Ste.
Foure legges and two voyces; a most delicate
Monster: his forward voyce now is to speake well of
his friend; his backward voice, is to vtter foule speeches,
and to detract[30]: if all the wine in my bottle will recouer
him, I will helpe his Ague[31]: Come: Amen, I will
poure some in thy other mouth.
Tri.
Stephano.
Ste.
Doth thy other mouth call me?[32] Mercy, mercy:
This is a diuell, and no Monster: I will leaue him, I
haue no long Spoone.
Tri.
Stephano: if thou beest Stephano, touch me, and
speake to me: for I am Trinculo; be not afeard, thy
good friend Trinculo.
Ste.
If thou bee'st Trinculo: come forth: I'le pull
thee by the lesser legges: if any be Trinculo's legges,
these are they: Thou art very Trinculo indeede: how
cam'st thou to be the siege[33] of this Moone-calfe[34]? Can
he vent[35]Trinculo's?
Tri.
I tooke him to be kil'd with a thunder-strok; but
art thou not dround Stephano: I hope now thou art
not dround: Is the Storme ouer-blowne? I hid mee
vnder the dead Moone-Calfes Gaberdine[36], for feare of
the Storme: And art thou liuing Stephano? O Stephano,
two Neapolitanes scap'd?
Ste.
'Prethee doe not turne me about, my stomacke
is not constant.
Cal.
These be fine things, and if they be not sprights:
that's a braue God, and beares Celestiall liquor[37]: I will
kneele to him.[38]
Ste.
How did'st thou scape?
How cam'st thou hither?
Sweare by this Bottle how thou cam'st hither: I escap'd
vpon a But of Sacke[39], which the Saylors heaued o're-boord,
by this Bottle which I made of the barke of
a Tree, with mine owne hands, since I was cast a'-shore.
_
Cal.
I'le sweare vpon that Bottle, to be thy true subiect,
for the liquor is not earthly.
St.
Heere: sweare then how thou escap'dst.
Tri.
Swom ashore (man) like a Ducke: I can swim
like a Ducke i'le be sworne.
Ste.
Here, kisse the Booke.[40]
Though thou canst swim like a Ducke, thou art made
like a Goose.
Tri.
O Stephano, ha'st any more of this?
Ste.
The whole But (man) my Cellar is in a rocke
by th' sea-side, where my Wine is hid:
How now Moone-Calfe, how do's thine Ague?
Cal.
Ha'st thou not dropt from heauen?
Ste.
Out o'th Moone I doe assure thee. I was the
Man ith' Moone[41], when time was.
Cal.
I haue seene thee in her: and I doe adore thee:
My Mistris shew'd me thee, and thy Dog, and thy Bush.
Ste.
Come, sweare to that: kisse the Booke: I will
furnish it anon with new Contents: Sweare.
Tri.
By this good light, this is a very shallow Monster:
I afeard of him? a very weake Monster:
The Man ith' Moone?
A most poore creadulous Monster:
Well drawne Monster, in good sooth.
Cal.
Ile shew thee euery fertill ynch o'th Island: and
I will kisse thy foote[42]: I prethee be my god.
Tri.
By this light, a most perfidious[43], and drunken
Monster, when's god's a sleepe he'll rob his Bottle.
Cal.
Ile kisse thy foot, Ile sweare my selfe thy Subiect.
Ste.
Come on then: downe and sweare.[44]
Tri.
I shall laugh my selfe to death[45] at this puppi-headed[46]
Monster: a most scuruie Monster: I could finde in
my heart to beate him.
Ste.
Come, kisse.
Tri.
But that the poore Monster's in drinke:
An abhominable Monster.
Cal.
I'le shew thee the best Springs: I'le plucke thee
Berries: I'le fish for thee; and get thee wood enough.[47]
A plague vpon the Tyrant that I serue;
I'le beare him no more Stickes[48], but follow thee, thou
wondrous man.
Tri.
A most rediculous Monster, to make a wonder of
a poore drunkard.
Cal.
I 'prethee let me bring thee where Crabs grow;
and I with my long nayles will digge thee pignuts;
show thee a Iayes nest, and instruct thee how to snare
the nimble Marmazet[49]: I'le bring thee to clustring
Philbirts, and sometimes I'le get thee young Scamels[50]
from the Rocke: Wilt thou goe with me?[51]
Ste.
I pre'thee now lead the way without any more
talking. Trinculo, the King, and all our company else
being dround, wee will inherit here: Here; beare my
Bottle: Fellow Trinculo; we'll fill him by and by a-gaine.
_
[ Caliban Sings drunkenly.]
Farewell Master; farewell, farewell.
Tri.
A howling Monster: a drunken Monster.
Cal.
No more dams I'le make for fish,
Nor fetch in firing, at requiring,
Nor scrape trenchering[52], nor wash dish,
Ban' ban' Cacalyban
Has a new Master, get a new Man.
Freedome, high-day, high-day freedome, freedome high-day,
freedome.
Ste
O braue Monster; lead the way. [ Exeunt.]
Footnote 32: Carlo Buffone’s drunken soliloquy, from Jonson’s Every Man Out of His Humour:
Car. I marry, Sir, here's Purity: O, George, I could
bite off his Nose for this, now: Sweet Rogue he has
drawn Nectar, the very Soul of the Grape! I'll wash my
Temples with some on't presently, and drink some half
a score draughts; 'twill heat the Brain, kindle my Ima-
gination, I shall talk nothing but Crackers and Fire-
works to night. So, Sir! please you to be here, Sir, and
I here: So.
the one, and pledges with the other.
G R E X.
Cor. This is worth the observation, Signior.
Car. 1. Cup. Now, Sir; here's to you; and I present
you with so much of my love.
2. Cup. I take it kindly from you, Sir, and will return
you the like Proportion: but withal, Sir, remembring
the merry night we had at the Countesses, you know
where, Sir.
1. By Heaven, you put me in mind now of a very
necessary Office, which I will propose in your pledge,
Sir: the health of that honourable Countess, and the
sweet Lady that sate by her, Sir.
2. I do vail to it with reverence. And now, Signior,
with these Ladies, I'll be bold to mix the Health of your
divine Mistress.
1. Do you know her, Sir?
2. O Lord, Sir, I; and in the respectful Memory
and mention of her, I could wish this Wine were the
most precious Drug in the World.
1. Good faith, Sir, you do honour me in't exceed-
ingly.
G R E X.
Mit. Whom should he personate in this, Signior?
Cor. Faith, I know not, Sir; observe, observe him.
2. If it were the basest filth, or mud that runs in the
Channel, I am bound to pledg it, respectively, Sir. And
now, Sir, here is a replenisht Bowl, which I will reci-
procally turn upon you, to the Health of the Count
Frugale.
1. The Count Frugale's Health, Sir? I'll pledg it on
my Knees, by this Light.
2. Will you, Sir? I'll drink it on my Knee, then, by
the Light.
G R E X.
Mit. Why this is strange!
Cor. Ha' you heard a better drunken Dialogue?
2. Nay, do me right, Sir.
1. So I do, in good faith.
2. Good faith you do not; mine was fuller.
1. Why, believe me, it was not.
2. Believe me it was: and you do lye.
1. Lye, Sir?
2. I, Sir.
1. 'Swounds!
2. O, come, stab if you have a mind to it.
1. Stab? dost thou think I dare not?
Car. Nay, I beseech you Gentlemen, what means
this? nay, look, for shame respect your Reputations.
Pot, Cups and all.
1
[1]“Scoena Secunda”: KERMODE: It does not appear to have been observed that the main comic device of this scene seems to originate in Suetonius, Divi Augusti Vita, XC.
[2]“infections”: Shakespeare uses “infection”, but adds an “s”, except here. In Jonson’sThe Alchemist: “’Tis the secret/Of nature naturized ‘gainst all infections”
[3]“Fens”: “fens” and “fen”, only found here and in Coriolanus. In Jonson’sThe Masque of Queens, Charm I: “From the lakes and from the fens,/ From the rocks and from the dens.” Jonson’s notes to this masque show him exploring Caliban-like territory: [note 47] “To which we may add this corollary out of Agrippa…”To Saturn correspond any places that are fetid, dark, underground, superstitious or dismal, such as cemeteries, tombs, dwellings deserted by men and ruinous with age, dark and horrible places, lonely caves, caverns, wells. Furthermore, fish-ponds, fens, swamps and the like.” See also the satiric use made of the project for draining fens in The Devil is an Ass.
[4]“sucks vp…on Prosper fall”: Note that here Prospero has lost his “o” – Caliban’s description of the torments that this “Prosper” inflicts, and incites his “apes” to inflict, have an uncanny resemblance to the torments that Tucca, in Poetaster, incites Crispinus and Demetrius (Marston and Dekker) to inflict upon Horace (Jonson). Notice also that Tucca, like Prospero, dangles some “frippery” or new suites, before his gang of impressed recruits (or, as Dekker called them, “The Devil and his angels”; see fn. 6 below):
Cris. We'll under-take him, Captain.
Dem. I, and tickle him i'faith, for his arrogancy and
his impudence, in commending his own things; and
for his translating. I can trace him i'faith. O, he is
the most open fellow living; I had as lieve as a new
Sute I were at it.
Tuc. Say no more then, but do it; 'tis the only way
to get thee a new Suite; sting him, my little Neufts;
I'll give you instructions: I'll be your intelligencer,
we'll all joyn, and hang upon him like so many Horse-
leaches, the Players and all. We shall sup together,
soon; and then we'll conspire i'faith.
[5]“ynch-meale”: another new construction for this play, found nowhere else in the canon.
[6]“his Spirits”: As mentioned above, the torment Caliban describes mirrors the torment Captain Tucca inflicts on Horace/Jonson in Satiromastix. In the Epilogue to that play, the boy-actor who played Tucca comes onstage to beg pardon, “I recant the opinions which I held of Courtiers, Ladies, & Cittizens, …that Hereticall Libertine Horace taught me so to mouth it. Besides, twas when stiffe Tucca was a boy: twas not Tucca that railed and roar’d then, but the Devil & his Angels.”
[7]“Vrchyn-shewes”: the only use of this compound, as well as the only use of “urchin” in the canon. “Urshin” seems to have been Jonson’s spelling.
[8]“lead me like a fire-brand”: LINDLEY: “Literally a piece of wood kindled at the fire. Though not elsewhere used as a term for the ignis fatuus, the ‘will-o’-the-wisp’ seems to be implied. Compare the torch-bearing urchin/spirits in Merry Wiveswho lead Sir John Falstaff about and burn the tips of his fingers.
[9]“moe”: VARIORUM: W.A.WRIGHT: So Cotgrave, ‘Mouë’ F.. A moe, or mouth; an (ill-favoured) extension, or thrusting out, of the lips’; and again, ‘Grimacer. To make a face, or a wry mouth; to mowe.’ Douce quotes from Harsnet’s Declaration of Popish Impostures a passage in which he speaks of the supposed possession of young girls; ‘They make anticke faces, girn, mow and mop like an ape, tumble like a hedge-hogge.’ &c.”
[10]“Apes, that moe and chatter”: “Chatter” found in Lear and Cymbeline: “It cannot be i’the eye, for apes and monkeys/’Twixt two such shes would chatter, this way and Contemn with mows the other.”
[11]“foot-fall”: the only use of this word in the canon.
[12]“bombard” VARIORUM: THEOBALD: A large vessel for holding drink, as well as the piece of ordnance so called. – STEEVENS: Ben Jonson, in his Masque of Augurs, speaks of ‘a bombard of broken beer.’ – HALLIWELL: A very large leathern drinking vessel, used for the purpose of distributing liquor to a number of persons, or employed for filling smaller vessels at a meal… The ‘bombard-man’, mentioned by Ben Jonson in his Love Restored (ed. 1616, p. 991), was, according to Gifford, one of the people who attended at the buttery-hatch, and carried the huge cans of beer to the different offices. It will be remembered that Prince Henry calls Falstaff a ‘huge bombard of sack’; and Coles has, ‘a bombard, tankard, cantharus.’” Compare the crude shake-down that Stephano applies to Caliban and Trinculo, shivering under a gabardine while a foul bombard of a cloud threatens overhead, with the rude search that Jacques makes of Juniper and Onion, in Jonson’sThe Case is Altered: