Alon. What is this maid, with whom thou wast

at play?

Your eld'st acquaintance cannot be three hours :
Is she the goddess that hath sever'd us,

And brought us thus together ?

Fer.

Sir, she's mortal;

But, by immortal providence, she's mine;
I chose her, when I could not ask my father
For his advice; nor thought I had one : she
Is daughter to this famous duke of Milan,
Of whom so often I have heard renown,
But never saw before; of whom I have
Received a second life, and second father
This lady makes him to me.

Alon.

I am her's:

But O, how oddly will it sound, that I

Must ask my child forgiveness !

Pro.

There, sir, stop;

Let us not burden our remembrances

With a heaviness that's gone.

Gon.

I have inly wept,

Or should have spoke ere this. Look down, you

gods,

And on this couple drop a blessed crown ;

For it is you, that have chalk'd forth the way

Which brought us hither!

Alon.

I say, Amen, Gonzalo !

Gon. Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his

issue

Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice
Beyond a common joy; and set it down
With gold on lasting pillars: In one voyage
Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis;
And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife,
Where he himself was lost; Prospero his dukedom,
In a poor isle; and all of us, ourselves,
When no man was his own.

Alon.

Give me your hands : [To FER. and MIR.

Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart,

That doth not wish you joy !

Gon.

Be't so! Amen!

Re-enter ARIEL, with the Master and Boatswain amazedly following.

O look, sir, look, sir; here are more of us!
I prophesied, if a gallows were on land,
This fellow could not drown :-Now, blasphemy,
That swear'st grace o'erboard, not an oath on

shore?

Hast thou no mouth by land ? What is the news? Boats. The best news is, that we have safely found

Our king, and company: the next our ship,Which, but three glasses since, we gave out split,Is tight, and yare, and bravely rigg'd, as when

We first put out to sea.

Ari.

Have I done since I went.
Pro.

Sir, all this service

My tricksy spirit !?

Aside.

Alon. These are not natural events; they strengthen,

From strange to stranger:-Say, how came you

hither ?

Boats. If I did think, sir, I were well awake, I'd strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep, And (how, we know not,) all clapp'd under hatches,

3 My tricksy spirit!] Is, my clever, adroit spirit. Shakspeare uses the same word in The Merchant of Venice.

4

- dead of sleep,] Thus the old copy. Modern editors -asleep.

Mr. Malone says, "On sleep" was the ancient English phraseology.

Where, but even now, with strange and several

noises

Of roaring, shrieking, howling, gingling chains,
And more diversity of sounds, all horrible,
We were awak'd; straitway, at liberty:
Where we, in all her trim, freshly beheld
Our royal, good, and gallant ship; our master
Capering to eye her: On a trice, so please you,
Even in a dream, were we divided from them,
And were brought moping hither.

Ari.

Was't well done?

Pro. Bravely, my diligence. Thou shalt Aside.

be free.

Alon. This is as strange a maze as e'er men trod : And there is in this business more than nature

Was ever conduct of: some oracle

Must rectify our knowledge.

Pro.

Sir, my liege,

Do not infest your mind with beating on
The strangeness of this business : at pick'd leisure,

Which shall be shortly, single I'll resolve you
(Which to you shall seem probable,)1 of every

These happen'd accidents: till when, be cheerful,

And think of each thing well.

spirit;

Set Caliban and his companions free :

Come hither,

[Aside.

Untie the spell. (Exit ARIEL.] How fares my gra

5

cious sir?

- conduct of:] Conduct for conductor.

Conduct is yet used in the same sense: the person at Cambridge who reads prayers in King's, and in Trinity College Chapels, is still so styled. HENLEY.

6 - with beating on

The strangeness, &c.] Beating may mean hammering, working in the mind, dwelling long upon.

(Which to you shall seem probable,)) I will inform you how all these wonderful accidents have happened; which, though they now appear to you strange, will then seem probable. MALONE.

There are yet missing of your company
Some few odd lads, that you remember not.

Re-enter ARIEL, driving in CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO, in their stolen apparel.

Ste. Every man shift for all the rest, and let no Man take care for himself; for all is but fortune : Coragio, bully-monster, Coragio !

Trin. If these be true spies which I wear in my head, here's a goodly sight.

Cal. O Setebos, these be brave spirits, indeed!

How fine my master is! I am afraid
He will chastise me.

What things are these, my lord Antonio!
Will money buy them ?

Ant. Very like; one of them

Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable.

Pro. Mark but the badges of these men, my lords,

Then say, if they be true: -This mis-shapen

knave,

His mother was a witch; and one so strong

That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs,

8

- Coragio!] An exclamation of encouragement.

9 Is a plain fish,] That is, plainly, evidently a fish. So, in Fletcher's Scornful Lady, "that visible beast, the butler," means the butler who is visibly a beast. M. MASON.

It is not easy to determine the shape which our author designed to bestow on his monster. That he has hands, legs, &c. we gather from the remarks of Trinculo, and other circumstances in the play. How then is he plainly a fish? Perhaps Shakspeare himself had no settled ideas concerning the form of Caliban.

1

STEEVENS.

- true:] That is, honest. A true man is, in the language of that time, opposed to a thief.

2 His mother was a witch; and one so strong

That could control the moon, &c.] This was the phraseology of the times. After the statute against witches, revenge or ignorance

And deal in her command, without her power :
These three have robb'd me: and this demi-devil
(For he's a bastard one,) had plotted with them
To take my life: two of these fellows you
Must know, and own; this thing of darkness I
Acknowledge mine.

Cal.
I shall be pinch'd to death.
Alon. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler ?
Seb. He is drunk now: where had he wine ?

Alon. And Trinculo is reeling ripe: Where

should they

Find this grand liquor that hath gilded them ?*
How cam'st thou in this pickle ?

Trin. I have been in such a pickle, since I saw