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, drenched 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 Africk, 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 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 Eneas too? good lord, how you take it! Adr. Widow Dido, said you? you make me Gon. I assure you, Carthage. Ant. His word is more than the miraculous harp. Gon. When every grief is entertain'd, that's next? offer'd, Comes to the entertainer- Seb. A dollar. Gon. Dolour comes to him, indeed; you have spoken truer than you purposed. Seb. You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should. Gon. Therefore, my lord, 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 Ant. Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue! the marriage of your daughter, who is now queen. Alon. I pr'ythee, spare. Gon. Well, I have: 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 desert, Seb. Ha, ha, ha! Ant. So you've pay'd. The stomach of my sense: 'Would I had never Adr. Uninhabitable, and almost inaccessible,- Who is so far from Italy remov'd, Seb. Yet,- Adr. Yet. Ant. He could not miss it. Adr. It must needs be of subtle, tender, and delicate temperance.* Ant. Temperance was a delicate wench. Adr. The air breathes upon us here most sweetly. Gon. How lush and lusty the grass looks! how 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; 5 Lush is luxuriant, in like manner luscious is used in A Midsummer Night's Dream: "Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine." 6 That is, with a shade or small portion of green. "Red with an eye of blue makes a purple."-Boyle. 7 Alluding to the wonders of Amphior's music 8 That is, in a manner or degree. Very foul. Gon. Had I a plantation of this isle, my lord,Ant. He'd sow it with nettle-seed. Seb. Or docks, or mallows. Gon. And were the king of it, What would I do? Seb. 'Scape getting drunk, for want of wine. Gon. I' the commonwealth I would by contraries Execute all things: for no kind of traffic3 Would I admit; no name of magistrate; Letters should not be known; riches, poverty, And use of service, none; contract, succession, Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none: No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil: No occupation; all men idle, all; And women too; but innocent and pure : No sovereignty : Seb. And yet he would be king on't. Ant. The latter end of his commmonwealth forgets the beginning. Gon. All things in common nature should pro duce Without sweat or endeavour: treason, felony, Seb. No marrying among his subjects? Seb. 'Save his majesty! Ant. Long live Gonzalo ! Gon. 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 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? Gon. You are gentlemen of brave mettle: you 1 i. e. Deliberated, was in suspense. 3 See Montaigne's Essays translated by John Florio, ol. 1603, Chap. "Of the Caniballes." 4 An engine was a term applied to any kind of machine in Shakspeare's age 5 Foison is only another word for plenty or abun dance of provision, but chiefly of the fruits of the earth. In a subsequent scene we have "Earth's increase, and foison plenty." 6 See Montaigne as cited before. 7 Warburton remarks that "all this dialogue is a fine satire on the Utopian Treatise of Government, and the I would lift the moon out of her sphere, if she would continue in it five weeks without changing." Enter ARIEL, invisible, playing solemn music. Seb. We would so, and then go bat-fowling. Ant. Nay, good my lord, be not angry. Gor. No, I warrant you; I will not adventure my discretion so weakly. Will you laugh me asleep, for I am very heavy? Ant. 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, Thank you: Wondrous heavy. JALONSO sleeps. Exit ARIEL. Seb. What a strange drowsiness possesses them! Ant. It is the quality o' the climate. Why Seb. Doth it not then our eye-lids sink? I find not Ant. My strong imagination sees a crown What, art thou waking? I do; and, surely, It is a sleepy language; and thou speak'st Seb. Thou dost snore distinctly; There's meaning in thy snores. Ant. I am more serious than my custom: you Must be so too, if heed me; which to do, Trebles thee o'er." Seb. Well; I am standing water. Hereditary sloth instructs thee. 0, Do so: to ebb, impracticable inconsistent schemes therein recom. mended." 8 Antonio apparently means to say, "You must be more serious than you usually are, if you would pay attention to my proposals; which attention, if you be stow it, will in the end make you thrice what you are.” 9 Sebastian introduces the simile of water. It is ta ken up by Antonio, who says he will teach his stagnant waters to flow. "It has already learned to ebb," says Sebastian. To which Antonio replies-"O, if you but knew how much even that metaphor, which you use in jest, encourages the design which I hint at how, in stripping it of words of their common meaning, and using them figuratively, you adapt them to your own situation.”—Edinburgh Magazine Nov. 1786 SCENE I. Ant. Thus, sir: Although this lord of weak remembrance, this That he's undrown'd. Ant. I have no hope O, out of that no hope, What great hope have you! no hope, that way, is But doubts discovery there. Will you grant, with me, He's gone. Then tell me, Ant. She that is queen of Tunis; she that dwells Ten leagues beyond man's life; she that from Naples Can have no note, unless the sun were post, Be rough and razorable: she, from whom We all were sea-swallow'd, though some cast again; Seb. What stuff is this?-How say you? Ant. every cubit A space whose content your True: You did supplant your brother Prospero. Ant. And, look, how well my garments sit upon me; Seb. But, for your conscience Ant. Ay, sir; where lies that? if it were a kybe, If he were that which now he's like, that's dead; 1 i. e. The utmost extent of the prospect of ambition, the point where the eye can pass no farther. That you, his friend, are in; and sends me forth While you here do snoring lie, His time doth take: If of life you keep a care, Ant. Then let us both be sudden. you Gon. So, king, go safely on to seek thy son. SCENE II. Another part of the Island. Enter Cal. All the infections that the sun sucks up 3 What is past is the prologue to events which are to 4 A chough is a bird of the jackdaw kind. 5 Suggestion is frequently used in the sense of temptation, or seduction, by Shakspeare and his contemnporaries. The sense here is, that they will adopt and bear witness to any tale that may be dictated to them. 2 The commentators have treated this as a remark-come; that depends on wha fou and I are to perform. able instance of Shakspeare's ignorance of geography; but though the real distance between Naples and Tunis is not so immeasurable, the intercourse in early times between the Neapolitans and the Tunisians was not so frequent as to make it popularly considered less than a formidable voyage; Shakspeare may however be countenanced in his poetical exaggeration, when we remember that Eschylus has placed the river Eridanus in Spain; and that Appolonius Rhodius describes the Rhone and the Po as meeting in one and discharging themselves into the Gulf of Venice. 6 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 er roneously supposed. |