In the 'Tempest' of Shakspeare, Sycorax is the mother of Caliban, dead before the opening of the plot, and Miranda is the woman who has never seen a man. In the 'Tempest' as altered by Dryden and Davenant, Caliban and Sycorax are brother and sister, and Miranda is introduced to Hippolito who never before saw a woman. It seems difficult to believe that such an adaptation of Shakspeare to the court of Charles II could have coexisted with a real reverence on the part of Davenant and Dryden for Shakspeare's genius. Yet it would appear that such is nevertheless the fact,
'Shakspeare, a poet for whom he [Davenant] had particularly a high veneration, and whom he first taught me to admire.' Dryden's Preface to the Tempest.