ship were no stronger than a nut-shell, and as leaky as an unstanched wench. Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold; set her two courses;1 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. 2 Ant. We are merely cheated of our lives by drunk ards. This wide-chapped rascal ;--'Would, thou might'st lie drowning, The washing of ten tides! Gon. He'll be hanged yet; Though every drop of water swear against it, And gape at wid'st to glut3 him. [A confused noise within.] Mercy on us!-We split, we split!-Farewell, my wife and children!-Farewell, brother!-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 furze, any thing: The wills above be done! but I would fain die a dry death. [Exit. 1 The courses are the main-sail and fore-sail. To lay a ship a-hold, is to bring her to lie as near the wind as she can, in order to keep clear of the land and get her out to sea. 2 Absolutely, entirely. 3 To englut, to swallow. 4 Sir Thomas Hanmer reads-ling, heath, broom, furze, &c. SCENE II.—The Island: before the Cell of Prospero. Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA. Mira. If by your art, my dearest father, you have With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel, Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er It should the good ship so have swallowed, and Pro. Be collected: No more amazement: tell your piteous heart, Mira. O, wo the day! No harm. I have done nothing but in care of thee, (Of thee, my dear one! thee, my daughter!) who Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing Of whence I am; nor that I am more better Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell, And thy no greater father. I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand, [Lays down his mantle. Lie there, my art.-Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort. The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touched 1 The first folio reads fraughting. 2 To mix, or to interfere with The very virtue of Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. Sit down; For thou must now know further. You have often Mira. Pro. The hour's now come; The very minute bids thee ope thine ear; Obey, and be attentive. Can'st thou remember I do not think thou can'st; for then thou wast not Mira. Certainly, sir, I can. Pro. By what? by any other house, or person? Of any thing the image tell me, that Hath kept with thy remembrance. Mira. "Tis far off; And rather like a dream than an assurance That my remembrance warrants: Had I not Four or five women once, that tended me? Pro. Thou had'st, and more, Miranda: But how is it, That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else If thou remember'st aught, ere thou cam'st here, Mira. But that I do not. Pro. Twelve years since, Miranda, twelve years. Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and She said-thou wast my daughter; and thy father Was duke of Milan; and his only heir A princess;-no worse issued. Mira. O, the heavens! What foul play had we, that we came from thence? Or blessed was't we did? Pro. Both, both, my girl: By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heaved thence ; But blessedly holp hither. Mira. O, my heart bleeds To think o' the teen' that I have turned you to, Which is from my remembrance! Please you, further. I pray thee, mark me,-that a brother should Without a parallel; those being all my study, And to my state grew stranger, being transported, Mira. Sir, most heedfully. Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits, How to deny them; whom to advance, and whom To trash 2 for overtopping; new created The creatures that were mine; I say, or changed them, Or else new formed them; having both the key Of officer and office, set all hearts i' th' state And sucked my verdure out on't.-Thou attend'st not. 1 Grief, sorrow. 2 To check the pace or progress of any one. Trashes are clogs strapped round the neck of a dog to prevent his overspeed. There was another word of the same kind used in falconry. |