The fraighting fouls within her.

Pro. Be collected;

No more amazement; tell your piteous heart,
There's no harm done.

Mira. O wo the day!

Pro. No harm.,

I have done nothing but in care of thee,
(Of thee my dear one, thee my daughter), who
Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing
Of whence I am; nor that I'm more, or better
Than Profpero, master of a full-poor cell,
And thy no greater father.

Mira. More to know

Did never meddle with my thoughts.

Pro. 'Tis time,

Lend thy hand,

I fhould inform thee farther.
And pluck my magic garment from me: fo!

[Lays down his mantle. Lie there, my art. Wipe thou thine eyes,

fort.

have com

The direful fpectacle of the wreck, which touch'd
The very virtue of compaffion in thee,

I have with fuch provifion in mine art

So fafely order'd, that there's no foul loft,

No not fo much perdition as an hair

Betid to any creature in the veffel

Which thou heard'ft cry, which thou faw'ft fink: fit

For thou muft now know farther.

Mira. You have often

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

Pro. The hour's now come.

[down;

The very minute bids thee ope thine ear;
Obey, and be attentive. Canft thou remember

A time before we came into this cell?

I do not think, thou canft; for then thou waft not Out three years old

Mira. Certainly, Sir, I can.

Pro. By what by any other house, 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 hadft, and more, Miranda: but how is it, That this lives in thy mind? what feelt thou elfe In the dark back ward and abysme of time? If thou remember'ft aught, ere thou came here; How thou cam'ft here, thou may'ft.

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; thou his only heir,

A princefs, no worfe 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:

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. Pleafe you, farther, Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Anthoniopray thee, mark me,— (that a brother should

I

Be fo perfidious!) he whom next thyself

Of all the world I lov'd, and to him put
The manage of my itate; (as, at that time,
Through all the figniories it was the firt;
And Profpero the prime Duke, being fo reputed.
In dignity; and for the liberal arts,

Without a parallel; thote being all my fudy):
The government I calt upon my brother,

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

Mira. Sir, moft heedfully.

Pro

Pro. Being once perfected how to grant fuits,
How to deny them; whom t’advance, and whom
To trash for overtopping; new created

The creatures that were mine; 1 fay, or change'd 'em,
Or else new form'd 'em; having both the key
Of officer and office, fet all hearts i'th' ftate

To what tune pleas'd his ear; that now he was,
The ivy, which had hid my princely trunk,

And fuck'd 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 clo:enefs, and the bettering of my mind,
With that which, but by being fo retired,
O'erpriz'd all popular rate, in my falfe brother
Awak'd an evil nature; and my trust,
Like a good parent, did beget of him

A falfehood in its contrary as great

As my trust was; which had, indeed, no limit,
A confidence fans bound. He being thus lorded,
Not only with what my revenue yielded,
But what my power might elfe exact; like one,
Who having, unto truth, by telling of
Made fuch a finner of his memory,

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

With all prerogative. Hence his ambition growing→
Doft thou hear.

Mira. Your tale, Sir, would cure deafnefs.

Pro. To have no fcreen between this part he play'd, And him he play'd 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!

Pre.

Pro. Mark his condition, and th' event; then tell me,

If this might be a brother?

Mira I fhould fin,

To think but nobly of my grandmother;
Good wombs have bore bad fons.

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' premiffes,
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.
A treacherous army levy'd, one midnight
Fated to th' purpose, did Anthonio open
The gates of Milan; and, i' th' dead of darkness,
The ministers for the purpose hurry'd thence
Me, and thy crying felf.

Mira. Alack, for pity!

Whereon

I, not rememb'ring how I cry'd out 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 prefent bufinefs,
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 question

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 fea; where they prepar'd
A rotten carcafe of a boat, not rigg,
Nor tackle, fail, nor mast; the very rats
Inftinétively had quit it: there they hoift us,
To cry to th' fea, that roar'd to us; to figh
To th' winds, whofe pity, fighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.

Mira. Alack! what trouble

Was

Was I then to you!

Pro. O a cherubim

Thou waft, that did preferve me. Thou didft smile,
Infufed with a fortitude from heav'n,

(When I have mock'd the fea with drops full-falt;
Under my burden gron'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, linens, 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 last of our fea-forrow.
Here in this ifland we arriv'd, and here
Have I, thy fchoolmaster, 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,
you, Sir,

(For ftill 'tis beating in my mind) your reafon
For raifing this fea-ftorm?

Pro. Know thus far forth,

By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune
(Now my dear lady) hath mine enemies
Brought to this fhore: and, by my prescience
I find, my zenitff doth depend upon

I pray

A moft aufpicious ftar; whofe influence
If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after droop.-Here ceafe more queftions;
Thou art inclin'd to fleep. 'Tis a good dulnefs,
And give it way; I know, thou canst not chufe-

[Miranda fleeps.