Page:Tempest (1918) Yale.djvu/98

The Tempest Enter Iris. At this point begins the masque, acted in honor of the betrothal, by Prospero's spirits. It was once customary to doubt the authenticity of this part of the play; but no good reason has ever been given for assigning it to any other hand than Shakespeare's.

pioned and twilled. Unintelligible words. 'We have simply lost the meanings of words which were perfectly intelligible to Shakespeare's audience.' (Furness.)

Dis. Pluto, who seized Proserpina, daughter of Ceres, as she was gathering flowers, and carried her off to the underworld.

Spring come to you harvest. The wish is that the year may be all spring and summer. The return of spring is to occur, at latest, immediately after harvest.

King Stephen was a worthy peer,

His breeches cost him but a crown,

He held them sixpence all too dear,

Therefore he called the tailor "Lowne.

—Old Ballad.

Cf. Othello, II. iii. 98.

Now is the jerkin under the line. 'Line' probably means 'lime-tree' (cf. V. i. 10). Stephano brushes the jerkin off the tree, on which Ariel had hung it, and proceeds to pun, drunkenly. The 'line' reminds him of the equatorial line, below which one is likely to get a fever, and lose his hair. The jerkin will lose its 'hair' (nap) when Stephano wears it.

barnacles. It is generally assumed that this refers to 'barnacle geese,' that is, to geese said, in folk-lore, to be produced from shellfish which grow on certain trees, and, in their maturity, drop off into the water and hatch into geese. This may be