103. Or ere. Cf. I., ii., 11. 112. trifle. Phantom. abuse. Deceive. 117. if this be at all. If this really exists. 119. my wrongs. The wrongs which I have done you. Cf. Midsummer Night's Dream, II., i., 240: "Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex." 124. subtilties. Deceptions. 128. justify. Prove. 154. admire. Wonder. 155. devour their reason. Cf. III., i., 38. Doubt their senses. The sense is "if you should 174. you should wrangle. wrangle for a score of kingdoms, I would call it fair play.” 218. blasphemy. Blasphemer. 248. single. To you alone. 267. badges. A silver plate attached to some part of the livery of a servant, upon which the name of the servant's master was engraved. ... 280. grand liquor . . gilded 'em. An allusion to the grand elixir (aurum potabile) of the alchemists, which it was pretended would restore youth and confer immortality. 280. Gilded 'em. Made them drunk. THE EPILOGUE It has been questioned seriously whether or not Shakespeare wrote the epilogue. The chief reason for doubting its authenticity is thus stated by Grant White: "Let any one," he says, "who has found he can trust his ear for rhythm and his comparative appreciation of style read the epilogue carefully and judge. Did Shakespeare write, 666 And what strength I have's my own, Could he have written "Gentle breath of yours my sails Must fill, or else my project fails, Which was to please. Now I want '?" 66 Aside from the fact of the "stiff couplets," "clumsy" blank verse, and "feeble, trite ideas "this critic points out further that it was the general custom for persons other than the authors themselves to write the prologues and epilogues of the English drama. It would be strange," he thinks, were Shakespeare an exception to this general rule." Furness agrees with White and believes that the combined external and internal evidence which the lines furnish must be accepted as sufficient proof that the epilogue was written by some one else. Other critics, with less reason, it would seem, accept it as Shakespeare's. They claim that, the irregularities of the verse are of just the kind we should expect to find in a play generally thought to be next to the last, if not the last, which Shakespeare wrote. 10. your good hands. Applause, clapping of hands; noise was supposed to break a spell. Cf. IV., i., 59; also Macbeth, IV., i., 70: "Hear his speech but say thou nought." 16. relieved by prayer. An allusion either (1) to the stories told by magicians, who in their last hours were relieved by the prayers of their friends; or (2) to the practic › common in Shakespeare's time of praying for the sovereign at the conclusion of a play. 18. frees all faults. Secures us pardon for all faults. |