THE TEMPEST. ACT I. SCENE I. On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard. Enter a Ship-Master and a Boatswain. Mast. Boatswain! Boats. Here, master: what cheer? Mast. Good, speak to th' mariners: fall to 't, yarely, or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir. Enter Mariners. [Exit. Boats. Heigh, my hearts! cheerly, cheerly, my hearts! yare, yare! Take in the topsail. Tend to th' master's whistle. Blow, till thou burst thy wind, if room enough! Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDINAND, GONZALO, and others. Alon. Good boatswain, have care. Where's the master? Play the men. Boats. I pray now, keep below. Ant. Where is the master, boson? ΙΟ Boats. Do you not hear him? You mar our labour: keep your cabins: you do assist the storm. 3. Good cf. 11. 15, 19 of this scene. 7. The wind is blowing the ship on a lee shore; the boatswain is trying to get her to sea; with sea-room he cares not how hard Gon. Nay, good, be patient. Boats. When the sea is. Hence! What cares these roarers for the name of king? To cabin: silence! trouble us not. 18 Gon. Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard. Boats. None that I more love than myself. You are a counsellor; if you can command these elements to silence, and work the peace of the present, we will not hand a rope more; use your authority: if you cannot, give thanks you have liv'd so long, and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap. Cheerly, good hearts! Out of our way, I say. [Exit. Gon. I have great comfort from this fellow: methinks he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to his hanging make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage. If he be not born to be hang'd, our case is miserable. : Re-enter Boatswain. [Exeunt. Boats. Down with the topmast! yare! lower, lower! Bring her to try wi' th' main-course. [A cry within.] A plague upon this howling! they are louder than the weather or our office. 37 it blows. So the sailor in Pericles, Act III. Sc. i. 1. 45, a passage probably by Shakespeare. ... 16. What king. Keats underlined this good sentence. 22. work present bring about peace at once. Of seems here to mean during, as often with expressions of time. 35. to try wi' th' main course: the First Folio has no colon; to try was to get close to the wind. 35. within = off the stage, or within the tiring-house. See P. 16. Enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and GONZALO. Yet again! what do you here? Shall we give o'er and drown? Have you a mind to sink? Seb. A pox o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog! Boats. Work you, then. 41 Ant. Hang, cur! hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker! We are less afraid to be drown'd than thou art. Gon. I'll warrant him for drowning; though the ship were no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky as an unstanched wench. Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold! set her two courses! Off to sea again! lay her off. Enter Mariners wet. 50 Mariners. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost! Gon. The king and prince at prayers! let's assist •For our case is as theirs. Seb. I'm out of patience. Ant. We are merely cheated of our lives by drunk ards: This wide-chapp'd rascal — would thou mightst lie drowning The washing of ten tides ! Gon. He'll be hanged yet, Though every drop of water swear against it [A confused noise within: "Mercy on us!" 46. for 49. a-hold from, or against. W. = and the mainsail. 60 close to the wind: two courses, the foresail "We split, we split!"-"Farewell, my wife and children!" "Farewell, brother!" "We split, we split, we split!"] Ant. Let's all sink wi' th' king. Seb. Let's take leave of him. [Exeunt Ant. and Seb. 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. [Exeunt. SCENE II. The island. Before PROSPERO's cell. Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA. Mir. If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch, But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek, Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffered With those that I saw suffer a brave vessel, Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her, Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock Against my very heart. Poor souls, they perish'd. Had I been any god of power, I would Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere It should the good ship so have swallow'd and Pros. Be collected: Scene II. Generally Shakespeare's first scenes are explanatory. Here it is the second that makes us understand what is going forward. 1. you is the emphatic word. 6. brave: not in the modern meaning, but as in 1. 409 of this scene, and elsewhere in the play. 11. or ere before. |