the air; and when
the ship is sinking, the whole house is darkened and a shower of fire
falls upon the vessel. This is accompanied by lightning and several
claps of thunder till the end of the storm." The stage-manager's notes
proceed:--"In the midst of the shower of fire, the scene changes. The
cloudy sky, rocks, and sea vanish, and when the lights return,
discover that beautiful part of the island, which was the habitation
of Prospero: 'tis composed of three walks of cypress trees; each
side-walk leads to a cave, in one of which Prospero keeps his
daughter, in the other Hippolito (the interpolated character of the
man who has never seen a woman). The middle walk is of great depth,
and leads to an open part of the island." Every scene of the play was
framed with equal elaborateness.

Pepys's comment on _The Tempest_, when he first witnessed its
production in such magnificent conditions, runs thus:--"The play has
no great wit but yet good above ordinary plays." Pepys subsequently,
however, saw the piece no less than five times, and the effect of the
music, dancing, and scenery, steadily grew upon him. On his second
visit he wrote:--"Saw _The Tempest_ again, which is very pleasant, and
full of so good variety, that I cannot be more pleased almost in a
comedy. Only the seamen's part a little too tedious." Finally, Pepys
praised the richly-embellished _Tempest_ without any sort of reserve,
and took "pleasure to learn the tune of the seamen's dance."

Other adaptations of Shakespeare, which followed somewhat less
spectacular methods of barbarism, roused in Pepys smaller enthusiasm.
_The Rivals_, a version by D'Avenant of _The Two Noble Kinsmen_ (the
joint production of Fletcher and Shakespeare), was judged by Pepys to
be "no excellent piece," though he appreciated the new songs, which
included the familiar "My lodging is on the cold ground," with music
by Matthew Locke. Pepys formed a higher opinion of D'Avenant's
liberally-altered version of _Measure for Measure_, which the adapter
called _The Law against Lovers_, and into which he introduced, with
grotesque effect, the characters of Beatrice and Benedick from _Much
Ado about Nothing_. But it is more to Pepys's credit that he bestowed
a very qualified approval on an execrable adaptation by the actor Lacy
of _The Taming of the Shrew_. Here the hero, Petruchio, is
overshadowed by a new character, Sawney, his Scottish servant, who
speaks an unintelligible _patois_. "It hat