ACT I. Other spirits attending on Prospero. Scene, the sea, with a ship; afterwards an unin habited island. fate, to his hanging! make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage! If he [Exeunt. 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. BOATSWAIN, Master. Boats. Here, master: what cheer? Mast. Good: speak to the mariners: fall to't yarely, or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir. [Exit. Enter Mariners. 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, 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 labour! 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. Re-enter Boatswain. Boats. Down with the top-mast; yare; lower, lower; bring her to try with main course. (A cry within.] A plague upon this howling! they are louder than the weather, or our office. Re-enter Sebastian, Antonio, and Gonzalo Yet again? what do you here? Shall we give o'er, and drown? Have you a mind to sink? Seb. A pox o' your throat! you bawling, blasphemous, uncharitable dog! Boats. Work you, then. Ant. Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson, insolent noise-maker, we are less aflaid to be drowned than thou art. Gon. I'll warrant him from drowning; though the ship were no stronger than a nut-shell, and as leaky as an unstaunched wench. Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold; set her two courses; off to sea again, lay her off. For our case is as theirs. Seb. I am out of patience. Ant. We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards. This wide-chapped rascal;-'Would, thou might'st lie drowning, Boats. None that I more love than myself. You are a counsellor; if you can command these elements to silence, and work the peace of the present, we will not hand a rope more; use your authority. 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, hearts. 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. 1 Ant. Let's all sink with the king. Seb. Let's take leave of him. [Erit. In the dark backward and abysm of time! [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 With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel, Pro. Be collected; No more amazement: tell your piteous heart, There's no harm done. Mira. 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. Mira. Sir, are not you my father. Pro. 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. 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 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 wrapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle Dost thou attend me ? 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, But what my power might else exact,-like one, Mira. Your tale, sir, would cure deafness. Pro. To have no screen between this part he Was dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties Mira. O the heavens! But ever see that man! 'Would I might 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. Mira. I should sin 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. Mira. 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 Wherefore did they not Were most impertinent. Mira. That hour destroy us? Pro. Well demanded, wench; A rotten carcase of a boat, not rigg'd, Know thus far forth. By accident most strange, bountiful fortune, A most auspicious star; whose influence If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes Will ever after droop. Here cease more questions; Come away, servant, come: I am ready now; Pro. My brave spirit! Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil" 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 upstaring (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. On their sustaining garments not a blemish, (6) The minutest article. (7) Bustle, tumult. B |