Act 1, Scene 2 of The Tempest opens with Miranda commenting on the storm and the shipwreck she has just witnessed. She is greatly distressed by having seen the ship sink. Her compassion is fully activated. She suffers with the people she saw suffering. She believes the ship was a "brave vessel" that certainly had "some noble creature in her," someone she believes must now have perished along with all the passengers and crew. Hearing their fearful cries, she felt their agony in the depths of her heart. She wishes she had the power of a supernatural being. If she had, she would have made the earth swallow up the entire ocean before she would have allowed the ship to be swallowed by the sea. Her father, Prospero, tells her to take heart because there's been no harm done. She has suspected her father may by his magic have influenced the storm, and she wants him to calm the sea. Prospero takes this opportunity to tell Miranda the tale of who he is and how they came to be on the island.
Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
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