| On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard. |
| [Enter a Master and a Boatswain] |
| Master | Boatswain! |
| Boatswain | Here, master: what cheer? |
| Master | Good, speak to the mariners: fall to't, yarely, | ||
| or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir. | |||
| [Exit] | |||
| [Enter Mariners] |
| Boatswain | Heigh, my hearts! cheerly, cheerly, my hearts! | 5 | |
| yare, yare! Take in the topsail. Tend to the | |||
| master's whistle. Blow, till thou burst thy wind, | |||
| if room enough! | |||
| [Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDINAND, | |||
| GONZALO, and others] |
| ALONSO | Good boatswain, have care. Where's the master? | ||
| Play the men. | 10 |
| Boatswain | I pray now, keep below. |
| ANTONIO | Where is the master, boatswain? |
| Boatswain | Do you not hear him? You mar our labour: keep your | ||
| cabins: you do assist the storm. |
| GONZALO | Nay, good, be patient. | 15 |
| Boatswain | When the sea is. Hence! What cares these roarers | ||
| for the name of king? To cabin: silence! trouble us not. |
| GONZALO | Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard. |
| Boatswain | None that I more love than myself. You are a | ||
| counsellor; if you can command these elements to | 20 | ||
| 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 | 25 | ||
| of our way, I say. | |||
| [Exit] |
| GONZALO | 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, | 30 | ||
| for our own doth little advantage. If he be not | |||
| born to be hanged, our case is miserable. | |||
| [Exeunt] | |||
| [Re-enter Boatswain] |
| Boatswain | Down with the topmast! yare! lower, lower! Bring | ||
| her to try with main-course. | |||
| [A cry within] | |||
| A plague upon this howling! they are louder than | 35 | ||
| 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? |
| SEBASTIAN | A pox o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, | ||
| incharitable dog! | 40 |
| Boatswain | Work you then. |
| ANTONIO | Hang, cur! hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker! | ||
| We are less afraid to be drowned than thou art. |
| GONZALO | I'll warrant him for drowning; though the ship were | ||
| no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky as an | 45 | ||
| unstanched wench. |
| Boatswain | Lay her a-hold, a-hold! set her two courses off to | ||
| sea again; lay her off. | |||
| [Enter Mariners wet] |
| Mariners | All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost! |
| Boatswain | What, must our mouths be cold? | 50 |
| GONZALO | The king and prince at prayers! let's assist them, | ||
| For our case is as theirs. |
| SEBASTIAN | I'm out of patience. |
| ANTONIO | We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards: | ||
| This wide-chapp'd rascal--would thou mightst lie drowning | 55 | ||
| The washing of ten tides! |
| GONZALO | He'll be hang'd yet, | ||
| Though every drop of water swear against it | |||
| And gape at widest 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 split!'] |
| ANTONIO | Let's all sink with the king. | 60 |
| SEBASTIAN | Let's take leave of him. | ||
| [Exeunt ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN] |
| GONZALO | 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. | 65 | ||
| [Exeunt] |