SEB. Ha, ha, ha! So, you're paid. ADR. Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible,— SEB. Yet, ADR. Yet, ANT. He could not miss 't. ADR. It must needs be of subtle, tender and delicate temperance. ANT. Temperance was a delicate wench. SEB. Ay, and a subtle; as he most learnedly delivered. ADR. The air breathes upon us here most sweetly. ANT. Or as 'twere perfumed by a fen. SEB. Of that there's none, or little. GON. How lush and lusty the grass looks! how green! ANT. The ground indeed is tawny. 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 stained with salt water. 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. ANT. Widow! a pox o' that! widow in? widow Dido! How came that SEB. What if he had said 'widower Eneas' too? Good Lord, how you take it! ADR. 'Widow Dido' said you? you make me study of that: she was of Carthage, not of Tunis. GON. This Tunis, sir, was Carthage. ADR. Carthage? GON. I assure you, Carthage. SEB. His word is more than the miraculous harp; he hath raised the wall and houses too. ANT. What impossible matter will he make easy next? SEB. I think he will carry this island home in his pocket and give it his son for an apple. ANT. And, sowing the kernels of it in the sea, bring forth more islands. GON. Ay. ANT. Why, in good time. GON. 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. O, 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? I ne'er again shall see her. O thou mine heir FRAN. Sir, he may live: I saw him beat the surges under him, And ride upon their backs; he trod the water, The surge most swoln that met him; his bold head He came alive to land. D ALON. No, no, he's gone. SEB. Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss, That would not bless our Europe with your daughter, But rather lose her to an African; Where she at least is banish'd from your eye, Who hath cause to wet the grief on 't. ALON. Prithee, peace. SEB. You were kneel'd to and importuned otherwise By all of us, and the fair soul herself Weigh'd between loathness and obedience, at your son, We have lost I fear, for ever: Milan and Naples have The fault's your own. ALON. So is the dear'st o' the loss. GON. My lord Sebastian, The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness And time to speak it in: you rub the sore, When you should bring the plaster. SEB. ANT. And most chirurgeonly. Very well. GON. It is foul weather in us all, good sir, When you are cloudy. SEB. ANT. Foul weather? Very foul. GON. Had I plantation of this isle, my lord,ANT. He'ld sow 't with nettle-seed. SEB. Or docks, or mallows. GON. And were the king on 't, what would I do? And women too, but innocent and pure; SEB. Yet he would be king on't. ANT. The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning. GON. All things in common nature should produce Without sweat or endeavour: treason, felony, Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine, Would I not have; but nature should bring forth, Of its own kind, all foison, all abundance, To feed my innocent people. SEB. No marrying 'mong his subjects? ANT. None, man; all idle: whores and knaves. GON. I would with such perfection govern, sir, To excel the golden age. SEB. ANT. Long live Gonzalo ! GON. God save his majesty! And,-do you mark me, sir? ALON. Prithee, no more: thou dost talk nothing to me. |