From the still-vex'd Bermoothes", there she's hid:
The mariners all under hatches stow'd;
Whom, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd labour,
I have left asleep: and for the rest o'the fleet,
Which I dispers'd, they all have met again;
And are upon the Mediterranean flote,

Bound sadly home for Naples ;

8

Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd,
And his great person perish.

Pro.

Ariel, thy charge

Exactly is perform'd; but there's more work :
What is the time o'the day?

Ari.

Past the mid season:

Pro. At least two glasses: The time 'twixt six and

now,

Must by us both be spent most preciously.

Ari. Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me

pains,

Let me remember thee what thou hast promis'd,

Which is not yet perform'd me.

Pro.

What is't thou can'st demand?

Ari.

How now ? moody?

My liberty.

I pray thee

Pro. Before the time be out? no more.

Ari.

Remember, I have done thee worthy service;

Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, serv'd
Without or grudge, or grumblings: thou didst promise
To bate me a full year.

7 The epithet here applied to the Bermudas, will be best understood by those who have seen the chafing of the sea over the rugged rocks by which they are surrounded, and which render access to them so dangerous. It was in our poet's time the current opinion, that Bermudas was inhabited by monsters, and devils.- Setebos, the god of Caliban's dam, was an American devil, worshipped by the giants of Patagonia. HENLEY.

8 the Mediterranean flote,] Flote is wave.

Pro.

Dost thou forget9

From what a torment I did free thee?

Ari.

No.

Pro. Thou dost; and think'st
It much to tread the ooze of the salt deep;
To run upon the sharp wind of the north;
To do me business in the veins o'the earth,
When it is bak'd with frost.

Ari.

I do not, sir.

Pro. Thou liest, malignant thing! Hast thou forgot The foul witch Sycorax, who, with age, and envy, Was grown into a hoop? hast thou forgot her? Ari. No, sir.

9 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 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. 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, and as serving with unwillingness; therefore Ariel so often begs for liberty; and Caliban observes, that the spirits serve Prospero with no good will, but hate him rootedly. JOHNSON.

Pro.

Thou hast: Where was she born?

speak; tell me.

Ari. Sir, in Argier.1

Pro.

O, was she so? I must,

Once in a month, recount what thou hast been, Which thou forget'st. This damn'd witch, Sycorax, For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries terrible

To enter human hearing, from Argier,

Thou know'st, was banish'd; for one thing she did,
They would not take her life: Is not this true?
Ari. Ay, sir.

Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with child,

And here was left by the sailors: Thou, my slave,
As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant :
And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers,
And in her most unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprison'd, thou did'st painfully remain

A dozen years; within which space she died,

And left thee there; where thou did'st vent thy groans, As fast as mill-wheels strike: Then was this island,

(Save for the son that she did litter here,

A freckled whelp, hag-born,) not honour'd with
A human shape.

Ari.

Yes; Caliban her son.

Pro. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban,
Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know'st
What torment I did find thee in: thy groans
Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts
Of ever-angry bears; it was a torment
To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax
Could not again undo; it was mine art,

1 in Argier.] Argier is the ancient English name for Algiers.

When I arriv'd, and heard thee, that made gape

The pine, and let thee out.

Ari.

I thank thee, master.

Pro. If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till

Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters.

What shall I do? say what? what shall I do?

Pro. Go, make thyself like to a nymph o'the sea;2 Be subject to no sight but mine; invisible To every eye-ball else. Go, take this shape, And hither come in't: hence, with diligence.

[Exit ARIEL. Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well; Awake!

3

Mira. The strangeness of your story put Heaviness in me.

to a nymph o'the sea;] There does not appear to be sufficient cause why Ariel should assume this new shape, as he was to be invisible to all eyes but those of Prospero. STEEVENS. Mr. Malone arranges these lines thus:

"Go make thyself like a nymph o'the sea; be subject

To no sight but thine and mine: invisible

To every eye-ball else. Go, take this shape,

And hither come in't: go, hence, with diligence."

3 The strangeness-] Why should a wonderful story produce sleep? I believe experience will prove, that any violent agitation of the mind easily subsides in slumber, especially when, as in Prospero's relation, the last images are pleasing. JOHNSON.

The poet seems to have been apprehensive that the audience, as well as Miranda, would sleep over this long but necessary tale, and therefore strives to break it. First, by making Prospero divest himself of his magic robe and wand: then by waking her attention no less than six times by verbal interruption: then by varying the action when he rises and bids her continue sitting: and lastly, by

Pro.

Shake it off: Come on;

We'll visit Caliban, my slave, who never

Yields us kind answer.

Mira.

I do not love to look on.

Pro.

'Tis a villain, sir,

But, as 'tis,

We cannot miss him: he does make our fire,

Fetch in our wood; and serves in offices

That profit us.

What ho! slave! Caliban!

Thou earth, thou! speak.

Cal. [within.] There's wood enough within.
Pro. Come forth, I say; there's other business for

thee:

Come forth, thou tortoise! when?

Re-enter ARIEL, like a Water-Nymph.

Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,

Hark in thine ear.

Ari.

My lord, it shall be done.

[Exit.

Pro. Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!

Enter CALIBAN.

Cal. As wicked dew 5

as e'er

my mother brush'd

With raven's feather from unwholesome fen,

Drop on you both! a south-west blow on ye,

And blister you all o'er.

Pro. For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have

cramps,

Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins

6

carrying on the business of the fable while Miranda sleeps, by which she is continued on the stage till the poet has occasion for her again. WARNER.

4 We cannot miss him:] That is, we cannot do without him.

5 Cal. As wicked dew-] Wicked, having baneful qualities.

6

urchins] i. e. hedgehogs; or perhaps, here, fairies.