It is a comforter.

Ant. We two, my lord,

Will guard your person, while you take your rest,

And watch your safety.

Alon. Thank you: Wond'rous heavy.

[ALON.sleeps. Exit ARIEL.

Seb. What a strange drowsiness possesses them?

Ant. It is the quality o' the climate.

Seb. Why

Doth it not then our eye-lids sink? I find not

Myself dispos'd to sleep.

Ant. Nor I; my spirits are nimble. They fell together all, as by consent;

They dropp'd, as by a thunder-stroke. What might, Worthy Sebastian?-O, what might ?-No more :And yet, methinks, I see it in thy face,

What thou should'st be: the occasion speaks thee; and My strong imagination sees a crown

Dropping upon thy head.

Seb. What, art thou waking?

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.

Seb. Well, I am standing water.
Ant. I'll teach you how to flow.

Seb. Do so: to ebb,

Hereditary sloth instructs me.

Ant. O,

If you but knew, how you the purpose cherish,
Whiles you thus mock it! how, in stripping it,
You more invest it! 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,

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

The king, his son's alive; 'tis as impossible

That he's undrown'd, as he, that sleeps here, swims.

Seb. I have no hope

That he's undrown'd.

Ant. O, out of that no hope,

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

But doubts discovery there. Will you grant with me

That Ferdinand is drown'd?

Seb. He's gone.

Ant. 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, unless the sun were post,
(The man i' the moon's too slow,) till newborn chins
Be rough and razorable: she, from whom
We were all sea-swallow'd, though some cast again;
And, by that, destin'd to perform an act, 4
Whereof what's past is prologue; what to come,
In yours and my discharge.

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 ev'ry 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
That now hath seiz'd them; why, they were no worse
Than now they are: There be, that can rule Naples

[4] It is a common plea of wickedness to call temptation destiny. JOн,

As well as he that sleeps; lords, that can prate
As amply, and unnecessarily,

As this Gonzalo; I myself could make

A chough of as deep chat.5 O, that you bore
The mind that I do! what a sleep were this

For your advancement! Do you understand me?

Seb. Methinks, I do.

Ant. And how does your content

Tender your own good fortune ?
Seb. I remember,

You did supplant your brother Prospero.

Ant. True:

And, look, how well my garments sit upon me;
Much feater than before: My brother's servants
Were then my fellows, now they are my men.
Ant. But, for your conscience-

Ant. Ay, sir; where lies that? If it were a kybe,
'Twould put me to my slipper; But I feel not
This deity in my bosom: Twenty consciences,
That stand 'twixt me and Milan, candy'd be they,
And melt, ere they molest! Here lies your brother,
No better that the earth he lies upon,
If he were that which now he's like; whom I,
With this obedient steel, three inches of it,
Can lay to-bed for ever: whiles you, doing thus,
To the perpetual wink for aye might put
This ancient morsel, this sir Prudence, who
Should not upbraid our course. For all the rest,
They'll take suggestion, as a cat laps milk;
They'll tell the clock to any business that
We say befits the hour.

Seb. Thy case, dear friend,
Shall be my precedent; as thou got'st Milan,
I'll come by Naples. Draw thy sword: one stroke
Shall free thee from the tribute which thou pay'st;

And I the king shall love thee.

Ant. Draw together :

And when I rear my hand, do you the like,

To fall it on Gonzalo.

Seb. O, but one word.

[They converse apart.

Music. Re-enter ARIEL, invisible.

Ari. My master through his art foresees the danger,

[5] A chough is a bird of the jack-daw kind. STEEV.

That these, his friends, are in; and sends me forth, (For else his project dies,) to keep them living.

[Sings in Gonzalo's ear.

While you here do snoring lie,
Open-ey'd conspiracy

His time doth take :
If of life you keep a care,
Shake off slumber, and beware :
Awake! Awake!

Ant. Then let us both be sudden.

Gon. Now, good angels, preserve the king !

[They wake.

Alon. Why, how now, ho! awake! Why are you

drawn ?

Wherefore this ghastly looking?
Gon. What's the matter?

Seb. Whiles we stood here securing your repose,
Even now, we heard a hollow burst of bellowing
Like bulls, or rather lions; did it not wake you?
It struck mine ear most terribly.

Alon. I heard nothing.

Ant. O, 'twas a din to fright a monster's ear : To make an earthquake! sure, it was the roar Of a whole herd of lions.

Alon. Heard you this, Gonzalo?

Gon. Upon mine honour, sir, I heard a humming, And that a strange one too, which did awake me: I shak'd you, sir, and cry'd; as mine eyes open'd, I saw their weapons drawn :-there was a noise, That's verity: 'Best stand upon our guard;

Or that we quit this place: let's draw our weapons. Alon. Lead off this ground; and let's make further

search

For my poor son.

Gon. Heavens keep him from these beasts !

For he is, sure, i' the island.

Ari. Prospero my lord shall know what I have

Alon. Lead away.

done :

So, king, go safely on to seek thy son.

[Aside.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Another part of the Island. Enter CALIBAN, with a burden of wood. A noise of thunder heard.

Cal. All the infections that the sun sucks up From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him By inch-meal a disease! His spirits hear me, And yet I needs must curse. But they'll nor pinch, Fright me with urchin shows, pitch me i' the mire, Nor lead me, like a fire-brand, in the dark Out of my way, unless he bid them; but For every trifle are they set upon me : Sometime like apes, that moe and chatter at me, And after, bite me; then like hedge-hogs, which Lie tumbling in my bare-foot way, and mount Their pricks at my foot-fall; sometime am I All wound with adders, who, with cloven tongues, Do hiss me into madness :-Lo! now! lo!

Enter TRINCULO.

Here comes a spirit of his; and to torment me,
For bringing wood in slowly: I'll fall flat ;
Perchance, he will not mind me.

Trin. Here's neither bush nor shrub, to bear off any weather at all, and another storm brewing; I hear it sing i' the wind: yond' same black cloud, yond' huge one, looks like a foul bumbard that would shed his liquor. If it should thunder, as it did before, I know not where to hide my head: yond' same cloud cannot choose but fall by pailfuls. - What have we here? a man or a fish? dead or alive? A fish: he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind of, not of the newest, Poor-John. A strange fish! Were I in England now, (as once I was,) and had but this fish painted, not a holiday-fool there but would give a piece of silver : there would this monster make a man; any strange beast there makes a man: when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. Legg'd like a man! and his fins like arms! Warm, o' my troth! I do now let loose my opinion, hold it no longer; ger; this is no fish, but an islander, that hath lately suffered by a thunder-bolt. [Thunder.] Alas! the storm is come again: my best way is to creep JOHNSON.

[6] Enwrapped by adders, wound or twisted about me.