Ant. Hang, cur, hang! you rascally, insolent noise-maker, we are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.

Gon. I'll warrant him for drowning; though the ship were no stronger than a nutshell, and as leaky as an unstanched wound.

Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold! set her two courses: off to sea again; lay her off.

Re-enter Mariners, wet. Mariners. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all [Exeunt.

lost!

Boats. What, must our mouths be cold? Gon. The king and prince at prayers! let's assist them,

66

Farewell, brother!"-"We split, we split, we split!"]

Ant. Let's all sink with the king.

Seb. Let's take leave of him.

Gon. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground; long heath, brown furze, anything. The wills above be done! but I would fain die a dry death.

[Exit.

SCENE II.-The Island; before the cell of PROSPERO.

Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA.

Mir. If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch, But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek,11 Dashes the fire out. Oh, I have suffer'd With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel, Who had, no doubt, some noble creatures in her, Dash'd all to pieces. Oh, the cry did knock Against my very heart! Poor souls! they perish'd. Had I been any god of power, I would Have sunk the sea within the earth, or ere It should the good ship so have swallow'd, and The fraughting 12 souls within her.

11. Welkin's check. "Welkin" (Saxon, pealcan, to roll; or Pelcen, clouds) is an old word for the region of air; and Shakespeare has "cheeks of heaven," "cheeks o' the air," in other for poetical allusion to the sky. passages,

12. Fraughting. An old form of freighting. The word is here used to express those who form the freight of the vessel, and thronged or filled her.

13. More better. A double comparative was formerly in use, and frequent instances are found in Shakespeare.

14. Betid. Betided, befallen, happened.

15. Bootless. Fruitless, unsuccessful. 16. Out three old. years "Out" for "completely," "quite." Afterwards in this play, we have "Be a boy right out." Act iv., sc. I.

17. Abysm. Abyss. From the old French abisme. 18. Holp. Old form of helped.

19. Teen. Trouble, grief. Saxon, teonan, injuries; Flemish, tenen, to vex. "Turn'd you to" is an expression that we meet with again in " Coriolanus," iii. 1 (“Shall turn you to no farther harm"); equivalent to "occasioned you," "caused you."

Which is from my remembrance! Please you, farther.

Pros. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Antonio,

I pray thee, mark me,-that a brother should

Be so perfidious!-he whom, next thyself,
Of all the world I lov'd, and to him put
The manage of my state; as, at that time,
Through all the signories it was the first
(And Prospero the prime duke, being so reputed
In dignity), and, for the liberal arts,
Without a parallel; those being all my study,
The government I cast upon my brother,
And to my state grew stranger, being transported
And wrapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle-
Dost thou attend me ?

Mir. Oh, good sir, I do. Pros. I pray thee, mark me. I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated To closeness, and the bettering of my mind With that which, but by being so retired, O'er-priz'd all popular rate, in my false brother Awak'd an evil nature; and my trust, Like a good parent, did beget of him A falsehood, in its contrary as great As my trust was; which had indeed no limit, A confidence sans 21 bound. He being thus lorded, Not only with what my revenue yielded, But what my power might else exact,-like one, Who having, unto truth, by telling of it, Made such a sinner of his memory, To credit his own lie,-he did believe

He was indeed the duke; out o' the substitution,

20. Trash for over-topping. These are sporting terms, the former meaning to check, stop, or correct a hound; the latter, outrunning the rest of the pack. Shakespeare often metaphorises thus, using technicalities in a figurative sense. He frequently, too, makes a nominative serve, unrepeated, through a long sentence; as in this speech, "thy uncle" (named in Prospero's previous speech) serves to govern the whole narration.

21. Sans. French, without.

22. Like one, who having, unto truth, &c. This phrase, somewhat obscurely expressed, seems to mean, "One who, having long repeated a lie, sins against truth by forgetting it and believing his own falsehood instead."

23. Me, poor man, &c. Here "for" is understood before

Mir.

Oh, the heavens! Pros. Mark his condition, and th' event; then tell me

If this might be a brother.

Mir.
I should sin
To think but 20 nobly of my grandmother:
Good wombs have borne bad sons.

Pros.
Now the condition.
This King of Naples, being an enemy
To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit;
Which was, that he, in lieu o'27 the premises,
Of homage, and I know not how much tribute,-
Should presently extirpate me and mine
Out of the dukedom, and confer fair Milan,
With all the honours, on my brother: whereon,
A treacherous army levied, one midnight
Fated to the purpose, did Antonio open
The gates of Milan; and, i' the dead of darkness,
The ministers for the purpose hurried thence
Me, and thy crying self.

me; "as in a similar passage in "Timon of Athens," v. 1:"Whose thankless natures, not all the whips of heaven are large enough;" where "for" is understood before "whose."

24. Confederates. Rarely now used as a verb.

25. So dry he was for sway. "Dry" is a homely word for "thirsty."

26. To think but nobly.

"But" is here used exceptively, and means " any other than," or "otherwise than." 27. In lieu o' the. "In lieu of" here has not its usual signification of "instead of," or "in place of," but means "in exchange for," "as an equivalent for."

28. Hint. Used for "suggested ground;" and again in the first speech at the beginning of the next Act we find "our hint of woe," for "the ground or subject of our woe."

By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune-
Now my dear lady-hath mine enemies
Brought to this shore; and by my prescience

I find my zenith doth depend upon

A most auspicious star, whose influence
If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after droop. Here cease more questions:
Thou art inclined to sleep; 'tis a good dulness,
And give it way:-I know thou canst not choose.-
[Miranda sleeps.
Come away, servant, come! I am ready now:
Approach, my Ariel, come!