Bouts Work you, then.

Ant. Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson, insolent noise-maker, we are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.

Gon. I'll warrant him from drowning; though the ship were no stronger than a nut-shell, and as leaky as an unstanched wench.

Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold: set her two courses off; to sea again, lay her off.

Lie there my art. comfort.

With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel,
Who had no doubt some noble creatures in her,
Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock
Against my very heart! Poor souls! they perish'd.
Had I been any god of power, I would
Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er
It should the good ship so have swallowed, and
The freighting souls within her.

Pro.

Be collected; No more amazement: tell your piteous heart, There's no harm done.

Mira.
Pro.

O, woe the day!
No harm.

I have done nothing but in care of thee,
(Of thee, my dear one! thee, my daughter!) who
Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing
Of whence I am; nor that I am more better
Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,
And thy no greater father.

Mira.
More to know
Did never meddle with my thoughts.
Pro.

'Tis time I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand, And pluck my magic garment from me. - So; [Lays down his mantle.

Wipe thou thine eyes; have

The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd
The very virtue of compassion in thee,
I have with such provision in mine art
So safely order'd, that there is no soul -
No, not so much perdition as an hair,
Betid to any creature in the vessel

Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink
Sit down;

For thou must now know further.
Mira.

You have often
Begun to tell me what I am; but stopp'd
And left me to a bootless inquisition ;
Concluding, Stay, not yet..

Pro. The hour's now come; The very minute bids thee ope thine ear; Obey, and be attentive. Can'st thou remember A time before we came unto this cell?

I do not think thou can'st; for then thou wast not Out three years old.

Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Antonio, -
I pray thee, mark me,— that a brother should
Be so perfidious!-he whom, next thyself,
Of all the world I lov'd, and to him put
The manage of my state; as, at that ume,
Through all the signiories it was the first,
And Prospero the prime duke; being so reputed
In dignity, and, for the liberal arts,
Without a parallel: those being all my study,
The government I cast upon my brother,

And to my state grew stranger, being transported,
And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle-
Dost thou attend me?

Mira.
Sir, most heedfully.
Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits,

I pray thee, mark me. Mira.

O good sir, I do.

Pro. I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicate
To closeness, and the bettering of my mind
With that, which, but by being so retired,
O'er-priz'd all popular rate, in my false brother
Awak'd an evil nature and my trust,

Like a good parent, did beget of him
A falsehood, in its contrary as great

like one,

As my trust was; which had, indeed, no limit,
A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded,
Not only with what my revenue yielded,
But what my power might else exact, -
Who having, unto truth, by telling of it,
Made such a sinner of his memory,
To credit his own lie,—he did believe
He was the duke; out of the substitution,
And executing the outward face of royalty,
With all prerogative: - Hence his ambition
Growing, Dost hear?

-Mira.

Your tale, sir, would cure deafness. Pro. To have no screen between this part he play'd,

And him he play'd it for, he needs will be
Absolute Milan: Me, poor man! —my library
Was dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties
He thinks me now incapable: confederates
(So dry he was for sway) with the king of Naples,
To give him annual tribute, do him homage;
Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend
The dukedom, yet unbow'd, (alas, poor Milan !)
To most ignoble stooping.

Mira.

O the heavens! Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then tell me,

If this might be a brother.
Mira.
I should sin
To think but nobly of my grandmother :
Good wombs have borne bad sons.

Pro.

Now the condition. This king of Naples, being an enemy To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit; Which was, that he in lieu o' the premises, Of homage, and I know not how much tribute, Should presently extirpate me and mine Out of the dukedom; and confer fair Milan, With all the honours, on my brother: Whereon, A treacherous army levied, one midnight Fated to the purpose, did Antonio open The gates of Milan; and, i' the dead of darkness, The ministers for the purpose hurried thence Me, and thy crying self.

Mira.

Alack, for pity!
I, not rememb'ring how I cry'd out then,
Will cry it o'er again: it is a hint,
That wrings mine eyes.

Pro.

Hear a little further, And then I'll bring thee to the present business Which now's upon us; without the which, this story Were most impertinent.

Mira.

Was I then to you! Pro.

Mira.

,

That hour destroy us
Pro.

My tale provokes that question.
not;

(So dear the love my people bore me) nor set
A mark so bloody on the business; but
With colours fairer painted their foul ends.
In few, they hurried us aboard a bark;
Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepar'd
A rotten carcase of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively had quit it: there they hoist us,
To cry to the sea that roar'd to us; to sigh
To the winds, whose pity, sighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.

Alack what trouble

Wherefore did they not

Well demanded, wench;
Dear, they durst

O! a cherubim

Thou wast, that did preserve me! Thou didst smile, Infused with a fortitude from heaven,

When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salt;
Under my burden groan'd; which rais'd in me
An undergoing stomach, to bear up
Against what should ensue.

fo

Mira.

How came we ashore ?
Pro. By Providence divine.)
Some food we had, and some fresh water, that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,

Out of his charity (who being then appointed
Master of this design,) did give us; with
Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries,
Which since have steaded much; so, of his gentle.
4. d

ness,

Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me,
From my own library, with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.

Mira.

'Would 1 might

But ever see that man!

Pro.

Now I arise: -
Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.
Here in this island we arrived; and here
Have I, thy school-master, made thee more profit
Than other princes can, that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.

Mira. Heavens thank you for't! And now, nd now, I pray you, sir, (For still 'tis beating in my mind,) your reason For raising this sea-storm?

Pro.

Know thus far forth.-.
By accident most strange, bountiful fortune,
Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies
Brought to this shore: and by my prescience
I find my zenith doth depend upon

A most auspicious star; whose influence
If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after droop. Here cease more questions,
Thou art inclin'd to sleep; 'tis a good dulness,
And give it way ;· - I know thou can'st not choose.
[MIRANDA Sleep
Come away, servant, come: I am ready now;
Approach, my Ariel; come.

―――――

Enter ARIEL

Ari. All hail, great master! grave sir, hai]' I

come

To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride

On the curl'd clouds; to thy strong bidding, task
Ariel, and all his quality.

Pro.

Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee? Ari. To every article.

I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flam'd amazement: Sometimes, I'd divide,
And burn in many places; on the top-mast
The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,
Then meet, and join: Jove's lightnings the precur-

sors

O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary And sight-out-running were not: The fire, and

cracks

Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune Seem'd to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble, Yea, his dread trident shake.

Pro. My brave spirit! Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil Would not infect his reason?

Ari. Not a soul But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd Some tricks of desperation: All, but mariners, Plung'd in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel, Then all a-fire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand, With hair up-staring (then like reeds, not hair,) Was the first man that leap'd; cried, Hell is empty, And all the devils are here.

Why, that's my spirit!

Close by, my master.

:): Pro. But was not this nigh shore Ari. Pro. But are they, Ariel, safe? Ari. Not a hair perish'd; On their sustaining garments not a blemish, But fresher than before: and, as thou bad'st me, In troops I have dispers'd them 'bout the isle : 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, and sitting, His arms in this sad knot.

Pro. Of the king's ship The mariners, say, how thou hast dispos'd, And all the rest o' the fleet?

Pr

Ariel, thy charge Exactly is perform'd; but there's more work : What is the time o' the day?

Ar. Past the mid season. Pro. At least two glasses: The time 'twixt six and now, Must by us both be spent most preciously.

Ari. Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains, Let me remember thee what thou hast promis'd, Which is not yet perform'd me.

Pro.

How now? moody?

What is't thou can'st demand?

Ari.
My liberty.
Pro. Before the time be out? no more.
Am.

I pray thee

Ari.
I do not, sir.
Pro. Thou liest, malignant thing! Hast thou
forgot Robin in the

The foul witch Sycorax, who, with age and envy,
Was grown into a hoop? hast thou forgot her?
Ari. No, sir.
Pro.

Thou hast: Where was she born? speak; tell me. Ari. Sir, in Argier. Pro. O, was she so? I must, Once in a month, recount what thou hast been, Which thou forget'st. This damn'd witch, Sycorax, For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries terrible To enter human hearing, from Argier,

Thou know'st, was banish'd; for one thing she did, They would not take her life: Is not this true? Ari. Ay, sir.

A

Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with child, And here was left by the sailors: Thou, my slave, As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant: And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands, Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee, By help of her more potent ministers, And in her most unmitigable rage, Into a cloven pine; within which rift Imprison'd, thou did'st painfully remain A dozen years; within which space she died, And left thee there; where thou did'st vent thy

གཤ 1 1:2

groans,

As fast as mill-wheels strike: Then was this island, (Save for the son that she did litter here,

A freckled whelp, hag-born,) not honour'd with

Ari.

Yes; Caliban her son. Pro. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban, Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know'st What torment I did find thee in thy groans Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts Of ever-angry bears; it was a torment To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax Could not again undo; it was mine art, When I arriv'd, and heard thee, that made gape The pine, and let thee out.

Ari. I thank thee, master. Pro. If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters.

Pardon, master :

Ari.

I will be correspondent to command, And do my spriting gently.

Do so;

Pro.

and after two days

I will discharge thee.

Ari. That's my noble master! What shall I do? say what? what shall I do? Pro. Go make thyself like to a nymph o' the sea,