THE TEMPEST.

"THE

HE TEMPEST" is usually placed first in our editions of Shakspeare, but it is really in all probability one of the last of his plays.

The first representation of "The Tempest" was in 1613. It was one of the novelties produced during the rejoicings over the marriage of the good and beautiful Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of King James, with Frederick, the Elector Palatine. Among the various absurd comments of commentators is one which finds in Prospero King James himself, in Miranda Elizabeth, in Ferdinand the Elector Palatine, and in Caliban the new Province of Virginia!

For many years commentators could not imagine where Shakspeare got his story of "The Tempest." For he never invented plots; he took material from a ballad, from history, or from some old story-book, and inspired it. His characters are all his own, his plots never. At last an old German play turned up,· "Die Schöne Sidea ;" and it was also discovered that in 1612 some of Shakspeare's friends and fellow-actors went over to Germany on a professional visit, and were at Nuremburg when the "Schöne Sidea" was performed. Germany and England were at that day far more in sympathy than they have been at any time since Elizabeth Stuart's great-grandson came to the English throne.

The author of "The Fair Sidea," Jacob Ayrer, died in 1605, and the points of resemblance are close between the two dramas. Ludolph is Ayrer's Prospero, Sidea his Miranda; Ludolph and Sidea live apart in a desert place (not on an uninhabited island), and are served by two spirits, Runciter and Molitor, the latter of whom is coarse and brutal, like Caliban. By help of Runciter (Ariel) a handsome young prince, Engelbrecht, and the Sage's hereditary enemy, are delivered into his power. The story proceeds as in "The Tempest," even to the carrying of the wood; but all the glow and poetry and grace and loveliness are Shakspeare's own. "The Tempest' is one of those works for which no previous production of the author could have prepared the reader; it is of a wholly different cast of temper from what is conspicuous in his gayer comedies. It is solemn and grand, unrivalled in harmony and grace, and in grave beauty." The other fairy drama, "The Midsummer Night's Dream," is essentially different from "The Tempest," being indeed a contrast rather than a counterpart. "The one is all joy and sparkle and brilliancy; the other is poetry pervaded by philosophy." The one has been compared to spring, the other to the Indian sum"The Tempest," though not rising as high as some of the tragedies, is perhaps Shakspeare's most perfect work of art. Hazlitt says of it: "The human and imaginary characters, the dramatic and the grotesque, are blended together with the greatest art. As the preternatural part has the air of reality, and haunts the imagination with a sense of truth, the real characters and events partake of the wildness of a dream."

mer.

If not, as it probably is, Shakspeare's latest work, it is at least one of the four last, — the others being "The Winter's Tale," "Cymbeline," and "Coriolanus."

We all know the story of "The Tempest," - how Prospero, Duke of Milan, was a dreamer, given over to scientific studies, which included (even in Shakspeare's day) alchemy and astrology. Antonio, his wicked brother, having secured the connivance of the King of Naples by an engagement to submit Milan to his suzerainship, making it a fief of the Neapolitan crown, succeeded, while Prospero remained blind to his proceedings, in winning the hearts of the Milanese. people, and effecting a revolution. Prospero and his little daughter were put afloat in a leaky boat to perish in the first tempest that assailed them; but Gonzalo, a good old councillor, supplied them with books, garments, and provisions. Father and child landed on an island, - probably a desert island (if we must place it geographically) in the Mediterranean. The description of the island is taken partly from a pamphlet by a Virginian adventurer, who lived in Blackfriars, near Shakspeare's theatre. It was published in 1612, and is called "A true repertory of the wracke and redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, Knight, upon and from the Islands of the Bermudas; his comeing to Virginia, and the state of the Colonie there, and after, under the Government of the Lord de la Warre. July 15. 1610. Written by William Strachey Esquire."

In the island they found two spirits, - the one all sloth, earthliness, and sensuality; the other all that was airy, graceful, tender; one with the power to hate, the other with almost the power to love,

by that I mean as high a power

to love as can be possessed without a soul.

Caliban was son of the witch Sycorax, who worshipped a god, Setebos, on whom a poem has been written by Mr. Browning.

Ariel, the spirit of the island when Sycorax landed upon it, was imprisoned by her in a cleft tree, and released by Prospero.

These beings wait on him and on his daughter. At first the new comers were disposed to be kind to Caliban, but the devil in him getting the upper hand, he offered violence and insult to Miranda, after which he was kept down in his place with an almost cruel hand. This made him ripe for revolution. It has always seemed to me that Caliban, dangerous, vicious, with sufficient suffering to excuse himself in his own eyes for his desire to retaliate, was the Mob incarnate.

At last, after a lapse of about twelve years, a ship containing the King of Naples, on his way from Tunis, where he had married his daughter to a Moorish prince, is driven by stress of weather near the enchanted island. Prospero, who sees the laboring vessel has on board, besides the King of Naples (now Milan's feudal chief), his brother Antonio, old Gonzalo, and young Prince Ferdinand, the heir of Naples, directs Ariel to raise a tempest, to make the ship founder off shore, and bring her passengers safe into his power. Here the play opens.

ACT I. Scene 1.

You are aware that in Shakspeare's time there was no stage scenery. So, on a board, when the tempest was represented, was chalked up: "On a Ship at sea. A storm, with thunder and lightning." The captain, the boatswain, and the sailors, come tumbling up on deck. All is hurry and confusion. To their amazement, they find themselves among breakers. The honest boatswain whistles shrilly with his silver whistle, and gives a multitude of orders, striving to keep up the hearts of his men, when up the companion-way comes, what a sailor dreads