Alon.

If this prove

A vision of the island, one dear son
Shall I twice lose.

Seb.

A most high miracle!

Fer. Though the seas threaten, they are merciful: I have cursed them without cause.

Alon.

[Kneels to ALON.

Now all the blessings

Of a glad father compass thee about!
Arise, and say how thou cam'st here.

Mira.

O! wonder

How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is!

That has such people in't!

Pro.

O brave new world,

'Tis new to thee.

Alon. What is this maid, with whom thou wast

at play?

Your eld'st acquaintance cannot be three hours :

Is she the goddess that hath severed us,

And brought us thus together?

Fer.
Sir, she's mortal;
But, by immortal Providence, she's mine;
I chose her, when I could not ask my father
For his advice; nor thought I had one: she
Is daughter to this famous duke of Milan,
Of whom so often I have heard renown,
But never saw before; of whom I have
Received a second life, and second father
This lady makes him to me.

Alon.

I am hers: But O, how oddly will it sound, that I Must ask my child forgiveness!

Pro.

There, sir, stop:

I have inly wept,

Let us not burden our remembrances
With heaviness that's gone.

Gon.

Or should have spoke ere this. Look down, you gods,
And on this couple drop a blessed crown;

For it is you, that have chalked forth the way
Which brought us hither!

Alon.

I say, Amen, Gonzalo.

Gon. Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice Beyond a common joy; and set it down With gold on lasting pillars: In one voyage Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis; And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife Where he himself was lost; Prospero his dukedom, In a poor isle; and all of us, ourselves, When no man was his own.1 1

Alon.

Give me your hands:

[To FER. and MIRA.

Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart,
That doth not wish you joy!

Gon.

Be't so! Amen!

Re-enter ARIEL, with the Master and Boatswain amazedly following.

O look, sir, look, sir; here are more of us!
I prophesied, if a gallows were on land,
This fellow could not drown:-Now, blasphemy,
That swear'st grace o'erboard, not an oath on shore ?
Hast thou no mouth by land? What is the news?
Boats. The best news is, that we have safely found
Our king, and company: the next our ship,-
Which, but three glasses since, we gave out split,-
Is tight and yare, and bravely rigged, as when
We first put out to sea.

Ari.

Have I done since I went.

Pro.

Sir, all this service

[Aside.

My tricksy spirit!

Alon. These are not natural events; they strengthen, From strange to stranger :-Say, how came you hither? Boats. If I did think, sir, I were well awake,

I'd strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep,
And (how, we know not) all clapped under hatches,
Where, but even now, with strange and several noises
Of roaring, shrieking, howling, gingling chains,

1 When no man was in his senses or had self-possession.
10

VOL. I.

What things are these, my lord Antonio?
Will money buy them?

Ant.

Very like; one of them Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable.

1

Pro. Mark but the badges of these men, my lords, Then say, if they be true:-This misshapen knave, His mother was a witch; and one so strong That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs, And deal in her command, without her power: These three have robbed me; and this demi-devil (For he's a bastard one) had plotted with them To take my life: two of these fellows you Must know, and own; this thing of darkness I Acknowledge mine.

Cal.

I shall be pinched to death. Alon. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler? Seb. He is drunk now: Where had he wine?

Alon. And Trinculo is reeling ripe: Where should

they

Find this grand liquor that hath gilded them?
How cam'st thou in this pickle ?

2

Trin. I have been in such a pickle, since I saw you last, that, I fear me, will never out of my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing.

Seb. Why, how now, Stephano?

Ste. O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but a

cramp.

Pro. You'd be king of the isle, sirrah ?

Ste. I should have been a sore one then.

Alon. This is as strange a thing as e'er I looked on.

[Pointing to CALIban.

Pro. He is as disproportioned in his manners,

As in his shape :-Go, sirrah, to my cell;

Take with you your companions; as you look.
To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.

1 That is, work the same effects as the moon, without her delegated authority.

2 The phrase being gilded was a trite one for being drunk.