Ant. I am right glad that he's so out of hope.

Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose

That you resolv'd to effect.

Seb.

Will we take thoroughly.

Ant.

[Aside to SEBASTIAN,

The next advantage

Let it be to-night;

For, now they are oppress'd with travel, they
Will not, nor cannot, use such vigilance,
As when they are fresh.

Seb.

I say, to-night: no more.

Solemn and strange Musick; and PROSPERO above, invisible. Enter several strange Shapes, bringing in a Banquet; they dance about it with gentle actions of salutation; and inviting the King, &c. to eat, they depart.

Alon. What harmony is this? my good friends, hark!
Gon. Marvellous sweet musick!

Alon. Give us kind keepers, heavens! What were these?

Seb. A living drollery: Now I will believe,

That there are unicorns; that, in Arabia

There is one tree, the phoenix' throne9; one phoenix
At this hour reigning there,

Ant.
I'll believe both;
And what does else want credit, come to me,

A living drollery:] Shows, called drolleries, were in Shakspeare's time performed by puppets only. From these our modern drolls, exhibited at fairs, &c. took their name. A living drollery, i. e. a drollery not represented by wooden machines, but by personages who are alive.

9

one tree, the phoenix' throne;] Our poet had probably Lyly's Euphues, and his England, particularly in his thoughts: signat. Q 3." As there is but one phoenix in the world, so is there but one tree in Arabia wherein she buildeth." See also, Florio's Italian Dictionary, 1598: Rasin, a tree in Arabia, whereof there is but one found, and upon it the phoenix sits." MALONE.

And I'll be sworn 'tis true: Travellers ne'er did lie,
Though fools at home condemn them.

Gon.

If in Naples

I should report this now, would they believe me?
If I should say, I saw such islanders,

(For, certes1, these are people of the island,)

Who, though they are of monstrous shape, yet, note, Their manners are more gentle-kind", than of

Our human generation you shall find

Many, nay, almost any.

Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound, expressing (Although they want the use of tongue,) a kind

Of excellent dumb discourse.

They have left their viands behind; for we have sto

machs.

Will't please you taste of what is here?

Alon.

Not I.

Gon. Faith, sir, you need not fear: When we were

boys,

Who would believe that there were mountaineers,
Dew-lapp'd like bulls, whose throats had hanging at them

1 For, certes, &c.] Certes is an obsolete word, signifying certainly. - 2 Their manners are more gentle-kind,] Mr. Malone reads " gentle, kind;" but Steevens considers it as a compound epithet.

3 too much muse,] To muse, in ancient language, is to admire, to wonder.

4 Praise in departing.] i. e. Do not praise your entertainment too soon, lest you should have reason to retract your commendation. It is a proverbial saying.

5

that there were mountaineers, &c.] The inhabitants of the Alps have been long accustomed to such excrescences or tumours,

Wallets of flesh? or that there were such men,
Whose heads stood in their breasts?" which now we

find,

Each putter-out on five for one, will bring us

Good warrant of.

Alon.

I will stand to, and feed,

Although my last: no matter, since I feel
The best is past:- Brother, my lord the duke,
Stand to, and do as we.

Thunder and lightning.

Enter ARIEL like a harpy;

claps his wings upon the table, and, with a quaint device, the banquet vanishes."

Ari. You are three men of sin, whom destiny (That hath to instrument this lower world,1

Whose heads stood in their breasts?] Our author might have had this intelligence from the translation of Pliny, b.v. chap. 8: "The Blemmyi, by report, have no heads, but mouth and eyes both in their breasts." STEEVENS.

7 Each putter-out, &c.] In this age of travelling, it was a practice with those who engaged in long and hazardous expeditions, to place out a sum of money on condition of receiving great interest for it at their return home.

66

on five for one" means on the terms of five for one. Mr. Maof five for one."

lone reads ".

8 I will stand to, and feed, &c.] This passage was probably intended to be in a rhyme.

I

and with a quaint device, the banquet vanishes.] Though I will not undertake to prove that all the culinary pantomimes exhibited in France and Italy were known and imitated in this kingdom, may observe that flying, rising, and descending services were to be found at entertainments given by the duke of Burgundy, &c. in 1453, and by the grand duke of Tuscany in 1600, &c. See M. Le Grand d'Aussi's Histoire de la Vie privée des François, vol. iii. p. 294. &c. Examples, therefore, of machinery similar to that of Shakspeare in the present instance, were to be met with, and perhaps had been adopted on the stage, as well as at publick festivals here in England. STEEVENS.

1 (That hath to instrument this lower world, &c.] i. e. that makes use of this world, and every thing in it, as its instruments to bring about its ends.

And what is in't,) the never-surfeited sea
Hath caused to belch up; and on this island
Where man doth not inhabit; you 'mongst men
Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad;

[Seeing ALON. SEB. &c. draw their swords.
And even with such like valour, men hang and drown
Their proper selves. You fools! I and my fellows
Are ministers of fate; the elements,

Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at stabs
Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish

One dowle that's in my plume; my fellow-ministers
Are like invulnerable: if you could hurt,
Your swords are now too massy for your strengths,
And will not be uplifted: But, remember,
(For that's my business to you,) that you three
From Milan did supplant good Prospero;
Expos'd unto the sea, which hath requit it,
Him, and his innocent child: for which foul deed
The powers, delaying, not forgetting, have
Incens'd the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures,
Against your peace: Thee, of thy son, Alonso,
They have bereft; and do pronounce by me,
Ling'ring perdition (worse than any death
Can be at once,) shall step by step attend

You, and your ways; whose wraths to guard you from
(Which here, in this most desolate isle; else falls
Upon your heads,) is nothing, but heart's sorrow,
And a clear life3 ensuing.*

9 One dowle that's in my plume;] Bailey, in his dictionary, says, that dowle is a feather, or rather, the single particles of the down. clear life,-] Pure, blameless, innocent.

3

4

is nothing, but heart's sorrow,

And a clear life ensuing.] That is -a miserable fate, which nothing but contrition and amendment of life can avert. MALONE.

He vanishes in thunder: then, to soft musick, enter the Shapes again, and dance with mops and mowes3, and carry out the table.

Pro. [aside.] Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou Perform'd, my Ariel; a grace it had, devouring: Of my instruction hast thou nothing 'bated, In what thou hadst to say: so, with good life,

And observation strange, my meaner ministers

Their several kinds have done”: my high charms work,
And these, mine enemies, are all knit up

In their distractions: they now are in my power;
And in these fits I leave them, whilst I visit

Young Ferdinand, (whom they suppose is drown'd,)
And his and my loved darling.

[Exit PROSPERO from above. Gon. I'the name of something holy, sir, why stand you In this strange stare?

Alon.

O, it is monstrous! monstrous ! Methought, the billows spoke, and told me of it; The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder, That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounc'd The name of Prosper; it did bass my trespass. Therefore my son i'the ooze is bedded; and I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet sounded, And with him there lie mudded. 9

5

8

[Exit.

with mops and mowes-] To mowe, i. e. to insult, by making mouths, or wry faces.

6 with good life,] With good life may mean, with exact presentation of their several characters, with observation strange of their particular and distinct parts, or with honest alacrity, or cheerfulness. 7 Their several kinds have done :] i. e. have discharged the several functions allotted to their different natures.

8

sound.

- bass my trespass.] The deep pipe told it me in a rough bass JOHNSON.

9 And with him there lie mudded.

But one fiend-] with him, and but, are probably playhouse interpolations.