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 prythee.

Ari. + I drink the air before me, and return
Or e'er your pulse twice beat.

[Exit. Gon. All torment, trouble, wonder, and amaze;

ment
Inhabits here; Some heavenly power guide us
Out of this fearful country!

Pro. Behold, fir 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 be'st he, or no,
Or some inchanted 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,
The 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 intreat, Thou pardon me my wrongs :-But how should Pro

spero
Be living, and be here?

Pro. First, noble friend,
Let me embrace thine age; whose honour cannot
Be measur’d, or confin'd.

Gon. Whether this be,
Or be not, I'll not swear,

4 To drink the air is an expression of swiftness of the same kind as to devour the way in Henry IV. Johnson.

s Thy dukedom I regn, - ] The duchy of Milan being through the treachery of Anthonio made feudatory to the crown of Naples, Alonso promises to resign his claim of sovereignty for the future. STEEVENS,

Pro.

Pro. You do vet taste
Some subtiltic: o'the isle, that will not let you
Believe things certain :-Welcome, my friends all :
But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded,

Alide to Seb. and Ant,
I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you,
And justify you traitors ; at this time
I'll tell no tales.

Seb. The devil speaks in him.. . [Aide.

Pro. No:-
For you, niost wicked sir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest fault; all of thein; and require
My dukedom of thee, which, perforce, I know,
Thou must restore,

Alon. If thou be's Prospero,
Give us particulars of thy preservation :
How thou hast met us here, who three hours fince
Were wreck'd upon this More; where I have lost,
How sharp the point of this remembrance is !
My dear fon Ferdinand.
Pro. 7 I am woe for't, fir.

Alon, 6 cho three hours fince] The unity of tine is most ri. gidly observed in this piece. The fable scarcely takes up a greater number of hours than are employed in the representation ; and from the very particular care which our author takes to point out this circumstance in so many other passages, as well as here, it should seem as if it were not accidental, but purposely designed to shew the admirers of Ben Jonson's art, and the cavillers of the tiine, that he too could write a play within all the stricteft laws of regularity, when he chose to load himself with the critick’s fetters.

The Boarfecain inarks the progress of the day again-which but three glasses fince, &c. and at the beginning of this act the duration of the time employed on the stage is particularly ascer. tained; and it refers to a paffage in the first act, of the fame tendency. The storm was raised at least two glasses after mid-day, and Ariel was promised that the work should cease at the sixth hour.

STEEVENS ? I am qvoe for't, fir.] i. e. I am sorry for it. To be coe, is often used by old writers to signify, to be sorry. So Chaucer : See The Court of Love, p. 36.

" I svolds

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

Pro. I rather think, You have not fought her help; of whose soft grace, For the like loss, I have her sovereign aid, And rest myself content.

Alon. You the like loss?

Pro. 8 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?

. Pro. 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; For 'tis a chronicle of day by day, Not a relation for a breakfast, nor Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, fir; This cell's my court: here have I few attendants,

my son lies. In that cozy hey were, iphone

I cvolde be wo,
“ That I presume to her to writin so.”
So in the play of The Four Ps, 1569:

* But be ye sure I would be woe
" That you should chance to begyle me fo.”

- STEEVENS. 8 As great to me, as late ;- ] My loss is as great as yours, and has as lately happened to me. Johnson.

And

And subjects none abroad : pray you, look in ;
My dukedom fince you have given me again,
I will require 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 discover's Ferdinand

and Miranda playing at chess. Mira. Sweet lord, you play me false.

Fer. No, my dearest love, I would not for the world. Mira. 9 Yes, foș 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.

Seb. A most high miracle !

Fer. Though the seas threaten, they are merciful : I have curs’d them without cause.

Alon. Now all the blessings [Ferd. kneels.
Of a glad father compass thee about !
Arise, and say how thou cam'st here.

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

Pro. 'Tis new to thee.

9 Yes, for a score of kingdoms, ] I take the sense to be only this : Ferdinand would not, he says, play her false for the world; yes, answers she, I would allow you to do it for something less than the world, for twenty kingdoms, and I wish you well enough to allow you, after a little wrangle, that your play was fair. So likewise Dr. Gray. Johnson.

I would recommend another punctuation, and then the sense would be as follows:

Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle,

And I would call it fair play; because such a conteit would be worthy of you. STEEVENS.

Alon. Aloin. What is this maid, with whom thou waft at

I play?
Your eld'st acquaintance cannot be three hours :
Is she che goddess that hath sever'd us,
And brought us thus together?

Fer. Sir, she's mortal;
But, by imınortal Providence, she's mine :
I chose her, when I could not ask my father
For his advice; nor thought, I had one : The
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.

Alon. I am hers :
But, oh, how oddly will it sound, that I
Must ask my child forgiveness !

Pro. There, fir, ftop;
Let us not burden our remembrance with
An heaviness that's gone.

Gon. I have inly wept,
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 ille ; and all of us, ourselves, · When no man was his own.

Alon.

" When no man was bis own.] For when perhaps should be read where. JOHNSON.

When