Who is fo far from Italy remov❜d,

I ne'er again fhall fee her. O thou mine heir
Of Naples and of Milan, what ftrange fish
Hath made his meal on thee!

Fran. Sir, he may live ;

I saw him beat the furges under him,

And ride upon their backs; he trod the water,
Whose enmity he flung afide, and breafted
The furge moft fwoln that met him : his bold head
'Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar'd
Himself with his good arms in lufty stroke
To the fhore, that o'er his wave-worn bafis bow'd,
As ftooping to relieve him: I not doubt,
He came alive to land.

Alon. No, no, he's gone.

Seb. Sir, you may thank yourself for this great lofs; That would not blefs our Europe with your daughter, But rather lofe her to an African;

Where the, at least, is banifh'd from your eye,
Who hath caufe to wet the grief on't.

Alon. Pr'ythee, peace.

Seb. You were kneel'd to, and importun'd otherwise By all of us; and the fair foul herself

Weigh'd, between lothness and obedience, at Which end the beam fhould bow. We have loft your fon,

I fear, for ever: Milan and Naples have

More widows in them of this bufinefs' making, Than we bring men to comfort them: the fault's Your own.

Alon. So is the deareft o' the lofs.

Gon. My lord Sebastian,

The truth you speak doth lack fome gentleness,

Than we bring men to comfort them:] It does not clearly appear whether the king and thefe lords thought the fhip loft. This paffage feems to imply, that they were themfelves confident of returning, but imagined part of the fleet deftroyed. Why, indeed, fhould Sebaftian plot against his brother in the following fcene, unless he knew how to find the kingdom which he was to inherit? JOHNSON.

And

And time to speak it in: you rub the fore,
When you should bring the plaifter.
Seb. Very well.

Ant. And moft chirurgeonly.

Gon. It is foul weather in us all, good fir, When you are cloudy.

Seb. Foul weather?
Ant. Very foul.

Gon. Had I the plantation of this ifle, my lord,Ant. He'd fow't with nettle-feed.

Seb. Or docks, or mallows.

Gon. And were the king of it, What would I do?
Seb. 'Scape being drunk, for want of wine.
Gon. I' the commonwealth, I would by contraries
Execute all things: for no kind of traffick
Would I admit; no name of magiftrate;
Letters fhould not be known; riches, poverty,
And use of service, none; contract, fucceffion,
Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none :
No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil:
No occupation; all men idle, all,

And women too, but innocent and pure:
No fovereignty.

Seb. And yet he would be king on't.

Ant. The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.

Gon. All things in common nature should produce Without fweat or endeavour: treafon, felony, Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine', Would I not have; but nature fhould bring forth,

8 Bourn, bound of land, &c.] A bourn, in this place, fig. nifies a limit, a meer, a land-mark. STEEVENS.

• The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.] All this dialogue is a fine fatire on the Utopian treatifes of govern ment, and the impracticable inconfiftent schemes therein recom mended. WARBURTON.

66

-any engine.] An engine is the rack. So in K. Lear.
-like an engine, wrench'd my frame of nature
"From the fix'd place."

It may, however, be used here in its common fignification inftrument of war, or military machine. STEEVENS.

Of

Of its own kind, all foizon, 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, fir,
To excel the golden age.

Seb. 'Save his majefty!

Ant. Long live Gonzalo !

Gon. And, do you mark me, fir?

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

to me.

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

Ant. 'Twas you we laugh'd at.

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

Ant. What a blow was there given?

Seb. An it had not fallen flat-long.

Gon. You are gentlemen of brave metal; you would lift the moon out of her sphere, if fhe 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

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

Foyfon is pure French, and fignifies plenty
So in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, b. xiii. ch. 78.

"Union, in breefe, is fofoncus, and difcorde works decay." Mr. Pope however is not entirely mistaken, as foifon, or fizon, fometimes bears the meaning which he has affixed to it. See Ray's Collection of South and East Country words. STEEVENS.

difcretion

1

discretion fo weakly. Will you laugh me asleep, for

I am very heavy ?

Ant. Go, fleep, and hear us.

[Gonz. Adr. Fra. &c. fleep.

Alon. What, all fo foon afleep! I with mine eyes Would, with themselves, fhut up my thoughts: I find, They are inclin'd to do fo.

Seb. Pleafe you, fir,

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 perfon, while you take

And watch your fafety.

Alon. Thank you: Wond'rous heavy

your reft,

[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 fleep.

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

What might,

Worthy Sebaftian ?-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 ftrong 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 didst fay?

This is a ftrange repofe, to be asleep

With eyes wide open; ftanding, fpeaking, moving;

And yet so fast afleep.

Ant. Noble Sebastian,

Thou

Thou let'ft thy fortune fleep, die rather; wink'ft
Whiles thou art waking.

Seb. Thou doft fnore distinctly;

There's meaning in thy fnores.

Ant. I am more serious than my cuftom: you Must be so too, if heed me; which to do,

Trebles thee o'er.

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

Hereditary floth inftructs me.
Ant. O,

If you but knew, how you the purpose cherish,
Whilst thus you mock it! how, in stripping it,
You more inveft 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, fir :

Although this lord of weak remembrance, this, (Who shall be of as little memory,

When he is earth'd) hath here almost persuaded, (3 For he's a spirit of perfuafion, only

Profeffes

2-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 himfelf, as he can now remember other things. JOHNSON.

3 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
Profeffes to perfuade.

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

VOL. I.

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The