Enter ARIEL.
Ari. Thy thoughts I cleave to. pleasure?
And, like the baseless fabric 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 on, 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., Mir.
We wish your peace. Exeunt. Pros. Come with a thought! I thank thee, Ariel: come!
What's thy
Pros.
Spirit,
We must prepare to meet with Caliban.
Ari. Ay, my commander: when I presented
Ceres,
ears,
At which, like unback'd colts, they prick'd their
Advanc'd their eyelids, lifted up their noses
As they smelt music: so I charm'd their ears
That calf-like they my lowing follow'd through
Tooth'd briers, sharp furzes, pricking goss and
thorns,
Which enter'd their frail shins: at last I left them
I' the filthy-mantled pool beyond your cell,
There dancing up to the chins, that the foul lake
O'erstunk their feet.
• 18)
Pros. This was well done, my bird. Thy shape invisible retain thou still : The trumpery in my house, go bring it hither, For stale to catch these thieves.
I thought to have told thee of it, but I fear'd Lest I might anger thee.
Pros. Say again, where didst thou leave these varlets?
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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,
Trin. Monster, I do smell all horse-piss, at which my nose is in great indignation.
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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 hoodwink 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.
Trin. That's more to me than my wetting: yet this is your harmless fairy, monster.
Ste. I will fetch off my bottle, though I be o'er ears for my labour.
Cal. Prithee, my king, be quiet. Seest thou here,
This is the mouth o' the cell: no noise, and enter:
Do that good mischief which may make this island
Thine own for ever, and I, thy Caliban,
For aye thy foot-licker.
Ste. Give me thy hand. I do begin to have bloody thoughts.
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Trin. O king Stephano! O peer! O worthy Stephano! look what a wardrobe here is for thee!
To dote thus on such luggage? Let's alone,
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 villanous low.
Him that you term'd, sir, the good old lord Gonzalo ':
His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops From caves of reeds. Your charm so strongly works them,
That if you now beheld them, your affections
Would become tender.
Pros.
Dost thou think so, spirit?
Ari. Mine would, sir, were I human.
Pros.
And mine shall. 20
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: 30
My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore,
And they shall be themselves.
Ari.
I'll fetch them, sir. Exit.
Pros. Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes,
And ye, that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly him
When he comes back; you demi-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 bedimm'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 waked their sleepers, oped, and let them
forth
By my so potent art. But this rough magic to
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 good Gonzalo !
My true preserver, and a loyal sir
Gon. All torment, trouble, wonder and amaze.
ment
Inhabits here: some heavenly power guide us
Out of this fearful country!
Pros.
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.
Some subtleties o' the isle, that will not let you
Believe things certain. Welcome! my friends all.
Aside to SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO.
But you,
my brace of lords, were I so minded,
I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you
And justify you traitors: at this time
I will tell no tales.
Seb. Aside.
Pros.
The devil speaks in him.
For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest fault; all of them; and require
My dukedom of thee, which perforce, I know,
Thou must restore.
Alon.
If thou be'st 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.
Pros.
I am woe for 't, sir.
Alon. Irreparable is the loss, and patience 140
Says it is past her cure.
Pros.
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.
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Pros. 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,
Whe'r thou be'st he or no, Not a relation for a breakfast nor
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.
The dukedom I resign, and do entreat
Thou pardon me my wrongs. But how should
Prospero
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 170
As much as me my dukedom.
The entrance of the cell opens, and discovers FER-
DINAND and MIRANDA playing at chess.
Mir. Sweet lord, you play me false.
Fer.
No, my dearest love,
I would not for the world.
Mir. Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should
And I would call it fair play.
How many goodly creatures
How beauteous mankind is!
That has such people in 't!
Pros.
"Tis new to thee. Alon. What is this maid with whom thou wast at play?
Your eld'st acquaintance cannot be three hours:
Is she the goddess that hath sever'd us,
And brought us thus together?
Fer.
Sir, she is mortal;
But by immortal Providence she's mine:
I chose her when I could not ask my father 190
For his advice, nor thought I had one. She
Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan,
Of whom so often I have heard renown,
But never saw before; of whom I have
Receiv'd a second life; and second father
This lady makes him to me.
Alon.
I am hers."
But O! how oddly will it sound that I
Must ask my child forgiveness.
Alon. To FERDINAND and MIRANDA. Give
me your hands:
Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart
That doth not wish you joy!
Be it so: Amen.
Gon.
Re-enter ARIEL, with the Master and Boatswain
amazedly following.
O look, sir! look, sir! here is more of us.
I prophesied, if a gallows were on land,
This fellow could not drown. Now, blasphemy,
That swear'st grace o'erboard, not an oath on
shore ?
Of roaring, shrieking, howling, jingling chains,
And more diversity of sounds, all horrible,
We were awak'd; straightway, at liberty:
Where we, in all her trim, freshly beheld
Our royal, good and gallant ship; our master
Capering to eye her: on a trice, so please you,
Even in a dream, were we divided from them,
And were brought moping hither.
Ari. Aside to PROSPERO. Was 't well done?
Pros. Aside to ARIEL. Bravely, my diligence!
Thou shalt be free.
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Alon. This is as strange a maze as e'er men trod;
And there is in this business more than nature
Was ever conduct of: some oracle
Must rectify our knowledge.
Pros.
Sir, my liege,
Do not infest your mind with beating on
The strangeness of this business: at pick'd leisure
Which shall be shortly, single I'll resolve you,
Which to you shall seem probable, of every
These happen'd accidents; till when, be cheerful
And think of each thing well. Aside to ARIEL.
Come hither, spirit:
251
Set Caliban and his companions free:
Untie the spell.
Exit ARIEL.
How fares my gracious sir?
There are yet missing of your company
Some few odd lads that you remember not.
Re-enter ARIEL, driving in CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO, in their stolen apparel.
Ste. Every man shift for all the rest, and let no man take care for himself, for all is but fortune. Coragio bully-monster, coragio!
Trin. If these be true spies which I wear in my head, here's a goodly sight.
260
Cal. O Setebos! these be brave spirits indeed.
How fine my master is! I am afraid
He will chastise me.
Seb.
Ha, ha!
What things are these, my lord Antonio?
Will money buy them?
Ant.
Very like one of them
Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable.
Pros. Mark but the badges of these men, my
lords,
Then say if they be true. This misshapen knave,
His mother was a witch; and one so strong
That could control the moon, make flows and
ebbs,
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220
Hast thou no mouth by land? What is the And deal in her command without her power. news? These three have robb'd me; and this demi-devil, Boats. The best news is that we have safely For he's a bastard one, had plotted with them found To take my life: two of these fellows you
Must know and own; this thing of darkness I
Acknowledge mine.
Cal.
I shall be pinch'd to death. Alon. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler? Seb. He is drunk now: where had he wine? Alon. And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they
Find this grand liquor that hath gilded 'em? 280 How cam'st thou in this pickle?
Trin. I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last that, I fear me, will never out of my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing.
Scb. Why, how now, Stephano?
Ste. O touch me not: I am not Stephano, but a cramp.
Pros. You'd be king o' the isle, sirrah? Ste. I should have been a sore one then. Alon. Pointing to CALIBAN. This is a strange thing as e'er I look'd on. Pros. He is as disproportion'd in his manners As in his shape. Go, sirrah, to my cell; Take with you your companions as you look To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.
Cal. Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass Was I, to take this drunkard for a god, And worship this dull fool!
Alon. Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it.
Seb. Or stole it, rather.
Exeunt CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and
TRINCULO.
Pros. Sir, I invite your highness and your train To my poor cell, where you shall take your
For this one night; which, part of it, I'll waste
With such discourse as, I not doubt, shall make it
Go quick away; the story of my life
And the particular accidents gone by
Since I came to this isle: and in the morn,
Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have's mine own;
Which is most faint: now, 'tis truc,
I must be here confin'd by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell :
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands.
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant;
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be reliev'd by prayer,
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
Let your indulgence set me free.
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