TEMPEST. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. "THE Tempest and the Midsummer Night's Dream (says Warburton) 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 finits." No one has hitherto discovered the novel on which this play is founded; yet Collins the poet told Thomas Warto that the plot was taken from the romance of Aurelio and Isabella,' which was frequently printed during the sixteenth century, sometimes in three or four languages in the same volume. In the calamitous mental indisposition which visited poor Collins his memory failed him; and he most probably substituted the name of one novel for another; the fable of Aurelio and Isabella has no relation to the Tempest. Mr. Malone thought that no such tale or romance ever existed; yet a friend of the late Mr. James Boswell told him that he had some years ago actually perused an Italian novel which answered Collins' description; but his memory, unfortunately, did not enable him to recover it. complied, and fortunately the ship was driven and jummed between two rocks, fast lodged and locked for further budging." One hundred and fifty persons got on shore; and by means of their boat and skiff (for this was half a mile from land) they saved such part of their goods and provisions as the water had not spoiled, all the tackling and much of the iron of their ship, which was of great service to thein in fitting out another vessel to carry them to Virginia. finde there the ayre so temperate and the country so aboundantly fruitfull of all fit necessaries for the susten manner of all our provision of bread, beere, and victuall being quite spoiled in lying long drowned in salt water, notwithstanding we were there for the space of nine months, we were not only well refreshed, comforted, and with good satiety contented, but out of the aboundance thereof provided us some reasonable quantity and proportion of provision to carry us for Virginia, and to maintain ourselves and that company we found there :wherefore my opinion sincerely of this island is, that whereas it hath beene, and is still, accounted the most dangerous, unfortunate, and forlorne place of the world, it is in truth the richest, healthfullest, and [most] pleas ing land (the quantity and bignesse thereof considered,) and merely naturall, as ever man set foote upon." "But our delivery," says Jourdan, "was not more strange in falling so opportunely and happily upon the land, as [than] our feeding and provision was, beyond our hopes, and all men's expectations, inost admirable; for the Islands of the Bermudas, as every man knoweth that hath heard or read of them, were never inhabited by any Christian or Heathen people, but ever esteemed and reputed a most prodigious and inchanted place, affording nothing but gusts, storms, and foul weather; which made every navigator and mariner to avoid them as Scylla and Charybdis, or as they would shunne the Divell himself: and no man was ever heard to make for My friend, Mr. Douce, in his valuable 'Illustrations this place; but as, against their wils, they have, by of Shakspeare,' published in 1907, had suggested that storms and dangerounesse of the rocks lying seven the outline of a considerable part of this play was bor-leagues into the sea, suffered shipwracke. Yet did we rowed from the account of Sir George Somers' voyage and shipwreck on the Bermudas in 1609; and had ponit ed out some passages which confirmed his suggestion.tation and preservation of man's life, that, most in a At the same time it appears that Mr. Malone was enga ged in investigating the relations of this voyage: and he subsequently printed the results of his researches in a pamphlet, which he distributed among his friends; wherein he shows, that not only the title but many passages in the play were suggested to Shakspeare by the account of the tremendous Tempest which, in July, 1609, dispersed the fleet carrying supplies from England to the infant colouy of Virginia, and wrecked the vessel in which Sir George Somers and the other principal commanders had sailed, on one of the Bermuda Islands. Sir George Somers, Sir Thomas Gates, and Captain Newport, with nine ships and five hundred people, sailed from England in May, 1609, on board the Sea Venture, which was called the Admiral's Ship; and on the 25th of July she was parted from the rest by a terrible tompest, which lasted forty-eight hours and scattered the whole flect, wherein some of them lost their masts and others were much distressed. Seven of the vessels, however, reached Virginia; and, after landing about three hundred and fifty persons, again set sail for England. Two of them were wrecked, in their way home, on the point of Ushant; the others returned safely to England, ship after ship, in 1610, bringing the news of the supposed loss of the Admiral's ship and her crew. During a great part of the year 1610 the fate of Somers and Gates was not known in England; but the latter, having been sent home by Lord Delaware, arrived in August or September. The Council of Virginia publiched a narrative of the disasters which had befallen the fleet, and of their miraculous escape. Previously however to its appearance, one Jourdan, who probably returned from Virginia in the same ship with Sir Thomas Gates, published a pamphlet entitled "A Discovery of the Bermudas, otherwise called The Isle of Divels; by Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, and Captain Newport, with divers others :" in which he relates the circumstances of the storm. They were bound for Virginia, and at that time in 30 N. latitude. The whole frew, amounting to one hundred and fifty persons, wearyville, formed on the fourth novel of the fourth day of the with pumping, had given all for lost, and began to drink their strong waters, and to take leave of each other, intending to commit themselves to the mercy of the sea. Sir George Somers, who had sat three days and nights on the poop, with no food and little rest, at length descried land, and encouraged thein (many from carincos * Tragical Tales, translated by Turberville in time of having fallen asleep) to continue at the pumps. They his troubles, out of sundric Italians, &c. 9vo. 1587. The publication set forth by the Council of Virginia, entitled, "A true Declaration of the Estate of the Colony of Virginia, &c. 1610," relates the same facts and events in better language, and Shakspeare probably derived his first thought of working these adventures up into a dramatic form from an allusion to the drama in this piece. These islands of the Bermudas," says this narrative, "have ever been accounted as an inchaunted pile of rocks, and a desert inhabitation for divells; but all the fairies of the rocks were but flocks of birdes, and all the Civels that haunted the woods were but herds of swine." -What is there in all this Tragicall Comadie that should discourage us? The covert allusions to several circumstances in the various narrations of this Voyage have been illustrated with great ingenuity by Mr. Malone; and many of them will no doubt have already struck the reader, but we must content ourselves with a reference to his more detailed account. The plot of this play is very simple, independent of the magic; and Mr. Malone has pointed out two sources from whence he thinks Shakspeare derived suggestions for it. The one is a play by Robert Green, entitled The Comical History of Alphonsus King of Arragon ;” the other is the Sixth Metrical Tale of George Turber Decamerone of Boccaccio, to which he is probably indebited for the hint of the marriage of Claribel. The magic of the piece is unquestionably the creation of the great bard himself, suggested no doubt by the popular 34 his eyes. notions respecting the Bermudas. Mr. Malone confesses | merely the netathesis of Cannibal. Of the Cannibals "The Tempest," says the judicious Schlegel, "has Caulon, as was long since observed by Dr. Farmer, 1 its hatefulness, by no means hurtful to our feelings, as the honour of human nature is left untouched. "In the zephyr-like Ariel the image of air is not to be other hand, Caliban signifies the heavy element of mistaken, his name even bears an allusion to it; on the earth. Yet they are neither of them allegorical personi fications, but beings individually determined. În general we find, in the Midsummer Night's Dream, in the Tempest, in the magical part of Macbeth, and wherever Shakspeare avails himself of the popular belief in the invisible presence of spirits, and the possibility of coming in contact with them, a profound view of the inward life of Nature and her mysterious springs; which, it is true, ought never to be altogether unknown to the genuine poet, as poetry is altogether incompatible with mechanical physics, but which few have possessed in an equal degree with Dante and himself." It seems probable that this play was written in 1611: at all events between the years 1609 and 1614. It appears from the MSS. of Vertue that the Tempest was acted, by John Heminge and the rest of the King's Company, before Prince Charles, the Lady Elizabeth, and the Prince Palatine Elector, in the beginning of the year 1613. * Schlegel is not quite correct in asserting that Caliban "always speaks in verse." Mr. Steevens, it is true, endeavoured to give a metrical form to some of his speeches, which were evidently intended for prose, and they are therefore in the present edition so printed. Shakspeare, throughout his plays, frequently introduces short prose speeches in the midst of blank verse. + Lectures on Dramatic Literature by Aug. Will. Schlegel, translated by John Black, 1915. Vol. ii. p 175. bour! keep your cabins: you do assist the storm. Gon. Nav, 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 thou hast aboard. Boats. None that I more love than myself. You you are a counsellor; if you can command these elements to silence, and work the peace of the present, we will not hand a rope more; use your authority. If you cannot, give thanks have lived so long, and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap. Cheerly, good hearts.-Out of our way, I say. [Exit. Gon. I have great comfort from this fellow: methinks, he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good fate, to his hanging! make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage! if he be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable. [Exeunt. 1 From the Folio Edition of 1623. 2 That is, readily, nimbly. Thus 3 That is, act with spirit, behave like men. Baret in his Alvearie: To play the man, or to show mself a valiant man in any matter. Se virum præ bere." P. 399. "Viceroys and peers of Turkey play the men." Tamberlaine, 1590. 4 The present instant. 3 la Smith's Sea Grammar, 1627, 4to. under the artitle How to handle a Ship in a Storme :-"Let us lie as Trie with our main course; that is, to hale the tacke aboord, the sheet close aft, the boling set up, and the heim tied close aboord," JUNO, IRIS, CERES, Spirits. Nymphs, Reapers, Other Spirits attending on Prospero. SCENE, the Sea, with a Ship; afterwards an uninhabited Island. Re-enter Boatswain. Boats. Down with the top-mast; yare; lower, lower; bring her to try with main course. [A cry within. A plague upon this howling! they are louder than the weather, or our office. - Re-enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and GONZALO. Yet again! what do you hear? Shall we give o'er, and drown? Have you a mind to sink? Seb. A pox o' your throat! you bawling, blasphemous, uncharitable dog! Boats. Work you, then. Ant. Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson, insolent noise-maker, we are less afraid to be drowned than thou art. brown furze, any thing: The wills above be done! | That my remembrance warrants: Had I not SCENE II. The Island: before the Cell of Pros- Pro. Be collected: "Tis time Did never meddle4 with my thoughts. I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand, Lie there, my art."-Wipe thou thine eyes; have The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else Mira. Thy father was the duke of Milan, and A princess ;-no worse issued. Pro. Both, both, my girl: Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Antonio- And to my state grew stranger, being transported, Mira. Sir, most heedfully. Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits, Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. How to deny them; whom to advance, and whom Sit down; Obey, and be attentive. Can'st thou remember A time before we came unto this cell? To trash for overtopping; new created them, Or else new form'd them: having both the key Pro. I pray thee mark me. I do not think thou can'st; for then thou wast not I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicate Mira. Certainly, sir, I can. Pro. By what? by any other house, or person? Of any thing the image tell me, that Hath kept with thy remembrance. Mira. 'Tis far off; And rather like a dream than an assurance To closeness, and the bettering of my mind | O'er-priz'd all popular rate, in my false brother cumber and trash"-" to trash or overslow "-and 1 i. e. or ever, ere ever; signifying, in modern Eng-foreslowed and trashed.” lish, sooner than at any time. 2 Instead of freighting the first folio reads fraughting. 3 The double superlative is in frequent use among our elder writers. 4 To meddle, is to mix, or to interfere with. 5 Lord Burleigh, when he put off his gown at night, used to say "Lie there, Lord Treasurer."-Fuller's Holy State, p. 257. 6 Out is used for entirely, quite. Thus in Act iv: "And be a boy right out." 7 Abysm was the old mode of spelling abyss; from its French original abisme. There was another word of the same kind used in Falconry (from whence Shakspeare very frequently draws his similies ;) "Trassing is when a hawk raises aloft any fowl, and soaring with it, at length descends therewith to the ground."-Dictionarium Rusticum, 1704. Probably this term is used by Chapman in his address to the reader prefixed to his translation of Homer "That whosesoever muse dares use her wing, When his muse flies she will be trass't by his, And show as if a Bernacle should spring Beneath an Eagle." There is also a passage in the Bonduca of Beaumon* and Fletcher, wherein Caratach says: As my trust was; which had, indeed, no limit, He was indeed the duke; out of the substitution, 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, he needs will be Pro. How came we ashore? Pro. By Providence divine. Out of his charity, (who being then appointed Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me, tell me, If this might be a brother. Mira. Mira. purpose, Alack, for pity! I, not rememb'ring how I cried out then, Pro. Hear a little further, That hour destroy us? Wherefore did they not Well demanded, wench; My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not; (So dear the love my people bore me) nor set Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepar'd common rate of men has generally a son below it. HeToun Alii nora. 1 Who having made his memory such a sinner o truth as to credit bis own lie by telling of it." Tooke, in his Diversions of Purley, has clearly shown that we use one word, But, in modern English, for two words Bot and But, originally (in the Anglo Saxon) very different in signification, though (by repated abbreviation and corruption) approaching in wound. Bot is the imperative of the A. S. Botan, to boot. But is the imperative of the A. S. Be-utan, to be out. By this means all the seemingly anomalous uses of But may be explained; I must however content myself with rerring the reader to the Diversions of Purley, vol. i. p. 190. Merely remarking that but (as distinguished 3rm Bor) and be-out have exactly the same meaning, viz. in modern English, writhmnt. 3 In lieu of the premises; that is, "in consideration of the premises,-&c." This seems to us a strange use of this French word, yet it was not then unusual. But takes their oaths in lieu of her assistance." Beaumont and Fletcher's Prophetess. Now I arise : Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. (For still 'tis beating in my mind,) your reason A most auspicious star; whose influence Enter ARIEL. Ari. All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come Hast thou, spirit, Perform'd to point1" the tempest that I bade thee? 4 Hint is here for cause or subject. Thus in a future passage we have:-" Our hint of woe." 5 Quit was commonly used for quitted. 6 To deck, or deg, is still used in the northern coun ties for to sprinkle. 7 An undergoing stomach is a stubborn resolution, a temper or frame of mind to bear. 8 This is imitated in Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess; What new service now is meetest In the middle air, and stay The sailing racke, or nimbly take And bring thee coral, making way 9 Ariel's quality is not his confederates, but the powers of his nature as a spirit, his qualification in sprighting 10 i. e. to the minutest article, literally from the French a point, so in the Chances, "are you all fit? |