Enter certain Nymphs.

You sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow, and be inerry:
Make holiday: your rye-straw hats put on,
And these fresh nymphs encounter every one
In country footing.

Enter certain Reapers, properly habited: they join with the Nymphs in a graceful dance; towards the end whereof PROSPERO starts suddenly, and speaks; after which, to a strange, hollow, and confused noise, they heavily vanish.

Pros. [Aside] I had forgot that foul conspiracy. Of the beast Caliban, and his confederates, Against my life: the minute of their plot

Is almost come.-[To the Spirits] Well done;Avoid,

-no more.

16. So rare a wonder'd father and a wife. "Wonder'd" means wondrously gifted. "Wife" is printed "wise" in the Folio; where the long "s" in the word might easily have been put by mistake for f.

17. Crisp channels. "Crisp" is curled; from the Latin crispus. This epithet, besides referring to the serpentine course of the rivulet, pictures the curl of the wave raised by a light wind. But the epithet "ever-harmless," in the previous line, applied to the "looks" of the river-nymphs, transcends all praise.

18. All which it inherit. "Inherit" was often used simply for "to possess, ," without reference to "inheritance," as we now use that word. H re, "inherit" is used in its strictly classical sense, from the Lat.a inhærere, to cleave to, belong to, adhere to. The meaning, therefore, of the passage is, 'The great globe itself, yea, all which adheres or belongs to it, shall dissolve.'

19. Leave not a rack behind. "Racke" is the word in the Folio; yet it has been altered to "wreck" by several editors, thereby impairing the poet's image. The word used by Shakespeare is explained by Lord Bacon, where he says, "The winds which wave the clouds above, which we call the rack," &c. In two other passages, Shakespeare himself uses the word precisely In "Antony and Cleopatra," iv. 12, Antony

in this sense. says:

"Sometime we see a cloud that's dragonish;
A vapour sometime like a bear or lion,
A tower'd citadel, a pendent rock,
A forked mountain or blue promontory
With trees upon't, that nod unto the world,

Fer. This is strange: your father's in some passion That works him strongly. Mir. Never till this day, Saw I him touch'd with anger so distemper'd. Pros. You do look, my son, in a mov'd sort, As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir. Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air: And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit,18 shall dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind." We are such stuff

As dreams are made of," and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep.-Sir, I am vex'd:

Bear with my weakness; my old brain is troubled:
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity.

If you be pleas'd, retire into my cell,
And there repose: a turn or two I'll walk,
To still my beating mind.

And in "Hamlet," ii. 2, we find :

"But, as we often see, against some storm,
A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still,
The bold winds speechless," &c.

Thus Shakespeare illustrates his own passage here; and, were farther confirmation needful, observe how the word "rack "the light scudding cloud of the upper region-accords with the words a few lines previously, "into air, into thin air." The same image is continued on; and "the cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples," are presented to the mind with a processional grandeur of succession, like the massive structure-shaped clouds that move across the firmament until they gradually disperse and melt into the thin vaporous scud of upper air-the "rack."

20. As dreams are made of. "Of" is printed "on" in the Folio; and one word was often substituted for the other in old writing But it seems a pity to spoil the effect of a fine passage for the mere sake of retaining an antiquated form, which is now almost a vulgarism; especially as "on" may have been a misprint for "of" here.

21. I thank you. This, which seems to be Prospero's reply to his children's affectionate valediction, is printed in the Folio, "I thank thee." But "thee" was often printed in mistake for "ye" or "you;" and was even occasionally used for a plural address.

So full of valour, that they smote the air
For breathing in their faces: beat the ground

For kissing of their feet; yet always bending
Towards their project. Then I beat my tabor;
At which, like unback'd colts, they prick'd their ears,
Advanc'd their eyelids, lifted up their noses,
As they smelt music: so I charm'd their ears,
That, calf-like, they my lowing follow'd through
Tooth'd briers, 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.

Pros.
This was well done, my bird.
Thy shape invisible retain thou still:
The trumpery in my house, go, bring it hither,
For stale to catch these thieves.24

23. When I presented Ceres. To ". present was formerly used for "to represent,' to enact;" therefore we here learn that Ariel performed the part of Ceres in the "vision" with which Prospero regaled the eyes of Ferdinand and Miranda.

24. For stale to catch these thieves. "Stale" is a fowling term, meaning a decoy, lure, or bait.

25. Played the Jack. To "play the Jack" was a phrase for playing the rogue, or knave. There is also probable allusion to the Jack o' lantern, Will o' the wisp, or ignis fatuus.

Cal. Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole

may not

Hear a foot fall: we now are near his cell.

Ste. Monster, your fairy, which you say is a harmless fairy, has done little better than played the Jack 25 with us.

Trin. Monster, I do smell all horse-pool; at which my nose is in great indignation.

Ste. So is mine.-Do you hear, monster? If I should take a displeasure against you, look

you,

Trin. Thou wert but a lost monster.

Cal. Good, my lord, give me thy favour still. Be patient, for the prize I'll bring thee to Shall hoodwink this mischance: therefore speak softly;

All's hush'd as midnight yet.

Trin. Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool,— Ste. There is not only disgrace and dishonour in that, monster, but an infinite loss.

Trin. That's more to me than my wetting; yet this is your harmless fairy, monster.

Ste. I will fetch off my bottle, though I be o'er ears for my labour.

Cal. Prithee, my king, be quiet. See'st thou here,

This is the mouth o' the cell: no noise, and

26. O King Stephano! O peer! This alludes to the old ballad, of which Iago sings a couple of stanzas in "Othello,” ii, 3: where this royal gentleman's anxious economy in the article of wearing-apparel is stated.

27. A frippery was a shop where old clothes were sold. The vendor was called a "fripper ;" and the reader who remembers the frippier in chap. xv. of Le Sage's "Gil Blas," will perceive that our word was derived from the French. Moreover, recollecting that worthy's protest (“I alone am the sole fripper in the world who has any moral conscience; I limit myself to a moderate charge, and content myself with a profit of tenpence in a penny-that is, a penny in tenpence ") we are inclined to think frippier and fripon (spelt of old frippon, a scoundrel) are nearly allied in fact, if not in derivation.

quent occasion to notice in these plays the systematic ingenuity with which Shakespeare conveys the time of his dramas. In an early scene of this play Prospero, by a similar inquiry, and by rejoining "at least two glasses," when Ariel says that it is "past the mid season," fixes the then time to be about two o'clock in the afternoon. Prospero continues:-"The time 'twixt six and now must by us both be spent most preciously," which appropriates four hours for the working of his spells and

Brimful of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly
Him that you term'd, sir, "The good old lord,
Gonzalo : "

His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops
From eaves of reeds. Your charm so strongly

works them,

That if you now beheld them, your affections Would become tender.

Pros.

Dost thou think so, spirit?

Ari. Pros.

I'll fetch them, sir. [Exit. Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves;

And ye that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him
When he comes back; you demi-puppets, that
By moonshine do the green-sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites; and you, whose pas-
time

Is to make midnight mushrooms; that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid—
Weak masters though ye be—I have bedimm'd
The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous
winds,

And 'twixt the green sea and the azur'd vault
Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout oak
With his own bolt: the strong-bas'd promontory
Have I made shake; and by the spurs pluck'd
up

The pine and cedar: graves, at my command, Have waked their sleepers; oped, and let them forth

But this rough magic

By my so potent art.
I here abjure; and, when I have requir'd
Some heavenly music,—which even now I do,--
To work mine end upon their senses, that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And, deeper than did ever plummet sound,
I'll drown my book.
[Solemn music.

Re-enter ARIEL: after him ALONSO, with a frantic gesture, attended by GONZALO; SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO in like manner, attended by ADRIAN and FRANCISCO: they all enter the circle which PROSPERO had made, and there stand charmed; which PROSPERO observing, speaks:

A solemn air, and the best comforter
To an unsettled rancy, cure thy brains,
Now useless, boil'd within thy skull! There
stand,

For you are spell-stopp'd.—

Holy Gonzalo,1o honourable man,

And as the morning steals upon the night,
Melting the darkness, so their rising senses
Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle
Their clearer reason.—
-O good Gonzalo!
My true preserver, and a loyal sir

To him thou follow'st, I will pay thy graces
Home, both in word and deed.---Most cruelly
Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter:
Thy brother was a fartherer in the act ;—
Thou art pinch'd for't now, Sebastian.—Flesh and
blood,

You brother mine, that entertain'd ambition,
Expell'd remorse and nature; 12 who, with Sebas-

tian,

Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,

cally describes) are sufficiently powerful to "aid" him as ministers, but would be weak as rulers. According to the proverbial saying, "Fire is a good servant, but a bad master." 9. Spurs. The longest and largest roots of trees.

10. Holy Gonzalo. Shakespeare sometimes uses "holy" for righteous, virtuous, of good character and blameless life. 11. Fellowly. Sympathetic; full of fellow-feeling.

12. Remorse and nature; that is, pity and natural feeling, or affection. Shakespeare often uses "remorse" in this sense. We still employ the word thus, when we say "without remorse," or "remorseless," meaning without pity, or pitiless. But besides the older meaning of tenderness, pity, compassion, in the word remorse," Shakespeare has here also blended with it the more modern acceptation of a sense of guilt, or regret for guilt.