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, That could control the Moon, make flows and ebbs, 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 · Cal. I shall be pinch'd to death. Alon. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler? 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? 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 Cal. Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter, 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. To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest 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, Alon. I long To hear the story of your life, which must Take the ear strangely. 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, - 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. |