of his faith in man and woman, which was a necessary concurrence with his return from scepticism, yet it is in “The Tempest” that he brings himself as nearly face to face as dramatic possibilities would allow him with circumstances that admit of the indirect expression of such thought.  It is fortunate, too, for the purpose of comparing Shakspere’s earliest and latest opinions, that the characters of “The Tempest” are divisible into the same groups as those of “The Dream.”  The gross canaille are represented, but now no longer the most accurate in colour and most absorbing in interest of the characters of the play, or unessential to the evolution of the plot.  They have a distinct importance in the movement of the piece, and represent the unintelligent, material resistance to the work of regeneration that Prospero seeks to carry out, and which must be controlled by him, just as Sebastian and Antonio form the intelligent, designing resistance.  The spirit world is there too, but they, like the former class, have no independent plot of their own, and no independent operation against mankind; they only represent the invisible forces over which Prospero must assert control if he would insure success for his schemes.  Ariel is, perhaps, one of the most extraordinary of all Shakspere’s creations.  He is, indeed, formed upon a basis half fairy, half devil, because it was only through the current notions upon demonology that Shakspere could speak his ideas.  But he certainly is not a fairy in the sense that Puck is a fairy; and he is very far indeed from bearing even a slight resemblance to the familiars whom the magicians of the time professed to call from the vasty deep.  He is indeed but air, as Prospero says—­the embodiment of an idea, the representative of those invisible forces which operate as factors in the shaping of events which, ignored, may prove resistant or fatal, but, properly controlled and guided, work for good.[1] Lastly, there are the heroes and heroine of the play, now no longer shadows, but the centres of interest and admiration, and assuming their due position and prominence.

[Footnote 1:  It is difficult to accept Mr. Ruskin’s view of Ariel as “the spirit of generous and free-hearted service” (Mun.  Pul. sec. 124); he is throughout the play the more-than-half-unwilling agent of Prospero.]

130.  It is probable, therefore, that it is not merely a student’s fancy that in Prospero’s storm-girt, spirit-haunted island can be seen Shakspere’s final and matured image of the mighty world.  If this be so, how far more bright and hopeful it is than the verdict which Mr. Ruskin finds Shakspere to have returned.  Man is no longer “a pipe for fortune’s fingers to sound what stop she please.”  The evil elements still exist in the world, and are numerous and formidable; but man, by nobleness of life and word, by patience and self-mastery, can master them, bring them into subjection, and make them tend to eventual good.  Caliban, the gross,