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T E
Geoi
S e
Graham,
4to.
h7 6 3
cr
j. t
rate
Refior'd.
Mafq.
4to.
1631
. This piece was
presented before K. Charles
I. at Whitehall on Shrove-
Tuefday, 1 631, by the
Queen and fourteen of her
ladies. It is founded on
the ftory of Circe, as related
in the 14th book of Ovid's
Me-/ amor p hojes .
The Tempeft. A Com.
by William Shakfpeare, fol.
1623. This is a very ad-
mirable play, and is one in-
ftance, among many, of cur
author's creative faculty,
who fometimes feems wan-
tonly, as if tired with rum-
maging in nature's fcore-
houfe for his characters, to
prefer the forming of fuch
as me never dreamt of, in
order to mew his own power
of making them aft and
fpeak juft as me would have
done had me thought pro-
per to have given them ev-
idence. One of thefe cha-
r afters is Caliban in this
play, than, which nothing
furely can be more outre,
and at the fame time no-
thing more perfectly natu-
ral. His Ariel is another
of thefe inftances, and is the
moll amazing contrail to the
heavy earth-born clod we
have been mentioning ; all
his deicriptions, and indeed
every word he fpeaks, ap-
. pearing to partake of the
4 ]
T E
properties of that light and
invifible element which he
is the inhabitant of. Nor
is his Miranda lefs defend-
ing of notice, her iimplicity
and natural ienfations under
the circumftances he has
placed her in, being fuch as
no one lince, thougjh many
writers have attempted an
imitation of the charafter,
has ever been able to ar-
rive at. ' The fcene is at
firit on board a vefTei in a
ftorm at fea ; through all
the reft of the play, in a de-
fert ifland. Dr. Johnfon
fays, " It is obferved of The
Tempeji, that its plan is re.
gular ; this the author of The
Revi/al thinks, what we
think too, an accidental ef-
feft of the ftory, not intend-
ed or regarded by our au-
thor. But whatever might
be Shakfpeare's intention
in forming or adopting the
plot, he has made it inilru-
mental to the production of
many characters, diveriified
with boundlefs invention,
and preferved with profound
fkill in nature, extenfive
knowledge of opinions, and,
accurate obfervation of life.
In a lingle drama are exhi-
bited princes, courtiers, and
failors, all fpeaking in their
real characters. There is the
agency of airy fpirits, and
of an earthly goblin. The
operations of magic, the tu-
mults of a ftorm, the adven-
tures