Mira. There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple: If the ill spirit have so fair a house, Good things will strive to dwell with 't. Speak not you for him; he's a traitor.-Come. Sea-water shalt thou drink! thy food shall be Fer. I will resist such entertainment, till Mine enemy has more power. No; [He draws, and is charmed from moving.] Mira. O, dear father! Make not too rash a trial of him, for He's gentle, and not fearful.' Pro. What! I say: My foot my tutor?-Put thy sword up, traitor; Who mak'st a show, but dar'st not strike, thy conscience Is so possess'd with guilt: come from thy ward, For I can here disarm thee with this stick And make thy weapon drop. Mira. Pro. Hence! hang not on my garments. Mira. I'll be his surety. Pro. Beseech you, father! Sir, have pity: Silence! one word more Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What! Thou think'st there are no more such shapes as he, And they to him are angels. Mira. My affections Are then most humble: I have no ambition To see a goodlier man. Pro. Thy nerves are in their infancy again, [To Fer.] Come on; obey: So they are: And have no vigour in them. Fer. My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up. The wrack of all my friends, nor this man's threats, Might I but through my prison once a day Have I in such a prison. [Alternately to Fer. and Mira., and to Ari.] Come on. Thou hast done well, fine Ariel! Follow me.-Hark, what thou else shalt do me. 1 Formidable. Mira. Be of comfort. My father's of a better nature, sir, Than he appears by speech: this is unwonted, Pro. [To Ariel.] Thou shalt be as free All points of my command. Ari. To th' syllable. Pro. Come, follow.-Speak not for him. Act Second. [Exeunt. SCENE I. ANOTHER PART OF THE ISLAND. 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 masters of some merchant, and the merchant, Can speak like us: then, wisely, good sir, weigh 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 entertain'd that's offered, Comes to th' entertainer Seb. A dollar. Gon. Dolour comes to him, indeed: you have spoken truer than you purpos'd. 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 Seb. He will be talking. Ant. Which of them, he or Adrian, 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 a desert, Ant. Ha, ha, ha! Seb. So, you're paid. Adr. Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible,- Adr. Yet Ant. He could not miss 't. Adr. The air breathes upon us here most sweetly. Ant. True; save means to live. Seb. Of that there 's none, or little. Gon. How lush' and lusty the grass looks! how green! 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 vouch'd rarities are. Gon.-that our garments, being, as they were, drench'd in the sea, hold, notwithstanding, their freshness and glosses; being rather new dy'd than stain'd 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 grac'd before with such a paragon to their Queen. Gon. Not since widow Dido's time. Ant. Widow! How came that widow in? Widow Dido! Seb. What if he had said, widower Eneas too? good lord, how you take it. Ant. 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. Ant. His word is more than the miraculous harp. Seb. He hath rais'd 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. 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 fish'd for. Gon. When I wore it at your daughter's marriage? The stomach of my sense. Would I had never Married my daughter there! for, coming thence, My son is lost; and, in my rate, she, too, Who is so far from Italy remov'd, I ne'er again shall see her. O thou, mine heir Of Naples and of Milan! what strange fish 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 To th' shore, that o'er his wave-worn basis bow'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. Pr'ythee, peace. Seb. You were kneel'd to, and importun'd otherwise By all of us; and the fair soul herself Weigh'd, between loathness and obedience, at Which end o' th' beam she'd bow. We have lost your son, I fear, for ever; Milan and Naples have More widows in them, of this business' making, Than we bring men to comfort them: the fault's Your own. Alon. So is the dear'st o' th' loss. Gon. My lord Sebastian, The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness, When you should bring the plaster. Seb. Very well. Ant. And most chirurgeonly. 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'd sow't with nettle-seed. Seb. Or docks, or mallows.1 Gon.--And were the King on 't, what would I do? 1 A plant of Genus Malva Gon. I'th' commonwealth I would by contraries No occupation; all men idle,-all, And women too, but innocent and pure : No sovereignty :- 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, To feed my innocent people. I would with such perfection govern, sir, Seb. 'Save his majesty ! Ant. Long live Gonzalo ! 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 fall'n 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. Enter Ariel, playing solemn Music. 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. A. 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 inclined 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. A lon. Thank you.-Wondrous heavy. VOL. I. 1 Plenty. [Alonso sleeps. Exit Ariel. |