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Here on this grass-plot, in this very place,
Come hither from the furrow, and be merry.
To come and sport. [JUNO descends.] Her Make holy day: your rye-straw hats put on,

peacocks fly amain: Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain.

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Sweet now, silence!

[JUNO and CERES whisper, and send IRIS on employment. Juno and Ceres whisper seriously; There's something else to do. Hush, and be mute, Or else our spell is marr'd.

Iris. You nymphs, call'd Naiads, of the wand'ring brooks,

With your sedg'd crowns, and ever-harmless looks,

Leave your crisp channels, and on this green land Answer your summons: Juno does command. Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebrate A contract of true love: be not too late.

Enter certain Nymphs.

You sun-burn'd sicklemen, of August weary,

And these fresh nymphs encounter every one
In country footing.

Enter certain Reapers, properly habited: they join with the Nymphs in a graceful dance; towards the end whereof PROSPERO starts suddenly, and speaks; after which, to a strange, hollow, and confused noise, they heavily vanish.

Pro. [Aside.] I had forgot that foul conspiracy Of the beast Caliban, and his confederates, Against my life; the minute of their plot Is almost come. - [To the Spirits.] Well done.

Avoid; no more.

Fer. This is strange: your father's in some passion

That works him strongly.

Mira.

Never till this day,
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!

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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, Enter ARIEL, loaden with glistering apparel, &c. Even to roaring. - Come, hang them on this line. Enter CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO, all wet.

Cai. 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 play'd the Jack with us.

Trin. Monster, 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

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Ste. Give me thy hand. I do begin to have Trin. O King Stephano! O peer! O worthy Stephano! look, what a wardrobe here is for thee! Cal. Let it alone, thou fool: it is but trash. Trin. O, ho, monster! we know what belongs to a frippery:-O King Stephano!

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

[mean,

Trin. Thy grace shall have it. Cal. The dropsy drown this fool! what do you To doat thus on such luggage? Let's alone, And do the murther 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. [and 't like your grace. Trin. Do, do: we steal by line and level, 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.

[time,

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

「hark:

Ari. Silver! there it goes, Silver! Pro. Fury, Fury! there, Tyrant, there! 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 Than pard, or cat o' mountain. [them, Ari.

Hark! thev roar. 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.

Act Fifth.

[Exeunt.

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I did say so, When first I raised the tempest. Say, my spirit, How fares the King and 's followers? Confin'd together

Ari.

In the same fashion as you gave in charge;
Just as you left them: all prisoners, sir,
In the lime-grove which weather-fends your cell;
They cannot budge till your release. The King,
His brother, and yours, abide all three distracted,
And the remainder mourning over them,
Brimful of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly
Him that you term'd, sir, 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,

That if you now beheld them, your affections Would become tender.

Pro. Dost thou think so, spirit?

Ari. Mine would, sir, were I human.

Pro.

And mine shall.

Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling
Of their afflictions, and shall not myself,
One of their kind, that relish all as sharply
Passion as they, be kindlier mov'd than thou art?
Though with their high wrongs I am struck to

th' quick,

Yet, with my nobler reason, 'gainst my fury
Do I take part. The rarer action is
[tent,
In virtue, than in vengeance: they being peni-
The sole drift of my purpose doth extend
Not a frown farther. Go, release them, Ariel.
My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore,
And they shall be themselves.

Ari.

I'll fetch them, sir. [Exit. Pro. Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves;

And ye, that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him,
When he comes back; you demy-puppets, that
By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites; and you, whose pas-
time

Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid
(Weak masters though ye be) I have bedimm'd
The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous

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Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout oak
With his own bolt: the strong-bas'd promontory
Have I made shake; and by the spurs pluck'd up
The pine and cedar: graves, at my command,
Have wak'd their sleepers, op'd, and let 'em forth
By my so potent art.-But this rough magic
I here abjure; and, when I have requir'd
Some heavenly music, (which even now I do,)
To work mine end upon their senses, that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fadoms in the earth,
And, deeper than did ever plummet sound,
I'll drown my book.

[Solemn music.

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A solemn air, and the best comforter
To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains, [stand,
Now useless, boil'd within thy skull!
For you are spell-stopp'd.-

Holy Gonzalo, honourable man,

There

Mine eyes ev'n sociable to the shew of thine,

Fall fellowly drops.--The charm dissolves apace; And as the morning steals upon the night, Melting the darkness, so their rising senses Begin to ehase the ignorant fumes that mantle Their clearer reason. O good Gonzalo!

My true preserver, and a loyal sir

To him thou follow'st, I will pay thy graces Home, both in word and deed.-Most cruelly Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter: Thy brother was a furtherer in the act;Thou'rt pinch'd for't now, Sebastian.-Flesh

and blood,

You brother mine, that entertain'd ambition, Expell'd remorse and nature; who, with Sebastian,

[strong,)

(Whose inward pinches therefore are most Would here have kill'd your king; I do forgive

thee, [ing Unnatural though thou art. Their understandBegins to swell, and the approaching tide Will shortly fill the reasonable shores,

That now lie foul and muddy. Not one of them, That yet looks on me, or would know ine.-Ariel, Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell;

[Exit ARIEL.

I will dis-case me, and myself present,
As I was sometime Milan.-Quickly, spirit;
Thou shalt ere long be free.

ARIEL enters, singing, and helps to attire him.
Ari. Where the bee sucks, there suck I;

In a cowslip's bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat's back I do fly,
After summer, merrily.

Merrily, merrily, shall I live now,

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

Pro. Why, that's my dainty Ariel! I shall miss thee;

But yet thou shalt have freedom:-so, so, so.-
To the King's ship, invisible as thou art:
There shalt thou find the mariners asleep [swain,
Under the hatches; the Master, and the Boat-
Being awake, enforce them to this place;
And presently, I pr'ythee.

Ari. I drink the air before me, and return
Or e'er your pulse twice beat. [Exit ARIEL.
Gon. All torment, trouble, wonder, and amaze-

ment

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Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me,
As late I have been, I not know: thy pulse
Beats as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee,
Th' affliction of my mind amends, with which,
I fear, a madness held me. This must crave
(An if this be at all) a most strange story.
Thy dukedom I resign; and do entreat [Prospero
Thou pardon me my wrongs. But how should
Be living, and be here?

Pro.

First, noble friend,
Let me embrace thine age, whose honour cannot

Be measur'd, or confin'd.
Gon.

Or be not, I'll not swear.
Pro.

Whether this be,
You do yet taste
Some subtleties o' th' isle, that will not let you
Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends

all.

But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded, [Aside to SEB. and ANT.

I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you,
And justify you traitors: at this time
I'll tell no tales.

Seb. [Aside.] The devil speaks in him.
Pro.

No.-
For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest fault-all of them; and require
My dukedom of thee, which, perforce, I know,
Thou must restore.
Alon.

If thou beest Prospero, Give us particulars of thy preservation: [since How thou hast met us here, whom three hours Were wrack'd upon this shore, where I have lost (How sharp the point of this remembrance is!) My dear son Ferdinand. Pro.

I am woe for't, sir.

Alon. Irreparable is the loss; and Patience Says it is past her cure. Pro.

I rather think,

[grace,

You have not sought her help; of whose soft
For the like loss, I have her sovereign aid,
And rest myself content.

Alon.

You the like loss?

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O heavens! that they were living both in Naples, The King and Queen there! that they were, I wish Myself were mudded in that oozy bed [daughter? Where my son lies. When did you lose your

Pro. In this last tempest. I perceive, these lords At this encounter do so much admire,

That they devour their reason, and scarce think
Their eyes do offices of truth, their words
Are natural breath; but, howsoe'er you have
Been justled from your senses, know for certain,
That I am Prospero, and that very duke
Which was thrust forth of Milan; who most
[landed,
Upon this shore, where you were wrack'd, was
To be the lord on 't. No more yet of this;
For 'tis a chronicle of day by day,
Not a relation for a breakfast, nor

strangely

Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, sir;

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I say, Amen, Gonzalo. [issue
Gon. Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his
Should become Kings of Naples? O! rejoice
Beyond a common joy, and set it down

With gold on lasting pillars: -In one voyage
Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis;
And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife,
Where he himself was lost; Prospero his dukedom,
In a poor isle; and all of us, ourselves,
When no man was his own.

[hands:

Alon. [TO FER. and MIRA.] Give me your
Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart,
That doth not wish you joy!
Gon.

Be it so: Amen.

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Of roaring, shrieking, howling, jingling chains,
And more diversity of sounds, all horrible,
We were awak'd; straightway, at liberty:
Where we, in all her trim, freshly beheld
Our royal, good, and gallant ship; our Master
Cap'ring to eye her. On a trice, so please you,
Even in a dream, were we divided from them,
And were brought moping hither.
Ari.

Was't well done? [Aside.
Pro. Bravely, my diligence! Thou shalt be
free.
[Aside.
Alon. This is as strange a maze as e'er men
trod;

And there is in this business more than Nature
Was ever conduct of. Some oracle
Must rectify our knowledge.

Pro.

Sir, my liege,

Do not infest your mind with beating on [sure,
The strangeness of this business: at pick'd lei-
Which shall be shortly, single I'll resolve you
(Which to you shall seem probable) of every
These happen'd accidents: till when, be cheerful,
And think of each thing well. Come hither,

spirit:

[Aside.
Set Caliban and his companions free: [cious sir?
Untie the spell. [Exit ARIEL.] How fares my gra-
There are yet missing of your company
Some few odd lads, that you remember not.

Enter ARIEL, driving in CALIBAN, STEPHANO,
and TRINCULO, in their stolen apparel.

Ste. Every man shift for all the rest, and let no man take care for himself, for all is but fortune. Coragio, bully-monster, coragio!

Trin. If these be true spies that I wear in my head, here's a goodly sight.

Cal. O Setebos! these be brave spirits, indeed.
How fine my master is! I am afraid
He will chastise me.

Seb.

Ha, ha!

What things are these, my lord Antonio?
Will money buy them?
Ant.

Very like: one of them
Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable [lords,
Pro. Mark but the badges of these men, my
Then say, if they be true. This mis-shapen
His mother was a witch; and one so strong [knave,
That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs,
And deal in her cominand, without her power.
These three have robb'd me; and this demi-devil

Enter ARIEL, with the Master and Boatswain (For he's a bastard one) had plotted with them amazedly following.

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To take my life. Two of these fellows you
Must know, and own; this thing of darkness I
Acknowledge mine.

Cal.

I shall be pinch'd to death. Alon. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler? Seb. He is drunk now: where had he wine? Alon. And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they

C

Find this grand liquor that hath gilded 'em?--
How cam'st thou in this pickle?

Trin. I have been in such a pickle, since I saw you last, that, I fear me, will never out of my bones: shall not fear fly-blowing.

Seb. Why, how now, Stephano!
[a cramp.
Ste. O! touch me not: I am not Stephano, but
Pro. You'd be king o' the Isle, sirrah?
Ste. I should have been a sore one then. [on.
Alon. This is as strange a thing as e'er I look'd
[Pointing to CALIBAN.

Pro. He is as disproportion'd in his manners,
As in his shape.-Go, sirrah, to my cell;
Take with you your companions: as you look
To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.

Cal. Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter,
And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass
Was I, to take this drunkard for a god,
And worship this dull fool?
Pro.

Go to; away! [you found it.
Alon. Hence, and bestow your luggage where
Seb. Or stole it, rather.

[Exewnt CAL., STE., and TRIN.
Pro. Sir, I invite your highness, and your train,
To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest
For this one night; which, part of it, I'll waste
With such discourse, as, I not doubt, shall make it
Go quick away:-the story of my life,
And the particular accidents gone by,
Since I came to this isle and in the morn,
I'll bring you to your ship, and so to Naples,
Where I have hope to see the nuptial
Of these our dear-belov'd solemnized;
And thence retire me to my Milan, where
Every third thought shall be my grave.

INTRODUCTION TO THE TWO

AMONG the many unaccountable and incomprehensible blunders of the critics of the last century, with regard to Shakespeare and his works, was the denial by two of them,-Hanmer and Upton-and the doubt by more, that he wrote The Two Gentlemen of Verona. An important and often-quoted passage in the Palladis Tamia, of Francis Meres, published in 1598, mentions this play first among the twelve which the author cites in support of his opinion, that "Shakespeare among the English is the most excellent in both kinds [comedy and tragedy] for the stage." But this uncontradicted testimony, and that of Shakespeare's friends and fellow-actors, who superintended the publication of the folio of 1623, is hardly needed; for so unmistakably does Shakespeare's hand appear in the play, from Valentine's first speech to his last, that were a copy of it found without a name upon its title-page, or a claimant in the literature or the memorandum-books of its day, it would be at tributed to Shakespeare by general acclamation. Who but he could then have written the first ten lines of it, where Valentine says to Proteus,

"affection chains thy tender days

To the sweet glances of thy honour'd love," and gently reproves him for living "sluggardiz'd at home," wearing out his youth "in shapeless idleness"? There has been but one man in the world whose daring fancies were so fraught with meaning. Who but he could have created Launce or Launce's dog? Indeed, it is safe to say that, however inferior it may be to the productions of his maturer years, even The Tempest and King Lear are not more unmistakably Shakespearian in character than The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

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[Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have's mine own
Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,
I must be here confin'd by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got,
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island, by your spell;
But release me from my bands,
With the help of your good hands.
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant;
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be reliev'd by prayer;
Which pierces so, that it assaults
Mercy itself, and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
Let your indulgence set me free.]

GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.

The play was first printed in the folio of 1623, and with very few corruptions. The most remarkable error in the original text is that which occurs in Act II., Sc. 5, where Speed, being in Milan, bids Launce "welcome to Padua,"-a place with which the plot has no relations whatever. Mr. Halliwell suggests that the name is perhaps a relic of some old Italian story, upon which the play may have been founded. This is not impossible; but mistakes as great occur sometimes even in the present day; and this one can hardly be received even as cumulative evidence that the play is constructed upon an undiscoverable, forgotten story. Some similarity has been noticed between a scene and some of the incidents in this play, and certain passages of the story of the Shepherdess Felismena in the Diana of George de Montemajor. Such arethe refusal of the mistress to receive a letter brought by her maid, with the final success o the latter in obtaining a hearing for the lover, the departure of the lover to a foreign court, where he loves another lady, -the determination of his old mistress to follow him in boy's clothes, and her reception into his service as page, after having, in company with her host, heard him serenade his new love, and his choice of her as his confidant and messenger in his suit.

These incidents, however, are not uncommon in the many romances with which Shakespeare must have been familiar; and their similarity to some passages in Twelfth Night will at once occur to the reader. In that play, the likeness to this story of Felismena is yet greater; for in the latter the scornful lady falls in love with the forlorn damsel, who, in a page's dress, woos her for another. But the companionship that of her

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