These happen'd accidents: till when, be cheerful,
And think of each thing well. Come hither,

fpirit;

Set Caliban and his companions free :

[To Ariel.
Untie the spell. How fares my gracious fir?
There are yet miffing of your company
Some few odd lads, that you remember not.

[Afide.

Re-enter Ariel, driving in Caliban, Stephano, and
Trinculo, in their stolen apparel.

Ste. Every man fhift for all the reft, and let no man take care for himfelf; for all is but fortune : Coragio, bully-monfter, Coragio"!

Trin. If these be true fpies which I wear in my head, here's a goodly fight.

Cal. O Setebos, these be brave fpirits, indeed! How fine my mafter is! I am afraid

He will chastise me.

Seb. Ha, ha;

What things are thefe, my lord Anthonio!
Will money buy them?

Ant. Very like; one of them

Is a plain fifh, and, no doubt, marketable.

Pro. Mark but the badges of thefe men, my lords, Then fay, if they be true-This mis-shapen

knave,

they were connected. Or we may explain them thus: I will re folve you, by yourself, which method, when you hear the story [of Anthonio's and Sebaftian's plot] fhall feem probable; that is, fball deferve your approbation. JOHNSON.

Surely Profpero's meaning is: "I will relate to you the means by which I have been enabled to accomplish thefe ends; which means, though they now appear ftrange and improbable, will then appear otherwife." ANONYMOUS.

7

Coragio! This exclamation of encouragement I find in J. Florio's Tranflation of Montaigne, 1603:

You often cried Coragio, and called ça, ça.' Again, in the Blind Beggar of Alexandria, 1598. STEEVENS. -true:-] That is, boneft. A true man is, in the language of that time, oppofed to a thief. The fenfe is, Mark what these men wear, and fay if they are honeft. JOHNSON.

His mother was a witch ;" and one so strong
'That could controul the moon, make flows and ebbs,
And deal in her command without her power:
These three have robb'd me; and this demi-devil
(For he's a bastard one) had plotted with them
To take my life: two of these fellows, you
Must know, and own; this thing of darkness, I
Acknowledge mine.

Cal. I fhall be pinch'd to death.

Alon. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?
Seb. He's drunk now: Where had he wine?
Alon. 9 And Trinculo is reeling ripe: Where should
they

• And Trinculo is reeling ripe; where should they

Find this grand LIQUOR that hath gilded them?-] Shakespeare, to be fure, wrote-grand 'LIXIR, alluding to the grand Elixir of the alchymifts, which they pretend would reftore youth, and confer immortality. This, as they faid, being a preparation of gold they called Aurum potabile; which Shakespeare alluded to in the word gilded; as he does again in Anthony and Cleopatra:

"How much art thou unlike Mark Anthony?

"Yet coming from him, that great meďcine hath,
"With his tinct gilded thee"

But the joke here is to infinuate that, notwithstanding all the boafts of the chymifts, fack was the only restorer of youth, and bestower of immortality. So Ben Jonfon, in his Every Man out of his Humour :-" Canarie the very Elixar and spirit of wine." This feems to have been the cant name for fack, of which the English were, at that time, immoderately fond. Randolph, in his Jealous Lovers, fpeaking of it, fays,-"A pottle of Elixar at the Pegafus bravely caroufed." So again in Fletcher's Monfieur Thomas, act III:

"Old reverend fack, which, for ought that I can read
66 yet,

"Was that philofopher's ftone the wife king Ptolemeus
"Did all his wonders by.".

The phrafe too of being gilded was a trite one on this occafion.
Fletcher, in his Chances: "Duke. Is he not drunk too? Whore.

A little gilded o'er, fir; old fack, old fack, boys!" WArb.

As the alchymift's Elixir was fuppofed to be a liquor, the old reading may stand, and the allufion holds good without any alte ration. STEEVENS.

Find this grand liquor that hath gilded them ?...
How cam'ft thou in this pickle?

Trin. I have been in fuch a pickle, fince I faw you laft, that, I fear me, will never out of my bones: I fhall not fear fly-blowing '.

Seb. Why, how now, Stephano?

Ste. O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but a cramp 2.

Pro. You'd be king of the ifle, firrah?

Ste. I fhould have been a fore one then. Alon. This is a ftrange thing as e'er I look'd on. [Pointing to Caliban. Pro. He is as difproportion'd in his manners, As in his fhape-Go, firrah, to my cell; Take with you your companions; as you look To have my pardon, trim it handfomely.

Cal. Ay, that I will; and I'll be wife hereafter, And feek for grace: What a thrice-double afs Was I, to take this drunkard for a god, And worship this dull fool?

Pro. Go to; away!

Alon. Hence, and beftow your luggage where you found it.

Seb. Or ftole it, rather.

Pro. Sir, I invite your highness, and your train, To my poor cell where you fhall take your reft For this one night; which (part of it) I'll wafte With fuch difcourfe, as, I not doubt, fhall make it Go quick away: the ftory of my life, And the particular accidents, gone by,

-fly-blowing. This pickle alludes to their plunge into the ftinking pool; and pickling preferves meat from fly-blowing. STEEVENS.

but a cramp.] i. e. I am all over a cramp. Profpero had ordered Ariel to Jhorten up their finews with aged cramps. Touch me not alludes to the forenefs occafioned by them. In the next line the speaker confirms this meaning by a quibble on the word fore.

STEEVENS.

Since I came to this ifle: And in the morn,
I'll bring you to your fhip, and fo to Naples,
Where I have hope to fee the nuptials
Of these our dear beloved folemniz'd;
And thence retire me to my Milan, where
Every third thought shall be my grave.
Alon. I long

To hear the ftory of your life, which muft
Take the ear strangely.

Pro. I'll deliver all;

And promise you calm feas, aufpicious gales,
And fail fo expeditious, that fhall catch
Your royal fleet far off.-My Ariel;-chick,
*} Afide.
That is thy charge: then to the elements
Be free, and fare thou well !-Please you, draw near.

É PI
È

L ÓGU E.

SPOKEN BY PROSPERO.

NOW my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what ftrength I have's mine own,
Which is moft faint: now, 'tis true,
I must be here confin'd by you,
Or fent to Naples: Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got,
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare ifland, by your spell;
But release me from my bands,
3 With the help of your good hands.
Gentle breath of yours, my fails
Muft fill, or elfe my project fails,
Which was to please: Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant:
4 And my ending is defpair,

Unless I be reliev'd by prayer,

Which

* With the help, &c.] By your applaufe, by clapping hands.

JOHNSON.

Noife was fuppofed to diffolve a fpell. So twice before in this

"No tongue; all eyes; be filent."

play:

Again: "

hufh! be mute,

"Or else our Spell is marr'd." STEEVENS.

4 And my ending is despair,

and

Unless I be reliev'd by prayer;] This alludes to the old stories, told of the defpair of necromancers in their last moments, of the efficacy of the prayers of their friends for them.

WARBURTON.