"ARIEL. Your charm so strongly works 'em, PROSPERO. Dost thou think so, spirit? 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'd as they, be kindlier moved than thou art ?" It has been observed that there is a peculiar charm in the songs introduced in Shakspeare, which, without conveying any distinct images, seem to recall all the feelings connected with them, like snatches of half-forgotten music heard indistinctly and at intervals. There is this effect produced by Ariel's songs, which seem to sound in the air, and as if the person playing them were invisible. We shall give one instance out of many of this general power. "Enter FERDINAND; and ARIEL invisible, playing and singing. ARIEL'S SONG. Come unto these yellow sands, And then take hands; Curt'sied when you have, and kiss'd (The wild waves whist); Foot it featly here and there; And sweet sprites the burden bear. [Burden dispersedly. Hark, hark! bowgh-wowgh: the watch-dogs bark, Bowgh-wowgh. ARIEL. Hark, hark! I hear The strain of strutting chanticleer Cry cock-a-doodle-doo. FERDINAND. Where should this music be? in air or earth? It sounds no more: and sure it waits upon ARIEL'S SONG. Full fathom five thy father lies, Of his bones are coral made: But doth suffer a sea change, Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell Hark! now I hear them, ding-dong bell. [Burden ding-dong. FERDINAND. The ditty does remember my drown'd father. This is no mortal business, nor no sound That the earth owns: I hear it now above me." The courtship between Ferdinand and Miranda is one of the chief beauties of this play. It is the very purity of love. The pretended interference of Prospero with it heightens its interest, and is in character with the magician, whose sense of preternatural power makes him arbitrary, tetchy, and impatient of opposition. The TEMPEST is a finer play than the Mid summer Night's Dream, which has sometimes been compared with it; but it is not so fine a poem. There are a greater number of beautiful passages in the latter. Two of the most striking in the TEMPEST are spoken by Prospero. The one is that admirable one when the vision which he has conjured up disappears, beginning "The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces," &c. which has been so often quoted, that every school-boy knows it by heart; the other is that which Prospero makes in abjuring his art: "Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves, We must not forget to mention among other things in this play, that Shakspeare has anticipated nearly all the arguments on the Utopian schemes of modern philosophy. "GONZALO. Had I the plantation of this isle, my lordANTONIO. He'd sow 't with nettle-seed. SEBASTIAN. Or docks or mallows. GONZALO. And were the king on 't, what would I do? SEBASTIAN. 'Scape being drunk, for want of wine. GONZALO. I' th' commonwealth I would by contraries Execute all things: for no kind of traffic Would I admit: no name of magistrate; Letters should not be known; wealth, poverty, And use of service, none; contract, succession, Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none; No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil; No occupation, all men idle, all, And women too; but innocent and pure: No sov❜reignty. SEBASTIAN. And yet he would be king on 't. ANTONIO. The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning. GONZALO. All things in common nature should produce Without sweat or endeavour. Treason, felony, Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine Would I not have; but nature should bring forth, Of its own kind, all foizon, all abundance To feed my innocent people! SEBASTIAN. No marrying 'mong his subjects? ANTONIO. None, man; all idle; whores and knaves. GONZALO. I would with such perfection govern, si T'excel the golden age. SEBASTIAN. Save his majesty !" THE MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. BOTTOм the Weaver is a character that has not had justice done him. He is the most romantic of mechanics. And what a list of companions he has-Quince the Carpenter, Snug the Joiner, Flute the Bellows-mender, Snout the Tinker, Starveling the Tailor; and then again, what a group of fairy attendants, Puck, Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed! It has been observed that Shakspeare's characters are constructed upon deep physiological principles; and there is something in this play which looks very like it. Bottom the Weaver, who takes the lead of "This crew of patches, rude mechanicals, follows a sedentary trade, and he is accordingly represented as conceited, serious, and fantastical. He is ready to undertake anything and everything, as if it was as much a matter of course as the motion of his loom and shuttle. |