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 advantage! If he be not born to be hang'd, our case is miserable. [Exeunt. Re-enter BOATS WAIN. Boats. Down with the top-mast; yare; lower, lower; bring her to try with main-course. [A cry within.] A plague upon this howling! they are louder than the weather, or our office. 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, uncharitable dog! Boats. Work you, then. Ant. Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson, insolent noise-maker, we are less afraid to be drown'd than thou art. Gon. I'll warrant him from drowning; though the ship were no stronger than a nut-shell, and as leaky as an unstanch'd* wench. Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold; set her two courses; off to sea again, lay her off. Enter MARINERS wet. Mar. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost! Boats. What, must our mouths be cold? [Exeunt. Gon. The king and prince at prayers! let us assist them, for our case is as theirs. Seb. I am out of patience. Ant. We're merely cheated of our lives by drunk. ards This wide-chapp'd rascal;-'Would, thou might'st The washing of ten tides! Gon. He'll be hang'd yet; [lie drowning, Though every drop of water swear against it And gape at wid'st to glut him. Incontinent. [A confused noise within.] + Absolutely. 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. [Exit. [Exit. Gon. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground; long heath, brown farze, any thing: the wills above be done, but I would fain die a dry death. [Exit. SCENE II-The Island: before the Cell of PROSPERO. Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA. Mira. If by your art, my dearest father, you have With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel, Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er Pro. Be collected; No more amazement; tell your piteous heart, Mira. O woe the day! Pro. No harm. I have done nothing but in care of thee, (Of thee, my dear one! thee, my daughter!) who Mira. More to know, Did never meddle with my thoughts. I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand, comfort. The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd * Before, The very virtue of compassion in thee, Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. Sit down; For thou must now know further. Mira. You have often Begun to tell me what I am; but stopp'd Pro. The hour's now come; The very minute bids thee ope thine ear; I do not think thou canst; for then thou wast not Mira. Certainly, Sir, I can. Pro. By what? by any other house, or person? Of any thing the image tell me, that Hath kept with thy remembrance. Mira. Tis far off; And rather like a dream, than an assurance Pro. Thou had'st, and more Miranda; but how is it, That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysmt of time? If thou remember'st aught, ere thou cam'st here, How thou cam'st here thou may'st. Mira. But that I do not. Pro. Twelve years since, Miranda, twelve years Thy father was the duke of Milan, and A prince of power. Mira. Sir, are not you my father? Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and [since, She said-thou wast my daughter; and thy father Was duke of Milan; and his only heir A princess; no worse issued. Mira. O the heavens! What foul play had we, that we came from thence? Or blessed was't we did? Pro. Both, both, my girl: By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heaved thence; But blessedly holp hither. Mira. O, my heart bleeds To think o' the teen* that I have turn'd you to, Without a parallel; those being all my study, And to my state grew stranger, being transported, Mira. Sir, most heedfully. Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits, To what tune pleased his ear; that now he was And suck'd my verdure out on't.-Thou attend'st not; pray thee, mark me. Mira. O good Sir, I do. Pro. I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicate 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 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, Mira. Your tale, sir, would cure deafness. • Sorrow. + Cut away. And him he play'd it for, he needs will be Mira. O the heavens! Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then tell If this might be a brother. Mira. I should sin To think but nobly of my grandmother: Good wombs have borne bad sons. Pro. Now the condition. This king of Naples, being an enemy [me, To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit; Out of the dukedom; and confer fair Milan, The gates of Milan; and, i' the dead of darkness, Mira. Alack for pity! I, not remembering how I cried out then, That wrings mine eyes. Pro. Hear a little further, And then I'll bring thee to the present business Which now's upon us; without the which, this story Were most impertinent. Mira. Wherefore did they not That hour destroy us? Pro. Well demanded, wench; My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not; (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 * Thirsty. + Consideration. + Suggestion. |