Ari. I drink the air before me, and return

Or e'er your pulfe twice beat.

[Exit ARIEL. Gon. All torment, trouble, wonder, and amazement Inhabits here; Some heavenly power guide us Out of this fearful country!

Pro. Behold, fir king,

The wronged duke of Milan, Profpero:

For more affurance that a living prince
Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body;
And to thee, and thy company, I bid
A hearty welcome.

Alon. Whe'r thou be'ft he, or no,

Or fome inchanted trifle to abuse me,

As late I have been, I not know: thy pulfe

Beats, as of flesh and blood; and, fince I faw thee,
The affliction of my mind amends, with which,

I fear, a madnefs held me: this must crave

(An if this be at all,) a moft strange story. Thy dukedom I refign; and do intreat,

Thou pardon me my wrongs :-But how fhould Profpero Be living, and be here?

Pro. First, noble friend,

"day-light, nor in rainy weather. But its fhort life is still more abridged

by continuing in a torpid ftate during the winter. At the approach of "the cold feafon, the bat prepares for its ftate of lifelefs inactivity, and "feems rather to choofe a place where it may continue fafe from in"terruption, than where it may be warmly or commodiously lodged."

When Shakspeare had determined to fend Ariel in purfuit of fummer, wherever it could be found, as most congenial to fuch an airy being, is it then furprifing that he fhould have made the bat, rather than the wind, his poft-horfe;" an animal thus delighting in that feafon, and reduced by winter to a state of lifeless inactivity? MALONE. 3 Under the bloom that hangs on the bough.] So, in Godfrey of Bul loigne, tranflated by Fairfax, 1600:

"The goblins, fairies

"Ranged in flowerie dales, and mountaines hore,

"And under every trembling leaf they fit." ANONYMOUS. 4 I drink the air.-] To drink the air-is an expreffion of fwiftnefs of the fame kind as to devour the way in Henry IV. JOHNSON.

5 Thy dukedom I refign;-] The duchy of Milan being through the reachery of Anthonio made feudatory to the crown of Naples, Alorto promifes to refign his claim of fovereignty for the future. STEEVENS.

Let

Let me embrace thine age; whofe honour cannot

Be measur'd, or confin'd.

Gon. Whether this be,

Or be not, I'll not fwear.

Pro. You do yet tafte

you

Some fubtilties o' the ifle, that will not let
Believe things certain :-Welcome, my friends all:-
But you, my brace of lords, were I fo minded,

[Afide to SEB. and ANT. I here could pluck his highnefs' frown upon you, And justify you traitors; at this time

I'll tell no tales.

Seb. The devil speaks in him.

Pro. No:

For you, moft wicked fir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankeft fault; all of them; and require
My dukedom of thee, which, perforce, I know,

Thou must restore.

Alon. If thou be'ft Profpero,

Give us particulars of thy prefervation :

How thou haft met us here, who three hours fince
Were wreck'd upon this fhore; where I have loft,
How fharp the point of this remembrance is!
My dear fon Ferdinand.

Pro. I am woe for't, fir 7.

[Afide.

6 who three hours fince] The unity of time is moft rigidly ob. ferved in this piece. The fable fcarcely takes up a greater number of hours than are employed in the reprefentation; and from the very particular care which our author takes to point out this circumftance in fo many other paffages, as well as here, it fhould feem as if it were not accidental, but purpofely defigned to fhew the admirers of Ben Jonfon's art, and the cavillers of the time, that he too could write a play within all the ftricteft laws of regularity, when he chofe to load himfelf with the critick's fetters.

The Boatfwain marks the progrefs of the day again--which but three. glaffes fince, &c. and at the beginning of this act the duration of the time employed on the stage is particularly afcertained; and it refers to a paffage in the first act, of the fame tendency. The ftorm was raised at leaft two glafles after mid-day, and Ariel was promifed that the work fhould ceafe at the fixth hour.

STEEVENS.

7 I am wee for't, fir.] i. e. I am forry for it. STEEVENS.

Alon.

94

Alon. Irreparable is the lofs; and patience Says, it is paft her cure.

Pro. I rather think,

You have not fought her help; of whofe foft grace,
For the Kike lofs, I have her fovereign aid,

And reft myself content.

Alon. You the like lofs ?

Pro. As great to me, as late; and, fupportable
To make the dear lofs, have I means much weaker
Than you may call to comfort you; for I
Have loft my daughter.

Alon. A daughter?

O heavens! that they were living both in Naples,
The king and queen there! that they were, I wish
Myfelf were mudded in that oozy bed,

Where my fon lies. When did lofe

you your daughter? Pro. In this last tempeft. I perceive, these lords At this encounter do fo much admire,

That they devour their reason; and scarce think,
Their eyes do offices of truth, their words
Are natural breath: but, howfoe'er you have
Been julled from your fenfes, know for certain,
That I am Profpero, and that very duke

Which was thruft forth of Milan; who moft ftrangely
Upon this fhore, where you were wreck'd, was landed,
To be the lord on't. No more yet of this;
For 'tis a chronicle of day by day,

Not a relation for a breakfaft, nor

Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, fir;

This cell's my court: here have I few attendants,

8 As great to me, as late;] My lofs is as great as yours, and has as lately happened to me. JOHNSON.

9

their words

Are natural breath.] An anonymous correfpondent thinks that their is a corruption, and that we fhould read-thefe words. His conjecture appears not improbable. The lords had no doubt concerning themfelves. Their doubts related only to Profpero, whom they at fir apprehended to be fome "inchanted trifle to abuse them." They doubt, fays he, whether what they fee and hear is a mere illufion; whether the person they behold is a living mortal, whether the words they hear are spoken by a human creature. MALONE.

And

And fubjects none abroad: pray you, look in,
My dukedom fince you have given me again,
I will requite you with as good a thing;
At leaft, bring forth a wonder, to content ye,
As much as me my dukedom.

95

The entrance of the cell opens, and difcovers FERDINAND and MIRANDA playing at chefs.

Mira. Sweet lord, you play me false.

Fer. No, my dearest love,

I would not for the world.

Mira. Yes, for a score of kingdoms', you should wrangle, And I would call it fair play.

Alon. If this prove

A vifion of the island, one dear fon

Shall I twice lofe.

Seb. A moft high miracle!

Fer. Though the feas threaten, they are merciful:

I have curs'd them without cause.
Alon. Now all the bleffings

[Fer. kneels to Alon.

Of a glad father compafs thee about!
Arife, and fay how thou cam'ft here.

Mira. O wonder!

How many goodly creatures are there here!

How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,

That has fuch people in't!

Pro. 'Tis new to thee.

Alon. What is this maid, with whom thou waft at play? Your eld'ft acquaintance cannot be three hours: Is the the goddess that hath fever'd us,

And brought us thus together?

1 Yes, for a score of kingdoms, &c.] I take the fenfe to be only this: Ferdinand would not, he fays, play her falfe for the world: yes, anfwers the, I would allow you to do it for fomething lefs than the world, for twenty kingdoms, and I wish you well enough to allow you, after a little rangle, that your play was fair. So likewife Dr.Grey. JOHNSON. I would recommend another punctuation, and then the fenfe would be as follows:

Yes, for a fcore of kingdoms you should wrangle,
And I would call it fair play;

becaufe fuch a conteft would be worthy of you. STEEVENS.

Fer.

Fer. Sir, fhe's mortal;

But, by immortal providence, fhe's mine;
I chose her, when I could not ask my father
For his advice; nor thought I had one: fhe
Is daughter to this famous duke of Milan,
Of whom fo often I have heard renown,
But never faw before; of whom I have
Receiv'd a fecond life, and fecond father
This lady makes him to me.

Alon. I am hers:

But o, how oddly will it found, that I
Muft afk my child forgiveness!

Pro. There, fir, ftop;

Let us not burthen our remembrances "

With a heaviness that's gone,

Gon. I've inly wept,

Or fhould have spoke ere this.

Look down, you gods,

And on this couple drop a bleffed crown;

For it is you, that have chalk'd forth the way

Which brought us hither!

Alon. I fay, Amen, Gonzalo!

Gon. Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his iffue

Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice

Beyond a common joy; and fet it down
With gold on lafting pillars: In one voyage
Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis;
And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife,
Where he himself was loft; Profpero his dukedom,
In a poor ifle; and all of us, ourfelves,

When no man was his own. 3

Alon. Give me your

hands:

[To Fer. and Mir.

Let grief and forrow ftill embrace his heart,

That doth not wish you joy!

Gon. Be't fo! Amen!

2 Our remembrances-] By the mistake of the tranfcriber the word with being placed at the end of this line, Mr. Pope and the fubfequent editors, for the fake of the metre, read-remembrance. gulation now made renders change unneceflary. MALONE.

The re

3 When no man was his own.] i. e. at a time when no one was in his fenfes. It is ftill faid, in colloquial language, that a madman is nat bis own man, i, e. is not mafter of himfelf. STIEVENS.

Re