He thinks me now incapable; confederates-
So dry he was for sway-wi' 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.
Mir.
O the heavens !

Under my burthen groan'd; which raised in me
An undergoing stomach, to bear up
Against what should ensue.

Mir.

How came we ashore?
Pros. By Providence divine.
Some food we had and some fresh water that 160
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,

Out of his charity, 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 gen-
tleness,

Knowing I loved my books, he furnish'd me
From mine own library with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.
Mir.

But ever see that man!

Would I might

If this might be a brother.

Mir.

I should sin

To think but nobly of my grandmother:
Good wombs have borne bad sons.
Pres.
Now the condition. 120
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 purpose did Antonio open
The gates of Milan, and, i' the dead of

ness,

170

Here in this island we arrived; and here
Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit
Than other princesses can that have more time
For vainer hours and tutors not so careful.
Mir. Heavens thank for't! And now, I
pray you, sir,
For still 'tis beating in my mind, your reason
For raising this sea-storm?

Pros.

you

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 180
I find my zenith doth depend upon

A most auspicious star, whose influence
If now I court not but omit, my fortunes

Mir.

Alack, for pity! I, not remembering how I cried out then, Will cry it o'er again: it is a hint

That wrings mine eyes to't.

Pros.

Hear a little further And then I'll bring thee to the present business Which now's upon's; without the which this story Were most impertinent.

Mir.

That hour destroy us? Pres.

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
A mark so bloody on the business, but
With colours fairer painted their foul ends.
In few, they hurried us aboard a bark,

140

Bare us some leagues to sea; where they prepared
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, 150
Did us but loving wrong.

Mir.

Was I then to you!

Pros.

Alack, what trouble

O, a cherubin

Then wast that did preserve me.

smile,

Infused with a fortitude from heaven,

Thou didst

When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salt,

Enter ARIEL.

Ari. All hail, great master! grave sir, hail!

I come

To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly, 199 To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride

On the curl'd clouds, to thy strong bidding task Ariel and all his quality.

Pros.
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 flamed amazement: sometime I'ld 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 pre-

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.

Pros.
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 210
Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel,

Then all afire 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,

Why, that's my spirit!

And all the devils are here.'
Pros.
But was not this nigh shore?
Ari.

Close by, my master.
Pros, 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 badest me,
In troops I have dispersed them 'bout the isle. 220
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.

Pros.
Of the king's ship
The mariners say how thou hast disposed
And all the rest o' the fleet.
Ari.

Safely in harbour

230

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;
Who, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd labour,
I have left asleep and for the rest o' the fleet
Which I dispersed, 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.

Pros.
Ariel, thy charge
Exactly is perform'd: but there's more work.
What is the time o' the day?

Ari.

Past the mid season.

Pros. At least two glasses. The time 'twixt six and now

240

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 promised,
Which is not yet perform'd me.
Pros.

How now? moody?
What is't thou canst demand?
Ari.
My liberty.
Pros. Before the time be out? no more!
Ari.
I prithee,
Remember I have done thee worthy service;
Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings,
served

Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise

To bate me a full year.

Pros.

Dost thou forget

No.

From what a torment I did free thee?

Ari.

250

Thou hast, Where was she born?

Pros.
speak; tell me.
Ari. Sir, in Argier.
Pros.

200

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.

Pros. 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

Pros. 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 arrived and heard thee, that made gape The pine and let thee out. Ari. I thank thee, master. Pr. 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.

Cal. As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd With raven's feather from unwholesome fen Drep on you both! a south-west blow on ye And blister you all o'er !

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 honeycomb, each pinch more stinging Than bees that made 'em.

Cal. I must eat my dinner. 330 This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,

Thou strokedst me and madest 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 barn by day and night: and then I loved

FERDINAND following.

ARIEL'S song.

The strain of strutting chanticleer
Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow.

Fer. Where should this music be? i' the air or the earth?

It sounds no more: and, sure, it waits upon
Some god o' the island. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the king my father's wreck, 390
This music crept by me upon the waters,
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.

350

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.

Pros. The fringed curtains of thine eye advance And say what thou seest yond.

Mir.

Lord, how it looks about!

It carries a brave form.

What is't? a spirit? Believe me, sir, 410 But 'tis a spirit.

But certainly a maid.

Fer.

No wonder, sir;

My language! heavens!
I am the best of them that speak this speech,
Were I but where 'tis spoken.
Pros.
How? the best? 430
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, never since at ebb, beheld
The king my father wreck'd.
Alack, for mercy!

Mir.
Fer. Yes, faith, and all his lords; the Duke of
Milan

And his brave son being twain.
Pros.
[Aside] The Duke of Milan
And his more braver daughter could control thee,
If now 'twere fit to do't. At the first sight 440
They have changed eyes. Delicate Ariel,
I'll set thee free for this. [To Fer.] A word, good
sir;

I fear you have done yourself some wrong: a word.
Mir. 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 inclined my way!

O, if a virgin,

Fer. And your affection not gone forth, I'll make you The queen of Naples.

Pros.

Soft, sir! one word more. [Aside] They are both in either's powers; but this swift business

450

I must uneasy make, lest too light winning
Make the prize light. [To Fer.] One word more;
I charge thee

That thou attend me: thou dost here usurp
The name thou owest 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.

Mir. 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.

Pros.

Follow me.

Speak not you for him; he's a traitor.

Come;

461

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.

Mir.

No;

[Draws, and is charmed from moving.
O dear father,

Make not too rash a trial of him, for
He's gentle and not fearful.
Pros.

What? I say,

My foot my tutor? Put thy sword up, traitor; Who makest a show but darest not strike, thy conscience

470

Is so possess'd with guilt: come from thy ward,
For I can here disarm thee with this stick
And make thy weapon drop.

Mir.
Beseech you, father.
Pros. Hence! hang not on my garments.
Mir.
Sir, have pity:

I'll be his surety.

Silence! one word more

Pros.
Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What!
An advocate for an impostor! hush!

Thou think'st there is no more such shapes as he,
Having seen but him and Caliban: foolish wench!
To the most of men this is a Caliban
And they to him are angels.

Mir.
My affections
Are then most humble; I have no ambition
To see a goodlier man.

Pros.
Come on; obey:
Thy nerves are in their infancy again
And have no vigour in them.
Fer.

Pros. [Aside] It works. [To Fer.] Come on. Thou hast done well, fine Ariel! [To Fer.] Follow me.

[To Ari.] Hark what thou else shalt do me.
Mir.
Be of comfort;
My father's of a better nature, sir,
Than he appears by speech: this is unwonted ⚫
Which now came from him.
Pros.
Thou shalt be as free
As mountain winds: but then exactly do
All points of my command.
Ari.