'There cannot be a pinch in death more sharp 81. Reasonable shore = shore of reason. 85. Discase me, take off my present dress. Cf. Winter's Tale, IV. iv.: Discase thee instantly.' Shakespeare has also disbench, disbranch, and many others. 102. Drink the air. Cf. the phrase devour the way, and the Lat. carpere viam. -Abuse, deceive. 112. Trifle, phantom. 119. My wrongs the wrongs I have done. See line 11 and line 25. 121, Thine age my old friend. The abstract for the concrete. This is very common in Shakespeare. 123. Taste, experience. 124. Subtilties, a word said to have been borrowed from the vocabulary of cooks. When a dish was so contrived as to appear unlike what it really was, they called it a subtlety. Dragons, castles, trees, etc., made out of sugar, had the like denomination.' 126. My brace of lords, said with contemptuous severity. Often, however, used simply for two. 127. Pluck. So Shakespeare has the phrases: To pluck his indignation on thy head; pluck down justice from your awful bench. 128. Justify, prove. 132. Infect, as with the plague, taint and pollute. 134. Perforce, modifies restore. 140. Woe = sorry. Shakespeare has used woe adjectively four times in his plays; in the phrases: Be woe for me; woe are we, etc. 143. Of whose soft grace 146. As late 148. May call can call. This meaning of the word is also preserved in the phrase might and main. 155. Admire, wonder, or are astonished. 157. Do offices of truth perform truthful functions. 164. Chronicle of day by day, a story that it would take days to tell. 165. Relation, narrative. 173. Play me false = you are cheating me. 175. You should wrangle= you should be at liberty to wrangle. 178. Shall I twice lose. If this be only a vision, the pain of losing would have to be gone through over again. 194. Renown the fame or report. Cf. Henry VI., Part I., V. v.: 'So am I driven by breath of her renown, 201. Heaviness, sorrow. -Inly: within or inwardly. Shakespeare has the word (1) twice as an adjective, and (2) twice as an adverb. 204. Chalk'd forth chalked out. 215. Still, always. blasphemer. they go on from strength to 219. Blasphemy = strength-growing in strangeness. 233. Several, separate. 241. Moping, acting without full consciousness or the guidance of thought. 245 Conduct conductor. the person and for the process. 247. Infest, harass. So we still use guide for 248. Pick'd, chosen, at the right time. So we still say picked men. 249. Single to you. = when alone. -Resolve you, will explain 250. Every... accidents. Cf. Winter's Tale, II. iii. :— 'At each his needless heavings.' 256. Odd, unreckoned. 257. Every man shift for all the rest. If, in the infinite complexity of human life, Shakespeare ever sought for what is called a moral-this would be the moral of the play; and it is significant of Shakespeare's art, that he puts it into the mouth of one of the lowest characters in Even his brain has been permeated by the plain mean it. The external 'is but fortune ing of these strange events. and chance; conduct and fidelity is everything. 258. Coragio = courage (Italian). 260. True, correct and faithful. 268. A plain fish plainly a fish. 269. Badges, the stolen apparel they have on. 273. Deaf in her command, go on practicing the command of her (the moon) beyond (without) the power granted to her (Sycorax). 281. Reeling ripe. wants of my friend.' Cf. Merchant, I. iii. 64: The ripe 282. Gilded them, made their faces shine. 285. Will never out. Cf. Coriolanus, II. iii.: 'Will you along?' See Abbott, sect. 405.-Fly-blowing, because he has been well pickled. 288. Sirrah, a compellation,' says Schmidt, 'used in addressing comparatively inferior persons.' Thus in Much Ado, IV. ii., we find it resented by one who thinks himself a gentleman: Yours, sirrah?' 'I am a gentleman, sir, and my name is Conrade." 296. Grace, favor.with Shakespeare. 299. Bestow -Thrice-double, a rather usual style stow away. Your luggage, the fine clothes they had on. 306. Accidents, incidents, events. 309. Nuptial for nuptials. Shakespeare has this noun eight times in the singular, and only five times in the plu ral number. He has funerals twice; in all other instances funeral. 311. Retire me. Retire, like advise, complain, endeavor, repent, repose, fear, etc., was used reflexively. EPILOGUE. It is doubtful whether this Epilogue was written by Shakespeare. It may have been by Ben Jonson. In the folio edition, it is printed on a separate page; and, after Exeunt, it is not likely that Prospero remained alone upon the stage. 10. With the help of your hands your applause. Noise was supposed to dissolve a spell. See IV. i. 40, and 107, 108. 16. Prayer. An allusion to the old custom in Shakespeare's time of concluding the play by a prayer, offered up kneeling, for the sovereign.' 18. Mercy itself God himself.-Frees= frees from. So Shakespeare has. Complained (about) her wrongs; to look (for) you; scoffing (at) his state; swear'st (by) thy gods, etc. See Dr. Abbott, sect. 200. EXAMINATION PAPERS. [Some of the questions taken from the Papers of the English Civil Service Commission.] A (FIRST ACT CHIEFLY). I. Give the substance of the story told by Prospero to Miranda. 2. State the parts played by Ariel and Caliban. 3. State by whom, to whom, and on what occasions, the following lives were uttered : (a) We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards. A single thing, as I am now, that wonders. 4. Explain the words in Italics in the above. 5. Explain Shakespeare's use of the following words and phrases: (a) Play the man; (b) incharitable; (c) god of power; (d) the very virtue; (e) holp (f) from such a deed; (g) closeness; (h) a hint that wrings mine eyes; (i) grand hests; (j) capable of. 5. Give some instances of Shakespeare's peculiar grammar, in the use of double comparatives, and such phrases as I were best. 135 |