For you are spell-stopp'd. —

Holy Gonzalo, honourable man,

Mine eyes, even 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 thou 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, Alonso, use me and my daughter:
Thy brother was a furtherer in the act;

Thou'rt pinch'd for't now, Sebastian, flesh and blood.You, brother mine, that entertain'd ambition,

10

Expell'd remorse and nature; who, with Sebastian,
(Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,)
Would here have kill'd 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,11

Ariel,

That now lies foul and muddy. Not one of them
That yet looks on me, or would know me:
Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell:

I will discase me, and myself present
As I was sometime Milan :

Thou shalt ere long be free.

[Exit ARIEL.

quickly, spirit:

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.1

12

9 In this singular passage, senses means the reason, or the power of seeing things as they are. So that the sense may be given something thus: their returning reason begins to dispel the blinding vapours that are gathered about it.

10 Remorse is pity, tenderness of heart; nature is natural affection.

11 "The reasonable shore" is the shore of reason.

soms."

12 "At night, when owls do cry,' Ariel couches 'in a cowslip's bell'; and he uses the bat's back' as his pleasant vehicle, to pursue Summer in its progress round the world, and thus live merrily under continual blosSuch appears the most natural as well as most poetical meaning of this much disputed passage. As a matter of fact, however, bats do not migrate in quest of Summer, but become torpid in winter. Was the Poet ignorant of this, or did he disregard it, thinking that such beings as Ariel were not bound to observe the rules of natural history?

Merrily, merrily, shall I live now,

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

Pros. 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 Inhabit here: some heavenly power guide us

Out of this fearful country!

Pros.
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 18 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,
Th' 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.
Be living and be here ?

Pros.

14

But how should Prospero

First, noble friend,

Some subtilties 15 o' the isle, that will not let you
Believe things certain. - Welcome, my friends all:

18 Enchanted for enchanting, or having the power of enchantment. This undifferentiated use of the active and passive forms has been repeatedly noted. See vol. i. page 139, note 16, and page 66, note 4. Walker, however, thinks the meaning to be, "some trifle produced by enchantment to

abuse me."

14 Still another instance of the construction mentioned in note 2 of this scene. "My wrongs may mean either the wrongs I have done, or the wrongs I have suffered. Here it means the former.

15 Subtilties are quaint deceptive inventions; the word is common to ancient cookery, in which a disguised or ornamented dish is so termed.

[Aside to SEB. and ANT.] But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded,

16

I here could pluck his Highness' frown upon you,
And justify you traitors:
I'll tell no tales.

at this time

No.

Seb. [Aside.] The Devil speaks in him.
Pros.
For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest faults, all of them; and require
My dukedom of thee, which perforce, I know,
Thou must restore.

Alon.

If thou be'st 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.

Pros.

I'm woe for't, sir.

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

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!

Pros. As great to me as late; and, supportable 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?
Pros. 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 wreck'd, was landed,
To be the lord on't. No more yet of this;

16 Prove you traitors, or justify myself for calling you such.

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've 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 FERDINAND and MIRANDA playing at chess.

Mira. Sweet lord, you play me false.

Ferd.

I would not for the world.

No, my dear'st love,

Mira. Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle, And I would call it fair play.

Alon.
If this prove
A vision of the island, one dear son

Shall I twice lose.17

Seb.

Ferd. Though the seas threaten, they are merciful! I've curs'd them without cause.

Alon.

A most high miracle!

[Kneels to ALON. Now all the blessings

O, wonder!

Of a glad father compass thee about!

Arise, and

Mira.

say how thou cam'st here.

How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't!

Pros.

"Tis new to thee.

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?

Ferd.

She

Sir, she's 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.
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.

17 He has lost him once in supposing him drowned, and will lose him a second time when the vision is dispelled.

Alon.

I am hers:

But, O, how oddly will it sound that I
Must ask my child forgiveness!

Pros.

Let us not burden our remembrance with

A heaviness that's gone.

There, sir, stop:

I've inly wept,

Gon.

Or should have spoke ere this. Look down, you gods,
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.1 18

Alon. [To FERD. and MIRA.] 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 is 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 PROS.] Sir, all this service

Have I done since I went.

Pros. [Aside to ARI.] My tricksy spirit!

Alon. These are not natural events; they strengthen From strange to stranger. Say, how came you hither? Boats. If I did think, sir, I were well awake, I'd strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep,

18 When no man was in his senses, or had self-possession.