Page:Richard III (1927) Yale.djvu/45

Richard the Third, I. iv

During the wars of York and Lancaster,

That had befall'n us. As we pac'd along

Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,

Methought that Gloucester stumbled; and, in falling,

Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard,

Into the tumbling billows of the main.

O Lord, methought what pain it was to drown:

What dreadful noise of water in mine ears!

What sights of ugly death within mine eyes!

Methoughts I saw a thousand fearful wracks;

A thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon;

Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,

Inestimable stones, unvalu'd jewels,

All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea.

Some lay in dead men's skulls; and in those holes

Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept,

As 'twere in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems,

That woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep,

And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by.

Keep. Had you such leisure in the time of death

To gaze upon these secrets of the deep?

Clar. Methought I had; and often did I strive

To yield the ghost; but still the envious flood

Stopt in my soul, and would not let it forth

To find the empty, vast, and wandering air;

But smother'd it within my panting bulk,

Who almost burst to belch it in the sea.

Keep. Awak'd you not in this sore agony?

Clar. No, no, my dream was lengthen'd after life;

O! then began the tempest to my soul.

I pass'd, methought, the melancholy flood,

 20 main: sea

24 wracks: wrecks

26 Wedges: masses

27 unvalu'd: priceless

31 reflecting: shining

37 yield the ghost: i.e. die

envious: malicious

38 Stopt in: kept in

40 bulk: body

45 melancholy flood; cf. n.

