+Ware.+ Indeed! so much! Pray, what to do? +Sale.+ Why, sir, They were in hope, in time, to make this fish Of faction 'gainst the Spaniard, and do service Unto the state. +Sea.+ As how? +Sale.+ Why, sir, next plate-fleet, To dive, bore holes i'th' bottom of their ships, And sink them. You must think a fish like this May be taught Machiavel, and made a state-fish. +Plot.+ As dogs are taught to fetch. +New.+ Or elephants to dance on ropes. +Bright.+ And, pray, what honour would The states have given him for the service? +Quart.+ That, sir, is uncertain. +Sale.+ Ha' made him some sea-count; or, 't may be, admiral. +Plot.+ Then, sir, in time, Dutch authors, that writ _Mare Liberum_,[227] Might dedicate their books to him? +Sale.+ Yes, being A fish advanc'd, and of great place. Sing, boy! You now shall hear a song upon him. +Bright.+ Listen. +New.+ Do they not act it rarely? +Plot.+ If 'twere their trade, they could not do it better. +Sea.+ Hear you that, sir? +Ware.+ Still I suspect. +Mis. Hol.+ I warrant you, this fish Will shortly be in a ballad. +Sale.+ Begin, boy. +Song.+ _We show no monstrous crocodile, Nor any prodigy of Nile; No Remora that stops your fleet,[228] Like serjeants gallants in the street; No sea-horse which can trot or pace, Or swim false galop, post, or race: For crooked dolphins we not care, Though on their back a fiddler were: The like to this fish, which we show, Was ne'er in Fish Street, old or new; Nor ever serv'd to th' sheriff's board, Or kept in souse for the Mayor Lord. Had old astronomers but seen This fish, none else in heaven had been._ +Mis. Hol.+ The song has waken'd him; look, he stirs! +Tim.+ O captain, pox--take--you--captain. +Mis. Sea.+ Hark, he speaks! +Tim.+ O--my--stomach---- +Ware.+ How's this? +Sea.+ I'll pawn my life, this is imposture. +Tim.+ O, O---- +Plot.+ Heart! the captain did not give him his full load. +Ware.+ Can your fish Speak, friends? The proverb says they're mute. +Quart.+ I'll tell you, You will admire how docile he is, and how He'll imitate a man: tell him your name, He will repeat it after you; he has heard me Call'd captain, and my fellow[s] curse sometimes, And now you heard him say, pox-take-you, captain. +Sale.+ And yesterday, I but complain'd my stomach Was overcharg'd, and how he minds it! +New.+ Strange! +Bright.+ Ay, is it not? +Plot.+ The towardness of a fish! +Sale.+ Would you think, when we caught him, he should speak _Drake, Drake_?[229] +Bright.+ And did he? +Quart.+ Yes, and _Hawkins_;[230] A sign he was a fish that swam there when These two compass'd the world.