He concludes this
description, saying he would have 'no sovereignty.'
Sebastian justly remarks: 'Yet he would be king on't;' and
Antonio continues by saying: 'The latter end of his commonwealth
forgets the beginning.'
Even such is the contradiction in Montaigne's fanciful Essay 'On
Cannibals,' where, towards the end, he speaks of a captain who
holds authority over these savages, not only in war, but also in
peace, 'that when he went to visit the village of his dependence,
they cut him paths through the thick of their woods, through which
he might pass at ease.' The beginning of this Essay described the
commonwealth of these cannibals as tolerating no politic superiority,
no use of service, no occupation, &c. 'What short memory!
much wanting tablets!'
In the above-mentioned scene of the _Tempest_ Sebastian makes
the remark: 'No marrying 'mong his subjects,' which evidently is
also meant as a hit against Montaigne's anti-matrimonial ideas,
which we dwelt upon in the scene between Hamlet and Ophelia.
68: Jonson, long afterwards, had not forgotten this hit against
Montaigne. In _Epicoene_ (1609) he makes Cleremont say:--'When
we come to have grey heads and weak hams, moist eyes and shrunk
members ... then we'll pray and fast.'
69: This whole passage of act v. sc. 2 (106-138) is again
only to be found in the quarto of 1604, not in the folio edition of
1623.
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