When first I rais'd the tempest. Say, my spirit, How fares the king and his followers? ARI. Confin'd together In the same fashion as you gave in charge; Just as you left them, all prisoners, sir, In the lime-grove which weather-fends your cell: Brim-full of sorrow, and dismay; but chiefly Him that you term'd, sir, The good old lord, Gonzalo; From eaves of reeds: your charm so strongly works them Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling Of their afflictions? and shall not myself, One of their kind, that relish all as sharply Passion as they, be kindlier mov'd than thou art? Though with their high wrongs I am struck so the quick, Do I take part. The rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance; they being penitent, The sole drift of my purpose doth extend Not a frown further. Go, release them, Ariel; My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore, ARI. I'll fetch them, sir. [Exit. PRO. Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves: And ye, that on the sands with printless foot : : I here abjure: and, when I have requir'd To work mine end upon their senses, that This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, And, deeper than did ever plummet sound, [Solemn music. Re-enter ARIEL: after him, ALONSO, with a frantic gesture, attended by GONZALO; SEBASTIAN and ANTONIA in like manner, attended by ADRIAN and FRANCISCO: They all enter the circle which PROSPERO had made, and there stand charmed; which PROSPERO observing, speaks. A solemn air, and the best comforter To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains, Now useless, boiling in thy skull! There stand, For you are spell-stopp'd. Holy Gonzalo, honourable man, Mine eyes, even sociable to the shew of thine, To him thou follow'st; I will pay thy graces Would here have kill'd your king; I do forgive thee, Will shortly fill the reasonable shores, That now lie foul and muddy. Not one of them, I will dis-case me, and myself present, As I was sometime Milan.-Quickly, spirit ; Thou shalt ere long be free. [Exit ARIEL. ARIEL re-enters, singing, and helps to attire PROSPERO. ARIEL. Where the bee sucks, there suck 1; In a cowslip's bell I lie: There I couch, when owls do cry; PRO. Why, that's my dainty Ariel; I shall miss thee; But yet thou shalt have freedom: so, so, so To the king's ship, invisible as thou art : There shalt thou find the mariners asleep Under the hatches; the master, and the boatswain, Being awake, enforce them to this place; And presently, I pr'y thee. ARI. I drink the air before me and return Or e'er your pulse twice beat. [Exit ARIEL. GON. All torment, trouble, wonder, and amazement Inhabits here: Some heavenly power guide us Out of this fearful country? The wronged duke of Milan, Prospero: For more assurance that a living prince Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body; And to thee and thy company, I bid A hearty welcome. ALON. Whe'r thou beest he, or no, Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me, As late I have been, I not know thy pulse Beats, as of flesh and blood: and, since I saw thee, The affliction of my mind amends, with which, I fear, a madness held me. This must crave (An if this be at all) a most strange story. Thy dukedom I resign; and do entreat Thou pardon me my wrongs :-But how should Prospero Be living, and be here? PRO. First, noble friend, [To GONZALO. Let me embrace thine age; whose honour cannot Be measur'd, or confin'd. GON. Or be not, I'll not swear. PRO. Whether this be, You do yet taste |