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Leave your crisp 1 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] 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.

Mir.

Never till this day,
Saw I him touch'd with anger so distemper'd.
Pro. You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir:

Curling, winding.

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,1
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 pleased, retire into my cell,

And there repose: a turn or two I'll walk,

To still my beating mind.

Fer. Mir.

We wish your peace. [Exeunt. Pro. Come with a thought:-I thank you :

Ariel, come.

Enter ARIEL.

Ari. Thy thoughts I cleave to. What's thy

Pro.

pleasure?

Spirit,

We must prepare to meet with Caliban.

Ari. Ay, my commander: when I presented Ceres,

I thought to have told thee of it; but I fear'd.

1 Vanished.

The last fleeting vestige of the highest louds.

Lest I might anger thee.

Pro. Say again, where didst thou leave these

varlets?

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

So full of valor, 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,

Advanced their eye-lids, lifted up their noses,
As they smelt music; so I charm'd their ears,
That, calf like, they my lowing follow'd, through
Tooth'd briers, sharp furzes, pricking goss,1 and

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 O'erstunk their feet.

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.

[E. it.

Pro. A devil, a born devil, on whose nature Nurture 3 can never stick; on whom my pains, Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost;

1 A kind of low furze.

2 Bait.

Education.

And as, with age, his body uglier grews,

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. Enter CA

PROSPERO and ARIEL remain invisible.

LIBAN, 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 1 with us.

Trin. Monster, I do smell all horse-piss; at which my nose is in great indignation.

Ste. So is mine. Do you hear, monster? should take a displeasure against you; look Trin. Thou wert but a lost monster.

you,

Cal. Good my lord, give me thy favor still:

Be patient; for the prize I'll bring thee to

If I

Shall hood-wink this mischance: therefore, speak softly;

All's hush'd as midnight yet.

Trin. Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool,Ste. There is not only disgrace and dishonor in that, monster, but an infinite loss.

Trin. That's more to me than my wetting: yet this is your harmless fairy, monster.

Jack with a lantern.

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

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 aye1 thy foot-licker.

Ste. Give me thy hand: I do begin to have bloody thoughts.

Trin. O king Stephano! O peer! O worthy Stephano! look, what a wardrobe here is for thee ! 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 gown, Trinculo: by this hand, I'll have that gown.

Trin. Thy grace shall have it.

Cal. The dropsy drown this fool! what do you

mean,

To dote thus on such luggage? Let it alone,

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.3

• For ever.

2 A shop for the sale of old clothes. 34 An allusion to what often happens to people who pass

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