[7] This song has been attributed to Ben Jonson, and in the old black-letter copies it is directed to be sung to the tune of Dulcina. As it embodies some of the freaks of Robin, I have given it here.
[8] The sprite was sometimes so named at this period.
[9] This was the first attempt of the English to form such settlements; and although they have since surpassed all European nations, they had been so unsuccessful that they abandoned the place.
[10] "Cymbeline."
[11] A name at that time to be found at Stratford.
[12] "Twelfth Night."
[13] "Much ado about Nothing."
[14] People of condition in the country generally rode with numerous followers at the period.
[15] "As you like it."
[16] Such an account was in reality given by the adventurers who sailed with Sir Humphrey Gilbert, the father of our plantations, and the brother of Sir Walter Raleigh, and who was lost in the storm following the portentous sounds we have described. Might not this very incident have suggested to Shakespeare the description of the island in the "Tempest."