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.

*Cf. "King Richard II.":

"This music mads me; let it sound no more;
For it have help madmen to their wits,

In me it seems it will make wise men sad."

V. 5, 61. Also Prof. Elze: "Shakespeare must have had an opportunity of observing (a person or) persons afflicted in mind. Prof. Neuman very justly remarks concerning Ophelia's case: "When could Shakespeare have known that persons thus afflicted decorate themselves with flowers, offer them to other people, and sing away to themselves; I myself cannot conceive where. Dr. Bucknill even maintains that watching persons mentally afflicted must have been a favorite study of Shakespeare. Life of William Shakespeare.

"Shakespeare knew, however he acquired the knowledge, the phenomena of insanity as few have known them."-Goethe.

Bacon wrote to Queen Elizabeth in the spring of 1600 that his mother was "much worn"; soon afterward, perhaps at the death of her son Anthony in 1601, she became violently insane, and continued so under the sole, unremitting care of her only surviving son Francis until her death in 1610. It was during this period that "King Lear" and the revised version of "Hamlet" were written. The author's portrayal of insanity in these plays is still regarded by specialists as a psychological marvel.

†Cf. "A Midsummer Night's Dream": "Lovers and madmen have such seething brains."

Also "Twelfth Night":

V. 1.

II. 5.

"If I lose a scruple of this sport, let me be boiled to death with melancholy." 'Also, Bacon: "The vital spirit resides in the ventri cles of the brain, and, being compounded of flame and air, has in it a degree of inflammation. It is the emission of the spirit thence that contracts the body; the detention there that melts it."

Historia Densi et Rari.

Pros. 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

Under the hatches; the master and the boatswain

Being awake, enforce them to this place,
And presently, I prithee.

Ari. I drink the air before me, and return
Or ere your pulse twice beat.

(Exit.

Gon. All torment, trouble, wonder and amaze

ment

Inhabits here: some heavenly power guide us
Out of this fearful country!

Pros.

Behold, sir king,

The wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero:

For more assurance that a living prince
Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body;
And to thee and thy company I bid

A hearty welcome.

Alon.

Whether thou be'st he or no

Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me,

As late as I have been, I not know: thy pulse

Beats as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee, The 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

Thou pardon me my wrongs. But how should Pros

pero

Be living and be here?

Pros.

Let me embrace thine age, whose honour cannot

Be measured or confined.

Gon.

Or be not, I'll not swear.

Pros.

First, noble friend,

Whether this be

You do yet taste

Some subtleties o' the isle, that will not let you Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends all! (Aside to Seb. and Ant.) But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded,

I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you And justify you traitors: at this time

I will tell no tales.

Seb.

(Aside) The devil speaks in him.

No.

Pros.

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 be'st Prospero,

Give us particulars of thy preservation;

How thou hast met us here, who three hours since Were wreck'd upon this shore; where I have lostHow sharp the point of this remembrance is!

My dear son Ferdinand.

Pros.

I am woe for 't, sir.*

*Sorry.

Alon. Irreparable is the loss, and patience Says it is past her cure.

Pros.

I rather think

You have not sought her help, of whose soft grace For the like loss I have her sovereign aid

And rest myself content.

Alon.

You the like loss!

Pros. As great to me as late; and, supportable To make the dear less, have I means much weaker Than you may call to comfort you, for I

Have lost my daughter.

Alon.

A daughter?

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

Where my son lies. When did you lose your daugh

ter.

Pros. 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 strangely

Upon this shore, where you were wreck'd, was

landed,

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

Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, sir;
This cell's my court: here have I a few attendants
And subjects none abroad: pray you, look in.
My dukedom since you have given me again,
I will requite you with as good a thing;
At least bring forth a wonder, to content ye
As much as me my dukedom.

*From Lat. admirare, to wonder.

Here PROSPERO discovers FERDINAND and MIRANDA playing at chess.

Mir. Sweet lord, you play me false.

Fer.

I would not for the world.

No, my dear'st love,

Mir. Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should

wrangle,

And I would call it fair play.

Alon.

A vision of the Island, one dear son

Shall I twice lose.

Seb.

If this prove

A most high miracle!

Fer. Though the seas threaten, they are merciful; I have cursed them without cause.

Alon.

(Kneels.

Now all the blessings

Of a glad father compass thee about!
Arise, and say how thou camest here.

Mir.

O, wonder !* How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in 't!

*"Upon wondering, men began to philosophise."Promus No. 227.

Pros.

'Tis new to thee.

Alon. What is this maid with whom thou wast

at play?