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Boats. Work you, then.

Ant. Hang, cur, hang! you 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.

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Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold; set her two The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd courses; off to sea again, lay her off.

Enter Mariners, wet.

Mar. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost!
[Exeunt.

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;

Boats. What, must our mouths be cold?
Gon. The king and prince at prayers! let us assist For thou must now know further.

them.

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This wide-chapped rascal ; —'Would, thou might'st lie drowning,

The washing of ten tides!

Gon.
He'll be hang'd yet;
Though every drop of water swear against it,
And gape at wid'st to glut him.

[A confused noise within.] Mercy on us! - We
split, we split! - Farewell, my wife and children!
Farewell, brother; -We split, we split, we split!
Ant. Let's all sink with the king.
Seb. Let's take leave of him.

[Exit.
[Exit.

Gon. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of 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.

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The very minute bids thee ope thine ear;
Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember
A time before we came into this cell?

I do not think thou canst; for then thou wast not
Out 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 had'st, 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?

SCENE II. The Island: before the Cell of If thou remember'st aught, ere thou cam'st here,

Prospero.

Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA.

How thou cam'st here, thou may'st.
Mira.

Pro. Twelve years since,

But that I do not.

Mira. If by your art, my dearest father, you Miranda, twelve years since, thy father was 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'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.

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Pro. I thus neglecting wordly ends, all dedi- Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepar'd

cate

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
A falsehood, in its contrary as great
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.

like one

Your tale, sir, would cure deafness. Pro. To have no skreen 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 !

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Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.

tell me, If this might be a brother.

Mir. I should sin To think but nobly of my grandmother. 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.

6 Cut away.

Here in this island we arriv'd; and here
Have I, thy schoolmaster, 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 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 ques

tions;

7 Stubborn resolution.

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And burn in many places; on the top-mast,
The yards, and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,

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Pro. Before the time be out? no more. Ari. Remember, I have done thee worthy service; Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, serv'd Without or grudge or grumblings; thou didst promise To bate me a full year. Pro.

Dost thou forget

Then meet, and join: Jove's lightnings, the precur- From what a torment I did free thee ?

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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.

Pro.

Why, that's my spirit! But was not this nigh shore? Ari.

Close by, my master. 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?

Ari.

Safely in harbour

Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once
Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still-vex'd Bermoothes, there she's hid:
The mariners all under hatches stow'd;
Whom, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd labour,
I have left asleep: and for the rest o' the fleet,
Which I dispers'd, they all have met again;
And are upon the Mediterranean flote,
Bound sadly home for Naples;

Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd,.
And his great person perish.
Pro.

The minutest article. I Bermudas.

Ariel, thy charge

9 Bustle, tumult. 2 Wave.

Ari.

No.

Pro. Thou dost; and think'st
It much, to tread the ooze of the salt deep;
To run upon the sharp wind of the north;
To do me business in the veins o' the earth,

When it is bak'd with frost.

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

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.3

Pro.

O, was she so? I must, Once in a month, recount what thou hast been, Which thou forget'st. This vile 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.

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 earthly and abhorr'd commands,
Refusing her grand hests 4, 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 didst vent thy

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Of ever-angry bears. This 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.
Ari.

Pardon, master:

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

Pro.

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;
Be subject to no sight but mine; invisible
To every eye-ball else. Go take this shape,
And hither come in't: hence, with diligence.

The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place, and fer-
tile;

Cursed be I that did so!- All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,

Which first was mine own king: and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest of the island.

Pro.

Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have us'd thee,

Do so; and after two days Filth as thou art, with human care; and lodg'd thee
In mine own cell, till thou did'st seek to violate
The honour of my child. Abhorred slave;
Which any print of goodness will not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour
One thing or other: when thou didst not, savage,
Know thine own meaning, but would'st gabble like
A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes
With words that made them known: But thy vile

[Exit ARIEL.

Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well;
Awake!

Mira. The strangeness of your story put
Heaviness in me.

Pro.

Shake it off: Come on,

We'll visit Caliban, my slave, who never

Yields us kind answer.

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race,

Though thou didst learn, had that in't which good

natures

Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou
Deservedly confin'd into this rock,

Who hadst deserv'd more than a prison.

Cal. You taught me language; and my profit on t
Is, I know how to curse: the red plague rid 6 you,
For learning me your language!

Pro.
Hag-seed, hence!
Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou wert best,
To answer other business. Shrug'st thou, malice?
If thou neglect'st, or dost unwillingly

What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps ;
Fill all thy bones with aches; make thee roar,
That beasts shall tremble at thy din.

Cal.

No, 'pray thee ! ---
I must obey his art is of such power, [Aside.
It would control my dam's god, Setebos,
And make a vassal of him.

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What wert thou, if the king of Naples heard thee?
Fer. A single thing, as I am now, that wonders
To hear thee speak of Naples: He does hear me;
And, that he does, I weep: myself am Naples ;
Who with mine eyes, ne'er since at ebb, beheld
The king my father wreck'd.

Mira.
Alack, for mercy!
Fer. Yes, faith, and all his lords; the duke of
Milan,

And his brave son being twain.

Pro. The duke of Milan, And his more braver daughter, could control thee, If now 'twere fit to do't: At the first sight

They have chang'd eyes:

8 Owns.

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[Aside.

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