That now hath seized them; why they were no worse As this Gonzalo; I myself could make A chough1 of as deep chat. O, that you bore For your advancement! Do you understand me? True: You did supplant your brother Prospero. Ant. Ay, sir; where lies that? if it were a kybe, If he were that which now he's like, that's dead; This ancient morsel, this sir Prudence, who 2 They'll take suggestion, as a cat laps milk; Seb. Shall be my precedent; Thy case, dear friend, as thou got'st Milan, Draw thy sword: one stroke 1 A chough is a bird of the jackdaw kind. 2 Suggestion is frequently used in the sense of temptation, or seduction, by Shakspeare and his contemporaries. The sense here is, that they will adopt and bear witness to any tale that may be dictated to them. Shall free thee from the tribute which thou pay'st; Ant. Draw together: Seb. O, but one word. [They converse apart. Music. Re-enter ARIEL, invisible. Ari. My master through his art foresees the danger That you, his friend, are in; and sends me forth, For else his projects die,' to keep them living. [Sings in GONZALO's ear. While you here do snoring lie, His time doth take: If of life you keep a care, Ant. Then let us both be sudden. Gon. Now, good angels, preserve the king. [They wake. Alon. Why, how now! ho! awake! Why are you drawn? Wherefore this ghastly looking? Gon. What's the matter? Seb. Whiles we stood here securing your repose, Even now, we heard a hollow burst of bellowing Like bulls, or rather lions; did it not wake you? It struck mine ear most terribly. Alon. I heard nothing. 1 The old copies read "For else his project dies." By the transposition of a letter, this passage, which has much puzzled the editors, is rendered more intelligible.-"-to keep them living," relates to projects, and not to Alonzo and Gonzalo, as Steevens and Johnson erroneously supposed. Alon. Heard you this, Gonzalo? Gon. Upon mine honor, sir, I heard a humming, And that a strange one too, which did awake me: I shaked you, sir, and cried; as mine eyes opened, I saw their weapons drawn :-there was a noise, That's verity: 'Best stand 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 son. Gon. Heavens keep him from these beasts! For he is, sure, i' the island. Alon. Lead away. Ari. Prospero my lord shall know what I have done : So, king, go safely on to seek thy son. [Aside. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-Another Part of the Island. Enter CALIBAN, with a burden of wood. A noise of thunder heard. Cal. All the infections that the sun sucks up From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him 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, Nor lead me, like a firebrand, in the dark, Out of my way, unless he bid them; but For every trifle are they set upon me: Sometimes like apes, that moe1 and chatter at me, And after, bite me; then like hedgehogs, which Lie tumbling in my barefoot way, and mount Their pricks at my foot-fall; sometime am I All wound with adders, who, with cloven tongues, Do hiss me into madness:-Lo! now! lo! 2 1 To moe is to make mouths. 2 Pricks is the ancient word for prickles. Enter TRINCulo. Here comes a spirit of his; and to torment 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 bumbard1 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 in England now (as once I was), and had but this fish painted, not a holiday-fool there but would give a piece of silver: there would this monster make a man; any strange beast there makes a man: when 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 thunderbolt. [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. will here shroud, till the dregs of the storm be past. 2 Enter STEPHANO, singing; a bottle in his hand. Ste. 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 my comfort. 1 A black jack of leather to hold beer, &c. 2 i. e. make a man's fortune. 3 A gaberdine was a coarse outer garment. [Drinks. I The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I, Loved Mall, Megg, and Marian, and Margery, For she had a tongue with a tang, She loved not the savor of tar nor of pitch, This is a scurvy tune, too: But here's my comfort. Cal. Do not torment me: O! 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: O! 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'sleather. Cal. Do not torment me, pr'ythee; I'll bring my wood home faster. Ste. He's in his fit now; and does not talk after the wisest. He shall taste of my bottle: if he hath 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 much1 for him: he shall pay for him that hath him, and that soundly. Cal. Thou dost me yet but little hurt; thou wilt 1 Any sum, ever so much; an ironical expression implying that he would get as much as he could for him. |