151-4 and at . . . confine] Johnson (ed. 1765): “According to the pneumatology of that time, every element was inhabited by its peculiar order of spirits, who had dispositions different, according to their various places of abode. The meaning therefore is, that all spiritis extravagant, wandering out of their element, whether aerial spirits visiting earth, or earthly spirits ranging the air, return to their station, to their proper limits in which they are confined. We might read, —And at his warning / Th’extravagant and erring Spirit hies / To his Confine, whether in sea or air, / Or earth, or fire, And of, &c. But this change, tho’ it would smooth the construction, is not necessary, and being unnecessary, should not be made against authority.

151-4 and at . . . confine] Johnson (ed. 1765, 1:17 n. 3) on Tmp. 1.2.? (000) “Dost thou forget From what torment I did free thee?”: “That the Character and Conduct of Prospero may be understood, something must be known of the System of Enchantment, which supplied all the Marvellous found in the Romances of the middle Ages. This System seems to be founded on the Opinion that the fallen Spirits, having different Degrees of Guilt, had different Habitations allotted them at their Expulsion, some being confined in Hell, some (as Hooker, who delivers the Opinion of our Poet’s Age, expresses it) dispersed in air, some on Earth, some in Water, others in Caves, Dens, or Minerals under the Earth. Of these, some were more malignant and mischievous than others. The earthy spirits seem to have been thought the most depraved, and the aerial the least vitiated. Thus Prospero observes of Ariel: ‘—Thou wast a Spirit too delicate To act her earthy and abhorr’d Commands.’ Over these Spirits a Power might be obtained by certain Rites performed or Charms learned. This Power was called The Black Art, or Knowledge of Enchantment. The enchanter being (as King James observes in his Demonology) one who commands the Devil, whereas the Witch serves him. Those who thought best of this Art, the Existence of which was, I am afraid, believed very seriously, held, that certain Sounds and Characters had a physical Power over Spirits, and compelled their Agency; others who condemned the Practice, which in reality was surely never practised, were of Opinion, with more Reason, that the Power of Charms arose only from Compact, and was no more than the Spirits voluntary allowed them for the Seduction of man. The Art was held by all, though not equally criminal, yet unlawful, and therefore Causabon, speaking of one who had Commerce with Spirits, blames him, though he imagines him one of the best Kind who dealt with them by way of Command. Thus Prospero repents of his art in the last scene. . . . —Of these Trifles enough.”

check Tmp. 1.2 for note that is in v1773.

1773 v1773

v1773 = john1 +

151-4 and at . . . confine] Farmer (in Steevens, ed. 1773, 10: Qq4v-Qq5r): “Bourne of Newcastle in his Antiquities of the Common People informs us, ‘it is a receiv’d tradition among the vulgar, that at the time of cock-crowing the midnight spirits forsake these lower regions, and go to their proper places.’”

See n. 154

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Ed. note: The further forture of this note in this family of editions has not been followed.

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151-4 and at . . . confine] Ayscough (ed. 1784): “According to the pneumatology of that time, every element was inhabited by its peculiar order of spirits, who had dispositions different, according to their various places of abode.”

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151-4 and at . . . confine] Wesley (1790-, p. 43): “Reason and sense require this elegant and judicious reading of Johnson. Are not these the best ‘authorities’?”

151-4 and at . . . confine] Warton (apud ed. 1793) “A Chorus in Andreini’s drama, called Adamo, written in 1613, consists of spirits of fire, air, water, and hell, or subteranneous, being the exiled angels. ‘Choro di Spirit ignei, aeri, acquatici, ed infernali,’ &c. These are the demons to which [Sh.] alludes. These spirits were supposed to control the elements in which they respectively resided; and when formally invoked or commanded by a magicina, to produce tempests, conflagrations, floods, and earthquakes. For thus says The Spanish Mandevile of Miracles, &c. 1600: ‘Those which are in the middle region of the ayre, and those that are under them nearer the earth, are those, which sometimes out of the ordinary operation of nature doe moove the windes with greater fury than they are accustomed; and do, out of season, congeele the cloudes, causing it to thunder, lighten, hayle, and to destroy the grasse, corne, &c. &c. ——Witches and negromancers worke any such like things by the help of those spirit,’ &c. Ibid. Of this schoole therefore was Shakspeare’s Prospero in The Tempest. T. Warton.”

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BWK: 1st JOHN, then T. Warton, then Farmer here not 154.

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1865 hal

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1877 v1877

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151-4 and at . . . confine] Chalmers (apud mull , ed. 1885): “According to the pneumatology of the time, every element was inhabited by its peculiar order of spirits, who had dispositions different, according to their various places of abode. The meaning, therefore, is, that all spirits extravagant, wandering out of their element, whether aerial spirits visiting earth, or earthly spirits ranging the air, return to their station, to their proper limits in which they are confined. —Chalmers.”

151-4 and at . . . confine] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Milton, Hymn on Nativ. 229-34, etc.”

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Ed. note: Because the editor credits the source here, he implies that all the instances of uncredited notes should be credited to him.

151-4 and at . . . confine] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “qaulifying confine [154]. [. . . ] Cf. Il Penseroso, 93-6.