THE TEMPEST.

~

ACT I.

SCENE I.-A SHIP IN A STORM.

The first scene, as now arranged, may be considered an introduction to the play; on its conclusion, therefore, the green curtain will descend, and the Overture will here be performed, for the purpose of giving time for the clearing away and re-setting of the stage.

SCENE II. THE ISLAND OVERLOOKING THE SEA.

During the progress of the scene, the waters abate, the sun rises, and the tide recedes, leaving the yellow sands, to which FERDINAND is invited by ARIEL and the spirits.

PROSPERO and MIRANDA.

Mir. If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them :

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. Ọ, the cry did knock
Against my very heart! Poor souls! they perish'd.
Pro.
Be collected

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

Mir.

Pro.

O, woe 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 better1
Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,2
And thy no greater father.

The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd
The very virtue of compassion in thee,

I have with such prevision 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.

down;

For thou must now know further.

Can'st thou remember

A time before we came unto this isle?

I do not think thou can'st; for then thou wast not

Out three years old."

Mir.

Certainly, sir, I can.

Pro. By what?--By any other place 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?

1

Sit

more better] This ungrammatical expression is very frequent amongst our oldest writers.

2

full poor cell,] i.e., a cell in a great degree of poverty. 3 Did never meddle with my thoughts.] i.e., mix with them. To meddle is often used with this sense by Chaucer.

4

in mine art.] The great magician had by his art foreseen that there should not be "so much perdition as an hair" among the whole crew.-COLLIER.

5 Out three years old.] Quite three years old.

Pro. Thou had'st, and more, Miranda : Sixteen years, Miranda, sixteen years since, Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and

A prince of power.

I

Mir.

O, the heavens !

What foul play had we, that we came from thence?
Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, called Antonio,—
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—
Thus 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,

In my false brother

Awak'd an evil nature:

Hence his ambition

Growing, 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 !

So dry he was for sway] i.e., so thirsty for power.

Pro. 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 hɔmage, 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

8

Fated to the practise, did Antonio open

The gates of Milan; and, i̇' the dead of darkness,
The ministers for the purpose hurried thence
Me, and thy crying self.

Mir.

That hour destroy us?

Pro.

Wherefore did they not

My child, 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,

9

Nor tackle, sail, nor mast ;(A) 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.

Mir.

Was I then to you.

Pro.

Alack what trouble

O! a cherubim

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

Which rais'd in me

A courage to bear up

Against, what should ensue.

In lieu o' the premises,-] In lieu of, means here, in con sideration of---in exchange for.

8 Fated to the practise,] Shakespeare constantly uses the word practise, to denote contrivance, artifice, or conspiracy.-COLLIER.

9 To cry to the sea that roar'd to us,] The same idea occurs in The Winter's Tale," How the poor souls roar'd, and the sea mock'd them.”

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.

But ever see that man.

Pro.

'Would I might

Now I arise:

[Soft music

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, dear lady,10 hath mine enemies

Now my

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 dullness,
And give it way;-I know thou can'st not choose.11.
[MIRANDA sleeps-(music ceases).
Come away, servant, come; I am ready now;
Approach, my Ariel; come.

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

10 Now

11

my

dear lady,] Fortune now my auspicious mistress.

I know thou can'st not choose.-] As the art of Prospero has brought this sleepiness upon Miranda.