A DANCE and CHORUS.
Around! and around!
Let the welkin resound,
To heighten our pleasures!
About the burnt ship
Let us gambol, and skip;
While, in mystical measures,
We beat the charm'd ground! After some magical ceremonies, SYCORAX sings.
My victims come! let Silence reign!
Unless the bird of night,
To add to their affright,
By day to cry shall deign!
Or sheeted ghosts howl, yell, and moan;
Or deadly mandrakes shriek and groan;
To aggravate their pain! Chorus of Fiends.
Let Silence reign! Enter Hyrca, charming Abdallah, Claribel, Miranda and Caliban to follow her; at the same time Enter, on the opposite side, impelled by fiends, Prospero, Alonso, Ferdinand, Gonzalo, Adrian, and Francisco.

SYCORAX speaks.
Welcome, my friend, and darling son!
These wretches' line is nearly spun!
For, lo! their frames no more can bear;
With stony eyes they, speechless, glare!
Now, Hyrca, shall we vengeance due
Wreak on this curst, devoted crew!
Done is ev'ry charm and spell,
Of melody, or dismal yell;
With mystick incantations dire,
As we circled hell-stol'n fire!
And crackling flames to ashes turn'd
The vessel we have, joyful, burn'd!
Now speak, proud tyrant, ere thy breath
For aye expire in horrid death!

PROSPERO.
Nor this, nor direst deeds of hell combin'd,
Can shake, or alter my still stedfast breast!
Conscious I have in nought offended yet,
More than inherent frailty of weak man,
I know just Heav'n will not permit my fall;
But, by inscrutable, mysterious ways,
T' accomplish some outweighing good dependent:
Convinc'd of that, I bow me to my fate!—
Yet, if you know what means the gentle word,
Have pity on my children, and lov'd friends;
And let my death dread Sycorax appease!

SYCORAX.
Thy death appease, fall'n tyrant? no!
Thy friends unto thee first I'll show
In torments, worse than regicide,
Or zealous martyr ever tried;
At which if thou dar'st once repine,
Their pangs shall be delight to thine!
And, what I know will irk thee more
Than tortures manifold and sore,
Ere thy vile thread of life be spun,
Thy daughter will I give my son!

CALIBAN.
Ho! ho! ho! ho! I thank thee, gentle dam!
Soon shall she bring brave brood of Calibans!

PROSPERO. [Kneeling.
All righteous Providence, permit not this!
In thee, Most High! confiding, I resign'd
My potent magick, which had now bested;—
Let not thy servant perish for much faith!
But, if pure chastity seem good to thee,
Send down some guardian Angel to defend,
And from perdition snatch a spotless maid! Grand Harmonious Musick is heard. Ariel descends, bearing a wand and book, attended by other Spirits.

THEY SING.
Virtue is the High One's care!
  Who to shield it from vile lust,
Sends his Spirits of pure air,
  From the mansions of the just!

The Fire sinks; Sycorax, Hyrca, Caliban, and Fiends, go off howling amidst Thunder, &c.

ARIEL.
All hail, my Heav'n-tried master! Prospero hail!
To recompense your former kindnesses,
Hath Ariel div'd i'th' oozy Neptune's bed;
Your precious magick-volume rescued thence:
And into Tellus' bosom deeply pierc'd,
Your broken, buried wand recovering;
With th' aid of these, my fellow ministers,
Firm re-united, and of greater force.
Accept them, master! from your grateful sprite;
You now again have power: still use it right!

PROSPERO.
Heaven heard my prayer! to Heaven thanks first are due!
Next unto thee, my kind, my gentle Ariel!
And these pure Spirits, who vouchsafed their aid!
My children! lov'd Gonzalo! dear friends all!
Like monumental marble thus enfix'd,
Move! speak! embrace! ye now, again, are free! [Waving his Wand.

ABDALLAH.
My queen!

CLARIBEL.
My lord!

MIRANDA.
My Ferdinand!

FERDINAND.
Sweet love!

ALONSO.
Thou wond'rous man! who hast unlock'd our spell,
How can we thank or praise thee as we ought!

PROSPERO.
Your thanks and praises offer up to Heaven!
Nor Prospero, nor e'en Ariel, now hath freed you;
But the Most High! before whose throne all bow!

GONZALO.
My joints are old and stiff; but to my God
No youth with a more supple knee shall bend!

ARIEL.
Ye favour'd friends!—restoring first this King,
And Virgin Queen, unto afflicted Tunis,—
In Italy you'll soon be fully blest!
Where, by my means inform'd of these events,
Gentle and simple, old and young, now throng,
Numerous as sands the shore, to greet this train.

PROSPERO.
But that, my chick! exceeds my utmost art.
Our ship destroy'd, we here must patient wait
'Till Heaven hath granted means for our return.

ARIEL.
That Heaven hath done! the sadly home-bound fleet,
Conducted here by me, now joyful waits
To bear you safely hence. [The Fleet appears.]
Once more embark!
Ye scatter'd remnants I'm allow'd to save,
Haste, and be rescued from a living grave!
All but th' usurping duke, and regicide!
Here for their crimes they're ever doom'd to bide,
And echo with their groans, on this strange shore,
Hyrca's dire shrieks, curst Caliban's fell roar!
Whilst Sycorax, replung'd i'th' lake of fire,
Shall ne'er be freed till Nature's self expire!

PROSPERO.
Must then my wretched brother here be left?
Him and Sebastian I could now forgive!

ARIEL.
It may not be!—Heaven's merciful, but just!

PROSPERO.
Heaven's will be done!

ARIEL.
Here bend the wond'ring crew. Enter Master, Boatswain, Mariners, Stephano, and Trinculo.

ARIEL.
Now farewell all!—my duty thus complete,
I will but tend to Italy the fleet,
And see my master past all perils' power;
Then seek repose i' th' bell of some sweet flower!

ARIEL sings.
From Bondage free,
Sweet Liberty
  Shall Ariel hence enjoy!
I'th' Bee's quaint Cell,
Or Musk-rose dwell;
  Upon the Goss'mer toy!
Then, sportive, fly
To th' azure Sky;
  Outsoar the Eagle far:
In Sun-beams play,
The live-long Day;
  And shine at Night a Star!

PROSPERO.
My gentle friends! ere we depart,
A word or two on magick-art.
Though the dread demons of this hour,
To hell and sorcery ow'd their pow'r;

Let not all magick be decried,
As hellish and unsanctified.
Virtue's our magick-staff! our book
Pure Piety!—with Faith who look
Thereon, may antres vast explore;
Or, fearless, hear hoarse Neptune roar:
Pervade the endless, endless skies;
See system upon system rise:
Soar to the center of all space;
Kneel at the Throne of Heavenly Grace!

HYMN, By the attendant Spirits.
Hail, Virtue! eldest born of Light!
  Whose ray illumes the darkest cell!
Whose presence makes e'en Heaven more bright!
  With Faith and Piety still dwell! THE END.

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