Scene I.

To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?
Call Philostrate.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.

Philost. Here, mighty Theseus.
The. Say, what abridgment

evening?

have you for this

What mask? what music? How shall we be-
guile?

The lazy time, if not with some delight?
Philost. There is a brief, + bow many sports
are ripe ;
which your highness will see
Make choice
[Giving a paper.
first.
The. [Reads.] The battle with the Centaurs,
to be sung,

623

I read as much, as from the rattling tongue
Of saucy and audacious eloquence.
Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity,
In least, speak most, to my capacity.

By an Athenian eunuch to the harp.
We'll none of that: that have I told my love,
In glory of my kinsman Hercules.

The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals,
Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage.
That is an old device; and it was play'd
When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.
The thrice three Muses mourning for the
death

of learning, late deceas'd in beggary. That is some satire, keen, and critical, Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony.

A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus,
And his love Thisbe; very tragical mirth.
Merry and tragical? Tedious and brief?
That is, hot ice, and wonderous strange snow.
How shall we find the concord of this discord?
Philost. A play there is, my lord, some ten
words long;

Which is as brief as I have known a play;
But by ten words, my lord, it is too long;
Which makes it tedious: for in all the play
There is not one word apt, one player fitted.
And tragical, my noble lord, it is;
For Pyramus therein doth kill himself.
Which, when I saw rehears'd, I must confess,
Made mine eyes water; but more merly tears
The passion of loud laughter never shed.

The. What are they, that do play it?
Philost. Hard-handed men, that work in
Athens here,

Which never laboured in their minds till now;
And now have toil'd their unbreath'd me-
inories

With this same play, against your nuptial.
The. And we will hear it.

+ Pastime.

• Short account.

Enter PHILOSTRATE.

Philost. So please your grace the prologue is
addrest. *

The. Let him approach.

Enter PROLOGUE.

Prol. If we offend, it is with our good
will,
That you should think, we come not to of
fend,
But with good will.
skill,

That is the true beginning of our end.
Consider then, we come but in despite,

1 Unexercised.

[Flourish of Trumpets.

We do not come as minding to content you,
Our true intent is. All for your delight,
We are not here. That you should here
repent you,

The actors are at hand; and, by their show,
You shall know all, that you are like to
know.

The. This fellow doth not stand upon points. Lys. He hath rid his prologue, like a rough colt, he knows not the stop. A good moral, my lord: It is not enough to speak, but to speak true.

Philost. No, my noble lord,

It is not for you: I have heard it over,
And it is nothing, nothing in the world;
Unless you can tind sport in their intents,
Extremely stretch'd and conn'd with cruel pain,
To do you service.

The. I will hear that play;
For never any thing can be amiss,
When simpleness and duty tender it.
60,

ladies.

bring them in and take your places,"
[Exit PHILOSTRATE.
Hip. I love not to see wretchedness o'er-
cbarg'd,
And daty in his service perishing.

The. Why, gentle sweet, you shall see
such thing.
Hip. He says, they can do nothing in this
kind.

To show our simple

Hip. Indeed he hath played on this prologue, like a child on a recorder; a sound, but not in government.

The. His speech was like a tangled chain; Who is nothing impaired, but all disordered.

next?

Enter PYRAMUS and THISBE, WALL, MOON-
SHINE, and LION, as in dumb show.
Prol. "Gentles, perchance, you wonder at
this show;

"But wonder on, till truth make all things
plain.

"This man is Pyramus, if you would know;
"This beauteous lady Thisby is, certain.
"This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth pre-

sent

The. The kinder we, to give them thanks for
nothing.
Our sport shall be, to take what they mistake:
hat poor duty cannot do,
And
Noble respect takes it in might, not merit.
Where I have come, great clerks have purposed
To greet me with premeditated welconies;
Where I have seen them shiver and look pale,
Make periods in the midst of sentences,
Throttle their practis'd accent in their fears,
And, in conclusion, dumbly have broke off,
Not paying me a welcome: Trust me, sweet,
ost of this silence, yet, I pick'd a welcome;
in the modesty of fearful duty
And

"Wall, that vile wall which did these lovers sunder; "And through wall's chink, poor souls they are

content

"To whisper; at the which let no man won

der.

"This man, with lantern, dog, and bush of
thorn,
"Presenteth moonshine: for, if you will
know,

By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn
"To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to

Woo.

"This grisly beast, which by name lion bight, "The trusty Thisby, coming first by night, no" Did scare away, or rather did affright: "And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall; "Which lion vile with bloody mouth did

stain:

Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth, and fall, "And finds bis trusty Thisby's mantle slain : "Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade, "He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast;

"And, Thisby tarrying in mulberry shade
"His dagger drew, and died.

rest,
"Let lion, moonshine, wall, and lovers twain,
"At large discourse, while here they do re-
main."
[Exeunt PROLOGUE, THISBE, LION, and
MOONSHINE.

• Ready.

+ A musical instrument.

For all the

: Called.

THE TEMPEST.

LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE.

THE supernatural agency which forms so leading a feature in this fanciful play, is built according to Mr. It was one of 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. Shakspeare's latest productions, and probably founded on some Italian novel. Warburton considers it "Jue 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 outained 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, a suggestion at variance saved as it were by miracle from death, should immediately plot the destruction of their companions, to no probability of their aver re-visiting, is Johnson says of The Tempest---"In a single obtain dominions which there was with nature, and inconsistent with the spirit of the piece. 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.

King of Naples.
ALONSO,
SEBASTIAN, his Brother.

PROSPERO, the rightful Duke of Milan.
ANTONIO, his Brother, the usurping Duke of ARIEL, an Airy Spirit.

Milan.

IRIS,

FERDINAND, Son to the King of Naples.
GONZALO, an honest old Counsellor of Naples.

ADRIAN, Lords.

Master of a Ship, Boatswain, and Mariners.
MIRANDA, Duughter to Prospero.

FRANCISCO,

CALIBAN, a savage and deformed Slave.

TRINCULO, a Jester.

STEPHANO, a drunken Butler.

CERES,

JUNO,
NYMPHS,
REAPERS,

Other Spirits attending on PROSPERO.

ACT I.

SCENE 1.-On a Ship at Sea.

A Storm, with Thunder and Lightning.
Enter a SHIP-MASTER and a BOATSWAIN.
Mast. Boatswain,-

Boats. Here, master: what cheer?
Mast. Good: Speak to the mariners fall to't
arely, or we run ourselves aground: bestir,
[Exit.
stir.

SCENE-The Sea with a ship: afterwards an uninhabited Island.

Spirits.

Boats. I pray now, keep below.

Ant. Where is the master, boatswain ? Boats. Do you not hear him? labour keep your cabin; you do assist the

You mar our

storm.

Enter MARINERS.

Boats. Heigh, my bearts; cheerly, cheerly, y bearts; yare, yare: Take in the top-sail; Tend to the master's whistle.-Blow, till thou Arst thy wind, if room enough!

Gon. Nay, good, be patient.

Boats. When the sea is. Hence! What care these roarers for the name of king? To cabin: silence: trouble us not.

Gon. Good; yet remember whom thon hast aboard.

Boats. None that I more love than myself. You are a counsellor; if you can comunand these elements to silence, and work the peace of the present, we will not band a rope more : use have lived so long, and make yourself ready in your authority. If you cannot, give thanks you your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it [Exit. Eater ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDI- so hap,-Cheerly, good hearts.-Out of our way, Gon. I have great comfort from this fellow : metbirks, he bath no drowning mark upon bin; his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast,

I say.

Where's

NAND, GONZALO, and others. Alon. Good boatswain, have care. the master? Play the men. +

• Readity.

+ Act like men.

Boats. Work you, then.

Ant. Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson, inso-The lent noise-maker, we are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.

No more amazement: tell your piteous heart,
There's no harm done.
Mira. O woe the day!
Pro. No harm.

I have done nothing but in care of thee,
(Of thee, my dear one! thee, my daughter!)
who

Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing

Of whence I am; nor that I am more better
Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,
And the no greater father.
Mira. More to know

Did never meddle with my thoughts.
Pro. 'Tis time

I should inform thee further. Lend thy band,
And pluck my magic garment from me.-So;
{Lays down hir mantle,
Lie there my art.-Wipe thou thine eyes; have
comfort.

direful spectacle of the wreck, which
touch'd

The very virtue of compassion in thee
I have with such provision in mine art
So safely order'd, that there is no soul-
No, not so much perdition as an hair,
Betid to any creature in the vessel,
Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st
sink. Sit down;

For thou must now know further.
Mira. You have often

Begun to tell me what I am; but stopp'd
And left me to a bootless inquisition ;
Concluding, Stay, not yet.-

Pro. The hour's now come;

The very minute bids thee ope thine ear;
Obey, and be attentive. Can'st thou remem-

ber

A time before we came unto this cell?

I do not think thou can'st; for then thon wast

not

Scene II.

THE TEMPEST.

Which is from my remembrance! Please you | Of homage, and I know not how much trifarther.

Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd An-
tonio,-

I pray thee mark me,-that a brother should
Be so perfidious!-he whom, next thyself,
Of all the world I lov'd, and to him put
The manage of my state; as, at that time,
Through all the signiories it was the first,
And Prospero the prime duke; being so re- The ministers for the purpose hurried thence

puted

Me and thy crying self.

In dignity, and, for the liberal arts,
Without a parallel; those being all my study,
The government I cast upon my brother,
And to my state grew stranger, being
ported,

And wrapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle-
Dost thou attend me ?

bute,

Out of the dukedom; and confer fair Milan,
Should presently extirpate me and mine
With all the honours, on my brother: Whereon,
A treacherous army levied, one midnight

Fated to the purpose, did Antonio open

The gates of Milan; and, i' the dead of dark

ness,

trans-That wrings mine eyes.

Mira. Sir, most heedfully.

Pro. Being once perfected how to grant

suits,

How to deny them; whom to advance, and
whom

To trash for over-topping: new created
The creatures that were mine; I say, or chang'd
them,
Or else new-form'd them having both the
key

Of officer and office, set all hearts
To what tune pleased his ear; that now he was
The ivy, which had hid my princely trunk,
on't. Thou at-
And suck'd my verdure out

To closeness, and the bettering of my mind
With that, which, but by being so retir'd,
O'er-priz'd all popular rate, in my false

Mira, Alack, for pity!

1, not rememb'ring how I cried out then,
Will cry it o'er again; it is a hint,

tend'st not:

I pray thee, mark me.

Mira. O good Sir, I do.
Pro. I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedi-

cate

one,
Who, having, unto truth, by telling of it,
Made such a sinner of his memory,
To credit his own lie,-he did believe
He was the duke; out of the substitution,
And executing the outward face of royalty,
With all prerogative ;-Hence his ambition
Growing,-Dost hear?

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.

+ Without.

Mira. Wherefore did they not

That hour destroy us?

Pro. Well demanded, wench;

My tale provokes that question. Dear, they

bro

ther

Awak'd an evil nature and my trust,
Like a good parent, did beget of him
A falsehood, in its contrary as great

As my trust was which had, indeed, no limit,
He being thus
A confidence sans + bound.

durst not;

A mark so bloody on the business; but
(So dear the love my people bore me) nor set
With colours fairer painted their foul ends.
In few, they hurried us aboard a bark;
Bore us some leagues to sea; where they pre-
pared

Jorded,

Not only with what my revenue yielded,
Bat what my power might else exact,-like

A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively had quit it: there they hoist us,
To the winds, whose pity sighing back again,
To cry to the sea that roar'd to us; to sigh
Did us but loving wrong.

Mira. Your tale, Sir, would cure deafness.
Pro. To have no screen between this part he
play'd

And him he play'd it for, needs he will be
Absolute Milan: Me, poor man!-my library
dukedom large enough; of temporal
royalties

Was

He thinks me now incapable: confederates
(So dry he was for sway) with the king of
Naples,

Mira. Alack! what trouble

Was I then to you!

Pro. Oh! a cherubim

Thou wast, that did preserve me! Thou didst smile,

Infused with a fortitude from heaven,

When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salt;

Under

my burden groan'd; which raised in

me

Against what should ensue.
An undergoing stomach, to bear up

Mira. How came we ashore?

To give him annual tribute, do him homage;
Subject bis coronet to his crown, and bend
The dukedom, yet unbow'd, (alas, poor Milan !)
To most ignoble stooping.

Mira. O the heavens !

Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then
tell me,

If this might be a brother.

Mira. I should sin

To thius but nobly of my grandmother;
Good wombs have borne bad sous.

Pro. By Providence divine.

Some food we had, and some fresh water, that
A noble Neapolitan Gonzalo,

Out of his charity, (who being then appointed
Master of this design,) did give us; with
Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries,
Which since have steaded much; so of his gen
tleness,

Pro. Now the condition.
This king of Naples, being an enemy
To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit;
Which was, that he in lieu o'the premises,-

• Cut away.

1 Thirsty

Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me,
From my own library, with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.
Mira. 'Would I might
But ever see that man!

Pro. Now I arise:

Here in this island we arriv'd; and here
Sit still, and hear the last of our sea sorrow.
Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more
protit

For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.
Than other princes can, that have more time
Mira. Heavens thank you for't! And now, I
pray you, Sir,

(For still 'tis beating in my mind,) your reason
For raising this sea-storm?

Pro. Know thus far forth.

By accident most strange, bountiful fortune,
(Now my dear lady) hath mine enemies
Brought to this shore: and by my prescience
I find my zenith doth depend upon
A most auspicious star; whose influence
If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes