xix

The reference Gr. in the notes indicates Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar. In the text the contractions of the Folio have been preserved, and in a few cases vowels, which need not be sounded in reading, have been italicised. On this subject the reader should consult Mr. Dawson's Introductions to King John and Henry V. in this series.

THE TEMPEST.

Act i.

SCENE I. On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard.

Enter a Ship-Master and a Boatswain.1

MAST. Boatswain !

BOATS. Here, master: what cheer?

MAST. Good, speak to the mariners: fall to 't, yarely, or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir.

Enter Mariners.

[Exit.

BOATS. Heigh, my hearts! cheerly, cheerly, my hearts! yare, yare! Take in the topsail. Tend' to

the master's whistle. Blow, till thou burst thy wind,

if room enough!'

Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDINAND, GONZALO, and others.

ALON. Good boatswain, have care. Where's the [10 master? Play the men.

BOATS. I pray now, keep below.

ANT. Where is the master, boatswain ?

BOATS. Do you not hear him?

You mar our

labour keep your cabins: you do assist the storm.2

GON. Nay, good, be patient.

Hence!

What cares

To cabin :

BOATS. When the sea is. these roarers3 for the name of king? silence! trouble us not.

GON. Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.

[20

BOATS. None that I more love than myself. You àre a counsellor; if you can command these elements to silence, and work the peace of the present, we

will not hand a rope more; use your authority: if you cannot, give thanks that you have liv'd so long, and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap. Cheerly, good hearts! Out of our way, I say.

[Exit.

[30

GON. I have great comfort from this fellow': methinks he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to his hanging: make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage.2 . If he be not born to be hang'd,3 our case is miserable.

Re-enter Boatswain.

[Exeunt.

BOATS. Down with the topmast! yare! lower, lower! Bring her to try with main-course.1 [A cry within.] A plague upon this howling! they are [40 louder than the weather or our office."

Re-enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and GONZALO. Yet again! what do you here? Shall we give o'er and drown? Have you a mind to sink?

1 Johnson notes that Gonzalo, being the only good man who appears with the king, is the only one that preserves his cheerfulness in the wreck, and his hope on the island.

2 Advantage, a verb=profit ; not elsewhere used by Shakspere without an accusative following.

3 "He that is borne to be hanged, shall never be drowned." Proverbs in Camden's Remaines (1605) ed. 1657, p. 295. Complexion=the sum total of his external appearance, not merely the colour of his skin.

4 The main-course is the mainsail, and to try with main-course is to keep as close to the wind as possible with the main-sail; the object being to get the vessel off the shore. See the whole position explained in the Appendix to Introduction. Malone quotes Hakluyt's Voyages (1598); and when the barke had way, we cut the hauser, and so gate the sea to our friend and tried out all that day with our maine course," i.e., lay as close to the wind as possible.

5 i.e., they make the boatswain's orders inaudible.