Mir. But wherefore did they not that hour destroy us?

Prosp. They durst not, girl, in Milan, for the

love

My people bore me; in short, they hurried us Away to Savoy, and thence aboard a bark at Nissa's port,

Bore us some leagues to sea, where they prepared
A rotten carcase of a boat, not rigged,
No tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively had quit it.

Mir. Alack! what trouble

Was I then to you

?

Prosp. Thou and thy sister were

Two cherubims, which did preserve me: You both
Did smile, infused with fortitude from heaven.
Mir. How came we ashore?
Prosp. By providence divine.

Some food we had, and some fresh water, which
A nobleman of Savoy, called Gonzalo,
Appointed master of that black design,

Gave us; with rich garments, and all necessaries,
Which since have steaded much: And of his gen-

tleness

(Knowing I loved my books) he furnished me, From mine own library, with volumes, which I prize above my dukedom.

Mir. Would I might see that man!
Prosp. Here in this island we arrived, and here
Have I your tutor been.
tutor been. But by my skill

I find, that my mid-heaven doth depend
On a most happy star, whose influence
If I now court not, but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after droop: Here cease more questions;
Thou art inclined to sleep: Tis a good dulness,
And give it way; I know thou canst not chuse.
[She falls asleep.

VOL. III.

H

Come away, my spirit: I am ready now; approach, My Ariel, come.

Enter ARIEL.

Ariel. All hail, great master, grave

Sir, hail! I come to answer thy best pleasure,
Be it to fly, to swim, to shoot into the fire,

To ride into the curled clouds; to thy strong bidding

Task Ariel, and all his qualities.

Prosp. Hast thou, spirit, performed to point The tempest, that I bade thee?

Ariel. To every article.

I boarded the duke's ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waste, the deck, in every cabin,
I flamed amazement; and sometimes I seemed
To burn in many places; on the top-mast,
The yards, and bow-sprit, I did flame distinctly;
Nay, once I rained a shower of fire upon them.
Prosp. My brave spirit!—

Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil

Did not infect his reason?

Ariel. Not a soul,

But felt a fever of the mind, and played
Some tricks of desperation; all,

But mariners, plunged in the foaming brine,

And quit the vessel: The duke's son, Ferdinand,
With hair upstaring, (more like reeds than hair)
Was the first man that leaped; cried, Hell is empty!
And all the devils are here!

Prosp. Why, that's my spirit!-
But, was not this nigh shore?
Ariel. Close by, my master.
Prosp. But, Ariel, are they safe?

Ariel. Not a hair perished.

In troops I have dispersed them round this isle:
The duke's son I have landed by himself,

Whom I have left warming the air with sighs,
In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting,
His arms enfolded in this sad knot.

Prosp. Say how thou hast disposed the mariners Of the duke's ship, and all the rest o'the fleet? Ariel. Safely in harbour

Is the duke's ship; in the deep nook, where once Thou called'st me up, at midnight, to fetch dew From the still vexed Bermoothes, there she's hid; The mariners all under hatches stowed;

Whom, with a charm, joined to their suffered labour,

I have left asleep: And for the rest o'the fleet,
Which I dispersed, they all have met again,
And are upon the Mediterranean float,

Bound sadly home for Italy;

Supposing that they saw the duke's ship wrecked, And his great person perish.

Prosp. Ariel, thy charge

Exactly is performed: But there's more work ;—— What is the time o'the day?

Ariel. Past the mid season.

Prosp. At least two glasses.

The time 'tween six and now must by us both

Be

spent most preciously.

Ariel. Is there more toil?

Since thou dost give me pains, let me remember Thee what thou hast promised, which is not yet Performed me.

Prosp. How now, moody!

What is't thou canst demand?

Ariel. My liberty.

Prosp. Before the time be out?-no more!

Ariel. I pr'ythee,

Remember I have done thee faithful service,

Told thee no lies; made thee no mistakings;
Served without or grudge, or grumblings:

Thou didst promise to bate me a full year.
Prosp. Dost thou forget

From what a torment I did free thee?

Ariel. No.

Prosp. Thou dost; and think'st it much to tread the ooze

Of the salt deep;

To run against the sharp wind of the north;
To do my business in the veins of the earth,
When it is baked with frost.

Ariel. I do not, sir.

Prosp. 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? Ariel. No, sir.

Prosp. Thou hast! Where was she born? Speak, tell me.

Ariel. Sir, in Argier.

Prosp. Oh, was she so!-I must,

Once every month, recount what thou hast been, Which thou forgettest. This damned witch Syco

rax,

For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries

Too terrible to enter human hearing,

From Argier, thou know'st, was banished:

But, for one thing she did,

They would not take her life.-Is not this true?
Ariel. Ay, sir.

Prosp. This blue-eyed 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, 'cause thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorred commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers,

(In her unmitigable rage) into a cloven pine; Within whose rift imprisoned, thou didst painfully Remain a dozen years, within which space she died, And left thee there; where thou didst vent thy groans,

As fast as mill-wheels strike. Then was this isle (Save for two brats, which she did litter here, The brutish Caliban, and his twin-sister,

Two freckled hag-born whelps) not honoured with A human shape.

Ariel. Yes; Caliban her son, and Sycorax his sister.

Prosp. Dull thing! I say so.-He,

That Caliban, and she, that Sycorax,

Whom I now 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 damned, which Sycorax
Could ne'er again undo: It was my art,

When I arrived and heard thee, that made the pine gape, and let thee out.

To

Ariel. I thank thee, master.

Prosp. If thou more murmurest, I will rend an

oak,

And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till thou
Hast howled away twelve winters more.

Ariel. Pardon, master;

I will be correspondent to command,
And be a gentle spirit.

Prosp. Do so; and after two days I'll discharge

thee.

Ariel. Thanks, my great master. But I have yet

one request.

Prosp. What's that, my spirit?

Ariel. I know that this day's business is impor

tant,