alteration of a syllable, to have it inserted ainong the Mysteries.*. Men would be Christians upon their own terms, only, and are too apt to think that faith and fear, without love or works, are sufficient for the pur

pose.

ACT II. SCENE I.
Gonzalo, comforting and cheering up the spirits
of his companions in the wreck, speaks with a be-
coming resignation and proper gratitude towards
Providence :

Beseech you, Sir, be merry -- you have cause,
So have we all, of joy ! for our escape
Is inuch beyond our loss : our hint of woo
Is common: every day some sailor's wife,
The matter or some merchant, and the merchant,
Have just our theme of woe : But for the miracle,
I mean our prefervation, iew in millions
Can speak like us : Tben wisely, goud Sir, weigh
Our sorrow with our comfort. .

An uncouth or severe manner of giving reproof, or offering advice, is very justly, and with equal good sense and tenderness, reflected upon by Gonzalo, in the following passage :

My lord Sebastian,
The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness,
And time to speak it in. You rub the fore,
When you should bring the plaifter.

S CE NE 11.
Trinculo most humourously ridicules the passion of
the English for strange rights, in the following re-
flection, on seeing Caliban lying asleep on the ground,
whom he takes for a dead sea-monster, just cast
ashore by the working of the waves,

" Were I in England, now, as once I was, and had but this fish • painted, not a holy-day fool there but would give a piece of " silver. There would this monster make a man; any strange beast “ there makes a man. When they will not give a doit to relieve a “ lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian."

* Antient Dramatic exhibitions, so called; usually performed by the priefts in the 1;th and 14th centuries, upon public theatres, in which the several disa pensations of the Gospel were profanely represented.

Not,

S T.
ration of a syllable, to have it inferted among the
Iteries*. Men would be Christians upon their own
ns, only, and are too apt to think that faith and
; without love or works, are sufficient for the pur-

ACT I. SCENE I.
Gonzalo, comforting and cheering up the spirite

Not, however, that this foible can fairly be induced against us, as a national reflection, by any means; for it is not peculiar to this, or any other particular people, but will be found to be the common dispolition and idle curiosity of mankind, in general. There is another piece of sarcasın, also, thrown out, in the same speech, as unjust as the former : When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar. No nation on the globe is inore diftinguished for charity, humanity, and benevolence, than the English are, at present. And this must have been always their characteristic ; for manners may refine, but cannot create, virtues. Polishing may give taste, but feelings come from nature,

his companions in the wreck, speaks with a be-
ning resignation and proper gratitude towards
evidence:

Beleech you, Sir, be merry - you have cause,
So have we all, of joy! for our escape .
Is much beyond our loss : our hint of woc
Is common : every day some failor's wife,
The matter os fome merchant, and the merchant,
Have jutt our theme of woe : But for the miracle,
I mean our prefervation, ien in millions
Can speak like us: Tten wi/), Sport Sir, weigh
Our forrow with our comfort,

An uncouth or severe manner of giving reproof,
offering advice, is very justly, and with equal
d sense and tenderness, reflected upon by Gon.
), in the following passage:

My lord Sebastian,
The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness,
And time to speak it in. You rub the fore,
When you hould bring the plaister.

SCENE 11.
rinculo most humourously ridicules the pasfion ci
English for strange lights, in the following re.
cjon, on seeing Caliban lying asleep on the ground,
um he takes for a dead lea-monster, just cart
ore by the working of the waves.
Here I in England, now, as once I was, and had but this to
unted, not a holy-day fool there but would give a piece of
ver. There would this monster maki a man; any strange beat
ere makes a man. When they will no: give a doit to relieve a

After Trinculo has recovered from his fright, and finds Caliban to be but an harmless savage, so very simple as to believe Stephano to be the Man in the Moon; he says,

“ By this good light, this is a very fallow monster1 afraid of " him a very thillow monster. The man i'th' Moon ? a most poor “credulous monster."

'Tis to be observed, here, that he was not charged with having been afraid, nor did any one know of it, but himself; and it was this very consciousness that forced such a bravado from him. This is Doctor Warburton's remark. 'Tis a just one, and may be rendered general, by observing, that, upon all occasions, too prompt a defence of ourselves, is a sort of self-accusation.

ACT III. SCENE I.
Ferdinand's first speech, here, prettily expresses
that kind of chearfulness with which a person un-
dertakes labour, or executes the meanest or most
irksome offices, for their second-self, for those they
love,

There be some sports are painful, but their labour
Delight in them sets off; fome kinds of baseness
Are nobly undergone; and mot poor matters

Point

me beggar, they will lay out ten to lee a dead Indian."

Not

Antient Dramatic exhibitions, so called; usually performed by the prieks a

h and rich centuries, upon public theatres, in which the foreni doo pas of the Gospel were profancly reprefenied,

Point to rich ends. This my mean tak would be
As heavy to me, as 'tis odious; but .
The mistress which I serve, quickens what's dead,
And makes my labour pleasure.-My sweet mistress
Weeps when she sees me work, and says, such baseness
Had ne'er like executer. I forget
But those sweet thoughts do even refreth my labour,
Most busy-less, when I do it.

The above speech has something of the same turn and spirit in it, with that of Prospero, in the second Scene of the First Act, already observed upon.

S CE N E IV.
The horrors and upbraidings of a wounded con-
science, are finely painted in the latter part of this
scene :
Alonzo. O! it is monstrous ! monftrouz!

Methought the billows spoke, and told me of it ;
The winds did fing it to me ; and the thunder,
That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounced

The name of Prosper. It did bass my trespass.
Gonzalo. All three of them are desperate; their great guilt,

Like poison given to work a great time after,
Now 'gins to bite the spirits.

ACT IV. SCEN E I.
A chaste conduct between betrothed lovers, is
strongly urged, and sanctified, by severe maledic-
tions, and very natural predictions, in the follow-
ing passages :

Profpero, giving his daugbter 10 Ferdinand.
Then as my gift, and thine own acquisition,
Worthily purchased, take my daughter. But
If thou doit break her virgin knot, before
All sanctimonious ceremonies may
With full and holy rite be ministered,
No sweet aspersions shall the heavens let fall
To make this contract grow : but barren hate,
Sour-eyed disdain, and discord, shall bestrew
The union of your bed with weeds so loathly,
That you shall hate it both. Therefore take heed,
As Hymen’s lamps shall light you —
Ferdinand's reply.
As I hope
For quiet days, fair issue, and long life,

Ariel 10 Prospero..
The king,
His brother, and yours, abide all three distracted;
And the remainder mourning over them,
Brimfull of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly,
Him that you térmed the good old lord Gonzalo;
His tears run down his beard, like winter drops
From caves of reeds; your charm fo ferongly works them,
That if you now bebela them, your, affections
Would become tender.
Prospero. Doft thou think so, Spirit?
Ariel. Mine would, fr, were I human.
Profpero. And mine shall.
Haft thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling
Of their afflictions, and fall not myself,
One of their kind, ibat relish all as sharply,
Pafion's as they', be kindlier moved than thou art?
Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick,
Yet with my nobler reason, 'gainfi my fury

ng and my juny
Do I take part. The rarer action is "
In virtue than in vengeance. They being penitent,
The sole drift of my purpose doth extend
Not a frown further. Go, release them, Ariel ;
My charms I'll break, their fenses I'll restore,

And they shall be themselves. This last paffage closes the moral scene of the piece most beautifully ; in rising, by degrees, to the summit of all Ethic and Christian virtue, humanity and forgiveness. I shall, therefore, also conclude my remarks upon this performance, with an allusion to a passage in Horace, where he draws a contrast between Mævius and Homer, which is perfectly applicable to our author, when compared with almost any other Dramatic writer who has ever attempted the marvellous :

• One with a flash begins, and ends in smoke;
“ The other out of smoke brings glorious light,
“ And without raising expectation high,
“ Surprizes us with dazzling miracles.”

Roscommon's Translation of the Art of Poetry.