The Tempest, or The Enchanted Island | ||
PREFACE TO THE ENCHANTED ISLAND.
The writing of Prefaces to Plays was probably invented by some very ambitious Poet, who never thought he had done enough: Perhaps by some Ape of the French Eloquence, which uses to make a business of a Letter of gallantry, an examen of a Farce; and in short, a great pomp and ostentation of words on every trifle. This is certainly the talent of that Nation, and ought not to be invaded by any other. They do that out of gayety which would be an imposition upon us.
We may satisfie our selves with surmounting them in
the Scene, and safely leave them those trappings of writing,
and flourishes of the Pen, with which they adorn the borders
of their Plays, and which are indeed no more than
good Landskips to a very indifferent Picture. I must proceed
no farther in this argument, lest I run my self beyond
my excuse for writing this. Give me leave therefore
to tell you, Reader, that I do it not to set a value on
any thing I have written in this Play, but out of gratitude
to the memory of Sir William Davenant, who did
It was originally Shakespear's: a Poet for whom he
had particularly a high veneration, and whom he first
taught me to admire. The Play it self had formerly been
acted with success in the Black-Fryers: and our excellent
Fletcher had so great a value for it, that he thought
fit to make use of the same Design, not much varied, a second
time. Those who have seen his Sea-Voyage, may
easily discern that it was a Copy of Shakespear's Tempest:
the Storm, the desart Island, and the Woman who had never
seen a Man, are all sufficient testimonies of it. But
Fletcher was not the only Poet who made use of Shakespear's
Plot: Sir John Suckling, a profess'd admirer of
our Author, has follow'd his footsteps in his Goblins;
his Regmella being an open imitation of Shakespear's
Miranda; and his Spirits, though counterfeit, yet are copied
from Ariel. But Sir William Davenant, as he was a
man of quick and piercing imagination, soon sound that
somewhat might be added to the Dĕsign of Shakespear, of
which neither Fletcher nor Suckling had ever thought:
and therefore to put the last hand to it, he design'd the
Counterpart to Shakespear's Plot, namely that of a Man
who had never seen a Woman; that by this means those
two Characters of Innocence and Love might the more illustrate
and commend each other. This excellent contrivance
he was pleas'd to communicate to me, and to desire
my assistance in it. I confess that from the very first moment
it so pleas'd me, that I never writ any thing with more
Decemb. 1.
1669.
The Tempest, or The Enchanted Island | ||