_Mira._ If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch, But that the sea, mounting to th' welkin's cheek,[369-1] Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffer'd With those that I saw suffer! a brave[369-2] vessel, Who had no doubt some noble creatures in her, Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perish'd! Had I been any god of power, I would Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er[369-3] It should the good ship so have swallow'd, and The fraughting[370-4] souls within her. _Pros._ Be collected; No more amazement:[370-5] tell your piteous heart There's no harm done. _Mira._ O, woe the day! _Pros._ No harm. I have done nothing but in care of thee,-- Of thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter,--who Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing Of whence I am; nor that I am more better[370-6] Than Prospero, master of a full-poor cell, And thy no greater father. _Mira._ More to know Did never meddle[370-7] with my thoughts. _Pros._ 'Tis time I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand, And pluck my magic garment from me.--So: [_Lays down his robe._ Lie there, my art.[370-8]--Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort. The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd The very virtue of compassion in thee, I have with such prevision in mine art So safely order'd, that there is no soul[370-9]-- No, not so much perdition as an hair Betid to any creature in the vessel Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. Sit down; For thou must now know further. [Illustration: TELL YOUR PITEOUS HEART] _Mira._ You have often Begun to tell me what I am; but stopp'd And left me to a bootless inquisition,[372-10] Concluding, _Stay, not yet_. _Pros._ The hour's now come; The very minute bids thee ope thine ear: Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember A time before we came unto this cell? I do not think thou canst; for then thou wast not Out[372-11] three years old. _Mira._ Certainly, sir, I can. _Pros._ By what? by any other house or person? Of any thing the image tell me that Hath kept with thy remembrance. _Mira._ 'Tis far off, And rather like a dream than an assurance That my remembrance warrants. Had I not Four or five women once that tended me?