I, not remembring how I cry'd out then, Will cry it o'er again; it is a hint, That wrings mine eyes to't.
Pro. Hear a little further,
And then I'll bring thee to the present business, Which now's upon's, without the which this story Were most impertinent.
Mira. Why did they not
That hour destroy us?
Pro. Well demanded, wench;
My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not (So dear the love my people bore me;) fet A mark so bloody on the business; but With colours fairer painted their foul ends. In few, they hurry'd us aboard a bark; Bore us fome leagues to sea; where they prepar'd A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd, Nor tackle, fail, nor mast; the very rats Instinctively had quit it: there they hoift us To cry to th' sea, that roar'd to us; to figh To th' winds, whose pity, fighing back again, Did us but loving wrong.
Mira. Alack! what trouble
Was I then to you?
Pro. O! a cherubim
Thou wast, that did preserve me: Thou didst smile, Infused with a fortitude from heav'n,
(When I have deck'd the fea with drops full-salt; Under my burthen groan'd;) which rais'd in me An undergoing stomach, to bear up
Against what should ensue.
Mira. How came we a-shore?
Pro. By providence divine.
Some food we had, and fome fresh water, that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,
Out of his charity (being then appointed Master of this design) did give us, with
Rich garments, linnens, stuffs, and necessaries, Which since have steeded much. So of his gentleness,
Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me
From my own library, with volumes that I prize above my Dukedom.
Mira. Would I might
But ever see that man!
Pro. Now, I arife:
Sit still, and hear the last of our fea-forrow. Here in this island we arriv'd, and here Have I, thy school-master, made thee more profit Than other Princes can, that have more time For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.
Mira. Heav'ns thank you for't! And now, I pray you, Sir,
(For still 'tis beating in my mind) your reason For raising this fea-storm?
Pro. 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 inclin'd to fleep. 'Tis a good dulness, And give it way; I know, thou canst not chuse. - [Miranda leeps.
Come away, servant, come; I'm ready now: Approach, my Ariel. Come.
Ari. All hail, great master! grave Sir, hail! I come
To answer thy best pleasure: Be't to fly;
To swim; to dive into the fire; to ride
On the curl'd clouds: to thy strong bidding task Ariel, and all his qualities.
Perform'd to point the tempeft that I bad thee?
Ari. To every Article.
I boarded the King's ship: now on the beak, Now in the waste, the deck, in every cabin, I flam'd amazement. Sometimes, I'd divide, And burn in many places; on the top-mast,
The yards, and bolt-sprit, would I flame distinctly; Then meet and join. Jove's lightnings, the precurfers Of dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary And fight out-running were not; the fire and cracks Of fulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune Seem'd to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble; Yea, his dread trident shake.
Pro. My brave, brave spirit!
Who was so firm, so constant, that this coyl Would not infect his reason?
But felt a feaver of the mind, and plaid 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 up-ftaring (then like reeds, not hair) Was the first man, that leap'd; cry'd, " 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. Not a hair perish'd:
On their sustaining garments not a blemish, But fresher than before. And as thou badit me, In troops I have dispers'd them 'bout the isle: The King's fon have I landed by himself, Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs, In an odd angle of the ifle, and fitting, His arms in this fad knot.
Pro. Of the King's ship, The mariners, say how thou hast dispos'd, And all the rest o'th' 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-vext Bermudas, there she's hid: (9)
(9) From the ftill-vext Bermoothes] So this Word has hitherto been mistakenly written in all the Books. There are about 400 Islands in North America, the principal of which was call'd Bermuda from a Spaniard
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