The Tempest The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] · William Shakespeare
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.’
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