Inhabits here: Some heavenly power guide us
Out of this fearful country!

Pro.

Behold, sir king,
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'r9 thou beest he, or no,

Or some enchanted trifle to abuse 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?

Pro.

First, noble friend,

Let me embrace thine age; whose honour cannot Be measur'd, or confin'd.

Gon.

Or be not, I'll not swear.

Whether this be,

You do yet taste

Pro. Some subtilties 10 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. I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you, And justify you traitors: at this time

I'll tell no tales.

9 Whether.

10 Subtilties are quaint deceptive inventions; the word is common to ancient cookery, in which a disguised or ornamented dish is so termed.

Seb. Pro.

The devil speaks in him. [Aside.
No:-

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 11 Were wreck'd upon this shore; where I have lost (How sharp the point of this remembrance is!)

My dear son Ferdinand.

I am woe 12 for't, sir.

Pro.
Alon. Irreparable is the loss; and Patience
Says, it is past her cure.

I rather think,

Pro.
You have not sought her help; of whose soft
For the like loss, I have her sovereign aid,
And rest myself content.

Alon.

You the like loss?

grace,

Pro. As great to me, as late; and portable 13 To make the dear loss, have I means much weaker Than you may call to comfort you; for I

Have lost my daughter.

Alon.

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. I perceive, these lords At this encounter do so much admire,

11 The unity of time is most rigidly observed in this piece. The able scarcely takes up a greater number of hours than are employed in the representation. Mr. Steevens thinks that Shakspeare purposely designed to show the cavillers of the time, that he too could write a play within all the strictest laws of regularity.

12 I am sorry for it.

VOL. I.

13 Bearable.
I

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 I 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 FER-
DINAND and MIRANDA playing at chess.

Mira. Sweet lord, you play me false.

Fer.

I would not for the world.

No, my dearest love,

Mira. Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle 14,

And I would call it fair play.

14 Mr. Pye says, I conceive Shakspeare, who was no nice weigher of words, meant wrangling to be equivalent with playing false, or with unfair advantage. So in Henry V. the king, in allusion to the tennis balls, directs the ambassadors to tell the dauphin

"He hath made a match with such a wrangler,

That all the courts of France shall be disturb'd
With chases."

Mr. Pye's explanation is correct; but his deduction that Shakspeare was "no nice weigher of words" is totally false. Shakspeare's words are always the most expressive and most appropriate. To wrangle, in the language of his time, was to haft or overthwart; to run back and yet not cease to contend.

Alon.

If this prove

A vision of the island, one dear son

Shall I twice lose.

Seb.

A most high miracle!

Fer. Though the seas threaten, they are merciful: I have curs'd them without cause.

Alon.

[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?

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 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, and all of us,

In a poor
isle;
When no man was his own 15.

Alon.

ourselves,

Give me your hands :

[To FER. and MIRA.

Be't so! Amen!

Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart,

That doth not wish you joy!

Gon.

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 16, and bravely rigg'd, as when We first put out to sea.

15 When no man was in his senses or had self-possession. 16 See Note 1. Sc. 1.