Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

"Tis far off;

And rather like a dream than an assurance,
That my remembrance warrants: Had I not
Four or five women once, that tended me? [is it,
Pro. Thou had'st, and more, Miranda: but how
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
Thy father was the duke of Milan, and [since,
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?
Pro.

By foul play, as thou say'st,
But blessedly holp hither.
Mira.

Both, both, my girl:

were we heav'd thence;

O, my heart bleeds To think o' the teen that I have turn'd you to, Which is from my remembrance! Please you, further. Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'ɗ Antonio,I pray thee, mark me,-that a brother should Be so perfidious!-he, whom next thyself, Of all the world I lov'd, and to him put The manage of my state; as, at that time, Through all the signiories it was the first, And Prospero the prime duke; being so reputed In dignity, and, for the liberal arts, Without a parallel: those being all my study, The government I cast upon my brother, And to my state grew stranger, being transported, And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncleDost thou attend me?

Mira.

Sir, most heedfully. Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits, How to deny them; whom to advance, and whom To trash for over-topping; new created [them, The creatures that were mine; I say, or chang'd

[ocr errors]

| Or else new form'd them; having both the key Of officer and office, set all hearts

To what tune pleas'd his ear; that now he was
The ivy, which had hid my princely trunk, [not,
And suck'd my verdure out on't.-Thou attend'st
I pray thee, mark me.

Mira.

O, good sir, I do. Pro. I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicate To closeness, and the bettering of my mind With that, which, but by being so retir'd, O'er-priz'd all popular rate, in my false brother Awak'd an evil nature: and my trust, Like a good parent, did beget of him

A falsehood, in its contrary as great

As my trust was; which had, indeed, no limit,
A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded,
Not only with what my revenue yielded,
But what my power might else exact,-like one,
Who having, unto truth, by telling of it,
Made such a sinner of his memory,
To credit his own lie,-he did believe
He was the duke; out of the substitution,
And executing the outward face of royalty,
With all prerogative:-Hence his ambition
Growing,-Dost hear?

Mira. Your tale, sir, would cure deafness. Pro. To have no screen between this part he play'd,

And him he play'd it for, he needs will be
Absolute Milan: Me, poor man!--my library
Was dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties
He thinks me now incapable: confederates
(So dry he was for sway) with the king of Naples,
To give him annual tribute, do him homage;
Subject his coronet to the crown, and bend ́
The dukedom, yet unbow'd, (alas! poor Milan!)
To most ignoble stooping.

Mira.
O, the heavens!
Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then tell
If this might be a brother.
Mira.

I should sin To think but nobly of my grandmother: Good wombs have borne bad sons.

[me,

Pro. Now the condition. The king of Naples, being an enemy To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit; Which was, that he in lieu o' the premises, Of homage, and I know not how much tribute,Should presently extirpate me and mine Out of the dukedom; and confer fair Milan, With all the honours, on my brother: Whereon, A treacherous army levied, one midnight Fated to the purpose, did Antonio open The gates of Milan; and, i'the dead of darkness, The ministers for the purpose hurried thence Me, and thy crying self.

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.

That hour destroy us?

Pro.

Wherefore did they not

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.
In few, they hurried us aboard a bark;
Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepar'd
A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively had quit it: there they hoist us,
To cry to the sea, that roar'd to us; to sigh
To the winds, whose pity, sighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.

[blocks in formation]
[graphic][subsumed][merged small][ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

Now I arise:Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. Here in this island we arriv'd; and here Have I, thy school-master, made thee more profit Than other princes can, that have more time For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful. [you, sir, Mira. Heavens thank you for't! And now, I pray For still 'tis beating in my mind,) vour 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
I find my zenith doth depend upon

A most auspicious star; whose influence
If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after droop.-Here cease more questions;
Thou art inclin'd to sleep; 'tis a good dulness,
And give it way;-I know thou can'st not choose.
(Miranda sleeps.)
Come away, servant, come: I am ready now;
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,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I filam'd amazement: sometimes I'd divide,
And burn in many places; on the top-mast,
The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,
Then meet and join: Jove's lightnings, the precursors
O the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
And sight-out-running were not: the fire and cracks
Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune
Seem'd to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble;
Yea, his dread trident shake.

Pro.

My brave spirit! Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil Would not infect his reason?

Ari.

Not a soul But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd Some tricks of desperation: all, but mariners, Piang'd in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel. Then all a-fire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand, With hair up-staring, (then like reeds, not hair,) Was the first man that leap'd; cried, "Hell is empty, And all the devils are here." Pro. But was not this nigh shore? Ari. Pro. But are they, Ariel, safe?

Ari.

Why, that's my spirit!

Close by, my master.
Not a hair perish'd;

[blocks in formation]

Of the king's ship, The mariners, say, how thou hast dispos'd,

And all the rest o' the fleet?

Ari.

Safely in harbour Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew From the still-vex'd Bermoothes, there she's hid: The mariners all under hatches stow'd;

Whom, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd labour,
I have left asleep and for the rest o' the fleet,
Which I dispers'd, they all have met again;
And are upon the Mediterranean flote,
Bound sadly home for Naples;

Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd,
And his great person perish.

Pro.

Ariel, thy charge

Exactly is perform'd; but there's more work:
What is the time o' the day?
Past the mid season.

Ari.
Pro. At least two glasses: the time 'twixt six and
Must by us both be spent most preciously. [now,
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.

What is't thou can'st demand?

Ari.

How now ? moody?

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?

[blocks in formation]

Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with And here was left by the sailors. Thou, my slave, As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant: And, for thou wert a spirit too delicate To act her earthly and abhorr'd commands, Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee, By help of her more potent ministers, And in her most unmitigable rage, Into a cloven pine; within which rift Imprison'd, thou did'st painfully remain A dozen years; within which space she died, And left thee there; where thou did'st vent thy groans As fast as mill-wheels strike: then was this island, (Save for the son that she did litter here, A freckled whelp, hag-born,) not honour'd with

A human shape.

Ari. Yes; Caliban, her son. Pro. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban, Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know'st What torment I did find thee in: thy groans Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts Of ever-angry bears; it was a torment To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax Could not again undo; it was mine art, When I arriv'd, and heard thee, that made gape The pine, and let thee out.

Ari. I thank thee, master. Pro. If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters. Ari.

Pardon, master:

I will be correspondent to command,
And do my spiriting gently.
Pro.

I will discharge thee.

Do so; and after two days

Ari. That's my noble master! What shall I do? say what? what shall I do? Pro. Go, make thyself like to a nymph of the sea; Be subject to no sight but mine; invisible To every eye-ball else. Go, take this shape, And hither come in't: hence, with diligence.

Exit Ariel. Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well; Awake!

Mira. The strangeness of your story put Heaviness in me.

Pro.

We'll visit Caliban, my

Shake it off: come on; slave, who never

[blocks in formation]

Filth as thou art, with human care; and lodg'd thee
In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
The honour of my child.

Cal. O ho, O ho!-'would it had been done!
Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else
This isle with Calibans.

Pro.
Abhorred slave,
Which any print of goodness will not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour
One thing or other: when thou did'st not, savage,
Know thine own meaning, but would'st gabble like
A thing most brutish, 1 endow'd thy purposes
With words that made them known: but thy vile race,
Though thou did'st learn, had that in't, which good
natures

Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou
Deservedly confin'd into this rock,
Who had'st deserv'd more than a prison.

Cal. You taught me language; and my profit on't Is, I know how to curse: the red plague rid you, For learning me your language!

Pro. Hag-seed, hence! Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou wert best, To answer other business. Shrug'st thou, malice? If thou neglect'st, or dost unwillingly

What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps; Fill all thy bones with aches: make thee roar, That beasts shall tremble at thy din.

Cal. No, 'pray thee!

I must obey: his art is of such power,
It would control my dam's god, Setebos,
And make a vassal of him.

Pro.

[Aside

So, slave: hence! [Exit Caliban.

Re-enter ARIEL, invisible, playing and singing: FERDINAND following him.

[blocks in formation]

Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,

Hark in thine ear.

Bur. Bowgh, wowgh.

Ari.

My lord, it shall be done.

[Exit.

The watch-dogs bark:

Bur. Bowgh, wowgh.

Pro. Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!

Enter CALIBAN.

Cal. As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd With raven's feather from unwholesome fen, Drop on you both! a south-east blow on ye, And blister you all o'er!

[cramps, Pro. For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins Shall, for that vast of night that they may work, All exercise on thee: thou shalt be pinch'd

As thick as honey-combs, each pinch more stinging Than bees that made them.

[blocks in formation]

Water with berries in't; and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night: and then I lov'd thee,
And shew'd thee all the qualities o' the isle, [tile;
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place, and fer-
Cursed be I that did so!-All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king: and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest of the island.

[blocks in formation]

Hark, hark! I hear

(Dispersedly.)

(Dispersedly.)

The strain of strutting chanticleer,

Cry, Cock-a-doodle-doo.

Fer. Where should this music be? i' the air, or

[blocks in formation]

Full fathom five thy father lies; Of his bones are coral made; Those are pearls that were his eyes: Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a sea change Into something rich and strange. Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: Hark! now I hear them.-ding-dong, bell. [Burden, ding-dong Fer. The ditty does remember my drown'd father: This is no mortal business, nor no sound That the earth owes:-I hear it now above me. Pro. The fringed curtains of thine eye advance, And say, what thou seest yond'.

Mira. What is't? a spirit? Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir.

« AnteriorContinuar »