A babe to honour her! If fhe must teem, [Exit. -thwart] Thwart as a noun adjective is not frequent in our language, it is however to be found in Promos and Cassandra, 1578, Sith fortune thwart doth croffe my joys with care. The quarto reads, a thourt difveturd torment, which I apprehend to be disfeatur'd. HENDERSON. 2-difnatur'd] Difnatur'd is wanting natural affection. So, Daniel in Hymen's Triumph, 1623: STEEVENS. "I am not fo difnatured a man." 3-cadent tears- - i. e. Falling tears. Dr. Warburton would read candent. STEEVENS. Dr. Warburton propofes to read candent; and the wordsthefe hat tears, in Lear's next fpeech, may feem to authorize the amendment; but the prefent reading is right. It is a more fevere imprecation to wifh, that tears by conftant flowing may fret channels in the cheeks; which implies a long life of wretchedness, than to wish that thofe channels fhould be made by fcalding tears, which alone does not mark the fame continuation of mifery. The fame thought occurs in Troilus and Creffida, A& V. sc. in. "Not Priamus and Hecuba on knees, "Their eyes o'er-galled with recourse of tears," fhould prevent his going to the field. MONCK MASON. 4 Turn all her mother's pains and benefits To laughter and contempt;]" Her mother's pains" here fig nifies, not bodily fufferings, or the throes of child-birth, (with which this "difnatured babe" being unacquainted, it could not deride or defpife them) but maternal cares; the folicitude of a mother for the welfare of her child. Benefits mean good offices; her kind and beneficent attention to the education of her offspring, &c. Mr. Roderick has, in my opinion, explained both these words wrong. He is equally miftaken in fuppofing that the fex of this child is afcertained by the word her; which clearly relates, not to Goneril's iffue, but to herself. "Her mother's pains" means-the pains fhe takes as a mother. MALONE. Alb. Alb. Now, gods, that we adore, whereof comes this? Gon. Never afflict yourself to know the caufe; But let his difpofition have that scope That dotage gives it. Re-enter Lear. Lear. What, fifty of my followers, at a clap! Within a fortnight! Alb. What's the matter, fir? Lear. I'll tell thee;-Life and death! I am afham'd That thou haft power to shake my manhood thus: [To Goneril. 5 That these hot tears, which break from me perforce, Should make thee worth them.-Blafts and fogs upon thee! "The untented woundings of a father's curfe I will tranfcribe this paffage from the firft edition, that it may appear to thofe who are unacquainted with old books, what is the difficulty of revifion, and what indulgence is due to thofe that endeavour to restore corrupted paffages.That these hot tears, that breake from me perforce, jhould make the worse blasts and fogs upon the untender woundings of a father's curse, perufe every fenfe about the old fond eyes, beweep this caufe again, &c. JOHNSON. The untented woundings] Untented wounds, means wounds in their worst ftate, not having a tent in them to digest them; and may poffibly fignify here fuch as will not admit of having a tent put into them for that purpofe. One of the quartos reads, untender. STEEVENS. 7 -that you lofe.] The quartos read-that you make. STEEVENS. Let it be fo, &c.] The reading is here gleaned up, part from the firft, and part from the fecond edition. JOHNSON. Let it be fo is omitted in the quartos. VOL. IX. Ff STEEVENS. Who Who, I am fure, is kind and comfortable; Gon. Do you mark that, my lord? Gon. Pray you, content.-What, Ofwald, ho! You, fir, more knave than fool, after your mafter. [To the Fool. Fool. Nuncle Lear, nuncle Lear, tarry, and take the fool with thee. A fox, when one has caught her, Should fure to the flaughter, If my cap would buy a halter; So the fool follows after. [Exit. *Gon. This man hath had good counfel:-A hundred knights! 'Tis politic, and fafe, to let him keep 'At point, a hundred knights. Yes, that on every dream, Each buz, each fancy, each complaint, dislike, Gon, Safer than truft too far: Let me still take away the harms I fear, Gon.] All from this afterifk to the next, is omitted in the quartos. At point, I believe, means completely armed, and confequently ready at appoinment or command on the flighteft notice. STEEVENS. If * How now, If fhe fuftain him and his hundred knights, Ofwald 2? Enter Steward. What, have you writ that letter to my fifter? ; Gon. Take you fome company, and away to horse This milky gentleness, and course of yours, 3 4 Alb. How far your eyes may pierce, I cannot tell; How now, Ofwald?] The quartos read-what Ofwald, ho! Gon. What have you writ this letter, &c. STEEVENS. -compact it more. -] Unite one circumftance with ano ther, fo as to make confiftent account. JOHNSON. -more at task-] It is a common phrafe now with parents and governeffes. I'll take you to task, i. e. I will reprehend and correct you. To be at task, therefore, is to be liable to reprebenfion and correction. JOHNSON. Both the quartos instead of at task-read, alapt. A late editor of King Lear, fays, that the first quarto reads attafk'd; but unlefs there be a third quarto which I have never feen or heard of, his affertion is erroneous. STEEVENS. The word task is frequently ufed by Shakspeare, and indeed Goneril means by other writers of his time in the fenfe of tax. to fay, that he was more taxed for want of wisdom, than praised for mildness. So, in The Island Princefs: "You are too faucy, too impudent, Ff 2 MONCK MASON. Striving 5 Striving to better, oft we mar what's well. Gon. Nay, then Alb. Well, well; the event. SCENE v. [Exeunt. A court-yard before the duke of Albany's palace. Enter Lear, Kent, and Fool. Lear. Go you before to Glofter with thefe letters: acquaint my daughter no further with any thing you know, than comes from her demand out of the letter: If your diligence be not fpeedy, I fhall be " there before you. 6 Kent. I will not fleep, my lord, 'till I have deliyered your letter. [Exit. Fool. If a man's brains were in his heels, wer't not in danger of kibes? Lear. Ay, boy. Fool. Then, I pr'ythee, be merry; thy wit fhall not go flip-fhod. Lear. Ha, ha, ha! 7 Fool. Shalt fee, thy other daughter will ufe thee kindly for though he's as like this as a crab is like an apple, yet I can tell what I can tell. Lear. Why what can't thou tell, boy? Fool. She will tafte as like this, as a crab does to a 5 Striving to better, oft we mar what's well.] So, in our author's 103d Sonnet: "Were it not finful then, friving to mend, “To mar the jubje that before was well?" MALONE. there before you.] He feems to intend to go to his daughter, but it appears afterwards that he is going to the house of Glotter. JOHNSON. 7thy other daughter will ufe thee kindly:] The Fool ufes the word kindly here in two fenfes; it means affectionately, and like the rest of her kind. MONCK MASON. crab. |