Enter Mariners, wet. Mar. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost! Boats. What, must our mouths be cold? [Exeunt. Gon. The king and prince at pray'rs ! let us as sist them, For our case is as theirs. Seb. I am out of patience. Ant. We are merely* cheated of our lives by drunkards. This wide-chapped rascal ;-'Would, thou might'st lie drowning, The washing of ten tides! Gon. He'll be hanged yet; Though every drop of water swear against it, And gape at wid'st to glut him. [A confused noise within.] Mercy on us!-We split, we split !-Farewell, my wife and children !-Farewell, brother!-We split, we split, we split!Ant. Let's all sink with the king. Seb. Let's take leave of him. [Exit. Exit. Gon. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground; long heath, brown furze, any thing: the wills above be done! but I would fain die a dry death. SCENE II. The island: before the cell of Prospero. [Exit. Mira. If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them : The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch, But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek, Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffer'd With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel, * Absolutely. Who had no doubt some noble creatures in her, Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er*. It should the good ship so have swallow'd, and Be collected; Pro. Mira. Pro. O, woe the day! I have done nothing but in care of thee, No harm. (Of thee, my dear one! thee, my daughter!) who Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing Of whence I am; nor that I am more better Mira. More to know Did never meddle with my thoughts. Pro. "Tis time I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand, And pluck my magic garment from me.-So; [Lays down his mantle. Lie there my art.-Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort. The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. Sit down; For thou must now know further. You have often Mira. *Before. Pro. The hour's now come; The very minute bids thee ope thine ear; Obey, and be attentive. Can'st thou remember A time before we came unto this cell? I do not think thou can'st; for then thou wast not Out* three years old. Mira. Certainly, sir, I can. Pro. By what? by any other house, or person? Of any thing the image tell me, that Hath kept with thy remembrance. Mira. "Tis far off; And rather like a dream than an assurance Pro. Thou had'st, and more, Miranda: but how is it, That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm † of time? If thou remember'st aught, ere thou cam'st here, How thou cam'st here, thou may'st. Mira. But that I do not. Pro. Twelve years since, Miranda, twelve years since, Thy father was the duke of Milan, and A prince of power. Mira. Sir, are not you my father? Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and She said thou wast my daughter; and thy father Was duke of Milan; and his only heir A princess;-no worse issued. Mira. O, the heavens! What foul play had we, that we came from thence ? Or blessed was't we did? Both, both, my girl: Pro. By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heav'd thence; But blessedly holp hither. Mira. O, my heart bleeds To think o' the teen † that I have turn'd you to, Which is from my remembrance! Please you further. * Quite. + Abyss. + Sorrow. |