Begun to tell me what I am, but stopt,
And left me to a bootless inquisition;
Concluding, Stay, not yet..

Pro. The hour's now come,
The
very

minute bids thee ope thinc ear;
Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember
A time, before we came unto this cell?
I do not think thou can't ;. for then thou, want not
Out three years old. (2)

Mira. Certainly, Sir, I can..

Pro. By what? by any other house, or person ?
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 hadít, and more, Miranda : but how is it
That this live gin thy mind : what seeft thou elfe
In the dark back-ward and abysme of time
If thou remember'it aught, ere thou cam'it here ;
How thou cam'ft here, thou may'tt.

Mira. But that I do not.

Pro. 'Tis twelve years since, Miranda; twelve years fince,
Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and
A Prince of Pow'r.

Mira Sir, are not you my father?

Pra. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and
She said, thou waft my daughter; and thy father
Was Duke of Milan, and his only heir
A Princess, no worse issu’d.

Mira. O the heav'ns !
What foul play bad we, that we came from thence ?
Or blessed was't, we did?

Pro. Both, both, my girl

(2) Out three years old.] This is the old Reading #stis true; the Expresfion is obsolete, but -it 'fupplied the sense of, full per out-right, or righe-puto

By foul play (as thou fay't) were we heard thence ;
But blessedly 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 so 'perfidious!) he whom next thyself Of all the world I lov'd, and to him pot The manage

of

my Aate ; (as, at that time,
Through all the lignories it was the first;
And Prospero che prime Duke, being fo reputed
In dignity; and for the liberal arts,
Without a parallel ; those being all my Itudy :)
The government I caft upon my brother,
And to my state grew ftranger; being transported,
And rapt in fecret studies. Thy false uncle
(Doft thou attend me :)
Mira. Sir, moft heedfully.

12
Pro. Being once perfected how to grant faits, el -;
How to deny ihtm; whom t'advance; and whom
To trash for over topping ; new-Created
The creatures, that were mine; I say, or chang'd 'em,
Or elie new-form'd 'em; having both the key.
Of officer and office, let all hearts i'th'fate
To what tune pleasd his ear; that now he was 9001A
The ivy, which had hid 'my princely trurik,
And fuckt my verdure out on't-Thou attend't not.**

Mira: Good Sir, I do?

Pro. I pray thee, mark me then,
1 thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated

(
To closeness, 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 truit,
Like a good parent, did beget of him
A faldhood in its contrary as great,

my trust was; which had, indeed, no limit, A confident fans bound. He being thus lorded, Not only with what my Revenue yielded,

Bus

But what my power might else exact ; like one,
Who having into truth, by telling of it,
Made such a finner of his memory,
To credit his own lie, he did believe
He was, indeed, the Duke; from 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 plaid,
And him he plaid 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 fway) with’ King of Naples
To give him annual tribute, do him homage;
Subje& 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 rell me, If this might be a Brother?

Mira. I should fin, · (3)
To think but nobly of my grandmother;
Good wombs have bore bad sons. (4)

Pror

(3)

} fnould fin, Zorbink not nolly of my gran imoiber ; ] This is Mr. Pope's reading; from no Authority, I presume: All the Copies that i bave seen, bave it ; To think but nobly

i. e, otherwise than nobly į according to our Author's Usage.

(4) Good Wombs bave kore b.:d Sons.

Pro. Now, the Condition :] Thus have all the Editions divided thesc Speeches : But, tho I have not attempted to regulate them otherwise, I have great Suspicion, that our Author placed them

Pro. Good Wombs .bave bore bal Sons. -Now, the Condition : How cou'd Miranda, that came into this Deliri ijlund än Infant, that had never seen any other C:eatures of the World, but her father and Caliban, with any P.opriety be furnished

thus ;

Pro. Now the condition :
This King of Naples, being an enemy
To me inveterate, hearks my brother's suit;
Which was, that he in lieu o'th' premises,
Of homage, and I know not how much cibute,
Should presently extirpate me and mine
Chart 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' purpose, did Antbonio open
I be gates of Milan; and, i'th* dead of darkness,
The ministers for the purpose hurry'd thence
Me, and thy crying self.

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 apon’s ; without the which this fory
Were most impertinent.

Mira. Why did they not
That hour destroy us?

Pro. Well demanded, wench; My tale provokes that queftion. Dear, they durt not (So dear the love my people bore me ;) fet A mark fo bloody on the business; but With colours fairer painted their fout ends. In few, they hurry'd us abcard a bark; Bore us some leagues to sea ; where they prepar'd A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd, Nor tackle, fail, nor mast; the very rats Jostinėlively had quit it: 'there they hoist us To cry to th' sea, that roar'd to us; to figh

to make such an Observation from Life, that the Issue has often degenerated from the Parent'? But it comes very properly fronz Prospero, as a short Document, by the by, to his Danghter; inplying, “ that she did very well to think with Honour of her 4. Ancestor ; for that it was common in Life, for good People $6 to have bad Children.'

То

To th' winds, whose pity, fighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.
Mira. Alack | what trouble

I'LL Was I then to

you

?
Pro. O! a cherubim
Thou wast, that did preserve me : Thou didft smile,
Infuled with a fortitude from heav'n,
(When I have deck’d the sea with draps full-lalt ;
Under my burden groand ;) which rais'd in me
An undergoing stomacb, to bear up
Against what thould ensue.
Mira. How came we a-shore ?

1
Pro. By Providence divine.
Some food we had, and some fresh water, thai
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,
Out of his charity (being then appointed
Mafter of this design) did give us, with
Rich garments, linnens, ftuffs, and pecessaries,
Which fince have fteeded much. So of his gentleness,
Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnith'd me
From my own library, with volumes thar
I prize above my Dukedom.

Mira. Would I might
But ever see that man !

Pro. Now, I arise :
Sit. ftill, and hear the last of our fea: forrow;
Here in this island we arriv'd, and here
Have I, thy school-mafter, made thee more profit
Than other Princes can, that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.

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

you, Sir,

(For still 'uis beating in my mind) your reason
For raising this fea-storm?

Pro. Know thus far forth,
By accident molt Atrange, bountiful fortune
(Now my dear lady) hath mine enemies
Brought to this shore : and, by my prescience
I find, my Zenith doth depend upon
A most auspicious flar; whofe Influence