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cell:

In the same fashion as you gave in charge;
Just as you left them, sir; all prisoners,
In the lime-grove which weather-fends 1 your
They cannot budge till your release. The king,
His brother, and yours, abide all three distracted;
And the remainder mourning over them,
Brimfull 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 2 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.

Pro.

And mine shall. Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling Of their afflictions? and shall not myself,

One of their kind, that relish all as sharply,

Passion as they, be kindlier moved 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,

1 Defends from bad weather.

2 Thatches.

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 ye be 1) I have bedimm'd
The noon-tide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
And 'twixt the green sea and the azured 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-based promontory
Have I made shake; and by the spurs 2 pluck'd up
The pine and cedar: graves, at my command,
Have waked their sleepers; oped, and let them
forth

:

By my so potent art. But this rough magic
I here abjure and, when I have required
Some heavenly music, (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,

[blocks in formation]

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

[solemn music.

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, honorable man,

Mine eyes, even sociable to the show 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; 1 who, with Sebastian,

1 Tenderness of heart, and natural affection.

(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,

Ariel,

That now lie foul and muddy. Not one of them,
That yet looks on me, or would know me.
Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell;

[Exit Ariel.

I will discase me,1 and myself present,
As I was sometime Milan :-quickly, spirit;
Thou shalt ere long be free.

ARIEL re-enters, singing, and helps to attire PROS

PERO.

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,

1 Strip off my magic garments.

Being awake, enforce them to this place;
And presently, I pr'ythee.

Ari. I drink the air before me, and return
Or e'er 1 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 3 thou beest he, or no,

Or some enchanted 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 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 honor cannot

Be measured or confined.

1 Before.

2 Frightful.

3 Whether.

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