For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive 131 Thy rankest fault,-all of them; and require My dukedom of thee, which perforce, I know, Thou must restore.
ALON. If thou be 'st Prospero, Give us particulars of thy preservation; How thou hast met us here, who three hours since
Were wreck'd upon this shore; where I have lost-
How sharp the point of this remembrance is!- My dear son Ferdinand.
PROS. I am woe for 't, sir. ALON. Irreparable is the loss, and patience Says it is past her cure.
PROS. 141 You have not sought her help, of whose soft grace
For the like loss I have her sovereign aid,
And rest myself content.
ALON. PROS. As great to me as late; and, sup- portable
I have cursed them without cause. ALON.
Of a glad father compass thee about! 180 Arise, and say how thou camest here.
O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
To make the dear loss, have I means much That has such people in 't! weaker
Than you may call to comfort you, for I Have lost my daughter.
O heavens, that they were living both in Naples, The king and queen there! that they were, I wish
Myself were mudded in that oozy bed 151 Where my son lies. When did you lose your daughter?
PROS. 'Tis new to thee. ALON. What is this maid with whom thou wast at play?
Your eld'st acquaintance cannot be three hours: Is she the goddess that hath sever'd us, And brought us thus together? FER.
Sir, she is mortal; But by immortal Providence she's mine: I chose her when I could not ask my father For his advice, nor thought I had one. She
PROS. In this last tempest. I perceive, these Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan, lords
Of whom so often I have heard renown, But never saw before; of whom I have Received a second life; and second father This lady makes him to me.
Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice Beyond a common joy! and set it down With gold on lasting pillars: In one voyage Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis, And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife 210 Where he himself was lost, Prospero his duke- dom
In a poor isle, and all of us ourselves When no man was his own.
ALON. This is as strange a maze as e'er men trod;
And there is in this business more than nature Was ever conduct of: some oracle Must rectify our knowledge.
Do not infest18 your mind with beating on The strangeness of this business; at pick 'd leisure
ALON. [To FER. and MIR.] Give me your Which shall be shortly, single I'll resolve you,19
Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart
That doth not wish you joy!
GON. Be it so! Amen! Re-enter ARIEL with the MASTER and BOATSWAIN amazedly following.
O, look, sir, look, sir! here is more of us: I prophesied, if a gallows were on land, This fellow could not drown. Now, blasphemy. That swear 'st grace o'erboard, not an oath on shore?
Hast thou no mouth by land? What is the news?
BOATS. The best news is, that we have safely found 221
Our king and company; the next, our shipWhich, but three glasses since, we gave out split-16
Which to you shall seem probable, of every These happen'd accidents; till when, be
TRIN. If these be true spies which I wear in my head, here's a goodly sight. 260 CAL. O Setebos, these be brave spirits indeed! How fine my master is! ARI. [Aside to PROS.] Sir, all this service He will chastise me. Have I done since I went.
Is tight and yare and bravely rigged, as when We first put out to sea.
PROS. [Aside to ARI.] My tricksy spirit! ALON. These are not natural events; they strengthen
Ha, ha! What things are these, my lord Antonio? Will money buy 'em?
From strange to stranger. Say, how came you Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable. hither?
BOATS. If I did think, sir, I were well awake,
I 'ld strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep, And-how we know not-all clapp'd under hatches; 231
Where, but even now, with strange and several noises
Of roaring, shrieking, howling, jingling chains, And mo diversity of sounds, all horrible, We were awaked; straightway, at liberty; Where we, in all her trim, freshly beheld Our royal, good, and gallant ship; our master Capering to eye her:-on a trice, so please you, Even in a dream, were we divided from them, And were brought moping hither.
ARI. [Aside to PROS.] Was 't well done? PROS. [Aside to ARI.] Bravely, my diligence.
Very like; one of them PROS. Mark but the badges21 of these men, my lords, Then say if they be true. This mis-shapen
drunkenly distorted speech.
21 i. e., the stolen apparel
22 act in her place, be
EPILOGUE.*
Spoken by PROSPERO.
Now 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: 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.
THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED MASTER WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND WHAT HE HATH LEFT US.†
To draw no envy, Shakespeare, on thy name, Am I thus ample1 to thy book and fame;
To my poor cell, where you shall take your For this one night; which, part of it, waste
With such discourse as, I not doubt, shall Written after Shakespeare's death, which took
place in April, 1616. Beaumont died in March and was buried in Westminster Abbey by the side of Chaucer and Spenser, where twenty-one years later Jonson himself was to lie. Shakespeare, however, was buried at Stratford. (Eng. Lit., p. 411.) Lines 19-21 refer to the following "Epitaph on Shakespeare" which was written by William Basse:
"Renowned Spenser, lie a thought more nigh To learned Chaucer; and, rare Beaumont, lie A little nearer Spenser, to make room For Shakespeare in your threefold, fourfold To lodge all four in one bed make a shift, For until doomsday hardly will a fifth, Betwixt this day and that, by fates be slain. For whom your curtains need be drawn again. But if precedency in death doth bar
A fourth place in your sacred sepulchre, Under this sable marble of thine own, Sleep, rare tragedian, Shakespeare,
Thy unmolested peace, in an unshared cave, Possess as lord, not tenant, of thy grave; That unto us, and others, it may be Honour hereafter to be laid by thee."
The tenor of Jonson's praise appears to be that other English poets, though great, are "disproportioned." that is, inferior to Shakespeare; his peers are to be found only among the ancients, though he himself knew little about them.
The merry Greek, tart Aristophanes, Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please; But antiquated and deserted lie, As they were not of nature's family.
Yet must I not give nature all; thy art, My gentle Shakespeare, must enjoy a part. For though the poet's matter nature be, His art doth give the fashion: and, that he Who casts to write a living line, must sweat. (Such as thine are) and strike the second heat Upon the Muses' anvil; turn the same, And himself with it, that he thinks to frame; Or for the laurel, he may gain a scorn; For a good poet's made as well as born.
And such wert thou! Look how the father's face
Lives in his issue, even so the race
Of Shakespeare's mind and manners brightly
In his well turnèd, and true filed lines; In each of which he seems to shake a lance, As brandish'd at the eyes of ignorance.
Sweet Swan of Avon! what a sight it were To see thee in our water yet appear, And make those flights upon the banks of Thames,
My Shakespeare rise! I will not lodge thee by Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie 20 A little further off, to make thee room: Thou art a monument without a tomb, And art alive still, while thy book doth live, And we have wits to read, and praise to give. That I not mix thee so, my brain excuses, I mean with great, but disproportion'd Muses: That so did take Eliza,8 and our James! For if I thought my judgment were of years,3 But stay, I see thee in the hemisphere I should commit thee surely with thy peers, Advanced, and made a constellation there! And tell how far thou didst our Lyly outshine, Shine forth, thou Star of poets, and with rage, Or sporting Kyd, or Marlowe's mighty line. 30 | Or influence, chide, or cheer the drooping stage, And though thou hadst small Latin and less Which, since thy flight from hence, hath Greek,
From thence to honour thee, I will not seek⭑ For names: but call forth thund'ring Eschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles to us, Pacuvius, Accius, him of Cordova dead,5 To live again, to hear thy busking tread, And shake a stage: or when thy socks were on, Leave thee alone for the comparison
Of all, that insolent Greece, or haughty Rome Sent forth, or since did from their ashes come. Triumph, my Britain, thou hast one to show, 41 To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe. He was not of an age, but for all time! And all the Muses still were in their prime, When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm Our ears, or like a Mercury to charm! Nature herself was proud of his designs, And joyed to wear the dressing of his lines! Which were so richly spun, and woven so fit, As, since, she will vouchsafe no other wit.
ancient tragic act- ors: figurative for "tragedy."
7 A low shoe worn by ancient comedians; hence "comedy."
And despairs day, but for thy volume's light.
FROM VOLPONE; OR, THE FOX THE ARGUMENT*
Volpone, childless, rich, feigns sick, despairs, Offers his state to hopes of several heirs, Lies languishing: his parasite receives Presents of all, assures, deludes; then weaves Other cross plots, which ope themselves, are told.
New tricks for safety are sought; they thrive : when bold,
Each tempts the other again, and all are sold. 8 captivate Queen Elizabeth This Argument-which is in the form of an acrostic, the initial letters of the seven lines spelling the title-gives in condensed form the plot of the play. The purpose is to present instructively some of the worst passions of men, especially avarice. Volpo'ne, the rich, hypocritical old "fox." assisted by his parasite. Mosca ("fly"). amuses himself with deluding those who hope to become his heirs, namely, the advocate Voltore ("vulture"). Corbaccio ("old raven"), etc.; but all come to grief in the end. The selection here printed consti- tutes the major portion of Act I. On Jonson's use of "humours," see Eng. Lit., p. 122.
The teeming earth to see the longed-for sun Peep through the horns of the celestial Ram1 Am I, to view thy splendour darkening his; That lying here, amongst my other hoards, Show'st like a flame by night, or like the day Struck out of chaos, when all darkness fled Unto the centre. O thou son of Sol, But brighter than thy father, let me kiss, With adoration, thee, and every relic Of sacred treasure in this blessed room. Well did wise poets, by thy glorious name, Title that age which they would have the best; Thou being the best of things; and far tran- scending
All style of joy, in children, parents, friends, Or any other waking dream on earth: Thy looks when they to Venus did ascribe, They should have given her twenty thousand Cupids;
Such are thy beauties and our loves! Dear saint. Riches, the dumb god, that giv'st all men tongues,
That canst do nought, and yet mak'st men do all things;
The price of souls; even hell, with thee to boot, Is made worth heaven. Thou art virtue, fame, Honour, and all things else. Who can get thee, He shall be noble, valiant, honest, wise- Mos. And what he will, sir. Riches are in fortune
A greater good than wisdom is in nature. Volp. True, my beloved Mosca. Yet I glory More in the cunning purchase of my wealth, Than in the glad possession, since I gain No common way; I use no trade, no venture; 40 I wound no earth with ploughshares, fat no beasts
To feed the shambles; have no mills for iron, Oil, corn, or men, to grind them into powder: I blow no subtle glass, expose no ships To threat'nings of the furrow-faced sea; I turn no monies in the public bank, Nor usure private.2
1 The first sign of the zodiac, ascendant at the vernal equinox.
2 practice no private usury
This draws new clients daily to my house, Women and men of every sex and age, That bring me presents, send me plate, coin, jewels,
With hope that when I die (which they expect Each greedy minute) it shall then return Tenfold upon them; whilst some, covetous Above the rest, seek to engross me whole, 60 And counter-work the one unto the other, Contend in gifts, as they would seem in love: All which I suffer, playing with their hopes, And am content to coin them into profit, And look upon their kindness, and take more, And look on that; still bearing them in hand, Letting the cherry knock against their lips, And draw it by their mouths, and back again.— How now!
[Knocking without. Look, Mosca.
Who's that? Mos. 'Tis Signior Voltore, the advocate; I know him by his knock. Volp. Fetch me my gown, My furs, and night-caps; say my couch is And let him entertain himself awhile changing, Without i' the gallery. [Exit Mosca.] Now, Begin their visitation! Vulture, kite, now my clients That think me turning carcase, now they come: Raven, and gorerow, all my birds of prey, I am not for them yet.
Re-enter Mosca, with the gown, etc. How now! the news?
Mos. A piece of plate, sir.
Volp. Of what bigness?
Massy, and antique, with your name inscribed,
« AnteriorContinuar » |