Note return to page 1 1The story was originally written by Lollius, an old Lombard author, and since by Chaucer. Pope. Mr. Pope (after Dryden) informs us, that the story of Troilus and Cressida was originally the work of one Lollius, a Lombard: (of whom Gascoigne speaks in Dan Bartholmewe his first Triumph: “Since Lollius and Chaucer both, make doubt upon that glose”) but Dryden goes yet further. He declares it to have been written in Latin verse, and that Chaucer translated it. Lollius was a historiographer of Urbino in Italy. Shakespeare received the greatest part of his materials for the structure of this play from the Troye Boke of Lydgate. Lydgate was not much more than a translator of Guido of Columpna, who was of Messina in Sicily, and wrote his History of Troy in Latin, after Dictys Cretensis, and Dares Phrygius, in 1287. On these, as Mr. Warton observes, he engrafted many new romantic inventions, which the taste of his age dictated, and which the connection between Grecian and Gothic fiction easily admitted; at the same time comprehending in his plan the Theban and Argonautic stories from Ovid, Statius, and Valerius Flaccus. Guido's work was published at Cologne in 1477, again in 1480: at Strasburgh 1486, and ibidem 1489. It appears to have been translated by Raoul le Feure, at Cologne, into French, from whom Caxton rendered it into English in 1471, under the title of his Recuyel, &c. so that there must have been yet some earlier edition of Guido's performance that I have hitherto seen or heard of, unless his first translator had recourse to a manuscript. Guido of Columpna is referred to as an authority by our own chronicler Grafton. Chaucer had made the loves of Troilus and Cressida famous, which very probably might have been Shakespeare's inducement to try their fortune on the stage.—Lydgate's Troye Boke was printed by Pynson, 1513. In the books of the Stationers' Company, anno 1581, is entered “A proper ballad, dialogue-wise, between Troilus and Cressida.” Again, Feb. 7, 1602: “The booke of Troilus and Cressida, as it is acted by my Lo. Chamberlain's men.” The first of these entries is in the name of Edward White, the second in that of M. Roberts. Again, Jan. 28, 1608, entered by Rich. Bonian and Hen. Whalley, “A booke called the history of Troilus and Cressida.” Steevens. Troilus and Cressida.] Before this play of Troilus and Cressida, printed in 1609, is a bookseller's preface, shewing that first impression to have been before the play had been acted, and that it was published without Shakespeare's knowledge, from a copy that had fallen into the bookseller's hands. Mr. Dryden thinks this one of the first of our author's plays: but, on the contrary, it may be judged from the fore-mentioned preface, that it was one of his last; and the great number of observations, both moral and politic, with which this piece is crowded more than any other of his, seems to confirm my opinion. Pope. We may rather learn from this preface, that the original proprietors of Shakespeare's plays thought it their interest to keep them unprinted. The author of it adds, at the conclusion, these words: “Thank fortune for the 'scape it hath made among you, since, by the grand possessors wills, I believe you should rather have prayed for them, than have been prayed,” &c. By the grand possessors, I suppose, were meant Heming and Condell. It appears that the rival playhouses at that time made frequent depredations on one another's copies. In the Induction to the Malecontent, written by Webster, and augmented by Marston, 1606, is the following passage: “I wonder you would play it, another company having interest in it.” “Why not Malevole in folio with us, as Jeronimo in decimo sexto with them? They taught us a name for our play; we call it One for another.” Again, T. Heywood, in his preface to the English Traveller, 1633: “Others of them are still retained in the hands of some actors, who think it against their peculiar profit to have them come in print.” Steevens. It appears, however, that frauds were practised by writers as well as actors. It stands on record against Robert Green, the author of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, and Orlando Furioso, 1594 and 1599, that he sold the last of these pieces to two different theatres: “Master R. G. would it not make you blush, &c. if you sold not Orlando Furioso to the Queen's players for twenty nobles, and when they were in the country, sold the same play to the Lord Admiral's men for as much more? Was not this plain Coneycatching M. G.?” Defence of Coneycatching, 1592. This note was not merely inserted to expose the craft of authorship, but to show the price which was anciently paid for the copy of a play, and to ascertain the name of the writer of Orlando Furioso, which was not hitherto known. Greene appears to have been the first poet in England who sold the same piece to different people. Voltaire is much belied, if he has not followed his example. Collins. Notwithstanding what has been said by a late editor, I have a copy of the first folio, including Troilus and Cressida. Indeed, as I have just now observed, it was at first either unknown or forgotten. It does not however appear in the list of the plays, and is thrust in between the histories and the tragedies without any enumeration of the pages; except, I think, on one leaf only. It differs intirely from the copy in the second folio. Farmer. I have consulted eleven copies of the first folio, and Troilus and Cressida is not wanting in any one of them. Steevens.

Note return to page 2 1The princes orgillous, &lblank;] Orgillous, i. e. proud, disdainful. Orgueilleux, Fr. This word is used in the ancient romance of Richard Cueur de Lyon: “His atyre was orgulous.” Steevens.

Note return to page 3 2&lblank; Priam's six-gated city, (Dardan and Timbria, Helias, Chetas, Troien, And Antenonidus) with massie staples, And corresponsive and fulfilling bolts, Stirre up the sons of Troy. &lblank;] This has been a most miserably mangled passage through all the editions; corrupted at once into false concord and false reasoning. Priam's six-gated city stirre up the sons of Troy?—Here's a verb plural governed of a nominative singular. But that is easily remedied. The next question to be asked is, In what sense a city, having six strong gates, and those well barred and bolted, can be said to stir up its inhabitants? unless they may be supposed to derive some spirit from the strength of their fortifications. But this could not be the poet's thought. He must mean, I take it, that the Greeks had pitched their tents upon the plains before Troy; and that the Trojans were securely barricaded within the walls and gates of their city. This sense my correction restores. To sperre, or spar, from the old Teutonic word Speren, signifies to shut up, defend by bars, &c. Theobald. So, in Spenser's Faery Queen, b. 5. c. 10: “The other that was entred, labour'd fast “To sperre the gate, &c.” Again, in the romance of the Squbr of lowe Degre: “Sperde with manie a dyvers pynne.” And in the Visions of P. Plowman it is said that a blind man “unsparryd his eine.” Again, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, B. II. chap. 12: “When chased home into his holdes, there sparred up in gates.” Again, in the 2nd Part of Bale's Actes of Eng. Votaryes: “The dore thereof oft tymes opened and speared agayne.” Steevens. “Therto his cyte &break; compassed enuyrowne “Hadde gates VI to entre into the towne: “The firste of all &break; and strengest eke with all, “Largest also &break; and moste pryncypall, “Of myghty byldyng &break; alone pereless, “Was by the kinge called &break; Dardanydes; “And in storye &break; lyke as it is founde, “Tymbria &break; was named the seconde; “And the thyrde &break; called Helyas, “The fourthe gate &break; hyghte also Cetheas; “The fyfthe Trojana, &break; the syxth Anthonydes, “Stronge and myghty &break; both in werre and pes.” Lond. empr. by R. Pynson, 1513, Fol. b. ii. ch. II. The Troye Boke was somewhat modernized, and reduced into regular stanzas, about the beginning of the last century, under the name of, The Life and Death of Hector—who fought a Hundred mayne Battailes in open Field against the Grecians; wherein there were slaine on both Sides Fourteene Hundred and Sixe Thousand, Fourscore and Sixe Men.—Fol. no date. This work Dr. Fuller, and several other critics, have erroneously quoted as the original; and observe in consequence, that “if Chaucer's coin were of greater weight for deeper learning, Lydgate's were of a more refined standard for purer language: so that one might mistake him for a modern writer.” Farmer. On other occasions, in the course of this play, I shall insert quotations from the Troye Boke modernized, as being the most intelligible of the two. Steevens.

Note return to page 4 3&lblank; fulfilling bolts,] To fulfill in this place means to fill till there be no room for more. In this sense it is now obsolete. So, in Gower, De Confessione Amantis, lib. V. fol. 114: “A lustie maide, a sobre, a meke, “Fulfilled of all curtosie.” Again: “Fulfilled of all unkindship.” Steevens.9Q0996

Note return to page 5 4A prologue arm'd, &lblank;] I come here to speak the prologue, and come in armour; not defying the audience, in confidence of either the author's or actor's abilities, but merely in a character suited to the subject, in a dress of war, before a warlike play. Johnson.

Note return to page 6 &lblank; the vaunt &lblank;] i. e. the avant, what went before. Steevens.

Note return to page 7 2&lblank; my varlet,] This word anciently signified a servant or footman to a knight or warrior. So, Holinshed, speaking of the battle of Agincourt: “&lblank; diverse were releeved by their varlets, and conveied out of the field.” Again, in an ancient epitaph in the churchyard of saint Nicas at Arras: “Cy gift Hakin et son varlet, “Tout di-armè et tout di-pret, “Avec son espé et salloche, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 8 3Will this geer ne'er be mended?] There is somewhat proverbial in this question, which I likewise meet with in the Interlude of K. Darius, 1565: “Wyll not yet this gere be amended, “Nor your sinful acts corrected?” Steevens.

Note return to page 9 4&lblank; fonder than ignorance;] Fonder, for more childish. Warburton.

Note return to page 10 5And skill-less &c.] Mr, Dryden, in his alteration of this play, has taken this speech as it stands, except that he has changed skill-less to artless, not for the better, because skill-less refers to skill and skilful. Johnson.

Note return to page 11 6Doth lesser blench &lblank;] To blench is to shrink, start, or fly off. So, in Hamlet: “&lblank; if he but blench, “I know my course &lblank;” Again, in the Pilgrim by B. and Fletcher: “&lblank; men that will not totter, “Nor blench much at a bullet.” Steevens.

Note return to page 12 7&lblank; and spirit of sense Hard as the palm of ploughman! &lblank;] In comparison with Cressid's hand, says he, the spirit of sense, the utmost degree, the most exquisite power of sensibility, which implies a soft hand, since the sense of touching, as Scaliger says in his Exercitations, resides chiefly in the fingers, is hard as the callous and insensible palm of the ploughman. Warburton reads: &lblank; spite of sense: Hanmer, &lblank; to th' spirit of sense. It is not proper to make a lover profess to praise his mistress in spite of sense; for though he often does it in spite of the sense of others, his own senses are subdued to his desires. Johnson.

Note return to page 13 8&lblank; she has the mends &lblank;] She may mend her complexion by the assistance of cosmetics. Johnson. I believe it rather means—She may make the best of a bad bargain. So, in Woman's a Weathercock, 1612: “I shall stay here and have my head broke, and then I have the mends in my own hands.” Again, in S. Gosson's School of Abuse, 1579: “&lblank; turne him with his back full of stripes, and his hands loden with his own amendes.” Again, in the Wild-Goose Chace, by B. and Fletcher: “The mends are in mine own hands, or the surgeon's.” Steevens.

Note return to page 14 9&lblank; Hector, whose patience Is, as a virtue, fix'd, &lblank;] Patience sure was a virtue, and therefore cannot, in propriety of expression, be said to be like one. We should read: Is as the virtue fix'd, &lblank; i. e. his patience is as fixed as the goddess Patience itself. So we find Troilus a little before saying: Patience herself, what goddess ere she be, Doth lesser blench at sufferance than I do. It is remarkable that Dryden, when he altered this play, and found this false reading, altered it with judgment to: &lblank; whose patience Is fix'd like that of heaven. Which he would not have done had he seen the right reading here given, where his thoughts is so much better and nobler expressed. Warburton. I think the present text may stand. Hector's patience was as a virtue, not variable and accidental, but fixed and constant. If I would alter it, it should be thus: &lblank; Hector, whose patience Is all a virtue fix'd, &lblank; All, in old English, is the intensive or enforcing particle. Johnson.

Note return to page 15 1Before the sun rose, he was harness'd light,] Does the poet mean (says Mr. Theobald) that Hector had put on light armour? mean! what else could he mean? He goes to fight on foot; and was not that the armour for his purpose? So, Fairfax, in Tasso's Jerusalem: “The other princes put on harness light “As footmen use &lblank;” Yet, as if this had been the highest absurdity, he goes on, Or does he mean that Hector was sprightly in his arms even before sunrise? or is a conundrum aimed at, in sun rose and harness'd light? Was any thing like it? But to get out of this perplexity, he tells us, that a very slight alteration makes all these constructions unnecessary, and so changes it to harness-dight. Yet indeed the very slightest alteration will at any time let the poet's sense through the critic's fingers: and the Oxford editor very contentedly takes up with what is left behind, and reads harness-dight too, in order, as Mr. Theobald well expresses it, to make all construction unnecessary. Warburton. How does it appear that Hector was to fight on foot rather to-day, than on any other day? It is to be remembered, that the ancient heroes never fought on horseback; nor does their manner of fighting in chariots seem to require less activity than on foot. Johnson. It is true that the heroes of Homer never fought on horseback; yet such of them as make a second appearance in the Æneid, like their antagonists the Rutulians, had cavalry among their troops. Little can be inferred from the manner in which Ascanius and the young nobility of Troy are introduced at the conclusion of the funeral games, as Virgil very probably, at the expence of an anachronism, meant to pay a compliment to the military exercises instituted by Julius Cæsar, and improved by Augustus. It appears from different passages in this play, that Hector fights on horseback; and it should be remembered, that Shakespeare was indebted for most of his materials to a book which enumerates Esdras and Pythagoras among the bastard children of king Priamus. Shakespeare might have been led into his mistake by the manner in which Chapman has translated several parts of the Iliad, where the heroes mount their chariots or descend from them. Thus B. 6. speaking of Glaucus and Diomed: “&lblank; From horse then both descend.” Steevens.

Note return to page 16 2&lblank; per se, &lblank;] So in Chaucer's Testament of Cresseide: “Of faire Cresseide the floure and a per se “Of Troie and Greece.” Again, in the old comedy of Wily beguiled: “In faith, my sweet honeycomb, I'll love thee a per se a.” Again, in Blurt Master Constable, 1602: “That is the a per se of all, the creame of all.” Steevens.

Note return to page 17 3&lblank; that his valour is crushed into folly, &lblank;] To be crushed into folly, is to be confused and mingled with folly, so as that they make one mass together. Johnson.

Note return to page 18 3&lblank; against the hair:] is a phrase equivalent to another now in use—against the grain. The French say—à contrepoil. Steevens.

Note return to page 19 1Good morrow cousin, Cressid: What do you talk of?—Good morrow, Alexander.—How do you, cousin? &lblank;] Good morrow, Alexander, is added in all the editions. says Mr. Pope, very absurdly, Paris not being on the stage.—Wonderful acuteness! But, with submission, this gentleman's note is much more absurd; for it falls out very unluckily for his remark, that though Paris is, for the generality, in Homer called Alexander; yet, in this play, by any one of the characters introduced, he is called nothing but Paris. The truth of the fact is this: Pandarus is of a busy, impertinent, insinuating character: and it is natural for him, so soon as he has given his cousin the good-morrow, to pay his civilities too to her attendant. This is purely &gres;&grn; &grhsa;&grq;&gre;&gri;, as the grammarians call it; and gives us an admirable touch of Pandarus's character. And why might not Alexander be the name of Cressid's man? Paris had no patent, I suppose, for engrossing it to himself. But the late editor, perhaps, because we have had Alexander the Great, Pope Alexander, and Alexander Pope, would not have so eminent a name prostituted to a common varlet. Theobald.

Note return to page 20 2&lblank; Ilium?] Was the palace of Troy. Johnson.

Note return to page 21 3&lblank; a merry Greek, &lblank;] Græcari among the Romans signified to play the reveller. Steevens.

Note return to page 22 4&lblank; compass'd window, &lblank;] The compass'd window is the same as the bow-window. Johnson.

Note return to page 23 5&lblank; so old a lifter?] The word lifter is used for a thief by Green, in his Art of Coney-catching, printed 1591: on this the humour of the passage may be supposed to turn. We still call a person who plunders shops, a shop-lifter. Jonson uses the expression in Cynthia's Revels: “One other peculiar virtue you possess is, lifting.” Again, in the Roaring Girl, 1611: “&lblank; cheaters, lifters, nips, foists, puggards, courbers.” Again, in Holland's Leaguer, 1633: “Broker or pandar, cheater or lifter.” Steevens.9Q1001

Note return to page 24 6Two and fifty hairs, &lblank;] I have ventured to substitute one and fifty, I think with some certainty. How else can the number make out Priam and his fifty sons? Theobald.

Note return to page 25 7That's Antenor; he has a shrewd wit, &lblank;] “Anthenor was &lblank; “Copious in words, and one that much time spent     “To jest, when as he was in companie,     “So driely, that no man could it espie; “And therewith held his countenaunce so well,   “That every man received great content “To heare him speake, and pretty jests to tell,   “When he was pleasant, and in merriment:     “For tho' that he most commonly was sad,     “Yet in his speech some jest he always had.” Lidgate, p. 105. Steevens.

Note return to page 26 8&lblank; the rich shall have more.] To give one the nod, was a phrase signifying to give one a mark of folly. The reply turns upon this sense, alluding to the expression give, and should be read thus: &lblank; the mich shall have more. i. e. much. He that has much folly already shall then have more. This was a proverbial speech, implying that benefits fall upon the rich. The Oxford editor alters it to: &lblank; the rest shall have none. Warburton. I wonder why the commentator should think any emendation necessary, since his own sense is fully expressed by the present reading. Hanmer appears not to have understood the passage. That to give the nod signifies to set a mark of folly, I do not know; the allusion is to the word noddy, which, as now, did, in our author's time, and long before, signify a silly fellow, and may, by its etymology, signify likewise full of nods. Cressid means, that a noddy shall have more nods. Of such remarks as these is a comment to consist? Johnson. To give the nod, was, I believe a term in the game at cards called Noddy. This game is perpetually alluded to in the old comedies. So, in A Woman kill'd with Kindness, 1617: “Master Frankford best play at Noddy.” Again, in the Insatiate Countess, 1631: “&lblank; Be honest now and not love's noddy, “Turn'd up and play'd on whilst thou keep'st the stock.” Again, in Hide-Park, by Shirley, 1637: “He is upon the matter then fifteen; “A game at noddy.” Steevens.

Note return to page 27 9&lblank; his helm more back'd than Hector's; &lblank;] So in Chaucer's Troilus and Cresseide, b. iii. 640: “His helme to hewin was in twenty places, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 28 1&lblank; an eye to boot.] So the quarto. The folio, with less force, Give money to boot. Johnson.

Note return to page 29 2&lblank; no date in the pye, &lblank;] To account for the introduction of this quibble, it should be remembered that dates were an ingredient in ancient pastry of almost every kind. So, in Romeo and Juliet: “They call for dates and quinces in the pastry.” Again, in All's well that ends well, act I. “&lblank; your date is better in your pye and porridge than in your cheek.” Steevens.

Note return to page 30 3&lblank; upon my wit, to defend my wiles; &lblank;] So read both the copies: yet perhaps the author wrote: Upon my wit to defend my will. The terms wit and will were, in the language of that time, put often in opposition. Johnson.

Note return to page 31 4At your own house; there he unarms him.] These necessary words are added from the quarto edition. Pope. The words added are only, there he unarms him. Johnson.

Note return to page 32 5&lblank; joy's soul lies in the doing:] So read both the old editions, for which the later editions have poorly given: &lblank; the soul's joy lies in doing. Johnson.

Note return to page 33 6That she &lblank;] Means, that woman. Johnson.

Note return to page 34 7Then though &lblank;] The quarto reads then; the folio and the modern editions read improperly, that. Johnson.

Note return to page 35 8my heart's content &lblank;] Content, for capacity. Warburton.

Note return to page 36 9Broad] So the quarto; the folio reads loud. Johnson.

Note return to page 37 1Withdue observance of thy goodly seat,] Goodly is an epithet that carries no very great compliment with it; and Nestor seems here to be paying deference to Agamemnon's state and pre-eminence. The old books have it,—to thy godly seat: godlike, as I have reformed the text, seems to me the epithet designed; and is very conformable to what Æneas afterwards says of Agamemnon: Which is that god in office, guiding men? So godlike seat is here, state supreme above all other commanders. Theobald. This emendation Theobald might have found in the quarto, which has: &lblank; the godlike seat. Johnson.

Note return to page 38 2Nestor shall apply Thy latest words.] Nestor applies the words to another instance. Johnson.

Note return to page 39 3&lblank; patient breast, &lblank;] The quarto not so well: &lblank; ancient breast. Johnson.

Note return to page 40 4With those of nobler bulk?] Statius has the same thought, though more diffusedly express'd: “Sic ubi magna novum Phario de littore puppis “Solvit iter, jamque innumeros utrinque rudentes “Lataque veliferi porrexit brachia mali, “Invasitque vias; it eodem angusta phaselus “Æquore, et immensi partem sibi vendicat austri.” Pope has imitated the passage. Steevens.

Note return to page 41 5&lblank; by the brize] The brize is the gad or horse-fly. So, in Monsieur Thomas, 1639: “&lblank; Have ye got the brize there? “Give me the holy sprinkle.” Again; in Vittoria Corombona, or the White Devil, 1612: “I will put brize in his tail, set him a gadding presently.” Steevens.

Note return to page 42 6&lblank; the thing of courage,] It is said of the tiger, that in storms and high winds he rages and roars most furiously. Hanmer.

Note return to page 43 7Returns to chiding fortune.] For returns, Hanmer reads replies, unnecessarily, the sense being the same. The folio and quarto have retires, corruptly. Johnson.

Note return to page 44 8&lblank; speeches,—which were such, As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece Should hold up high in brass; and such again, As venerable Nestor, hatch'd in silver, Should &lblank; knit all Greekish ears To his experienc'd tongue: &lblank;] Ulysses begins his oration with praising those who had spoken before him, and marks the characteristic excellencies of their different eloquence, strength, and sweetness, which he expresses by the different metals on which he recommends them to be engraven for the instruction of posterity. The speech of Agamemnon is such that it ought to be engraven in brass, and the tablet held up by him on the one side, and Greece on the other, to shew the union of their opinion. And Nestor ought to be exhibited in silver, uniting all his audience in one mind by his soft and gentle elocution. Brass is the common emblem of strength, and silver of gentleness. We call a soft voice a silver voice, and a persuasive tongue a silver tongue.—I once read for hand, the band of Greece, but I think the text right.—To hatch is a term of art for a particular method of engraving. Hacher, to cut, Fr. Johnson. In the description of Agamemnon's speech, there is a plain allusion to the old custom of engraving laws and public records in brass, and hanging up the tables in temples, and other places of general resort. Our author has the same allusion in Measure for Measure, act V. sc. i. The Duke, speaking of the merit of Angelo and Escalus, says, that “&lblank; it deserves with characters of brass “A forted residence, 'gainst the tooth of time “And razure of oblivion.” &lblank; So far therefore is clear. Why Nestor is said to be hatch'd in silver, is much more obscure. I once thought that we ought to read,—thatch'd in silver, alluding to his silver hair; the same metaphor being used by Timon, act IV. sc. iv. to Phryne and Timandra: “&lblank; thatch your poor thin roofs “With burthens of the dead &lblank;.” But I know not whether the present reading may not be understood to convey the same allusion; as I find, that the species of engraving, called hatching, was particularly used in the hilts of swords. See Cotgrave in v. Haché; hacked, &c. also, Hatched, as the hilt of a sword: and in v. Hacher; to hacke, &c. also, to hatch a hilt. Beaumont and Fletcher's Custom of the Country, vol. II. p. 90: “When thine own bloody sword cried out against thee, “Hatch'd in the life of him. &lblank;” As to what follows, if the reader should have no more conception than I have, of &lblank; a bond of air, strong as the axle-tree On which the heavens ride; &lblank; he will perhaps excuse me for hazarding a conjecture, that the true reading may possibly be: &lblank; a bond of awe. After all, the construction of this passage is very harsh and irregular; but with that I meddle not, believing it was left so by the author. Tyrwhitt. Perhaps no alteration is necessary; hatch'd in silver, may mean, whose white hair and beard make him look like a figure engraved on silver. The word is metaphorically used by Heywood in the Iron Age, 1632: “&lblank; his face “Is hatch'd with impudency three-fold thick.” And again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Humorous Lieutenant: “His weapon hatch'd in blood.” Again, literally, in the Two Merry Milkmaids, 1620: “Double and treble gilt, &lblank; “Hatch'd and inlaid, not to be worn with time.” Again, more appositely, in Love in a Maze, 1632: “Thy hair is fine as gold, thy chin is hatch'd “With silver &lblank;” The voice of Nestor, which on all occasions enforced attention, might be, I think, not unpoetically called, a bond of air, because its operations were visible, though his voice, like the wind, was unseen. Steevens.

Note return to page 45 9Agam. Speak, &c.] This speech is not in the quarto. Johnson.

Note return to page 46 1The specialty of rule &lblank;] The particular rights of supreme authority. Johnson.

Note return to page 47 2When that the general is not like the hive,] The meaning is, When the general is not to the army like the hive to the bees, the repository of the stock of every individual, that to which each particular resorts with whatever he has collected for the good of the whole, what honey is expected? what hope of advantage? The sense is clear, the expression is confused. Johnson.

Note return to page 48 3The heavens themselves, &lblank;] This illustration was probably derived from a passage in Hooker: “If celestial spheres should forget their wonted motion; if the prince of the lights of heaven should begin to stand; if the moon should wander from her beaten way; and the seasons of the year blend themselves; what would become of man?” The heavens themselves, the planets, and this center,] i. e. the center of the earth, which, according to the Ptolemaic system, then in vogue, is the center of the solar system. Warburton.

Note return to page 49 4&lblank; But, when the planets, In evil mixture, to disorder wander, &c.] I believe the poet, according to astrological opinions, means, when the planets form malignant configurations, when their aspects are evil towards one another. This he terms evil mixture. Johnson. The poet's meaning may be somewhat explained by Spenser, to whom he seems to be indebted for his present allusion:   “For who so list into the heavens looke,   “And search the courses of the rowling spheres,   “Shall find that from the point where they first tooke   “Their setting forth, in these few thousand yeares   “They all are wandred much; that plaine appeares.   “For that same golden fleecy ram, which bore   “Phrixus and Helle from their stepdames feares,   “Hath now forgot where he was plast of yore, “And shouldred hath the bull which fayre Europa bore.   “And eke the bull hath with his bow-bent horne   “So hardly butted those two twinnes of Jove,   “That they have crush'd the crab, and quite him borne   “Into the great Nemæan lion's grove.   “So now all range, and do at random rove   “Out of their proper places far away,   “And all this world with them amisse doe move,   “And all his creatures from their course astray, “Till they arrive at their last ruinous decay.” Faery Queen, B. V. c. i. Steevens. The apparent irregular motions of the planets were supposed to portend some disasters to mankind; indeed the planets themselves were not thought formerly to be confined in any fixed orbits of their own, but to wander about ad libitum, as the etymology of their names demonstrates. Anonymous.

Note return to page 50 5&lblank; married calm of states] The epithet married, which is used to denote an intimate union, is employed in the same sense by Milton: “&lblank; Lydian airs “Married to immortal verse.” Again, “&lblank; voice and verse “Wed your divine sounds.” Shakespeare calls a harmony of features, married lineaments, in Romeo and Juliet. Steevens.

Note return to page 51 6&lblank; O, when degree is shak'd,] I would read: &lblank; So when degree is shak'd. Johnson.

Note return to page 52 7The enterprize &lblank;] Perhaps we should read: Then enterprize is sick! &lblank; Johnson.

Note return to page 53 8&lblank; brotherhoods in cities,] Corporations, companies, confraternities. Johnson.

Note return to page 54 9That by a pace &lblank;] That goes backward step by step. Johnson.

Note return to page 55 1&lblank; with a purpose It hath to climb: &lblank;] With a design in each man to aggrandize himself, by slighting his immediate superior. Johnson.

Note return to page 56 2&lblank; bloodless emulation:] An emulation not vigorous and active, but malignant and sluggish. Johnson.

Note return to page 57 3Thy topless deputation &lblank;] Topless is that which has nothing topping or overtopping it; supreme; sovereign. Johnson. So, in Doctor Faustus, 1604: “Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships, “And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?” Again, in the Blind Beggar of Alexandria, 1598: “And topless honours be bestow'd on thee.” Steevens.

Note return to page 58 4&lblank; as near as the extremest ends, &c.] The parallels to which the allusion seems to be made, are the parallels on a map. As like as east to west. Johnson.

Note return to page 59 5&lblank; a palsy fumbling &lblank;] This should be written—palsy-fumbling, i. e. paralytic fumbling. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 60 6All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes, Severals and generals of grace exact, Atchievements, plots, &c.] All our good grace exact, means our excellence irreprehensible. Johnson.

Note return to page 61 7&lblank; to make paradoxes.] Paradoxes may have a meaning, but it is not clear and distinct. I wish the copies had given: “to make parodies. Johnson.

Note return to page 62 8&lblank; bears his head In such a rein, &lblank;] That is, holds up his head as haughtily. We still say of a girl, she bridles. Johnson.

Note return to page 63 9How rank soever rounded in with danger.] A rank weed is a high weed. The modern editions silently read: How hard soever &lblank; Johnson.

Note return to page 64 1&lblank; and know, by measure Of their observant toil, the enemies weight, &lblank;] I think it were better to read: &lblank; and know the measure, By their observant toil, of th' enemies' weight. Johnson.

Note return to page 65 2&lblank; kingly ears?] The quarto: &lblank; kingly eyes. Johnson.

Note return to page 66 3&lblank; Achilles' arm] So the copies. Perhaps the author wrote: &lblank; Alcides' arm. Johnson.

Note return to page 67 4A stranger to those most imperial looks] And yet this was the seventh year of the war. Shakespeare, who so wonderfully preserves character, usually confounds the customs of all nations, and probably supposed that the ancients (like the heroes of chivalry) fought with beavers to their helmets. So, in the fourth act of this play, Nestor says to Hector: But this thy countenance, still lock'd in steel, I never saw still now. Shakespeare might have adopted this error from the illuminators of manuscripts, who never seem to have entertained the least idea of habits, manners, or customs more ancient than their own. There are books in the British Museum of the age of king Henry VI; and in these the heroes of ancient Greece are represented in the very dresses worn at the time when the books received their decorations. Steevens.

Note return to page 68 5&lblank; bid the check &lblank;] So the folio. The quarto has: &lblank; on the check &lblank; Johnson.9Q1008

Note return to page 69 6&lblank; long-continued truce] Of this long truce there has been no notice taken; in this very act it is said, that Ajax coped Hector yesterday in the battle. Johnson.

Note return to page 70 7&lblank; rusty &lblank;] Quarto, resty. Johnson.

Note return to page 71 8&lblank; more than in confession,] Confession, for profession. Warburton.

Note return to page 72 9&lblank; to her own lips he loves)] That is, confession made with idle vows to the lips of her whom he loves. Johnson.

Note return to page 73 1&lblank; and not worth The splinter of a lance. &lblank;] This is the language of romance. Such a challenge would better have suited Palmerin or Amadis, than Hector or Æneas. Steevens.

Note return to page 74 2And in my vantbrace &lblank;] An armour for the arm, avantbras. Pope. Milton uses the word in his Sampson Agonistes, and Heywood in his Iron Age, 1632: “&lblank; peruse his armour, “The dint's still in the vantbrace.” Steevens.

Note return to page 75 3Be you my time &c.] i. e. be you to my present purpose what time is in respect of all other schemes, viz. a ripener and bringer of them to maturity. Steevens.

Note return to page 76 4&lblank; the seeded pride, &c.] Shakespeare might have taken this idea from Lyte's Herbal, 1578 and 1579. The Oleander tree or Nerium “hath scarce one good propertie. It may be compared to a Pharisee, who maketh a glorious and beautiful show, but inwardly is of a corrupt and poisoned nature.”—“It is high time &c. to supplant it (i. e. pharasaism) for it hath already floured, so that I feare it will shortly seede, and fill this wholesome soyle full of wicked Nerium.” Tollet.

Note return to page 77 5&lblank; nursery &lblank;] Alluding to a plantation called a nursery. Johnson.

Note return to page 78 6The purpose is perspicuous even as substance, Whose grossness little characters sum up:] That is, the purpose is as plain as body or substance; and though I have collected this purpose from many minute particulars, as a gross body is made up of small insensible parts, yet the result is as clear and certain as a body thus made up is palpable and visible. This is the thought, though a little obscured in the conciseness of the expression. Warburton. Substance is estate, the value of which is ascertained by the use of small characters, i. e. numerals. So in the prologue to K. Henry V: &lblank; a crooked figure may Attest, in little place, a million. The gross sum is a term used in the Merchant of Venice. Grossness has the same meaning in this instance. Steevens.

Note return to page 79 7And, in the publication, make no strain,] Nestor goes on to say, make no difficulty, no doubt, when this duel comes to be proclaimed, but that Achilles, dull as he is, will discover the drift of it. This is the meaning of the line. So afterwards, in this play, Ulysses says: I do not strain at the position. i. e. I do not hesitate at, I make no difficulty of it. Theobald.

Note return to page 80 8&lblank; scantling] That is, a measure, proportion, The carpenter cuts his wood to a certain scantling. Johnson.

Note return to page 81 9&lblank; small pricks] Small points compared with the volumes. Johnson.

Note return to page 82 1Which entertain'd, &lblank;] These two lines are not in the quarto. Johnson.

Note return to page 83 2&lblank; share &lblank;] So the quarto. The folio, wear. Johnson.

Note return to page 84 3&lblank; blockish Ajax &lblank;] Shakespeare on this occasion has deserted Lidgate, who gives a very different character of Ajax: “Another Ajax (surnamed Telamon) “There was, a man that learning did adore, &c.” “Who did so much in eloquence abound, “That in his time the like could not be found.” Again: “And one that hated pride and flattery, &c.” Our author appears to have drawn his portrait of the Grecian chief from the invectives thrown out against him by Ulysses in the thirteenth book of Ovid's Metamorphosis; or from the prologue to Harrington's Metamorphosis of Ajax, 1596, in which he is represented as “strong, heady, boisterous, and a terrible fighting fellow, but neither wise, learned, staide, nor polliticke.” Steevens.

Note return to page 85 4The fort &lblank;] i. e. the lot. Steevens.

Note return to page 86 5Must tarre the mastiffs on, &lblank;] Tarre, an old English word signifying to provoke or urge on. See King John, act IV. sc. i. “&lblank; like a dog “Snatch at his master that doth tar him on.” Pope.

Note return to page 87 6Act II.] This play is not divided into acts in any of the original editions. Johnson.

Note return to page 88 7The plague of Greece &lblank;] Alluding perhaps to the plague sent by Apollo on the Grecian army. Johnson.

Note return to page 89 8&lblank; beef-witted lord!] So in Twelfth-Night: “&lblank; I am a great eater of beef, and I believe that does harm to my wit.” Steevens.

Note return to page 90 8Speak then, thou unsalted leaven, speak:] The reading obtruded upon us by Mr. Pope, was unsalted leaven, that has no authority or countenance from any of the copies; nor that approaches in any degree to the traces of the old reading, you whinid'st leaven. This, it is true, is corrupted and unintelligible; but the emendation, which I have coined out of it, gives us a sense apt and consonant to what Ajax would say, unwinnowd'st leaven.—“Thou lump of sour dough, kneaded up out of a flower unpurged and unsifted, with all the dross and bran in it. &lblank;” Theobald. Speak then, thou whinid'st leaven,] This is the reading of the old copies: it should be windyest, i. e. most windy; leaven being made by a great fermentation. This epithet agrees well with Thersites' character. Warburton. Hanmer preserves whinid'st, the reading of the folio; but does not explain it, nor do I understand it. If the folio be followed, I read, vinew'd, that is mouldy leaven. Thou composition of mustiness and sourness.—Theobald's assertion, however confident, is false. Unsalted leaven is in the old quarto. It means sour without salt, malignity without wit. Shakespeare wrote first unsalted; but recollecting that want of salt was no fault in leaven, changed it to vinew'd. Johnson. Unsalted is the reading of both the quartos. Francis Beaumont, in his letter to Speght on his edition of Chaucer's works, 1602, says: “Many of Chaucer's words are become as it were vinew'd and hoarie with over long lying.” Steevens.9Q1014

Note return to page 91 1&lblank; in Greece.] The quarto adds these words: when thou art forth in the incursions, thou strikest as slow as another. Johnson.

Note return to page 92 2&lblank; ay that thou bark'st at him.] I read, O that thou bark'dst at him. Johnson. The old reading is I, which, if changed at all, should have been changed into ay. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 93 3Cobloaf!] A crusty uneven loaf is in some counties called by this name. Steevens.

Note return to page 94 4&lblank; pun thee into shivers &lblank;] Pun is in the midland counties the vulgar and colloquial word for pound. Johnson. It is used by P. Holland in his translation of Pliny's Nat. Hist. b. xxviii. ch. 12: “&lblank; punned altogether and reduced into a liniment.” Again, b. xxix. ch. 4. “The gall of these lizards punned and dissolved in water.” Steevens.

Note return to page 95 5Thou stool for a witch! &lblank;] In one way of trying a witch they used to place her on a chair or stool, with her legs tied across, that all the weight of her body might rest upon her seat; and by that means, after some time, the circulation of the blood would be much stopped, and her sitting would be as painful as the wooden horse. Dr. Gray.

Note return to page 96 6&lblank; an assinego &lblank;] I am not very certain what the idea conveyed by this word was meant to be. Asinaio is Italian, says Hanmer, for an ass-driver: but in Mirza, a tragedy by Rob. Baron, act III. the following passage occurs, with a note annexed to it: “&lblank; the stout trusty blade, “That at one blow has cut an asinego “Asunder like a thread.” &lblank; “This (says the author) is the usual trial of the Persian shamsheers, or cemiters. which are crooked like a crescent, of so good metal, that they prefer them before any other, and so sharp as any razor.” I hope, for the credit of the prince, that the experiment was rather made on an ass, than an ass-driver. From the following passage I should suppose asinego to be merely a cant term for a foolish fellow, an ideot: “They apparell'd me as you see, made a fool, or an asinego of me.” See The Antiquary, a comedy, by S. Marmion, 1641. Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady: “&lblank; all this would be forsworn, and I again an asinego, as your sister left me.” Steevens. Asinego is Portuguese for a little ass. Musgrave.

Note return to page 97 1&lblank; Nestor—whose wit was mouldy ere their grandsires had nails &lblank;] This is one of these editors' wise riddles. What! was Nestor's wit mouldy before his grandsires toes had any nails? Preposterous nonsense! and yet so easy a change, as one poor pronoun for another, sets all right and clear. Theobald.

Note return to page 98 2&lblank; when Achilles' brach bids me, &lblank;] The folio and quarto read,—Achilles' brooch. Brooch is an appendant ornament. The meaning may be, equivalent to one of Achilles' hangers-on. Johnson. Brach I believe to be the true reading. He calls Patroclus, in contempt, Achilles' dog. Steevens. Brooch, which is the reading of all the old copies, had perhaps formerly some meaning at present unknown. In the following passage in Lodge's Rosalynde or Euphues' Golden Legacie, 1592, it seems to signify something very different from a pin or a bodkin: “His bonnet was green, whereon stood a copper brooch with the picture of St. Denis.” Malone.9Q1015

Note return to page 99 3&lblank; many thousand disines,] Disme, Fr. is the tithe, the tenth. So, in the prologue to Gower's Confessio Amantis, 1554: “The disme goeth to the battaile.” Again, in Holinshed's Reign of Rich. II: “&lblank; so that there was levied, what of the disme, and by the devotion of the people, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 100 4The past-proportion of his infinite?] Thus read both the copies. The meaning is, that greatness to which no measure bears any proportion. The modern editors silently give: The vast proportion &lblank; Johnson.

Note return to page 101 5And fly like chidden Mercury from Jove, Or like a star dis-orb'd? &lblank;] These two lines are misplaced in all the folio editions. Pope.

Note return to page 102 6And the will dates, that is inclinable] Old edition, not so well, has it attributive. Pope. By the old edition Mr. Pope means the old quarto. The folio has, as it stands, inclinable.—I think the first reading better; the will dotes that attributes or gives the qualities which it affects; that first causes excellence, and then admires it. Johnson.

Note return to page 103 7Without some image of the affected merit.] We should read: &lblank; the affected's merit. i. e. without some mark of merit in the thing affected. Warburton. The present reading is right. The will affects an object for some supposed merit, which Hector says is censurable, unless the merit so affected be really there. Johnson.

Note return to page 104 8&lblank; soil'd them; &lblank;] So reads the quarto, The folio &lblank; spoil'd them. &lblank; Johnson.

Note return to page 105 9&lblank; unrespective sieve,] That is, into a common voider. Sieve is in the quarto. The folio reads, &lblank; unrespective fame. for which the modern editions have silently printed, &lblank; unrespective place. Johnson.

Note return to page 106 1&lblank; pale the morning.] So the quarto. The folio and modern editors, &lblank; stale the morning. Johnson.

Note return to page 107 2And do a deed that fortune never did,] If I understand this passage, the meaning is: “Why do you, by censuring the determination of your own wisdoms, degrade Helen, whom fortune has not yet deprived of her value, or against whom, as the wife of Paris, fortune has not in this war so declared, as to make us value her less?” This is very harsh, and much strained. Johnson.

Note return to page 108 3But thieves, &lblank;] Hanmer reads,—Base thieves, &lblank; Johnson.

Note return to page 109 4&lblank; distaste &lblank;] Corrupt; change to a worse state. Johnson.

Note return to page 110 5&lblank; Aristotle &lblank;] Let it be remember'd as often as Shakespeare's anachronisms occur, that errors in computing time were very frequent in those ancient romances which seem to have formed the greater part of his library. Steevens.

Note return to page 111 6&lblank; benummed wills, &lblank;] That is, inflexible, immoveable, no longer obedient to superior direction. Johnson.

Note return to page 112 7There is a law &lblank;] What the law does in every nation between individuals, justice ought to do between nations. Johnson.

Note return to page 113 8Is this, in way of truth: &lblank;] Though considering truth and justice in this question, this is my opinion; yet as a question of honour, I think on it as you. Johnson.

Note return to page 114 9&lblank; the performance of our heaving spleens,] The execution of spite and resentment. Johnson.

Note return to page 115 &lblank; emulation &lblank;] That is, envy, factious contention. Johnson.

Note return to page 116 2&lblank; without drawing the massy iron, &lblank;] That is, without drawing their swords to cut the web. They use no means but those of violence. Johnson.

Note return to page 117 3&lblank; the bone-ache! &lblank;] In the quarto, the Neapolitan bone-ache. Johnson.

Note return to page 118 4&lblank; decline the whole question. &lblank;] Deduce the question from the first case to the last. Johnson.

Note return to page 119 5&lblank; Patroclus is a fool.] The four next speeches are not in the quarto. Johnson.

Note return to page 120 6&lblank; of the prover. &lblank;] So the quarto. Johnson. The folio profanely reads, &lblank; of thy creator. Steevens.

Note return to page 121 7&lblank; Now the dry, &c.] This is added in the folio. Johnson.

Note return to page 122 8He sent our messengers; &lblank;] This nonsense should be read: He shent our messengers; &lblank; i. e. rebuked, rated. Warburton. This word is used in common by all our ancient writers. So, in Spenser's Faery Queen, b. VI. c. vi. “Yet for no bidding, not for being shent, “Would he restrained be from his attendement.” Again, ibid: “He for such baseness shamefully him shent.” Steevens.

Note return to page 123 9&lblank; composure, &lblank;] So reads the quarto very properly; but the folio, which the moderns have followed, has, it was a strong counsel. Johnson.

Note return to page 124 1The elephant hath joints, &c.] So, in All's lost by Lust, 1633: “&lblank; Is she pliant? “Stubborn as an elephant's leg, no bending in her.” Again, in All Fools, 1605: “I hope you are no elephant, you have joints.” Steevens.

Note return to page 125 2&lblank; noble state,] Person of high dignity; spoken of Agamemnon. Johnson. Noble state rather means the stately train of attending nobles whom you bring with you. Steevens. In support of Dr. Johnson's exposition of this word, it may be observed, that state was formerly applied to a single person. So, in Wits, Fits, and Fancies, 1595: “&lblank; The archbishop of Grenada saying to the archbishop of Toledo that he much marvelled, he being so great a state, would visit hospitals &lblank;.” Again, in Harrington's translation of Ariosto: “The Greek demands her, whither she was going, “And which of these two great estates her keeps.” Malone.

Note return to page 126 1&lblank; under-write &lblank;] To subscribe, in Shakespeare, is to obey. Johnson.

Note return to page 127 2His pettish lunes, &lblank;] This is Hanmer's emendation of his pettish lines. The old quarto reads: His course and time. This speech is unfaithfully printed in modern editions. Johnson.

Note return to page 128 3&lblank; allowance give] Allowance is approbation. So, in King Lear: &lblank;if your sweet sway Allow obedience.” Steevens.

Note return to page 129 4&lblank; the engendering of toads.] Whoever wishes to comprehend the whole force of this allusion, may consult the late Dr. Goldsmith's History of the World, and animated Nature, vol. VII. p. p. 92, 93. Steevens.

Note return to page 130 5&lblank; the death-tokens of it] Alluding to the decisive spots appearing on those infected by the plague. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Valentinian: “Now like the fearful tokens of the plague “Are mere fore-runners of their ends.” Steevens.

Note return to page 131 6&lblank; with his own seam;] Seam is grease. Steevens.

Note return to page 132 7&lblank; pheeze his pride: &lblank;] To pheeze is to comb or curry. Johnson.

Note return to page 133 8Not for the worth &lblank;] Not for the value of all for which we are fighting. Johnson.

Note return to page 134 9Ajax. I will knead him, I will make him supple, he's not yet thorough warm. Nest. Force him with praises &c.] The latter part of Ajax's speech is certainly got out of place, and ought to be assigned to Nestor, as I have ventured to transpose it. Ajax is feeding on his vanity, and boasting what he will do to Achilles; he'll pash him o'er the face, he'll make him eat swords, he'll knead him, he'll supple him, &c. Nestor and Ulysses slily labour to keep him up in this vein; and to this end and Nestor craftily hints, that Ajax is not warm yet, but must be crammed with more flattery. Theobald.

Note return to page 135 1&lblank; force him &lblank;] i. e. stuff him. Farcir, Fr. Steevens.

Note return to page 136 2&lblank; like a bourn, &lblank;] A bourn is a boundary, and sometimes a rivulet dividing one place from another. So, in K. Lear, act III. sc. vi: Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me. See the note on this passage. Steevens.

Note return to page 137 3Nest. Ay, my good son.] In the folio and in the modern editions Ajax desires to give the title of father to Ulysses; in the quarto, more naturally, to Nestor. Johnson. Shall I call you father?] Shakespeare had a custom prevalent about his own time, in his thoughts. Ben Jonson had many who called themselves his sons. Steevens.

Note return to page 138 4&lblank; love's visible soul, &lblank;] So Hanmer. The other editions have invisible, which perhaps may be right, and may mean the soul of love invisible every where else. Johnson.

Note return to page 139 5&lblank; in fits.] i. e. now and then, by fits; or perhaps a quibble is intended. A fit was a part or division of a song, sometimes a strain in music, and sometimes a measure in dancing. The reader will find it sufficiently illustrated in the two former senses by Dr. Percy, in the first volume of his Reliques of ancient English Poetry: in the third of these significations it occurs in All for Money, a tragedy, by T. Lupton, 1574: “Satan. Upon these chearful words I needs must dance a fitte.” Steevens.

Note return to page 140 6And, my lord, he desires you, &lblank;] Here I think the speech of Pandarus should begin, and the rest of it should be added to that of Helen, but I have followed the copies. Johnson.

Note return to page 141 for, Pan, read, Par.

Note return to page 142 7&lblank; with my disposer Cressida.] I think disposer should, in these places, be read dispouser: she that would separate Helen from him. Warburton. I do not udnerstand the word disposer, nor know what to substitute in its place. There is no variation in the copies. Johnson. I suspect that, You must not know where he sups, should be added to the speech of Pandarus; and that the following one of Paris should be given to Helen. That Cressida wanted to separate Paris from Helen, or that the beauty of Cressida had any power over Paris, are circumstances not evident from the play. The one is the opinion of Dr. Warburton, the other a conjecture by the author of The Revisal. By giving, however, this line, I'll lay my life, with my disposer Cressida, to Helen, and by changing the word disposer into deposer, some meaning may be obtained. She addresses herself, I suppose, to Pandarus, and, by her deposer, means—she who thinks her beauty (or, whose beauty you suppose) to be superior to mine. Steevens.

Note return to page 143 8Par. I spy.] This is the usual exclamation at a childish game called Hie, spy, hie. Steevens.

Note return to page 144 9Falling in, after falling out, &c.] i. e. The reconciliation and wanton dalliance of two lovers after a quarrel, may produce a child, and so make three of two. Tollet.

Note return to page 145 1&lblank; sweet lord, &lblank;] In the quarto sweet lad. Johnson.

Note return to page 146 2&lblank; that it wounds,] i. e. that which it wounds. Musgrave.

Note return to page 147 3Yet that which seems the wound to kill,] To kill the wound is no very intelligible expression, nor is the measure preserved. We might read:     These lovers cry,     Oh! oh! they die! But that which seems to kill,   Doth turn, &c. So dying love lives still. Yet as the wound to kill may mean the wound that seems mortal, I alter nothing. Johnson.

Note return to page 148 4&lblank; and too sharp in sweetness,] So the folio and all modern editions; but the quarto more accurately: &lblank; tun'd too sharp in sweetness. Johnson.

Note return to page 149 5Like vassalage at unawares encount'ring The eye of majesty.] Rowe seems to have imitated this passage in his Ambitious Stepmother, act I: “Well may th'ignoble herd “Start, if with heedless steps they unawares “Tread on the lion's walk: a prince's genius “Awes with superior greatness all beneath him.” Steevens.

Note return to page 150 6&lblank; you must be watch'd ere you be made tame, &lblank;] Alluding to the manner of taming hawks. So, in the Taming of a Shrew: &lblank; to watch her as we watch these kites. Steevens.

Note return to page 151 7&lblank; we'll put you i'th files. &lblank;] Alluding to the custom of putting men suspected of cowardice in the middle places. Hanmer.

Note return to page 152 8&lblank; The faulcon as the tercel, for all the ducks i'th' river: &lblank;] Pandarus means, that he'll match his niece against her lover for any bett. The tercel is the male hawk; by the faulcon we generally understand the female. Theobald. I think we should rather read: &lblank; at the tercel, &lblank; Tyrwhitt. In Chaucer's Troilus and Cresseide, l. iv. 410. is the following stanza, from which Shakespeare may have caught a glimpse of meaning, though he has not very clearly expressed it. Pandarus is the speaker: “What? God forbid, alway that eche plesaunce   “In o thing were, and in non othir wight; “If one can singe, anothir can wel daunce,   “If this be godely, she is glad and light.   “And this is faire, and that can gode aright,     “Eche for his vertue holdin is full dere,     “Both heroner and faucon for rivere.” Steevens.

Note return to page 153 9&lblank; our head shall go bare, 'till merit crown it: &lblank;] I cannot forbear to observe, that the quarto reads thus: Our head shall go bare, 'till merit louer part no affection, in reversion, &c. Had there been no other copy, how could this have been corrected? The true reading is in the folio. Johnson.

Note return to page 154 1&lblank; his addition shall be humble. &lblank;] We will give him no high or pompous titles. Johnson.

Note return to page 155 2&lblank; they'll stick where they are thrown.] This allusion has already occur'd in Measure for Measure: Nay, friar, I am a kind of burr, I shall stick. Steevens.

Note return to page 156 1&lblank; But you are wise, Or else you love not; for to be wise and love, Exceeds man's might, &c.] I read: &lblank; but we're not wise, Or else we love not; to be wise and love, Exceeds man's might; &lblank; Cressida, in return to the praise given by Troilus to her wisdom, replies: “That lovers are never wise; that it is beyond the power of man to bring love and wisdom to an union.” Johnson.

Note return to page 157 2&lblank; to be wise and love, Exceeds man's might; &lblank;] This is from Spenser, Shepherd's Cal. March: “To be wise, and eke to love, “Is granted scarce to gods above.” Tyrwhitt. “Amare et sapere vix a Deo conceditur.” Pub. Syr. Spenser, whom Shakespeare followed, seems to have misunderstood this proverb. Marston, in the Dutch Courtezan, 1606, has the same thought, and the line is printed as a quotation: “But raging lust my fate all strong doth move, “The gods themselves cannot be wise and love.” Malone.

Note return to page 158 3Might be affronted with the match &lblank;] I wish “my integrity might be met and matched with such equality and force of pure unmingled love.” Johnson.

Note return to page 159 4And simpler than the infancy of truth.] This is fine; and means, “Ere truth, to defend itself against deceit in the commerce of the world, had, out of necessity, learned worldly policy.” Warburton.

Note return to page 160 5True swains in love shall, in the world to come, Approve their truths by Troilus: when their rhymes, Full of protest, of oath, and big compare, Want similies: truth, tir'd with iteration, &lblank;] The metre, as well as the sense, of the last verse will be improved, I think, by reading: Want similies of truth, tir'd with iteration. So, a little lower in the same speech: Yet after all comparisons of truth. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 161 6&lblank; plantage to the moon,] I formerly made a silly conjecture that the true reading was: &lblank; planets to their moons. But I did not reflect that it was wrote before Galileo had discovered the Satellites of Jupiter: so that plantage to the moon is right, and alludes to the common opinion of the influence the moon has over what is planted or sown, which was therefore done in the increase: “Rite Latonæ puerum canentes, “Rite crescentem face noctilucam, “Prosperam frugum” &lblank; Hor. lib. iv. od. 6. Warburton. Plantage is not, I believe, a general term, but the herb which we now call plantain, in Latin, plantago, which was, I suppose, imagined to be under the peculiar influence of the moon. Johnson. Plantage is the French word for a plantation, a planting, or setting. See Boyer's and Cotgrave's Dictionaries. In the French translation of Dr. Agricola's Agriculture, Plantage a rebours is frequently used for planting reverse. Tollet. Shakespeare speaks of plantain by its common appellation in Romeo and Juliet; and yet in Sapho an Phao, 1591, Mandrake is called Mandrage: “Sow next thy vines mandrage.” From a book entitled The profitable Art of Gardening, &c. by Tho. Hill, Londoner, the third edition, printed in 1579, I learn, that neither sowing, planting, nor grafting, were ever undertaken without a scrupulous attention to the encrease or waning of the moon.—Dryden does not appear to have understood the passage, and has therefore altered it thus: As true as flowing tides are to the moon. As true as steel is an ancient proverbial simile. I find it in Lydgate's Troy Book where he speaks of Troilus, l. ii. ch. 16: “Thereto in love trewe as any stele.” Steevens. True as plantage to the moon.] This may be fully illustrated by a quotation from Scott's Discoverie of Witchcraft: “The poore husbandman perceiveth that the increase of the moone maketh plants frutefull: so as in the full moone they are in the best strength; decaieing in the wane; and in the conjunction do utterlie wither and vade.” Farmer.

Note return to page 162 7As truth's authentic author to be cited,] Troilus shall crown the verse, as a man to be cited as the authentic author of truth; as one whose protestations were true to a proverb. Johnson.

Note return to page 163 8&lblank; inconstant men &lblank;] So Hanmer. In the copies it is constant. Johnson. Though Hanmer's emendation be plausible, I believe Shakespeare wrote constant. He seems to have been less attentive to make Pandar talk consequentially, than to account for the ideas actually annexed to the three names. Now it is certain, that, in his time, a Troilus was as clear an expression for a constant lover, as a Cressida and a Pandar were for a jilt and a pimp. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 164 9&lblank; Appear it to your mind, That, through the sight I bear in things to come, I have abandon'd Troy. &lblank;] This reasoning perplexes Mr. Theobald; “He foresaw his country was undone; he ran over to the Greeks; and this he makes a merit of (says the editor). I own (continues he) the motives of his oratory seem to be somewhat perverse and unnatural. Nor do I know how to reconcile it, unless our poet purposely intended to make Calchas act the part of a true priest, and so from motives of self-interest insinuate the merit of service.” The editor did not know how to reconcile this. Nor I neither. For I do not know what he means by “the motives of his oratory,” or, “from motives of self-interest to insinuate merit.” But if he would insinuate, that it was the poet's design to make his priest self-interested, and to represent to the Greeks that what he did for his own preservation, was done for their service, he is mistaken. Shakespeare thought of nothing so silly, as it would be to draw his priest a knave, in order to make him talk like a fool. Though that be the fate which generally attends their abusers. But Shakespeare was no such; and consequently wanted not this cover for dulness. The perverseness is all the editor's own, who interprets, &lblank; through the sight I have in things to come, I have abandon'd Troy &lblank; to signify, “by my power of prescience finding my country must be ruined, I have therefore abandoned it to seek refuge with you;” whereas the true sense is, “Be it known unto you, that on account of a gift or faculty I have of seeing things to come, which faculty I suppose would be esteemed by you as acceptable and useful, I have abandoned Troy my native country.” That he could not mean what the editor supposes, appears from these considerations: First, if he had represented himself as running from a falling city, he could never have said: I have—expos'd myself, From certain and possess'd conveniencies, To doubtful fortunes; &lblank; Secondly, the absolute knowledge of the fall of Troy was a secret hid from the inferior gods themselves; as appears from the poetical history of that war. It depended on many contingencies, whose existence they did not foresee. All that they knew was, that if such and such things happened, Troy would fall. And this secret they communicated to Cassandra only, but along with it, the fate not to be believed. Several others knew each a several part of the secret; one, that Troy could not be taken unless Achilles went to the war; another, that it could not fall while it had the palladium; and so on. But the secret, that it was absolutely to fall, was known to none.—The sense here given will admit of no dispute amongst those who know how acceptable a seer was amongst the Greeks. So that this Calchas, like a true priest, if it needs must be so, went where he could exercise his profession with most advantage. For it being much less common amongst the Greeks than the Asiatics, there would be a greater demand for it. Warburton. I am afraid, that after all the learned commentator's efforts to clear the argument of Calchas, it will still appear liable to objection; nor do I discover more to be urged in his defence, than that though his skill in divination determined him to leave Troy, yet that he joined himself to Agamemnon and his army by unconstrained good-will; and though he came as a fugitive escaping from destruction, yet his services after his reception, being voluntary and important, deserved reward. This argument is not regularly and distinctly deduced, but this is, I think, the best explication that it will yet admit. Johnson.

Note return to page 165 1&lblank; through the sight I bear in things, to Jove] This passage in all the modern editions is silently depraved, and printed thus: &lblank; through the sight I bear in things to Come. The word is so printed that nothing but the sense can determine whether it be love or Jove. I believe that the editors read it as love, and therefore made the alteration to obtain some meaning. Johnson. &lblank; to love, might mean—to the consequences of Paris's love for Helen. Steevens.

Note return to page 166 2In most accepted pain.] Sir T. Hanmer, and Dr. Warburton after him, read: In most accepted pay. They do not seem to understand the construction of the passage. Her presence, says Calchas, shall strike off, or recompence the service I have done, even in these labours which were most accepted. Johnson.

Note return to page 167 3&lblank; derision med'cinable,] All the modern editions have decision. The old copies are apparently right. The folio in this place agrees with the quarto, so that the corruption was at first merely accidental. Johnson.

Note return to page 168 4&lblank; how dearly ever parted,] i. e. how exquisitely soever his virtues be divided and balanced in him. So, in Romeo and Juliet: “Stuff'd, as they say, with honourable parts, proportioned as one's thoughts would wish a man.” Warburton. I do not think that in the word parted is included any idea of division; it means, however excellently endowed, with however dear or precious parts enriched or adorned Johnson.9Q1024

Note return to page 169 5To others' eyes, &c. (That most pure spirit &c.] These two lines are totally omitted in all editions but the first quarto. Pope.

Note return to page 170 6&lblank; nor doth the eye itself,] So, in Julius Cæsar: No Cassius; for the eye sees not itself, But by reflexion, by some other things. Steevens.

Note return to page 171 7&lblank; in his circumstance, &lblank;] In the detail or circumduction of his argument. Johnson.

Note return to page 172 8The unknown Ajax.] Ajax, who has abilities which were never brought into view or use. Johnson.

Note return to page 173 9How some men creep in skittish fortune's hall,] To creep is to keep out of sight from whatever motive. Some men keep out of notice in the hall of fortune, while others, though they but play the ideot, are always in her eye, in the way of distinction. Johnson.

Note return to page 174 1&lblank; feasting &lblank;] Folio. The quarto has fasting. Either word may bear a good sense. Johnson.

Note return to page 175 2Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,] This speech is printed in all the modern editions with such deviations from the old copy, as exceed the lawful power of an editor. Johnson.

Note return to page 176 3&lblank; and there you lie:] These words are not in the folio. Johnson. Nor in any other copy that I have seen. I have given the passage as I found it in the folio. Steevens.

Note return to page 177 4&lblank; to the abject rear,] So Hanmer. All the editors before him read: &lblank; to the abject, near. Johnson.

Note return to page 178 5O'er run &c.] The quarto wholly omits the simile of the horse, and reads thus: And leave you hindmost, then what they do at present. The folio seems to have some omission, for the simile begins, Or, like a gallant horse &lblank; Johnson.

Note return to page 179 6The modern editors read: For beauty, wit, high birth, desert in service, &c. I do not deny but the changes produce a more easy lapse of numbers, but they do not exhibit the work of Shakespeare. Johnson.

Note return to page 180 7And go to dust, that is a little gilt, More laud than gilt o'er-dusted.] In this mangled condition do we find this truly fine observation transmitted in the old folios. Mr. Pope saw it was corrupt, and therefore, as I presume, threw it out of the text; because he would not indulge his private sense in attempting to make sense of it. I owe the foundation of the amendment, which I have given to the text, to the sagacity of the ingenious Dr. Thirlby. I read: And give to dust, that is a little gilt, More laud than they will give to golf o'er-dusted. Theobald. This emendation has been adopted by the succeeding editors, but recedes too far from the copy. There is no other corruption than such as Shakespeare's incorrectness often resembles. He has omitted the article to in the second line: he should have written: More laud than to gilt o'er-dusted. Johnson.

Note return to page 181 8Made emulous missions &lblank;] Missions for divisions, i. e. goings out, on one side and the other. Warburton. The meaning of mission seems to be dispatches of the gods from heavens about mortal business, such as often happened at the siege of Troy. Johnson. It means the descent of deities to combat on either side; an idea which Shakespeare very probably adopted from Chapman's translation of Homer. In the fifth book Diomed wounds Mars, who on his return to heaven is rated by Jupiter for having interfered in the battle. This disobedience is the faction which I suppose Ulysses would describe. Steevens.

Note return to page 182 9&lblank; one of Priam's daughters.] Polyxena, in the act of marrying whom, he was afterwards killed by Paris. Steevens.

Note return to page 183 1Knows almost &c.] For this elegant line the quarto has only, Knows almost every thing. Johnson. I think we should read, of Plutus' gold. So, Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster, act IV: “'Tis not the wealth of Plutus, nor the gold “Lock'd in the heart of earth” &lblank; It should be remember'd however, that mines of gold were anciently supposed to be guarded by dæmons. Steevens.

Note return to page 184 2Keeps place with thought; &lblank;] i. e. there is in the providence of a state, as in the providence of the universe, a kind of ubiquity. The expression is exquisitely fine: yet the Oxford editor alters it to keeps pace, and so destroys all its beauty. Warburton.

Note return to page 185 3&lblank; (with whom relation Durst never meddle) &lblank;] There is a secret administration of affairs, which no history was ever able to discover. Johnson.

Note return to page 186 4&lblank; to air.] So the quarto. The folio: &lblank; to airy air. Johnson.

Note return to page 187 5Omission to do &c.] By neglecting our duty we commission or enable that danger of dishonour, which could not reach us before, to lay hold upon us. Johnson.

Note return to page 188 1&lblank; with a politic regard, &lblank;] With a sly look. Johnson.

Note return to page 189 1&lblank; to make catlings on.] It has been already observed that a catling signifies a small lute-string made of catgut. One of the musicians in Romeo and Juliet is called Simon Catling. Steevens.

Note return to page 190 2During all question of the gentle truce:] I once thought to read: During all quiet of the gentle truce. But I think question means intercourse, interchange of conversation. Johnson.9Q1027

Note return to page 191 3And thou shalt hunt a lion, that will fly With his face back in humane gentleness.] Thus Mr. Pope in his great sagacity pointed this passage in his first edition, not deviating from the error of the old copies. What conception he had to himself of a lion flying in humane gentleness, I will not pretend to affirm: I suppose he had the idea of as gently as a lamb, or, as what our vulgar call an Essex lion, a calf. If any other lion fly with his face turned backward, it is fighting all the way as he retreats: and in this manner it is Æneas professes that he shall fly when he's hunted. But where then are the symptoms of humane gentleness? My correction of the pointing restores good sense, and a proper behaviour in Æneas. As soon as ever he has returned Diomedes' brave, he stops short, and corrects himself for expressing so much fury in a time of truce; from the fierce soldier becomes the courtier at once; and, remembering his enemy to be a guest and an ambassador, welcomes him as such to the Trojan camp. Theobald.

Note return to page 192 4&lblank; By Venus' hand I swear,] This oath was used to insinuate his resentment for Diomedes' wounding his mother in the hand. Warburton. I believe Shakespeare had no such allusion in his thoughts. He would hardly have made Æneas civil and uncivil in the same breath. Steevens.

Note return to page 193 5His purpose meets you; &lblank;] I bring you his meaning and his orders. Johnson.

Note return to page 194 6&lblank; a flat tamed piece;] i. e. a piece of wine out of which the spirit is all flown. Warburton.

Note return to page 195 7Both merits pois'd, each weighs no less nor more; But he as he, which heavier for a whore.] I read: But he as he, each heavier for a whore. Heavy is taken both for weighty, and for sad or miserable. The quarto reads: But he as he, the heavier for a whore. I know not whether the thought is not that of a wager. It must then be read thus: But he as he. Which heavier for a whore? That is, for a whore staked down, which is the heavier. Johnson. As the quarto reads, &lblank; the heavier for a whore. I think all new pointing or alteration unnecessary. The sense appears to be this: the merits of either are sunk in value, because the contest between them is only for a strumpet. Steevens.

Note return to page 196 8We'll not commend what we intend to sell.] I believe the meaning is only this: though you practise the buyer's art, we will not practise the seller's. We intend to sell Helen dear, yet will not commend her. Johnson. Dr. Warburton would read, not sell. Steevens. The sense, I think, requires we should read condemn. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 197 9&lblank; Sleep kill &lblank;] So the old copies. The moderns have: &lblank;Sleep seal &lblank; Johnson.

Note return to page 198 1As tediously &lblank;] The folio has: As hideously as hell. Johnson.

Note return to page 199 2Enter Pandarus.] The hint for the following short conversation between Pandarus and Cressida is taken from Chaucer's Troilus and Cresseide, book 3. v. 1561. “Pandare, a morowe which that commin was   “Unto his necè gan her faire to grete, “And saied all this night so rained it alas!   “That all my drede is, that ye, necè swete,   “Have little leisir had to slepe and mete,     “All night (quod he) hath rain so do me wake,     “That some of us I trowe ther heddis ake. “Cresseide answerde, nevir the bet for you,   “Foxe that ye ben, God yeve your hertè care   “God helpe me so, ye causid all this fare, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 200 3&lblank; to do, &lblank;] To do is here used in a wanton sense. So, in the Taming of a Shrew, Petruchio says: “I would fain be doing.” Again, in All's well, &c. Lafeu declares that he is past doing. Collins.

Note return to page 201 4&lblank; a poor chipochia! &lblank;] This word, I am afraid, has suffered under the ignorance of the editors; for it is a word in no living language that I can find. Pandarus says it to his niece, in a jeering sort of tenderness. He would say, I think, in English— Poor innocent! Poor fool! hast not slept to-night? These appellations are very well answered by the Italian word capocchio: for capocchio signifies the thick head of a club; and thence metaphorically, a head of not much brain, a sot, dullard, heavy gull. Theobald.

Note return to page 202 5&lblank; matter is so rash: &lblank;] My business is so hasty and so abrupt. Johnson. So, in K. Henry IV. p. II. &lblank; aconitum, or rash gunpowder. Steevens.

Note return to page 203 6Delivered to us; &c.] So the folio. The quarto thus: Delivered to him, and forthwith. Johnson.

Note return to page 204 7&lblank; the secrets of nature, Have not more gift in taciturnity.] This is the reading of both the elder folios: but the first verse manifestly halts, and betrays its being defective. Mr. Pope substitutes. &lblank; the secrets of neighbour Pandar. If this be a reading ex fide codicum (as he professes all his various readings to be) it is founded on the credit of such copies, as it has not been my fortune to meet with. I have ventured to make out the verse thus: The secret'st things of nature, &c. i. e. the arcana naturæ, the mysteries of nature, of occult philosophy, or of religious ceremonies. Our poet has allusions of this sort in several other passages. Theobald. Mr. Pope's reading is in the old quarto. So great is the necessity of collation. Johnson.9Q1030

Note return to page 205 8&lblank; great morning; &lblank;] Grand jour; a Gallicism. Steevens.

Note return to page 206 9The grief &c.] The folio reads: The grief is fine, full perfect, that I taste And no less in a sense as strong As that which causeth it. &lblank; The quarto otherwise: The grief is fine, full, perfect, that I taste, And violenteth in a sense as strong As that which causeth it. &lblank; Violenteth is a word with which I am not acquainted, yet perhaps it may be right. The reading of the text is without authority. Johnson. I have followed the quarto. Violenceth is used by Ben Jonson in The Devil is an Ass: “Nor nature violenceth in both these.” and Mr. Tollet has since furnished me with this verb as spelt in the play of Shakespeare: “His former adversaries violented any thing against him.” Fuller's Worthies, in Anglesea. The modern reading was: And in its sense is no less strong, than that Which causeth it. &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 207 1&lblank; strain'd &lblank;] So the quarto. The folio and all the moderms have strange. Johnson.

Note return to page 208 2A woeful Cressid 'mongst the merry Greeks!] So, in A mad World my Masters, 1640, a man gives the watchmen some money, and when they have received it he says: “the merry Greeks understand me.” Steevens.

Note return to page 209 3For I will throw my glove to death &lblank;] That is, I will challenge death himself in defence of thy fidelity. Johnson.

Note return to page 210 4&lblank; with person,] Thus the folio. The quarto reads, with portion. Steevens.

Note return to page 211 5&lblank; the high lavolt,] The lavolta was a dance. It is elsewhere mentioned, where several examples are given. Steevens.

Note return to page 212 6&lblank; catch mere simplicity;] The meaning, I think, is, while others, by their art, gain high estimation, I, by honesty, obtain a plain simple approbation. Johnson.

Note return to page 213 7&lblank; the moral of my wit Is—plain, and true, &lblank;] That is, the governing principle of my understanding; but I rather think we should read: &lblank; the motto of my wit Is, plain and true &lblank; Johnson. Surely moral in this instance has the same meaning as in Much Ado about Nothing, act III. sc. iv. “Benedictus! why Benedictus? you have some moral in this Benedictus.” Again, in the Taming of a Shrew, act IV. sc. iv. “&lblank; he has left me here behind to expound the meaning or moral of his signs and tokens.” Tollet.

Note return to page 214 1At the port, &lblank;] The port is the gate. Steevens.

Note return to page 215 2&lblank; possess thee what she is.] I will make thee fully understand. This sense of the word possess is frequent in our author. Johnson.

Note return to page 216 3To shame the seal of my petition towards thee, By praising her. &lblank;] To shame the seal of a petition is nonsense. Shakespeare wrote: To shame the zeal &lblank; and the sense is this: Grecian, you use me discourteously; you see I am a passionate lover by my petition to you; and therefore you should not shame the zeal of it, by promising to do what I require of you, for the sake of her beauty: when, if you had good manners, or a sense of a lover's delicacy, you would have promised to do it compassion to his pangs and sufferings. Warburton.

Note return to page 217 4&lblank; my list: &lblank;] This I think is right, though both the old copies read lust. Johnson. What is the difference, in our old writers, between lust and list? Steevens.

Note return to page 218 5Dio.] These five lines are not in the quarto, being probably added at the revision. Johnson.

Note return to page 219 6&lblank; bias cheek] Swelling out like the bias of a bowl. Johnson. So, in Vittoria Corombona, or the White Devil, 1612: “&lblank; 'Faith his cheek “Has a most excellent bias” &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 220 7Both take and give.] This speech should rather be given to Menelaus. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 221 8I'll make my match to live.] I will make such bargains as I may live by, such as may bring me profit, therefore will not take a worse kiss than I give. Johnson. I believe this only means—I'll lay my life. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 222 9Why, beg then.] For the sake of rhime we should read: Why beg two. If you think kisses worth begging, beg more than one. Johnson.

Note return to page 223 1Never's my day, and then a kiss of you.] I once gave both these lines to Cressida. She bids Ulysses beg a kiss; he asks that the he may have it: When Helen is a maid again &lblank; She tells him that then he shall have it: When Helen is a maid again &lblank; Cre. I am your debtor, claim it when 'tis due; Never's my day, and then a kiss for you. But I rather think that Ulysses means to slight her, and that the present reading is right. Johnson.

Note return to page 224 2&lblank; motive of her body.] Motive for part that contributes to motion. Johnson.

Note return to page 225 3&lblank; a coasting &lblank;] An amorous address; courtship. Johnson.

Note return to page 226 4&lblank; sluttish spoils of opportunity,] Corrupt wenches, of whose chastity every opportunity may make a prey. Johnson.

Note return to page 227 5'Tis done like Hector; but securely done,] In the sense of the Latin, securus—securus admodum de bello, animi securi homo. A negligent security arising from a contempt of the object opposed. Warburton. Dr. Warburton truly observes, that the word securely is here used in the Latin sense: and Mr. Warner, in his ingenious letter to Mr. Garrick, thinks this sense peculiar to Shakespeare, “for, says he, I have not been able to trace it elsewhere.” This gentleman has treated me with so much civility, that I am bound in honour to remove his difficulty. It is to be found in the last act of the Spanish Tragedy: “O damned devil! how secure he is.” In my lord Bacon's Essay on Tumults, “neither let any prince or state be secure concerning discontents.” And besides these, in Drayton, Fletcher, and the vulgar translation of the Bible. Mr. Warner had as little success in his researches for the word religion in its Latin acceptation. I meet with it however in Hoby's translation of Castilio, 1561: “Some be so scrupulous, as it were, with a religion of this their Tuscane tung.” Ben Jonson more than once uses both the substantive and the adjective in this sense. As to the word Cavalero, with the Spanish termination, it is to be found in Heywood, Withers, Davies, Taylor, and many other writers. Farmer. Aga. 'Tis done like Hector, but securely done,] It seems absurd to me, that Agamemnon should make a remark to the disparagement of Hector for pride, and that Æneas should immediately say, If not Achilles, sir, what is your name? To Achilles I have ventured to place it; and consulting Mr. Dryden's alteration of this play, I was not a little pleased to find, that I had but seconded the opinion of that great man in this point. Theobald. As the old copies agree, I have made no change. Johnson.

Note return to page 228 7Valour and pride excel themselves in Hector;] Shakespeare's thought is not exactly deduced. Nicety of expression is not his character. The meaning is plain: “Valour (says Æneas) is in Hector greater than valour in other men, and pride in Hector is less than pride in other men. So that Hector is distinguished by the excellence of having pride less than other pride, and valour more than other valour.” Johnson.

Note return to page 229 8&lblank; an impair thought &lblank;] A thought unsuitable to the dignity of his character. This word I should have changed to impure, were I not over-powered by the unanimity of the editors, and concurrence of the old copies. Johnson. So, in Chapman's preface to his translation of the Shield of Homer, 1598: “&lblank; nor is it more impaire to an honest and absolute man, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 230 9&lblank; Hector &lblank; subscribes To tender objects; &lblank;] That is, yields, gives way. Johnson. So, in K. Lear, subscrib'd his power, i. e. submitted. Steevens.

Note return to page 231 1&lblank; thus translate him to me.] Thus explain his character. Johnson.

Note return to page 232 2Not Neoptolemus so mirable (On whose bright crest, Fame, with her loud'st O yes, Cries, This is he;) could promise to himself &c.] That is to say, “You, an old veteran warrior, threaten to kill me, when not the young son of Achilles (who is yet to serve his apprentisage in war, under the Grecian generals, and on that account called &grN;&gre;&gro;&grp;&grt;&groa;&grl;&gre;&grm;&gro;&grst;) dare himself entertain such a thought.” But Shakespeare meant another sort of man, as is evident from, On whose bright crest, &c. which characterises one who goes foremost and alone; and can therefore suit only one, which one was Achilles, as Shakespeare himself has drawn him: The great Achilles, whom opinion crowns The sinew and the forehand of our host. And, again: Whose glorious deeds but in these fields of late Made emulous missions 'mongst the gods themselves, And drove great Mars to faction. And indeed the sense and spirit of Hector's speech requires that the most celebrated of his adversaries should be picked out to be defied; and this was Achilles, with whom Hector had his final affair. We must conclude then that Shakespeare wrote: Not Neoptolemus's sire irascible, On whose bright crest &lblank; Irascible is an old school term, and is an epithet suiting his character, and the circumstances he was then in: “Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer.” But our editor, Mr. Theobald, by his obscure diligence, had found out what Wynken de Worde, in the old chronicle of The three Destructions of Troy, introduces one Neoptolemus into the ten years quarrel, a person distinct from the son of Achilles; and therefore will have it, that Shakespeare here means no other than the Neoptolemus of this worthy chronicler. He was told, to no purpose, that this fancy was absurd. For first, Wynken's Neoptolemus is a common-rate warrior, and so described as not to fit the character here given. Secondly, it is not to be imagined that the poet should on this occasion make Hector refer to a character not in the play, and never so much as mentioned on any other occasion. Thirdly, Wynken's Neoptolemus is a warrior on the Trojan side, and slain by Achilles. But Hector must needs mean by one “who could promise a thought of added honour torn from him,” a warrior amongst his enemies on the Grecian side. Warburton. After all this contention, it is difficult to imagine that the critic believes mirable to have been changed to irascible I should sooner read, Not Neoptolemus th' admirable; as I know not whether mirable can be found in any other place. The correction which the learned commentator gave to Hanmer: Not Neoptolemus' sire so mirable. as it was modester than this, was preferable to it. But nothing is more remote from justness of sentiment, than for Hector to characterise Achilles as the father of Neoptolemus, a youth that had not yet appeared in arms, and whose name was therefore much less known than his father's. My opinion is, that by Neoptolemus the author meant Achilles himself; and remembering that the son was Pyrrhus Neoptolemus, considered Neoptolemus as the nomen gentilitium, and thought the father was likewise Achilles Neoptolemus. Johnson. Shakespeare might have used Neoptolemus for Achilles. Wilfride Holme, the author of a poem called The Fall and evil Successe of Rebellion, &c. 1537, had made the same mistake before him, as the following stanza will shew:   “Also the triumphant Troyans victorious, “By Anthenor and Æneas false confederacie,   “Sending Polidamus to Neoptolemus, “Who was vanquished and subdued by their conspiracie.   “O dolorous fortune, and fatal miserie! “For multitude of people was there mortificate   “With condigne Priamus, and all his progenie, “And flagrant Polixene, that lady delicate.” In Lidgate, however, Achilles, Neoptolemus, and Pyrrhus, are distinct characters. Neoptolemus is enumerated among the Grecian princes who first embarked to revenge the rape of Helen: “The valiant Grecian called Neoptolemus, “That had his haire as blacke as any jet, &c.” p. 102. and Pyrrhus, very properly, is not heard of till after the death of his father: “Sith that Achilles in such traiterous wise “Is slaine, that we a messenger should send “To fetch his son yong Pyrrhus, to the end “He may revenge his father's death, &c.” p. 237. Steevens.

Note return to page 233 3We'll answer it:] That is, answer the expectance. Johnson.

Note return to page 234 4&lblank; your knights.] The word knight, as often as it occurs, is sure to bring with it the idea of chivalry, and revives the memory of Amadis and his fantastic followers, rather than that of the mighty confederates who fought on either side in the Trojan war. I wish that eques and armiger could have been rendered by any other words than knight and 'squire. Mr. Pope, in his translation of the Iliad, is very liberal of the latter. Steevens.

Note return to page 235 5Worthy of arms! &lblank;] Folio. Worthy all arms! Quarto. The quarto has only the two first, second, and the last line of this salutation; the intermediate verses seem added on a revision. Johnson.

Note return to page 236 6Mock not, &c.] The quarto has here a strange corruption: Mock not thy affect, the untraded earth. Johnson.

Note return to page 237 7Despising many forfeits and subduements,] Thus the quarto. The folio reads: And seen thee scorning forfeits and subduements. Johnson.

Note return to page 238 8As they contend &lblank;] This line is not in the quarto. Johnson.

Note return to page 239 9I shall forestal thee, lord Ulysses, thou! &lblank;] Should we not read—though? Notwithstanding you have invited Hector to your tent, I shall draw him first into mine. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Cupid's Revenge, v. ix. p. 460: “&lblank; O dissembling woman, “Whom I must reverence though. &lblank;” Tyrwhitt. The repetition of thou! was anciently used by one who meant to insult another. So, in Twelfth Night: “&lblank; if thou thou'st him some thrice, it shall not be amiss.” Again, in the Tempest: “Thou ly'st, thou jesting monkey, thou!” Again, in the first scene of the fifth act of this play of Troilus and Cressida: “&lblank; thou tassel of a prodigal's purse, thou!” Steevens.

Note return to page 240 1Now, Hector, I have fed mine eyes on thee;] The hint for this scene of altercation between Achilles and Hector, is taken from Lidgate, See page 178. Steevens.

Note return to page 241 2And quoted joint by joint.] To quote is to observe. So, in Hamlet: I'm sorry that with better heed and judgment I had not quoted him. Steevens.

Note return to page 242 3&lblank; the general state, I fear, Can scarce entreat you to be odd with him.] i. e. I am aware that the Greeks will not wish you to meet him singly; insinuating that it would be bad policy in them to desire the man who had the greatest reputation for valour, to run such a hazard of being foiled. Steevens.

Note return to page 243 4&lblank; convive &lblank;] To convive is to feast. This word is not peculiar to Shakespeare. I find it several times used in the History of Helyas Knight of the Swanne, bl. l. no date. Steevens.

Note return to page 244 5Beat loud the tabourines, &lblank;] For this the quarto and the latter editions have, To taste your bounties. &lblank; The reading which I have given from the folio seems chosen at the revision, to avoid the repetition of the word bounties. Johnson. Tabourines are small drums. The word occurs again in Antony and Cleopatra. Steevens.

Note return to page 245 6Thou crusty batch of nature, &lblank;] Batch is changed by Theobald to botch, and the change is justified by a pompous note, which discovers that he did not know the word batch. What is more strange, Hanmer has followed him. Batch is any thing baked. Johnson. Batch does not signify any thing baked, but all that is baked at one time, without heating the oven afresh. So, Ben Jonson, in his Cataline: “Except he were of the same meal and batch.” Again, in Decker's If this be not a good Play the Devil is in it, 1612: “The best is, there are but two batches of people moulded in this world.” Again, in Summer's Last Will and Testament, 1600: “Hast thou made a good batch? I pray thee give me a new loaf.” Again, in Every Man in his Humour: “Is all the rest of this batch?” Thersites had already been called cobloaf. Steevens.

Note return to page 246 7The surgeon's box, &lblank;] In this answer Thersites only quibbles upon the word tent. Hanmer.

Note return to page 247 8Male varlet, &lblank;] Hanmer reads male harlot, plausibly enough, except that it seems too plain to require the explanation which Patroclus demands. Johnson. This expression is met with in Decker's Honest Whore: “This a male varlet, sure, my lord!” Farmer.

Note return to page 248 9&lblank; cold palsies &lblank;] This catalogue of loathsome maladies ends in the folio at cold palsies. This passage, as it stands, is in the quarto: the retrenchment was in my opinion judicious. It may be remarked, though it proves nothing, that, of the few alterations made by Milton in the second edition of his wonderful poem, one was, an enlargement of the enumeration of diseases. Johnson.

Note return to page 249 1&lblank; you ruinous &c.] Patroclus reproaches Thersites with deformity, with having one part crowded into another. Johnson. The same idea occurs in the Second Part of King Henry IV: Crowd us and crush us to this monstrous form. Steevens.

Note return to page 250 2&lblank; thou idle immaterial skein of sleive silk, &lblank;] All the terms used by Thersites of Patroclus, are emblematically expressive of flexibility, compliance, and mean officiousness. Johnson.

Note return to page 251 3Out, gall!] Hanmer reads nut-gall, which answers well enough to finch-egg; it has already appeared, that our author thought the nut-gall the bitter gall. He is called nut, from the conglobation of his form; but both the copies read, Out, gall! Johnson.

Note return to page 252 4Finch-egg!] Of this reproach I do not know the exact meaning. I suppose he means to call him singing bird, as implying an useless favourite, and yet more, something more worthless, a singing bird in the egg, or generally, a slight thing easily crushed. Johnson. A finch's egg is remarkably gaudy; but of such terms of reproach it is difficult to pronounce the true signification. Steevens.

Note return to page 253 5A token from her daughter, &c.] This is a circumstance taken from the story book of the three destructions of Troy. Hanmer.

Note return to page 254 6And the goodly transformation of Jupiter there, his brother, the bull;—the primitive statue, and oblique memorial of cuckolds;] He calls Menelaus the transformation of Jupiter, that is, as himself explains it, the bull, on account of his horns, which he had as a cuckold. This cuckold he calls the primitive statue of cuckolds; i. e. his story had made him so famous, that he stood as the great archetype of his character. But how was he an oblique memorial of cuckolds? can any thing be a more direct memorial of cuckolds, than a cuckold? and so the foregoing character of his being the primitive statue of them plainly implies. To reconcile these two contradictory epithets therefore we should read: &lblank; an obelisque memorial of cuckolds. He is represented as one who would remain an eternal monument of his wife's infidelity. And how could this be better done than by calling him an obelisque memorial? of all human edifices the most durable. And the sentence rises gradually, and properly from a statue to an obelisque. To this the editor Mr. Theobald replies, that the bull is called the primitive statue: by which he only giveth us to understand, that he knoweth not the difference between the English articles a and the. But by the bull is meant Menelaus; which title Thersites gives him again afterwards —The cuckold and the cuckold-maker are at it—the bull has the game—But the Oxford editor makes quicker work with the term oblique, and alters it to antique, and so all the difficulty's evaded. Warburton. The author of The Revisal observes (after having controverted every part of Dr. Warburton's note, and justified Theobald) that “the memorial is called oblique, because it was only indirectly such, upon the common supposition that both bulls and cuckolds were furnished with horns.” Steevens.9Q1034

Note return to page 255 7&lblank; forced with wit, &lblank;] Stuffed with wit. A term of cookery.—In this speech I do not well understand what is meant by loving quails. Johnson. By loving quails the poet may mean loving the company of harlots. A quail is remarkably salacious. Mr. Upton says that Xenophon, in his memoirs of Socrates, has taken notice of this quality in the bird. A similar allusion occurs in The Hollander, a comedy by Glapthorne, 1640: “&lblank; the hot desire of quails, “To yours is modest appetite.” Steevens. In old French caille was synonimous to fille de joie. In the Dict. Comique par Le Roux, under the article caille are these words: “Chaud comme une caille &lblank; “Caille coiffée—Sobriquet qu'on donne aux femmes. Signifie femme eveillè amoureuse.” So, in Rabelais:—“Cailles coiffées mignonnent chantans.”—which Motteux has thus rendered (probably from the old translation) coated quails and laced mutton, waggishly singing. Malone.

Note return to page 256 8&lblank; spirits and fires!] This Thersites speaks upon the first sight of the distant lights. Johnson.

Note return to page 257 9&lblank; He will spend his mouth, and promise, like Brabler the hound; &lblank;] If a hound gives his mouth, and is not upon the scent of the game, he is by sportsmen called a babler or brabler. The proverb says, Brabling curs never want sore ears. Anon.

Note return to page 258 1&lblank; they say, he keeps a Trojan drab, &lblank;] This character of Diomed is likewise taken from Lidgate. Steevens.

Note return to page 259 2&lblank; her cliff;] That is, her key. Clef, French. Johnson. Cliff, i. e. a mark in musick at the beginning of the lines of a song; and is the indication of the pitch, and bespeaks what kind of voice—as base, tenour, or treble, it is proper for. Sir J. Hawkins. So, in The Chances, by Beaumont and Fletcher, where Antonio, employing musical terms, says, “&lblank; Will none but my C. cliff serve your turn?” Again, in The Lover's Melancholy, 1629: “&lblank; that's a bird “Whom art had never taught cliffs, moods, or notes.” Again, in the Noble Soldier, 1634: “No crotchets; 'tis only the cliff has made her hand.” Again, in Middleton's More Dissemblers besides Women: “How many cliffs be there?—one cliff, sir. Do you know but one cliff?—No more indeed, sir, and at this time I know too much of that.” Steevens.

Note return to page 260 3You flew to great distraction: &lblank;] So the moderns. The folio has: You flow to great distraction. &lblank; The quarto: You flow to great destruction &lblank; I read: You show too great distraction. &lblank; Johnson. I would adhere to the old reading. You flow to great destruction, or distraction, means, the tide of your imagination will hurry you either to noble death from the hand of Diomed, or to the height of madness from the predominance of your own passions. Steevens.

Note return to page 261 4How the devil luxury with his fat rump and potatoe finger, tickles these together!] Potatoes were anciently regarded as provocatives. See Mr. Collins's note, which, on account of its length, is given at the end of the play. Steevens.

Note return to page 262 5&lblank; keep this sleeve.] The custom of wearing a lady's sleeve for a favour, is mentioned in Hall's Chronicle, fol. 12:— “One ware on his head-piece his lady's sleeve, and another bare on his helme the glove of his deareling.” Again, in the second canto of the Barons' Wars by Drayton: “A lady's sleeve high-spirited Hastings wore.” Again, in the Morte Arthur, p. 3. ch. 119: “When queen Genever wist that Sir Launcelot beare the red sleeve of the faire maide of Astolat, she was nigh out of her minde for anger.” Holinshed, p. 844, says K. Henry VIII. “had on his head a ladies sleeve full of diamonds.” The circumstance, however, was adopted by Shakespeare from Chaucer. T. and C. l. 5. 1040: “She made him were a pencell of her sleve.” A pencell is a small pennon or streamer. Steevens. In an old play (in six acts) called Histriomastix, 1610, this incident seems to be burlesqued. Troylus and Cressida are introduced by way of interlude: and Cressida breaks out: “O Knight, with valour in thy face, “Here take my skreene, wear it for grace, “Within thy helmet put the same, “Therewith to make thine enemies lame.” A little old book, The Hundred Hystoryes of Troye, tells us “Bryseyde whom master Chaucer calleth Cresseyde, was a damosell of great beaute; and yet was more quaynte, mutable, and full of vagaunt condysions.” Farmer.

Note return to page 263 6As I kiss thee. &lblank;] In old editions, As I kiss thee. &lblank; Dio. Nay, do not snatch it from me. Cre. He, that takes that, must take my heart withal. Dr. Thirlby thinks this should be all placed to Cressida. She had the sleeve, and was kissing it rapturously: and Diomed snatches it back from her. Theobald.

Note return to page 264 7By all Diana's waiting-women yonder,] i. e. the stars which she points to. Warburton.

Note return to page 265 8Troilus, farewel!] The characters of Cressida and Pandarus are more immediately formed from Chaucer than from Lidgate; for though the latter mentions them both characteristically, he does not sufficiently dwell on either to have furnished Shakespeare with many circumstances to be found in this tragedy. Lidgate, speaking of Cressida, says only:   “She gave her heart and love to Diomede, “To shew what trust there is in woman kind;   “For she of her new love no sooner sped, “But Troilus was clean out of her mind,     “As if she never had him known or seen,     “Wherein I cannot guess what she did mean.” Steevens.

Note return to page 266 9But with my heart, &c.] I think it should be read thus: But my heart with the other eye doth see. Johnson. Perhaps, rather: But with the other eye my heart doth see. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 267 1A proof of strength she could not publish more,] She could not publish a stronger proof. Johnson.

Note return to page 268 2That doth invert that test of eyes and ears;] What test? Troilus had been particularizing none in his foregoing words, to govern or require the relative here. I rather think, the words are to be thus split: That doth invert the attest of eyes and ears. i. e. That turns the very testimony of seeing and hearing against themselves. Theobald. This is the reading of the quarto. Johnson.

Note return to page 269 3I cannot conjure, Trojan.] That is, I cannot raise spirits in the form of Cressida. Johnson.

Note return to page 270 4If there be rule in unity itself,] I do not well understand what is meant by rule in unity. By rule our author, in this place as in others, intends virtuous restraint, regularity of manners, command of passions and appetites. In Macbeth: He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause Within the belt of rule. &lblank; But I know not how to apply the word in this sense to unity. I read: If there be rule in purity itself, Or, If there be rule in verity itself. Such alterations would not offend the reader, who saw the state of the old editions, in which, for instance, a few lines lower, the almighty sun is called the almighty fenne.—Yet the words may at last mean, If there be certainty in unity, if it be a rule that one is one. Johnson.

Note return to page 271 5Bi-fold authority! &lblank;] This is the reading of the quarto. The folio gives us: By foul authority! &lblank; There is madness in that disquisition in which a man reasons at once for and against himself upon authority which he knows not to be valid. The quarto is right. Johnson.

Note return to page 272 6&lblank; where reason can revolt Without perdition, and loss assume all reason Without revolt; &lblank;] The words loss and perdition are used in their common sense, but they mean the loss or perdition of reason. Johnson.

Note return to page 273 7As is Arachne's broken woof to enter.] The syllable wanting in this verse the modern editors have hitherto supplied. I hope the mistake was not originally the poet's own; yet one of the quartos reads with the folio, Ariachna's broken woof, and the other Ariathna's. It is not impossible that Shakespeare might have written Adriane's broken woof, having confounded the two names or the stories, in his imagination; or alluding to the clue of thread, by the assistance of which Theseus escaped from the Cretan labyrinth. I do not remember that Ariadne's loom is mentioned by any of the Greek or Roman poets, though I find an allusion to it in Humour out of Breath, a comedy, 1607: “&lblank; instead of these poor weeds, in robes “Richer than that which Ariadne wrought, “Or Cytherea's airy-moving vest.” Again: “&lblank; thy tresses, Ariadne's twines, “Wherewith my liberty thou hast surpriz'd.” Spanish Tragedy. Again, in Muleasses the Turk, 1610: “Leads the despairing wretch into a maze; “But not an Ariadne in the world “To lend a clew to lead us out of it, “The very maze of horror.” Again, in Law Tricks, 1608: “&lblank; come Ariadne's clew, will you unwind?” Again, in John Florio's translation of Montaigne: “He was to me in this inextricable labyrinth like Ariadne's thread.” Steevens.

Note return to page 274 8&lblank; knot, five-finger-tied,] A knot tied by giving her hand to Diomed. Johnson.9Q1037

Note return to page 275 9&lblank; o'er-eaten faith, &lblank;] Vows which she has already swallowed once over. We still say of a faithless man, that he has eaten his words. Johnson.

Note return to page 276 1May worthy Troilus &lblank;] Can Troilus really feel on this occasion half of what he utters? A question suitable to the calm Ulysses. Johnson.

Note return to page 277 2&lblank; and wear a castle on thy head!] i. e. defend thy head with armour of more than common security. It appears from a passage in Holinshed, already quoted in a note on Titus Andronicus, that by a castle was meant a close helmet. So, in The little French Lawyer of Beaumont and Fletcher: “&lblank; but use “That noble courage I have seen, and we “Shall fight as in a castle.”&lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 278 3My dreams will, sure, prove ominous to-day.] The hint for this dream of Andromache, might be taken either from Lydgate, or the following passage in Chaucer's Nonnes Prestes Tale, late edit. v. 15147. “Lo hire Andromacha, Hectores wif, “That day that Hector shulde lese his lif, “She dremed on the same night beforne, “How that the lif of Hector shuld be lorne, “If thilke day he went into battaille: “She warned him, but it might not availle; “He went forth for to fighten natheles, “And was yslain anon of Achilles.” Steevens.

Note return to page 279 4For us to count &lblank;] This is so oddly confused in the folio, that I transcribe it as a specimen of incorrectness: &lblank; do not count it holy, To hurt by being just; it is as lawful For we would count give much to as violent thefts, And rob in the behalf of charity. Johnson. I believe we should read—For we would give much, to use violent thefts, i. e. to use violent thefts, because we would give much. The word count had crept in from the last line but one. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 280 5It is the purpose &lblank;] The mad prophetess speaks here with all the coolness and judgment of a skilful casuist. “The essence of a lawful vow, is a lawful purpose, and the vow of which the end is wrong must not be regarded as cogent.” Johnson.

Note return to page 281 6&lblank; dear man] Valuable man. The modern editions read, &lblank; brave man. The repetition of the word is in our author's manner. Johnson.

Note return to page 282 7Which better fits a lion, &lblank;] The traditions and stories of the darker ages abounded with examples of the lion's generosity. Upon the supposition that these acts of clemency were true, Troilus reasons not improperly, that to spare against reason, by mere instinct of pity, became rather a generous beast than a wise man. Johnson.

Note return to page 283 8&lblank; with recourse of tears;] i. e. tears that continue to course one another down the face. Warburton.

Note return to page 284 9O farewel, dear Hector! &c.] The interposition and clamorous sorrow of Cassandra were copied by our author from Lydgate. Steevens.

Note return to page 285 1&lblank; shrills her dolours, &c.] So in Heywood's Silver Age, 1613: “Through all th' abyss I have shrill'd thy daughter's loss, th my concave trump.” Steevens.

Note return to page 286 2According to the quartos 1609, this scene is continued by the following dialogue between Pandarus and Troilus, which the poet certainly meant to have been inserted at the end of the play, where the three concluding lines of it are repeated in the copies already mentioned. There can be no doubt but that the players shuffled the the parts backward and forward, ad libitum; for the poet would hardly have given us an unnecessary repetition of the same words, nor have dismissed Pandarus twice in the same manner. The conclusion of the piece will fully justify the liberty which any future commentator may take in omitting the scene here and placing it at the end, where at present only the few lines already mentioned, are to be found. Steevens.

Note return to page 287 3Hence, brothel, lacquey! &lblank;] For brothel, the folio reads brother, erroneously for broker, as it stands at the end of the play where the lines are repeated. Of brother the following editors made brothel. Johnson.

Note return to page 288 4O' the other side, the policy of those crafty swearing rascals, &c.] But in what sense are Nestor and Ulysses accused of being swearing rascals? What, or to whom, did they swear? I am positive that sneering is the true reading. They had collogued with Ajax, and trimmed him up with insincere praises, only in order to have stirred Achilles's emulation. In this, they were the true sneerers; betraying the first, to gain their ends on the latter by that artifice. Theobald.

Note return to page 289 5&lblank; to proclaim barbarism, &lblank;] To set up the authority of ignorance, to declare that they will be governed by policy no longer. Johnson.

Note return to page 290 6Art thou of blood and honour?] This is an idea taken from the ancient books of romantic chivalry, as is the following one in the speech of Diomed: And am her knight by proof. Steevens.

Note return to page 291 7&lblank; take thou Troilus' horse.] So in Lydgate: “That Troilus by maine and mighty force “At unawares, he cast down from his horse. “And gave it to his squire for to beare “To Cressida, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 292 8&lblank; bastard Margarelon] The introduction of a bastard son of Priam, under the name of Margarelon, is one of the circumstances taken from the story book of The Three Destructions of Troy. Theobald. The circumstance was taken from Lydgate, page 194: “Which when the valiant knight, Margareton, “One of king Priam's bastard children,” &c. Steevens.

Note return to page 293 9&lblank; the dreadful Sagittary Appals our numbers: &lblank;] “Beyonde the royalme of Amasonne came an auncyent kynge, wyse and dyscreete, named Epystrophus, and brought a M. knyghtes, and a mervayllouse beste that was called sagittayre, that behynde the myddes was an horse, and to fore, a man: this beste was heery like an horse, and had his eyen rede as a cole, and shotte well with a bowe: this beste made the Grekes sore aferde, and slewe many of them with his bowe.” The Three Destructions of Troy, printed by Caxton. Theobald. &lblank; the dreadful Sagittary] A very circumstantial account of this Sagittary is likewise to be found in Lydgate, page 174. Steevens.

Note return to page 294 1on Galathe his horse,] From The Three Destructions of Troy is taken this name given to Hector's horse Theobald. “Cal'd Galathe (the which is said to have been “The goodliest horse,” &c. Lydgate, page 142. Again, page 175: “And sought, by all the means he could, to take “Galathe, Hector's horse,” &c. Heywood, in his Iron Age 1632, has likewise continued the same appellation to Hector's horse: “My armour, and my trusty Galatee.” Heywood has taken many circumstances in his play from Lydgate. John Stevens, the author of Cinthia's Revenge, 1613, (a play commended by Ben Jonson in some lines prefixed to it) has mounted Hector on an elephant. Steevens.

Note return to page 295 2&lblank; scaled sculls] Sculls are great numbers of fishes swimming together. The modern editors not being acquainted with the term, changed it into shoals. My knowledge of this word is derived from a little book called The English Expositor, London, printed by John Legatt, 1616. The word likewise occurs in Lylly's Midas, 1592: “He hath, by this, started a covey of bucks, or roused a scull of pheasants.” The humour of this short speech consists in a misapplication of the appropriate terms of one amusement, to another. Again, in Milton: “&lblank; each bay “With fry innumerable swarms, and shoals “Of fish, that with their fins and shining scales “Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft “Bank the mid sea.” Again, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602: “A knavish scull of boys and girls, &c.” Again, in the 25th song of Drayton's Polyolbion, it is said of the cormorant: “&lblank; from his wings at full, “As though he shot himself into the thicken'd scull, “He under water goes, &c.” Again, in the 26th song: “My silver-scaled sculs about my streams do sweep.” Steevens.

Note return to page 296 3&lblank; the strawy Greeks, &lblank;] In the folio it is, &lblank; the straying Greeks, &lblank; Johnson.

Note return to page 297 4&lblank; you cogging Greeks, &lblank;] This epithet has no particular propriety in this place, but the author had heard of Græcia Mendax. Johnson. Surely the epithet had propriety in respect of Diomed at least, who had defrauded him of his mistress. Troilus bestows it on both, unius ob culpam. A fraudulent man, as I am told, is still called in the North—a gainful Greek. Cicero bears witness to this character of the ancient Greeks. “Testimoniorum religionem et fidem nunquam ista natio coluit.” Again—“Græcorum ingenia ad fallendum parata sunt.” Steevens.

Note return to page 298 5&lblank; I like thy armour well;] This circumstance is taken from Lydgate's poem, page 196: “&lblank; Guido in his historie doth shew “By worthy Hector's fall, who coveting “To have the sumptuous armor of that king, &c.   “So greedy was thereof, that when he had “The body up, and on his horse it bare,   “To have the spoil thereof such haste he made “That he did hang his shield without all care     “Behind him at his back, the easier     “To pull the armour off at his desire, “And by that means his breast clean open lay,” &c. This furnished Shakespeare with the hint for the following line: I am unarm'd; forego this vantage, Greek. Steevens.

Note return to page 299 6I'll frush it, &lblank;] The word frush I never found elsewhere, nor understand it. Hanmer explains it, to break or bruise. Johnson. To frush a chicken, is a term in carving which I cannot explain. I am indebted for this little knowledge of it to E. Smith's Complete Huswife, published in 1741. The term is as ancient as Wynkyn de Worde's Book of Kervinge, 1508. Holinshed, describing the soldiers of Richmond making themselves ready says, “they bent their bows, and frushed their feathers;” and (as Mr. Tollet has observed) employs it again in his Description of Ireland, p. 29: “When they are sore frusht with sickness, or so farre withered with age.” To frush, in this first instance, says he, signifies to change the feathers from their natural smooth and sloping position, to a rough perpendicular one, whereby the arrow flies the steadier to its mark, and whistles in the air. In the second instance, it means to disorder. The word seems to be sometimes used for any action of violence by which things are separated, disordered, or destroyed. So, in Hinde's Eliosto Libidinoso, 1606: “High cedars are frushed with tempests, when lower shrubs are not touched with the wind.” Again, in Hans Beer-pot's Invisible Comedy, &c. 1618: “And with mine arm to frush a sturdy lance.” Again, in the History of Helyas Knight of the Swan, bl. 1. no date: “&lblank; smote him so courageously with his sworde, that he frushed all his helm, wherewith the erle fell backward, &c.” Again, in Stanyhurst's translation of the first book of Virgil's Æneid, 1582: “All the frushe and leavings of Greeks, of wrathful Achilles.” Again, “&lblank; yf that knight Æntheous haplye “Were frusht, or remanent, &c.” Again, in Sir John Mandevile's account of the magical entertainments exhibited before the Grete Chan, p. 285: “And then they make knyghtes to jousten in armes fulle lustyly, &c.—and they fruschen togidere fulle fiercely.” Steevens.

Note return to page 300 7&lblank; execute your arms.] Thus all the copies; but surely we should read—aims. Steevens.

Note return to page 301 8Even with the vail &lblank;] The vail is, I think, the sinking of the sun; not veil or cover. Johnson.

Note return to page 302 9I am unarm'd; forego this vantage, Greek.] Hector, in Lydgate's poem, falls by the hand of Achilles; but it is Troilus who, having been inclosed round by the Myrmidons, is killed after his armour, had been hewn from his body, which was afterwards drawn through the field at the horse's tail. The Oxford Editor, I believe, was misinformed; for in the old story-book of The Three Destructions of Troy, I find likewise the same account given of the death of Troilus. Heywood, in his Rape of Lucrece, 1638, seems to have been indebted to some such work as Hanmer mentions. “Had puissant Hector by Achilles' hand “Dy'd in a single monomachie, Achilles “Had been the worthy; but being slain by odds, “The poorest Myrmidon had as much honour “As faint Achilles, in the Trojan's death.” It is not unpleasant to observe with what vehemence Lydgate, who in the grossest manner has violated all the characters drawn by Homer, takes upon him to reprehend the Grecian poet as the original offender. Thus in his fourth book: “Oh thou, Homer, for shame be now red, “And thee amase that holdest thy selfe so wyse, “On Achylles to set suche great a pryse “In thy bokes for his chyvalrye, “Above echone that dost hym magnyfye, “That was so sleyghty and so full of fraude, “Why gevest thou hym so hye a prayse and laude?” Steevens.

Note return to page 303 1Strike, fellows, strike; &lblank;] This particular of Achilles overpowering Hector by numbers, and without armour, is taken from the old story-book. Hanmer.

Note return to page 304 2And, stickler-like, &lblank;] A stickler was one who stood by to part the combatants when victory could be determined without bloodshed. They are often mentioned by Sidney. “Anthony (says Sir Tho. North in his translation of Plutarch) was himself in person a stickler to part the young men when they had fought enough.” They were called sticklers, from carrying sticks or slaves in their hands, with which they interposed between the duellists. We now call these sticklers—sidesmen. So again, in a comedy called, Fortune by Land and Sea, by Heywood and Rowley: “'tis not fit that every apprentice should with his shop-club play between us the stickler.” Again, in the tragedy of Faire Mariam, 1613: “And was the stickler 'twixt my heart and him.” Again, in Fuimus Troes, 1603: “As sticklers in their nation's enmity.” Steevens.

Note return to page 305 3Never go home, &c.] This line is in the quarto given to Troilus. Johnson.

Note return to page 306 4&lblank; smile at Troy!] Thus the ancient copies; but it would better agree with the rest of Troilus's wish, were we to read: &lblank; smile at Troy, I say, at once! Steevens.

Note return to page 307 5Hence, broker lacquey! &lblank;] So the quarto. The folio has brother. Johnson.

Note return to page 308 6lov'd, &lblank;] Quarto; defin'd, folio. Johnson.

Note return to page 309 7Some galled goose of Winchester &lblank;] The public stews were anciently under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Winchester. Pope. Mr. Pope's explanation may be supported by the following passage in one of the old plays of which my negligence has lost the title: “Collier! how came the goose to be put upon you? “I'll tell thee: The term lying at Winchester in Henry the Third's day's, and many French women coming out of the Isle of Wight thither, &c. there were many punks in the town, &c.” A particular symptom in the lues venerea was called a Winchester goose. So in Chapman's comedy of Monsieur D'Olive, 1606: “&lblank; the famous school of England call'd “Winchester, famous I mean for the goose,” &c. Again, Ben Jonson, in his poem called, An Execration on Vulcan: “&lblank; this a sparkle of that fire let loose, “That was lock'd up in the Winchestrian goose, “Bred on the back in time of popery, “When Venus there maintain'd a mystery.” In an ancient satire called Cocke Lorelles Bote, bl. l. printed by Wynkyn de Worde, no date, is the following list of the different residences of harlots: “There came such a wynde fro Winchester, “That blewe these women over the ryver, “In wherye as I wyll you tell: “Some at saynt Kateryns stroke agrounde, “And many in Holborne were founde, “Some at saynt Gyles I trowe: “Also in Ave Maria Aly, and at Westmenster; “And some in Shordyche drewe theder, “With grete lamentacyon; “And by cause they have lost that fayre place, “They wyll bylde at Colman hedge in space, &c.” Hence the old proverbial simile, “As common as Coleman Hedge:” now Coleman-street. Steevens. There are more hard, bombastical phrases in the serious part of this Play, than, I believe, can be picked out of any other six Plays of Shakespeare. Take the following specimens:—Tortive,— persistive,—protractive,—importless,—insisture,—deracinate,—dividable. And in the next Act,—past-proportion,—unrespective,— propugnation,—self-assumption,—self-admission,—assubjugate,—kingdom'd, &c. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 310 THIS play is more correctly written than most of Shakespeare's compositions, but it is not one of those in which either the extent of his views or elevation of his fancy is fully displayed. As the story abounded with materials, he has exerted little invention; but he has diversified his characters with great variety, and preserved them with great exactness. His vicious characters sometimes disgust, but cannot corrupt, for both Cressida and Pandarus are detested and contemned. The comic characters seem to have been the favourites of the writer; they are of the superficial kind, and exhibit more of manners than nature; but they are copiously filled and powerfully impressed. Shakespeare has in his story followed, for the greater part, the old book of Caxton, which was then very popular; but the character of Thersites, of which it makes no mention, is a proof that this play was written after Chapman had published his version of Homer. Johnson. The first seven books of Chapman's Homer were published in the year 1596, and again in 1598. They were dedicated as follows: To the most honoured now living instance of the Achilleian virtues eternized by divine Homere, the Earle of Essexe, Earl Marshall, &c.: and an anonymous Interlude, called Thersytes his Humours and Conceits, had been published in 1598. Steevens.

Note return to page 311 10909001How the devil luxury, with his fat rump and potatoe finger, tickles these together.] Luxuria was the appropriate term used by the school divines, to express the sin of incontinence, which accordingly is called luxury, in all our old English writers. In the Summæ Theologiæ Compendium of Tho. Aquinas, P. 2. II. Quæst. CLIV. is de Luxriæ Partibus, which the author distributes under the heads of Simplex Fornicatio, Adulterium, Incestus, Stuprum, Raptus, &c. and Chaucer, in his Parson's Tale, descanting on the seven deadly sins, treats of this under the title, De Luxuria. Hence in K. Lear, our author uses the word in this peculiar sense: “To't Luxury pell-mell, for I want soldiers.” And Middleton, in his Game of Chess, 1625. “&lblank; in a room fill'd all with Aretine's pictures, “(More than the twelve labours of Luxury) “Thou shalt not so much as the chaste pummel see “Of Lucrece' dagger.” &lblank; But why is luxury, or lasciviousness, said to have a potatoe finger?—This root, which was in our author's time but newly imported from America, was considered as a rare exotic, and esteemed a very strong provocative. As the plant is so common now, it may entertain the reader to see how it is described by Gerard in his Herbal, 1597, p. 780. “This plant which is called of some Skyrrits of Peru, is generally of us called Potatus, or Potatoes—There is not any that hath written of this plant—therefore, I refer the description thereof unto those that shall hereafter have further knowledge of the same. Yet I have had in my garden divers roots (that I bought at the Exchange in London) where they flourished until winter, at which time they perished and rotted. They are used to be eaten roasted in the ashes. Some, when they be so roasted, infuse them and sop them in wine; and others, to give them the greater grace in eating, do boil them with prunes. Howsoever they be dressed, they comfort, nourish, and strengthen the bodie, procure bodily lust, and that with greediness.” Drayton, in the 20th song of his Polyolbion, introduces the same idea concerning the skirret: “The skirret, which, some say, in sallets stirs the blood.” Shakespeare alludes to this quality of potatoes, in the Merry Wives of Windsor: “&lblank; Let the sky rain potatoes, hail kissing comfits, and snow eringoes; let a tempest of provocation come.” Ben Jonson mentions potatoe pies in Every Man out of his Humour, among other good unctuous meats: So J. Heywood, in the English Traveller, 1633: “Caviare, sturgeon, anchovies, pickled oysters; yes “And a potato pie: besides all these, “What thinkest rare and costly?” Again, in the Dumb Knight, 1633: “&lblank; truly I think a marrow-bone pye, candied eringoes, preserved dates, or marmalade of cantharides, were much better harbingers; cock-sparrows stew'd, dove's brains, or swan's pizzels, are very provocative; roasted potatoes, or boiled skerrets, are your only lofty dishes.” Again, in Decker's Honest Whore, 1635: “If she be a woman, marrow-bones and potatoe-pies keep me, &c.” Again, in A Chaste Maid of Cheapside, by Middleton, 1620: “You might have spar'd this banquet of eringoes, “Artichokes, potatoes, and your butter'd crab; “They were fitter kept for your own wedding dinner.” Again, in Chapman's May Day, 1611: “&lblank; a banquet of oyster-pies, skerret-roots, potatoes, eringoes, and divers other whetstones of venery.” Again, in Decker's If this be not a good Play the Devil is in it, 1612: “Potatoes eke, if you shall lack, “To corroborate the back.” Again, in Jack's Drum's Entertainment, 1601: “&lblank; by Gor an me had know dis, me woode have eat som potatos, or ringoe.” Again, in sir W. D'Avenant's Love and Honour, 1649: “You shall find me a kind of sparrow, widow; “A barley-corn goes as far as a potatoe.” Again, in The Ghost, 1640: “Then, the fine broths I daily had sent to me, “Potatoe pasties, lusty marrow-pies, &c.” Again, in Histriomastix, or the Player whipt, 1610: “Give your play-gull a stool, and my lady her fool,   “And her usher potatoes and marrow.” Nay, so notorious were the virtues of this root, that W. W. the old translator of the Menœchmi of Plautus, 1595, has introduced them into that comedy. When Menœchmus goes to the house of his mistress Erotium to bespeak a dinner, he adds, “Harke ye, some oysters, a mary-bone pie or two, some artichockes, and potato-roots; let our other dishes be as you please.” Again, in Greene's Disputation between a Hee Conycatcher and a Shee Conycatcher, 1592: “I pray you, how many badde proffittes againe growes from whoores. Bridewell woulde have verie fewe tenants, the hospittall woulde wante patientes, and the surgians much woorke: the apothecaries woulde have surphaling water and potato-roots lye deade on their handes.” Again, in Cynthia's Revels, by Ben Jonson. “&lblank; 'tis your only dish, above all your potatoes or oyster-pies in the world.” Again, in the Elder Brother, by B. and Fletcher: “A banquet—well, potatoes and eringoes, “And as I take it, cantharides—Excellent!” Again, in the Loyal Subject, by the same authors: “Will your lordship please to taste a fine potato? “'Twill advance your wither'd state, “Fill your honour full of noble itches, &c.” Again, in The Martial Maid, by B. and Fletcher: “Will your ladyship have a potatoe-pie? 'tis a good stirring dish for an old lady after a long lent.” Again, in the Sea Voyage, by the same authors: “&lblank; Oh, for some eringoes, “Potatoes, or cantharides!” Again, “See provoking dishes, candied eringoes “And potatoes.” Again, in The Picture, by Massinger: “&lblank; he hath got a pye “Of marrow-bones, potatoes and eringoes.” Again, in Massinger's New Way to pay old Debts: “&lblank; 'tis the quintessence “Of five cocks of the game, ten dozen of sparrows, “Knuckles of veal, potatoe-roots and marrow, “Coral and ambergris, &c. Again, in the Guardian, by the same author: “&lblank; Potargo, “Potatoes, marrow, caviare &lblank;” Again, in the City Madam, by the same: “&lblank; prescribes my diet, and foretells “My dreams when I eat potatoes.” Taylor, the Water poet, likewise, in his character of a Bawd, ascribes the same qualities to this genial root. Again, Decker in his Gul's Hornbook, 1609: “Potato-pies and custards stood like the sinful suburbs of cookery, &c.” Again, in Marston's Satires, 1599: “&lblank; camphire and lettice chaste, “Are now cashier'd—now Sophi 'ringoes eate, “Candi'd potatoes are Athenians' meate.” Again, in Holinshed's Chronicle, Description of England, p. 167: “Of the potato and such venerous roots, &c. I speake not.” Lastly, in sir John Harrington's Metamorphosis of Ajax, 1596: “Perhaps you have been used to your dainties of potatoes, of caveare, eringus, plums of Genowa, all which may well encrease your appetite to severall evacuations.” In the Good Huswives Jewell, a book of cookery published in 1596, I find the following receipt to make a tarte that is a courage to a man or woman: “Take two quinces and twoo or three burre rootes, and a POTATON; and pare your POTATON and scrape your roots and put them into a quarte of wine, and let them boyle till they bee tender and put in an ounce of dates, and when they be boiled tender, drawe them through a strainer, wine and all, and then put in the yolkes of eight egges, and the braynes of three or four cocke-sparrowes, and straine them into the other, and a little rose-water, and seeth them all with sugar, cinnamon, and ginger, and cloves and mace; and put in a little sweet butter, and set it upon a chafing-dish of coles between two platters, to let it boyle till it be something bigge.” Gerard elsewhere observes in his Herbal, that “potatoes may serve as a ground or foundation whereon the cunning confectioner or sugar-baker may worke and frame many comfortable conserves and restorative sweetmeats.” The same venerable botanist likewise adds, that the stalk of clotburre “being eaten rawe with salt and pepper, or boiled in the broth of fat meat, is pleasant to be eaten, and stirreth up venereal motions. It likewise strengtheneth the back, &c.” Speaking of dates, he says, that “thereof be made divers excellent cordial comfortable and nourishing medicines, and that procure lust of the body very mightily.” He also mentions quinces as having the same virtues. We may likewise add, that Shakespeare's own authority for the efficacy of quinces and dates is not wanting. He has certainly introduced them both as proper to be employed in the wedding dinner of Paris and Juliet: “They call for dates and quinces in the pastry.” It appears from Dr. Campbell's Political Survey of Great Britain, that potatoes were brought into Ireland about the year 1610, and that they came first from Ireland into Lancashire. It was however forty years before they were much cultivated about London. At this time they were distinguished from the Spanish by the name of Virginia potatoes,—or battatas, which is the Indian denomination of the Spanish sort. The Indians in Virginia called them openank. Sir Walter Raleigh was the first who planted them in Ireland. Authors differ as to the nature of this vegetable, as well as in respect of the country from whence it originally came. Switzer calls it Sisarum Peruvianum, i. e. the skirret of Peru. Dr. Hill says it is a solanum, and another very respectable naturalist conceives it to be a native of Mexico. The accumulation of instances in this note is to be regarded as a proof how often dark allusions might be cleared up, if commentators were diligent in their researches. Collins.

Note return to page 312 1Mr. Pope supposed the story of this play to have been borrow'd from a novel of Boccace; but he was mistaken, as an imitation of it is found in an old story-book entitled, Westward for Smelts. This imitation differs in as many particulars from the Italian novelist, as from Shakespeare, though they concur in the more considerable parts of the fable. It was published in a quarto pamphlet 1603. This is the only copy of it which I have hitherto seen. There is a late entry of it in the books of the Stationers' Company, Jan. 1619, where it is said to have been written by Kitt of Kingston. Steevens.

Note return to page 313 2You do not meet a man, but frowns: our bloods No more obey the heavens, than our courtiers Still seem, as does the king's.] The thought is this: we are not now (as we were wont) influenced by the weather, but by the king's looks. We no more obey the heavens [the sky] than our courtiers obey the heavens [God]. By which it appears that the reading —our bloods, is wrong. For though the blood may be affected with the weather, yet that affection is discovered not by change of colour, but by change of countenance. And it is the outward not the inward change that is here talked of, as appears from the word seem. We should read therefore: &lblank; our brows No more obey the heavens, &c. Which is evident from the precedent words, You do not meet a man but frowns. And from the following, &lblank; But not a courtier, Altho' they wear their faces to the bent Of the king's look, but hath a heart that is Glad at the thing they scowl at. &lblank; The Oxford Editor improves upon this emendation, and reads, &lblank; our looks No more obey the heart ev'n than our courtiers. But by venturing too far, at a second emendation, he has stript it of all thought and sentiment. Warburton. This passage is so difficult, that commentators may differ concerning it without animosity or shame. Of the two emendations proposed, Hanmer's is the more licentious; but he makes the sense clear, and leaves the reader an easy passage. Dr. Warburton has corrected with more caution, but less improvement: his reasoning upon his own reading is so obscure and perplexed, that I suspect some injury of the press.—I am now to tell my opinion, which is, that the lines stand as they were originally written, and that a paraphrase, such as the licentious and abrupt expressions of our author too frequently require, will make emendation unnecessary. We do not meet a man but frowns; our bloods—our countenances, which, in popular speech, are said to be regulated by the temper of the blood,—no more obey the laws of heaven,—which direct us to appear what we really are,—than our courtiers;—that is, than the bloods of our courtiers; but our bloods, like theirs,— still seem, as doth the king's. Johnson. In the Yorkshire Tragedy 1619, which has been attributed to Shakespeare, blood appears to be used for inclination: “For 'tis our blood to love what we are forbidden.” Again, in K. Lear, act IV. sc. ii. “&lblank; Were it my fitness “To let these hands obey my blood.” In K. Henry VIII. act III. sc. iv. is the same thought: “&lblank; subject to your countenance, glad, or sorry, “As I saw it inclin'd.” Steevens. I would propose to make this passage clear by a very slight alteration, only leaving out the last letter: You do not meet a man but frowns: our bloods No more obey the heavens than our courtiers Still seem, as does the king. &lblank; That is, Still look as the king does; or, as he expresses it a little differently afterwards: &lblank; wear their faces to the bent Of the king's look. Tyrwhitt. The original reading was probably this: &lblank; our bloods No more obey the heavens; they are courtiers: Still seem as does the king's. i. e. our countenances no longer depend on each skyey influence, by which in the ordinary course of things they are regulated; they are become mere courtiers: still are drest either in smiles or frowns, according to the bent of the king's look. Malone.

Note return to page 314 3I do extend him, sir, within himself;] I extend him within himself: my praise, however extensive, is within his merit. Johnson. Perhaps this passage may be somewhat illustrated by the following lines in Troilus and Cressida, act iii: “&lblank; no man is the lord of any thing, “'Till he communicate his parts to others: “Nor doth he of himself know them for aught, “'Till he behold them form'd in the applause “Where they are extended,” &c. Steevens.

Note return to page 315 4&lblank; liv'd in court, (Which rare it is to do) most prais'd, most lov'd:] This encomium is high and artful. To be at once in any great degree loved and praised, is truly rare. Johnson.

Note return to page 316 5A glass that featur'd them; &lblank;] Such is the reading in all the modern editions, I know not by whom first substituted, for A glass that feared them; &lblank; I have displaced featur'd, though it can plead long prescription, because I am inclined to think that feared has the better title. Mirrour was a favourite word in that age for an example, or a pattern, by noting which the manners were to be formed, as dress is regulated by looking in a glass. When Don Bellianis is stiled The Mirrour of Knighthood, the idea given is not that of a glass in which every knight may behold his own resemblance, but an example to be viewed by knights as often as a glass is looked upon by girls; to be viewed, that they may know, not what they are, but what they ought to be. Such a glass may fear the more mature, as displaying excellencies which they have arrived at maturity without attaining. To fear, is here, as in other places, to fright. If feated be the right word, it must, I think, be explained thus: a glass that formed them; a model, by the contemplation and inspection of which they formed their manners. Johnson. Feated is the old reading. This passage may be well explained by another in the first part of King Henry IV: &lblank; He was indeed the glass Wherein the noble youths did dress themselves. Again, Ophelia describes Hamlet, as The glass of fashion, and the mould of form. To dress themselves therefore may be to form themselves. Dresser, in French, is to form. To dress a Spaniel is to break him in. Feat is nice, exact. So in the Tempest: &lblank; look, how well my garments sit upon me, Much feater than before. To feat therefore may be a verb meaning—to render nice, exact: by the dress of Posthumus, even the more mature courtiers condescended to regulate their external appearance. Steevens.

Note return to page 317 1(Always reserv'd my holy duty) &lblank;] I say I do not fear my father, so far as I may say it without breach of duty. Johnson.

Note return to page 318 2Though ink be made of gall.] Shakespeare, even in this poor conceit, has confounded the vegetable galls used in ink, with the animal gall, supposed to be bitter. Johnson. The poet might mean either the vegetable or the animal galls with equal propriety, as the vegetable gall is bitter; and I have seen an ancient receipt for making ink, beginning, “Take of the black juice of the gall of oxen two ounces,” &c. Steevens.

Note return to page 319 3And sear up my embracements from a next With bonds of death! &lblank;] Shakespeare may poetically call the cere-cloths in which the dead are wrapp'd, the bonds of death. If so, we should read cere instead of sear. Why thy canoniz'd bones hearsed in death Have burst their cerements? To sear up, is properly to close up by burning; but in this passage the poet may have dropp'd that idea, and used the word simply for to close up. Steevens.

Note return to page 320 4While sense can keep thee on! &lblank;] The folio (the only ancient and authentic copy of this play) reads: While sense can keep it on! &lblank; which I believe to be right. The expression means, while sense can maintain its operations; while sense continues to have power. Steevens.

Note return to page 321 5&lblank; thou heapest A year's age on me!] Dr. Warburton reads: A yare age on me. It seems to me, even from Skinner, whom he cites, that yare is used only as a personal quality. Nor is the authority of Skinner sufficient, without some example, to justify the alteration. Hanmer's reading is better, but rather too far from the original copy: &lblank; thou heapest many A year's age on me. I read: &lblank; thou heap'st Years, ages, on me. Johnson. I would receive Dr. Johnson's emendation: he is however mistaken when he says that yare is used only as a personal quality. See Antony and Cleopatra: Their ships are yare, yours heavy. Yare, however, will by no means apply to Dr. Warburton's sense. Steevens.

Note return to page 322 6&lblank; a touch more rare Subdues all pangs, all fears.] Rare is used often for eminently good; but I do not remember any passage in which it stands for eminently bad. May we read: &lblank; a touch more near. “Cura deam propior luctusque domesticus angit.” Ovid. Shall we try again: &lblank; a touch more rear. Crudum vulnus. But of this I know not any example. There is yet another interpretation, which perhaps will remove the difficulty. A touch more rare, may mean a nobler passion. So, in Antony and Cleopatra, act I. sc. ii. The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches, Do strongly speak to us. Again, in the Tempest: Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling Of their afflictions? &c. A touch is not unfrequently used, by other ancient writers, in this sense. So in Daniel's Hymen's Triumph, a masque, 1623:   “You must not, Phillis, be so sensible   “Of these small touches which your passion makes.” “&lblank; Small touches, Lydia! do you count them small?” Again: “When pleasure leaves a touch at last   “To shew that it was ill.” Again, in Daniel's Cleopatra, 1599: “So deep we feel impressed in our blood “That touch which nature with our breath did give.” A touch more rare is undoubtedly a more exquisite feeling, a superior sensation. Steevens.

Note return to page 323 7&lblank; a puttock.] A kite. Johnson.

Note return to page 324 8&lblank; her beauty and her brain, &c.] I believe the lord means to speak a sentence, “Sir, as I told you always, beauty and brain go not together.” Johnson.

Note return to page 325 9&lblank; She's a good sign, &lblank;] If sign be the true reading, the poet means by it constellation, and by reflection is meant influence. But I rather think, from the answer, that he wrote shine. So, in his Venus and Adonis: “As if, from thence, they borrowed all their shine.” Warburton. There is acuteness enough in this note, yet I believe the poet meant nothing by sign, but fair outward shew. Johnson. The same allusion is common to other writers. So, in B. and Fletcher's Fair Maid of the Inn: “&lblank; a common trull, “A tempting sign, and curiously set forth “To draw in riotous guests.” Again, in the Elder Brother, by the same authors: “Stand still, thou sign of man. &lblank;” To understand the whole force of Shakespeare's idea, it should be remember'd that anciently almost every sign had a motto, or some attempt at a witticism, underneath it. Steevens.

Note return to page 326 1&lblank; 'twere a paper lost As offer'd mercy is. &lblank;] i. e. Should one of his letters miscarry, the loss would be as great as that of offer'd mercy. But the Oxford Editor amends it thus: &lblank; 'twere a paper lost, With offer'd mercy in it. Warburton. I believe the poet's meaning is, that the loss of that paper would prove as fatal to her, as the loss of a pardon to a condemn'd criminal. A thought resembling this occurs in All's well that ends well: “Like a remorseful pardon slowly carried.” Dr. Warburton's opinion may, however, be supported from Milton's Paradise Lost, b. iii. l. 185: “The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warn'd “Their sinful state, and to appease betimes “Th' incensed deity, while offer'd grace “Invites.” Steevens.

Note return to page 327 2&lblank; for so long As he could make me with his eye, or ear, Distinguish him from others. &lblank;] But how could Posthumus make himself distinguished by his ear to Pisanio? By his tongue he might to the other's ear: and this was certainly Shakespeare's intention. We must therefore read: As he could make me with this eye or ear, Distinguish him from others. &lblank; The expression is &grd;&gre;&gri;&grk;&grt;&gri;&grk;&grwc;&grst;, as the Greeks term it: the party speaking points to that part spoken of. Warburton. Sir T. Hanmer alters it thus: &lblank; for so long As he could mark me with his eye, or I Distinguish &lblank; The reason of Hanmer's reading was, that Pisanio describes no address made to the ear. Johnson.

Note return to page 328 3&lblank; 'till the diminution Of space had pointed him sharp as my needle:] The diminution of space, is the diminution of which space is the cause. Trees are killed by a blast of lightning, that is, by blasting, not blasted lightning. Johnson.

Note return to page 329 4&lblank; next vantage.] Next opportunity. Johnson.

Note return to page 330 5&lblank; or ere I could Give him that parting kiss, which I had set Betwixt two charming words; &lblank;] Dr. Warburton pronounces as absolutely as if he had been present at their parting, that these two charming words were adieu Posthumus; but as Mr. Edwards has observed, “she must have understood the language of love very little, if she could find no tenderer expression of it, than the name by which every one called her husband.” Steevens.

Note return to page 331 6Shakes all our buds from growing.] A bud, without any distinct idea, whether of flower or fruit, is a natural representation of any thing incipient or immature; and the buds of flowers, if flowers are meant, grow to flowers, as the buds of fruits grow to fruits. Johnson. &lblank; the tyrannous breathing of the north, Shakes all our buds from growing. A great critic proposes to read:   Shuts all our buds from blowing: and his emendation may in some measure be confirmed by those beautiful lines in the Two Noble Kinsmen, which I have no doubt were written by Shakespeare. Emilia is speaking of a rose: “It is the very emblem of a maid. “For when the west wind courts her gentily, “How modestly she blows, and paints the sun “With her chaste blushes?—when the north comes near her “Rude and impatient, then like charity, “She shuts her beauties in her bud again, “And leaves him to base briars.” Farmer. I think the old reading may be sufficiently supported by the following passage in the 18th Sonnet of our author: “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May.” Again, in the Taming of a Shrew: “Confounds thy fame, as whirlwinds shake fair buds.” Steevens.

Note return to page 332 7&lblank; and a Frenchman.] The old copy reads—a Frenchman, a Frenchman Dutchman, and a Spaniard. Steevens.

Note return to page 333 8&lblank; makes him &lblank;] In the sense in which we say, This will make or mar you. Johnson.

Note return to page 334 9&lblank; words him &lblank; a great deal from the matter.] Makes the description of him very distant from the truth. Johnson.

Note return to page 335 1&lblank; under her colours, &lblank;] Under her banner; by her influence. Johnson.

Note return to page 336 2&lblank; without more quality. &lblank;] The folio reads less quality. Mr. Rowe first made the alteration. Steevens.

Note return to page 337 3&lblank; I did atone, &c.] To atone signifies in this place to reconcile. So Ben. Jonson, in The Silent Woman: “There had been some hope to atone you.” Again, in Heywood's English Traveller, 1633: “The constable is call'd to atone the broil.” Again, “Yet for thy sake I am aton'd with all.” Steevens.9Q1040

Note return to page 338 4&lblank; rather shunn'd to go even with what I heard, &c.] This is expressed with a kind of fantastical perplexity. He means, I was then willing to take for my direction the experience of others, more than such intelligence as I had gathered myself. Johnson.

Note return to page 339 5&lblank; which may, without contradiction, &lblank;] Which, undoubtedly, may be publickly told. Johnson.

Note return to page 340 6&lblank; though I profess, &c.] Though I have not the common obligations of a lover to his mistress, and regard her not with the fondness of a friend, but the reverence of an adorer. Johnson.

Note return to page 341 7&lblank; If she went before others I have seen, as that diamond of yours out-lustres many I have beheld, I could not believe she excelled many, &lblank;] What? if she did really excel others, could he not believe she did excel them? Nonsense. We must strike out the negative, and the sense will be this, “I can easily believe your mistress excels many, tho' she be not the most excellent; just as I see that diamond of yours is of more value than many I have beheld, though I know there are other diamonds of much greater value.” Warburton. The old reading, I think, may very well stand; and I have therefore replaced it. “If (says Iachimo) your mistress went before some others I have seen, only in the same degree your diamond outlustres many I have likewise seen, I should not admit on that account that she excelled many: but I ought not to make myself the judge of who is the fairest lady, or which is the brightest diamond, till I have beheld the finest of either kind which nature has hitherto produced.” The passage is not nonsense. It was the business of Iachimo to appear on this occasion as an infidel to beauty, in order to spirit Posthumus to lay the wager, and therefore will not admit of her excellence on any comparison. The author of The Revisal would read: I could but believe. &lblank; Steevens. I should explain the sentence thus: “Though your lady excelled as much as your diamond, I could not believe she excelled many; that is, I too could yet believe that there are many whom she did not excel.” But I yet think Dr. Warburton right. Johnson.9Q1041

Note return to page 342 1&lblank; to convince the honour of my mistress; &lblank;] Convince, for overcome. Warburton. So, in Macbeth: “&lblank; their malady convinces “The great essay of art.” Johnson.

Note return to page 343 2&lblank; abus'd &lblank;] Deceiv'd. Johnson.

Note return to page 344 3&lblank; approbation &lblank;] Proof. Johnson.

Note return to page 345 4You are a friend, and therein the wiser. &lblank;] I correct it: You are afraid, and therein the wiser. What Iachimo says, in the close of his speech, determines this to have been our poet's reading: —But, I see you have some religion in you, that you fear. Warburton. You are a friend to the lady, and therein the wiser, as you will not expose her to hazard; and that you fear, is a proof of your religious fidelity. Johnson.

Note return to page 346 5Iach. &lblank; If I bring you no sufficient testimony that I have enjoy'd the dearest bodily part of your mistress, my ten thousand ducats are yours; so is your diamond too: if I come off, and leave her in such honour as you have trust in, she your jewel, this your jewel, and my gold are yours, &c. Post. I embrace these conditions, &c.] This was a wager between the two speakers. Iachimo declares the conditions of it; and Posthumus embraces them, as well he might; for Iachimo mentions only that of the two conditions which was favourable to Posthumus, namely, that if his wife preserved her honour he should win: concerning the other, in case she preserved it not, Iachimo, the accurate expounder of the wager, is silent. To make him talk more in character, for we find him sharp enough in the prosecution of his bet, we should strike out the negative, and read the rest thus: If I bring you sufficient testimony that I have enjoy'd, &c. my ten thousand ducats are mine; so is your diamond too. If I come off, and leave her in such honour, &c. she your jewel, &c. and my gold are yours. Warburton. I once thought this emendation right, but am now of opinion, that Shakespeare intended that Iachimo, having gained his purpose, should designedly drop the invidious and offensive part of the wager, and to flatter Posthumus, dwell long upon the more pleasing part of the representation. One condition of a wager implies the other, and there is no need to mention both. Johnson.

Note return to page 347 6Other conclusions? &lblank;] Other experiments. I commend, says Walton, an angler that tries conclusions, and improves his art. Johnson.

Note return to page 348 7Your highness Shall from this practice but make hard your heart:] There is in this passage nothing that much requires a note, yet I cannot forbear to push it forward into observation. The thought would probably have been more amplified, had our author lived to be shocked with such experiments as have been published in later times, by a race of men that have practised tortures without pity, and related them without shame, and are yet suffered to erect their heads among human beings. Cape saxa manu, cape robora, pastor. Johnson.

Note return to page 349 8I do not like her. &lblank;] This soliloquy is very inartificial. The speaker is under no strong pressure of thought; he is neither resolving, repenting, suspecting, nor deliberating, and yet makes a long speech to tell himself what himself knows. Johnson. I do not like her. &lblank;] This soliloquy, however inartificial in respect of the speaker, is yet necessary to prevent that uneasiness which would naturally arise in the mind of an audience on recollection that the queen had mischievous ingredients in her possession, unless they were undeceiv'd as to the quality of them; and it is no less useful to prepare us for the return of Imogen to life. Steevens.

Note return to page 350 9&lblank; to shift his being,] To change his abode. Johnson.

Note return to page 351 1&lblank; that leans?] That inclines towards its fall. Johnson.

Note return to page 352 2Think what a chance thou changest on; &lblank;] Such is the reading of the old copy, which by succeeding editors has been altered into, Think what a chance thou chancest on; &lblank; and Think what a change thou chancest on; &lblank; but unnecessarily. The meaning is: “think with what a fair prospect of mending your fortunes you now change your present service.” Steevens.

Note return to page 353 3Of leigers for her sweet; &lblank;] A leiger ambassador, is one that resides at a foreign court to promote his master's interest. Johnson. So, in Measure for Measure: “&lblank; Lord Angelo “Intends you for his swift ambassador; “Where you shall be an everlasting leiger.” Steevens.

Note return to page 354 4&lblank; but most miserable Is the desire that's glorious: &lblank;] Her husband, she says, proves her supreme grief. She had been happy had she been stolen as her brothers were, but now she is miserable, as all those are who have a sense of worth and honour superior to the vulgar, which occasions them infinite vexations from the envious and worthless part of mankind. Had she not so refined a taste as to be content only with the superior merit of Posthumus, but could have taken up with Cloten, she might have escaped these persecutions. This elegance of taste, which always discovers an excellence and chuses it, she calls with great sublimity of expression, The desire that's glorious; which the Oxford editor not understanding, alters to, The degree that's glorious. Warburton.

Note return to page 355 5&lblank; Blessed be those, How mean soe'er, that have their honest wills, Which seasons comfort. &lblank;] The last words are equivocal; but the meaning is this: Who are beholden only to the seasons for their support and nourishment; so that, if those be kindly, such have no more to care for or desire. Warburton. I am willing to comply with any meaning that can be extorted from the present text, rather than change it, yet will propose, but with great diffidence, a slight alteration: &lblank; Bless'd be those, How mean soe'er, that have their honest wills, With reason's comfort. &lblank; Who gratify their innocent wishes with reasonable enjoyments. Johnson. I shall venture at another explanation, which, as the last words are admitted to be equivocal, may be proposed. “To be able to refine on calamity (says she) is the miserable privilege of those who are educated with aspiring thoughts and elegant desires. Blessed are they, however mean their condition, who have the power of gratifying their honest inclinations, which circumstance bestows an additional relish on comfort itself.” “You lack the season of all natures, sleep.” Macbeth. Again, in Albumazar, 1615: “&lblank; the memory of misfortunes past “Seasons the welcome.” &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 356 6&lblank; and the rich crop Of sea and land, &lblank;] He is here speaking of the covering of sea and land. Shakespeare therefore wrote: &lblank; and the rich cope. Warburton. Surely no emendation is necessary. The vaulted arch is alike the cope or covering of sea and land. When the poet had spoken of it once, could he have thought this second introduction of it necessary? The crop of sea and land means only the productions of either element. Steevens.

Note return to page 357 7&lblank; and the twinn'd stones Upon the number'd beach? &lblank;] I have no idea in what sense the beach, or shore, should be called number'd. I have ventured, against all the copies, to substitute: Upon th' unnumber'd beach? &lblank; i. e. the infinite extensive beach, if we are to understand the epithet as coupled to that word. But, I rather think, the poet intended an hypallage, like that in the beginning of Ovid's Metamorphoses: “(In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas “Corpora.)” &lblank; And then we are to understand the passage thus: and the infinite number of twinn'd stones upon the beach. Theobald. Upon th' unnumber'd beach?] Sense and the antithesis oblige us to read this nonsense thus: Upon the humbled beach? &lblank; i. e. because daily insulted with the flow of the tide. Warburton. I know not well how to regulate this passage. Number'd is perhaps numerous. Twinn'd stones I do not understand. Twinn'd shells, or pairs of shells, are very common. For twinn'd we might read twin'd; that is, twisted, convolved: but this sense is more applicable to shells than to stones. Johnson. The pebbles on the sea shore are so much of the same size and shape, that twinn'd may mean as like as twins. So in the Maid of the Mill, by B. and Fletcher: &lblank; “But is it possible that two faces “Should be so twinn'd in form, complexion, &c. Again in our author's Coriolanus, act IV. sc. iv: Are still together, who twin as 'twere, in love. The author of The Revisal conjectures the poet might have written spurn'd stones. He might possibly have written that or any other word.—In Coriolanus a different epithet is bestowed on the beach: “Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach “Fillop the stars &lblank;” Dr. Warburton's conjecture may be countenanced by the following passage in Spenser's Faery Queen, b. vi. c. 7. “But as he lay upon the humbled grass.” Steevens. I think we may read the umbered, the shaded beach. This word is met with in other places. Farmer.9Q1044

Note return to page 358 8Should made desire vomit emptiness, Not so allur'd to feed.] i. e. that appetite, which is not allured to feed on such excellence, can have no stomach at all; but, though empty, must nauseate every thing. Warburton. I explain this passage in a sense almost contrary. Iachimo, in this counterfeited rapture, has shewn how the eyes and the judgment would determine in favour of Imogen, comparing her with the present mistress of Posthumus, and proceeds to say, that appetite too would give the same suffrage. Desire, says he, when it approached sluttery, and considered it in comparison with such neat excellence, would not only be not so allured to feed, but, seized with a fit of loathing, would vomit emptiness, would feel the convulsions of disgust, though, being unfed, it had nothing to eject. Johnson. Dr. Warburton and Dr. Johnson have both taken the pains to give their different senses of this passage; but I am still unable to comprehend how desire, or any other thing, can be made to vomit emptiness. I rather believe the passage should be read thus: Sluttery, to such neat excellence oppos'd, Should make desire vomit, emptiness Not so allure to feed. That is, Should not so, [in such circumstances] allure [even] emptiness to feed. Tyrwhitt. This is not ill conceived; but I think my own explanation right. To vomit emptiness is, in the language of poetry, to feel the convulsions of eructation without plenitude Johnson. We might read—vomit to emptiness. The oddity and indelicacy of this passage may be kept in countenance by the following circumstance in the tragedy of All for Money, by T. Lupton, 1578: “Now will I essay to vomit if I can; “Let him hold your head, and I will hold your stomach, &c.”   “Here money shall make as though he would vomit.” Again: “Here pleasure shall make as though he would vomit.” Steevens.

Note return to page 359 9He's strange, and peevish.] He is a foreigner, and easily fretted. Johnson. Strange, I believe, signifies shy or backward. So Holinshed, p. 735: “&lblank; brake to him his mind in this mischievous matter, in which he found him nothing strange.” Peevish anciently meant weak, silly. So in Lylly's Endymion, 1591: “Never was any so peevish to imagine the moon either capable of affection, or shape of a mistress.” Again, in Lylly's Galatea, when a man has given a conceited answer to a plain question, Diana says, “let him alone, he is but peevish.” Again, in Love's Metamorphosis by Lylly, 1601: “In the heavens I saw an orderly course, in the earth nothing but disorderly love and peevishness.” Again, in Gosson's School of Abuse, 1579: “We have infinite poets and pipers, and such peevish cattel among us in Englande.” Again, in the Comedy of Errors: “How now! a madman! why thou peevish sheep, “No ship of Epidamnum stays for me.” Steevens.

Note return to page 360 1&lblank; he is call'd The Briton reveller.] So, in Chaucer's Coke's Tale, late edit. v. 4369: “That he was cleped Perkin revelour.” Steevens.

Note return to page 361 2&lblank; he furnaces The thick sighs from him; &lblank;] So in Chapman's preface to his translation of the Shield of Homer, 1598: “&lblank; furnaceth the universall sighes and complaintes of this transposed world.” Steevens.

Note return to page 362 3&lblank; timely knowing,] Rather timely known. Johnson.

Note return to page 363 4What both you spur and stop.] What it is that at once incites you to speak, and restrains you from it. Johnson. What both you spur and stop.] I think Imogen means to enquire what is that news, that intelligence, or information, you profess to bring, and yet with-hold: at least I think Dr. Johnson's explanation a mistaken one, for Imogen's request supposes Iachimo an agent, not a patient. Sir J. Hawkins. I think my explanation true. Johnson.

Note return to page 364 5&lblank; as common as the stairs That mount the Capitol; &lblank;] Shakespeare has bestowed some ornament on the proverbial phrase “as common as the high-way.” Steevens.

Note return to page 365 6&lblank; join gripes with hands, &c.] The old edition reads &lblank; join gripes with hands Made hard with hourly falshood ((falshood as With labour) then by peeping in an eye, &c. I read, &lblank; then lye peeping &lblank; The author of the present regulation of the text I do not know, but have suffered it to stand, though not right. Hard with falshood is, hard by being often griped with frequent change of hands. Johnson. &lblank; join gripes with hands Made hourly hard by falshood, as by labour; Then glad myself with peeping in an eye,] Mr. Rowe first regulated the passage thus, as it has been handed down by succeeding editors; but the repetition which they wished to avoid, is now restored, for if it be not absolute nonsense, why should we refuse to follow the old copy? Steevens.

Note return to page 366 1&lblank; to an empery,] Empery is a word signifying sovereign command; now obsolete. Shakespeare uses it in another play: “Your right of birth, your empery, your own.” Steevens.

Note return to page 367 2With tomboys,] We still call a masculine, a forward girl, a tomboy. So in Middleton's Game at Chess, 1625: “Made threescore year a tomboy, a mere wanton.” Again, in Lylly's Midas, 1592: “If thou should'st rigg up and down in our jackets, thou wouldst be thought a very tomboy.” Again, in Lady Alimony: “What humourous tomboys be these? &lblank; “The only gallant Messalinas of our age.” It appears, from several of the old plays, that the ladies of pleasure, in the time of Shakespeare, often went abroad in the habits of young men. Verstegan, however, gives the following etymology of the word tomboy. “Tumbe. To dance. Tumbod, danced; heerof wee yet call a wench that skippeth or leapeth lyke a boy, a tomboy: our name also of tumbling cometh from hence.” Steevens.

Note return to page 368 3&lblank; hir'd with that self-exhibition] Gross strumpets, hired with the very pension which you allow your husband. Johnson. *&lblank; such boil'd stuff,] So in the Old Law by Massinger: “&lblank; look parboil'd, “As if they came from Cupid's scalding-house.” Steevens.

Note return to page 369 4Let me my service tender on your lips.] Perhaps this is an allusion to the ancient custom of swearing servants into noble families. So in Caltha Poetarum, &c. 1599: “&lblank; she swears him to his good abearing, “Whilst her faire sweet lips were the books of swearing.” Steevens.

Note return to page 370 5As in a Romish stew, &lblank;] The stews of Rome are deservedly censured by the reformed. This is one of many instances in which Shakespeare has mingled the manners of distant ages in this play. Johnson. Romish was in the time of Shakespeare used instead of Roman. There were stews at Rome in the time of Augustus. The same phrase occurs in Claudius Tiberius Nero, 1607: “&lblank; my mother deem'd me chang'd, “Poor woman! in the loathsome Romish stewes:” and the author of this piece appears to have been a scholar. Again in Wit in a Constable, by Glapthorne, 1640: “A Romish cirque, or Grecian hippodrome.” Again in Tho. Drant's translation of the first epistle of the second book of Horace, 1567: “The Romishe people wise in this, in this point only just.” Steevens.

Note return to page 371 6&lblank; being strange,] i. e. being a stranger. Steevens.

Note return to page 372 7&lblank; kiss'd the jack upon an up-cast, &lblank;] He is describing his fate at bowls. The jack is the small bowl at which the others are aimed. He who is nearest to it wins. To kiss the jack is a state of great advantage. Johnson. This expression frequently occurs in the old comedies. So, in A Woman never vex'd, by Rowley, 1632: “This city bowler has kiss'd the mistress at the first cast.” Steevens.

Note return to page 373 8No, my lord; &c.] This, I believe, should stand thus: 1 Lord. No, my lord. 2 Lord. Nor crop the ears of them. [Aside. Johnson.

Note return to page 374 9&lblank; with your comb on.] The allusion is to a fool's cap, which hath a comb like a cock's. Johnson.

Note return to page 375 1&lblank; every companion &lblank;] The use of companion was the same as of fellow now. It was a word of contempt. Johnson.

Note return to page 376 2&lblank; he'd make! &lblank;] In the old editions: &lblank; hee'ld make! &lblank; Hanmer, &lblank; hell made. &lblank; In which he is followed by Dr. Warburton. Johnson.

Note return to page 377 3From fairies, &c.] In Macbeth is a prayer like this: Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature Gives way to in repose! Steevens.

Note return to page 378 4&lblank; our Tarquin &lblank;] The speaker is an Italian. Johnson.

Note return to page 379 5Did softly press the rushes, &lblank;] It was the custom in the time of our author to strew chambers with rushes, as we now cover them with carpets. The practice is mentioned in Caius de Ephemera Britannica. Johnson. So, in Arden of Feversham, 1592: “&lblank; his blood remains. “Why strew rushes.” Again: “For in his slip'd shoe I did find some rushes.’ Again, in Bussy D'Ambois, 1641: “Were not the king here, he should strew the chamber like a rush.” Shakespeare has the same circumstance in his Rape of Lucrece: “&lblank; by the light he spies “Lucretia's glove wherein her needle sticks; “He takes it from the rushes where it lies,” &c. The ancient English stage, as appears from more than one passage in Decker's Gul's Hornbook, 1609, was strewn with rushes: “&lblank; Salute all your gentle acquaintance that are spred either on the rushes or on stooles about you, and drawe what troope you can from the stage after you.” Steevens.

Note return to page 380 6&lblank; now canopy'd] Shakespeare has the same expression in Tarquin and Lucrece: “Her eyes, like marigolds, had sheath'd their light, “And canopy'd in darkness sweetly lay, “'Till they might open to adorn the day.” Malone.

Note return to page 381 7&lblank; white and azure! lac'd With blue of heaven's own tinct. &lblank;] We should read: &lblank; white with azure lac'd, The blue of heaven's own tinct. &lblank;] i. e. the white skin laced with blue veins. Warburton.

Note return to page 382 8&lblank; like the crimson drops I' the bottom of a cowslip: &lblank;] This simile contains the smallest out of a thousand proofs that Shakespeare was a most accurate observer of nature. Steevens.

Note return to page 383 9&lblank; you dragons of the night! &lblank;] The task of drawing the chariot of night was assigned to dragons, on account of their supposed watchfulness. Milton mentions the dragon yoke of night in Il Penseroso; and in his Masque at Ludlow Castle: “the dragon womb of Stygian darkness.” It may be remarked that the whole tribe of serpents sleep with their eyes open, and therefore appear to exert a constant vigilance. Steevens.

Note return to page 384 1&lblank; that dawning May bear the raven's eye: &lblank;] Some copies read bare, or make bare; others ope. But the true reading is bear, a term taken from heraldry, and very sublimely applied. The meaning is, that morning may assume the colour of the raven's eye, which is grey. Hence it is so commonly called the grey-ey'd morning. And Romeo and Juliet: “I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye.” Had Shakespeare meant to bare or open the eye, that is, to awake, he had instanced rather in the lark than raven, as the earlier riser. Besides, whether the morning bared or opened the raven's eye was of no advantage to the speaker, but it was of much advantage that it should bear it, that is, become light. Yet the Oxford editor judiciously alters it to: May bare its raven-eye. &lblank; Warburton. I have received Hanmer's emendation. Johnson. &lblank; that dawning May bare the raven's eye: &lblank;] The old reading is beare. The colour of the raven's eye is not grey, but totally black. This I affirm on repeated inspection: therefore the poet means no more than that the light might wake the raven; or, as it is poetically expressed, bare his eye. Steevens.

Note return to page 385 2Hark! hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings,] The same hyperbole occurs in Milton's Paradise Lost, book v: “&lblank; ye birds “That singing up to heaven's gate ascend.” Again, in Shakespeare's 29th Sonnet: “Like to the lark at break of day arising “From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate.” Steevens.

Note return to page 386 3His steeds to water at those springs On chalic'd flowers that lies;] i. e. the morning sun dries up the dew which lies in the cups of flowers. Warburton. Hanmer reads: Each chalic'd flower supplies; to escape a false concord: but correctness must not be obtained by such licentious alterations. It may be noted, that the cup of a flower is called calix, whence chalice. Johnson. &lblank; those springs On chalic'd flowers that lies.] It may be observed, with regard to this apparent false concord, that in very old English, the third person plural of the present tense endeth in eth, as well as the singular; and often familiarly in es, as might be exemplified from Chaucer, &c. Nor was this antiquated idiom quite worn out in our author's time, as appears from the following passage in Romeo and Juliet: And cakes the elf-locks in foul sluttish hairs, Which once untangled, much misfortune bodes: as well as from many others in the Reliques of ancient English Poetry. Percy. Dr. Percy might have added, that the third person plural of the Anglo-Saxon present tense ended in eth, and of the Dano-Saxon in es, which seems to be the original of such very ancient English idioms. Tollet. Shakespeare frequently offends in this manner against the rules of grammar. So, in Venus and Adonis: “She lifts the coffer lids that close his eyes, “Where lo, two lamps, burnt out, in darkness lies.” Steevens.

Note return to page 387 4&lblank; pretty bin,] is very properly restored by Hanmer, for pretty is: but he too grammatically reads: With all the things that pretty bin. Johnson. So, in Spenser's Faery Queen, book i. c. 1. “That which of them to take, in diverse doubt they been.” Again, in The Arraignment of Paris, 1584: “Sir, you may boast your flockes and herdes, that bin both fresh and fair.” Again—“As fresh as bin the flowers in May.” Again, “Oenone, while we bin disposed to walk.” Kirkman ascribes this piece to Shakespeare. Steevens.

Note return to page 388 5&lblank; I will consider your music the better: &lblank;] i. e. I will pay you more amply for it. So, in the Winter's Tale, act IV: “&lblank; being something gently consider'd, I'll bring you, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 389 6&lblank; cats-guts, &lblank;] The old copy reads—calves-guts. Steevens.

Note return to page 390 7To orderly solicits; &lblank;] i. e. regular courtship, courtship after the established fashion. Steevens.

Note return to page 391 8&lblank; his goodness forespent on us,] i. e. The good offices done by him to us heretofore. Warburton.

Note return to page 392 9&lblank; false themselves, &lblank;] Perhaps, in this instance, false is not an adjective, but a verb; and as such I think is used in soother of our author's plays. Spenser often has it: “Thou falsed hast thy faith with perjury.” Steevens.

Note return to page 393 1&lblank; one of your great knowing Should learn, being taught, forbearance.] i. e. A man who is taught forbearance should learn it. Johnson.

Note return to page 394 2To leave you in your madness, 'twere my sin. I will not. Imo. Fools are not mad folks. Clot. Do you call me fool? Imo. As I am mad, I do:] But does she really call him fool? The acutest critic would be puzzled to find it out, as the text stands. The reasoning is perplexed by a slight corruption, and we must restore it thus: Fools cure not mad folks. You are mad, says he, and it would be a crime in me to leave you to yourself. Nay, says she, why should you stay? A fool never cured madness. Do you call me fool? replies he, &c. All this is easy and natural. And that cure was certainly the poet's word, I think is very evident from what Imogen immediately subjoins: If you'll be patient, I'll no more be mad; That cures us both. &lblank; i. e. If you'll cease to torture me with your foolish solicitations, I'll cease to shew towards you any thing like madness; so a double cure will be effected of your folly, and my supposed frenzy. Warburton. Fools are not mad folks.] This, as Cloten very well understands it, is a covert mode of calling him fool. The meaning implied is this: If I am mad, as you tell me, I am what you can never be, Fools are not mad folks. Steevens.

Note return to page 395 1&lblank; so verbal: &lblank;] Is, so verbose, so full of talk. Johnson.

Note return to page 396 2The contract, &c.] Here Shakespeare has not preserved, with his common nicety, the uniformity of character. The speech of Cloten is rough and harsh, but certainly not the talk of one, Who can't take two from twenty, for his heart, And leave eighteen. &lblank; His argument is just and well enforced, and its prevalence is allowed throughout all civil nations: as for rudeness, he seems not to be much undermatched. Johnson.

Note return to page 397 3&lblank; in self-figur'd knot;] This is nonsense. We should read: &lblank; self-finger'd knot; i. e. A knot solely of their own tying, without any regard to parents, or other more public considerations. Warburton. But why nonsense? A self-figured knot is a knot formed by yourself. Johnson.

Note return to page 398 4Were they all made such men.—How now, Pisanio?] Sir T. Hanmer regulates this line thus: &lblank; all made such men. Clot. How now? Imo. Pisanio! Johnson.

Note return to page 399 5I am sprighted with a fool;] i. e. I am haunted by a fool, as by a spright. Over-sprighted is a word that occurs in Lawtricks, &c. 1608. Again in our author's Antony and Cleopatra: &lblank; Julius Cæsar, Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted. Steevens.

Note return to page 400 6&lblank; a jewel, that too casually Hath left mine arm; &lblank;] i. e. Too many chances of losing it have arisen from my carelessness. Warburton.

Note return to page 401 7Or look &lblank;] This the modern editors had changed into E'er look. Or is used for e'er. So Douglas, in his translation or Virgil: “&lblank; sufferit he also, “Or he his goddes brocht in Latio.” Steevens.

Note return to page 402 8Statist] i. e. Statesman. Steevens.

Note return to page 403 9&lblank; mingled with their courages &lblank;] The old folio has this odd reading: &lblank; Their discipline, (Now wing-led with their courages) will make known. Johnson. &lblank; Their discipline, Now wing-led with their courages] May mean their discipline borrowing wings from their courage; i. e. their military knowledge being animated by their natural bravery. Steevens.

Note return to page 404 1To their approvers, &lblank;] i. e. To those who try them. Warburton.

Note return to page 405 2Post.] I think this speech should be given to Philario. Posthumus was employed in reading his letters. Steevens.

Note return to page 406 3And Cydnus swell'd above the banks, or for The press of boats, or pride. &lblank;] This is an agreeable ridicule on poetical exaggeration, which gives human passions to inanimate things: and particularly, upon what he himself writes in the foregoing play on this very subject: “&lblank; And made “The water, which they beat, to follow faster, “As amorous of their strokes,” But the satire is not only agreeably turned, but very artfully employed; as it is a plain indication, that the speaker is secretly mocking the credulity of his hearer, while he is endeavouring to persuade him of his wife's falshood. The very same kind of satire we have again, on much the same occasion, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, where the false Protheus says to his friend, of his friend's mistress: “&lblank; and she hath offer'd to the doom, “Which unrevers'd stands in effectual force, “A sea of melting pearl, which some call tears.” A certain gaiety of heart, which the speaker strives to conceal, breaking out under a satire, by which he would insinuate to his friend the trifling worth of woman's tears. Warburton. It is easy to sit down and give our author meanings which he never had. Shakespeare has no great right to censure poetical exaggeration, of which no poet is more frequently guilty. That he intended to ridicule his own lines is very uncertain, when there are no means of knowing which of the two plays was written first. The commentator has contented himself to suppose, that the foregoing play in his book was the play of earlier composition. Nor is the reasoning better than the assertion. If the language of Iachimo be such as shews him to be mocking the credibility of his hearer, his language is very improper, when his business was to deceive. But the truth is, that his language is such as a skilful villain would naturally use, a mixture of airy triumph and serious deposition. His gaiety shews his seriousness to be without anxiety, and his seriousness proves his gaiety to be without art. Johnson.

Note return to page 407 4So likely to report themselves: &lblank;] So near to speech. The Italians call a portrait, when the likeness is remarkable, a speaking picture. Johnson.

Note return to page 408 5Was as another nature, dumb; &lblank;] This nonsense should without question be read and pointed thus: Has as another nature done; out-went her, Motion and breath left out. i. e. Has worked as exquisitely, nay has exceeded her, if you will put motion and breath out of the question. Warburton. This emendation I think needless. The meaning is this: The sculptor was as nature, but as nature dumb; he gave every thing that nature gives, but breath and motion. In breath is included speech. Johnson.

Note return to page 409 6&lblank; nicely Depending on their brands.] I am not sure that I understand this passage. Perhaps Shakespeare meant that the figures of the Cupids were nicely poized on their inverted torches, one of the legs of each being taken off the ground, which might render such a support necessary. Steevens.9Q1053

Note return to page 410 7This is her honour!— Let it be granted you have seen all this, &c.] Iachimo impudently pretends to have carried his point; and, in confirmation; is very minute in describing to the husband all the furniture and adornments of his wife's bed-chamber. But how is fine furniture any ways a princess's honour? It is an apparatus suitable to her dignity, but certainly makes no part of her character. It might have been called her father's honour, that her allotments were proportioned to her rank and quality. I am persuaded the poet intended Posthumus should say, “This particular description, which you make, cannot convince me that I have lost my wager: your memory is good; and some of these things you may have learned from a third hand, or seen yourself; yet I expect proofs more direct and authentic.” I think there is little question but we ought to restore the place as I have done: What's this t' her honour? Theobald. 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 411 8&lblank; if you can, Be pale; &lblank;] If you can forbear to flush your cheek with rage. Johnson.

Note return to page 412 9&lblank; The vows of women, &c.] The love vowed by women no more abides with him to whom it is vowed, than women adhere to their virtue. Johnson.

Note return to page 413 1&lblank; I'm sure She could not lose it: her attendants are All sworn and honourable.—They induc'd to steal it, And by a stranger!—no, &lblank;] The absurd conclusions of jealousy are here admirably painted and exposed. Posthumus, on the credit of a bracelet, and an oath of the party concerned, judges against all appearances from the intimate knowledge of his wife's honour, that she was false to his bed; and grounds that judgment, at last, upon much less appearances of the honour of her attendants. Warburton. Her attendants are all sworn and honourable.] It was anciently the custom for the attendants on our nobility and other great personages (as it is now for the servants of the king) to take an oath of fidelity, on their entrance into office. In the houshold book of the 5th earl of Northumberland (compiled A. D. 1512.) it is expressly ordered [page 49] that “what person soever he be that comyth to my Lordes service, that incontynent after he be entered in the chequyrroull [check-roll] that he be sworn in the countyng hous by a gentillman-usher or yeman-usher in the presence of the hede officers; and on theire absence before the clerke of the kechynge either by such an oath as is in the Book of Othes, yff any such [oath] be, or ells by such an oth as shall seyme beste to their discrecion.” Even now every servant of the king's, at his first appointment, is sworn in, before a gentleman usher, at the lord chamberlain's office. Percy.

Note return to page 414 2The cognizance &lblank;] The badge; the token; the visible proof. Johnson.

Note return to page 415 3(Worthy the pressing) &lblank;] Thus the modern editions. The old folio reads, (Worthy her pressing) &lblank; Johnson.

Note return to page 416 1Is there no way, &c.] Milton was very probably indebted to this speech for one of the sentiments which he has given to Adam. Paradise Lost, book x. “&lblank; O why did God, “Creator wise, that peopled highest heaven “With spirits masculine, create at last “This novelty on earth, this fair defect “Of nature, and not fill the world at once “With men as angels without feminine, “Or find some other way to generate “Mankind?” Steevens.

Note return to page 417 1Now say, what would Augustus Cæsar with us?] So in K. John: Now say, Chatillon, what would France with us? Steevens.

Note return to page 418 2With rocks unscaleable, &lblank;] This reading is Hanmer's. The old editions have: With oaks unscalable, &lblank; Johnson. “The strength of our land consists of our seamen in their wooden forts and castles; our rocks, shelves, and sirtes, that lye along our coasts; and our trayned bands.” From chapter 109 of Bariffe's Military Discipline, 1639, seemingly from Tooke's Legend of Britomart. Tollet.

Note return to page 419 3(Poor ignorant baubles!) &lblank;] Ignorant, for of no use. Warburton. Rather, unacquainted with the nature of our boisterous seas. Johnson.

Note return to page 420 4&lblank; against all colour, &lblank;] Without any pretence of right. Johnson.

Note return to page 421 5Thou art welcome, Caius. Thy Cæsar knighted me; my youth I spent Much under him: &lblank;] Some few hints for this part of the play are taken from Holinshed: “Kymbeline, says he, (as some write) was brought up at Rome, and there was made knight by Augustus Cæsar, under whom he served in the wars, and was in such favour with him, that he was at liberty to pay his tribute or not.” “&lblank; Yet we find in the Roman writers, that after Julius Cæsar's death, when Augustus had taken upon him the rule of the empire, the Britains refused to pay that tribute.” “&lblank; But whether the controversy, which appeareth to fall forth betwixt the Britains and Augustus, was occasioned by Kimbeline, I have not a vouch.” “&lblank; Kymbeline reigned thirty-five years, leaving behind him two sons, Guiderius and Arviragus.” Steevens.

Note return to page 422 6&lblank; keep at utterance. &lblank;] i. e. At extreme distance. Warburton. More properly, in a state of hostile defiance, and deadly opposition. Johnson. At utterance means to keep at the extremity of defiance. Combat à outrance is a desperate fight, that must conclude with the life of one of the combatants. So in The History of Helyas Knight of the Swanne, bl. l. no date: “&lblank; Here is my gage to sustaine it to the utterance, and befight it to the death.” Steevens.

Note return to page 423 7&lblank; I am perfect,] I am well informed. So, in Macbeth: “&lblank; in your state of honour I am perfect.” Johnson.

Note return to page 424 8What monsters her accuse? &lblank;] Might we not safely read: What monster's her accuser? &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 425 9&lblank; What false Italian, (As pois'nous tongu'd, as handed) &lblank;] About Shakespeare's time the practice of poisoning was very common in Italy, and the suspicion of Italian poisons yet more common. Johnson.

Note return to page 426 1&lblank; take in some virtue. &lblank;] To take in a town, is to conquer it. Johnson. So in Antony and Cleopatra: &lblank; cut the Ionian seas, And take in Toryne &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 427 2Art thou a feodary for this act? &lblank;] A feodary is one who holds his estate under the tenure of suit and service to a superior lord. Hanmer.

Note return to page 428 3I am ignorant in what I am commanded.] i. e. I am unpractised in the arts of murder. Steevens.

Note return to page 429 4O, learn'd indeed were that astronomer, &c.] This was a very natural thought. She must needs be supposed, in her circumstances, to be extremely solicitous about the future; and desirous of coming to it by the assistance of that superstition. Warburton.

Note return to page 430 5&lblank; let that grieve him!] I should wish to read: Of my lord's health, of his content;—yet no; That we two are asunder, let that grieve him! Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 431 6For it doth physic love)] &lblank;That is, grief for absence, keeps love in health and vigour. Johnson. So in Macbeth: The labour we delight in, physics pain. Steevens.

Note return to page 432 7&lblank; Blest be You bees, that make these locks of counsel! Lovers, And men in dangerous bonds, pray not alike; Though forfeiters you cast in prison, yet You clasp young Cupid's tables. &lblank;] The meaning of this, which had been obscured by printing forfeitures for forfeiters, is no more than that the bees are not blest by the man who forfeiting a bond is sent to prison, as they are by the lover for whom they perform the more pleasing office of sealing letters. Steevens.

Note return to page 433 8&lblank; loyal to his vow, and your increasing in love,] I read: Loyal to his vow and you, increasing in love. Johnson. We should rather, I think, read thus:—and your, increasing in love, Leonatus Posthumus.—To make it plain, that your is to be joined in construction with Leonatus, and not with increasing; and that the latter is a participle present, and not a noun. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 434 9That run i' the clock's behalf: &lblank;] This fantastical expression means no more than sand in an hour-glass, used to measure time. Warburton.

Note return to page 435 1A franklin's housewife.] A franklin is literally a freeholder, with a small estate, neither villain nor vassal. Johnson.

Note return to page 436 2I see before me, man, nor here, nor here, Nor what ensues; but have a fog in them, That I cannot look thro.' &lblank;] Where is the substantive to which this relative plural, them, can possibly have any reference? There is none; and the sense, as well as grammar, is defective. I have ventured to restore, against the authority of the printed copies: &lblank; but have a fog in ken, That I cannot look thro'. &lblank; Imogen would say: “Don't talk of considering, man; I neither see present events, nor consequences; but am in a mist of fortune, and resolved to proceed on the project determined.” In ken, means in prospect, within sight, before my eyes. Theobald. I see before me, man; nor here nor there, Nor what ensues, but have a fog in them, That I cannot look through. &lblank;] Shakespeare says she can see before her, yet on which side soever she looks there is a fog which she cannot see through. This nonsense is occasioned by the corrupt reading of but have a fog, for, that have a fog; and then all is plain. “I see before me (says she) for there is no fog on any side of me which I cannot see through.” Mr. Theobald objects to a fog in them, and asks for the substantive to which the relative plural (them) relates. The substantive is places, implied in the words here, there, and what ensues: for not to know that Shakespeare perpetually takes these liberties of grammar, is knowing nothing of his author. So that there is no need for his strange stuff of a fog in ken. Warburton. 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 437 3&lblank; Stoop boys: &lblank;] The old copy reads:—sleep, boys:— from whence Hanmer conjectured that the poet wrote—stoop, boys—as that word affords a good introduction to what follows. Mr. Rowe reads “See boys &lblank;”, which (as usual) had been silently copied. Steevens.

Note return to page 438 4&lblank; their impious turbands on, &lblank;] 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 439 5This service is not service, &c.] In war it is not sufficient to do duty well; the advantage rises not from the act, but the acceptance of the act. Johnson.

Note return to page 440 6The sharded beetle &lblank;] i. e. the beetle whose wings are enclosed within two dry husks or shards. So in Gower, De Confessione Amantis, lib. V. fol. 103. b. “That with his swerd, and with his spere, “He might not the serpent dere: “He was so sberded all aboute, “It held all edge toole withoute.” Gower is here speaking of the dragon subdued by Jason. Steevens.

Note return to page 441 7&lblank; attending for a check;] Check may mean in this place a reproof; but I rather think it signifies command, controul. Thus in Troilus and Cressida, the restrictions of Aristotle are called Aristotle's checks. Steevens.

Note return to page 442 8&lblank; than doing nothing for a bauble;] i. e. Vain titles of honour gained by an idle attendance at court. But the Oxford editor reads, for a bribe. Warburton. The Oxford editor knew the reason of this alteration, though his censurer knew it not. The old edition reads: Richer, than doing nothing for a babe. Of babe some corrector made bauble; and Hanmer thought himself equally authorised to make bribe. I think babe can hardly be right. It should be remembered, however, that bauble was anciently spelt bable; so that Dr. Warburton in reality has added but one letter. A bauble was part of the insignia of a fool. So in All's well that ends well, act IV. sc. v. the clown says: “I would give his wife my bauble, sir.” It was a kind of truncheon, (says sir John Hawkins) with a head carved on it. To this Belarius may allude, and mean that honourable poverty is more precious than a sinecure at court, of which the badge is a truncheon or a wand. So, in Middleton's Game at Chess, 1623: “Art thou so cruel for an honour's bable?” As, however, it was once the custom in England for favourites at court to beg the wardship of infants who were born to great riches, our author may allude to it on this occasion. Frequent complaints were made that nothing was done towards the education of these unhappy orphans. Steevens. I have always suspected that the right reading of this passage is what I had not in a 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 mark 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 443 9To stride a limit.] To overpass his bound. Johnson.

Note return to page 444 1What should we speak of] 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 445 2How you speak!] Otway seems to have taken many hints for the conversation that passes between Acasto and his sons, from the scene before us. Steevens.

Note return to page 446 3And left me bare to weather.] So in Timon: That numberless upon me stuck, as leaves Do on the oak, have with one winter's brush, Fallen from their boughs, and left me open, bare, For every storm that blows. Steevens.

Note return to page 447 4I' the cave, &c.] Mr. Pope reads: Here in the cave, wherein their thoughts do hit The roof of palaces; &lblank; but the sentence breaks off imperfectly. The old editions read: I' the cave, whereon the bow their thoughts do hit, &c. Mr. Rowe saw this likewise was faulty; and therefore amended it thus: I' the cave, where, on the bow, their thoughts do hit, &c. I think it should be only with the alteration of one letter, and the addition of another: I' the cave, there, on the brow, &lblank; And so the grammar and syntax of the sentence is complete. We call the arching of a cavern, or overhanging of a hill, metaphorically, the brow; and in like manner the Greeks and Latins used &gros;&grf;&grr;&grug;&grst;, and supercilium. Theobald. &lblank; tho' train'd up thus meanly, I' the cave, there on the brow, &lblank;] The old editions read: I' the cave whereon they bow; &lblank; which, though very corrupt, will direct us to the true reading; which, when rightly pointed, is thus: &lblank; though train'd up thus meanly I' the cave wherein they bow &lblank; i. e. Thus meanly brought up. Yet in this very cave, which is so low that they must bow or bend in entering it, yet are their thoughts so exalted, &c. This is the antithesis. Belarius had spoken before of the lowness of this cave: A goodly day! not to keep house, with such Whose roof's as low as ours. See, boys! this gate Instructs you how to adore the heavens; and bows you To morning's holy office. Warburton. Hanmer reads: I' the cave, here in this brow. &lblank; 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 448 5&lblank; This Polydore, &lblank;] The old copy of the play (except here, where it may be only a blunder of the printer) calls the eldest son of Cymbeline Polidore, as often as the name occurs; and yet there are some who may ask whether it is not more likely that the printer should have blundered in the other places, than that he should have hit upon such an uncommon name as Paladour in this first instance. Steevens.9Q1060

Note return to page 449 6&lblank; 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 450 7Where is Posthumus? &lblank;] Shakespeare's apparent ignorance of quantity is not the least among many proofs of his want of learning. Throughout this play he calls Posth&ushort;mus, Posth&ubar;mus, and Arvir&ashort;gus, Arvir&abar;gus. It may be said that quantity in the age of our author did not appear to have been much regarded. In the tragedy of Darius, by Alexander Menstrie [Correction: 1Kb]

Note return to page 451 for, Alexander Menstrie, read, William Alexander of Menstrie.

Note return to page 452 8&lblank; haviour &lblank;] This word, as often as it occurs in Shakespeare, should not be printed as an abbreviation of behaviour. Haviour was a word commonly used in his time. See Spenser, Æglogue 9; “Their ill haviour garres men missay.” Steevens.

Note return to page 453 9&lblank; drug-damn'd &lblank;] This is another allusion to Italian poisons. Johnson.

Note return to page 454 1&lblank; worms of Nile; &lblank;] Serpents and dragons by the old writers were called worms. Of this, several instances are given in the last act of Antony and Cleopatra. Steevens.

Note return to page 455 2&lblank; states,] Persons of highest rank. Johnson.

Note return to page 456 3&lblank; Some jay of Italy,] There is a prettiness in this expression; putta, in Italian, signifying both a jay and a whore: I suppose from the gay feathers of that bird. Warburton. So, in the Merry Wives, &c. “teach him to know turtles from jays.” Steevens.

Note return to page 457 4Whose mother was her painting, &lblank;] This puzzles Mr. Theobald much: he thinks it may signify, whose mother was a bird of the same feather; or that it should be read, whose mother was her planting. What all this means I know not. In Mr. Rowe's edition, the M in mother happening to be reversed at the press, it came out Wother. And what was very ridiculous, Gildon employed himself (properly enough indeed) in finding a meaning for it. In short, the true word is meether, a north country word, signifying beauty. So that the sense of, her meether was her painting, is, that she had only an appearance of beauty, for which she was beholden to her paint. Warburton. 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. Johnson. I met with a similar expression in one of the old comedies, but forgot to note the date or name of the piece: “&lblank; a parcel of conceited feather-caps, whose fathers were their garments.” Steevens.9Q1064

Note return to page 458 5&lblank; So, thou, Posthumus, Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men;] When Posthumus thought his wife false, he unjustly scandalized the whole sex. His wife here, under the same impressions of his infidelity, attended with more provoking circumstances, acquits his sex, and lays the fault where it was due. The poet paints from nature. This is life and manners. The man thinks it a dishonour to the superiority of his understanding to be jilted, and therefore flatters his vanity into a conceit that the disgrace was inevitable from the general infidelity of the sex. The woman, on the contrary, not imagining her credit to be at all affected in the matter, never seeks out for so extravagant a consolation; but at once eases her malice and her grief, by laying the crime and damage at the door of some obnoxious coquet. Warburton. Hanmer reads: &lblank; lay the level &lblank; without any necessity. Johnson.

Note return to page 459 1Something's afore't &lblank;] The old copy reads: Something's a-foot &lblank; Johnson.

Note return to page 460 2The scriptures &lblank;] So Ben Jonson, in The sad Shepherd: “The lover's scriptures, Heliodore's, or Tatius'.” Shakespeare, however, means in this place, an opposition between scripture, in its common signification, and heresy. Steevens.

Note return to page 461 3That now thou tir'st on, &lblank;] A hawk is said to tire upon that which he pecks; from tirer, French. Johnson.

Note return to page 462 4I'll wake mine eye-balls 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. Johnson.9Q1066

Note return to page 463 5To be unbent, &lblank;] To have thy bow unbent, alluding to a hunter. Johnson.

Note return to page 464 6&lblank; Now, if you could wear a mind Dark as your fortune is; &lblank;] What had the darkness of her mind to do with the concealment of person, which is here advis'd? On the contrary, her mind was to continue unchang'd, in order to support her change of fortune. Shakespeare wrote: &lblank; Now, if you could wear a mein. Or, according to the French orthography, from whence I presume arose the corruption: &lblank; Now, if you could wear a mine. Warburton. To wear a dark mind, is to carry a mind impenetable 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 465 7&lblank; full of view: &lblank;] With opportunities of examining your affairs with your own eyes. Johnson.

Note return to page 466 8Though peril to my modesty, &lblank;] I read: Through peril &lblank; I would for such means adventure through peril of modesty; I would risque every thing but real dishonour. Johnson.

Note return to page 467 9&lblank; 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: &lblank; the harder hap! &lblank; Johnson.

Note return to page 468 1&lblank; which you'll make him know,] This is Hanmer's reading. The common books have it: &lblank; which will make him know. Mr. Theobald, in one of his long notes, endeavours to prove, that it should be: &lblank; which will make him so. He is followed by Dr. Warburton. Johnson.

Note return to page 469 2&lblank; we'll even All that good time will give us: &lblank;] We'll make our work even with our time; we'll do what time will allow. Johnson.

Note return to page 470 3&lblank; This attempt I am soldier to, &lblank;] i. e. I have inlisted and bound myself to it. Warburton.

Note return to page 471 4And that she hath all courtly parts more exquisite Than lady ladies woman: from each one The best she hath, &lblank;] The second line is intolerable nonsense. It should be read and pointed thus: Than lady ladies; winning from each one. The sense of the whole is this, I love her because she has, in a more exquisite degree, all those courtly parts that ennoble [lady] women of quality [ladies] winning from each of them the best of their good qualities, &c. Lady is a plural verb, and ladies a noun governed of it; a quaint expression in Shakespeare's way, and suiting the folly of the character. 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? Johnson. There is a similar passage in All's well that ends well, act II. sc. iii, “To any count; to all counts; to what is man.” Tollet.

Note return to page 472 5Or 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. Johnson. I own I am of a different opinion. Or this, or perish, properly belongs to Pisanio, who says to himself, as he gives the paper into the hands of Cloten, I must either give it him freely, or perish in my attempt to keep it: or else the words may be considered as a reply to Cloten's boast of following her to the throne of Augustus, and are added slily: You will either do what you say, or perish, which is the more probable of the two. Steevens.

Note return to page 473 6Is sorer, &lblank;] Is a greater, or heavier crime. Johnson.

Note return to page 474 7If any thing that's civil, &lblank;] Civil, for human creature. Warburton. If any thing that's civil, speak; if savage, Take, or lend. &lblank;] She is in doubt, whether this cave be the habitation of a man or beast. If it be the former, she bids him speak; if the latter, that is, the den of a savage beast, what then? Take or lend—We should read: Take 'or 't end. &lblank; i. e. Take my life ere famine end it. Or was commonly used for ere: this agrees to all that went before. But the Oxford editor cuts the knot: Take, or yield food, says he; as if it was possible so plain a sentence should ever have been blundered into Take or lend. Warburton. 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. Johnson. Dr. Johnson's interpretation of these words is confirmed by what Imogen says afterwards— “I call'd, and thought to have begg'd or bought.” Malone. If any thing that's civil, speak; if savage, Take, or lend.—Ho! &lblank;] It is by no means necessary to suppose that savage hold signifies the habitation of a beast. It may as well be used for the cave of a savage, or wild man, who, in the romances of the time, were represented as residing in the woods, like the famous Orson, Bremo in the play of Mucedorus, or the savage in the seventh canto of the fourth book of Spenser's Faery Queen, and the 6th B. C. 4. Steevens.

Note return to page 475 3I'd bid for you, as I'd buy.] This is Hanmer's reading. The other copies, I bid for you, as I do buy. Johnson. I think this passage might be better read thus:— I should woo hard, but be your groom.—In honesty I bid for you, as I'd buy. That is, I should woo hard, but I would be your bride-groom. [And when I say that I would woo hard, be assured that] in honesty I bid for you, only at the rate at which I would purchase you. Tyrwhitt. I have adopted this punctuation, which is undoubtedly the true one. Steevens.

Note return to page 476 4&lblank; 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 less a prize, I should not have been too heavy for Posthumus. Johnson.

Note return to page 477 1That nothing gift of differing multitudes)] The poet must mean, that court, that obsequious adoration, which the shifting vulgar pay to the great, is a tribute of no price or value. I am persuaded therefore our poet coined this participle from the French verb, and wrote: That nothing gift of defering multitudes: i. e. obsequious, paying deference.—Deferer, Ceder par respect a quelcun, obeir, condescendre, &c.—Deferent, civil, respectueux, &c. Richelet. Theobald. 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 478 2That since the common men are now in action 'Gainst the Pannonians and Dalmatians, And that, &c.] These facts are historical. Steevens.

Note return to page 479 3&lblank; and to you, the tribunes, For this immediate levy, he commands His absolute commission. &lblank;] Commands his commission is such a phrase as Shakespeare would hardly have used. I have ventured to substitute: &lblank; he commends His absolute commission. &lblank; i. e. He recommends the care of making this levy to you; and gives you an absolute commission for so doing. Warburton. The plain meaning is, he commands the commission to be given to you. So we say, I ordered the materials to the workmen. Johnson.

Note return to page 480 4&lblank; imperseverant &lblank;] Thus the former editions. Hanmer reads—ill-perseverant. Johnson. Imperseverant may mean no more than perseverant, like imbosom'd, impassion'd, immask'd. Steevens.

Note return to page 481 5&lblank; before thy face: &lblank;] Posthumus was to have his head struck off, and then his garments cut to pieces before his face; we should read,—her face, i. e. Imogen's, done to despite her, who had said, she esteemed Posthumus's garment above the person of Cloten. Warburton.

Note return to page 482 6Stick to your journal course: the breach of custom Is breach of all. &lblank;] Keep your daily course uninterrupted; if the stated plan of life is once broken, nothing follows but confusion. Johnson.

Note return to page 483 7How much the quantity, &lblank;] I read: As much the quantity. Johnson.

Note return to page 484 8&lblank; So please you, sir.] I cannot relish this courtly phrase from the mouth of Arviragus. It should rather, I think, begin Imogen's speech. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 485 9I could not stir him:] Not move him to tell his story. Johnson.

Note return to page 486 1&lblank; gentle, but unfortunate;] Gentle, is well born, of birth above the vulgar. Johnson.

Note return to page 487 2Mingle their spurs together.] Spurs, an old word for the fibres of a tree. Pope.

Note return to page 488 3&lblank; stinking elder, &lblank;] 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. Johnson. Sir John Hawkins proposes to read entwine. He says, “Let the stinking elder [Grief] entwine his root with the vine [Patience] and in the end Patience must outgrow Grief.” Steevens.

Note return to page 489 4It is great morning. &lblank;] A Gallicism. Grand jour. Steevens.

Note return to page 490 5No, nor thy taylor, rascal, Who is thy grandfather; he made those clothes, Which, as it seems, make thee.] See a note on a similar passage in a former scene: “Whose mother was her painting.” Steevens.

Note return to page 491 6Yield, rustic mountaineer.] I believe, upon examination, the character of Cloten will not prove a very consistent one. Act I. scene iv. the lords who are conversing with him on the subject of his rencontre with Posthumus, represent the latter as having neither put forth his strength or courage, but still advancing forwards to the prince, who retired before him; yet at this his last appearance, we see him fighting gallantly, and falling by the hand of Arviragus. The same persons afterwards speak of him as of a mere ass or idiot; and yet, act III. scene i. he returns one of the noblest and most reasonable answers to the Roman envoy: and the rest of his conversation on the same occasion, though it may lack form a little, by no means resembles the language of folly. He behaves with proper dignity and civility at parting with Lucius, and yet is ridiculous and brutal in his treatment of Imogen. Belarius describes him as not having sense enough to know what fear is (which he defines as being sometimes the effect of judgment); and yet he forms very artful schemes for gaining the affection of his mistress, by means of her attendants; to get her person into his power afterwards; and seems to be no less acquainted with the character of his father, and the ascendancy the queen maintained over his uxorious weakness. We find Cloten, in short, represented at once as brave and dastardly, civil and brutal, sagacious and foolish, without that subtilty of distinction, and those shades of gradation between sense and folly, virtue and vice, which constitute the excellence of such mixed characters as Polonius in Hamlet, and the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet. Steevens.

Note return to page 492 7&lblank; the snatches in his voice, And burst of speaking, &lblank;] This is one of our author's strokes of observation. An abrupt and tumultuous utterance very frequently accompanies a confused and cloudy understanding. Johnson.

Note return to page 493 8In the old editions: Being scarce made up, I mean, to man, he had not apprehension Of roaring terrors: for defect of judgment Is oft the cause of fear, &lblank;] If I understand this passage, it it is meek reasoning as it stands, and the text must have been slightly corrupted. Belarius is giving a description of what Cloten formerly was; and in answer to what Arviragus says of his being so fell. “Ay, says Belarius, he was so fell; and being scarce them at man's estate, he had no apprehension of roaring terrors, i. e. of any thing that could check him with fears.” But then, how does the inference come in, built upon this? For defect of judgment is oft the cause of fear. I think the poet meant to have said the mere contrary. Cloten was defective in judgment, and therefore did not fear. Apprehensions of fear grow from a judgment in weighing dangers. And a very easy change, from the traces of the letters, gives us this sense, and reconciles the reasoning of the whole passage: &lblank; for th' effect of judgment Is oft the cause of fear. &lblank; Theobald. Hanmer reads, with equal justness of sentiment: &lblank; for defect of judgment Is oft the cure of fear. &lblank; But, I think, the play of effect and cause more resembling the manner of our author. Johnson. If fear, as in other passages of Shakespeare, be understood in an active signification for what may cause fear, it means that Cloten's defect of judgment caused him to commit actions to the terror of others, without due consideration of his own danger therein. Thus in K. Henry IV. part 2. &lblank; all these bold fears, Thou see'st with peril I have answered. Tollet.

Note return to page 494 9I am perfect, what: &lblank;] I am well informed, what. So in this play: I'm perfect, the Pannonians are in arms. Johnson.

Note return to page 495 1&lblank; 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. To take in means, simply, to conquer, to subdue. So in Antony and Cleopatra: &lblank; cut the Ionian seas, And take in Toryne. Steevens.9Q1067

Note return to page 496 2For we do fear the law? &lblank;] For is here used in the sense of because. So in Marlowe's Jew of Malta, 1633: “See the simplicity of these base slaves! “Who, for the villains have no faith themselves, “Think me to be a senseless lump of clay.” So, in Othello: “And for I know thou art full of love and honesty.” Malone.

Note return to page 497 3&lblank; Though his honour Was nothing but mutation, &c.] What his honour to do here, in his being changeable in this sort? in his acting as a madman, or not? I have ventured to substitute humour, against the authority of the printed copies; and the meaning seems plainly this: “Though he was always fickle to the last degree, and governed by humour, not sound sense; yet not madness itself could make him so hardy to attempt an enterprize of this nature alone, and unseconded.” Theobald. &lblank; Though his honour Was nothing but mutation; &lblank;] Mr. Theobald, as usual, not understanding this, turns honour to humour. But the text is right, and means, that the only notion he had of honour, was the fashion, which was perpetually changing. A fine stroke of satire, well expressed: yet the Oxford editor follows Mr. Theobald. Warburton.

Note return to page 498 4Did make my way long forth.] Fidele's sickness made my walk forth from the cave tedious. Johnson.

Note return to page 499 After, That's all I reck, instead of a comma, a full point.

Note return to page 500 5&lblank; revenges, That possible strength might meet, &lblank;] Such pursuit of vengeance as fell within any possibility of opposition. Johnson.

Note return to page 501 6I'd let a parish of such Clotens blood,] This nonsense should be corrected thus: I'd let a marish of such Clotens blood: i. e. a marsh or lake. So Smith, in his account of Virginia, “Yea Venice, at this time the admiration of the earth, was at first but a marish, inhabited by poor fishermen.” In the first book of Maccabees, chap. ix. ver. 24. the translators use the word in the same sense. Warburton. The learned commentator has dealt the reproach 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. Johnson. “His visage, says Fenner of a catchpole, was almost eaten through with pock-holes, so that half a parish of children might have played at cherry-pit in his face.” Farmer.

Note return to page 502 for, bearing her his arms, read, bearing her in his arms.

Note return to page 503 7O, melancholy! Who ever yet could sound thy bottom? find The ooze, to shew what coast thy sluggish crare Might easiliest harbour in? &lblank;] The folio reads: &lblank; thy sluggish care: which Dr. Warburton allows to be a plausible reading, but substitutes carrack in its room; and with this, Dr. Johnson tacitly acquiesces, and inserts it in the text. Mr. Sympson, in his notes on Beaumont and Fletcher, vol. vi. page 441, has retrieved the true reading, which is, &lblank; thy sluggish crare. See The Captain, page 10: “&lblank; let him venture “In some decay'd crare of his own.” A crare, says the author of The Revisal, is a small trading vessel, called in the Latin of the middle ages crayera. The same word, though somewhat differently spelt, occurs in Harrington's translation of Ariosto, book 39, stanza 28: “A miracle it was to see them grown “To ships, and barks, with gallies, bulks and crayes, “Each vessel having tackling of her own, “With sails and oars to help at all essays.” Again, in Heywood's Golden Age, 1611: “Behold a form to make your craers and barks.” Again, in Drayton's Miseries of Queen Margaret: “After a long chase took this little cray, “Which he suppos'd him safely should convey.” Again, in the 22d Song of Drayton's Polyolbion: “&lblank; some shell, or little crea, “Hard labouring for the land on the high-working sea.” Again, in Amintas for his Phillis, published in England's Helicon, 1614: “Till thus my soule doth passe in Charon's crare.” Mr. Tollet observes that the word often occurs in Holinshed, as twice, p. 906, vol. II. Steevens. The word is used in the stat. 2 Jac. I. c. 32. “the owner of every ship, vessel, or crayer.” Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 504 8&lblank; but I,] This is the reading of the first folio, which later editors not understanding, have changed into but ah! The meaning of the passage I take to be this:—Jove knows, what man thou might'st have made, but I know, thou diedst, &c. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 505 9&lblank; clouted brogues &lblank;] Are shoes strengthened with clout or hob-nails. In some parts of England, thin plates of iron called clouts are likewise fixed to the shoes of ploughmen and other rusticks. Steevens.

Note return to page 506 1Why, he but sleeps:] I cannot forbear to introduce a passage somewhat like this, from Webster's White Devil, or Vittoria Corombona, on account of its singular beauty. “Oh, thou soft natural death! that art joint twin “To sweetest slumber! no rough-bearded comet “Stares on thy mild departure: the dull owl “Beats not against thy casement: the hoarse wolf “Scents not thy carrion:—pity winds thy corse, “While horror waits on princes!” Steevens.

Note return to page 507 2With fairest flowers Whilst summer lasts, &c.] So in Pericles Prince of Tyre:   “No, I will rob Tellus of her weede “To strewe thy greene with flowers, the yellowes, blues, “The purple violets and marygolds, “Shall as a carpet hang upon thy grave, “While summer dayes doth last.” Steevens.

Note return to page 508 1&lblank; The ruddock would, With charitable bill, bring thee all this; Yea, and furr'd moss besides, when flow'rs are none, To winter-ground thy corse. &lblank;] Here again, the metaphor is strangely mangled. What sense is there in winter-grounding a corse with moss? A corse might indeed be said to be winter-grounded in good thick clay. But the epithet furr'd to moss directs us plainly to another reading, To winter-gown thy corse: &lblank; i. e. thy summer habit shall be a light gown of flowers, thy winter habit a good warm furr'd gown of moss. Warburton. I have no doubt but that the rejected word was Shakespeare's, since the protection of the dead, and not their ornament, was what he meant to express. To winter-ground a plant, is to protect it from the inclemency of the winter-season, by straw, dung, &c. laid over it. This precaution is commonly taken in respect of tender trees or flowers, such as Arviragus, who loved Fidele, represents her to be. The ruddock is the red-breast, and is so called by Chaucer and Spenser: “The tame ruddock, and the coward kite.” The office of covering the dead is likewise ascribed to the ruddock, by Drayton in his poem called The Owl: “Cov'ring with moss the dead's unclosed eye, “The little redbreast teacheth charitie.” Steevens. &lblank; the ruddock would, &c.] Is this an allusion to the babes of the weed, or was the notion of the redbreast covering dead bodies, general before the writing that ballad? Percy. This passage is imitated by Webster in his tragedy of The White Devil; and in such a manner, as confirms the old reading: “The robin-red-breast, and the wren, “With leaves and flowers do cover friendless bodies; “The ant, the field mouse, and the mole “Shall raise him hillocks that shall keep him warm, &c.” Farmer. Which of these two plays was first written, cannot now be determined. Webster's play was published in 1612, that of Shakespeare did not appear in print till 1623. In the preface to the edition of Webster's play in 1631 (for it is wanting in my copy 1612) be thus speaks of Shakespeare: “And lastly (without wrong last to be named) the right happy and copious industry of M. Shakespeare, &c.” Steevens.9Q1069

Note return to page 509 2He was paid for that: &lblank;] Hanmer reads: He has paid for that: &lblank; 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.” Johnson.

Note return to page 510 3&lblank; reverence, (That angel of the world) &lblank;] Reverence, or due regard to subordination, is the power that keeps peace and order in the world. Johnson.

Note return to page 511 4Fear no more, &c.] This is the topic of consolation that nature dictates to all men on these occasions The same farewell we have over the dead body in Lucian. &grT;&grea;&grk;&grn;&gro;&grn; &grasa;&grq;&grl;&gri;&gro;&grn; &gro;&grusa;&grk;&gre;&grt;&gri; &grd;&gri;&gry;&grha;&grs;&gre;&gri;&grst;, &gro;&grusa;&grk;&gre;&grt;&gri; &grp;&gre;&gri;&grn;&grha;&grs;&gre;&gri;&grst;, &c. Warburton.

Note return to page 512 5The scepter, learning, &c.] The poet's sentiment seems to have been this.—All human excellence is equally 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 them from the final destiny of man. Johnson.

Note return to page 513 6Fear not slander, &c.] Perhaps, Fear not slander's censure rash. Johnson.

Note return to page 514 7Consign to thee, &lblank;] Perhaps, Consign to this. &lblank; And in the former stanza, for all follow this, we might read, all follow thee. Johnson. Consign to thee, is right. So in Romeo and Juliet: &lblank; seal A dateless bargain to engrossing death. To consign to thee, is to seal the same contract with thee, i. e. add their names to thine upon the register of death. Steevens.

Note return to page 515 8Quiet consummation have;] Consummation is used in the same sense in K. Edward III. 1599: “My soul will yield this castle of my flesh, “This mangled tribute, with all willingness, “To darkness, consummation, dust and worms.” Steevens.

Note return to page 516 9&lblank; 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 517 1'Ods pittikins! &lblank;] This diminutive adjuration is used by Decker and Webster in Westward Hoe, 1607; in the Shoemaker's Holiday, or the Gentle Craft, 1600: It is derived from God's my pity, which likewise occurs in Cymbeline. Steevens.

Note return to page 518 2 &lblank; his Jovial face &lblank;] Jovial face signifies in this place, such a face as belongs to Jove. It is frequently used in the same sense by other old dramatic writers. So Heywood, in The Silver Age: “&lblank; Alcides here will stand,” “To plague you all with his high jovial hand.” Again, in the Heywood's Rape of Lucrece, 1630: “Thou jovial hand hold up thy scepter high.” Again, in his Golden Age, 1611, speaking of Jupiter: “&lblank; all that stand, Sink in the weight of his high jovial hand.” Steevens.

Note return to page 519 3Conspir'd with, &c.] The old copy reads thus: &lblank; thou, Conspir'd with that irregulous divel, Cloten. I suppose it should be, Conspir'd with th' irreligious devil, Cloten. Johnson. Irregulous (if there be such a word) must mean lawless, licentious, out of rule, jura negans sibi nata. In Reinolds's God's Revenge against Adultery, p. 121, I meet with “irregulated lust.” Steevens.

Note return to page 520 4Last night the very gods shew'd me a vision:] The very gods may, indeed, signify the gods themselves immediately, and not by the intervention of other agents or instruments; yet I am persuaded the reading is corrupt, and that Shakespeare wrote, Last night, the warey gods &lblank; Warey here signifying animadverting, forewarning, ready to give notice: not, as in its more usual meaning, cautious, reserved. Warburton. 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 521 5&lblank; who was he, That, otherwise than noble nature did, Hath alter'd that good picture? &lblank;] The editor, Mr. Theobald, cavils at this passage. He says, it is far from being strictly grammatical; and yet, what is strange, he subjoins a paraphrase of his own, which shews it to be strictly grammatical. “For, says he, the construction of these words is this: who hath alter'd that good picture otherwise than nature alter'd it?” I suppose then this editor's meaning was, that the grammatical construction would not conform to the sense; for a bad writer, like a bad man, generally says one thing and means another. He subjoining, “Shakespeare designed to say (if the text be genuine) Who hath alter'd that good picture from what noble nature at first made it?” Here again he is mistaken; Shakespeare meant, like a plain man, just as he spoke; and as our editor first paraphrased him, Who hath alter'd that good picture otherwise than nature alter'd it? And the solution of the difficulty in this sentiment, which so much perplexed him, is this: the speaker sees a young man without a head, and consequently much shorten'd in stature; on which he breaks out into this exclamation: Who hath alter'd this good form, by making it shorter; so contrary to the practice of nature, which by yearly accession of growth alters it by making it taller? No occasion then for the editor to change did into bid, with an allusion to the command against murder; which then should have been forbid instead of bid. Warburton. Here are many words upon a very slight debate. The sense is not much cleared by either critic. 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. Johnson. Olivia speaking of her own beauty as of a picture, asks Viola if it “is not well done?” Steevens.

Note return to page 522 6Richard du Champ. &lblank;] Shakespeare was indebted for his modern names (which sometimes are mixed with ancient ones) as well as his anachronisms, to the fashionable novels of his time. In a collection of stories, entitled A Petite Palace of Pettie his Pleasure, 1576, I find the following circumstances of ignorance and absurdity. In the story of the Horatii and the Curiatii, the roaring of cannons is mentioned. Cephalus and Procris are said to be of the court of Venice; and “that her father wrought so with the duke, that this Cephalus was sent post in ambassage to the Turke. —Eriphile, after the death of her husband Amphiaraus, (the Theban prophet) calling to mind the affection wherein Don Infortazio was drowned towards her,” &c. &c. Steevens.

Note return to page 523 7&lblank; these poor pick-axes &lblank;] Meaning her fingers. Johnson.

Note return to page 524 8&lblank; arm him. &lblank;] That is, Take him up in your arms. Hanmer.

Note return to page 525 9Cymbeline'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. Johnson. The fact is, that sir Thomas Hanmer has inserted this supposed omission as the eighth scene of act III. The scene which in Dr. Johnson's first edition is the eighth of act III. is printed in a small letter under it in Hanmer's, on a supposition that it was spurious. In this impression it is the third scene of act IV. and that which in Johnson is the eighth scene of act IV. is in this the seventh scene. Steevens.

Note return to page 526 1And will, &lblank;] I think it should be read: And he'll, &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 527 2&lblank; 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 528 3I am amaz'd with matter.] i. e. confounded by variety of business. Steevens.

Note return to page 529 4Your preparation &c.] Your forces are able to face such an army as we hear the enemy will bring against us. Johnson.

Note return to page 530 5I heard no letter &lblank;] I suppose we should read with Hanmer, I've had no letter. &lblank; Steevens. Perhaps, “I heard no later.” Musgrave.

Note return to page 531 6&lblank; to the note o' the king, &lblank;] I will so distinguish myself, the king shall remark my valour. Johnson.

Note return to page 532 7&lblank; a render Where we have liv'd; &lblank;] An account of our place of abode. This dialogue is a just representation of the superfluous caution of an old man. Johnson. Render is used in a similar sense in Timon, act V. “And sends us forth to make their sorrow'd render.” Steevens.

Note return to page 533 8&lblank; whose answer &lblank;] The retaliation of the death of Cloten would be death, &c. Johnson.

Note return to page 534 9&lblank; their quarter'd fires, &lblank;] Their sires reqularly disposed. Johnson.

Note return to page 535 1&lblank; bloody handkerchief.] The bloody token of Imogen's death, which Pisanio in the foregoing act determined to send. Johnson.

Note return to page 536 2Yea, bloody cloth, &c.] 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 tranquillity, 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 537 3&lblank; I wish'd] The old copy reads—I am wish'd. Steevens.

Note return to page 538 4For wrying but a little? &lblank;] This uncommon verb is likewise used by Stanyhurst in the third book of his translation of Virgil, 1582: “&lblank; the maysters wrye the vessels.” Again, in Daniel's Cleopatra, 1599: “&lblank; in her sinking down, she wryes “The diadem. &lblank;” Steevens.

Note return to page 539 5&lblank; to put on &lblank;] Is to incite, to instigate. Johnson. So, in Macbeth: “&lblank; the powers above, “Put on their instruments.” [Subnote: add, Steevens.]

Note return to page 540 6&lblank; each elder worse;] For this reading all the later editors have contentedly taken, &lblank; each worse than other; without enquiries whence they have received it. Yet they knew, or might know, that it has no authority. The original copy reads, &lblank; each elder worse; &lblank; The last deed is certainly not the oldest, but Shakespeare calls the deed of an elder man an elder deed. Johnson. &lblank; each elder worse;] i. e. where corruptions are, they grow with years, and the oldest sinner is the greatest. You, Gods, permit some to proceed in iniquity, and the older such are, the more their crime. Tollet.

Note return to page 541 7And make them dread it, to the doers' thrift.] The divinity-schools have not furnished juster observations on the conduct of Providence, than Posthumus gives us here in his private reflections. You gods, says he, act in a different manner with your different creatures; You snatch some hence for little faults; that's love, To have them fall no more. &lblank; Others, says our poet, you permit to live on, to multiply and increase in crimes; And make them dread it, to the doers' thrift. Here is a relative without an antecedent substantive; which is a breach of grammar. We must certainly read: And make them dreaded, to the doers' thrift. i. e. others you permit to aggravate one crime with more; which enormities not only make them revered and dreaded, but turn in other kinds to their advantage. Dignity, respect, and profit, accrue to them from crimes committed with impunity. Theobald. This emendation is 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 satisfatory 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: “&lblank; my sword “I sheath again undeeded.” &lblank; I will try again, and read thus: &lblank; 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 sin's, not accidental, but a trade.” Johnson. However ungrammatical, I believe the old reading is the true one. To make them dread it is to make them persevere in the commission of dreadful actions. Dr. Johnson has observed on a passage in Hamlet, that Pope and Rowe have not refused this mode of speaking:—“To sinner it or saint it”—and “to coy it.” Steevens.

Note return to page 542 1&lblank; Do your best wills, And make me blest t' obey! &lblank;] So the copies. It was more in the manner of our author to have written, &lblank; Do your blest wills, And make me blest t' obey. &lblank; Johson.

Note return to page 543 2&lblank; this carle,] Carle is used by our old writers in opposition to a gentleman. See the poem of John the Reeve. Percy. Carlot is a word of the same signification, and occurs in our author's As you like it. Again, in an ancient interlude or morality, printed by Rastell, without title or date. “A carlys sonne, brought up of nought.” The thought seems to have been imitated in Philaster: “The gods take part against me; could this boor ‘Have held me thus else?” Steevens.

Note return to page 544 3Close by the battle, &c.] The stopping of the Roman army by three persons, is an allusion to the story of the Hays, as related by Holinshed in his History of Scotland, p. 155: “There was neere to the place of the battell, a long lane sensed on the sides with ditches and walles made of turfe, through the which the Scots which fled were beaten downe by the enemies on heapes. “Here Haie with his sonnes supposing they might best staie the fight, placed themselves overthwart the lane, beat them backe whom they met fleeing, and spared neither friend nor so; but downe they went all such as came within their reach, wherewith divers hardie personages cried unto their fellowes to returne backe unto the battell, &c.” It appears from Peck's New Memoirs &c. article 88, that Milton intended to have written a play on this subject. Musgrave.

Note return to page 545 4The country base, &lblank;] i. e. A rustic game called prison-bars, vulgarly prison-base. So, in the Tragedy of Hoffman, 1632. “&lblank; I'll run a little course “At base or barley-break &lblank;” Again, in the Antipodes, 1638: “&lblank; my men can run at base.” Again, in the 30th Song of Drayton's Polylbion: “At hood-wink, barley-brake, at tick, or prison-base.” Again, in Spenser's Fairy Queen, B. 5. c. 8. “So ran they all as they had been at bace.” Steevens.

Note return to page 546 5&lblank; for preservation cas'd, or shame)] Shame for modesty. Warburton. Sir T. Hanmer reads the passage thus: Than some for preservation cas'd. For shame, Make good the passage, cry'd to those that fled, Our Britain's harts die flying, &c. Theobald's reading is right. Johnson.

Note return to page 547 6A rout, confusion thick: &lblank;] This is read as if it was a thick confusion, and only another term for rout: whereas confusion-thick should be read thus, with an hyphen, and is a very beautiful compound epithet to rout. But Shakespeare's fine diction is not a little obscured throughout by thus disfiguring his compound adjectives. Warburton. 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 picture? Johnson.

Note return to page 548 7&lblank; bugs &lblank;] Terrors. Johnson. So in the The Spanish Tragedy, 1605: “Where nought but furies, bugs, and tortures dwell.” So in the Battle of Alcazar, 1594: “Is Amurath Bassa such a bug, “That he is mark'd to do this doughty deed?” Again: “And shall we be afraid of bassas, and of bugs?” Again, in Selimus Emperor of the Turks, 1638: “He brings with him that great Egyptian bug, “Strong Tonombey.” Steevens.

Note return to page 549 8Nay, do not wonder at it: &lblank;] Sure, this is mock reasoning with a vengeance. What! because he was made fitter to wonder at great actions, than to perform any, he is therefore forbid to wonder? Not and but are perpetually mistaken for one another in the old editions. Theobald. 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 550 9&lblank; I, in mine own woe charm'd,] Alluding to the common superstition of charms being powerful enough to keep men unhurt in battle. It was derived from our Saxon ancestors, and and so is common to us with the Germans, who are above all other people given to this superstition; which made Erasmus, where, in his Moriæ Encomium, he gives to each nation its proper characteristic, say, “Germani corporum proceritate & magiæ cognitione sibi placent.” And Prior, in his Alma: “North Britons hence have second sight; “And Germans free from gun-shot fight.” Warburton. See a note on Macbeth, act V. sc. ult. So in Drayton's Nymphidia: Their seconds minister an oath Which was indifferent to them both, That, on their knightly faith and troth,   No magic them supplied; And sought them that they had no charms Wherewith to work each other's harms, But came with simple open arms   To have their causes tried. Steevens.

Note return to page 551 1&lblank; favourer to the Roman,] The editions before Hanmer's for Roman read Briton; and Dr. Warburton reads Briton still. Johnson.

Note return to page 552 2&lblank; great the answer be] Answer, as once in this play before, is retaliation. Johnson.

Note return to page 553 3&lblank; a silly habit.] Silly is simple or rustic. So in K. Lear: &lblank; twenty silly ducking observants &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 554 4That gave the affront with them. That is, that turned their faces to the enemy. Johnson. So, in Ben Jonson's Alchymist: “To day thou shalt have ingots, and to-morrow “Give lords the affront.” Steevens.

Note return to page 555 5You shall not now be stolen, &lblank;] This wit of the goaler alludes to the custom of putting a lock on a horse's leg, when he is turned to pasture. Johnson.

Note return to page 556 6&lblank; to satisfy, If of my freedom 'tis the main part, take No stricter render of me, than my all.] What we can discover from the nonsense of these lines is, that the speaker, in a fit of penitency, compares his circumstances with a debtor's, who is willing to surrender up all to appease his creditor. This being the sense in general, I may venture to say, the true reading must have been this: &lblank; to satisfy, I d'off my freedom; 'tis the main part; take No stricter render of me than my all. The verb d'off is too frequently used by our author to need any instances; and is here employed with peculiar elegance, i. e. To give all the satisfaction I am able to your offended godheads, I voluntarily divest myself of my freedom: 'tis the only thing I have to atone with; &lblank; take No stricter render of me, than my all. Warburton. Posthumus questions whether contrition be sufficient atonement for guilt. Then, to satisfy the offended gods, he desires them to take no more than his present all, that is, his life, if it is the main part, the chief point, or principal condition of his freedom, i. e. of his freedom from future punishment. This interpretation appears to be warranted by the former part of the speech. The Revisal is justly severe on the inconsistency of Dr. Warburton's correction. Steevens.

Note return to page 557 7&lblank; cold bonds. &lblank;] This equivocal use of bonds is another instance of our author's infelicity in pathetic speeches. Johnson.9Q1074

Note return to page 558 8Solemn musick, &c.] Here follow a vision, a masque, and a prophesy, which interrupt the fable without the least necessity, and unmeasurably lengthen this act. I think it plainly foisted in afterwards for mere show, and apparently not of Shakespeare. Pope. Every reader must be of the same opinion. The subsequent narratives of Posthumus, which render this masque, &c. unnecessary, (or perhaps the scenical directions supplied by the poet himself) seem to have excited some manager of a theatre to disgrace the play by the present metrical interpolation. Shakespeare, who has conducted his fifth act with such matchless skill, could never have designed the vision to be twice described by Posthumus, had this contemptible nonsense been previously delivered on the stage. The following passage from Dr. Farmer's Essay will shew that it was no unusual thing for the players to indulge themselves in making additions equally unjustifiable.—“We have a sufficient instance of the liberties taken by the actors, in an old pamphlet, by Nash, called Lenten Stuffe, with the Prayse of the red Herring, 4to. 1599, where he assures us, that in a play of his called The Isle of Dogs, foure acts, without his consent, or the least guess of his drift or scope, were supplied by the players.” Steevens.

Note return to page 559 9That 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. Johnson. This circumstance is met with in the Devil's Charter, 1607, The play of Cymbeline did not appear in print till 1623: “What would'st thou run again into my womb? “If thou wert there, thou should'st be Posthumus, “And ript out of my sides, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 560 1Jupiter descends &lblank;] It appears from Acolastus, a comedy by T. Palsgrave, chaplain to K. Henry VIII. bl. 1. 1529, that the descent of deities was common to our stage in its earliest state. “Of whyche the lyke thyng is used to be shewed now a days in stage-plaies, when some God or some Saynt is made to appere forth of a cloude, and succoureth the parties which semed to be towardes some great danger, through the Soudan's crueltie.” The author, for fear this description should not be supposed to extend itself to our theatres, adds in a marginal note, “the lyke manner used nowe at our days in stage playes.” Steevens.

Note return to page 561 2Prunes the immortal wing, &lblank;] A bird is said to prune himself when he clears his feathers from superfluities. So in Drayton's Polyolbion, Song I. “Some, sitting on the beach to prune their painted breasts.” Steevens.

Note return to page 562 3&lblank; cloys his beak,] Perhaps we should read, &lblank; claws his beak. Tyrwhitt. A cley is the same with a claw in old language. Farmer. So in Gower, De Confessione Amantis, lib. iv. fol. 69: “And as a catte wold ete fishes “Without wetynge of his clees.” Again, in Ben Jonson's Underwoods: “&lblank; from the seize “Of vulture death and those relentless cleys.” Barrett, in his Alvearie, 1580, speaks “of a disease in cattell betwixt the clees of their feete.” And in the Book of Hawking, &c. bl. l. no date, under the article Pounces, it is said, “The cleis within the sote ye shall call aright her pounces.” To claw their beaks, is an accustomed action with hawks and eagles. Steevens.

Note return to page 563 4'Tis still a dream; or else such stuff as madmen Tongue, and brain not—do either both, or nothing— Or senseless speaking, or a speaking such As sense cannot untie. &lblank;] The obscurity of this passage arises from part of it being spoke of the prophesy, and part to it. This writing on the tablet (says he) is still a dream, or else the raving of madness. Do thou, O tablet, either both or nothing; either let thy words and sense go together, or be thy bosom a rasa tabula. As the words now stand they are nonsense, or at least involve in them a sense which I cannot develope. Warburton. 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 &lblank; Johnson. The word—do is inserted unnecessarily by Dr. Warburton, both in his text and his note. It is not in the old copy. Steevens.

Note return to page 564 5&lblank; and sorry that you are paid too much; &lblank;] Tavern bills, says the goaler, 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 in the opposition? I read, And merry that you are paid so much. I take the second paid to be 'paid, for appaid, filled, satiated. Johnson.9Q1075 &lblank; sorry that you have paid too much, and sorry that you are paid too much; &lblank;] i. e. sorry that you have paid too much out of your pocket, and sorry that you are paid, or subdued, too much by the liquor. So Falstaff: “&lblank; seven of the eleven I pay'd.” The same conceit is in the 2nd part of Decker's Honest Whore, 1630: “You are paid? “Yes, sir, “So shall some of us be anon, I fear.” Again, in Ben Jonson's 73d Epigram. “For which or pay me quickly, or I'll pay you.” Again in the fifth scene of the fourth act of the Merry Wives of Windsor. Steevens.

Note return to page 565 1&lblank; being drawn of heaviness:] Drawn is embowell'd, exenterated. —So in common language a fowl is said to be drawn when its intestines are taken out. Steevens.

Note return to page 566 2&lblank; debitor and creditor &lblank;] For an accounting book. Johnson.

Note return to page 567 3&lblank; jump the after-enquiry &lblank;] That is, venture at it without thought. So Macbeth: “We'd jump the life to come.” Johnson.

Note return to page 568 4&lblank; I never saw one so prone. &lblank;] i. e. forward. In this sense the word is used in Wilfride Holme's poem, entitled The Fall and evil Success of Rebellion, &c. 1537: “Thus lay they in Doncaster, with curtal and serpentine, “With bombard and basilisk, with men prone and vigorous.” Again in Sir A. Gorges' translation of the sixth book of Lucan: “&lblank; Thessalian fierie steeds “For use of war so prone and fit.” Steevens.

Note return to page 569 5Scene V.] Let those who talk so confidently about the skill of Shakespeare's contemporary, Jonson, point out the conclusion of any one of his plays which is wrought with more artifice, and yet a less degree of dramatic violence than this. In the scene before us, all the surviving characters are assembled; and at the expence of whatever incongruity the former events may have been produced, perhaps little can be discovered on this occasion to offend the most scrupulous advocate for regularity: and, I think, as little is found wanting to satisfy the spectator by a catastrophe which is intricate without confusion, and not more rich in ornament than in nature. Steevens.

Note return to page 570 6&lblank; one that promis'd nought But beggary and poor looks. But how can it be said, that one, whose poor looks promise beggary, promised poor looks too? It was not the poor look which was promised; that was visible. We must read: But beggary and poor luck. This sets the matter right, and makes Belarius speak sense and to the purpose. For there was the extraordinary thing; he promised nothing but poor luck, and yet performed all these wonders. Warburton. To promise nothing but poor looks, may be, to give no promise of courageous behaviour. Johnson. So in K. Rich. II. “To look so poorly and to speak so fair.” Steevens.

Note return to page 571 7&lblank; knights o' the battle; &lblank;] Thus in Stowe's Chronicle, p. 164, edit. 1615: “Philip of France made Arthur Plantagenet knight of the fielde.” Steevens.

Note return to page 572 8So feat, &lblank;] So ready; so dextrous in waiting. Johnson.

Note return to page 573 9&lblank; favour is familiar &lblank;] I am acquainted with his countenance. Johnson.

Note return to page 574 1One sand another Not more resembles that sweet rosy lad,] A slight corruption has made nonsense of this passage. One grain might resemble another, but none a human form. We should read: Not more resembles, than he th' sweet rosy lad. Warburton. There was no great difficulty in the line, which, when properly pointed, needs no alteration. Johnson.

Note return to page 575 2Quail to remember, &lblank;] To quail is to sink into dejection. The word is common to many authors; among the rest, to Stanyhurst, in his translation of the second book of the Æneid: “With nightly silence was I quail'd, and greatly with horror.” Again, in David and Bethsabe, 1599: “Can make us yield, or quail our courages.” Again, in Mucedorus: “That so dost quail a woman's mind.” Again, in the Countess of Pembroke's Antonius, 1590: “One day there will come a day   “Which shall quail thy fortune's flowr.” Again, in the Three Ladies of London, 1584: “She cannot quail me if she come in likeness of the great Devil.” Steevens.

Note return to page 576 3&lblank; for feature, laming] Feature for proportion of parts, which Mr. Theobald not understanding, would alter to stature. &lblank; for feature, laming The shrine of Venus, or straight-pight Minerva, Postures beyond brief nature; &lblank; i. e. The ancient statues of Venus and Minerva, which exceeded, in beauty of exact proportion, any living bodies, the work of brief nature; i. e. of hasty, unelaborate nature. He gives the same character of the beauty of the antique in Antony and Cleopatra: “O'er picturing that Venus where we see “The fancy out-work nature.” It appears, from a number of such passages as these, that our author was not ignorant of the fine arts. A passage in De Piles' Cours de Peinture par Principes will give great light to the beauty of the text.—“Peu de sentimens ont été partagez sur la beauté de l'antique. Les gens d'esprit qui aiment les beaux arts ont estimé dans tous les tems ces merveilleux ouvrages. Nous voyons dans les anciens auteurs quantité de passages ou pour loüer les beautez vivantes on les comparoit aux statuës.”—Ne vous imaginez (dit Maxime de Tyr) de pouvoir jamais trouver une beauté naturelle, qui le dispute aux statuës. Ovid, où il fait la description de Cyllare, le plus beau de Centaures, dit, Qu'il avoit une si grande vivacité dans le visage, que le col, les èpaules, les mains, & l'estomac en etoient si beaux qu'on pouvoit assurer qu'en tout ce qu'il avoit de l'homme c'etoit la meme beauté que l'on remarque dans les statuës les plus parfaites.”—Et Philostrate, parlant de la beauté de Neoptoleme, & de la resemblance qu'il avoit avec son pere Achille, dit: “Qu'en beauté son pere avoit autant d'avantage sur lui que les statuës en ont sur les beaux hommes. Les auteurs modernes ont suivi ces mêmes sentimens sur la beauté de l' Antique.”—Je reporterai seulment celui de Scaliger. “Le moyen (dit il) que nous puissions rien voir qui approche de la perfection des belles statuës, puisquil est permis à l'art de choisir, de retrancher, d'ajoûter, de diriger, & qu'au contraire, la nature s'est toujours alterée depuis la creation du premier homme en qui Dieu joignit la beauté de la forme à celle de l'innocence.” This last quotation from Scaliger well explains what Shakespeare meant by—brief nature;—i. e. inelaborate, hasty, and careless as to the elegance of form, in respect of art, which uses the peculiar address, above explained, to arrive at perfection. Warburton. I cannot help adding, that passages of this kind are but weak proofs that our poet was conversant with what we call at present the fine arts. The pantheons of his own age (several of which I have seen) afford a most minute and particular account of the different degrees of beauty imputed to the different deities; and as Shakespeare had at least an opportunity of reading Chapman's translation of Homer, the first part of which was published in 1596, with additions in 1598, and entire in 1611, he might have taken these ideas from thence, without being at all indebted to his own particular observation, or acquaintance with statuary and painting. It is surely more for his honour to remark how well he has employed the little knowledge he appears to have had of sculpture or mythology, than from his frequent allusions to them to suppose he was intimately acquainted with either. Steevens.

Note return to page 577 4&lblank; a carbuncle, &c.] So in Antony and Cleopatra: “He has deserv'd it, were it carbuncled “Like Phœbus car.” &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 578 5&lblank; averring notes] Such marks of the chamber and pictures, as averred or confirmed my report. Johnson.

Note return to page 579 6Some upright justicer!] I meet with this antiquated word in The Tragedy of Darius, 1603: “&lblank; this day, “Th' eternal justicer sees through the stars.” Again in Law Tricks, &c. 1608: “No: we must have an upright justicer.” Again in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, book x. chap. 54. “Precelling his progenitors, a justicer upright.” Steevens.

Note return to page 580 7&lblank; and she herself.] That is, She was not only the temple of virtue, but virtue herself. Johnson.

Note return to page 581 8&lblank; these staggers &lblank;] This wild and delirious perturbation. Staggers is the horse's apoplexy. Johnson.

Note return to page 582 2Think, that you are upon a rock; &lblank;] 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. Johnson. Perhaps only a stage direction is wanting to clear this passage from obscurity. Imogen first upbraids her husband for the violent treatment she had just experienced; then confident of the return of passion which she knew must succeed to the discovery of her innocence, the poet might have meant her to rush into his arms, and while she clung about him fast, to dare him to throw her off a second time, lest that precipitation should prove as fatal to them both, as if the place where they stood had been a rock. To which he replies, hang there, i. e. round my neck, till the frame that now supports you shall decay. Steevens.

Note return to page 583 1&lblank; a dullard &lblank;] In this place means a person stupidly unconcern'd. So in Histriomastix, or the Player whipt, 1610: “What dullard! would'st thou doat in rusty art?” Again, Stanyhurst in his version of the first book of Virgil, 1582: “We Moores, lyke dullards, are not so wytles abyding.” Steevens.

Note return to page 584 3By tasting of our wrath? &lblank;] But how did Belarius undo or forseit his merit by tasting or feeling the king's wrath? We should read: By hasting of our wrath? &lblank; i. e. by hastening, provoking; and as such a provocation is undutiful, the demerit, consequently, undoes or makes void his former worth, and all pretensions to reward. Warburton. There is no need of change; the consequence is taken for the whole action; by tasting is by forcing us to make thee taste. Johnson.

Note return to page 585 4Assum'd this age: &lblank;] I believe is the same as reach'd or attain'd this age. Steevens. As there is no reason to imagine that Belarius had assumed the appearance of being older than he really was, I suspect that, instead of age, we ought to read gage; so that he may be understood to refer to the engagement, which he had entered into, a few lines before, in these words: “&lblank; We will die all three; “But I will prove that two of us are as good “As I have given out him.” Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 586 5Your pleasure was my near offence, &lblank;] 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. &lblank; The offence which cost me so dear was only your caprice. My sufferings have been all my crime. Johnson. The reading of the old copies, though corrupt, is generally nearer to the truth than that of the later editions, which, for the most part, adopt the orthography of their respective ages. An instance occurs in the play of Cymbeline, in the last scene. Belarius says to the king: Your pleasure was my near offence, my punishment Itself, and all my treason. &lblank; Dr. Johnson would read dear offence. In the folio it is neere; which plainly points out to us the true reading, meere, as the word was then spelt. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 587 6Thou weep'st and speak'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. Johnson.

Note return to page 588 7&lblank; may you be.] The old copy reads—pray you be. Steevens.

Note return to page 589 8When you 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 590 9&lblank; fierce abridgment] Fierce, is vehement, rapid. Johnson. So, in Timon of Athens: Oh, the fierce wretchedness that glory brings! Steevens.

Note return to page 591 1Why fled you from the court, and whether these?] It must be rectified thus: Why fled you from the court? and whither? These, &c. The king is asking his daughter, how she has lived; why she fled from the court, and to what place: and having enumerated so many particulars, he stops short. Theobald.

Note return to page 592 2Will serve our long &lblank;] So the first folio. Later editors have omitted our, for the sake of the metre, I suppose; but unnecessarily; as interrogatory is used by Shakespeare as a quadrisyllable. See the Merchant of Venice near the end, where in the old edition it is written intergatory. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 593 9&lblank; sprightly shews &lblank;] Are ghostly appearances. Steevens.

Note return to page 594 1Make no collection of it.] A collection is a corollary, a consequence deduced from premises. So, in Sir John Davies's poem on The Immortality of the Soul: “When she, from sundry arts, one skill doth draw;   “Gath'ring from divers fights, one act of war; “From many cases like, one rule of law:   “These her collections, not the senses are.” Steevens.

Note return to page 595 2My peace we will begin: &lblank;] I think it better to read: By peace we will begin. &lblank; Johnson.

Note return to page 596 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. Johnson.9Q1077

Note return to page 597 1The story of this tragedy had found its way into many ballads and other metrical pieces; yet Shakespeare seems to have been more indebted to the True Chronicle History of King Leir and his Three Daughters, Gonorill, Ragan, and Cordelia, 1605, (which I have already published at the end of a collection of the quarto copies) than to all the other performances together. It appears from the books at Stationers' Hall, that some play on this subject was entered by Edward White, May 14, 1594. “A booke entituled, The moste famous Chronicle Hystorie of Leire King of England, and his three Daughters.” A piece with the same title is enter'd again, May 8, 1605; and again Nov. 26, 1607. See the extracts from these Entries at the end of the Prefaces, &c. From The Mirror of Magistrates, 1586, Shakespeare has, however, taken the hint for the behaviour of the Steward, and the reply of Cordelia to her father concerning her future marriage. The episode of Gloster and his sons must have been borrowed from Sidney's Arcadia, as I have not found the least trace of it in any other work. I have referred to these pieces, whenever our author seems more immediately to have followed them, in the course of my notes on the play. For the first King Lear, see likewise Six old Plays on which Shakespeare founded, &c. published for S. Leacroft, Charing-Cross. The reader will also find the story of K. Lear, in the second book and 10th canto of Spenser's Faery Queen, and in the 15th chapter of the third book of Warner's Albion's England, 1602. The whole of this play, however, could not have been written till after 1603. Harsnet's pamphlet to which it contains so many references, (as will appear in the notes) was not published till that year. Steevens. Camden, in his Remains, (p. 306. ed. 1674.) tells a similar story to this of Leir or Lear, of Ina king of the West Saxons; which, if the thing ever happened, probably was the real origin of the fable. See under the head of Wise Speeches. Percy.

Note return to page 598 2&lblank; in the division of the kingdom, &lblank;] 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 Gloster 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 599 3&lblank; equalities, &lblank;] So, the first quartos; the folio reads— Qualities. Johnson. Either may serve; but of the former I find an instance in the Flower of Friendship, 1568: “After this match made, and equalities considered, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 600 4&lblank; that curiosity in neither &lblank;] Curiosity, for exactest scrutiny. The sense of the whole sentence is, The qualities and properties of the several divisions are so weighed and balanced against one another, that the exactest scrutiny could not determine in preferring one share to the other. Warburton. Curiosity is scrupulousness, or captiousness. So, in the Taming of a Shrew, act IV. sc. iv. “For curious I cannot be with you.” Steevens.

Note return to page 601 5&lblank; make choice of either's moiety.] The strict sense of the word moiety is half, one of two equal parts; but Shakespeare commonly uses it for any part or division. Methinks my moiety north from Burton here, In quantity equals not one of yours: and here the division was into three parts. Steevens. Heywood likewise uses the word moiety as synonymous to any part or portion. “I would unwillingly part with the greatest moiety of my own means and fortunes.” Hist. of Women, 1624. Malone.

Note return to page 602 6&lblank; some year elder than this, &lblank;] The Oxford editor, not understanding the common phrase, alters year to years. He did not consider, the Bastard says: For that I am some twelve or fourteen moon-shines Lag of a brother. &lblank; Warburton. Some year, is an expression used when we speak indefinitely. Steevens.

Note return to page 603 7&lblank; 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 604 8&lblank; 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, &lblank; and 'tis our first intent; which is as Shakespeare wrote it; who makes Lear declare his purpose with a dignity becoming his character: that the first reason of his abdication was the love of his people, that they might be protected by such as were better able to discharge the trust; and his natural affection for his daughters, only the second. Warburton. Fast is the reading of the first folio, and, I think, the true reading. Johnson.

Note return to page 605 9&lblank; from our age;] The quartos read—off our state. Steevens.

Note return to page 606 1Conferring them on younger strengths,] is the reading of the folio; the quartos read, Confirming them on younger years. Steevens.

Note return to page 607 2&lblank; while we, &c.] From while we, down to prevented now, is omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 608 3&lblank; constant will seems a confirmation of fast intent. Johns. Constant is firm, determined. Constant will is the certa voluntas of Virgil. The same epithet is used with the same meaning in the Merchant of Venice: &lblank; else nothing in the world Could turn so much the constitution Of any constant man. Steevens.

Note return to page 609 4Since now &c.] These two lines are omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 610 5Where nature doth with merit challenge. &lblank;] Where the claim of merit is superadded to that of nature; or where a superiour degree of natural filial affection is joined to the claim of other merits. Steevens.

Note return to page 611 6Beyond all manner of so much &lblank;] 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 612 7&lblank; do? &lblank;] So the quarto; the folio has speak. Johnson.

Note return to page 613 8&lblank; and with champains rich'd, With plenteous rivers &lblank; These words are omitted in the quartos. To rich is an obsolete verb. It is used by Tho. Drant in his translation of Horace's Epistles, 1567: “To ritch his country let his words lyke flowing water fall.” Steevens.

Note return to page 614 9I am made, &c.] Thus the folio. The quarto reads, Sir, I am made of the self-same metal that my sister is. Steevens.

Note return to page 615 1And prize me] I believe this passage should rather be pointed thus: And prize me at her worth, in my true heart I find, she names, &c. That is, And so may you prize me at her worth, as in my true heart I find, that she names, &c. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 616 2&lblank; 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 617 3Which the most precious square of sense possesses;] By the square of sense, we are, here, to understand the four nobler senses, viz. the sight, hearing, taste, and smell. For a young lady could not, with decency, insinuate that she knew of any pleasures which the fifth afforded. This is imagined and expressed with great propriety and delicacy. But the Oxford editor, for square, reads spirit. Warburton. This is acute; but perhaps square means only compass, comprehension. Johnson. So, in a Parænesis to the Prince, by lord Sterline, 1604: “The square of reason, and the mind's clear eye.” Steevens.

Note return to page 618 4More pond'rous than my tongue.] We should read, their tongue, meaning her sisters. Warburton. I think the present reading right. Johnson. More pond'rous than my tongue.] Thus the folio: the quarto reads, more richer. Steevens.

Note return to page 619 5No less in space, validity, &lblank;] Validity, for worth, value; not for integrity, or good title. Warburton. So, in the Devil's Charter, 1607: “The countenance of your friend is of less value than his councel, yet both of very small validity.” Steevens.

Note return to page 620 6&lblank; confirm'd &lblank;] The folio reads, conferr'd. Steevens.

Note return to page 621 7&lblank; Now our joy,] Here the true reading is picked out of two copies. Butter's quarto reads: &lblank; But now our joy, Although the last, not least in our dear love, What can you say to win a third, &c. The folio: &lblank; 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 &c. Johnson.

Note return to page 622 8Although our last, not least, &c.] So, in the old anonymous play, King Leir speaking to Mumford: “&lblank; to thee last of all; “Not greeted last, 'cause thy desert was small. Steevens.9Q1078

Note return to page 623 9Strive to be interess'd;] So, in the Preface to Drayton's Polyolbion: “&lblank; there is scarce any of the nobilitie, or gentry of this land, but he is some way or other by his blood interessed therein.” Again, in Ben Jonson's Sejanus: “Our sacred laws and just authority “Are interessed therein.” To interest and to interesse, are not, perhaps, different spellings of the same verb, but are two distinct words though of the same import; the one being derived from the Latin, the other from the French interesser. Steevens.

Note return to page 624 1&lblank; to draw] The quarto reads—what can you say, to win. Steevens.

Note return to page 625 2These two speeches are wanting in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 626 2These two speeches are wanting in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 627 3How, how, Cordelia?] Thus the folio. The quarto reads —Go to, go to. Steevens.

Note return to page 628 4&lblank; Haply, when I shall wed, &c.] So, in The Mirror of Magistrates, 1586, Cordila says: “To love you as I ought, my father, well;   “Yet shortly I may chance, if fortune will,   “To find in heart to beare another more good will: “Thus much I said of nuptial loves that meant.” Steevens.

Note return to page 629 5To love my father all. &lblank;] These words are restored from the first edition, without which the sense was not complete. Pope.

Note return to page 630 6Hold thee, from this, &lblank;] i. e. from this time. Steevens.

Note return to page 631 7[To Cordelia.] Rather, as the author of the Revisal observes, to Kent. For in the next words Lear sends for France and Burgundy to offer Cordelia without a dowry. Steevens.

Note return to page 632 8&lblank; Only retain The name, and all the additions to a king: The sway, revenue, execution, Beloved sons, be yours; &lblank;] The old books read the lines thus; The sway, revenue, execution of the rest, Beloved sons, be yours. &lblank; This is evidently corrupt; and the editors not knowing what to make of—of the rest—, left it out. The true reading, without doubt, was: The sway, revenue, execution of th' hest, Beloved sons, be yours. &lblank; Hest is an old word for regal command: so that the sense of the whole is,—I will only retain the name and all the ceremonious observances that belong to a king; the essentials, as sway, revenue, administration of the laws, be yours. Warburton. &lblank; execution of the rest,] 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 command, they were, by the grant of Lear, to have rather the hest than the execution. Johnson.

Note return to page 633 9Think'st thou, that duty shall have dread to speak,] 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: &lblank; 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 634 1Reverbs &lblank;] This is perhaps a word of the poet's own making, meaning the same as reverberates. Steevens.

Note return to page 635 2&lblank; a pawn To wage against thine enemies; &lblank;] i. e. I never regarded my life, as my own, but merely as a thing of which I had the possession not the property; and which was entrusted to me as a pawn or pledge, to be employed in waging war against your enemies. To wage against is an expression used in a letter from Guil. Webbe to Robt. Wilmot, prefixed to Tancred and Guismund, 1592: “&lblank; you shall not be able to wage against me in the charges growing upon this action.” Steevens.

Note return to page 636 3The 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. Johnson. So, in the tragedy of C. T. Nero, 1607: “He will climb, and aim at honour's white.” Again, in the Isle of Gulls, 1633: “It cannot but cleave the very white of our hopes.” Steevens.

Note return to page 637 4Dear sir, forbear.] This speech is omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 638 5&lblank; thy gift.] The quartos read—thy doom. Steevens.

Note return to page 639 6&lblank; strain'd pride] The oldest copy reads strayed pride; that is, pride exorbitant; pride passing due bounds. Johnson.

Note return to page 640 7To come betwixt our sentence and our power;] Power, for execution of the sentence. Warburton. Rather, as Mr. Edwards observes, our power to execute that sentence. Steevens.

Note return to page 641 8Which nor our nature, nor our place, can bear, Our potency make good; &lblank;] Mr. Theobald, by putting the first line into a parenthesis, and altering make to made in the second line, had destroyed the sense of the whole; which, as it stood before he corrupted the words, was this: “You have endeavoured, says Lear, to make me break my oath; you have presumed to stop the execution of my sentence: the latter of these attempts neither my temper nor high station will suffer me to bear; and the other, had I yielded to it, my power could not make good, or excuse.”—Which, in the first line, referring to both attempts: but the ambiguity of it, as it might refer only to the latter, has occasioned all the obscurity of the passage. Warburton. 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. &lblank; 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 642 9&lblank; disasters.] The quartos read diseases. Steevens.

Note return to page 643 1&lblank; By Jupiter,] Shakespeare makes his Lear too much a mythologist: he had Hecate and Apollo before. Johnson.

Note return to page 644 2Freedom lives hence, &lblank;] So the folio: the quartos concur in reading—Friendship lives hence. Steevens.

Note return to page 645 3&lblank; dear shelter &lblank;] The quartos read—protection. Steevens.

Note return to page 646 4He'll shape his old course &lblank;] He will follow his old maxims; he will continue to act upon the same principles. Johnson.

Note return to page 647 5&lblank; quest of love.] Quest of love is amorous expedition. The term originated from Romance. A quest was the expedition in which a knight was engaged. This phrase is often to be met with in the Faery Queen. Steevens.

Note return to page 648 6Seeming] is beautiful. Johnson. Seeming rather means specious. So, in the Merry Wives, &c. “&lblank; pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from the so seeming mistress Page.” Again, in Measure for Measure: “&lblank; hence shall we see, “If power change purpose, what our seemers be.” Steevens.

Note return to page 649 7&lblank; owes,] i. e. Is possessed of. Steevens.

Note return to page 650 8Election 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 651 9The best, the dearest; &lblank;] Best is added from the first copy. Johnson. There is no copy in which best is omitted. The quartos read— Most best, most dearest. Steevens.

Note return to page 652 1That monsters it.] This uncommon verb occurs again in Coriolanus, act II. sc. ii: “To hear my nothings monster'd.” Steevens.

Note return to page 653 2The common books read: &lblank; or your fore-vouch'd affection Fall'n into taint: &lblank; 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: &lblank; or you for vouch'd affections Fall'n into taint. &lblank; The folio: &lblank; or your fore-vouch'd affection Fall into taint &lblank; Taint is used for corruption and for disgrace. If therefore we take the oldest reading it may be reformed thus: &lblank; 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 fall 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: &lblank; sure her offence Must be of such unnatural degree, That monsters it, or your fore-vouch'd affection Falls into taint. &lblank; 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. Johnson. Or, without the adjunct ever, signifies before. So, in Maplet's Nat. Hist. 1567: “The pyrites also sparkleth; and being hardly holden and pressed in any man's hand, burneth him sore or he perceiveth it. Again, Ibid: “&lblank; perceiving I should be wet or I got home.” Collins. Taint is a term belonging to falconry. So, in the Booke of Haukyng, &c. bl. l. no date: “A taint is a thing that goeth overthwart the fethers, &c. like as it were eaten with wormes.” Steevens.

Note return to page 654 3&lblank; with regards that stand.] The quarto reads: &lblank; with respects that stands. Steevens.

Note return to page 655 4&lblank; from the entire point. &lblank;] Entire, for right, true. Warburton. Rather, single, unmixed with other considerations. Johnson. Dr. Johnson is right. The meaning of the passage is, that his love wants something to mark its sincerity; “Who seeks for aught in love but love alone.” Steevens.

Note return to page 656 5She is herself a dowry.] The quartos read: She is herself and dower. Steevens.

Note return to page 657 6Royal Lear,] So, the quarto: the folio has—Royal king. Steevens.

Note return to page 658 7Thou losest here, &lblank;] Here and where have the power of nouns. Thou losest this residence to find a better residence in another place. Johnson.

Note return to page 659 8&lblank; professing bosoms.] All the ancient editions read—professed. The alteration is Mr. Pope's, but, perhaps, is unnecessary, as Shakespeare often uses one participle for the other; —longing for longed in the Gentlemen of Verona, and all-obeying for all-obeyed in Antony and Cleopatra. Steevens.

Note return to page 660 9And well are worth the want that you have wanted.] This is a very obscure expression, and must be pieced out with an implied sense to be understood. 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. And well are worth the want that you have wanted.] This nonsense must be corrected thus: And well are worth the want that you have vaunted. i. e. that disherison, which you so much glory in, you deserve. Warburton. I think the common reading very suitable to the manner of our author, and well enough explained by Theobald. Johnson. I explain the passage thus:—You are well deserving of the want of dower that you are without. So, in the third part of K. Henry VI. act IV. sc. i: “Though I want a kingdom,” i. e. though I am without a kingdom. Again, in Stowe's Chronicle, p. 137: “Anselm was expelled the realm, and wanted the whole profits of his bishoprick,” i. e. he did not receive the profits, &c. Tollet.

Note return to page 661 1&lblank; plaited cunning &lblank;] 9Q1079i. e. complicated, involved cunning. Johnson. The word unfold, and the following lines in our author's Venus and Adonis, shew that plaited, or (as the quarto has it) pleated, is the true reading: “For that he colour'd with his high estate, “Hiding base sin in pleats of majesty.” Malone.

Note return to page 662 2Who cover faults, &c.] The quartos read, Who covers faults, at last shame them derides. This I have replaced. The former editors read with the folio: Who covers faults at last with shame derides. Steevens.

Note return to page 663 3&lblank; let us hit &lblank;] So the old quarto. The folio, let us sit. Johnson. &lblank; let us hit &lblank;] i. e. agree. Steevens.

Note return to page 664 4&lblank; i' the heat] i. e. We must strike while the iron's hot. Steevens.

Note return to page 665 5Thou, nature, art my goddess; &lblank;] He makes his bastard an atheist. Italian atheism had much infected the English court, as we learn from the best writers of that time. But this was the general title those atheists in their works gave to nature: thus Vanini calls one of his books, De admirandis Naturæ Reginæ deæque mortalium Arcanis. So that the title here is emphatical. Warburton. Dr. Warburton says that Shakespeare has made his bastard an atheist; when it is very plain that Edmund only speaks of nature in opposition to custom, and not (as he supposes) to the existence of a God. Edmund means only, as he came not into the world as custom or law had prescribed, so he had nothing to do but to follow nature and her laws, which make no difference between legitimacy and illegitimacy, between the eldest and the youngest. To contradict Dr. Warburton's assertion yet more strongly, Edmund concludes this very speech by an invocation to heaven. “Now gods stand up for bastards!” Steevens.

Note return to page 666 6Stand in the plague of custom, &lblank;] The word plague is in all the old copies: I can scarcely think it right, nor can I yet reconcile myself to plage, the emendation proposed by Dr. Warburton, though I have nothing better to offer. Johnson. The meaning is plain, though oddly expressed. Wherefore should I acquiesce, submit tamely to the plagues and injustice of custom? Shakespeare seems to mean by the plague of custom, Wherefore should I remain in a situation where I shall be plagued and tormented only in consequence of the contempt with which custom regards those who are not the issue of a lawful bed? Dr. Warburton defines plage to be the place, the country, the boundary of custom; a word to be found only in Chaucer. Steevens.

Note return to page 667 7The courtesy of nations &lblank;] Mr. Pope reads nicety. The copies give,—the curiosity of nations;—but our author's word was, curtesy. In our laws some lands are held by the curtesy of England. Theobald. Curiosity, in the time of Shakespeare, was a word that signinified an over-nice scrupulousness in manners, dress, &c. In this sense it is used in Timon. “When thou wast (says Apemantus) in thy gilt and thy perfume, they mock'd thee for too much curiosity.” Barrett in his Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionary, 1580, interprets it, piked diligence: something too curious, or too much affectated: and again in this play of K. Lear, Shakespeare seems to use it in the same sense, “which I have rather blamed as my own jealous curiosity.” Curiosity is the old reading, which Mr. Theobald changed into courtesy, though the former is used by Beaumont and Fletcher, with the meaning for which I contend. It is true, that Orlando, in As You Like It, says: “The courtesy of nations allows you my better;” but Orlando is not there inveighing against the law of primogeniture, but only against the unkind advantage his brother takes of it, and courtesy is a word that fully suits the occasion. Edmund, on the contrary, is turning this law into ridicule; and for such a purpose, the curiosity of nations, (i. e. the idle, nice distinctions of the world) is a phrase of contempt much more natural in his mouth, than the softer expression of—courtesy of nations. Steevens.9Q1080

Note return to page 668 8&lblank; to deprive me,] To deprive was, in our author's time, synonymous to disinherit. The old dictionary renders exhæredo by this word: and Holinshed speaks of the line of Henry before deprived. Again, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, Book III. ch. xvi. “To you, if whom ye have depriv'd ye shall restore again.” Again, Ibid: “The one restored, for his late depriving nothing mov'd.” Steevens.

Note return to page 669 9Lag of a brother?] Edmund inveighs against the tyranny of custom, in two instances, with respect to younger brothers, and to bastards. In the former he must not be understood to mean himself, but the argument becomes general by implying more than is said, Wherefore should I or any man. Hanmer.

Note return to page 670 1Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, &c.] These fine lines are an instance of our author's admirable art in giving proper sentiments to his characters. The bastard's is that of a confirmed atheist; and his being made to ridicule judicial astrology was designed as one mark of such a character. For this impious juggle had a religious reverence paid to it at that time. And therefore the best characters in this play acknowledge the force of the stars' influence. But how much the lines following this, are in character, may be seen by that monstrous wish of Vanini, the Italian atheist, in his tract De admirandis Naturæ, &c. printed at Paris, 1616. the very year our poet died. “O utinam extra legitimum & connubialem thorum essem procreatus! Ita enim progenitores mei in venerem incaluissent ardentiùs, ac cumulatim affatimque generosa semina contulissent, è quibus ego formæ blanditiam et elegantiam, robustas corporis vires, mentemque innubilem consequutus fuissem. At quia conjugatorum sum soboles, his orbatus sum bonis.” Had the book been published but ten or twenty years sooner, who would not have believed that Shakespeare alluded to this passage? But the divinity of his genius foretold, as it were, what such an atheist as Vanini would say, when he wrote upon such a subject. Warburton.

Note return to page 671 2Shall be the legitimate. &lblank;] Here the Oxford editor would shew us that he is as good at coining phrases as his author, and so alters the text thus: Shall toe th' legitimate. &lblank; i. e. says he, stand on even ground with him, as he would do with his author. Warburton. Hanmer's emendation will appear very plausible to him that shall consult the original reading. Butter's quarto reads: &lblank; Edmund the base Shall tooth' legitimate. &lblank; The folio, &lblank; 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. Johnson. Mr. Edwards would read,—Shall top the legitimate. I have received this emendation, because the succeeding expression, I grow, seems to favour it. Steevens.9Q1081

Note return to page 672 3Now, gods, stand up for bastards!] For what reason? He does not tell us; but the poet alludes to the debaucheries of the Pagan gods, who made heroes of all their bastards. Warburton.

Note return to page 673 4&lblank; subscrib'd his power!] Subscrib'd, for transferred, alienated. Warburton. 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. Johnson. The folio reads-prescribed. Steevens.

Note return to page 674 5&lblank; exhibition! &lblank;] Is allowance. The term is yet used in the unversities. Johnson.

Note return to page 675 6&lblank; All this done Upon the gad! &lblank;] So the old copies: the later editions read: &lblank; All is gone Upon the gad! &lblank; 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 676 7&lblank; 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.” Johnson.

Note return to page 677 8This policy and reverence of ages &lblank;] Age is the reading of both the copies of authority. Butter's quarto has, this policy of age; the folio, this policy and reverence of age. Johnson. The two quartos published by Butter, concur with the folio in reading age. Pope's duodecimo is the only copy that has ages. Steevens.

Note return to page 678 9&lblank; idle and fond &lblank;] Weak and foolish. Johnson.

Note return to page 679 1&lblank; pretence &lblank;] Pretence is design, purpose. So, afterwards in this play. Pretence and purpose of unkindness. Johnson.

Note return to page 680 2Edm.] From Nor is, to heaven and earth! are words omitted in the folio. Steevens.

Note return to page 681 3&lblank; wind me into him, &lblank;] I once thought it should be read, you into him; but, perhaps, it is a familiar phrase, like do me this. Johnson. So, in Twelfth-Night: “&lblank; challenge me the duke's youth to fight with him.” Instances of this phraseology occur in the Merchant of Venice, K. Henry IV. Part I. and in Othello. Steevens.

Note return to page 682 4&lblank; 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. Johnson. The same word occurs in Antony and Cleopatra: “Yes, like enough, high-battled Cæsar will “Unstate his happiness, and be stag'd to shew “Against a sworder.” &lblank; To unstate, in both these instances, seems to have the same meaning. Edgar has been represented as wishing to possess his father's fortune, i. e. to unstate him; and therefore his father says he would unstate himself to be sufficiently resolved to punish him. To enstate is to confer a fortune. So, in Measure for Measure: &lblank; his possessions We do enstate and widow you withal. Steevens. It seems to me, that I would unstate myself in this passage means simply, I would give my estate (including rank as well as fortune.) Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 683 5&lblank; convey the business &lblank;] Convey, for introduce: but convey is a fine word, as alluding to the practice of clandestine conveying goods, so as not to be found upon the felon. Warburton. 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. Johnson. So, in Mother Bombie, by Lilly, 1599: “Two, they say, may keep counsel if one be away; but to convey knavery two are too few, and four are too many.” Again, in A mad World my Masters, by Middleton, 1640: “&lblank; thus I've convey'd it; &lblank; “I'll counterfeit a fit of violent sickness.” Steevens. So, in lord Sterline's Julius Cæsar, 1607: “A circumstance or an indifferent thing “Doth oft mar all, when not with care convey'd. Malone.

Note return to page 684 6&lblank; the wisdom of nature &lblank;] That is, though natural philosophy can give account of eclipses, yet we feel their consequences. Johnson.

Note return to page 685 7This villain &lblank;] All from asterisk to askerisk is omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 686 8This is the excellent foppery of the world, &c.] In Shakespeare's best plays, besides the vices that arise from the subject, there is generally some peculiar prevailing folly, principally ridiculed, that runs through the whole piece. Thus, in The Tempest, the lying disposition of travellers, and, in As You Like It, the fantastic humour of courtiers, is exposed and satirized with infinite pleasantry. In like manner, in this play of Lear, the dotages of judicial astrology are severely ridiculed. I fancy, was the date of its first performance well considered, it would be found that something or other happened at that time which gave a more than ordinary run to this deceit, as these words seem to intimate; I am thinking, brother, of a prediction I read this other day, what should follow these eclipses. However this be, an impious cheat, which had so little foundation in nature or reason, so detestable an original, and such fatal consequences on the manners of the people, who were at that time strangely besotted with it, certainly deserved the severest lash of satire. It was a fundamental in this noble science, that whatever seeds of good dispositions the infant unborn might be endowed with either from nature, or traductively from its parents, yet if, at the time of its birth, the delivery was by any casualty so accelerated or retarded, as to fall in with the predominancy of a malignant constellation, that momentary influence would entirely change its nature, and bias it to all the contrary ill qualities: so wretched and monstrous an opinion did it set out with. But the Italians, to whom we owe this, as well as most other unnatural crimes and follies of these latter ages, fomented its original impiery to the most detestable height of extravagance. Petrus Aponensis, an Italian physician of the 13th century, assures us that those prayers which are made to God when the moon is in conjunction with Jupiter in the Dragon's tail, are infallibly heard. The great Milton, with a just indignation of this impiety, hath, in his Paradise Regained, satirized it in a very beautiful manner, by putting these reveries into the mouth of the devil. Nor could the licentious Rebelais himself forbear to ridicule this impious dotage, which he does with exquisite address and humour, where, in the fable which he so agreeably tells from Æsop, of the man who applied to Jupiter for the loss of his hatchet, he makes those who, on the poor man's good success, had projected to trick Jupiter by the same petition, a kind of astrologic atheist, who ascribed this good fortune, that they imagined they were now all going to partake of, to the influence of some rare conjunction and configuration of the stars. “Hen, hen, disent ils—Et doncques, telle est au temps present la revolution des Cieulx, la constellation des Astres, & aspect des planetes, que quiconque coignée perdra, soubdain deviendra ainsi riche?”—Nou. Prol. du IV. Livre.—But to return to Shakespeare. So blasphemous a delusion, therefore, it became the honesty of our poet to expose. But it was a tender point, and required managing. For this impious juggle had in his time a kind of religious reverence paid to it. It was therefore to be done obliquely; and the circumstances of the scene furnished him with as good an opportunity as he could wish. The persons in the drama are all Pagans, so that as, in compliance to custom, his good characters were not to speak ill of judicial astrology, they could on account of their religion give no reputation to it. But in order to expose it the more, he, with great judgment, makes these Pagans fatalists; as appears by these words of Lear: By all the operations of the orbs, From whom we do exist and cease to be. For the doctrine of fate is the true foundation of judicial astrology. Having thus discredited it by the very commendations given to it, he was in no danger of having his direct satire against it mistaken, by its being put (as he was obliged, both in paying regard to custom, and in following nature) into the mouth of the villain and atheist, especially when he has added such force of reason to his ridicule, in the words referred to in the beginning of the note. Warburton.

Note return to page 687 9&lblank; and treachers, &lblank;] The modern editors read treacherous; but the reading of the first copies, which I have restored to the text, may be supported from most of the old contemporary writers. So, in Doctor Dodypoll, a comedy, 1600: “How smooth the cunning treacher look'd upon it!” Again, in Every Man in his Humour: “&lblank; Oh, you treachour!” Again, in Robert Earl of Huntingdon, 1601: “&lblank; Hence, trecher as thou art!” Again, in the Bloody Banquet, 1639: “To poison the right use of service—a trecher.” Chaucer, in his Romaunt of the Rose, mentions “the false treacher,” and Spenser often uses the same word. Steevens.

Note return to page 688 1An admirable evasion—to lay his—disposition on the charge of a star! &lblank;] We should read, change of a star! which both the sense and grammar require. It was the opinion of astrologers (see what is said just above) that the momentary influence did all; and we do not say, Lay a thing on the charge, but to the charge. Besides, change answering to evasion just above, gives additional elegance to the expression. Warburton.

Note return to page 689 2&lblank; of a star.] Both the quartos read—to the charge of stars. Steevens.

Note return to page 690 3pat he comes &lblank;] The quartos read, &lblank; and out he comes. &lblank;. Steevens.

Note return to page 691 4&lblank; he comes, like the catastrophe of the old comedy: &lblank;] This we are to understand, as a compliment intended by the author, on the natural winding up of the plot in the comedy of the ancients; which as it was owing to the artful and yet natural introduction of the persons of the drama into the scene, just in the nick of time, or pat, as our author says, makes the similitude very proper. This, without doubt, is the supreme beauty of comedy, considered as an action. And as it depends solely on a strict observance of the unities, it shews that these unities are in nature, and in the reason of things, and not in a mere arbitrary invention of the Greeks, as some of our own country critics, of a low mechanic genius, have, by their works, persuaded our wits to believe. For common sense requiring that the subject of one comedy should be one action, and that that action should be contained nearly within the period of time which the representation of it takes up; hence we have the unities of time and action; and, from these, unavoidably arises the third, which is that of place. For when the whole of one action is included within a proportionable small space of time, there is no room to change the scene, but all must be done upon one spot of ground. Now from this last unity (the necessary issue of the two other, which derive immediately from nature) proceeds all that beauty of the catastrophe, or the winding up the plot in the ancient comedy. For all the persons of the drama being to appear and act on one limited spot, and being by their several interests to embarras, and at length to conduct the action to its destin'd period, there is need of consummate skill to bring them on, and take them off, naturally and necessarily; for the grace of action requires the one, and the perfection of it the other. Which conduct of the action must needs produce a beauty that will give a judicious mind the highest pleasure. On the other hand, when a comic writer has a whole country to range in, nothing is easier than to find the persons of the drama just where he would have them; and this requiring no art, the beauty we speak of is not to be found. Consequently a violation of the unities deprives the drama of one of its greatest beauties; which proves what I asserted, that the three unities are no arbitrary, mechanic invention, but founded in reason and the nature of things. The Tempest of Shakespeare sufficiently proves him to be well acquainted with these unities; and the passage in question shews him to have been struck with the beauty that results from them. Warburton. This supposition will not at all suit with the character of Edmund, with the comic turn of his whole speech, nor with the general idea of Shakespeare's want of learning; so that I am more apt to think the passage satire than paneg yric, and intended to ridicule the very aukward conclusions of our old comedies, where the persons of the scene make their entry inartificially, and just when the poet wants them on the stage. Warner.

Note return to page 692 5I promise you, &lblank;] 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 693 6&lblank; as of &lblank;] All from this asterisk to the next, is omitted in the folio. Steevens.

Note return to page 694 7&lblank; dissipation of cohorts. &lblank;] Thus the old copy. Dr. Johnson reads, of courts. Steevens.

Note return to page 695 8How long have you &lblank;] This line I have restored from the two eldest quartos, and have regulated the following speech according to the same copies. Steevens.

Note return to page 696 1&lblank; that with the mischief of your person &lblank;] 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. Johnson. I do not see any need of alteration. He could not express the violence of his father's displeasure in stronger terms than by saying it was so great that it would scarcely be appeased by the destruction of his son. Malone.

Note return to page 697 2That's my fear.] All between this and the next asterisk, is omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 698 3&lblank; Idle old man,] The lines from one asterisk to the other, as they are fine in themselves, and very much in character for Goneril, I have restored from the old quarto. The last verse, which I have ventur'd to amend, is there printed thus: With checks, like flatt'ries when they are seen abus'd. Theobald.

Note return to page 699 4Old fools are babes again; and must be us'd With checks like flatt'ries when they are seen abus'd.] Thus the old quarto reads these lines. It is plain they are corrupt. But they have been made worse by a fruitless attempt to correct them. And first, for Old fools are babes again; &lblank; A proverbial expression is here plainly alluded to; but it is a strange proverb which only informs us that fools are innocents. We should read, Old folks are babes again; &lblank; Thus speaks the proverb, and with the usual good sense of one. The next line is jumbled out of all meaning: With checks like flatt'ries when they're seen abus'd. Mr. Theobald restores it thus, With checks like flatt'rers when they're seen to abuse us. Let us consider the sense a little. Old folks, says the speaker, are babes again; well, and what then? Why then they must be used like flatterers. But when Shakespeare quoted the proverb, we may be assured his purpose was to draw some inference from it, and not run rambling after a similitude. And that inference was not difficult to find, had common sense been attended to, which tells us Shakespeare must have wrote, Old folks are babes again; and must be us'd With checks, not faltt'ries when they're seen abus'd. i. e. Old folks being grown children again, they should be used as we use children, with checks, when we find that the little flatt'ries we employed to quiet them are abused, by their becoming more peevish and perverse by indulgence. &lblank; when they're seen abus'd. i. e. When we find that those flatt'ries are abus'd. Warburton. 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. Johnson. The plain meaning, I believe, is—old fools must be used with checks, as flatteries must be check'd when they are made a bad use of. Tollet. I understand this passage thus. Old fools—must be used with checks, as well as flatteries, when they [i. e. flatteries] are seen to be abused. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 700 5If but as well I other accents borrow, And can my speech disuse. &lblank;] Thus Rowe, Pope, and Johnson, in contradiction to all the ancient copies. The first folio reads the whole passage as follows: If but as will I other accents borrow, That can my speech defuse, my good intent May carry through, &c. We must suppose that Kent advances looking on his disguise. This circumstance very naturally leads to his speech, which, otherwise, would have no very apparent introduction. If I can change my speech as well as I have changed my dress. To diffuse speech, signifies to disorder it, and so to disguise it; as in the Merry Wives of Windsor, act IV. sc. vii: “&lblank; rush at once “With some diffused song.” &lblank; Again, in the Nice Valour, &c. by Beaumont and Fletcher, Cupid says to the Passionate Man, who appears disordered in his dress: “&lblank; Go not so diffusedly.” Again, in our author's K. Henry V: “&lblank; swearing, and stern looks, diffus'd attire.” Again, in a book entitled, A Green Forest, or A Natural History, &c. by John Maplet, 1567: “In this stone is apparently seene verie often the verie forme of a tode, with bespotted and coloured feete, but those uglye and defusedly.”—To diffuse speech may, however, mean to speak broad, with a clownish accent. —The two eldest quartos concur with the folio, except that they read well instead of will. Steevens. Diffused certainly meant, in our author's time, wild, irregular, heterogeneous. So, in Green's Farewell to Follie, 1617: “I have seen an English gentleman so defused in his suits, his doublet being for the weare of Castile, his hose for Venice, his hat for France, his cloak for Germany, that hee seemed no way to be an Englishman but by the face.” Malone.

Note return to page 701 6&lblank; him that is wise, and says little; &lblank;] Though saying little may be the character of wisdom, it was not a quality to chuse a companion by for his conversation. We should read,— to say little; which was prudent when he chose a wise companion to profit by. So that it was as much as to say, I profess to talk little myself, that I may profit the more by the conversation of the wise. Warburton. To converse signifies immediately and properly to keep company, not to discourse or talk. His meaning is, that he chuses for his companions men of reserve and caution; men who are no tattlers nor tale-bearers. The old reading is the true. Johnson. We still say in the same sense—he had criminal conversation with her—meaning commerce. Malone.9Q1082

Note return to page 702 7&lblank; and to eat no fish.] In queen Elizabeth's time the Papists were esteemed, and with good reason, enemies to the government. Hence the proverbial phrase of, He's an honest man, and eats no fish; to signify he's a friend to the government and a Protestant. The eating fish, on a religious account, being then esteemed such a badge of popery, that when it was enjoin'd for a season by act of parliament, for the encouragement of the fish-towns, it was thought necessary to declare the reason; hence it was called Cecil's fast. To this disgraceful badge of popery Fletcher alludes in his Woman-hater, who makes the courtezan say, when Lazarillo, in search of the Umbrano's head, was seized at her house by the intelligencers for a traytor: “Gentlemen, I am glad you have discovered him. He should not have eaten under my roof for twenty pounds. And sure I did not like him, when he called for fish.” And Marston's Dutch Courtezan: “I trust I am none of the wicked that eat fish a fryday.” Warburton.

Note return to page 703 8&lblank; a very pretence.] Pretence in Shakespeare generally signifies design. So, in a foregoing scene in this play: “&lblank; to no other pretence of danger.” Again, in Holinshed, p. 648: “the pretensed evill purpose of the queene.” Steevens.

Note return to page 704 9&lblank; bandy looks &lblank;] A metaphor from Tennis: “Come in, take this bandy with the racket of patience.” Decker's Satiromastix. Again: “&lblank; buckle with them hand to hand, “And bandy blows as thick as hailstones fall.” Wily Beguiled. Steevens.

Note return to page 705 1Why fool?] The folio reads—why, my boy? and gives this question to Lear. Steevens.

Note return to page 706 2&lblank; take my coxcomb. &lblank;] Meaning his cap, called so, because on the top of the fool or jester's cap was sewed a piece of red cloth, resembling the comb of a cock. The word, afterwards, was used to denote a vain, conceited, meddling fellow. Warburton. See Fig. XII. in the plate at the end of the first part of King Henry IV. with Mr. Tollet's explanation, who has since added, that Minshew, in his Dictionary, 1627 says, “Natural ideots and fools, have, and still do accustome themselves to weare in their cappes cockes feathers, or a hat with a necke and head of a cocke on the top, and a bell thereon, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 707 3&lblank; two coxcombs, &lblank;] Two fools caps, intended, as it seems, to mark double folly in the man that gives all to his daughters. Johnson.

Note return to page 708 4&lblank; lady brach &lblank;] Brach is a bitch of the hunting kind. “Nos quidem hodie brach dicimus de cane fœminea, quæ leporem ex odore persequitur. Spelm. Gloss. in voce Bracco.” Dr. Letherland, on the margin of Dr. Warburton's edition, proposed lady's brach, i. e. favour'd animal. The third quarto has a much more unmannerly reading, which I would not wish to establish: but all the other editions concur in reading lady brach. Lady is still a common name for a hound. So Hotspur: “I had rather hear lady, my brach, howl in Irish.” Again, in Ben Jonson's Poem to a Friend, &c. “Do all the tricks of a salt lady bitch.” In the old black letter Booke of Huntyng, &c. no date, the list of dogs concludes thus: “&lblank; and small ladi popies that bere awai the fleas and divers small fautes.” We might read—“when lady the brach, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 709 5Lend 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 710 6Learn more than thou trowest,] To trow, is an old word which signifies to believe. The precept is admirable. Warburton.

Note return to page 711 7This is nothing, fool.] The quartos give this speech to Lear. Steevens.

Note return to page 712 8No, lad &lblank;] 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 713 9&lblank; if I had a monopoly out, they would have a part on't: &lblank;] A satire on the gross abuses of monopolies at that time; and the corruption and avarice of the courtiers, who commonly went shares with the patentee. Warburton. The modern editors, without authority, read— &lblank; a monopoly on't, &lblank; Monopolies were in Shakespeare's time the common objects of satire. So, in Decker's Match me in London, 1631: “&lblank; Give him a court loaf, stop his mouth with a monopoly.” Again, in Ram-Alley, or Merry Tricks, 1611: “A knight, and never heard of smock-fees! I would I had a monopoly of them, so there was no impost set on them.” Again, in the Birth of Merlin, 1662: “&lblank; So foul a monster would be a fair monopoly worth the begging.” In the books of the Stationers' Company, I meet with the following entry. “John Charlewoode, Oct. 1587: lycensed unto him by the whole consent of the assistants, the onlye ymprynting of all manner of billes for plaiers.” Again, Nov. 6, 1615. The liberty of printing all billes for fencing was granted to Mr. Purfoot. Steevens.

Note return to page 714 10Fools 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 715 1&lblank; less grace &lblank;] So the folio. Both the quartos read— less wit. Steevens.

Note return to page 716 2Then they for sudden joy did weep, &c.] So, in the Rape of Lucrece, by Heywood, 1630: “When Tarquin first in court began,   “And was approved king, “So men for sudden joy did weep,   “But I for sorrow sing.” I cannot ascertain in what year T. Heywood first published this play, as the copy in 1630, which I have used, was the fourth impression. Steevens.

Note return to page 717 3&lblank; that frontlet &lblank;] Lear alludes to the frontlet, which was anciently part of a woman's dress. So, in the play called the Foure P's, 1569: “Forsooth women have many lets, “And they be masked in many nets: “As frontlets, fillets, partlets, and bracelets: “And then their bonets and their poinets.” Again, in Lylly's Midas, 1592: “&lblank; Hoods, frontlets, wires, cauls, curling-irons, perriwigs, bodkins, fillets, hair-laces, ribbons, roles, knotstrings, glasses, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 718 4That'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. Johnson. That's a sheal'd peascod.] The robing of Richard IId's effigy in Westminster-abbey is wrought with peascods open, and the peas out; perhaps in allusion to his being once in full possession of sovereignty, but soon reduced to an empty title. See Camden's Remains, 1674, p. 453, edit. 1657, p. 340. Tollet.

Note return to page 719 5&lblank; put it on] i. e. promote, push it forward. So, in Macbeth: “&lblank; the pow'rs “Put on their instruments.” &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 720 6&lblank; were left darkling.] This word is used by Milton, Paradise Lost, book i: &lblank; as the wakeful bird Sings darkling.” &lblank; Steevens.9Q1083

Note return to page 721 7&lblank; transform you.] Thus the quartos. The folio reads— transport you. Steevens.

Note return to page 722 8&lblank; Whoop, Jug, &c.] There are in the fool's speeches several passages which seem to be proverbial allusions, perhaps not now to be understood. Johnson. &lblank; Whoop, Jug, I love thee.] This, as I am informed, is a quotation from the burthen of an old song. Steevens.9Q1084

Note return to page 723 9&lblank; this is not Lear:] This passage appears to have been imitated by Ben Jonson in his Sad Shepherd: “&lblank; this is not Marian! “Nor am I Robin Hood! I pray you ask her! “Ask her, good shepherds! ask her all for me: “Or rather ask yourselves, if she be she; “Or I be I.” Steevens.

Note return to page 724 1&lblank; Ha! waking?—'Tis not so.] Thus the folio. The quartos read: &lblank; sleeping or waking; ha! sure 'tis not so. Steevens.

Note return to page 725 2&lblank; Lear's shadow?] The folio gives these words to the Fool. Steevens.

Note return to page 726 3&lblank; for by the marks Of sov'reignty, of knowledge, and of reason] His daughters prove so unnatural, that, if he were only to judge by the reason of things, he must conclude, they cannot be his daughters. This is the thought. But how does his kingship or sovereignty enable him to judge of this matter? The line, by being false pointed, has lost its sense. We should read, Of sovereignty of knowledge. &lblank; i. e. the understanding. He calls it, by an equally fine phrase, in Hamlet,—Sov'reignty of reason. And it is remarkable that the editors had depraved it there too. See note, act i. scene 7. of that play. Warburton. The contested passage is wanting in the folio. Steevens. The difficulty, which must occur to every reader, is, to conceive how the marks of sovereignty, of knowledge, and of reason, should be of any use to persuade Lear that he had, or had not, daughters. No logic, I apprehend, could draw such a conclusion from such premises. This difficulty, however, may be entirely removed, by only pointing the passage thus: &lblank; for by the marks Of sov'reignty, of knowledge, and of reason, I should be false persuaded—I had daughters. &lblank; Your name, fair gentlewoman? The chain of Lear's speech being thus untangled, we can clearly trace the succession and connection of his ideas. The undutiful behaviour of his daughter so disconcerts him, that he doubts, by turns, whether she is Goneril, and whether he himself is Lear. Upon her first speech, he only exclaims, &lblank; Are you our daughter? Upon her going on in the same style, he begins to question his own sanity of mind, and even his personal identity. He appeals to the by-standers, Who is it that can tell me who I am? &lblank; I should be glad to be told. For (if I was to judge myself) by the marks of sovereignty, of knowledge, and of reason, which once distinguished Lear, (but which I have now lost) I should be false (against my own consciousness) persuaded (that I am not Lear). He then slides to the examination of another distinguishing mark of Lear: &lblank; I had daughters. But not able, as it should seem, to dwell upon so tender a subject, he hastily recurs to his first doubt concerning Goneril,— Your name, fair gentlewoman. Tyrwhitt. This note 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 727 4&lblank; I had daughters. &lblank;] Here the quarto interposes the following short and useless speech of the fool: “Which they will make an obedient father.” Which, is on this occasion used with two deviations from present language. It is referred, contrary to the rules of grammarians, to the pronoun I, and is employed, according to a mode now obsolete, for whom, the accusative case of who. Steevens.

Note return to page 728 5&lblank; a grac'd palace. &lblank;] A palace grac'd by the presence of a sovereign. Warburton.

Note return to page 729 6A little to disquantity your train;] A little is the reading [Correction: 1Kb]

Note return to page 730 for, a little is the reading, read, a little is the common reading.

Note return to page 731 7&lblank; that shall still depend,] Depend, for continue in service. Warburton.

Note return to page 732 8Than the sea-monster!] Mr. Upton observes, that the sea-monster is the Hippopotamus, the hieroglyphical symbol of impiety and ingratitude. Sandys, in his travels, says—“that he killeth his sire, and ravisheth his own dam.” Steevens.

Note return to page 733 9Pray, sir, be patient.] The quartos omit this speech. Steevens.

Note return to page 734 2&lblank; like an engine, &lblank;] Mr. Edwards conjectures that by an engine is meant the rack. He is right. To engine is, in Chaucer, to strain upon the rack; and in the following passage from the Three Lords of London, 1590, engine seems to be used for the same instrument of torture. “From Spain they come with engine and intent “To slay, subdue, to triumph, and torment.” Again, in the Night-Walker, by B. and Fletcher: “Ther souls shot through with adders, torn on engines.” Steevens.

Note return to page 735 3Of what hath mov'd you.] Omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 736 4&lblank; from her derogate body &lblank;] Derogate for unnatural. Warburton. Rather, I think, degraded; blasted. Johnson.

Note return to page 737 5&lblank; disnatur'd] Disnatur'd is wanting natural affection. So, Daniel in Hymen's Triumph, 1623: “I am not so disnatured a man.” Steevens.

Note return to page 738 6&lblank; cadent tears &lblank;] i. e. Falling tears. Dr. Warburton would read candent. Steevens.

Note return to page 739 7I 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 worse 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 740 8The untented woundings &lblank;] Untented wounds, means wounds in their worst state, not having a tent in them to digest them; and may possibly signify here such as will not admit of having a tent put into them for that purpose. One of the quartos reads, untender. Steevens.

Note return to page 741 9&lblank; that you lose.] The quartos read—that you make. Steevens.

Note return to page 742 1Let it be so, &c.] The reading is here gleaned up, part from the first, and part from the second edition. Johnson. Let it be so is omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 743 2Gon. All from this asterisk to the next, is omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 744 3At point,] I believe, means completely armed, and consequently ready at appointment or command on the slightest notice. Steevens.

Note return to page 745 4&lblank; How now, Oswald?] The quartos read—what Oswald, ho! Osw. Here, Madam. Gon. What have you writ this letter, &c. Steevens.

Note return to page 746 5&lblank; compact it more. &lblank;] Unite one circumstance with another, so as to make a consistent account. Johnson.

Note return to page 747 6&lblank; more at task &lblank;] 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. Johnson. Both the quartos instead of at task—read, alapt. A late editor of King Lear, says, that the first quarto reads attask'd; but unless there be a third quarto which I have never seen or heard of, his assertion is erroneous. Steevens.

Note return to page 748 7&lblank; there before you.] He seems to intend to go to his daughter, but it appears afterwards that he is going to the house of Gloster. Johnson.

Note return to page 749 8I did her wrong &lblank;] He is musing on Cordelia. Johnson.

Note return to page 750 9To take it again perforce! &lblank;] He is meditating on the resumption of his royalty. Johnson. He is rather meditating on his daughter's having in so violent a manner deprived him of those privileges which before she had agreed to grant him. Steevens.

Note return to page 751 1&lblank; ear-kissing arguments.] Subjects of discourse; topics. Johnson. Ear-kissing arguments means that they are yet in reality only whisper'd ones. Steevens.

Note return to page 752 2Cur. This and the following speech, are omitted in one of the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 753 3&lblank; queazy question,] Something of a suspicious, questionable, and uncertain nature. This is, I think, the meaning. Johnson. Queazy, I believe, rather means delicate, what requires to be handled nicely. So, Ben Jonson, in Sejanus: “Those times are somewhat queasy to be touch'd. &lblank; “Have you not seen or read part of his book?” So, in Ben Jonson's New Inn: “Notes of a queasy and sick stomach, labouring “With want of a true injury.” &lblank; Again, in Much Ado about Nothing: “Despight of his quick wit and queazy stomach.” Steevens.

Note return to page 754 4&lblank; i' the haste,] I should suppose we ought to read only in haste; i' the being repeated accidentally by the compositor. Steevens.

Note return to page 755 5&lblank; have you nothing said Upon his party 'gainst the duke of Albany?] The meaning is, have you said nothing upon the party formed by him against the duke of Albany? Hanmer. I cannot but think the line corrupted, and would read: Against his party, for the duke of Albany? Johnson.

Note return to page 756 6Mumbling of wicked charms, conjuring the moon] This was a proper circumstance to urge to Gloster; who appears, by what passed between him and his bastard son in a foregoing scene, to be very superstitious with regard to this matter. Warburton. The quartos read, warbling instead of mumbling. Steevens.

Note return to page 757 7&lblank; their thunders &lblank;] First quarto; the rest have it, the thunder. Johnson.

Note return to page 758 8&lblank; gasted &lblank;] Frighted. Johnson. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Wit at several Weapons: “&lblank; either the sight of the lady has gasted him, or else he's drunk.” Steevens.

Note return to page 759 1Not in this land shall he remain uncaught; And found dispatch—the noble duke, &c.] This nonsense should be read and pointed thus: Not in this land shall he remain uncaught; And found, dispatch'd &lblank; Warburton. 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 760 2&lblank; arch &lblank;] i. e. Chief; a word now used only in composition, as arch-angel, arch-duke. So, in Heywood's If you know not me, you know Nobody, 1613: “Poole, that arch for truth and honesty.” Steevens.

Note return to page 761 3&lblank; murtherous coward &lblank;] The first edition reads, caitiff. Johnson.

Note return to page 762 4And found him pight to do it, with curst speech] Pight is pitched, fixed, settled. Curst is severe, harsh, vehemently angry. Johnson. So, in the old morality of Lusty Juventus, 1561: “Therefore my heart is surely pyght “Of her alone to have a sight.” Thus, in Troilus and Cressida: “&lblank; tents “Thus proudly pight upon our Phrygian plains.” Steevens.

Note return to page 763 5&lblank; would the reposal] i. e. Would any opinion that men have reposed in thy trust, virtue, &c. Warburton. The old quarto reads, could the reposure. Steevens.

Note return to page 764 6Strange and, &c.] Strong and fastened. Quarto. Johnson.

Note return to page 765 7Capable of my land &lblank;] i. e. capable of succeeding to my land, notwithstanding the legal bar of thy illegitimacy. Steevens.

Note return to page 766 8He did bewray his practice; &lblank;] i. e. Discover, betray. So, in The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington, 1601: “We were bewray'd, beset, and forc'd to yield.” Again, in The Devil's Charter, 1607: “Thy solitary passions should bewray “Some discontent.” &lblank; Practice is always used by Shakespeare for insidious mischief. So, in Revenge for Honour, by Chapman: “Howe'er thou scap'st my practices with life.” The quartos read betray. Steevens.

Note return to page 767 9&lblank; threading dark-ey'd night.] I have not ventur'd to displace this reading, though I have great suspicion that the poet wrote: &lblank; treading dark-ey'd night, i. e. travelling in it. The other carries too obscure and mean an allusion. It must either be borrow'd from the cant phrase of threading of alleys, i. e. going through bye passages to avoid the high streets; or to threading a needle in the dark. Theobald. The quarto reads: &lblank; threat'ning dark-ey'd night. Johnson. Shakespear uses the former of these expressions in Coriolanus: act III: They would not thread the gates. Steevens.

Note return to page 768 1Occasions, noble Gloster, of some prize,] We should read, poize, i. e. weight. Warburton. Prize, or price, for value. Johnson.

Note return to page 769 2&lblank; from our home: &lblank;] Not at home, but at some other place. Johnson.

Note return to page 770 3Good even.] Thus the quarto. The folio—Good dawning. Steevens.

Note return to page 771 4&lblank; Lipsbury pinfold, &lblank;] 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. Johnson. I do not find the name of Lipsbury: it may be a cant phrase, with some corruption, taken from a place where the fines were arbitrary. Three-suited should, I believe, be third-suited, wearing cloaths at the third-hand. Edgar, in his pride, had three suits only. Farmer. Lipsbury pinfold may be a cant expression importing the same as Lob's Pound. So, in Massinger's Duke of Milan: “To marry her, and say he was the party “Found in Lob's Pound.” A Pinfold is a pound. Thus in Gascoigne's Dan Bartholemew of Bathe, 1587: “In such a pin-folde were his pleasures pent.” Three suited knave might mean, in an age of ostentatious finery like that of Shakespeare, one who had no greater change of rayment than three suits would furnish him with; so, in Ben Jonson's Silent Woman: “&lblank;wert a pitiful fellow, and hadst nothing but three suits of apparel:” or it may signify a fellow thrice-sued at law, who has three suits for debt standing out against him. A one-trunk-inheriting slave may be used to signify a fellow, the whole of whose possessions are confined to one coffer, and that too inherited from his father, who was no better provided, or had nothing more to bequeath to his successor in poverty; a poor rogue hereditary, as Timon calls Apemantus. A worsted-stocking knave is another reproach of the same kind. The stockings in England, in the reign of queen Elizabeth (as I learn from Stubbs's Anatomie of Abuses, printed in 1595) were remarkably expensive, and scarce any other kind than silk were worn, even (as this author says) by those who had not above forty shillings a year wages.—So, in an old comedy, called The Hog hath lost his Pearl, 1611, by R. Taylor: “&lblank; good parts are no more set by in these times, than a good leg in a woollen stocking.” Again, in The Captain, by Beaumont and Fletcher: “Green sicknesses and serving-men light on you, “With greasy breeches, and in woollen stockings.” Again, in the Miseries of inforc'd Marriage, 1607: Two sober young men come to claim their portion from their elder brother who is a spendthrift, and tell him: “Our birthright, good brother: this town craves maintenance; silk-stockings must be had, &c.” Silk stockings were not made in England till 1560, the second year of queen Elizabeth's reign. Of this extravagance Drayton takes notice in the 16th song of his Polyolbion: “Which our plain fathers erst would have accounted sin “Before the costly coach and silken stock came in.” Steevens.

Note return to page 772 5&lblank; hundred-pound, &lblank;] A hundred-pound gentleman is a term of reproach used in Middleton's Phœnix, 1607. Steevens.

Note return to page 773 6&lblank; addition.] i. e. titles. The act I Hen. V. ch. V. which directs that in certain writs, a description should be added to the name of the defendant, expressive of his estate, mystery, degree, &c. is called the statute of Additions. Malone.

Note return to page 774 7&lblank; I'll make a sop o' the moonshine of you. &lblank;] This is equivalent to our modern phrase of making the sun shine through any out. But, alluding to the natural philosophy of that time, it is obscure. The Peripatetics thought, though falsely, that the rays of the moon were cold and moist. The speaker therefore says, he would make a sop of his antagonist, which should absorb the humidity of the moon's rays, by letting them into his guts. For this reason Shakespeare, in Romeo and Juliet, says: “&lblank; the moonshine's watry beams.” And, in the Midsummer Night's Dream: “Quench'd in the chast beams of the watry moon.” Warburton. I'll make a sop o' the moonshine of you.] Perhaps here an equivoque was intended. In the Old Shepherd's Kalendar, among the dishes recommended for Prymetyne, “One is egges in moneshine.” Farmer.

Note return to page 775 8&lblank; barber-monger, &lblank;] Of this word I do not clearly see the force. Johnson. Barber-monger may mean, dealer in the lower tradesmen: a slur upon the steward, as taking fees for a recommendation to the business of the family. Farmer.

Note return to page 776 9&lblank; vanity the puppet's &lblank;] Alluding to the mysteries or allegorical shews, in which vanity, iniquity, and other vices, were personified. Johnson.

Note return to page 777 1&lblank; neat slave, &lblank;] You mere slave, you very slave. Johnson. You neat slave, I believe, means no more than you finical rascal, you who are an assemblage of foppery and poverty. Ben Jonson uses the same epithet in his Poetaster: “By thy leave, my neat scoundrel.” Steevens.

Note return to page 778 2&lblank; nature disclaims in thee;] So the quartos and the folio. The modern editors read, without authority: &lblank; nature disclaims her share in thee. The old reading is the true one. So, in R. Brome's Northern Lass, 1633: “&lblank; I will disclaim in your favour hereafter.” Again, in The Case is Alter'd, by Ben Jonson, 1609: “Thus to disclaim in all th' effects of pleasure.” Again: “No, I disclaim in her, I spit at her.” Again, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, B. III. chap. xvi: “Not these, my lords, make me disclaim in it which all pursue.” Steevens.

Note return to page 779 3Thou whorson zed! thou unnecessary letter! &lblank;] 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 Goneril'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. Johnson. Thou whoreson zed! thou unnecessary letter! &lblank;] Zed is here probably used as a term of contempt, because it is the last letter in the English alphabet, and as its place may be supplied by S, and the Roman alphabet has it not; neither is it read in any word originally Teutonic. In Barret's Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionary, 1580, it is quite omitted, as the author affirms it to be rather a syllable than a letter. C cannot be the unnecessary letter, as there are many words in which its place will not be supplied by any other, as charity, chastity, &c. Steevens. Thou whoreson zed! thou unnecessary letter. This is taken from the grammarians of the time. Mulcaster says, “Z is much harder amongst us, and seldom seen:—S is become its lieutenant general.It is lightlie expressed in English, saving in foren enfranchisments.” Farmer.

Note return to page 780 4&lblank; this unbolted villain &lblank;] i. e. unrefined by education, the bran yet in him. Metaphor from the bakehouse. Warburton.

Note return to page 781 5&lblank; into mortar, &lblank;] This expression was much in use in our author's time. So, Massinger, in his New Way to pay old Debts, act I. scene i: “&lblank; I will help your memory, “And tread thee into mortar.” Steevens. Unbolted mortar is mortar made of unsifted lime, and therefore to break the lumps it is necessary to tread it by men in wooden shoes. This unbolted villain is therefore this coarse rascal. Tollet.

Note return to page 782 6Like rats, oft bite the holy cords atwaine, Which are t' intrince, t' unloose; &lblank;] Thus the first editors blundered this passage into unintelligible nonsense. Mr. Pope so far has disengaged it, as to give us plain sense; but by throwing out the epithet holy, it is evident that he was not aware of the poet's fine meaning. I will first establish and prove the reading, then explain the allusion. Thus the poet gave it: Like rats, oft bite the holy cords in twain, Too intrinsicate t' unloose: &lblank; This word again occurs in our author's Antony and Cleopatra, where she is speaking to the Aspick: “&lblank; Come, mortal wretch; “With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate “Of life at once untie.” &lblank; And we meet with it in Cynthia's Revels, by Ben Jonson.— Yet there are certain punctilios, or, as I may more nakedly insinuate them, certain intrinsicate strokes and words, to which your activity is not yet amounted, &c. It means inward, hidden, perplext; as a knot, hard to be unravelled: it is derived from the Latin adverb intrinsecus; from which the Italians have coined a very beautiful phrase, intrinsicarsi col une, i. e. to grow intimate with, to wind one self into another. And now to our author's sense. Kent is rating the steward, as a parasite of Goneril's; and supposes very justly, that he has fomented the quarrel betwixt that princess and her father: in which office he compares him to a sacrilegious rat: and by a fine metaphor, as Mr. Warburton observed to me, stiles the union between parents and children the holy cords. Theobald. Like rats, oft bite the holy cords in twain Too intrinsicate t' unloose: &lblank;] By these holy cords the poet means the natural union between parents and children. The metaphor is taken from the cords of the sanctuary; and the fomenters of family differences are compared to these sacrilegious rats. The expression is fine and noble. Warburton.

Note return to page 783 7&lblank; and turn their halcyon beaks With ev'ry gale and vary of their masters;] The halcyon is the bird otherwise called the king-fisher. The vulgar opinion was, that this bird, if hung up, would vary with the wind, and by that means shew from what point it blew. So, in Marlow's Jew of Malta, 1633: “But how now stands the wind? “Into what corner peers my Halcyon's bill?” Again, in Storer's Life and Death of Tho. Wolsey, Cardinall, a poem, 1599: “Or as a halcyon with her turning brest, “Demonstrates wind from wind, and east from west.” Steevens.

Note return to page 784 8&lblank; epileptic visage!] The frighted countenance of a man ready to fall in a fit. Johnson.

Note return to page 785 9&lblank; Camelot] Was the place where the romances say king Arthur kept his court in the West; so this alludes to some proverbial speech in those romances. Warburton. So, in the Birth of Merlin, 1662: “&lblank; raise more powers “To man with strength the castle Camelot.” Again, in Drayton's Polyolbion, Song III: “Like Camelot, what place was ever yet renown'd? “Where, as at Carlion, oft he kept the table round.” Steevens. In Somersetshire, near Camelot, are many large moors, where are bred great quantities of geese, so that many other places are from hence supplied with quills and feathers. Hanmer.9Q1086

Note return to page 786 1No contraries hold more antipathy, Than I and such a knave.] Hence Mr. Pope's expression: “The strong antipathy of good to bad.” Tollet.

Note return to page 787 2&lblank; likes me not.] i. e. pleases me not. So, in Every Man out of his Humour: “I did but cast an amorous eye, e'en now, “Upon a pair of gloves that somewhat lik'd me.” Steevens.

Note return to page 788 3&lblank; constrains the garb Quite from his nature. &lblank;] Forces his outside or his appearance to something totally different from his natural disposition. Johnson.

Note return to page 789 4Than twenty silly ducking observants,] The epithet silly cannot be right. 1st, Because Cornwall, in this beautiful speech, is not talking of the different success of these two kinds of parasites, but of their different corruptions of heart. 2d, Because he says these ducking observants know how to stretch their duties nicely. I am persuaded we should read: Than twenty silky ducking observants, which not only alludes to the garb of a court sycophant, but admirably well denotes the smoothness of his character. But what is more, the poet generally gives them this epithet in other places. So, in Richard III. he calls them: “&lblank; Silky, sly, insinuating Jacks.” And, in Coriolanus: “&lblank; when steel grows “Soft as the parasite's silk.” &lblank; Warburton. The alteration is more ingenious than the arguments by which it is supported. Johnson. Silly means only simple, or rustic. So, in Cymbeline, act V. sc iii: “There was a fourth man in a silly habit,” meaning Posthumus in the dress of a peasant. Nicely is foolishly. Niais. Fr. Steevens.

Note return to page 790 5On flickering Phœbus' front &lblank;] Dr. Johnson in his Dictionary says this word means to flutter. I meet with it in The History of Clyomon, Knight of the Golden Shield, 1599: “By flying force of flickering fame your grace shall understand.” Again, in The Pilgrim of Beaumont and Fletcher: “&lblank; some castrel “That hovers over her, and dares her daily; “Some flickring slave.” &lblank; Sir Thomas North, in his translation of Plutarch, talks of the flickering enticements of Cleopatra.—Stanyhurst, in his translation of the fourth book of Virgil's Æneid, 1582, describes Iris, “From the sky down flickering, &c.” And again in the old play, entitled, Fuimus Troes, 1603: “With gaudy pennons flickering in the air.” Again, in the Arraignment of Paris, 1584: “Her turtles and her swans unyoked be, “And flicker near her side for company.” Steevens.

Note return to page 791 6&lblank; 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 792 7Conjunct is the reading of the old quartos; compact, of the folio. Steevens.

Note return to page 793 8But Ajax is their fool.] Their fool means here, their butt, their laughing-stock. These finical puppies (says Kent) these rogues and cowards, never meet with a man superior to themselves, but they make him their jest, like Ajax with Thersites. Shakespeare's idea of Ajax may be seen in his Troilus and Cressida, where he is the fool of the play, and the constant object of Thersites' ridicule, for a scurvy valiant ass, Mars's ideot, &c. Steevens.

Note return to page 794 9&lblank; ancient knave.] Two of the quartos read—miscreant knave, and one of them—unreverent, instead of reverend. Steevens.

Note return to page 795 1&lblank; stocks] This is not the first time that stocks had been introduced on the stage. In Hick-scorner, which was printed early in the reign of K. Henry VIII. Pity is put into them and left there till he is freed by Perseveraunce and Contemplacyon. Steevens.

Note return to page 796 2&lblank; colour.] The quartos read, nature. Steevens.

Note return to page 797 3His fault &lblank;] All between the asterisks is omitted in the folio. Steevens.

Note return to page 798 4&lblank; the meanest &lblank;] This is a conjectural emendation by Mr. Pope. The quartos read—and temnest, perhaps, for contemned'st. Steevens.

Note return to page 799 5I know not whether this circumstance of putting Kent in the stocks be not ridiculed in the punishment of Numps, in Ben Jonson's Bartholomew-Fair. It should be remembered, that formerly in great houses, as still in some colleges, there were moveable stocks for the correction of the servants. Farmer.

Note return to page 800 6Will not be rubb'd, nor stopp'd. &lblank;] Metaphor from bowling. Warburton.

Note return to page 801 7Good king, that must approve the common saw!] 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. Johnson. The saw alluded to, is in Heywood's Dialogues on Proverbs, book ii. chap. 5. “In your renning from him to me, ye runne “Out of God's blessing into the warme sunne.” Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 802 8&lblank; Nothing almost sees miracles,] Thus the folio. The quartos read—Nothing almost sees my wrack. Steevens.

Note return to page 803 9&lblank; I know 'tis from Cordelia, &c.] 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: &lblank; Cordelia—has been—informed Of my obscured course, and shall find time From this enormous state-seeking, to give Losses their remedies. &lblank; 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. Johnson. So Holinshed, p. 647, “The maior perceiving this enormous doing, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 804 1&lblank; and shall find time From this enormous state, seeking to give Losses their remedies. &lblank;] I confess I do not understand this passage, unless it may be considered as divided parts of Cordelia's letter, which he is reading to himself by moonlight: it certainly conveys the sense of what she would have said. In reading a letter, it is natural enough to dwell on those circumstances in it that promise the change in our affairs which we most wish for; and Kent having read Cordelia's assurances that she will find a time to free the injured from the enormous misrule of Regan, is willing to go to sleep with that pleasing reflection uppermost in his mind. But this is mere conjecture. Steevens.

Note return to page 805 2&lblank; elf all my hair in knots;] Hair thus knotted, was vulgarly supposed to be the work of elves and fairies in the night. So, in Romeo and Juliet: “&lblank; plats the manes of horses in the night, “And cakes the elf-locks in foul sluttish hairs, “Which, once untangled, much misfortune bodes.” Steevens.

Note return to page 806 3Of Bedlam beggars,] In the Bell-man of London, by Decker, 5th edit. 1640, is the following account of one of these characters, under the title of an Abraham-Man. “&lblank; he sweares he hath been in Bedlam, and will talke frantickely of purpose: you see pinnes stuck in sundry places of his naked flesh, especially in his armes, which paine he gladly puts himselfe to, only to make you believe he is out of his wits. He calles himselfe by the name of Poore Tom, and comming near any body cries out, Poor Tom is a cold. Of these Abraham-men, some be exceeding merry, and doe nothing but sing songs fashioned out of their owne braines: some will dance, others will doe nothing but either laugh or weepe: others are dogged, and so sullen both in loke and speech, that spying but a small company in a house, they boldly and bluntly enter, compelling the servants through feare to give them what they demand.” To sham Abraham, a cant term, still in use among sailors and the vulgar, may have this origin. Steevens.

Note return to page 807 4&lblank; wooden pricks,] i. e. skewers. So, in The Wyll of the Deuyll, bl. l. no date. “I give to the butchers, &c. pricks inough to set up their thin meate, that it may appeare thicke and well fedde.” Steevens.

Note return to page 808 5&lblank; low farms,] The quartos read, low service. Steevens.

Note return to page 809 6Poor pelting villages, &lblank;] Pelting is used by Shakespeare in the sense of beggarly: I suppose from pelt a skin. The poor being generally cloathed in leather. Warburton. Pelting is, I believe, only an accidental depravation of petty. Shakespeare uses it in the Midsummer-Night's Dream of small brooks. Johnson. Beaumont and Fletcher often use the word in the same sense as Shakespeare. So in King and no King, act IV: “This pelting, prating peace is good for nothing.” Spanish Curate, act II. sc. ult.—“To learn the pelting law.” Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream,—“every pelting river.” Measure for Measure, act II. sc. vii: “And every pelting petty officer.” Again, in Troilus and Cressida, Hector says to Achilles: “We have had pelting wars since you refus'd “The Grecian cause.” From the first of the two last instances it appears not to be a corruption of petty, which is used the next word to it, but seems to be the same as paltry; and if it comes from pelt a skin, as Dr. Warburton says, the poets have furnished villages, peace, law, rivers, officers of justice and wars, all out of one wardrobe. Steevens.

Note return to page 810 7&lblank; lunatic bans,] To ban, is to curse. So, in Mother Bombie, 1594, a comedy by Lilly: “Well, be as be may is no banning.” So, in Arden of Feversham, 1592: “Nay, if those ban, let me breathe curses forth. Steevens.

Note return to page 811 8&lblank; poor Turlygood! poor Tom!] We should read Turlupin. In the fourteenth century there was a new species of gipsies, called Turlupins, a fraternity of naked beggars, which ran up and down Europe. However, the church of Rome hath dignified them with the name of heretics, and actually burned some of them at Paris. But what sort of religionists they were, appears from Genebrard's account of them. “Turlupin Cynicorum sectam suscitantes, de nuditate pudendorum, & publico coitu.” Plainly, nothing but a band of Tom-o'-Bedlams. Warburton. Hanmer reads, poor Turlurù. It is probable the word Turlygood was the common corrupt pronunciation. Johnson.

Note return to page 812 9&lblank; Edgar I nothing am.] As Edgar I am outlawed, dead in law; I have no longer any political existence. Johnson.

Note return to page 813 1Earl of Gloster's castle.] It is not very clearly discovered why Lear comes hither. In the foregoing part he sent a letter to Gloster; but no hint is given of its contents. He seems to have gone to visit Gloster while Cornwall and Regan might prepare to entertain him. Johnson. It is plain, I think, that Lear comes to the earl of Glocester's, in consequence of his having been at the duke of Cornwall's, and having heard there, that his son and daughter were gone to the earl of Glocester's. His first words shew this: “'Tis strange that they (Cornwall and Regan) should so depart from home, and not send back my messenger (Kent).” It is clear also from Kent's speech in this scene, that he went directly from Lear to the duke of Cornwall's, and delivered his letters, but, instead of being sent back with any answer, was ordered to follow the duke and dutchess to the earl of Glocester's. But what then is the meaning of Lear's order to Kent in the preceding act, scene v. Go you before to Glocester with these letters.—The obvious meaning, and what will agree best with the course of the subsequent events, is, that the duke of Cornwall and his wife were then residing at Glocester. Why Shakespeare should choose to suppose them at Glocester, rather than at any other city, is a different question. Perhaps he might think, that Glocester implied such a neighbourhood to the earl of Glocester's castle, as his story required. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 814 2No, my lord.] Omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 815 3&lblank; he wears cruel garters. &lblank;] I believe a quibble was here intended. Crewel signifies worsted, of which stockings, garters, night-caps, &c. are made; and it is used in that sense in Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady, act ii. “For who that had but half his wits about him “Would commit the counsel of a serious sin “To such a crewel night-cap.” &lblank; So again in the comedy of The Two angry Women of Abington, printed 1599: “&lblank; I'll warrant you, he'll have “His cruell garters cross about the knee.” So, in the Bird in a Cage, 1633: “I speak the prologue to our silk and cruel “Gentlemen in the hangings.” Again, in Woman's a Weathercock, 1612: “Wearing of silk why art thou still so cruel?” Again, in Edmund Prestwich's Poem on a lady working a bed with crewell: “Not crewell bed, but bed of cruelty.” Steevens.

Note return to page 816 4&lblank; over-lusty in this place has a double signification. Lustiness anciently meant sauciness. So, in Decker's If this be not a good Play the Devil is in it, 1612: “&lblank; upon pain of being plagued for their lustyness.” Again, in Claudius Tiberius Nero, 1607: “&lblank; she'll snarl and bite, “And take up Nero for his lustiness.” Again, in sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch: “Cassius' soldiers did shewe themselves verie stubborne and lustie in the campe, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 817 5&lblank; then he wears wooden nether-stocks.] Nether-stocks is the old word for stockings. Breeches were at that time called “men's overstockes,” as I learn from Barrett's Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionary, 1580. Stubbs, in his Anatomie of Abuses, has a whole chapter on The Diversitie of Nether-Stockes worne in England, 1595. Heywood among his Epigrams, 1562, has the following: “Thy upper stocks, be they stuft with silke or flocks, “Never become thee like a nether paire of stocks.” Again, in Reginald Scott's Discovery of Witchcraft, 1585: &lblank; “to cover the pot with my right netherstock.” Steevens.

Note return to page 818 6Lear.] This and the next speech are omitted in the folio. Steevens.

Note return to page 819 7By Juno, I swear, ay.] Omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 820 8To do upon respect such violent outrage:] To violate the public and venerable character of a messenger from the king. Johnson.

Note return to page 821 9Deliver'd letters, spight of intermission,] Intermission, for another message which they had then before them, to consider of; called intermission, because it came between their leisure and the steward's message. Warburton. Spight of intermission is without pause, without suffering time to intervene. So, in Macbeth: “&lblank; gentle heaven, “Cut short all intermission, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 822 for, contenst, read, contents.

Note return to page 823 1They summon'd up their meiny, &lblank;] Meiny, i. e. people. Pope. Mesne, a house. Mesnie, a family, Fr. So, in Monsieur D'Olive, 1606. “&lblank; if she, or her sad meiny, “Be towards sleep, I'll wake them.” Again, in the bl. l. Romance of Syr Eglamoure of Artoys, no date: “Of the emperoure took he leave ywys, “And of all the meiny that was there.” Again: “Here cometh the king of Israel, “With a fayre meinye.” Steevens.

Note return to page 824 2Winter's not gone yet, &c.] If this be their behaviour, the king's troubles are not yet at an end. Johnson. This speech is omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 825 3&lblank; dolours.] Quibble intended between dolours and dollars. Hanmer. The same quibble had occurred in the Tempest, and in Measure for Measure. Steevens.

Note return to page 826 4Oh, how this mother, &c.] Lear here affects to pass off the swelling of his heart ready to burst with grief and indignation, for the disease called the Mother, or Hysterica Passio, which, in our author's time, was not thought peculiar to women only. In Harsnet's Declaration of Popish Impostures, Richard Mainy, Gent. one of the pretended demoniacs, deposes, p. 263, that the first night that he came to Denham, the seat of Mr. Peckham, where these impostures were managed, he was somewhat evill at ease, and he grew worse and worse with an old disease that he had, and which the priests persuaded him was from the possession of the devil, viz. “The disease, I spake of was a spice of the Mother, wherewith I had bene troubled . . . before my going into Fraunce: whether I doe rightly term it the Mother or no, I knowe not . . . When I was sicke of this disease in Fraunce, a Scottish doctor of physick then in Paris, called it, as I remember, Vertiginem Capitis. It riseth . . . . of a winde in the bottome of the belly, and proceeding with a great swelling, causeth a very painfull collicke in the stomack, and an extraordinary giddines in the head.” It is at least very probable, that Shakespeare would not have thought of making Lear affect to have the Hysterick Passion, or Mother, if this passage in Harsnet's pamphlet had not suggested it to him, when he was selecting the other particulars from it, in order to furnish out his character of Tom of Bedlam, to whom this demoniacal gibberish is admirably adapted. Percy.

Note return to page 827 5All that follow their noses are led by their eyes, but blind men; and there's not a nose among twenty, but can smell, &c.] 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. Johnson. The word twenty refers to the noses of the blind men, and not to the men in general. The passage, thus considered, bears clearly the very sense which the above note endeavours to establish by alteration. Steevens.

Note return to page 828 6&lblank; When a wise man gives thee, &c.] One cannot too much commend the caution which our moral poet uses, on all occasions, to prevent his sentiments from being perversely taken. So here, having given an ironical precept in commendation of perfidy and base desertion of the unfortunate, for fear it should be understood seriously, though delivered by his buffoon or jester, he has the precaution to add this beautiful corrective, full of fine sense:—“I would have none but knaves follow it, since a fool gives it.” Warburton.

Note return to page 829 7But I will tarry; the fool with stay, And let, &c.] I think this passage erroneous, though both the copies concur. The sense will 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, &lblank; 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. Johnson.

Note return to page 830 8Glo.] This, with the following speech, is omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 831 9&lblank; Tell the hot duke, that &lblank;] The quartos read—Tell the hot duke, that Lear— Steevens.

Note return to page 832 1Is practice only. &lblank;] Practice is in Shakespeare, and other old writers, used commonly in an ill sense for unlawful artifice. Johnson.

Note return to page 833 2&lblank; the cockney] It is not easy to determine the exact power of this term of contempt, which, as the editor of the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer observes, might have been originally borrowed from the kitchen. From the ancient ballad of the Turnament of Tottenham, published by Dr. Percy in his second volume of Ancient Poetry, p. 24, it should seem to signify a cook: “At that feast were they served in rich array; “Every five and five had a cokeney.” i. e. a cook, or scullion, to attend them. Shakespeare, however, in Twelfth Night, makes his Clown say, “I am afraid this great lubber the world, will prove a cockney.” In this place it seems to have a signification not unlike that which it bears at present; and, indeed, Chaucer in his Reve's Tale, ver. 4205, appears to employ it with such a meaning: “And whan this jape is tald another day, “I shall be halden a daffe or a cokenay.” See the notes on the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, Vol. IV. p. 253, where the reader will meet with all the information to be had on this subject. Steevens.

Note return to page 834 3&lblank; the eels, when she put them i' the paste &lblank;] Hinting that the eel and Lear are in the same danger. Johnson.

Note return to page 835 4sepulchring, &c.] This word is accented in the same manner by Fairfax and Milton: “As if his work should his sepulcher be,” C. i. st. 25. “And so sepulcher'd in such pomp doe lie.” Milton on Shakespeare, line xv. Steevens.

Note return to page 836 5&lblank; she hath tied Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture here,] Alluding to the fable of Prometheus. Warburton.

Note return to page 837 6Of how deprav'd a quality &lblank;] Thus the quarto. The folio reads: With how deprav'd a quality &lblank; Johnson.

Note return to page 838 7Than she to scant her duty.] The word scant is directly contrary to the sense intended. The quarto reads: &lblank; slack her duty, which is no better. May we not change it thus: You less know how 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. Johnson. Hanmer had proposed this change of scant into scan, but surely no alteration is necessary. The other reading—slack would answer as well. You less know how to value her desert, than she (knows) to scant her duty, i. e. than she can be capable of being wanting in her duty. Steevens.

Note return to page 839 8Say, &c.] This, as well as the following speech, is omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 840 9Do you but mark how this becomes the house?] This phrase to me is unintelligible, and seems to say nothing to the purpose: neither can it mean, how this becomes the order of families. Lear would certainly intend to reply, how does asking my daughter's forgiveness agree with common fashion, the established rule and custom of nature? No doubt, but the poet wrote, becomes the use. And that Shakespeare employs use in this signification, is too obvious to want a proof. Theobald. Do you but mark how this becomes the house?] Mr. Theobald says, “This phrase seems to say little to the purpose;” and therefore alters it to,—becomes the use,—which signifies less. The Oxford Editor makes him still more familiar—becometh us. All this chopping and changing proceeds from an utter ignorance of a great, a noble, and a most expressive phrase,—becomes the house;—which signifies the order of families, duties of relation. Warburton. 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. Johnson. Dr. Warburton's explanation may be supported by the following passage in Milton on Divorce, book ii. ch. 12. “&lblank; the restraint whereof, who is not too thick-sighted, may see how hurtful, how destructive, it is to the house, the church, and commonwealth!” Tollet. The old reading may likewise receive additional support from the following passage in the Blind Beggar of Alexandria, 1598: “Come up to supper; it will become the house wonderful well.” Mr. Tollet has since furnished me with the following extract from sir Thomas Smith's Commonwealth of England, 4to. 1601. chap. II. which has much the same expression, and explains it. “They two together [man and wife] ruleth the house. The house I call here, the man, the woman, their children, their servants, bond and free, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 841 1Age is unnecessary: &lblank;] i. e. Old age has few wants. Johnson. This usage of the word unnecessary is quite without example; and I believe my learned coadjutor has rather improved than explained the meaning of his author, who seems to have designed to say no more than that it seems unnecessary to children that the lives of their parents should be prolonged. Age is unnecessary, may mean, old people are useless. So, in The Old Law, by Massinger: “&lblank; your laws extend not to desert, “But to unnecessary years; and, my lord, “His are not such.” Steevens. Unnecessary in Lear's speech, I believe, means—in want of necessaries [Correction: 1Kb]

Note return to page 842 a comma after necessarics.

Note return to page 843 2Look'd black upon me; &lblank;] To look black, may easily be explain'd to look cloudy or gloomy. See Milton: “So frown'd the mighty combatants, that hell “Grew darker at their frown.” &lblank; Johnson. So, Holinshed, vol. iii. p. 1157: “&lblank; The bishops thereat repined, and looked black.” Tollet.

Note return to page 844 3To 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: &lblank; Infect her beauty, You fen-suck'd fogs, drawn by the powerful sun, Do, fall, and blast her pride! Johnson. Dr. Johnson's alteration will appear unnecessary, if we consider fall to be used here as an active verb, signifying to humble, to pull down. Infect her beauty, ye fen-suck'd fogs, drawn by the sun for this end—to fall and blast, i. e. humble and destroy her pride. Shakespeare in other places uses fall in an active sense. So, in Othello: “Each drop she falls will prove a crocodile.” Again, in the Tempest: “To fall it on Gonzalo. Again, in Troilus and Cressida: “&lblank; make him fall “His crest, that prouder than blue Iris bends.” Malone.

Note return to page 845 4&lblank; when the rash mood is on.] Thus the folio. The quartos read only,—when the rash mood—perhaps leaving the sentence purposely unfinished. Steevens.

Note return to page 846 5&lblank; tender-hefted &lblank;] This word, though its general meaning be plain, I do not critically understand. Johnson. Thy tender-hefted nature &lblank;] Hefted seems to mean the same as heaved. Tender-hefted, i. e. whose bosom is agitated by tender passions. The formation of such a participle, I believe, cannot be grammatically accounted for. Shakespeare uses hefts for heavings in The Winter's Tale, act II. Both the quartos however read, “tender-hested nature;” which may mean a nature which is governed by gentle dispositions. Hest is an old word signifying command. So, in The Wars of Cyrus, &c. 1594: “Must yield to hest of others that be free.” Hefted is the reading of the folio. Steevens.

Note return to page 847 6&lblank; to scant my sizes,] To contract my allowances or proportions settled. Johnson. A sizer is one of the lowest rank of students at Cambridge, and lives on a stated allowance. Sizes are certain portions of bread, beer, or other victuals, which in public societies are set down to the account of particular persons: a word still used in colleges. So, in the Return from Parnassus: “You are one of the devil's fellow-commoners; one that sizeth the devil's butteries.” “Fidlers, set it on my head; I use to size my music, or go on the score for it.” Return from Parnassus. Size sometimes means company. So, in Cinthia's Revenge, 1613: “He now attended with a barbal size “Of sober statesmen, &c.” I suppose a barbal size is a bearded company. Steevens. See a size in Minshew's Dictionary. Tollet.

Note return to page 848 7If you do love old men, if your sweet sway Allow obedience, if yourselves are old,] Mr. Upton has proved by irresistible authority, that to allow signifies not only to permit, but to approve, and has deservedly replaced the old reading, which Dr. Warburton had changed into hallow obedience, not recollecting the scripture expression, The Lord alloweth the righteous, Psalm xi. ver. 6. So, in Greene's Never too Late, 1616: “&lblank; she allows of thee for love, not for lust.” Again, in Greene's Farewell to Follie, 1617: “I allow those pleasing poems of Guazzo, which begin, &c.” Again, Sir Tho. North's translation of Plutarch, concerning the reception with which the death of Cæsar met: “they neither greatly reproved, nor allowed the fact.” Dr. Warburton might have found the emendation which he proposed, in Tate's alteration of King Lear, which was first published in 1687. Steevens.

Note return to page 849 8&lblank; that indiscretion finds,] Finds is here used in the same sense as when a jury is said to find a bill, to which it is an allusion. Our author again uses the same word in the same sense in Hamlet, act V. sc. i: “Why 'tis found so.” Edwards. To find is little more than to think. The French use their word trouver in the same sense; and we still say I find time tedious, or I find company troublesome, without thinking on a jury. Steevens.

Note return to page 850 9&lblank; much less advancement] The word advancement is ironically used for conspicuousness of punishment; as we now say, a man is advanced to the pillory. We should read: &lblank; but his own disorders Deserv'd much more advancement. Johnson. By less advancement is meant, a still worse or more disgraceful situation: a situation not so reputable. Percy. Cornwall certainly means, that Kent's disorders had entitled him even a post of less honour than the stocks. Steevens.

Note return to page 851 1I pray you, father, being weak, seem so.] This is a very odd request. She surely asked something more reasonable. We should read, &lblank; being weak, deem't so. i. e. believe that my husband tells you true, that Kent's disorder, deserved a more ignominious punishment. Warburton. The meaning is, since you are weak, be content to think yourself weak. No change is needed. Johnson.

Note return to page 852 2No, rather I abjure all roofs, and chuse To wage against the enmity o' the air: To be a comrade with the wolf and owl, Necessity's sharp pinch. &lblank;] Thus should these lines (in the order they were read, in all the editions till Mr. Theobald's) be pointed: the want of which pointing contributed, perhaps, to mislead him in transposing the second and third lines; on which imaginary regulation he thus descants. “The breach of the sense here is a manifest proof that these lines were transposed by the first editors. Neither can there be any syntax or grammatical coherence, unless we suppose (necessity's sharp pinch) to be the accusative to (wage).” But this is supposing the verb wage, to want an accusative, which it does not. To wage, or wager against one, was a common expression; and, being a species of acting (namely, acting in opposition) was as proper as to say, act against any one. So, to wage against the enmity o' the air, was to strive or fight against it. Necessity's sharp pinch, therefore, is not the accusative to wage, but declarative of the condition of him who is a comrade of the wolf and owl; in which the verb (is) is understood. The consequence of all this is, that it was the last editors, and not the first, who transposed the lines from the order the poet gave them: for the Oxford editor follows Mr. Theobald. Warburton. To wage is often used absolutely without the word war after it, and yet signifies to make war, as before in this play: My life I never held but as a pawn To wage against thine enemies. The spirit of the following passage seems to be lost in the hands of both the commentators. It should, perhaps, be pointed thus: To be a comrade of the wolf and owl, &lblank; Necessity's sharp pinch! &lblank; These last words appear to be the reflection of Lear on the wretched sort of existence he had described in the preceding lines. Steevens.

Note return to page 853 3&lblank; base life &lblank;] i. e. In a servile state. Johnson.

Note return to page 854 4&lblank; and sumpter] Sumpter is a horse that carries necessaries on a journey, though sometimes used for the case to carry them in.— Vide B. and Fletcher's Noble Gentleman, Seyward's edit. vol. viii. note 35; and Cupid's Revenge. “&lblank; I'll have a horse to leap thee, “And thy base issue shall carry sumpters.” Again, in Webster's Dutchess of Malfy, 1623: “He is indeed a guarded sumpter-cloth “Only for the remove o'the court.” Steevens.

Note return to page 855 5&lblank; embossed carbuncle] Embossed is swelling, protuberant. Johnson.

Note return to page 856 6Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favour'd, When others are more wicked, &lblank;] 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. Johnson. A similar thought occurs in Cymbeline, act V. &lblank; it is I That all the abhorred things o'the earth amend, By being worse than they. Steevens. This passage, I think, should be pointed thus: Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favour'd, When others are more wicked; not being the worst Stands in some rank of praise. &lblank; That is, To be not the worst deserves some praise. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 857 7&lblank; poor old man,] The quarto has, poor old fellow. Johnson.

Note return to page 858 8&lblank; touch me with noble anger!] It would puzzle one at first to find the sense, the drift, and the coherence of this petition. For if the gods sent this evil for his punishment, how could he expect that they should defeat their own design, and assist him to revenge his injuries? The solution is, that Shakespeare here makes his speaker allude to what the ancient poets tell us of the misfortunes of particular families: namely, that when the anger of the gods, for an act of impiety, was raised against an offending house, their method of punishment was, first to inflame the breasts of the children to unnatural acts against their parents; and then, of the parents against their children, in order to destroy one another; and that both these outrages were the instigation of the gods. To consider Lear as alluding to this divinity, makes his prayer exceeding pertinent and fine. Warburton.

Note return to page 859 9&lblank; I will do such things &lblank; What they are, yet I know not;] &lblank; magnum est quodcunque paravi, Quid sit, adhuc dubito. Ovid. Met. lib. vi. &lblank; haud quid sit scio, Sed grande quiddam est. Senecæ Thyestes. Let such as are unwilling to allow that copiers of nature must occasionally use the same thoughts and expressions, remember, that of both these authors there were early translations. Steevens.

Note return to page 860 1Whither is he going? Glo. He calls to horse;] Omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 861 2Do sorely ruffle, &lblank;] Thus the folio. The quartos read, Do sorely russel, i. e. rustle. Steevens.

Note return to page 862 3Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main,] The main seems to signify here the main land, the continent. So, in Bacon's War with Spain: “In 1589, we turned challengers, and invaded the main of Spain.” This interpretation sets the two objects of Lear's desire in proper opposition to each other. He wishes for the destruction of the world, either by the winds blowing the land into the waters, of raising the waters so as to overwhelm the land. Steevens.

Note return to page 863 4&lblank; tears his white hair;] The six following verses were omitted in all the late editions: I have replaced them from the first, for they are certainly Shakespeare's. Pope. The first folio ends the speech at change or cease, and begins again at Kent's question, But who is with him? The whole speech is forcible, but too long for the occasion, and properly retrenched. Johnson.

Note return to page 864 5This night, wherein the cub-drawn bear would couch,] Cub-drawn has been explained to signify drawn by nature to its young; whereas it means, whose dugs are drawn dry by its young. For no animals leave their dens by night but for prey. So that the meaning is, “that even hunger, and the support of its young, would not force the bear to leave his den in such a night.” Warburton. Shakespeare has the same image in As you Like It: “A lioness, with udders all drawn dry, “Lay couching &lblank;” Again, Ibidem: “Food to the suck'd and hungry lioness.” Steevens.

Note return to page 865 6&lblank; my note,] My observation of your character. Johnson. The quartos read: &lblank; upon the warrant of my art: i. e. on the strength of my skill in phisiognomy. Steevens.

Note return to page 866 7Who have (as who have not, &lblank;] The eight subsequent verses were degraded by Mr. Pope, as unintelligible, and to no purpose. For my part, I see nothing in them but what is very easy to be understood; and the lines seem absolutely necessary to clear up the motives upon which France prepared his invasion: nor without them is the sense of the context complete. Theobald. The quartos omit these lines. Steevens.

Note return to page 867 8&lblank; what hath been seen,] What follows, are the circumstances in the state of the kingdom, of which he supposes the spies gave France the intelligence. Steevens.

Note return to page 868 9Either in snuffs or packings &lblank;] Snuffs are dislikes, and packings underhand contrivances. So, in Henry IV. first part: “Took it in snuff;” and in King Edward III. 1599: “This packing evil, we both shall tremble for it.” Again, in Stanyhurst's Virgil, 1582: “With two gods packing one woman silly to cozen We still talk of packing juries, and Antony says of Cleopatra, that she has “pack'd cards with Cæsar.” Steevens.

Note return to page 869 1&lblank; are but furnishings.] Furnishings are what we now cal colours, external pretences. Johnson. A furnish anciently signified a sample. So, in the Preface to Greene's Groatsworth of Wit, 1621: “To lend the world a furnish of wit, she lays her own to pawn.” Steevens.

Note return to page 870 2But true it is, &c.] In the old editions are the five following lines which I have inserted in the text, which seem necessary to the plot, as a preparatory to the arrival of the French army with Cordelia in act IV. How both these, and a whole scene between Kent and this gentleman in the fourth act, came to be left out in all the later editions, I cannot tell; they depend upon each other, and very much contribute to clear that incident. Pope.

Note return to page 871 3&lblank; from France there comes a power Into this scatter'd kingdom; who already, Wise in our negligence, have secret sea In some of our best ports. &lblank;] Scatter'd kingdom, if it have any sense, gives us the idea of a kingdom fallen into an anarchy: but that was not the case. It submitted quietly to the government of Lear's two sons-in-law. It was divided, indeed, by this means, and so hurt, and weaken'd. And this was what Shakespeare meant to say, who, without doubt, wrote: &lblank; scathed kingdom; &lblank; i. e. hurt, wounded, impaired. And so he frequently uses scath for hurt or damage. Again, what a strange phrase is, having sea in a port, to signify a fleet's lying at anchor? which is all it can signify. And what is stranger still, a secret sea, that is, lying incognito, like the army at Knight's Bridge in The Rehearsal. Without doubt the poet wrote: &lblank; have secret seize In some of our best ports; &lblank; i. e. they are secretly secure of some of the best ports, by having a party in the garrison ready to second any attempt of their friends, &c. The exactness of the expression is remarkable; he says, secret seize in some, not of some. For the first implies a conspiracy ready to seize a place on warning, the other, a place already seized. Warburton. The true state of this speech cannot from all these notes be discovered. As it now stands it is collected from two editions: the eight lines, degraded by Mr. Pope, are found in the folio, not in the quarto; the following lines inclosed in crotchets are in the quarto, not in the folio. So that if the speech be read with omission of the former, it will stand according to the first edition; and if the former are read, and the lines that follow them omitted, it will then stand according to the second. The speech is now tedious, because it is formed by a coalition of both. The second edition is generally best, and was probably nearest to Shakespeare's last copy, but in this passage the first is preferable; for in the folio, the messenger is sent, he knows not why, he knows not whither. I suppose Shakespeare thought his plot opened rather too early, and made the alteration to veil the event from the audience; but trusting too much to himself, and full of a single purpose, he did not accommodate his new lines to the rest of the scene.—The learned critic's emendations are now to be examined. Scattered he has changed to scathed; for scattered, he says, gives the idea of an anarchy, which was not the case. It may be replied that scathed gives the idea of ruin, waste, and desolation, which was not the case. It is unworthy a lover of truth, in questions of great or little moment, to exaggerate or extenuate for mere convenience, or for vanity yet less than convenience. Scattered naturally means divided, unsettled, disunited.—Next is offered with great pomp a change of sea to seize; but in the first edition the word is fee, for hire, in the sense of having any one in fee, that is, at devotion for money. Fee is in the second quarto changed to see, from which one made sea and another seize. Johnson. One of the quartos (for there are two that differ from each other, though printed in the same year, and for the same printer) reads secret feet. Perhaps the author wrote secret foot, i. e. footing. So, in a following scene: &lblank; what confederacy have you with the traitors Late footed in the kingdom? Steevens.

Note return to page 872 4&lblank; the king, in which your pain, That way, I'll this: he that first, &c.] Thus the folio. The late reading: &lblank; for which you take That way, I this, &lblank; was not genuine. The quartos read: That when we have found the king, Ile this way, you that, he that first lights On him, hollow the other. Steevens.

Note return to page 873 5&lblank; thought-executing &lblank;] Doing execution with rapidity equal to thought. Johnson.

Note return to page 874 6Vaunt-couriers.] Avant couriers, Fr. This phrase is not unfamiliar to other writers of Shakespeare's time. It originally meant the foremost scouts of an army. So, in Jarvis Markham's English Arcadia, 1607: &lblank; “as soon as the first vancurrer encountered him face to face.” Again, in The Tragedy of Mariam, 1613: “Might to my death, but the vaunt-currier prove.” Again, in Darius: 1603: “Th' avant-corours, that came for to examine.” Steevens.

Note return to page 875 7Strike flat, &c.] The quarto reads,—Smite flat. Steevens.

Note return to page 876 8Crack nature's moulds, all germains spill at once] Thus all the editions have given us this passage; and Mr. Pope has explained germains to mean relations, or kindred elements. But the poet means here, “Crack nature's mould, and spill all the seeds of matter, that are hoarded within it.” To retrieve which sense we must write germins from germen. Our author not only uses the same thought again, but the word that ascertains my explication, in The Winter's Tale: “Let nature crush the sides o' the earth together, “And mar the seeds within.” Theobald. Theobald is right. So, in Macbeth: “&lblank; and the sum “Of nature's germins tumble altogether.” Steevens.

Note return to page 877 9&lblank; spill at once.] To spill is to destroy. So, in Gower De Confessione Amantis, lib. iv. fol. 67: So as I shall myself spill. Steevens.

Note return to page 878 1&lblank; court holy-water &lblank;] Ray, among his proverbial phrases, p. 184, mentions court holy-water to mean fair words. The French have the same phrase. Eaû benite de cour; fair empty words.—Chambaud's Dictionary. Steevens.

Note return to page 879 2You owe me no subscription; &lblank;] Subscription for obedience. Warburton.

Note return to page 880 3&lblank; Here I stand your slave,] But why so? It is true, he says, that they owed him no subscription; yet sure he owed them none. We should read: &lblank; Here I stand your brave; i. e. I defy your worst rage, as he had said just before. What led the editors into this blunder was what should have kept them out of it, namely, the following line: A poor, infirm, weak, and despis'd old man. And this was the wonder, that such a one should brave them all. Warburton. The meaning is plain enough, he was not their slave by right or compact, but by necessity and compulsion. Why should a passage be darkened for the sake of changing it? Besides, of brave in that sense I remember no example. Johnson.

Note return to page 881 4&lblank; 'tis foul.] Shameful; dishonourable. Johnson.

Note return to page 882 5So beggars marry many.] i. e. A beggar marries a wife and lice. Johnson.

Note return to page 883 6No, I will be the pattern of all patience, I will say nothing.] So Perillus, in the old anonymous play, speaking of Leir: “But he, the myrrour of mild patience, “Puts up all wrongs, and never gives reply.” Steevens.

Note return to page 884 7&lblank; and a cod-piece, that's a wise man and a fool.] Alluding perhaps to the saying of a contemporary wit; that there is no discretion below the girdle. Steevens.

Note return to page 885 8&lblank; are you here?—The quartos read—sit you here? Steevens.

Note return to page 886 9Gallow the very wanderers of the dark,] Gallow, a west-country word, signifies to scare or frighten. Warburton. So, the Somersetshire proverb: “The dunder do gally the beans.” Beans are vulgarly supposed to shoot up faster after thunder-storms. Steevens.

Note return to page 887 1&lblank; fear.] So the folio: the later editions read, with the quarto, force for fear, less elegantly. Johnson.

Note return to page 888 2&lblank; this dreadful pother &lblank;] Thus one of the quartos and the folio. The other quarto reads thund'ring. The reading in the text, however, is an expression common to others. So, in the Scornful Lady of B. and Fletcher: “&lblank; faln out with their meat, and kept a pudder.” Steevens.

Note return to page 889 3&lblank; thou simular of virtue,] Shakespeare has here kept exactly to the Latin propriety of the term. I will only observe, that our author seems to have imitated Skelton in making a substantive of simular, as the other did of dissimular: “With other foure of theyr affynyte, “Dysdayne, ryotte, dissymuler, subtylte.” &lblank; The Bouge of Courte. Warburton. The quartos read simular man, and therefore Dr. Warburton's note might be spared. Steevens.

Note return to page 890 4That under covert and convenient seeming,] Convenient needs not be understood in any other than its usual and proper sense; accommodate to the present purpose; suitable to a design. Convenient seeming is appearance such as may promote his purpose to destroy. Johnson.

Note return to page 891 5&lblank; concealing continents, &lblank;] Continent stands for that which contains or incloses. Johnson. Thus in Antony and Cleopatra: Heart, once be stronger than thy continent! Again, in Chapman's translation of the XIIth. Book of Homer's Odyssey: “I told our pilot that past other men “He most must bear firm spirits, since he sway'd “The continent that all our spirits convey'd, &c.” The quartos read, concealed centers. Steevens.

Note return to page 892 6&lblank; and cry These dreadful summoners grace. &lblank;] Summoners are here the officers that summon offenders before a proper tribunal. Steevens.

Note return to page 893 7I am a man,] Oedipus, in Sophocles, represents himself in the same light. Oedip. Colon. v. 258. &lblank; &grt;&gra;&grg;&grap; &gre;&grr;&grg;&gra; &grm;&gro;&gru; &grP;&gre;&grp;&gro;&grn;&grq;&gro;&grt;&grap; &gre;&grs;&grt;&gri; &grm;&gra;&grl;&grl;&gro;&grn; &grh; &grd;&gre;&grd;+&gra;&grk;&gro;&grt;&gra;. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 894 8&lblank; one part in my heart &c.] Some editions read, &lblank; thing in my heart; from which Hanmer, and Dr. Warburton after him, have made string, very unnecessarily; both the copies have part. Johnson. The old quartos read, That sorrows yet for thee. Steevens.

Note return to page 895 9He that has a little tiny wit, &lblank;] I fancy that the second line of this stanza had once a termination that rhymed with the fourth; but I can only fancy it; for both the copies agree. It was once perhaps written, With heigh ho, the wind and the rain in his way. The meaning seems likewise to require this insertion. “He that has wit, however small, and finds wind and rain in his way, must content himself by thinking, that somewhere or other it raineth every day, and others are therefore suffering like himself.” Yet I am afraid that all this is chimerical, for the burthen appears again in the song at the end of Twelfth Night, and seems to have been an arbitrary supplement, without any reference to the sense of the song. Johnson.

Note return to page 896 1I'll speak a prophecy ere I go: When priests are more in words than matter; When brewers marr their malt with water; When nobles are their tailors' tutors; No heretics burn'd, but wenches' suitors; When every case in law is right; No squire in debt, nor no poor knight; When slanders do not live in tongues, And cut-purses come not to throngs; When usurers tell their gold i' the field, And bawds and whores do churches build; Then shall the realm of Albion Come to great confusion. Then comes the time, who lives to see't, That going shall be us'd with feet.] The judicious reader will observe through this heap of nonsense and confusion, that this is not one but two prophecies. The first, a satyrical description of the present manners as future: and the second, a satyrical description of future manners, which the corruption of the present would prevent from ever happening. Each of these prophecies has its proper inference or deduction: yet, by an unaccountable stupidity, the first editors took the whole to be all one prophecy, and so jumbled the two contrary inferences together. The whole then should be read as follows, only premising that the first line is corrupted by the loss of a word—or ere I go, is not English, and should be helped thus: 1. I'll speak a prophecy or two ere I go: When priests are more in words than matter; When brewers marr their malt with water; When nobles are their tailors' tutors; No heretics burnt, but wenches' suitors; Then comes the time, who lives to see't, That going shall be us'd with feet.—i. e. Now. 2. When every case in law is right; No squire in debt, and no poor knight; When slanders do not live in tongues, And cut-purses come not to throngs; When usurers tell their gold i' the field, And bawds and whores do churches build; Then shall the realm of Albion Come to great confusion.—i. e. Never. Warburton. The sagacity and acuteness of Dr. Warburton are very conspicuous in this note. He has disentangled the confusion of the passage, and I have inserted his emendation in the text. Or e'er is proved by Mr. Upton to be good English; but the controversy was not necessary, for or is not in the old copies. Johnson.

Note return to page 897 2When nobles are their tailors' tutors;] i. e. Invent fashions for them. Warburton.

Note return to page 898 3No heretics burn'd, but wenches' suitors;] The disease to which wenches' suitors are particularly exposed, was called in Shakespeare's time the brenning or burning. Johnson.

Note return to page 899 4This prophecy &lblank;] This prophecy is not in the quartos. Then shall the realm of Albion Come to great confusion.] These lines are taken from Chaucer. Puttenham, in his Art of Poetry, 1589, quotes them as follows: “When faith fails in priestes saws, “And lords hests are holden for laws, “And robbery is tane for purchase, “And letchery for solace, “Then shall the realm of Albion “Be brought to great confusion.” Steevens.

Note return to page 900 5But where the greater malady is fix'd, The lesser is scarce felt.] So, in Spenser's Faery Queen, b. I. c. vi. “He lesser pangs can bear who hath endur'd the chief.” Steevens.

Note return to page 901 6&lblank; raging sea,] Such is the reading of that which appears to be the elder of the two quartos. The other, with the folio, reads,—roaring sea. Steevens.

Note return to page 902 7&lblank; In such a night To shut me out!—Pour on, I will endure: &lblank; Omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 903 8In, boy; go first. &lblank;] These two lines were added in the author's revision, and are only in the folio. They are very judiciously intended to represent that humility, or tenderness, or neglect of forms, which affliction forces on the mind. Johnson.

Note return to page 904 9&lblank; window'd raggedness &lblank; So in the Amorous War, 1648: “&lblank; spare me a doublet which Hath linings in't, and no glass windows.” This allusion is as old as the time of Plautus, in one of whose plays it is found. Again, in the comedy already quoted: “&lblank; this jerkin “Is wholly made of doors.” Steevens.

Note return to page 905 1Fathom, &c.] This speech of Edgar is omitted in the quartos. He gives the sign used by those who are sounding the depth at sea. Steevens.

Note return to page 906 2Humph! go to thy bed &lblank;] So the folio. The quarto, Go to thy cold bed and warm thee. Johnson. So, in the introduction to the Taming of a Shrew, Sly says, “go to thy cold bed and warm thee.” A ridicule, I suppose, on some passage in a play as absurd as the Spanish Tragedy. Steevens.

Note return to page 907 3Hast thou given all to thy two daughters?] Thus the quartos. The folio reads, Didst thou give all to thy daughters? Steevens.

Note return to page 908 4&lblank; led through fire and through flame, &lblank;] Alluding to the ignis fatuus, supposed to be lights kindled by mischievous beings to lead travellers into destruction. Johnson.

Note return to page 909 5&lblank; laid knives under his pillow, &lblank;] He recounts the temptations by which he was prompted to suicide; the opportunities of destroying himself, which often occurred to him in his melancholy moods. Johnson. Shakespeare found this charge against the fiend, with many others of the same nature, in Harsenet's Declaration, and has used the very words of it. The book was printed in 1603. See Dr. Warburton's note, act IV. sc. i. Infernal spirits are always represented as urging the wretched to self-destruction. So, in Dr. Faustus, 1604: “Swords, poisons, halters, and envenom'd steel, “Are laid before me to dispatch myself.” Steevens.

Note return to page 910 6&lblank; bless thy five wits.] So the five senses were called by our old writers. Thus in the very ancient interlude of The Fyve Elements, one of the characters is Sensual Appetite, who with great simplicity thus introduces himself to the audience: “I am callyd sensual apetyte, “All creatures in me delyte,   “I comforte the wyttys five; “The tastyng smelling and herynge “I refreshe the syghte and felynge   “To all creaturs alyve.” Sig. B. iij. Percy. So again, in Every Man, a Morality: “Every man, thou arte made, thou hast thy wyttes fyve.” Again, in Hycke Scorner: “I have spent amys my v wittes.” Again, in the Interlude of the Four Elements, by John Rastell, 1519: “Brute bestis have memory and their wyttes five.” Again, in the first book of Gower De Confessione Amantis: “As touchende of my wittes five.” Steevens. Shakespeare, however, in his 141st Sonnet seems to have considered the five wits, as distinct from the senses: “But my five wits, nor my five senses can “Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee.” Malone.

Note return to page 911 7&lblank; taking! &lblank;] To take is to blast, or strike with malignant influence: &lblank; strike her young bones, Ye taking airs, with lameness. Johnson.

Note return to page 912 8&lblank; pelican daughters.] The young pelican is fabled to suck the mother's blood. Johnson. So, in Decker's Honest Whore, 1630, second part: “Shall a silly bird pick her own breast to nourish her young ones? the pelican does it, and shall not I?” Again, in Love in a Maze, 1632: “The pelican loves not her young so well “That digs upon her breast a hundred springs.” Steevens.

Note return to page 913 9Commit not, &c.] The word commit is used in this sense by Middleton, in Women beware Women: “His weight is deadly who commits with strumpets.” Steevens.

Note return to page 914 1&lblank; wore gloves in my cap, &lblank;] i. e. His mistress's favours: which was the fashion of that time. So in the play called Campaspe: “Thy men turned to women, thy soldiers to lovers, gloves worn in velvet caps, instead of plumes in graven helmets.” Warburton. It was anciently the custom to wear gloves in the hat on three distinct occasions, viz. as the favour of a mistress, the memorial of a friend, and as a mark to be challenged by an enemy. Prince Henry boasts that he will pluck a glove from the commonest creature, and fix it his helmet; and Tucca says to sir Quintilian, in Decker's Satiromastix: “&lblank; Thou shalt wear her glove in thy worshipful hat, like to a leather brooch:” and Pandora in Lylly's Woman in the Moon, 1597: “&lblank; he that first presents me with his head, “Shall wear my glove in favour of the deed.” Portia, in her assumed character, asks Bassanio for his gloves, which she says she will wear for his sake: and King Henry V. gives the pretended glove of Alençon to Fluellen, which afterwards occasions his quarrel with the English soldier. Steevens.

Note return to page 915 2&lblank; light of ear, &lblank;] i. e. Credulous. Warburton. Not merely credulous, but credulous of evil, ready to receive malicious reports. Johnson.

Note return to page 916 3&lblank; Hog in sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, &c.] The Jesuits pretended to cast the seven deadly sins out of Mainy in the shape of those animals that represented them; and before each was cast out, Mainy by gestures acted that particular sin; curling his hair to shew pride, vomiting for gluttony, gaping and snoring for sloth, &c.—Harsenet's book, pp. 279, 280, &c. To this probably our author alludes. Steevens

Note return to page 917 4&lblank; thy hand out of plackets.] It appeareth from the following passage in Any Thing for a quiet Life, a silly comedy, that placket doth not signify the petticoat in general, but only the aperture therein: “&lblank; between which is discovered the open part which is now called the placket.” Bayly in his Dictionary, giveth the same account of the word. Yet peradventure, our poet hath some deeper meaning in the Winter's Tale, where Autolycus saith—“You might have pinch'd a placket, it was senseless.” Amner.

Note return to page 918 5Thy pen from lenders' books.] So, in All Fools, a comedy by Chapman, 1605: “If I but write my name in mercers' books, “I am as sure to have at six months end “A rascal at my elbow with his mace, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 919 6&lblank; Says suum, mun, nonny, &c.] Of this passage I can make nothing. I believe it corrupt; for wildness, not nonsense, is the effect of a disordered imagination. The quarto reads, hay no on my, dolphins, my boy, cease, let him trot by. Of interpreting this there is not much hope or much need. But any thing may be tried. The madman, now counterfeiting a proud fit, supposes himself met on the road by some one that disputes the way, and cries Hey!—No—but altering his mind, condescends to let him pass, and calls to his boy Dolphin (Rodolph) not to contend with him. On—Dolphin, my boy, cease. Let him trot by. Johnson. The reading of the quarto is right. Hey no nonny is the burthen of a ballad in The Two Noble Kinsmen (said to be written by Shakespeare in conjunction with Fletcher) and was probably common to many others. The folio introduces it into one of Ophelia's songs. Dolphin, my boy, my boy,   Cease, let him trot by; It seemeth not that such a foe   From me or you would fly. This is a stanza from a very old ballad written on some battle fought in France, during which the king, unwilling to put the suspected valour of his son the Dauphin, i. e. Dolphin (so called and spelt at those times) to the trial, is represented as desirous to restrain him from any attempt to establish an opinion of his courage on an adversary who wears the least appearance of strength; and at last assists in propping up a dead body against a tree for him to try his manhood upon. Therefore as different champions are supposed crossing the field, the king always discovers some objection to his attacking each of them, and repeats these two lines as every fresh personage is introduced. Dolphin, my boy, my boy, &c. The song I have never seen, but had this account from an old gentleman, who was only able to repeat part of it, and died before I could have supposed the discovery would have been of the least importance to me.—As for the words, says suum, mun, they are only to be found in the first folio, and were probably added by the players, who, together with the compositors, were likely enough to corrupt what they did not understand, or to add more of their own to what they already concluded to be nonsense. Steevens. Cokes cries out in Bartholomew Fair: “God's my life!—He shall be Dauphin my boy!” Farmer.

Note return to page 920 8Come; unbutton here.] Thus the folio. One of the quartos reads: Come on, be true. Steevens.

Note return to page 921 9&lblank; an old lecher's heart.] This image appears to have been imitated by B. and Fletcher in the Humourous Lieutenant: “&lblank; an old man's loose desire “Is like the glow-worm's light the apes so wonder'd at; “Which when they gather'd sticks, and laid upon't, “And blew and blew, turn'd tail, and went out presently.” Steevens.

Note return to page 922 1&lblank; Flibbertigibbet; &lblank;] We are not much acquainted with this fiend. Latimer in his sermons mentions him; and Heywood, among his sixte hundred of Epigrams, edit. 1576, has the following, Of calling one Flebergibet: “Thou Flebergibet, Flebergibet, thou wretch! “Wottest thou whereto last part of that word doth stretch? “Leave that word, or I'le baste thee with a libet; “Of all woords I hate woords that end with gibet.” Steevens. “Frateretto, Fliberdigibet, Hoberdidance, Tocobatto, were four devils of the round or morice. . . . . These four had forty assistants under them, as themselves doe confesse.” Harsenet, p. 49. Percy.

Note return to page 923 2&lblank; web and the pin, &lblank;] Diseases of the eye. Johnson. So, in Every Woman in her Humour, 1600. One of the characters is giving a ludicrous description of a lady's face, and when he comes to her eyes he says, “a pin and web argent in hair du roy.” Steevens.

Note return to page 924 3Swithold footed thrice the old;] The old, my ingenious friend Mr. Bishop says, must be wold, which signifies a down, or ground, hilly and void of wood. Theobald. Saint Withold footed thrice the wold, He met the night-mare, and her nine-fold, Bid her alight, and her troth plight, And aroynt thee, witch, aroynt thee!] We should read it thus: Saint Withold footed thrice the wold, He met the night-mare, and her name told, Bid her alight, and her troth plight, And aroynt thee, witch, aroynt thee right. i. e. Saint Withold traversing the wold or downs, met the night-mare; who having told her name, he obliged her to alight from those persons whom she rides, and plight her troth to do no more mischief. This is taken from a story of him in his legend. Hence he was invoked as the patron saint against that distemper. And these verses were no other than a popular charm, or night-spell against the Epialtes. The last line is the formal execration or apostrophe of the speaker of the charm to the witch, aroynt thee right, i. e. depart forthwith. Bedlams, gipsies, and such like vagabonds, used to sell these kinds of spells or charms to the people. They were of various kinds for various disorders. We have another of them in the Monsiour Thomas of Fletcher, which he expressly calls a night-spell, and is in these words: “Saint George, Saint George, our lady's knight, “He walks by day, so he does by night: “And when he had her found, “He her beat and her bound; “Until to him her troth she plight, “She would not stir from him that night.” Warburton. This is likewise one of the “magical cures” for the incubus, quoted, with little variation, by Reginald Scott in his Discovery of Witchcraft, 1584. Steevens. In the old quarto the corruption is such as may deserve to be noted. “Swithald footed thrice the olde anelthu night moore and her nine fold bid her, O light and her troth plight and arint thee, with arint thee.” Johnson. Her nine fold seems to be put (for the sake of the rime) instead of her nine foals. I cannot find this adventure in the common legend of St. Vitalis, who, I suppose, is here called St. Withold. Tyrwhitt. Shakespeare might have met with St. Withold in the old spurious play of King John, where this saint is invoked by a Franciscan friar. The wold I suppose to be the true reading. So in the Coventry Collection of Mysteries, Mus. Brit. Vesp. D. viii, p. 93, Herod says to one of his officers: “Seyward bolde, walke thou on wolde, “And wysely behold all abowte, &c.” Dr. Hill's reading, the cold, is the reading of Mr. Tate in his alteration of this play in 1681. Steevens. It is pleasant to see the various readings of this passage. In a book called the Actor, which has been ascribed to Dr. Hill, it is quoted “Swithin footed thrice the cold.” Mr. Colman has it in his alteration of Lear, “Swithin footed thrice the world.” The ancient reading is the olds: which is pompously corrected by Mr. Theobald, with the help of his friend Mr. Bishop, to the wolds: in fact it is the same word. Spelman writes, Burton upon olds: the provincial pronunciation is still the oles: and that probably was the vulgar orthography. Let us read then, St. Withold footed thrice the oles, He met the night-mare, and her nine foles, &c.” Farmer.9Q1089 I was surprised to see in the Appendix to the last edition of Shakespeare, that my reading of this passage was “Swithin footed thrice the world.” I have ever been averse to capricious variations of the old text; and, in the present instance, the rhime, as well as the sense, would have induced me to abide by it. World was merely an error of the press. Wold is a word still in use in the North of England; signifying a kind of down near the sea. A large tract of country in the East-Riding of Yorkshire is called the Woulds. Colman.

Note return to page 925 4&lblank; whipt from tything to tything, &lblank;] A tything is a division of a place, a district; the same in the country, as a ward in the city. In the Saxon times every hundred was divided into tythings. Steevens.

Note return to page 926 5&lblank; small deer] Sir Thomas Hanmer reads geer, and is followed by Dr. Warburton. But deer in old language is a general word for wild animals. Johnson. Mice and rats and such small deere Have been Tom's food for seven long yeare.] This distich has excited the attention of the critics. Instead of deere, Dr. Warburton would read, geer, and Dr. Grey cheer. The ancient reading is, however, established by the old metrical romance of Sir Bevis, which Shakespeare had probably often heard sung to the harp, and to which he elsewhere alludes, as in the following instances: “As Bevis of Southampton fell upon Ascapart.” Hen. VI. Act II. Again, Hen. VIII. Act. I. “That Bevis was believ'd.” This distich is part of a description there given of the hardships suffered by Bevis when confined for seven years in a dungeon: “Rattes and myce and such smal dere “Was his meate that seven yere.” Sig. F. iij. Percy.

Note return to page 927 6&lblank; Peace, Smolkin, peace, &lblank;] “The names of other punie spirits cast out of Trayford were these: Hilco, Smolkin, Hillio, &c.” Harsenet, p. 49. Percy.

Note return to page 928 7The prince of darkness is a gentleman;] This is spoken in resentment of what Gloster had just said—“Has your grace no better company?” Steevens.

Note return to page 929 8Modo he's call'd, and Mahu.] So in Harsenet's Declaration, Maho was the chief devil that had possession of Sarah Williams; but another of the possessed, named Richard Mainy, was molested by a still more considerable fiend called Modu. See the book already mentioned, p. 268, where the said Richard Mainy deposes: “Furthermore it is pretended, that there remaineth still in mee the prince of all other devils, whose name should be Modu;” he is elsewhere called, “the prince Modu:” so, p. 269, “When the said priests had dispatched theire business at Hackney (where they had been exorcising Sara Williams) they then returned towards mee, uppon pretence to cast the great prince Modu . . . out mee.” Steevens.

Note return to page 930 9&lblank; learned Theban.] Ben Jonson in his Masque of Pan's Anniversary, has introduced a Tinker whom he calls a learned Theban, perhaps in ridicule of this passage. Steevens.

Note return to page 931 1Child Rowland &lblank;] In the old times of chivalry, the noble youth who were candidates for knighthood, during the season of their probation, were called Infans, Varlets, Damoysels, Bacheliers. The most noble of the youth particularly, Infans. Here a story is told, in some old ballad, of the famous hero and giant-killer Roland, before he was knighted, who is, therefore, called Infans; which the ballad-maker translated, Child Roland. Warburton. This word is in some of our ballads. There is a song of Child Walter, and a Lady. Johnson. Beaumont and Fletcher, in The Woman's Prize, refer also to this: “&lblank; a mere hobby-horse “She made the Child Rowland.” In Have with you to Saffron Walden, or Gabriel Harvey's Hunt is Up, 1598. part of these lines repeated by Edgar is quoted: “&lblank; a pedant, who will find matter inough to dilate a whole daye of the first invention of “Fy, fa, fum, “I smell the blood of an Englishman.” Spenser often uses the word child, to signify a prince, or a youthful knight. So, in the Faerie Queen, Book V. c. xi. st. 8. “&lblank; that sad steel seiz'd not where it was hight “Upon the child, but somewhat short did fall.” By the child is here meant Prince Arthur. Both the quartos read: &lblank; to the dark town come. Steevens. Child Rowland.] The word child (however it came to have this sense) is often applied to Knights, &c. in old historical songs and romances; of this, innumerable instances occur in the Reliques of ancient English Poetry. See particularly in Vol. I. s. iv. v. 97, where in a description of a battle between two knights, we find these lines: “The Eldridge knighte, he prick'd his steed;   “Syr Cawline bold abode: “Then either shook his trusty spear, “And the timber these two children bare   “So soon in sunder slode.” See in the same volumes the ballads concerning the child of Elle, child waters, child Maurice [Vol. III. s. xx.] &c. The same idiom occurs in Spenser's Faerie Queen, where the famous knight sir Tristram is frequently called Child Tristram. See B. V. c. ii. st. 8. 13. B. VI. c. ii. st. 36. ibid. c. viii. st. 15. Percy.

Note return to page 932 2&lblank; but a provoking merit,] i. e. A merit which being neglected by the father, was provoked to an extravagant act. The Oxford editor, not understanding this, alters it to provoked spirit. Warburton.

Note return to page 933 3&lblank; comforting &lblank;] He uses the word in the juridical sense for supporting, helping, according to its derivation; salvia confortat nervos.—Schol. Sal. Johnson.

Note return to page 934 4Fool.] This speech is omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 935 5Come hizzing in upon 'em. &lblank;] Then follow in the old edition several speeches in the mad way, which probably were left out by the players, or by Shakespeare himself: I shall however insert them here, and leave them to the reader's mercy. Pope. As Mr. Pope had begun to insert several speeches in the mad way, in this scene, from the old edition, I have ventured to replace several others, which stand upon the same footing, and had an equal right of being restored. Theobald.

Note return to page 936 6Edgar.] This and the next fourteen speeches (which Dr. Johnson had enclosed in crotchets) are only in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 937 7&lblank; the health of a horse, &lblank;] Without doubt we should read heels, i. e. to stand behind him. Warburton. Shakespeare is here speaking not of things maliciously treacherous, but of things uncertain and not durable. A horse is above all other animals subject to diseases. Johnson.

Note return to page 938 8Wantest, &c.] I am not confident that I understand the meaning of this desultory speech. When Edgar says, Look where he stands and glares! he seems to be speaking in the character of a mad man, who thinks he sees the fiend. Wantest thou eyes at trial, madam? is a question which appears to be addressed to the visionary Goneril, or some other abandon'd female, and may signify, Do you want to attract admiration, even while you stand at the bar of justice? Mr. Seyward proposes to read, wanton'st instead of wantest. Steevens. At trial, madam?] It may be observed that Edgar, being supposed to be found by chance, and therefore to have no knowledge of the rest, connects not his ideas with those of Lear, but pursues his own train of delirious or fantastic thought. To these words, At trial, madam? I think therefore that the name of Lear should be put. The process of the dialogue will support this conjecture. Johnson.

Note return to page 939 9Come o'er the broom, Bessy, to me:] As there is no relation between broom and a boat, we may better read, Come o'er the brook, Bessy, to me. Johnson. At the beginning of A very mery and pythie commedie, called, The longer thou Livest, the more Foole thou art, &c. Imprinted at London by Wyllyam How, &c. black letter, no date, “Entreth Moros, counterfaiting a vaine gesture and a foolish countenance, synging the foote of many songs, as fooles were wont;” and among them is this passage, which Dr. Johnson has very justly suspected of corruption. “Com over the boorne Bessé “My little pretie Bessé “Com over the boorne Bessé to me.” A bourn in the north signifies a rivulet or brook. Hence the names of many of our villages terminate in burn, as Milburn, Sherburn, &c. The former quotation, together with the following instances, at once confirm the justness of Dr. Johnson's remark, and support the reading. So in Drayton's Polyolbion, Song I: “The bourns, the brooks, the becks, the rills, the rivulets.” Again, in Song xxviii. “But that the brooks and bournes so hotly her pursue.” Again, in Song the xxixth: “As petty bournes and becks I scorn but once to call.” Again, in Spenser's Faery Queen, B. II. c. vi: “My little boat can safely passe this perilous bourne.” Shakespeare himself, in the Tempest, has discriminated bourn from bound of land in general: “Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard none.” Again in the Vision of Pierce Plowman, line 8: “Under a brode banke by bourne syde.” To this I may add, that bourn, a boundary, is from the French borne. Bourne, or (as it ought to be spelt) burn, a rivulet, is from the German burn, or born, a well. Steevens.

Note return to page 940 1&lblank; in the voice of a nightingale.] Another deponent in Harsnet's book (p. 225, says) that the mistress of the house kept a nightingale in a cage, which being one night killed, and conveyed away into the garden, it was pretended the devil had killed it in spite. Perhaps this passage suggested to Shakespeare the circumstance of Tom's being haunted in the voice of a nightingale. Percy.

Note return to page 941 2&lblank; Hopdance cries in Tom's belly &lblank;] In Harsenet's book, p. 194, 195, Sarah Williams (one of the pretended demoniacs) deposeth, “&lblank; that if at any time she did belch, as often times she did by reason that shee was troubled with a wind in her stomacke, the priests would say at such times, that then the spirit began to rise in her . . . . and that the wind was the devil.” And, “as she saith, if they heard any croaking in her belly . . . . then they would make a wonderful matter of that.” Hoberdidance is mentioned before in Dr. Percy's note. Steevens.

Note return to page 942 *&lblank; white herring.] White herrings are pickled herrings. See the Northumberland Household Book, p. 8. Steevens.

Note return to page 943 3Sleepest, or wakest, &c.] This seems to be a stanza of some pastoral song. A shepherd is desired to pipe, and the request is enforced by a promise, that though his sheep be in the corn, i. e. committing a trespass by his negligence, implied in the question, Sleepest thou or wakest? Yet a single tune upon his pipe shall secure them from the pound. Johnson. Minikin was anciently a term of endearment. So, in the enterlude of the Repentance of Marie Magdalaine, 1567, the Vice says, “What mynikin carnal concupiscence!” Barrett, in his Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionary, 1580, interprets feat, by “proper, well-fashioned, minikin, handsome.” In the Interlude of the Four Elements, &c. printed by Rastell, 1519, Ignorance sings a song composed of the scraps of several others. Among them is the following line, on which Shakespeare may have designed a parody: “Sleepyst thou, wakyst thou, Geffery Coke.” [Subnote: add. Steevens.]

Note return to page 944 4Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool.] This is a proverbial expression. Steevens.

Note return to page 945 5&lblank; see they bark at me.] The hint for this circumstance might have been taken from the pretended madness of one of the brothers in the translation of the Menæchmi of Plautus, 1595: “Here's an old mastiff bitch stands barking at me, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 946 6Be thy mouth or black or white,] To have the roof of the mouth black is in some dogs a proof that their breed is genuine. Steevens.

Note return to page 947 7&lblank; brache or hym, &c.] Names of particular sorts of dogs. Pope. Sir T. Hanmer for hym reads lym. Johnson. In Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, Quarlous says,—“all the lime-hounds of the city should have drawn after you by the scent.”—A limmer or leamer, a dog of the chace, was so called from the leam or leash in which he was held till he was let slip. I have this information from Caius de Canibus Britannicis.— So, in the book of Antient Tenures, by T. B. 1679, the words, “canes domini regis lesos,” are translated “Leash hounds, such as draw after a hurt deer in a leash, or liam.” Again, in the Muses Elysium, by Drayton: “My dog-hook at my belt, to which my lyam's ty'd.” Again: “My hound then in my lyam, &c.” Among the presents sent from James I. to the king and queen of Spain were, “A cupple of lyme-houndes of singular qualities.” Again, in Massinger's Bashful Lover: “&lblank; smell out “Her footing like a lime-hound.” The late Mr. Hawkins, in his notes to the Return from Parnassus, p. 237, says, that a rache is a dog that hunts by scent wild beasts, birds, and even fishes, and that the female of it is called a brache: and in Magnificence, an ancient interlude or morality, by Skelton; printed by Rastell, no date, is the following line: “Here is a leyshe of ratches to renne an hare.” Steevens. What is here said of a rache might perhaps be taken by Mr. Hawkins, from Holinshed's Description of Scotland, p. 14, where the sleuthound means a bloodhound. The females of all dogs were once called braches; and Ulitius upon Gratius observes, “Racha Saxonibus canem significabat unde Scoti hodie Rache pro cane fœmina habent, quod Anglis est Brache.” Tollet.

Note return to page 948 8&lblank; bobtail tike &lblank;] Tijk is the Runic word for a little, or worthless dog: “Are Mr. Robinson's dogs turn'd tikes with a wanion?” Witches of Lancaster, 1634. Steevens.

Note return to page 949 9&lblank; trundle-tail.] This sort of dog is mentioned in A oman killed with Kindness, 1617: “&lblank; your dogs are trundle-tails and curs.” Again, in The Booke of Huntyng, &c. bl. l. no date: “&lblank; dunghill dogs, trindle-tails, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 950 1Sessey, come, &c.] Here is sessey again, which I take to be the French word cessez pronounced cessey, which was, I suppose, like some others in common use among us. It is an interjection enforcing cessation of any action, like, be quiet, have done. It seems to have been gradually corrupted into, so, so. Johnson. This word is wanting in the quarto: in the folio it is printed sese. It is difficult in this place to say what is meant by it. It should be remembered, that just before, Edgar had been calling on Bessy to come to him; and he may now with equal propriety invite Sessy (perhaps a female name corrupted from Cecilia) to attend him to wakes and fairs. Nor is it impossible but that this may be a part of some old song, and originally stood thus: Sissy, come march to wakes,   And fairs, and market towns. &lblank; So, in Humor's Ordinarie, an ancient collection of satires, no date: “To make Sisse in love withal.” Again: “My heart's deare blood, sweet Sisse is my carouse.” There is another line in the character of Edgar which I am very confident I have seen in an old ballad, viz. Through the sharp haw-thorn blows the cold wind. Steevens.

Note return to page 951 2&lblank; thy horn is dry.] Men that begged under pretence of lunacy used formerly to carry a horn, and blow it through the streets. Johnson. A horn is at this day employed in many places in the country as a cup for drinking, but anciently the use of it was much more general. Thy horn is dry, appears to be a proverbial expression, introduced when a man has nothing further to offer, when he has said all he had to say. Such a one's pipe's out is a phrase current in Ireland on the same occasion. I suppose Edgar to speak these words aside. Being quite weary of his Tom o' Bedlam's part, and finding himself unable to support it any longer, he says privately, “&lblank; I can no more: all my materials for sustaining the character of Poor Tom are now exhausted;” my horn is dry: i. e. has nothing more in it; and accordingly we have no more of his dissembled madness till he meets his father in the next act, when he resumes it for a speech or two, but not without expressing the same dislike of it that he expresses here, “&lblank; I cannot daub it further.” Steevens.

Note return to page 952 3&lblank; You will say they are Persian; &lblank;] Alluding perhaps to Clytus refusing the Persian robes offered him by Alexander. Steevens.

Note return to page 953 4And I'll go to bed at noon.] Omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 954 5Take up, take up.] One of the quartos reads—Take up the king, &c. the other—Take up to keep, &c. Steevens.

Note return to page 955 6&lblank; Oppressed nature sleeps. &lblank;] These two concluding speeches by Kent and Edgar, and which by no means ought to have been cut off, I have restored from the old quarto. The soliloquy of Edgar is extremely fine; and the sentiments of it are drawn equally from nature and the subject. Besides, with regard to the stage, it is absolutely necessary: for as Edgar is not designed, in the constitution of the play, to attend the king to Dover; how absurd would it look for a character of his importance to quit the scene without one word said, or the least intimation what we are to expect from him? Theobald. The lines inserted from the quarto are in crotchets. The omission of them in the folio is certainly faulty: yet I believe the folio is printed from Shakespeare's last revision, carelessly and hastily performed, with more thought of shortening the scenes, than of continuing the action. Johnson.

Note return to page 956 7&lblank; thy broken senses,] The quarto, from whence this speech is taken, reads,—thy broken sinews. Senses is the conjectural emendation of Theobald. Steevens.

Note return to page 957 8&lblank; free things, &lblank;] States clear from distress. Johnson.

Note return to page 958 9Mark the high noises! &lblank;] Attend to the great events that are approaching, and make thyself known when that false opinion now prevailing against thee shall, in consequence of just proof of thy integrity, revoke its erroneous sentence, and recall thee to honour and reconciliation. Johnson.

Note return to page 959 1&lblank; and thyself bewray,] Bewray which at present has only a dirty meaning, anciently signified to betray, to discover. In this sense it is used by Spenser; and in Promos and Cassandra, 1578: “Well, to the king Andrugio now will hye, “Hap lyfe, hap death, his safetie to bewray.” Again, in the Spanish Tragedy: “With ink bewray what blood began in me.” Again, in Lylly's Endymion, 1591: “&lblank; lest my head break, and so I bewray my brains.” Steevens.

Note return to page 960 2&lblank; and intelligent betwixt us.] So, in a former scene: &lblank; spies and speculations “Intelligent of our state. Steevens.

Note return to page 961 3&lblank; my lord of Gloster.] Meaning Edmund, newly invested with his father's titles. The steward, speaking immediately after, mentions the old earl by the same title. Johnson.

Note return to page 962 4Hot questrists after him, &lblank;] A questrist is one who goes in search or quest of another. Mr. Pope and sir T. Hanmer read questers. Steevens.

Note return to page 963 5Though well we may not pass upon his life, &lblank; yet our pow'r Shall do a courtesy to our wrath. &lblank;] To do a courtesy is to gratify, to comply with. To pass, is to pass a judicial sentence. Johnson. The original of the expression, to pass on any one may be traced from Magna Charta: “&lblank; nec super cum ibimus, nisi per legale judicium parium suorum.” It is common to most of our early writers. So, in Acolastus, a comedy, 1529: “I do not nowe consider the myschievous pageants he hath played; I do not now passe upon them.” Again, in If this be not a good Play, the Devil is in It, 1612: “A jury of brokers, impanel'd, and deeply sworn to passe on all villains in hell.” Steevens.

Note return to page 964 6&lblank; corky arms.] Dry, wither'd, husky arms. Johnson. As Shakespeare appears from other passages of this play to have had in his eye Bishop Harsenet's Declaration of egregious Popish Impostures, &c. 1603, 4to, it is probable, that this very expressive, but peculiar epithet, corky, was suggested to him by a passage in that very curious pamphlet. “It would pose all the cunning exorcists, that are this day to be found, to teach an old corkie woman to writhe, tumble, curvet, and fetch her morice gamboles, as Martha Bressier (one of the possessed mentioned in the pamphlet) did.” Percy.

Note return to page 965 7By the kind gods, &lblank;] We are not to understand by this the gods in general, who are beneficent and kind to men; but that particular species of them called by the ancients dii hospitales, kind gods. So, Plautus in Pœnulo: “Deum hospitalem ac tesseram mecum fero.” This was a beautiful exclamation, as those who insulted the speaker were his guests, whom he had hospitably received into his house. But to say the truth, Shakespeare never makes his people swear at random. Of his propriety in this matter take the following instances. In Troilus and Cressida, Æneas, in an expostulation with Diomede, swears by the hand of his mother Venus, as a covert reproof for Diomede's brutality in wounding the goddess of beauty in the hand, and a secret intimation that he would revenge her injuries. In Coriolanus, when that hero is exasperated at the fickle inconstant temper of the multitude, he swears by the clouds: and again, when he meets his wife after a long absence, by the jealous queen of heaven; for Juno was supposed the aveng'ress of conjugal infidelity. In Othello, the double Iago is made to swear by Janus. And in this very play of Lear, a Pagan, much given to judicial astrology, very consonantly to his character, swears: By all the operations of the orbs, By whom we do exist, and cease to be. Warburton. By the kind gods, &lblank;] Shakespeare hardly received any assistance from mythology to furnish out a proper oath for Gloster. People always invoke their deities as they would have them shew themselves at particular times in their favour; and he accordingly calls those kind gods whom he would wish to find so on this occasion. He does so yet a second time in this scene. Our own liturgy will sufficiently evince the truth of my supposition. Steevens.

Note return to page 966 8&lblank; my hospitable favours] It is nonsense to understand it of gifts, kindnesses, &c. We should read favour, i. e. visage. For they pluck'd him by the beard. Warburton. Favours means the same as features, i. e. the different parts of which a face is composed. So, in Drayton's epistle from Matilda to K. John: “Within the compass of man's face we see, “How many sorts of several favours be.” Again, in David & Bethsabe, 1599: “To daunt the favours of his lovely face. Steevens.

Note return to page 967 9Be simple-answer'd, &lblank;] The old quarto reads, Be simple answerer.—Either is good sense: simple means plain. Steevens.

Note return to page 968 9I am ty'd to the stake, &lblank;] So, in Macbeth: “They have chain'd me to a stake; I cannot fly, “But, bear-like, I must stand the course.” Steevens.

Note return to page 969 1&lblank; the course.] The running of the dogs upon me. Johnson.

Note return to page 970 2&lblank; stick boarish fangs.] The quartos read—rash boarish fangs. This verb occurs in Spenser's Faery Queen, B. IV. c. ii: “And shields did share, and mailes did rash, and helmes did hew.” Again, B. V. c. iii: “Rashing off helmes, and ryving plates asunder.” Steevens.

Note return to page 971 3&lblank; to rain.] Thus the folio. The quartos read—to rage. Steevens.

Note return to page 972 3&lblank; that stern time,] Thus the folio. Both the quartos read,—that dearn time.—Dearn is a north-country word, signifying lonely, solitary, melancholy, far from neighbours. So, in the Valiant Scot: “Of all thy joys the dearne and dismal end.” Again, in Spenser's Faery Queen, B. II. c. i: “They heard a rueful voice that dearnly cride.” Again, in Pericles Prince of Tyre, 1609: “By many a dearne and painful pearch.” Steevens.

Note return to page 973 4&lblank; subscrib'd: &lblank;] Yielded, submitted to the necessity of the occasion. Johnson.

Note return to page 974 5Upon these eyes, &c.] In Sclimus, Emperor of the Turks, one of the sons of Bajazet pulls out the eyes of an aga on the stage, and says, “Yes thou shalt live, but never see that day, “Wanting the tapers that should give thee light.” [Pulls out his eyes. Immediately after, his hands are cut off. I have introduced this passage to shew that Shakespeare's drama was not more sanguinary than that of his contemporaries. Steevens. In Marston's Antonio and Mellida, p. ii, 1602. Piero's tongue is torn out on the stage. Malone.

Note return to page 975 6My villain!] Villain is here perhaps used in its original sense of one in servitude. Steevens.

Note return to page 976 7I'll never care what wickedness I do,] This short dialogue I have inserted from the old quarto, because I think it full of nature. Servants could hardly see such a barbarity committed on their master, without pity; and the vengeance that they presume must overtake the actors of it, is a sentiment and doctrine well worthy of the stage. Theobald. It is not necessary to suppose them the servants of Gloster; for Cornwall was opposed to extremity by his own servant. Johnson.

Note return to page 977 8&lblank; some flax, &c.] This passage is ridiculed by Ben Jonson, in The Case is alter'd, 1609. “&lblank; go get a white of an egg, and a little flax, and close the breaches of the head, it is the most conducible thing that can be.” Steevens. The Case is alter'd was written before the end of the year 1599; but Ben Jonson might have inserted this sneer at our author, between the time of King Lear's appearance, and the publication of his own play in 1609. Malone.

Note return to page 978 9Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd,] The meaning is, 'Tis better to be thus contemned, and known to yourself to be contemned. Or perhaps there is an error, which may be rectified thus: Yet better thus unknown to be contemn'd. When a man divests himself of his real character he feels no pain from contempt, because he supposes it incurred only by a voluntary disguise which he can throw off at pleasure. I do not think any correction necessary. Johnson. I cannot help thinking that this passage should be written thus: Yet better thus unknown to be contemn'd, Than still contemn'd and flatter'd to be worse. The lowest, &c. The quarto edition has no stop after flatter'd. The first folio, which has a comma there, has a colon at the end of the line. The expression in this speech—owes nothing to thy blasts—(in a more learned writer) might seem to be copied from Virgil, Æn. xi. 51: “Nos juvenem exanimum, et nil jam cœlestibus ullis “Debentem, vano mœsti comitamur honore.” Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 979 1&lblank; lives not in fear.] So in Milton's Par. Reg. B. iii. “For where no hope is left, is left no fear.” Steevens.

Note return to page 980 2&lblank; Welcome then,] The next two lines and a half are omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 981 3&lblank; World, world, O world! But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee,] The reading of this passage has been explained, but not satisfactorily. My explanation of the poet's sentiment was, “If the number of changes and vicissitudes, which happen in life, did not make us wait, and hope for some turn of fortune for the better, we could never support the thought of living to be old, on any other terms.” And our duty, as human creatures, is piously inculcated in this reflection of the author. I read therefore, make us wait thee. Theobald. &lblank; O world! But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee, Life would not yield to age.] The sense of this obscure passage is, O world! so much are human minds captivated with thy pleasures, that were it not for those successive miseries, each worse than the other, which overload the scenes of life, we should never be willing to submit to death, though the infirmities of old age would teach us to chuse it as a proper asylum. Besides, by uninterrupted prosperity, which leaves the mind at ease, the body would generally preserve such a state of vigour as to bear up long against the decays of time. These are the two reasons, I suppose, why he said, Life would not yield to age. And how much the pleasures of the body pervert the mind's judgment, and the perturbations of the mind disorder the body's frame, is known to all. Warburton. Yield to signifies no more than give way to, sink under, in opposition to the struggling with, bearing up against the infirmities of age. Hanmer.

Note return to page 982 4Our mean secures us; &lblank;] i. e. Moderate, mediocre condition. Warburton. Hanmer writes, by an easy change, meanness secures us. The two original editions have: Our meanes secures us. &lblank; I do not remember that mean is ever used as a substantive for low fortune, which is the sense here required, nor for mediocrity, except in the phrase, the golden mean. I suspect the passage of corruption, and would either read: Our means seduce us: Our powers of body or fortune draw us into evils. Or, Our maims secure us. &lblank; That hurt or deprivation which makes us defenceless, proves our safeguard. This is very proper in Gloster, newly maimed by the evulsion of his eyes. Johnson. There is surely no reason for alteration. Mean is here a substantive, and signifies a middle state, as Dr. Warburton rightly interprets it. So again in the Merchant of Venice, “it is no mean happiness therefore to be seated in the mean.” See more instances in Dr. Johnson's Dictionary. Steevens.

Note return to page 983 5&lblank; to see thee in my touch.] So, in another scene, I see it feelingly. Steevens.

Note return to page 984 6&lblank; who is't can say, I am at the worst? &lblank; the worst is not, So long as we can say, This is the worst.] i. e. While we live; for while we yet continue to have a sense of feeling, something worse than the present may still happen. What occasioned this reflection was his rashly saying in the beginning of this scene, &lblank; To be worst, The lowest, most dejected thing of fortune, &c. The wretch, that thou hast blown unto the worst, &c. Warburton.

Note return to page 985 7As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport.] “Dii nos quasi pilas homines habent.” &lblank; Plaut. Captiv. Prol. l. 22. Steevens.

Note return to page 986 8Ang'shing &lblank;] Oxford editor and Dr. Warburton.—Vulg. Ang'ring, rightly. Johnson.

Note return to page 987 9&lblank; I cannot daub it &lblank;] i. e. Disguise. Warburton. So, in King Richard III: “So smooth he daub'd his vice with shew of virtue.” The quartos read, I cannot dance it further. Steevens.

Note return to page 988 1Five fiends, &c.] The rest of this speech is omitted in the folio. In Harsnet's Book, already quoted, p. 278, we have an extract from the account published by the exorcists themselves, viz. “By commaundement of the exorcist . . . the devil in Ma. Mainy confessed his name to be Modu, and that he had besides himself seaven other spirits, and all of them captains, and of great fame.” “Then Edmundes (the exorcist) began againe with great earnestness, and all the company cried out, &c. . . . so as both that wicked prince Modu and his company, might be cast out.” This passage will account for five fiends having been in poor Tom at once. Percy.

Note return to page 989 2&lblank; possesses chamber-maids and waiting-women. &lblank;] Shakespeare has made Edgar, in his feigned distraction, frequently allude to a vile imposture of some English jesuits, at that time much the subject of conversation; the history of it having been just then composed with great art and vigour of stile and composition by Dr. S. Harsenet, afterwards archbishop of York, by order of the privy-council, in a work intitled, A Declaration of egregious Popish Impostures to withdraw her Majesty's Subjects from their Allegiance, &c. practised by Edmunds, alias Weston, a Jesuit, and divers Romish Priests his wicked Associates: printed 1603. The imposture was in substance this. While the Spaniards were preparing their armado against England, the jesuits were here busy at work to promote it, by making converts: one method they employed was to dispossess pretended demoniacs, by which artifice they made several hundred converts amongst the common people. The principal scene of this farce was laid in the family of one Mr. Edmund Peckham, a Roman-catholic, where Marwood, a servant of Anthony Babington's (who was afterwards executed for treason) Trayford, an attendant upon Mr. Peckham, and Sarah and Friswood Williams, and Anne Smith, three chambermaids in that family, came into the priest's hands for cure. But the discipline of the patients was so long and severe, and the priests so elate and careless with their success, that the plot was discovered on the confession of the parties concerned, and the contrivers of it deservedly punished. The five devils here mentioned, are the names of five of those who were made to act in this farce upon the chamber-maids and waiting-women; and they were generally so ridiculously nick-named, that Harsnet has one chapter on the strange names of their devils; lest, says he, meeting them otherwise by chance, you mistake them for the names of tapsters or jugglers. Warburton. The passage in crotchets is omitted in the folio, because I suppose as the story was forgotten, the jest was lost. Johnson.

Note return to page 990 3Let the superfluous, &lblank;] Lear has before uttered the same sentiment, which indeed cannot be too strongly impressed, though it may be too often repeated. Johnson.

Note return to page 991 4That slaves your ordinance, &lblank;] Superfluous is here used for one living in abundance. But the next line is corrupt. The only sense I know of, in which slaves your ordinance can be understood, is when men employ the form or semblance of religion to compass their ill designs. But this will not do here. Gloster is speaking of such who by an uninterrupted course of prosperity are grown wanton, and callous to the misfortunes of others; such as those who fearing no reverse, slight and neglect, and therefore may be said to brave the ordinance of heaven: which is certainly the right reading. And this is the second time in which slaves has, in this play, been read for braves. Warburton. The emendation is plausible, yet I doubt whether it be right. The language of Shakespeare is very licentious, and his words have often meanings remote from the proper and original use. To slave or beslave another is to treat him with terms of indignity: in a kindred sense, to slave the ordinance, may be, to slight or ridicule it. Johnson. To slave an ordinance, is to treat it as a slave, to make it subject to us, instead of acting in obedience to it. So, in Heywood's Brazen Age, 1613: “&lblank; none “Could slave him like the Lydian Omphale.” Again, in A New Way to pay old Debts, by Massinger: “&lblank; that slaves me to his will.” Steevens. Heywood, in his Pleasant Dialogues and Dramas, 1637, uses this verb in the same sense: “What shall I do? my love I will not slave “To an old king, though he my love should crave.” Again, in Marston's Malecontent, 1604: “Oh powerful blood, how dost thou slave their soul!” Malone.

Note return to page 992 5&lblank; our mild husband] It must be remembered that Albany, the husband of Goneril, disliked, in the end of the first act, the scheme of oppression and ingratitude. Johnson.

Note return to page 993 6&lblank; our wishes, on the way, May prove effects. &lblank;] I believe the meaning of the passage to be this: “What we wish, before our march is at an end, may be brought to happen,” i. e. the murder or dispatch of her husband.—On the way, however, may be equivalent to the expression we now use, viz. By the way, or By the by, i. e. en passant.. Steevens.

Note return to page 994 7&lblank; I must change arms, &c.] Thus the quartos. The folio reads—change names. Steevens.

Note return to page 995 8Decline your head: this kiss, if it durst speak, Would stretch thy spirits up into the air.] She bids him decline his head, that she might give him a kiss (the steward being present) and that it might appear only to him as a whisper. Steevens.

Note return to page 996 9O, the difference of man and man!] Omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 997 1My fool usurps my body.] One of the quartos reads: My foot usurps my head; the other, My foot usurps my body. Steevens.

Note return to page 998 2I have been worth the whistle.] This expression is a reproach to Albany for having neglected her; though you disregard me thus, I have been worth the whistle, I have found one that thinks me worth calling. Johnson. This expression is a proverbial one. Heywood in one of his dialogues, consisting entirely of proverbs, says: “It is a poor dog that is not worth the whistling.” Goneril's meaning seems to be—There was a time when you would have thought me worth the calling to you; reproaching him for not having summon'd her to consult with on the present critical occasion. Steevens.

Note return to page 999 3&lblank; I fear your disposition:] These and the speech ensuing are in the edition of 1608, and are but necessary to explain the reasons of the detestation which Albany here expresses to his wife. Pope.

Note return to page 1000 4Cannot be border'd certain &lblank;] Certain, for within the bounds that nature prescribes. Warburton.

Note return to page 1001 5She that herself will shiver and disbranch,] Thus all the editions, but the old quarto, that reads sliver, which is right. Shiver means to shake or fly a-pieces into splinters. As he says afterwards: Thoud'st shiver'd like an egg. But sliver signifies to tear off or disbranch. So, in Macbeth: &lblank; slips of yew Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse. Warburton.

Note return to page 1002 6From her material sap, &lblank;] Thus the old quarto; but material sap is a phrase that I do not understand. The mother-tree is the true technical term; and considering our author has said but just before, That nature, which contemns its origin, there is little room to question but he wrote: From her maternal sap. Theobald. From her material sap, &lblank;] Thus all the editions till Mr. Theobald's, who alters material to maternal; and for these wise reasons: Material sap (says he) I own is a phrase that I do not understand. The mother-tree is the true technical term, and considering our author had said just before, That nature, which contemns its origin, there is no room to question but he wrote, From her maternal sap. And to prove that we may say maternal sap, he gives many authorities from the classics, and says he could produce more, where words equivalent to maternal stock are used; which is quite another thing, as we shall now see. In making his emendation, the editor did not consider the difference between material sap, and material body, or trunk or stock: the latter expression being indeed not so well; material being a properer epithet for body. But the first is right; and we should say, material sap, not maternal. For material sap signifies that whereby a branch is nourished, and increases in bulk by fresh accession of matter. On which account material is elegant. Indeed sap when applied to the whole tree, might be called maternal, but could not be so when applied to a branch only. For though sap might, in some sense, be said to be maternal to the tree, yet it is the tree that is maternal to the branch, and not the sap: but here the epithet is applied to the branch. From all this we conclude that the old reading is the true. But what if, after all, material was used by the writers of these times in the very sense of maternal? It would seem so by the title of an old English translation of Froissart's Chronicle, which runs in these words, Syr John Froissart's Chronicle, translated out of Frenche into our material English Tongue by John Bouchier, printed 1525. Warburton. I suppose no reader doubts but the word should be maternal. Dr. Warburton has taken great pains without much success, and indeed without much exactness of attention, to prove that material has a more proper sense than maternal, and yet seemed glad at last to infer from an apparent error of another press that material and maternal meant the same. Johnson.

Note return to page 1003 7And come to deadly use.] Alluding to the use that witches and inchanters are said to make of wither'd branches in their charms. A fine insinuation in the speaker, that she was ready for the most unnatural mischief, and a preparative of the poet to her plotting with the bastard against her husband's life. Warburton.

Note return to page 1004 8&lblank; would lick.] This line, which had been omitted by all my predecessors, I have restored from the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 1005 9A man, a prince by him so benefited?] After this line I suspect a line or two to be wanting, which upbraids her for her sister's cruelty to Gloster. And my reason is, that in her answer we find these words: Fools do these villains pity, who are punish'd Ere they have done their mischief &lblank; which evidently allude to Gloster's case. Now I cannot conceive that she would here apologize for what was not objected to her. But I suppose the players thought the speech too long; which has occasioned throughout, and more particularly in this play, the retrenchment of numerous lines and speeches; many of which have been restored by the care and discernment of Mr. Pope. Warburton. Here is a pompous note to support a conjecture apparently erroneous, and confused by the next scene, in which the account is given for the first time to Albany of Gloster's sufferings. Johnson.

Note return to page 1006 1&lblank; like monsters of the deep.] Fishes are the only animals that are known to prey upon their own species. Johnson.

Note return to page 1007 1&lblank; that not, &c.] The rest of this speech is omitted in the folio. Steevens.

Note return to page 1008 2Proper deformity &lblank;] i. e. Diabolic qualities appear not so horrid in the devil to whom they belong, as in woman who unnaturally assumes them. Warburton.

Note return to page 1009 3Thou changed, and self-cover'd thing, &lblank;] Of these lines there is but one copy, and the editors are forced upon conjecture. They have published this line thus; Thou chang'd, and self-converted thing; but I cannot but think that by self-cover'd the author meant, thou that hast disguised nature by wickedness; thou that hast hid the woman under the fiend. Johnson. This and the next speech are omitted in the folio. Steevens.

Note return to page 1010 4One way, I like this well;] Goneril is well pleased that Cornwall is destroyed, who was preparing war against her and her husband, but is afraid of losing Edmund to the widow. Johnson.

Note return to page 1011 5Scene III.] This scene, left out in all the common books, is restored from the old edition; it being manifestly of Shakespeare's writing, and necessary to continue the story of Cordelia, whose behaviour is here most beautifully painted. Pope. This scene seems to have been left out only to shorten the play, and is necessary to continue the action. It is extant only in the quarto, being omitted in the first folio. I have therefore put it between crotchets. Johnson.

Note return to page 1012 6&lblank; a Gentleman.] The gentleman whom he sent in the foregoing act with letters to Cordelia. Johnson.

Note return to page 1013 7&lblank; her smiles and tears Were like a better day. &lblank;] It is plain, we should read, &lblank; a wetter May. &lblank; i. e. A spring season wetter than ordinary. Warburton. The thought is taken from Sidney's Arcadia, p. 244. “Her tears came dropping down like rain in sunshine.” Cordelia's behaviour on this occasion is apparently copied from Philoclea's. The same book, in another place, says,—“that her tears followed one another like a precious rope of pearl.” The quartos read,—a better way,—which may be an accidental inversion of the M. A better day, however, is the best day, and the best day is a day most favourable to the productions of the earth. Such are the days in which there is a due mixture of rain and sunshine. It must be observed that the comparative is used by Milton and others, instead of the positive and superlative, as well as by Shakespeare himself, in the play before us: “The safer sense will ne'er accommodate “Its master thus.” Again, in Macbeth: “&lblank; it hath cow'd my better part of man.” Again, “&lblank; Go not my horse the better.” Mr. Pope makes no scruple to say of Achilles, that: “The Pelian javelin in his better hand “Shot trembling rays, &c.” i. e. his best hand, his right. Steevens. Doth not Dr. Warburton's alteration infer that Cordelia's sorrow was superior to her patience? But it seem'd that she was a queen over her passion; and the smiles on her lip appeared not to know that tears were in her eyes. Her smiles and tears were like a better day, or like a better May, may signify that they were like such a season where sunshine prevailed over rain. So in All's well that ends Well, Act. V. Sc. iii. we see in the king “sunshine and hail at once, but to the brightest beams distracted clouds give way: the time is fair again, and he is like a day of season,” i. e. a better day. Tollet.

Note return to page 1014 8&lblank; smiles.] The quartos read smilets. This may be a diminutive of Shakespeare's coinage. Steevens.

Note return to page 1015 9As pearls from diamonds dropt. &lblank;] A similar thought to this of Shakespeare, occurs in Middleton's Game at Chess, 1625: “&lblank; the holy dew lies like a pearl “Dropt from the opening eye-lids of the morn “Upon the bashful rose.” Milton has transplanted this image into his Lycidas, “Under the opening eye-lids of the morn,” Steevens.

Note return to page 1016 1Made she no verbal question?] Dr. Warburton would substitute quest, from the Latin questus, i. e. complaint: because, says he, what kind of question could she make but verbal? Steevens. I do not see the impropriety of verbal question: such pleonasms are common. So we say, my ears have heard, my eyes have beheld. Besides, where is the word quest to be found? Johnson. Made she no verbal question?] Means only, Did she enter into no conversation with you? In this sense our poet frequently uses the word question, and not simply as the act of interrogation. Did she give you to understand her meaning by words as well as by the foregoing external testimonies of sorrow? So in All's Well that ends Well: “&lblank; she told me “In a sweet verbal brief, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1017 2Let pity not be believ'd!] i. e. Let not such a thing as pity be supposed to exist! Thus the old copies; but the modern editors have hitherto read, Let pity not believe it! &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 1018 3And clamour-moisten'd &lblank;] It is not impossible but Shakespeare might have formed this fine picture of Cordelia's agony from holy writ, in the conduct of Joseph; who, being no longer able to restrain the vehemence of his affection, commanded all his retinue from his presence; and then wept aloud, and discovered himself to his brethren. Theobald. Clamour moisten'd her;] that is, her out-cries were accompanied with tears. Johnson.

Note return to page 1019 4&lblank; one self mate and mate] The same husband and the same wife. Johnson.

Note return to page 1020 5&lblank; these things sting him, So venomously, that burning shame] The metaphor is here preserved with great knowledge of nature. The venom of poisonous animals being a high caustic salt, that has all the effect of fire upon the part. Warburton.

Note return to page 1021 6'Tis so they are a-foot.] Dr. Warburton thinks it necessary to read, 'tis said; but the sense is plain, So it is that they are on foot. Johnson.

Note return to page 1022 7With hardocks, hemlock, &c.] I do not remember any such plant as a hardock, but one of the most common weeds is a burdock, which I believe should be read here; and so Hanmer reads. Johnson. Hardocks should be harlocks. Thus Drayton in one of his Eclogues: “The honey-suckle, the harlocke, “The lilly, and the lady-smocke, &c.” Farmer. In Markham, of Horses, 1595, a burdock leaf is mentioned, “burdock or charlock may be used.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1023 8Darnel, according to Gerard, is the most hurtful of weeds among corn. It is mentioned in The Witches of Lancashire, 1634: “That cockle, darnel, poppy wild, “May choak his grain, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1024 9&lblank; the means to lead it.] The reason which should guide it. Johnson.

Note return to page 1025 1&lblank; important &lblank;] In other places of this author for importunate. Johnson. The folio reads, importuned. Steevens.

Note return to page 1026 2No blown ambition &lblank;] No inflated, no swelling pride. Beza on the Spanish armada: “Quam bene te ambitio mersit vanissima, ventus, “Et tumidos tumidæ vos superastis aquæ.” Johnson. In the Mad Lover of B. and Fletcher, the same epithet is given to Ambition. Again, in the Little French Lawyer: “I come with no blown spirit to abuse you.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1027 3&lblank; your lady &lblank;] The folio reads, your lord; but lady is the first and better reading. Johnson.

Note return to page 1028 4His nighted life;] i. e. His life made dark as night, by the extinction of his eyes. Steevens.

Note return to page 1029 5Let me unseal, &c.] I know not well why Shakespeare gives the steward, who is a mere factor of wickedness, so much fidelity. He now refuses the letter; and afterwards, when he is dying, thinks only how it may be safely delivered. Johnson.

Note return to page 1030 6She gave strange œiliads, &lblank;] Oeillade, Fr. a cast, or significant glance of the eye. Greene, in his Disputation between a He and She Coney-catcher, 1592: speaks of “amorous glances, smirking ociliades, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1031 7&lblank; I do advise, you, take this note:] Note means in this place not a letter, but a remark. Therefore observe what I am saying. Johnson. Therefore, I do advise you, take this note: My lord is dead; Edmund and I have talk'd; And more convenient is he for my hand, Than for your lady's. You may gather more. If you do find him, pray you give him this; And when your mistress hears thus much from you, I pray, desire her call her wisdom to her.] This passage, by a word's being left out, and a word misplaced, and a full stop put where there should be but a comma, has led all our editors into a very great mistake; as will, I hope, appear, when we proceed a little further in the same play. The emendation is as follows: Therefore I do advise you, * [Footnote: 1Kb]

Note return to page 1032 *The like expression, Twelfth Night, act ii. sc. 4.—“Sir Toby. Challenge me the duke's youth, to fight with him; hurt him in eleven places; my niece shall take note of it.”

Note return to page 1033 8&lblank; You may gather more.] You may infer more than I have directly told you. Johnson.

Note return to page 1034 9What party &lblank;] Quarto, What lady. Johnson.

Note return to page 1035 1Scene VI.] This scene, and the stratagem by which Gloster is cured of his desperation, are wholly borrowed from Sidney's Arcadia. Johnson.

Note return to page 1036 2&lblank; thy voice is alter'd, &c.] Edgar alters his voice in order to pass afterwards for a malignant spirit. Johnson.

Note return to page 1037 3&lblank; How fearful And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low!] This description has been much admired since the time of Addison, who has remarked, with a poor attempt at pleasantry, that “he who can read it without being giddy, has a very good head, or a very bad one.” The description is certainly not mean, but I am far from thinking it wrought to the utmost excellence of poetry. He that looks from a precipice finds himself assailed by one great and dreadful image of irresistible destruction. But this overwhelming idea is dissipated and enfeebled from the instant that the mind can restore itself to the observation of particulars, and diffuse its attention to distinct objects. The enumeration of the choughs and crows, the samphire-man, and the fishers, counteracts the great effect of the prospect, as it peoples the desert of intermediate vacuity, and stops the mind in the rapidity of its descent through emptiness and horror. Johnson. &lblank; dreadful trade!] “Samphire grows in great plenty on most of the sea-cliffs in this country: it is terrible to see how people gather it, hanging by a rope several fathom from the top of the impending rocks as it were in the air.” Smith's Hist. of Waterford, p. 315. edit. 1774. Tollet.

Note return to page 1038 4&lblank; her cock; &lblank;] Her cock-boat. Johnson. So, in the Tragedy of Hoffman, 1637: “&lblank; I caused my lord to leap into the cock, &c.—at last our cock and we were cast ashore.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1039 5Topple down headlong.] To topple is to tumble. The word has been already used in Macbeth. So, in Nash's Lenten-Stuff, &c. 1599: “&lblank; fifty people toppled up their heels there.” Again: “&lblank; he had thought to have toppled his burning car, &c. into the sea.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1040 6&lblank; for all beneath the moon Would I not leap upright.] But what danger is in leaping upwards or downwards? He who leaps thus must needs fall again on his feet upon the place from whence he rose. We should read: Would I not leap outright; i. e. forward: and then being on the verge of a precipice he must needs fall headlong. Warburton. Dr. Warburton would not have written this note, had he recollected a passage in The Wife of Bath's Prologue: “Some let their lechour dight them all the night, “While that the cors lay on the flore upright.” Farmer. So, in Chaucer's Monkes Tale, late edit. v. 14489: “Judith, a woman, as he lay upright “Sleeping, his head of smote, &c.” Again, v. 15048: “And in this carte he lith, gaping upright.” Again, in the Rom. of the Rose: v. 1604: “That made him sith to lie upright.” Upright has the same sense as the Latin supinus. Steevens.9Q1092

Note return to page 1041 7Why do I trifle thus with his despair?— 'Tis done to cure it.] Perhaps the reading of the folio is better,— Why I do trifle thus with his despair, Is done to cure it. Steevens.

Note return to page 1042 8Gone, sir? farewel.] Thus the quartos and folio. The modern editors have been content to read—Good sir, &c. Steevens.

Note return to page 1043 9&lblank; when life itself Yields to the theft. &lblank;] When life is willing to be destroyed. Johnson.

Note return to page 1044 1Thus might he pass, indeed: &lblank;] Thus he might die in reality. We still use the word passing bell. Johnson.

Note return to page 1045 2Hadst thou been aught but gossomer, feathers, air,] Gossomore, the white and cobweb-like exhalations that fly about in hot sunny weather. Skinner says, in a book called The French Gardiner, it signifies the down of the sow-thistle, which is driven to and fro by the wind: “As sure some wonder on the cause of thunder, “On ebb and flood, on gossomer and mist, “And on all things, till that the cause is wist.” Dr. Gray.

Note return to page 1046 3Ten masts at each make not the altitude,] So, Mr. Pope found it in the old editions; and seeing it corrupt, judiciously corrected it to attacht. But Mr. Theobald restores again the old nonsense, at each. Warburton. Mr. Pope's conjecture may stand if the word which he uses were known in our author's time, but I think it is of later introduction. We may say: Ten masts on end &lblank; Johnson. Perhaps we should read—at reach, i. e. extent. In Mr. Rowe's edition it is, Ten masts at least. Steevens.

Note return to page 1047 4&lblank; chalky bourn:] Bourn seems here to signify a hill. Its common signification is a brook. Milton in Comus uses bosky bourn, in the same sense perhaps with Shakespeare. But in both authors it may mean only a boundary. Johnson.

Note return to page 1048 5&lblank; enridged sea.] Thus the 4to. The folio enraged. Steevens.

Note return to page 1049 6&lblank; the clearest gods, &lblank;] The purest; the most free from evil. Johnson.

Note return to page 1050 7Bear free and patient thoughts.] To be melancholy is to have the mind chained down to one painful idea; there is therefore great propriety in exhorting Gloster to free thoughts, to an emancipation of his soul from grief and despair. Johnson.

Note return to page 1051 8The safer sense will ne'er accommodate His master thus.] Without doubt Shakespeare wrote: The sober sense, &lblank; i. e. while the understanding is in a right frame it will never thus accommodate its owner; alluding to Lear's extravagant dress. Thence he concludes him to be mad. Warburton. I read rather: The saner sense will ne'er accommodate His master thus. “Here is Lear, but he must be mad: his sound or sane senses would never suffer him to be thus disguised.” Johnson. I have no doubt but that safer was the poet's word. So, in Measure for Measure: “Nor do I think the man of safe discretion “That does affect it.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1052 9That fellow handles his bow like a crow-keeper.] Mr. Pope in his last edition reads cow-keeper. It is certain we must read crow-keeper. In several counties to this day, they call a stuffed figure, representing a man, and armed with a bow and arrow, set up to fright the crows from the fruit and corn, a crow-keeper, as well as a scare-crow. Theobald. This crow-keeper was so common in the author's time, that it is one of the few peculiarities mentioned by Ortelius in his account of our island. Johnson. So, in the 48th Idea of Drayton: “Or if thou'lt not thy archery forbear, “To some base rustick do thyself prefer; “And when corn's sown, or grown into the ear, “Practise thy quiver and turn crow-keeper.” Mr. Tollet informs me, that Markham in his Farewell to Husbandry, says, that such servants are called field-keepers, or crow-keepers. Steevens.

Note return to page 1053 1Draw me a clothier's yard.] Perhaps the poet had in his mind a stanza of the old ballad of Chevy-Chace: “An arrow of a cloth-yard long,   “Up to the head drew he,” &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1054 2&lblank; the brown bills.] A bill was a kind of battle-axe: “Which is the constable's house? &lblank; “At the sign of the brown bill.” Blurt Mr. Constable, 1602. Again, in Marlow's K. Edw. II. 1622: “Lo, with a band of bowmen and of pikes, “Brown-bills, and targetiers, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1055 3O, well flown, bird!] Lear is here raving of archery, and shooting at buts, as is plain by the words i' the clout, that is, the white mark they set up and aim at: hence the phrase, to hit the white. So that we must read, O, well-flown, barb! i. e. the barbed, or bearded arrow. Warburton. So, in the Two Maids of Moreclacke, 1609: “Change your mark, shoot at a white; come stick me in the clout, sir.” Again, in Tamburlaine, &c. 1590: “For kings are clouts that every man shoots at.” Again, in How to chuse a good Wife from a bad One, 1630: “&lblank; who could miss the clout, “Having such steady aim?” &lblank; The author of The Revisal thinks there can be no impropriety in calling an arrow a bird, from the swiftness of its flight, especially when immediately preceded by the words well-flown: but it appears that well-flown bird was the falconers expression when the hawk was successful in her flight; and is so used in A Woman kill'd with Kindness. Steevens.

Note return to page 1056 4&lblank; Give the word.] Lear supposes himself in a garrison, and before he lets Edgar pass, requires the watch-word. Johnson.

Note return to page 1057 5&lblank; Ha! Goneril!—with a white beard! &lblank;] So reads the folio, properly; the quarto, whom the latter editors have followed, has, Ha! Gonerill, ha! Regan! they flattered me, &c. which is not so forcible. Johnson.

Note return to page 1058 6&lblank; They flattered me like a dog; &lblank;] They played the spaniel to me. Johnson.

Note return to page 1059 7&lblank; When the rain came to wet me, &c.] This seems to be an allusion to king Canute's behaviour when his courtiers flattered him as lord of the sea. Steevens.

Note return to page 1060 8The trick of that voice &lblank;] Trick (says sir Tho. Hanmer) is a word frequently used for the air, or that peculiarity in a face, voice, or gesture, which distinguishes it from others. We still say “&lblank; he has a trick of winking with his eyes, of speaking loud, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1061 1To't luxury, &c.] Luxury was the ancient appropriate term for incontinence. See Mr. Collins's note on Troilus and Cressida. Act V. Sc. ii. Steevens.

Note return to page 1062 2Whose face between her forks &lblank;] i.e. Her hand held before her face in sign of modesty, with the fingers spread out, forky. Warburton. I believe that the forks were two prominences of the ruff rising on each side of the face. Johnson. The construction is not “whose face between her forks. &c.” but “whose face presages snow between her forks.” So in Timon, Act IV. Sc. iii. “Whose blush does thaw the consecrated snow “That lies on Dian's lap.” Canons of Criticism. To preserve the modesty of Mr. Edward's happy explanation, I can only hint a reference to the word fourcheure in Cotgrave's Dictionary. Steevens.

Note return to page 1063 3The fitchew, &lblank;] A polecat. Pope.

Note return to page 1064 4&lblank; nor the soyled horse, &lblank;] I read, stalled horse. Warburton. Soiled horse is probably the same as pampered horse, un cheval soûlé. Johnson. Soyled horse is a term used for a horse that has been fed with hay and corn in the stable during the winter, and is turned out in the spring to take the first flush of grass, or has it cut and carried in to him. This at once cleanses the animal, and fills him with blood. Steevens.

Note return to page 1065 5Down to the waist they're centaurs,] In the Malecontent, is a thought as singular as this: “'Tis now about the immodest waist of night.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1066 6Beneath is all the fiends';] According to Grecian superstition, every limb of us was consigned to the charge of some particular deity. Gower, De Confessione Amantis, enlarges much on it, and concludes by saying: “And Venus throughe the letcherie “For whiche thei hir deifie, “She kept all doune the remenant “To thilke office appertainant.” Collins.

Note return to page 1067 7What, with the case of eyes?] Mr. Rowe changed the into this, but without necessity. I have restored the old reading. The case of eyes is the socket of either eye. Statius in his first Thebaid, has a similar expression. Speaking of Oedipus he says:   “Tunc vacuos orbes crudum ac miserabile vitæ   “Supplicium, ostentat cœlo, manibusque cruentis   “Pulsat inane solum. “Inane solum, i. e. vacui oculorum loci.” Shakespeare has the expression again in the Winter's Tale: “&lblank; they seem'd almost, with staring on one another, to tear the cases of their eyes.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1068 8Robes, and furr'd gowns, hide all. &lblank;] From hide all to accuser's lips, the whole passage is wanting in the first edition, being added, I suppose, at his revisal. Johnson.

Note return to page 1069 9&lblank; I'll able 'em:] An old phrase signifying to qualify, or uphold them. So Scogan, contemporary with Chaucer, says: “Set all my life after thyne ordinance, “And able me to mercie or thou deme. But the Oxford Editor alters it to absolve. Warburton. So Chapman, in his comedy of The Widow's Tears, 1612. “Admitted! ay, into her heart, and I'll able it.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1070 1Thou know'st, the first time that we smell the air, We wawle and cry. &lblank;] “Vagitûque locum lugubri complet, ut æquum est “Cui tantum in vitâ restat transire malorum.” Lucretius. Steevens.

Note return to page 1071 2&lblank; This a good block?] I do not see how this block corresponds either with his foregoing or following train of thoughts. Madmen think not wholly at random. I would read thus, a good flock. Flocks are wool moulded together. The sentence then follows properly: It were a delicate stratagem to shoe A troop of horse with felt; &lblank; i. e. with flocks kneaded to a mass, a practice I believe sometimes used in former ages, for it is mentioned in Ariosto: “&lblank; Fece nel cader strepito quanto “Avesse avuto sotto i piedi il feltro.” It is very common for madmen to catch an accidental hint, and strain it to the purpose predominant in their minds. Lear picks up a flock, and immediately thinks to surprize his enemies by a troop of horse shod with flocks or felt. Yet block may stand, if we suppose that the sight of a block put him in mind of mounting his horse. Johnson. &lblank; This a good block? &lblank;] Dr. Johnson's explanation of this passage is very ingenious; but, I believe, there is no occasion to adopt it, as the speech itself, or at least the action that should accompany it, will furnish all the connection which he has sought from an extraneous circumstance. Upon the king's saying, I will preach to thee, the poet seems to have meant him to pull off his hat, and keep turning it and feeling it, in the attitude of one of the preachers of those times (whom I have seen so represented in ancient prints) till the idea of felt, which the good hat or block was made of, raises the stratagem in his brain of shoeing a troop of horse with a substance soft as that which he held and moulded between his hands. This makes him start from his preachment.— Block anciently signified the head part of the hat, or the thing on which a hat is formed, and sometimes the hat itself.—See Much Ado about Nothing: “He weares his faith but as the fashion of his hat; it changes with the next block.” Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Wit at several Weapons: “I am so haunted with this broad-brim'd hat “Of the last progress block, with the young hatband.” Greene, in his Defence of Coney-catching, 1592, describing a neat companion, says, “he weareth a hat of a high blocke, and a broad brimme.” So in The Reverger's Tragedy, 1608: “His head will be made serve a bigger block.” So in Decker's Honest Whore, 1635: “&lblank; we have blocks for all heads.” Again, in Green's Tu Quoque, 1599: “&lblank; Where did you buy your felt? “Nay, never laugh, for you're in the same block.” Again, in Law Tricks, &c. 1608: “I cannot keep a block private, but every citizen's son thrusts his head into it.” Again, in Histriomastix, 1610: “Your hat is of a better block than mine.” Again, in The Martial Maid of Beaumont and Fletcher: “Tho' now your block-head be cover'd with a Spanish block.” Again, in the Two Merry Milkmaids, 1620: “&lblank; my haberdasher has a new block, and will find me and all my generation in beavers, &c.” Again, in Decker's Gul's Hornbook, 1609: “&lblank; that cannot observe the time of his hatband, nor know what fashion'd block is most kin to his head; for in my opinion, the braine that cannot chuse his felt well, &c.” Again, in Run and a great Cast, an ancient collection of Epigrams, 4to, without date. Epigram 46. In Sextinum: “A pretty blocke Sextinus names his hat; “So much the fitter for his head by that.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1072 2The natural fool of fortune.] So, in Romeo and Juliet: “O, I am fortune's fool! Steevens.

Note return to page 1073 3&lblank; a man of salt,] Would make a man melt away like salt in wet weather. Johnson. I believe, a man of salt is a man made up of tears. In All's Well that Ends Well, we meet with—your salt tears' head; and in Troilus and Cressida, the salt of broken tears. Again, in Coriolanus: “He has betray'd your business, and giv'n up, “For certain drops of salt, your city Rome.” Malone.

Note return to page 1074 4Gent. Good sir, &lblank;] These words I have restored from one of the quartos. In the other, they are omitted. The folio reads: &lblank; a smug bridegroom &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 1075 5Then there's life in't. &lblank;] The case is not yet desperate. Johnson.

Note return to page 1076 7&lblank; the main descry Stands on the hourly thought.] The main body is expected to be descry'd every hour. The expression is harsh. Johnson.

Note return to page 1077 8&lblank; made tame to fortune's blows.] The quartos read: &lblank; made lame by fortune's blows. Steevens.

Note return to page 1078 9Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows,] i. e. Sorrows past and present; but the Oxford Editor loses all this sense by altering it to, &lblank; knowing and feeling. Warburton.

Note return to page 1079 1Briefly thyself remember. &lblank;] i. e. Quickly recollect the past offences of thy life, and recommend thyself to heaven. Warburton.

Note return to page 1080 2&lblank; go your gait, &lblank;] Gang your gate is a common expression in the North. In the last rebellion, when the Scotch soldiers had finished their exercise, instead of our term of dismission, their phrase was, gang your gaits. Steevens.

Note return to page 1081 3&lblank; che vor'ye, &lblank;] I warn you. Edgar counterfeits the western dialect. Johnson.

Note return to page 1082 4&lblank; your costard, &lblank;] Costard, i. e. head. So, in K. Rich. III: “Take him over the costard with the hilt of thy sword.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1083 5&lblank; my bat,] i. e. club. So, in Spenser: “&lblank; a handsome bat he held “On which he leaned, as one far in eld.” So, in Mucedorus, 1668: “With this my bat I will beat out thy brains.” Again, in the Pinner of Wakefield, 1599: “&lblank; let every thing be ready, “And each of you a good bat on his neck.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1084 6&lblank; no matter vor your foins.] To foyn, is to make what we call a thrust in fencing. Shakespeare often uses the word. Steevens.

Note return to page 1085 7To know our enemies' minds, we rip their hearts; Their papers are more lawful.] This is darkly expressed: the meaning is, Our enemies are put upon the rack, and torn in pieces to extort confession of their secrets; to tear open their letters is more lawful. Warburton. The quarto reads, we'd rip their hearts, and so I have printed it. Steevens.

Note return to page 1086 8&lblank; affectionate servant.] After servant, one of the quartos has this strange continuation: “&lblank; and for you her owne for venter, Gonorill.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1087 9O undistinguish'd space of woman's wit!] So the first quarto reads, but the first folio better, will. I have no idea of the meaning of the first reading, but the other is extremely satirical; the varium & mutabile semper, of Virgil, more strongly and happily expressed. The mutability of a woman's will, which is so sudden, that there is no space or distance between the present will and the next. Honest Sancho explains this thought with infinite humour, Entre el si y el no de la muger, no me atreveria yo à poner una punta d'alfiler. Between a woman's yes and no I would not undertake to thrust a pin's point. Warburton.

Note return to page 1088 1Thee I'll rake up, &lblank;] I'll cover thee. In Staffordshire, to rake the fire, is to cover it with fuel for the night. Johnson.

Note return to page 1089 2&lblank; the death-practis'd duke:] The duke of Albany, whose death is machinated by practice or treason. Johnson.

Note return to page 1090 3&lblank; and have ingenious feeling] Ingenious feeling signifies a feeling from an understanding not disturbed or disordered, but which, representing things as they are, makes the sense of pain the more exquisite. Warburton.

Note return to page 1091 4&lblank; sever'd &lblank;] The quartos read fenced. Steevens.

Note return to page 1092 4&lblank; every measure fail me.] All good which I shall allot thee, or measure out to thee, will be scanty. Johnson.

Note return to page 1093 5Be better suited:] i. e. Be better drest, put on a better suit of cloaths. Steevens.

Note return to page 1094 6These weeds are memories of those worser hours;] Memories, i. e. Memorials, remembrancers. Shakespeare uses the word in the same sense, As You Like It, act II. sc. 3: “O, my sweet master! O you memory “Of old sir Rowland!” &lblank; Steevens. So, in Stowe's Survey of London, 1618: “A printed memorie hanging up in a table at the entrance into the church-door.” Malone.

Note return to page 1095 7&lblank; shortens my made intent;] There is a dissonancy of terms in made intent; one implying the idea of a thing done, the other, undone. I suppose Shakespeare wrote—laid intent, i. e. projected. Warburton. An intent made, is an intent formed. So we say in common language, to make a design, and to make a resolution. Johnson.

Note return to page 1096 8Of this child-changed father!] i. e. Changed to a child by his years and wrongs; or perhaps, reduced to this condition by his children. Steevens.

Note return to page 1097 9Ay, madam, &c.] The folio gives these four lines to a Gentleman. One of the quartos (they were both printed in the same year, and for the same printer) gives the two first to the Doctor, and the two next to Kent. The other quarto appropriates the two first to the Doctor, and the two following ones to a Gentleman. I have given the two first, which best belong to an attendant, to the Gentleman in waiting, and the other two to the Physician, on account of the caution contained in them, which is more suitable to his profession. Steevens.

Note return to page 1098 1Very well.] This and the following line I have restored from the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 1099 2&lblank; Restoration, hang Thy medicine on my lips; &lblank;] This is fine. She invokes the goddess of health, Hygieia, under the name of Restauration, to make her the minister of her rites, in this holy office of recovering her father's lost senses. Warburton. Restoration is no more than recovery personified. Steevens.

Note return to page 1100 3The lines within the asterisks are omitted in the folio.

Note return to page 1101 4&lblank; To watch (poor perdue:) With this thin helm?] It ought to be read and pointed thus: &lblank; To watch, poor perdu! With this thin helm? &lblank; The allusion is to the forlorn-hope in an army, which are put upon desperate adventures, and called in French enfans perdus; she therefore calls her father, poor perdu; perdue, which is the common reading, being the feminine. These enfans perdus being always slightly and badly armed, is the reason that she adds, With this thin helm? i. e. bareheaded. Warburton. Dr. Warburton's explanation of the word perdu is just, though the latter part of his assertion has not the least foundation. Paulus Jovius, speaking of the body of men who were anciently sent on this desperate adventure, says, “Hos ab immoderata fortitudine perditos vocant, et in summo honore atque admiratione habent.” It is not likely that those who deserved so well of their country for exposing themselves to certain danger, should be sent out, summa admiratione, and yet slightly and badly armed. The same allusion occurs in sir W. Davenant's Love and Honour, 1649: “&lblank; I have endur'd “Another night would tire a perdu, “More than a wet furrow and a great frost.” Again, in Cartwright's Ordinary: “&lblank; as for perdues, “Some choice sous'd fish brought couchant in a dish “Among some sennel or some other grass, “Shews how they lye i' th' field.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1102 5&lblank; Mine enemy's dog,] Thus the folio. Both the quartos read, Mine injurious dog. Possibly the poet wrote,—Mine injurer's dog. Steevens.

Note return to page 1103 6Had not concluded all. &lblank;] All what? we should read and point it thus: Had not concluded.—Ah! &lblank; An exclamation on perceiving her father wake. Warburton. The plain construction is this: It is wonder that thy wits and life had not all ended. Johnson. So, in Spenser's Faery Queen, c. viii: “Ne spared they to strip her naked all.” Again, in Timon: “And dispossess her all.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1104 7I am mightily abus'd. &lblank;] I am strangely imposed on by appearances; I am in a strange mist of uncertainty. Johnson.

Note return to page 1105 8No, sir you must not kneel.] This circumstance I find in the old play on the same subject, apparently written by another hand, and published before any edition of Shakespeare's tragedy had made its appearance. As it is always difficult to say whether these accidental resemblances proceed from imitation, or a similarity of thinking on the same occasion, I can only point out this to the reader, to whose determination I leave the question. Steevens.

Note return to page 1106 9Pray do not mock me.] So, in the Winter's Tale, act V: “&lblank; Let no man mock me, “For I will kiss her.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1107 1I fear, I am not in my perfect mind.] The quarto reads: I fear, I am not perfect in my mind. Johnson. So one of the quartos. The other reads according to the present text. Steevens.

Note return to page 1108 2&lblank; is cur'd &lblank;] Thus the quartos. The folio reads, &lblank; is kill'd. Steevens.

Note return to page 1109 3And yet, &c.] This is not in the folio. Johnson.

Note return to page 1110 4To make him even o'er the time &lblank;] i. e. To reconcile it to his apprehension. Warburton.

Note return to page 1111 5What is printed in crotchets is not in the folio. It is at least proper if not necessary; and was omitted by the author, I suppose, for no other reason than to shorten the representation. Johnson.

Note return to page 1112 6&lblank; of alteration,] One of the quartos reads, &lblank; of abdication. Steevens.

Note return to page 1113 7&lblank; his constant pleasure.] His settled resolution. Johnson.

Note return to page 1114 8But have you never, &c.] The first and last of these speeches, printed within crotchets, are inserted in Sir Thomas Hanmer's, Theobald's, and Dr. Warburton's editions; the two intermediate ones, which were omitted in all others, I have restored from the old quartos, 1608. Whether they were left out through negligence, or because the imagery contained in them might be thought too luxuriant, I cannot determine; but sure a material injury is done to the character of the Bastard by the omission; for he is made to deny that flatly at first, which the poet only meant to make him evade, or return slight answers to, till he is urged so far as to be obliged to shelter himself under an immediate falshood. Query, however, whether Shakespeare meant us to believe that Edmund had actually found his way to the forefended place. Steevens.

Note return to page 1115 9&lblank; fore-fended place?] Fore-fended means prohibited, forbidden. Steevens.

Note return to page 1116 1&lblank; bosom'd with her, &lblank;] Bosom'd is used in this sense by Heywood, in The Fair Maid of the West, 1631: “We'll crown our hopes and wishes with more pomp “And sumptuous cost, than Priam did his son “That night he bosom'd Helen.” Again, in Heywood's Silver Age, 1613: “With fair Alcmena, she that never bosom'd “Mortal, save thee.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1117 2Sir, this I hear, &lblank; to &lblank; make oppose, &lblank;] This is a very plain speech, and the meaning is, The king, and others whom we have opposed are come to Cordelia. I could never be valiant but in a just quarrel. We must distinguish; it is just in one sense and unjust in another. As France invades our land I am concerned to repel him, but as he holds, entertains, and supports the king, and others whom I fear many just and heavy causes make, or compel, as it were, to oppose us, I esteem it unjust to engage against them. This speech, thus interpreted according to the common reading, is likewise very necessary: for otherwise Albany, who is characterised as a man of honour and observer of justice, gives no reason for going to war with those, whom he owns had been much injured under the countenance of his power. Notwithstanding this, Mr. Theobald, by an unaccountable turn of thought, reads the fourth line thus, I never yet was valiant: 'fore this business, &c. puts the two last lines in a parenthesis, and then paraphrases the whole in this manner. “Sir, it concerns me (though not the king and the discontented party) to question about your interest in our sister, and the event of the war.” What he means by this I am not able to find out; but he gives a reason why his reading and sense should be preferred. And Regan and Goneril in their replies seem both apprehensive that this subject was coming into debate. Now all that we can collect from their replies is, that they were apprehensive he was going to blame their cruelty to Lear, Gloster, and others; which it is plain from the common reading and the sense of the last line, he was. Most just and heavy causes make oppose. &lblank; Warburton.

Note return to page 1118 3What is within the crotchets is omitted in the folio. Steevens.

Note return to page 1119 4&lblank; Where I could not be honest, I never yet was valiant: &lblank;] This sentiment has already appear'd in Cymbeline: Thou may'st be valiant in a better cause, But now thou seem'st a coward. Steevens.

Note return to page 1120 5Not bolds the king; &lblank;] The quartos read bolds, and this may be the true reading. This business (says Albany) touches us as France invades our land, not as it bolds the king, &c. i. e. emboldens him to assert his former title. Thus in the antient interlude of Hycke Scorner, “Alas, that I had not one to bold me!” Steevens.

Note return to page 1121 6For these domestic and particular broils] This is the reading of the folio. The quartos have it, For these domestic doore particulars. Steevens.

Note return to page 1122 7Are not to question here.] Thus the quartos. The folio reads, Are not the question here. Steevens.

Note return to page 1123 8Edm.] This speech is wanting in the folio.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1124 9Here is the guess, &c.] The modern editors read, Hard is the guess. So the quartos. But had the discovery been diligent, the guess could not have proved so difficult. I have given the true reading from the folio. Steevens.

Note return to page 1125 1We will greet the time.] We will be ready to meet the occasion. Johnson.

Note return to page 1126 2&lblank; carry out my side.] Bring my purpose to a successful issue, to completion. Side seems here to have the sense of the French word partie, in prendre partie, to take his resolution. Johnson. So in the Honest Man's Fortune by B. and Fletcher: “&lblank; and carry out “A world of evils with thy title.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1127 3&lblank; for my state Stands on me, &c.] I do not think that for stands in this place as a word of inference or causality. The meaning is rather: Such is my determination concerning Lear; as for my state it requires now, not deliberation, but defence and support. Johnson.

Note return to page 1128 4The reader, who is curious to know how far Shakespeare was indebted to the Arcadia, will find a chapter entitled,— “The pitifull State and Storie of the Paphlagonian unkinde King, and his kinde Sonne; first related by the Sonne, then by the blind father.” P. 141. edit. 1590. quarto. Steevens.

Note return to page 1129 5Ripeness is all. &lblank;] i. e. To be ready, prepared, is all. The same sentiment occurs in Hamlet, scene the last: “&lblank; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1130 6And that's true too.] Omitted in the quarto. Steevens.

Note return to page 1131 7And take upon us the mystery of things, As if we were God's spies. &lblank;] As if we were angels commissioned to survey and report the lives of men, and were consequently endowed with the power of prying into the original motives of action and the mysteries of conduct. Johnson.

Note return to page 1132 8&lblank; packs and sects &lblank;] Packs is used for combinations or collection, as is a pack of cards. For sects, I think sets might be more commodiously read. So we say, affairs are now managed by a new set. Sect, however, may well stand. Johnson.

Note return to page 1133 9Upon such sacrifices my Cordelia, The gods themselves throw incense. &lblank;] The thought is extremely noble, and expressed in a sublime of imagery that Seneca fell short of on the like occasion. “Ecce spectaculum dignum ad quod respiciat intentus operi suo deus: ecce par deo dignum, vir fortis cum mala fortuna compositus.” Warburton.

Note return to page 1134 1And fire us hence, like foxes. &lblank;] I have been informed that it is usual to smoke foxes out of their holes. So, in Harrington's translation of Ariosto, book xxvii. stan. 17; “Ev'n as a foxe whom smoke and fire doth fright “So as he dare not in the ground remaine, “Bolts out, and through the smoke and fire he flieth “Into the tarier's mouth and there he dieth.” Again, in Every Man out of his Humour: “&lblank; my walk, and all, “You smoke me from, as if I were a fox.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1135 2The goujeers shall devour them, &lblank;] The goujeers, i. e. Morbus Gallicus. Gouge, Fr. signifies one of the common women attending a camp; and as that disease was first dispersed over Europe by the French army, and the women who followed it, the first name it obtained among us was the gougeries, i. e. the disease of the gouges. Hanmer. The resolute John Florio has sadly mistaken these goujeers. He writes “With a good yeare to thee!” and gives it in Italian, “Il mai' anno che dio ti dia.” Farmer.

Note return to page 1136 3&lblank; flesh and fell,] Flesh and skin. Johnson. &lblank; flesh and fell,] So, Skelton's works, p. 257. “Nakyd asyde “Neither flesh nor fell.” Chaucer uses fell and bones for skin and bones: “And said that he and all his kinne at once, “Were worthy to be brent with fell and bone.” Troilus and Cresseide. Gray. In the Dyar's Play, among the Chester Collection of Mysteries, in the Museum, Antichrist says: “I made thee man of flesh and fell.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1137 4&lblank; Thy great employment Will not bear question; &lblank;] Mr. Theobald could not let this alone, but would alter it to &lblank; My great employment, Because (he says) the person spoken to was of no higher degree than a captain. But he mistakes the meaning of the words. By great employment was meant the commission given him for the murder; and this, the Bastard tells us afterwards, was signed by Goneril and himself. Which was sufficient to make this captain unaccountable for the execution. Warburton. The meaning, I apprehend, is, not that the captain was not accountable for what he was about to do, but, that the important business he now had in hand, did not admit of debate: he must instantly resolve to do it, or not. Question, here, as in many other places in these plays, signifies discourse—conversation. See Hamlet, act I: “Thou com'st in such a questionable shape.” —and the note there. Malone.

Note return to page 1138 5I cannot draw, &c.] These two lines I have restored from the old quarto. Steevens.

Note return to page 1139 6And turn our imprest lances in our eyes,] i. e. Turn the launcemen which are press'd into our service, against us. So, in Antony and Cleopatra, act III. sc. vii: “&lblank; people “Ingrost by swift impress” Steevens.

Note return to page 1140 7At this time, &c.] This passage, well worthy of restoration, is omitted in the folio. Johnson.

Note return to page 1141 8Requires a fitter place.] i. e. The determination of the question what shall be done with Cordelia and her father, should be reserved for greater privacy. Steevens.

Note return to page 1142 9Bore the commission of &lblank;] Commission, for authority. Warburton.

Note return to page 1143 1The which immediacy &lblank;] Immediacy, for representation. Warburton. Immediacy is rather supremacy in opposition to subordination, which has quiddam medium between itself and power. Johnson.

Note return to page 1144 2in his own grace &lblank;] Grace here means accomplishments, or honours. Steevens.

Note return to page 1145 3The eye that told you so, look'd but a-squint.] Alluding to the proverb: “Love being jealous makes a good eye look asquint.” See Ray's Collection. Steevens.

Note return to page 1146 4&lblank; the walls are thine:] A metaphorical phrase taken from the camp, and signifying, to surrender at discretion. But the Oxford Editor, for a plain reason alters it to: &lblank; they all are thine. Warburton.

Note return to page 1147 5The let alone lies not in your good will.] Whether he shall not or shall depends not on your choice. Johnson.

Note return to page 1148 6&lblank; thy arrest.] The quartos read—thine attaint. Steevens.

Note return to page 1149 7An interlude! &lblank;.] This short exclamation of Goneril is added in the folio edition, I suppose, only to break the speech of Albany, that the exhibition on the stage might be more distinct and intelligible. Johnson.

Note return to page 1150 8&lblank; thy person.] The quartos read—thy head. Steevens.

Note return to page 1151 9&lblank; poison.] The folio reads medicine. Steevens.

Note return to page 1152 1&lblank; a herald.] This speech I have restored from the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 1153 2Sound trumpet.] I have added this from the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 1154 3&lblank; within the lists of the army, &lblank;] The quartos read: &lblank; within the host of the army. &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 1155 2Yet am I noble, &c.] One of the quartos reads: &lblank; yet are I mou't Where is the adversarie I come to cope withal? &lblank; are I mou't, is, I suppose, a corruption of—ere I move it. Steevens.

Note return to page 1156 3Behold, it is the privilege of mine honours, My oath, and my profession. &lblank;] The charge he is here going to bring against the Bastard, he calls the privilege, &c. To understand which phraseology, we must consider that the old rites of knighthood are here alluded to; whose oath and profession required him to discover all treasons, and whose privilege it was to have his challenge accepted, or otherwise to have his charge taken pro confesso. For if one who was no knight accused another who was, that other was under no obligation to accept the challenge. On this account it was necessary, as Edgar came disguised, to tell the Bastard he was a knight. Warburton. The privilege of this oath means the privilege gained by taking the oath administered in the regular initiation of a knight professed. Johnson. The quartos read,—it is the privilege of my tongue. Steevens.

Note return to page 1157 4Conspirant 'gainst &lblank;.] The quartos read: Conspicuate 'gainst &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 1158 5And that thy tongue some 'say of breathing breathes;] 'Say, for essay, some shew or probability. Pope. Say is sample, a taste. So, in Sidney: “So good a say invites the eye “A little downward to espy &lblank;” Again, in the Preface to Maurice Kyffin's translation of the Andria of Terence, 1588: “Some other like places I could recite, but these shall suffice for a say.” Again, in Revenge for Honour, by Chapman: “&lblank; But pray do not “Take the first say of her yourselves &lblank;” Again, in The Unnatural Combat, by Massinger: “&lblank; or to take “A say of venison or stale fowl &lblank;” Again, in Holinshed, p. 847: “He (C. Wolsey) made dukes and erles to serve him of wine, with a say taken, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1159 6Alb. Save him, save him! Gon. This is mere practice, Gloster:] Thus all the copies; but I have ventured to place the two hemistichs to Goneril. 'Tis absurd that Albany, who knew Edmund's treasons, and his own wife's passion for him, should be solicitous to have his life saved. Theobald. He desired that Edmund's life might be spared at present, only to obtain his confession, and to convict him openly by his own letter. Johnson.

Note return to page 1160 7&lblank; thou wast not bound to answer] One of the quartos reads: &lblank; thou art not bound to offer, &c. Steevens.

Note return to page 1161 8Monster, know'st thou this paper?] So the quarto; but the folio: Most monstrous! O, know'st thou, &c. Johnson. “Knowest thou these letters?” says Leir to Ragan, in the old anonymous play, when he shews her both her own and her sister's letters, which were written to procure his death. Upon which she snatches the letters and tears them. Steevens.

Note return to page 1162 1Let us exchange charity.] Our author by negligence gives his heathens the sentiments and practices of christianity. In Hamlet there is the same solemn act of final reconciliation, but with exact propriety, for the personages are Christians: “Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet, &c.” Johnson.

Note return to page 1163 2&lblank; to scourge us:] Thus the quartos. The folio reads: &lblank; to plague us. Steevens.

Note return to page 1164 3&lblank; full circle; &lblank;.] Quarto, full circled. Johnson.

Note return to page 1165 4That we the pain of death would hourly bear, Rather than die at once) &lblank;] The folio reads, That we the pain of death would hourly die. Mr. Pope, whom I have followed, reads, &lblank; would hourly bear. The quartos give the passage thus: That with the pain of death would hourly die, Rather than die at once) &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 1166 5Edg.] The lines between crotchets are not in the folio. Johnson.

Note return to page 1167 6&lblank; This would have seem'd a period To such as love not sorrow: but another, To amplify too much, would make much more, And top extremity! &lblank; The reader easily sees that this reflection refers to the Bastard's desiring to hear more; and to Albany's thinking he had said enough. But it is corrupted into miserable nonsense. We should read it thus: This would have seem'd a period. But such As love to amplify another's sorrow, To much, would make much more, and top extremity. i. e. This to a common humanity would have been thought the utmost of my sufferings; but such as love cruelty are always for adding much to more, till they reach the extremity of misery. Warburton. The sense may probably be this. This would have seemed a period to such as love not sorrow; but,—another, i. e. but I must add another, i. e. another period, another kind of conclusion to my story, such as will increase the horrors of what has been already told. So in King Richard II: I play the torturer, by small and small, To lengthen out the worst &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 1168 7&lblank; threw him on my father;] The quartos read, “&lblank; threw me on my father.” The modern editors have corrected the passage, as it is now printed. Steevens.

Note return to page 1169 8&lblank; O! she's dead!] Omitted in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 1170 9Who, man, speak?] The folio reads, Who dead? speak man. Steevens.

Note return to page 1171 1This judgment, &c.] If Shakespeare had studied Aristotle all his life, he would not perhaps have been able to mark with more precision the distinct operations of terror and pity. Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 1172 2Here comes Kent, sir.] The manner in which Edgar here mentions Kent, seems to require the lines which are inserted from the first edition in the foregoing scene. Johnson.

Note return to page 1173 3Give it the captain.] The quartos read: &lblank; Take my sword, the captain, Give it the captain. &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 1174 4That she fordid herself.] To fordo, signifies to destroy. It is used again in Hamlet, act V: “&lblank; did, with desperate hand, “Fordo his own life. &lblank; Steevens.

Note return to page 1175 5&lblank; Cordelia dead in his arms.] This princess, according to the old historians, retired with victory from the battle which she conducted in her father's cause, and thereby replaced him on the throne: but in a subsequent one fought against her (after the death of the old king) by the sons of Goneril and Regan, she was taken, and died miserably in prison. The poet found this in history, and was therefore willing to precipitate her death, which he knew had happened but a few years after. The dramatic writers of this age suffered as small a number of their heroes and heroines to escape as possible; nor could the filial piety of this lady, any more than the innocence of Ophelia, prevail on Shakespeare to extend her life beyond her misfortunes. Steevens.

Note return to page 1176 6Or image, &c.] These two exclamations are given to Edgar and Albany in the folio, to animate the dialogue, and employ all the persons on the stage; but they are very obscure. Johnson. Or image of that horror?] In the first folio this short speech of Edgar (which seems to be only an addition to the preceding one of Kent) has a full stop at the end. Is this conclusion, says Kent, such as the present turn of affairs seemed to promise? Or is it only, replies Edgar, a representation of that horror which we suppose to be real? A similar expression occurs at the beginning of the play.— I have told you what I have seen and heard, but faintly; nothing like the image and horror of it. Steevens.

Note return to page 1177 7Fall, and cease!] This exclamation of Albany, like the other, may have a meaning affixed to it. He is looking with attention on the pains employed by Lear to recover his child, and knows to what miseries he must survive, when he finds them to be ineffectual. Having these images present to his eyes and imagination, he cries out, Rather fall, and cease to be, at once, than continue in existence only to be wretched. So, in All's Well, &c. to cease is used for to die: and in Hamlet, the death of majesty is called “the cease of majesty.” Again, in All's Well that Ends Well: “Or, ere they meet, in me, O nature, cease! “Both suffer under this complaint you bring, “And both shall cease, without your remedy.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1178 8This feather stirs; &lblank;] So, in Vittoria Corombona, 1612: “Fetch a looking-glass, see if his breath will not stain it; or pull some feathers from my pillow, and lay them to his lips.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1179 9I have seen the day, with my good biting faulchion I would have made them skip &lblank;] It is difficult for an author who never peruses his first works, to avoid repeating some of the same thoughts in his later productions. What Lear has just said, had been anticipated by Justice Shallow in the Merry Wives of Windsor: “I have seen the time with my long sword I would have made you four tall fellows skip like rats.” It is again repeated in Othello: “&lblank; I have seen the day “That with this little arm and this good sword “I have made my way, &c.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1180 1This is a dull sight. &lblank;] This passage is wanting in the quartos. Steevens.

Note return to page 1181 2&lblank; of difference and decay,] Decay for misfortunes. Warburton. The quartos read: That from your life of difference and decay. Steevens.

Note return to page 1182 3&lblank; fore-doom'd themselves,] Thus the quartos. The folio reads,—fordone. Have fore-doom'd themselves is—have anticipated their own doom. To fordo is to destroy. So, in Taylor, the water-poet's character of a strumpet: “So desperately had ne'er fordone themselves.” Again, in A Warning for faire Women, &c. 1599: “Speak; who has done this deed? thou hast not fordone thyself, hast thou?” Steevens.

Note return to page 1183 4&lblank; he says.] The quartos read—he sees, which may be right. Steevens.

Note return to page 1184 5What comfort to this great decay, may come,] Decay, for desolation. Warburton. This great decay is Lear, whom Shakespeare poetically calls so, and means the same as if he had said, this piece of decay'd royalty, this ruin'd majesty. Steevens.

Note return to page 1185 6With boot, &lblank;] With advantage, with increase. Johnson.

Note return to page 1186 7And my poor fool is hang'd &lblank;] This is an expression of tenderness for his dead Cordelia (not his fool, as some have thought) on whose lips he is still intent, and dies away while he is searching for life there. Steevens.9Q1094

Note return to page 1187 8Pray you, undo this button. &lblank;] The rev. Dr. J. Warton judiciously observes, that the swelling and heaving of the heart is described by this most expressive circumstance. So, in the Honest Lawyer, 1619: “&lblank; oh my heart! &lblank; “It beats so it has broke my buttons.” Again, in K. Richard III: “&lblank; Ah, cut my lace asunder, “That my pent heart may have some scope to beat, “Or else I swoon with this dead-killing news!” Again, in The Winter's Tale: “O, cut my lace; lest my heart, cracking it, “Break too!” &lblank; and, as Mr. Malone adds, from N. Field's Feild's A Woman's a Weathercock, 1612: “&lblank; swell heart! buttons fly open! “Thanks gentle doublet,—else my heart had broke.” Steevens.

Note return to page 1188 9&lblank; this tough world.] Thus all the old copies. Mr. Pope changed it to rough, but, perhaps, without necessity. This tough world is this obdurate rigid world. Steevens.

Note return to page 1189 1&lblank; Friends of my soul, &lblank;] A Spanish phrase. Amigo de mi alma. Warburton.

Note return to page 1190 2&lblank; I must not say, no.] The modern editors have supposed that Kent expires after he has repeated these two last lines; but the speech rather appears to be meant for a despairing than a dying man; and as the old editions give no marginal direction for his death, I have forborn to insert any. I take this opportunity of retracting a declaration which I had formerly made on the faith of another person, viz. that the quartos, 1608, were exactly alike. I have since discovered that they vary one from another in many instances. Steevens.

Note return to page 1191 3The weight of this sad time, &c.] This speech from the authority of the old quarto is rightly placed to Albany: in the edition by the players, it is given to Edgar, by whom, I doubt not, it was of custom spoken. And the case was this: he who played Edgar, being a more favourite actor than he who performed Albany, in spite of decorum it was thought proper he should have the last word. Theobald.

Note return to page 1192 THE tragedy of Lear is deservedly celebrated among the dramas of Shakespeare. There is perhaps no play which keeps the attention so strongly fixed; which so much agitates our passions and interests our curiosity. The artful involutions of distinct interests, the striking opposition of contrary characters, the sudden changes of fortune, and the quick succession of events, fill the mind with a perpetual tumult of indignation, pity, and hope. There is no scene which does not contribute to the aggravation of the distress or conduct of the action, and scarce a line which does not conduce to the progress of the scene. So powerful is the current of the poet's imagination, that the mind, which once ventures within it, is hurried irresistibly along. On the seeming improbability of Lear's conduct, it may be observed, that he is represented according to histories at that time vulgarly received as true. And, perhaps, if we turn our thoughts upon the barbarity and ignorance of the age to which this story is referred, it will appear not so unlikely as while we estimate Lear's manners by our own. Such preference of one daughter to another, or resignation of dominion on such conditions, would be yet credible, if told of a petty prince of Guinea or Madagascar. Shakespeare, indeed, by the mention of his earls and dukes, has given us the idea of times more civilized, and of life regulated by softer manners; and the truth is, that though he so nicely discriminates, and so minutely describes the characters of men, he commonly neglects and confounds the characters of ages, by mingling customs ancient and modern, English and foreign. My learned friend Mr. Warton, who has in the Adventurer very minutely criticised this play, remarks, that the instances of cruelty are too savage and shocking, and that the intervention of Edmund destroys the simplicity of the story. These objections may, I think, be answered, by repeating, that the cruelty of the daughters is an historical fact, to which the poet has added little, having only drawn it into a series by dialogue and action. But I am not able to apologize with equal plausibility for the extrusion of Gloster's eyes, which seems an act too horrid to be endured in dramatic exhibition, and such as must always compel the mind to relieve its distress by incredulity. Yet let it be remembered that our author well knew what would please the audience for which he wrote. The injury done by Edmund to the simplicity of the action is abundantly recompensed by the addition of variety, by the art with which he is made to co-operate with the chief design, and the opportunity which he gives the poet of combining perfidy with perfidy, and connecting the wicked son with the wicked daughters, to impress this important moral, that villainy is never at a stop, that crimes lead to crimes, and at last terminate in ruin. But though this moral be incidentally enforced, Shakespeare has suffered the virtue of Cordelia to perish in a just cause, contrary to the natural ideas of justice, to the hope of the reader, and, what is yet more strange, to the faith of chronicles. Yet this conduct is justified by The Spectator, who blames Tate for giving Cordelia success and happiness in his alteration, and declares, that, in his opinion, the tragedy has lost half its beauty. Dennis has remarked, whether justly or not, that, to secure the favourable reception of Cato, the town was poisoned with much false and abominable criticism, and that endeavours had been used to discredit and decry poetical justice. A play in which the wicked prosper, and the virtuous miscarry, may doubtless be good, because it is a just representation of the common events of human life: but since all reasonable beings naturally love justice, I cannot easily be persuaded, that the observation of justice makes a play worse; or, that if other excellencies are equal, the audience will not always rise better pleased from the final triumph of persecuted virtue. In the present case the public has decided† [Subnote: †Dr. Johnson should rather have said that the managers of the theatres-royal have decided, and the public has been obliged to acquiesce in their decision. The altered play has the upper gallery on its side; the original drama was patronized by Addison: Victrix causa Diis placuit, sed victa Catoni. Steevens.]. Cordelia, from the time of Tate, has always retired with victory and felicity. And, if my sensations could add any thing to the general suffrage, I might relate, I was many years ago so shocked by Cordelia's death, that I know not whether I ever endured to read again the last scenes of the play till I undertook to revise them as an editor. There is another controversy among the critics concerning this play. It is disputed whether the predominant image in Lear's disordered mind be the loss of his kingdom or the cruelty of his daughters. Mr. Murphy, a very judicious critic, has evinced by induction of particular passages, that the cruelty of his daughters is the primary source of his distress, and that the loss of royalty affects him only as a secondary and subordinate evil. He observes with great justness, that Lear would move our compassion but little, did we not rather consider the injured father than the degraded king. The story of this play, except the episode of Edmund, which is derived, I think, from Sidney, is taken originally from Geoffry of Monmouth, whom Holingshed generally copied; but perhaps immediately from an old historical ballad. My reason for believing that the play was posterior to the ballad, rather than the ballad to the play, is, that the ballad has nothing of Shakespeare's nocturnal tempest, which is too striking to have been omitted, and that it follows the chronicle; it has the rudiments of the play, but none of its amplifications: it first hinted Lear's madness, but did not array it in circumstances. The writer of the ballad added something to the history, which is a proof that he would have added more, if more had occurred to his mind, and more must have occurred if he had seen Shakespeare. Johnson.

Note return to page 1193 1King Leir, &c.] This ballad is given from an ancient copy in the Golden Garland, black letter. To the tune of, When flying Fame. It is here reprinted from Dr. Percy's Reliques of ancient English Poetry. Vol. I. Third Edit. Steevens.

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