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 them. Gon. (For, certes*, these are people of the island,) Many, nay, almost any. Pro. Honest lord, Thou hast said well; for some of you there present Are worse than devils. [Aside. Alon. Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound,expressing (Although they want the use of tongue) a kind Of excellent dumb discourse. I cannot too much muse 5, Pro. Praise in departing 6. [Aside. No matter, since Fran. They vanish'd strangely. Seb. They have left their viands behind; for we have sto machs. Will't please you taste of what is here? Alon. Not I. Gon. Faith, sir, you need not fear: When we were boys, Who would believe that there were mountaineers, taken that name of this date tree (called in Greek povik); for it was assured unto me, that the said bird died with that tree, and revived of itselfe as the tree sprung againe."-Holland's Tran 3lation of Pliny, B. xiii. C. 4. 4 Certainly. 5 Wonder. 6" Praise in departing," is a proverbial phrase signifying, Do not praise your entertainment too soon, lest you should have reason to retract your commendation. Dew-lapp'd like bulls, whose throats had hanging at them Wallets of flesh? or that there were such men, Whose heads stood in their breasts? which now we find, Each putter-out on five for one, will bring us Alon. I will stand to, and feed, Although my last: no matter, since I feel Thunder and Lightning. Enter ARIEL like a Harpy; claps his wings upon the table, and, by 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; and on this island Where man doth not inhabit; you 'mongst men Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad; [Seeing ALON. SEB. &c. draw their swords. And even with such like valour, men hang and drown Their proper selves. You fools! I and my fellows 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 dowleR that's in my plume; my fellow ministers 7 "Each putter-out on five for one," i. e. each traveller; it appears to have been the custom to place out a sum of money upon going abroad to be returned with enormous interest if the party returned safe; a kind of insurance of a gambling nature. 8 Bailey, in his Dictionary, says that dowle is a feather or rather the single particles of the down. Coles, in his Latin Dictionary, 1679, interprets young dowle by Lanugo. And in a History of most Manual Arts, 1661, wool and dowl are treated as synonymous. Tooke contends that this word and others of the same form are nothing more than the past participle of deal; and three Are like invulnerable: if you could hurt, He vanishes in Thunder: then, to soft musick, enter the Shapes again, and dance with mops and mowes, and carry out the table. Pro. [Aside.] Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou Perform'd, my Ariel; a grace it had, devouring: Junius and Skinner both derive it from the same. I fully believe that Tooke is right; the provincial word dool is a portion of unploughed land left in a field; Coles, in his English Dictionary, 1701, has given dowl as a cant word, and interprets it deal. I must refer the reader to the Diversions of Purley for further proof. 9 A clear life; is a pure, blameless, life. 10 With good life, i. e. with the full bent and energy of mind. Mr. Henley says that the expression is still in use in the west of England. In their distractions: they now are in my power; [Exit PROSPERO from above. Gon. I'the name of something holy,sir,why stand you In this strange stare? Alon. O, it is monstrous! monstrous! Methought, the billows spoke, and told me of it; The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder, That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounc'd The name of Prosper; it did bass my trespass. Therefore my son i' the ooze is bedded; and I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet sounded, And with him there lie mudded. Seb. I'll fight their legions o'er. [Exit. But one fiend at a time, I'll be thy second. [Exeunt SEB. and ANT. Gon. All three of them are desperate; their great guilt, Like poison given to work a great time after 11, Now 'gins to bite the spirits: I do beseech you That are of suppler joints, follow them swiftly, And hinder them from what this ecstasy 12 May now provoke them to. Adr. Follow, I pray you. 11 The natives of Africa have been supposed to be possessed of the secret how to temper poisons with such art as not to operate till several years after they were administered. Their drugs were then as certain in their effect as subtle in their preparation. 12 Shakspeare uses ecstasy for any temporary alienation of mind, a fit, or madness. Minsheu's definition of this word will serve to explain its meaning wherever it occurs throughout the following pages. "Extasie or trance; G. extase; Lat. extasis, abstractio mentis. Est proprie mentis emotio, et quasi ex statione sua deturbatio, seu furore, seu admiratione, seu timore, aliove casu decidat."-Guide to the Tongues, 1617. ACT IV. SCENE I. Before Prospero's Cell. Enter PROSPERO, FERDINAND, and MIRANDA. For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise, Fer. Against an oracle. I do believe it, Pro. Then, as my gift, and thine own acquisition Worthily purchas'd, take my daughter: But If thou dost break her virgin knot1 before With full and holy rite be minister'd, 2 No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall 1 The same expression occurs in Pericles. Mr. Henley says that it is a manifest allusion to the zones of the ancients, which were worn as guardians of chastity before marriage. 2 Aspersion is here used in its primitive sense of sprinkling, at present it is used in its figurative sense of throwing out hints of calumny and detraction. |