ACT THE FIFTH.

1

SCENE I.

Before the Cell of PROSPERO.

Enter PROSPERO in his magic robes, and ARIEL. Pro. Now does my project gather to a head: My charms crack not; my spirits obey; and time Goes upright with his carriage. How's the day? Ariel. On the sixth hour; at which time my lord, You said our work should cease.

Pro.
When first I rais'd the tempest.
How fares the king and his?

Ari.

I did say so,

Say, my spirit,

Confin'd together

In the same fashion as you gave in charge;
Just as you
left them, sir; all prisoners
In the lime-grove which weather-fends '
your cell;
They cannot budge, till you release. The king,
His brother, and your's, abide all three distracted;
And the remainder mourning over them,
Brim-full of sorrow, and dismay; but chiefly
Him you term'd, sir, The good old lord, Gonzalo;
His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops
From eaves of reeds: your charm so strongly works
them,

That if you now beheld them, your affections
Would become tender.

Pro.

Dost thou think so, spirit?

Ari. Mine would, sir, were I human.

And mine shall,

Pro.
Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling

VOL. I.

5 Defends from bad weather.

G

Of their afflictions? and shall not myself,
One of their kind, that relish all as sharply

Passion as they, be kindlier mov'd than thou art? Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick,

Yet, with my nobler reason, 'gainst my fury
Do I take part: the rarer action is

In virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent,
The sole drift of my purpose doth extend

Not a frown further: Go, release them, Ariel;
My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore,
And they shall be themselves.

Ari.

I'll fetch them, sir.

[Exit. Pro. Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes,

and groves;

And ye, that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him,
When he comes back; you demy-puppets, that
By moon-shine do the green-sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites; and you, whose pastime
Is to make midnight-mushrooms; that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid
(Weak masters though you be) I have be-dimm'd
The noon-tide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
And 'twixt the green sea and the azur'd vault
Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout oak
With his own bolt: the strong-bas'd promontory
Have I made shake; and by the spurs pluck'd up
The pine, and cedar: graves, at my command
Have wak'd their sleepers; oped, and let them forth
By my so potent art: But this rough magick
I here abjure: and, when I have requir'd
Some heavenly musick, (which even now I do,)
To work mine end upon their senses, that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,

And, deeper than did ever plummet sound,
I'll drown my book.

[Solemn musick.

Re-enter ARIEL: after him ALONSO, with a frantic gesture, attended by GONZALO; SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO in like manner attended by ADRIAN and FRANCISCO: They all enter the circle which PROSPERO had made, and there stand charmed; which PROSPERO observing, speaks.

A solemn air, and the best comforter

To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains,

Now useless, boil'd within thy skull! There stand, For you are spell-stopp'd.

Holy Gonzalo, honourable man,

Mine eyes, even sociable to the shew 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 my 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,

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 shores,

That now lie foul and muddy. Not one of them,
That yet looks on me, or would know me: — Ariel,

7 Pity, or tenderness of heart.

Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell;

[Exit ARIEL.

I will dis-case me, and myself present,
As I was sometime Milan:-quickly, spirit:
Thou shalt ere long be free.

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:

Merrily, merrily, shall I live now,

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

Pro. 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 amaze

ment

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

Pro.

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 trifle to abuse me,

8 Whether.

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 entreat

Thou pardon me my wrongs:-But how should Prospero

Be living, and be here?

Pro.

First, noble friend,

Let me embrace thine age; whose honour cannot Be measur'd, or confin'd.

Gon.

Or be not, I'll not swear.

Pro.

Some subtilties o' the isle, Believe things certain: all:

But

Whether this be,

You do yet taste

that will not let you Welcome, my friends

you, my brace of lords, were I so minded,

[Aside 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. Pro.

The devil speaks in him. [Aside.

No:

For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest fault; all of them; and require
My dukedom of thee, which, perforce, I know,

Thou must restore..

Alon.

If thou beest 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.

Pro.

I am woe? for't, sir.

9 Sorry.