68

Beseech you, father! Pros. Hence! hang not on my garments. Mir. I'll be his surety.

Pros.

Sir, have pity:

Silence! one word more

Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee.

What!

An advocate for an impostor? hush!

Thou think'st there are no more such shapes as he,
Having seen but him and Caliban: foolish wench!
To the most of men this is a Caliban,
And they to him are angels.

Mir.

My affections

Are, then, most humble: I have no ambition
To see a goodlier man.

Pros. [To Fer.] Come on; obey:
Thy nerves are in their infancy again,
And have no vigour in them.
Fer.

So they are:

My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up.
My father's loss, the weakness which I feel,
The wreck of all my friends, nor this man's
threats,

To whom I am subdued, are but light to me,
Might I but through my prison once a day
Behold this maid: all corners else o' th' earth

Let liberty make use of; space enough
Have I in such a prison.

Pros.

Come on.

[Aside] It works.-[To Fer.]

Thou hast done well, fine Ariel!-[To Fer.] Fol

low me.

[To Ari.] Hark, what thou else shalt do me.
Mir.
Be of comfort:

My father's of a better nature, sir,
Than he appears by speech: this is unwonted
Which now came from him.
Pros.

Thou shalt be as free As mountain-winds; but then, exactly do All points of my command.

Ari.

To the syllable. Pros. [To Fer.] Come, follow.-[To Mir.] Speak not for him. [Exeunt.

mild, and not to be dreaded'), we think, from the context of the whole passage, that she is intended to say-He's of a noble nature, and not timid;' "gentle" being often used to express good blood, good birth, exalted quality. 67. Ward. Posture of defence.

68. This stick. Prospero's magic wand.

With an eye of green in't.

Ant. He misses not much.

Seb. No; he doth but mistake the truth totally.

Gon. But the rarity of it is,-which is indeed almost beyond credit,—

Seb. As many vouched rarities are.

Gon. That our garments, being, as they were, drenched in the sea, hold, notwithstanding, their freshness and glosses; being rather new dyed, than

Gon. Well, I have done: but yet

Seb. He will be talking.

Ant. Which, of he or Adrian, for a good wager,

1. Some merchant, and the merchant.

"Merchant" in this line is used, the first time, for a merchant vessel (as we now say merchantman), and the second time for the merchant himself.

2. Which, of he or Adrian. This form of phrase is found again in "Midsummer Night's Dream," iii. 2:-" Whose right, of thine or mine, is most in Helena."

3. Ha, ha, ha! In the Folio, the prefixes to these two So, you're paid. speeches were transposed. Antonio laughs in triumph, and

Ant. If but one of his pockets could speak, would it not say, he lies ?

Seb. Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report. Gon. Methinks, our garments are now as fresh as when we put them on first in Afric, at the marriage of the king's fair daughter Claribel to the King of Tunis.

Seb. 'Twas a sweet marriage, and we prosper well in our return.

Adr. Tunis was never graced before with such a paragon to their queen.

Gon. Not since Widow Dido's time.

Sebastian retorts :-"You are paid the proposed stake,--' a laughter.'"

4. Temperance. Used here for temperature. There is also allusion to one of the Christian names given to girls in Puritan times Prudence, Hope, Faith, Charity, Temperance, &c. 5. Lush. Luxuriant, full of sap.

6. Eye. Frequently used for a touch of colour, a tint, a slight hue.

7. Widow Dido. Elissa, surnamed Dido, stabbed herself

Gon. [To Adr.] Ay.

Ant. Why, in good time.

Gon. [To Alon.] Sir, we were talking, that our garments seem now as fresh, as when we were at Tunis at the marriage of your daughter, who is now queen.

Ant. And the rarest that e'er came there. Seb. Bate, I beseech you, Widow Dido. Ant. Oh! Widow Dido; ay, Widow Dido. Gon. Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the first day I wore it? I mean, in a sort.

Ant. That sort was well fished for.

Gon. When I wore it at your daughter's marriage?

Alon. You cram these words into mine ears against

Seb.

Foul weather!

Married my daughter there! for, coming thence,

Ant.

My son is lost; and, in my rate,1o she too,

Gon.

in preference to marrying again, after having vowed fidelity to her murdered husband Sichæus.

Gonzalo alludes to her when she founded Carthage, and became its queen. Sebastian refers to her, as recorded by Virgil, in love with the wandering Trojan, whom he scoffingly calls "Widower Eneas."

8. The miraculous harp. Amphion's harp, the sound of which was said to have built Thebes.

9. Ay. We take this to be said by Gonzalo, in confirmation to Adrian, of Tunis being Carthage. The of his assurance speakers are to be supposed as arranged in two separate groups: Gonzalo engaged with King Alonso and the rest, while Sebastian and Antonio remain apart together, commenting sneeringly on the others.

Very foul.
Had I plantation of this isle, my lord,—
He'd sow't with nettle-seed.

Seb.
Or docks, or mallows.
Gon. And were the king on't, what would I do?
Seb. 'Scape being drunk, for want of wine.
Gon. I' the commonwealth 15 I would by con-
traries

Execute all things; for no kind of traffic
Would I admit; no name of magistrate;

10. In my rate. According to my reckoning, or belief. 11. Who hath cause to wet the grief on't. "Who" has been explained here to refer to "eye," as writers of Shakespeare's time often used "who" for "which," and "which for "who." But we take "who" here to refer to "she," and the meaning of the passage to be this :-"She is banish'd who hath cause to weep the grief of this marriage."

12. Weigh'd, &c. Debated, sway'd alternately by aversion from the match and filial duty, which way she would decide. "Dear" and 13. Dearest of the loss. dearest times used for "dire" and "direst."

"

were some

14. Chirurgeonly. Surgeon-like. French, chirurgien. 15. I' the commonwealth, &c. There is a remarkably parallel passage to this speech in Florio's translation of Montaigne's

VOL. 1.

3

Ant. 'Twas you we laughed at. Gon. Who, in this kind of merry fooling, am nothing to you: so you may continue, and laugh at nothing still.

Ant. What a blow was there given!
Seb. An it had not fallen flat-long.

Gon. You are gentlemen of brave mettle: you would lift the moon out of her sphere, if she would continue in it five weeks without changing.

Enter ARIEL (invisible) playing solemn music.18 Seb. We would so, and then go a bat-fowling.19 Ant. Nay, good my lord, be not angry. Gon. No, I warrant you; I will not adventure my discretion so weakly. Will you laugh me asleep, for I am very heavy?

Ant. Go sleep, and hear us.

[All sleep except Alon., Seb., and Ant. Alon. What, all so soon asleep! I wish mine eyes Would, with themselves, shut up my thoughts: I

find

Worthy Sebastian?-Oh, what might ?-No more:And yet, methinks, I see it in thy face,

What thou shouldst be. The occasion speaks thee; and

My strong imagination sees a crown
Dropping upon thy head.

Seb.

Seb. Well; I am standing water. Ant. I'll teach you how to flow. Seb. Hereditary sloth instructs me. Ant. If you but knew, how you the purpose cherish, Whiles thus you mock it! how, in stripping it, You more invest it! Ebbing men, indeed, Most often do so near the bottom run By their own fear, or sloth.

Prithee, say on:

Seb. The setting of thine eye, and cheek, proclaim A matter from thee; and a birth, indeed, Which throes thee much to yield.

Ant. Thus, sir: Although this lord of weak remembrance," this (Who shall be of as little memory, When he is earth'd) hath here almost persuaded (For he's a spirit of persuasion, only Professes to persuade) the king his son's alive,'Tis as impossible that he's undrown'd, As he that sleeps here swims. Seb.

That he's undrown'd.

I have no hope

I do; and surely,

This is in accordance with the 18. Playing solemn music. original stage direction, and with Ariel's “playing and singing" when he enters with Ferdinand in the previous scene.

19. Bat-fowling. Catching birds at night by beating the bushes, to make them fly towards the light of torches or fires prepared for the purpose.

20. If heed me. For "If you heed me;" the previous "you" is understood, Shakespeare often making a word do double service in a sentence. By "trebles thee o'er," Antonio means,

'will make thee thrice as great as thou wert before;' and then he goes on to humour Sebastian's metaphor of being as inactive as "standing water," by telling him he "will teach him how to flow" on to greatness, and saying that his hearer unconsciously symbolises the intended proposal while mocking it.

21. This lord of weak remembrance. A parenthetical speech, the meaning of which is much involved; but its sense seems to be-Though this lord, who, when he is buried, shall leave as little memory behind him as he himself now possesses, has