The works of our immortal bard are full of allusions to the sea, and show an intimate acquaintance therewith. Perhaps Shakespeare’s knowledge is in this instance less surprising than in some other directions, for although we have no proof that he ever left the shores of old England, and are quite certain that he never ventured far, his was a golden day in the history of maritime enterprise. The reign of the Virgin Queen, during the larger part of which he flourished, saw the defeat of the Armada, and many another repulse in the Spanish colonies. It was the day of such naval heroes as Howard of Effingham, Drake and Hawkins, Raleigh and Frobisher. It witnessed the first English voyage round the world, the discovery of Virginia—to say nothing of Virginia’s tobacco and potatoes—the establishment of the profitable whale fishery and the disgraceful slave-trade, the inauguration of that long-time monopoly the East India Company, and numerous lesser developments in commercial prosperity.
Appropriately, then, the play of Shakespeare which more particularly than any other deals with the sea is that which is generally placed at the commencement of the series in the [pg 292]published editions. The Tempest opens with a storm “on a ship at sea.” The fury of the gale increases, and the vessel is nearly on the rocks. “We split! we split! we split!” sings out the honest old Neapolitan councillor, Gonzalo, adding—
“Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground,
Long heath, brown furze, anything. The wills above be done! but I
Would fain die a dry death.”
THE STORM.
AFTER THE STORM.
But neither he nor his master the king suffers death by shipwreck, for amiable and tender-hearted Miranda intercedes with her father. Prospero reassures her, though Ariel, it will be remembered, had been playing many a prank on the unsuspecting mariners, and with lightning and thunder-claps and “sulphurous roaring,” had fairly frightened them out of their wits. All but the mariners had “plunged in the foaming brine and quitted the vessel”:—