been banished, whenever the Italian novel on which the play was founded shall be discovered." Whether Mr. Douce ever carried his conviction further, I am unable to say, but it is not a little remarkable that the same hint given to Mr. Hunter should have formed the groundwork of his Disquisition "On the Scene, Origin, Date, &c. of Shakspeare's Tempest," first printed in 1839, and since reprinted in his "New Illustrations of Shakspeare," 1845. Mr. Hunter has dwelt at large upon the resemblance of Lampedosa, in every respect, to the Island of the Tempest, and concludes that although the poet may not have obtained his acquaintance with it from any geographical source, he may have found it in a story which had been previously written by another hand, to whom the attributes, physical and metaphysical, of Lampedosa were familiarly known, and that it was most probably an Italian story.

Collins, the poet, told Thomas Warton that the plot was taken from the romance of Aurelio and Isabella, but this was probably a lapse of memory consequent upon his calamitous mental indisposition, for the story has no resemblance to that of the Tempest. A friend of the late James Boswell told him that he had some years ago perused an Italian novel, which answered Collins' description, but his memory, unfortunately, did not enable him to recover it.

Mr. Thoms, in a paper on the early English and German Dramas, published in the New Monthly Magazine for January, 1841, had the merit of first pointing out a dramatic piece by Jacob Ayrer, a notary of Nuremberg, which is given by Tieck, in his Deutsches Theater, under the title of "Comedia von der Schönen Sidea," which Tieck conceived to be a translation from an early English Drama, from which Shakspeare derived his idea of the Tempest. Mr. Thoms thinks this proved by the points of resemblance between the two plays, which he conceives to be far too striking and peculiar to be the result of accident. Ayrer appears to have written his drama, which is in the style of Hans Sachs, at the close of the 16th or beginning of the 17th century, and he has other plays which are derived from old English sources; as "der Schöne Phoenicia," resembling in the plot "Much Ado about Nothing," and "The King of Cyprus and the King of France," resembling "The Dumb Knight" of Lewis Muchin.

It must be confessed, however, that we have hitherto nothing like proof of the origin of the plot of Shakspeare's Magic Creation, and it is but reasonable to hope that at some future period the novel, which has so confidently been said to exist, may be recovered.

The Tempest was first printed in the folio of 1623.

S. W. S.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

ALONSO, King of Naples.

SEBASTIAN, his Brother.

PROSPERO, the rightful Duke of Milan.

ANTONIO, his Brother, the usurping Duke of Milan.

FERDINAND, Son to the King of Naples.

GONZALO, the honest old Counsellor of Naples

ADRIAN,

FRANCISCO,

Lords.

CALIBAN, a savage and deformed Slave.

TRINCULO, a Jester.

STEPHANO, a drunken Butler.

Master of a Ship, Boatswain, and Mariners.

SCENE, the Sea, with a Ship; afterwards an unin

habited Island.

1 From the Folio Edition of 1623.

SCENE I. On a Ship at Sea. A Storm, with
Thunder and Lightning.

Master.

OATSWAIN,

Boats. Here, master: what cheer? Mast. Good: Speak to the mariners: fall to't yarely1, or we run ourselves aground:

bestir, bestir.

Enter Mariners.

[Exit.

Boats. Heigh, my hearts! cheerly, cheerly, my hearts! yare, yare: Take in the top-sail; Tend to the master's whistle.- Blow till thou burst thy wind, if room enough!

Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDINAND, GONZALO, and others.

Alon. Good Boatswain, have care.

master? Play the men?.

That is, readily, nimbly.

? That is, act with spirit, behave like men.

Where's the

Thus Baret in his

Boats. I pray now, keep below.

Ant. Where is the master, boatswain?

Boats. Do you not hear him? You mar our labour! cabins: you do assist the storm.

keep your

Gon. Nay, good, be patient.

Boats. When the sea is. Hence! What care these roarers for the name of king? To cabin: silence:

trouble us not.

Gon. Good; yet remember whom thou hast aboard.

Boats. None that I more love than myself. You are a counsellor; if you can command these elements to silence, and work the peace of the present3, we will not hand a rope more; use your authority. If you cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap.-Cheerly, good hearts!-Out of our way, I say. [Exit.

Gon. I have great comfort from this fellow: methinks, he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast good Fate to his hanging! make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage! If he be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable.

Re-enter Boatswain.

[Exeunt.

Boats. Down with the top-mast; yare; lower, lower. Bring her to Try with main course1. [A cry

Alvearie: "To play the man, or to show himself a valiant man in any matter. Se virum præbere." P. 399.

"Viceroys and peers of Turkey play the men." Tamberlaine, 1590.

3 The present instant.

In Smith's Sea Grammar, 1627, 4to. under the article How to handle a Ship in a storme :-" Let us lie as Trie with our main course; that is, to hale the tacke aboord, the sheat close aft, the boling set up, and the helm tied close aboord."