Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

To act her earthly and abhorr'd commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers,
And in her most unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprison'd, thou didst painfully remain
A dozen years; within which space she died,
And left thee there; where thou didst vent thy
groans,

As fast as mill-wheels strike: then was this island
(Save for the son that she did litter here,
A freckled whelp, hag-born,) not honoured with
A human shape.

Ari.

Yes; Caliban, her son.

Pro. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban, Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know'st What torment I did find thee in: thy groans Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts Of ever angry bears: it was a torment To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax Could not again undo; it was mine art, When I arriv'd, and heard thee, that made gape The pine, and let thee out. Ari.

I thank thee, master.

Pro. If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak,
And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till
Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters.
Ari.
Pardon, master:

I will be correspondent to command,
And do my spiriting gently.
Pro.

I will discharge thee.
Ari.

Do so; and after two days

That's my noble master!
What shall I do? say what: what shall I do?
I pray thee Pro. Go make thyself like a nymph o' the sea;

Pro. Before the time be out? no more.
Ari.

Remember, I have done thee worthy service;
Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, serv'd

Be subject to no sight but mine; invisible To every eyc-ball else. Go, take this shape,

Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst pro- And hither come in't: hence, with diligence.

mise

[blocks in formation]

[Exit Ariel.

Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well; Awake!

Mira. The strangeness of your story put

Heaviness in me.
Pro.

We'll visit Caliban, my

Yields us kind answer. Mira.

I do not love to look on. Pro.

Shake it off; come on; slave, who never

'Tis a villain, sir,

But, as 'tis,

We cannot miss him: he docs make our fire,
Fetch in our wood; and serves in offices
That profit us. What, ho! slave! Caliban!
Thou earth, thou! speak.

Cal. [Within.] There's wood enough within.
Pro. Come forth, I say; there's other business

for thee;

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Hark, hark! Thear

[dispersedly.

[dispersedly.

The strain of strutting chanticlere,
Cry, Cock-a-doodle-doo.

Fer. Where should this music be? i' the air, or the earth?

It sounds no more:-and sure, it waits upon
Some god of the island. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the king my father's wreck,
This music crept by me upon the waters;
Allaying both their fury, and my passion,
With its sweet air: thence I have follow'd it,
Or it hath drawn me rather:-But 'tis gone.
No, it begins again.

Ariel sings.

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes.
Nothing of him that doth fade,

But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Hark! now I hear them,-ding-dong, bell.
[Burden, ding-dong.

Fer. The ditty does remember my drown'd father:

This is no mortal business, nor no sound
That the earth owes:-I hear it now above me.
Pro. The fringed curtains of thine eye advance,
And say, what thou seest yond'.

Mira.

What is't? a spirit? Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir, It carries a brave form:-But 'tis a spirit. Pro. No, wench; it eats and sleeps, and hath

such senses

[blocks in formation]

On whom these airs attend!-Vouchsafe my prayer

[Aside. May know, if you remain upon this island';
And that you will some good instruction give,
How I may bear me here: my prime request,
Which I do last pronounce, is, O you wonder
If you be maid, or no?
Mira.

So, slave; hence!

[Exit Caliban.

Re-enter Ariel, invisible, playing and singing;
Ferdinand following him.
ARIEL'S SONG.

Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands:

[blocks in formation]

But, certainly a maid.

Fer.

No wonder, sir;

My language? heavens

I am the best of them that speak this speech,
Were I but where 'tis spoken.

Pro.

How! the best?

[blocks in formation]

Fer. A single thing, as I am now, that wonders
To hear thee speak of Naples: he does hear me;
And, that he does, I weep: myself am Naples;
Who with mine eyes, ne'er since at ebb, beheld
The king my father wreck'd.
Mira.

Milan

Alack, for mercy!

[blocks in formation]

So they are:

My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up. Fer. Yes, faith, and all his lords; the duke of My father's loss, the weakness which I feel, The wreck of all my friends, or this man's threats, And his brave son, being twain. To whom I am subdued, are but light to me, Pro. Might I but through my prison, once a day, Behold this maid: all corners else o' the earth Let liberty make use of; space enough Have I in such a prison. Pro.

The duke of Milan, And his more braver daughter, could control thee, If now it were fit to do 't. At the first sight

[Aside.

They have chang'd eyes: -Delicate Ariel,
I'll set thee free for this! -A word, good sir;
I fear, you have done yourself some wrong: a word.
Mira. Why speaks my father so ungently? This
Is the third man that cre I saw; the first
That ere I sigh'd for: pity move my father

To be inclin'd my way!

Fer.

O, if a virgin,

And your affection not gone forth, I'll make you
The queen of Naples.
Pro.

Soft, sir; one word more.They aro both in either's powers: but this swift business

I must uneasy make, lest too light winning [Aside.
Make the prize light. One word more; I charge
thee,

That thou attend me: thou dost here usurp
The name thou ow'st not: and hast put thyself
Upon this island, as a spy, to win it

From me, the lord on't.

Fer.

No, as I am a man.

Mira. There's nothing ill can dwell in such a

temple:

If the ill spirit have so fair a house,

Good things will strive to dwell with 't.
Pro.

Follow me.- [To Ferd.

Come,

Speak not you for him; he's a traitor.
I'll manacle thy neck and feet together:
Sea-water shalt thou drink, thy food shall be
The fresh-brook muscles, wither'd roots, and husks,
Wherein the acorn cradled. Follow.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

you should.

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 them, he, or Adrian, for a good

wager, first begins to crow?

Seb. The old cock.

Ant. The cockrel.

Seb. Done: the wager?

Ant. A laughter.

Seb. A match,

Adr. Though this island seem to be desert,-.

Seb. Ha, ha, ha!

Ant.

Alon. You cram these words into mine ears,

So, you've pay'd. against Adr. Uninhabitable, and almost inaccessible,- The stomach of my sense: 'would I had never

Seb. Yet,

Adr. Yet

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,

Ant. He could not miss it.

Adr. It must needs be of subtle, tender, and I ne'er again shall see her. O thou mine heir

delicate temperance.

Ant. Temperance 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 every thing advantageous to life.
Ant. True; save means to live.

Seb. Of that there's none, or little.

Of Naples and of Milan, what strange fish
Hath made his meal on thee!

[blocks in formation]

Gon. How lush and lusty the grass looks! how To the shore, that o'er his wave-worn basis bow'd green!

Ant. The ground, indeed, is tawny.

Seb. With an eye of green in't.

Ant. He misses not much.

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 vouch'd rarities are. Gon. That our garments, being, as they were, drenched in the sea, hold, notwithstanding, their freshness, and glosses; being rather new dy'd, than stain'd with salt water.

int. If but one of his pockets could speak, would it not say, He lies?

Seb. Av, or very falsely pocket up his report. Gon. Methinks, our garments are now as fresh as when we put them on first in Afric, at the marriare 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 grac'd 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!

Stb. What if he had said, widower Encas too? good lord, how you take it!

Adr. Widow Dido, said you? you make me study of that: she was of Carthage, not of Tunis. Gon. This Tunis, sir, was Carthage.

Adr. Carthage?

Gon. I assure you, Carthage.

Ant. His word is more than the miraculous harp.
Seb. He hath rais'd the wall, and houses too.

Ant. What impossible matter will he make easy

next?

[blocks in formation]

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. 'Bate, I beseech you, widow Dido.

Ant. O, widow Dido; av, widow Dido.

The surge most swoln that met him: his bold

head

[blocks in formation]

I fear, for ever: Milan and Naples have
More widows in them of this business' making,
Than we bring men to comfort them: the fault's
Your own.

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

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 a 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.

Gon. I' the commonwealth I would by contraries

Execute all things: for no kind of traffic
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:
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 for

Gon. Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the first gets the beginning.

day I wore it? I mean, in a sort.4

Ant. That sort was well fish'd for.

Gon, When I wore it at your daughter's marriage?

(1) Temperature. (2) Rank. (S) Shade of colour,

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

(4) Degree or quality, (5) The rack,

Thou dost snore distinctly;

Would I not have, but nature should bring forth, Whiles thou art waking.

Of its own kind, all foizon, all abundance,

To feed my innocent people.

Sed. 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.

Seb.

'Save his majesty!

Ant. Long live Gonzalo!
Gon.

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

Seb.

There's meaning in thy snores.

Ant. I am more serious than my custom: you
Must be so too, if heed me; which to do,
Trebles thee o'er.

Seb.

Well; I am standing water.

Ant. I'll teach you how to flow.

Seb.

Hereditary sloth instructs me.

Ant.

Do so: to ebb

0, If you but knew, how you the purpose cherish, Whiles thus you mock it! how, in stripping it,

it to minister occasion to these gentlemen, who are You more invest it! Ebbing men, indeed, of such sensible and nimble lungs, that they always Most often do so near the bottom run,

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:
Seb. An it had not fallen flat-long.

Gon. You are gentlemen of brave mettle; you would list the moon out of her sphere, if she would cortinue in it five weeks without changing.

Enter Ariel, invisible, playing solemn music. 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.
What, all so soon asleep! I wish mine eyes
, with themselves, shut up my thoughts: I
find,

Ley are inclined 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: wondrous heavy.
[Alonso sleeps. Exit Ariel.
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.

What might,

They fell together all, as by consent;
They dropp'd, as by a thunder-stroke.
Worthy Sebastian?-0, what might? -No more:-
And yet methinks, I see it in thy face,
What thou should'st be: the occasion speaks thee;

and

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Ant. She that is queen of Tunis; she that dwells
Ten leagues beyond man's life; she that from Naples
Can have no note, unless the sun were post,

Be rough and razorable: she, from whom
(The man i' the moon's too slow,) till new-born chins

We were all sea-swallowed, though some cast again;
And, by that, destin'd to perform an act,
Whereof what's past is prologue; what to come,
In yours and my discharge.
Seb.

What stuff is this?-How say you?

'Tis true, my brother's daughter's queen of Tunis ; So is she heir of Naples; 'twixt which regions There is some space.

[blocks in formation]

Than now they are: there be, that can rule Na

ples,

As well as he that sleeps; lords, that can prate
As amply, and unnecessarily,

As this Gonzalo; I myself could make

A chough of as deep chat. O, that you bore
The mind that I do! what a sleep were this

For your advancement! Do you understand me?

Seb. Methinks I do.

Ant.

And how does your content

Tender your own good fortune ?
Seb.

I remember

(2) A bird of the jack-daw kind,

« AnteriorContinuar »