John Dryden - Delphi Poets Series

by John Dryden

  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!

  Anto. This isle’s enchanted ground; for I have heard Swift voices flying by my ear, and groans Of lamenting ghosts.

  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.

  Dev. Where does the black fiend Ambition reside, With the mischievous devil of Pride?

  Dev. In the lowest and darkest caverns of hell, Both Pride and Ambition do dwell.

  Dev. Who are the chief leaders of the damned host?

  Dev. Proud monarchs, who tyrannize most.

  Dev. Damned princes there The worst of torments bear;

  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!

  Dev. Tyrants, by whom their subjects bleed, Should in pains all others exceed;

  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.

  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!

  Dev. Who are the pillars of the tyrants court?

  Dev. Rapine and Murder his crown must support!

  Dev. —— His cruelty does tread On orphans’ tender breasts, and brothers dead!

  Dev. Can heaven permit such crimes should be Attended with felicity?

  Dev. No; tyrants their sceptres uneasily bear, In the midst of their guards they their consciences fear.

  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!

  Dev. Say, say, shall we bear these bold mortals from hence?

  Dev. No, no, let us shew their degrees of offence.

  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.

  Enter Fraud.

  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.

  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.

  Chorus of all.Around, around we pace, About this cursed place; While thus we compass in These mortals and their sin. [Devils vanish.

  Ant
o. 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.

  ACT III.

  SCENE I. — A Wild Island.

  Enter Ferdinand, Ariel, and Milcha invisible.

  Ariel. Come unto these yellow sands, And then take hands, Curtsied when you have, and kissed; And wild waves whist. Foot it featly here and there, And sweet sprites the burthen bear. Hark! hark! Bow waugh, the watch-dogs bark. Bow waugh. Hark! hark! I hear The strain of strutting Chanticleer, Cry, Cock a doodle do.

  Ferd. Where should this music be? in the air, or earth? It sounds no more, and sure it waits upon Some God in the island: Sitting on a bank, Weeping against the duke my father’s wreck, This music hovered on the waters, Allaying both their fury, and my passion, With charming airs. Thence I have followed it, (Or it has drawn me rather) but ’tis gone: No, it begins again. No, it begins again.

  Milcha sings.

  Full fathom five thy father lies, Of his bones is coral made: Those are pearls that were his eyes; Nothing of him, that does fade, But does suffer a sea change, Into something rich and strange: Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell; Hark! now I hear them, ding dong bell.

  Ferd. This mournful ditty mentions my drowned father. This is no mortal business, nor a sound Which the earth owns —— I hear it now before me; However, I will on, and follow it. [Exit Ferd. following Ariel.

  SCENE II. — The Cypress Trees and Cave.

  Enter Prospero and Miranda.

  Prosp. Excuse it not, Miranda, for to you (The elder, and, I thought, the more discreet,) I gave the conduct of your sister’s actions.

  Mir. Sir, when you called me thence, I did not fail To mind her of her duty to depart.

  Prosp. How can I think you did remember hers, When you forgot your own? did you not see The man, whom I commanded you to shun?

  Mir. I must confess I saw him at a distance.

  Prosp. Did not his eyes infect and poison you? What alteration found you in yourself?

  Mir. I only wondered at a sight so new.

  Prosp. But have you no desire once more to see him? Come, tell me truly what you think of him. Come, tell me truly what you think of him.

  Mir. As of the gayest thing I ever saw, So fine, that it appeared more fit to be Beloved than feared, and seemed so near my kind, That I did think I might have called it sister.

  Prosp. You do not love it?

  Mir. How is it likely that I should, Except the thing had first loved me?

  Prosp. Cherish those thoughts: You have a generous soul; And since I see your mind not apt to take The light impressions of a sudden love, I will unfold a secret to your knowledge. That creature, which you saw, is of a kind, Which nature made a prop and guide to yours.

  Mir. Why did you then propose him as an object Of terror to my mind? You never used To teach me any thing but god-like truths, And what you said, I did believe as sacred.

  Prosp. I feared the pleasing form of this young man Might unawares possess your tender breast, Which for a nobler guest I had designed; For shortly, my Miranda, you shall see Another of this kind, the full blown flower, Of which this youth was but the opening bud. Go in, and send your sister to me.

  Mir. Heaven still preserve you, sir. [Exit Mir.

  Prosp. And make thee fortunate.

  Enter Dorinda.

  Oh, come hither: you have seen a man to-day, Against my strict command.

  Dor. Who, I? Indeed I saw him but a little, sir.

  Prosp. Come, come, be clear. Your sister told me all.

  Dor. Did she? Truly she would have seen him more than I, But that I would not let her.

  Prosp. Why so?

  Dor. Because, methought, he would have hurt me less, Than he would her. But if I knew you’d not be angry with me, I could tell you, sir, that he was much to blame.

  Prosp. Ha! was he to blame? Tell me, with that sincerity I taught you, How you became so bold to see the man?

  Dor. I hope you will forgive me, sir, because I did not see him much, till he saw me. Sir, he would needs come in my way, and stared, And stared upon my face, and so I thought I would be revenged of him, and, therefore, I gazed on him as long; but if I e’er Come near a man again!

  Prosp. I told you he Was dangerous; but you would not be warned.

  Dor. Pray be not angry, sir, if I tell you, You are mistaken in him; for he did Me no great hurt.

  Prosp. But he may do you more harm hereafter.

  Dor. No, sir, I’m as well as e’er I was in all my life, But that I cannot eat nor drink for thought of him. That dangerous man runs ever in my mind.

  Prosp. The way to cure you is, no more to see him.

  Dor. Nay, pray, sir, say not so. I promised him To see him once again; and you know, sir, You charged me I should never break my promise.

  Prosp. Would you see him, who did you so much mischief?

  Dor. I warrant you I did him as much harm as he did me; For when I left him, sir, he sighed so, as it grieved My heart to hear him.

  Prosp. Those sighs were poisonous, they infected you; You say, they grieved you to the heart.

  Dor. ’Tis true; but yet his looks and words were gentle.

  Prosp. These are the day-dreams of a maid in love; But still I fear the worst.

  Dor. O fear not him, sir.

  Prosp. You speak of him with too much passion; tell me, (And on your duty tell me true, Dorinda,) What passed betwixt you and that horrid creature?

  Dor. How, horrid, sir? if any else but you Should call it so, indeed, I should be angry.

  Prosp. Go to! You are a foolish girl; but answer To what I ask; what thought you when you saw it?

  Dor. At first it stared upon me, and seemed wild, And then I trembled; yet it looked so lovely, That when I would have fled away, my feet Seemed fastened to the ground, when it drew near, And with amazement asked to touch my hand; Which, as a ransom for my life, I gave: But when he had it, with a furious gripe He put it to his mouth so eagerly, I was afraid he would have swallowed it.

  Prosp. Well, what was his behaviour afterwards?

  Dor. He on a sudden grew so tame and gentle, That he became more kind to me than you are; Then, sir, I grew I know not how, and, touching His hand again, my heart did beat so strong, As I lacked breath to answer what he asked.

  Prosp. You’ve been too fond, and I should chide you for it. />
  Dor. Then send me to that creature to be punished.

  Prosp. Poor child! Thy passion, like a lazy ague, Has seized thy blood; instead of striving, thou humourest And feed’st thy languishing disease: Thou fight’st The battles of thy enemy, and ’tis one part of what I threatened thee, not to perceive thy danger.

  Dor. Danger, sir? If he would hurt me, yet he knows not how: He hath no claws, nor teeth, nor horns to hurt me, But looks about him like a callow-bird, Just straggling from the nest: Pray trust me, sir, To go to him again.

  Prosp. Since you will venture, I charge you bear yourself reservedly to him; Let him not dare to touch your naked hand, But keep at distance from him.

  Dor. This is hard!

  Prosp. It is the way to make him love you more; He will despise you, if you grow too kind.

  Dor. I’ll struggle with my heart to follow this; But if I lose him by it, will you promise To bring him back again?

  Prosp. Fear not, Dorinda; But use him ill, and he’ll be yours for ever.

  Dor. I hope you have not cozened me again. [Exit Dor.

  Prosp. Now my designs are gathering to a head; My spirits are obedient to my charms. What, Ariel! My servant Ariel, where art thou?

  Enter Ariel.

  Ariel. What would my potent master? Here I am.

  Prosp. Thou and thy meaner fellows your last service Did worthily perform, and I must use you In such another work: How goes the day?

  Ariel. On the fourth, my lord; and on the sixth, You said our work should cease.

  Prosp. And so it shall; And thou shalt have the open air at freedom.

  Ariel. Thanks, my great lord.

  Prosp. But tell me first, my spirit, How fares the duke, my brother, and their followers?

  Ariel. Confined together, as you gave me order, In the lime-grove, which weather-fends your cell; Within that circuit up and down they wander, But cannot stir one step beyond their compass.

  Prosp. How do they bear their sorrows?

  Ariel. The two dukes appear like men distracted, their Attendants, brim-full of sorrow, mourning over them; But chiefly he, you termed the good Gonzalo: His tears run down his beard, like winter drops From eaves of reeds; your vision did so work them, That, if you now beheld them, your affections Would become tender.