The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1851-07-23
Shakspeare's Miranda.

/
zion to the Tempest. is deIinea,irn %
the characters represented in the play.
aud of theil position on the Enchanted
Island. After disposing of Prospero
and Caliban, Mr. Hudson gives mos,
delicate aud beautiful sketch of Miriam.
da, which we copy below
Such are the objects and influences
,midst which the clear and placid na-
ture of Miranda has been de, eloped .
OF the world whence her father was
iriven, its crimes and fpllies, and suffer-
ngs, she knows nothing, he having stu
dIously kept all such notices from her
~ the end apparently, that nothing might
lhwart or hinder the plastic efficacieS
that surround her. And here all the
simple and original elements of her be-
'ng, love, light, grace, honor, and inno-
cence, all pure feelings and tender sym
pathies. whatsoever is sweet and gentle
md holy in womanhood. seem to have
sprung up ~ her nature as from celestial
seed; 1.-THE contagion OF the worlds
slow stain hath not visited her; the
chllls and cankers of artificial wisdom
have not touched nor come near her #
there were any fog or breath Of evil in
the place that might else dim or spot
her sou it has been sponged up by Cal
BIN. as being more congenial with his
nature; while he is simply a "villain
she does not love TO look on" Nor is
this all. The aerial muse. benealh
which her nature has expanded with an
swering sweetness, seems to rest visiby
upon her, linking her. as it were, with
some superior order of beings the spir.
it and genius Of the place. its magic and
mystery, have breathed their power in
TO her face and out OF them she has
unconsclously woven herself robe of
supernatural grace, IN which even her
mortal nature seems half hidden, so that
we hardly know whether she belongs
more to heaven or TO EARTH Thus both
her native virtues and the efficacies Of
the place seem to have crept and stolen
into her unperceived. by mutual attrac.
tion an" assimilation twinIng together
in one growth aud each dlffnsing its life
aud beauty all over and through the 9th
er. l, would seem as # the great poet
of our age must have had Miranda IN
his eye Tor was he but working in the
spirit of that nature which she so rarely
exempl6es y when he wrote the lines,
The floating clouds their state shall lend
To her; for her the willow bend
Nor shall she fail to see
Even in the motions of the storm
Grace that shall mould the nlaiden's form,
BY silent sympathy.
The stars Of midnight shall be dear
To her; ami she shall lean her ear
In many a secret place,
Where rivulets dance their wayward round
And beauty born of murmunng sound
Shall pass into her face.
Yet for all this, Miranda not viii the
less touches us as a creature of flesh aud
blood, "a being breathing thoughtful
breath" Nay, she seems all the more
SO, for as much as the character thus
coheres with the circumstances, The vlr
tues aud poetries of the place being ex>
pressed in her vislbly; aud she would
be far less real 10 our feelings, were moi
the wonders Of her whereabout thus VI
tally Incorporated with. her innate and
original attributes. This matter has
been put so well by Mrs. Jameson. that
II would BE- wiong'ng the subject NOT T.
quote her words If we can presup
pose such a situation, do we not behold
in The character of Miranda not onl, the
credible, but the natural, the necessary
result 7 She retains her woman's hesr.
for that is un alterable and inalienable.
as part OF her being but her depart
meni, her looks. her language, her
thoughts, from the supernatural aud p"-
e''col circumstances, assume a cast OF
the pure ideal aud To US, who are in
the secret of her human and plying ma
iure, nothing can be more charming and
consistent than the effect which she pro
duces upon others, who, never having
heheld anything resembling her. ap-
proach her as wonder" as something
celestial II Is observable that Miriam
ds does not perceive the working of her
fathers sr upon herself as when he
pn,s bfr la sleep sbe attributes j. 10 The