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Enter JUNO.

Juno. How does my bounteous sister? Go
with me

To bless this twain, that they may prosperous be
And honour'd in their issue.

[They sing:

Juno. Honour, riches, marriage-blessing,
Long continuance, and increasing,
Hourly joys be still upon you!
Juno sings her blessings on you.

Cer. Earth's increase, foison plenty,

Barns and garners never empty,
Vines with clustering bunches growing,
Plants with goodly burthen 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?

Pros.

I have from their confines call'd to enact

My present fancies.

Fer.

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Spirits, which by mine art 120

Let me live here ever;

So fare a wonder'd father and a wise

Makes this place Paradise.

[Juno and Ceres whisper, and send Iris on employment.

119. charmingly, magically. 121. confines, abodes. 123. wise. Some copies of F1 read wife, which was adopted by Rowe, Pope, and some later editors. But that reading in

troduces a disturbing touch of banality. Ferdinand certainly did not mean that the island would be Paradise with any wife any more than with any father.

Pros.

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 windring
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 sunburnt 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.

Pros. [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!

128. windring; an otherwise unknown word, evidently meaning, and probably misprinted for, either winding or wandering. 129. sedg'd, sedge-woven. 130. crisp, curled; probably

130

140

said of the circling ripples and dimples of a meadow-brook; not of its winding course.

130. land, (probably) laund, lawn.

142. avoid, away!

Fer. This is strange: your father's in some

passion

That works him strongly.

Mir.
Never till this day
Saw I him touch'd with anger so distemper'd.
Pros. You do look, my son, in a moved 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 on, 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 pleased, retire into my cell

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

To still my beating mind.

Fer. Mir.

We wish you peace. [Exeunt.

Pros. Come with a thought. I thank thee,

Ariel: come.

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150

160

Those golden pallaces, those gorgeous halles,

With fourniture superfluouslie faire : Those statelie courts, those skyencountering walles

Evanish all like vapours in the aire.

154. inherit, possess.

156. rack, cloud. The word has no connection with wrack,' which Malone erroneously substituted.

158. rounded, embraced, encompassed.

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Ari. Ay, my commander: when I presented
Ceres,

I thought to have told thee of it, but I fear'd
Lest I might anger thee.

Pros. Say again, where didst thou leave these
varlets?

Ari. I told you, sir, they were red-hot with
drinking;

So full of valour that they smote the air
For breathing in their faces; beat the ground
For kissing of their feet; yet always bending
Towards their project. Then I beat my tabor;
At which, like unback'd colts, they prick'd their

ears,

Advanced their eyelids, lifted up their noses

As they smelt music: so I charm'd their ears
That calf-like they my lowing follow'd through
Tooth'd briers, sharp furzes, pricking goss and

thorns,

Which enter'd their frail shins: at last I left them
I' the filthy-mantled pool beyond your cell,
There dancing up to the chins, that the foul

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170

180

mantled.

184. O'erstunk, (probably) outstunk.

182. filthy-mantled, Ff filthy

The trumpery in my house, go bring it hither,
For stale to catch these thieves.

Ari.

I go, I go. [Exit.
Pros. A devil, a born devil, on whose nature
Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains,
Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost;
And as with age his body uglier grows,

So his mind cankers. I will plague them all,
Even to roaring.

Re-enter ARIEL, loaden with glistering apparel, etc.
Come, hang them on this line.

PROSPERO and ARIEL remain, invisible. Enter CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO, all wet. Cal. Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may not

Hear a foot fall: we now are near his cell.

Ste. Monster, your fairy, which you say is a harmless fairy, has done little better than played the Jack with us.

Trin. Monster, I do smell all horse-piss; at which my nose is in great indignation.

Ste. So is mine. Do you hear, monster? should take a displeasure against you, look you, Trin. Thou wert but a lost monster.

Cal. Good my lord, give me thy favour still. Be patient, for the prize I'll bring thee to

If I

Shall hoodwink this mischance: therefore speak softly.

All's hush'd as midnight yet.

Trin. Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool,

187. stale, decoy.

193. line, probably a hair clothes-line.

190

200

198. Jack, Jack o' lantern,

will o' the wisp.

206. hoodwink, conceal.

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