Seb. Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss; That would not bless our Europe with your daughter, But rather lose her to an African;

Where she, at least, is banished from your eye,

Who has cause to wet the grief on't.

Alon.

Pr'ythee, peace.

Seb. You were kneeled to, and importuned other

wise

By all of us; and the fair soul herself

Weighed,1 between loathness and obedience, at
Which end o'the beam she'd bow.

your son,

I fear, forever; Milan and Naples have

We have lost

More widows in them of this business' making,
Than we bring men to comfort them: the fault's
Your own.

2

Alon. So is the dearest of the loss.

Gon.
The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness,
And time to speak it in; you rub the sore,

When you should bring the plaster.

Seb.

Ant. And most chirurgeonly.

My lord Sebastian,

Very well.

Gon. It is foul weather in us all, good sir,

When you are cloudy.

Seb.

Ant.

Foul weather?

Very foul.

Gon. Had I a plantation of this isle, my lord,-
Ant. He'd sow it with nettle-seed.

Seb.
Or docks, or mallows.
Gon. And were the king of it, what would I do?
Seb. 'Scape getting drunk, for want of wine.
Gon. I' the commonwealth I would by contraries
Execute all things: for no kind of traffic
Would I admit; no name of magistrate;

Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,
And use of service, none; contract, succession,

1 i. e. deliberated, was in suspense.

2 The reader is referred to Horne Tooke for the best commentary on the apparently opposite uses of this word by the ancient writers.

Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none:

No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil:
No occupation; all men idle, all;

And women too; but innocent and pure:

No sovereignty:

Seb.

And yet he would be king on't. Ant. The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.

Gon. All things in common nature should produce Without sweat or endeavor: treason, felony,

Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine,1
Would I not have; but nature should bring forth,
Of its own kind, all foison,2 all abundance,
To feed my innocent people.

Seb. No marrying among his subjects?

Ant. None, man; all idle; whores, and knaves. Gon. I would with such perfection govern, sir, To excel the golden age.

Seb.

Ant. Long live Gonzalo!
Gon.

'Save his majesty!

And, do you mark me, sir?— Alon. Pr'ythee, no more: thou dost talk nothing

to me.

Gon. I do well believe your highness; and did it to minister occasion to these gentlemen, who are of such sensible and nimble lungs, that they always use to laugh at nothing.

Ant. 'Twas you we laughed at.

Gon. Who, in this kind of merry fooling, am nothing to you; so you may continue, and laugh at nothing still.

Ant. What a blow was there given?

Seb. An it had not fallen flat-long.

Gon. You are gentlemen of brave mettle: you

1 An engine was a term applied to any kind of machine in Shakspeare's age.

2 Foison is only another word for plenty or abundance of provision, but chiefly of the fruits of the earth. In a subsequent scene we have

“Earth's increase, and foison plenty.”

Ant. Do you not hear me speak?

Seb.

I do; and, surely,

It is a sleepy language; and thou speak'st

Out of thy sleep: What is it thou didst say?
This is a strange repose, to be asleep

With eyes wide open; standing, speaking, moving,
And yet so fast asleep.

Ant.

Noble Sebastian,

Thou let'st thy fortune sleep-die rather; wink'st
Whiles thou art waking.

Seb.

Thou dost snore distinctly;

There's meaning in thy snores.

Ant. I am more serious than my custom: you

Must be so too, if heed me; which to do,

Trebles thee o'er.1

Seb.

Well; I am standing water.

Do so: to ebb,

Ant. I'll teach you how to flow.
Seb.

Hereditary sloth instructs me.

Ant.

If you but knew how you the purpose cherish,
Whiles thus you mock it! how, in stripping it,
You more invest it!2 Ebbing men, indeed,
Most often do so near the bottom run,

By their own fear, or sloth.

Seb.

Pr'ythee, say 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 shall be of as little memory,

1 Antonio apparently means to say, "You must be more serious than you usually are, if you would pay attention to my proposals; which attention, if you bestow it, will in the end make you thrice what you are!

2 Sebastian introduces the simile of water. It is taken up by Antonio, who says he will teach his stagnant waters to flow. "It has already learned to ebb," says Sebastian. To which Antonio replies-"O, if you but knew how much even that metaphor, which you use in jest, encourages the design which I hint at; how, in stripping it of words of their common meaning, and using them figuratively, you adapt them to your own situation."-Edinburgh Magazine, Nov. 1786.

When he is earthed,) hath here almost persuaded (For he's a spirit of persuasion, only

Professes to persuade) the king, his son's alive; 'Tis as impossible that he's undrowned,

As he that sleeps here, swims.

Seb.

That he's undrowned.

Ant.

I have no hope

O, out of that no hope,

What great hope have you! no hope, that way, is
Another way so high in hope, that even
Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond,

But doubts discovery there. Will you grant, with me,
That Ferdinand is drowned ?

Seb.
Ant.

1

He's gone.

Then tell me,

Who's the next heir of Naples?

Seb.

Claribel.

Ant. She that is queen of Tunis; she that dwells Ten leagues beyond man's life; she that from Naples Can have no note,1 unless the sun were post,

(The man i' the moon's too slow,) till new-born chins Be rough and razorable: she, from whom

We all were sea-swallowed, though some cast again; And, by that destiny, to perform an act,

Whereof what's past is prologue; what to come,

In yours and my discharge.2

Seb.

What stuff is this?-How say you? 'Tis true, my brother's daughter's queen of Tunis; So is she heir of Naples; 'twixt which regions

There is some space.

Ant.
A space whose every cubit
Seems to cry out, How shall that Claribel
Measure us back to Naples?-Keep in Tunis,
And let Sebastian wake!-Say, this were death

1 The commentators have treated this as a remarkable instance of Shakspeare's ignorance of geography; but though the real distance between Naples and Tunis is not so immeasurable, the intercourse in early times between the Neapolitans and the Tunisians was not so frequent as to make it popularly considered less than a formidable voyage. 2 What is past is the prologue to events which are to come; that depends on what you and I are to perform.