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Ant. Why, in good time.

Gon. Sir, we were talking, that our garments seem now as fresh, as when we were at Tunis at the marriage of your daughter, who is now queen.

Ant. And the rarest that e'er came there.
Seb. 'Baté, I beseech you, widow Dido.
Ant. O, widow Dido; ay, widow Dido.

Gon. Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the first day I wore it? I mean in a sort.

Ant. That sort was well fish'd for.

Gon. When I wore it at your daughter's marriage.
Alon. You cram these words into mine ears, against
The stomach of my sense: 'Would I had never
Married my daughter there! for, coming thence,
My son is lost; and, in my rate, she too,
Who is so far from Italy remov'd,

I ne'er again shall see her. O, thou, mine heir
Of Naples and of Milan, what strange fish

Hath made his meal on thee!

Fran.

Sir, he may live;

I saw him beat the surges under him,

And ride upon their backs; he trod the water,
Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted

The surge most swollen that met him: his bold head 'Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar'd Himself, with his good arms, in lusty stroke

To the shore, that o'er his wave-worn basis bow'd,
As stooping to relieve him: I not doubt,

He came alive to land.

Alon.

No, no, he's gone.

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;

Where she, at least, is banish'd from your eye,

Who hath cause to wet the grief on't.

Alon.

Pr'ythee, peace.

Seb. You were kneel'd to, and impórtun'd otherwise,

9 The stomach of my sense:] By sense, I believe, is meant both reason and natural affection. So, in Measure for Measure:

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Against all sense do you impórtune her."

Mr. M. Mason, however, supposes "sense, in this place, means feeling." Steevens.

By all of us; and the fair soul herself

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as Weigh'd, between lothness and obedience, at Should Which end o' the beam"she'd bow. We have lost your

son,

I fear, for ever: Milan and Naples have

More widows in them, of this business' making,
Than we bring men to comfort them:

Your own.

Alon. So is the dearest of the loss.
Gon.

the fault's

My lord Sebastian,

The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness,
And time to speak it in: you rub the sore,

When you should bring the plaster.

Seb.

Very well.

Ant. And most chirurgeonly.
Gon. It is foul weather in us all, good sir,

When you are cloudy.

Seb.

Ant.

Foul weather?

Very foul.

Gon. Had I 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 being drunk, for want of wine.

1 Weigh'd, between lothness and obedience, at

a

Which end o'the beam she'd bow.] Weigh'd means deliberated. It is used in nearly the same sense in Love's Labour Lost, and in Hamlet. The old copy reads-should bow. Should, was, probably, an abbreviation of she would, the mark of elision being inadvertently omitted [sh'ould]. Thus, he has, is frequently exhibited in the first folio-h'as. Mr. Pope corrected the passage, thus: "at which end the beam should bow." But omission of any word in the old copy, without substituting another in its place, is seldom safe, except in those instances, where the repeated word appears to have been caught by the compositor's eye, glancing on the line above or below, or where a word is printed twice in the same line. Malone.

2 Than we bring men to comfort them:] It does not clearly appear whether the king and these lords thought the ship lost. This passage seems to imply, that they were, themselves, confident of returning, but imagined part of the fleet destroyed. Why, indeed, should Sebastian plot against his brother, in the following scene, unless he knew how to find the kingdom, which he was to inherit? Johnson.

a. When the "at" in the preceding is changed into "as
by the 165. 2632., the difficulty vanishes and "should"

remains.

"

Gon. I' the commonwealth, I would, by contraries,
Execute all things: for no kind of traffick
Would I admit; no name of magistrate;

Letters should not be known; no use of service,
Of riches, or of poverty; no contracts,
Successions; bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none: 3
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 commonwealth forgets the beginning.4

Gon. All things in common nature should produce Without sweat, or endeavour: treason, felony, Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine,5

3 And use of service, none; contract, succession,

Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none.] The defective metre of the second of these lines, affords a ground for believing that some word was omitted at the press. Many of the defects, however, in our author's metre, have arisen from the words of one line being transferred to another. In the present instance, the preceding line is redundant. Perhaps the words here, as in many other passages, have been shuffled out of their places. We might read

And use of service, none; succession,

Contract, bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none. -succession being often used by Shakspeare as a quadrisyllable. It must, however, be owned, that in the passage in Montaigne's Essays, the words contract and succession are arranged in the same manner as in the first folio.

If the error did not happen in this way, bourn might have been used as a dissyllable, and the word omitted at the press, might have been none:

contract, succession,

None; bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none. Malone.

▲ The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.] All this dialogue is a fine satire on the Utopian treatises of government, and the impracticable inconsistent schemes, therein recommended. Warburton.

5 any engine,] An engine is the rack. So, in K. Lear: like an engine, wrench'd my frame of nature

66

"From the fix'd place."

It may, however, be used here in its common signification of instrument of war, or military machine.

F

Steevens.

Would I not have; but nature should bring forth,
Of its own kind, all foizon, all abundance,
To feed my innocent people.

Seb. No marrying 'mong his subjects?

Ant. None, man; all idle; whores, and knaves. Gon. I would with such perfection govern, sir, To excel the golden age.7

Seb.

Ant. Long live Gonzalo!
Gon.

'Save his majesty!

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 laugh'd 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?

6

Seb. An it had not fallen flat-long.

Gon. You are gentlemen of brave mettle; you would

all foizon,] Foison, or foizon, signifies plenty, ubertas; not moisture, or juice of grass, as Mr. Pope says. Edwards. So, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, B. XIII. ch. 78:

"Union, in breese, is foysonous, and discorde works decay." Mr. Pope, however, is not entirely mistaken, as foison, or fizon, sometimes bears the meaning which he has affixed to it. See Ray's Collection of South and East Country words. Steevens. nature should bring forth,

Of its own kind, all fcizon, all abundance,

To feed my innocent people.] "And if, notwithstanding, in divers fruits of those countries, that were never tilled, we shall find, that in respect of our's, they are most excellent, and as delicate unto our taste, there is no reason Art should gain the point of our great and puissant mother, Nature." Montaigne's Essaies, ubi sup. Malone.

7 I would with such perfection govern, sir,

To excel the golden age.] So Montaigne, ubi supra: "Me seemeth, that what in those [newly discovered] nations we see by experience, doth not only EXCEED all the pictures, wherewith licentious poesie hath proudly imbellished the GOLDEN AGE, and all her quaint inventions to fain a happy condition of man, but also the conception and desire of philosophy." Malone.

8

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of brave mettle;] The old copy has-metal. The two words are frequently confounded in the first folio. The epithet,

lift the moon out of her sphere, if she would continue in it five weeks without changing.

above, mvisible, ins. 1632

Enter ARIEL, invisible; playing solemn musick.

Seb. We would so, and then go a bat-fowling.
Ant. Nay, good my lord, be not angry.

Gon. 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, They are inclin❜d to do so.

Seb.

Please you, sir,

Do not omit the heavy offer of it:

It seldom visits sorrow; when it doth,

It is a comforter.

Ant.

We two, my lord,

Will guard your person, while you take your rest,
And watch your safety.

Alon.

Thank you: Wond'rous heavy.

[ALON. sleeps. Exit ARI. Slie

Seb. What a strange drowsiness possesses them?
Ant. It is the quality o' the climate.

Seb.

Why

Doth it not then our eye-lids sink? I find not
Myself dispos'd to sleep.

Ant.

Nor I; my spirits are nimble.

They fell together all, as by consent;

They dropp'd as by a thunder-stroke. What might,
Worthy Sebastian?-O, what might?-No more :—
And yet, methinks, I see it in thy face,

What thou should'st be: the occasion speaks thee; and
My strong imagination sees a crown
Dropping upon thy head.

brave, shews clearly, that the word now placed in the text was intended by our author. Malone.

9 Enter Ariel, &c. playing solemn music.] This stage-direction does not mean to tell us that Ariel himself was the fidicen; but that solemn music attended his appearance, was an accompaniment to his entry. Steevens.

Ariel is imagined ar remaining in the air during the whole of the following plot : The Exit Ariel must

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