Pro.

'Tis time

I should inform thee farther. Lend thy hand,
And pluck my magic garment from me.-So;

[Lays down his mantie,
Lie there my art.-Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort.
The direful spectacle of the wrack, which touch'd
The very virtue of compassion in thee,

I have with such provision in mine art
So safely order'd, that there is no soul-
No, not so much perdition as an hair,
Betid to any creature in the vessel

Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink.

down;

For thou must now know farther.

You have often

Mira.
Begun to tell me what I am; but stopp'd
And left me to a bootless inquisition;
Concluding, "Stay, not yet."

Pro.

The hour's now come;

The very minute bids thee ope thine ear;
Obey, and be attentive.

Canst thou remember

A time before we came unto this cell?

I do not think thou canst; for then thou wast not
Out three years old.a

Mira.

Certainly, sir, I can.

Pro. By what? by any other house, or person? Of anything the image tell me that

Hath kept with thy remembrance.

Mira.

"T is far off;

And rather like a dream than an assurance
That my remembrance warrants: Had I not

Four or five women once that tended me?

Pro. Thou hadst, and more, Miranda: But how is it
That this lives in thy mind? What see'st thou else
In the dark backward and abysm of time?

If thou remember'st aught ere thou cam'st here,
How thou cam'st here thou mayst.

Mira.

But that I do not.

Pro. Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since Thy father was the duke of Milan, and

A prince of power.

Mira.

Sir, are not you my father?

a Quite three years old.

Sit

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

And princess no worse issued.

O, the heavens !

Mira.
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 teena that I have turn'd you to,

Which is from my remembrance! Please you, farther.
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 rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle-
Dost thou attend me?

Mira.

Sir, most heedfully.

Pro. 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 chang'd them,
Or else new form'd them; having both the key

Of officer and office, set all hearts i' th' state
To what tune pleas'd his ear; that now he was
The ivy which had hid my princely trunk,

And suck'd my verdure out on 't.-Thou attend'st not.
Mira. O good sir, I do.

Pro.

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

a Teen-sorrow.

b A trash is a term to denote a piece of leather, couples, or any other weight, fastened round the neck of a dog, when he overtops the rest of the pack, when he hunts too quick.

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,
A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded,
Not only with what my revenue 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?

Mira.

Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.
Pro. To have no screen between this part he play'd,
And him he play'd 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 unbow'd, (alas, poor Milan !)
To most ignoble stooping.

Mira.

O the heavens!

Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then tell me, If this might be a brother.

Mira.

To think but nobly of my grandmother:
Good wombs have borne bad sons.

Pro.

I should sin

~

Now the condition.

This king of Naples, being an enemy

To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit;
Which was, that he, in lieu a o' the premises

b

Of homage, and I know not how much tribute,
Should presently extirpate me and mine

a In lieu-in consideration of, in exchange for.

The premises of homage, &c.-the circumstances of hoinage premised.

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 to 't.

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 Were most impertinent.

Mira.

That hour destroy us?

Pro.

Wherefore did they not

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 prepar'd
A rotten carcase of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively have quit it: there they hoist us,
To cry to the sea that roar'd to us; to sigh
To the winds, whose pity, sighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.

Mira.

Was I then to you!

Pro.

Alack! what trouble

O a cherubim

Thou wast that did preserve me! Thou didst smile,
Infused with a fortitude from heaven,

When I have deck'd a the sea 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 ashore?

Pro. By Providence divine,

Some food we had, and some fresh water, that

a Deck'd. In the glossary of the Craven dialect we find that to deg is to sprinkle.

с

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 lov'd my books, he furnish'd me,

From mine own library, with volumes that

I prize above my dukedom.

Mira.

But ever see that man!

Pro.

'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 schoolmaster, made thee more profit
Than other princess can, that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.
Mira. Heavens thank you for 't!
And now,

sir,

(For still 't is beating in my mind,) your reason For raising this sea-storm?

Know thus far forth.

Pro.
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

I

pray you,

Will ever after droop.-Here cease more questions;
Thou art inclin'd to sleep; 't is a good dulness,
And give it way;-I know thou canst not choose.

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

Now my dear lady. Fortune is now Prospero's bountiful lady.