Inhabits here: some heavenly power guide us

Out of this fearful country.

Prospero.

Behold, sir king,

The wrongéd Duke of Milan, Prospero:

For more assurance that a living prince

Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body,

And to thee and thy company I bid

A hearty welcome.

Alonso.

Whe'er thou beest he or no,

Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me,
As late I have been, I not know: thy pulse
Beats, as of flesh and blood: and, since I saw thee,
Th'affliction of my mind amends, with which
I fear a madness held me: this must crave-
An if this be at all-a most strange story....
Thy dukedom I resign, and do entreat

Thou pardon me my wrongs...But how should Prospero
Be living, and be here?

Prospero [to Gonzalo]. First, noble friend,

Let me embrace thine age, whose honour cannot

Be measured or confined.

Gonzalo.

Or be not, I'll not swear.
Prospero.

Whether this be,

You do yet taste

Some subtilties o'th'isle, that will not let you
Believe things certain: Welcome, my friends all-

[aside to Sebastian and Antonio] But you, my brace of

lords, were I so minded,

I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you,

And justify you traitors: at this time

I will tell no tales.

Sebastian [aside to Antonio]. The devil speaks in him... Prospero. No...

For you-most wicked sir-whom to call brother

Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest faults-all of them; and require
My dukedom of thee, which, perforce, I know,

Thou must restore.

Alonso.

If thou beest Prospero,

Give us particulars of thy preservation,

How thou hast met us here, who three hours since
Were wracked upon this shore; where I have lost-

How sharp the point of this remembrance is!

My dear son Ferdinand.

Prospero.

I am woe for't, sir.

Alonso. Irreparable is the loss, and patience

Says, it is past her cure.

You have not sought her help, of whose soft grace

For the like loss I have her sovereign aid,

And rest myself content.

Alonso.

You the like loss?

Prospero. As great to me as late, and supportable

To make the dear loss, have I means much weaker

Than you may call to comfort you; for I

Have lost my daughter.

O heavens, that they were living both in Naples,
The king and queen there! that they were, I wish

Myself were mudded in that oozy bed

Where my son lies...When did you lose your daughter?

Prospero. In this last tempest....I perceive these lords At this encounter do so much admire

That they devour their reason, and scarce think
†Their eyes do offices of truth...These words
Are natural breath: but, howsoeʼer you have
Been justled from your senses, know for certain,
That I am Prospero, and that very duke

Which was thrust forth of Milan, who most strangely Upon this shore, where you were wracked, 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: [with his hand on the curtain

of the cave] Welcome, sir;

This cell's my court: here have I few attendants,
And subjects none abroad: pray you, look in:
My dukedom since you have 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.

'Here PROSPERO discovers FERDINAND and MIRANDA,

playing at chess.'

Miranda. Sweet lord, you play me false.

Ferdinand.

I would not for the world.

No, my dearest love,

Miranda. Yet, for a score of kingdoms you should

Ferdinand. Though the seas threaten, they are mer

How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,

That has such people in't!

Prospero [smiling sadly]. 'Tis new to thee.

Alonso. What is this maid, with whom thou wast at

play?

Your eld'st acquaintance cannot be three hours:

Is she the goddess that hath severed us,

And brought us thus together?

Ferdinand.

Sir, she is mortal;

But, by immortal Providence, she's mine;
I chose her when I could not ask my father
For his advice...nor thought I had one: She
Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan,
Of whom so often I have heard renown,
But never saw before: of whom I have
Received a second life; and second father

This lady makes him to me.

Alonso.

I am hers....

But O, how oddly will it sound, that I

Must ask my child forgiveness!

Prospero.

There, sir, stop.

Let us not burden our remembrance with

A heaviness that's gone.

Gonzalo.

I have inly wept,

Or should have spoke ere this...Look down, you gods,

And on this couple drop a blesséd crown;

For it is you that have chalked forth the way

Which brought us hither.

Alonso.

I say 'Amen,' Gonzalo.

Gonzalo. Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue

Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice
Beyond a common joy, and set it down
With gold on lasting pillars: 'In one voyage
Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis,
And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife,
Where he himself was lost... Prospero his dukedom,

In a poor isle...and all of us, ourselves,

When no man was his own.'

Alonso [to Ferdinand and Miranda]. Give me your hands:

Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart,

That doth not wish you joy.

Gonzalo.

Be it so, Amen.

'Enter ARIEL with the MASTER and BOATSWAIN

amazedly following.'

O look sir, look sir, here is more of us...

I prophesied, if a gallows were on land,

This fellow could not drown: [to the Boatswain] Now,

blasphemy,

That swear'st grace overboard, not an oath on shore? Hast thou no mouth by land?

What is the news?

Boatswain. The best news is, that we have safely found Our king and company: the next, our ship, Which, but three glasses since, we gave out split, Is tight and yare and bravely rigged as when We first put out to sea.

Ariel [at Prospero's ear]. Sir, all this service Have I done since I went.

Prospero.

My tricksy spirit!

Alonso. These are not natural events they strengthen From strange to stranger: say, how came you hither? Boatswain. If I did think, sir, I were well awake,

I'ld strive to tell you... We were dead of sleep,
And-how we know not-all clapped under hatches,
Where, but even now, with strange and several noises
Of roaring, shrieking, howling, jingling chains,
And mo diversity of sounds, all horrible,
We were awaked...straightway, at liberty;
Where we, in all her trim, freshly beheld