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Cal.

I shall be pinch'd to death.

Alon. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?

Seb. He is drunk now: where had he wine?

280

Alon. And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they Find this grand liquor that hath gilded 'em? How camest thou in this pickle?

Trin. I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last that, I fear me, will never out of my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing.

Seb. Why, how now, Stephano!

Steph. O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but a cramp. Pros. You'ld be king o' the isle, sirrah?

Steph. I should have been a sore one then.

Alon. This is a strange thing as e'er I look'd on.

[Pointing to Caliban.

290

Pros. He is as disproportion'd in his manners

As in his shape. Go, sirrah, to my cell;
Take with you your companions; as you look
To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.

Cal. Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter
And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass
Was I, to take this drunkard for a god

And worship this dull fool!

Pros.

Go to; away!

Alon. Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it. Seb. Or stole it, rather. [Exeunt Cal., Steph., and Trin.

300

Pros. Sir, I invite your highness and your train To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest For this one night; which, part of it, I'll waste With such discourse as, I not doubt, shall make it

Go quick away; the story of my life

And the particular accidents gone by

Since I came to this isle: and in the morn
I'll bring you to your ship and so to Naples,
Where I have hope to see the nuptial

Of these our dear-beloved solemnized;
And thence retire me to my Milan, where
Every third thought shall be my grave.

Alon.

310

I long

To hear the story of your life, which must
Take the ear strangely.

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And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales

And sail so expeditious that shall catch

Your royal fleet far off. [Aside to Ariel] My Ariel, chick, That is thy charge: then to the elements

Be free, and fare thou well! Please you, draw near.

[Exeunt.

EPILOGUE.

SPOKEN BY PROSPERO.

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have's mine own,
Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell;
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands:
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,

And my ending is despair,

Unless I be relieved by prayer,

IC

Which pierces so that it assaults

Mercy itself and frees all faults.

As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
Let your indulgence set me free.

20

NOTES.

THE Dramatis Personæ are given in the folios at the end of the play.

ACT I.

Scene I.

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3. Good refers probably to the preceding Here, master,' not to 'what cheer?' Such phrases as 'good my lord,' 'good my friends,' are very common; whence 'good' comes to be used without an accompanying noun, as a kind of interjection, as in Hamlet, i. 1. 70, 'Good now, sit down,' and line 16 of the present scene, 'Nay, good, be patient.' See also Winter's Tale, v. 1. 19, 'Now, good now, say so but seldom.' In line 20 'good' expresses acquiescence in the Boatswain's request.

Ib. yarely, nimbly, handily, deftly. Compare Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 2. 216, ‘hands That yarely frame the office.'

5. cheerly, adverb formed from the noun, like ‘angerly,' 'hungerly,' 'masterly,' &c. Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar, § 447.

6. yare, from A. S. geáro, ready, prepared. It occurs again in line 37 of this scene, and in Antony and Cleopatra, v. 2. 286, 'yare, yare, good Iras; quick.' Also in v. I. 214 of the present play, where it applies to the ship, not the seamen. Ray gives it as a Suffolk word, and in the speech of the Lowestoft boatman at this day 'hear, hear,' is probably only a disguised form of 'yare, yare.'

Ib. Tend, attend. We have the same form in i. 2. 47 of this play, and in Hamlet, iv. 3. 44, 'The associates tend.' For whistle compare Pericles, iv. 1. 64, and iii. 1. 8,

7. Blow...

'The seaman's whistle

Is as a whisper in the ears of death,

Unheard.'

This is of course an apostrophe to the storm or the spirit of the storm. There is no need to adopt Steevens' conjecture, 'Blow till thou burst thee, wind!' See Pericles, iii. 1. 44, 'Blow and split thyself.'

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Ib. if room enough. Observe the ellipsis. Sec Abbott, § 403. The meaning is if there be sea-room enough.' Compare Pericles, iii. 1. 45. But sea-room, an the brine and cloudy billow kiss the moon, I care not.'

8. have care. Elsewhere Shakespeare seems always to have used the ordinary phrase 'have a care,' and with something to follow.

9. Play the men. See 2 Samuel x. 12, 'Let us play the men for our people;' and Shakespeare, I Henry VI, i. 6. 16,

'When they shall hear how we have play'd the men.’

II. boatswain. The word is spelt in the folio in this place 'boson,' in accordance with the sailors' pronunciation.

13. you do assist the storm. Compare Pericles, iii. 1. 19, 'Patience, good sir; do not assist the storm.' The coincidences between the two plays are remarkable.

15. What cares these roarers. When the verb precedes the plural noun which governs it, it is frequently in the singular, as in iv. 1. 264,

'At this hour

Lies at my mercy all mine enemies.'

And Cymbeline, v. 5. 233, in the folios,

How comes these staggers on me?'

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This construction, though so commonly used, was no more grammati cally correct in Shakespeare's time than it is in ours. In many instances it may be due to transcriber or printer. For example, in Richard II, iii. 4. 24, the first folio reads 'Here comes the gardeners,' but the first quarto, by far the best authority for the text, has Here come the gardeners.' The second and following quartos have by mistake 'cometh,' which the printer of the folio, copying the fourth quarto, changed to 'comes.' Doubtless Shakespeare himself often used this license inadvertently, and did not hesitate to avail himself of it when the rhyme required it, as e. g. Richard II, iii. 3. 168,

'There lies

Two kinsmen digg'd their graves with weeping eyes.'

16. roarers. In the language of Shakespeare's time a blustering bully was called a roarer. See Massinger, The Renegado, i. 3, 'A lady to turn roarer, and break glasses.' Compare 2 Henry IV, iii. 1. 22, 'Who take the ruffian billows by the top.'

21. present, present time. So Macbeth, i. 5. 58,

6

Thy letters have transported me beyond
This ignorant present.'

And I Cor. xv. 6, ‘Of whom the greater part remain unto this present.' Ib. hand, handle. Cotgrave translates manier, to handle, hand, manage, wield, use, touch.'

24. hap. Compare Hamlet, i. 2. 249,

Whatsoever else shall hap to-night.'

We find 'hap' a substantive in Richard II, i. 1. 23, Envying earth's good hap.'

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