Ant. We are merely1 cheated of our lives by drunkards.- This wide-chapp'd rascal;-'Would thou mightst lie drowning, The washing of ten tides! Gon. He'll be hang'd yet; Though every drop of water swear against it, [a confused noise within.] Mercy on us! -We [Exit. [Exit. Gon. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground; long heath, brown furze, any thing. The wills above be done! but I would fain die a dry death. [Exit. SCENE II. The island: before the cell of Prospero. Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA. Mir. If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them : The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch, 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. Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er 1 It should the good ship so have swallow'd, and Pro. Be collected; No more amazement: tell your piteous heart, Mir. Pro. O, woe the day! No harm. I have done nothing but in care of thee, (Of thee, my dear one! thee, my daughter!) who Art ignorant of what thou art, naught knowing Of whence I am; nor that I am more better 2 Mir. More to know Did never meddle 4 with my thoughts. Pro. 'Tis time I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand, 2 This ungrammatical expression is very frequent among our oldest writers. · full 3 A cell in a great degree of poverty. So in Antony and Cleopatra, I am full sorry;' or, as we sometimes say, well.' • Mix. The modern and familiar phrase, by which that of Miranda may be explained, is, 'never entered my thoughts.' And pluck my magic garment from me.--So; [lays down his mantle. Lie there my art.-Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort. The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd I have with such provision in mine art Betid to any creature in the vessel Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink.— Sit down; For thou must now know further. Mir. You have often Begun to tell me what I am; but stopp'd thine ear: The very minute bids thee ope Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember A time before we came unto this cell? I do not think thou canst; for then thou wast not Out 3 three years old. Mir. Certainly, sir, I can. Pro. By what? by any other house, or person? Of any thing the image tell me, that Hath kept with thy remembrance. "Tis far off; 1 The essence, the most efficacious part. And rather like a dream, than an assurance Pro. Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. But how is it, That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else If thou remember'st aught, ere thou camest here, Mir. But that I do not. Pro. Twelve years since, Miranda, twelve years since, Thy father was the duke of Milan, and A prince of power. Mir. 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 -no worse issued. A princess; Mir. O the heavens ! What foul play had we, that we came from thence; Or blessed was 't, we did? Pro. Both, both, my girl : By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heaved thence, But blessedly holp hither. To think o' the teen 2 that I have turn'd you to, Which is from my remembrance! Please you, further. Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Antonio, I pray thee, mark me,-that a brother should Without a parallel; those being all my study, And to my state grew stranger, being transported, Mir. Sir, most heedfully. Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits, How to deny them; whom to advance, and whom To trash 1 for over-topping; new created The creatures that were mine; I say, or changed them, Or else new form'd them: having both the key Of officer and office, set all hearts i' th' state And suck'd my verdure out on 't.-Thou attend'st |