Trin. The sound is going away: let's follow it, and after, do our work.
Ste. Lead, monster; we'll follow.-I would, I could see this taborer: he lays it on. Trin. Wilt come? I'll follow, Stephano.
[Exeunt. SCENE III. Another Part of the Island. Enter Alonzo, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, Francisco, and others.
Gon. By'r lakin, I can go no further, sir; My old bones ache; here's a maze trod, indeed, Through forth-rights, and meanders! by your patience,
Alon. Old lord, I cannot blame thee, Who am myself attach'd with weariness, To the dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest. Even here I will put off my hope, and keep it No longer for my flatterer: he is drown'd, Whom thus we stray to find: and the sea mocks Our frustrate search on land: Well, let him go. Ant. I am right glad that he's so out of hope. [Aside to Sebastian. Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose That you resolv'd to effect. Seb.
The next advantage Let it be to-night: For now they are oppress'd with travel, they Will not, nor cannot, use such vigilance, As when they are fresh. Seb. I say, to-night: no more. Solemn and strange Musick; and Prospero above, invisible. Enter several strange Shapes, bringing in a Banquet; they dance about it with gentle actions of salutation; and inviting the King, &c. to eat, they depart. Alon. What harmony is this? my good friends, hark!
Will we take thoroughly.
Ant.
Gon. Marvellous sweet musick!
Alon. Give us kind keepers, heavens! What were these?
Seb. A living drollery: Now I will believe That there are unicorns: that, in Arabia There is one tree, the phoenix' throne; one phoenix At this hour reigning there.
I'll believe both; And what does else want credit, come to me, And I'll be sworn 'tis true: Travellers ne'er did lie,
Though fools at home condemn them.
Gon.
If in Naples,
I should report this now, would they believe me?
If I should say, I saw such islanders,
(For, certes, these are people of the island,)
Who, though they are of monstrous shape, yet,
Are worse than devils. [Aside. Alon. I cannot too much muse, Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound, expressing
(Although they want the use of tongue) a kind Of excellent dumb discourse. Pro.
Praise in departing. [Aside. Fran. They vanish'd strangely. Seb. No matter, since They have left their viands behind; for we have stomachs.
Will't please you taste of what is here?
Alon.
Not I. Gon. Faith, sir, you need not fear: When we were boys,
Who would believe that there were mountaineers,
Dew-lapp'd like bulls, whose throats had hanging at them,
Wallets of flesh 7 or that there were such men, Whose heads stood in their breasts 7 which now we find
Each putter-out on five for one, will bring us
Good warrant of.
Alon.
I will stand to, and feed,
Although my last: no matter, since I feel
The best is past:-Brother, my lord the duke,
Stand to, and do as we.
Thunder and Lightning. Enter Ariel, like a
Harpy; claps his wings upon the table, and,
by a quaint device, the Banquet vanishes.
Ari. You are three men of sin, whom destiny
(That hath to instrument this lower world,
And what is in't,) the never-surfeited sea
Hath caus'd to belch up; and on this island
Where man doth not inhabit; you 'mongst men
Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad;
[Seeing Alon. Seb. &c. draw their swords.
And even with such like valour, men hang and
drown
Their proper selves. You fools! I and my fellows
Are ministers of fate; the elements
Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd at stabs
Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish
One dowle that's in my plume; my fellow mi-
nisters
Are like invulnerable; if you could hurt,
Your swords are now too massy for your
strengths,
And will not be uplifted; But, remember,
(For that's my business to you.) that you three
From Milan did supplant good Prospero;
Expos'd unto the sea, which hath requit it,
Him, and his innocent child: for which foul deed
The powers, delaying, not forgetting, have
Incens'd the seas and shores, yea, all the crea
Against your peace: Thee, of thy son, Alonzo,
They have bereft; and do pronounce by me,
Ling'ring perdition (worse than any death
Can be at once,) shall step by step attend
You, and your ways: whose wraths to guard
you from
(Which here, in this most desolate isle, else falls Upon your heads,) is nothing, but heart's sorrow, And a clear life ensuing.
He vanishes in Thunder: then, to soft musick enter the Shapes again, and dance with mops and mowes, and carry out the table.
Pro. [Aside.] Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou
Perform'd, my Ariel; a grace it had, devouring:
Of my instruction hast thou nothing 'bated,
In what thou had'st to say: so, with good life,
And observation strange, my meaner ministers
Their several kinds have done: my high charms
work,
And these, mine enemies, are all knit up
In their distractions: they now are in my power:
And in these fits I leave them, whilst I visit
Young Ferdinand, (whom they suppose is
drown'd),
And his and my loved darling.
[Exit Prospero from above.
Gon. I' the name of something holy, sir, why
stand you
In this strange stare?
Alon.
O, it is monstrous! monstrous
Methought, the billows spoke, and told me of it;
The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder,
That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounc'd
The name of Prosper; it did bass my trespass.
Therefore my son i' the ooze is bedded; and
I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet sounded,
And with him there lie mudded.
[Erit
Seb.
But one fiend at a time,
I'll fight their legions o'er. Ant.
I'll be thy second. [Exeunt Seb. and Ant. Gon. All three of them are desperate; their great guilt,
Like poison given to work a great time after,
Now gins to bite the spirits: I do beseech you
That are of suppler joints, tollow them swiftly,
And hinder them from what this ecstacy
May now provoke them to.
Adr.
Follow, I pray you. [Exeunt.
Pro. Then, as my gift, and thine own acquisition,
Worthily purchas'd, take my daughter: But
If thou dost break her virgin knot before
All sanctimonious ceremonies may
With full and holy rite be minister'd,
No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall
To make this contract grow; but karren hate,
Sour-ey'd disdain, and discord, shall bestrew
The union of your bed with weeds so loathly,
That you shall hate it both therefore, take heed,
As Hymen's lamps shall light you.
Fer.
As I hope
For quiet days, fair issue, and long life,
With such love as 'tis now; the murkiest den,
Too much the rein; the strongest oaths are straw
To the fire i' the blood: be more abstemious,
Or else, good night, your vow!
Fer.
I warrant you, sir;
The white-cold virgin snow upon my heart
Abates the ardour of my liver.
Pro.
Well.-
Now come, my Ariel; bring a corollary,
Rather than want a spirit; appear, and pertly.
No tongue; all eyes; be silent. [Soft musick.
A Masque. Enter Iris.
Iris. Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats, and peas: Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep, And flat meads thatch'd with stover, them to keep;
Thy banks with peonied and lilied brims,
Which spungy April at thy hest betrims,"
To make cold nymphs chaste crowns; and thy
broom groves,
Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves,
Being lass-lorn; thy pole-clipt vineyard;
And thy sea-marge, steril, and rocky-hard,
Where thou thy self dost air: The queen o' the sky,
Whose watery arch, and messenger, am I,
Bids thee leave these; and with her sovereign
grace,
Here on this grass-plot, in this very place,
To come and sport: her peacocks fly amain;
Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain.
Enter Ceres.
Cer. Hail, many-colour'd messenger, that ne er
Dost disobey the wife of Jupiter;
Who, with thy saffron wings, upon my flowers
Diffusest honey-drops, refreshing showers:
And with each end of thy blue bow dost crown
My bosky acres, and my unshrubb'd down,
Rich scarf to my proud earth: Why hath thy
queen
Summon'd me hither, to this short grass'd green?
Iris. A contract of true love to celebrate;
And some donation freely to estate
On the bless'd lovers.
Tell me, heavenly bow, If Venus, or her son, as thou dost know,
The most opportune place, the strong'st sugges-Do now attend the queen? since they did plot
Or worser Genius can, shall never melt
Mine honour into lust; to take away
The edge of that day's celebration,
The means, that dusky Dis my daughter got,
Her and her blind boy's scandal'd company
I have forsworn.
When I shall think, or Phoebus' steeds are Be not afraid: I met her deity
Cutting the clouds towards Paphos; and her son Dove-drawn with her: here thought they to
Some wanton charm upon this man and maid,
Whose vows are, that no bed-rite shall be paid
Till Hymen's torch be lighted: but in vain;
Mars's hot minion is return'd again;
Her waspish-headed son has broke his arrows,
Swears he will shoot no more, but play with
sparrows,
Highest queen of state, Great Juno comes; I know her by her gait.
Spring come to you, at the farthest,
In the very hand of harvest!
Scarcity and want shall shun you;
Ceres' blessing so is on you.
Fer. This is a most majestic vision, and
Harmonious charmingly: May I be bold
To think these spirits?
I thought to have told thee of it: but 1 fear'd,
Lest 1 might anger thee.
Pro. Say again, where didst thou leave these
varlets?
Ari. I told you, sir, they were red-hot with drinking:
So full of valour, that they smote the air
Spirits, which by mine art For kissing of their feet: yet always bending
For breathing in their faces; beat the ground
I have from their confines call'd to enact
My present fancies.
Fer.
Let me live here ever;
So rare a wonder'd father, and a wife,
Make this place Paradise.
[Juno and Ceres whisper, and send Iris
on employment.
Pro.
Sweet now, silence:)
Juno and Ceres whisper seriously;
There's something else to do; hush, and be mute,
Or else our spell is marr'd.
Towards their project: then I beat my tabor,
At which, like unback'd colts, they prick'd their
Advanc'd their eyelids, lifted up their noses,
As they smelt music; so I charm'd their ears,
That, calf-like, they iny lowing follow'd, throug
Tooth'd briers, sharp furzes, pricking goss, an
thorns,
1' the filthy mantled pool beyond your cell,
Which enter'd their frail shins: at last I left ther
Iris. You nymphs, called Naiads, of the wan-There dancing up to the chins, that the foul lak
With your sedg'd crowns, and ever harmless looks,
Leave your crisp channels, and on this green
Pro.
This was well done, my bird:
Thy shape invisible retain thou still:
For stale to catch these thieves.
The trumpery in my house, go, bring it hither,
I go, I go.
Ari.
Answer your summons; Juno does command:
[Exit.
Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebratePro. A devil, a born devil, on whose nature
A contract of true love; be not too late.
Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains,
Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost;
And as, with age, his body uglier grows,
So his mind cankers: I will plague them all,
Re-enter Ariel, loaden with glistering Appa
Enter certain Nymphs.
You sun-burn'd sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow, and be merry;
Make holy-day: your rye-straw hats put on,
And these fresh nymphs encounter every one
In country footing.
Enter certain Reapers, properly habited: they
join with the Nymphs in a graceful dance;
towards the end of which Prospero starts sud-
denly, and speaks; after which, to a strange,
hollow, and confused noise, they heavily
vanish.
Pro. [Aside.] I had forgot that foul conspiracy
Of the beast Caliban, and his confederates,
Against my life; the minute of their plot
Is almost come. To the Spirits. ] Well done;-
avoid-no more.
Fer. This is strange: your father's in some
passion
That works him strongly.
Never till this day,
Saw 1 him touch'd with anger so distemper'd.
Pro. You do look, my son, in a mov'd sort,
As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir:
Our revels now are ended: these our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabrick of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great grobe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve;
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind: We are such staff
As dreams are made of, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.-Sir, I am vex'd;
Bear with my weakness; my old brain is 'trou-
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity:
If you be pleas'd, retire into my cell,
And there repose; a turn or two I'll walk,
To still my beating mind.
Fer. Mira. We wish your peace. [Exeunt.
Pro. Come with a thought:-I thank you:-
Ariel, come.
Trin. Thou wert but a lost monster.
Cal. Good my lord, give me thy favour still:
Be patient, for the prize I'll bring thee to
Shall hood-wink this mischance; therefore, speak
softly,
All's hush'd as midnight yet.
Trin. Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool,Ste. There is not only disgrace and dishonour in that, monster, but an infinite loss.
Trin. That's more to me than my wetting: yet this is your harmless fairy, monster.
Ste. I will fetch off my bottle, though I be o'er ears for my labour.
Cal. 'Pr'ythee, my king, be quiet: Seest thou
here,
This is the month of the cell: no noise, and enter:
Do that good mischief, which may make this
Thine own for ever, and I, thy Caliban,
For aye thy foot-licker.
Ste. Give me thy hand: for I do begin to have bloody thoughts.
Trin. O king Stephano! O peer! O worthy Stephano! look, what a wardrobe here is for
Cal. Let it alone, thou fool: it is but trash.
Trin. O, ho, monster; we know what belongs
Ari. Thy thoughts I cleave to: What's thy to a frippery :-O king Stephano!
We must prepare to meet with Caliban.
Ari. Ay, my commander: when I presented
Ceres,
To dote thus on such luggage? Let it alone,
And do the murder first: it he awake,
From toe to crown he'll fill our skins with
pinches ;
Ste. Be you quiet, monster.-Mistress line, is not this my jerkin? Now is the jerkin under the line: now, jerkin, you are like to lose your hair, and prove a bald jerkin.
Trin. Do, do: We steal by line and level, and't like your grace.
Though with their high wrongs I am struck to
the quick,
Yet, with my nobler reason, 'gainst my fury,
Do I take part: the rarer action is
In virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent,
The sole drift of my purpose doth extend
Not a frown further: Go, release them, Ariel;
My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore,
And they shall be themselves.
Ari.
I'll fetch them, sir. [Erit.
Pro. Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes,
and groves;
Ste. I thank thee for that jest; here's a gar-
ment for't: wit shall not go unrewarded, while And ye, that on the sands with printless foot
I am king of this country: Steal by line and le-Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him
tel. is an excellent pass of pate; there's another
garment for't.
Trin. Monster, come, put some lime upon your fingers, and away with the rest.
Cal I will have none on't: we shall lose our
time,
And all be turn'd to barnacles, or to apes
With foreheads villanous low.
Ste. Monster, lay-to your fingers; help to bear! this away, where my hogshead of wine is, or I'll turn you out of my kingdom: go to, carry this.
Trin. And this.
Ste. Ay, and this.
Anoise of Hunters heard. Enter divers Spirits
in shape of hounds, and hunt them about;
Prospero and Ariel setting them on.
Pro. Hey, Mountain, hey!
Ari. Silver! there it goes, Silver!
Pro. Fury! Fury! there, Tyrant,there! hark!
hark! Cal. Ste. and Trin. are driven out.
Go charge my goblins that they grind their joints
With dry convulsions; shorten up their sinews
With aged cramps; and more pinch-spotted
make them,
Than pard, or cat o' mountain.
Hark, they roar.
Ari.
Pro. Let them be hunted soundly: At this hour
Lie at my mercy all mine enemies:
Shortly shall all my labours end, and thou
Shalt have the air at freedom: for a little,
Follow, and do me service.
SCENE 1. Before the Cell of Prospero.
Enter Prospero in his magic robes, and Ariel.
Pro. Now does my project gather to a head:
My charms crack not; my spirits obey and time
Goes right with his carriage. How's the day?
Ari. On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord,
You said our work should cease.
Pro.
I did say so,
When first I rais'd the tempest. Say, my spirit,
How fares the king and his followers?
Ari. Confin'd together
When he comes back; you demy-puppets, that
By moonshine do the green-sour ringlets make
Whereof the ewe not bites; and you, whose
pastime
Is to make midnight-mushrooms; that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid
(Weak masters though you be) I have be-dimm'd
The noon-tide sun, call'd forth the mutinous
winds,
And 'twixt the green sea and the azur'd vault
Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout oak
With his own bolt: the strong-bas'd promontory
The pine, and cedar: graves, at my command,
Have I made shake; and by the spurs pluck'd up
Have wak'd their sleepers; op'd and let them
forth,
By my so potent art: But this rough magick
I here abjure: and, when I have required
Some heavenly musick, (which even now I do,)
To work mine end upon their senses, that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And, deeper than did ever plummet sound,
I'll drown my book.
[Solemn Musick.
Re-enter Ariel: after him, Alonzo, with a fran-
tic gesture, attended by Gonzalo; Sebastian
and Antonio in like manner, attended by Adri-
an and Francisco: They all enter the circle
which Prospero had made, and there stand
charmed; which Prospero observing, speaks.
A solemn air, and the best comforter
To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains,
Now useless, boil'd within thy skull! There stand,
For you are spell-stopp'd.-
Mine eyes, even sociable to the shew of thine,
Holy Gonzalo, honourable man,
Fall fellowly drops.-The charm dissolves apace;
And as the morning steals upon the night,
Melting the darkness, so their rising senses
Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle
Their clearer reason.-O my good Gonzalo,
My true preserver, and a loyal sir
To him thou follow'st; I will pay thy graces
Home, both in word and deed.-Most cruelly
Didst thou, Alonzo, use me and my daughter:
Thy brother was a furtherer in the act;-
Thou'rt pinch'd for't now, Sebastian.-Flesh
and blood,
In the same fashion as you gave in charge;
Just as you left them, sir; all prisoners
In the lime grove which weather-fends your cell:
They cannot budge, till your release. The king,
His brother, and yours,abide all three distracted;
And the remainder mourning over them,
Brim-full of sorrow, and dismay; but chiefly
Han you term'd, sir, The good old lord, Gon-Would here have kill'd your king; I do forgive
His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops
From eaves of reeds: your charin so strongly
works them,
That if you now beheld them, your affections
Would become tender.
Pro.
Dost thou think so, spirit?
Ari. Mine would, sir, were I human.
Pro.
And mine shall.
Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling
Of their afflictions? and shall not myself,
One of their kind, that relish all as sharply,
Passion as they, be kindlier mov'd than thou art
You brother mine, that entertain'd ambition, Expell'd remorse and nature; who with Sebastian (Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,)
thee,
Unnatural though thou art!-Their understand-
ing
Begins to swell; and the approaching tide
Will shortly fill the reasonable shores,
That now lie foul and muddy. Not one of them,
That yet looks on me, or would know me:-
Ariel,
Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell;
[Exit Ariel.
I will dis-case me, and myself present,
As I was sometime Milan:-quickly spirit;
?Thou shalt ere long be free.
Inhabits here: Some heavenly power guide us
Out of this fearful country!
Pro.
The wronged duke of Milan, Prospero:
For more assurance that a living prince
Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body;
And to thee and thy company, I bid
A hearty welcome.
Alon.
Whe'r thou beest he, or no,
Or some enchanted trifle to amuse me,
As late I have been, I not know: thy pulse
Beats, as of flesh and blood: and,since I saw thee,
The affliction of my mind amends, with which,
I fear, a madness held me: this must crave
(An if this be at all) a most strange story.
Thy dukedom I resign; and do entreat
Thou pardon me my wrongs:-But how should
Prospero
Be living, and be here?
Let me embrace thine age;
Be measur'd, or confin'd."
Gon.
First, noble friend,
whose honour cannot
Whether this be,
Or be not, I'll not swear.
Pro.
You do yet taste
Some subtilties o' the isle, that will not let you
Believe things certain:-Welcome, my friends
all:-
But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded,
[Aside to Seb. and Ant.
1 here could pluck his highness' frown upon you,
And justify you traitors: at this time
I'll tell no tales.
The devil speaks in him. [Aside.
Than you may call to comfort you; for I
Have lost my daughter.
A daughter?
O heavens! that they were living both in Naples,
The king and queen there! that they were, I wish
Myself were mudded in that oozy bed
Where my son lies. When did you lose your
daughter?
Pro. In this last tempest. 1 perceive, these
lords
At this encounter do so much admire,
That they devour their reason; and scarce think
Their eyes do offices of truth, their words
Are natural breath; but, howsoe'er you have
Been justled from your senses, know for certain,
That 1 am Prospero, and that very duke
Which was thrust forth of Milan; who most
strangely
Upon this shore where you were wreck'd, was
landed,
To be the lord on't. No more yet of this;
For 'tis a chronicle of day by day,
Not a relation for a breakfast, nor
Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, sir;
This cell's my court: here have I few attendants,
And subjects none abroad; pray you, look in.
My dukedom, since you have given me again,
I will requite you with as good a thing;
At least, bring forth a wonder, to content ye,
As much as me my dukedom.
The entrance of the Cell opens, and discovers
Ferdinand and Miranda playing at chess.
Mira. Sweet lord, you play me false.
No, my dearest love,
I would not for the world.
Mira. Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should
wrangle,
And I would call it fair play.
Alon.
A vision of the island, one dear son
Shall I twice lose.
Fer. Though the seas threaten, they are mer
I have cursed them without cause.
[Fer. kneels to Alon.
Now all the blessings
Of a glad father compass thee about!
Arise, and say how thou cam'st here.
Mira.
O! wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't!
Pro.
"Tis new to thee.
Alon. What is this maid, with whom thou wast
at play?
No:- Your eldest acquaintance cannot be three hours:
Is she the goddess that hath sever'd us,
And brought us thus together?
For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest fault; all of them; and require
My dukedom of thee, which, perforce, I know,
Thou must restore.
Alon.
If thou beest Prospero,
Give us particulars of thy preservation:
How thou hast met us here, who three hours
since
Were wreck'd upon this shore; where I have lost
(How sharp the point of this remembrance is!)
My dear son Ferdinand!
Pro.
I am wo for't, sir.
Alon. Irreparable is the loss; and Patience
Says, it is past her cure.
Pro.
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 hers;
But O, how oddly will it sound, that I
Must ask my child forgiveness!
Pro.
Let us not burden our remembrances'
With heaviness that's gone.
Gon.
Or should have spoke ere this.
I have inly wept,
Look down, you
And on this couple drop a blessed crown;
For it is you, that have chalk'd forth the way
Which brought us hither!
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