Begun to tell me what I am, but ftopt,
And left me to a bootlefs inquifition;
Concluding, Stay; not yet.

Pro. The hour's now come,

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

I do not think, thou canft; for then thou waft not
Out three years old. (2)

Mira. Certainly, Sir, I can.

Pro. By what? by any other houfe, or perfon?
Of any thing the image tell me, that
Hath kept in thy remembrance.

Mira. "Tis far off;

And rather like a dream, than an affurance
That my remembrance warrants. Had I not
Four, or five, women once, that tended me?

Pro. Thou hadit, and more, Miranda: but how is it That this lives in thy mind? what feeft thou elfe In the dark back-ward and abyfme of time? If thou remember'ft aught, ere thou cam'ft here; How thou cam'ft here, thou may'st.

Mira. But that I do not.

Pro. Tis twelve years fince, Miranda; twelve years fince,

Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and

A Prince of Pow'r.

Mira. Sir, are not you my

father?

Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and She faid, thou waft my daughter; and thy father Was Duke of Milan, and his only heir

A Princess, no worse iffu'd.

Mira. O the heav'ns!

What foul play had we, that we came from thence? Or bleffed was't, we did?

Pro. Both, both, my girl:

(2) out three years old.] This is the old Reading: 'tis true, the Expreffion is obfolete, but it supply'd the Sense of, full But, out-right, or right-out..

By foul play (as thou fay'ft) were we heav'd thence;
But bleffedly help'd hither.

Mira. O, my heart bleeds

To think o'th' teene that I have turn'd you to,
Which is from my remembrance. Please you, farther.
Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Anthonio-
I pray thee, mark me;-(that a brother should
Be fo perfidious!) he whom next thy felf
Of all the world I lov'd, and to him put
The manage of my state; (as, at that time,
Through all the fignories it was the firft;
And Profpero the prime Duke, being fo reputed
In dignity; and for the liberal arts,

Without a parallel; thofe being all my ftudy :)
The government I caft upon my brother,

And to my ftate grew ftranger; being transported,
And rapt in fecret ftudies. Thy falfe uncle
(Doft thou attend me ?)

Mira. Sir, moft heedfully.

Pro. Being once perfected how to grant fuits, How to deny them; whom t'advance, and whom

To trafh for over-topping; new-created

The creatures, that were mine; I fay, or chang'd 'em,
Or elfe new form'd 'em; having both the key
Of officer and office, fet all hearts i'th' flate.
To what tune pleas'd his ear; that now he was
'The ivy, which had hid my princely trunk,

And fuckt my verdure out on't. Thou attend'st not. Mira. Good Sir, I do.

Pro. I pray thee, mark me then.

I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated
To clofenefs, and the bettering of my mind,
With that which, but by being fo retired,
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 falfhood in its contrary as great
As my truft was; which had, indeed, no limit,
A confidence fans bound. He being thus lorded,
Not only with what my Revenue yielded,

But

But what my power might else exact; like one,
Who having into truth, by telling of it,
Made fuch a finner of his memory,

To credit his own lie, he did believe
He was, indeed, the Duke; from fubftitution,
And executing th' outward face of royalty,

With all prerogative. Hence his ambition growing-
Doft thou hear?

Mira. Your tale, Sir, would cure deafness.

Pro. To have no fcreen between this part he plaid, And him he plaid it for, he needs will be Abfolute Milan. Me, poor man! my library Was Dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties He thinks me now incapable: confederates (So dry he was for fway) wi'th' 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 moft ignoble ftooping.

Mira. O the heav'ns!

Pro. Mark his condition, and th'event; then tell me, If this might be a Brother?

Mira. I fhould fin, (3)

To think but nobly of my grand-mother;
Good wombs have bore bad fons. (4)

(3)

B 5

I fhould fin,

Pros

To think not nobly of my Grandmother ;] This is Mr. Pope's reading; from no Authority, I presume: All the Copies that I have feen, have it; To think but nobly----- -i. e. otherwise than nobly; according to our Author's Usage.

(4) Good Wombs have bore bad Sons.

Pro. Now, the Condition:] Thus have all the Editions divided thefe Speeches; But, tho' I have not attempted to regulate them otherwife, I have great Sufpicion, that our Author plac'd them thus ;

Pro. Good Wombs have bore bad Sons.

Now, the Condition:

How could Miranda, that came into this Defart Island an Infant, that had never feen any other Creatures of the World, but her Father and Caliban, with any Propriety be furnish'd

го

Pro. Now the condition:

This King of Naples, being an enemy
To me inveterate, hearks my brother's fuit;
Which was, that he in lieu o'th' premises,
Of homage, and I know not how much tribute,
Should prefently extirpate me and mine

Out of the Dukedom; and confer fair Milan,
With all the honours, on my brother. Whereon
A treacherous army levy'd, one mid-night
Fated to th' parpofe, did Anthonio open

The gates of Milan; and, i'th' dead of darkness,
The minifters for the purpose hurry'd thence
Me, and thy crying felf.

Mira. Alack, for pity!

I, not remembring how I cry'd on't then,
Will cry it o'er again; it is a hint,
That wrings mine eyes to't.

Pro. 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.

Mira. Why did they not

That hour destroy us?

Pro. Well demanded, wench;

My tale provokes that queftion. Dear, they durft not (So dear the love my people bore me;) fet

A mark fo bloody on the bufinefs; but
With colours fairer painted their foul ends.
In few, they hurry'd us aboard a bark;

Bore us fome leagues to Sea; where they prepar'd
A rotten carcafs of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, fail, nor maft; the very rats
Inftinctively had quit it: there they hoift us
To cry to th' fea, that roar'd to us; to figh

to make fuch an Obfervation from Life, that the Iffue has often degenerated from the Parent? But it comes very properly from Profpere, as a fhort Document, by the By, to his Daughter; implying, "that he did very well to think with Honour of her Anceftor; for that it was common in Life, for good. "People to have bad Children."

To

To th' winds, whose pity, fighing back again,

Did us but loving wrong.

Mira. Alack! what trouble

Was I then to you?

Pro. O a cherubim

Thou waft, that did preferve me:

Infused with a fortitude from heav'n,

Thou didft fmile,

(When I have deck'd the fea with drops full-falt; Under my burthen groan'd;) which rais'd in me An undergoing ftomach, to bear up

Againft what should enfue.

Mira. How came we a-fhore ?

Pro. By providence divine.

Some food we had, and fome fresh water, that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,

Out of his charity (being then appointed
Mafter of this defign) did give us, with

Rich garments, linnens, ftuffs, and neceffaries,

Which fince have fteeded much. So of his gentleness.
Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me
From my own library, with volumes that

I prize above my Dukedom.

Mira. Would I might

But ever fee that man!

Pro. Now, I arife:

Sit ftill, and hear the laft of our fea-forrow.

Here in this ifland we arriv'd, and here

Have I, thy fchool-mafter, made thee more profit
Than other Princes can, that have more time

For vainer hours, and tutors not fo careful.

Mira. Heav'ns thank you for't! And now, I pray. you, Sir,

(For ftill 'tis beating in my mind) your reason

For raifing this fea-storm?

Pro. Know thus far forth,

By accident moft ftrange, bountiful fortune

(Now my

dear lady) hath mine enemies

Brought to this fhore: and, by my prescience
I find, my Zenith doth depend upon

A mot aufpicious ftar; whose Influence