SCENE I.
On a Ship at Sea.
A tempestuous noise of Thunder and Lightning.
Enter a Ship-master and a Boatswain. 11Q0001
Master.
Boatswain!
Boats.
Here, master: what cheer1 note
?
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 the master's
whistle.—Blow, till thou burst thy wind, if room
enough!
Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Ferdinand, Gonzalo, and Others.
Alon.
Good boatswain, have care. 11Q0002 Where's the
master? Play the men.
Boats.
I pray now, keep below.
-- 10 --
Ant.
Where is the master, boatswain?
Boats.
Do you not hear him? You mar our labour.
Keep your cabins; you do assist the storm.
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 present, 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.
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-course. [A cry 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.
-- 11 --
Gon.
I'll warrant him for drowning; though the ship
were no stronger than a nutshell, and as leaky as an
unstanched wench.
Boats.
Lay her a-hold, a-hold! Set her two courses:
off to sea again; lay her off.
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-chapp'd 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 him. [A confused noise within.] Mercy on us!—
We split, we split!—Farewell, my wife and children!—
Farewell, brother!—We split, we split, we split4 note
!—
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 furze,
any thing. The wills above be done! but I would fain
die a dry death.
[Exit.
-- 12 --
J. Payne Collier [1842–1844], The works of William Shakespeare. The text formed from an entirely new collation of the old editions: with the various readings, notes, a life of the poet, and a history of the Early English stage. By J. Payne Collier, Esq. F.S.A. In eight volumes (Whittaker & Co. [etc.], London) [word count] [S10101].
