Sit ftill, and hear the laft of our fea-forrow.
Here in this island we arriv'd; and here
Have I, thy school-mafter, made thee more profit
Than other princes can, that have more time

For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.

Mira. Heavens thank you for't! And now, I pray you, fir,

(For ftill 'tis beating in my mind) your reason

For raifing this fea-storm?

Pro.

Know thus far forth.

By accident most strange, bountiful fortune,
Now my dear lady,9 hath mine enemies
Brought to this fhore; and by my prescience
I find my zenith doth depend upon
A most aufpicious ftar; whofe influence
If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after droop.-Here ceafe more queftions;
Thou art inclin'd to fleep; 'tis a good dulnefs,2
And give it way;-I know thou can't not choose.---

[MIRANDA Sleeps.

Come away, fervant, come: I am ready now;
Approach, my Ariel; come.

Enter

mean time tells her a long ftory, often asking her whether her attention be ftill awake. The story being ended (as Miranda fupposes) with their coming on thore, and partaking of the conveniences provided for them by the loyal humanity of Gonzalo, fhe therefore first exprefles a wish to fee the good old man, and then obferves, that she may now arife, as the story is done. Profpero, furprised that his charm does not yet work, bids her fit ftill; and then enters on fresh matter to amuse the time, telling her (what the knew before) that he had been her tutor, &c. But foon perceiving her drowsiness coming on, he breaks off abruptly, and leaves her fill fitting to her flumbers. BLACKSTONE.

As the words " now I arife"may fignify, "now I rife in my narration," ," "now my ftory heightens in its confequence," I have left the paffage in question, undisturbed. We ftill fay, that the intereft of a drama rifes or declines. STEEVENS.

9 Now my dear lady,] i. e. now my aufpicious miftrefs. STEEVENS. 2-'tis a good dulnefs,] Dr. Warburton rightly obferves, that this fleepiness, which Profpero by his art had brought upon Miranda, and of which he knew not how foon the effect would begin, makes him question her fo often whether she is attentive to his ftory. JOHNSON.

Enter ARIEL.

Ari. All hail, great master! grave fir, hail! I come To answer thy beft pleafure; be't to fly,

To fwim, to dive into the fire, to ride

On the curl'd clouds; to thy ftrong bidding, task
Ariel, and all his quality.3

Pro.

Haft thou, fpirit,

Perform'd to point 4 the tempeft that I bade thee?
Ari. To every article..

I boarded the king's fhip; now on the beak,5
Now in the waift, the deck, in every cabin,
I flam'd amazement: Sometimes, I'd divide,
And burn in many places: 7 on the top-mast,
The yards and bowfprit, would I flame diftinctly,
Then meet, and join: Jove's lightnings, the precurfors s
O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
And fight-out-running were not: The fire, and cracks. -
Of fulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune
Seem'd to befiege, and make his bold waves tremble,
Yea, his dread trident shake,8

Pro.

"

My brave fpirit!

Who was fo firm, so constant, that this coil
Would not infect his reafon?

Ari.

Not a foul

But

3 and all his quality.] i. e. all his confederates, all who are of the fame profeffion. STEEVENS.

4 Perform'd to point i. e. to the minuteft article. STEEVENS. 5-now on the beak] The beak was a strong pointed body at the head of the ancient gallies; it is used here for the forecaftle, or the boltfprit. JOHNSON.

6 Now in the waist,] The part between the quarter-deck and the forecaftie. JOHNSON.

7 Burton fays, that the Spirits of fire, in form of fire-drakes and blazing stars, oftentimes fit on fhip-mafts," &c. Melanch. P. I. § 2. p. 30. edit. 1632. T. WARTON.

Yea, bis dread trident shake.] Left the metre fhould appear defective, it is neceffary to apprize the reader, that in Warwickshire and other midland counties, shake is ftill pronounced by the common people as if it was written-fhaake, a diffyllable. FARMER.

But felt a fever of the mad,9 and play'd
Some tricks of defperation: All, but mariners,
Plung'd in the foaming brine, and quit the veffel,
Then all a-fire with me: the king's fon Ferdinand,
With hair up-ftaring (then like reeds, not hair)
Was the firft man that leap'd; cried, Hell is empty,
And all the devils are here.

Pro.

But was not this nigh shore?
Ari.

2

Why, that's my fpirit!

Close by, my mafter.

Not a hair perifh'd;

Pro. But are they, Ariel, fafe?
Ari.
On their fuftaining garments not a blemish,
But fresher than before: and as thou bad'ft me,
In troops I have difpers'd them 'bout the isle:
The king's fon have I landed by himself;
Whom I left cooling of the air with fighs,
In an odd angle of the isle, and fitting,
His arms in this fad knot,

Pro.

Of the king's fhip,

The mariners, fay, how thou haft difpos'd,
And all the reft o' the fleet ?

Ari.

Safely in harbour

Is the king's fhip; in the deep nook, where once
Thou call'dit me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the ftill-vex'd Bermoothes, 3 there fhe's hid:

The

9 But felt a fever of the mad,] If it be at all neceffary to explain the meaning, it is this: Not a foul but felt fuch a fever as madmen feel, when the frantick fit is upon them.

STEEVENS.

2-fuftaining- i. e. their garments that bore them up and fupported them. Mr. M. Mason, however, obferves that the word fuftaining in this place does not mean supporting, but enduring; and by their fuftaining garments, Ariel means their garments which bore, without being injured, the drenching of the fea." STEEVENS.

3 From the ftill-vex'd Bermoothes,] Smith, in his account of thefe iflands, p. 172, fays, "that the Bermudas were fo fearful to the world, that many call'd them The Ifle of Devils.-P. 174.-to all feamen no less terrible than an incbanted den of furies." And no wonder, for the clime was extremely fubject to ftorms and hurricanes; and the islands were furrounded with scattered rocks lying fhallowly hid under the furface of the water. WARBURTON,

The mariners all under hatches ftow'd,

Whom, with a charm join'd to their fuffer'd labour,
I have left afleep and for the rest o' the fleet,
Which I difpers'd, they all have met again;
And are upon the Mediterranean flote,+
Bound fadly home for Naples ;

Suppofing that they faw the king's fhip wreck'd,
And his great perfon perish.

Pro.

Ariel, thy charge

Paft the mid feafon.

Exactly is perform'd; but there's more work:
What is the time o' the day?

Ari.

Pro. At least two glaffes: The time 'twixt fix and now, Muft by us both be fpent moft precioufly.

Ari. Is there more toil? Since thou doft give me pains, Let me remember thee what thou hast promis'd,

Which is not yet perform'd me.

Pro.

What is't thou can'ft demand?

Ari.

How now moody?

My liberty.

I pray thee

Pro. Before the time be out? no more...

Ari.
Remember, I have done thee worthy fervice;

Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, ferv'd
Without or grudge, or grumblings: thou didst promife
To bate me a full year.
Pro.

Doft thou forgets

From

The epithet here applied to the Bermudas, will be beft understood by those who have seen the chafing of the fea over the rugged rocks by which they are furrounded, and which render access to them fo dangerous. It was in our poet's time the current opinion, that Bermudas was inhabited by monsters, and devils.Setebos, the god of Caliban's dam, was an Ame rican devil, worshipped by the giants of Patagonia. HENLEY.

The opinion that Bermudas was haunted with evil fpirits continued fo late as the civil war. PERCY.

Bermudas was on this account the cant name for fome privileged place, in which the cheats and riotous bullies of Shakspeare's time affembled. STEEVENS.

4

the Mediterranean flote,] Flote is wave. Flot. Fr. STEEVENS. 5 Doft thou forget-] That the character and conduct of Profpera may be understood, fomething must be known of the fyftem of enchant→

No.

From what a torment I did free thee?

Ari.

Pro. Thou doft; and think'ft

It much, to tread the ooze of the falt deep;
To run upon the fharp wind of the north;
To do me business in the veins o' the earth,
When it is bak'd with froft.

Ari.

I do not, fir.

Pro. Thou lieft, malignant thing! Haft thou forgot
The foul witch Sycorax, who, with age, and envy,
Was grown into a hoop? Haft thou forgot her?
Ari. No, fir.

Pro.

tell me.

Thou haft: Where was the born? speak;

Ari. Sir, in Argier."

Pro.

O, was the fo? I must,

Once in a month, recount what thou hast been,

Which thou forget'ft. This damn'd witch, Sycorax,
For mischiefs manifold, and forceries terrible

To enter human hearing, from Argier,

Thou know'ft, was banish'd; for one thing fhe did,
They would not take her life: Is not this true?

Ari. Ay, fir.

Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with child, And here was left by the failors: Thou, my flave,

As thou report'ft thyfelf, waft then her fervant:

And, for thou waft a spirit too delicate

To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refufing her grand hefts, fhe did confine thee,
By help of her more potent minifters,

And

ment, which fupplied all the marvellous found in the romances of the middle ages. This fyftem seems to be founded on the opinion that the fallen fpirits, having different degrees of guilt, had different habitations allotted them at their expulfion, fome being confined in helt, fome (as Hooker, who delivers the opinion of our poet's age, expreffes it) difperfed in air, fame on earth, fome in water, others in caves, dens, or minerals under the earth. Of these fome were more malignant and mischievous than others. The earthy fpirits feem to have been thought the most depraved, and the aerial the least vitiated. JOHNSON.

in Argier.] Argier is the ancient English name for Algiers.

STEEVENS.