Saw I him touch'd with anger so distemper'd.

Pro. You do look, my son, in a mov'd sort,
As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir.
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 baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind'. We are such stuff

As dreams are made on, and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep.-Sir, I am vex'd:

Bear with my weakness; my old brain is troubled :
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity.

If you be pleas'd retire into my cell,

And there repose: a turn or two I'll walk,

To still my beating mind.

Fer. Mira.

We wish your peace.

[Exeunt.

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

Enter ARIEL.

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

Spirit,

• Leave not a BACK behind.] "Rack" is vapour, from reek, as Horne Tooke showed; and the light clouds on the face of heaven are the "rack," or vapour from the earth: the word "rack" is often used in this way. The Rev. Mr. Dyce is of opinion that "rack" of the folios here is a misprint for wrack, or, as we now invariably spell it, wreck. He refers to the old confusion between "rack" and wrack, a confusion which he would perpetuate, and he argues that the expression “a rack" is unprecedented. Even taking it so, there are many unprecedented expressions in Shakespeare, which he introduced for poetical force and variety, and we are not to abandon the beautiful and appropriate image afforded by "rack," i. e. thin vapour, for the common-place and trite word wrack, or wreck, merely because in other writers what Shakespeare terms "a rack" only occurs as "the rack." Those who, like Mr. Dyce, prefer "Leave not a wrack behind,” have the choice before them: we prefer "rack," and we challenge the production of an instance from the whole of the folio, 1623, in which “wrack,” i. e. wreck, is printed, as in the place in question, "racke." What Prospero means is, that the pageant had so entirely faded, as not even to leave the slightest trace behind it. The German translation of A. G. Schlegel, which Professor Mommsen has seen no reason to change, is,

"Und, wie dies leere Schaugepräng' erblasst,
Spurlos verschwinden."

We must prepare to meet with Caliban'.

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

Pro. Say again, where didst thou leave these varlets ?
Ari. I told you, sir, they were red-hot with drinking:
So full of valour, that they smote the air.

For breathing in their faces; beat the ground
For kissing 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,
Advanc'd their eye-lids, lifted up their noses,
As they smelt music: so I charm'd their ears,
That, calf-like, they my lowing follow'd, through
Tooth'd briers, sharp furzes, pricking gorse, and thorns,
Which enter'd their frail shins: at last I left them
I' the filthy mantled pool beyond your cell,

There dancing up to the chins, that the foul lake
O'erstunk their feet.

Pro.

This was well done, my bird.

Thy shape invisible retain thou still:

The trumpery in my house, go, bring it hither,

For stale to catch these thieves'.

Ari.

I go, I go.

[Exit.

Pro. A devil, a born devil, on whose nature
Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains,
Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost;
And as with age his body uglier grows,
So his mind cankers. I will plague them all,

Re-enter ARIEL, loaden with glistering apparel', &c.

Even to roaring.—Come, hang them on this line.

[ARIEL hangs them on the line, and with PROSPERO remains behind, unseen.

1 We must prepare to MEET WITH Caliban.] "To meet with" was of old equivalent to to counteract, to oppose: we now say, "to be meet with."

• For STALE to catch these thieves.] "Stale," in fowling, is used for bait or decoy. A more full explanation of the use of the word by writers of the time will be found in Vol. iv. p. 175.

3

loaden with glistering apparel,] The old stage-direction: it may be observed, that in this play the stage-directions are more particular, and correct, than in, perhaps, any other. It has been doubted, whether by "line" a rope or a line, i. e. line-tree,, was intended: the Rev. Mr. Hunter is for line-tree, ("Disquisition

Enter CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO, all wet. Cal. Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may not Hear a foot fall: we now are near his cell.

Ste. Monster, your fairy, which, you say, is a harmless fairy, has done little better than played the Jack with us". Trin. Monster, I do smell all horse-piss, at which my nose is in great indignation.

Ste. So is mine. Do you hear, monster? If I should take a displeasure against you; look you,

Trin. Thou wert but a lost monster.

Cal. Good my lord, give me thy favour still.

Be patient, for the prize I'll bring thee to

Shall hood-wink this mischance: therefore, speak softly;
All's hush'd as midnight yet.

Trin. Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool,

Ste. There is not only disgrace and dishonour in that, monster, but an infinite loss.

Trin. That's more to me than my wetting: yet this is your harmless fairy, monster.

Ste. I will fetch off my bottle, though I be o'er ears for my labour.

Cal. Pr'ythee, my king, be quiet. Seest thou here,
This is the mouth o' the cell: no noise, and enter.

Do that good mischief, which may make this island
Thine own for ever, and I, thy Caliban,

For aye thy foot-licker.

Ste. Give me thy hand.

thoughts.

Trin. Oh king Stephano!

I do begin to have bloody

Oh peer! Oh worthy Ste

phano! look, what a wardrobe here is for thee !

[Seeing the apparel.

Cal. Let it alone, thou fool: it is but trash. Trin. Oh, ho, monster! we know what belongs to a frippery' :-Oh king Stephano!

on Tempest," p. 58,) and the Rev. Mr. Dyce for rope: ("Few Notes," p. 14.) We cannot pretend to decide the knotty point; but we may state, as the fact has not been previously mentioned, that all the folios read “Come, hang on them this line," which the corr. fo. 1632 changes to our text.

♦ — played the Jack with us.] i. e. The Jack o' lantern, or Will o' the whisp, by leading them astray.

— we know what belongs to a FRIPPERY:] A frippery (observes Steevens) was a shop where old clothes were sold; Fripperie, Fr.-Birchin-lane was formerly the great mart for second-hand clothes.

Ste. Put off that gown, Trinculo: by this hand, I'll have

that gown.

Trin. Thy grace shall have it.

Cal. The dropsy drown this fool! what do you mean, To doat thus on such luggage? Let's along",

And do the murder first: if he awake,

From toe to crown he'll fill our skins with pinches ;

Make us strange stuff.

Ste. Be you quiet, monster.-Mistress line, is not this my jerkin? Now is the jerkin under the line: now, jerkin, you are like to lose your hair, and prove a bald jerkin.

Trin. Do, do we steal by line and level, and't like your grace.

Ste. I thank thee for that jest; here's a garment for't: wit shall not go unrewarded, while I am king of this country. "Steal by line and level," is an excellent pass of pate; there's another garment for't.

Trin. Monster, come, put some lime upon your fingers, and away with the rest.

Cal. I will have none on't: we shall lose our time,

And all be turn'd to barnacles, or to apes

With foreheads villainous low.

Ste. Monster, lay-to your fingers: help to bear this away, where my hogshead of wine is, or I'll turn you out of my kingdom. Go to; carry this.

Trin. And this.

Ste. Ay, and this.

[A noise of Hunters heard. Enter divers Spirits, in shape of hounds, and hunt them about; PROSPERO and ARIEL setting them on.

Pro. Hey, Mountain, hey!

Ari. Silver! there it goes, Silver !

Pro. Fury, Fury! there, Tyrant, there! hark, hark!—

[CAL., STE., and TRIN. are driven out.

Go, charge my goblins that they grind their joints

With dry convulsions; shorten up their sinews

With aged cramps, and more pinch-spotted make them,

Than pard, or cat o' mountain.

Ari.

[Cries and roaring.

Hark! they roar.

• Let's ALONG,] "Let's alone" in the folios, but amended to "Let's along" by Theobald, to whose note in our former edition we did not advert.

Pro. Let them be hunted soundly.—At this hour

Lie at my mercy all mine enemies:

Shortly shall all my labours end, and thou

Shalt have the air at freedom: for a little,

Follow, and do me service.

[Exeunt.

ACT V. SCENE I.

Before the Cell of PROSPERO.

Enter PROSPERO in his magic robe; and ARIEL.
Pro. Now does my project gather to a head:
My charms crack not, my spirits obey, and time
Goes upright with his carriage.-How's the day?
Ari. On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord,
You said our work should cease.

Pro.

I did say so, When first I rais'd the tempest. Say, my spirit, How fares the king and's followers ?

Ari.

Confin'd together

In the same fashion as you gave in charge;
Just as you left them: all are prisoners, sir',
In the line-grove' which weather-fends your cell;
They cannot budge till your release. The king,
His brother, and your's, abide all three distracted,
And the remainder mourning over them,
Brim-full of sorrow, and dismay; but chiefly
Him that you term'd, the good old lord, Gonzalo ':
His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops
From eaves of reeds. Your charm so strongly works them,

7 Just as you left them: all ARE prisoners, sir,] The verb substantive is from the corr. fo. 1632: without it the measure is incomplete, and we need not doubt that it accidentally escaped in printing.

• In the LINE-grove] Usually printed “lime-grove;" but the true name of the tree is "line" and not lime, and so it stands in all the old copies. This error is pointed out by the Rev. Mr. Hunter in his "Disquisition on the Tempest," p. 57, and it supports his notion.

• Him that you term'd, the good old lord, Gonzalo :] Sir was impertinently thrust into the middle of this line, to the destruction of the metre, and without any advantage. The old corrector of the folio, 1632, put his pen through it.