Ari. Sir, all this service

Have I done since I went.

Pro. My tricksy spirit!

[Aside.

Alon.These are not natural events; they strengthen, From strange to stranger:-Say, how came you hither?

Boats. If I did think, Sir, I were well awake, I'd strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep, And (how, we know not,) all clapp'd under hatches, Where, but even now, with strange and several noises Of roaring, shrieking, howling, gingling chains, And more diversity of sounds, all horrible, We were awak'd; straitway, at liberty: Where we, in all her trim, freshly beheld Our royal, good, and gallant ship; our master Cap'ring to eye her: on a trice, so please you, Even in a dream, were we divided from them, And were brought moping hither.

Ari. Was't well done?

Pro. Bravely, my diligence. Thou shalt [Aside. be free.

Alon. This is as strange a maze as e'er men tröd : And there is in this business more than nature Was ever conductt of: some oracle

Must rectify our knowledge.

Pro. Sir, my liege,

Do not infest your mind with beating on

The strangeness of this business.; at pick'd leisure, Which shall be shortly, single I'll resolve you (Which to you shall seem probable), of every These happen'd accidents: till when, be cheerful, And think of each thing well.-Come hither, spirit; [Aside.

[Sir?

Set Caliban and his companions free:
Untie the spell. [Exit Ariel.] How fares my gracious
There are yet missing of your company
Some few odd lads, that you remember not.
Re-enter ARIEL, driving in CALIBAN, STEPHANO,
and TRINCULO, in their stolen Apparet.

Ste. Every man shift for all the rest, and let no man take care for himself; for all is but fortune:Coragio, bully-monster, Coragio!

Trin. If these be true spies which I wear in my head, here's a goodly sight,

Cal. O Setebos, these be brave spirits, indeed! How fine my master is! I am afraid

Clever, adroit.

+ Conductor.

He will chastise me.

Seb. Ha, ha

What things are these, my lord Antonio!
Will money buy them?

Ant. Very like; one of them

Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable.

Pro. Mark but the badges of these men, my lords,
Then say, if they be true; this mis-shapen knave,-
His mother was a witch: and one so strong
That could controul the moon, make flows and ebbs,
And deal in her command, without her power:
These three have robb'd me; and this demi-devil
(For he's a bastard one,) had plotted with them
To take my life: two of these fellows you

Must know, and own; this thing of darkness I
Acknowledge mine.

Cal. I shall be pinch'd to death.

Alon. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?
Seb. He is drunk now: where had he wine?
Alon. And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should
they

Find this grand liquor that hath gilded them?—
How cam'st thou in this pickle?

Trin. I have been in such a pickle, since I saw you last, that, I fear me, will never out of my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing.

Seb. Why, how now, Stephano?

Ste. O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but a

cramp.

Pro. You'd be king of the isle, sirrah?

Ste. I should have been a sore one then.

Alon. This is as strange a thing as e'er I look'd on. [Pointing to Caliban. Pro. He is as disproportion'd in his manners,

As in his shape :-Go, sirrah, to my cell;"
Take with you your companions; as you look
To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.

Cal. Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter, And seek for grace; what a thrice double ass Was I, to take this drunkard for a god,

And worship this dull fool!

Pro. Go to-away!

Alon. Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it.

Seb. Or stole it, rather, [Exeunt Cal. Ste. and Trin. Pro. Sir, I invite your highness, and your train, To my poor cell: where you shall take your rest

* Honest.

For this one night; which (part of it), I'll waste
With such discourse, as, I not doubt, shall make it
Go quick away: the story of my life,
And the particular accidents, gone by,
Since I came to this isle: and in the morn,.
I'll bring you to your ship, and so to Naples,
Where I have hope to see the nuptial

Of these our dear-beloved solemnized:
And thence retire me to Milan, where
Every third thought shall be my grave.
Alon. I long

To hear the story of your life, which must
Take the ear strangely.

Pro. I'll deliver all;

And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales,
And sail so expeditious, that shall catch
Your royal fleet far off.-My Ariel;-chick-
That is thy charge; then to the elements

Be free, and fare thou well!-[Aside.] Please you draw near.

[Exeunt.

EPILOGUE.

SPOKEN BY PROSPERO.

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have 's mine own,
Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples: Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got,
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island, by your spell;
But release me from my bands,
With the help of your good hands.
Gentle breath of your's my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please:-Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant;
And my ending is despair,

Unless I be relieved by prayer;
Which pierces so, that it assaults
Mercy itself, and frees all faults.

As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
Let your indulgence set me free.

spell.

Applause: noise was supposed to dissolve a

TEMPEST.-The Tempest and The Midsummer Night's Dream are the noblest efforts of that sublime and amazing imagination peculiar to Shakspeare, which soars above the bounds of nature, without forsaking sense; or, more properly, carries nature along with him beyond her established limits. Fletcher seems particularly to have admired these two plays, and hath wrote two in imitation of them, The Sea Voyage, and The Faithful Shepherdess. But when he presumes to break a lance with Shakspeare, and write in emulation of him, as he does in The False One, which is the rival of Antony and Cleopatra, he is not so successful. After him, Sir John Suckling and Milton catched the brightest fire of their imagination from these two plays; which shines fantastically, indeed, in The Goblins, but much more nobly and serenely in The Mask at Ludlow Castle. WARBURTON.

No one has hitherto been lucky enough to discover the romance on which Shakspeare may be sup posed to have founded this play, the beauties of which could not secure it from the criticism of Ben Jonson, whose malignity appears to have been more than equal to his wit. In the introduction to Bartholomew Fair, he says: "If there be never a servant monster in the fair, who can help it, he says, nor a nest of antiques? He is loth to make nature afraid in his plays, like those that beget Tales, Tempests, and such like drolleries." STEEVENS.

It is observed of The Tempest, that its plan is regular; this the author of The Revisal thinks, what I think too, an accidental effect of the story, not intended or regarded by our author. But, whatever might be Shakspeare's intention in forming or adopting the plot, he has made it instrumental to the production of many characters, diversified with boundless invention, and preserved with profound skill in nature, extensive knowledge of opinions, and accurate observation of life. 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. JOHNSON.

Mr. Theobald tells us, that The Tempest must have been written after 1609, because the Bermuda Islands, which are mentioned in it, were unknown to the English until that year; but this is a mistake. He might have seen in Hackluyt, 1600, folio, a description of Bermuda, by Henry May, who was shipwrecked there, in 1593,

It was, however, one of our author's last works. In 1598, he played a part in the original Every man in his Humour. Two of the characters are Prospero and Stephano. Here Ben Jonson taught him the pronunciation of the latter word, which is always right in The Tempest:

Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?" And always wrong in his earlier play, The Merchant of Venice, which had been on the stage at least two or three years before its publication in 1600:

"My friend Stephano, signify I pray you," &c. -So little did Mr. Capell know of his author, when he idly supposed his school literature might perhaps have been lost by the dissipation of youth, or the busy scene of public life! FARMER.