The dramatic works of Shakspeare, from the text of Johnson and Stevens [sic. Wanting pp

the stage, and encourages her brother in the parricide. What horror does this not raise! Clytemnestra was a wicked woman, and had deserved to die; nay; in the truth of the story, she was killed by her own son; but to represent an action of this kind on the stage is certainly an offence against those rules of manners, proper to the persons, that ought to be observed there. On the contrary, let us only look a little on the conduct of Shakspeare. Hamlet is represented with the same piety towards his father, and resolution to revenge his death, as Orestes; he has the same abhorrence for his mother's guilt, which, to provoke him the more, is heightened by incest: but it is with wonderful art and justness of judgment, that the poet restrains him from doing violence to his mother. To prevent any thing of that kind, he makes his father's Ghost forbid that part of his vengeance:

This is to distinguish rightly between horror and terror. The latter is a proper passion of tragedy, but the former ought always to be carefully avoided. And certainly no dramatic writer ever succeeded better in raising terror in the minds of an audience than Shakspeare has done. The whole tragedy of Macbeth, but more especially the scene where the king is murdered, in the second act, as well as this play, is a noble proof of that manly spirit with which he writ; and both shew how powerful he was, in giving the strongest motions to our souls that they are capable of. I cannot leave Hamlet, without taking notice of the advantage with which we have seen this master-piece of Shakspeare distinguish itself upon the stage, by Mr. Betterton's fine performance of that part. A man, who, though he had no other good qualities, as he has a great many, must have made his way into the esteem of all men of letters by this only excellency. No man is better acquainted with Shakspeare's manner of expression, and indeed he has studied him so well, and is so much a master of him, that whatever part of his he performs, he does it as if it had been written on purpose for him, and that the author had exactly conceived it as he plays it. I must own a particular obligation to him for the most considerable part of the passages relating to this life, which have here transmitted the public; his veneration for the memory of Shakspeare having engaged him to make a journey into Warwickshire, on purpose to gather up what remains he could of a name for which he had so great a veneration,

With that, which, but by being so retired,
O'er-prized all popular rate, in my false brother
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, A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded,

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

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 Absolute Milan: Me, poor man!-my library Was dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties

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

To give him annual tribute, do him homage;
Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend
The dukedom, yet unbow'd, (alas, poor Milan!)
To most ignoble stooping.
O the heavens!
Pro. Mark his condition, and the event;
then tell me,

Mira.

If this might be a brother.

Mira.
I should sin
To think but nobly of my grandmother:
Good wombs have borne bad sons.

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,-
Of homage,and I know not how much tribute,-
Should presently extirpate me and mine
Out of the dukedom; and confer fair Milan,
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 darkness,
The ministers for the purpose hurried thence
Me, and thy crying self.
Mira.

Alack, for pity!

I, not rememb❜ring how I cried out then,
Will cry it o'er again! it is a hint §,
That wrings mine eyes.
Pro.
Hear a little further,
And then I'll bring thee to the present business
Which now's upon us; without the which,
Were most impertinent.
(this story
Mira.
Wherefore did they not
That hour destroy us?
Pro.
Well demanded, wench;
My tale provokes that question. Dear, they
durst not;

So dear the love my people bore me) nor set
A mark so bloody on the business; but

Was I then to you!
Pro.
O! a cherubim
Thou wast, that did preserve me! Thou didst
Infused with a fortitude from heaven, [smite,
When I have deck'd the sea with drops full
salt;

Under my burden groan'd; which rais'd in me
An undergoing stomach¶, to bear up
Against what should ensue.
Mira.

How came we ashore?

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

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

Than other princes can, that have more time For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.

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 fortuues
Will ever after droop.-Here cease more
questions;

choose.

Thou art inclin'd to sleep; 'tis a good dulness,
And give it way;-I know thou can'st not
[MIRANDA Sleeps.
Come away, servant, come: I am ready now;
Approach, my Ariel; come.
Enter ARIEL.

Ari. All hail, great master! grave sir, hail!
1 come

To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curl'd clouds; to thy strong bidding
Ariel, and all his quality.
[task

Suggestion. S Sprinkled. ¶ Stubborn resolution.

Pro.

Hast thou, spirit,
Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade
Ari. To every article.
[thee?

I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flam'd amazement: Sometimes, I'd divide,
And burn in many places; on the top-mast,
The yards, and bowsprit, would I flame dis-
tinctly,
[precursors
Then meet, and join: Jove's lightnings, the
O'the dreadfulthunder-claps, more momentary
And sight-outrunning were not: The fire, and
cracks

Of sulphurous roaring,the most mighty Neptune
Seem'd to besiege, and make his bold waves
Yea, his dread trident shake. [tremble,
Pro.
My brave spirit!
Who was so firm, so constant, that this coilt
Would not infect his reason?

Ari.

Not a soul
But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd
Some tricks of desperation: All, but mariners,
Plung'd in the foaming brine, and quit the
vessel,
[dinand,
Then all a-fire with me: the king's son, Fer-
With hair up-staring (then like reeds, not hair,)
Was the first man that leap'd; cried, Hell is
empty,

And all the devils are here.
Pro.
Why, that's my spirit!
But was not this nigh shore?
Ari.
Close by, my master.
Pro. But are they, Ariel, safe?
Ari.
Not a hair perish'd;
On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
But fresher than before: and, as thou bad'st me,
In troops I have dispers'd them 'bout the isle:
The king's son have I landed by himself;
Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs,
In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting,
His arms in this sad. knot.
Pro.
Of the king's ship,
The mariners, say, how thou hast dispos'd,
And all the rest o' the fleet ?
Ari.
Safely in harbour
Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once
Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still-vex'd Bermoothest, there she's
The mariners all under hatches stow'd; [hid:
Whom, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd
labour,

I have left asleep: and for the rest o' the fleet,
Which I dispers'd, they all have met again;
And are upon the Mediterranean flotes,
Bound sadly home for Naples;
Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd,
And his great person perish.
Pro.
Ariel, thy charge
Exactly is perform'd; but there's more work:
What is the time o' the day?

Ari.

Past the mid season. Pro. At least two glasses: The time 'twixt six and now,

Pro. Thou dost; and think'st

No.

It much, to tread the ooze of the salt deep;
To run upon the sharp wind of the north;
To do me business in the veins o' the earth,
When it is bak'd with frost.
Ari.

Must by us both be spent most preciously. Ari. Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains,

I do not, sir. Pro. Thou liest, malignant thing! Hast thou forgot [envy, The foul witch Sycorax, who, with age and Was grown into a hoop? Hast thou forgot her? Ari. No, sir. [speak; tell me. Thou hast: where was she born? Ari. Sir, in Argier | Pro.

Pro.

O, was she so? I must, Once in a month, recount what thou hast been, Which thou forget'st. This damn'd witch,

Sycorax,

For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries terrible
To enter human hearing, from Argier,
Thou know'st, was banish'd; for one thing she

did,

They would not take her life: Is not this true?
Ari. Ay, sir.

Pro. This blue-eyed hag was hither brought
with child,
[slave,
And here was left by the sailors: Thou, my
As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant:
And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers,
And in her most unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprison'd, thou did'st painfully remain
A dozen years; within which space she died,
And left thee there; where thou didst vent
thy groans,
[island,

As fast as mill-wheels strike: Then was this
(Save for the son that she did litter here,
A freckled whelp, hag-born,) not honour'd with
A human shape.

Ari.

Yes; Caliban her son.

Pro. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban,
Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know'st
What torment I did find thee in: thy groans
Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the
breasts

Of ever-angry bears: it was a torment
To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax
Could not again undo; it was mine art,
When I arriv'd, and heard thee, that made gape
The pine, and let thee out.

The minutest article. t Bustle, tumult. Bermudas. § Wave. Algiers. ¶ Commands.

Ari.

I thank thee, master. | And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle, The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place, and fertile;

Pro. If thou more murmur'st, I will rend
an oak,

And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till
Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters.
Ari.
Pardon, master:
I will be correspondent to command,
And do my spiriting gently.

Pro.

Do so; and after two days

I will discharge thee.
· Ari.
That's my noble master!
What shall I do? say what? what shall I do?
Pro. Go make thyself like to a nymph o'

the sea;

Be subject to no sight but mine; invisible
To every eye-ball else. Go, take this shape,
And hither come in't: hence, with diligence.
[Exit ARIEL.
Awake, dear heart, awake!. thou hast slept
Awake!
[well;
Mira. The strangeness of your story put
Heaviness in me.

Pro.

Shake it off: Come on; We'll visit Caliban, my slave, who never

Yields us kind answer.

Mira.

I do not love to look on. Pro.

'Tis a villain, sir,

But, as 'tis,

We cannot miss him: he does make our fire, Fetch in our wood; and serves in offices That profit us. What, ho! slave! Caliban! Thou earth, thou! speak.

Cal. [within.] There's wood enough within. Pro. Come forth, I say; there's other business for thee:

Come forth, thon tortoise! when?

Re-enter ARIEL, like a water-nymph.
Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,
Hark in thine ear.

Ari. My lord, it shall be done. [Erit. Pro. Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil Upon thy wicked dam, come forth! [himself

Enter CALIBAN.

Cal. As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd

With raven's feather from unwholesome fen, Drop on you both! a south-west blow on ye, And blister you all o'er!

Pro. For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps, [urchins + Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; Shall, for that vast of night that they may work, All exercise on thee: thou shalt be pinch'd As thick as honey-combs, each pinch more stinging

Than bees that made them.

cam❜st first,

Cal. I must eat my dinner. This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou tak'st from me. When thou [would'st give me Thou strok'dst me, and mad'st much of me; Water with berries in't; and teach me how To name the bigger light, and how the less, That burn by day and night: and then I lov'd thee,

Cursed be I that did so!-All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king: and here you
sty me

In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o' the island.
Pro.
Thou most lying slave,
Whom stripes may move, not kindness: I have
us'd thee,
[thee
Filth as thou art, with human care; and lodg'd
In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
The honour of my child.

Cal. O ho, O ho!-would it had been done!
Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else
This isle with Calibans.
Pro.
Abhorred slave;
Which any print of goodness will not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee
each hour

One thing or other: when thou didst not,savage, Know thine own meaning, but would'st gabble like

vile race,

A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes
With words that made them known: But thy
[good natures
Though thou didst learn, had that in't which
Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou
Deservedly confin'd into this rock,
Who hadst deserv'd more than a prison.

Cal. You taught me language; and my pro

fit on't

[you, Is, I know how to curse: the red plague rid For learning me your language!

Pro.

Hag-seed, hence! To answer other business. Shrug'st thou, Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou wert best,

malice?

If thou neglect'st, or dost unwillingly What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps;

Cal.

Fill all thy bones with aches; make thee roar,
That beasts shall tremble at thy din.
No, pray thee!-
I must obey: his art is of such power, [Aside.
It would control my dam's god, Setebos,
And make a vassal of him.
Pro.

So, slave, hence! [Exit CAL. Re-enter ARIEL invisible, playing & singing; FERDINAND following him.

Bur. Bowgh, wowgh.

Hark, hark! I hear

The strain of strutting chanticlere Cry, Cock-a-doodle-doo.

[dispersedly. And, that he does, I weep: myself am Naples;
Who with mine eyes, ne'er since at ebb, beheld
The king my father wreck'd.
Mira.
Alack, for mercy!
And his brave son, being twain.
Fer. Yes, faith, and all his lords; the duke
[of Milan,
And his more braver daughter, could controlf
The duke of Milau,
thee,

Fer. Where should this music be? i' the air,

or the earth?

It sounds no more and sure, it waits upon Some god o' the island. Sitting on a bank, Weeping again the king my father's wreck, This music crept by me upon the waters; Allaying both their fury and my passion, With its sweet air: thence I have follow'd it, Or it hath drawn me rather:-But 'tis gone, No, it begins again.

ARIEL sings.

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell :
Hark! now I hear them,-ding-dong bell.
[Burden, ding-dong.
Fer. The ditty does remember my drown'd
father.-

This is no mortal business, nor no sound [me.
That the earth owes :-I hear it now above
Pro. The fringed curtains of thine eye ad-
And say,
what thou seest yond'. [vance,
Mira
What is't? a spirit?
Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir,
It carries a brave form :-But 'tis a spirit.
Pro. No, wench; it eats and sleeps, and
hath such senses

As we have,such: This gallant which thou seest,
Was in the wreck; and, but he's something
'stain'd
[call him
With grief,that's beauty's canker, thou might'st
A goodly person: he hath lost his fellows,
And strays about to find them.
Mira.
I might call him
A thing divine; for nothing natural
I ever saw so noble.

Pro. As my

It goes on, [Aside. soul prompts it:-Spirit, fine spirit! I'll

free thee

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Pro..

If now 'twere fit to do't:-At the first sight [Aside. They have chang'd eyes:- Delicate Ariel, I'll set thee free for this!-A word, good sir; I fear, you have done yourself some wrong: a word. [This Mira. Why speaks my father so upgently? Is the third man that e'er I saw; the first That e'er I sigh'd for: pity move my father To be inclin'd my way!

Fer. O, if a virgin, And your affection not gone forth, I'll make you The queen of Naples.

Pro.

swift business

Soft, sir; one word more.They are both in either's powers: but this [Aside. I must uneasy make, lest too light winning Make the prize light.-One word more! E charge thee,

That thou attend me: thou dost here usurp
The name thou ow'st not; and hast put thyself
Upon this island, as a spy, to win it
From me, the lord on't.

Fer.
No, as I am a man.
Mira. There's nothing ill can dwell in such
a temple:

Pro.

If the ill spirit have so fair an house,
Good things will strive to dwell with't.
Follow me. [TO FERD,
Speak not you for him; he's a traitor.-Come.
I'll manacle thy neck and feet together:
Sea-water shalt thou drink, thy food shall be
The fresh-brook muscles, wither'd roots, and
Wherein the acorn cradled: Follow. [husks,
Fer.
No;
I will resist such entertainment, till
Mine enemy has more power. [He draws.
O dear father,
Make not too rash a trial of him, for
He's gentle, and not fearful.

Mira.

Pro.

What, I say, My foot my tutor!-Put thy sword up, traitor; Who mak'st a show, but dar'st not strike, thy conscience [wards; Is so possess'd with guilt: come from thy For I can here disarm thee with this stick, And make thy weapon drop.

Mira. Beseech you, father! Pro. Hence; hang not on my garments. Mira. Sir, have pity; $ I'll be his surety.

Pro.

Silence: one word more Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. An advocate for an impostor? hush! [What! Thou think'st there are no more such shapes as he, [wench! Having seen but him and Caliban: Foolish .. Guard.

+ Frightful.

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The dramatic works of Shakspeare, from the text of Johnson and Stevens [sic ...