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 advantage! If he be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable.

Re-enter Boatswain.

[Exeunt.

[Exeunt.

Boats. What! must our mouths be cold? 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 are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards.

This wide-chapp'd rascal,—would, thou might'st lie drowning,

The washing of ten tides!

Gon.
He'll be hanged yet.
Though every drop of water swear against it,
And gape at wid'st 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.

[Exit.

Exit.

Mira. Pro.

O, woe the day!

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 am more better Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell, And thy no greater father. Mira.

More to know Did never meddle with my thoughts. Pro.

'Tis time I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand, And pluck my magic garment from me.-So: [Lays down his mant

Lie there my art.-Wipe thou thine eyes; have

comfort.

The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch')
The very virtue of compassion in thee,

I have with such provision in mine art
So safely order'd, that there is no soul—
No, not so much perdition as an hair,
Betid to any creature in the vessel

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, And left me to a bootless inquisition, Concluding, "Stay, not yet."

Pro.

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 Out three years old.

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
That my remembrance warrants. Had I not
Four or five women once, that tended me?

Pro. Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. But 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 cam'st here,
How thou cam'st here, thou may'st.

Mira.

But that I do not. Pro. Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since,

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 She said thou wast my daughter; and thy father Was duke of Milan, and his only heir And princess no worse issued.

Mira.

O, the heavens!

O! my heart bleeds

To think o' the teen that I have turn'd you to, Which is from my remembrance. Please you, further.

Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Antonio,I pray thee, mark me, that a brother should Be so perfidious!-he whom, next thyself, Of all the world I lov'd, and to him put The manage of my state; as, at that time, Through all the signiories 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 uncleDost thou attend me?

Mira. O good sir! I do. Pro.

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 retir'd
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 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, unto truth, by telling of it,
Made such a sinner of his memory,
To credit his own lie,-he did believe

He was indeed the duke; out o' the substitution,
And executing th' outward face of royalty,
With all prerogative :-hence his ambition
Growing,-Dost thou hear?

Mira.

Your tale, sir, would cure deafness. Pro. To have no screen between this part he play'd,

And him he play'd it for, he needs will be
Absolute Milan. Me, poor man!—my library
Was dukedom large enough: of temporal royalties
He thinks me now incapable; confederates
(So dry he was for sway) with 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.

Mira.

O the heavens!

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

Mira.

I should sin

This king of Naples, being an enemy

To me inveterate, harkens 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 darkness,
The ministers for the purpose hurried thence
Me, and thy crying self.

Mira.

Alack, for pity!

I, not rememb'ring how I cried 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 present business Which now's upon us; without the which this story Were most impertinent. Mira.

That hour destroy us? Pro.

Wherefore did they not

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 prepar'd
A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively have 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,
Did us but loving wrong.
Mira.

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;

Whom, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd labour,
I have left asleep: and for the rest o' the fleet
Which I dispers'd, 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.

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

Ari.

Past the mid season.

Pro.

Thou hast. Where was she born? speak; tell me. Ari. Sir, in Argier. Pro.

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.

Pro. This blue-ey'd 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 earthly 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

Pro. 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 arriv'd and heard thee, that made gape The pine, and let thee out.

Ari. I thank thee, master. Pro. 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.

Pardon, master:

I will be correspondent to command,
And do my spriting gently.
Pro.

I will discharge thee.

Ari.

This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou tak'st from me. When thou camest

first,

Thou strok'st me, and madʼst much of me; would'st 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 lov'd thee.
And show'd thee all the qualities o' th' 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,

In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o' th' island.

That's my noble master!

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!

Pro. For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt 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 honey-comb, each pinch more stinging Than bees that made 'em.

Could not abide to be with: therefore wast thon Deservedly confin'd into this rock,

Who hadst deserv'd more than a prison.

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!

Pro. Hag-seed, hence! Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thouʼrt 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, 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.
Pro.

So, slave; hence!
[Exit CALIBAN

Re-enter ARIEL, invisible, playing and singing:
FERDINAND following him.
ARIEL'S Song.

Come unto these yellow sands,

And then take hands:

Court'sied when you have, and kiss'd

The wild waves whist,

Foot it feally here and there;
And, sweet sprites, the burden bear.
Bur. Hark, hark! Bowgh, wowgh.

The watch-dogs bark :
Bowgh, wowgh.

[Dispersedly.