That is thy charge: then to the elements Be free, and fare thou well! Please you, draw near. [Exeunt. Now EPILOGUE. SPOKEN BY PROSPERO. my charms are all o'erthrown, And what strength I have's mine own, – Unless I be relieved by prayer; As you from crimes would pardon'd be, 47 The Epilogue is supposed to be addressed to the theatrical audience, and the speaker here solicits their applause by the clapping of their hands. Noise was a breaker of enchantments and spells; hence the applause would release him from his bonds. CRITICAL NOTES. ACT I., SCENE 1. Page 10. Blow, till thou burst thy wind, &c.—Steevens conjectured "Blow, till thou burst thee, wind." This accords with a similar passage in King Lear, iii. 2: "Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!" See, however, foot-note 3. P. 10. If you can command these elements to silence, and work the peace of the present, we will not hand a rope more; use your authority. Hereupon Mr. Joseph Crosby writes me as follows: "I have never been satisfied with this passage: ever since I can remember, when I read these lines, there always seemed to me to be something wrong. You know I tried to correct it by transposing some of the words; but that did not much help the matter. I am now convinced that the word that is wrong is present, which is a misprint (phonetic) for tempest, a typographical error from mishearing. Work the peace of the present' is a very strange expression; while 'work the peace of the tempest' fits and dove-tails in exactly with the context." This strikes me as a highly sagacious and probable conjecture; and, if any change be needed, is, I should say, undoubtedly the right one. I am strongly tempted to adopt it, but rather think, on the whole, it had better stand over for further trial. P. 11. Bring her to try wi' th' main-course. - In the original, "bring her to Try with Maine-course"; which leaves us in doubt as to how the clause should be punctuated. Mr. Grant White, at the suggestion of Mr. W. W. Story, prints "Bring her to try wi' th' main-course"; and quotes the following from Lord Mulgrave, a sailor critic: "The gale increasing, the topmast is struck, to take the weight from aloft, make the ship drive less to leeward, and bear the mainsail, under which the ship is brought to." The likelihoods seem about evenly balanced between the two ways of printing the passage. Of the more recent editors, Collier, Staunton, Singer, and Dyce punctuate as in the text. See foot-note 9. P. 12. And as leaky as an unstanch wench. - The original has unstanched. But unstanched, as used in the Poet's time, has a sense quite unsuited to the context. P. 13. Ling, heath, broom, furze, any thing. — The original has "Long heath, Browne firrs." But it does not appear that there are or ever were any plants known as long heath and brown furze. The reading in the text is Hanmer's, and has the unqualified approval of Walker ; who observes, "The balance requires it. Besides, what are long heath and brown furze?" See foot-note 18. P. 14. ACT I., SCENE 2. A brave vessel, Who had no doubt some noble creatures in her. - So Theobald and Collier's second folio: the original has creature instead of creatures. P. 15. I have with such prevision in mine art. The old text has provision. The change is from Collier's second folio, and accords with what Ariel says in ii. I: “My master through his art foresees the danger that you, his friend, are in." issued. Was Duke of Milan; thou his only heir, A princess, -no worse - The old text reads " and his onely heire"; the and being evidently repeated by mistake from the preceding line. Steevens made the correction. The original also has "And Princesse ; no worse Issued.” Corrected by Pope. The old copies have various instances of and thus misprinted for a. So in King Henry VIII., ii. 4: "On the debating And Marriage 'twixt the Duke of Orleance and Our daughter Mary." P. 18. The ivy which had hid my princely trunk, And suck'd the verdure out on't. - The original reads "Suck'd my verdure"; the my being probably repeated by mistake from the preceding line. To credit his own lie. — The old copies read “having into truth, by telling of it." This reading, with unto substituted for into, is commonly explained by making it refer to lie in the second line after. But is this, or was it ever, a legitimate English construction? Collier's second folio substitutes to untruth for into truth; rather plausibly, at first sight. But the meaning in that case would be, “having made his memory a sinner to untruth by lying"; whereas the sense required clearly is, “having made his memory a sinner unto truth by lying." This sense is aptly expressed by falsing, as, I think, every one will see. Nor does it seem to me at all unlikely that tell should have been misprinted for fals; especially as the verb to false was passing out of use before 1623. The quotations given in foot-note 27 appear to yield the present reading ample support; but, as several eminent Shakespearians with whom I have corresponded object to it, I here add a few others. So in The Faerie Queene, 1. 9, 46: Is not enough, that to this Lady mild Thou falsed hast thy faith with perjuree? Also, in the same, ii. 5, 9: Sometimes athwart, sometimes he strook him strayt, Also, in the Epilogue to The Shepheard's Calendar : To teach the ruder shepheard how to feede his sheepe, Also, in Daniel's Complaint of Rosamond : Such one was I, my beauty was mine own; No borrow'd blush, which bankrupt beauties seek, As to the other change, unto for into, it appears that these two forms were often used indiscriminately; at all events, the old editions often have into where our present idiom absolutely requires unto. So in Cymbeline, i. 6 : "Such a holy witch, that he enchants societies into him." And, as an instance of the converse, in A Midsummer-Night's Dream, i. I, the quartos read, "That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell"; while the folio has "a heaven into a hell.” |