With dry convulsions; shorten up their sinews

With aged cramps; and more pinch-spotted make them, Than pard, or cat o'mountain.

Ari. Hark, they roar.

Pro. Let them be hunted soundly: At this hour

Lie at my mercy all mine enemies:

Shortly shall all my labours end, and thou
Shalt have the air at freedom: for a little,
Follow, and do me service.

[Exeunt.

SCENE I. Before the Cell of PROSPERO. Enter PROSPERO, in his magic 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?

Ari. Contin'd together

In the same fashion as you gave in charge;
Just as you left them; all prisoners, sir,

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

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

In virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent,
The sole drift of my purpose doth extend
Not a frown further: Go, release them, Ariel;
My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore,
And they shall be themselves.

Ari. I'll fetch them, sir.

[Exit.

Pro. Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and And ye, that on the sands with printless foot [groves; Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him, When he comes back; you demy-puppets, that By moonshine 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 noontide 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 wak'd their sleepers; oped, and let them forth By my so potent arm: But this rough magic I here abjure: and, when I have requir'd Some heavenly music (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 music.

Re-enter ARIEL; after him, ALONSO, with a frantic 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 PROSPERO 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,
For you are spell stopp'd.-

Holy Gonzalo, honourable man,

Mine eyes, even sociable to the show 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.-Flesh and 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 PROS-
PERO.

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.

Pro. Why, that's my dainty Ariel: I shall miss thee; But yet thou shalt have freedom: so, so, 80.

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

[Exit.

Or ere your pulse twice beat.

Gon. All torment, trouble, wonder, and amazement

Inhabits here; Some heavenly power guide us

Out of this fearful country!

Pro. Behold, sir king,

The wronged duke of Milan, Prospero :

For more assurance that a living prince

Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body;
And to thee, and thy company, I bid
A hearty welcome.

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

(And if this be at all), a most strange story.
Thy dukedom I resign; and do entreat

Thou pardon me my wrongs:-But how should Pros

pero

Be living, and be here?

Pro. First, noble friend,

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

Gon. Whether this be,

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:But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded,

[Aside to Sebastian and Antonio. I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you, And justify you traitors; at this time

I'll tell no tales.

Seb. The devil speaks in him.

Pro. No:

[Aside.

For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my month, I do forgive
Thy rankest fault; all of them; and require
My dukedom of thee, which, perforce, I know,
Thon must restore.

Alon. If thou beest Prospero,

Give us particulars of thy preservation:

How thou hast met us here, who three hours since Were wreck'd upon this shore; where I have lost, How sharp the point of this remembrance is!

My dear son Ferdinand.

Pro. I am woe for't, sir.

Alon. Irreparable is the loss; and patience Says, it is past her cure.

Pro. I rather think,

You have not sought her help; of whose soft grace, For the like loss, I have her sovereign aid,

And rest myself content.

Alon. You the like loss?

Pro. As great to me, as late; and, portable To make the dear loss, have I means much weaker

E

Than you may call to comfort you; for I
Have lost my daughter.

Alon. A daughter?

O heavens! that they were living both in Naples,
The king and queen there! that they were, I wish
Myself were mudded in that oozy bed

Where my son lies. When did you lose your daughter?
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.

The entrance of the Cell opens, and discovers FERDI-
NAND and MIRANDA playing at Chess.
Mira. Sweet lord, you play ine false.

Fer. No, my dearest love,

I would not for the world.

Mira. Yes, for a score of kingdoms, you should And I would call it fair play.

Alon. If this prove

A vision of the island, one dear son

Shall I twice lose.

Seb. A most high miracle!

[wrangle,

Fer. Though the seas threaten, they are merciful: I have curs'd them without cause. [Ferd, kneels to Alon. Alon. Now all the blessings

Of a glad father compass thee about!

Arise, and say how thou cam'st here.

Mira. O! wonder!

How many goodly creatures are there here!

How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in't!

Pro. 'Tis new to thee.