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 'em

Wallets of flesh? or that there were such men

Whose heads stood in their breasts? which now we find

Each putter-out of five for one will bring us
Good warrant of.
Alon.
I will stand to and feed,
Although my last: no matter, since I feel 50
The best is past. Brother, my lord the duke,
Stand to and do as we.

[Alon., Seb. &c. draw their swords. You fools! I and my fellows 60

Are ministers of Fate: the elements, Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as well

But one fiend at a time,

I'll fight their legions o'er. Ant.

I'll be thy second. [Exeunt Seb, and Ant.

stabs

Gon. All three of them are desperate: their great guilt,

Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at

Like poison given to work a great time after, Now 'gins to bite the spirits. I do beseech you

Your swords are now too massy for your

strengths

And will not be uplifted. But rememberFor that's my business to you that you three From Milan did supplant good Prospero; 70 Exposed unto the sea, which hath requit it, Him and his innocent child for which foul

That are of suppler joints, follow them swiftly
And hinder them from what this ecstasy
May now provoke them to.
Adr.

Follow, I pray you.

[Exeunt.

ACT IV.

SCENE I. Before PROSPERO'S cell.
Enter PROSPERO, FERDINAND, and MIRANDA,
Pros. If I have too austerely punish'd you,
Your compensation makes amends, for I
Have given you here a thrid of mine own life,
Or that for which I live; who once again
I tender to thy hand: all thy vexations
Were but my trials of thy love, and thou
Hast strangely stood the test: here, afore
Heaven,

I ratify this my rich gift. O Ferdinand,
Do not smile at me that I boast her off,

Against an oracle.

I do believe it

11

Pros. Then, as my gift and thine own

acquisition Worthily purchased, take my daughter: but If thou dost break her virgin-knot before All sanctimonious ceremonies may With full and holy rite be minister'd, No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall 'To make this contract grow: but barren hate, Sour-eyed disdain and discord shall bestrew 20 "The union of your bed with weeds so loathly 'That you shall hate it both therefore take heed,

As Hymen's lamps shall light you.
Fer.

As I hope

Rather than want a spirit: appear, and pertly! No tongue! all eyes! be silent. [Soft music. Enter IRIS.

Iris. Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas

Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats and pease;

Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep,

And flat meads thatch'd with stover, them to

keep;

Thy banks with pioned and twilled brims,
Which spongy April at thy hest betrims,
To make cold nymphs chaste crowns: and

thy broom-groves,

Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves, Being lass-lorn; thy pole-clipt vineyard; And thy sea-marge, sterile and rocky-hard, Where thou thyself dost air-the queen ở

the sky,

70

Whose watery arch and messenger am I, Bids thee leave these, and with her sovereign

You sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary, Come hither from the furrow and be merry: Make holiday; 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.

Pros. [Aside] I had forgot that foul conspiracy

Of the beast Caliban and his confederates 140 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. Pros. You do look, my son, in a moved

sort,

150

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 on, 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.

160

We wish your peace. [Excunt.

Pros. Come with a thought. I thank thee, Ariel come.

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 240

Ste. I thank thee for that jest; here's a garment for't: wit shall not go unrewarded

parel, &c.

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.

we shall lose

Cal. I will have none on't our time, And all be turn'd to barnacles, or to apes With foreheads villanous low,

250

longs to a frippery. O king Stephano!

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

My charms crack not; my spirits obey; and

time

Trin. Thy grace shall have it.

Goes upright with his carriage. How's the

Cal. The dropsy drown this fool! what do

day?

Ari. On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord,

You said our work should cease. Pros.

pinches,

I did say so, When first I raised the tempest. Say, my

Make us strange stuff

spirit.

x Orid

Dost thou think so, spirit? Ari. Mine would, sir, were I human. Pros. And mine shall. Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling

20

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 29
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. Pros. 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 demi-puppets that By moonshine 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, 40 Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimm'd The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,

And 'twixt the green sea and the azured vault Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thun

Their clearer reason. O 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 art pinch'd for't now, Sebastian. Fresh

and blood,

That yet looks on me, or would know me:
Ariel,

Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell :
I will discase me, and myself present
As I was sometime Milan: quickly, spirit;
Thou shalt ere long be free.

ARIEL sings and helps to attire him.
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.

90

Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.
Pros. Why, that's my dainty Ariel! I
shall miss thee.