[1] Disappointed that Vaughan Williams had apparently failed to answer his letter, Armstrong Gibbs appeared to have given up on the idea: Soon afterwards I was stricken down with some illness and was in bed when a fat envelope, registered and bearing the Dorking postmark, was brought up.

It refers to Ferdinand's father — Alonso, King of Naples — who is presumed drowned in a shipwreck and whose body undergoes a magical transformation in the ocean depths.

now I hear them, – ding-dong bell.The second song also uses lines from The Tempest, spoken by the sorcerer Prospero to conclude the masque at the wedding of his daughter Miranda to Prince Ferdinand.

[6] The Tempest, Act IV scene 1 The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,The solemn temples, the great globe itself,Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,Leave not a rack behind: We are such stuffAs dreams are made on, and our little lifeIs rounded with a sleep.

[7] A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II scene 1 Over hill, over dale,Thorough bush, thorough briar,Over park, over pale,Thorough flood, thorough fireI do wander everywhere.Swifter than the moonè's sphere;And I serve the fairy queen,To dew her orbs upon the green.The cowslips tall her pensioners be;In their gold coats spots you see;Those be rubies, fairy favours,In those freckles live their savours:I must go seek some dew-drops here,And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.