Re-enter Sebastian, Antonio, and Gonzalo. Yet again? what do you here? Shall we give o'er, and drown? Have you a mind to sink?
Seb. A pox o' your throat! you bawling, blasphemous, uncharitable dog!
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 unstaunched' wench.
Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold; set her two courses; off to sea again, lay her off.
Mar. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost!
[Exeunt.
Boats. What, must our mouths be cold?
Gon. The king and prince at prayers! let us
Gon. Good; yet remember whom thou hast For our case is as theirs.
Boats. None that I more love than myself. You are a counsellor; if you can command these ele
Seb. I am out of patience.
Ant. We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards.
ments to silencee, and work the peace of the present, 2 This wide-chapped rascal ;-'Would, thou might'st
we will not hand a rope more; use your authority.
If you cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, The washing of ten tides! and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mis
hearts.-Out of our way, I say.
[Exit. And gape at wid'st to glut him.
chance of the hour, if it so hap.-Cheerly, good Though every drop of water swear against it, Gon. I have great comfort from this fellow: me-[A confused noise within.] Mercy on us!-We thinks he hath no drowning mark upon him; his split, we split! Farewell, my wife and children!-complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Farewell, brother!-We split, we split, we split.--
Int. Let's all sink with the king.
Seb. Let's take leave of him.
[Exit. In the dark backward and abysm3 of time? Exit. If thou remember'st aught, ere thou cam'st here, Gon. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of How thou cam'st here, thou may'st. sea for an acre of barren ground; long heath, brown furze, any thing: the wills above be done! but I would fain die a dry death. [Exit. SCENE II.-The island: before the cell of Prospero. Enter Prospero and Miranda.
Mir. If by your art, my dearest father, you have
Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them:
The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,
But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek,
Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffer'd
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'er1
It should the good ship so have swallow'd, and
The freighting souls within her.
Pro.
Be collected;
No more amazement: tell your piteous heart,
There's no harm done.
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.
Did never meddle with my thoughts.
'Tis time
I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand,
And pluck my magic garment from me.-So;
[Lays down his mantle.
Lie there my art.-Wipe thou thine eyes; have
comfort.
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 a 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.
Begun to tell me what I am; but stopp'd
And left me to a bootless inquisition;
Concluding, Stay, not yel.-
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
Out2 three years old.
Mira
Certainly, sir, I can.
Pro. By what? by any other house, or person?
Of any thing the image tell me, that
Hath kept with thy remembrance.
Mira.
"Tis far off;
And rather like a dream than an assurance
That my remembrance warrants: had I not
Four or five women once, that tended me?
Pro, Thou hadst, and more, Miranda: but how
is it,
That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else
(2) Quite.
Pro. Twelve years since,
Miranda, twelve years since, thy father was
The duke of Milan, and a prince of power.
Mira. Sir, are not you my father.
Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and
Was duke of Milan; and his only heir
She said-thou wast my daughter; and thy father
A princess;-no worse issued.
What foul play had we, that we came from thence?
Mira.
O, the heavens!
Or blessed was't we did?
Pro.
Both, both, my girl:
By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heav'd thence;
But blessedly holp hither.
Mira.
O, my heart bleeds
To think o' the teen' that I have turn'd you to,
Which is from my remembrance! Please you further.
Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Antonio,-
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 time,
Through all the signiories it was the first,
And Prospero the prime duke; being so reputed
Without a parallel; those being all my study,
In dignity, and, for the liberal arts,
The government I cast upon my brother,
And to my state grew stranger, being transported,
And wrapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle--
Dost thou attend me?
Sir, most heedfully.
Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits,
How to deny them; whom to advance, and whom
To trash' for over-topping; new created
The creatures that were mine; I say or chang'd
them,
Or else new form'd them: having both the key
To what tune pleas'd his ear; that now he was
Of officer and office, set all hearts
The ivy, which had my princely trunk,
And suck'd my verdure out on't. Thou attend'st
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 retir'd,
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
As my trust was; which had, indeed, no limit,
A falsehood, in its contrary as great
A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded,
Not only with what my revenue yielded,.
Who having, unto truth, by telling of it,
But what my power might else exact,-like one,
Made such a sinner of his memory,
He was the duke; out of the substitution,
To credit his own lie,-he did believe
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
And him he play'd it for, he needs will be
play'd,
Absolute Milan: me, poor man!-my library
(3) Abyss. 1 (4) Sorrow. (5) Cut away. (6) Without.
To think but nobly of my grandmother:
Good wombs have born bad sons.
Pro.
Pro.
Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.
Here in this island we arriv'd; and here
Have I, thy school-master, made thee more profit
then Than other princes can, that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.
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.
Alack, for pity!
1, not rememb'ring how I cried out then, Will cry it o'er again; it is a hint,3
That wrings mine eyes.
Mira. Heavens thank you for't! And 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 canst not choose.-
[Miranda sleeps.
Come away, servant, come: I am ready now;
Approach, my Ariel; come.
And then I'll bring thee to the present business
Which now's upon us; without the which, this story
Were most impertinent.
Wherefore did they not
That hour destroy us?
Well demanded, wench;
My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst
(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;
A rotus 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.
Mira.
Was I then to you!
Ari. All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I
To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly,
On the curl'd clouds; to thy strong bidding, task
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
Ariel, and all his quality.
Pro.
Hast thou, spirit,
Perform'd to points the tempest that I bade thee?
boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,
Ari. To every article.
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 pre-
wast, that did preserve me? Thou didst smile, But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd
Infused with a fortitude from heaven,
Some tricks of desperation: all, but mariners,
When I have deck'd4 the sea with drops full salt; Plung'd in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel,
Under my burden groan'd; which rais'd in me
An undergoing stomach, to bear up
Against what should ensue.
Then all a-fire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand,
With hair upstaring (then like reeds, not hair,)
How came we ashore? Was the first man that leap'd; cried, Hell is empty,
And all the devils are here.
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,
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,
Which since have steaded much; so, of his gentle-But fresher than before: and, as thou bad'st me,
Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me,
(1) Thirsty. (2) Consideration. (3) Suggestion. (4) Sprinkled.
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