ACT II. SCENE I

Refignation and Gratitude.

Befeech you, Sir, be merry: you have cause
(So have we all) of joy; for our escape
Is much beyond our lofs: our hint of woe (14)
Is common; every day fome failor's wife,
The master of fome merchant, and the merchant,
Have juft our theme of woe: but for the miracle,
(I mean our preservation) few in millions

Can fpeak like us: then wifely, good Sir, weigh
Our forrow with our comfort.

Defcription of Ferdinand's swimming afhore.

I faw (15) him beat the furges under him, And ride upon their backs: he trod the water, Whofe enmity he flung afide: and breasted The furge moft swol'n that met him; his bold head 'Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar'd Himfelf with his good arms in lufty strokes

To th' fhore; that o'er his wave-worn bafis bow'd,

As

(14) Our bint of woe.] Hint is that which recalls to the "The caufe that fills our minds with grief, is

memory.

common." J.

(15) I faw, &c.] The reader is defired to compare this with a fimilar paffage of Julius Cæfar, A&t. 1. Jaffier's defcription of his preferving Belvidera, is very noble.

When inftantly I plung'd into the fea,
And buffeting the billows to her rescue,
Redeem'd her life with half the lofs of mine.
Like a rich conqueft in one hand I bore her,
And with the other dafh'd the faucy waves,
That throng'd and prefs'd to rob me of my prize.

Venice Preferv'd, A&t 1. Sc. r.

Buffeting the billows, is quite S's expreffion, and the whole paffage is worthy that great master.

As flooping to relieve him; I not doubt
He came alive to land.

Too fevere Reproof, animadverted upon.

The truth you speak doth lack fome gentleness,
And time to speak it in: you rub the fore,
When you should find the plaister.

Satire on Utopian Schemes of Government.

I'the commonwealth I would by contraries Execute all things; for no kind of traffick Would I admit; no name of magiftrate; Letters fhould not be known; poverty, riches, And ufe of fervice, none; contracts, fucceffion, Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, olive, none; No ufe of metal, corn, or wine, or oil:

No occupation; all men idle, all,

And women too, but innocent, and pure:
No fovereignty:

All things in common nature should produce,
Without fweat or endeavour: treason, felony,
Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine,
Would I not have; but nature should bring forth,
Of it's own kind, all foison, (16) all abundance,
To feed my innocent people.

I would with fuch perfection govern, Sir,
To excel the golden age.

Sleep.

Do not (17) omit the heavy offer of it,

It

(16) Foifon.] Or foizon, fignifies plenty, ubertas. Ed

wards.

(17) Do not, &c.] Dr. Young, begins his Night Thoughts with a parody of this.

Tir'd

It feldom vifits forrow; when it doth,
It is a comforter.

A fine Apofiopefis. (18)

They fell together, all as by confent,
They dropt as by a thunder-ftroke. What might
Worthy Sebastian-O, what might

And yet, methinks, I fee it in thy face,

no more.

What thou fhould't be: th' occafion speaks thee, and My ftrong imagination fees a crown

Dropping upon thy head.

SCENE VII. Caliban's Curfes.

All (19) the infections that the fun fucks up, From bogs, fens, flats, on Projper fall, and make him By inch-meal a difeafe: his fpirits hear me,

And yet I needs muft curfe; but they'll not pinch,

Tir'd nature's fweet reftorer, balmy fleep,
He, like the world, his ready vifit pays

Fright

Where fortune fmiles, the wretched he forfakes;
Swift on his downy pinion flies from woe,

And lights on lids unfullied with a tear.

There is not a more common topic with the poets than fleep, and amongst which, perhaps, none excel S. fee Henry IV. Second Part, A&t 3. Sc. 1.

(18) There is not a more elegant figure than the Apofiopefis, when in threatening, or in the expreffion of any other paffion, the fentence is broken, and fomething is left to be fupplied. S. excels greatly in it (as indeed he does in every poetical beauty), of which, the paffage before us is a ftriking example. There is a very excellent one in Lear, Act 2. Sc. 12. and the note.

(19) All, &c.] So king Lear fays,

You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames
Into her fcornful eyes: infect her beauty

You fen-fuck'd fogs, drawn by the powerful fun
To fall and blast her pride.

A&t Zo

Fright me with urchin-fhews, pitch me i' th' mire,
Nor lead me like a firebrand, in the dark
Out of my way, unless he bid them: but
For every trifle are they fet upon me;

Sometimes, like apes, that moe (20) and chatter at

me,

And after bite me; then like hedge-hogs, which
Lie tumbling in my bare-foot way, and mount
Their pricks at my foot-fall; fometime am I
All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues.
Do hifs me into ma nes.--Lo, now, lo!
Here comes a fpirit of his, and to torment me,
For bringing wood in flowly; I'll fall flat;
Perchance he will not mind me.

A Satire on the English Curiofity.

Were I in England now, and had but this fish painted, not an holiday-fool there but word give a piece of filver: there would this monfter make a man (21) any ftrange beaft there makes a when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to fee a dead Indian(22).

man:

Some

(20) Moe.] i. e. make mouths. So in the old verfion of the Pfalms,

Making moes at me.

And in King Lear,

Of mapping and moeing.

All wound with adders, 1. 13. means, enwrapped, twisted about with adders. St. and J.

(21) Make a man.] i. e. a man's fortune.

(22) A dead Indian.] Probably fome allufion to a particular occurrence, now obfcured by time. In Henry VIII. the porter afks the mob, if they think-fome frange Indian is come to court. St. Mrs. G. obferves in juf

tification

Some of the Sailor's Remarks on Caliban.

Alas, the ftorm is come again: my best way is to creep under his gaberdine; there is no other fhelter hereabout. Mifery acquaints a man with strange bed-fellows.

Four legs, and two voices; a moft delicate moner. His forward voice now is to fpeak well of his friend; his backward voice is to utter foul fpeeches, and to detract.

By this good light, 'tis a very fhallow monfter ;I afraid of him? (23) a very weak monfter:-The man i' th' moon?-a most poor credulous monfter.

Caliban's Promifes.

I'll fhew thee the best springs: I'll pluck thee berries;

I'll fifh for thee, and get thee wood enough;
A plague upon the tyrant that I ferve!

I'll bear him no more fticks, but follow thee,
Thou wond'rous man.

I pr'ythee, let me bring thee where crabs grow;
And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts;
Shew thee a jay's neft, and inftru&t thee how
To fnare the nimble marmozet: I'll bring thee

To

tification of her country from the farcafm above, that "no nation on the globe is more diftinguished for charity, humanity, and benevolence, than the English at prefent. And this must always have been their characteristic: for manners may refine, but cannot create virtues. Polishing may give tafte, but feelings come from nature."

(23) I afraid of him, &c.] It is to be obferved that Trinculo the fpeaker is not charged with being afraid : but it was his conicioufnefs, that he was fo, 'which drew this brag from him. This is nature. W.