PROSPERO

Be collected, No more amazement: Tell your piteous heart there's no harm done. No harm: I have done nothing, but in care of thee (Of thee my deer one; thee my daughter) who Art ignorant of what thou art nought knowing Of whence I am: nor that I am more better Then Prospero, Master of a full poor cell, And thy no greater Father. It's time I should inform thee farther: Lend thy hand And pluck my Magic garment from me: So, Lie there my Art: wipe thou thine eyes, have comfort, The direful spectacle of the wrack which touched The very virtue of compassion in thee: I have with such provision in mine Art So safely ordered, that there is no soul No not so much perdition as and hair Betid to any creature in the vessel Which thou heardst cry, which thou sawest sink: Fit down, For thou must now know farther. The hour's now come The very minute bids thee open thine care, Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember A time before we came unto this Cell? I do not think thou canst, for then thou was't not Out three years old. By what? by any other house, or person? Of any thing the Image, tell me, that Hath kept with thy remembrance. Thou hadst; and more Miranda: But how is it That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else In the dark-backward and Abisme of Time? If thou remembrest ought ere thou camest here, How thou camest here thou mayest. Twelve year since (Miranda) twelve year since, Thy father was the Duke of Milan and A Prince of power: 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. Both, both my Girl. By fowle-play (as thou sayest) were we heaved thence, But blessedly help hither. My brother and thy uncle, called Anthonio : I pray thee mark me, that a brother should Be so perfidious: he, whom next thy self 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; 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?) Being once perfected how to grant suits, how to deny them: who to advance, and who To trash for overtopping; new created The creatures that were mine, I say, or changed they, Or else new formed they; having both the key, Of Officer, and office, set all hearts in that 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 attendest not? 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 Overprized all popular rate: in my false brother Awaked and evil nature, and my trust Like a good parent, did beget of him A falsehood in it's 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 into 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? To have no Schreene between this partly 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 roalties He thinks me now incapable. Confederates (so dry he was for Sway) with 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. Mark his condition, and the event, then tell me If this might be a brother. Hag-seed, hence: Fetch us in Fuel, and be quick thou'rt best To answer other business: shruggest thou (Malice) If thou neglectst, or dost unwillingly What I command, I'll rack thee with old Cramps, Fill all thy bones with Aches, make thee roar, That beasts shall tremble at thy dyn. Speak not you for him: he's a Traitor: come, I'll manacle thy neck and feet together: Sea water shalt thou drink: thy food shall be The fresh-brooke Mussels, withered roots, and husks Wherein the Acorn cradled. Follow. What I say, My foot my Tutor? Put thy sword up Traitor, Who makest a show, but darest not strike: thy conscience Is so possessed with gilded: Come, from thy ward, For I can here disarm thee with this stick, And make thy weapon drop. Hence: hang not on my garments. Silence: One word more Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee: What, And advocate for and Impostor? Hush: Thou thinkest there is no more such shapes as he, (Having seen but him and Caliban: ) Foolish wench, To the most of men, this is a Caliban, And they to him are Angels. Come on, obey: Thy Nerves are in their infancy again. And have no vigour in them. It works: Come on. Thou hast done well, fine Ariell: follow me, Hark what thou else shalt do me. Thou shalt be as free As mountain winds; but then exactly do All points of my command. Come follow: speak not for him. Now the Condition. This King of Naples being and 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 Anthonio open The gates of Milan, and ith' dead of darkness The ministers for the purpose hurried thence Me, and thy crying self. 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. Well demanded, wench: My Tale provokes that question: Dear, they durst not, So deer the love my people boar 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, Boar us some Leagues to Sea, where they prepared A rotten carcase of a Butt, not rigged, Nor tackle, sail, nor mast, the very rats Instinctively have quit it: There they hoist us To cry to the Sea, that roared to us; to sighs To the winds, whose pity sighing back again Did us but loving wrong. Oh, a Cherubin Thou was't that did preserve me; Thou didst smile, Infused with a fortitude from heaven, When I have decked the sea with drops full salt, Under my burden groaned, which raised in me And undergoing stomach, to bear up Against what should ensue. By providence divine, Some food, we had, and some fresh water, that A noble Neopolitan 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 steeded 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. Now I arise, Fit 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 Then other Princess can, that have more time For vainer hours; and Tutors, not so careful. Know thus far forth, By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune (Now my deer Lady) hath mine enemies Brought to this shore: And by my prescience I find my Zenith does depend upon A most auspicious star, whose influence If now I court not, but omit; my Fortune's Will ever after droop: Hear cease more questions, Thou art inclined to sleep: it's a good dulness, And give it way: I know thou canst not choose: Come away, Servant, come; I am ready now, Approach my Ariel. Come. Hast thou, Spirit, Performed to point, the Tempest that I bade thee. My brave Spirit, Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil Would not infect his reason? Why that's my spirit: But was not this nigh shore? But are they (Ariell) safe? Of the Kings ship, The Mariners, say how thou hast disposed, And all the rest of the Fleet? Ariel, thy charge Exactly is performed; but there's more work: What is the time of the day? At least two Glasses: the time betwixt six & now Must by us both be spent most preciously. How now? moody? What is't thou canst demand? Before the time be out? no more: Dost thou forget From what a torment I did free thee? Thou dost: & thinkest it much to tread y e Ooze Of the salt deep; To run upon the sharp wind of the North, To do me business in the veins of the earth When it is baked with frost. Thou liest, malignant Thing: hast thou forgotten The fowl Witch Sycorax, who with Age and Envy Was grown into a hoop? hast thou forgotten her? Thou hast: where was she born? speak: tell me: O, was she so: I must Once in a month recount what thou hast been, Which thou forgettest. This damned Witch Sycorax For mischiefs manifold, and forceries terrible To enter humane hearing, from Argier Thou knowest was banished: for one thing she did They would not take her life: Is not this true? This blue eyed hag, was hither brought with child, And here was left by the Sailors; thou my slave, As thou reportest thy self, was then her servant, And for thou wast a Spirit too-delicate To act her earthy, and abhorred commands, Refusing her grand hefts, she did confine thee By help of her more potent Ministers, And in her most vnmittigable rage, Into a cloven Pine, within which rift Imprisoned, thou didst painfully remain A dozen years: within which space she died, And left thee there: where thou didst vent thy groans As fast as Mill-wheeles strike: Then was this Island (Save for the Son, that he did littour here, A frekelld whelp, hag-borne) not honoured with A humane shape. Dull thing, I say so: he, that Caliban Whom now I keep in service, thou best knowest What torment I did find thee in; thy groans Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts Of euer-angry Bears; it was a torment To lay upon the damned, which Sycorax Could not again undo: it was mine Art, When I arrived, and herd thee, that made gape The Pine, and let thee out. If thou more murmurest, I will rend and Oak And peg-thee in his knotty entrails, till Thou hast howled away twelve winter's. Do so: and after two days I will discharge thee. Go make thy self Like a Nymph of the Sea, Be subject to no sighed but thine, and mine: invisible To every eye-ball else: go take this shape And hither come in't: go: hence With diligence. Awake, deer heart awake, thou hast slept well, Awake. Shake it off: Come on, Wee'll visit Caliban, my slave, who never Yields us kind answer. But as it's We cannot miss him: he do's make our fire, Fetch in our wood, and serves in Offices That profit us: What hoa: slave: Caliban : Thou Earth, thou: speak. Come forth I say, there's other business for thee: Come thou Tortoys, when? Fine apparition: my quaint Ariel, Hark in thine ear. Thou poisonous slave, God by y e devil himself Upon thy wicked Dam; come forth. For this be sure, to night thou shalt have cramps, Side-stitches, that shall pen thy breath up, Urchins Shall for that vast of night, that they may work All exercise on thee: thou shalt be pinched As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging Then Bees that made they. Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness: I have used thee (Filth as thou art) with humane care, and lodged thee In mine own Cell, till thou didst seek to violate The honour of my child. So slave, hence. The fringed Curtains of thine eye advance, And say what thou seest yond. No wench, it eats, and sleeps, & hath such senses As we have: such. This Gallant which thou seest Was in the wrack: and but he's something stained With grief (that's beauty's canker) y u mightest call him A goodly person: he hath lost his fellows, And strays about to find they. It goes on I see As my soul prompts it: Spirit, fine spirit, I'll free thee Within two days for this. How? the best? What were't thou if the King of Naples herd thee? The Duke of Milan And his more braver daughter, could control thee If now 'twere fit to do't: At the first sighed They have changed eyes: Delicate Ariel, I'll set thee free for this. A word good Sir, I fear you have done your self some wrong: A word. Soft sir, one word more. They are both in eithers powers: But this swift business I must uneasy make, least too light winning Make the prize light. One word more: I charge thee That thou attend me: Thou dost here usurp The name thou owest not, and hast put thy self Upon this Island, as a spy, to win it From me, the Lord on't. Follow me. Poor worm thou art infected, This visitation shows it. Fair encounter Of two most rare affections: heavens rain grace On that which breeds between they. So glad of this as they I cannot be, Who are surprised with all; but my rejoicing At nothing can be more: I'll to my book, For yet ere supper time, must I perform Much business appertaining. Honest Lord, Thou hast said well: for some of you there present; Are worse then devils. Praise in departing. Bravely the figure of this Harpy, hast thou Performed (my Ariell ) a grace it had devouring: Of my Instruction, hast thou nothing bated In what thou hadst to say: so with good life, And observation strange, my meaner ministers Their several kinds have done: my high charms work, And these (mine enemies) are all knit up In their distractions: they now are in my pour; And in these fits, I leave them, while I visit Young Ferdinand (whom they suppose is drowned) And his, and mine loved darling. If I have too austerely punished you, Your compensation makes amends, for I Have given you here, a third of mine own life, Or that for which I live: who, once again I tender to thy hand: All thy vexations Were but my trials of thy love, and thou Hast strangely stood the test: here, afore heaven I ratify this my rich gift: Oh Ferdinand, Do not smile at me, that I boast her of, For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise And make it halt, behind her. Then, as my guest, and thine own acquisition Worthily purchased, take my daughter: But If thou dost break her Virgin-knot, before All sanctimonious ceremonies may With full and holy right, be ministered, No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fallen To make this contract grow; but barren hate, Sower-ey'd disdain, and discord shall bestrew The union of your bed, with weeds so loathly That you shall hate it both: Therefore take heed, As Hymen's Lamps shall light you. Fairly spoke; Fit then, and talk with her, she is thine own; What Ariell ; my industrious serva ̄ to Ariell. Thou, and thy meaner fellows, your last service Did worthily perform: and I must use you In such another trick: go bring the rabble (Over whom I give thee pour) here, to this place: Incite them to quick motion, for I must Bestow upon the eyes of this young couple Some vanity of mine Art: it is my promise, And they expect it from me. I: with a twincke. Dearly, my delicate Ariell : do not approach Till thou dost hear me call. Look thou be true: do not give dalliance Too much the reign: the strongest oaths, are straw To the fire ith' blood: be more abstemious, Or else good night your vow. Well. Now come my Ariell, bring a Corolary, Rather then want a Spirit; appear, & pertly. No tongue: all eyes: be silent. Spirits, which by mine Art I have from their confines called to enact My present fancies. Sweet now, silence: Juno and Ceres whisper seriously, There's something else to do: hush, and be mute Or else our spell is marred. I had forgotten that foul conspiracy Of the beast Calliban, and his confederates Against my life: the minute of their plot Is almost come: Well done, avoid: no more. You do look (my son) in a moved sort, As if you were dismayed: be cheerful Sir, Our Revels now are ended: These our actors, (As I foretold you) were all Spirits, and Are melted into Air, into thin Air, And Like the baselesse fabric of this vision The Clowd-capt Towers, the gorgeous Palaces, The solemn Temples, the great Globe it self, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And Like this insubstantial Pageant faded Leave not a rack behind: we are such stuff As dreams are made on; and our little life Is rounded with a sleep: Sir, I am vexed, Bear with my weakness, my old brain is troubled: Be not disturbed with my infirmity, If you be pleased, retire into my Cell, And there repose, a turn or two, I'll walk To still my beating mind. Come with a thought; I thank thee Ariell : come. Spirit: We must prepare to meet with Caliban. Say again, where didst thou leave these varlets? This was well done (my bird) Thy shape invisible retain thou still: The trumpery in my house, go bring it hither For stale to catch these thieves. A Devil, a borne-Deuill, on whose nature Nurture can never stick: on whom my pains Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost, And, as with age, his body ouglier grows, So his mind cankers: I will plague them all, Even to roaring: Come, hang on them this line. Heigh Mountain, heigh. Fury, Fury: there Tyrant, there: hark, hark. Go, charge my Goblins that they grind their joints With dry Convulsions, shorten up their sinews With aged Cramps, & more pinch-spotted make them, Then Pard, or Cat of Mountain. Let them be hunted soundly: At this hour Lies at my mercy all mine enemies: Shortly shall all my labours end, and thou Shalt have the air at freedom: for a little Follow, and do me service. Now do's my Project gather to a head: My charms crack not: my Spirits obey, and Time Goes upright with his carriage: how's the day? I did say so, When first I raised the Tempest: say my Spirit, How fares the King, and's followers? Dost thou think so, Spirit? And mine shall. Hast thou (which art but air) a touch, a feeling Of their afflictions, and shall not my self, One of their kind, that relish all as sharply, Passion as they, be kindlier moved then thou art? Though with their high wrongs I am strook to the quick, Yet, with my nobler reason, gainst my fury Do I take partly: the rarer Actium is In virtue, then in vengeance: they, being penitent, The sole drift of my purpose does extend Not a frown further: Go, release them Ariell, My Charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore, And they shall be themselves. You Elves of hills, brooks, sta ̄ ding Lake's & groves, And you, that on the sands with printless foot Do chase the ebbing- Neptune, and do fly him When he comes back: you demy-Puppets, that By Moonshine do the green sour Ringlets make, Whereof the Ewe not bites: and you, whose pastime Is to make midnight-Mushrumps, that rejoice To hear the solemn Curfewe, by whose aid (Weak Master's though you be) I have bedymn'd The Noontide Sun, called forth the mutinous winds, And betwixt the green Sea, and the azured vault Set roaring war: To the dread rattling Thunder Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout Oak With his own Bolt: The strong bassed promontory Have I made shake, and by the spurs plucked up The Pine, and Cedar. Graves at my command Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let they forth By my so potent Art. But this rough Magic I here abjure: and when I have required Some heavenly Music (which even now I do) To work mine end upon their Senses, that This Ayrie-charme is for, I'll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, And deeper then did ever Plummet found I'll drown my book. A solemn Air, and the best comforter, To and unsettled fancy, Cure thy brains (Now useless) boil within thy skull: there stand For you are Spell-stopped. Holy Gonzallo, Honourable man, Mine eyes even sociable to the show of thine Fallen fellowly drops: The charm dissolves apace, And as the morning steals upon the night (Melting the darkness) so their rising senses Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle Their clearer reason. Oh good Gonzallo My true preserver, and a loyal Sir, To him thou followest; I will pay thy graces Home both in word, and deed: Most cruelly Did thou Alonso, use me, and my daughter: Thy brother was a furtherer in the Act, Thou art pinched for't now Sebastian. Flesh, and blood, You, brother mine, that entertain ambition, Expelled remorse, and nature, whom, with Sebastian (Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong) Would here have killed your King: I do forgive thee, Unnatural though thou art: Their understanding Begins to swell, and the approaching tide Will shortly fill the reasonable shore That now lie foul, and muddy: not one of them That yet looks on me, or would know me: Ariell, Fetch me the Hat, and Rapier in my Cell, I will discase me, and my self present As I was sometime Milan: quickly Spirit, Thou shalt ere long be free. Where the Be sucks, there suck I, In a Cowslips bell, I lie, There I couch when Owls do cry, On the Bats back I do fly after Summer merrily. Merrily, merrily, shall I live now, Under the blossom that hangs on the Bow. Why that's my dainty Ariell: I shall miss Thee, but yet thou shalt have freedom: so, so, so. To the Kings ship, invisible as thou art, There shalt thou find the Mariners asleep Under the Hatches: the Master and the Boatswain Being awake, enforce them to this place; And presently, I prithee. Behold Sir King The wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero : For more assurance that a living Prince Do's now speak to thee, I embrace thy body, And to thee, and thy Company, I bid A hearty welcome. First, noble Friend, Let me embrace thine age, whose honour cannot Be measured, or confined. You do yet taste Some subtleties of the Isle, that will not let you Believe things certain: Welcome, my friends all, But you, my brace of Lords, were I so minded I here could pluck his Highness frown upon you And justify you Traitors: at this time I will tell no tales. No: 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. I am woe for't, Sir. I rather think You have not sought her help, of whose soft grace For the Like lose, I have her sovereign aid, And rest my self content. As great to me, as late, and supportable To make the deer lose, have I means much weaker Then you may call to comfort you; for I Have lost my daughter. In this last Tempest. I perceive these Lords 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 howsoeu'r 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 strangely Upon this shore (where you were wracked) was landed To be the Lord on't: No more yet of this, For it's 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 you As much, as me my Dukedom. It's new to thee. There Sir stop, Let us not burden our remembrances, with A heaviness that's gone. My tricksy Spirit. Bravely (my diligence) thou shalt be free. Sir, my Liege, Do not infest your mind, with beating on The strangeness of this business, at picked leisure (Which shall be shortly single) I'll resolve you, (Which to you shall seem probable) of every These happened accidents: till when, be cheerful And think of each thing well: Come hither Spirit, Set Caliban, and his companions free: Untie the Spell: How fares my gracious Sir? There are yet missing of your Company Some few odd Lads, that you remember not. Mark but the badges of these men, my Lords, Then say if they be true: This mishapen knave; His Mother was a Witch, and one so strong That could control the Moon; make flows, and eb , And deal in her command, without her power: These three have robbed me, and this demy-diuell; (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. You'd be King of the Isle, Sirrah? He is as disproportioned 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. Go to, away. Sir, I invite your Highness, and your train To my poor Cell: where you shall take your rest For this one night, which partly 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 deere-belou'd, solemnized, And thence retire me to my Milan, where Every third thought shall be my graven. I'll deliver all, And promise you calm Seas, auspicious gales, And sail, so expeditious, that shall catch Your Royal fleet far off: My Ariel ; chick That is thy charge: Then to the Elements Be free, and fare thou well: please you draw near.