SCENE III. Another part of the Island. Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, and others. Gon. By'r lakin,' I can go no further, sir; My old bones ache: here's a maze trod, indeed, Through forth-rights and meanders!2 by your patience, I needs must rest me. Alon. Old lord, I cannot blame thee, Who am myself attach'd with weariness, To th' dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest. Whom thus we stray to find; and the sea mocks Ant. [Aside to SEB.] I am right glad that he's so out of hope. Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose That you resolv'd t' effect. Will we take throughly. The next advantage Let it be to-night; For, now they are oppress'd with travel, they Will not, nor cannot, use such vigilance As when they're fresh. Seb. [Aside to ANT.] I say, to-night; no more. [Solemn and strange Music. Alon. What harmony is this?-My good friends, hark! Gon. Marvellous sweet music! Enter PROSPERO, above, invisible. Enter, below, several strange Shapes, bringing in a Banquet: they dance about it with gentle actions of salutation; and, inviting the KING, &c., to eat, they depart. Alon. Give us kind keepers, Heavens! these? What were Seb. A living drollery. Now I will believe That there are unicorns; that in Arabia 1 By'r lakin is a contraction of By our ladykin, the diminutive of our Lady 2 Forth-rights means straight lines; meanders, crooked ones. 8 Shows, called Drolleries, were in Shakespeare's time performed by puppets only. "A living drollery" is therefore a drollery not by wooden but by living personages. 4 There is one tree, the phoenix' throne; one phoenix Ant. Gon. (For, certes,5 these are people of the island,) Who, though they are of monstrous shape, yet, note, Our human generation you shall find Many, nay, almost any. Pros. [Aside.] Honest lord, Thou hast said well; for some of Alon. I cannot too much muse, 6 Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound, expressing — Although they want the use of tongue — a kind Of excellent dumb discourse. Pros. [Aside.] Praise in departing." Fran. They vanish'd strangely. Seb. No matter, since They've left their viands behind; for we have stomachs.Will't please you taste of what is here? Alon. Not I. Gon. Faith, sir, you need not fear. When we were boys, Who would believe that there were mountaineers Dew-lapp'd like bulls, whose throats had hanging at 'em Wallets of flesh? or that there were such men Whose heads stood in their breasts? which now we find, Each putter-out of one for five will bring us Good warrant of. 8 4 I myself have heard strange things of this kind of tree; namely, in regard of the bird Phoenix, which is supposed to have taken that name of this date tree (called in Greek pov); for it was assured unto me, that the said bird died with that tree, and revived of itselfe as the tree sprung againe. -Holland's Pliny. 5 The Poet several times uses certes for certainly. common. The usage was 6 To muse is to wonder; often so used. See vol. i. page 392, note 13. Praise in departing is a proverbial phrase signifying, Do not praise your entertainment too soon, lest you should have cause to retract. 8 A sort of inverted life-insurance was practised by travellers in Shakespeare's time. Before going abroad they put out a sum of money, for which they were to receive two, three, four, or even five times the amount upon their return; the rate being according to the supposed danger of the expedition. Of course the sum put out fell to the depositary, in case the putter Alon. I will stand to, and feed, Although my last: no matter, since I feel The best is past. - Brother, my lord the Duke, Thunder and lightning. Enter ARIEL like a harpy; claps his wings upon the table, and, by a quaint device, the banquet vanishes. Ari. You are three men of sin, whom DestinyThat hath to instrument this lower world And what is in't the never-surfeited sea Hath caus'd to belch up you, and on this island [Seeing ALON. SEB. &c. draw their Swords. Are ministers of Fate: the elements, Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as well One dowle 10 that's in my plume: my fellow ministers Your swords are now too massy for your strengths, out did not return. The men, "whose heads stood in their breasts," were probably the same that Othello speaks of: "The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders.' The report of "mountaineers dew-lapp'd like bulls" may have sprung from some remarkable cases of goître, seen by travellers, but not understood. Shakespeare sometimes uses both the relative and the personal pronouns in relative clauses, where, properly, only one of them should have place; as whom and you in this instance. See vol. i. page 39, note 2, and page 112, note 15. Some editors omit you in this place, and print caus d a dissyllable, caused. 10 Bailey, in his Dictionary, says that dowle is a feather, or rather the single particles of the down. Which here, in this most desolate isle, else falls Upon your heads, is nothing, but heart's sorrow And a clear life ensuing. He vanishes in thunder; then, to soft music, enter the Shapes again, and dance with mocks and moves, and carry out the table. Pros. [Aside.] Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou Perform'd, my Ariel; a grace it had, devouring: Their several kinds have done. My high charms work, In their distractions: they now are in my power; Young Ferdinand, who they suppose is drown'd, And his and my lov'd darling. [Exit from above. Gon. I' the name of something holy, sir, why stand you In this strange stare? Alon. Seb. I'll fight their legions o'er. Ant. [Exit. But one fiend at a time, I'll be thy second. [Exeunt SEB. and ANT. Gon. All three of them are desperate: their great guilt, Like poison given to work a long time after,1 12 Now 'gins to bite the spirits. I do beseech you, Adr. Follow, I pray you. [Exeunt. 11 With good life probably means the same as our phrase "acted to the life"; though some explain it "with full bent and energy of mind." 12 The natives of Africa have been supposed to possess the secret how to temper poisons with such art as not to operate till several years after they were administered. 13 Shakespeare uses ecstasy for any temporary alienation of mind, a fit or madness. See vol. i. page 548, note 15. 1 ACT IV. SCENE I. Before PROSPERO'S Cell. For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise, Ferd. Against an oracle. I do believe it Pros. Then, as my gift, and thine own acquisition Worthily purchas'd, take my daughter: but 3 If thou dost break her virgin knot 3 before All sanctimonious ceremonies may With full and holy rite be minister'd, 4 No sweet aspersion shall the Heavens let fall Ferd. As I hope With such love as 'tis now, the strong'st suggestion 5 Mine honour into lust. Sit, then, and talk with her; she is thine own. Enter ARIEL. Ari. What would my potent master? here I am. Pros. Thou and thy meaner fellows your last service 1 Your compensation is the compensation you receive. Shakespeare has many instances of like construction. 2 Thread of mine own life" probably means about the same as our phrase "my very heart-strings"; strings the breaking of which spills the life. 3 Alluding, no doubt, to the zone or sacred girdle which the old Romans used as the symbol and safeguard of maiden honour. 4 Aspersion is here used in its primitive sense of sprinkling. 5 Suggestion here means temptation or wicked prompting. See page 37, note 33. |