Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Had I been any god of power, I would
Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere

It should the good ship so have swallow'd and
The fraughting souls within her.

Pros.

Be collected :

No more amazement: tell your piteous heart

There's no harm done.

Mir. Pros.

O, woe the day!

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 am more better
Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,
And thy no greater father.

[blocks in formation]

Lend thy hand,
So:

And pluck my magic garment from me.

[Lays down his mantle.

Lie there, my art. Wipe thou thine eyes; have

comfort.

The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd
The very virtue of compassion in thee,
I have with such provision in mine art
So safely ordered that there is no soul-
No, not so much perdition as an hair
Betid to any creature in the vessel

Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink.
Sit down;

For thou must now know farther.

You have often

Mir.
Begun to tell me what I am, but stopp'd
And left me to a bootless inquisition,

13. The fraughting souls, the living freight.

ΤΟ

20

30

Concluding 'Stay: not yet.'

Pros.

The hour's now come;

The very minute bids thee ope thine ear;

Obey and be attentive. Canst thou remember

A time before we came unto this cell?

I do not think thou canst, for then thou wast not 40 Out three years old.

Mir.

Certainly, sir, I can.

Pros. By what? by any other house or person? Of any thing the image tell me that

Hath kept with thy remembrance.

Mir.

'Tis far off

And rather like a dream than an assurance
That remembrance warrants. Had I not
Four or five women once that tended me?

my

Pros. Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. But

how is it

That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else
In the dark backward and abysm of time?
If thou remember'st aught ere thou camest here,
How thou camest here thou mayst.

Mir.

But that I do not.

Pros. Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year

since,

Thy father was the Duke of Milan and

A prince of power.

Mir.

Sir, are not you my father?

Pros. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and She said thou wast my daughter; and thy father Was Duke of Milan; and thou his only heir

And princess no worse issued.

Mir.

O the heavens !

50

What foul play had we, that we came from thence? 60 Or blessed was 't we did?

41. Out, fully.

56. piece, paragon.

59. issued, derived.

Pros.

Both, both, my girl:

By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heaved thence,

But blessedly holp hither.

Mir.

O, my heart bleeds
To think o' the teen that I have turn'd you to,
Which is from my remembrance! Please you,
farther.

Pros. My brother and thy uncle, call'd Antonio-
I pray thee, mark me-that a brother should
Be so perfidious !-he whom next thyself
Of all the world I loved and to him put
The manage of my state; as at that time
Through all the signories it was the first
And Prospero the prime duke, being so reputed
In dignity, and for the liberal arts

Without a parallel; those being all my study,
The government I cast upon my brother

And to my state grew stranger, being transported
And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle—
Dost thou attend me?

Mir.

Sir, most heedfully.

Pros. Being once perfected how to grant suits,
How to deny them, who to advance and who
To trash for over-topping, new created

The creatures that were mine, I say, or changed

'em,

Or else new form'd 'em; having both the key

Of officer and office, set all hearts i' the state

To what tune pleased his ear; that now he was

[blocks in formation]

70

80

too high. Trash was a technical term of the kennel for the process of artificially retarding a dog too eager or forward in hunting.

83. key, tuning-key (with a play upon the ordinary sense). 85. that, so that.

The ivy which had hid my princely trunk,

And suck'd my verdure out on 't.

not.

Mir. O, good sir, I do.

Thou attend'st

Pros.
I pray thee, mark me.
I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated
To closeness and the bettering of my mind
With that which, but by being so retired,
O'er-prized all popular rate, in my false brother
Awaked an evil nature; and my trust,
Like a good parent, did beget of him
A falsehood in its contrary as great

As my trust was; which had indeed no limit,
A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded,
Not only with what my revenue yielded,

But what my power might else exact, like one
Who having into truth, by telling of it,"
Made such a sinner of his memory'

To credit his own lie, he did believe

He was indeed the duke; out o' the substitution,

And executing the outward face of royalty,

With all prerogative: hence his ambition growing-
Dost thou hear?

Mir.

Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.

92. O'er-prized, exceeded in value.

100. Who having into truth, etc. This is usually understood: 'Who has, by habitual repetition of a lie, so corrupted the veracity of his memory that he believes the lie himself.' Warburton substituted unto for into. But even sinner unto truth' is a questionable phrase, while the clause 'by telling of it' is by this construction awkwardly cut off

90

100

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

Pros. To have no screen between this part he
play'd

And him he play'd it for, he needs will be
Absolute Milan. Me, poor man, my library
Was dukedom large enough: of temporal royalties
He thinks me now incapable; confederates-
So dry he was for sway-wi' the King of Naples
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 most ignoble stooping.

Mir.

O the heavens !

Pros. Mark his condition and the event; then

tell me

If this might be a brother.

Mir.

I should sin

To think but nobly of my grandmother :
Good wombs have borne bad sons.

Pros.

[ocr errors]

Now the condition. 120

This King of Naples, being an enemy
To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit;
Which was, that he, in lieu o' the premises
Of homage and I know not how much tribute,
Should presently extirpate me and mine
Out of the dukedom and confer fair Milan
With all the honours on my brother: whereon,
A treacherous army levied, one midnight

Fated to the purpose did Antonio open

The gates of Milan, and, i' the dead of darkness, 130 The ministers for the purpose hurried thence

Me and thy crying self.

Mir.

Alack, for pity!

I, not remembering how I cried out then,

Will cry it o'er again it is a hint

109. Milan, duke of Milan.

112. dry, thirsty.

VOL. IV

123. in lieu o', in return for. 134. hint, theme.

417

2 E

« ZurückWeiter »