ACT I. Miranda, daughter to Prospero. Ariel, an airy spirit. Iris, Ceres, Juno, Nymphs, Reapers, spirits. Other spirits attending on Prospero. Scene, the sea, with a ship; afterwards an unhabited island. Hate, to his hanging! make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage! If he SCENE I-On a ship at sea. A storm, with be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable. thunder and lightning. Enter a Ship-master and a Boatswain. Enter Mariners. Boats. Heigh, my hearts; cheerly, cheerly, my hearts; yare, yare: take in the top-sail: tend to the master's whistle.-Blow, till thou burst thy wind, if room enough! Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Ferdinand, Alon. Good boatswain, have a care. Where's the master? Play the men. Boats. I pray now, keep below. Ant. Where is the master, boastwain? Boats. When the sea is. Hence! What care these roarers for the name of king? To cabin: silence: trouble us not. 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 ele Re-enter Boatswain. [Exeunt. 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'cr, and drown? Have you a mind to sink? Seb. A pox o' your throat! you bawling, blasphemous, uncharitable dog! Boats. Work you, then. Ant. Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson, insolent noise-maker, 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. Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold; set her two courses; off to sea again, lay her off. ments to silence, and work the peace of the present,2 This wide-chapped rascal;-'Would, thou might'st we will not hand a rope more; use your authority. Gon. lie drowning, He'll be hanged yet; If you cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, The washing of ten tides! and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap.-Cheerly, good Though every drop of water swear against it,' [Exit. And gape at wid'st to glut him. nearts.--Out of our way, I say. Gon. I have great comfort from this fellow: me-[A confused noise within.] Mercy on us!-We thinks he hath no drowning mark upon him; his split, we split! Farewell, my wife and children!complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Farewell, brother!-We split, we split, we split. (1) Readily. (2) Present instant. (3) Incontinent. (4) Absolutely. ୫ Ant. Let's all sink with the king. Mira. Act 1. "But that I do not. Seb. Let's take leave of him. [Exit. In the dark backward and abysın3 of time! Gon. Now would I give a thousand Jurlongs of How thou cam'st here, thou may'st. Exit. If thou remember'st aught, ere thou cam'st here, 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 Prospero. Enter Prospero and Miranda. Mir. If by your art, my dearest father, you have Mira. Pro. O, wo the day! No harm. I have done nothing but in care of thee, Mira. More to know Did never meddle with my thoughts. I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand, The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd I have with such provision in mine art So safely order'd, that there is no soul- Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. Sit down; For thou must now know further. You have often Mira. Pro. The very minute bids thee ope thine ear; I do not think thou canst; for then thou wast not Mira. Mira. That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else '2) Quite. (3) Abyss. '1) Before. Pro. Twelve years since, Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and Both, both, my girl. Mira. Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Antonio,- Mira. not: I pray thee, mark me. O good sir, I do. Mira. Your tale, sir, would cure deafness Was dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties From my own library, with volumes that (So dry he was for sway) with the king of Naples, Mira. O the heavens! But ever see that man! Pro. 'Would I might Now I arise: Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then Than other princes can, that have more time If this might be a brother. Mira. I should sin To think but nobly of my grandmother: Good wombs have born 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 lieu2 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,3 That wrings mine eyes. Pro. Hear a little further, And then I'll bring thee to the present business Which now's upon us; without the which, this story Were most impertinent. Mira. That hour destroy us? Pro. Wherefore did they not Well demanded, wench; My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not; (So dear the love my people bore me) nor set 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 To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly, Pro. I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak, But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd Why, that's my spirit! Pro. But was not this nigh shore? Ari. Close by, my master. Pro. But are they, Ariel, safe? Not a hair perish'd; Which since have steaded much; so, of his gentle-But fresher than before: and, as thou bad'st me, 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? Ari. Safely in harbour I have left asleep and for the rest o' the fleet, Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd, Pro. 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 dost give me pains, Let me remember thee what thou hast promis'd, Which is not yet perform'd me. Pro. How now? moody? To act ner earthly and abhorr'd commands, As fast as mill-wheels strike: then was this island Ari. Yes; Caliban, her son. Pro. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Ćaliban, 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. I Pardon, master: will be correspondent to command, And do my spiriting gently. Pro. Do so; and after two days 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 a nymph o' the sea, Be subject to no sight but mine; invisible To every eye-ball else. Go, take this shape, pro-And hither come in't: hence, with diligence. What is't thou canst demand? To bate me a full year. Dost thou forget From what a torment I did free thee? Ari. Pro. Thou dost; and think'st No. 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. I do not, sir. Ari. The foul witch Sycorax, who, with age, and envy, They would not take her life. Is not this true? Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought [Exit Ariel. Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well; Awake! Mira. The strangeness of your story put Heaviness in me. Pro. We'll visit Caliban, my Yields us kind answer. Mira. I do not love to look on. Pro. Shake it off; come on; slave, who never 'Tis a villain, sir, But, as 'tis, We cannot miss him: he does make our fire, Cal. [Within.] There's wood enough within. Re-enter Ariel, like a water-nymph. Hark in thine ear. Upon thy wicked dam, come forth! |