Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV THE REAL PERSONAGES OF 'THE TEMPEST": FIRST SERIES 'THE Tempest' holds a peculiar place among Shakespeare's plays. Although it was almost certainly his last completed work, it stands first in the Folio ; its text is unusually free from errors, as if it had received his last touches ; and it may be safely assumed that it was found at the top of the pile of papers, or otherwise marked as meant to be the first play in the book. It is, indeed, an Introduction to all the rest, an allegory of the author's life, all that we have from himself in the way of biography.1 Every one admits that Prospero isShakespeare, by reason of the moving speech of the fourth Act in which he takes leave of the stage, beginning at the words, " Our revels now are ended." But that is not the end of the play. In the last Act he settles scores with " all mine enemies," who had been put on board a ship and wrecked upon his island so that they might attend that audit ; having forgiven them, with varying degrees of cordiality, he will retire him " to my Milan, where every third thought shall be my grave," to end his days at peace with the world, and in composing his mind by prayer. 1 Some such view of' The Tempest' was maintained by an able French critic, M. Kmilf Montegut, Revue des Deux Mondes, ist Aug. 1865 : "Une Hypothese sur la Ttmpite de Shakspeare." I quote two passages to show how hi he went: " La Templte est tres evidemment la derniere piece de Shakspeare, et n'est autre chose, sous une forme allegorique, que le testament dramatique du grand poete, ses adieux a ce public fidelc par lequel il avait fait applaudu dans le court espace de vingt-cmq ans" (p. 733). The most particular identification is at p. 747 : "Et cependant cette ile ainsi trans- hguree par Prospero avait et£ 1'objet de...