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Enter certain Nymphs.

You fun-burn'd ficklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow, and be merry;
Make holy-day: your rye-straw hats put on,
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 ftarts fuddenly, and speaks; after which, to a ftrange, bollow, and confufed noife, they heavily vanish.

PRO. [afide.] I had forgot that foul confpiracy Of the beaft Caliban, and his confederates, Against my life; the minute of their plot Is almoft come.-[To the Spirits.] Well done ;avoid; no more.

FER. This is most strange: your father's in some paffion

That works him ftrongly.

MIRA. Never till this day, Saw I him touch'd with anger fo diftemper'd. PRO. You do look, my fon, in a mov'd fort, As if you were difmay'd: be cheerful, fir: 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 fabrick of this vifion,'

4 This is molt frange:] I have introduced the word-meft, on account of the metre, which otherwife is defective. In the firft line of Profpero's next fpeech there is likewise an omission, but I have not ventured to fupply it. STEEVENS.

And, like the bafelefs fabrick of this vifion, &c.] The exact period at which this play was produced is unknown: it was not,

The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The folemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, fhall diffolve;
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,'

6

however, published before 1623. In the year 1603, the Tragedy of Darius, by Lord Sterline, made its appearance, and there I find the following paffage:

"Let greatnefs of her glaffy fcepters vaunt,

"Not fcepters, no, but reeds, foon bruis'd, foon broken; "And let this worldly pomp our wits enchant,

"All fades, and fcarcely leaves behind a token.

"Those golden palaces, thofe gorgeous halls,
"With furniture fuperfluoufly fair,

"Those stately courts, thofe iky-encount'ring walls,
"Evanish all like vapours in the air."

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Lord Sterline's play muft have been written before the death of queen Elizabeth, (which happen'd on the 24th of March 1603) as it is dedicated to James VI. King of Scots.

Whoever should seek for this paffage (as here quoted from the 4to, 1603) in the folio edition, 1637, will be difappointed, as Lord Sterline made confiderable changes in all his plays, after their first publication. STEEVENS.

6-all which it inherit,] i. e. all who poffefs, who dwell it. So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona:

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This, or else nothing, will inherit her." MALONE. And, like this infubftantial pageant faded,] Faded means here→→ having vanished; from the Latin, vado. So, in Hamlet :

"It faded on the crowing of the cock."

To feel the juftice of this comparison, and the propriety of the epithet, the nature of thefe exhibitions fhould be remembered. The ancient English pageants were shows exhibited on the recep tion of a prince, or any other folemnity of a fimilar kind. They were prefented on occafional stages erected in the streets. Origi nally they appear to have been nothing more than dumb fhows; but before the time of our author, they had been enlivened by the introduction of fpeaking perfonages, who were characteristically habited. The fpeeches were fometimes in verfe; and as the proceffion moved forward, the speakers, who conftantly bore fome allufion to the ceremony, either converfed together in the form of a dialogue, or addreffed the noble perfon whofe prefence occafioned the celebrity. On thefe allegorical fpectacles very coftly ornaments were beftowed. See Fabian, II. 382. Warton's Hift. of Part. II, 199, 202.

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Leave not a rack behind: We are fuch stuff

66

The well-known lines before us may receive fome illustration from Stowe's account of the pageants exhibited in the year 1604, (not very long before this play was written,) on King James, his Queen, &c. paffing triumphantly from the Tower to Westminster ; on which occafion feven Gates or Arches were erected in different places through which the proceffion paffed.-Over the first gate was reprefented the true likenefs of all the notable houses, "TOWERS. and fteeples, within the citie of London."-" The "fixt arche or gate of triumph was erected above the Conduit in "Fleete-Streete, whereon the GLOBE of the world was feen to move, &c. At Temple-bar a feaventh arche or gate was erect"ed, the forefront whereof was proportioned in every respect like a TEMPLE, being dedicated to Janus, &c.-The citie of Weft"minfter, and dutchy of Lancafter, at the Strand had erected "the invention of a Rainbow, the moone, funne, and ftarres, "advanced between two Pyramides," &c. ANNALS, P. 1429, edit. 1605. MALONE.

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8 Leave not a rack behind:] "The winds (fays lord Bacon) which move the clouds above, which we call the rack, and are not perceived below, pafs without noife." I fhould explain the word rack fomewhat differently, by calling it the last fleeting veftige of the highest clouds, fcarce perceptible on account of their diftance and tenuity. What was anciently called the rack, is now termed by failors-the feud.

The word is common to many authors contemporary with Shakspeare. So, in the Faithful Shepherdefs, by Fletcher:

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fhall I ftray

"In the middle air, and stay

"The failing rack."

Again, in David and Bethfabe, 1599:

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Beating the clouds into their fwifteft rack."

Again, in the prologue to the Three Ladies of London, 1584: "We lift not ride the rolling rack that dims the chrystal skies.” Again, in Shakspeare's 33d Sonnet:

"Anon permits the baseft clouds to ride

"With ugly rack on his celeftial face."

Mr. Pennant in his Tour in Scotland obferves, there is a fifh called a rack-rider, because it appears in winter or bad weather; Rack, in the English of our author's days, fignifying the driving of the clouds by tempefts.

Sir T. Hanmer instead of rack, reads track, which may be countenanced by the following paffage in the firft fcene of Timex of Athens:

As dreams are made of," and our little life
Is rounded with a fleep.-Sir, I am vex'd;
Bear with my weaknefs; my old brain is troubled.
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity:

If you be pleas'd, retire into my cell,

And there repofe; a turn or two I'll walk,
To ftill my beating mind.

"But flies an eagle flight, bold, and forth on,
"Leaving no tract behind." STEEVENS.

Rack is generally used for a body of clouds, or rather for the courfe of clouds in motion; fo, in Antony and Cleopatra:

"That which is now a horfe, even with a thought,
"The rack dislimns."

But no inftance has yet been produced where it is used to fignify a fingle fmall fleeting cloud, in which sense only it can be figuratively applied here. I incline, therefore, to Sir Thomas Hanmer's emendation.

I am now inclined to think that rack is a mis-fpelling for wrack, i. e, wreck, which Fletcher likewife has used for a minute broken fragment. See his Wife for a Month, where we find the word mis-fpelt as it is in The Tempeft:

"He will bulge fo fubtilly and fuddenly,

"You may fnatch him up by parcels, like a fea-rack." It has been urged, that " objects which have only a vifionary and insubstantial existence, can, when the vifion is faded, leave nothing real, and confequently no wreck behind them." But the objection is founded on mifapprehenfion. The words-"Leave not a rack (or wreck) behind," relate not to "the baseless fabrick of this vision,” but to the final destruction of the world, of which the towers, temples, and palaces, fhall (like a vifion, or a pageant,) be diffolved, and leave no veftige behind. MALONE.

9 As dreams are made of,] The old copy reads-on. But this is a mere colloquial vitiation; of, among the vulgar, being still pronounced on. STEEVENS.

The ftanza which immediately precedes the lines quoted by Mr. Steevens from Lord Sterline's Darius, may ferve ftill further to confirm the conjecture that one of thefe poets imitated the other. Our author was, I believe, the imitator.

"And when the eclipfe comes of our glory's light,

"Then what avails the adoring of a name?

"A meer illufion made to mock the fight,

"Whose best was but the fhadow of a dream," MALONE, VOL. III.

K

FER. MIRA.

We wish your peace.

[Exeunt.

PRO. Come with a thought:-I thank you :

Ariel, come."

Enter ARIEL.

ARI. Thy thoughts I cleave to: What's thy

PRO.

pleasure?

Spirit,

We must prepare to meet with Caliban.*

ARI. Ay, my commander: when I prefented
Ceres,

I thought to have told thee of it; but I fear'd,
Left I might anger thee.

PRO. Say again, where didst thou leave these varlets?

ARI. I told you, fir, they were red-hot with drinking;

2 Fer. Mir. We wish your peace.

Pro. Come with a thought: I thank you: Ariel, come.] The old copy reads " -I thank thee." But thefe thanks being in reply to the joint wifh of Ferdinand and Miranda, I have fubftituted for thee, by the advice of Mr. Ritfon.

you

STEEVENS.

3 Thy thoughts I cleave to:] To cleave to, is to unite with closely. So, in Macbeth:

Again:

"Like our ftrange garments, cleave not to their mould.”

"If you shall cleave to my confent." STEEVENS.

4 to meet with Caliban.] To meet with is to countera&; to play ftratagem against ftratagem.-The parfon knows the temper of every one in his houfe, and accordingly either meets with their vices, or advances their virtues. HERBERT's Country Parfon. JOHNSON. So, in Cynthia's Revenge, 1613;

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You may meet

"With her abufive malice, and exempt

"Yourself from the fufpicion of revenge." STEEVENS.

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