In 1674 the Dryden-D'Avenant edition was reissued, with
Shadwell's textual and scenic amplification, although no indication
was given on the title-page or elsewhere of his share in the venture.
Contemporary histories of the stage make frequent reference to
Shadwell's "Opera" of _The Tempest_; but no copy was known to be
extant until Sir Ernest Clarke proved, in _The Athenaeum_ for August
25, 1906, that the second and later editions of the Dryden-D'Avenant
version embodied Shadwell's operatic embellishments, and are copies of
what was known in theatrical circles of the day as Shadwell's "Opera."
Shadwell's stage-directions are more elaborate than those of Dryden
and D'Avenant, and there are other minor innovations; but there is
little difference in the general design of the two versions. Shadwell
merely bettered Dryden's and D'Avenant's instructions.]
The scenic devices which distinguished the Restoration production of
_The Tempest_ have, indeed, hardly been excelled for ingenuity in our
own day. The arrangements for the sinking of the ship in the first
scene would do no discredit to the spectacular magnificence of the
London stage of our own day. The scene represented "a thick cloudy
sky, a very rocky coast, and a tempestuous sea in perpetual
agitation.
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