THE TEMPEST. LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE. THE supernatural agency which forms so leading a feature in this fanciful play, is built (according to Mr. Warton) on the peculiar tenets of the Rosicrucian philosophy; the name of Ariel being derived from It was one of the Talmudistic mysteries with which the more learned Jews connected that science. Warburton considers it Shakspeare's latest productions, and probably founded on some Italian novel. "Jue of the noblest efforts of his sublime and amazing imagination:" a negative species of praise, since the pleasure which it creates arises from a boundless diversity of invention, from a continued succession of supernatural occurrences, devoid of application and destitute of moral, because the end is obtained by means beyond the ordinary compass of belief. In representation it is greatly dependent on the scenery and mechanism. The language, however, is throughout most forcible, and much of the sentiment chaste and magnificent. Caliban is an original creation; whimsical, monstrous, and impressive: but that men, saved as it were by miracle from death, should immediately plot the destruction of their companions, to obtain dominions which there was no probability of their aver re-visiting, is a suggestion at variance with nature, and inconsistent with the spirit of the piece. Johnson says of The Tempest--- "In a single drama are here exhibited princes, courtiers, and sailors, all speaking in their real characters. There is the agency of airy spirits, and of an earthly goblin. The operations of magic, the tumults of a storm, the adventures of a desert island, the native effusion of untaught affection, the punishment of guilt, and are equally interested." the final happiness of the pair for whom our passions and reason DRAMATIS PERSONE. ALONSO, King of Naples. SEBASTIAN, his Brother. Master of a Ship, Boatswain, and Mariners. PROSPERO, the rightful Duke of Milan. ANTONIO, his Brother, the usurping Duke of ARIEL, an Airy Spirit. Milan. FERDINAND, Son to the King of Naples. IRIS, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, } Lords. NYMPHS, REAPERS, CALIBAN, a savage and deformed Slave. TRINCULO, a Jester. STEPHANO, a drunken Butler. Other Spirits attending on PROSPERO. SCENE-The Sea with a ship: afterwards an uninhabited Island. Gon. Nay, good, be patient. Boats. When the sea is. Hence! these roarers for the name of king? To cabin : silence: trouble us not. Gon. Good; yet remember whom thou hast aboard. Boats. None that I more love than myself. can command You are a counsellor; if you these elements to silence, and work the peace of the present, we will not hand a rope more : use your authority. If you cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so bap,-Cheerly, good hearts.-Out of our way, [Exit. good fate, to his hanging! make the rope of his | No more amazement: tell your piteous heart, destiny our cable, for our own doth little advan- There's no harın done. tage! If he be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable. Re-enter BOATSWAIN. [Exeunt. Gon. He'll be hanged yet; Though every drop of water swear against it, And gape at wid'st to glut him. thou [A confused noise within.] Mercy on us. We split, we split! Farewell, my wife and children!-Farewell, brother!We split, we split, we split. Ant. Let's all sink with the king. [Exit. Seb. Let's take leave of him. Exit. Gon. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea, for an acre of barren ground; long heath, brown furze, any thing: The wills above be done! but I would fain die a dry death. [Exit. SCENE II.-The Island: before the Cell of PROSPERO. Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA. 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 the welkin's cheek, Dashes the fire out. Oh! I have suffer'd Dash'd all to pieces, Oh! 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 t The freighting souls within her. Mira. O woe the day! Pro. 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 know. ing Of whence I am; nor that I am more better Mira. More to know Did never meddle with my thoughts. I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand, The direful spectacle of the wreck, which The very virtue of compassion in thee For thou must now know further. Begun to tell me what I am; but stopp'd Pro. The hour's now come; The very minute bids thee ope thine ear; Obey, and be attentive. Can'st thou remem. ber A time before we came unto this cell? I do not think thou can'st; for then thou wast not Out three years old. Mira. Certainly, Sir, I can. Pro. By what? by any other house, or per son ? Of any thing the image tell me, that Hath kept with thy remembrance. Mira. 'Tis far off: Which is from my remembrance! Please you [Of homage, and I know not how much trifurther. bute, Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd An- | Should presently extirpate me and mine tonio, I pray thee mark me,-that a brother should Out of the dukedom; and confer fair Milan, The gates of Milan; and, i' the dead of dark ness, And Prospero the prime duke; being so re- The ministers for the purpose hurried thence puted In dignity, and, for the liberal arts, And to my state grew stranger, being trans- And wrapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle- Mira. Sir, most heedfully. Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits, How to deny them; whom to advance, and To trash for over-topping: new created Or else new-form'd them: having both the Of officer and office, set all hearts To what tune pleased his ear; that now he was I pray thee, mark me. Mira. O good Sir, I do. Pro. I thus neglecting worldly ends, all cate To closeness, and the bettering of my mind ther Awak'd an evil nature and my trust, A falsehood, in its contrary as great at Me and thy crying seit. Mira, Alack, for pity! 1, not rememb'ring how I cried out then, Pro. Hear a little further, Aud then I'll bring thee to the present busi ness Which now's upon us; without the which, this story Were most impertinent. Mira. Wherefore did they not Pro. Well demanded, wench; My tale provokes that question. Dear, they (So dear the love my people bore me) nor set A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd, bro As my trust was which had, indeed, no limit, Not only with what my revenue yielded, But what my power might else exact,-like one, Who, having, unto truth, by telling of it, Mira. Your tale, Sir, would cure deafness. And him he play'd it for, needs he will be He thinks me now incapable: confederates To give him annual tribute, do him homage; Mira. O the heavens I Pro. Mark his coudition, and the event; then tell me, If this might be a brother. Mira. I should sin To think but nobly of my grandmother; Pro. Now the condition. This king of Naples, being an enemy To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit; Will ever after droop.-Here cease more questions: Tho art inclin'd to sleep; 'tis a good dul- And give it way;-I know thou canst not Ariel, and all bis quality. Pro. Hast thou, spirit, Pro. Before the time be out? no more. Remember, I have done thee worthy service; Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, serv'd thee? Ari. To every article. I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak, Then meet, and join: Jove's lightnings, the O' the dreadful thunder-claps,' more momentary And sight-out-running were not: The fire and cracks Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Nep tune Seem'd to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble, Yea, his dread tridert shake. Pro. My brave spirit ! Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil + Ari. Not a soul But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd With hair up-staring (then like reeds, not hair,) And all the devils are here. Pro. Why, that's my spirit? But was not this nigh shore? Ari. Close by, my master. Pro. But are they, Ariel, safe? On their sustaining garments not a blemish, me, In troops I have dispers'd them 'bout the isle : Pro. Of the king's ship, The mariners, say, how thou hast dispos'd, Ari. Sately in harbour Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once Thou call'dst me up at midnight, to fetch dew From the still vex'd Bermoothes there she's hid: Whom with a charm join'd to their suffer'd I have left asleep and for the rest o' the fleet, wreck'd, And bis great person perish. The minutest article 1 Bermudas. the king's ship Bustle, tumult. recount what thou hast been, For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries terrible They would not take her life: Is not this true f Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought And here was left by the sailors. Thou, my slave, As thou report'st thyself, wast then her ser- And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate thee, By help of her more potent ministers, A dozen years; within which space she died, As fast as mill-wheels strike: then was this (Save for the son that she did litter here, Ari. Yes; Caliban her son. Pro. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban, Of ever-angry bears; it was a torment Pro. Thou most lying slave, When I arriv'd, and heard thee, that made gape The pine, and let thee out. Ari. I thank thee, master. Whom stripes may move, not kindness: I have us'd thee, Pro. If thou more murmur st, I will rend an Filth as thou art, with human care; and lodg'd oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters. Ari. Pardon, master: I will be correspondent to command, And do my spiriting gently. Pro. Do so; and after two days I will discharge thee. Ari. That's my noble master ! What shall I do? say what? what shall I do. Pro. Go make thyself like to a nymph o' the sea; Be subject to no sight but mine; invisible Mira. The strangeness of your story put .Pro. Shake it off: come on; We'll visit Caliban, my slave, who never Mira. 'Tis a villain, Sir, I do not love to look on. Pro. But, as 'tis, We cannot miss him he does light our fire, Cal. [Within.] There's wood enough within. Pro. Come forth, I say; there's other business for thee: Come forth, thou tortoise! when? Re-enter ARIEL, like a Water-Nymph. Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel, Hark in thing ear. Ari. My lord, it shall be done. thee [Exit.I must obey his art is of such power, [Aside. Pro. Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil It would control my dam's god, Setebos, t himself Upon thy wicked dam, come forth! first, When thou camest And make a vassal of him. Pro. So, slave; hence ! [Exit Caliban Re-enter ARIEL invisible, playing and sing ing; FERDINAND following him. or the earth? Thou strokd'st me, and mad'st much of me; It sounds no more:-and sure, it waits upon |