No harm. Dost thou attend me?
Mira.
Sir, most heedfully
Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits,
How to deny them; whom to advance, and whom
To trash for over-topping; new created
The creatures that were mine; I say, or chang'd
them,
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 betier
Than Prospero, master of a tuil poor cell,
And thy no greater father.
Did never meddle with my thoughts. Pro.
Or else new-form'd them: having both the key Of officer and office, set all hearts i' th' state 'Tis time, To what tune pleased his ear; that now he was I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand,The ivy, which had hid my princely trunk, And pluck my magick garment from me -So; And suck'd my verdure out on '-Thon at[Lays down his mantle. tend'st not. Lie there my art.-Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort.
The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd
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
Mira. O, good sir, I do. Pro.
I pray thee, mark me.
I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicate
To closeness, and the bettering of my mind
With that, which, but by being so retir'd,
O'er-prized all popular rate, in my false brother
Awak'd an evil nature: and my trust,
Like a good parent, did beget of him
Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. A falsehood, in its contrary as great
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.
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 had'st, 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 years since, Miranda, twelve
years 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 A princess;-no worse issued.
O, the heavens! What foul play had we, that we came from thence?
Or blessed was 't, we did?
Pro.
Both, both, my girl: By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heaved
But blessedly holp hither.
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 Antonio1 pray thee, mark me,-that a brother should Be so perfidious-he whom, next thyself, Of all the world I loved, 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 parallei; 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 uncle
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 of the substitution,
And executing the outward face of royalty
With all prerogative:-Hence his ambition
Growing,-Dost 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 roy
O the heavens! Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then tell me, If this might be a brother. Mira. I should sin To think but nobly of my grandmother: Good wonbs have borne bad sons.
Now the condition This king of Naples, being an enemy To me inveterate, hearkens 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.
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 had 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.
Alack! what trouble
O! a cherubim
Pro.
My brave spirit
Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil
Would not infect his reason?
Not a soul
But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd
Some tricks of desperation: All, but mariners,
Plung'd in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel,
Then all a-fire with me: the king's son, Ferdi-
nand,
With hair up-staring, (then like reeds, not hair,)
Was the first man that leap'd; cried, Hell is empty,
And all the devils are here.
Was I then to you!
Pro.
Thou wast, that did preserve me! Thou didst Pro.
smile,
Infused with a fortitude from heaven,
When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salt;
Under my burden groan'd; which rais'd in me
An undergoing stomach, to bear up
Against what should ensue.
Mira.
How came we ashore?
Pro. By Providence divine.
Some food we had, and some fresh water, that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,
Ont of his charity, (who being then appointed
Master of this design,) did give us; with
Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessa ies,
Which since have steaded much; so, of his gen-
tleness,
Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me,
From my own library, with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.
Mira.
But ever see that man!
Pro.
Now I arise:-
Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.
Here in tsland we arrived; and here
Have I, thy choolmaster, made thee more profit
Than other princes can, that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.
Mira. Heavens thank you for 't! and now, I
pray you, sir,
(For still 'tis beating in my mind,) your reason
For raising this sea-storm?
Pro.
Know thus far forth.-
By accident most strange, bountiful fortune,
Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies
Brought to this shore: and by any prescience
I find my zenith doth depend upon
A most auspicious star; whose influence
If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after droop.-Here cease more
But was not this nigh shore?"
Why, that's my spirit!
Pro. But are they, Ariel, safe?
Close by, my master.
Not a hair perish'd;
On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
But fresher than before: and as thou bad'st me,
In troops I have dispersed them 'bout the isle:
The king's son have I landed by himself;
Whon I left cooling of the air with sighs,
In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting,
His arms in this sad knot."
Pro.
Of the king's ship,
The mariners, say, how thou hast disposed,
And all the rest o' the fleet?
Safely in harbour
Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once
Thou call'st 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
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 filote,
Bound sally home for Naples;
Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd,
And his great person perish.
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. At least two glasses: The time 'twixt
six and now,
Must by us both be spent most preciously.
Ari. Is there more toil? Since thou must give
me pains,
Let me remember thee what thou hast promis'd,
ques-Which is not yet perform'd me.
How now ? moody?
Thou art in a'd to sleep; 'tis a good dulness,
And give it way;-1 know thou canst not
[Miranda sleeps.
Come away, servant, come: I am ready now;
Approach, my Ariel: come.
Ari. All hail, great master! grave sir, hail; I
To answer thy best pleasure; be 't to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curl'd clouds; to thy strong bidding, task
Ariel, and all his quality.
Pro.
Hast thou, spirit,
Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee?
Ari. To every article.
I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,"
I flam'd amazement: Sometimes, I'd divide,
And burn in many places; on the top-mast,
The yards, and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,
Then meet, and join: Jove's lightnings, the pre-
O'the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
And sight out-running were not: The fire, and
cracks
Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune
Seem'd to besiege, and make his bold waves
tremble,
Yea, his dread trident shake.
What is 't thou canst demand?,
My liberty.
Pro. Before the time be out? no more.
Ari.
I pray thee
Remember, I have done thee worthy service;
Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, serv'd
Without or grudge or grumbling: thou did'st
promise
To bate me a full year.
Pro.
Dost thou forget
From what a torment I did free thee?
Ari.
Pro. Thou dost; and think'st
It much, to tread the ooze of the salt deep;
To run upon the sharp wind of the North;
To do me business in the veins o' the earth,
When it is bak'd with frost.
Pro. Thou liest, malignant thing! Hast tho
forgot
The foul witch,Sycorax,who, with age, and envy
Was grown into a hoop? hast thou forgot her
Ari. No, sir.
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, Sy-
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,
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-combs, each pinch more
stinging
Than bees that made them.
Cal.
I must eat my dinner.
island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou tak'st from me. When thou camest
first,
And here was left by the sailors: Thou, my slave,
As thou report'st thyself, was then her servaut:
And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,This
By help of her more potent ministers,
And in her most unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprison'd, thou did'st painfully remain
A dozen years; within which space she died,,
And left thee there; where thou did'st vent thy
groans,
As fast as mill-wheels strike: Then was this
island,
(Save for the son that she did litter here,
A freckled whelp, hag born) not honour'd with
A human shape.
Yes; Caliban, her son.
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.
1 will be correspondent to command,
And do my spriting gently.
Pro.
Do so; and after two days
I will discharge thee.
Ari.
That's my noble master!
What shall I do 7 say what? what shall I do?
Pro. Go make thyself like to a nymph o' the
I do not love to look on.
Pro.
We cannot miss him: he does make our fire,
Fetch in our wood; and serves in offices
That profit us. What ho! slave! Caliban!
Thou earth, thou! speak.
Cal. [within.] There 's wood enough within.
Pro. Come forth, I say, there's other business
for thee;
Come forth, thou tortoise! when?
Re-enter Ariel, like a Water-nymph.
Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,
Hark in thine ear.
Ari. My lord, it shall be done. [Exit.
Pro. Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil
himself
Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!
Cal Aswicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd
Thou strok'dst me, and mad'st 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'
thee,
And show'd thee all the qualities o' the 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 subject 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 of the island.
Pro.
Thou most lying slave;
Whom stripes may move, not kindness: I have
used thee,
Filth as thou art, with human care; and lodg'd
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, thou wert best,
To answer other business. Shrug'st thou, ma-
lice!
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!-
I must obey: his art is of such power, [Aside.
It would control my dam's god, Setebos,
And make a vassal of him.
Pro.
So, slave, hence! [Erit Caliban
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
[Burden, ding-dong.
Hark! now I hear them, -ding-dong, bell.
Fer. The ditty does remember my drown'd
father:-
This is no mortal business, nor no sound
That the earth owes :-I hear it now above me.
Pro. The fringed curtains of thine eye advance,
And say, what thou seest yond'.
Mira.
What is't? a spirit?
Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir,
Jt carries a brave form :-but 'tis a spirit.
Pro. No, wench; it eats and sleeps, and hath
such senses
As we have, such: This gallant,which thou seest,
Was in the wreck; and but he's something stain'd
With grief, that's beauty's canker, thou might'st
call him
A goodly person: he hath lost his fellows,
And strays about to find them.
Mira.
A thing divine; for nothing natural
I ever saw so noble.
Pro.
It goes on, I see, [Aside. As my soul prompts it :-Spirit, fine spirit! I'll free thee
Within two days for this.
Most sure, the goddess On whom these airs attend!-Vouchsafe, my
May know, if you remain upon this island;
And that you will some good instruction give,
How I may bear me here: My prime request,
Which I do last pronounce, is, O you wonder!
If you be maid, or no?
Mira.
But, certainly a maid.
Fer.
If the ill spirit have so fair a house,
Good things will strive to dwell with't.
Pro.
Follow me.-[To Ferd.
Speak not you for him; he's a traitor.-Come.
I'll manacle thy neck and feet together;
Sea-water shalt thou drink, thy food shall be
The fresh-brook muscles, wither'd roots, and
busks,
Wherein the acorn cradled: Follow.
Fer.
I will resist such entertainment, till
Mine enemy has more power. [He draws
O dear father,
Make not too rash a trial of him, for
He's gentle, and not fearful.
What, I say,
My foot my tutor!-Put thy sword up, traitor;
Who mak'st a show, but dar'st not strike, thy
Is so possess'd with guilt: come from thy ward;
For I can here disarm thee with this stick,
And make thy weapon drop.
Mira.
'Beseech, you father!
Pro. Hence: hang not on my garments.
Mira.
Sir, have pity;
Silence! one word more
Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What!
An advocate for an impostor? hush!
Thou think'st, there are no more such shapes
as he,
Having seen but him and Caliban: Foolish
wench!
To the most of men this is a Caliban,
And they to him are angels.
Mira.
My affections
Are then most humble; I have no ambition
To see a goodlier man.
Pro.
Come on; obey: [To Fer.
My language! heavens!-Thy nerves are in their infancy again,
I am the best of them that speak this speech, And have no vigour in them.
Were I but where 'tis spoken.
Fer.
So they are:
Pro.
How! the best? My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up.
What wert thou, if the king of Naples heard thee? My father's loss, the weakness which I feel,
Fer. A single thing, as I am now, that wonders The wreck of all my friends, or this man's
To hear thee speak of Naples; he does hear me;
And, that he does, I weep: myself am Naples: To whom I an subdued, are but light to me,
Who with miue eyes, ne'er since at ebb, beheld Might I but through my prison once a day
The king my father wreck'd.
Behold this maid: all corners else o' the earth,
Mira
Alack! for mercy! Let liberty make use of: space enough
Fer. Yes, 'faith, and all his lords; the duke of Have 1 in such a prison.
Milan,
Pro.
It works:-Come on,-
Thou hast done well, fine Ariel!-Follow me.-
[To Fer. and Mir.
Hark, what thou else shalt do me. [To Ariel.
Mira.
Be of comfort;
My father is of a better nature, sir,
And his brave son, being twain.
Pro.
The duke of Milan, |
And his more braver daughter,could control thee,
If now 'twere fit to do't:-At the first sight
drenched in the sea, hold, notwithstanding, their freshness, and glosses; being rather new dy'd, than stain'd with salt water.
Ant. If but one of his pockets could speak, would it not say, he lies?
Seb. Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report. Gon. Methinks, our garments are now as fresh as when we put them on first in Africk, at the marriage of the king's fair daughter Claribel to the king of Tunis.
Seb. "Twas a sweet marriage, and we prosper well in our return.
Adr. Tunis was never graced before with such paragon to their queen.
Gon. Not since widow Dido's time.
Ant. Widow? a pox o' that! How came that widow in? Widow Dido!
Seb. What if he had said, widower Eneas too? good lord, how you take it!
Adr. Widow Dido, said you? you make me mer-study of that: she was of Carthage, not of Tunis. Gon. This Tunis, sir, was Carthage.
Have just our theme of wo: but for the miracle,
1 mean our preservation, few in millions
Can speak like us: then wisely, good sir, weigh
Our sorrow with our comfort.
'Pr'ythee, peace. Seb. He receives comfort like cold porridge. Ant. The visitor will not give him o'er so. Seb. Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit; by and by it will strike.
Adr. Carthage?
Gon. I assure you, Carthage.
Ant. His word is more than the miraculous harp.
Seb. He hath raised the wall and houses too. Ant. What impossible matter will he make easy next?
Seb. I think, he will carry this island home in his pocket, and give it his son for an apple. Ant. And sowing the kernels of it in the sea, bring forth more islands.
Gon. When every grief is entertain'd, that's Gon. Ay? offer'd,
Gon. Dolour comes to him, indeed; you have spoken truer than you purposed.
Seb. You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should.
Gon. Therefore, my lord,
Ant. Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!
Alon. I pr'ythee spare.
Gon. Well, I have done: but yet
Seb. He will be talking.
Ant. Why, in good time.
Gon. Sir, we were talking that our garments seem now as fresh as when we were at Tunis at the marriage of your daughter, who is now queen.
Ant. And the rarest that e'er came there.
Seb. 'Bate, I beseech you, widow Dido.
Ant. O, widow Dido; ay, widow Dido.
Gon. Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the
first day I wore it? I mean, in a sort.
Ant. That sort was well fish'd for.
Gon. When I wore it at your daughter's mar-
Ant. Which of them, he, or Adrian, for a riage? good wager, first begins to crow ?
Alon. You cram these words into mine ears,
against
The stomach of my sense: 'Would, I had never
Married my daughter there! for, coming thence,
My son is lost; and, in my rate, she too,
Who is so far from Italy remov'd,
Adr. Though this island seem to be a desert, I ne'er again shall see her. O thou mine heir
Adr. Uninhabitable, and almost inaccessible, Fran.
Seb. Yet,
Ant. He could not miss it.
Adr. It must needs be of subtle, tender, and delicate temperance.
Ant. Temperance was a delicate wench. Seb. Ay, and a subtle; as he most learnedly delivered.
Adr. The air breathes upon us here most sweetly.
Seb. As if it had lungs, and rotten ones.
Ant. Or, as 'twere perfumed by a fen.
Gon. Here is every thing advantageous to life.
Ant. True; save means to live.
Seb. Of that there's none, or little.
Of Naples and of Milan, what strange fish
Hath made his meal on thee?
Sir, he may live;
I saw him beat the surges under him,
And ride upon their backs; he trod the water,
Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted
The surge most swoln that met him: his bold hend
'Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar'd
Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke
To the shore, that o'er his wave-worn basis
bow'd,
As stooping to relieve him: 1 not doubt
He came alive to land.
Alon.
No, no, he's gone.
Seb. Sir, you may thank yourself for this great
loss;
That would not bless our Europe with your
daughter,
Gon. How lush and lusty the grass looks? But rather lose her to an African;
|