Mir. Why speaks my father so ungently? This
Is the third man that e'er I saw; the first
That e'er I sigh'd for: pity move my father
To be inclined my way!

Fer.

Pros.

Fer.

O, if a virgin,

And your affection not gone forth, I'll make you
The queen of Naples.

Soft, sir! one word more.

[Aside] They are both in either's powers: but this

swift business

450

I must uneasy make, lest too light winning
Make the prize light. To Fer.] One word more;

I charge thee

That thou attend me: thou dost here usurp

The name thou owest not; and hast put thyself

Upon this island as a spy, to win it

From me, the lord on't.

No, as I am a man.

Mir. There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple :

Pros.

If the ill spirit have so fair a house,

Good things will strive to dwell with't.

Follow me.

Speak not you for him; he's a traitor. Come; 460
I'll manacle thy neck and feet together :

Sea-water shalt thou drink; thy food shall be

The fresh-brook muscles, wither'd roots, and husks

Wherein the acorn cradled. Follow.

Make not too rash a trial of him, for

He's gentle, and not fearful.

Pros.

What! I say,

Mir.

My foot my tutor? Put thy sword up, traitor;
Who makest a show, but darest not strike, thy conscience
Is so possess'd with guilt: come from thy ward; 471
For I can here disarm thee with this stick

And make thy weapon drop.

Beseech you, Father.

Pros. Hence! hang not on my garments.
Mir.

I'll be his surety.

Pros.

Sir, have pity;

Silence! one word more

Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What!
An advocate for an impostor! hush!

Thou think'st there is no more such shapes as he,
Having seen but him and Caliban: foolish wench!
To the most of men this is a Caliban,

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And they to him are angels.

Mir.

My affections

Are, then, most humble; I have no ambition
To see a goodlier man.

My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up.
My father's loss, the weakness which I feel,
The wreck of all my friends, nor this man's threats,

To whom I am subdued, are but light to me,
Might I but through my prison once a day
Behold this maid : all corners else o' th' earth

490 Pros. Ant. He could not miss't.

Mir.

Pros.

Ari.

Let liberty make use of; space enough
Have I in such a prison.

[Aside] it works. [To Fer.] Come on.

Thou hast done well, fine Ariel! [To Fer.]
Follow me.

[To Ari.] Hark what thou else shalt do me.
Be of comfort;

My father's of a better nature, sir,
Than he appears by speech: this is unwonted
Which now came from him.

Thou shalt be as free

As mountain winds: but then exactly do
All points of my command.

To the syllable.

Pros. Come, follow. Speak not for him. [Exeunt.

500

ACT SECOND.

Scene I.

Another part of the island.

Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo,
Adrian, Francisco, and others.

Gon. Beseech you, sir, be merry; you have cause,
So have we all, of joy; for our escape
Is much beyond our loss. Our hint of woe
Is common; every day, some sailor's wife,
The masters of some merchant, and the merchant,
Have just our theme of woe; but for the miracle,
I mean our preservation, few in millions

Alon.

Can speak like us: then wisely, good sir, weigh
Our sorrow with our comfort.

Prithee, peace.

Seb. He receives comfort like cold porridge.
Ant. The visitor will not give him o'er so.
Seb. Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit; by

and by it will strike.

Gon. Sir,

Seb. One: tell.

Gon. When every grief is entertain'd that's offer'd,
Comes to the entertainer-

Seb. A dollar.

Gon. Dolour comes to him, indeed: you have spoken
truer than you purposed.

Seb. You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should.
Gon. Therefore, my lord,-

Ant. Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!

Alon. I prithee, spare.

Gon. Well, I have done: but yet,

Seb. He will be talking.

Ant. Which, of he or Adrian, for a good wager, first

begins to crow?

Seb. The old cock.

Ant. The cockerel.

Seb. Done. The wager?

Ant. A laughter.

Seb. A match!

Adr. Though this island seem to be desert, -
Seb. Ha, ha, ha!-So, you're paid.

Adr. Uninhabitable, and almost inaccessible,

Seb. Yet,

Adr. Yet,

40

Adr. It must needs be of subtle, tender and delicate

temperance.

Ant. Temperance was a delicate wench.

Seb. Ay, and a subtle; as he most learnedly de

livered.

Adr. The air breathes upon us here most sweetly.

Seb. As if it had lungs, and rotten ones.

Ant. Or as 'twere perfumed by a fen.

Gon. Here is everything advantageous to life.

Ant. True; save means to live.

Seb. Of that there's none, or little.

Gon. How lush and lusty the grass looks! how

green!

Ant. The ground, indeed, is tawny.

Seb. With an eye of green in't.

Ant. He misses not much.

Seb. No; he doth but mistake the truth totally.

Gon. But the rarity of it is, which is indeed almost

beyond credit,

Seb. As many vouched rarities are.

Gon. That our garments, being, as they were, drenched in the sea, hold, notwithstanding, their freshness and glosses, being rather new-dyed than stained with salt water.

Ant. If but one of his pockets could speak, would it not say he lies?

50

60

Seb. Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report. Gon. Methinks our garments are now as fresh as when we put them on first in Afric, at the marriage of the king's fair daughter Claribel to 70 the King of Tunis.