Let us be jocund: will you troll the catch
You taught me but while-ere?

Ste. At thy request, monster, I will do reason, any reason. Come on, Trinculo, let us sing. [Sings. Flout 'em and scout 'em

And scout 'em and flout 'em ;
Thought is free.

Cal. That's not the tune.

[Ariel plays the tune on a tabor and pipe.

Ste. What is this same?

Trin. This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of Nobody.

Ste. If thou beest a man, show thyself in thy likeness if thou beest a devil, take 't as thou list. Trin. O, forgive me my sins!

:

Ste. He that dies pays all debts: I defy thee. 140 Mercy upon us!

Cal. Art thou afeard?

Ste. No, monster, not I.

Cal. Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt

not.

Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments

Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show
riches

Ready to drop upon me, that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.

Ste. This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I shall have my music for nothing.

127. while-ere, a short while ago.

136. the picture of Nobody. Several such · pictures' are

130

150

known. In the print prefixed to the comedy of Nobody and Somebody, 1600, 'Nobody' is a man with only head, arms, and legs

Cal. When Prospero is destroyed.

Ste. That shall be by and by: I remember the

story.

Trin. The sound is going away; let's follow it, and after do our work.

Ste. Lead, monster; we'll follow. I would I could see this taborer; he lays it on.

Trin. Wilt come?

I'll follow, Stephano.

[Exeunt.

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! By your

patience,

I needs must rest me.

Alon.
Old lord, I cannot blame thee,
Who am myself attach'd with weariness,
To the dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest.
Even here I will put off my hope and keep it
No longer for my flatterer: he is drown'd
Whom thus we stray to find, and the sea mocks
Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go.
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 resolved to effect.

Seb.
Will we take throughly.

156. by and by, immediately.

1. By'r lakin, by our ladykin, i.e. the Virgin.

[Aside to Ant.] The next advantage

160

10

3. forth-rights, straightforward paths.

5. attach'd, seized.

13. advantage, opportunity.

Ant. [Aside to Seb.] Let it be to-night;
For, now they are oppress'd with travel, they
Will not, nor cannot, use such vigilance
As when they are 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 several strange Shapes, bringing in a banquet; they dance about it with gentle actions of salutation; and, inviting the King, etc., to eat, they depart.

Alon. Give us kind keepers, heavens! What were these?

Seb. A living drollery. Now I will believe
That there are unicorns, that in Arabia
There is one tree, the phoenix' throne, one phoenix
At this hour reigning there.

Ant.
I'll believe both;
And what does else want credit, come to me,
And I'll be sworn 'tis true: travellers ne'er did lie,
Though fools at home condemn 'em.

Gon.

If in Naples

I should report this now, would they believe me ?
If I should say, I saw such islanders-
For, certes, these are people of the island-

Who, though they are of monstrous shape, yet,

note,

Their manners are more gentle-kind than of
Our human generation you shall find

Many, nay, almost any.

Pros.

[Aside] Honest lord, 21. drollery, puppet-play.

20

30

Thou hast said well; for some of you
Are worse than devils.
Alon.

there present

I cannot too much muse Such shapes, such gesture and such sound, expressing

Although they want the use of tongue-a kind
Of excellent dumb discourse.

[Aside] Praise in departing.

Pros.
Fran. They vanish'd strangely.
Seb.

No matter, since 40 They have left their viands behind; for we have stomachs.

Will 't please you taste of what is here?

Alon.

Gon. Faith, sir, you need not fear.

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 five for one will bring us
Good warrant of.

36. muse, wonder at.

39. Praise in departing, a proverbial phrase, meaning: Do not praise till the entertainment is over.

Not I.

When we

44. mountaineers, savages. 48. Each putter-out of five for one, i.e. every adventurous traveller. This refers to a kind of Life Insurance then customary. The traveller deposited a certain sum before starting, receiving, if he returned safely, repayment at a certain rate, usually five to VOL. IV

one, upon what he had 'put-out,' and losing all claim to it if he miscarried. The locus classicus on the subject is in Ben Jonson's Every Man out of His Humour, ii. 1, where Puntarvolo proposes to put forth some five thousand pounds to be paid me, five for one, upon the return of myself, my wife, and my dog from the Turk's court at Constantinople.' But it is incredible that so high a rate can have been obtained for less complicated risks or shorter journeys.

465

2 H

I will stand to and feed,
no matter, since I feel
Brother, my lord the duke,

Alon.
Although my last:
The best is past.
Stand to and do as we.

Thunder and lightning. Enter ARIEL, like a harpy; claps his wings upon the table; and, with a quaint device, the banquet vanishes.

Ari. You are three men of sin, whom Destiny, That hath to instrument this lower world And what is in 't, the never-surfeited sea Hath caused to belch up you; and on this island Where man doth not inhabit; you 'mongst men Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad; And even with such-like valour men hang and drown

Their proper selves.

54. to instrument, as its instrument, or organ.
65. dowle, film of down.

50

[Alon., Seb. etc. draw their swords.
You fools! I and my fellows 60

Are ministers of Fate: the elements,
Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at stabs
Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish

One dowle that's in my plume: my fellow-ministers
Are like invulnerable. If you could hurt,

Your swords are now too massy for your strengths
And will not be uplifted. But remember-
For that's my business to you—that you three
From Milan did supplant good Prospero;
Exposed unto the sea, which hath requit it,
Him and his innocent child: for which foul deed
The powers, delaying, not forgetting, have
Incensed the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures,

70