Mira. Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should

Fer. Though the seas threaten, they are merciful: I have curs'd them without cause.

[FER. kneels to ALON. Now all the blessings

Alon.
Of a glad father compass thee about!
Arise, and say how thou cam'st here.

Mira.
O! wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't!

Pro.

'Tis new to thee. Alon. What is this maid, with whom thou wast at

play?

Your eld'st acquaintance cannot be three hours:
Is she the goddess that hath sever'd us,
And brought us thus together?

Fer.
Sir, she's mortal:
But, by immortal Providence, she's mine;
I chose her, when I could not ask my father
For his advice; nor thought I had one; she
Is daughter to this famous duke of Milan,
Of whom so often I have heard renown,
But never saw before; of whom I have

14 Mr. Pye says, I conceive Shakspeare, who was no nice weigher of words, meant wrangling to be equivalent with playing false, or with unfair advantage. So in Henry V. the king, in allusion to the tennis balls, directs the ambassadors to tell the dauphin

"He hath made a match with such a wrangler,

That all the courts of France shall be disturb'd
With chases.”

Mr. Pye's explanation is correct but his deduction that Shakspeare was "no nice weigher of words" is totally false. Shakspeare's words are always the most expressive and most appropriate. To wrangle, in the language of his time, was to haft or overthwart; to run back and yet not cease to contend.

VOL. I.

4 *

Received a second life, and second father
This lady makes him to me.

I am her's:

Alon.
But O, how oddly will it sound, that I
Must ask my child forgiveness!

Pro.

There, sir, stop:

Let us not burden our remembrances
With heaviness that's gone.

Gon.

I have inly wept,

Or should have spoke ere this. Look down, you gods,
And on this couple drop a blessed crown;

For it is you, that have chalk'd forth the way
Which brought us hither!

Alon.

I say, Amen, Gonzalo! Gon. Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice Beyond a common joy: and set it down With gold on lasting pillars: In one voyage Did Claribel her hushand find at Tunis; And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife Where he himself was lost; Prospero his dukedom, In a poor isle; and all of us, ourselves, When no man was his own 15.

Alon.

Give me your hands:

[To FER. and MIRA.

Be't so! Amen!

Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart,
That doth not wish you joy!

Gon.

Re-enter ARIEL, with the Master and Boatswain amazedly following.

O look, sir, look, sir; here are more of us!
I prophesied, if a gallows were on land,
This fellow could not drown:-Now, blasphemy,
That swear'st grace o'erboard, not an oath on shore?
Hast thou no mouth by land? What is the news?
Boats. The best news is, that we have safely found
Our king, and company: the next our ship,-

15 When no man was in his senses or had self-possession.

Which, but three glasses since, we gave out split,Is tight and yare 16, and bravely rigg'd, as when We first put out to sea.

Ari.

Sir, all this service

Have I done since I went.

Pro.vell

8 service [Aside.

My tricksy 17 spirit!)

Alon. These are not natural events; they strengthen, From strange to stranger:-Say, how came you hither?

Boats. If I did think, sir, I were well awake,
I'd strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep,
And (how, we know not,) all clapp'd under hatches,
Where, but even now, with strange and several
noises

Of roaring, shrieking, howling, gingling chains,
And more diversity of sounds, all horrible,
We were awak'd; straightway at liberty:
Where we, in all her trim, freshly beheld
Our royal, good, and gallant ship; our master
Cap'ring to eye her: On a trice, so please you,
Even in a dream, were we divided from them,
And were brought moping hither.

Ari.

Was't well done?) Pro. Bravely, my diligence. Thou shalt} [Aside. be free.DL

Alon. This is as strange a maze as e'er men trod: And there is in this business more than nature Was ever conduct 18 of: some oracle

Must rectify our knowledge.

Pro.

patitur eru Sir, my liege, Do not infest your n mind with beating on 19 The strangeness of this business: at pick'd leisure, Which shall be shortly, single I'll resolve you

16 See Note 1. Sc. I.

17 Neat, adroit. Florio interprets "Pargoletta; quaint, pretty, nimble, trixie, tender, small." When we remember the tiny dimensions of Ariel, who could lie in the bell of a cowslip, the epithet, like all those of the great poet, will be found peculiarly appropriate

18 Conductor.

19 There is a vulgar expression still in use, of similar import, "Still hammering at it."

(Which to you shall seem probable 20) of every These happen'd accidents: till when, be cheerful, And think of each thing well. Come hither, spirit; [Aside.

Set Caliban and his companions free:

Untie the spell. [Exit ARIEL.] How fares my gracious sir?

There are yet missing of your company

Some few odd lads, that you remember not.

Re-enter ARIEL, driving in CALIBAN, STEPHANO and TRINCULO, in their stolen apparel.

Ste. Every man shift for all the rest, and let no man take care for himself; for all is but fortune:-Coragio, bully-monster, Coragio!

Trin. If these be true spies which I wear in my head, here's a goodly sight.

Cal. O Setebos, these be brave spirits, indeed! How fine my master is! I am afraid

He will chastise me.

Seb.

Ha, ha;

What things are these, my lord Antonio!
Will money buy them?

Ant.

Very like; one of them Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable.

Pro. Mark but the badges of these men, my lords, Then say, if they be true21:-This mis-shapen knave, His mother was a witch; and one so strong

That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs,
And deal in her command, without her power 22:
These three have robb'd me; and this demi-devil
(For he's a bastard one) had plotted with them
To take my life: two of these fellows you
Must know, and own; this thing of darkness I
Acknowledge mine.

20 This parenthetical passage seems to mean: "When I have explained to you, then these strange events shall seem more probable than they do now."

21 Honest.

22 That is, work the same effects as the moon without her delegated authority.

Cal.
I shall be pinch'd to death.
Alon. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?
Seb. He is drunk now: Where had he wine?
Alon. And Trinculo is reeling ripe: Where should
they penthe

Find this grand liquor that hath gilded them 23?-
How cam'st thou in this pickle?

Trin. I have been in such a pickle, since I saw you last, that, I fear me, will never out of my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing.

Seb. Why, how now, Stephano?

Ste. O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but a cramp.

Pro. You'd be king of the isle, sirrah?

Ste. I should have been a sore one then.
Alon. This is as strange a thing as e'er I look'd on.
[Pointing to CALIBAN.
Pro. He is as disproportion'd in his manners,
As in his shape:-Go, sirrah, to my cell;
Take with you your companions; as you look
To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.

Cal. Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter,
And seek for grace: What a thrice double ass
Was I, to take this drunkard for a god,
And worship this dull fool?

Pro.

Go to; away!

Alon. Hence, and bestow your luggage where you

found it.

Seb. Or stole it, rather.

[Exeunt CAL. STE. and TRIN. Pro. Sir, I invite your highness, and your train, To my poor cell: where you shall take your rest For this one night; which (part of it) I'll waste With such discourse, as, I not doubt, shall make it Go quick away: the story of my life,

23 The allusion is to the elixir of the Alchemists. The phrase of being gilded was a trite one for being drunk. Fletcher uses it in the Chances :

Duke. Is she not drunk too?

Wh. A little gilded o'or, sir; old sack, old boys..