Of its own kind, all 9 foyzon, all abundance
To feed my innocent people.

Seb. No marrying 'mong his fubjects?

Ant. None, man: all idle; whores and knaves. Gon. I would with fuch perfection govern, Sir, To excel the golden age.

Seb. Save his majesty!

Ant. Long live Gonzalo!

Gon. And, do you mark me, Sir?

Alon. Pr'ythee, no more; thou dost talk nothing

to me.

Gon. I do well believe your highnefs; and did it to minifter occafion to thefe gentlemen, who are of fuch fenfible and nimble lungs, that they always ufe to laugh at nothing.

Ant. 'Twas you we laugh'd at.

Gon. Who, in this kind of merry fooling, am nothing to you; fo you may continue, and laugh at nothing ftill.

Ant. What a blow was there given?

Seb. An it had not fallen flat-iong.

Gon. You are gentlemen of brave metal; you would lift the moon out of her fphere, if she would continue in it five weeks without changing.

Enter Ariel, playing folemn mufick.

Seb. We would fo, and then go a bat-fowling.
Ant. Nay, my good lord, be not angry.

Gon. No, I warrant you; I will not adventure my difcretion fo weakly will you laugh me afleep, for I am very heavy?

Ant. Go, fleep, and hear us.

[Gonz. Adr. Fra. &c. fleep. Alon. What, all fo foon afleep! I wish mine eyes Would, with themselves, fhut up my thoughts: I find, They are inclin'd to do fo.

9-all foyzon,-] Foifon or foizon fignifies plenty, ubertas, not moisture, or juice of grafs or other herbs, as Mr. Pope fays.

EDWARDS.

Seb.

Seb. Please you, Sir,

Do not omit the heavy offer of it:

It feldom vifits forrow; when it doth
It is a comforter.

Ant. We two, my lord,

Will guard your person, while you take your reft,
And watch your fafety.

Alon. Thank you: wond'rous heavy--

[All fleep but Seb. and Ant. Seb. What a strange drowfinefs poffeffes them? Ant. It is the quality o' the climate.

Seb. Why

Doth it not then our eye-lids fink? I find not
Myself difpos'd to sleep.

Ant. Nor I; my spirits are nimble.
They fell together all as by confent;
They dropp'd as by a thunder-stroke.

What might,

Worthy Sebastian?-O, what might ?-no more. And yet, methinks, I fee it in thy face,

What thou should'ft be: the occafion fpeaks thee; and My strong imagination fees a crown

Dropping upon thy head.

Seb. What, art thou waking?
Ant. Do you not hear me speak?

Seb. I do, and, furely,

It is a fleepy language; and thou speak'st
Out of thy fleep: what is it thou didft fay?
This is a ftrange repofe, to be asleep

With eyes wide open; standing, speaking, moving;
And yet fo faft afleep.

Ant. Noble Sebaftian,

Thou let'ft thy fortune fleep; die rather wink'ft

Whiles thou art waking.

Seb. Thou doft fnore diftinctly;

There's meaning in thy fnores.

Ant. I am more ferious than my custom. You Must be so too, if heed me; which to do,

Trebles thee o'er,

Seb.

Seb. Well: I am ftanding water.
Ant. I'll teach you how to flow.
Seb. Do fo: to ebb

Hereditary floth instructs me.
Ant. O,

If you but knew how you the purpose cherish,
Whilft thus you mock it! how, in stripping it,
You more invest it! ebbing men, indeed,
Most often do fo near the bottom run,
By their own fear or floth.

Seb. Pr'ythee, fay on:

The fetting 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 fhall be of as little memory,

When he is earth'd, hath here almoft perfuaded,
For he's a spirit of perfuafion, only
Profeffes to perfuade the king his fon's alive;
'Tis as impoffible that he's undrown'd,
As he, that fleeps here, fwims.

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

1-this lord of weak remembrance,-] This lord, who, being now in his dotage, has outlived his faculty of remembering; and who, once laid in the ground, fhall be as little remembered himself, as he can now remember other things. JOHNSON.

2 For he's a spirit of perfuafion,] Of this entangled fentence I can draw no fenfe from the prefent reading, and therefore imagine that the author gave it thus:

For he, a fpirit of perfuafion, only
Profefes to perfuade.

Of which the meaning may be either, that be alone, who is a Spirit of perfuafion, profeffes to perfuade the king; or that, He only profeffes to perfuade, that is, without being jo perfuaded himfelf, he makes a show of perfuading the king. JOHNSON.

Another

Another way fo high an hope, that even
Ambition cannot pierce 3 a wink beyond,

But doubts difcovery there. Will you grant, with me,
That Ferdinand is drown'd?

4

Ant. She that is queen of Tunis; fhe that dwells Ten leagues beyond man's life; + fhe that from Naples Can have no note, unless the fun were poft,

(The man i' the moon's too flow) till new-born chins Be rough and razorable: fhe, from whom

We were all fea-fwallow'd, 5 though some cast again;
And, by that destiny, to perform an act,

Whereof what's paft is prologue; what to come,
In yours, and my difcharge.

3 —a wink beyond,] That this is the utmost extent of the profpect of ambition, the point where the eye can pass no further, and where objects lofe their diftin&tnefs, fo that what is there discovered, is faint, obfcure, and doubtful. JOHNSON. fhe that from Naples

4

Can have no note, &c.] Shakespeare's great ignorance of geography is not more confpicuous in any inftance than in this, where he fuppofes Tunis and Naples to have been at such an immeafurable diftance from cach other. STEEVENS.

5 Thefe lines ftand in the old edition thus:

-though fome caft again;

And, by that deftiny, to perform an act,

Whereof what's past is prologue; what to come,

In

your and my dijcharge.

The reading in the later editions is without authority. The old text may very well ftand, except that in the last line in fhould be is, and perhaps we might better fay-and that by definy. It being a common plea of wickednefs to call temptation destiny. JOHNSON.

The modern editors published,

Is yours and my difcharge.

I think we may fafely retain the old reading in the laft hemiftich.

what is yet to come,

In yours and my difcharge.

i.e. Depends on what you and I are to perform. STEEVENS.

Seb.

Seb. What ftuff is this? How fay you?

'Tis true, my brother's daughter's queen of Tunis So is the heir of Naples; 'twixt which regions There is some space.

Ant. A fpace, whofe every cubit

Seems to cry out, How fhall that Claribel
Meafure us back to Naples? 6 Keep in Tunis,
And let Sebaftian wake! Say, this were death

4

That now hath feiz'd them, why, they were no worse
Than now they are: there be, that can rule Naples,
As well as he that fleeps; lords, that can prate
As amply, and unneceffarily,

As this Gonzalo; I myself could make

A chough of as deep chat. O, that you bore
The mind that I do! what a sleep was 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 fupplant your brother Profpero.
Ant. True:

And, look, how well my garments fit upon me;
Much feater than before. My brother's fervants
Were then my fellows, now they are my men.
Seb. But, for your confcience-

Ant. Ay, Sir, where lies that? if it were a kybe, 'Twould put me to my flipper; but I feel not This deity in my bofom. Twenty confciences, That ftand 'twixt me and Milan, candy'd be they, 7 Or melt e'er they moleft. Here lies your brother,

Keep in Tunis.] There is in this paffage a propriety loft, which a flight alteration will restore :

-Sleep in Tunis,

And let Sebaftian wake! JOHNSON..

7 Or melt e'er they moleft.-] I had rather read,

Would melt e'er they moleft.

i. e. Twenty confciences, fuck as fland between me and my hopes, though they were congealed, would melt before they could molest one, or prevent the execution of my purpofes. JonNSON.

In