Enter GONERIL. If you do love old men, if your sweet sway Make it your caufe; fend down, and take my part!— O, Regan, wilt thou take her by the hand? [to Gon. Gon. Why not by the hand, fir? How have I offended? All's not offence, that indifcretion finds 9, And dotage terms, fo. Lear. O, fides, you are too tough! Will you yet hold?-How came my man i' the ftocks? Corn. I fet him there, fir: but his own diforders Deferv'd much lefs advancement'. s If you do love old men, if your fweet fray Allow obedience,-] Mr. Upton has proved by irresistible autho rity, that to allow fignifies not only to permit, but to approve, and has defervedly replaced the old reading, which Dr. Warburton had changed into ballow obedience, not recollecting the fcripture expreffion, The Lord alloweth the righteous, Pfalm xi. ver. 6. So, in Greene's Farewell to Follie, 1617: "I allow thofe pleafing poems of Guazzo, which begin," &c. Again, Sir Tho, North's translation of Plutarch, concerning the reception with which the death of Cæfar met: "they neither greatly reproved, nor allowed the fact." Dr. Warburton might have found the emendation which he propofed, in Tate's alteration of King Lear, which was first published in 1687. STEEVENS. 9-that indifcretion finds,] Finds is here ufed in the fame fenfe as when a jury is faid to find a bill, to which it is an allufion. Our author again uses the fame word in the fame sense in Hamlet, A&t V. fc.i: "Why 'tis found fo." EDWARDS. To find is little more than to think. The French ufe their word trouver in the fame fenfe, and we still fay I find time tedious, or I find company troublesome, without thinking on a jury. STEEVENS. 1-much less advancement.] The word advancement is ironically ufed for conspicuoufness of punishment; as we now fay, a man is advanced to the pillory. We fhould read: but his own diforders Deferv'd much more advancement. JOHNSON. By less advancement is meant, a ftill worse or more disgraceful fitua tion: a fituation not fo reputable. PERCY. Cornwall certainly means, that Kent's disorders had entitled him to even a poft of less honour than the ftocks. STEEVENS. Lear. Lear. You! did you? Reg. I pray you, father, being weak, feem fo2. Gon. At your choice, fir. [looking on the Steward. Lear. Now I pr'ythee, daughter, do not make me mad; I will not trouble thee, my child; farewel; We'll no more meet, no more see one another:— But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter; 2 I pray you, father, being weak, seem fo.] The meaning is, fince you are weak, be content to think yourself weak. JOHNSON. 3 No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choofe To wage against the enmity o' the air; To be a comrade with the wolf and owl, Neceffity's fharp pinch!] To wage is often ufed abfolutely without the word war after it, and yet fignifies to make war, as before in this play: My life I never held but as a pawn To wage against thine enemies. The words neceffity's fharp pinch! appear to be the reflection of Lear on the wretched fort of existence he had defcribed in the preceding lines. STEEVENS. 4-bafe life- i. e. In a fervile ftate. JOHNSON. sand fumpter -] Sumpter is a horse that carries neceffaries on a journey. STEVENS. Which I muft needs call mine: thou art a boil, In my corrupted blood. Let shame come when it will, I do not call it : I do not bid the thunder-bearer shoot, Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove: Reg. Not altogether fo, fir; I look'd not for you yet, nor am provided For your fit welcome: Give ear, fir, to my fifter; Lear. Is this well spoken now? Reg. I dare avouch it, fir: What, fifty followers? Is it not well? What should you need of more? Yea, or fo many? fith that both charge and danger Speak 'gainst fo great a number? How, in one houfe, Should many people, under two commands, Hold amity? 'Tis hard; almoft impoffible. Gon. Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance From thofe that the calls fervants, or from mine? Reg. Why not, my lord? If then they chanc'd to flack you, We could control them: If you will come to me, (For now I fpy a danger,) I entreat you To bring but five and twenty; to no more Will I give place, or notice." Lear. I gave you all Reg. And in good time you gave it. 6 - thou art a boil, &c.] The word in the old copies is written byle, and all the modern editors have too ftrictly followed them. The miftake arose from the word boil being often pronounced as if written bile. In the folio, we find in Coriolanus the fame falfe fpelling as here: Byles [boils] and plagues "Plafter you o'er!" MALONE. 7 embosled carbuncle,] Embossed is fwelling, protuberant. JouNs. Lear. Lear. Made you my guardians, my depofitaries; With fuch a number: What, muft I come to you Reg. And fpeak it again, my lord; no more with me. Lear.Thofe wicked creatures yet do look well-favour'd, When others are more wicked; not being the worst, Stands in fome rank of praife: -I'll go with thee; Thy fifty yet doth double five and twenty, Gon. Hear me, my lord; What need you five and twenty, ten, or five, Reg. What need one? [to Goneril, Lear. O, reafon not the need: our baseft beggare Are in the pooreft thing fuperfluous: Allow not nature more than nature needs, Man's life is cheap as beaft's: thou art a lady; If only to go warm were gorgeous, Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st, To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger! 8 Thofe wicked creatures yet do look well-favour'd, When others are more wicked ;] A fimilar thought occurs in Cymbeline, A& V. it is I "That all the abhorred things o' the earth amend, "By being worse than they.' STEEVENS. The proper pointing of this paffage was fuggefted by Mr. Tyrwhitt. MALONE. -patience, patience I need!] I believe the word patience was repeated inadvertently by the compofitor. MALONE. -poor old man,] The quarto has, poor old fellow. JOHNSON. Stain my man's cheeks!-No, you unnatural hags, That all the world fhall-I will do fuch things,- I have full caufe of weeping; but this heart [Exeunt LEAR, GLOSTER, KENT, and Fool. Corn. Let us withdraw, 'twill be a storm. [Storm beard at a distance. Reg. This houfe is little; the old man and his people Cannot be well beftow'd. Gon. 'Tis his own blame; he hath put himself from reft 3, And muft needs tafle his folly. Reg. For his particular, I'll receive him gladly, But not one follower. Gon. So am I purpos'd. Where is my lord of Gloster? Re-enter GLOSTER. Corn. Follow'd the old man forth:-he is return'd. -I will do fuch things, What they are, yet I know not ;]. magnum eft quodcunque paravi, Quid fit, adhuc dubito. Ovid. Met. lib. vi. haud quid fit fcio, Sed grande quiddam eft. Seneca Thyeftes. Let fuch as are unwilling to allow that copiers of nature muft occafionally ufe the fame thoughts and expreffions, remember, that of both thefe authors there were early translations. STEEVENS. 2 into a bundred thousand flaws,] A flaw fignifying a crack or other fimilar imperfection, our authour, with his accustomed licence, ufes the word here for a fmail broken particle. So again, in the fifth act : But his flaw'd beart "Burft fmilingly. MALONE. 3-he bath put himself from reft,] The perfonal pronoun was fupplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer. He hath was formerly contracted thus; H'atb; and hence perhaps the mistake. The fame error has, I think, happened in Meafure for Meafure. See Vol. II, p. 24, n. 8. MALONE. 5 Corn. |