But yet thou shalt have freedom: So, fo, fo.-
To the king's fhip, invisible as thou art:
There fhalt thou find the mariners asleep
Under the hatches; the mafter, and the boatswain,
Being awake, enforce them to this place;
And presently, I pr'ythee.

Ari. I drink the air before me, and return
Or e'er your pulfe twice beat.

[Exit.

Gon. All torment, trouble, wonder, and amaze

ment

Inhabits here: Some heavenly power guide us
Out of this fearful country!

Pro. Behold, fir King,

The wronged duke of Milan, Profpero:
For more affurance that a living prince

Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body;
And to thee, and thy company, I bid

A hearty welcome.

Alen. Whe'r thou be'ft he, or no, Or fome inchanted trifle to abuse me,

As late I have been, I not know: thy pulle

Alon. A daughter?

300 heavens! that they were living both in Naples,
The king and queen there! That they were, I wish
Myfelf were mudded in that oozy bed,
Where my fon lies. When did you lofe your daughter!

Pro. In this laft tempeft. I perceive, these lords
35 At this encounter do so much admire,
That they devour their reafon; and scarce think,
Their eyes do offices of truth, their words
Are natural breath; but, howfoe'er you have
Been juftled from your fenfes, know for certain,
40 That I am Profpero, and that very duke
Which was thruft forth of Milan; who most strangely
Upon this fhore,where you were wreck'd,was landed
To be the lord on't. No more yet of this;
For 'tis a chronicle of day by day,

Beats, as of flesh and blood; and, fince I faw thee, 45 Not a relation for a breakfast, nor

The affliction of my mind amends, with which,

I fear, a madness held me: this must crave

(An if this be at all) a most strange story.

Thy dukedom I refign; and do intreat, [Profpero

Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, fir;
The cell's my court; here have I few attendants,
And subjects none abroad: pray you look in;
My dukedom fince you have given me again,

Thou pardon me my wrongs:-But how fhould 50I will requite you with as good a thing;

Be living, and be here?

At least, bring forth a wonder to content ye,
As much as me my dukedom.

The entrance of the cell opens, and difcovers Ferdinand
and Miranda playing at chefs.

Mira. Sweet lord, you play me false.

Fer. No, my dearest love,

I would not for the world.

[wrangle,

To drink the air, is an expreffion of fwiftnefs of the fame kind as to devour the way, in Henry IV. 2 That is, I am ferry for it, To be cooe, is often ufed by old writers to fignify, to be forry. My lofs is as great as yours, and has as lately happened to me.

3 Meaning,

Shall

Shall I twice lofe.

Seb. A most high miracle!

Fer. Tho' the feas threaten, they are merciful; I have curs'd them without cause.

Which but three glaffes fince, we gave out fplit,-
Is tight, and yare, and bravely rigg'd, as when
We first put out to fea.
Ari. Sir, all this service

[Ferdinand kneels. 5 Have I done fince I went.
Pro. My tricksy spirit!

Alen. Now all the blessings
Of a glad father compass thee about!
Arife, and say how thou cam'st here.

Mira. O! wonder!

But, oh, how oddly will it found, that I
Muft ask my child forgiveness !

Pro. There, fir, stop;

Let us not burden our remembrance with

An heavinefs that's gone.

Gon. I have inly wept,

Or fhould have spoke ere this. Look down, you gods,
And on this couple drop a blessed crown;

For it is you, that have chalk'd forth the way
Which brought us hither!

Alon. I fay, Amen, Gonzalo !

Gen. Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue
Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice
Beyond a common joy; and set it down
With gold on lafting pillars: In one voyage
Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis;
And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife,
Where he himself was loft; Profpero his dukedom,|
In a poor ifle; and all of us, ourselves,

When no man was his own.

Akon. Give me your hands:

Let grief and forrow ftill embrace his heart,

That doth not wish you joy!

Gen. Be't fo, Amen!

Re-enter Ariel, with the Mafter and Boatswain

}

[Afide.

Alon. Thefe are not natural events; they ftrengthen,
From strange to ftranger: --Say,howcame you hither?
Boarf. If I did think, fir, I were well awake,
10 I'd ftrive to tell you. We were dead afleep,

15

And (how, we know not) all clapp'd under hatches,
Where, but even now, with ftrange and several noises
Of roaring, fhrieking, howling, gingling chains,
And more diverfity of sounds, all horrible,
We were awak'd; straightway, at liberty
Where we, in all her trim, freshly beheld
Our royal, good, and gallant ship; our master
Cap'ring to eye her: On a trice, so please you,
Even in a dream, were we divided from them,
20 And were brought moping hither.

Untie the fpell. How fares my gracious fir?
There are yet miffing of your company
40 Some few odd lads, that you remember not.
Re-enter Ariel, driving in Caliban, Stepbano, and
Trinculo, in their ftolen apparel.

Ste. Every man fhift for all the reft, and let no man take care for himself; for all is but fortune:45 Coragio, bully-monster, Coragio!

Trin. If these be true spies which I wear in my head, here's a goodly fight.

Cal. O Setebos, these be brave spirits, indeed! How fine my mafter is! I am afraid

50 He will chastise me.

55

Seb. Ha, ha;

What things are thefe, my lord Anthonio!
Will money buy them?

Ant. Very like; one of them

Is a plain fish, and no doubt marketable.
Pro. Mark but the badges of thefe men, my lords,
Then fay,if they be true:--This misshapen knave-
His mother was a witch; and one so strong
That could controul the moon, make flows and ebbs,

For when perhaps fhould be read where. 2 That is, my clever, adroit fpirit. 3 Conduct for conductor. s Coragio Beating may mean bammering, working in the mind, dwelling long upon. is an exclamation of encouragement, That is, boneft. A true man is, in the language of that time, oppofed to a thief. The fenfe is, Mark what these men wear, and say if they are boneft. And

And deal in her command without her power:
These three have robb'd me; and this demi-devil
(For he's a baftard one) had plotted with them
To take my life: two of these fellows, you
Muft know, and own; this thing of darkness, I
Acknowledge mine.

Cal. I fhall be pinch'd to death.

5

Alon. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?
Seb. He's drunk now: Where had he wine?
Alon. And Trinculo is reeling ripe: Where fhould 10
Find this grand liquor that hath gilded them?-[they
How cam'ft thou in this pickle?

Trin. I have been in such a pickle since I saw you laft, that, I fear me, will never out of my bones: I fhall not fear fly-blowing.

Seb. Why, how now, Stephano?

And worship this dull fool?
Pro. Go to; away!

Alon. Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it.

Seb. Or ftole it, rather.

Pro. Sir, I invite your highness, and your train,
To my poor cell; where you shall take your reft
For this one night; which (part of it) I'll waste
With fuch difcourfe, as, I not doubt, shall make it
Go quick away; the story of my life,
And the particular accidents, gone by,
Since I came to this ifle: And in the morn,
I'll bring you to your ship, and so to Naples,
Where I have hope to fee the nuptials

15 Of these our dear beloved folemniz'd;
And thence retire me to my Milan, where
Every third thought shall be my grave.
Alon. I long

Ste. O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but a
Pro. You'd be king of the isle, firrah? [cramp'.
Ste. I fhould have been a fore one then.
Alon. This is a strange thing as e'er I look'd on 20
[Pointing to Caliban.

Pro. He is as difproportion'd in his manners,
As in his shape:-Go, firrah, to my cell;
Take with you your companions; as you look
To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.
`Cal. Ay, that I will; and I'll be wife hereafter,
And feek for grace: What a thrice-double afs
Was I, to take this drunkard for a god,

25

That is, I am all over a cramp. Profpero had ordered Ariel to shorten up their fincws with aged cramps. Touch me not alludes to the forenefs occafioned by them. In the next line, the speaker confirms this meaning by a quibble on the word føre.

SCENE, fometimes in Verona ; fometimes in Milan; and on the frontiers of Mantua.

Val.CE

S CE NE

An open place in Verona.

Enter Valentine and Protheus.

ACT I.

I.

EASE to perfuade, my loving Protheus; Home-keeping youth have ever homely 5 Wer't not, affection chains thy tender days [wits: To the sweet glances of thy honour'd love,

I rather would intreat thy company,

To fee the wonders of the world abroad,

Than, living dully fluggardiz'd at home,
Wear out thy youth with fhapeless idleness.
But, fince thou lov'ft, love ftill, and thrive therein,
Even as I would, when I to love begin.

Pro. Wilt thou be gone? Sweet Valentine, adieu !|
Think on thy Protheus, when thou, haply, feeft
Some rare note-worthy object in thy travel:
With me partaker in thy happiness,
When thou doft meet good hap; and, in thy dan-
If ever danger do environ thee,

Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers,
For I will be thy bead's-man, Valentine.

[ger,

Val. And on a love book pray for my fuccefs.

Pro. Upon fome book I love, I'll pray for thee.
Val. That's on fome fhallow ftory of deep love,
How young Leander crofs'd the Hellefpont.
Pro. That's a deep ftory of a deeper love;
For he was more than over fhoes in love.

Val. "Tis true; for you are over boots in love,
And yet you never fwom the Hellefpont.

Pro. Over the boots? nay, give me not the boots*.
Val. No, I will not; for it boots thee not.
Pro. What?

Val. To be in love, where fcorn is bought with

Theobald pronounces this to be a proverbial expreffion, though now difufed, fignifying, Don't make a laughing-stock of me; don't play upon me. Mr. Steevens, however, is of opinion, that it might take its origin from a fport the country people in Warwickshire ufe at their harvest home, where one fits as judge to try misdemeanors committed in harvest, and the punishment for the men is, to be laid on a bench, and flapp'd on the breech with a pair of boots. This they call giving them the boots. He alfo adds, that the boots were an ancient engine of torture.

Val.

Val. Love is your mafter, for he mafters you;
And he that is fo yoked by a fool,
Methinks fhould not be chronicled for wife.

Pro. Yet writers fay, As in the sweetest bud
The eating canker dwells, fo eating love
Inhabits in the finest wits of all.

Val. And writers fay, As the most forward bud
Is eaten by the canker ere it blow,
Even fo by love the young and tender wit
Is turn'd to folly; blasting in the bud,
Lofing his verdure even in the prime,
And all the fair effects of future hopes.
But wherefore waste I time to counsel thee,
That art a votary to fond defire?

Once more adieu: my father at the road
Expects my coming, there to see me shipp'd.

[leave.

Pro. And thither will I bring thee, Valentine.
Val. Sweet Protheus, no; now let us take our
At Milan, let me hear from thee by letters,
Of thy fuccefs in love, and what news elfe
Betideth here in absence of thy friend;
And I likewife will vifit thee with mine.

Pro. All happiness bechance to thee in Milan!
Val. As much to you at home! and fo farewell!

5

IO

15

20

[Exit 25

Pro. He after honour hunts, I after love:
He leaves his friends, to dignify them more;
I leave myself, my friends, and all for love.
Thou, Julia, thou haft metamorphos'd me;
Made me neglect my studies, lose my time,
War with good counsel, fet the world at nought;|
Made wit with mufing weak, heart fick with
thought.

Enter Speed.

30

Speed. SirProtheus, fave you: Saw you my master? 35
Pro. But now he parted hence to embark for Milan.
Speed. Twenty to one then, he is shipp'd already;
And I have play'd the sheep in losing him.

Pro. Indeed, a sheep doth very often stray,
And if the shepherd be awhile away.
Speed. You conclude, that my mafter is a fhep-
herd then, and I a sheep?

Pro. I do.

Speed. Why then my horns are his horns, whether I wake or sleep.

Pro. But doft thou hear? gav'ft thou my letter to Julia?

Speed. Ay, fir: I a loft mutton', gave your letter to her, a lac'd mutton; and she, a lac'd mutton 2, gave me, a loft mutton, nothing for my labour. Pro. Here's too small a pasture for such a store of muttons.

Speed. If the ground be over-charg'd, you were beft ftick her.

Pro. Nay, in that you are a stray; 'twere beft pound you.

Speed. Nay, fir, lefs than a pound shall serve me for carrying your letter.

Pro. You mistake; I mean the pound, a pinfold.
Speed. From a pound to a pin ? Fold it over and

over,

'Tis threefold too little for carrying a letter to your
lover.

Pro. But what faid fhe? did fhe nod? [Speed nods.
Speed. I.

Pro. Nod, I why, that's noddy 3.

Speed. You mistook, fir; I said she did nod: and you ask me, if she did nod; and I said, I. Pro. And that fet together, is-noddy. Speed. Now you have taken the pains to fet it together, take it for your pains.

Pro. No, no, you fhall have it for bearing the letter. Speed. Well, I perceive, I must be fain to bear with you.

Pro. Why, fir, how do you bear with me?
Speed. Marry, fir, the letter very orderly; hav-
ing nothing but the word noddy for my pains.
Pro. Befhrew me, but you have a quick wit.
Speed. And yet it cannot overtake your flow purse.
Pro. Come, come, open the matter in brief:
What faid the ?

Speed. Open your purfe; that the money, and
the matter, may be both at once deliver'd.
Pro. Well, fir, here is for your pains: What
40 faid the?

Speed. Truly, fir, I think you'll hardly win her. Pro. Why? could'st thou perceive so much from her?

Speed. Sir, I could perceive nothing at all from 45 her: no, not fo much as a ducket for delivering your letter: And being fo hard to me that brought your mind, I fear, the'll prove as hard to you in telling her mind. Give her no token but stones; for fhe's as hard as fteel.

Pro. A filly answer, and fitting well a sheep.
Speed. This proves me still a sheep.
Pro. True; and thy mafter a fhepherd.
Speed. Nay, that I can deny by a circumstance.
Pro. It fhall go hard, but I'll prove it by another. 50
Speed. The fhepherd feeks the sheep, and not the
fheep the fhepherd; but I feek my master, and my
master feeks not me: therefore I am no sheep.

Pro. The sheep for fodder follows the fhepherd, the shepherd for the food follows not the fheep; 55 thou for wages followest thy master, thy master for wages follows not thee: therefore thou art a sheep. Speed. Such another proof will make me cry baa.

2

Pro. What, said she nothing?

Speed. No, not fo much as-take this for thy
pains. To teftify your bounty, I thank you, you
have teftern'd4 me; in requital whereof, hence-
commend you to my master.
forth carry your letters yourself: and fo, fir, I'll

Pro. Go, go, be gone, to fave your ship from wreck;
Which cannot perish, having thee aboard,
Being deftin'd to a drier death on shore :-

* Speed calls himself a left mutton, because he had lost his master, and because Protheus had been proving him a fheep. Cotgrave, in his English-French Dictionary, explains lac'd mutton by a girl of pleajure. A lac'd mutton was so established a name for a courtezan, that a street in Clerkenwell, which was much frequented by women of the town, was formerly call'd Mutton-lane. 3 Noddy quas a game at cards. 4 That is, you have gratified me with a tefter, teffern, or teften, that is, with a Sixpence.