The fraighting fouls within her.

Pro. Be collected;

No more amazement; tell your piteous heart,
There's no harm done.

Mira. O wo the day!
Pro. No harm.

I have done nothing but in care of thee,
(Of thee my dear one, thee my daughter), who
Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing
Of whence I am; nor that I'm more, or better
Than Profpero, mafter of a full-poor cell,
And thy no greater father.

Mira. More to know

Did never meddle with my thoughts.

Pro. 'Tis time,

I fhould inform thee farther.

Lend thy hand,

And pluck my magic garment from me: fo!

[Lays down his mantle. Lie there, my art. Wipe thou thine eyes, have com

fort.

The direful fpectacle of the wreck, which touch'd
The very virtue of compaffion in thee,

I have with fuch provifion în mine art

So fafely order'd, that there's no foul loft,

No not fo much perdition as an hair

Betid to any creature in the veffel

Which thou heard'ft cry, which thou faw'ft fink: fit

For thou muft now know farther.

Mira. You have often

Begun to tell me what I am, but stopt,
And left me to a bootless inquifition;
Concluding, Stay; not yet.

Pro. The hour's now come.

[down;

The very minute bids thee ope thine ear;
Obey, and be attentive. Canft thou remember

A time before we came into this cell?

I do not think, thou canft; for then thou waft not Out three years old

Mira. Certainly, Sir, I can.

Pro. By what by any other houfe, or perfon? Of any thing the image tell me, that

Hath kept in thy remembrance.

Mira. 'Tis far off;

And rather like a dream, than an assurance

That my remembrance warrants. Had I not
Four or five women once that tended me?

Pro. Thou hadft, and more, Miranda: but how is it,
That this lives in thy mind? what feeft thou elfe
In the dark back ward and abysme of time?
If thou remember'ft aught, ere thou came here;
How thou cam'ft here, thou may'ft.

Mira. But that I do not.

Pro. 'Tis twelve years fince, Miranda; twelve years fince

Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and

A prince of pow'r.

Mira. Sir, are not you my father?

Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and She faid, thou waft my daughter; and thy father: Was Duke of Milan; thou his only heir,

A princefs, no worse issu’d.

Mira. O the heav'ns!.

What foul play had we that we came from thence? Or bleffed was't, we did?

Pro. Both, both, my girl:

By foul play (as thou fay ft) were we heav'd thence; But bleffedly help'd hither.

Mira. O, my heart bleeds

To think o'th' teene that I have turn'd you to,
Which is from my remembrance. Please you, farther.
Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd nthonio-

I pray thee, mark me-(that a brother should
Be fo perfidious!) he whom next thyself
Of all the world I lov'd, and to him put
The manage of my ftate; (as, at that time,
Through all the figniories it was the first ;
And Profpero the prime Duke, being fo reputed
In dignity; and for the liberal arts,

Without a parallel; tho e being all my ftudy):
The government I caft upon my brother,
And to my state grew ftranger; being tranfported,
And rapt in fecret ftudies Thy falle uncle
(Doft thou attend me?)

Mira. Sir, moft heedfully.

A 3

Pro

: Pro. Being once perfected how to grant faits, How to deny them; whom t'advance, and whom To trash for overtopping; new created

The creatures that were mine; 1 fay, or change'd ’em,
Or elfe new form'd 'em; having both the key
Of officer and office, fet all hearts i'th' ftate
To what tune pleas'd his ear; that now he was,
The ivy, which had hid my princely trunk,

And fuck'd my verdure out on't. Thou attend'st not.
Mira. Good Sir, I do.

Pro. I pray thee, mark me then.

I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated
To clofenefs, and the bettering of my mind,
With that which, but by being fo retired,
O'erpriz'd all popular rate, in my falfe brother
Awak'd an evil nature; and my trust,
Like a good parent, did beget' of him
A falfehood in its contrary as great

As my trust was ; which had, indeed, no limit,
A confidence fans bound

He being thus lorded,I Not only with what my revenue yielded,

W

But what my power might elfe exact; like one, T
Who having, unto truth, by telling oft,
Made fuch a finner of his memory,'

To credit his own lye; he did believe

He was indeed the Duke, from fubftitution, aroW And executing th' outward face of royalty, iffi With all prerogative. Hence his ambition growingDoft thou hear.

Mira. Your tale, Sir, would cure deafness: PM Pro. To have no fcreen between this part he play'd, And him he play'd it for. he needs will be

Abfolute Milan. Me, poor man! my library V
Was dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties!
He thinks me now incapable: confederates

(So dry he was for fway) wi' th' King of Naples A
To give him annual tribute, do him homage;
Subject his coronet to his crown; and bend
The dukedom, yet unbow'd, (alas, poor Milan!),
To moft ignoble stooping.

Pro. Mark his condition, and th' event; then tell me,

If this might be a brother?

Mira I fhould fin,

To think but nobly of my grandmother;

Good wombs have bore bad fons.

Pro. Now the condition:

This King of Naples, being an enemy
To me inveterate, hearks my brother's fuit;
Which was, that he, in lieu o' th' premiffes,
Of homage, and I know not how much tribute,
Should prefently extirpate me and mine
Out of the dukedom; and confer fair Milan,
With all the honours, on my brother. Whereon
A treacherous army. leyy'd, one midnight
Fated to th' purpofe, did Anthonio open
The gates of Milan; and, i' th' dead of darkness,
The ministers for the purpose hurry'd thence.
Me, and thy crying self.

Mira. Alack, for pity!

I, not rememb'ring how I cry'd out then,
Will cry it o'er again; it is a hint,

That wrings mine eyes to't.

Pro. Hear a little further,

And then I'll bring thee to the present bufinefs,
Which now's upon's; without the which this story

Were most impertinent.

Mira. Why did they not

That hour destroy us?

Pro. Well demanded, wench;

My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durft not (So dear the love my people bore me) fet

A mark fo bloody on the bufinefs; but

With colours fairer painted their foul ends.
In few, they hurry'd us aboard a bark;

Bore us fome leagues to fea; where they prepar'd.
A rotten carcafe of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, fail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively had quit it: there they hoist us,
To cry to th fea, that roar'd to us; to figh
To th' winds, whole pity, fighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.

Mira. Alack! what trouble

Was

Was I then to you!

Pro. O a cherubim

Thou waft, that did preferve me. Thou didst fmile, Infufed with a fortitude from heav'n,

(When I have mock'd the fea with drops full-falt; Under my burden gron'd); which rais'd in me An undergoing ftomach, to bear up

Against what should ensue.

Mira. How came we a-fhore?

Pro. By providence divine.

Some food we had, and fome fresh water, that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,

Out of his charity (being then appointed
Master of this defign) did give us, with

Rich garments, linens, ftuffs, and neceffaries,

Which fince have fteeded much. So of his gentleness,
Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me
From my own library, with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.

Mira. Would I might

But ever fee that man!

Pro Now, I arife:

Sit fill, and hear the laft of our fea-forrow.
Here in this ifland we arriv'd, and here
Have I, thy fchoolmaster, made thee more profit
Than other princes can, that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not fo careful.
Mira. Heav'ns thank you for't! And now, I
you, Sir,

(For ftill 'tis beating in my mind) your reafon
For raifing this fea-storm?

Pro. Know thus far forth,

pray

By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune
(Now my dear lady) hath mine enemies
Brought to this fhore: and, by my prescience
I find, my zenith doth depend upon
A moft aufpicious ftar; whose influence
If now I court noc, but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after droop -Here ceafe more queftions;
Thou art inclin'd to fleep. 'Tis a good dulnefs,
And give it way; I know, thou canst not chufe-

[Miranda fleeps. Come