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Which to you shall seem probable

of every

These happen'd accidents: till when, be cheerful,

And think of each thing well. — [Aside to ARI.] Come hither,

spirit:

Set Caliban and his companions free ;

Untie the spell. [Exit ARIEL.] - How fares my gracious sir? There are yet missing of your company

Some few odd lads that

you

remember not.

Re-enter ARIEL, driving in CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO, in their stolen apparel.

Steph. Every man shift for all the rest,41 and let no man take care for himself; for all is but fortune. - Coragio, bullymonster, coragio !

Trin. If these be true spies which I wear in my head, here's a goodly sight.

Cal. O Setebos, there be brave spirits indeed!

How fine my master is! I am afraid

He will chastise me.

Sebas. Ha, ha!

What things are these, my Lord Antonio?

Will money buy 'em?

Anto.

Very like; one of them

Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable.

Pros. Mark but the badges of these men, my lords,
Then say if they be true. This mis-shaped knave, —
His mother was a witch; and one so strong

That could control the Moon, make flows and ebbs,
And deal in her command without her power. 42

41 Stephano's tongue is rather tipsy still, and staggers into a misplacement of his words. He means "Let every man shift for himself."

42 Without has here the sense of beyond; a common usage in the Poet's time. So in A Midsummer-Night's Dream, iv. 1: "Where we might be without the peril of th' Athenian law." And in Jonson's Cynthia's Revels, i. 4:

These three have robb'd me; and this demi-devil ·
For he's a bastard one - had plotted with them
To take my life: two of these fellows you
Must know and own; this thing of darkness I
Acknowledge mine.

Cal.

I shall be pinch'd to death.

Alon. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?
Sebas. He is drunk now: where had he wine?

Alon. And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they Find this grand liquor that hath gilded 43 'em?—

How camest thou in this pickle?

Trin. I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last, that, I fear me, will never out of my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing.44

Sebas. Why, how now, Stephano!

Steph. O, touch me not! I am not Stephano, but a cramp.

Pros. You'd be king o' the isle, sirrah?
Steph. I should have been a sore one,

45 then.

“O, now I apprehend you: your phrase was without me before.” So that the meaning of the text is, "who could outdo the Moon in exercising the Moon's own command."

43 The phrase being gilded was a trite one for being drunk; perhaps because drinking puts one into golden altitudes. It has been suggested, also, that there is an allusion to the grand elixir of the alchemists, which was an ideal medicine for gilding a base metal in the sense of transmuting it into gold; as also for repairing health in man. This, too, is probable; for the Poet is fond of clustering various ideas round a single image.

44 Trinculo is playing rather deeply upon pickle; and one of the senses here intended is that of being pickled in salt or brine so as not to become tainted. Fly-blows are the maggot-eggs deposited by flies; and to fly-blow is to taint with such eggs.

45 A pun upon the different senses of sore, one of which is harsh, severe, or oppressive. The same equivoque occurs in 2 Henry the Sixth, iv. 7, where Dick proposes that Cade's mouth be the source of English law, and John remarks, aside,-"Mass, 'twill be a sore law, then; for he was thrust in the mouth with a spear, and 'tis not whole yet."

Alon. [Pointing to CALIBAN.] This is as strange a thing

as e'er I look'd on.

Pros. He is as disproportion'd in his manners
As in his shape. - Go, sirrah, to my cell;
Take with you your companions; as you look
To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.

Cal. Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter,
And seek for grace.
What a thrice-double ass

Was I, to take this drunkard for a god,

And worship this dull fool!

Pros.

Go to; away!

Alon. Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it.
Sebas. Or stole it, rather. [Exeunt CAL., STE., and TRIN.
Pros. Sir, I invite your Highness and your train

To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest
For this one night; which, part of it, I'll waste
With such discourse as, I not doubt, shall make it
Go quick away, the story of my life,

And the particular accidents gone by

Since I came to this isle and in the morn

I'll bring you to your ship, and so to Naples,
Where I have hope to see the nuptial
Of these our dear-beloved solemnized;
And thence retire me 46 to my Milan, where
Every third thought shall be my grave.

Alon.

I long

To hear the story of your life, which must

Take the ear strangely.

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And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales,

And sail so expeditious, that shall catch

46 That is, withdraw myself. The Poet has various instances of retire thus used as a transitive verb.

Your royal fleet far off. — [Aside to ARIEL.] My Ariel, chick, That is thy charge: then to the elements

Be free, and fare thou well!-- Please you, draw near.

[Exeunt.

Now

EPILOGUE.

SPOKEN BY PROSPERO.

my charms are all o'erthrown,

And what strength I have's mine own, -
Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got,
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell ;
But release me from my bands,
With the help of your good hands.47
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please: now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant;
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer;
Which pierces so, that it assaults
Mercy itself, and frees all faults.

As

you from crimes would pardon'd be,

Let your indulgence set me free.

47 The Epilogue is supposed to be addressed to the theatrical audience, and the speaker here solicits their applause by the clapping of their hands. Noise was a breaker of enchantments and spells; hence the applause would release him from his bonds.

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