 | The Tempest, or The Enchanted Island |  |
SCENE III.
A wild Island.Enter Alonzo, Antonio, Gonzalo.
Gonz.
'Beseech your Grace be merry: you have cause, so
have we all, of joy, for our strange 'scape; then wisely, good
Sir, weigh our sorrow with our comfort.
Alonz.
Prithee peace, you cram these words into my ears,
against my stomach; how can I rejoyce, 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.
Alonz.
No, no, he's gone; and you and I, Antonio, were
those who caus'd his death.
How could we help it?
Alonz.
Then, then we should have help'd it, when thou betrai'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 expos'd, and on the waves have lost
an onely Son. I did usurp my Brother's fertile Lands, and now
am cast upon this Desart-Isle.
Gonz.
These, Sirs, 'tis true, were crimes of a black die; but
both of you have made amend to Heav'n by your late Voyage
into Portugal; where, in defence of Christianity, your valour
has repuls'd the Moors of Spain.
Alon.
O name it not, Gonzalo;
No act but penitence can expiate guilt!
Must we teach Heav'n what price to set on Murder! what
rate on lawless Power and wild Ambition! or dare we traffick
with the Powers above, and sell by weight a good deed for
a bad?
[A flourish of Musick.
Gonz.
Musick! and in the air! sure we are Shipwrack'd on
the Dominions of some merry Devil!
Anto.
This Isle's Inchanted ground; for I have heard swift
voices flying by my ear, and groans of lamenting ghosts.
Alon.
I pull'd a Tree, and bloud pursu'd my hand.
Heav'n deliver me from this dire place, and all the after-actions
of my life shall mark my penitence and my bounty.
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 unmann'd me quite.
Alon.
We on the brink of swift destruction stand;
No means of our escape is left.
[Another flourish of Voyces under the Stage.
Anto.
Ah! what amazing sounds are these we hear!
Gonz.
What horrid Masque will the dire Fiends present?
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 does 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 in Earth all others in pleasures excel,
Must feel the worst torments of Hell.
[They rise singing this Chorus.
Anto.
Oh Heav'ns! what horrid Vision's this?
How they upbraid us with our crimes!
Alon.
What fearful vengeance is in store for us!
2. Dev.
Tyrants by whom their Subjects bleed,
Should in pains all others exceed;
2. Dev.
And barb'rous Monarchs who their Neighbours invade,
And their Crowns unjustly get;
And such who their Brothers to death have betrai'd,
In Hell upon burning Thrones shall be set.
3. Dev.; Chor.
—In Hell, in Hell with flames they shall reign,
And for ever, for ever shall suffer the pain.
Anto.
Oh my Soul; for ever, for ever shall suffer the pain.
Alon.
Has Heav'n 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 Heav'n permit such crimes should be
Attended with felicity?
No Tyrants their Scepters uneasily bear,
In the midst of their Guards they their Consciences fear.
2. Dev.; Chor.
Care their minds when they wake unquiet will keep,
And we with dire visions disturb all their sleep.
Anto.
Oh horrid sight! how they stare upon us!
The Fiends will hurry us to the dark Mansion.
Sweet Heav'n, have mercy on us!
1. Dev.
Say, Say, shall we bear these bold Mortals from hence?
2. Dev.
No, no, let us show their degrees of offence.
3. Dev.
Let's muster their crimes up on 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.
Enter Fraud.
Fraud.
And Fraud does next appear,
Their wandring steps who led,
When they from vertue 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.
Enter Murder.
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.
Around, around we pace,
Chorus of all.
About this cursed place;
While thus we compass in
These Mortals and their sin.
[Devils vanish.
Anto.
Heav'n has heard me, they are vanish'd!
Alon.
But they have left me all unmann'd?
I feel my sinews slacken with the fright;
And a cold sweat trills down o'r all my Limbs,
Oh Prospero, my crimes 'gainst thee sit heavy on my heart!
Anto.
And mine 'gainst him and young Hippolito.
Gonz.
Heav'n have mercy on the penitent.
Alon.
Lead from this cursed ground;
The Seas in all their rage are not so dreadful.
This is the Region of despair and death.
Alonz.
Beware all fruit, but what the Birds have peck'd.
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.
Alonz.
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 t' infect the Earth, and trouble all the Skies;
Rise you, from whom devouring plagues have birth:
You that i' th' vast and hollow womb of Earth,
Engender Earthquakes, make whole Countreys shake,
And stately Cities into Desarts turn;
And you who feed the flames by which Earths entrals burn.
Ye raging winds, whose rapid force can make
All but the fix'd and solid Centre shake:
Come drive these Wretches to that part o'th' Isle,
Where Nature never yet did smile:
Cause Fogs and Storms, Whirlwinds and Earthquakes there:
There let 'em houl and languish in despair.
Rise and obey the pow'rful Prince o'th' Air.
Two Winds rise, Ten more enter and dance: At the end of the Dance, Three winds sink, the rest drive Alon. Anto. Gonz. off.
| The Tempest, or The Enchanted Island | |