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SCENE I.-On a Ship at Sea. A tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard.

Enter a Ship-master and a Boatswain severally.

MASTER. Boatswain !

BOATS. Here, master: what cheer?

a

MASTER. Good, speak to the mariners fall to't yarely, or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir. [Exit.

a Yarely,-] Briskly, nimbly, actively.

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BOATS. I pray now, keep below. ANT. Where is the master, boson? BOATS. Do you not hear him? You mar our labour: keep your cabins: you do

storm.

GON. Nay, good, be patient.

Hence

assist the

what care

BOATS. When the sea is. these roarers for the name of king? To cabin: silence! trouble us not.

GON. Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.

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, and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap.— I say. Cheerly, good hearts !-Out of our way, [Exit. GON. I have great comfort from this fellow; methinks he hath no drowning mark his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to his hanging! make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage! If he be not born to be hanged, our case [Exeunt. is miserable.

upon

him;

SEB. A pox o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog!

BOATS. Work you, then.

ANT. Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson, insolent noise-maker, we are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.

GON. I'll warrant him for drowning; though the ship were no stronger than a nutshell, and as leaky as an unstanched wench.

BOATS. Lay her a-hold, a-hold! set her two courses! off to sea again; lay her off!

Re-enter Mariners, wet.

MAR. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost! [Exeunt. BOATS. What, must our mouths be cold? GON. The king and prince at prayers! let 's assist them, For our case is as theirs. SEB. I'm out of patience. ANT. We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards :

This wide-chapp'd rascal,—would thou mightst lie drowning,

The washing of ten tides!

He'll be hang'd yet, GON. Though every drop of water swear against it, And gape at wid'st to glut him.

[A confused noise within.]-Mercy on us !— We split, we split !-Farewell, my wife and children!

Farewell, brother! We split, we split, we split !—(1) [Exit Boatswain.

[Exit. [Exit.

ANT. Let's all sink with the king. SEB. Let's take leave of him. GON. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground,-long heath, brown furze, anything. The wills above be done! [Exit. but I would fain die a dry death.

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But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek,"
Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffer'd
With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel,
Who had, no doubt, some noble creatures* in her,
Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock
Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perish'd!
Had I been any god of power, I would
Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er

(*) Old text, creature.

-mounting to the welkin's cheek,-] Although we have, in "Richard II." Act III. Sc. 2,-" the cloudy cheeks of heaven," and elsewhere, "welkin's face," and "heaven's face," it may well be questioned whether "cheek," in this place, is not a misprint. Mr. Collier's annotator substitutes heat, a change characterised by Mr. Dyce as "equally tasteless and absurd. A more appropriate and expressive word, one, too, sanctioned in some measure by its occurrence in Ariel's description of the same elemental conflict, is probably, crack, or cracks,

"the fire, and cracks

Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune
Seem to besiege," &c.

In Miranda's picture of the tempest, the sea is seen to storm and overwhelm the tremendous artillery of heaven; in that of Ariel,

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A prince of power.
MIRA.

Of thee, my dear one! thee, my daughter,-who | Thy father was the duke of Milan, and
Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing
Of whence I am; nor that I am more better
Than Prospero, master of a full-poor cell,
And thy no greater father.

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that there is no soul-] Rowe prints,

"that there is no soul lost;"

Theobald, "that there is no foyle;" and Johnson, "that there is no
soil." We believe, notwithstanding Steevens' remark that "such
interruptions are not uncommon to Shakspeare," that "soul" is
a typographical error, and that the author wrote, as Capell reads, -
that there is no loss,

No, not so much perdition as an hair
Betid to any creature," &c.

b You have often, &c.] Query, "You have oft," &c.

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

d

A princess, no worse issued.

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I

PRO. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd An

tonio,--

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?

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PRO. Being once perfected how to grant suits,
How to deny them, who to advance, and who
To trash' for over-topping,-new created
The creatures that were mine, I say, or chang'd 'em,
Or else new form'd 'em; having both the key
Of officer and office, set all hearts i' the 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.

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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 o' the substitution,
And executing the outward face of royalty,
With all prerogative:—hence his ambition grow-
ing,-

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 !

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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.

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Thou wast that did preserve me! Thou didst

smile,

Infused with a fortitude from heaven,

When I have deck'd 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 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 gen-

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Alack, for pity!

(*) Old text omits, the.

-like one

Who having unto fruth, by telling of it,

Made such a sinner of his memory,

To credit his own lie,-]

The folios have, "into truth," which Warburton amended; but this we suspect is not the only correction needed, the passage as it stands, though intelligible,, being very hazily expressed. Mr. Coliter's annotator would read,

like one

Who having to untruth, by telling of it," &c.

(*) Old text, Butt.

and this emendation is entitled to more respect than it has received.

b In lieu-] In lieu means here, in guerdon, or consideration; not as it usually signifies, instead, or in place.

e Fated to the purpose,-] Mr. Collier's annotator reads,"Fated to the practice;" and as "purpose" is repeated two lines below, the substitution is an improvement.

d In few,-] To be brief; in a few words.

e Deck'd-1 Decked, if not a corruption for degged, an old provincialism, probably meant the same, that is, sprinkled.

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