The Tempest The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] · William Shakespeare
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.
_Courtsied when you have and kiss’d_ _The wild waves whist._ This punctuation seems to be supported by what Ferdinand says (391, 392): ‘The music crept by me upon the waters, Allaying both their fury and my passion, &c.’ At the end of the stanza we have printed _Hark, hark! ... The watch-dogs bark_ as that part of the burthen which ‘sweet sprites bear.’ The other part is borne by distant watch-dogs. I. 2. 443. _I fear you have done yourself some wrong._ See this phrase used in a similar sense, _Measure for Measure_, I. 11. 39. II. 1. 27. _Which, of he or Adrian._ ‘Of’ is found in the same construction, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, III. 2. 336, ‘Now follow if thou darest to try whose right, Of thine or mine, is most in Helena.’ II. 1. 157. _Of its own kind._ There is no doubt, as Dr Guest has shewn, that ‘it,’ which is the reading of the 1st and 2nd folios, was commonly used as a genitive in Shakespeare’s time, as it is still in some provincial dialects. ‘Its,’ however, was coming into use. One instance occurs in this play, I. 11. 95, ‘in its contrary.’ II. 1. 241. _she that from whom._ Mr Spedding writes: ‘The received emendation is not satisfactory to me. I would rather read, “She that--From whom? All were sea-swallow’d &c., i.e. from whom should she have note? The report from Naples will be that all were drowned. We shall be the only survivors.” The break in the construction seems to me characteristic of the speaker. But you must read the whole speech to feel the effect.’
II. 1. 249-251. All editors except Mr Staunton have printed in italics (or between inverted commas) only as far as ‘_Naples?_’, but as ‘_keep_’ is printed with a small k in the folios, they seem to sanction the arrangement given in our text. II. 1. 267. _Ay, sir; where lies that? if ’twere a kibe._ Mr Singer and Mr Dyce have changed ‘’twere’ to ‘it were’ for the sake of the metre. But then the first part of the line must be read with a wrong emphasis. The proper emphasis clearly falls on the first, third, and fifth syllables, ‘Aý, sir; whére lies thát?’ See Preface. II. 2. 165. Before ‘here; bear my bottle’ Capell inserts a stage direction [_To Cal._], but it appears from III. 2. 62, that Trinculo was entrusted with the office of bottle-bearer. III. 1. 15. _Most busy lest, when I do it._ As none of the proposed emendations can be regarded as certain, we have left the reading of F1, though it is manifestly corrupt. The spelling ‘doe’ makes Mr Spedding’s conjecture ‘idlest’ for ‘I doe it’ more probable. III. 3. 17. The stage direction, which we have divided into two parts, is placed all at once in the folios after ‘as when they are fresh’ [Solemne and strange Musicke; and Prosper on the top (invisible:) Enter ... depart].
Pope transferred it to follow Sebastian’s words, ‘I say, to night: no more.’ III. 3. 48. _Each putter out of five for one._ See Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Noble Gentleman_, I. 1. (Vol. II. p. 261, ed. Moxon): ‘The return will give you five for one.’ MARINE is about to travel. IV. 1. 146. _You do look, my son, in a moved sort._ Seymour suggests a transposition: ‘you do, my son, look in a moved sort.’ This line however can scarcely have come from Shakespeare’s pen. Perhaps the writer who composed the Masque was allowed to join it, as best he might, to Shakespeare’s words, which re-commence at ‘Our revels now are ended,’ &c. IV. 1. 230. _Let’s alone._ See Staunton’s “Shakespeare,” Vol. I. p. 81, note (b).
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