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 honors, 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 remembering how I cried out then,

Will

cry it o'er again; it is a hint,2 That wrings mine eyes to't.

Pro.

2

Hear a little further,

And then I'll bring thee to the present business

Which now's upon us; without the which, this story

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 colors fairer painted their foul ends.
In few, they hurried us aboard a bark,

Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepared
A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigged,
Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively had quit it; there they hoist us,
To cry to the sea that roared to us; to sigh

1 In consideration of the premises.

2 Cause or subject.

To the winds, whose pity, sighing back again,

Did us but loving wrong.

Mira.

Was I then to you!

Pro.

Alack! what trouble

O! a cherubim

15

Thou wast, that did preserve me! Thou didst smile,
Infused with a fortitude from heaven,

When I have decked the sea with drops full salt;
Under my burden groaned; which raised in ine

An undergoing stomach,2 to bear up

Against what should ensue.

Mira.

Pro. By Providence divine.

How came we ashore?

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 loved my books, he furnished me,
From my own library, with volumes that

I prize above my dukedom.

Mira.

But ever see that man!

Pro.

'Would I might

Now I arise:

Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.

Here in this island we arrived; and here
Have I, thy school-master, made thee more profit
Than other princes can, that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.
Mira. Heavens thank you for't! And now,
you, sir,

(For still 'tis beating in my mind,) your reason
For raising this sea-storm?

Pro.

I

pray

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

1 Sprinkled.

2 A temper or frame of mind to bear

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 inclined 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.

Enter ARIEl.

Ari. All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly,

To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride

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

Pro.

Hast thou, spirit,

Performed to point, the tempest that I bade thee?
Ari. To every article.

I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,3
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flamed 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 precursors
O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
And sight out-running were not: The fire, and cracks
Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune
Seemed to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble,
Yea, his dread trident shake.

Pro.

Who was so firm, so constant,

Would not infect his reason?

Ari.

My brave spirit! that his coil1

Not a soul

But felt a fever of the mad, and played

The powers of his nature as a spirit.

2 To the minutest article.

3 The beak was a strong pointed body at the head of ancient galleys

The waist is the part between the quarter-deck and the forecastle.

Bustle, tumult.

Some tricks of desperation: All, but mariners, Plunged in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel, Then all a-fire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand, With hair up-starting, (then like reeds, not hair,) Was the first man that leaped; cried, Hell is empty, And all the devils are here.

Not a hair perished;

On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
But fresher than before and as thou bad'st me,
In troops I have dispersed 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 disposed,
And all the rest o' the fleet.

Ari.

Safely in harbor

Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once
Thou call'st me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still-vexed Bermoothes,' there she's hid;
The mariners all under hatches stowed;

Whom, with a charm joined to their suffered labor,
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,2
Bound sadly home for Naples;

Supposing that they saw the king's ship wrecked,
And his great person perish.

Pro.

Ariel, thy charge

1 The epithet here applied to the Bermudas will be best understood by those who have seen the chafing of the sea over the rugged rocks by which they are surrounded, and which renders access to them so difficult. It was then the current opinion that Bermudas was inhabited by monsters and devils. Setebos, the god of Caliban's dam, was an American devil, worshipped by the giants of Patagonia.

2 Waves, or the sca. Flot, Fr.

VOL. I.

3

Exactly is performed; 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 must give me

pains,

Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,
Which is not yet performed me.

Pro.

What is't thou can'st demand?

Ari.

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, served
Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise
To bate me a full year.

Pro.

Dost thou forget

No.

From what a torment I did free thee?

Ari.

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 baked with frost.

Ari.

I do not, sir.

Pro. Thou liest, malignant thing! Hast thou forgot The foul witch, Sycorax, who, with age and envy, Was grown into a hoop? hast thou forgot her?

Ari. No, sir.

Pro.

Thou hast: where was she born? speak; tell me.

Ari. Sir, in Argier.1

Pro.

O, was she so? I must,

Once in a month, recount what thou hast been

1 The old English name of Algiers