SCENE III.
Enter Hippolito.
Hip. Prospero has often said, that nature makes Nothing in vain: Why then are women made? Are they to suck the poison of the earth, As gaudy coloured serpents are? I'll ask That question, when next I see him here.
Enter Miranda and Dorinda peeping.
Dor. O sister, there it is! it walks about Like one of us.
Mir. Ay, just so, and has legs as we have too.
Hip. It strangely puzzles me: Yet 'tis most likely, Women are somewhat between men and spirits.
Dor. Hark! it talks:—sure this is not it my father meant, For this is just like one of us: Methinks, I am not half so much afraid on't as I was; see, now it turns this way.
Mir. Heaven! what a goodly thing it is!
Dor. I'll go nearer it.
Mir. O no, 'tis dangerous, sister! I'll go to it. I would not for the world that you should venture. My father charged me to secure you from it.
Dor. I warrant you this is a tame man; dear sister, He'll not hurt me, I see it by his looks.
Mir. Indeed he will! but go back, and he shall eat me first: Fie, are you not ashamed to be so inquisitive?
Dor. You chide me for it, and would give him yourself.
Mir. Come back, or I will tell my father. Observe how he begins to stare already! I'll meet the danger first, and then call you.
Dor. Nay, sister, you shall never vanquish me in kindness. I'll venture you no more than you will me.
Prosp. [within.] Miranda, child, where are you?
Mir. Do you not hear my father call? Go in.
Dor. 'Twas you he named, not me; I will but say my prayers, and follow you immediately.
Mir. Well, sister, you'll repent it.
[Exit Mir.
Dor. Though I die for it, I must have the other peep.
Hip. What thing is that? [Seeing her.] Sure 'tis some infant of The sun, dressed in his father's gayest beams, And comes to play with birds: My sight is dazzled, And yet I find I'm loth to shut my eyes: I must go nearer it;—but stay a while; May it not be that beauteous murderer, woman, Which I was charged to shun? Speak, what art thou, Thou shining vision!
Dor. Alas, I know not; but I'm told I am A woman; do not hurt me, pray, fair thing.
Hip. I'd sooner tear my eyes out, than consent To do you any harm; though I was told, A woman was my enemy.
Dor. I never knew What 'twas to be an enemy, nor can I e'er Prove so to that, which looks like you: For though I've been charged by him (whom yet I ne'er disobeyed,) To shun your presence, yet I'd rather die Than lose it; therefore, I hope you will not have the heart To hurt me: Though I fear you are a man, The dangerous thing of which I have been warned. Pray, tell me what you are?
Hip. I must confess, I was informed I am a man; But if I fright you, I shall wish I were some other creature. I was bid to fear you too.
Dor. Ah me! Heaven grant we be not poison to Each other! Alas, can we not meet, but we must die?
Hip. I hope not so! for, when two poisonous creatures, Both of the same kind, meet, yet neither dies. I've seen two serpents harmless to each other, Though they have twined into a mutual knot: If we have any venom in us, sure, we cannot be More poisonous, when we meet, than serpents are. You have a hand like mine—may I not gently touch it? [Takes her hand.
Dor. I've touched my father's and my sister's hands, And felt no pain; but now, alas! there's something, When I touch yours, which makes me sigh: Just so I've seen two turtles mourning when they met: Yet mine's a pleasing grief; and so, methought, Yet mine's a pleasing grief; and so, methought, Was theirs: For still they mourned, and still they seemed To murmur too, and yet they often met.
Hip. Oh heavens! I have the same sense too: your hand, Methinks, goes through me; I feel it at my heart, And find it pleases, though it pains me.
Prosp. [within.] Dorinda!
Dor. My father calls again; ah, I must leave you.
Hip. Alas, I'm subject to the same command.
Dor. This is my first offence against my father, Which he, by severing us, too cruelly does punish.
Hip. And this is my first trespass too: But he Hath more offended truth, than we have him: He said our meeting would destructive be, But I no death, but in our parting, see. [Exeunt severally.
SCENE IV.—A Wild Island.
Enter Alonzo, Antonio, and Gonzalo.
Gonz. 'Beseech your grace, be merry: You have cause, So have we all, of joy, for our strange escape; Then wisely, good sir, weigh our sorrow with Our comfort.
Alon. Pr'ythee peace; you cram these words Into my ears, against my stomach; how Can I rejoice, when my dear son, perhaps This very moment, is made a meal to some strange fish?
Anto. Sir, he may live; I saw him beat the billows under him, And ride upon their backs; I do not doubt He came alive to land.
Alon. No, no, he's gone; And you and I, Antonio, were those Who caused his death.
Anto. How could we help it?
Alon. Then, then we should have helped it, When thou betray'dst thy brother Prospero, And Mantua's infant sovereign, to my power: And when I, too ambitious, took by force Another's right: Then lost we Ferdinand; Then forfeited our navy to this tempest.
Anto. Indeed we first broke truce with heaven; You to the waves an infant prince exposed, And on the waves have lost an only son. I did usurp my brother's fertile lands, And now am cast upon this desert-isle.
Gonz. These, sirs, 'tis true, were crimes of a black dye; But both of you have made amends to heaven, By your late voyage into Portugal; Where, in defence of christianity, Your valour has repulsed the Moors of Spain.
Alon. O name it not, Gonzalo; No act but penitence can expiate guilt! Must we teach heaven what price to set on murder? What rate on lawless power and wild ambition? Or dare we traffic with the powers above, And sell by weight a good deed for a bad? [A flourish of music.
Gonz. Music! and in the air! sure we are shipwrecked On the dominions of some merry devil!
Alon. I pulled a tree, and blood pursued my hand. Heaven deliver me from this dire place, And all the after-actions of my life Shall mark my penitence and my bounty. [Music again louder.
Hark, the sounds approach us! [The stage opens in several places.
Anto. Lo! the earth opens to devour us quick. These dreadful horrors, and the guilty sense Of my foul treason, have unmanned me quite.
Alon. We on the brink of swift destruction stand; No means of our escape is left. [Another flourish of voices under the stage.
Anto. Ah! what amazing sounds are these we hear!
Gonz. What horrid masque will the dire fiends present?
SUNG UNDER THE STAGE.
1 Dev. Where does the black fiend Ambition reside, With the mischievous devil of Pride?
2 Dev. In the lowest and darkest caverns of hell, Both Pride and Ambition do dwell.
1 Dev. Who are the chief leaders of the damned host?
3 Dev. Proud monarchs, who tyrannize most.
1 Dev. Damned princes there The worst of torments bear;
3 Dev. Who on earth all others in pleasures excel, Must feel the worst torments of hell. [They rise singing this chorus.
Anto. O heavens! what horrid vision's this? How they upbraid us with our crimes!
Alon. What fearful vengeance is in store for us!
1 Dev. Tyrants, by whom their subjects bleed, Should in pains all others exceed;
1 Dev. And barbarous monarchs, who their neighbours invade, And their crowns unjustly get; And such who their brothers to death have betrayed, In hell upon burning thrones shall be set.
3 Dev. { —In hell, in hell with flames they shall reign, Chor. { And for ever, for ever shall suffer the pain.
Anto. O my soul! for ever, for ever shall suffer the pain!
Alon. Has heaven, in all its infinite stock of mercy, No overflowings for us? poor, miserable, guilty men!
Gonz. Nothing but horrors do encompass us! For ever, for ever must we suffer!
Alon. For ever we shall perish! O dismal words, For ever!
1 Dev. Who are the pillars of the tyrants court?
2 Dev. Rapine and Murder his crown must support!
3 Dev. ——His cruelty does tread On orphans' tender breasts, and brothers dead!
2 Dev. Can heaven permit such crimes should be Attended with felicity?
1 Dev. No; tyrants their sceptres uneasily bear, In the midst of their guards they their consciences fear.
2 Dev. { Care their minds when they wake unquiet will keep; Chor. { And we with dire visions disturb all their sleep.
Anto. Oh horrid sight! how they stare upon us! The fiend will hurry us to the dark mansion. Sweet heaven, have mercy on us!
1 Dev. Say, say, shall we bear these bold mortals from hence?
2 Dev. No, no, let us shew their degrees of offence.
3 Dev. Let's muster their crimes upon every side, And first let's discover their pride.
Enter Pride.
Pride. Lo here is Pride, who first led them astray, And did to ambition their minds then betray.
Fraud. And Fraud does next appear, Their wandering steps who led; When they from virtue fled, They in my crooked paths their course did steer.
Enter Rapine.
Rapine. From fraud to force they soon arrive, Where Rapine did their actions drive.
Murder. There long they could not stay; Down the steep hill they run; And to perfect the mischief which they had begun, To murder they bent all their way.
Chorus of all.Around, around we pace, About this cursed place; While thus we compass in These mortals and their sin. [Devils vanish.
Anto. Heaven has heard me, they are vanished!
Alon. But they have left me all unmanned; I feel my sinews slacken with the fright; And a cold sweat trills down o'er all my limbs, As if I were dissolving into water. Oh Prospero, my crimes against thee sit heavy on my heart!
Anto. And mine against him and young Hippolito.
Gonz. Heaven have mercy on the penitent!
Anto. Lead from this cursed ground; The seas in all their rage are not so dreadful. This is the region of despair and death.
Alon. Beware all fruit, but what the birds have pecked. The shadows of the trees are poisonous too: A secret venom slides from every branch. My conscience does distract me! O my son! Why do I speak of eating or repose, Before I know thy fortune?
[As they are going out, a Devil rises just before
them, at which they start, and are frighted.
Alon. O heavens! yet more apparitions!
Devil Sings.
Arise, arise! ye subterranean winds, More to disturb their guilty minds: And all ye filthy damps and vapours rise, Which use to infect the earth, and trouble all the skies; Rise you, from whom devouring plagues have birth: You, that in the vast and hollow womb of earth Engender earthquakes, make whole countries shake, And stately cities into deserts turn; And you, who feed the flames by which earth's entrails burn. Ye raging winds, whose rapid force can make All but the fixed and solid centre shake, Come drive these wretches to that part of the isle, Where nature never yet did smile: Cause fogs and storms, whirlwinds, and earthquakes there: There let them howl and languish in despair. Rise and obey the powerful prince of the air.
[Two Winds rise, ten more enter and dance. At the end of the dance, three Winds sink, the rest drive Alonzo, Antonio and Gonzalo off.