Well, Prospero! this is now the second time
You have deceived me.

Ferd. Sir, there is no doubt

You are a man: But I would know, of whence? Hip. Why, of this world; I never was in yours. Ferd. Have you a father?

Hip. I was told I had one,

And that he was a man; yet I have been
So much deceived, I dare not tell't you for
A truth: But I have still been kept a prisoner,
For fear of women.

Ferd. They, indeed, are dangerous;

For, since I came, I have beheld one here,
Whose beauty pierced my heart.

Hip. How did she pierce? You seem not hurt.
Ferd. Alas! the wound was made by her bright
eyes,

And festers by her absence.

But, to speak plainer to you, sir, I love her.

Hip. Now, I suspect that love's the very thing, That I feel too!-Pray tell me truly, sir,

Are

you not grown unquiet since you saw her? Ferd. I take no rest.

Hip. Just, just, my disease.

Do you not wish, you do not know for what?
Ferd. O, no! I know too well for what I wish,
Hip. There, I confess, I differ from you, sir:
But you desire she may be always with you?
Ferd. I can have no felicity without her.
Hip. Just my condition.-Alas, gentle sir!
I'll pity you, and you shall pity me.

Ferd. I love so much, that, if I have her not,
I find I cannot live.

Hip. How! do you love her,

And would you have her too? That must not be:
For none but I must have her.

Ferd. But perhaps we do not love the same: All beauties are not pleasing alike to all.

Hip. Why, are there more fair women, sir, Besides that one I love?

Ferd. That's a strange question. There are many

more,

Besides that beauty which

Hip. I will have all

you love.

Of that kind, if there be a hundred of them.

Ferd. But, noble youth, you know not what you

say.

Hip. Sir, they are things I love, I cannot be Without them!-O, how I rejoice!-More women! Ferd. Sir, if you love, you must be tied to one. Hip. Tied! How tied to her?

Ferd. To love none but her.

Hip. But, sir, I find it is against my nature.

I must love where I like; and, I believe, I may like

all,

All that are fair. Come, bring me to this woman, For I must have her.

Ferd. His simplicity

Is such, that I can scarce be angry with him.

[Aside.

Perhaps, sweet youth, when you behold her, you Will find you do not love her.

Hip. I find already

I love, because she is another woman.

Ferd. You cannot love two women both at

once.

Hip. Sure 'tis my duty to love all who do
Resemble her, whom I've already seen.
I'll have as many as I can, that are
So good, and angel-like, as she I love;
And will have yours.

Ferd. Pretty youth, you cannot.

Hip. I can do any thing for that I love.
Ferd. I may, perhaps, by force, restrain you from

it.

Hip. Why, do so, if you can. But either promise

me

To love no woman, or you must try your force.
Ferd. I cannot help it, I must love.
Hip. Well, you may love;

For Prospero taught me friendship too. You

shall

Love me, and other men, if you can find them;
But all the angel women shall be mine.

Ferd. I must break off this conference, or he
Will urge me else beyond what I can bear.—

[Aside.

Sweet youth, some other time we will speak
Farther concerning both our loves; at present
I am indisposed with weariness and grief,
And would, if you're so pleased, retire a while.

Hip. Some other time be it; but, sir, remember, That I both seek and much entreat your friendship;

For, next to women, I find I can love you.
Ferd. I thank you, sir, I will consider of it.

[Exit FERD. Hip. This stranger does insult, and comes into My world, to take those heavenly beauties from

me,

Which, I believe, I am inspired to love.-
And yet he said, he did desire but one:
He would be poor in love, but I'll be rich.-
I now perceive that Prospero was cunning;
For when he frightened me from woman-kind,
Those precious things he for himself designed.

[Exit.

ACT IV. SCENE I.

Cypress trees and a Cave.

Enter PROSPERO und MIRANDA.

Prosp. Your suit has pity in't, and has prevailed.
Within this cave he lies, and you may see him:
But yet take heed; let prudence be your guide:
You must not stay, your visit must be short.-
[She's going.

One thing I had forgot; insinuate into his mind
A kindness to that youth, whom first you saw;
I would have friendship grow betwixt them.

Mir. You shall be obeyed in all things.
Prosp. Be earnest to unite their very souls.
Mir. I shall endeavour it.

Prosp. This may secure

Hippolito from that dark danger, which

My art forebodes; for friendship does provide
A double strength to oppose the assaults of fortune.

Enter FERDINAND.

[Exit PROSP.

Ferd. To be a prisoner where I dearly love,
Is but a double tie, a link of fortune

Joined to the chain of love; but not to see her,
And yet to be so near her, there's the hardship!
I feel myself as on a rack, stretched out

And nigh the ground, on which I might have ease,
Yet cannot reach it.

Mir. Sir!--my lord!-where are you?

Ferd. Is it your voice, my love? or do I dream? Mir. Speak softly, it is I.

Ferd. Ó heavenly creature!

Ten times more gentle than your father's cruel!-
How, on a sudden, all my griefs are vanished!
Mir. How do you bear your prison?
Ferd. Tis my palace,

While you are here, and love and silence wait
Upon our wishes; do but think we chuse it,
And 'tis what we would chuse.

Mir. I'm sure what I would.

But how can I be certain that you love me?
Look tot; for I will die when you are false.
I've heard my father tell of maids, who died,
And haunted their false lovers with their ghosts.
Ferd. Your ghost must take another form to fright

me,

This shape will be too pleasing.-Do I love you? O, heaven! O, earth! bear witness to this sound, If I prove false!-

Mir. O, hold! you shall not swear,

For heaven will hate you if you prove forsworn.
Ferd. Did I not love, I could no more endure
This undeserved captivity, than I

Could wish to gain my freedom, with the loss

Of you.

Mir. I am a fool, to weep at what I'm glad of: But I have a suit to you, And that, sir, shall

Be now the only trial of your love.

Ferd. You've said enough, never to be denied, Were it my life; for you have far o'er-bid The price of all that human life is worth. Mir. Sir, 'tis to love one for my sake, who, for His own, deserves all the respect which

Can ever pay him.

you

Ferd. You mean your father: Do not think his

usage

Can make me hate him; when he gave you being, He then did that, which cancelled all these wrongs.