172: _dear'st_] _dearest_ Ff.
179: [Kneels] Theobald.
191: _advice_] F4. _advise_ F1 F2 F3.
199, 200: _remembrances with_] _remembrance with_ Pope.
_remembrances With_ Malone.
213: _When_] _Where_ Johnson conj.]
_and_] om. Capell.
216: SCENE V. Pope.
_sir, look, sir_] _sir, look_ F3 F4.]
_is_] _are_ Pope.]
221: _safely_] _safe_ F3 F4.
230: _of sleep_] _a-sleep_ Pope.
234: _more_] Rowe. _mo_ F1 F2. _moe_ F3 F4.
236: _her_] Theobald (Thirlby conj.). _our_ Ff.
242-245: Given to Ariel in F2 F3 F4.
247: _leisure_] F1. _seisure_ F2. _seizure_ F3 F4.
248: _Which shall be shortly, single_] Pope. _(which shall be shortly single)_ Ff.
253: [Exit Ariel] Capell.
256: SCENE VI. Pope.
258: _Coragio_] _corasio_ F1.
268: _mis-shapen_] _mis-shap'd_ Pope.
271: _command, without her power._] _command. Without her power,_ anon. conj.
_without_] _with all_ Collier MS.
280: _liquor_] _'lixir_ Theobald.
282-284: Printed as verse in Ff.
289: _This is_] F1 F2. _'Tis_ F3 F4.]
_e'er I_] _I ever_ Hanmer.
[Pointing to Caliban.] Steevens.]
299: [Exeunt... Trin.] Capell.
308: _nuptial_] _nuptiall_ F1. _nuptials_ F2 F3 F4.
309: See note (XVIII).
EPILOGUE.
SPOKEN BY PROSPERO.
Now my charms are all o'erthrown, And what strength I have's mine own, Which is most faint: now, 'tis true, I must be here confined by you, Or sent to Naples. Let me not, 5 Since I have my dukedom got, And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell In this bare island by your spell; But release me from my bands With the help of your good hands: 10 Gentle breath of yours my sails Must fill, or else my project fails, Which was to please. Now I want Spirits to enforce, art to enchant; And my ending is despair, 15 Unless I be relieved by prayer, Which pierces so, that it assaults Mercy itself, and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon'd be, Let your indulgence set me free. 20
Notes: Epilogue.
EPILOGUE ... PROSPERO.] advancing, Capell.]
1: _Now_] _Now, now_ F3 F4.
3: _now_] _and now_ Pope.
13: _Now_] _For now_ Pope.
NOTES.
NOTE I.
I. 1. 15. _What cares these roarers._ This grammatical inaccuracy, which escaped correction in the later folios, probably came from Shakespeare's pen. Similar cases occur frequently, especially when the verb precedes its nominative. For example, _Tempest_, IV. 1. 262, 'Lies at my mercy all mine enemies,' and _Measure for Measure_, II. 1. 22, 'What knows the laws, &c.' We correct it in those passages where the occurrence of a vulgarism would be likely to annoy the reader. In the mouth of a Boatswain it can offend no one. We therefore leave it.
NOTE II.
I. 1. 57-59. _Mercy on us!--we split, &c._ It may be doubtful whether the printer of the first folio intended these broken speeches to express 'a confused noise within.' Without question such was the author's meaning. Rowe, however, and subsequent editors, printed them as part of Gonzalo's speech. Capell was the first editor who gave the true arrangement.
NOTE III.
I. 2. 173. _princesses._ See Mr Sidney Walker's _Shakespeare's Versification_, p. 243 sqq. 'The plurals of substantives ending in _s_, in certain instances, in _se_, _ss_, _ce_, and sometimes _ge_, ... are found without the usual addition of _s_ or _es_, in pronunciation at least, although in many instances the plural affix is added in printing, where the metre shows that it is not to be pronounced.'
In this and other instances, we have thought it better to trust to the ear of the reader for the rhythm than to introduce an innovation in orthography which might perplex him as to the sense. The form 'princesses,' the use of which in Shakespeare's time was doubted by one of our correspondents, is found in the _History of King Leir_.
Rowe's reading 'princes' might be defended on the ground that the sentiment is general, and applicable to royal children of both sexes; or that Sir Philip Sidney, in the first book of the _Arcadia_, calls Pamela and Philoclea 'princes.'
NOTE IV.
I. 2. 298. The metre of this line, as well as of lines 301, 302, is defective, but as no mode of correction can be regarded as completely satisfactory we have in accordance with our custom left the lines as they are printed in the Folio. The defect, indeed, in the metre of line 298 has not been noticed except by Hanmer, who makes a line thus:
'Do so, and after two days I'll discharge thee.'
Possibly it ought to be printed thus:
'Do so; and After two days I will discharge thee.'
There is a broken line, also of four syllables, 253 of the same scene, another of seven, 235.
There is no reason to doubt that the _words_ are as Shakespeare wrote them, for, although the action of the play terminates in less than four hours (I. 2. 240 and V. 1. 186), yet Ariel's ministry is not to end till the voyage to Naples shall be over. Prospero, too, repeats his promise, and marks his contentment by further shortening the time of servitude, 'within two days,' I. 2. 420. Possibly 'Invisible' (301) should have a line to itself. Words thus occupying a broken line acquire a marked emphasis.
But the truth is that in dialogue Shakespeare's language passes so rapidly from verse to prose and from prose to verse, sometimes even hovering, as it were, over the confines, being rhythmical rather than metrical, that all attempts to give regularity to the metre must be made with diffidence and received with doubt.
NOTE V.
I. 2. 377, 378:
_Courtsied when you have and kiss'd_ _The wild waves whist._
This punctuation seems to be supported by what Ferdinand says (391, 392):