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 honours, on my brother : Whereon,
A treacherous army levy'd, 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.

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. Wherefore did they not
That hour destroy us?

Pro. Well demanded, wench; My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durft not ; (So dear the love my people bore me) nor fet 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 prepard

A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, fail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively had quit it: there they hoist us,
To cry to the sea that roard to us; to sigh
To the winds, whose pity, sighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.

Mira. Alack! what trouble
Was I then to you!

Pro. O! a cherubim 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 falt; 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, 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.

Mira. 'Would I might
But ever see that man!

Pro. Now I arise :
Sit still, and hear the last of our fea-forrow.
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

And now,

you, fir,

For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.
Mira. Heavens thank you fort!

I

pray , (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 questions;
Thou art inclin'd to seep; 'tis a good dulness,
And give it way ;-I know thou can'st not choose.-

[MIRANDA Jeeps. Come away, servant, come: I am ready now; Approach, my Ariel ; come.

Enter Ariel.
Ari. All hail, great master! grave fir, hail! I come
To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curld clouds; to thy strong bidding, talk
Ariel, and all his quality.

Pro. Hast thou, spirit,
Perform'd to point the tempeft that I bade thee?
Ari. To

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 precurfors

O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
And fight-out-running were not: The fire, and cracks
Of fulphurous 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 fon, 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 bere.

Pro. Why, that's my spirit!
But was not this nigh shore?

Ari. Close by, my master.
Pro. But are they, Ariel, fafe?
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 ille:
The king's son have I landed by himself;
Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs,
In an odd angle of the ille, 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
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 labour,
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. 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 dost give me pains, Let me remember thee what thou hast promis'd, Which is not yet perform'd me.

Pro. How now? moody?
What is't thou can'st demand?

Arr. My liberty.
Pro. Before the time be out ? no more.

ARI. I
Remember, I have done thee worthy service;
Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, serv'd
Without or grudge, or grumblings: thou didst promise
To bate me a full

year. Pro. Dost thou forget From what a torment I did free thee?

Ari. No.

Pro. Thou dost; and think'st
It much, to tread the ooze of the falt deep;

pray thee