Enter MIRANDA, and PROSPERO following. MIRA. Alas, now! pray you, Work not so hard; I would the lightning had Burnt up those logs that you are enjoin'd to pile! Pray, set it down, and rest you: when this burns, 'T will weep for having wearied you. My father Is hard at study; pray, now, rest yourself; He's safe for these three hours.

FER. O most dear mistress, The sun will set before I shall discharge What I must strive to do.

If you'll sit down

MIRA. I'll bear your logs the while: pray give me that; I'll carry it to the pile.

FER.

No, precious creature : I had rather crack my sinews, break my back, Than you should such dishonour undergo, While I sit lazy by.

MIRA.

It would become me

I have broke your 'hest to say so!
FER.

Admir'd Miranda !
Indeed the top of admiration; worth
What's dearest to the world! Full many a lady
I have ey'd with best regard; and many a time
The harmony of their tongues hath into bondage
Brought my too diligent ear: for several virtues
Have I lik'd several women; never any
With so full soul, but some defect in her
Did quarrel with the noblest grace she ow'd,
And put it to the foil: but
you, O you,

I do not know

So perfect and so peerless, are created
Of every creature's best!
MIRA.
One of my sex; no woman's face remember,
Save, from my glass, mine own; nor have I seen
More that I may call men, than you, good friend,
And my dear father: how features are abroad,
I am skill-less of; but, by my modesty,
-The jewel in my dower,-I would not wish
Any companion in the world but you;
Nor can imagination form a shape,
Besides yourself, to like of. But I prattle
Something too wildly, and my father's precepts.
I therein do forget.
FER.
I am, in my condition,

A prince, Miranda; I do think, a king,

And crown what I profess with kind event,

If I speak true! if hollowly, invert
What best is boded me, to mischief! I,
Beyond all limit of what else i' the world,
Do love, prize, honour you.
MIRA.

I am a fool, To weep at what I am glad of.

PRO. [Aside.]

Fair encounter Of two most rare affections! Heavens rain grace On that which breeds between 'em! FER. Wherefore weep you ? MIRA. At mine unworthiness, that dare not offer What I desire to give; and much less take What I shall die to want. But this is trifling ; And all the more it seeks to hide itself, The bigger bulk it shows. Hence, bashful cunning! And prompt me, plain and holy innocence ! I am your wife, if you will marry me; If not, I'll die maid to be your your You may deny me; but I'll be your servant, Whether you

will or no.

FER. And I thus humble ever.

fellow b

My mistress, dearest !

when I do it, "Mr. Holt White suggests, "Most busiest when I do it;" and Mr. Collier's annotator, Most busy,-blest when I do it." Whatever may have been the word for which "lest" was misprinted, "Most busy" and that word bore reference, unquestionably, not to Ferdinand's task, but to the sweet thoughts by which it was relieved. We have substituted felt as a likely word to have been mis-set "lest;" but are in doubt whether still, in its old sense of ever, always, is not preferable,

"Most busy still, when I do it." b Fellow-] That is, companion, pheer.

TRIN. Servant-monster? the folly of this island! They say there's but five upon this isle : we are three of them; if the other two be brained like us, the state totters.

STE. Drink, servant-monster, when I bid thee; thy eyes are almost set in thy head.

TRIN. Where should they be set else? he were a brave monster indeed, if they were set in his tail. STE. My man-monster hath drowned his tongue in sack for my part, the sea cannot drown me; I swam, ere I could recover the shore, five-andthirty leagues, off and on. By this light thou shalt be my lieutenant, monster, or my standard. TRIN. Your lieutenant, if you list; he's no standard.

STE. We'll not run, monsieur Monster. TRIN. Nor go neither: but you'll lie, like dogs; and yet say nothing neither.

STE. Moon-calf, speak once in thy life, if thou beest a good moon-calf.

CAL. How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe.

I'll not serve him, he is not valiant.

CAL. Lo, how he mocks me! wilt thou let him, my lord?

TRIN. Lord, quoth he !—that a monster should be such a natural!

CAL. Lo, lo, again! bite him to death, I pr'ythee.

STE. Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head; if you prove a mutineer, the next treethe poor monster's my subject, and he shall not suffer indignity.

CAL. I thank my noble lord. Wilt thou be pleased to hearken once again to the suit I made to thee?

STE. Marry will I kneel and repeat it; I will stand, and so shall Trinculo.

Where thou mayst knock a nail into his head.
ARI. Thou liest; thou canst not.

CAL. What a pied ninny's this!-Thou scurvy patch!

I do beseech thy greatness, give him blows,
And take his bottle from him: when that's gone,
He shall drink nought but brine; for I'll not
show him

Where the quick freshes are.

STE. Trinculo, run into no further danger: interrupt the monster one word further, and, by this

b Patch!] Vol. I.

See notes (b), p. 127, Vol. I., and (d), p. 372,

I' the afternoon to sleep: there thou mayst brain him,

Having first seiz'd his books; or with a log
Batter his skull, or paunch him with a stake,
Or cut his wezand with thy knife. Remember,
First to possess his books; for without them
He's but a sot, as I am, nor hath not
One spirit to command: they all do hate him,
As rootedly as I :-burn but his books;
He has brave utensils,-for so he calls them,-
Which, when he has a house, he'll deck withal:
And that most deeply to consider, is
The beauty of his daughter; he himself
Calls her a nonpareil: I never saw a woman,
But only Sycorax my dam and she;
But she as far surpasseth Sycorax,
As great'st does least.

Is it so brave a lass?

STE. CAL. Ay, lord; she will become thy bed, I warrant,

And bring thee forth brave brood.

STE. Monster, I will kill this man: his daughter and I will be king and queen,-save our graces and Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys.-Dost thou like the plot, Trinculo? TRIN. Excellent.

STE. Give me thy hand; I am sorry I beat thee; but, while thou livest, keep a good tongue in thy head.

CAL. Within this half-hour will he be asleep; Wilt thou destroy him then?

STE.

Ay, on mine honour.
ARI. This will I tell my master.
CAL. Thou mak'st me merry; I am full of
pleasure;

Let us be jocund: will you troll the catch
You taught me but while-ere?

STE. At thy request, monster, I will do reason, any reason:-Come on, Trinculo, let us sing.

[Sings.

Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,
That, if I then had wak'd after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me; that when I wak'd
I cried to dream again.

STE. This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I shall have my music for nothing.

CAL. When Prospero is destroyed.

STE. That shall be by and by: I remember the story.

TRIN. The sound is going away: let's follow it, and after do our work.

STE. Lead, monster; we'll follow.-I would I could see this taborer! (2) he lays it on. TRIN. Wilt come? I'll follow, Stephano. [Exeunt.

SCENE III.—Another Part of the Island. Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, and others.

GON. By'r lakin," I can go no further, sir: My old bones ache; here's a maze trod, indeed, Through forth-rights and meanders! by your patience,

I needs must rest me.

ALON.

d

Old lord, I cannot blame thee,
Who am myself attach'd with weariness,
To the dulling of my spirits: sit down and rest.
Even here I will put off my hope, and keep it
No longer for my flatterer: he is drown'd
Whom thus we stray to find; and the sea mocks
Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him
go.
ANT. [Aside to SEB.] I am right glad that
he's so out of hope.

Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose
That you resolv'd to effect.

SEB. [Aside to ANT.] The next advantage Will we take throughly.

(*) Old te, cout.

a By and by:] By and by, as well as presently, now implies some brief delay; but in old language they usually meant immediately.

b By'r lakin,-] A contraction of By our ladykin, or, little lady. It occurs in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." See note

(b), p. 357, Vol. I.

© Ache;] This word is now invariably spelt thus; but formerly, when used as a verb, it took the form of "ake," and, as a substantive, of "ache." See note (e), p. 14.

d Through forth-rights and meanders!] "Mazes were of two kinds, rectangular and curvilinear; Mr. Knight gives a figure of one of the former."-SINGER.