Miran.

Sir, are not you my father?
Pros. 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.
Miran.

O, the heavens!
What foul play had we, that we came from thence?
Or blessèd was't we did ?
Pros.

Both, both, my girl ;
By foul play, as thou say'st, we were heaved thence ;
But blessedly holp hither.
Miran.

0, my

heart bleeds To think o'the teen that I have turned you to, Which is from my remembrance! Please you,

further. Pros. My brother, and thy uncle, called Antonio, I

pray thee, mark me,—that a brother should
Be so perfidious !--he whom, next thyself,
Of all the world I loved, and to him put
The
manage

of my state; as, at that time,
Through all the seignories it was the first,
And Prospero the prime duke, being so reputed
In dignity, and, for the liberal arts,
Without a parallel : these 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-
Dost thou attend me ?
Miran.

Sir, most heedfully.
Pros. Being once perfected how to grant suits,
How to deny them ; whom to advance, and whom
To trash for overtopping? ; new created
The creatures that were mine ; I say, or changed them,
Or else new-formed them ; having both the key
Of officer and office, set all hearts in the state
To what tune pleased his ear; that now he was
The ivy which had hid my princely trunk,
And sucked my verdure out on't. — Thou attend'st not.

Miran. O good sir, I do.
Pros.

I pray thee, mark me.
I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated

To closeness, and the bettering of my mind
With that, which, but by being so retired,
O'er-prized all popular rate, in my false brother
Awaked 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,
A confidence sans bound. He, being thus lorded,
Not only with what my revénue yielded,
But what my power might else exact, — like one,
Who having unto truth, by telling of it,
Made such a sinner of his memory,
To credit his own lie?, --he did believe
He was indeed the duke, out of the substitution,
And executing the outward face of royalty,
With all prerogative:-Hence his ambition growing, -

: Dost thou hear ? Miran.

Your tale, sir, would cure deafness. Pros. To have no screen between this part he played, And him he played it for, 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 unbowed, (alas, poor Milan!) To most ignoble stooping. Miran.

O the heavens! Pros. Mark his condition, and the event; then tell me, If this might be a brother : This king of Naples, being an enemy To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit; Which was, that he, in lieu of 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 in the dead of darkness,
The ministers for the purpose hurried thence
Me, and thy crying2 self.
Miran.

Alack, for pity!
I, not remembering how I cried out then,
Will

cry it o'er again : it is a hint That wrings mine eyes to it. Pros.

Hear a little further,
And then I'll bring thee to the present business
Which now's upon us ; without the which, this story
Were most impertinent.
Miran.

Wherefore did they not
That hour destroy us ?
Pros.

Well demanded, wench ;
My tale provokes that question. Dear, 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 prepared
A rotten carcase of a boat, not rigged,
Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively had quit it: there they hoist us,
To cry to the sea that roared to us; to sigh
To the winds, whose pity, sighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.
Miran.

Alack! what trouble
Was I then to you?
Pros.

O! a cherubim
Thou wast, that did preserve me! Thou didst smile,
Infused with a fortitude from heaven,
When I have decked 4 the sea with drops full salt.
Miran.

How came we ashore ? Pros. 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 loved my books, he furnished me,
From mine own library, with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.
Miran.

'Would I might
But ever see that man !
Pros.

Now I arise :-
Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.
Here in this island we arrived ; and here
Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit
Than other princes can, that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.
Miran. Heavens thank you fort !

I

And now,

pray

you, sir,

(For still 'tis beating in my mind,) your reason
For raising this sea-storm ?
Pros.

Know thus far forth. -
By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune,
Now my dear lady!, hath mine enemies
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 inclined to sleep ; 'tis a good dulness,
And give it way;- I know thou can’st not choose..

[MIRANDA sleeps. Come away, servant, come; I am ready now; Approach, my Ariel ; come.

Enter ARIEL.
Ari. All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come
To answer thy best pleasure; be it to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curled clouds; to thy strong bidding, task
Ariel, and all his quality.”
Pros.

Hast thou, spirit,
Performed to point the tempest that I bade thee?

Ari. To every article.
I boarded the king's ship: now on the beak,
Propitious mistress.

Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I famed amazement: Sometimes, I'd divide,
And burn in many places ; on the topmast,
The yards, and bowsprit

, would I flame distinctly,
Then meet, and join; Jove's lightnings, the precursors
of the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
And sight-outrunning were nol: The fire, and cracks
Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune
Seem to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble,
Yea, his dread trident shake.
Pros.

My brave spirit!
Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil 1
Would not infect his reason ?
Ari.

Not a soul
But felt a fever of the mad, and played
Some tricks of desperation : All but mariners
Plunged in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel,
Then all a-fire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand,
With hair up-starting (then like reeds, not hair)
Was the first man that leaped.
Pros.

Why, that's my spirit !
But was not this nigh shore?
Ari.

Close by, my master.
Pros. But are they, Ariel, safe?
Ari.

Not a hair perished ;
On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
But fresher than before : and, as thou bad’st me,
In troops I have dispersed them 'bout the isle:
The king's son have I landed by himself ;
Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs,
In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting,
His arms in this sad knot.
Pros.

Of the king's ship,
The mariners, say, how thou hast disposed,
And all the rest of the fleet?
Ari.

Safely in harbour
Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once
Thou call’dst me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still-vexed Bermoothes?, there she is hid :
The mariners all under hatches stowed ;
Whom, with a charm joined to their suffered labour,
I have left asleep: and for the rest of the fleet,
1 Noise, tumult.

% Bermudas.