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 swallowed, and
The freighting souls within her.

Pro.

Be collected; No more amazement: tell your piteous heart, 'There's no harm done.

O, woe the day!

Mir. Pro. 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.

Mir.

More to know Did never meddle with my thoughts..

Pro. 'Tis time 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 an 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.

Mir.

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

Out three years old.

Mir.

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.

Mir.
"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
In the dark backward and abysm of time?
If thou remember st aught, ere thou cam'st here,
How thou cam'st here, thou mayst.

Mir.

But that I do not. Pro. Twelve years since, Miranda, twelve years since,

Thy father was the duke of Milan, and

A prince of power.

Mir.

Sir. are not you my father? Pre. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and

She said thou wast my daughter; and thy father Was duke of Milan; and his only heir

A princess ;-no worse issued.

Mir.

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.

Mir.

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
In dignity, and, for the liberal arts,

Without a parallel; those being all my study,
The government I cast upon my brother,
And to my state grew stranger, being transported,
And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle-
Dost thou attend me ?

Mir.

Sir, most heedfully.
Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits,
How to deny them; whom to advance, and whom
To trash for overtopping; new created

The creatures that were mine; I say, or chang'd

them,

Or else new form'd them: having both the key
Of officer and office, set all hearts

To what tune pleas'd his ear; that now he was
The ivy, which had hid my princely trunk,

And suck'd my verdure out on't.-Thou attend'st not.

I pray thee, mark me.

Mir.

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 lorded,
Not only with what my revenue yielded,

But what my power might else exact,-like one,
Who having, unto truth, by telling of it,
Made such a sinner of his memory,

To credit his own lie,-he did believe
He was the duke; out of the substitution,
And executing the outward face of royalty,
With all prerogative :-Hence his ambition
Growing,-Dost hear?

Mir.

Your tale, sir, would cure deafness. 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 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. Mir. O the heavens! Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then tell

me,

If this might he a brother.

Mir.
I should sin
To think but nobly of my grandmother:
Good wombs have borne bad sons.

Pro.

Now the condition. This king of Naples, heing 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.

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.

Mir.
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.
Mir.

"Would I might

But ever see that man!
Pre.
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
Than other princes can, that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.
Mir. 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. 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 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: bet to fly,

To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride

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

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 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 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
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 son, 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 here.

Pro.

Why, that's my spirit!

But was not this nigh shore?
Ari.
Close by, my master.
Pro. 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 hadst me,
In troops I have dispers'd the '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 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 ilect, Which I dispers'd, they all have met again; And are upon the Mediterrancan lote,