THE TEMPEST

INTRODUCTION

N the only authentic edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works The Tempest is placed first. The arrangement of that edition appears to have been entirely arbitrary, except as to the division of the Plays into Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies; but as any other, based either upon the period when the several plays were produced, or the affinity of their subjects or their style, must in the one case be directed by conjecture and in the other by individual opinion, and as it is desirable that the same order should obtain in all editions, a general acquiescence in the arrangement adopted by the first editors seems to be both proper and convenient. It is more than possible that The Tempest was made the leading play, as being one of the latest and most admired works of its author. The text has come to us in a state of almost absolute purity; and, indeed, so carefully was this play printed, that it may be safely used as a guide in the correction of others which were less fortunate in the hands of some of the printers employed by Jaggard, Blount, & Smethwick. This fact, and the existence of no quarto copy prior in date to the first folio, secured the text of The Tempest comparative immunity from editorial mutilation during the last century; but some injuries were done to it, which have not been entirely repaired, even in the latest editions of the present day. The text of this edition differs from that of the first folio regulation of the orthography, the correction of palpable errors of the press, and the addition of such few stage directions as appear to be absolutely required.

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Of the exact date at which Shakespeare wrote any of his plays, we are entirely ignorant; but the testimony of contemporary literature, personal diaries, and official records, aided in some cases by internal evidence of the plays themselves, has enabled us, in most instances, to determine that period with some approach to accuracy. Thus we know that The Tempest was produced between 1603 and 1611; the first limit being determined by a versified quotation, in the first Scene of the second Act, from Florio's translation of Montaigne's Essays [Book I. chap. xxx., Of the Caniballes], which was first published in 1603, and the last, by an entry in the accounts of the Revels at Court, under James I., recently discovered by Mr. Peter Cunningham. The memorandum is in the Book for 1611-12, and is in these words:

By the Kings
Players.

Hallomas nyght was presented att Whithall before y Kings Mati a play called the Tempest.

[It is now generally allowed that this memorandum is not genuine. Still, as Lee argues, although the page inserted in the account book of the Master of the Revels was forged, the information given may be true. Malone stated positively that the play was in existence in the autumn of 1611 and he may have based his statement on documents since mislaid on account of the removal of the archives to the Public Record Office. The forger may have been guided by Malone's statement or the latter's memorandum. (Lee, A Life of William Shakespeare, p. 254, note 2.) An apparently more genuine bit of information is derived from the accounts of Lord Harrington, James I.'s Treasurer of the Chamber (Vertue MSS.) to the effect that The Tempest was one of a long series of plays performed at court during the festivities attending the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth to the Elector Palatine. This proves nothing as to the date of the first representation, but has been used to support a theory that The Tempest is an allegory, with Elizabeth represented by Miranda, Frederick by Ferdinand, and James I. by Prospero! (See Lee, loc. cit., and Ward, History of English Dramatic

Literature, revised edition, II. p. 194.) The consensus of opinion still remains that, as White argues, The Tempest was written in 1611 and was probably the latest drama that Shakespeare completed, although years later White inclined to assign it to 1610. See, however, Dr. R. Garnett's article in the Universal Review, April, 1889, since reprinted in his Essays of an Ex-Librarian.]

To this positive external testimony are to be added some external probabilities. First, in the occurrence of a passage in the Induction to Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, written between 1612 and 1614, which has a hit, not necessarily illhumoured, at those who have "a Servant-monster" in their dramatis persona, and "beget Tales, Tempests, and such like Drolleries," where the allusion to The Tempest is too plain to be mistaken, an allusion which would be made only when the impression of that play was fresh in the public mind: Next, in the publication by Sil[vester] Jourdan of a quarto pamphlet entitled "A Discovery of the Barmvdas, otherwise called the Ile of Divels: by Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Sommers, and Captayne Newport, with diuers others. London, 1610." This pamphlet tells of the tempest which scattered the fleet commanded by Somers and Gates, and the happy discovery by some of the shipwrecked, of land which proved to be the Bermudas. It alludes to the general belief that these islands "were never inhabited by any Christian or Heathen people," being "reputed a most prodigious and inchanted place," adding that, nevertheless, those who were cast away upon them and lived there nine months, found the air temperate and the country "abundantly fruitful of all fit necessaries for the sustentation and preservation of man's life." Prospero's command to Ariel " to fetch dew from the still-vex'd Bermoothes" makes it certain that the Bermudas are not the scene of The Tempest, though, strangely enough, it has produced the contrary impression on many minds; but this reference to these islands and allusion to their storm-vexed coast, connects itself naturally with the publication of Jourdan's narrative. It is highly probable, therefore, that The

Tempest was written about 1611. [At least five accounts of this storm were soon published. It is possible that Shakespeare may have used W. Strachey's account or rather have profited from the author's residence late in 1611 at Blackfriars. (See Literature, April 15 and June 3, 1899; also Ward, loc. cit., II. p. 197, and M. C. Tyler, History of American Literature, Vol. I. chap. iii.) There has been of late quite a tendency to regard the Bermudas as the scene of the drama, but White's attitude toward the question seems still preferable.]

The thoughtful reader will, however, find in the compact simplicity of its structure, and in the chastened grandeur of its diction and the lofty severity of its tone of thought, tempered although the one is with Shakespeare's own enchanting sweetness, and the other with that most human tenderness which is the peculiar trait of his mind, sufficient evidence that this play is the fruit of his genius in its full maturity. [This has not prevented some scholars from attempting to assign an early date to the play, but the results of metrical tests combine with the facts given above to discredit their conclusions.]

Shakespeare usually built his dramas upon some well-known story of chronicle or romance; but although the plot of The Tempest and its characters seem to point out some old Italian or Spanish tale as its foundation, the most diligent search has failed to discover any prototype of this play. [Caro (in Englische Studien, 1878) points out some resemblance to the Lithuanian prince Witold and his daughter Sophia (A.D. 1388). See Herford's introduction and the Camden Society's Earl of Derby's Expeditions (1894).] Collins the poet told Warton the critic that he had seen "a romance called Aurelio and Isabella, printed in Italian, Spanish, French, and English in 1588," the characters and incidents of which were evidently those upon which The Tempest was founded. But Collins was insane when he made the statement; and no such romance is known in Italian, Spanish, French, or English literature. [A mistake on White's part due to former com

sup

mentators. See Furness.] A play by Jacob Ayrer of Nuremberg, published in 1618, and called Die Schöne Sidea (The Beautiful Sidea), has been discovered by Mr. Thoms, who poses, from some similarity of incident and plot between it and The Tempest, that they were derived from the same source. But the resemblances pointed out by Mr. Thoms himself are too vague to justify the supposition; and English plays having been translated into German as early as 1600, it is not at all improbable that, should there be any connection between these two, it is that of imitation on the part of the German dramatist. [Note, however, that Ayrer, who did adapt English plays, died in 1605. His play is translated into rhyme in Cohn's Shakespeare in Germany, into prose in Furness. Tieck suggested the relationship of the plays in 1817.]

The action of this play gives no hint of the period at which it is supposed to have taken place; and the costume may be the Italian dress of any period of the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries. [It is plain that Shakespeare, whether in order that he might show his critics that he could be " regular," or for some other reason, adhered strictly to the rule requiring unity of time. The action of the play covers about four hours.]

As to the actual scene of The Tempest, that is in the realms of fancy. Mr. Hunter has contended that Lampedusa, “an island in the Mediterranean, lying not far out of a ship's course passing from Tunis to Naples," and which is uninhabited and supposed by sailors to be enchanted, was Prospero's place of exile. It may have been; though if it were, we would a little rather not believe so. When the great magician at whose beck it rose upon the waters broke his staff, the island sunk and carried Caliban down with it.

[Little need be added to the remarks of White. A passage from Golding's translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book VII.) appears to have been in Shakespeare's mind when he wrote Prospero's speech (V. i. 33-57). Some of the names used by Shakespeare, e. g. Setebos, seem to have been