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