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And pluck my magick garment from me.-So;
[Laying down his Mantle.
Lye there my art.—Wipe thou thine eyes; have
comfort.

The direful fpectacle of the wreck, which touch'd
The very virtue of compaffion in thee,
I have with fuch provifion in mine art
So fafely order'd, that there is no foul—-
No, not fo much perdition as an hair,
Betide to any creature in the veffel

Which thou heard'ft cry, which thou faw'ft fink.
For thou must now know further.

Mira. You have often

[Sit down;

Begun to tell me what I am; but stopp'd,
And left me to a bootlefs inquifition;
Concluding, Stay, not yet-

Pro. The hour's now come;
The very minute Lids thee ope

thine ears;

Obey, and be attentive. Canft thou remember A time before we came unto this cell?

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

Mira. Certainly, fir, I can.

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

Hath kept with thy remembrance.

Mira. 'Tis far off;

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

Pro. Thou hadit, and more, Miranda: But how is it,

That this lives in thy mind? What fee'st thou elfe In the dark back-ward and abysm of time?

If thou remember'ft aught, ere thou cam'st here; How thou cam'ft here, thou may'ît.

Mira. But that I do not.

Pro. Twelve years fince, Miranda, twelve years Thy father was the duke of Milan, and

A prince of power.

Mira. Sir, are not you my father?

[fince

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

And princefs, no worse iffu'd.

Mira. O the heavens!!

What foul play had we that we came from thence? Or blefs'd was't we did?

Pro. Both, both, my girl:

By foul play as thou fay'ft, were we heav'd thence; But bleffedly holp hither.

Mira. O, my heart bleeds

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

Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Anthonio,~ I pray thee, mark me,-that a brother fhould 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; thofe being all my ftudy,
The government I caft upon my brother,
And to my ftate grew ftranger, being tranfported,
And wrapp'd in fecret ftudies. Thy falfe uncle-
Doft thou attend me?

Mira. Sir, moft heedfully.

Pro. Being once perfected how to grant fuits, How to deny them; whom to advance, and whom To trafh for over-topping; new created

The creatures that were mine, I fay, or chang'd 'em,
Or else new form'd 'em : having both the key
Of officer and office, fet all hearts i' the state
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
Mira. O good fir, I do.
[not.

Pro. I pray thee, mark me.

I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated
To clofenefs, and the bettering of my mind
With that, which, but by being fo retired,
O'er-priz'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 truft was; which had, indeed, no limit,
A confidence fans bound. He being thus lorded,
Not only with what my revenue yielded,
But what my power might elfe exact,-like one,
Who having unto truth, by telling of it,
Made fuch a finner of his memory,

To credit his own lie,-he did believe

He was indeed, the duke; out of the substitution,
And executing the outward face of royalty,
With all prerogative:-Hence his ambition grow-
Doft thou hear?

[ing,-
Mira. Your tale, fir, would cure deafness.
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

Was

Was dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties
He thinks me now incapable: confederates,
So dry he was for fway, with 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 molt ignoble stooping.

Mira. O the heavens!

Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then If this might be a brother?

Mira. I fhould fin

To think but nobly of my grandmother:

Good wombs have borne bad fons.

Pro. Now the condition.

This king of Naples being an enemy

[tell me,

To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's fuit;
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 levy'd, on midnight
Fated to the purpofe, did Anthonio open
The gates of Milan; and i' the dead of darkness,
The minifters for the purpose hurried thence
Me, and thy crying felf.

Mira. Alack, for pity!

I not remembering 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 business

Which now's upon us; without the which, this Were most impertinent.

[ftory

Mira. Wherefore did they not That hour destroy us?

Pro. Well demanded, wench;

Mytale provokes that queftion. Dear, they durft not;
(So dear the love my people bore me) nor fet
A mark fo bloody on the business; but
With colours fairer painted their foul ends.
In few, they hurried 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
Inftinctively had quit it; there they hoift us
To cry to the fea that roar'd to us; to figh
To the winds, whofe pity fighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.

Mira. Alack! what trouble

Was I then to you!

Pro. O a cherubim

Thou waft, that did preferve me! Thou didst smile, Infufed with a fortitude from heaven,

When I have deck'd the fea with drops full falt; Under my burden groan'd; which rais'd in me An undergoing ftomach to bear up

Against what thould enfue.

Mira. How came we afhore?
Pro. By providence divine.

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

Out of his charity, who being then appointed
Master of this defign, did give us; with
Rich garments, linens, ftuffs, and neceffaries,
Which fince have fteaded much: fo, of his gentleness,
Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me,
From my own library, with volumes that

I priz'd

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