His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops
From eaves of reeds: your charm so strongly works

them,

That if you now beheld them, your affections

Would become tender.

Pro.

Dost thou think so, spirit?

And mine shall.

Ari. Mine would, sir, were I human.
Pro.

Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling
Of their afflictions? and shall not myself,

One of their kind, that relish all as sharply,

Passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art? Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick,

Yet, with my nobler reason, 'gainst my fury,

Do I take part: the rarer action is

In virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent,
The sole drift of my purpose doth extend
Not a frown further: Go, release them, Ariel;
My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore,
And they shall be themselves.

Ari.

I'll fetch them, sir.

[Exit.

Pro. Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and

groves;

And ye, that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him
When he comes back; you demi-puppets, that
By moon-shine do the green-sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites; and you, whose pastime
Is to make midnight-mushrooms; that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid
(Weak masters though ye be) I have be-dimmed
The noon-tide sun, called forth the mutinous winds,
And 'twixt 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-based 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 them 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 airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And, deeper than did ever plummet sound,
I'll drown my book.

[Solemn music.

Re-enter ARIEL: after him, ALONZO, with a frantic gesture, attended by GONZALO; SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO in like manner, attended by ADRIAN and FRANCISCO: They all enter the circle which PROSPERO had made, and there stand charmed; which PROSPERO observing, speaks.

A solemn air, and the best comforter

To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains,

Now useless, boiled within thy skull! There stand, For you are spell-stopped.

Holy Gonzalo, honorable man,

Mine eyes, ever sociable to the show of thine,
Fall 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.-O my good Gonzalo,
My true preserver, and a loyal sir

To him thou follow'st; I will pay thy graces
Home, both in word and deed.-Most cruelly
Didst thou, Alonzo, use me and my daughter:
Thy brother was a furtherer in the act ;-

Thou'rt pinched for't now, Sebastian.-Flesh and blood,

You brother mine, that entertained ambition,
Expelled remorse and nature; who 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 shores,

That now lie foul and muddy. Not one of them, That yet looks on me, or would know me :-Ariel, Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell; [Exit Ariel. I will dis-case me, and myself present,

As I was sometime Milan:-quickly, spirit;

Thou shalt ere long be free.

ARIEL re-enters, singing, and helps to attire PROSpero.

Ari. Where the bee sucks, there suck I;

In a cowslip's bell I lie:

There I couch when owls do cry.

On the bat's back I do fly,
After summer, merrily:

Merrily, merrily, shall I live now,

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

Pro. Why, that's my dainty Ariel; I shall miss

thee;

But yet thou shalt have freedom: so, so, so

To the king's 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 pr'ythee.

Ari. I drink the air before me and return

Or e'er your pulse twice beat.

[Exit ARIEL.

Gon. All torment, trouble, wonder, and amazement Inhabits here: Some heavenly power guide us

Out of this fearful country!

Pro.

Behold, sir king,

The wronged duke of Milan, Prospero:

For more assurance that a living prince

Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body;
And to thee and thy company, I bid

A hearty welcome.

Alon.

Whe'r thou beest he, or no,

Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me,

As late I have been, I not know thy pulse

Beats, as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee,

The affliction of my mind amends, with which,

I fear, a madness held me: this must crave (An if this be at all) a most strange story. Thy dukedom I resign; and do entreat

Thou pardon me my wrongs:-But how should Prospero Be living, and be here?

Pro.

First, noble friend,

Let me embrace thine age; whose honor cannot

Be measured, or confined.

Gon.

Or be not, I'll not swear.

Whether this be,

You do yet taste

Pro.
Some subtilties o' the isle, that will not let you
Believe things certain :-Welcome, my friends all:
But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded,

[Aside to SEB. and ANT. I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you, And justify you traitors: at this time

I'll tell no tales.

Seb.

Pro.

The devil speaks in him.

[Aside. 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.

Alon.

If thou beest Prospero,

Give us particulars of thy preservation :

How thou hast met us here, who three hours since 1 Were wrecked upon this shore; where I have lost (How sharp the point of this remembrance is!)

My dear son Ferdinand.

Pro.

I am wo2 for't, sir.

Alon. Irreparable is the loss; and Patience Says, it is past her cure.

Pro.

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.

1 The unity of time is rigidly observed in this piece.
2 Sorry.

1

Alon.

You the like loss?

Pro. As great to me, as late; and portable1
To make the dear loss, have I means much weaker
Than you may call to comfort you; for I

Have lost my daughter.

Alon.

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? Pro. 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, 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 strangely
Upon this shore, where you were wrecked, was landed,
To be the lord on't. No more yet of this;
For 'tis 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.

The entrance of the Cell opens, and discovers FERDI-
NAND and MIRANDA playing at chess.

Mira. Sweet lord, you play me false.

Fer.

I would not for the world.

No, my dearest love,

Mira. Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should

wrangle,

And I would call it fair play.

1 Tolerable.