Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Mira.

I'll be his surety.

Pro.

Sir, have pity.

Silence! one word more

Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee.

What!

An advocate for an imposter? hush!

Thou think'st there is 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.

Mira.

My affections

Are then most humble: I have no ambition

To see a goodlier man.

Pro. [To FERD.]

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' the earth
Let liberty make use of; space enough

Have I in such a prison.

Pro.

It works.

Come on.

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

Follow me.

[To ARIEL.] Hark, what thou else shalt do me.——

Mira.

My father's of a better nature, sir,

Be of comfort.

Than he appears by speech: this is unwonted
Which now came from him.-

Pro.

Thou shalt be as free

As mountain winds; but then exactly do
All points of my command.

Ari.

To the syllable.—

[Exeunt.

Pro. Come, follow.--Speak not for him,

АСТ II.

SCENE I.-Another Part of the Island.

Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, and others.

Gon. Beseech you, sir, be merry: you have

cause

(So have we all) of joy; for our escape

Is much beyond our loss. Our hint of woe
Is common; every day, some sailor's wife,

The master of some merchant, and the merchant,
Have just our theme of woe: but for the miracle,
I mean our preservation, few in millions

Can speak like us: then wisely, good sir, weigh
Our sorrow with our comfort.

Alon.

Pr'ythee, peace.

Seb. He receives comfort like cold porridge.

Ant. The visitor will not give him o'er so.

Seb. Look, he's winding up the watch of his

wit by-and-by it will strike.

Gon. Sir,

Seb. One-tell.

Gon. When every grief is entertained, that's

offered,

Comes to the entertainer

Seb. A dollar.

Gon. Dolour comes to him, indeed: you have spoken truer than you purposed.

Seb. You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should.

Gon. Therefore, my lord,

Ant. Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue! Alon. I pr'ythee, spare.

Gon.

Well, I have done.

But yet--

Which, he or Adrian,

Seb. He will be talking.

Ant.

For a good wager, first begins to crow?

Seb. The old cock.

Ant. The cockrel.

Seb. Done. The wager?

Ant. A laughter.

Seb. A match!

Adr. Though this island seem to be desert,

Seb. Ha, ha, ha! So, you're paid.

Adr. Uninnabitable, and almost inaccessible,

Seb. Yet

Adr. Yet

Ant. He could not miss it.

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.

Seb. As if it had lungs, and rotten ones.

Ant. Or as 't were perfumed by a fen.

Gon. Here is everything advantageous to life.
Ant. True; save means to live.

Seb. Of that there's none, or little.

Gon. How lush and lusty the grass looks! how green!

Ant. The ground, indeed, is tawny.

Seb. 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 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.

« ZurückWeiter »