Gon. Therefore, my lord, as when we put them on first in Africk, at the Ant. Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue! marriage of the king's fair daughter Claribel to the King of Tunis. Seb. 'T was a sweet marriage, and we prosper well in our return! Adr. Tunis was never graced before with such a paragon to their queen. Gon. Not since Widow Dido's time. Ant. Widow! a pox o' that? How came that widow in? Widow Dido! Seb. What if he had said, Widower Æneas too? Good lord, how you take it! Adr. 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 raised the wall, and houses too. Ant. What impossible matter will he make easy next? Seb. I think he will carry this island home in Seb. Ay, and a subtle; as he most learnedly de- his pocket, and give it his son for an apple. livered. Ant. And, sowing the kernels of it in the sca, Adr. The air breathes upon us here most bring forth more islands. sweetly. Seb. As if it had lungs, and rotten ones. 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. 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. 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.' Ant. O, Widow Dido; ay, 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 fished for. Gon. When I wore it at your daughter's marriage? Alon. You cram these words into mine ears, against The stomach of my sense: 'Would I had never Ant. If but one of his pockets could speak, I ne'er again shall see her. O thou mine heir would it not say, he lies? Of Naples and of Milan, what strange fish Hath made his meal on thee! Seb. Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report. Gon. Methinks, our garments are now as fresh That would not bless our Europe with your daugh- Without sweat or endeavor: treason, felony, ter, But rather lose her to an African; Where she, at least, is banished from your eye, Alon. Pr'ythee, peace. Seb. You were kneeled to, and impórtuned By all of us; and the fair soul herself your son, I fear, for ever: Milan and Naples have Alon. So is the dearest of the loss. My lord Sebastian, The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness, 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? Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine, Seb. No marrying 'mong 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 ! And, do you mark me, sir!- 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. 'T was you we laughed 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 Gon. Had I plantation of this isle, my lord, would continue in it five weeks without changing. Ant. He'd sow it with nettle-seed. Seb. Or docks, or mallows. Gon. And were the king of it, what would I do? Execute all things: for no kind of traffic Enter ARIEL invisible, 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 adventur my discretion so weakly. Will you laugh me asleep, for I am very heavy? Would, with themselves, shut up my thoughts: Hereditary sloth instructs me. Will guard your person, while you take your rest, The setting of thine eye, and cheek, proclaim more: And yet, methinks, I see it in thy face, What great hope have you! no hope, that way, is What thou shouldst be: the occasion speaks thee; Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond, It is a sleepy language; and thou speak'st With eyes wide open; standing, speaking, moving, Ant. Noble Sebastian, Thou lett'st thy fortune sleep - die rather; wink'st Seb. Thou dost snore distinctly; There's meaning in thy snores. Naples Can have no note, unless the sun were post (The man i' the moon's too slow), till new-born Be rough and razorable; she, from whom Ant. I am more serious than my custom: Whereof what 's past is prologue; what to come, you In yours and my discharge. And, look, how well my garments sit upon me; Much feater than before: My brother's servants Were then my fellows, now they are my men. Seb. But, for your conscience Ant. Ay, sir; where lies that? if it were a kybe, 'T would put me to my slipper: But I feel not This deity in my bosom; twenty consciences, That stand 'twixt me and Milan, candied be they And melt, ere they molest! Here lies your brother, No better than the earth he lies upon, If he were that which now he's like: whom I, Ari. O, but one word. My master through his art foresees the danger That these, his friends, are in; and sends me forth While you here do snoring lie, His time doth take: If of life you keep a care, Shake off slumber, and beware: Ant. Then let us both be sudden. [They wake. Wherefore this ghastly looking? What's the matter? Alon. Lead off this ground; and let's make in England now (as once I was), and had this fish further search For my poor son. Gon. painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver: there would this monster make a Heavens keep him from these beasts! man; any strange beast there makes a man: when For he is, sure, i' the island. By inch-meal a disease! His spirits hear me, And yet I needs must curse. But they'll nor pinch, Fright me with urchin shows, pitch me i' the mire, they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. Legged like a man! and his fins like arms! Warm, o' my troth! I do now let loose my opinion, hold it no longer; this is no fish, but an islander, that hath lately suffered by a thunder-bolt. [Thunder.] Alas! the storm is come again: my best way is to creep under his gaberdine; there is no other shelter hereabout: Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. I will here shroud, till the dregs of the storm be past. Enter STEPHANO, singing; a bottle in his hand. I shall no more to sea, to sea, Here shall I die ashore: This is a very scurvy tune to sing at a man's funeral: Well, here's to my comfort. [Drinks. The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I All wound with adders, who, with cloven tongues, This is a scurvy tune, too: But here's my comfort. Do hiss me into madness: -Lo! now! lo! Enter TRINCULO. Here comes a spirit of his; and to torment me, For bringing wood in slowly: I'll fall flat; Perchance, he will not mind me. Trin. Here's neither bush nor shrub, to bear off any weather at all, and another storm brewing; I hear it sing i' the wind: yond' same black cloud, yond' huge one, looks like a foul bumbard that would shed his liquor. If it should thunder, as it did before, I know not where to hide my head: yond' same 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 smell; a kind of, not of the newest, Poor-John. A strange fish! Were I Cal. Do not torment me: Oh! [Drinks. Ste. What's the matter? Have we devils here? Do you put tricks upon us with savages, and men of Inde? Ha! I have not 'scaped drowning to be afeard now of your four legs; for it hath been said, " As proper a man as ever went on four legs, cannot make him give ground:" and it shall be said so again, while Stephano breathes at nostrils. Cal. The spirit torments me: Oh! Ste. This is some monster of the isle, with four legs: who hath got, as I take it, an ague: Where the devil should he learn our language? I will give him some 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 present for any emperor that ever trod on neat's leather. |