PERSONS REPRESENTED. * ALONSO, King of Naples. SEBASTIAN, his Brother. PROSPERO, the rightful Duke of Milan. ANTONIO, his Brother, the usurping Duke of Milan. FERDINAND, Son to the King of Naples. GONZALO, an honest old Counsellor of Naples. ADRIAN, FRANCISCO,} Lords. CALIBAN, a savage and deformed Slave. TRINCULO, a Jester. STEPHANO, a drunken Butler. Master of a Ship, Boatswain, and Mariners. MIRANDA, Daughter to Prospero. SCENE, the Sea, with a Ship; afterwards an uninhabited Island. * This enumeration of persons is taken from the folio 1623. STEEVENS. Boats. Here, master: What cheer? Mast. Good: speak to the mariners: fall to't yarely', or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir. Enter Mariners. [Exit. Boats. Heigh, my hearts; cheerly, cheerly, my hearts ; yare, yare: take in the top-sail; Tend to the master's whistle.-Blow till thou burst thy wind, if room enough! Enter ALONZO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDINAND, GONZALO, and others. Alon. Good boatswain, have care. Where's the mas Ant. Where is the master, boatswain? 1 — fall to't yarely,] i. e. Readily, nimbly. Our author is frequent in his use of this word. 2 Play the men.] i. e. act with spirit, behave like men. Boats. Do you not hear him? You mar our labour; Keep your cabins: you do assist the storm. Gon. Nay, good, be patient. Boats. When the sea is. Hence! What care these roarers for the name of king? To cabin: silence: trouble us not. Gon. Good; yet remember whom thou hast aboard. Boats. None that I more love than myself. You are a counsellor; if you can command these elements to silence, and work the peace of the present3, we will not hand a rope more; use your authority. If you cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap. Cheerly, good hearts -Out of our way, I [Exit. say. 4 Gon. I have great comfort from this fellow: methinks, he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good fate, to his hanging! make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage! If he be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable. [Exeunt. Re-enter Boatswain. Boats. Down with the topmast; yare; lower, lower; bring her to try with main-course." [A cry within.] A plague upon this howling! they are louder than the weather, or our office. 3 of the present,] i. e. of the present instant. 4 Gonzalo.] It may be observed of Gonzalo, that, being the only good man that appears with the king, he is the only man that preserves his cheerfulness in the wreck, and his hope on the island. JOHNSON. 5-bring her to try with main-course.] This phrase occurs in Smith's Sea Grammar, 1627, 4to. under the article How to handle a Ship in a Storme: "Let us lie at Trie with our main course; that is, to hale the tacke aboord, the sheat close aft, the boling set up, and the helme tied close aboord." STEEVENS. Re-enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and Gonzalo. Yet again? what do you here? Shall we give o'er, and drown? Have you a mind to sink? Seb. A pox o' your throat! incharitable dog! Boats. Work you, then. you bawling, blasphemous, Ant. Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson, insolent noisemaker, we are less afraid to be drowned than thou art. Gon. I'll warrant him from drowning; though the ship were no stronger than a nut-shell, and as leaky as an unstanched wench.6 Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold": set her two courses; off to sea again, lay her off. Enter Mariners, wet. Mar. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost! Boats. What, must our mouths be cold? [Exeunt. Gon. The king and prince at prayers! let us assist them, For our case is as theirs. Seb. I am out of patience. Ant. We are merely cheated of our lives by drunk This wide-chapped rascal; —'Would, thou might'st lie drowning, The washing of ten tides ! Gon. 6 an unstanched wench.] Unstanched, perhaps incontinent. 7 Lay her a-hold, a-hold :] i. e. bring her to lie as near the wind as in order to keep clear of the land, and get her out to sea. 8 Set her two courses; off to sea again,] The courses are the main-sail and fore-sail. she can, 9-merely-] In this place signifies absolutely. STEEVENS. 1 to glut him.] Shakspeare probably wrote, t'englut him, to swal [A confused noise within.] Mercy on us! We split, we split! - Farewell, my wife and children! Farewell, brother2! We split, we split, we split! Ant. Let's all sink with the king. Seb. Let's take leave of him. [Exit. [Exit. Gon. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground; long heath, brown furze3, any thing: The wills above be done! but I would fain die a dry death. [Exit. SCENE II. The Island: before the Cell of Prospero. Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA. Mira. If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them: The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch, But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek, Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffer'd With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel Who had no doubt some noble creatures in her, 4 Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock Against my very heart! Poor souls! they perish'd. Had I been any god of power, I would Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er3 . low him. In this signification englut, from engloutir, Fr., occurs frequently. Yet Milton writes glutted offal for swallowed, and therefore perhaps the present text may stand. 2 Mercy on us! &c.· Farewell, brother! &c.] It is probable, that the lines succeeding the confused noise within should be considered as spoken by no determinate characters. 3 an acre of barren ground; long heath, brown furze, &c.] Sir T. Hanmer reads-ling, heath, broom, furze.- Perhaps rightly, though he has been charged with tautology. 4 -creatures in her,] The old copy reads-creature; but the preceding as well as subsequent words of Miranda seem to demand the emendation suggested first by Theobald. —— or e'er — ] i. e. before. |