lower, bring her to try with main course. [A cry within.] A plague upon this howling! they are louder than the weather, or our office.-
Re-enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and GONZALO. Yet again? what do you here? Shall we give o'er and drown? Have you a mind to sink?
Seb. A pox o' your throat! you bawling, blasphemous, uncharitable dog!
Ant. Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson, insolent noisemaker, we are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.
Gon. I'll warrant him from drowning; though the ship were no stronger than a nut-shell, and as leaky as an unstaunched' wench.
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 a hair, Betid to any creature in the vessel Which thou heard'st cry, which thou st w'st sink. Sit down;
Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold; set her two For thou must now know further. courses; off to sea again, lay her off.
Mar. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost! [Exeunt. Boats. What, must our mouths be cold? Gon. The king and prince at prayers! let us [assist them,
For our case is as theirs.
Seb. I am out of patience.
Ant. We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards.-
This wide-chapped rascal;-'Would thou mightst The washing of ten tides! [lie drowning Gon. He'll be hanged yet; Though every drop of water swear against it, And gape at wid'st to glut him. [A confused noise within.] Mercy on us!--We split, we split! Farewell, my wife and children!— Farewell, brother!-We split, we split, we split.-- Ant. Let's all sink with the king. [Exit. Seb. Let's take leave of him. [Exit. Gon. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground; long heath, brown furze, any thing: the wills above be done! but I would fain die a dry death. [Exit. SCENE II.—The island: before the cell of Pros-
PERO. Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA. Mir. If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them: The sky, it seeins, would pour down stinking pitch, But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek, Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffer'd With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel, Who had no doubt some noble creatures in her, Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock Against my very heart! Poor souls! they perish'd. Had I been any god of power, I would Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er It should the good ship so have swallow'd, and The freighting souls within her.
Pro. Be collected; No more amazement: tell your piteous heart, There's no harm done.
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.—
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. Certainly, sir, I can. Pro. By what? by any other house, or person? Of any thing the image tell me, that Hath kept with thy remembrance.
Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Antonio,— 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 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 parallel; those being all my study,
To closeness, and the bettering of my mind With that, which, but by being so retir'd, O'er-priz'd all popular rate, in my false brother Awak'd an evil nature: and my trust, Like a good parent, did beget of him A falsehood, in its contrary as great 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 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 royalties He thinks me now incapable: confederates (So dry he was for sway) with the king of Naples, To give him annual tribute, do him homage; Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend The dukedom, yet unbow'd (alas, poor Milan!) To most ignoble stooping.
Mira. Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then If this might be a brother. [tell me, Mira. I should sin To think but nobly of my grandmother: Good wombs have borne bad sons.
Pro. 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 honors, 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.
That hour destroy us? Pro.
Well demanded, wench; My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not;
(So dear the love my people bore me) nor set A mark so bloody on the business; but With colors 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.
Pro. Now I arise:Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. Here in this island we arriv'd; and here Have I, thy schoolmaster, 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 1 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 my 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 ques tions;
O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary And sight-outrunning 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.
Pro. My brave spirit! Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil❞ Would not infect his reason?
Ari. 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, Ferdinand, 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. Pro. But was not this nigh shore? Ari.
Why, that's my spirit! Close by, my master. Pro. But are they, Ariel, safe? Ari. 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 dispers'd them 'bout the isle: The king's son have I landed by himself; Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs, In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting, His arms in this sad knot.
Of the king's ship, The mariners, say, how thou hast dispos'd, And all the rest o' the fleet?
Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once Thou call'dst 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 labor, 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 flote Bound sadly home for Naples;
Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd, And his great person perish. Pro.
The minutest article. 1 Bermudas.
Ariel, thy charge Bustle, tumult.
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, Sycorax, 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
And here was left by the sailors: Thou, my slave, As thou report'st thyself, was then her servant: And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate To act her earthly and abhorr'd commands, Refusing her grand hests', she did confine thee, By help of her more potent ministers, And in her most unmitigable rage, Into a cloven pine; within which rift Imprison'd, thou didst painfully remain A dozen years; within which space she died, And left thee there; where thou didst vent thy
I will be correspondent to command, And do my spriting gently. Pro.
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 subjects 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., Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have us'd thee,
Filth as thou art, with human care; and lodg'd thee Do so; and after two days In mine own cell, till thou did'st seek to violate The honor of my child.
I will discharge thee. Ari. That's my noble master! What shall I do? say, what? what shall I do? Pro. Go make thyself like to a nymph o' the sea; Be subject to no sight but mine; invisible To every eye-ball else. Go take this shape, And hither come in't: hence, with diligence.
[Exit ARIEL. Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well; Awake!
Mira. The strangeness of your story put Heaviness in me.
Shake it off: Come on, We'll visit Caliban, my slave, who never
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. This island's mine, by Sycorax, my mother, Which thou tak'st from me. When thou camest first,
Thou strok'dst me, and mad'st much of me; wouldst 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 loved thee, And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,
Cal. O ho, O ho!-'would it had been done! Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else This isle with Calibans.
Pro. Abhorred slave; Which any point of goodness will not take, Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee, [hcui Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each One thing or other: when thou didst not, savage, Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes With words that made them known: But thy vile [natures Though thou didst learn, had that in't which good Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou Deservedly confin'd into this rock, Who hadst deserv'd more than a prison.
Cal. You taught me language; and my profit on't 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, malice? 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.
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! [Exit CALIBAN, Re-enter ARIEL, invisible, playing and singing; FERDINAND following him. ARIEL'S Song.
Come unto these yellow sands And then take hands:
Court'sied when you have, and kiss'd,' (The wild waves whist ') Foot it featly here and there; And, sweet sprites, the burden bear. Hark, hark!
Bur. Bowgh, wowgh. The watch-dogs bark: Bur. Bowgh, wowgh.
Hark, hark! I hear The strain of strutting chanticlere Cry, cock-a-doodle-do.
Fer. Where should this music be? i' the air,
Allaying both their fury, and my passion, With its sweet air; thence I have follow'd it, Or it hath drawn me rather:-But 'tis gone. No, it begins again.
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: Hark! now I hear them,-ding-dong, bell. [Burden, ding-dong.
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, It 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 mightst| 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.
[Aside. As my soul prompts it:-Spirit, fine spirit! I'll free thee
Within two days for this.
Fer. Most sure the goddess On whom these airs attend!-Vouchsafe my prayer 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?
My language; heavens! I am the best of them that speak this speech, Were I but where 'tis spoken.
Pro. How! the best? What wert thou if the king of Naples heard thee? Fer. A single thing, as I am now, that wonders To hear thee speak of Naples: He does hear me; And, that he does, I weep: myself am Naples; Who with mine eyes, ne'er since at ebb, beheld The king my father wreck'd.
Mira. Alack, for mercy! Fer. Yes, faith, and all his lords; the duke of Milan,
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
I'll set thee free for this!-A word, good sir: I fear, you have done yourself some wrong: a word. Mira. Why speaks my father so ungently? This Is the third man that e'er I saw; the first That e'er I sighed for: pity move my father To be inclin'd my way!
O, if a virgin, And your affection not gone forth, I'll make you The queen of Naples! Pro.
Soft, sir, one word more.They are both in either's powers; but this swift business
I must uneasy make, lest too light winning [Aside Make the prize light.-One word more; I charge thee,
That thou attend me: thou dost here usurp The name thou ow'st not; and hast put thyself Upon this island, as a spy to win it From me, the lord on't." Fer. No, as I am a man. Mira. There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple:
If the ill spirit have so fair an 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 husks Wherein the acorn cradled: Follow. Fer.
I will resist such entertainment, till Mine enemy has more power. Mira.
[He draws. O dear father, Make not too rash a trial of him, for He's gentle, and not fearful.'
Pro. 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 werch! To the most of men this is a Caliban, And they to him are angels.
My affections Are then most humble; I have no ambition To see a goodlier man. Pro. Come on; obey: [To FERD. Thy nerves are in their infancy again, And have no vigor in them.
Fer. So they are: My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up. My father's loss, the weakness which I feel, The wreck of all my friends, or this man's threats, To whom I am subdued, are but light to me, Might I but through my prison once a day Behold this maid: all corners else o' the earth Let liberty make use of; space enough Have I in such a prison.
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