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Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep,
And flat meads thatch'd with stover, them to keep;
Thy banks with peonied and lilied brims,
With spongy April at thy hest* betrims,

To make cold nymphs chaste crowns; and thy broom groves,
Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves,
Being lass-lorn; thy pole-clipt vineyard;
And thy sea-marge, steril, and rocky-hard,
Where thou thyself dost air: The queen o' the sky,
Whose watery arch, and messenger, am I,

Bids thee leave these; and with her sovereign grace,
Here on this grass-plot, in this very place,
To come and sport: her peacocks fly amain;
Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain.

Enter CERES.

Cer. Hail many-color'd messenger, that ne'er
Dost disobey the wife of Jupiter.

Who, with thy saffron wing, upon my flowers
Diffusest honey-drops, refreshing showers;
And with each end of thy blue bow dost crown
My bosky acres, and my unshrubb'd down,
Rich scarf to my proud earth; Why hath thy queen
Summon'd me hither, to this short-grass'd green?
Iris. A contract of true love to celebrate;

And some donation freely to estate

On the bless'd lovers.

Cer.

Tell me, heavenly bow,

If Venus, or her son, as thou dost know,

Do now attend the queen? since they did plot
The means, that dusky Dis my daughter got,
Her and her blind boy's scandal'd company'
I have forsworn.

Iris.

Of her society

Be not afraid; I met her deity

Cutting the clouds towards Paphos; and her son

Dove-drawn with her.

Cer.

Highest queen of state,

Great Juno comes: I know her by her gait.

Enter JUNO.

Jun. How does my bounteous sister? Go with me, To bless this twain, that they may prosperous be

And honor'd in their issue.

SONG.

Jun. Honor, riches, marriage-blessing,
Long continuance, and increasing,

* Command.

Hourly joys be still upon you!
Juno sings her blessings on you.
Cer. Earth's increase, and foison* plenty,
Barns and garners never empty;

Vines, with clust'ring bunches growing!
Plants, with goodly burden bowing;
Spring come to you, at the farthest,
In the very end of harvest!
Scarcity and want shall shun you;
Ceres' blessing so is on you.

Fer. This is a most majestic vision, and
Harmonious charmingly: May I be bold
To think these spirits?

Pro.

Spirits, which by mine art

I have from their confines called to enact

My present fancies.

Fer.

Let me live here ever;

So rare a wonder'd father, and a wife,

Make this place Paradise.

Pro.

[JUNO and CERES whisper, and send IRIS on employment. Sweet now, silence;

Juno and Ceres whisper seriously;

There's something else to do: hush, and be mute,

Or else our spell is marr'd.

Iris. You nymphs, call'd Naiads, of the wand'ring brooks, With your sedg'd crowns, and ever harmless looks,

Leave your crisp channels, and on this green land

Answer your summons: Juno does command;
Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebrate
A contract of true love; be not too late.

Enter certain Nymphs.

You sun-burn'd sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow, and be merry;
Make holiday: your rye-straw hats put on,
And these fresh nymphs encounter every one
In country footing.

Enter certain Reapers, properly habited; they join with the Nymphs in a graceful dance; towards the end whereof PROSPERO starts suddenly, and speaks; after which, to a strange, hollow, and confused noise, they heavily vanish.

Pro. [Aside.] I had forgot that foul conspiracy

Of the beast Caliban, and his confederates,

Against my life; the minute of their plot

Is almost come.-[To the Spirits.] Well done;-avoid ;—no more. Fer. This is most strange: your father's in some passion

That works him strongly.

* Abundance.

Mira.

Never till this day,
Saw I him touch'd with anger so distemper'd.
Pro. You do look, my son, in a mov'd sort
As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir:
Our revels now are ended: these our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air :

And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve;
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind: We are such stuff
As dreams are made of, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.-Sir, I am vex'd;

Bear with my weakness; my old brain is troubled.
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity:

If you be pleas'd, retire into my cell,

And there repose; a turn or two I'll walk,

To still my beating mind.

Fer. Mira.

We wish your peace.

[Exeunt.

Prospero defeats the Plot laid by Caliban, and punishes the Conspirators through the agency of his attendant spirits.

ACT V.

SCENE I.-Before the Cell of Prospero.

Enter PROSPERO in his magic robes; and ARIEL.
Pro. Now does my project gather to a head:
My charms crack not; my spirits obey; and time
Goes upright with his carriage. How's the day?
Ari. On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord,
You said our work should cease.

Pro.
When first I rais'd the tempest.
How fares the king and his?

I did say so,

Say, my spirit,

Confin'd together

Ari.
In the same fashion as you gave in charge;
Just as you left them, sir; all prisoners
In the lime-grove which weather-fends your cell;
They cannot budge, till your release. The king,
His brother, and yours, abide all three distracted;
And the remainder mourning over them,
Brim-full of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly
Him you term'd, sir, The good old lord, Gonzalo;
His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops

From eaves of reeds: your charm so strongly works them,
That if you now beheld them, your affections

Would become tender.

Pro.

Dost thou think so, spirit?

Ari. Mine would, sir, were I human.

Pro.

And mine shall.

Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling
Of their afflictions? and shall not myself,

One of their kind, that relish all as sharply,

Passion as they, be kindlier mov'd than thou art?
Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick,
Yet, with my nobler reason 'gainst my fury

Do I take part: the rarer action is

In virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent,
The sole drift of my purpose doth extend

Not a frown further: Go, release them, Ariel;
My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore,
And they shall be themselves.

Ari.

I'll fetch them, sir.

Pro. Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves;
And ye, that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him,
When he comes back; you demi-puppets, that
By moonshine do the green-sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites; and you, whose pastime
Is to make midnight-mushrooms; that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid
(Weak masters though ye be), I have bedimm'd
The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
And 'twixt the green sea and the azur'd vault
Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout oak
With his own bolt: the strong-bas'd promontory
Have I made shake; and by the spurs pluck'd up
The pine and cedar: graves, at my command,
Have waked their sleepers; oped, and let them forth
By my so potent art: But this rough magic
I here abjure: and, when I have requir'd

Some heavenly music, (which even now I do,)
To work mine end upon their senses, that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And, deeper than did ever plummet sound,
I'll drown my book.

[Exit.

[Solemn music

Re-enter ARIEL: after him, ALONZO, with a frantic gesture, attended by GONZALO; SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO in like manner, attended by ADRIAN and FRANCISCO: they all enter the circle which PROSPERO had made, and there stand charmed; which PROSPERO ob serving, speaks.

A solemn air, and the best comforter

To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains,

Now useless, boil'd within thy skull! There stand,
For you are spell stopp'd.-

Holy Gonzalo, honorable man,

Mine eyes, even sociable to the show of thine,
Fall fellowly drops.-The charm dissolves apace;
And as the morning steals upon the night,
Melting the darkness, so their rising senses
Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle
Their clearer reason. O my good Gonzalo,
My true preserver, and a loyal sir

To him thou follow'st; I will pay thy graces
Home, both in word and deed.—Most cruelly
Didst thou, Alonzo, use me and my daughter:
Thy brother was a furtherer in the act;—
Thou'rt pinch'd for't now, Sebastian.-Flesh and blood,
You brother mine, that entertain❜d ambition,
Expell'd remorse and nature; who, with Sebastian
(Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,)
Would have kill'd your king; I do forgive thee,
Unnatural though thou art !-Their understanding
Begins to swell; and the approaching tide
Will shortly fill the reasonable shores,

That now lie foul and muddy. Not one of them,
That yet looks on me, or would know me :-Ariel,
Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell;

I will dis-case me, and myself present,

As I was sometime Milan :-quickly, spirit;

Thou shalt ere long be free.

[Exit ARIEL.

ARIEL re-enters, singing, and helps to attire PROSPERO. ARI. Where the bee sucks, there suck I:

In a cowslip's bell I lie;

There I couch when owls do cry.

On the bat's back I do fly,

After summer, merrily:

Merrily, merrily, shall I live now,

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

Pro. Why, that's my dainty Ariel: I shall miss thee; But yet thou shalt have freedom: so, so, so.

To the king's ship, invisible as thou art:

There shalt thou find the mariners asleep

Under the hatches; the master, and the boatswain,

Being awake, enforce them to this place;

And presently, I pr'ythee.

Ari. I drink the air before me, and return

Or e'er your pulse twice beat.

Gon. All torment, trouble, wonder, and amazement Inhabits here: Some heavenly power guide us

Out of this fearful country!

[Exit ARIEL.

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