SCENE III.-Another part of the Island. En ter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, Francisco, and others.

Gon. By'r lakin, I can go no further, sir; My old bones ache: here's a maze trod, indeed, Through forth-rights, and meanders! by your patience,

I needs must rest me.

Alon. Old lord, I cannot blame thee, Who am myself attach'd with weariness, To the dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest. Even here I will put off my hope, and keep it No longer for my flatterer: he is drown'd,' Whom thus we stray to find; and the sea mocks Our frustrate search on land: Well, let him go. Ant. I am right glad that he's so out of hope.

[Aside to Sebastian.

Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose
That you resolv'd to effect.

Scb.

The next advantage

Let it be to-night;

For, now they are oppress'd with travel, they
Will not, nor cannot, use such vigilance,

As when they are fresh.

Seb. Solemn and strange music; and Prospero above, invisible. Enter several strange Shapes, bringing in a banquet; they dance about it with gentle actions of salutation; and inviting the king, &c. to eat, they depart.

I say, to-night: no more.

Alon. What harmony is this? my good friends, hark!

Gon. Marvellous sweet music!

Alon. Give us kind keepers, heavens!-What were these?

(1) Our lady.

Seb. A living drollery: Now I will believe, That there are unicorns; that in Arabia

There is one tree, the phoenix' throne; one phoenix At this hour reigning there.

Ant. I'll believe both: And what does else want credit, come to me, And I'll be sworn 'tis true: Travellers ne'er did lie, Though fools at home condemn them.

Gon.
If in Naples
I should report this now, would they believe me?
If I should say I saw such islanders

(For, certes,2 these are people of the island,)
Who, though they are of monstrous shape, yet, note,
Their manners are more gentle-kina, than of
Our human generation you shall find

Many, nay, almost any.

Pro.

Honest lord,

Thou hast said well; for some of you there present, Are worse than devils.

Alon.

Aside.

I cannot too much muse,3 Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound, ex

pressing

(Although they want the use of tongue,) a kind Of excellent dumb discourse.

Pro.

Praise in departing.

[Aside.

No matter, since

Fran. They vanish'd strangely.

Seb.

They have left their viands behind; for we have

stomachs.

Will't please you taste of what is here?

Not I.

Alon. * Gon. Faith, Sir, you need not fear: When we were boys,

Who would believe that there were mountaineers, Dew-lapp'd like bulls, whose throats had hanging

at them

Wallets of flesh? or that there were sach men,

(1) Show.

(2) Certainly.

(3) Wonder.

༔

Whose heads stood in their breasts? vhich now we

find,

Each butter-out on five for one, will bring us

Good warrant of.

Alon.

I will stand to, and feed,
Although my last: no matter, since I feel
The best is past:-Brother, my lord the duke
Stand too, and do as we.

Thunder and lightning. Enter Ariel like a harpy: claps his wings upon the table, and with a quaint device, the banquet vanishes.

Ari. You are three men of sin, whom destiny (That hath to instrument this lower world, And what is in't,) the never-surfeited sea Hath caused to belch up; and on this island Where man doth not inhabit; you 'mongst men Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad; [Seeing Alon. Seb. &c. draw their swords. And even with such like valour, raen hang and drown

Their proper selves.

You fools! I and my fellows Are ministers of fate; the elements

Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at stabs
Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish

One dowle' that's in my plume; my fellow-ministers
Are like invulnerable: if you could hurt,
Your swords are now too massy for your strengths,
And will not be uplifted: But, remember
(For that's my business to you,) that you three
From Milan did supplant good Prospero;
Expos'd unto the sea, which hath requit it,
Him, and his innocent child; for which foul deed
The powers, delaying, not forgetting, have
Incens'd the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures,
Against your peace: Thee, of thy son, Alonso,
They have bereft; and do pronounce by me,

(1) Down

Lingering perdition (worse than any death
Can be at once) shall step by step attend
You, and your ways; whose wrath to guard you
from

(Which here, in this most desolate isle, else falls Upon your heads,) is nothing, but heart's sorrow, And a clear life ensuing.

He vanishes in thunder: then, to soft music, enter the Shapes again, and dance with mops and mowes, and carry out the table.

Pro. [Aside.] Bravely the figure of this harpy
hast thou

Perform'd, my Ariel; a grace it had, devouring:
Of my instruction hast thou nothing 'bated,
In what thou hadst to say so, with good life,
And observation strange, my meaner ministers
Their several kinds have done: my high charms
work,

And these, mine enemies, are all knit

up

In their distractions: they now are in my power;
And in these fits I leave them, whilst I visit
Young Ferdinand (whom they suppose is drown'd,)
And his and my lov'd darling.

[Exit Prospero from above. Gon. I' the name of something holy, sir, why stand you

In this strange stare?

Alon.

O, it is monstrous! monstrous! Methought, the billows spoke, and told me of it; The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder, That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounc'd The name of Prosper; it did bass my trespass. Therefore my son i' the ooze is bedded; and I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet sounded, And with him there lie mudded. [Exit.

Seb.

But one fiend at a time,

(1) Pure, blameless.

I'll fight their legions o'er.
Ant.

I'll be thy second.
[Exeunt Seb. and Ant.
Gon. All three of them are desperate; their
great guilt,

Like poison given to work a great time after, Now 'gins to bite the spirits :-I do beseech you That are of suppler joints, follow them swiftly, And hinder them from what this ecstasyl

May now provoke them to.

Adr.

Follow, I pray you.

[Exeunt.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.-Before Prospero's cell. Enter Prospero, Ferdinand, and Miranda.

Pro. If I have too austerely punish'd you
Your compensation makes amends; for I
Have given you here a thread of mine own life,
Or that for which I live; whom once again
I tender to thy hand: all thy vexations
Were but my trials of thy love, and thou
Hast strangely stood the test: here, afore Heaven,
I ratify this my rich gift. O Ferdinand,
Do not smile at me, that I boast her off,

For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise,
And make it halt behind her.

Fer.

Against an oracle.

I do believe it,

Pro. Then, as my gift, and thine own acquisition Worthily purchas'd, take my daughter: But

If thou dost break her virgin knot before

All sanctimonious ceremonies may

With full and holy rite be minister'd,

(1) Alienation of mind.