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TEMPEST.

Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, is cheated out of his dukedom by the intrigues of his brother Antonio, and is sent to sea with his infant daughter Miranda; in the frail boat in which they are embarked they reach an island, where, educated by her father, Miranda grows to womanhood. Prospero, who is a magician, with the help of Ariel, a familiar spirit, causes the king of Naples, with his son Ferdinand, and Antonio, the usurping brother, to be shipwrecked on the island. Ferdinand encounters Miranda, falls in love with her, and is accepted as her future husband. The play concludes with the resolution of Prospero to abandon magic and revisit his dukedom. The chief characters in the play are Prospero, the rightful Duke; Antonio, his usurping brother; Alonso, King of Naples; Ferdinand, his son; Ariel, an airy spirit; Caliban, a savage and deformed slave; Gonzalo, an honest old counsellor of Naples, and Miranda, daughter of Prospero.

AcT I.

Ariel's Description of Managing the Storm.

I BOARDED the king's ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flamed 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

B

O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
And sight outrunning 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.

Not a soul

But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd

Some tricks of desperation: all but mariners
Plung'd in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel,
Then all afire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand,
With hair up-staring (then like reeds, not hair),
Was the first man that leap'd.

Caliban's Curses.

CALIBAN. As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd With raven feather from unwholesome fen,

Drop on you both! a south-west blow on ye,

And blister you all o'er!

PROSPERO. For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps,

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 honeycombs, each pinch more stinging
Than bees that made them.

CALIBAN. I must eat my dinner.

This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,

Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first Thou strokedst me, and madest much of me; wouldst

give me

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,

:

Imps, fairies.

And shew'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,

The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place, and fertile ; 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.

Music.

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

It sounds no more: and sure it waits upon
Some god of the island. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the king my father's wreck,
This music crept by me upon the waters:
Allaying both their fury and my passion,
With its sweet air.

Ariel's Song.

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.

A Lover's Speech.

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, or 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' the earth
Let liberty make use of: space enough
Have I in such a prison.

ACT II.

Description of Ferdinand's Swimming ashore.
I saw him beat the surges under him,
And ride upon their backs; he trod the water,
Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted

The surge most swoln that met him: his bold head 'Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar'd Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke

To the shore, that o'er his wave-worn basis bow'd,
As stooping to relieve him: I not doubt
He came alive to land.

Sleep.

Do not omit the heavy offer of it: It seldom visits sorrow; when it doth,

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Fright me with urchin shows, pitch me i' the mire,

Nor lead me like a fire-brand in the dark

Out of my way, unless he bid them; but

For every trifle are they set upon me:

Sometimes like apes, that moe* and chatter at me,

* To make faces

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