With colours fairer painted their foul ends.
In few, they hurry'd us aboard a bark;

Bore us fome leagues to Sea; where they prepar'd
A rotten carcafs of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, fail, nor mast; the very rats
Inftinctively had quit it; there they hoift us
To cry to th' fea, that roar'd to us; to figh
To th' winds, whofe pity, fighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.

Mira. Alack! what trouble

Was I then to you?

Pro. O a cherubim

Thou waft, that did preserve me: Thou didft fmile, Infused with a fortitude from heav'n,

(When I have mock'd the fea with drops full-falt ; Under my burthen groan'd;) which rais'd in me An undergoing ftomach, to bear up

Against what fhould enfue.

Mira. How came we a-fhore?

Pro. By providence divine.

Some food we had, and fome frefh water, that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,

Out of his charity (being then appointed
Mafter of this defign) did give us, with

Rich garments, linens, ftuffs, and neceffaries,

Which fince have fteeded 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 see that man!

Pro. Now, I arife: ----] i. e. now I come to the principal Part of my Story, for the Sake of which I told the foregoing; namely this, that I have now my Enemies in my Power; and if I omit this Opportunity, I fhall never have another to recover my Dukedom. So Richard III, when he comes to the Murder of his Nephews, fays to Tirrel,

Rife, and lend an ear.

B 6

Sit

Sit ftill, and hear the laft of our sea-forrow.
Here in this ifland we arriv'd, and here

Have I, thy school-mafter, 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 you, Sir,

(For ftill 'tis beating in my mind) your reafon For raifing this fea-ftorm?

Pro. Know thus far forth,

By accident most strange, bountiful fortune
(Now my dear lady) hath mine enemies
Brought to this fhore: and, by my prefcience
I find, my Zenith doth depend upon

A moft aufpicious ftar; whofe Influence

If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after droop.-Here cease more questions;
Thou art inclin'd to deep. 'Tis a good dulness,
And give it way; I know, thou canst not chufe-
[Miranda Лleeps.
Come away, fervant, come; I'm ready now:

Come.

Approach, my Ariel.

Ari. ALL hail, great master!. grave Sir, hail, I come To answer thy beft pleasure: Be't to fly;

To fwim; to dive into the fire; to ride

On the curl'd clouds: to thy.ftrong bidding task
Ariel, and all his qualities.-

Pro. Haft thou, Spirit,.

Perform'd to point the tempeft that I bad thee?
Ari. To every Article.

I boarded the King's fhip: now on the beak,
Now in the wafle, the deck, in every cabin,
I flam'd amazement. Sometimes, I'd divide,

And

And burn in many places; on the top-maft,
The yards, and bolt-fprit, would I flame diftinctly;
Then meet and join. Jove's lightnings, the precurfers
Of dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary

And fight out-running were not; the fire and cracks
Of fulphurous roaring the moft mighty Neptune
Seem'd to befiege, and make his bold waves tremble;
Yea, his dread trident fhake.

Pro. My brave, brave spirit!

Who was fo firm, so constant, that this coil
Would not infect his reafon?

Ari. Not a foul

But felt a feaver of the mind, and plaid

Some tricks of defperation: all, but mariners,
Plung'd in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel,
Then all a-fire with me: the King's fon Ferdinand
With hair up-flaring (then like reeds, not hair)
Was the first man, that leap'd; cry'd, "hell is empty;
"And all the devils are here.

Pro. Why, that's my fpirit!
But was not this nigh fhore?
Ari. Close by, my Mafter.
Pro. But are they, Ariel, fafe?
Ari. Not a hair perifh'd:

On their fuftaining garments not a blemish,
But fresher than before. And as thou badít me,
In troops I have difpers'd them 'bout the ille:
The King's fon have I landed by himfelf,.
Whom I left cooling of the air with fighs,
In an odd angle of the ifle, and fitting,
His arms in this fad knot.

Pro. Of the King's fhip

The mariners, fay how thou haft dispos'd,
And all the reft o'th' fleet?

Ari. Safely in harbour

Is the King's fhip; in the deep nook, where once Thou call dft me up at midnight, to fetch dew

From

From the ftill-vext *Bermoothes, there fhe's hid:
The mariners all under hatches flow'd,

Who, with a charm join'd to their fuffered labour,
I've left afleep; and for the reft o'th' fleet
(Which I difpers'd) they all have met again,
And are upon the Mediterranean flote,

Bound fadly home for Naples;

Suppofing, that they faw the King's ship wreckt, And his great person perish.

Pro. Ariel, thy charge

Exactly is perform'd; but there's more work:
What is the time o'th' day?

Ari. Paft the mid feason, at least two glaffes.
Pro. The time 'twixt fix and now

Muft by us both be fpent most preciously.

[pains,

Ari. Is there more toil; fince thou doft give me

Let me remember thee what thou haft promis'd,
Which is not yet perform'd me.

Pro. How now? moody?

What is't thou canft demand?

Ari. My liberty.

Pro. Before the time be out? no more.

Ari. I pr'ythee,

Remember, I have done thee worthy fervice;

Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, ferv'd Without or grudge, or grumblings; thou didst promise To bate me a full year.

Pro. Doft thou forget

From what a torment I did free thee?

Ari. No.

Tooze

Pro. Thou doft; and think'ft it much to tread the

Of the falt deep;

To run upon the fharp Wind of the North;

To do me business in the veins o'th' earth,
When it is bak'd with froft.

From the fill-vext Bermoothes,] Theobald says Bermoothes is printed by mistake for Bermudas: But Bermoothes is the Name by which the Iflands then went, as we may fee by the Voyagers of that Time.

Ari. I do not, Sir.

P

Pro. Thou ly'ft, malignant thing! haft thou forgot The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy Was grown into a hoop? haft thou forgot her? Ari. No, Sir.

[tell me.

Pro. Thou haft: where was fhe born? fpeak; Ari. Sir, in Argier.

Pro. Oh, was fhe fo? I must

Once in a month recount what thou haft been,
Which thou forget'ft. This damn'd witch Sycorax,
For mischiefs manifold and forceries terrible
To enter human hearing, from Argier,

Thou know'ft, was banish'd: for one thing she did,
They would not take her life. Is not this true?
Ari. Ay, Sir.

[child,
Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with
And here was left by th' failors; thou my flave
As thou report'ft thyfelf, waft then her servant.
And, for thou waft a fpirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refufing her grand* hefts, fhe did confine thee,
By help of her more potent minifters,
And in her moft unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprifon'd, thou did'ft painfully remain

A dozen years, within which space fhe dy'd,
And left thee there: where thou didst vent thy groans,
As faft as mill-wheels ftrike. Then was this Ifland
(Save for the fon that she did litter here,

A freckled whelp, hag-born) not honour'd with
A human fhape.

Ari. Yes; Caliban her fon.

Pro. Dull thing, I fay fo: he, that Caliban, Whom now I keep in fervice. Thou beft know'st, What torment I did find thee in; thy groans. Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breafts Of ever-angry bears; it was a torment

*--

her grand hefts,] i. e. her great Commands.

To,