I ratify this my rich gift. O Ferdinand,
Do not smile at me, that I boast her off,
For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise,
And make it halt behind her.

• Fer.

I do believe it,

Against an oracle.

Pro. Then, as my gift, and thine own acquisition Worthily purchas'd, take my daughter: But If thou dost break her virgin knot before All sanctimonious ceremonies may With full and holy rite be minister'd, No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall To make this contract grow: but barren hate, Sour-ey'd disdain, and discord, shall bestrew The union of your bed with weeds so loathly, That you shall hate it both: therefore take heed, As Hymen's lamps shall light you.

Fer.

As I hope

For quiet days, fair issue, and long life,
With such love as 'tis now; the murkiest den,
The most opportune place, the strong'st suggestion
Our worser Genius can, shall never melt
Mine honour into lust; to take away

To make cold nymphs chaste crowns; and thy broom groves,

Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves,
Being lass-lorn; thy pole-clipt vineyard:
And thy sea-marge, steril, and rocky-hard,
Where thou thyself dost air: The queen o' the sky,
Whose watery arch, and messenger, am I,
Bids thee leave these; and with her sovereign grace,
Here on this grass-plot, in this very place,
To come and sport: her peacocks fly amain;
Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain.

Enter CERES.

Cer. Hail many-colour'd messenger, that ne'er Dost disobey the wife of Jupiter; Who, with thy saffron wings, upon my flowers Diffusest honey-drops, refreshing showers; And with each end of thy blue bow dost crown My bosky acres, and my unshrubb'd down, Rich scarf to my proud earth; Why hath thy queen Summon'd me hither, to this short-grass'd-green? Iris. A contract of true love to celebrate; And some donation freely to estate On the bless'd lovers.

Cer.

Tell me, heavenly bow, If Venus, or her son, as thou dost know, Do now attend the queen? since they did plot The means, that dusky Dis my daughter got, Her and her blind boys scandal'd company I have forsworn.

Iris.

Of her society Be not afraid; I met her deity

Cutting the clouds towards Paphos; and her son Dove-drawn with her: here thought they to have done

Fer. Let me live here ever; So rare a wonder'd father, and a wife, Make this place Paradise.

[JUNO and CERES whisper, and send Iris on employment.

Pro.

Sweet now, silence; Juno and Ceres whisper seriously; There's something else to do: hush, and be mute, Or else our spell is marr'd.

Iris. You nymphs, call'd Naiads, of the wand'ring brooks,

With your sedg'd crowns, and ever harmless looks,
Leave your crisp channels, and on this green land
Answer your summons: Juno does command:
Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebrate
A contract of true love; be not too late.

Enter certain Nymphs.

You sun-burn'd sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow, and be merry;
Make holy-day: your rye-straw hats put on,
And these fresh nymphs encounter every one
In country footing.

And, like the baseless fabrick of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve;
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind: We are such stuff
As dreams are made of, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. - Sir, I am vex'd;
Bear with my weakness; my old brain is troubled.
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity:
If you be pleas'd, retire into my cell,

And there repose; a turn or two I'll walk,

To still my beating mind.

Fer. Mira.

We wish your peace. [Exeunt. Pro. Come with a thought: -I thank you: Ariel, come.

Enter ARIEL. Ari. Thy thoughts I cleave to: What's thy pleasure?

Pro. Say again, where didst thou leave these vorlets?

Ari. I told you, sir, they were red-hot with drinking:

So full of valour, that they smote the air
For breathing in their faces; beat the ground
For kissing of their feet; yet always bending
Towards their project: Then I beat my tabor,
At which, like unback'd colts, they prick'd their

Pro.

Spirit,

We must prepare to meet with Caliban.

Ari. Ay, my commander; when I presented Ceres, I thought to have told thee of it; but I fear'd, Lest I might anger thee.

Ari. I go, I go. [Erit. Pro. A devil, a born devil, on whose nature Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains, Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost : And as, with age, his body uglier grows, So his mind cankers: I will plague them all, Re-enter ARIEL loaden with glistering apparel, &c. Even to roaring : — Come, hang them on this line. PROSPERO and ARIEL remain invisible. Enter CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO, all wet.

Cal. Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may not

Hear a foot fall: we now are near his cell.

Ste. Monster, your fairy, which, you say, is a harmless fairy, has done little better than played the Jack with us.

Trin. Monster, I do smell all horse-piss; at which my nose is in great indignation.

Ste. So is mine. Do you hear, monster? If I should take a displeasure against you; look you,

Trin. Thou wert but a lost monster.

Cal. Good my lord, give me thy favour still: Be patient, for the prize I'll bring thee to Shall hood-wink this mischance; therefore speak softly,

All's hush'd as midnight yet.

Trin. Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool, Ste. There is not only disgrace and dishonour in that, monster, but an infinite loss.

Ste. Put off that gown, Trinculo; by this hand, I'll have that gown.

Trin. Thy grace shall have it.

Cal. The dropsy drown this fool! what do you 1762075211AA

mean,

To doat thus on such luggage? Let's along,
And do the murder first: if he awake,
From toe to crown he'll fill our skins with pinches ;
Make us strange stuff.

Ste. Be you quiet, monster. - Mistress line, is not this my jerkin? Now is the jerkin under the line: now, jerkin, you are like to lose your hair, and prove a bald jerkin.

Trin. Do, do: We steal by line and level, an't like your grace.

Ste. I thank thee for that jest: here's a garment for't: wit shall not go unrewarded, while I am king of this country: Steal by line and level, is an excellent pass of pate; there's another garment for't.

Trin. Monster, come, put some lime upon your fingers, and away with the rest.

Cal. I will have none on't: we shall lose our time,

And all be turn'd to barnacles, or to apes With foreheads villainous low.

SCENE I-Before the Cell of Prospero. Enter PROSPERO in his magick robes; and ARIEL. Pro. Now does my project gather to a head: My charms crack not; my spirits obey; and time Goes upright with his carriage. How's the day? Ari. On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord, You said our work should cease.

Pro.

I did say so, When first I rais'd the tempest. Say, my spirit, How fares the king and his?

That if you now beheld them, your affections Would become tender.

Ari.
Confin'd together
In the same fashion as you gave in charge;
Just as you left them, sir; all prisoners

In the lime-grove which weather-fends your cell;
They cannot budge, till your release. The king,
His brother, and yours, abide all three distracted;
And the remainder mourning over them,
Brim-full of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly
Him you term'd, sir, The good old lord, Gonzalo ;
His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops
From eaves of reeds: your charm so strongly works
them,

Pro.
Dost thou think so, spirit?
Ari. Mine would, sir, were I human.
Pro.
And mine shall.
Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling
Of their afflictions? and shall not myself,
One of their kind, that relish all as sharply,
Passion as they, be kindlier mov'd than thou art?
Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the
quick,

Yet, with my nobler reason 'gainst my fury
Do I take part: the rarer action is

า

In virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent, The sole drift of my purpose doth extend

Not a frown further: Go, release them, Ariel;

Zo4

** AG

Ste. Monster, lay-to your fingers; help to bear this away, where my hogshead of wine is, or I'll turn you out of my kingdom: go to, carry this. Trin. And this.

Ste. Ay, and this.

My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore,
And they shall be themselves.

Ari.
I'll fetch them, sir. [Eru.
Pro. Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and
groves;

And ye, that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him,
When he comes back; you demy-puppets, that
By moon-shine do the green-sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites; and you, whose pastime
Is to make midnight-mushrooms; that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid
(Weak masters though ye be,) I have be-dimm'd
The noon-tide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
And 'twixt the green sea and the azur'd vault
Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout oak
With his own bolt the strong-bas'd promontory
Have I made shake; and by the spurs pluck'd up
The pine and cedar graves, at my command,
Have waked their sleepers; oped, and let them forth
By my so potent art: But this rough magick
I here abjure: and, when I have requir'd
Some heavenly musick, (which even now I do,)
To work mine end upon their senses, that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And, deeper than did ever plummet sound,
I'll drown my book.
[Solemn musick.
Re-enter ARIEL: after him, ALONSO, with a frantich
gesture, attended by GONZALO; SEBASTIAN and
ANTONIO in like manner, attended by ADRIAN and
FRANCISCO: they all enter the circle which PROSPERO
had made, and there stand charmed; which PROS-
PERO observing, speaks.

A solemn air, and the best comforter

To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains,
Now useless, boil'd within thy skull! There stand,

C

For you are spell-stopp'd.

Holy Gonzalo, honourable man,

Mine eyes, even sociable to the shew of thine,
Fall fellowly drops. The charm dissolves apace;
And as the morning steals upon the night,
Melting the darkness, so their rising senses
Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle
Their clearer reason.— O my good Gonzalo,
My true preserver, and a loyal sir

To him thou follow'st; I will pay thy graces
Home, both in word and deed. Most cruelly
Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter:
Thy brother was a furtherer in the act;
Thou'rt pinch'd for't now, Sebastian.

blood,

You brother mine, that entertain'd ambition,
Expell'd remorse and nature; who, with Sebastian,
(Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,)
Would here have kill'd your king; I do forgive thee,
Unnatural though thou art! Their understanding
Begins to swell; and the approaching tide
Will shortly fill the reasonable shores,
That now lie foul and muddy. Not one of them,
That yet looks on me, or would know me: — Ariel,
Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell;

[Exit ARIEL.

I will dis-case me, and myself present,
As I was sometime Milan:- quickly, spirit;
Thou shalt ere long be free.

ARIEL re-enters, singing, and helps to attire PROSPEro.

ARI. Where the bee sucks, there suck I;

In a cowslip's bell I lie:

There I couch when owls do cry.

On the bat's back I do fly,

After summer, merrily:
Merrily, merrily, shall I live now,

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

Prospero Be living, and be here?

Pro. Why, that's my dainty Ariel: I shall miss thee;

But yet thou shalt have freedom: so, so, so. —
To the king's ship, invisible as thou art :
There shalt thou find the mariners asleep
Under the hatches; the master, and the boatswain,
Being awake, enforce them to this place;
And presently, I pr'ythee.

Ari. I drink the air before me, and return
Or e'er your pulse twice beat. [Exit ARIEL.
Gon. All torment, trouble, wonder, and amaze-

First, noble friend, Let me embrace thine age; whose honour cannot Be measur'd, or confin'd.

Pro.

Whether this be,

Alon. Whe'r thou beest he, or no, Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me, As late I have been, I not know thy pulse Beats, as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee, The affliction of my mind amends, with which, I fear, a madness held me: this must crave (An if this be at all,) a most strange story. Thy dukedom I resign; and do entreat Thou pardon me my wrongs:

But how should

Gon.

Or be not, I'll not swear. Pro.

You do yet taste Some subtilties o' the isle, that will not let you Believe things certain :- Welcome, my friends

all:

Pro. In this last tempest. I perceive, these lords
At this encounter do so much admire,
That they devour their reason; and scarce think
Their eyes do offices of truth, their words
Are natural breath: but, howsoe'er you have
Been justled from your senses, know for certain,
That I am Prospero, and that very duke

Which was thrust forth of Milan; who most strangely
Upon this shore, where you were wreck'd, was landed,
To be the lord on't. No more yet of this;
For 'tis a chronicle of day by day,
Not a relation for a breakfast, nor
Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, sir;
This cell's my court: here have I few attendants,
And subjects none abroad: pray you, look in.
My dukedom since you have given me again,
I will requite you with as good a thing;
At least, bring forth a wonder, to content ye,
As much as me my dukedom.