Many extraordinary stories are on record in the
marvellous narratives of voyages performed in
the sixteenth century, respecting the appearance
of supernatural lights upon masts, rigging, and
other parts of vessels. Classical authority may
be quoted in proof of the antiquity, if not as to
the origin of the superstitions respecting them«
Meteors were much observed by the Greeks,
and, very naturally, with particular attention in
naval affairs. When the storm was hui^ed
which threatened the destruction of the Argo-
nauts, it was observed tiiat a flame had then ap*
peared over the hedd of Castor and Pollux, and
it was ever afterwards believed, that when two
lights appeared together^ they indicated favour-
able winds and prosperity ; but when one meteor
only flamed, or if two lights had first been
visible, and were succeeded by a single appear-
ance which drove them away, nothing but
storms and shipwrecks were portended. Ariel
divided, " and burnt in many places ; on the
top-mast, the yards and bowsprit did he flame
distinctly, then meet^ andjoivi,.** *

* Act I. 8c. 2.
320 tempest:.
The power of different spiritual beings was
confined to that portion of the elements in which
their residence was fixed, and the magician was
necessitated to use the agency of fiery, aerial,
watery, or terrestrial spirits, according to the na-
ture and situation of the bodies on which he
wished to operate. Prospero exerts his art on
all the supposed elements of nature, and, in
strict propriety, he ought to have effected his
wonders in each by the spirits peculiar to each.
