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.

Pro.

O the heavens !

Mark his condition, and the event; then tell me,

If this might be a brother.

Mira.

I should sin

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

Pro.

Now the condition. This king of Naples, being an enemy To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit; Which was, that he in lieu13 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.

Alack, for pity!

I, not rememb'ring how I cried out then,

Will

cry it o'er again: it is a hint,14

That wrings mine eyes to't.

12 In lieu of the premises; that is, "in consideration of the

premises," &c.

14 Int is here

passage we have:

used for cause or subject. Thus in a future

"Our hint of woe."

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

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 carcass of a boat, not rigg'd,

Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats

13

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 cherubin

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

16

When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salt;
Under my burden groan'd; which rais'd in ne
An undergoing stomach," to bear up

3gainst what should ensue.

Quit was commonly used for quitted.

13 There is a good deal of doubt as to what sense this word is here used in, whether it be to udorn, or to cover; of which the former seems inappropriate, and the other altogether forced. Some good editors think it should be degg'd; a word still used in the north of England for to sprinkle. This sense is so much better than either of the others, that we cannot help thinking it the right one.

17 Stomach is here used in its old sense of courage.

H.

Н

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

tleness,

Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me,
From my 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

gen

Have I, thy school-master, made thee more profit
Than other princes can, that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.

Mira. Heavens thank you for't! And now, 1
pray you, sir,

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

[MIRANDA sleeps

1

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

Enter ARIEL.

Ari. All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! 1

come

To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly,

To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride

On the curl'd clouds: 18 to thy strong bidding, task Ariel, and all his quality.19

Pro.

Hast thou, spirit,

Perform'd to point 20 the tempest that I bade thee?
Ari. To every article.

I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist," the deck, in every cabin,
I flam'd amazement: Sometimes, I'd divide,
And burn in many places; on the top-mast,
The yards, and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,
Then meet, and join. Jove's lightnings, the pre-

cursors

O the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary

18 This is imitated in Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess :

"tell me, sweetest,

What new service now is meetest
For the satyre; shall I stray

In the middle air, and stay

The sailing racke, or nimbly take

Hold by the moon, and gently make

Suit to the pale queen of night,
For a beame to give thee light?
Shall I dive into the sea,

And bring thee coral, making way

Through the rising waves," &c.

10 Ariel's quality is not his confederates, but the powers of his nature as a spirit.

i. e. to the minutest article; from the French à point. "Beak, the prow of the ship: waist, the part between the quarter-deck and forecastle.

And sight-out-running were not: The fire, and

cracks

Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune Seem to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble, Yea, his dread trident shake.

Pro.

My brave spirit'

Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil"
Would not infect his reason?

Ari.

Not a soul

But felt a fever of the mad,23 and play'd
Some tricks of desperation: All, but mariners,
Plung'd in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel,
Then all a-fire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand,
With hair up-staring, (then like reeds, not hair,)
Was the first man that leap'd; cried, "Hell is
empty,

And all the devils are here."

On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
But fresher than before: and as thou bad'st me,
In troops I have dispers'd them 'bout the isle :
The king's son have I landed by himself;
Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs,
In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting,
His arms in this sad knot.

Pro.

Of the king's ship,

The mariners, say, how thou hast dispos'd,

And all the rest o' the fleet?

Coil is bustle, tumult.

23 That is, such a fever as madmen feel when the frantic fit is

on them.