wrecked at the command of Prospero, by the agency of Ariel, who, however, informs his master that there is "on their sustaining garments not a blemish, but fresher than before." By this ingenious contrivance the usual stage absurdity of persons who have been immersed in either salt or fresh water appearing with their garments as bright and dry as if just out of a tailor's shop is avoided, and the remark of Gonzalo, that their "garments, being, as they were, drenched in the sea, hold, notwithstanding, their freshness and glosses; being rather new dyed than stained with salt water," is rationally accounted for. That these garments should also be magnificent state dresses is pointed out by the next speech of Gonzalo, who therein describes them as having been first put on “in Afric, at the marriage of the king's fair daughter" aforesaid. With these hints we leave the artist to select any Italian costume he may consider most picturesque previous to the commencement of the 17th century: but we should recommend a glance at that given in our notice prefixed to 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona.'

SCENE I.-On a Ship at Sea. A Storm, with Thunder and

Lightning.

Enter a Ship-master and a Boatswain.

Master. Boatswain,-1

Boats. Here, master: What cheer?

Master. Good: Speak to the mariners: fall to 't yarely, a or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir.

Enter Mariners.

[Exit.

Boats. Heigh, my hearts; cheerly, cheerly, my hearts; yare, yare: Take in the topsail : Tend to the master's whistle.-Blow till thou burst thy wind,b if room enough!

a

Yarely, the adverb of yare, quick, ready. Yare is used several times by Shakspere as a sea-term (which it was), but not exclusively so.

b Steevens would read, "Blow till thou burst thee, wind."

Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDINAND, GONZALO, and others.

Alon. Good boatswain, have care.

Play the men.a

Boats. I pray now, keep below.

Ant. Where is the master, boson? b

Where's the master?

Boats. Do you not hear him? You mar our labour: Keep your cabins: You do assist the storm.

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 thou hast aboard.

Boats. None that I more love than myself. 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 you 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.

Re-enter Boatswain.

2

Boats. Down with the topmast; 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.

с

Behave like men. So in our translation of the Bible, 2 Sam. x. 12, “Let us play the men for our people."

b In the first edition (1623) Antonio here uses the sailor's word boson, instead of the more correct "boatswain," which is put in the mouth of the King of Naples. The modern editors have made no distinction; although the language of the king, throughout the play, is grave and dignified, and that of the usurping duke, for the most part, flippant and familiar. The variation in the first edition could scarcely be accidental.

c Or our.

Steevens changes this into to your. He would make the boatswain

Re-enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and GONZALO.

Yet again? what do you here? Shall we give o'er and drown? Have you a mind to sink?

Seb. A pox o' your throat! you bawling, blasphemous, in charitable dog!

Boats. Work you, then.

Ant. Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson, insolent noisemaker, we are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.

Gon. I'll warrant him for drowning; though the ship were no stronger than a nut-shell, and as leaky as an unstanched wench.

Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold: set her two courses; to sea again; lay her off.

Enter Mariners, wet.

b off

Mar. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost! [Exeunt. Boats. What, must our mouths be cold?

Gon. The king and prince at prayers! let us assist them, For our case is as theirs.

Seb. I am out of patience.

с

Ant. We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards.This wide-chopp'd rascal ;—'Would thou mightst lie drown

ing,

The washing of ten tides!

Gon.

He'll be hang'd yet ;

Though every drop of water swear against it,
And gape at wid'st to glut him.

[A confused noise within.]—Mercy on us!

We split, we split !-Farewell, my wife and children!
Farewell, brother! We split, we split, we split!-e

say to your office, as if this were nautical language. Our office is here used in the sense of our business, which was essentially noisy.

a For. Steevens reads from. For drowning is on account of drowning.

b We follow the punctuation of Lord Mulgrave. Steevens has, set her two courses off. Captain Glascock also objects to this ordinary punctuation; and explains "that the ship's head is to be put leeward, and that the vessel is to be drawn off the land under that canvass nautically denominated the two courses."

e These various exclamations, which are given to Gonzalo, should be considered,

Ant. Let's all sink with the king.

Seb. Let's take leave of him.

[Exit.

[Exit.

Gon. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground; long heath, brown furze," anything: The wills above be done! but I would fain die a dry death.

[Exit.

SCENE II.-The Island: before the Cell of Prospero.
Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA.

Mira. If by your art, my dearest father, you have
Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them:
The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,
But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek,
Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffer'd
With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel,
Who had no doubt some noble creature in her,
Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock
Against my very heart! Poor souls! they perish'd.
Had I been any god of power, I would

Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er

с

It should the good ship so have swallow'd, and
The fraughting d souls within her.

Pro.

Be collected;

No more amazement: tell your piteous heart,
There's no harm done.

according to Johnson, to be spoken by no determinate characters. They form part of the "confused noise within."

a Hanmer reads, "ling, heath, broom, furze." So in Harrison's 'Description of Britain,' prefixed to Holinshed, we find," Brome, heth, firze, brakes, whinnes, ling," -all characteristics of "barren ground." But "long heath" and "brown furze" are quite intelligible, and are much more natural than an enumeration of many various wild plants.

b Creature. So the original; but Theobald reads creatures, which is invariably followed. Miranda means to say that, in addition to those she saw suffer,—the poor souls" that perished,-the common sailors,-there was no doubt some superior person on board,—some noble creature.

Or e'er-before-sooner than. So in Ecclesiastes, " Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken."

d Fraughting-constituting the fraught, or freight. The common reading is freighting.