Col. All the infections that the sun sucks up From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him By inch-meal a disease! His spirits hear me, And yet I needs must curse. Mira. If, by your art, my dearest father, you Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. Pros. I'll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in the earth: And, deeper than did ever plummet sound, I'll drown my book. Act IV. Scene I. Act V. Sce 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 the Talmudistic mysteries with which the more learned Jews connected that science. It was one of Shakspeare's latest productions, and probably founded on some Italian novel. Warburton considers it "one 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 ootained 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 meu, 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 ever 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 the final happiness of the pair for whom our passions and reason are equally interested." 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. IRIS, 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. Boats. None that I more love than myself. your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it Gon. I have great comfort from this fellow : methinks, he hath no drowning mark upon him ; his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast good fate, to his hanging! make the rope of his No more amazement: tell your piteous heart, Re-enter BOATSWAIN. Mira. O woe the day! [Exeunt.I have done nothing but in care of thee, Boats. Down with the top-mast; yare; lower, Re-enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and our Yet again? what do you here? Shall we give o'er, and drown? Have you a mind to sink? Seb. A pox o'your throat? you bawling, blasphemous, uncharitable dog! Boats. Work you, then. Art ignorant of what thou art, nought know. Of whence I am; nor that I am more better Mira. More to know Did never meddle with my thoughts. should inform thee further. Lend thy hand, Ant. Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson, inso-The lent noise-maker, we are less afraid to be drowned than thou art. Gon. I'll warrant him from drowning; though the ship were no stronger than a nut-shell, and as leaky as an unstanched wench. Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold; set her two courses; off to sea again, lay her off. Enter MARINERS, wet. Mar. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all [Exeunt. lost! Boats. What, must our mouths be cold? For our case is as their's. Seb. I am out of patience. Ant. We are merely + cheated of our lives by This drunkards. wide-chapped rascal; 'Would, might'st lie drowning, The washing of ten tides ! Gon. He'll be hanged yet ; Though every drop of water swear against it, thou touch'd direful spectacle of the wreck, which 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; ber I do not think thou can'st; for then thou wast Mira. Certainly, Sir, I can. Pro. By what? by any other house, or per- [A confused noise within.]Of any thing the image tell me, that [Exit. (Exit. Mercy on us. We split, we split! Farewell, [Exit. SCENE II.-The Island: before the Cell of PROSPERO. Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA. Mira. If by your art, my dearest father, you How thou cam'st here thou may'st. Pro. Twelve years since, Mirauda, twelve A prince of power. Mira. Sir, are not you my father? Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and She said-thou wast my daughter; and thy father Was duke of Milan; and his only heir Mira. O the heaveus! What foul play bad we, that we came from thence? Or blessed was't we did? Pro. Both, both, my girl: By foul play, as thou say'st, were we beav'd thence; But blessedly holp hither. Mira. O my heart bleeds To think o' the teen that I have turn'd you to, Incontinent. + Absolutely. t Before Which is from my remembrance! Please you | Of homage, and I know not how much tri further. Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd An- I pray thee mark me,-that a brother should bute, Should presently extirpate me and mine 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 pated In dignity, and, for the liberal arts, Without a parallel; those being all my study, And to my state grew stranger, being traus- And wrapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle- Mira. Sir, most heedfully. Pro. Being once perfected how to suits, grant How to deny them; whom to advance, and To trash for over-topping: new created them, Of officer and office, set all hearts To what tune pleased his ear; that now he was tend'st not: I pray thee, mark me. Mira. O good Sir, I do. on't.-Thou at Pro. I thus neglecting worldly ends, all cate Me and thy crying seif. Mira, Alack, for pity! 1, not rememb'ring how I cried out then, Pro. Hear a little further, And 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, dedi-To cry to the sea that roar'd to us; to sigh To closeness, and the bettering of my mind ther Awak'd an evil nature and my trust, A falsehood, in its contrary as great As my trust was which had, indeed, no limit, Not only with what my revenue yielded, 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 Sit still, and hear the last of our sea sorrow. Than other princes can, that have more time (For still 'tis beating in my mind,) your reason Pro. Know thus far forth. By accident most strange, bountiful fortune, A most auspicious star; whose induence • Cut away. + Without. 1 Thirsty |