Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

Alon. Old lord, I cannot blame thce,
Who am myself attach'd with weariness,

To the dulling of my fpirits: fit 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 fea mocks
Our frustrate search on land: Well, let him go.

Ant. [Afide to Sebaftian.] I am right glad that he's fo out of hope.

Do not, for one repulfe, forego the purpose

That you refolv'd to effect.

Seb. The next advantage Will we take throughly.

Ant. Let it be to-night;

For, now they are opprefs'd with travel, they
Will not, nor cannot, ufe fuch vigilance,
As when they are fresh.

Seb. I fay, to-night: no more.

Solemn and strange mufic; and Profpero on the top, invifible. Enter feveral strange shapes, bringing in a banquet; they dance about it with gentle actions of falutation; and, inviting the king, &c. to eat, they depart.

Alon. What harmony is this? my good friends, hark! Gon. Marvellous fweet mufick!

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 elfe want credit, come to me,

[ocr errors]

A living drollery :]-A puppet-fhew exhibited by living figures.

one tree, the phoenix' throne with which the bird is faid to die, and revive as that springs again.

And

And I'll be fworn '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 fay, I saw fuch islanders,

(For, certes, these are people of the island)
Who though they are of monftrous fhape, yet, note,
Their manners are more gentle, kind, than of
Our human generation you fhall find

Many, nay, almost any.

Pro. Honest lord,

Thou haft faid well; for fome of you

Are worse than devils.

Alon. I cannot too much mufe,

there present,

[Afide.

Such fhapes, fuch gefture, and fuch found, expreffing
(Although they want the use of tongue) a kind
Of excellent dumb discourse.

W

Pro. Praise in departing.

Fran. They vanish'd strangely.

Seb. No matter, fince

[Afide.

They have left their viands behind; for we have ftomachs.Will't please you taste of what is here?

Alon. Not I.

Gon. Faith, fir, 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 fuch men,

Whose heads stood in their breasts? which now, we find,

t

certes,]-certainly-" certes, fays he,

"I have already chofe my officer."

mufe,]-admire.

OTHELLO, Act I, S. 1. Jago.

Praife in departing.]-when the feaft is ended, and you find how you have fared.

mountaineers,]-inhabitants of the Alps.

* Whofe heads flood in their breafts ?]-the Blemmyes of Pliny, B.v. C.8.

[blocks in formation]

Each putter out on five for one, will bring us.

Good warrant of.

Alon. I will ftand to, and feed; although my last, No matter, fince I feel the best is past

[ocr errors]

Brother, my lord the duke, ftand 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 fin, whom destiny,

a

That hath to inftrument this lower world,

And what is in't) the never-furfeited fea

Hath caufed to belch up; 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 fuch like valour men hang and drown
Their proper felves.

Ye fools! I and my fellows

[Alonfo, Sebaftian, and the reft

Are minifters of fate; the elements

[draw their fwords.

Of whom your fwords are temper'd, may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemockt-at ftabs
Kill the ftill-clofing waters, as diminish

b

One dowle that's in my plume; my fellow-minifters
Are like invulnerable: if you could hurt,

Your fwords are now too maffy for your strengths,
And will not be up-lifted: But remember,
(For that's my business to you) that you three
From Milan did fupplant good Profpero;
Expos'd unto the fea, which hath requit it,
Him, and his innocent child: for which foul deed

t putter but on five for one,]-voyager that advances money at 500 pe cent, to be received upon his return.

bath to inftrument]-employs for the accomplishment of its purposes. dowle]-feather, a fingle particle of my plumage.

The

[ocr errors]

The powers (delaying, not forgetting) have

Incens'd the feas and fhores, yea, all the creatures,
Against your peace: Thee, of thy fon, Alonso,
They have bereft; and do pronounce by me,
Ling'ring perdition (worse than any death
Can be at once) fhall step by step attend

You, and your ways; whose wraths to guard you from
(Which here, in this most desolate isle, else falls
Upon your heads) is nothing, but heart's forrow,
And a clear life enfuing.

He vanishes in thunder: then to foft mufick, enter the shapes
again, and dance with mocks and mowes, and carry out
the table.

Pro. [Afide.] Bravely the figure of this harpy haft thou
Perform❜d, my Ariel; a grace it had, devouring;
Of my instruction haft thou nothing 'bated,

In what thou hadft to fay: fo with good life,
And obfervation 'ftrange, my meaner ministers
Their several kinds have done: my high charms work,
And these, mine enemies, are all knit up

In their distractions: they now are in my power;
And in these fits I leave them, whilst I vifit

Young Ferdinand (whom they fuppofe is drown'd)

And his and my lov'd darling. [Exit Profpero from above.
Gon. I' the name of fomething holy, fir, why ftand you
In this strange ftare?

Alon. O, it is monftrous! monstrous !

Methought, the billows fpoke, and told me of it;
The winds did fing it to me; and the thunder,
That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounc'd

whofe wraths to guard you from, &c.]-whofe vengeance can only be averted by contrition and amendment.

a mocks and mores,]-wry mouths and antic geftures.

good life,]-great liveliness.

ffrange,exquifite,

The

The name of Profper; it did bass my trespass.
Therefore my fon i'the ooze is bedded; and
I'll feek him deeper than e'er plummet founded,
And with him there lie mudded.

Seb. But one fiend at a time,

I'll fight their legions o'er.

Ant. I'll be thy fecond.

[Exit.

[Exeunt.

Gon. All three of them are defperate; their great guilt,

Like poison given to work a great time after,

Now 'gins to bite their spirits :-I do beseech you
That are of fuppler joints, follow them swiftly,
And hinder them from what this ecstasy

May now provoke them to.

Adri. Follow, I pray you.

h

[Exeunt.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

Profpero's Cell.

Enter Profpero, Ferdinand, and Miranda.

Pro. If I have too aufterely punish'd you,
Your compenfation makes amends; for I
Have given you here a third of mine own life,
Or that for which I live; whom once again
I tender to thy hand: all thy vexations
Were but my trials of thy love, and thou

k

Haft strangely stood the test: here, afore Heaven,

bass]-found in a deep tone, proclaim loudly.

h ecftafy]-delirium, alienation of mind.

i a third of mine own life,]—a thrid-thread, or fibre. The three principal objects of Profpero's care were his realm, his daughter, and his own prefervation; and, though he here gives away his daughter, he ftill retains his concern for her; when fafely returned to Milan, he tells us, Every third thought fhall be my grave."

[ocr errors]

* ftrangely]-incomparably.

I ratify

« AnteriorContinuar »