Chapter VI: Part 6

II.iv.91 (205,7) _Post._ This is her honour!] [T: What's this t'her honour?] This emendation has been followed by both the succeeding editors, but I think it must be rejected. The expression is ironical. Iachimo relates many particulars, to which Posthumus answers with impatience, This is her honour! That is, And the attainment of this knowledge is to pass for the corruption of her honour.

II.iv.95 (206,8) if you can/Be pale] If you can forbear to flush your cheek with rage.

II.iv.110 (207,9)

The vows of women
Of no more bondage be, to where they are made,
Than they are to their virtues]

The love vowed by women no more abides with him to whom it is vowed, than women adhere to their virtue.

II.iv.127 (207,2) The cognizance] The badge; the token; the visible proof.

III.i.26 (211,2) and his shipping,/(Poor ignorant baubles!) on our terrible seas] [_Ignorant_, for _of no use_. WARB.] Rather, _unacquainted_ with the nature of our boisterous seas.

III.i.51 (212,3) against all colour] Without any pretence of right.

III.i.73 (213,5) keep at utterance] [i.e. At extreme distance. WARB.] More properly, in a state of hostile defiance, and deadly opposition.

III.i.73 (213,6) I am perfect] I am well informed. So, in Macbeth, "--in your state of honour _I am perfect_." (see 1765, VII, 314,7)

III.ii.4 (214,2) What false Italian (As poisonous tongu'd as handed)] About Shakespeare's time the practice of poisoning was very common in Italy, and the suspicion of Italian poisons yet more common.

III.ii.9 (214,3) take in some virtue] To _take in_ a town, is to _conquer_ it.

III.ii.34 (215,6) For it doth physic love] That is, grief for absence, keeps love in health and vigour.

III.ii.47 (215,8) _loyal to his vow, and your increasing in love_] I read, Loyal to his vow and _you_, increasing in love.

III.ii.79 (216,1) A franklin's housewife] A _franklin_ is literally a _freeholder_, with a small estate, neither _villain_ nor _vassal_.

III.ii.80 (217,2)

I see before me, man, nor here, nor here,
Nor what ensues; but have a fog in them,
That I cannot look thro']

This passage may, in my opinion, be very easily understood, without any emendation. The lady says, "I can see neither one way nor other, before me nor behind me, but all the ways are covered with an impenetrable fog." There are objections insuperable to all that I can propose, and since reason can give me no counsel, I will resolve at once to follow my inclination.

III.iii.5 (218,2) giants may jet through/And keep their impious turbans on] The idea of a _giant_ was, among the readers of romances, who were almost all the readers of those times, always confounded with that of a Saracen.

III.iii.16 (218,3) This service it not service, so being done,/But being so allow'd] In war it is not sufficient to do duty well; the advantage rises not from the act, but the acceptance of the act.

III.iii.23 (219,5) Richer, than doing nothing for a babe] I have always suspected that the right reading of this passage is what I had not in my former edition the confidence to propose: Richer, than doing nothing for a _brabe_.

_Brabium_ is a badge of honour, or the ensign of an honour, or any thing worn as a mask of dignity. The word was strange to the editors as it will be to the reader: they therefore changed it to _babe_; and I am forced to propose it without the support of any authority. _Brabium_ is a word found in Holyoak's Dictionary, who terms it a _reward_. Cooper, in his _Thesaurus_, defines it to be a _prize, or reward for any game_. (1773) (rev. 1778, IX, 248, 8)

III.iii.35 (219,6) To stride a limit] To overpass his bound.

III.iii.35 (220,7) What should we speak of,/When we are as old as you?] This dread of an old age, unsupplied with matter for discourse and meditation, is a sentiment natural and noble. No state can be more destitute than that of him who, when the delights of sense forsake him, has no pleasures of the mind.

III.iii.82 (221,9)

tho' trained up thus meanly
I' the cave, wherein they bow, their thoughts do hit
The roof of palaces]

[W: wherein they bow] HANMER reads,

I' the cave, _here in this brow_.--
I think the reading is this:
I' the cave, wherein the BOW, &c.

That is, they are trained up in the _cave, where their thoughts_ in hitting the _bow_, or arch of their habitation, _hit the roofs of palaces_. In other words, though their condition is low, their thoughts are high. The sentence is at last, as THEOBALD remarks, abrupt, but perhaps no less suitable to Shakespeare. I know not whether Dr. WARBURTON's conjecture be not better than mine.

III.iii.101 (223,2) I stole these babes] Shakespeare seems to intend Belarius for a good character, yet he makes him forget the injury which he has done to the young princes, whom he has robbed of a kingdom only to rob their father of heirs.--The latter part of this soliloquy is very inartificial, there being no particular reason why Belarius should now tell to himself what he could not know better by telling it.

III.iv.15 (224,2) drug-damn'd Italy] This is another allusion to Italian poisons.

III.iv.39 (225,4) Kings, queens, and states] Persons of highest rank.

III.iv.52 (225,6) Some jay of Italy,/Whose mother was her painting] _Some jay of Italy_, made by art the creature, not of nature, but of painting. In this sense _painting_ may be not improperly termed her _mother_. (see 1765, VII, 325, 9)

III.iv.63 (226,7) So thou, Posthumus,/Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men] HANMER reads,

--lay the _level_--

without any necessity.

III.iv.97 (228,1) That now thou tir'st on] A hawk is said to _tire_ upon that which he pecks; from _tirer_, French.

III.iv.104 (228,2)

I'll wake mine eye-balls blind first.
_Imo._ Wherefore then]

This is the old reading. The modern editions for _wake_ read _break_, and supply the deficient syllable by _ah_, wherefore. I read, I'll wake mine eye-balls _out_ first, or, _blind_, first.

III.iv.111 (228,3) To be unbent] To have thy bow unbent, alluding to a hunter.

III.iv.146 (229,4)

Now, if you could wear a mind
Dark as your fortune is, and but disguise
That, which, to appear itself, must not yet be,
But by self-danger]

To wear a dark mind, is to carry a mind impenetrable to the search of others. _Darkness_ applied to the _mind_ is _secrecy_, applied to the _fortune_ is _obscurity_. The next lines are obscure. _You must_, says Pisanio, _disguise that_ greatness, _which, to appear_ hereafter _in its proper form_, cannot yet appear without great _danger to itself_. (see 1765, VII, 329, 6)

III.iv.149 (230,5) full of view] With opportunities of examining your affairs with your own eyes.

III.iv.155 (230,6) Though peril to my modesty, not death on't,/I would adventure] I read,

_Through_ peril--

_I would for such means adventure_ through _peril of my modesty_; I would risque every thing but real dishonour.

III.iv.162 (230,7)

nay, you must
Forget that rarest treasure of your cheek;
Exposing it (but, oh, the harder heart!
Alack, no remedy)]

I think it very natural to reflect in this distress on the cruelty of Posthumus. Dr. WARBURTON proposes to read,

--the harder _hap_!--

III.iv.177 (231,8) which you'll make him know] This is HANMER's reading. The common books have it,

--which _will_ make him know.

Mr. THEOBALD, in one of bit long notes, endeavours to prove, that it should be,

--which will make him _so_.

He is followed by Dr. WARBURTON.

III.iv.184 (231,9) we'll even/All that good time will give us] We'll make our work _even_ with our _time_; we'll do what time will allow.

III.v.71 (235,2)

And that she hath all courtly parts more exquisite
Than lady, ladies, woman; from every one
The best she hath]

[The second line is intolerable nonsense. It should be read and pointed thus,

Than lady ladies; _winning_ from each one.

WARBURTON.]

I cannot perceive the second line to be intolerable, or to be nonsense. The speaker only rises in his ideas. _She has all courtly parts_, says he, _more exquisite than_ any _lady_, than all _ladies_, than all _womankind_. Is this nonsense?

III.v.101 (236,3) _Pia._ Or this, or perish] These words, I think, belong to Cloten, who, requiring the paper, says,

Let's see't: I will pursue her
Even to Augustus' throne. Or this, or perish.

Then Pisanio giving the paper, says to himself,

She's far enough, &c.

III.vi.12 (239,1) To lapse in fullness/Is sorer, than to lye for need] Is a _greater_, or _heavier_ crime.

III.vi.23 (239,3) If any thing that's civil, speak; if savage,/Take, or lend] [W: Take 'or 't end.] I suppose the emendation proposed will not easily be received; it is strained and obscure, and the objection against Hanmer's reading is likewise very strong. I question whether, after the words, _if savage_, a line be not lost. I can offer nothing better than to read,

--Ho! who's here?
If any thing that's civil, _take or lend_,
If savage, _speak_.

If you are _civilised_ and _peaceable, take_ a price for what I want, or _lend_ it for a future recompence; if you are _rough inhospitable_ inhabitants of the mountain, _speak_, that I may know my state.

III.vi.77 (242,4) then had my prize/Been less; and so more equal ballasting] HANMER reads plausibly, but without necessity, _price_, for _prize_, and _balancing_, for _ballasting_. He is followed by Dr. WARBURTON. The meaning is, Had I been a less prize, I should not have been too heavy for Posthumus.

III.vi.86 (243,5) That nothing-gift of differing multitudes] [T: deferring] He is followed by Sir T. HANMER and Dr. WARBURTON; but I do not see why _differing_ may not be a general epithet, and the expression equivalent to the _many-headed_ rabble.

III.vii.8 (244,2)

and to you, the tribunes,
For this immediate levy, he commands
His absolute commission]

The plain meaning is, he _commands_ the commission to be given to you. So we say, I _ordered_ the materials to the workmen.

IV.ii.10 (245,1) Stick to your journal course: the breach of custom/ Is breach of all] Keep your _daily_ course uninterrupted; if the stated plan of life is once broken, nothing follows but confusion.

IV.ii.17 (246,2) How much the quantity] I read, _As_ much the quantity.--

IV.ii.38 (247,3) I could not stir him] Not _move_ him to tell his story.

IV.ii.39 (247,4) gentle, but unfortunate] _Gentle_, is _well born_, of birth above the vulgar.

IV.ii.59 (248,6) And let the stinking elder, Grief, untwine/ His perishing root, with the encreasing vine!] Shakespeare had only seen _English vines_ which grow against walls, and therefore may be sometimes entangled with the _elder_. Perhaps we should read _untwine from the vine_.

IV.ii.105 (251,9) the snatches in his vice,/And burst of speaking] This is one of our author's strokes of observation. An abrupt and tumultuous utterance very frequently accompanies a confused and cloudy understanding.

IV.ii.111 (251,1) for the effect of judgment/Is oft the cause of fear] HANMER reads, with equal justness of sentiment,

--for defect of judgment
Is oft the _cure_ of fear.--

But, I think, the play of _effect_ and _cause_ more resembling the manner of our author.

IV.ii.118 (252,2) I am perfect, what] I am _well informed_, what. So in this play,

I'm _perfect_, the Pannonians are in arms.

IV.ii.121 (252,3) take us in] To _take in_, was the phrase in use for to _apprehend_ an out-law, or to make him amenable to public justice.

IV.ii.148 (253,5) the boy Fidele's sickness/Did make my way long forth] Fidele's sickness made my _walk forth_ from the cave _tedious_.

IV.ii.159 (254,6) revenges/That possible strength might meet] Such pursuit of vengeance as fell within any possibility of opposition.

IV.ii.168 (254,7) I'd let a parish of such Clotens blood] [W: marish] The learned commentator has dealt the raproach of nonsense very liberally through this play. Why this is nonsense, I cannot discover. I would, says the young prince, to recover Fidele, kill as many Clotens as would fill a _parish_.

IV.ii.246 (258,1) He was paid for that] HANMER reads,

He _has_ paid for that:--

rather plausibly than rightly. _Paid_ is for _punished_. So JONSON,

"Twenty things more, my friend, which you know due,
For which, or pay me quickly, or I'll _pay_ you."

(see 1765, VII, 356, 3)

IV.ii.247 (258,2) reverence,/(That angel of the world)] _Reverence_, or due regard to subordination, is the power that keeps peace and order in the world.

IV.ii.268 (259,4) _The scepter, learning, physic, must/ All follow this, and come to dust_] The poet's sentiment seems to have been this. All human excellence is equally the subject to the stroke of death: neither the power of kings, nor the science of scholars, nor the art of those whose immediate study is the prolongation of life, can protect then from the final destiny of man. (1773)

IV.ii.272 (260,5) _Fear not slander, censure rash_] Perhaps, Fear not _slander's_ censure rash.

IV.ii.275 (260,6) Consign to thee] Perhaps, Consign to _this_. And in the former stanza, for _all follow this_, we might read, _all follow_ thee.

IV.ii.280 (260,7) Both. _Quiet consummation have;/ And renowned be thy grave!_] For the obsequies of Fidele, a song was written by my unhappy friend, Mr. William Collins of Chichester, a man of uncommon learning and abilities. I shall give it a place at the end in honour of his memory.

IV.ii.315 (262,1) Conspired with] The old copy reads thus,

--thou
Conspir'd with that irregulous divel, Cloten.

I suppose it should be,

Conspir'd with _th' irreligious_ devil, Cloten.

IV.ii.346 (263,2) Last night the very gods shew'd me a vision] [W: warey] Of this meaning I know not any example, nor do I see any need of alteration. It was no common dream, but sent from _the very gods_, or the gods themselves.

IV.ii.363 (264,3)

who was he,
That, otherwise than noble nature did,
Hath alter'd that good figure?]

Here are many words upon a very slight debate. The sense is not much cleared by either critic [Theobald and Warburton]. The question is asked, not about a _body_, but a _picture_, which is not very apt to grow shorter or longer. To _do_ a picture, and a picture is well _done_, are standing phrases; the question therefore is, Who has altered this picture, so as to make it otherwise than nature _did_ it.

IV.ii.389 (266,5) these poor pickaxes] Meaning her fingers.

IV.iii (266,1) _Cymbeline's palace_] This scene is omitted against all authority by Sir T. HANMER. It is indeed of no great use in the progress of the fable, yet it makes a regular preparation for the next act.

IV.iii.22 (267,3) our jealousy/Does yet depend] My suspicion is yet undetermined; if I do not condemn you, I likewise have not acquitted you. We now say, the _cause_ is _depending_.

IV.iii.29 (267,4) Your preparation can affront no less/Than what you hear of] Your forces are able to _face_ such an army as we hear the enemy will bring against us.

IV.iii.44 (268,6) to the note o' the king] I will so distinguish myself, the king shall remark my valour.

IV.iv.11 (269,1) a render/Where we have liv'd] An account of our place of abode. This dialogue is a just representation of the superfluous caution of an old man.

IV.iv.13 (269,2) That which we have done, whose answer would be death] The _retaliation_ of the death of Cloten would be _death_, &c.

IV.iv.18 (269,3) their quarter'd fires] Their fires regularly disposed.

V.i (271,1) _Enter Posthumus, with a bloody handkerchief_] The bloody token of Imogen's death, which Pisanio in the foregoing act determined to send.

V.i.1-33 (271,2) Yea, bloody cloth, I'll keep thee] This is a soliloquy of nature, uttered when the effervescence of a mind agitated and perturbed spontaneously and inadvertently discharges itself in words. The speech, throughout all its tenor, if the last conceit be excepted, seems to issue warm from the heart. He first condemns his own violence; then tries to disburden himself, by imputing part of the crime to Pisanio; he next sooths his mind to an artificial and momentary tranquility, by trying to think that he has been only an instrument of the gods for the happiness of Imogen. He is now grown reasonable enough to determine, that having done so much evil he will do no more; that he will not fight against the country which he has already injured; but as life is not longer supportable, he will die in a just cause, and die with the obscurity of a man who does not think himself worthy to be remembered.

V.i.9 (271,3) to put on] Is to _incite_, to _instigate_.

V.i.14 (272,4) To second ills with ills, each elder worse] For this reading all the later editors have contentedly taken,

--each worse than other,

without enquiries whence they have received it. Yet they know, or might know, that it has no authority. The original copy reads,

--each elder worse,

The last deed is certainly not the oldest, but Shakespeare calls the _deed_ of an _elder_ man an _elder deed_.

V.i.15 (272,5) And make them dread it, to the doers' thrift] [T: dreaded, to] This emendation ia followed by HANMER. Dr. WARBURTON reads, I know not whether by the printer's negligence,

And make them _dread_, to the doers' thrift.

There seems to be no very satisfactory sense yet offered. I read, but with hesitation,

And make them _deeded_, to the doers' thrift.

The word _deeded_ I know not indeed where to find; but Shakespeare has, in another sense _undeeded_, in _Macbeth_:

"--my sword
"I sheath again _undeeded_."--

I will try again, and read thus,

--others you permit
To second ills with ills, each other worse,
And make them _trade it_, to the doers' thrift.

_Trade_ and _thrift_ correspond. Our author plays with _trade_, as it signifies a lucrative vocation, or a frequent practice. So Isabella says,

"Thy sins, not accidental, but a _trade_."

V.i.16 (273,9) Do your best wills,/And make me blest to obey!] So the copies. It was more in the manner of our author to have written,

--Do your blest wills,
And make me blest t' obey.--

V.iii.41 (276,3) A rout, confusion thick] [W: confusion-thick] I do not see what great addition is made to _fine diction_ by this compound. Is it not as natural to enforce the principal event in a story by repetition, as to enlarge the principal figure in a figure?

V.iii.51 (276,4) bugs] Terrors.

V.iii.53 (277,5) Nay, do not wonder at it] [T: do but] There is no need of alteration. Posthumus first bids him not wonder, then tells him in another mode of reproach, that wonder is all that he was made for.

V.iii.79 (278,8) great the answer be] _Answer_, as once in this play before, is _retaliation_.

V.iii.87 (278,9) That gave the affront with them] That is, that turned their faces to the enemy.

V.iv.1 (279,1) You shall not now be stolen, you have locks upon you;/So, graze, as you find pasture] This wit of the gaoler alludes to the custom of putting a lock on a horse's leg, when he is turned to pasture.

V.iv.27 (280,3) If you will take this audit, take this life,/And cancel those cold bonds] This equivocal use of _bonds_ is another instance of our author's infelicity in pathetic speeches.

V.iv.45 (281,5) That from me my Posthumus ript] The old copy reads,

That from me _was_ Posthumus ript.

Perhaps we should read,

That from _my womb_ Posthumus ript,
Came crying 'mongst his foes.

V.iv.146 (284,7)

'Tis still a dream; or else such stuff, as madmen
Tongue, and brain not: either both or nothing:
Or senseless speaking, or a speaking such
As sense cannot untie. Be what it is,
The action of my life is like it]

The meaning, which is too thin to be easily caught, I take to be this: _This is a dream or madness, or both--or nothing--but whether it be a speech without consciousness_, as in a dream, _or a speech unintelligible_, as in madness, be it as it is, _it is like my course of life_. We might perhaps read,

Whether _both, or nothing_--

V.iv,164 (285,8) sorry that you have paid too much, and sorry that you are paid too much] _Tavern bills_, says the gaoler, _are the sadness of parting, as the procuring of mirth--you depart reeling with too much drink; sorry that you have paid too much, and_--what? _sorry that you are paid too much_. Where is the opposition? I read, _And_ merry _that you are paid_ so _much_. I take the second _paid_ to be _paid_, for _appaid, filled, satiated_.

V.iv.171 (286,9) debtor and creditor] For an _accounting book_.

V.iv.188 (286,1) jump the after-enquiry] That is, _venture_ at it without thought. So _Macbeth_,

"We'd _jump_ the life to come." (see 1765, VII, 382, 7)

V.v.9 (288,1) one that promis'd nought/But beggary and poor looks] To promise _nothing but_ poor _looks_, may be, to give no promise of courageous behaviour.

V.v.88 (291,2) So feat] So ready; so dextrous in waiting.

V.v.93 (291,3) His favour is familiar to me] I am acquainted with his countenance.

V.v.120 (292,4) One sand another/Not more resembles. That sweet rosy lad] [W: resembles, than be th' sweet] There was no great difficulty in the line, which, when properly pointed, needs no alteration.

V.v.203 (296,8) averring notes/Of chamber-hanging, pictures] Such marks of the chamber and pictures, as _averred_ or confirmed my report.

V.v.220 (297,9) the temple/Of virtue was she; yea, and she herself] That is, She was not only _the temple of virtue_, but _virtue herself_.

V.v.233 (297,1) these staggers] This wild and delirious perturbation. _Staggers_ is the horse's apoplexy.

V.v.262 (298,2) Think, that you are upon a rock; and now/Throw me again] In this speech, or in the answer, there is little meaning. I suppose, she would say, Consider such another act as equally fatal to me with precipitation from a rock, and now let me see whether you will repeat it.

V.v.308 (300,3) By tasting of our wrath] [W: hasting] There is no need of change; the consequence is taken for the whole action; _by tasting_ is _by forcing us to make thee taste_.

V.v.334 (301,5) Your pleasure was my near offence, my punishment,/ Itself, and all my treason] I think this passage may better be read thus,

Your pleasure was my _dear_ offence, my punishment
Itself _was_ all my treason; that I suffer'd,
Was all the harm I did.--

The offence which cost me so _dear_ was only your caprice. My sufferings have been all my crime.

V.v.352 (302,6)

Thou weep'st, and speak'st.
The service that you three have done is more
Unlike than this thou tell'st]

"Thy tears give testimony to the sincerity of thy relation; and I have the less reason to be incredulous, because the actions which you have done within my knowledge are more incredible than the story which you relate." The king reasons very justly.

V.v.378 (303,7) When ye were so, indeed] The folio gives,

When _we_ were so, indeed.

If this be right, we must read,

_Imo._ I, you brothers.
_Arv._ When we were so, indeed.

V.v.382 (303,8) fierce abridgment] _Fierce_, is _vehement, rapid_.

V.v.459 (306,1) My peace we will begin] I think it better to read,

_By_ peace we will begin.--

(307) General Observation. This play has many just sentiments, some natural dialogues, and some pleasing scenes, but they are obtained at the expence of much incongruity. To remark the folly of the fiction, the absurdity of the conduct, the confusion of the names, and manners of different times, and the impossibility of the events in any system of life, were to waste criticism upon unresisting imbecility, upon faults too evident for detection, and too gross for aggravation.

KING LEAR

I.i.4 (311,2) in the division of the kingdom] There is something of obscurity or inaccuracy in this preparatory scene. The king has already divided his kingdom, and yet when he enters he examines his daughters, to discover in what proportions he should divide it. Perhaps Kent and Gloucester only were privy to his design, which he still kept in his own hands, to be changed or performed as subsequent reasons should determine him.

I.i.37 (313,7) express our darker purpose] [_Darker_, for more secret; not for indirect, oblique. WARBURTON.] This word may admit a further explication. _We shall express our darker purpose_: that is, we have already made known in some measure our design of parting the kingdom; we will now discover what has not been told before, the reasons by which we shall regulate the partition. This interpretation will justify or palliate the exordial dialogue.

I.i.39 (313,8) and 'tis our fast intent] [This is an interpolation of Mr. Lewis Theobald, for want of knowing the meaning of the old reading in the quarto of 1608, and first folio of 1623; where we find it,

--and 'tis our _first_ intent.

WARBURTON.]

_Fast_ is the reading of the first folio, and, I think, the true reading.

I.i.44 (314,9) We have this hour a constant will] _constant will_ seems a confirmation of _fast_ intent.

I.i.62 (314,2) Beyond all manner of so much I love you] Beyond all assignable quantity. I love you beyond limits, and cannot say it is _so much_, for how much soever I should name, it would yet be more.

I.i.73 (315,4)

I find, she names my very deed of love,
Only she comes too short; that I profess]

_That_ seems to stand without relation, but is referred to _find_, the first conjunction being inaccurately suppressed. I find _that_ she names my deed, I find that I profess, &c.

I.i.76 (315,5) Which the most precious square of sense possesses] [Warburton explained "square" as the "four nobler senses"] This is acute; but perhaps _square_ means only _compass, comprehension_.

I.i.80 (315,6) More pond'rous than my tongue] [W: their tongue] I think the present reading right.

I.i.84 (316,8) Now our joy] Here the true reading is picked out of two copies. Butter's quarto reads,

--_But_ now our joy,
Although the last, not least in our dear love,
What can you say to win a third, &c.

The folio,

--Now our joy,
Although our last, _and_ least; to whose young love
The vines of France, and milk of Burgundy,
Strive to be int'ress'd. _What can you say?_

I.i.138 (318,5) The sway, revenue, execution of the rest] [W: of th' hest] I do not see any great difficulty in the words, _execution of the rest_, which are in both the old copies. The _execution of the rest_ is, I suppose, _all the other business_. Dr. Warburton's own explanation of his amendment confutes it; if _hest_ be a _regal comnand_, they were, by the grant of Lear, to have rather the _hest_ than the execution.

1.1.149 (319,6)

Think'st thou, that duty shall have dread to speak,
When power to flattery bows? To plainness honour's bound,
When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy doom,
And in thy best consideration check
This hideous rashness: answer my life my judgment,
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least]

I have given this passage according to the old folio, from which the modern editions have silently departed, for the sake of better numbers, with a degree of insincerity, which, if not sometimes detected and censured, must impair the credit of ancient books. One of the editors, and perhaps only one, knew how much mischief may be done by such clandestine alterations. The quarto agrees with the folio, except that for _reserve thy state_, it gives, _reverse thy doom_, and has _stoops_ instead of _falls to folly_. The meaning of _answer my life my judgment_, is, _Let my life be answerable for my judgment_, or, _I will stake my life on my opinion_.--The reading which, without any right, has possessed all the modern copies is this;

--to plainness honour
Is bound, when majesty to folly falls.
Reserve thy state; with better judgment check
This hideous rashness; with my life I answer,
Thy youngest daughter, &c.

I am inclined to think that _reverse thy doom_ was Shakespeare's first reading, as more apposite to the present occasion, and that he changed it afterwards to _reserve thy state_, which conduces more to the progress of the action.

I.i.161 (320,9) The true blank of thine eye] The _blank_ is the _white_ or exact mark at which the arrow is shot. _See better_, says Kent, _and keep me always in your view_.

I.i.172 (320,1) strain'd pride] The oldest copy reads _strayed pride_; that is, _pride exorbitant_; pride passing due bounds.

I.i.174 (320,3) Which nor our nature, nor our place, can bear;/ Our potency made good] [T: (Which ... bear) ... made good] [Warburton defended "make"] Theobald only inserted the parenthesis; he found _made good_ in the best copy of 1623. Dr. Warburton has very acutely explained and defended the reading that he has chosen, but I am not certain that he has chosen right. If we take the reading of the folio, _our potency_ made _good_, the sense will be less profound indeed, but less intricate, and equally commodious. _As thou hast come with unreasonable pride between the_ sentence _which I had passed, and the_ power _by which I shall execute it_, take thy reward _in another sentence which shall_ make good, _shall establish, shall maintain_, that power. If Dr. Warburton's explanation be chosen, and every reader will wish to choose it, we may better read,

Which nor our nature, nor our state can bear,
_Or_ potency make good.--

Mr. Davies thinks, that _our potency made good_ relates only to _our place_.--Which our nature cannot bear, nor our _place_, without departure from the _potency_ of that place. This is easy and clear.--Lear, who is characterized as hot, heady, and violent, is, with very just observation of life, made to entangle himself with vows, upon any sudden provocation to vow revenge, and then to plead the obligation of a vow in defence of implacability.

I.i.181 (322,4) By Jupiter] Shakespeare makes his Lear too much a mythologist: he had Hecate and Apollo before.

I.i.190 (322,6) He'll shape his old course] He will follow his old maxims; he will continue to act upon the same principles.

I.i.201 (323,7) If aught within that little, seeming, substance] _Seeming_ is _beautiful_.

I.i.209 (323,9) Election makes not up on such conditions] To _make up_ signifies to complete, to conclude; as, _they made up the bargain_; but in this sense it has, I think, always the subject noun after it. To _make up_, in familiar language, is, neutrally, _to come forward_, to _make advances_, which, I think, is meant here.

I.i.221 (324,2)

Sure her offence
Must be of such unnatural degree,
That monsters it: or your fore-vouch'd affection
Fall into taint]

The common books read,

--or your fore-vouch'd affection
Fall'n into taint:--

This line has no clear or strong sense, nor is this reading authorized by any copy, though it has crept into all the late editions. The early quarto reads,

--or you for vouch'd affections
Fall'n into taint.--

The folio,

--or your fore-vouch'd affection
Fall into taint.--

_Taint_ is used for _corruption_ and for _disgrace_. If therefore we take the oldest reading it may be reformed thus:

--sure her offence
Must be of such unnatural degree,
That monsters it; or you for vouch'd affection
Fall into taint.

Her offence must be prodigious, or _you_ must _fal1 into reproach_ for having _vouched affection_ which you did not feel. If the reading of the folio be preferred, we may with a very slight change produce the same sense:

--sure her offence
Must be of such unnatural degree,
That monsters it, or your fore-vouch'd affection
_Falls_ into taint.--

That is, _falls into reproach_ or _censure_. But there is another possible sense. _Or_ signifies _before_, and _or ever_ is _before ever_; the meaning in the folio may therefore be, _Sure her crime must be monstrous_ before _your affection can be affected with hatred_. Let the reader determine.--As I am not much a friend to conjectural emendation, I should prefer the latter sense, which requires no change of reading.

I.i.243 (325,3) from the intire point] _Intire_, for right, true. WARB.] Rather, single, unmixed with other considerations.

I.i.264 (326,5) Thou losest here, better where to find] _Here_ and _where_ have the power of nouns. Thou losest this residence to find a better residence in another place.

I.i.282 (326,6) And well are worth the want that you have wanted] [This I take to be the poet's meaning, stript of the jingle which makes it dark: "You well deserve to meet with that _want_ of love from your husband, which you have professed to _want_ for our father." THEOBALD.] [W: have vaunted] I think the common reading very suitable to the manner of our author, and well enough explained by Theobald.

I.i.283 (327,7) plaited cunning] i.e. _complicated, involved_ cunning. (1773)

I.ii.3 (328,2) Stand in the plague of custom] The word _plague_ is in all the copies; I can scarcely think it right, nor can I yet reconcile myself to the emendation proposed, though I have nothing better to offer [Warburton had proposed _plage_].

I.ii.21 (330,7) Shall be the legitimate] [Hanmer: toe th'] Hanmer's emendation will appear very plausible to him that shall consult the original reading. Butter's quarto reads,

--Edmund the base
Shall _tooth'_ legitimate.--

The folio,

--Edmund the base
Shall _to th'_ legitimate.--

Hanmer, therefore, could hardly be charged with coining a word, though his explanation may be doubted. To _toe_ him, is perhaps to _kick_ him _out_, a phrase yet in vulgar use; or, to _toe_, may be literally to _supplant_. The word _be_ has no authority.

I.ii.24 (331,1) subscrib'd his power!] To subscribe, is, to transfer by signing or _subscribing_ a writing of testimony. We now use the term, He _subscribed_ forty pounds to the new building.

I.ii.25 (331,2) Confin'd to exhibition!] Is _allowance_. The term is yet used in the universities.

I.ii.25 (331,3) All this done/Upon the gad!] So the old copies; the later editions read,

--All _is gone_
Upon the gad!--

which, besides that it is unauthorized, is less proper. _To_ do upon the _gad_, is, to act by the sudden stimulation of caprice, as cattle run madding when they are stung by the gad fly.

I.ii.47 (332,4) taste of my virtue] Though _taste_ may stand in this place, yet I believe we should read, _assay_ or _test_ of my virtue: they are both metallurgical terms, and properly joined. So in Hamlet,

Bring me to the _test_.

I.ii.51 (323,6) idle and fond] Weak and foolish.

I.ii.95 (333,7) pretence] _Pretence_ is design, purpose. So afterwards in this play,

_Pretence_ and purpose of unkindness.

I.ii.106 (333,8) wind me into him] I once thought it should be read, _you_ into him; but, perhaps, it is a familiar phrase, like _do me this_.

I.ii.107 (333,9) I would unstate myself to be in a due resolution] [i.e. I will throw aside all consideration of my relation to him, that I may act as justice requires. WARBURTON.] Such is this learned man's explanation. I take the meaning to be rather this, _Do you frame the business_, who can act with less emotion; _I would unstate myself_; it would in me be a departure from the paternal character, _to be in a due resolution_, to be settled and composed on such an occasion. The words _would_ and _should_ are in old language often confounded.

I.ii.l09 (334,1) convey the business] [_Convey_, for introduce. WARB.] To _convey_ is rather to _carry through_ than to introduce; in this place it is to _manage artfully_: we say of a juggler, that he has a clean _conveyance_.

I.ii.112 (334,2) These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us: tho' the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourg'd by the frequent effects] That is, though natural philosophy can give account of eclipses, yet we feel their consequences.

I.ii.156 (338,8) I promise you, the effects he writes of, succeed unhappily] The folio edition commonly differs from the first quarto, by augmentations or insertions, but in this place it varies by omission, and by the omission of something which naturally introduces the following dialogue. It is easy to remark, that in this speech, which ought, I think, to be inserted as it now is in the text, Edmund, with the common craft of fortune-tellers, mingles the past and future, and tells of the future only what he already foreknows by confederacy, or can attain by probable conjecture. (see 1765, VI, 27, 6)

I.ii.178 (339,1) that with the mischief of your person it would scarcely allay] This reading is in both copies; yet I believe the author gave it, _that_ but _with the mischief_ of your person it would scarce allay.

I.iii.19 (341,2) Old fools are babes again; and must be us'd/ With checks, as flatteries when they are seen abus'd] These lines hardly deserve a note, though Mr. Theobald thinks them _very fine_. Whether _fools_ or _folks_ should be read is not worth enquiry. The controverted line is yet in the old quarto, not as the editors represent it, but thus:

With checks as flatteries when they are seen abus'd.

I am in doubt whether there is any error of transcription. The sense seems to be this: _Old men must be treated with checks_, when as _they are seen to be deceived with flatteries_: or, _when they are weak enough to be_ seen abused by flatteries, they are then weak enough to be _used with checks_. There is a play of the words _used_ and _abused_. To _abuse_ is, in our author, very frequently the same as to _deceive_. This construction is harsh and ungrammatical; Shakespeare perhaps thought it vicious, and chose to throw away the lines rather than correct them, nor would now thank the officiousness of his editors, who restore what they do not understand.

I.iv.118 (347,5) Would I had two coxcombs, and two daughters] Two fools caps, intended, as it seems, to mark double folly in the man that gives all to his daughters.

I.iv.133 (347,7) Lend less than thou owest] That is, _do not lend all that thou hast_. To _owe_, in old English, is _to possess_. If _owe_ be taken for _to be in debt_, the more prudent precept would be, Lend _more_ than thou owest.

I.iv.153-170 (348,9) This dialogue, from _No, lad; teach me_, down to, _Give me an egg_, was restored from the first edition by Mr. Theobald. It is omitted in the folio, perhaps for political reasons, as it seemed to censure monopolies.

I.iv.181 (349,2) Fools ne'er had less grace in a year] There never was a time when fools were less in favour; and the reason is, that they were never so little wanted, for wise men now supply their place. Such I think is the meaning. The old edition has _wit_ for _grace_.

I.iv.219 (350,5) That's a sheal'd peascod] i.e. Now a mere husk, which contains nothing. The outside of a king remains, but all the intrinsic parts of royalty are gone: he has nothing to give. (1773)

I.iv.245 (351,3) Whoop, Jug] There are in the fool's speeches several passages which seem to be proverbial allusions, perhaps not now to be understood.

I.iv.256 (352,1) _Fool_. Which they will make an obedient father] [This line I have restored from the quarto. STEEVENS] This note [Tyrwhitt's, quoted by Steevens] is written with confidence disproportionate to the conviction which it can bring. Lear might as well know by the marks and tokens arising from sovereignty, knowledge, and reason, that he had or had not daughters, as he could know by any thing else. But, says he, if I judge by these tokens, I find the persuasion false by which I long thought myself the father of daughters. (1773)

I.iv.302 (355,7) from her derogate body] [_Derogate_ for _unnatural_. WARB.] Rather, I think, _degraded; blasted_.

I.iv.320 (356,9)

That these hot tears, which break from me perforce,
Should make thee worth them.--Blasts and fogs upon thee!
The untented woundings of a father's curse
Pierce every sense about thee!--Old fond eyes,
Beweep this cause again]

I will transcribe this passage from the first edition, that it may appear to those who are unacquainted with old books, what is the difficulty of revision, and what indulgence is due to those that endeavour to restore corrupted passages.--_That these hot tears, that breake from me perforce, should make the worst blasts and fogs upon the untender woundings of a father's curse, peruse every sense about the old fond eyes, beweep this cause again, &c._

I.iv.362 (358,3) compact it more] Unite one circumstance with another, so as to make a consistent account.

I.iv.366 (358,4) You are much more at task for want of wisdom] It is a common phrase now with parents and governesses. _I'll take you to task_, i.e. _I will reprehend and correct you. To be at task_, therefore, is to be liable to _reprehension and correction_. (1773)

I.v.5 (358,1) I shall be there afore you] He seems to intend to go to his daughter, but it appears afterwards that he is going to the house of Glo'ster.

I.v.25 (359,2) I did her wrong] He is musing on Cordelia.

I.v.42 (359,3) To take it again perforce!] He is meditating on the resumption of his royalty.

II.i.9 (360,1) ear-kissing arguments] Subjects of discourse; topics.

II.i.19 (361,2) queazy question] Something of a _suspicious, questionable, and uncertain nature_. This is, I think, the meaning.

II.i.27 (361,4) have you nothing said/Upon his party 'gainst the duke of Albany?] I cannot but think the line corrupted, and would read,

_Against_ his party, _for_ the duke of Albany?

II.i.57 (363,7) gasted] Frighted.

II.i.59 (363,8) Not in this land shall he remain uncaught;/And found--Dispatch] [Not in this land shall he remain uncaught; And found dispatch--the noble duke, &c.]

[W: found, dispatch'd.] I do not see how this change mends the sense: I think it may be better regulated as in the page above. The sense is interrupted. He shall be caught--and found, _he shall be punished_. Dispatch.

II.i.67 (363,2) And found him pight to do it, with curst speech] _Pight_ is _pitched_, fixed, settled. _Curst_ is severe, harsh, vehemently angry.

II.i.122 (366,7) Occasions, noble Glo'ster, of some prize] [W: poize] _Prize_, or _price_, for value. (1773)

II.i.126 (366,8) from our home] Not at home, but at some other place.

II.ii.9 (367,1) Lipsbury pinfold] The allusion which seems to be contained in this line I do not understand. In the violent eruption of reproaches which bursts from Kent in this dialogue, there are some epithets which the commentators have left unexpounded, and which I am not very able to make clear. Of a _three-suited knave_ I know not the meaning, unless it be that he has different dresses for different occupations. _Lilly-liver'd_ is _cowardly_; _white-blooded_ and _white-liver'd_ are still in vulgar use. An _one-trunk-inheriting slave_, I take to be a wearer of old cast-off cloaths, an inheritor of torn breeches.

II.ii.36 (368,4) barber-monger] Of this word I do not clearly see the force.

II.ii.39 (368,5) Vanity the puppet's] Alluding to the mysteries or allegorical shews, in which vanity, iniquity, and other vices, were personified.

II.ii.45 (369,6) neat slave] You mere slave, you very slave.

II.ii.69 (369,8) Thou whoreson zed; thou unnecessary letter!] I do not well understand how a man is reproached by being called _zed_, nor how Z is an _unnecessary letter_. Scarron compares his deformity to the shape of Z, and it may be a proper word of insult to a crook-backed man; but why should Gonerill's steward be crooked, unless the allusion be to his bending or cringing posture in the presence of his superiors. Perhaps it was written, _thou whoreson_ C (for cuckold) _thou unnecessary letter_. C is a letter unnecessary in our alphabet, one of its two sounds being represented by S, and one by K. But all the copies concur in the common reading.

II.ii.87 (371,3) epileptic visage!] The frighted countenance of a man ready to fall in a fit.

II.ii.103 (372,5) constrains the garb/Quite from his nature] Forces his _outside_ or his _appearance_ to something totally _different from_ his natural disposition.

II.ii.109 (372,8) Than twenty silly ducking observants] [W: silky] The alteration is more ingenious than the arguments by which it is supported.

II.ii.119 (373,8) though I should win your displeasure to intreat me to't] Though I should win you, displeased as you now are, to like me so well as to intreat me to be a knave.

II.ii.167 (375,3)

Good king, that must approve the common saw!
Thou out of heaven's benediction com'at
To the warm sun!]

That art now to exemplify the common proverb, _That out of_, &c. That changest better for worse. Hanmer observes, that it is a proverbial saying, applied to those who are turned out of house and home to the open weather. It was perhaps first used of men dismissed from an hospital, or house of charity, such as was erected formerly in many places for travellers. Those houses had names properly enough alluded to by _heaven's benediction_.

II.ii.173 (376,4)

I know 'tis from Cordelia;
Who hath most fortunately been inform'd
Of my obscur'd coarse, and shall find time
From this enormous state, seeking to give
Losses their remedies]

This passage, which some of the editors have degraded, as spurious, to the margin, and others have silently altered, I have faithfully printed according to the quarto, from which the folio differs only in punctuation. The passage is very obscure, if not corrupt. Perhaps it may be read thus:

--Cordelia--has been--informed.
Of my obscur'd course, and shall find time
From this enormous state-seeking, to give
Losses their remedies.--

Cordelia is informed of our affairs, and when the _enormous_ care of _seeking her fortune_ will allow her time, she will employ it in remedying losses. This is harsh; perhaps something better may be found. I have at least supplied the genuine reading of the old copies. _Enormous_ is unwonted, out of rule, out of the ordinary course of things.

II.iii.18 (377,2) Poor pelting villages] _Pelting_ is, I believe, only an accidental depravation of _petty_. Shakespeare uses it in the _Midsummer-Night's Dream_ of _small brooks_.

II.iii.20 (378,3) Poor Turlygood! poor Tom!] [W: Turlupin] Hanmer reads, _poor_ Turlurd. It is probable the word _Turlygood_ was the common corrupt pronunciation.

II.iii.21 (378,4) Edgar I nothing am] As Edgar I am out-lawed, dead in law; I have no longer any political existence.

II.iv (378,1) _Changes again to the earl of Glo'ster's castle_] It is not very clearly discovered why Lear comes hither. In the foregoing part he sent a letter to Glo'ster; but no hint is given of its contents. He seems to have gone to visit Glo'ster while Cornwall and Regan might prepare to entertain him.

II.iv.24 (380,4) To do upon respect such violent outrage] To violate the public and venerable character of a messenger from the king.

II.iv.46 (380,7) Winter's not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that way] If this be their behaviour, the king's troubles are not yet at an end.

II.iv.70 (381,9) All that follow their noses are led by their eyes, but blind men; and there's not a nose among twenty, but can smell him that's stinking] There is in this sentence no clear series of thought. If he that follows his nose is led or guided by his eyes, he wants no information from his nose. I persuade myself, but know not whether I can persuade others, that our author wrote thus:--"All men are led by their eyes, but blind men, and they follow their noses; and there's not a nose among twenty but can smell him that's stinking."--Here is a succession of reasoning. You ask, why the king has no more in his train? why, because men who are led by their eyes see that he is ruined; and if there were any blind among them, who, for want of eyes, followed their noses, they might by their noses discover that it was no longer fit to follow the king.

II.iv.83 (382,2)

But I will tarry; the fool will stay,
And let the wise man fly;
The knave turns fool, that runs away;
The fool no knave, perdy]

I think this passage erroneous, though both the copies concur. The sense mill be mended if we read,

But I will tarry; the fool will stay,
And let the wise man fly;
The fool turns knave, that runs away;
The knave no fool,--

That I stay with the king is a proof that I am a fool, the wise men are deserting him. There is knavery in this desertion, but there is no folly.

II.iv.116 (383,3) Is practice only] _Practice_ is in Shakespeare, and other old writers, used commonly in an ill sense for _unlawful artifice_.

II.iv.122 (384,4) Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the eels, when she put them i' the paste alive] Hinting that the eel and Lear are in the same danger.

II.iv.142 (384,7) Than she to scant her duty] The word _scant_ is directly contrary to the sense intended. The quarto reads,

--_slack_ her duty,

which is no better. May we not change it thus:

You less know bow to value her desert,
Than she to _scan_ her duty.

To _scan_ may be to _measure_ or _proportion_. Yet our author uses his negatives with such licentiousness, that it is hardly safe to make any alteration.--_Scant_ may mean to _adapt_, to _fit_, to _proportion_; which sense seems still to be retained in the mechanical term scantling. (see 1765, VI, 67, 4)

II.iv.155 (385,1) Do you but mark how this becomes the house?] [T: the use?] [Warburton called "becomes the house" "a most expressive phrase"] with this _most expressive phrase_ I believe no reader is satisfied. I suspect that it has been written originally,

Ask her forgiveness?
Do you but mark how this becometh--thus.
Dear daughter, I confess, &c.

_Becomes the house_, and _becometh thus_, might be easily confounded by readers so unskilful as the original printers.

II.iv.157 (386,2) _Age is unnecessary_] i.e. Old age has few wants.

II.iv.162 (386,3) Look'd black upon me] To _look black_, may easily be explained to _look cloudy_ or _gloomy_. See Milton:

"So frown'd the mighty combatants, that hell
Grew darker at their frown."--

II.iv.170 (386,4) To fall, and blast her pride!] Thus the quarto: the folio reads not so well, _to fall and blister_. I think there is still a fault, which may be easily mended by changing a letter:

--Infect her beauty,
Ye fen-suck'd fogs, drawn by the powerful sun,
_Do_, fall, and blast her pride!

II.iv.174 (387.6) Thy tender-hested nature shall not give/Thee o'er to harshness] This word, though its general meaning be plain, I do not critically understand.

II.iv.178 (387,7) to scant my sizes] To contract my allowances or proportions settled.

II.iv.203 (388,9) much less advancement] The word _advancement_ is ironically used here for _conspicuousness_ of punishment; as we now say, _a man is advanced to the pillory_. We should read,

--but his own disorders
Deserv'd much _more_ advancement.

II.iv.204 (388,1) I pray you, father, being weak, seem so] [W: deem't so] The meaning is, since _you are weak_, be content to think yourself weak. No change is needed.

II.iv.218 (389,3) base life] i.e. In a _servile_ state.

II.iv.227 (390,5) embossed carbuncle] _Embossed_ is _swelling, protuberant_.

II.iv.259 (391,6) Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favour'd:/ When others are more wicked] Dr. Warburton would exchange the repeated epithet _wicked_ into _wrinkled_ in both places. The commentator's only objection to the lines as they now stand, is the discrepancy of the metaphor, the want of opposition between _wicked_ and _well-favoured_. But he might have remembered what he says in his own preface concerning _mixed modes_. Shakespeare, whose mind was more intent upon notions than words, had in his thoughts the pulchritude of virtue, and the deformity of wickedness; and though he had mentioned _wickedness_, made the correlative answer to _deformity_.

III.i.7 (394,1) That things might change, or cease: tears his white hair] The first folio ends the speech at _change, or cease_, and begins again with Kent's question, _But who is with him?_ The whole speech is forcible, but too long for the occasion, and properly retrenched.

III.i.18 (395,3) my note] My observation of your character.

III.i.29 (395,6) _are but furnishings_] _Furnishings_ are what we now call _colours, external pretences_. (1773)

III.i.19 (395,8)

There is division,
Although as yet the face of it is cover'd
with mutual cunning, 'twixt Albany and Cornwall;
_Who have (as who have not, whom their great stars
Throne and set high?) servants, who seem no less;
Which are to France the spies and speculations
Intelligent of our state. What hath been seen,
Either in snuffs and packings of the dukes;
Or the hard rein, which both of them have borne
Against the old kind king; or something deeper,
Whereof, perchance, these are but furnishings._
[But, true it is, from France there comes a power
Into this scatter'd kingdom; who already,
Wise in our negligence, have secret fee
In some of our best ports, and are at point
To shew their open banner.--Now to you:]]