ACT I. Other spirits attending on Prospero. Scene, the sea, with a ship; afterwards an uninhabited island. fate, 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. Bouts. 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. Re-enter Boatswain. [Exeunt. Mar. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost! Boats. What, must our mouths be cold? Seb. I am out of patience. 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, The washing of ten tides! and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mis- Gon. He'll be hanged yet; chance of the hour, if it so hap.-Cheerly, good Though every drop of water swear against it, hearts.-Out of our way, I say. [Exit. And gape at wid'st to glut him. Ant. We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards. This wide-chapped rascal;-'Would, thou might'st lie drowning, 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. Mira. But that I do not. Ant. Let's all sink with the king. [Exit. In the dark backward and abysm3 of time? Seb. Let's take leave of him. [Exit. If thou remember'st aught, ere thou cam'st here, Gon. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of How thou cam'st here, thou may'st. 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 Be collected; 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. 'Tis time The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd When hou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. For thou must now know further. The hour's now come; I do not think thou canst; for then thou wast not Mira. Certainly, sir, I can. Pro. Thou hadst, and more, Miranda: but how 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 Mira. O, the heavens! Both, both, my girl : I Mira. O, my heart bleeds Mira. Sir, most heedfully. Or else new form'd them: having both the key And suck'd my verdure out on't. Thou attend'st not: I pray thee, mark me. Mira. Your tale, sir, would cure deafness. And him he play'd it for, he needs will be Was dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties Mira. From my own library, with volumes that But ever see that man! Pro. 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 tell me, If this might be a brother. Mira. Pro. 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. 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 Mira. Alack! what trouble O! a cherubim Thou wast, that did preserve me? Thou didst smile, When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salt; How came we ashore? 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, For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful. Mira. Heavens thank you for't! And now, I pray you, sir, (For still 'tis beating in my mind,) your reason For raising this sea-storm? Pro. A most auspicious star; whose influence Pro. But are they, Ariel, safe? Not a hair perish'd; On their sustaining garments not a blemish, 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, Pro. 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. 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, What is't thou canst demand? How now? moody? My liberty. Pro. Before the time be out? no more. Ari. I pray thee Remember, I have done thee worthy service; Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, serv'd Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst pro mise 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 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, Thou hast: where was she born? 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 banished; for one thing she did, They would not take her life. Is not this true? Ari. Av, sir. Pro. This blue-ey'd 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 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 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 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. will be correspondent to command, And do my spiriting gently. I Pro. I will discharge thee. Pardon, master: Do so; and after two days 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, 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 ; Pro. We'll visit Caliban, my slave, who never Yields us kind answer. Mira. I do not love to look on. Pro. "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! Enter Caliban. Cal. As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd With raven's feather from umwholesome fen, Drop on you both! a south-west blow on ye, |