How thou haft met us here, who three hours fince
Were wrackt upon this fhore; where I have loft
(How fharp the point of this remembrance is!)
My dear fon Ferdinand.

Pro. I'm woe for't, Sir.

Alon. Irreparable is the lofs, and Patience Says, it is past her cure.

Pro. I rather think,

You have not fought her help; of whofe foft grace, For the like lofs, I have her fov'reign aid,

And reft my self content.

Alon. You the like lofs?

Pro. As great to me, as late; and, fupportable
To make the dear lofs, have I means much weaker
Than you may call to comfort you; for I
Have loft my daughter.

Alon. A daughter?

O heav'ns! that they were living both in Naples,
The King and Queen there; that they were, I wish,
My felf were mudded in that oozy bed,

Where my fon lies. When did you lofe your daughter?
Pro. In this laft tempeft. I perceive, these lords
At this encounter do fo much admire,

That they devour their reason; and fcarce think,
Their eyes do offices of truth, their words
Are natural breath: but howfoe'er you have
Been juftled from your fenfes, know for certain,

That I am Profp'ro, and that very Duke

Which was thruft forth of Milan; who moft ftrangely
Upon this fhore, where you were wrackt, was landed
To be the lord on't. No more yet of this;
For 'tis a chronicle of day by day,

Not a relation for a breakfast, nor

Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, Sir;
This cell's my court; here have I few attendants,
And fubjects none abroad; pray you, look in;
My Dukedom fince you've given me again,
I will requite you with as good a thing;
At least, bring forth a wonder to content ye,
As much as me my Dukedom.
F 3

SCENE

SCENE opens to the Entrance of the Cell,

Here Profpero difcovers Ferdinand and Miranda
playing at Chefs.

Mira. SWEET lord, you play me falle,

Fer. No, my dear love,

I would not for the world.

Mira. Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle, And I would call it fair play.

Alon. If this prove

A vifion of the island, one dear fon

Shall I twice lofe.

Seb. A moft high miracle!

Fer. Though the feas threaten, they are merciful : I've curs'd them without caufe.

Alon. Now all the bleffings

Of a glad father compass thee about!
Arife, and fay how thou cam'ft here.
Mira. O! wonder!

[Ferd. kneels,

How many goodly creatures are there here?

How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has fuch people in't!

Pro. 'Tis new to thee.

Alon. What is this maid, with whom thou waft at play? Your eld❜ft acquaintance cannot be three hours: Is the the goddess that hath fever'd us,,

And brought us thus together?

Fer. Sir, fhe's mortal;

But, by immortal providence, fhe's mine.
I chose her, when I could not ask my father
For his Advice: nor thought, I had one: fhe
Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan,
Of whom so often I have heard renown,
But never faw before; of whom I have
Receiv'd a second life, and fecond father
This lady makes him to me.

Alon. I am hers;

But, oh, how odly will it found, that Į
Muit ask my child forgiveness!

Pro

Pro. There, Sir, ftop;

Let us not burthen our remembrance with

An heaviness that's gone.

Gon. I've inly wept,

Or fhould have fpoke ere this.

Look down, you Gods,

And on this couple drop a bleffed crown:

For it is you, that have chalk'd forth the way,
Which brought us hither!

Alon. I fay, Amen, Gonzalo!

Gon. Was Milan thruft from Milan, that his iffue
Should become Kings of Naples! O rejoice
Beyond a common joy, and fet it down
In gold on latting pillars! in one voyage
Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis;
And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife,
Where he himself was loft; Profpero his Dukedom,
In a poor Ifle; and all of us, our felves,
When no man was his own.

Alon. Give me your hands:

Let grief and forrow ftill embrace his heart,
That doth not wish you joy!

Gon. Be't fo, Amen!

Enter Ariel, with the Mafter and Boatswain amazedly following.

O look, Sir, look, Sir, here are more of us!
I prophefy'd, if a gallows were on land,

This fellow could not drown. Now, blafphemy,
That fwear'ft grace o'erboard, not an oath on shore?
Haft thou no mouth by land? what is the news?

Boats. The best news is, that we have fafely found Our King and company, the next, our fhip, Which but three glaffes fince we gave out fplit, Is tight and yare, and bravely rigg'd, as when We first put out to fea.

Ari. Sir, all this service

Have I done fince I went.

Pro. My tricksey spirit!

Alon. These are not natural events; they ftrengthen, From ftrange to ftranger. Say, how came you hither?

F 4

Boatf

Boatf. If I did think, Sir, I were well awake,
I'd ftrive to tell you. We were dead a-fleep,
And, how we know not, all clapt under hatches,
Where but ev'n now with strange and fev'ral noises
Of roaring, fhrieking, howling, jingling chains,
And more diverfity of founds, all horrible,
We were awak'd; ftraightway at liberty:
Where we, in all her trim, freshly beheld (33)
Our royal, good and gallant fhip; our mafter
Cap'ring to eye her; on a trice, so please you,
Ev'n in a dream, were we divided from them,
And were brought moping hither.

Ari. Was't well done?

Pro. Bravely, my diligence; thou shalt be free.
Alon. This is as ftrange a maze as e'er men trod,
And there is in this business more than nature
Was ever conduct of; fome oracle
Muft rectify our knowledge,

Pro. Sir, my Liege,

Do not infeft your mind with beating on
The strangeness of this bufinefs; at pickt leifure
(Which shall be shortly) fingle I'll resolve you,
Which to you fhall feem probable, of every
Thefe happen'd accidents; till when be chearful,
And think of each thing well. Come hither, fpirit
Set Caliban and his companions free:

Untie the spell. How fares my gracious Sir?
There are yet miffing of your company
Some few odd lads, that you remember not.

(33) Where we, in all our Trim, freshly beheld

Our royal, good and gallant Ship;] What was their Trim, would the Editors have us conceive? The Fright that they had been put into, by the Diverfity of Noifes? But, as Dr. Thirlby rightly obferv'd to Me, the Trim is to be understood of the Ship, and not of the Crew. And this very Expreffion occurs again in the Comedy of Errors;

The Ship is in her Trim; the merry Wind

Blows fair from Land, &c.

And MILTON has likewife copied the Expreffion;

Behold a fately Ship,

Proud of her gawdy Trim, comes this way failing

With all her Brav'ry on.

Enter

Enter Ariel, driving in Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo, in their ftolen apparel.

Ste. Every man fhift for all the reft, and let no man take care for himself; for all is but fortune; Coragio, bully-monster, Coragio!

Trin. If these be true fpies, which I wear in my head, here's a goodly fight.

Cal. Ŏ Setebos, these be brave spirits, indeed!
How fine my master is! I am afraid,
He will chaftise me.

Seb. Ha, ha,

What things are thefe, my lord Anthonio!
Will mony buy 'em?

Ant. Very like; one of them

Is a plain fish, and no doubt marketable.

Pro. Mark but the badges of these men, my lords, Then fay, if they be true: this mif-fhap'd knave, His mother was a witch, and one so strong

That could controul the moon, make flows and ebbs,
And deal in her command without her power:
These three have robb'd me; and this demy-devil
(For he's a baftard 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 fhall be pincht to death.

Alon. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler? Seb. He's drunk now: where had he wine? Alon. And Trinculo is reeling ripe; where fhould they Find this grand 'lixir, that hath gilded 'em? (34)

How

(34) Find this grand Liquor.] I certainly think, Shakespeare wrote Lixir here; alluding to the grand Elixir of which the Chymifts of that Age told fuch Wonders, that it would renew Youth, purchase Immortality, &c. and it being, as they pretended, a Preparation of Gold, they call'd it also, Aurum potabile: hence, 'tis probable, Shakespeare fays, gilded; and to This, without doubt, he again alludes in his Anthony and Eleopatra;

How much art thou unlike Mark Antony?

Yet coming from him, that great Med'cine hath
With his Tint gilded thee.

But