In this bare island by your spell ; But release me from my bands With the help of your good hands :' 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, Unless I be reliev'd by prayer,2 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.
1 By your applause, by clapping hands.-JOHNSON. Noise was supposed to dissolve a spell; "hush! be mute, or else our spell is marr'd." [iv., 1, 126].-STEEVENS.
2 By prayer. According to
Warburton, the allusion is to the old stories of the despair of ne
cromancers in their last moments, and of the efficacy of the prayers of their friends for them. If so, Prospero must be degrading himself to the level of ordinary magicians; but after all the play itself is at an end, and it is, at any rate, doubtful whether the epilogue is Shakspere's at all.
THE history of the words may be looked for in Skeat; the abbreviations Lat., &c., are merely intended to indicate their sources.
fluity from Latin corollarium, a present of a garland, and so a gratuity, or something gratuitous. Lat.
Course sb. (i, 1, 53) a sail, being says Johnson, "the means by which the course is performed." Lat. Crisp adj. (iv, 1, 130) curled. Lat.
Deboshed p. pt. (iii, 2, 30) debased; another form of de. bauched, from O. F. prefix des-(L. dis-) away, and O. F. bauche, (Eng. balk), a course of stones in a building, or a small building (Skeat); so originally, to entice away from such a building. Lat. and Teut.
Distinctly adv. (i, 2, 200) separately, in several places at once. In ii, 1, 217 it means clearly, in- telligibly. Lat.
Doit sb. (ii, 2, 32) a small coin. Dutch duit, a doit.
Dowle sb. (iii, 3, 65) the fibre of a feather another form of down. Scand.
Drollery sb. (iii, 3, 21) a puppet- show. Icelandic troll, a hobgoblin. Scand.
Feature sb. (iii, 1, 52) form, shape; allied to the preceding.
Fetches sb. (iv, 1, 61) vetches.
Flat-long adv. (ii, 1, 181) not edgewise, with the flat side down- wards:-long is an adverbial surtix, found in head-long, side-long. Scand. and Eng.
Flote sb. (i, 2, 234) flood, sea; connected with flow. Eng.
Foison sb. (ii, 1, 163; iv, 1, 110) plenty; old French foison, Latin, fusionem acc. of fusio, a pouring out. Lat.
Forthright sb. (iii, 3, 3) a straight path. Eng.
Frippery sb. (iv, 1, 225) an old clothes shop. Fr.
Marmoset sb. (ii, 2, 174) a small monkey; from the French mar- mouset, originally a grotesque orna- ment on a fountain, from low Latin marmoretum, a fountain made of marble (marmor). See Skeat. Lat. Merely adv. (i, 1, 59) simply, absolutely. Lat.
Mo adj. (ii, 1, 133; V, I, 234) more; from the Ang. Sax. ma, more in number, whereas more is from Ang. Sax. mura, greater, (Skeat). Eng.
Mop sb. (iv, 1, 47) a grimace; related to mow below. Dutch.
Mope vb. (v, 1, 240) to be dis. traught, dumbfounded; the same word as mop, a grimace. Dutch.
Mow sb. (iv, 1, 47) a grimace. Dutch.
Mow vb. (ii, 2, 9) to make grimaces. Dutch.
Muse v. (iii, 3, 36) to wonder at. The word can be traced to the Latin morsus a bite, and is not connected with Musa, see Skeat. Lat.
Purchase vb. (iv, 1, 14) to gain, or acquire, not necessarily in ex- change for money. Lat.
Rack sb. (iv, 1, 156) a floating vapour, a cloud: literally something driven or drifted, see Skeat. Scana. Rapt p. pt. (i, 2, 77) enraptured. Scand. transported; see note.
Scamels sb. (ii, 2, 176) see note. Sort sb. (ii, 1, 103: iv, 1, 146) way, manner in this sense always preceded by prepositions. The various meanings of the word arise out of its original meaning of kind, species. Lat.
Sot sb. (iii, 2, 101) dolt, block- head. French.
Stale sb. (iv, I, 187) a decoy; see note. Eng.
Stover sb. (iv, 1, 63) fodder for cattle; from the old French estover estovoir = necessaries, French.
Teen sb. (i, 2, 64) sorrow; origin- ally a public accusation, see Skeat. Eng.
Thetch vb. (iv, 1, 63) to cover, see note. Eng.
PRINTED BY CHAS. STRAKER AND SONS, LONDON AND REDHILL.
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