SCENE I.
On a Ship at Sea.
A Storm with Thunder and Lightning.
Enter a Ship-master and a Boatswain.
Master.
Boatswain1 note
,—
Boats.
Here, master: What cheer?
Mast.
Good: Speak to the mariners: fall to't
yarely2 note
, or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir.
[Exit.
Enter Mariners.
Boats.
Heigh, my hearts; cheerly, cheerly, my
hearts; yare, yare: Take in the top-sail; Tend to
-- 20 --
the master's whistle.—Blow, till thou burst thy
wind3 note
, if room enough!
Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Ferdinand, Gonzalo, and others.
Alon.
Good boatswain, have care. Where's the
master? Play the men4 note
.
Boats.
I pray now, keep below.
Ant.
Where is the master, Boatswain?
Boats.
Do you not hear him? You mar our labour;
Keep your cabins: you do assist the storm5 note
.
-- 21 --
Gon.
Nay, good, be patient.
Boats.
When the sea is. Hence! What care
these roarers for the name of king? To cabin: silence:
trouble us not.
Gon.
Good; yet remember whom thou hast
aboard.
Boats.
None that I more love than myself. You
are a counsellor; if you can command these elements
to silence, and work the peace of the present6 note,
we will not hand a rope more; use your
authority. If you cannot, give thanks you have
lived so long, and make yourself ready in your
cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap.—
Cheerly, good hearts.—Out of our way, I say.
[Exit.
Gon.7 note
I have great comfort from this fellow:
methinks, he hath no drowning mark upon him;
his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good
fate, to his hanging! make the rope of his destiny
our cable, for our own doth little advantage! If
he be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable.
[Exeunt.
Re-enter Boatswain.
Boats.
Down with the top-mast; yare; lower,
lower; bring her to try with main-course8 note
. [A cry
-- 22 --
within.] A plague upon this howling! they are
louder than the weather, or our office.—
Re-enter Sebastian, Antonio, and Gonzalo.
Yet again? what do you here? Shall we give o'er,
and drown? Have you a mind to sink?
Seb.
A pox o' your throat! you bawling, blasphemous,
incharitable dog!
Boats.
Work you, then.
Ant.
Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson, insolent
noise-maker, we are less afraid to be drowned than
thou art.
Gon.
I'll warrant him from drowning; though
the ship were no stronger than a nut-shell, and as
leaky as an unstanched wench9 note
.
Boats.
Lay her a-hold, a-hold1 note; set her two
courses; off to sea again2 note
, lay her off.
-- 23 --
Enter Mariners wet.
Mar.
All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost!
[Exeunt.
Boats.
What, must our mouths be cold?
Gon.
The king and prince at prayers! let us assist them,
For our case is as theirs.
Seb.
I am out of patience.
Ant.
We are merely3 note
cheated of our lives by drunkards.—
This wide-chapped rascal;—'Would, thou might'st lie drowning,
The washing of ten tides!
Gon.
He'll be hanged yet;
Though every drop of water swear against it,
And gape at wid'st to glut him4 note
.
[A confused noise within.]
Mercy on us!—We split,
-- 24 --
we split!—Farewell, my wife and children!—Farewell,
brother4 note
!—We split, we split, we split!—
Ant.
Let's all sink with the king.
[Exit.
Seb.
Let's take leave of him.
[Exit.
Gon.
Now would I give a thousand furlongs of
sea for an acre of barren ground; long heath,
brown furze5 note
, any thing: The wills above be done!
but I would fain die a dry death.
[Exit.
James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
