The direful spectacle of the wrack, which touch'd
The very virtue of compassion in thee,
I have with fuch compassion in mine art
So safely order'd, that there's no foul loft;
No not so much perdition as an hair
Betid to any creature in the vessel
Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink: fit
For thou must now know farther.
Mira. You have often
Begun to tell me what I am, but stopt,
And left me to the bootless inquifition;
Concluding, Stay, not yet.
Pro. The hour's now come,
The very minute bids thee ope thine ear,
Obey, and be attentive. Canst remember
A time before we came unto this cell ?
I do not think thou canft, for then thou wast not
Full three years old.
Mira. Certainly, Sir, I can.
Pro. By what? by any other house, or perfon?
Of any thing the image, tell me, that
Hath kept in thy remembrance.
And rather like a dream, than an afsurance
That my remembrance warrants. Had I not
Four or five women once that tended me?
Pro. Thou hadst, and more, Miranda: but how is it
That this lives in thy mind? what feeft thou elfe
In the dark back-ward and abysme of time?
If thou remember'st ought ere thou cam'ft here,
How thou cam'ft here thou may'st.
Mira. But that I do not.
Pro. 'Tis twelve years fince, Miranda; twelve years
fince
Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and
A Prince of Pow'r.
Mira. Sir, are not you my father?
Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and
She faid thou wast my daughter; and thy father
Was Duke of Milan, and his only heir
A Princefs, no worse iffu'd.
Mira. O the heav'ns!
What foul play had we that we came from thence? Or bleffed was't we did?
Pro. Both, both, my girl:
By foul play (as thou say'st) were we heav'd thence, But bleffedly help'd hither.
To think o'th' † teene that I have turn'd you to, Which is from my remembrance. Please you, farther.
Pro. My brother and thy uncle, call'd Anthonio
I pray thee mark me, (that a brother should
(that
Be so perfidious!) he whom next thy felf
Of all the world I lov'd, and to him put
"The manage of my state; as at that time
Through all the fignories 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 fecret studies. Thy false uncle-
(Doft thou attend me?)
Mira. Sir, most heedfully.
Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits, How to deny them; whom t'advance, and whon To trash for over-topping; new created
The creatures that were mine, I fay, or chang'd 'em, Or else new form'd 'em; having both the key
Of officer and office, fet all hearts
To what tune pleas'd his ear; that now he was
The ivy which had hid my princely trunk,
And fuckt my verdure out on't. - Thou attend'st not)
Mira. Good Sir, I do.
Pro. I pray thee mark me then.
I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated
To closeness, and the bettering of my mind,
With that which, but by being fo retired,
O'er-priz'd all popular rate; in my false brother
Awak'd an evil nature, and my truft,
Like a good parent, did beget of him
A falfhood in its contrary, as great
As my trust was; which had indeed no limit,
A confidence fans 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 finner of his memory,
To credit his own lie, he did believe
He was indeed the Duke, from substitution
And executing th' outward face of royalty
With all prerogative. Hence his ambition growing-
Doft thou hear?
Mira. Your tale, Sir, would cure deafness.
Pro. To have no screen between this part he plaid,
And him he plaid it for, he needs will be
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) wi'th' 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 much ignoble stooping.
Pro. Mark his condition, and th' event, then tell me
If this might be a Brother?
Mira. I should fin,
To think not nobly of my grand-mother;
Good wombs have born bad fons.
Pro. Now the condition:
This King of Naples being an enemy
To me inveterate, d hears my brother's fuit;
Which was, that he in lieu o'th' premises,
Of homage, and I know not how much tribute,
With all the honours, on my brother. Whereon
A treacherous army levy'd, one mid-night
Fated to th' purpose, did Anthonio open
The gates of Milan, and i'th' dead of darkness
The minifter for th' purpose hurry'd thence
Me and thy crying felf.
Mira. Alack for pity!
I not remembring how I cry'd out then,
Will cry it o'er again; it is a hint
That wrings mine eyes to't.
Pro. 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.
Mira. Why did they not
That hour destroy us?
Pro. Well demanded, wench;
My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durft not;
So dear the love my people bore: nor fet
A mark fo bloody on the business; but
With colours fairer painted their foul ends.
In few, they hurry'd us aboard a bark,
Bore us fome Leagues to fea, where they prepar'd
A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, nor fail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively had quit it: there they hoist us
To cry to th' sea that roar'd to us; to figh
To winds, whose pity sighing back again
Did us but loving wrong.
Mira. Alack! what trouble
Was I then to you?
Pro. O a cherubim
Thou waft that did preferve me: Thou didst smile,
Infused with a fortitude from heav'n;
When I have deck'd the fea with drops full falt,
Under my burthen groan'd, which rais'd in me
An undergoing stomach, to bear up
Against what should ensue.
Mira. How came we a-fhore?
Pro. By providence divine.
Some food we had, and fome fresh water, that
A noble Neapolitan Gonzalo,
Out of his Charity (being then appointed
Master of this design) did give us, with
Rich garments, linnens, stuffs, and necessaries
Which since have steeded much. So of his gentleness,
Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me
From my own library, with volumes that
I prize above my Dukedom.
Mira. Would I might
But ever fee that man!
Pro. Now I arife:
Sit still, and hear the last of our fea-forrow.
Here in this island we arriv'd, and here
Have I, thy school-master, made thee more profit
Than other Princes can, that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not fo careful.
Mira. Heav'ns thank you for't. And now I pray
(For still 'tis beating in my mind) your reason For raising this fea-storm?
Pro. Know thus far forth,
By accident most strange, bountiful fortune
(Now my dear lady) hath mine enemies
Brought to this shore and by my prefcience
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 fleep. 'Tis a good dulness,
And give it way; I know thou canst not chufe.
Come away, fervant, come; I'm ready now:
Approach, my Ariel, Come.
Ari. All hail, great master! grave Sir, hail! I come To aufwer thy best pleasure. Be't to fly;
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