The Complete Works of William Shakespeare · William Shakespeare
ACT I
SCENE I. On a ship at sea; a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard. Enter a Shipmaster and a Boatswain severally. 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! yare, yare! Take in the topsail. Tend to th’ 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. BOATSWAIN. I pray now, keep below. ANTONIO. Where is the master, boson? BOATSWAIN. Do you not hear him? You mar our labour: keep your cabins: you do assist the storm. GONZALO. Nay, good, be patient. 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 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.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.