MIR. Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.

PROS. To have no screen between this part he play’d And him he play’d it for,

what a sleep were this For your advancement!

MIR. I should sin To think but nobly of my grandmother: Good wombs have borne bad sons.

And by that destiny, to perform an act Whereof what ’s past is prologue; what to come, In yours and my discharge.

PROS. Look thou be true; do not give dalliance Too much the rein: the strongest oaths are straw To the fire i’ the blood: be more abstemious, Or else, good night your vow!

You do look, my son, in a moved sort,209 As if you were dismay’d: be cheerful, sir. Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air: And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all

the rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent, The sole drift of my purpose doth extend Not a frown further.

CAL. You taught me language; and my profit on ’t Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you For learning me your language!