Gon. All things in common nature should pro

duce
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 foizon, all abundance,
To feed my innocent people.

Seb. No marrying 'inong his subjects?
Ant. None, man; all idle; whores, and knaves.

Gon. I would with such perfection govern, sir,
To excel the golden age.
Seb.

Save his majesty!
Ant. Long live Gonzalo!
Gon.

And, do you mark me, sir?Alon. Pr’ythee, no more: thou dost talk nothing

to me. Gon. I do well believe your highness; and did it to minister occasion to these gentlemen, who are of such sensible and nimble lungs, that they always use to laugh at nothing.

Ant. 'Twas you we laugh'd 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.

1

There is something so strikingly applicable to modern times in this text and note, that the Editor could not persuade himself to omit the latter, although unnecessary in other respects. C.

any engine,) An engine is the rack, or here it may mean any instrument of war, or military machine.

all foizon, ] Foison, or foizon, signifies plenty, ubertas; and sometimes moisture, or juice of grass.

Enter ARIEL invisible, playing solemn musick.
Seb. We would so, and then go a bat-fowling.
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 but Alon. SEB. and ANT. Alon. What, all so soon asleep! I wish mine eyes Would, with themselves, shut up my thoughts: I

find,
They are inclin'd to do so.
Seb.

Please you, sir,
Do not omit the heavy offer of it:
It seldom visits sorrow; when it doth,
It is a comforter.
Ant.

We two, my lord,
Will guard your person, while you take your rest,

, And watch your safety. Alon.

Thank you : wondrous heavy.

[Alonso sleeps. Exit ARIEL.
Seb. What a strånge drowsiness possesses them?
Ant. It is the quality o' the climate.
Seb.

Why
Doth it not then our eye-lids sink? I find not
Myself dispos’d to sleep.
Ant.

Nor I; my spirits are nimble.
They fell together all, as by consent ;
They dropp'd as by a thunder-stroke. What

might, Worthy Sebastian ?-0, what might?—No more:And yet, methinks, I see it in thy face,

3 Enter Ariel, &c. playing solemn musick.] This stage-direction does not mean to tell us that Ariel himself was the fidicen ; but that solemn usick attended his appearance, or was an accompaniment to his entry. STEEVENS.

What thou should'st be: the occasion speaks thee;

and
My strong imagination sees a crown
Dropping upon thy head.
Seb..

What, art thou waking ?
Ant. Do you not hear me speak ?
Seb.

I do; and, surely,
It is a sleepy language ; and thou speak’st
Out of thy sleep: What is it thou did’st say ?
This is a strange repose, to be asleep
With eyes wide open ; standing, speaking, moving,
And yet so fast asleep.
Ant.

Noble Sebastian, Thou let'st thy fortune sleep-die rather ; wink'st Whiles thou art waking. Scb.

Thou dost snore distinctly ; There's meaning in thy snores.

Ant. I am more serious than my custom : you Must be so too, if heed me; which to do Trebles thee o'er. Seb.

: Well; I am standing water. Ant. I'll teach you how to flow. Seb.

Do so: to ebb, Hereditary sloth instructs me. Ant.

0, 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,

4 I am more serious than my custom : you

Must be so too, if heed me ; which to do,

Trebles thee o’er.] The meaning of this passage seems to be-You must put on more than your usual seriousness, if you are disposed to pay a proper attention to my proposal ; which attention if you bestow, it will in the end make you thrice what you

Sebastian is already brother to the throne ; but, being made a king by Antonio's contrivance, (would be, according to our author's idea of greatness) thrice the man he was before. In this sense he would be trebled o'er. MALONE.

are.

Most often do so near the bottom run,
By their own fear or sloth.
Seb.

Pr’ythee say on:
The setting of thine eye, and cheek, proclaim
A matter from thee; and a birth, indeed,
Whịch 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,) The king, his son's alive: 'tis as impossible That he's undrown'd, as he that sleeps here, swims.?

s If you but knew, how you the purpose cherish, Whiles thus you mock it! how, in stripping it,

You more invest it !] A judicious critic, in The Edinburgh Magazine, for Nov. 1786, offers the following illustration of this obscure passage:

“ Sebastian introduces the simile of water. It is taken up by Antonio, who says he will teach his stagnant water to flow. ?-It has already learned to ebb,' says Sebastian. To which Antonio replies, 'O, if you but knew how much even that metaphor, which you use in jest, encourages to the design which I hint at ; how, in stripping the words of their common meaning, and using them figuratively, you adapt them to your own situation !”.

Steevens. 6 — this lord of weak remembrance.] This lord, who, being now in his dotage, has outlived his faculty of remembering; and who, once laid in the ground, shall be as little remembered himself, as he can now remember other things. Johnson. 1 — 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.] Of this entangled sentence I can draw no sense from the present reading, and therefore imagine that the author gave it thus;

For he, a spirit of persuasion, only

Professes to persuade the king, his son's alive; Of which the meaning may be either, that he alone, who is a spirit of persuasion, professes to persuade the king ; or that, He only professes to persuade, that is, without being so persuaded himself he makes a show of persuading the king. Johnson.

i

He's gone.

Seb. I have no hope That he's undrown'd. Ant.

0, out of that no hope, What great hope have you ! no hope, that way,

is
Another way so high an hope, that even
Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond,
But doubts discovery there. Will you grant, with

me,
That Ferdinand is drown'd?

Seb.
Ant.

Then, tell me,
Who's the next heir of Naples ?
Seb.

Claribel.
Ant. She that is queen of Tunis: she that dwells
Ten leagues beyond man's life;' she that from

Naples
Can have no note,' unless the sun were post,
(The man i the moon's too slow,) till new-born

chins Be rough and razorable; she, from whom? We were all sea-swallow'd, though some cast again ;*

8

The meaning may be-He is a mere rhetorician, one who professes the art of persuasion, and nothing else; i.e. he professes to persuade another to believe that of which he himself is not convinced; he is content to be plausible, and has no further aim. So (as Mr. Malone observes,) in Troilus and Cressida :-“why, he'll answer nobody, he professes not answering." Steevens.

a wink beyond, ] That this is the utmost extent of the prospect of ambition, the point where the eye can pass no farther, and where objects lose their distinctness, so that what is there discovered, is faint, obscure, and doubtful. Johnson.

beyond man's life ;] i. e. at a greater distance than the life of man is long enough to reach. STEEVENS.

she that from Naples Can have no note, &c.] Note is notice, or information.

Shakspeare's great ignorance of geography is not more conspicuous in

any

instance than in this, where he supposes Tunis and Naples to have been at such an immeasurable distance from each other.

-she, from whom-] i. e. in coming from whom.

2