There's fomething else to do: hush, and be mute, Or else our spell is marr'd. .

[Funo and Ceres whisper, and fend Iris on employment.] Iris. You nymphs, call'd Naiads, of the wandring brooks,

With your fedg'd crowns, and ever harmless looks, + Leave your crifp channels, and on this green land Answer your fummons; Juno does command: Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebrate A contract of true love; be not too late.

Enter certain nymphs.

You fun-burn'd ficklemen, of Auguft weary,
Come hither from the furrow, and be merry;
Make holy-day: 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 Profpero ftarts fuddenly, and speaks; after which, to a ftrange, hollow, and confufed noife, they vanifh heavily.

Pro. [Afide.] I had forgot that foul confpiracy
Of the beaft Caliban, and his confederates,

Against my life; the minute of their plot
Is almoft come.

[To the Spirits.] Well done;

avoid;-no more.

3 -wandring brooks,] The modern editors read winding brooks. The old copy-windring. I fuppofe we fhould read wandring, as it is here printed. STEEVENS.

4 Leave your crifp channels,-] Crifp, i. e. curling, winding. Lat. crifpus. So Hen. IV. part i. act I. fc. iv. Hotfpur speaking of the river Severn:

"And hid his crifped head in the hollow bank."

Crifp, however, may allude to the little wave or curl (as it is commonly called) that the gentleft wind occafions on the furface of waters. STEEVENS.

Fer.

Fer. This is ftrange: your father's in fome paffion That works him strongly.

Mira. Never till this day,

Saw I him touch'd with anger fo diftemper'd.
Pro. You do look, my fon, in a mov'd fort,
As if you were difmay'd: be cheerful, fir:
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 bafelefs fabrick of this vifion,
The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The folemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all, which it inherit, fhall diffolve;
And, like this infubftantial pageant faded,
"Leave not a rack behind: We are fuch stuff

As

5 And, like the bafelefs fabrick of this vifion, &c.] The exact period at which this play was produced, is unknown: It was not, however, published before 1623. In the year 1603, the Tragedy of Darius, by Lord Sterline, made its appearance, and there I find the following paffage :

"Let greatness of her glaffy fcepters vaunt,

"Not fcepters, no, but reeds, foon bruis'd, foon broken; "And let this worldly pomp our wits enchant,

"All fades, and fcarcely leaves behind a token.

"Thofe golden palaces, thofe gorgeous halls,
"With furniture fuperfluoufly fair,

"Those stately courts, those sky-encount'ring walls,
"Evanish all like vapours in the air."

Lord Sterline's play muft have been written before the death of queen Elizabeth, (which happen'd on the 24th of March 1603) as it is dedicated to James VI. King of Scots.

Whoever should feek for this paffage, (as here quoted from the 4to, 1603) in the folio edition, 1637, will be difappointed, as Lord Sterline made confiderable changes in all his plays, after their first publication. STEEVENS.

Leave not a rack behind :-]" The winds" (fays lord Bacon) "which move the clouds above, which we call the rack, and are "not perceived below, pass without noise."

The word is common to many authors contemporary with Shakespeare. So in the Faithful Shepherdess, by B. and Fletcher: -fhall I stray

66

"In the middle air, and stay
"The failing rack.".

As dreams are made on, and our little life

Is rounded with a fleep.—7 Sir, I am vex'd; Bear with my weaknefs; my old brain is troubled : Be not disturb'd with my infirmity:

If thou be pleas'd, retire into my cell,

And there repofe; a turn or two I'll walk,

To still my beating mind.

Fer. Mira. We with your peace.

Again in David and Bethfabe, 1599:

66

[Exeunt Fer. and Mira,

Beating the clouds into their fwifteft rack."

Again in the prologue to the Three Ladies of London, 1584: "We lift not ride the rolling rack that dims the chrystal skies." Again in Shakespeare's 33d Sonnet:

"Anon permits the bafeft clouds to ride

"With ugly rack on his celestial face."

Sir T. H. instead of rack, reads track, which may be fupported by the following paffage in the firft fcene of Timon of Athens: But flies an eagle flight, bold, and forth on,

"Leaving no tract behind. STEEVENS.

7

-Sir, I am vex'd;

Bear with my weakness; my old brain is troubled:] Profpero here difcovers a great emotion of anger on his fudden recollection of Caliban's plot. This appears from the admirable reflection he makes on the infignificancy of human things. For thinking men are never under greater deprefiion of mind than when they moralize in this manner; and yet, if we turn to the occafion of his diforder, it does not appear, at first view, to be a thing capable of moving one in Profpero's circumstances. The plot of a contemptible Savage and two drunken failors, all of whom he had abfolutely in his power. There was then no apprehenfion of danger. But if we look more nearly into the cafe, we shall have reafon to admire our author's wonderful knowledge of nature. There was fomething in it with which great minds are most deeply affected, and that is, the fenfe of ingratitude. He recalled to mind the obligations this Caliban lay under for the inftructions he had given him, and the conveniencies of life he had taught him to ufe. But these reflexions on Caliban's ingratitude would naturally recall to mind his brother's; and then these two working together, were very capable of producing all the diforder of paffion here reprefented. That thefe two, who had received at his hands the two beft gifts mortals are capable of, when rightly employed, regal power, and the use of reafon; that thefe, in return, fhould confpire against the life of the donor, would furely afflict a generous mind to its utmost bearing. WARBURTON.

Pro.

Pro. Come with a thought I thank thee: Ariel, come.

Profpero comes forward from the cell; enter Ariel to

him.

Ari. Thy thoughts I cleave to: What's thy pleasure ?

Pro. Spirit,

We must prepare, 9 to meet with Caliban.

Ari. Ay, my commander: when I prefented Ceres, I thought to have told thee of it; but I fear'd, Left I might anger thee.

Pro. Say again, where didst thou leave these varlets? Ari. I told you, fir, they were red hot with drinking;

So full of valour, that they fmote the air
For breathing in their faces; beat the ground
For kiffing 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,
I Advanc'd their eye-lids, lifted up their nofes,

As

8 Thy thoughts I cleave to :] To cleave to is to unite with closely. So in Macbeth:

9

"Like our strange garments cleave not to their mold." Again" If you shall cleave to my confent." STEEVENS. to meet with Caliban.] To meet with is to counteract; to play stratagem against ftratagem.-The parfon knows the temper of every one in his houfe, and accordingly either meets with their vices, or advances their virtues. HERBERT's Country Parfon.

So in Cinthia's Revenge, 1613:

1

You may meet

"With her abufive malice, and exempt

JOHNSON.

"Yourself from the fufpicion of revenge." STEEVENS. -advanced their eye-lids, &c.] Thus Drayton, in his Court

of Fairie of Hobgoblin caught in a Spell:

But once the circle got within,

"The charms to work do straight begin,
"And he was caught as in a gin:

"For as he thus was bufy,

"A pain

As they fmelt mufick; fo I charm'd their ears,
That, calf-like, they my lowing follow'd, through
Tooth'd briers, fharp furzes, pricking gofs, and

thorns,

Which enter'd their frail fhins: at laft I left them
I' the filthy mantled pool beyond your cell,
There dancing up to the chins, that the foul lake
O'er-ftunk their feet.

Pro. This was well done, my bird:

Thy fhape invifible retain thou ftill:

The trumpery in my houfe, go, bring it hither, 3 For ftale to catch thefe thieves.

Ari. I go, I go.

Pro. A devil, a born devil, on whofe nature

"A pain he in his head-piece feels,
"Against a stubbed tree he reels,
"And up went poor Hobgoblin's heels :
Alas, his brain was dizzy.

"At length upon his feet he gets,
"Hobgoblin fumes, Hobgoblin frets;
"And as again he forward fets,

"And through the bushes fcrambles,

"A ftump doth hit him in his pace,
"Down comes poor Hob upon his face,

"And lamentably tore his cafe

[Exit.

"Among the briers and brambles." JOHNSON. -pricking gofs,-] I know not how Shakespeare diftinguished gofs from furze; for what he calls furze, is called gofs or gorfe in the midland counties.

This word is ufed in the first chorus to Kyd's Cornelia, 1595: "With worthlefs gorfe that yearly, fruitlefs dies."

STEEVENS.

By the latter, Shakespeare means the low fort of gorfe that only grows upon wet ground, and which is well defcribed by the name of whins in Markham's Farewell to Husbandry. It has prickles like thofe on a rofe-tree or a goofeberry. Furze and whins occur together in Mr. Farmer's quotation from Holinfhed. TOLLET. 3 For stale to catch these thieves.] Stale is a word in fowling, and is used to inean a bait or decoy to catch birds.

So in A Looking Glafs for London and England, 1617: "Hence tools of wrath, fales of temptation!" that he might not strike

So in Greene's Mamillia, 1593: 66

6

at the ftale, left fhe were canvaffed in the nets." STEEVENS.

Nurture