Ferd. O Heaven, O Earth, bear witness to this sound, And crown what I profess with kind event, If I speak true! if hollowly, invert What best is boded me to mischief! I, Beyond all limit of what else 5 i' the world, Do love, prize, honour you. Mira. To weep at what I'm glad of. Pros. [Aside.] I am a fool Fair encounter Of two most rare affections! Heavens rain grace Ferd. Wherefore weep you? Mira. At mine unworthiness, that dare not offer What I shall die to want. But this is trifling; The bigger bulk it shows. And prompt me, plain and Hence, bashful cunning! holy innocence ! I am your wife, if you will marry me ; If not, I'll die your maid: to be your fellow 7 Whether you will or no. Ferd. And I thus humble ever. Mira. My mistress, dearest, My husband, then? Ferd. Ay, with a heart as willing As bondage e'er of freedom: 8 here's my hand. The Poet has many instances of 5 "What else" for whatsoever else. relative pronouns thus used indefinitely. the world he is that names me traitor, villain-like he lies." ་་ 6 Die from wanting, or by wanting. Another gerundial infinitive. We have a like expression in Much Ado: “You kill me to deny it." 7 Fellow for companion or equal, as before. See page 51, note 50. 8 The abstract for the concrete. "I accept you for my wife as willingly as ever a bondman accepted of freedom." Mira. And mine, with my heart in't: and now farewell Till half an hour hence. Ferd. A thousand thousand !9 [Exeuut FERDINAND and MIRANDA. Pros. So glad of this as they, I cannot be, Who am surprised withal; but my rejoicing At nothing can be more. I'll to my book; For yet, ere supper-time, must I perform Much business appertaining. [Exit. SCENE II. Another Part of the Island. Enter CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO, with a bottle. Steph. Tell not me: when the butt is out, we will drink water; not a drop before: therefore bear up, and board 'em.1 Servant-monster, drink to me. Trin. Servant-monster! the folly of this island! They say there's but five upon this išle: we are three of them; if th' other two be brain'd like us, the State totters. Steph. Drink, servant-monster, when I bid thee: thy eyes are almost set in thy head. [CALIBAN drinks. Trin. Where should they be set else? he were a brave monster indeed, if they were set in his tail. Steph. My man-monster hath drown'd his tongue in sack : for my part, the sea cannot drown me; I swam, ere I could recover the shore, five-and-thirty leagues off and on, by this 9 Meaning a thousand thousand farewells; this word being taken literally, like the Latin bene vale. 1" To bear up, put the helm up, and keep a vessel off her course." So says Admiral Smith. 2 Set here means, I suppose, fixed in a vacant stare. So in Twelfth Night, v. I: "He's drunk, Sir Toby, an hour agone; his eyes were set at eight i' the morning." light. Thou shalt be my lieutenant, monster, or my standard.3 Trin. Your lieutenant, if you list; he's no standard.4 Steph. We'll not run, Monsieur Monster. Trin. Nor go neither: but you'll lie, like dogs; and yet say nothing neither. Steph. Moon-calf, speak once in thy life, if thou be'st a good moon-calf. Cal. How does thy Honour? Let me lick thy shoe. I'll not serve him, he is not valiant. Trin. Thou liest, most ignorant monster: I am in case to justle a constable.5 Why, thou debosh'd fish, thou, was there ever man a coward that hath drunk so much sack as I to-day? Wilt thou tell a monstrous lie, being but half a fish and half a monster? Cal. Lo, how he mocks me! wilt thou let him, my lord? Trin. Lord, quoth he. That a monster should be such a natural ! 7 Cal. Lo, lo, again! bite him to death, I pr'ythee. Steph. Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head: if you prove a mutineer, the next tree. The poor monster's my subject, and he shall not suffer indignity. Cal. I thank my noble lord. Wilt thou be pleased To hearken once again the suit I made thee? Steph. Marry, will I: kneel, and repeat it; I will stand, and so shall Trinculo. 8 Standard, like ensign, is put for the bearer of a standard. 4 Trinculo is punning upon standard, and probably means that Caliban is too drunk to stand. 5 The jester is breaking jests upon himself; his meaning being, "One so deep in drink as I am is valiant enough to quarrel with an officer of the law." 6 Debosh'd is an old form of debauched. Cotgrave explains, "Deboshed, lewd, incontinent, ungracious, dissolute, naught." 7 Natural was used for simpleton or fool. There is also a quibble intended between monster and natural, a monster being unnatural. Enter ARIEL, invisible. Cal. As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant; a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island. Ari. Thou liest. Cal. [To TRIN.] Thou liest, thou jesting monkey, thou: I would my valiant master would destroy thee ! I do not lie. Steph. Trinculo, if you trouble him any more in's tale, by this hand, I will supplant some of your teeth. Trin. Why, I said nothing. Steph. Mum, then, and no more. -[To CAL.] Proceed. From me he got it. If thy Greatness will But this thing dare not, Steph. That's most certain. Cal. -Thou shalt be lord of it, and I will serve thee. Steph. How now shall this be compass'd? Canst thou bring me to the party? Cal. Yea, yea, my lord: I'll yield him thee asleep, Where thou mayst knock a nail into his head. Ari. Thou liest; thou canst not. Cal. What a pied ninny's this! 8 Thou scurvy patch ! I do beseech thy Greatness, give him blows, And take his bottle from him: when that's gone, He shall drink nought but brine; for I'll not show him Steph. Trinculo, run into no further danger: interrupt the 8 Pied is dappled or diversely-coloured. Trinculo is “an allowed Fool" or jester, and wears a motley dress. Patch refers to the same circumstance. See vol. ii. page 50, note 4. 9 Quick freshes are living springs of fresh water. monster one word further, and, by this hand, I'll turn my mercy out o' doors, and make a stock-fish 10 of thee. off. Trin. Why, what did I? I did nothing. I'll go further Steph. Didst thou not say he lied? Ari. Thou liest. Steph. Do I so? take thou that. [Strikes him.] As you like this, give me the lie another time. Trin. I did not give thee the lie. Out o' your wits and hearing too? A pox o' your bottle! this can sack and drinkA murrain on your monster, and the Devil take your fingers ! ing do. Cal. Ha, ha, ha! Steph. Now, forward with your tale. Pr'ythee, stand further off. Cal. Beat him enough: after a little time, I'll beat him too. Steph. Stand further. Come, proceed. Cal. Why, as I told thee, 'tis a custom with him I' the afternoon to sleep: then thou mayst brain him,11 Having first seized his books; or with a log Batter his skull, or paunch him with a stake, One spirit to command: they all do hate him 10 A stock-fish appears to have been a thing for practising upon with the fist, or with a cudgel. Ben Jonson has it in Every Man in his Humour, iii. 2: "Slight, peace! thou wilt be beaten like a stock-fish." 11 That is, knock out his brains. So, in 1 Henry the Fourth, ii. 3, Hotspur says, "Zounds! an I were now by this rascal, I could brain him with his lady's fan." See, also, vol. vi. page 238, note 40. 12 Weazand is windpipe or throat. So Spencer has weazand-pipe. 13 Sot, from the French, was frequently used for fool; as our word besotted sometimes is. The Poet has it repeatedly so. |