29-i THE SEA. 



" The king's son have I landed by himself, 

 "Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs, 

 In an odd angle of the isle," 



Sings the "airy spirit/' adding, however 



" Safely in harbour 



Is the king's ship in the deep nook ; where once 

 Thou call'st me up at midnight, to fetch dew 

 From the still vexed Bermoctlies,* there she's hid : 

 The mariners all under hatches stowed." 



And so with the kindly spirit and the rightful Duke we may leave the tempest-tossed 

 mariners. 



In the Merchant of Venice we have admirable illustrations of the troubles and anxieties 

 of a merchant shipowner of the day. Antonio is sad. (< Your mind/' says Salarino, " is 

 tossing on the ocean/' Antonio's friends continue : 



' Salanio. Believe me, sir, had I such ventures forth, 

 The better part of my affections would 

 Be with my hopes abroad * * * 

 Salarino. My wind, cooling my breath, 



Would blow me to an ague, when I thought 

 "What harm a wind too great might do at sea. 

 I should not see the sandy hour-glass run, 

 But I should think of shallows and of flats ; 

 And see my wealthy Andrew dock'd in sand, 

 Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs, 

 To kiss her burial. Should I go to church, 

 And see the holy edifice of stone, 

 And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks, 

 Which, touching but my gentle vessel's side, 

 Would scatter all the spices on the stream ; 

 Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks ; 

 And, in a word, but even now worth this, 

 And now worth nothing ? " 



So Shvlock, though ready to advance the three thousand ducats to Bassaiiio en Antonio's 

 bond, doubts whether the ships bound to Tripolis, the Indies, Mexico, and England, may 

 not come to grief. For "ships are but boards, sailors but men; there be land-rats and 

 water-rats, land-thieves and water-thieves I mean pirates; and then, there is the peril 

 of waters, winds, and rocks." Soon after it was spread on the Rialto that Antonio had 

 " a ship of rich lading wrecked on the narrow seas ; the Goodwins, I think/' says his friend, 

 "they call the place; a very dangerous flat, and fatal, where the carcases of many a tall 

 ship lie buried ; " and this was followed by the news that not one of his vessels had escaped 



" The dreadful touch 

 Of merchant-marring rocks." 



All, however, ends happily, and the argosies, richly laden, arrive in safety. 



* Bermudas. 



