charmed into helplessness, so Prince Edward, Warren, and Ermsbie, in Friar Bacon, are rendered incapable of drawing their swords; and as Ariel deluded Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo through

"Tooth'd briars, sharp furzes, pricking goss and thorns,
Which enter'd their frail shins: at last I left them
I'the filthy mantled pool beyond your cell;

There dancing up to the chins, that the foul lake
O'erstunk their feet," *

so Bacon leads an honest gentleman very far out of his way, and entangles a gang of thieves in an erroneous path, where they are covered with dirt and mire. Finally, disgusted with his art, which makes, he says, a man a devil, the Friar burns his books of magic, resolving to devote the remainder of his days to the study of divinity; sorely repenting

"That ever Bacon meddled in this art

For using devils to countervaile his God."

The perfect purity of Prospero's conduct, and the excellence of his intentions, throw a lustre over his dealings with the powers of darkness, and it is never suspected that he has been engaged in the practice of an unlawful art till he

* Act IV. sc. 1.

abjures "rough magic," expresses his determi

ation to

"break his staff,

Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,

And deeper than did ever plummet sound,”

to "drown his book" and then retire to Milan, where " Every third thought shall be his grave."

From Eden's History of Travaile, published in 1577, and the chapter in Philemon Holland's translation of Pliny, 1601, which treats "of strange and wondrous shapes of sundrie nations," Shakspeare gathered many general ideas of a monster in human shape, like Caliban. But the hints contained in both these works, are neither sufficiently numerous nor important to shake his claim to the praise of originality in the production of what has not been improperly called a new character on the stage. Imagination cannot conceive brutality more absolute than in Caliban, this loathsome offspring of a wicked witch, born and reared on the inhospitable shore of a desert island, without even the knowledge of the existence of a third human being. His repulsive features are displayed with an energy almost frightful, and Caliban's ignorance is exemplified in numerous instances, with the closest

* Act V. sc. 1.

attention to nature.

Yet it admits of question,

whether the portrait be a perfect and harmonious whole. Whence, it may be asked, did Caliban obtain such skill in the accurate and even familiar use of words not necessary to the expression of common ideas? Whence his clear notions of the relative situations of the governor and the governed? "Gabbling, like a thing most brutish, not knowing his own meaning,' Caliban might, certainly, in less than "twelve years," be taught "to speak," "how to name the bigger light, and how the less that burn by day and night;" but could all the skill and diligence of Prospero have imbued his mind with the knowledge he evinces? Of explaining to the "poisonous slave" his indisputable right to the dominion of the island, under the double claim of inheritance and possession *, his_able_master will not even be suspected.

The name of Caliban, says Dr. Farmer, is a mere metathesis of Canibal. From the following passage, it appears how Caliban comes to call his dam's god Setebos. The adventurous discoverer Magellan, secured two giant savages, whom he called Patagonians, and they no sooner sawe how they were deceived, than they roared Wihe bulls

66

* Act I. sc. 2. Act III. sc. 2.

lyke bulles, and cryed uppon their great devil Setebos to help them."*

To the beautiful simplicity, interesting artlessness, and spotless innocence of Miranda's mind, a new grace is given by the quick susceptibility and eager confidence of her young and tender heart, ignorant and unsuspicious of the perfidies of love. But no circumstance in her state or education would ever lead us to expect her reply to Ferdinand's

"prime request,

Which I do last pronounce, is, O, you wonder!

If

you be made, or no?

Miranda.

But, certainly a maid:" +

No wonder, sir ;

and still less are we prepared for her insidiously charitable remarks upon her poor grand-mother, when Prospero, speaking of Antonio, directs her to

"Mark his condition, and the event; then tell me,
If this might be a brother.

To think but nobly of my grandmother :
Good wombs have borne good sons." +

Little remains to be said of the only two remaining characters that make any pretensions to

* Eden's History of Travel.

† Act I. sc. 2.

+ Ibid.

prominency, Trinculo the jester, and Stephano*, the drunken steward. In no remarkable degree do they differ from various other low characters in the scenes of Shakspeare. Their wit, mostly disfigured by grossness, is nevertheless wit, rich, various, and poignant; and distinguished by that gusto which so strongly marks the author's delight in the delineation of the humour of vulgar minds.

Among the advantages the Tempest is supposed to possess over many of its author's performances, that of regularity has been dwelt on with peculiar earnestness. If not immediately subservient to the main design, the presence of all the characters is naturally accounted for; their sphere of action properly limited to the object immediately in view; and the time consumed in the occurrence of the events represented, is particularly stated not to reach four hours. Of

* There is a character called Stephano in the Merchant of Venice, where the word is always improperly accented on the middle syllable.

"My friend Stephano, signify I pray you."

In the present play the a is always, rightly, short; and the secret of the correction lies in Shakspeare's acquaintance with Ben Jonson's original Every Man in his Humour, in which there is a Stephano who, it need scarcely be added, is always properly called.