Awak'd an evil nature and my trust, As my trust was; which had, indeed, no limit, But what my power might else exact,-like one, To credit his own lie,-he did believe Mira. Your tale, sir, would cure deafness. Pro. To have no screen between this part he play'd The dukedom, yet unbow'd, (alas, poor Milan !) Mira. O the heavens ! Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then tell me, If this might be a brother. Mira. I should sin To think but nobly of my grandmother : Good wombs have borne bad sons. Pro. Now the condition. This king of Naples, being an enemy To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit ; Of homage, and I know not how much tribute,- Out of the dukedom; and confer fair Milan, Fated to th' purpose, did Antonio open [5] i. e. By often repeating the same story, made his memory such a sinner unte truth, as to credit his own lie A miserable delusion, to which story-tellers are frequently subject. WARB. The gates of Milan; and, i' the dead of darkness, Mira. Alack, for pity! I, not rememb'ring how I cried out then, Will cry it o'er again; it is a hint, That wrings mine eyes. Pro. Hear a little further, And then I'll bring thee to the present business Which now's upon us; without the which, this story Were most impertinent. Mira. Wherefore did they not That hour destroy us? Pro. Well demanded, wench; My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not ; (So dear the love my people bore me) nor set A mark so bloody on the business; but With colours fairer painted their foul ends. Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepar'd To th' winds, whose pity, sighing back again, Mira. Alack! what trouble Was I then to you! Pro. O a cherubim Thou wast, that did preserve me! Thou didst smile, Infused with a fortitude from heaven, When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salt; Under my burden groan'd; which rais'd in me Against what should ensue. Mira. How came we ashore ? Pro. By Providence divine. Some food we had, and some fresh water, that Out of his charity, (who being then appointed Which since have steaded much; so, of his gentleness, Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me, Mira. 'Would I might But ever see that man! Pro. Now I arise : Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. Have I, thy school-master, made thee more profit For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful. Mira. Heavens thank you for't! And now, I pray you, sir, (For still 'tis beating in my mind,) your reason For raising this sea-storm? Pro. Know thus far forth. By accident most strange, bountiful fortune, Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies Brought to this shore: and by my prescience A most auspicious star; whose influence If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes Will ever after droop.-Here cease more questions; Approach, my Ariel; come. Enter ARIEL. Ari. All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly, To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride On the curl'd clouds; to thy strong bidding, task Ariel, and all his quality. Pro. Hast thou, spirit, Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee? Ari. To every article. I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,' [6] Dr. Warburton rightly observes, that this sleepiness, which Prospero by his art had brought upon Miranda, and of which he knew not how soon the effect would begin, makes him question her so often whether she is attentive to his story. JOHNSON. [7] The beak was a strong pointed body at the head of the ancient gallies; it is used here for the forecastle, or the bowsprit. JOHNSON. [8] The part between the quarter-deck and the forecastle. JOHNSON. I flam'd amazement : Sometimes, I'd divide, Pro. My brave spirit! Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil Ari. Not a soul But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd Some tricks of desperation: All, but mariners, Pro. Why, that's my spirit! On their sustaining garments not a blemish, Pro. Of the king's ship, The mariners, say, how thou hast dispos'd, Ari. Safely in harbour Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once [9] Fletcher, in his Women Pleased, says, "The devil should think of purchasing that egg-shell to victual out a witch for the Beermoothes." Smith, in his account of these islands, p. 172, says, "that the Bermudas were so fearful to the world, that many called them the Isle of Devils."-P. 174. "to all seamen no less The mariners all under hatches stow'd; Whom, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd labour, Bound sadly home for Naples; Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd, Pro. Ariel, thy charge Exactly is perform'd; but there's more work: Ari. Past the mid season. Pro. At least two glasses: The time 'twixt six and now, Must by us both be spent most preciously. Ari. Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains, Let me remember thee what thou hast promis'd, Which is not yet perform'd me. Pro. How now ? moody? What is't thou canst demand? Ari. My liberty. Pro. Before the time be out? no more. Ari. I pray thee Remember, I have done thee worthy service; Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, serv'd Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise To bate me a full year. Pro. Dost thou forget From what a torment I did free thee? Ari. No. terrible than an enchanted den of furies." And no wonder, for the clime was extremely subject to storms and hurricanes; and the islands were surrounded with scattered rocks, lying shallowly hid under the surface of the water. WARBURTON. The epithet here applied to the Bermudas will be best understood by those who have seen the chafing of the sea over the rugged rocks by which they are surrounded, and which render access to them so dangerous. It was in our poet's time the eurrent opinion, that Bermudas was inhabited by monsters and devils-Setebos, the god of Caliban's dam, was an American devil, worshipped by the giants of Patagonia. HENLEY. [1] Flote is wave. Flot. Fr. STEEV. [2] That the character and conduct of Prospero may be understood, something must be known of the system of enchantment, which supplied all the marvellous, found in the romances of the middle ages. This system seems to be founded on the opinion that the fallen spirits, having different degrees of guilt, had different habitations allotted them at their expulsion; some being confined in hell, some (as Hooker, who delivers the opinion of our poet's age, expresses it) dispersed in air, some on earth, some in water, others in caves, dens, or minerals under the earth." Of these, some were more malignant and mischievous than others. The earthy spirits seem to have been thought the most depraved, and the serial the less vitiated. Thus Prospero observes of Ariel: |