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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 beest 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.

PRO. I am woe for 't, sir. ALON. Irreparable is the loss; and Patience Says it is past her cure.

a Or some enchanted trifle-] Mr. Collier's annotator substitutes devil for "trifle;" a change as wanton as it is foolish. Trifle

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.

ALON.

You the like loss?

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A daughter?

O heavens! that they were living both in Naples,
The king and queen there! that they were, I wish
Myself were mudded in that oozy bed
Where my son lies. When did you lose your
daughter?
[lords
PRO. In this last tempest.-I perceive these
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
[landed,
Upon this shore, where you were wreck'd, was
To be the lord on 't. No more yet of this;
For 't is a chronicle of day by day,
Not a relation for a breakfast, nor
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,
As much as me my dukedom.

strangely

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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
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.

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And on this couple drop a blessed crown! For it is you that have chalk'd forth the way Which brought us hither.

ALON.

I say, Amen, Gonzalo! GON. Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue

Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice
Beyond a common joy! and set it down
With gold on lasting pillars,-in one voyage
Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis;
And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife
Where he himself was lost; Prospero, his dukedom,
In a poor isle; and all of us, ourselves,
When no man was his own!

ALON. [TO FERDINAND and MIRANDA.] Give me your hands:

Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart
That doth not wish you joy!

GON.

Be't so! Amen!

Re-enter ARIEL, with the Master and Boatswain amazedly following.

O look, sir, look, sir! here are 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?
Hast thou no mouth by land? What is the news?
BOATS. The best news is that we have safely

found

Our king and company: the next, our ship,—
Which, but three glasses since, we gave out split,-
Is tight, and yare, and bravely rigg'd, as when
We first put out to sea.
ARI. [Aside to PRO.] Sir, all this service.
Have I done since I went.

hatches,

PRO. [Aside to ARIEL.] My tricksy spirit! ALON. These are not natural events; they strengthen, [hither? From strange to stranger.-Say, how came you BOATS. If I did think, sir, I were well awake, I'd strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep, And-how, we know not-all clapp'd under [noises Where, but even now, with strange and several 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 PRO.] Was't well done? PRO. [Aside to ARIEL.] Bravely, my diligence. Thou shalt be free.

[trod;

ALON. This is as strange a maze as e'er men And there is in this business more than nature Was ever conduct of: some oracle

Must rectify our knowledge.

PRO.

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 youWhich 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;

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.

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Very like; one of them Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable.

b

PRO. Mark but the badges of these men, my lords,
Then say if they be true. This mis-shapen knave,—
His mother was a witch, and one so strong
That could control the moon," make flows and ebbs,
And deal in her command, without her power.
These three have robb'd me; and this demi-devil—
For he's a bastard one-had plotted with them
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 ?-
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.

SEB. Why, how now, Stephano?

STE. O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but

a cramp.

on.

PRO. You'd be king o' the isle, sirrah? STE. I should have been a sore one, then. ALON. This is a strange thing as e'er I look'd [Pointing to CALIBAN. PRO. 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!

PRO.

Go to; away!

ALON. Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it.

SEB. Or stole it, rather.

[Exeunt CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO.

Douce quotes a marginal note in Adlington's translation of Apuleius, 1596, 4to. which says, "Witches in old time were supposed to be of such power that they could pul downe the moone by their inchantement.' The classical reader will remember,"Cantus et è curru lunam deducere tentat; Et faceret, si non ære repulsa sonent."

Of Tibullus; and Virgil's

"Carmina vel cœlo possunt deducere lunam: &c.

b And deal in her command, without her power.] That is, beyond her power. See note (b), p. 371, Vol. I.

PRO. Sir, I invite your highness and your train To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest 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 I'll bring you to your ship, and so to Naples, Where I have hope to see the nuptial Of these our dear-belov'd solemnizèd; And thence retire me to my Milan, where Every third thought shall be my grave.

ALON.

I long
To hear the story of your life, which must
Take the ear strangely.

PRO.
I'll deliver all;
And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales,
And sail so expeditious, that shall catch

Your royal fleet far off.-[Aside to ARIEL.] My

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EPILOGUE.

Spoken by PROSPERO.

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have 's mine own,—
Which is most faint: now, 't is true,

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.

[Exit.

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ILLUSTRATIVE COMMENTS.

ACT I.

(1) SCENE I. We split, we split!]. The following observations on the maritime technicalities in this scene, are extracted from an article by Lord Mulgrave, which will be found at length in Boswell's Variorum edition of Shakespeare, 1821 :

"The first scene of The Tempest is a very striking instance of the great accuracy of Shakspeare's knowledge in a professional science, the most difficult to attain without the help of experience. He must have acquired it by conversation with some of the most skilful seamen of that time. No books had then been published on the subject.

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The succession of events is strictly observed in the natural progress of the distress described; the expedients adopted are the most proper that could have been devised for a chance of safety: and it is neither to the want of skill of the seamen, or the bad qualities of the ship, but solely to the power of Prospero, that the shipwreck is to be attributed.

"The words of command are not only strictly proper, but are only such as point the object to be attained, and no superfluous ones of detail. Shakspeare's ship was too well manned to make it necessary to tell the seamen how they were to do it, as well as what they were to do.

"He has shown a knowledge of the new improvements, as well as the doubtful points of seamanship; one of the latter he has introduced, under the only circumstance in which it was indisputable.

"The events certainly follow too near one another for the strict time of representation: but perhaps, if the whole length of the play was divided by the time allowed by the critics, the portion allotted to this scene might not be too little for the whole. But he has taken care to mark intervals between the different operations by exits.

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(2) SCENE II.-ARIEL.] According to the system of witchcraft or magic, which formed an article of popular creed in Shakespeare's day, the elementary spirits were divided into six classes by some demonologists, and into four, those of the Air, of the Water, of the Fire, and of the Earth,-by others. In the list of characters appended to "The Tempest" in the first folio, Ariel is called "an ayrie spirit." The particular functions of this order of beings, Burton tells us, are to cause "many tempests, thunder, and lightnings, tear oaks, fire steeples, houses, strike men and beasts, make it rain stones, &c., cause whirlwinds on a sudden, and tempestuous storms." But at the behest of the all-powerful magician Prospero, or by his own influence and potency, the airy spirit in a twink becomes not only a spirit of fire-one of those, according to the same authority, which "commonly work by blazing stars, fire drakes, or ignes fatui; counterfeit suns and moons, stars oftentimes, and sit upon ship-masts"but a naiad, or spirit of the water also: in fact, assumes any shape, and is visible or unseen at will.

For full particulars, de operatione Demonum, the reader may consult, besides the ancient writers on the subject,

* The striking the top masts was a new invention in Shakspeare's time, which he here very properly introduces. Sir Henry Manwaring says, "It is not yet agreed amongst all seamen whether it is better for a ship to hull with her topmast up or down." In the Postscript to the Seaman's Dictionary, he afterwards gives his own opinion: "If you have sea-room, it is never good to strike the topmast." Shakspeare has placed his ship in the situation in which it was indisputably right to strike the topmast, when he had not sea-room.

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