more pure, simple, and secluded. A desert island is his domain; his residence, a cell; his sole associate, his daughter; and in instructing her consists his recreation. Every circumstance in his existence is favourable to his acquisition of proficiency in magic. That the magician was distinguished by some imposing peculiarity of apparel, is, perhaps, likewise to be attributed to the original identification of his character with that of philosopher and priest. To those who have remarked how perpetually power and its symbols are confounded by the vulgar, it will not be thought extraordinary that the mantle and the wand were indispensable to the magician. When Prospero lays aside his art, to enter on the narrative of his misfortunes, he directs Miranda to "pluck his magic garment from him* ;" and when he abjures the practice of magic altogether, he resolves to "break his staff, and bury it certain fathoms in the earth."+`· Commensurate with the depth of his science was the power of the magician over the world of spirits. A master of his art had under authority seventy-nine principal and princely spirits (all named by the historians of magic) who + Act V. sc. 1. * Act I. sc. 2. had under them, as their ministers, multitudes of legions of inferior devils. Prospero was reputed "for the liberal arts; without a parallel; those being all his study;" and, as a consequence of his extensive knowedge, his art was in the highest degree potent, as appears by his authoritative address to his various spiritual agents.* By the most skilful magician alone could the devil be compelled to exhibit visionary castles, forts, illuminated saloons, sumptuous festivals, troops of gallant knights, and beauteous dames, and splendid armies, both of horse and foot; and such a deference, we find, is paid to Prospero. In the third scene of the third act is described the entrance of, amidst "solemn and strange music, several strange shapes, bringing in a banquet ;" and, in a subsequent part of the scene, the stage direction is, "thunder and lightning. Enter Ariel like a harpy; claps his wings upon the table, and, with a quaint device, the banquet vanishes." Again, in the first scene of the fourth act, a visionary masque is exhibited, in which Iris, Ceres, Juno, and certain nymphs, are the principal performers; then "enter certain reapers, properly habited: "Ye elves of hills, brooks," &c. Act V. sc. 1. they join with the nymphs in a graceful dance." Sycorax was a witch of such extensive ability, that she "Could control the moon, make floods and ebbs, And deal in her command without her power," Yet, with all her potency, though renowned "For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries terrible," she was feeble in comparison with Prospero; he could control her very god, great Setebos, "and make a vassal of him." In "most unmitigable rage" Sycorax imprisoned Ariel in the rift of a cloven pine; but it was by an exertion of the art of Prospero, only, that he was released.‡. But the most decisive instance of the preeminence of Prospero, as a magician, is the obedience of Ariel. The necromancer of ordinary acquirements domineered over inferior spirits; the more skilful, over invisible beings of a more exalted nature; but that artist, àlone, whose powerful genius had led him triumphant through the whole range of human science, could aspire to the control of spirits resident in * Act V. sc. 1. + Act I. sc. 2. Ibid. the highest regions of spiritual existence. Of this order is Ariel, the attendant minister of Prospero, and Shakspeare has somewhat overstrained the privilege which, as a superior spirit, he enjoyed, by releasing him from all restrictions upon the time of his appearance. The approach of day was the signal for the departure of all spirits, the most wicked disappearing first, and the least criminal lingering till dawn, and even day-light itself, appeared. Ariel was entitled to protract his stay to the latest possible period allowed; but all spirits were more or less guilty of the rebellion for which they were banished heaven; and, as a guilty thing, the performance of all his labours between two and six o'clock in the afternoon, to which they are specifically fixed*, is inadmissible. The purity and delicacy of Ariel's etherial nature rendered him an unfit minister to" act the earthly and abhorr'd commands" of the *Prosp. "What is the time o'the day? Ariel. Past the mid season. Prosp. At least two glasses: The time 'twixt six and now Must by us both be spent most preciously." Act I. sc. 2. Prosp. "How's the day? Ariel. On the sixth hour, at which time, my lord, You said our work should cease." Act V. sc. 1. foul witch, Sycorax*; but to the virtuous and benignant Prospero he is a faithful and diligent, though not invariably cheerful, attendant; for his service is not voluntary, and he therefore often pleads for liberty, and his master holds out to him the prospect of release as the most welcome gift he could bestow. It is in reference to the belief that the duration of a spirit's servitude was stipulated by agreement, that Prospero demands of Ariel whether he looked for freedom "before the time be out," and that Ariel reminds him of his promise, "to bate him a full year."+ The ability of the magician to exact from his ministering spirits the utmost limit of their stipulated servitude, and to punish their neglect or disobedience, is made apparent in the cruel infliction of Sycorax on Ariel‡, and the threat of Prospero, in the event of his murmuring, * Act I. sc. 2. † Ibid. "Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee By help of her more potent ministers, And in her most unmitigable rage, Act I. sc. 2. |