as bright monuments of an age of discoveries, which has since produced so great a change in the aspect of the entire world-has expanded the human intellect by the constant presentation of new objects-and has laid the foundation of those marvels which have emanated from the philosophy of modern science. It is this age of discoveries that is represented by The Tempest.

In 1609, about three years before the production of the play, the disastrous shipwreck of Sir George Somers had familiarized the multitude with the Bermuda Islands, which, as we learn from the supplement to Stow's Annals, by Howes, were " said and supposed to be enchanted, and inhabited with witches and devils, which grew by reason of accustomed monstrous thunder-storm and tempest near unto those islands."

While the living generation was yet impressed with these wonderful additions to the geography of the globe's surface, and bewildered by the fabulous stories derived from the bold and unscrupulous adventurers who had traversed those distant regionssuch, for instance, as the relation concerning "men whose heads stood in their breasts," in Sir Walter Raleigh's voyage to Guiana in 1595-a most fearful tempest swept the coast of England, destroying hundreds of ships, and creating a terror so universal, that public prayers were ordered, by authority, in the various churches.

This appalling visitation may, perhaps, have stimulated Shakespeare to compose a drama, which should combine a "topic of the day" with those wonders of far countries which were greedily received as facts by the credulous masses. The belief in sorcery and witchcraft, which at that

period prevailed, more or less, throughout all society, and which had found an additional aliment in the reports circulated with regard to the Bermudas, had so much disposed the public mind in favour of supernatural subjects, that amongst the audiences who first witnessed the play of The Tempest, many, doubtless, were to be found, who gave ready credence to the reality of the prodigies therein introduced. Apart from the popular superstitious belief of the time, to which, perhaps, the play partially owed its origin, the inexhaustible genius of the poet has transmitted to posterity one of the most fascinating dramatic compositions that ever sprang from human intellect. The enchanted island, governed by the wand of Prospero, released from its association with the Bermudas, remains an imaginary kingdom, over which Ariel presides as the image of air, in spiritual contrast to the grosser Caliban, who embodies the earthly element.

In the stage arrangement, I have ventured to depart almost entirely from conventional precedent. To the close of the third act, for instance, where "strange shapes," without any specified identity, are described as bringing in a banquet, I have endea

voured to give a mythological character. In a later portion of the play, a Masque is performed for the entertainment of Ferdinand and Miranda, which Shakespeare has invested with the classical forms of antique goddesses and nymphs. I have, therefore, deemed myself at liberty to adopt a similar view with regard to the supposed Islanders, who invite the King of Naples and his attendant Lords to their magical repast. Naiads, Dryads, and Satyrs have taken the place of the ludicrous and unmeaning monsters hitherto presented, as being not only more picturesque and poetical, but also more in accordance with the classical figure of the Harpy, which rises in the midst of them. To preserve the mythological tone throughout, the principal demons and goblins commanded to torture the brute Caliban, and his drunken associates, Trinculo and Stephano, at the close of the fourth act, are copied from Furies depicted on Etruscan vases.

A great change has been made in the orchestral arrangements, under the direction of Mr. J. L. Hatton, who, with the exception of a few favorite and well-known airs, has composed the whole of the music. To give full strength to the vocal de partment, Miss Poole has been specially engaged to appear as "Juno" in the Masque, and to take the solo parts in the invisible chorusses which pervade the performance. The songs usually allotted to Ariel will be transferred to this lady, as leader of the spirit

choir. In the play of The Tempest, no allusion being made to any definite period of action, I have exercised the liberty of selecting the thirteenth century as a date for costume. The vessel lost in the storm at the commencement, and restored in the calm at the close of the piece, is also copied from authentic records of the same period.

The scenery has been painted by Mr. Grieve and Mr. Telbin; and although a purely imaginative drama does not admit of those historical details which have been so accurately observed in earlier Shakespearian revivals at this Theatre, an endeavor has been made, in the present instance, to impart a generally new character to one of the most lofty productions of that master-poet, who supplied new worlds with the rapidity of thought, and of whom it has been so justly written, "that he lived, not for an age, but for all time.”

CHARLES KEAN.

The kind indulgence of the public is requested should any lengthened delay take place between the acts, during the first representations of The Tempest.

This appeal is made with greater confidence, when it is stated that the scenic appliances of the play are of a more extensive and complicated nature than have ever yet been attempted in any theatre in Europe; requiring the aid of above one hundred and forty operatives nightly, who (unseen by the audience) are engaged in working the machinery, and in carrying out the various effects.