Ready to drop upon me; that, when I wak'd,

I cry'd to dream again.

Will not, nor cannot, use such vigilance,
As when they are fresh.
Seb.

visible. Enter nter seve several

in

I say, to-night: no more. Solemn and strange musick; and Prospero above, instrange Shapes, bringing 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, Gon. Marvellous sweet musick! [hark!

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 phœnix' throne; one phœnix At this hour reigning there.

Ant.

I'll believe both; And what does else want credit, come to me, And I'll be sworn 'tis true: Travellers ne'er did lie, Though fools at home condemn them.

Gon.

If in Naples

I should report this now, would they believe me?
If I should say, I saw such islanders,
(For, certes, these are people of the island,)
Who,though they are of monstrous shape, yet, note,
Their manners are more gentle, kind, than of
Our human generation you shall find
Many, nay, almost any.

Pro.

Honest lord,

Thou hast said well; for some of you there present, Are worse than devils.

Alon.

Aside.

I cannot too much muse, Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound, ex

pressing (Although they want the use of tongue,) a kind Of excellent dumb discourse. Pro. Praise in departing. [Aside.

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, at them

we find,
Each putter-out on five for one, will bring us
Good warrant of.
Alon.

I will stand to, 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, with a 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 varour, 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 One dowle that's in my plume; my fellow-ministers 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;

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?

Pro.

As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:

And, like the baseless fabrick 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,

Lest I

might anger thee.

Pro. Say again, where didst thou leave these varlets? [ing; Ari. I told you, sir, they were red-hot with drinkSo 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,

I have from their confines call'd to enact

My present fancies.

Fer.

Let me live here ever;

So rare a wonder'd father, and a wife,
Make this place Paradise.

Pro.

thorns,

Which enter'd their frail shins: at last I left them
I' the filthy mantled pool beyond your cell,
There dancing up to the chins, that the foul lake

employment.

Sweet now, silence;

Juno and Ceres whisper seriously;
There's something else to do: hush, and be mute,
Or else our spell is marr'd.

Iris. You nymphs, call'd Naiads, of the wan

d'ring brooks,

With your sedg'd crowns, and ever-harmless looks,
Leave your crisp channels, and on this green land
Answer your summons: Juno does command:
Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebrate
A contract of true love; be not too late.

Enter certain Nymphs.

You sun-burn'd sicklemen, of August weary,
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 whereof Prospero starts suddenly, and speaks; after which, to a strange, hollow, and confused noise, they heavily vanish.

Pro. Aside] 1 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;

Pro.

This was well done, my bird:

Thy shape invisible retain thou still:
The trumpery in my house, go, bring it hither,
For stale to catch these thieves.
Ari.

I go, I go. [Exit.

Pro. A devil, a born devil, on whose nature
Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains,
Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost:
And as, with age, his body uglier grows,
So his mind cankers: I will plague them all,

Re-enter Ariel loaden with glistering apparel, &c. Even to roaring:-Come, hang them on this line. Prospero and Ariel remain invisible. Enter Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo, all wet.

Cal. Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may not

Hear a foot-fall: we now are near his cell.

Ste. Monster, your fairy, which, you say, is a harmless fairy, has done little better than played

the Jack with us.

Ste. I will fetch off my bottle, though I be o'er ears for my labour.

Cal. Pr'ythee, my king, be quiet: Seest thou here, This is the mouth o'the cell: no noise, and enter. Do that good mischief, which may make this island Thine own for ever, and I, thy Caliban,

For aye thy foot-licker.

thoughts.

Ste. Give me thy hand: I do begin to have bloody Trin. O king Stephano! O peer! O worthy Stephano! look, what a wardrobe here is for theel Cal. Let it alone, thou fool; it is but trash. Trin. O, ho, monster; we know what belongs to a frippery:-O king Stephano!

Ste. Put off that that gown, Trinculo; by this hand, I'll have that gown.

Trin. Thy grace shall have it. [mean, Cal. The dropsy drown this fool! what do you To doat thus on such luggage? Let's along, And do the murder first if he awake, From toe to crown he'll fill our skins with pinches; Make us strange stuff.

Ste. Be you quiet, monster.-Mistress line, is not this my jerkin? Now is the jerkin under the line: now, jerkin, you are like to lose your hair, and prove a bald jerkin.

Trin. Do, do: We steal by line and level, an't like your grace.

Ste. I thank thee for that jest; here's a garment for't: wit shall not go unrewarded, while I am king of this country: Steal by line and level, is an excellent pass of pate; there's another garment for't. Trin. Monster, come, put some lime upon your fingers, and away with the rest.

Cal. I will have none on't: we shall lose our time, And all be turn'd to barnacles, or to apes

With foreheads villanous low.

Ste. Monster, lay-to your fingers; help to bear this away, where my hogshead of wine is, or I'll turn you out of my kingdom go to, carry this... Trin. And this.

And the remainder mourning over them,
Brim-full of sorrow and dismay; but chiefty:
Him you term'd, sir, The good old lord, Gonzalo,
His tears run down his beard, like winter's dropsi
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.
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 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 1'11 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 ye 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 An. tonio 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 show of thine,
Fall fellowly drops. The charm dissolves apace; T
And as the morning steals upon the night,
Melting their 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 elly
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