Mira

I do not know One of my sex; Lo woman's face remember, Save, from my glass, mine own; nor have I seen More that I may call men, than you, good friend, And my dear father: how features are abroad, I am skill-less of; but, by my modesty, (The jewel in my dower,) I would not wish Any companion in the world but you; Nor can imagination form a shape,

Besides yourself, to like of: but I prattle Something too wildly, and my father's precepts I therein do forget.

Fer.

I am, in my condition,

A prince, Miranda; I do think, a king;

(I would, not so!) and would no more endure

This wooden slavery, than to suffer

The flesh-fly blow my mouth.

speak;

The very instant that I saw you, did

Hear my soul

My heart fly to your service; there resides,

To make me slave to it; and, for your sake,

Am I this patient log-man.

Mira.

Do you love me?

Ste. Drink, servant-monster, when I bid thee; thy eyes are almost set in thy head.

Trin. Where should they be set else? he were a brave monster indeed, if they were set in his tail.

Ste. My man-monster hath drowned his tongue in sack for my part, the sea cannot drown me: I swam, ere I could recover the shore, five-andthirty leagues, off and on, by this light. Thou shalt be my lieutenant, monster, or my standard.

Trin. Your lieutenant, if you list; he's no

standard.

Ste. We'll not run, monsieur monster. Trin. Nor go neither: but you'll lie, like dogs, and yet say nothing neither.

Ste. Moon-cal', speak once in thy life, if thou beest a good moon-calf.

Cal. How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe: I'll not serve him, he is not valiant.

Trin. Thou liest, most ignorant monster; I am in case to justle a constable: Why, thou deboshed fish thou, was there ever man a coward, that hath drunk so much sack as I to-day? Wilt thou tell a monstrous lie, being but half a fish, and

sound,

And crown what I profess with kind event,

If I speak true; if hollowly, invert

What best is boded me to mischief! I,

Beyond all limit of what else' i' the world,

Do love, prize, honour you.
Mira.

I am a fool,

To weep at what I am glad of. Pro.

Fair encounter

Cal. Lo, how he mocks me! wilt thou let him, my lord?

Trin. Lord, quoth he!-that a monster should be such a natural!

Cal. Lo, lo, again! bite him to death, I pr'ythee. Ste. Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head; if you prove a mutineer, the next tree-The poor monster's my subject, and he shall not suffer indignity.

Cal. I thank my noble lord. Wilt thou be pleas'd to hearken once again to the suit I made thee?

Ste. Marry will I: kneel, and repeat it; I will stand, and so shall Trinculo.

farewell, Iill half an hour hence. Fer.

A thousand! thousand!

[Exeunt FER. and MIR.

Pro. So glad of this as they, I cannot be, Who are surpris'd with all; but my rejoicing At nothing can be more. I'll to my book; For yet, ere supper time, must I perform Much business appertaining.

[Exit.

SCENE II.-Another part of the Island. Enter STEPHANO and TRINCULO; CALIBAN following with a Bottle.

Ste. Tell not me; -when the butt is out, we will drink water; not a drop before: therefore bear up, and board 'em: Servant-monster, drink to me. Trin. Servant-monster? the folly of this island! They say, there's but five upon this isle: we are three of them; if the other two be brained like us, the state totters.

1 What else, for whatsoever else. 2 Steevens observes justly that this is one of those Louches of nature which distinguish Shakspeare from all other writers. There is a kindred thought in Romeo and Juliet:

"Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring! Your tributary drops belong to woe, Which you mistaking offer up to joy."

3i e. your companion Malone has cited a very

Where the quick freshes are.

Ste. Trinculo, run into no further danger: inapposite passage from Catullus; but, as Mr. Douce remarks, Shakspeare had more probably the pathetic old poem of The Nut Brown Maid in his recollection.

4 Deboshed, this is the old orthography of debauch. ed; following the sound of the French original. In altering the spelling we have departed from the proper pronunciation of the word.

5 He calls him a pied ninny, alluding to Trinculo' party-coloured dress, he was a licensed fool or jester 6 Quick freshes are living springs.

him,

Having first seiz'd his books; or with a log
Batter his skull, or paunch him with a stake,
Or cut his wezand1 with thy knife; Remember,
First to possess his books; for without them
He's but a sot, as I am, nor hath not
One spirit to command: They all do hate him,
As rootedly as I: Burn but his books;

He has brave utensils, (for so he calls them,)
Which, when he has a house, he'll deck withal.
And that most deeply to consider, is

The beauty of his daughter; he himself

Calls her a non-pareil: I never saw a woman,

But only Sycorax my dam, and she;

But she as far surpasseth Sycorax,

As great'st does least.

Ste.

Is it so brave a lass?

Thought is free.

Cal. That's not the tune.

[ARIEL plays the tune on a tabor and pipe.

Ste. What is this same?

Trin. This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of No-body.

Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices,
That, I then had wak'd after long sleep,

Will make me sleep again and then, in reaming,
The cloads, methought, would open, ar. shew riches
Read to drop upon me; that, when I wak'd,
I cry'd to dream again.

Ste. This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I shall have my music for nothing. Cal. When Prospero is destroyed.

Ste. That sha'l be by and by: I remember the

story.

Trin. The sound is going away: let's follow**, and after, do our work.

Ste. Lead, monster; wel allow-I would, J could see this taborer: he lays 113.

Trin. Wilt come? I'll follow, Stephano. [Exeuni

SCENE III.-Another part of the Island F ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GOAZALU ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, and others.

Gon. By'r lakin, I can go no further, sit;

My old bones ache; here's a maze trod, indeed Through forth-rights, and meanders! by your pe

tience,

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. 1 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.

Seb.

Will we take thoroughly. Ant.

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.

I say, to-night: no more.

Solemn and strange music; and PROSPERC 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.

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

Gon. Marvellous sweet music!

Alon. Give us kind keepers, heavens! What

were these?

Seb. A living drollery: Now I will believe That there are unicorns; that, in Arabia There is one tree, the phenix' throne;" one phœnix

At this hour reigning there.

"calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire; And aery tongues that syllable men's names On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses." 5 By'r lakin is a contraction of By our ladykin, the diminutive of our lady.

6 Shows, called Drolleries, were in Shakspeare's time performed by puppets only. From these our modern drolls, exhibited at fairs, &c. took their name. "A living drollery," is thereforo a drollery not by wooden but by living personages.

7 "I myself have heard strange thirgs of this kind of tree; namely, in regard of the Bird Phenix, which is supposed to have taken that name of this date tree

Fran. They vanish'd strangely.

Seb.

No matter, since They have left their viands behind; for we have stomachs.Will't please you taste of what is here? Alon.

Not I. 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 such men, Whose heads stood in their breasts? which now we find,

Each putter-out on five for one, will bring us
Good warrant of.
Alon.
I will stand too, 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, by 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, men 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

(called in Greek φοινιξ;) for it was assured unto me, that the said bird died with that tree, and revived of itselfe as the tree sprung againe."-Holland's Translation of Pliny, B. xiii. C. 4.

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,
Lingering perdition (worse than any death
Can be at once,) shall step by step attend
You, and your ways; whose wraths 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. But one fiend at a time,

Seb.

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 ectasy
May now provoke them to.
Adr.

Follow, I pray you. Exeunt. ACT IV.

Each one, tripping on his toe, Will be here with mop and mowe:

PERO, FERDINAND, and MIRANDA.

Pro. Dearly, my delicate Ariel: Do not ap

Pro. If I have too austerely punish'd you,

proach,

Your compensation makes amends; for I

T:ll thou dost hear me call.

Have given you here a thread of mine own life,

Ari.

Or that for which I live; whom once again

Well I conceive. [Erit. Pro. Look, thou be true; do not give dalliance

I tender to thy hand: all thy vexations

Too much the rein; the strongest oaths are straw

To the fire i' the blood: be more abstemious,

Fer.

I warrant you, sır,

Were but my trials of thy love, and thou

"The emperor said on high
Sertes thys is a fayry
Or ellys a vanite."

5 That is, bring more than are sufficient. "Corollary, the addition or vantage above measure, an overplus, or surplusage."-Blount.

6 Stover is fodder for cattle, as hay, straw, and the like: estovers is the old law term, it is from estouvier, old French.

7 The old editions read Pioned and Twilled brime. In Ovid's Banquet of Sense, by Geo. Chapman, 1595, we meet with

"-Cuphke twill-pants strew'd in Bacchus bowers." If twill be the name of any flower, the old reading may stand. Mr. Henley strongly contends for the old reading, and explains pioned to mean faced up with mire in the manner that ditchers trim the banks of ditches: twilled

The white-cold virgin snow upon my heart Abates the ardour of my liver.

Pro.

Well.

5

Now come, my Ariel; bring a corollary,
Rather than want a spirit; appear, and pertly.-
No tongue; all eyes; be silent. [Soft music.
A Masque. Enter IRIS.

Iris. Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas
Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats, and peas;
Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep,
And flat meads thatch'd with stover, them to keep;
Thy banks with peonied and lilied brims,"
Which spongy April at thy hest betrims,
To make cold nymphs chaste crowns; and thy

Tell me, heavenly bow,

If Venus, or her son, as thou dost know,
Do now attend the queen? since they did plot
The means, that dusky Dis my daughter got,
Her and her blind boy's scandal'd company
I have forsworn.

he derives from the French verb touiller, which Cotgrave interprets, "filthily to mix, to mingle, confound, or shuffle together." He objects to peonied and lillied because these flowers never blow in April. But Mг Boaden has pointed out a passage in Lord Bacon's Essay on Gardens which supports the reading in the text. "In April follow the double white violet, the wall-flower, the stock-gilly-flower, the cowslip, flower-de-luces. and lillies of all natures; rose-mary flowers, the tulippe, the double piony, &c." Lyte, in his Herbal, says one kind of peonie is called by some, maiden or virgin peonie. And Pliny mentions the water-lilly as a preserver of chastity, B. xxvi. C. 10. Edward Fenton, in his "Secret Wonders of Nature," 1569, 4to. B. vi. asserts that "the water-lilly mortifieth altogether the appetite of sensuality and defends from unchaste thoughts and dreams of venery." The passage certainly gains by the reading of Mr. Steevens, which I have, for these reasons, retained.

8 That is, forsaken by his lass.

9 Mr. Douce remarks that this is an elegant expan sion of the following lines in Phaer's Vigil Æneid, Lib. iv.

"Dame rainbow down therefore with sa ton wings of Whose face a thousand sundry hues against the sun

Jun. Honour, riches, marriage-blessing,
Long continuance, and increasing,
Hourly joys be still upon you!
Juno sings her blessings on you.
Cer. Earth's increase, and foison plenty;
Barns and garners never empty;
Vines, with clust'ring bunches growing;
Plants, with goodly burden bowing;
Spring come to you, at the farthest,
In the very end of harvest!
Scarcity and want shall shun you;
Ceres' blessing so is on you.

Fer. This is a most majestic vision, and
Harmonious charmingly: May I be bold
To think these spirits?

Рто.

Spirits, which by mine art

I have from their confines call'd to enact

Come hither from the furrow, and be merry;
Make holy-day: your rye-straw hats put on,
And these fresh nymphs encounter every one
In country footing.

Enter certain Reapers, properly habited: they join with the Nymphs in a graceful dance; towards the end of which PROSPERO starts suddenly, and speaks; after which, to a strange, hollow, and con fused noise, they heavily vanish.

Pro. [Aside.] I had forgot that foul conspiracy Of the beast Caliban, and his confederates, Against my life; the minute of their plot Is almost come.- [To the Spirits.) Well done ;

avoid; no more.

Fer. This is strange: your father's in some passion That works him strongly. Mira.

Never till this day,

Saw I him touch'd with anger so distemper'd.
Pro. You do look, my son, in a mov'd sort,
As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir:
Our revels now are ended: these our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:

And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve;
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack" behind: We are such stuff
As dreams are made of, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.-Sir, I am vex'd;
Bear with my weakness; my old brain is troubled.
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity:

If you be pleas'd, retire into my cell,
And there repose; a turn or two I'll walk,

To still my beating mind.
Fer. Mira.

We wish your peace.

[Exeunt.

Pro. Come with a thought:-I thank you:Ariel, come.

Enter ARIEL.

Spirit, We must prepare to meet with Caliban. Ari. Ay, my commander: when I presentee

Ceres,

I thought to have told thee of it; but I fear'd,
Lest I might anger thee.

Pro. Say again, where didst thou leave these varlets?

Ari. I told you, sir, they were red-hot with drink

ing;

So full of valour, that they smote the air
For breathing in their faces; beat the ground
For kissing of their feet: yet always bending
Towards their project: then I beat my tabor,
At which, like unback'd colts, they prick'd their

ears,

It is evident that one poet imitated the other, and it seems probable that Shakspeare was the imitator. The exact period at which the Tempest was produced is not known, but it is thought not earlier than 1611. It was first printed in the folio of 1623. Lord Sterline also wrote a tragedy entitled Julius Cæsar, in which there are parallel passages to some in Shakspeare's play on the same subject, and Malone thinks the coincidence more than

And let this worldly pomp our wits enchant,

All fades, and scarcely leaves behind a token.

Those golden palaces, those gorgeous halls,
With furniture superfluously fair,

Those stately courts, those sky-encountering walls,
Evanish all like vapours in the air."

The preceding stanza also contains evidence of the samo train of thought with Shakspeare.

"And when the eclipse comes of our glory's light, Then what avails the adoring of a name?

A meer illusion made to mock the sight,

Whose best was but the shadow of a dream."