Boats. Here, master: what cheer?
Mast. Good. Speak to the mariners: fall to't
yarely, or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir. [Exit.
Enter Mariners.
Boats. Heigh, my hearts! cheerly, cheerly, my hearts! yare, yare. Take in the topsail; tend to the master's whistle. Blow, till thou burst thy wind, if room enough! Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDINAND, GONZALO, and Others, from the Cabin. Alon. Good boatswain, have a care. Where's the master? Play the men.
Boats. I pray now, keep below.
Ant. Where is the master, boatswain?
Boats. Do you not hear him? You mar our labour.
Keep your cabins: you do assist the storm.
Gon. Nay, good, be patient.
Boats. When the sea is.
Hence! What care these
roarers for the name of king? To cabin: silence! trouble us not.
Boats. Down with the top-mast: yare; lower, 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 poxo' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous,
incharitable dog!
Ant. Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson, insolent noisemaker, we are less afraid to be drowned than thou art. Gon. I'll warrant him for drowning; though the ship were no stronger than a nutshell, and as leaky as
Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold. Set her two courses:
off to sea again; lay her off.
Enter Mariners, wet.
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 drunk-
ards.-
This wide-chapp'd rascal,-would, thou might'st lie
drowning,
The washing of ten tides!
Gon. Good; yet remember whom thou hast aboard.
Boats. None that I more love than myself. You
are a counsellor if you can command these elements
to silence, and work the peace of the present, we will
not hand a rope more; use
your authority: if you
cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, and make
yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the
hour, if it so hap.-Cheerly, good hearts!-Out of our
[Exit.
Gon. I have great comfort from this fellow: me-
thinks, he hath no drowning mark upon him;
complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good fate, Gon. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea
to his hanging: make the rope of his destiny our cable, for an acre of barren ground; long heath, brown furze,
for our own doth little advantage. If he be not born any thing. The wills above be done! but I would fain
to be hanged, our case is miserable.
He'll be hanged yet,
Though every drop of water swear against it,
And gape at wid'st to glut him. [A confused noise
We split, we split !-Farewell, my wife and children!—
within.] Mercy on us!-
Farewell, brother!-We split, we split, we split!-
Ant. Let's all sink with the king.
Seb. Let's take leave of him.
[Exeunt. die a dry death.
SCENE II.-The Island: before the cell of PROSPERO.
Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA.
Mira. If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.
The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,
But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's heat,
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 fraughting souls within her.
Be collected:
Tell your piteous heart,
No more amazement. There's no harm done.
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 better
Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,
And thy no greater father.
Did never meddle with my thoughts.
'Tis time I should inform thee farther. Lend thy hand, And pluck my magic garment from me.-So:
[Lays down his robe. 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 prevision 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.
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, thou his only heir
And princess, no worse issued.
Mira.
O, the heavens !
What foul play had we, that we came from thence?
Or blessed was't, we did?
Pro.
By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heav'd thence ;
But blessedly holp hither.
Mira.
O! my heart bleeds
To think o' the teen that I have turn'd you to,
Please
Which is from my remembrance.
you,
Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Antonio,—
I 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,
The government I cast upon my brother,
And to my state grew stranger, being transported
And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle-
Dost thou attend me?
Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits,
How to deny them, whom t'advance, and whom
To trash for over-topping, new created
The creatures that were mine, I say, or chang'd them,
Or else new form'd them; having both the key
Of officer and office, set all hearts i' the state
To what tune pleas'd his ear; that now he was
The ivy, which had hid my princely trunk,
And suck'd my verdure out on't.-Thou attend'st not.
Mira. O good sir! I do.
Pro.
pray thee, mark me. I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated
Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. Sit To closeness, and the bettering of my mind
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 hadst, 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 year since, Miranda, twelve year since,
Thy father was the duke of Milan, and
A prince of power.
With that, which but by being so retired
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 loaded,
Not only with what my revenue yielded,
But what my power might else exact,—like one,
Who having to untruth, 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 o' the substitution,
And executing th' outward face of royalty,
With all prerogative :-hence his ambition
Growing,-Dost thou hear?
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.
O the heavens !
Pro. Mark his condition, and th' event; then tell me,
If this might be a brother.
Mira.
I should sin
To think but nobly of my grandinother:
Good wombs 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 practise, 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.
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.
Hear a little farther,
And then I'll bring thee to the present business
Which now's upon 's; without the which this story
Were most impertinent.
Mira.
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 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.
Thou wast, that did preserve me. Thou didst 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.
Pro. By Providence divine.
Some food we had, and some fresh water, that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,
Out of his charity, (who being then appointed
Master of this design) did give us; with
Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries,
Which since have steaded much so, of his gentleness,
Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me,
From my own library, with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.
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 questions.
Thou art inclin'd to sleep; 'tis a good dulness,
And give it way :-I know thou canst not choose.-
[MIRANDA sleeps.
Come away, servant, come! I am ready now.
Approach, my Ariel: come!
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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 topmast,
The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,
Then meet, and join. Jove's lightnings, the precursors
O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
And sight-outrunning were not: the fire, and cracks
Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune
Seem to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble,
Yea, his dread trident shake.
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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.
Pro.
Of the king's ship
The mariners, say, how thou hast dispos'd,
And all the rest o' the fleet?
Now I arise [Puts on his robe again. Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once
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.
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 joined to their suffer'd labour,
I have left asleep and for the rest o' the fleet
Mira. Heavens thank you for 't! And now, I pray Which I dispers'd, they all have met again,
you, sir,
And all upon the Mediterranean float,
From what a torment I did free thee?
Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well;
Awake!
Mira. The strangeness of your story put [Waking.
Heaviness in me.
Shake it off. Come on:
We'll visit Caliban, my slave, who never
Pro. Thou dost; and think'st it much, to tread the ooze Yields us kind answer.
Of the salt deep,
To run upon the sharp wind of the north,
To do me business in the veins o' th' earth,
When it is bak'd with frost.
Pro. This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child,
And here was left by the sailors: thou, my slave
As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant:
And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy 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 groans
As fast as mill-wheels strike. Then was this island
(Save for a son that she did litter here,
A freckled whelp, hag-born) not honour'd with
A human shape.
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
I do not love to look on.
Pro.
But, as 'tis,
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, thou tortoise! when?
Re-enter ARIEL, like a water-nymph.
Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,
Hark in thine ear.
My lord, it shall be done. [Exit.
Pro. Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself
Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!
Enter CALIBAN.
Cal. As wicked dew, as e'er my mother brush'd
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 'em.
Cal. I must eat my dinner. This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou tak'st from me. When thou cam'st here first, Thou strok'dst me, and mad'st much of me; would'st
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'd thee,
And show'd thee all the qualities o' th' isle,
The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place, and fertile.
Cursed be 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 o' th' island.
Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness, I have us'd thee,
Which any print of goodness will not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour
One thing or other: when thou didst not, savage,
Know thine own meaning, but would'st gabble like
A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes
With words that made them known; but thy vile race,
Though thou didst learn, had that in't which good natures
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'rt 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.
I must obey his art is of such power,
It would control my dam's god, Setebos,
And make a vassal of him.
So, slave; hence! [Exit CALIBAN.
Re-enter ARIEL, invisible, playing and singing; FERDI-
NAND following.
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!
Burden. Bow, wow.
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
As my soul prompts it.-Spirit, fine spirit! I'll free thee
Within two days for this.
Fer.
Most sure, the goddess [Seeing her.
On whom these airs attend!-Vouchsafe, my prayer
May know if you remain upon this island, [Kneels.
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.
My language! heavens! [Rises.
I am the best of them that speak this speech,
Were I but where 'tis spoken.
Pro.
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.-[Aside.] At the first sight
They have chang'd eyes:-delicate Ariel,
I'll set thee free for this!-[To him.] 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 sigh'd for. Pity move my father
To be inclin'd my way!
And your affection not
The queen of Naples.
O! if a virgin,
gone forth, I'll make you
Soft, sir: one word more.
[Aside.] They are both in either's powers: but this
I must uneasy make, lest too light winning
Make the prize light.-[To him.] One word more :
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
Mira. There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple: If the ill spirit have so fair a house,
Good things will strive to dwell with't.
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