* * * * *
"WURM," IN MODERN GERMAN--PASSAGE IN SCHILLER'S "WALLENSTEIN."
(Vol. viii., pp. 464. 624.; Vol. ix., p. 63.)
I believe MR. KEIGHTLEY is perfectly right in his conjecture, so far as
Schiller is concerned. _Wurm_, without any prefix, _had_ the sense of
serpent in German. Adelung says it was used for all animals without feet
who move on their bellies, serpents among the rest. Schiller does not seem
to have had Shakspeare in his thoughts, but the proverb quoted by Adelung:
"Auch das friedlichste Würmchen _beiszt_, wenn man es treten will."
In this proverb there is evidently an allusion to the serpent, as if of the
same nature with the worm; which, as _we_ know, neither _stings_ nor
_bites_ the foot which treads on it. Shakspeare therefore says "will turn,"
making a distinction, which Schiller does _not_ make. In the translation
Coleridge evidently had Shakspeare in his recollection; but he has not lost
Schiller's idea, which gives the worm a serpent's _sting_. _Vermo_ is
applied both by Dante and Ariosto to the Devil, as the "great serpent:"
"... I' mi presi
Al pel del _vermo_ reo, che 'l mondo fora."
_Inferno_, C. XXXV.
"Che al gran _vermo_ infernal mette la briglia."
_Orlando furioso_, C. XLV. st. 84.