And melt, ere they moleft!2 Here lies your
No better than the earth he lies upon,

brother,

If he were that which now he's like; whom I,
With this obedient fteel, three inches of it,
Can lay to bed for ever: whiles you, doing thus,
To the perpetual wink for aye might put
This ancient morfel,3 this fir Prudence, who
Should not upbraid our courfe. For all the reft,
They'll take fuggeftion, as a cat laps milk ;+
'They'll tell the clock to any bufinefs that
We fay befits the hour.

Seb.

Thy cafe, dear friend,

Shall be my precedent; as thou got'ft Milan,

I'll come by Naples. Draw thy fword: one ftroke
Shall free thee from the tribute which thou pay'st;
And I the king shall love thee.

Ant.

And when I rear my hand, do

To fall it on Gonzalo.

Draw together:

you the like

Would melt ere they moleft.

i. e. Twenty consciences, fuch as ftand betrveen me and my hopes, though they were congealed, would melt before they could moleft me, or prevent the execution of my purpoles. JOHNSON.

Let twenty confciences be first congealed, and then diffolved, ere they moleft me, or prevent me from executing my purpofes. MALONE.

If the interpretation of Johnfon and Malone is just, and is certainly as intelligible as or; but I can fee no reasonable meaning in this interpretation. It amounts to nothing more as thus interpreted, than My confcience muft melt and become fufter than it is before it molefts me; which is an infipidity unworthy of the Poet. I would read Čandy'd be they, or melt;" and the expreffion then has fpirit and propriety. Had I twenty confciences, fays Antonio, they might be bot or cold for me; they should not give me the fmalleft trouble.'-Edinburgh Magazine, Nov. 1786. STEEVENS.

3 For morfel Dr. Warburton reads ancient moral, very elegantly and judiciously; yet I know not whether the author might not write morfel, as we fay a piece of a man. JOHNSON..

4 i.c. Receive any hint of villainy.

They will adopt, and bear witness to, any tale you fhall invent; you may fuborn them as evidences to clear you from all fufpicion of having murthered the king. HENLEY...

Mufick. Re-enter ARIEL, invisible.

Ari. My mafter through his art forefees the danger That thefe, his friends, are in; and fends me forth, (For else his project dies,) to keep them living.

[Sings in GONZALO's ear

While you here do fnoring lie,
Open-ey'd confpiracy

His time doth take:

If of life you keep a care,
Shake off lumber, and beware :

Awake! awake!

Ant. Then let us both be fudden.

Gon. Now, good angels, preferve the king! [They wake. Alon. Why, how now, ho! awake! Why are you drawn ?5

Wherefore this ghaftly looking?

Gon.

What's the matter?
Seb. Whiles we ftood here fecuring your repofe,
Even now, we heard a hollow burst of bellowing
Like bulls, or rather lions; did it not wake you?
It ftruck mine ear most terribly.

Alon.
I heard nothing.
Ant. O, 'twas a din to fright a monster's ear;
To make an earthquake! fure, it was the roar
Of a whole herd of lions.

Alon.
Heard you this, Gonzalo?
Gon. Upon mine honour, fir, I heard a humming,
And that a strange one too, which did awake me :
I fhak'd you, fir, and cry'd; as mine eyes open'd,
I faw their weapons drawn :-there was a noife,
That's verity: 'Beft ftand upon our guard;

Or that we quit this place: let's draw our weapons.

Alon. Lead off this ground; and let's make further search For my poor fon.

Gon.

Heavens keep him from these beasts! For he is, fure, i' the island.

5 —— drawn ?] Having your swords drawn. JOHNSON.

Alons

Alon.

Lead away.

Ari. Profpero my lord fhall know what I have done :

So, king, go fafely on to feek thy fon.

SCENE II.

Another part of the island.

Enter CALIBAN, with a burden of wood.

A noife of thunder heard.

Cal. All the infections that the fun fucks

up

From bogs, fens, flats, on Profper fall, and make him
By inch-meal a difeafe! His fpirits hear me,

And yet I needs must curfe. But they'll nor pinch,
Fright me with urchin fhows, pitch me i' the mire,
Nor lead me, like a fire-brand, in the dark
Out of my way, unless he bid them; but
For every trifle are they fet upon me :

Sometime like apes, that moe and chatter at me,
And after, bite me; then like hedge-hogs, which
Lie tumbling in my bare-foot way, and mount
Their pricks at my foot-fall; fometime am I
All wound with adders, who, with cloven tongues,
Do hifs me into madness :-Lo! now! lo!

7

Enter TRINCULO.

Here comes a fpirit of his; and to torment me,
For bringing wood in flowly: I'll fall flat;

Perchance, he will not mind me.

[Afide. [Exeunt.

Trin. Here's neither bush nor fhrub, to bear off any weather at all, and another ftorm brewing; I hear it fing i' the wind: yond' fame black cloud, yond' huge one, looks like a foul bumbard that would shed his liquor. If it fhould thunder,

6

that moe, &c.] i. e. make mouths. STEEVENS.

7 i. e. prickles. STEEVENS.

8 Enwrapped by adders wound or twisted about me. JOHNSON.

head:

thunder, as it did before, I know not where to hide my yond' fame cloud cannot choose but fall by pailfuls.-What have we here? a man or a fish? Dead or alive? A fish: he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like fell; a kind of, not of the neweft, Poor-John. A ftrange fifh! Were I in England now (as once I was,) and had but this fish painted," not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of filver: there would this monfter make a man ; any strange beat there makes a man: when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to fee a dead Indian. Legg'd like a man! and his fins like arms! Warm, o' my troth! I do now let loofe my opinion, hold it no longer; this is no fish, but an islander, that hath lately fuffer'd by a thunder-bolt. [Thunder.] Alas! the ftorm is come again: my best way is to creep under his gaberdine ;3 there is no other fhelter hereabout: Mifery acquaints a man with ftrange bed fellows: I will here shroud, till the dregs of the form be paft.

Enter STEPHANO, finging; a bottle in his hand,

Ste. I shall no more to fea, to fea,

Here fhall I dye a-shore ;

This is a very fcurvy tune to fing at a man's funeral :
Well, here's my comfort.

The mafter, the fwabber, the boatswain, and I,
The gunner, and his mate,

Lov'd Mall, Meg, and Marian, and Margery,
But none of us car'd for Kate:

For he had a tongue with a tang,

Would cry to a failor, Go, hang:

She lov'd not the favour of tar nor of pitch,

[Drinks

Yet a taylor might fcratch her where-e'er fhe did itch:
Then to fea, boys, and let her go hang.

This

9 To exhibit fishes, either real or imaginary, was very common about the time of our author. STEEVENS.

2 That is, make a man's fortune. JOHNSON.

3 A gaberdine is properly the coarse frock or outward garment of a peafant. Still worn by the peasants in Suffex. STEEVENS. It here however means, I believe, a loose felt cloak.

MALONE.

This is a fcurvy tune too: But here's my comfort.

Cal. Do not torment me: Q!

[Drinks.

your

Ste. What's the matter? Have we devils here? Do you put tricks upon us with favages, and men of Inde? Ha! I have not 'fcap'd drowning, to be afeard now of y four legs; for it hath been faid, As proper a man as ever went on four legs, cannot make him give ground: and it fhall be faid fo again, while Stephano breathes at nostrils. Cal. The fpirit torments me: O!

Ste. This is fome monster of the isle, with four legs; who hath got, as I take it, an ague: Where the devil fhould he learn our language? I will give him fome relief, if it be but for that: If I can recover him, and keep him tame, and get to Naples with him, he's a prefent for any emperor that ever trod on neat's leather.

Cal. Do not torment me, pr'ythee;

I'll bring my wood home fafter.

Ste. He's in his fit now; and does not talk after the wifeft. He shall taste of my bottle: if he have never drunk wine afore, it will go near to remove his fit: if I can recover him, and keep him tame, I will not take too much4 for him; he fhall pay for him that hath him, and that foundly.

Cal. Thou doft me yet but little hurt; thou wilt Anon, I know it by thy trembling:5

Now Profper works upon thee.

Ste. Come on your ways; open your mouth; here is that which will give language to you, cat; open your mouth: this will fhake your fhaking, I can tell you, and that foundly you cannot tell who's your friend; open your chaps again.

Trin. I fhould know that voice: It fhould be-But he is drown'd; and these are devils: O! defend me!—

Ste.

4 Too much means, any fum, ever fo much. STEEVENS. I think the meaning is, Let me take what fum I will, however great, I fhall not take too much for him: it is impoffible for me to fell him too dear. MALONE.

5

I know it by thy trembling:] This tremor is always represented as the effect of being poffefs'd by the devil. STEEVENS.

• Alluding to an old proverb, that good liquor will make a cat speak. STEEVENS.