And thence retire me to my Milan, where Alon. I long To hear the story of your life, which must Take the ear strangely. Pro. I'll deliver all; And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales, And sail so expeditious, that shall catch Your royal fleet far off.-My Ariel;- chick,- Be free, and fare thou well!-[aside.] Please you, draw near. [Exeunt. EPILOGUE. SPOKEN BY PROSPERO. Now my charms are all o'erthrown, As you from crimes would pardon'd be ; ANNOTATIONS UPON THE TEMPEST. ACT I. 1IN this naval dialogue, perhaps the first example of sailor's language exhibited on the stage, there are, as I have been told by a skilful navigator, some inaccuracies and contradictory orders. JOHNSON. -fall to't yarely,] i. e. readily, nimbly. 3 It may be observed of Gonzalo, that, being the only good man that appears with the king, he is the only man that preserves his cheerfulness in the wreck, and his hope on the island. JOHNSON. sup 4 —an unstanch'd wench.] unstanch'd means, I pose, the opposite to staunch or firm, i. e. fickle, inconstant, incontinent. 5 Lay her a-hold,] To lay a ship a-hold, is, to bring her to lie as near the wind as she can, in order to keep her clear of the land, and get her out to sea. To trash for over-topping;] To trash, as Dr. Warburton observes, is to cut away the superfluities. This word Mr. Steevens met with in books containing directions for gardeners, published in the time of queen Elizabeth. 8 Alluding to the observation, that a father above the common rate of men has commonly a son below it. Heroum filii noxœ. JOHNSON. 9 So dry he was for sway] i. e. thirsty,-thirsting after. 10 To think but nobly] But has here the meaning of otherwise than. 11-deck'd the sea] To deck the sea, if explained, to honour, adorn, or dignify, is indeed ridiculous; but the original import of the verb deck, is, to cover; so in some parts they yet say, deck the table. JOHNSON. 12 From the still-vered Bermoothes,] Theobald says, Bermoothes is printed by mistake for Bermudas. No. That was the name by which the islands then went, as we may see by the voyages of that time; and by our author's contemporary poets. Fletcher, in his Woman Pleased, says, The devil should think of purchasing that egg-shell to victual out a witch for Bermoothes. Smith, in his account of these islands, p. 172, says, "That the Bermudas were so fearful to the world, that many called them the isle of Devils.P. 174-to all seamen no less terrible than an inchanted den of furies."-And no wonder, for the clime was extremely subject to storms and hurricanes; and the islands were surrounded with scattered rocks, lying shallowly hid under the surface of the water. WARBURTON. 13 Dost thou forget-] That the character and conduct of Prospero may be understood, something must be known of the system of enchantment, which supplied all the marvellous found in the romances of the middle ages. This system seems to be founded on the opinion that the fallen spirits, having different degrees of guilt, had different habitations allotted them at their expulsion, some being confined in hell, some (as Hooker, who delivers the opinion of our poet's age, expresses it) dispersed in air, some on earth, some in water, others in caves, dens, or minerals under the earth. Of these, some were more malignant and mischievous than others. The earthy spirits seem to have been thought the most depraved, and the aerial the least vitiated. Thus Prospero observes of Ariel: -Thou wast a spirit too delicate To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands. Over these spirits a power might be obtained by certain rites performed, or charms learned. This power was called The Black Art, or Knowledge of Enchantment. The enchanter being (as king James observes in his Demonology) one who commands the devil, whereas the witch serves him. Those who thought best of this art, the existence of which was, I am afraid, believed very seriously, held, that certain sounds and characters had a physical power over spirits, and compelled their agency; others, who |