My true preserver, and a loyal sir

To him thou follow'st ! I will pay thy graces
Home both in word and deed. Most cruelly

Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter:
Thy brother was a furtherer in the act; -
Thou art pinched for't now, Sebastian.

Then turning to Antonio, Prospero continues: ---
Flesh and blood,

You, brother mine, that entertained ambition,

Expelled remorse and nature; who, with Sebastian, -
Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,
Would here have killed your king; I do forgive thee,
Unnatural though thou art.

These words of forgiveness were scarcely understood. by the bewildered men, who did not recognize the longunseen Prospero. He therefore retired into his cell, whence he soon emerged again, dressed in the very same garments that he had formerly worn when he was Duke of Milan. He then addressed himself to Alonso, saying:

Behold, Sir King,

The wrongéd Duke of Milan, Prospero:

For more assurance that a living prince

Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body;
And to thee and thy company I bid

A hearty welcome.

ALONSO.

Whether thou beest he or no,

Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me,

As late I have been, I not know thy pulse

Beats, as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee,

Th' affliction of my mind amends, with which,

1 pity.

I fear, a madness held me.

Thy dukedom I resign, and do entreat

Thou pardon me my wrongs.

Be living and be here?

But how should Prospero

Turning to Gonzalo, Prospero said:

First, noble friend,

Let me embrace thine age, whose honor cannot

Be measured or confined.

Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends all!
For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest fault, all of them; and require
My dukedom of thee, which perforce I know
Thou must restore.

ALONSO.

If thou beest Prospero,

Give us particulars of thy preservation :
How thou hast met us here, who three hours since
Were wracked upon this shore; where I have lost ·
How sharp the point of this remembrance is !—
My dear son Ferdinand.

That I am Prospero, and that very duke

Which was thrust forth of Milan; who most strangely Upon this shore, where you were wracked, was landed, To be the lord on't. No more yet of this;

For 'tis a chronicle of day by day,

Not a relation for a breakfast, nor

Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, sir;

This cell's my court: here have I few attendants,

And subjects none abroad: pray you, look in.
My dukedom since you have given me again,
I will requite you with as good a thing;

At least bring forth a wonder, to content ye
As much as me my dukedom.

So saying, Prospero opened the door of his cell and bade them look within. There, to their utter amazement, they discovered Ferdinand and the beautiful Miranda playing chess. The king, overjoyed at finding the son whom he had mourned as lost, exclaimed:

Now all the blessings

Of a glad father compass thee about!
Arise, and say how thou cam'st here.

What is this maid with whom thou wast at play?
Your eld'st acquaintance cannot be three hours:
Is she the goddess that hath severed us,

And brought us thus together?

FERDINAND.

Sir, she is mortal;

She

But by immortal Providence she's mine:
I chose her when I could not ask my father
For his advice, nor thought I had one.
Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan,
Of whom so often I have heard renown,
But never saw before; of whom I have
Received a second life, and second father
This lady makes him to me.

Alonso is so grateful for his son's restoration, and so attracted to the lovely Miranda, that he gladly consents to their union. The pious Gonzalo gives them his blessing, and thanks the gods that Prospero's wrongs

have been righted, and that Naples is to have so noble a king and queen.

he says,

O, rejoice,

Beyond a common joy! and set it down
With gold on lasting pillars: In one voyage
Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis ;
And Ferdinand her brother found a wife,

Where he himself was lost; Prospero his dukedom,
In a poor isle; and all of us ourselves,
When no man was his own.

Look down, you gods,

And on this couple drop a blessed crown!

For it is you that have chalked forth the way
Which brought us hither.

Prospero now told Alonso that his ship was safe in a harbor of the island, and that, on the following day, he and his daughter would accompany the party to Naples, where he hoped to witness the celebration of the marriage rites of Ferdinand and Miranda. He promised them "calm seas, auspicious gales," and a speedy

voyage.

The execution of this last charge he then committed to Ariel, after which the airy sprite was to be free. Ariel, rejoicing in his long-desired freedom, sings:

Where the bee sucks, there suck I:

In a cowslip's bell I lie;

There I couch when owls do cry.

On the bat's back I do fly

After summer merrily.

Merrily, merrily, shall I live now

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM