• And 'twixt the green fea and the azur'd vault
Set roaring war; to the dread ratling thunder
"Have I giv'n fire, and rifted Jove's ftout oak
With his own bolt: the ftrong-bas'd promontory
• Have I made shake, and by the fpurs pluckt up
The pine and cedar: graves at my command
Have open'd, and let forth their fleepers, wak'd
By my fo potent art.'
potent art.' But this rough magick

I here abjure; and when I have requir'd

Some

As a further proof that Shakespear wrote it thus, we may observe, that he borrowed this fpeech from Medea's in Ovid :

Stantia concutio cantu freta, nubila pello;
Nubilaque induco: ventos abigoque vocoque :
Vipereafque rumpo verbis & carmine fauces:
Vivaque faxa fua convulfaque robora terra,
Et filvas moveo: jubeoque tremefcere Montes,

Et magire folum MANESQUE EXIRE SEPULCRIS. Now manefque exire fepulcris is justly expreffed as we have reformed the lines,

Graves, at my command,

Have open'd, and let forth their fleepers, wak'd
By my fo potent art.

The third line of his original containing an atchievement little in ufe amongst modern Inchanters he has with judgment omitted it in his imitation.

6

But this rough magick

I here ahjure. And when I have required
Some heavenly mufick, which ev'n now I do,
(To work mine end upon their Senfes, that

This airy charm IS FOR;) I'll break my staff, &c.-] If the prefent reading be genuine, then, by [airy charm] is meant the heavenly mufick two lines before. But this admitted, the confequence will be, 1. A wretched tautology; He had faid- Some beavenly mufick to work mine end; and then immediately adds this airy charm of mufic is for working mine end. 2. As unpardonable a defect; for, according to this fenfe and reading, we are not informed what this end was, by not being told the State of their Senfes. We must needs then by [airy charm] understand the fire and cracks of fulphurous roaring, as it is called in the 3d Scene of A& I. and thunder and lightning in the 4th Scene of A&t III. which had in the highest degree terrified the perfons concerned. That this was the airy charm is farther evident from these words, in the following Scene, The charm diffolves apace, and as, &c.

It

Some heavenly mufick, which ev'n now I do, (To work mine end upon their fenfes, that

This airy charm has frail'd ;) I'll break my ftaff; Bury't a certain fadom in the earth;

And deeper than did ever plummet found,

I'll drown my book.

S C E N E

[Solemn Mufick.

III.

Here enters Ariel before; then Alonzo with a frantick gefture, attended by Gonzalo. Sebaftian and Anthonio in like manner, attended by Adrian and Francifco. They all enter the circle which Profpero had made, and there ftand charm'd; which Profpero obferving, Speaks. A folemn air, and the best comforter

To an unfettled fancy, cure thy brains

Now useless, boil'd within thy skull! There ftand, For you are spell-ftopt.

Holy Gonzalo, honourable man,

It was diffolved, we fee, by the heavenly mufick, and therefore different from it. But if this be the fenfe of airy charm, then we fee the reading [IS FOR] must be corrupt; and that Shakespear wrote, beavenly mufick

To work mine end upon their fenfes, that
This airy charm HAS FRAIL'D.

i. e. which fenfes the airy charm of Ariel above-mentioned has difturbed and shatter'd. For that this was their condition appears from the lines which follow in the next scene.

7

The charm diffolves apace;

And as the morning fleals upon the night,
Melting the darkness; fo their rifing fenfes
Begin to chafe the ign'rant fumes that mantle
Their clearer reafon

I'll break my faff;

Bury it certain fadoms in the earth.] Certain in its present fignification is predicated of a precife determinate number. But this fenfe would make the thought flat and ridiculous. We muft confider the word certain therefore as ufed in its old fignification of a many, indefinitely. So Bale in his Acts of English Votaries fays,- But he took with him A CERTEN of his idle companions. For a many. So that Shakespear, I fuppofe, wrote the line thus, Bury't A CERTAIN Fadom in the Earth. VOL. I.

Mine

Mine eyes, even fociable to th' fhew of thine,
Fall fellow-drops.-The charm diffolves apace;
And as the morning fteals upon the night,

t Melting the darkness; fo their rifing fenfes
Begin to chafe the ign'rant fumes, that mantle
Their clearer reason.' O my good Gonzalo,
My true preferver, and a loyal Sir

To him thou follow'ft; I will pay thy graces
Home both in word and deed.-Moft cruelly
Didft thou, Alonzo, ufe me and my daughter:
Thy brother was a furtherer in the act;

Thou'rt pinch'd for't now, Sebaftian, flesh and blood.
You brother mine, that entertain'd ambition,
Expell'd remorfe and nature; who with Sebaftian
(Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong)
Would here have kill'd your King; I do forgive thee,
Unnat'ral though thou art. "Their understanding
"Begins to fwell, and the approaching tide
"Will shortly fill the reasonable shore,

"That now lies foul and muddy. Not one of them, That yet looks on me, or would know me.-Ariel, Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell;

I will dif-cafe me, and myfelf present,

[Exit Ariel, and returns immediately. As I was fometime Milan: quickly, Spirit; Thou shalt e'er long be free,

Ariel fings, and helps to attire him.

Where the bee fucks, there fuck I;
In a cowflip's bell I lie;

ign'rant fumes, ] Ignorant, for hurtful to reason.

8 Where the bee fucks, there fuck I;] Mr. Theobald tells us, he has here ventured to vary from the printed Copies, and read lurk 1: Because a Spirit cannot be intended, as he expreffes it, to want food. How Shakespear, or any other good Metaphyfician would have intended to fupport thefe Spirits, had they been of their own making, I do not know: But the people who gave them birth brought them up to good eating and drinking.

There

There I couch, when owls do cry.
On the bat's back I do fly,

9

After Summer, merrily.

Merrily, merrily, fhall I live now,

Under the bloffom, that hangs on the bough.

Pro. Why, that's my dainty Ariel'; I fhall mifs thee; But yet thou shalt have freedom. So, fo, fo, To the King's fhip, invifible as thou art; There fhalt thou find the mariners asleep Under the hatches; the master and the boatswain, Being awake, enforce them to this place;

And prefently, I pr'ythee.

Ari. I drink the air before me, and return Or e'er your pulfe twice beat.

[Exit. Gon. All torment, trouble, wonder, and amazement Inhabits here; fome heav'nly power guide us Out of this fearful country!

9 After Summer, merrily.] This is the reading of all the Editions. Yet Mr. Theobald has fubftituted Sun-fet, because Ariel talks of riding on the Bat in this expedition. An idle fancy. That circumftance is given only to defign the time of night in which fairies travel. One would think the confideration of the circumftances fhould have fet him right. Ariel was a fpirit of great delicacy, bound by the charms of Profpero, to a conftant attendance on his occafions. So that he was confined to the Island Winter and Summer. But the roughness of Winter is reprefented by Shakespear as difagreeable to fairies, and fuch like delicate fpirits, who on this account conftantly follow Summer. Was not this then the most agreeable circumstance of Ariel's new recover'd liberty, that he could now avoid Winter, and follow Summer quite round the Globe. But to put the matter out of question, let us confider the meaning of this line.

There I couch, when Owls do cry.

Where? in the Cowflip's bell, and where the Bee fucks, he tells us: this must needs be in Summer. When? when Owls cry, and this is in Winter. When blood is nipt, and ways be foul,

Then nightly fings the flaring owl.

The Song of Winter in Love's Labour Loft. The confequence is, that Ariel flies After-Summer. Yet the Oxford Editor has adopted this judicious emendation of Mr. Theobald.

Pro.

Pro. Behold, Sir King,

The wronged Duke of Milan, Profpero:
For more affurance that a living Prince
Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body;
And to thee and thy company I bid
A hearty welcome.

Alon. Be'ft thou he or no,

Or fome inchanted trifle to abuse me,

As late I have been, I not know; thy pulse
Beats, as of flesh and blood; and fince I saw thee,
Th' affliction of my mind amends, with which,
I fear, a madness held me; this must crave
(And if this be at all) a moft strange story:
Thy Dukedom I refign, and do intreat,

Thou pardon me my wrongs; but how fhould Profpero
Be living, and be here?

Pro. First, noble friend,

Let me embrace thine age, whofe honour cannot
Be measur'd or confin'd.

Gon. Whether this be,
Or be not, I'll not fwear.
Pro. You do yet taste

Some fubtilties o' th' ifle, that will not let you
Believe things certain: welcome, my friends all.
But you, my brace of lords, were I fo minded,
I here could pluck his Highnefs' frown upon you,
And justify you traitors; at this time

I'll tell no tales.

Seb. The devil speaks in him.

Pro. No:

For you, most wicked Sir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest faults; all of them; and require
My Dukedom of thee, which perforce, I know,
Thou must restore.

Alon. If thou be'ft Profpero,

Give us particulars of thy prefervation,

How