To whom I am subdued, are but light to me, Pro. [Aside.] It works. Come on.— [TO FERD. Thou hast done well, fine Ariel !—Follow me.— [To FERD. [To ARIEL. Be of comfort; Mira. My father's of a better nature, sir, Than he appears by speech; this is unwonted Which now came from him. Pro. [To ARIEL.] Thou shalt be as free As mountain winds; but then exactly do All points of my command. Ari. To the syllable. Pro. Come, follow. Speak not for him. [Exeunt. ACT II. SCENE I.-Another part of the Island. Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, and others. have cause Gon. Beseech you, sir, be merry: you Can speak like us: then wisely, good sir, weigh Alon. Pr'ythee, peace. Seb. He receives comfort like cold porridge. Ant. The visitor3 will not give him o'er so. Seb. Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit; By and by it will strike. Our hint of woe.] That which prompts our woe; the moving cause of our sorrow. 2 The master, &c.] The sailing-master of some vessel belonging to, or freighted by, a merchant. I do not admit the commonly received interpretation, which makes the word merchant, in this line, to have, first, the signification of merchantman or merchant vessel, and, secondly, its ordinary meaning: the word signifies trader in both instances. The visitor.] An allusion to visitors of the sick or afflicted. Gon. Sir Seb. One-tell.1 Gon. When every grief is entertained that's offered, Comes to the entertainer Seb. A dollar.2 Gon. Dolour comes to him, indeed; you have spoken truer than you purposed. Seb. You have taken it wiselier than I meant Gon. Therefore, my lord, Ant. Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue! Alon. I pr'ythee spare. Gon. Well, I have done. But yet— Seb. He will be talking. Ant. Which, of he or Adrian, for a good wager, first begins to crow? Seb. The old cock. Ant. The cockrel.3 Seb. Done: the wager? Ant. A laughter. Seb. A match! Adr. Though this island seem to be desert,— Seb. Ha, ha, ha!4 So Adr. Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible, Seb. Yet, Adr. Yet, Tell.] Count the strokes of his wit. 2 A dollar.] This reference to remuneration for entertainment is introduced for the sake of the quibble that follows. 3 The cockrel.] The young cock, viz. Adrian. Ha, ha, ha!] Sebastian having agreed that a laugh should be the wager, and having lost, now pays with a laugh. Antonio, no doubt, in proposing the wager, intended that he who should win should laugh. The old copies wrongly assign to Antonio the words So you're paid. Ant. He could not miss it.1 Adr. It must needs be of subtle, tender, and delicate temperance. Ant. Temperance2 was a delicate wench. Seb. Ay, and a subtle as he most learnedly delivered. Adr. The air breathes upon us here most sweetly. Seb. As if it had lungs, and rotten ones. Ant. Or, as 'twere perfumed by a fen. Gon. Here is everything advantageous to life. Ant. True; save means to live. Seb. Of that there's none, or little. Gon. How lush 3 and lusty the grass looks; how green! Ant. The ground, indeed, is tawny. Seb. With an eye of green in 't. Ant. He misses not much.5 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. Ant. If but one of his pockets could speak, would it not say he lies? Seb. Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report. 1 He could not miss it.] That is, yet was sure to be the next word. 2 Temperance.] Temperature. The word is then taken up by Antonio as one of a class of names very common among the puritans. 3 Lush.] Juicy. 'Lush and foggy is the blade.' Golding's Ovid, xy. 203. 4 Eye of green.] This phrase, which properly means a slight tint of green, is here intended to include a quibbling reference to greeneyed credulity or simplicity. 5 Misses not much.] Does not miss the truth much. This is said ironically. Gon. Methinks our garments are now as fresh as when we put them on first in Afric, 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 Æneas too?' good lord, how you take it! Adr. Widow Dido, said you? you make me study of that:2 she was of Carthage, not of Tunis. Gon. This Tunis, sir, was Carthage.3 Adr. Carthage? Gon. I assure you, Carthage. Ant. His word is more than the miraculous harp.4 Ant. What impossible matter will he make easy next? 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. What if he had said, &c.] Dido had indeed lost a husband, viz. Sichaeus; and Æneas a wife, viz. Creusa. 2 Study of that.] Wonder what you mean by that. 3 Tunis, sir, was Carthage.] ancient Carthage. Tunis is near the supposed site of 4 His word is more, &c.] Amphion, king of Thebes, was a skilful player on the lyre, and was said to have built the walls of that city by the magic charm of his music; hence Gonzalo, having, as it were, resuscitated Carthage by identifying it with Tunis, is regarded as surpassing Amphion. |