Disputed Passage in the Tempest

Allow me to remind Mr. George Stephens, who takes credit for adhering to the "primitive" text of a certain disputed passage in the *Tempest*, that neither he nor any one else does so; that the "primitive" text, that is, the text of the first folio, is mere nonsense, and that he simply adopts the first attempt at correction, instead of the second, or the third, or the fourth. Enough has been written, perhaps, on the meaning of this passage; and opinion will always be divided between those who adopt the prosaical, and those who prefer the more poetical reading: but when Mr. Stephens says the con…