Alon. What all fo foon asleep? I wish, mine eyes Would with themselves fhut 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 feldom vifits forrow; when it doth,

It is a comforter.

Ant. We two, my lord,

Will guard your perfon, while you take your rest,

And watch your safety.

Alon. Thank you: wond'rous heavy

[All fleep but Seb. and Ant.

Seb. What a strange drowfinefs poffeffes them?
Ant. It is the quality o' th' climate.

Seb. Why

Doth it not then our eye-lids fink? I find not
Myfelf difpos'd to fleep.

Ant. Nor I, my fpirits are nimble:

They fell together all as by confent,

They dropt as by a thunder-ftroke. What might,
Worthy Sebaftian -O, what might

And yet, methinks, I fee it in thy face,

no more.

What thou should'ft be: th' occafion speaks thee, and My strong imagination fees a crown

Dropping upon thy head.

Seb. What, art thou waking?
Ant. Do you not hear me fpeak?
Seb. I do; and, furely,

It is a fleepy language; and thou speak'ft
Out of thy fleep; what is it thou didst fay?

This is a ftrange repofe, to be asleep

With eyes wide open: ftanding, fpeaking, moving; And yet so fast asleep.

Ant. Noble Sebaftian.

Thou let'ft thy fortune fleep: die rather: wink'ft, Whilft thou art waking.

Seb.

Seb. Thou doft fnore distinctly; There's meaning in thy fnores.

Ant. I am more serious than my cuftom. 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. Do fo: to ebb

Hereditary floth inftructs me.
Ant. O!

If you but knew, how you the purpose cherish,
Whilst thus you mock it; how, in stripping it,
You more inveft it: ebbing men, indeed,
Moft often do fo near the bottom run,

By their own fear or floth."

Seb. Pry'thee, fay on;

The setting of thine eye and cheek proclaim
A matter from thee; and a birth, indeed,
Which throes thee much to yield.

Ant. Thus, Sir:

Although this lord of weak remembrance, this, (Who fhall be of as little memory,

When he is earth'd ;) hath here almoft perfuaded (For he's a fpirit of perfuafion, only

Profeffes to perfuade) the King, his fon's alive: 'Tis as impoffible that he's undrown'd,

As he, that fleeps here, fwims.

1 - which to do, Trebles thee o'er.]ie. follow my advice, and it will advance thy fortune to the height. So Fletcher in his goble Gentleman,

I now fee your Father's honours

Trebling upon you

And again in his Maid of the Mill,

How did you bear her lofs?

With thy grief trebled.

Yet the Oxford Editor alters it to, Troubles thee not.

Seb. I have no hope,

That he's undrown'd.

Ant. O, out of that no hope,
What great hope have you? no hope, that
Another way fo high an hope, that even
2 Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond,

way, is

But doubt discovery there. Will you grant, with me, That Ferdinand is drown'd?

Seb. He's gone.

Ant. Then tell me

Who's the next heir of Naples?

Seb. Claribel.

Ant. She that is Queen of Tunis; fhe that dwells
Ten leagues beyond man's life; fhe that from Naples
Can have no note 3, unless the fun were poft,
(The man i'th'moon's too flow) 'till new-born chins
Be rough and razorable; fhe, from whom
We were fea-fwallow'd; tho' fome, cast again,
May by that destiny perform an act,

Whereof, what's paft is prologue; what to come,
Is yours and my difcharge-

Seb. What ftuff is this? how fay you?

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

Ant. A space, whofe ev'ry cubit

Seems to cry out, how fhall that Claribel
Measure us back to Naples? Keep in Tunis,

2 Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond,

But doubt difcovery there.-] The meaning is, that ambition would be fo affected with the pleafing profpect, that it would doubt whether the difcovery, it there made of future greatness, was a real reprefentation, or only, what Shakespear, in another place, calls a Dream of Advantage. The Oxford Editor changes doubt to drop, and fo makes nonfenfe of the whole Sentence; to pierce a wink fignifies to fee or difcern and to drop discovery fignifies not to fee. So that the Sentiment is, If you fee further into this matter you will not fee at all.

3 No advices by letter. Mr. Pope.

:

And

And let Sebaftian wake. Say, this were death

That now hath feiz'd them, why, they were no worse
Than now they are: there be, that can rule Naples,
As well as he that fleeps; lords that can prate
As amply, and unneceffarily,

As this Gonzalo; I myself could make

A chough of as deep chat. O, that you bore
The mind that I do, what a fleep was 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,

You did fupplant your brother Profp'ro.
Ant. True:.

And, look, how well my garments fit upon me;
Much feater than before. My brother's fervants
Were then my fellows, now they are my men.
Seb. But, for your confcience-

Ant. Ay, Sir; where lies that?

If 'twere a kybe, 'twould put me to my flipper:
But I feel not this deity in my bofom.

Ten confciences, that ftand 'twixt me and Milan,
*Candy'd be they, and melt, e'er they molest!
Here lyes your brother

No better than the earth he lyes upon,

If he were that which now he's like, that's dead; Whom I with this obedient fteel, three inches of it, Can lay to bed for ever: you doing thus,

To the perpetual wink for ay might put

4 Candy'd be they, and melt, e'er they moleft!] i. e. did ten conSciences play all their tricks with me; fometimes proving very ftubborn, and fometimes again as fupple; now frozen up with cold, now diffolved with heat, yet they should ne'er moleft, &c. Shakespear explains this thought, where in his winter tale he expreffes it thus differently,

whofe bonefly till now Endur'd all weathers.

D4

This

This ancient Moral, this Sir Prudence, who
Should not upbraid our courfe. For all the reft,
They'll take fuggeftion, as a cat laps milk;
They'll tell the clock to any business, that,
We fay, befits the hour.

Seb. Thy cafe, dear friend,

Shall be my precedent: as thou got'st Milan,
I'll come by Naples. Draw thy fword; one ftroke
Shall free thee from the tribute which thou pay'ft;
And I the King fhall love thee.

Ant. Draw together:

And when I rear my hand, do you the like
To fall it on Gonzalo.

Seb. O, but one word

Enter Ariel, with Mufick and Song.

Ari My mafter through his art foresees the danger, That you his friend, are in, and fends me forth

(For elle his project dies) to keep them living.

[Sings in Gonzalo's Ear.

While you here do fnoaring lye,

Open-ey'd confpiracy

His time doth take:

If of life you keep a care,

Shake off fumber and beware':

Awake! awake!

5 This ancient M.ORS EL, this Sir Prudence, &c.] But why morfei? How does this characterife the perfon fpoken of? We mull read, This ancient MORAL.

i. e. this man of old fashioned honefty, for fuch is his Character. -An ancient moral is almoft proverbial, in the mouths of licen tious people, to fignify, morals too fevere, and not fit for the times. This way of fpeaking is familiar with our Author. Rom. & Jul. And why my Lady Wisdom? hold your tongue, good Prudence.

6 -to keep them living.] i. e. Alanza and Antonio; for it was on their lives that his project depended. Yet the Oxford Editor alters them, to you, becaufe in the verfe before, it is faid you bis friend; as if, because Ariel was fent forth to fave his friend, he could not have another purpofe in fending him, viz. to fave bis project too.

Ant.