Boats. None that I more love than myself. You are a counsellor; if you can command these elements to silence, and work the peace of the present, we will not hand a rope more; use your authority: if you cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap. Cheerly, good hearts! Out of our way, I say. [Exit. Gon. I have great comfort from this fellow: methinks he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to his hanging: make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advant

Other Spirits attending on Prospero. SCENE-A ship at Sea: an island.

age. If he be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable. [Exeunt.

Re-enter Boatswain.

Boats. Down with the topmast! yare! lower, lower! Bring her to try with main-course. [Á cry within.] A plague upon his howling! they are louder than the weather or our office.

40

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, incharitable dog!

Boats.

Work you then.

Ani. Hang, cur! hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker! We are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.

Gon. I'll warrant him for drowning; though the ship were no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky as an unstanched wench.

Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold! set her two courses off to sea again; lay her off.

Enter Mariners wet.

Mariners. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost!

Boats. What, must our mouths be cold? Gon. The king and prince at prayers! let's assist them, For our case is as theirs. Seb.

I'm out of patience. Ant. We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards:

60

This wide-chapp'd rascal-would thou mightst 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 widest 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.

[Exeunt Ant. and Seb. 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. [Exeunt.

SCENE II. The island. Before PROSPERO'S cell.

Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA.

Mir. Ifby 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 suffered
With those that I saw suffer a brave vessel,
Who had, no doubt, some noble creature 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 ere
It should the good ship so have swallow'd and
The fraughting souls within her.

Pros.
Be collected:
No more amazement: tell your piteous heart
There's no harm done.

Mir. Pros.

O, woe the day!

ΙΟ

No harm.

'Tis time I should inform thee farther. 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 ordered that there is no soul-
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 40 Out three years old.

But

Pros. Thou hadst, and more, Miranda.

50

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,
How thou camest here thou mayst.
Mir.
But that I do not.
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 thou his only heir
And 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: 61
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, Which is from my remembrance! Please you, farther.

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
And to my state grew stranger, being transported
And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle-
Dost thou attend me?

Mir.

80

Sir, most heedfully.
Pros. Being once perfected how to grant suits,
How to deny them, who to advance and who
To trash for over-topping, new created
The creatures that were mine, I say, or changed
'em,

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
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.

90

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, Not only with what my revenue yielded, But what my power might else exact, like one † Who having into truth, by telling of it, Made such a sinner of his memory, To credit his own lie, he did believe

100

He was indeed the duke; out o' the substitution,

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.
O the heavens !

Mir.

Under my burthen groan'd; which raised in me
An undergoing stomach, to bear up
Against what should ensue.
Mir.

How came we ashore?
Pros. By Providence divine.
Some food we had and some fresh water that 160
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,

Out of his charity, being then appointed
Master of this design, did give us, with
Rich garments, linens, stuffs and necessaries,
Which since have steaded much; so, of his gen-
tleness,

Knowing I loved my books, he furnish'd me
From mine own library with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.
Mir.
Would I might

But ever see that man!

Pros. Now I arise: [Resumes his mantle.

If this might be a brother.

To think but nobly of my grandmother:
Good wombs have borne bad sons.

Pros.
Now the condition. 120
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 dark130

ness,

The ministers for the purpose hurried thence Me and thy crying self.

Mir.

Alack, for pity!

I, not remembering how I cried out then, Will cry it o'er again: it is a hint

That wrings mine eyes to't.

Pros.

Hear a little further And then I'll bring thee to the present business Which now's upon's; without the which this story Were most impertinent. Mir.

That hour destroy us? Pros.

Wherefore did they not

Well demanded, wench: My tale provokes that question.

durst not,

Dear, they

140

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,
Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepared
A rotten carcass 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, 150
Did us but loving wrong.

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 180
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 inclined 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.

Enter ARIEL.

Ari. All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come

190

To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curl'd clouds, to thy strong bidding task
Ariel and all his quality.

Pros.
Hast thou, spirit,
Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee?
Ari. To every article.

I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flamed amazement: sometime I'ld divide,
And burn in many places; on the topmast,
The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,
Then meet and join. Jove's lightnings, the pre-

O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
And sight-outrunning were not; the fire and cracks
Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune
Seem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble,
Yea, his dread trident shake.

Pros.
My brave spirit!
Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil
Would not infect his reason?

Ari.

Not a soul But felt a fever of the mad and play'd Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners 210 Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel,

Then all afire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand, With hair up-staring,-then like reeds, not hair,Was the first man that leap'd; cried, 'Hell is

empty,

And all the devils are here.'
Pros.
Why, that's my spirit!
But was not this nigh shore?
Ari.
Close by, my master.
Pros. 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 badest me,
In troops I have dispersed them 'bout the isle. 220
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.

Pros.
Of the king's ship
The mariners say how thou hast disposed
And all the rest o' the fleet.
Ari.

Safely in harbour

230

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;
Who, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd 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 flote,
Bound sadly home for Naples,

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

Pros.
Ariel, thy charge
Exactly is perform'd: but there's more work.
What is the time o' the day?

Ari.

Past the mid season.

Must by us both be spent most preciously.
Ari. Is there more toil? Since thou dost give
me pains,

Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,
Which is not yet perform'd me.
Pros.

How now? moody?
What is't thou canst demand?
Ari.
My liberty.
Pros. Before the time be out? no more!
Ari.
I prithee,
Remember I have done thee worthy service;
Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings,
served

Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise

To bate me a full year.

Pros.

Dost thou forget

250

Thou hast. Where was she born?

260

Pros. speak; tell me. Ari. Sir, in Argier. Pros. O, was she so? I must Once in a month recount what thou hast been, Which thou forget'st. This damn'd 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.

Pros. 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, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refusing her grand hests, 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 didst painfully remain
A dozen years; within which space she died
And left thee there; where thou didst vent thy

groans

280

Yes, Caliban her son.

290

Pros. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban Whom now I 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 damn'd, which Sycorax Could not again undo: it was mine art, When I arrived and heard thee, that made gape The pine and let thee out. Ari. I thank thee, master. Pr. 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.

Do so, and after two days

That's my noble master ! What shall I do? say what; what shall I do? 300 Pros. Go make thyself like a nymph o' the sea: be subject

To no sight but thine and mine, invisible
To every eyeball else. Go take this shape
And hither come in't: go, hence with diligence!
[Exit Ariel.
Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well;
Awake!
Mir. The strangeness of your story put
Heaviness in me.

Pros.

We'll visit Caliban my slave, who never Yields us kind answer.

Mir.

'Tis a villain, sir,

But, as 'tis,

I do not love to look on.

Pros. We cannot miss him: he does make our fire, Fetch in our wood and serves in offices

310

That profit us. What, ho! slave! Caliban !
Thou earth, thou! speak.

Cal. [Within] There's wood enough within. Pros. Come forth, I say! there's other business for thee:

Come, thou tortoise! when?

Re-enter ARIEL like a water-nymph. Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel, Hark in thine ear. Ari. My lord, it shall be done. [Exit. Pros. Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself

Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!

Enter CALIBAN.

320

Cal. As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd With raven's feather from unwholesome fen Drop on you both! a south-west blow on ye And blister you all o'er !

Cal. You taught me language; and my profit on't

Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you For learning me your language!

Pros.

Hag-seed, hence! Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou'rt 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 370 That beasts shall tremble at thy din.

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

have cramps,

Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins Shall, for that vast of night that they may work, All exercise on thee; thou shalt be pinch'd

As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging Than bees that made 'em.

Cal. I must eat my dinner. 330 This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,

Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me

Water with berries in't, and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night: and then I loved
thee

And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and
fertile :

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

341

In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me The rest of the island.

Pros. Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have

used thee,

Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodged

thee

FERDINAND following.

ARIEL'S song.

Come unto these yellow sands,

And then take hands:

Courtsied when you have and kiss'd

The wild waves whist,

Foot it featly here and there; And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear. Burthen [dispersedly]. Hark, hark!

The watch-dogs bark:

Ari. Hark, hark! I hear

Fer.

380

Bow-wow.

Bow-wow.

The strain of strutting chanticleer
Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow.

Where should this music be? i' the air or the earth?

It sounds no more: and, sure, it waits upon
Some god o' the island. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the king my father's wreck, 390
This music crept by me upon the waters,
Allaying both their fury and my passion
With its sweet air: thence I have follow'd it,
Or it hath drawn me rather. But 'tis
gone.
No, it begins again.

350

Ari.

Pros. Which any print of goodness wilt 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 wouldst gabble like A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes With words that made them known. But thy vile

race,

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

Burthen. Ding-dong. Hark! now I hear them,-Ding-dong, bell.

Fer. The ditty does remember my drown'd father.

This is no mortal business, nor no sound
That the earth owes. I hear it now above me.
Pros. The fringed curtains of thine eye advance
And say what thou seest yond.
Mir.

Lord, how it looks about!
It carries a brave form.

What is't? a spirit? Believe me, sir, 410 But 'tis a spirit.