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ACT I.

Miranda, daughter to Prospero.

Ariel, an airy spirit.

Iris,

Ceres,

Juno,

spirits.

Nymphs,

Reapers,

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.

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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,
Gonzalo, and others.

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. Do you not hear him? You mar our la-
bour! keep your cabins: you do assist the storm.
Gon. Nay, good, be patient.

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.

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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.

lie drowning,

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, nearts.-Out of our way, I say. [Exit. And gape at wid'st to glut him.

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 abysm' 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
Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them:
The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,
But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek,
Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffer'd
With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel,
Who had no doubt some noble creatures in her,
Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock
Against my very heart! Poor souls! they perish'd.
Had I been any god of power, I would
Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er'
It should the good ship so have swallow'd, and
The freighting souls within her.
Pro.
Be collected;
No more amazement: tell your piteous heart,
There's no harm done.

Mira. Pro.

O, wo the day!

No harm.

I have done nothing but in care of thee,
(Of thee, my dear one! thee, my daughter!) who
Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing
Of whence I am; nor that I am more better
Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,
And thy no greater father.

Mira.

More to know

'Tis time

Did never meddle with my thoughts.
Pro.

I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand,
And pluck my magic garment from me.-So;
[Lays down his mantle.
Lie there my art.-Wipe thou thine eyes; have
comfort.

The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd
The very virtue of compassion in thee,
I have with such provision in mine art
So safely order'd, that there is no soul-
No, not so much perdition as a hair,
Betid to any creature in the vessel

Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink.
Sit down;

For thou must now know further.

Mira.
You have often
Begun to tell me what I am; but stopp'd
And left me to a bootless inquisition;
Concluding, Stay, not yet.—

Pro.

The hour's now come;
The very minute bids thee ope thine ear;
Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember
A time before we came unto this cell?

I do not think thou canst; for then thou wast not
Out2 three years old.
Mira.

Certainly, sir, I can.
Pro. By what? by any other house, or person?
Of any thing the image tell me, that
Hath kept with thy remembrance.
Mira.
'Tis far off;
And rather like a dream than an assurance
That my remembrance warrants: had I not
Four or five women once, that tended me?
Pro. Thou hadst, and more, Miranda: but how
is it,

That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else
(3) Abyss.

(1) Before.

2) Quite.

Pro. Twelve years since,
Miranda, twelve years since, thy father was
The duke of Milan, and a prince of power.
Mira. Sir, are not you my father.

Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and
Was duke of Milan; and his only heir
She said-thou wast my daughter; and thy father
A princess;-no worse issued.
Mira.

O, the heavens!
What foul play had we, that we came from thence?
Or blessed was't we did?
Pro.

Both, both, my girl.
By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heav'd thence;
But blessedly holp hither.

Mira.
O, my heart bleeds
To think o' the teen that I have turn'd you to,
Which is from my remembrance! Please you further.

Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Antonio,-
I pray thee, mark me,-that a brother should
Be so perfidious!-he whom, next thyself,
Of all the world I lov'd, and to him put
The manage of my state; as, at that time,
Through all the signiories it was the first,
And Prospero the prime duke; being so reputed
Without a parallel; those being all my study,
In dignity, and, for the liberal arts,
The government I cast upon my brother,
And to my state grew stranger, being transported,
And wrapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle-
Dost thou attend me?

Mira.

Sir, most heedfully.
Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits,
How to deny them; whom to advance, and whom
To trash' for over-topping; new created
The creatures that were mine; I say or chang'd
them,

Or else new form'd them: having both the key
To what tune pleas'd his ear; that now he was
Of officer and office, set all hearts
The ivy, which had my princely trunk,
And suck'd my verdure out on't. Thou attend'st

not:

I pray thee, mark me.

Mira.
O good sir, I do.
Pro. I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicate
To closeness, and the bettering of my mind
With that, which, but by being so retir'd,
O'er-priz'd all popular rate, in my false brother,
Awak'd an evil nature: and my trust,
Like a good parent, did beget of him
A falsehood, in its contrary as great
As my trust was; which had, indeed, no limit,
A confidence sans bound. He being thus lordea
Not only with what my revenue yielded,
Who having, unto truth, by telling of it,
But what my power might else exact,-like one,
Made such a sinner of his memory,
He was the duke; out of the substitution,
To credit his own lie,-he did believe
And executing the outward face of royalty,
With all prerogative:-Hence his ambition
Growing,-Dost hear?

Mira. Your tale, sir, would cure deal.os
Pro. To have no screen between this part he
play'd,

And him he play'd it for, he needs will be
Absolute Milan: me, poor man!- my library

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Was dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties
He thinks me now incapable: confederates
(So dry he was for sway) with 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.
O the heavens!

Mira.

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Pro.

Now I arise :

Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.
Here in this island we arriv'd; and here
Have I, thy school-master, made thee more profit

Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then Than other princes can, that have more time

tell me,

If this might be a brother.

I should sin

Mira.
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 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 darkness,
The ministers for the purpose hurried thence
Me, and thy crying self.

Miri.

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

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
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 prepar'd
A rotten carcase 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,
Did us but loving wrong.

Mira.

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Alack! what trouble

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 salt;

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

ness,

Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me,

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Pro. But are they, Ariel, safe?
Ari.

Not a hair perish'd;
gentle-But fresher than before: and, as thou bad'st me,
On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
In troops I have dispers'd them 'bout the isle:
The king's son have I landed by himself;

1) Thirsty. (2) Consideration. (3) Suggestion. 4) Sprinkled. (5) Stubborn resolution.

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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
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 stowed;
Whom, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd la-
bour,

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,2
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.

What is't thou canst 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, 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.

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. 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.' Pro.

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. Ay, sir.

Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought|

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To act ner earthly 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
groans,

As fast as mill-wheels strike: then was this island
(Save for the son that she did litter here,
A freckled whelp, hag-born,) not honoured with
A human shape.

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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.

I

(2) Wave. (3) Algiers. |

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will be correspondent to command, And do my spiriting gently.

Pro.

I will discharge thee.

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.

Pro.

We'll visit Caliban, my Yields us kind answer.

Mira.

Shake it off; come on; slave, who never

'Tis a villain, sir,

But, as 'tis,

I do not love to look on.
Pro.
We cannot miss him: he does make our fire,
Fetch in our wood; and serves in offices
That profit us. What, ho! slave! Caliban!
Thou earth, thou! speak.

Cal. [Within.] There's wood enough within. Pro. Come forth, I say; there's other business for thee;

Come forth, thou tortoise! when?

Re-enter Ariel, like a water-nymph. Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,

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Cal.

I must eat my dinner. This island's mine, by Sycorax, my mother, Which thou tak'st from me. When thou camest first, Thou 'strok'dst me, and mad'st much of me; would'st give me

Water with berries in't; and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night: and then I lov'd thee,
And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,
The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place, and
fertile ;

Cursed be I that did so!-All the charms

Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king; and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest of the island.

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us'd thee,

Filth as thou art, with human care; and lodg'd thee In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate The honour of my child.

Cal. O ho, O ho!-'would it had been done! Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else This isle with Calibans.

Pro. Abhorred slave; Which any print of goodness will not take, Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee, Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour

One thing or other: when thou didst not, savage, Know thine own meaning, but would'st gabble like A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes With words that made them known: But thy vile

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Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou
Deservedly confin'd into this rock,
Who hadst deserv'd more than a prison.

Cal. You taught me language; and my profit on't
Is, I know how to curse: the red plague rid2 you,
For learning me your language!
Pro.
Hag-seed, hence!
Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou were best,
To answer other business. Shrug'st thou, malice?
If thou neglect'st, or dost unwillingly
What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps;
Fill all thy bones with aches: make thee roar,
That beasts shall tremble at thy din.

Cal. No, 'pray thee!-

I must obey: his art is of such power,
It would control my dam's god, Setebos,
And make a vassal of him.

Pro.

[Aside.

So, slave; hence!

[Exit Caliban.

Re-enter Ariel, invisible, playing and singing; Ferdinand following him.

ARIEL'S SONG.

Come unto these yellow sands,

And then take hands:

Court'sied when you have, and kiss'd (The wild waves whist3)

Foot it featly here and there;
And, sweet sprites, the burden bear.
Hark, hark!

Bur. Bowgh, wowgh.
The watch-dogs bark:
Bur. Bowgh, wowgh.

Hark, hark! fhear

[dispersedly.

[dispersedly.

The strain of strutting chanticlere,
Cry, Cock-a-doodle-doo.

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

It sounds no more :-and sure, it waits upon
Some god of the island. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the king my father's wreck,
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.

Ariel sings.

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes.
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Hark! now I hear them,-ding-dong, bell.
[Burden, ding-dong.

Fer. The ditty does remember my drown'd

father:

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What is't? a spirit? Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir, It carries a brave form:-But 'tis a spirit. Pro. No, wench; it eats and sleeps, and hath

such senses

As we have, such: this gallant which thou seest
Was in the wreck; and but he's something stain'd
With grief, that's beauty's canker, thou might'st
call him

A goodly person: he hath lost his fellows,
And strays about to find them.
Mira.
I might call him
A thing divine; for nothing natural
I ever saw so noble.
Pro.
[Aside.
As my soul prompts it:-Spirit, fine spirit! I'll
free thee
Within two days for this.

Fer.

It goes on,

Most sure, the goddess On whom these airs attend!-Vouchsafe my prayer May know, if you remain upon this island; And that you will some good instruction give, How I may bear me here: my prime request, Which I do last pronounce, is, O you wonder. If you be maid, or no? Mira.

But, certainly a maid.

Fer.

No wonder, sir;

My language? heavens

How! the best?

I am the best of them that speak this speech, Were I but where 'tis spoken.

Pro.

What wert thou, if the king of Naples heard thee?

(1) Fairies.

(2) Destroy.

(3) Still, silent.

(4) Owns.

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