So great a day as this is cheaply bought.

Mal. Macduff is missing, and your noble son.

Ross. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt.
He only liv'd but till he was a man;

The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd
In the unshrinking station where he fought,

But like a man he died.

Siw.

Then he is dead?

Ross. Ay, and brought off the field. Your cause of sorrow Must not be measur'd by his worth, for then

They say he parted well, and paid his score;

And so, God be with him! Here comes newer comfort.

Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH's head

Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art. Behold, where stands
The usurper's cursed head. The time is free.

I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl,
That speak my salutation in their minds;

Whose voices I desire aloud with mine:

Hail, King of Scotland!

All.

Hail, King of Scotland!

Mal. We shall not spend a large expense of time
Before we reckon with your several loves,

And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen,
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour nam'd. What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,

Flourish.

As calling home our exil'd friends abroad
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel ministers

Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen,
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
Took off her life; this, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place.
So, thanks to all at once and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.

Flourish. Exeunt.

THE TEMPEST

BY

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

It is entirely probable that the date of "The Tempest" is 1611, and that this was the last play completed by Shakespeare before he retired from active connection with the theater to spend the remainder of his life in leisure in his native town of Stratford-on-Avon.

The main thread of the plot of the drama seems to have been some folk-tale of a magician and his daughter, which, in the precise form in which Shakespeare knew it, has not been recovered. The storm and the island were, it is believed, suggested by the wreck on the Bermudas in 1609 of one of the English expeditions to Virginia. Traces are found, too, of the author's reading in contemporary books of travel.

But the plot itself is of less importance than usual. Supernatural elements are introduced with great freedom, and the dramatist's interest was clearly not in the reproduction of lifelike events. The presentation of character and the attractive picturing of the beauty of magnanimity and forgiveness are the things which, along with its delightful poetry, make the charm of this play. It is not to be wondered at that readers have frequently been led to find in the figure of the great magician, laying aside his robes and wonder-working rod in a spirit of love and peace toward all men, a symbol of the dramatist himself at the close of his great career; and it is surely legitimate to play with this idea without assuming that Shakespeare consciously embodied it. One can hardly conceive a more fitting epilogue to the volume which is the crown of the world's dramatic literature than the romance of "The Tempest."

SCENE I. [On a ship at sea:] a tempestuous noise of thunder and
lightning heard

Master

Enter a Ship-Master and a Boatswain

OATSWAIN!

BR

Boats. Here, master; what cheer?

Mast. Good; speak to the mariners. Fall to 't, yarely,' or we run ourselves aground. Bestir, bestir.

Exit.

Enter Mariners

Boats. Heigh, my hearts! cheerly, cheerly, my hearts! yare,' yare! Take in the topsail. Tend to the master's whistle.-Blow till thou burst thy wind, if room enough!

1 Smartly.
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