No, not so much perdition as an hair

Betid to any creature in the vessel

30

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

For thou must now know farther.

Mir.

You have often

Begun to tell me what I am; but stopp'd,

And left me to a bootless inquisition,

Concluding 'Stay: not yet.'

Pros.

The hour's now come;

The very minute bids thee ope thine ear;

Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember

A time before we came unto this cell?

I do not think thou canst, for then thou wast not

Out three years old.

Mir.

Certainly, sir, I can.

Pros. By what? by any other house or person?

Of any thing the image tell me, that

Hath kept with thy remembrance.

Mir.

35

40

'Tis far off,

45

And rather like a dream than an assurance
That my remembrance warrants. Had I not
Four or five women once that tended me?

Pros. Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. But how is it That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? If thou remember'st aught ere thou camest here,

50

How thou camest here thou mayst.
Mir.

Pros. Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since,

Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and

A prince of power.

Mir.

Sir, are not you my father?

Pros. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and

She said thou wast my daughter; and thy father

Was Duke of Milan; and his only heir

A princess, no worse issued.

Mir.

O the heavens!

What foul play had we, that we came from thence?

Or blessed was't we did?

Pros.

Both, both, my girl:

By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heaved thence;

But blessedly holp hither.

Mir.

O, my heart bleeds

To think o' the teen that I have turn'd you to,

55

60

Which is from my remembrance! Please you, farther. 65 Pros. 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 loved, and to him put
The manage of my state; as at that time
Through all the signories 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,

70

75

And to my state grew stranger, being transported
And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle-

Dost thou attend me?

Mir.

Sir, most heedfully.

Pros. Being once perfected how to grant suits,

How to deny them, who to advance, and who

The creatures that were mine, I say, or changed 'em,

80

To trash for over-topping, new created

Or else new form'd 'em; having both the key

Of officer and office, set all hearts i' the state

To what tune pleased his ear; that now he was

85

The ivy which had hid my princely trunk,
And suck'd my verdure out on't. Thou attend'st not.

Mir. O, good sir, I do.

Pros.

I pray thee, mark me.

I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated
To closeness and the bettering of my mind
With that which, but by being so retired,
O'er-prized all popular rate, in my false brother
Awaked an evil nature; and my trust,
Like a good parent, did beget of him
A falsehood in its contrary, as great
As my trust was; which had indeed no limit,
A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded,

90

95

Not only with what my revenue yielded,
But what my power might else exact, like one

Who having into truth, by telling of it,

100

Made such a sinner of his memory,

To credit his own lie, he did believe

He was indeed the duke; out o' the substitution,
And executing the outward face of royalty,

With all prerogative :-hence his ambition growing,

Dost thou hear?

Mir.

Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.

106

Pros. 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

99 exact, like] exact. Like Ff.
100 Who...of it] Whose having in the
truth, by his telling of it Bulloch
conj.

having into truth...of it] loving an

untruth, and telling 't oft Hanmer.

having unto truth...oft Warburton.

by falsing of it Hudson (Harvard ed.).

telling] quelling Jervis conj.

100, 101 having...memory,] having unto

a

truth his memory Made such sinner of, by telling it Spence conj. (N. and Q. 1877).

having injured truth... of it Warbur- 101 Made...memory] Makes...memory

ton conj. A line lost. Heath conj.

Hanmer. Makes...memory

too

Was dukedom large enough of temporal royalties
He thinks me now incapable; confederates,

So dry he was for sway, wi' 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.

Mir.

O the heavens!

110

115

Pros. Mark his condition, and the event; then tell me

If this might be a brother.

Mir.

I should sin

To think but nobly of my grandmother:

Good wombs have borne bad sons.

Pros.

Now the condition.

This King of Naples, being an enemy

121

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

125

130