HISTORICAL NOTES TO ACT FIRST. (A) A rotten carcase of a boat, not rigg'd, Nor tackle, sail, nor mast ;] In the British Museum there is a French copy of an ancient romance, entitled the Geste of King Horn. One might almost conclude that some English translation of it existed in Shakespeare's time, and that he had in the above passage imitated the following description of the boat, in which Horn and his companions were put by king Rodmund at the suggestion of Browans :-.." Sir, said he, take one of your old boats, put into it these varlets whom I see here; let them have no oars to help them, sail nor rudder to put them in motion.”—Illustrations of Shakespeare, by Francis Douce. (B) I flam'd amazement,] There is a meteor known to sailors, and called by the several names of the fire of Saint Helen, Saint Elm, Saint Herm, Saint Clare, Saint Peter, and Saint Nicholas. Whenever it appeared as a single flame it was supposed by the ancients to be Helena, the sister of Castor and Pollux, and in this state to bring ill luck, from the calamities which this lady is known to have caused in the Trojan war. When it came double it was called Castor and Pollux, and accounted a good omen. It has been described as a little blaze of fire, sometimes appearing by night on the tops of soldiers' lances, or at sea on masts and sailyards, whirling and leaping in a moment from one place to another. Some have said, but erroneously, that it never appears but after a tempest. It is also supposed to lead people to suicide by drowning. Shakespeare seems to have consulted Stephen Batman's Golden Booke of the leaden Goddes, who, speaking of Castor and Pollux, says "they were figured like two lampes or cresset lightes, one on the toppe of a maste, the other on the stemme or foreshippe." adds, that if the light first appears in the stem or foreship and ascends upwards, it is good luck; if either lights begin at the topmast, bowsprit, or foreship, and descend towards the sea, it is a sign of tempest. In taking therefore the latter position, Ariel had fulfilled the commands of Prospero to raise a storm.-Douce. He (c) And all the devils are here.] It is exceedingly probable that the outline of a considerable part of this play was borrowed from the voyage of Sir George Sommers to the Bermudas, in the year 1609, where he was shipwrecked. Several contemporary narratives of the above event were published, which Shakspeare might have consulted; and the conversation of the time might have furnished, or at least suggested, some particulars that are not to be found in any of the printed accounts. In 1610 Silvester Jourdan, an eyewitness, published A discovery of the Bermudas, otherwise called the ISLE OF DIVELS: By Sir Thomas Gutes, Sir Geo. Sommers, and Captayne Newport, with divers others. Next followed Strachey's Proceedings of the English colonie in Virginia 1612, 4to, and some other pamphlets of less moment. From these accounts it appears that the Bermudas had never been inhabited, but regarded as under the influence of inchantment; though an edition to a subsequent edition of Jourdan's work gravely states that they are not inchanted; that Sommer's ship had been split between two rocks; that during his stay on the island several conspiracies had taken place; and that a sea-monster in shape like a man had been seen, who had been so called after the monstrous tempests that often happened at Bermuda. In Stowe's Annals we have also an account of Sommer's shipwreck, in which this important passage occurs: "Sir George Sommers sitting at the stearne, seeing the ship desperate of reliefe, looking every minute when the ship would sinke, hee espied land, which according to his and Captaine Newport's opinion, they judged it should be that dreadfull coast of the Bermodes, which iland were of all nations said and supposed to bee inchanted and inhabited with witches and devills, which grew by reason of accustomed monstrous thunder, storm and tempest, neere unto those ilands, also that for the whole coast is so wonderous dangerous of rockes, that few can approach them, but with unspeakable hazard of ship-wrack." Now if some of these circumstances in the shipwreck of Sir George Sommers be considered, it may possibly turn out that they are "the particular and recent event which determined Shakspeare to call his play The Tempest."-Douce. (D) Dost thou forget from what a torment I did free thee?] 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 earthly spirits seem to have been thought the most depraved, and the aerial the less 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 condemned the practice, which in reality was surely never practised, were of opinion, with more reason, that the power of charms arose only from compact, and was no more than the spirits voluntarily allowed them for the seduction of man. The art was held by all, though not equally criminal, yet unlawful, and therefore Casaubon, speaking of one who had commerce with spirits, blames him, though he imagines him one of the best kind, who dealt with them by way of command. Thus Prospero repents of his art in the last scene. The spirits were always considered as in some measure enslaved to the enchanter, at least for a time, as serving with unwillingness; therefore Ariel so often begs for liberty; and Caliban observes, that the spirits serve Prospero with no good will, ut hate him rootedly.— Of these trifles enough,-Johnson. (E Enter Caliban.] In the British Museum is preserved translation by John Florio (1603), of Montaigne's Essays, in which Shakespeare's autograph is inscribed, thereby affording probability that this identical volume was once the property of the great poet. The chapter on Canniballes affords undoubted evidence that Shakespeare was acquainted with the work, as a speech of Gonzalo's, act 2nd, scene 1st (omitted in representation), is almost literally copied from Montaigne's descriptions of a newly discovered_country (chap. 30)—and it is not unlikely that (according to Dr. Farmer's opinion) by transposing the letters of the word Canibal, Shakespeare formed the name of Caliban. Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, and others. ̧ : have cause Gon. Beseech you, sir, be merry: you Can speak like us; then wisely, good sir, weigh Alo. Gon. Well, I have done. Pr'ythee, peace. Adr. Though this island seem to be desert, Uninhabitable, and almost inaccessible, It must needs be of subtle, tender, and delicate temperance.' The air breathes upon us here most sweetly. Gon. But the rarity of it is (which is, indeed, almost beyond credit) that our garments being, as they were, drench'd in the sea, hold, notwithstanding their freshness and glosses; being rather new dy'd, than stain'd with salt water, and are now as fresh as when we put them on first in Africk, at the marriage of the king's fair daughter Claribel, to the King of Tunis. Seb. 'Twas a sweet marriage, and we prosper well in our return. Gon. Sir, we were talking, that our garments seem now as fresh as when we were at Tunis, at the marriage of your daughter, who is now queen. Are not, sir, my garments as fresh as the first day I wore them, at your daughter's marriage? 1 delicate temperance.] Soft temperature. Alo. You cram these words into mine ears, against Of Naples and of Milan. I saw him beat the surges under him, And ride upon their backs. I do not doubt, He came alive to land. Seb. Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss That would not bless our Europe with your daughter But rather lose her to an African; We have lost your son, I fear, for ever: the fault's your own. Alo. So is the dearest of the loss. Gon. My Lord Sebastian, The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness, And time to speak it in: you rub the sore, When you should bring the plaster. Enter ARIEL invisible. Solemn music. Ant. Nay, my good lord, be not angry. Gon. No, I warrant you; I will not adventure my discretion so weakly. Will you laugh me asleep, for I am very heavy? Ant. Go sleep, and hear us. [All sleep but ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, and ANTONIO. Alo. What, all so soon asleep! I wish mine eyes Would, with themselves, shut up my thoughts: I find, They are inclined to do so. Seb. Please you, sir, Do not omit the heavy offer of it: It seldom visits sorrow; when it doth, It is a comforter. Ant. We two, my lord, Will guard your person, while you take your rest, And watch your safety. Alo. Thank you. Wond'rous heavy.[ALONSO sleeps. Exit ARIEL. Seb. What a strange drowsiness possesses them! |