And, in conclufion, to oppose the bolt Thy half o' the kingdom thou haft not forgot, Reg. Good fir, to the purpose. [Trumpets within. Lear. Who put my man i' the stocks? Corn. What trumpet's that? Enter Steward. Reg. I know't, my fifter's: this approves her letter, That she would foon be here.-Is your lady come? Lear. This is a flave, whose easy-borrow'd pride Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows:Out, varlet, from my fight! Corn. What means your grace? Lear. Who ftock'd my servant? Regan, I have good hope Thou did'ft not know on't.-Who comes here? O heavens, Enter Goneril. "If you do love old men, if your sweet sway Allow obedience, if yourselves are old, Make "You are one of the devil's fellow-commoners; one that fizeth the devil's butteries." Fidlers, fet it on my head; I ufe to fize my mufic, or go on the score for it." Return from Parnaffus. Size fometimes means company. So, in Cinthia's Revenge, 1613: "He now attended with a barbal fize "Of fober ftatefmen, &c." I fuppofe a barbal fize is a bearded company. STEEVENS. If you do love old men, if your Sweet fway Mr. Make it your caufe; fend down, and take my part!Art not asham'd to look upon this beard?-[To Gon. O, Regan, wilt thou take her by the hand?' Gon. Why not by the hand, fir? How have I offended? All's not offence, that indifcretion finds, Lear. O, fides, you are too tough! Will you yet hold?How came my man i' the ftocks? Corn. I fet him there, fir: but his own diforders Deferv'd much lefs advancement. Mr. Upton has proved by irrefiftible authority, that to allow fignifies not only to permit, but to approve, and has defervedly replaced the old reading, which Dr. Warburton had changed into ballow obedience, not recollecting the fcripture expreffion, The Lord alloweth the righteous, Pfalm xi. ver. 6. So, in Greene's Never too Late, 1616: " -the allows of thee for love, not for luft." Again, in Greene's Farewell to Follie, 1617: "I allow thofe pleafing poems of Guazzo, which begin, &c." Again, Sir Tho. North's translation of Plutarch, concerning the reception with which the death of Cæfar met: they neither greatly reproved, nor allowed the fact." Dr. Warburton might have found the emendation which he proposed, in Tate's alteration of King Lear, which was first published in 1687. STEEVENS. -that indifcretion finds,] Finds is here used in the fame fense as when a jury is faid to find a bill, to which it is an allufion. Our author again uses the fame word in the fame fenfe in Hamlet, A&t V. fc. i: 8 "Why 'tis found fo." EDWARDS. To find is little more than to think. The French use their word trouver in the fame fenfe; and we ftill fay I find time tedious, or I find company troublesome, without thinking on a jury. STEEVENS. -much less advancement] The word advancement is ironically used for confpicuoufness of punishment; as we now say, a man is advanced to the pillory. We fhould read: -but his own diforders. Deferv'd much more advancement. JOHNSON. By less advancement is meant, a ftill worfe or more difgraceful fituation; a fituation not fo reputable. PERCY. Cornwall certainly means, that Kent's diforders had entitled him even a poft of lefs honour than the stocks. STEEVENS. Lear. Lear. You! did you? Reg. I pray you, father, being weak, feem fo. If, till the expiration of your month, You will return and fojourn with my fifter, 1 To I pray you, father, being weak, feem fo.] This is a very odd request. She furely asked fomething more reasonable.' We fhould read, -being weak, deem't fo. i. e. believe that my husband tells you true, that Kent's diforders deferved a more ignominious punishment. WARBURTON. The meaning is, fince you are weak, be content to think youṛfelf weak. No change is needed. JOHNSON. 2 No, rather I abjure all roofs, and chafe To wage against the enmity o' the air: To be a comrade with the wolf and owl, To Neceffity's fharp pinch.] Thus fhould 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 tranfpofing the fecond and third lines; on which imaginary regulation he thus defcants. The breach of the fenfe here is a manifeft proof that these lines were tranfpofed by the firft editors. Neither can there be any fyntax or grammatical coherence, unlefs we fuppofe (neceffity's sharp pinch) to be the accufative to (wage)." But this is fuppofing the verb wage, to want an accufative, which it does not. wage, or wager against one, was a common expreffion; and, being a fpecies of acting (namely, acting in opposition) was as proper as to fay, act against any one. So, to wage against the enmity o' the air, was to trive or fight against it. Neceffity's sharp pinch, therefore, is not the accufative 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 confequence of all this is, that it was the last editors, and not the firft, who tranfpofed 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 fignifies to make war, as before in this play: My To wage against the enmity o' the air; Lear. Now I pr'ythee, daughter, do not make me mad; I will not trouble thee, my child; farewel: Which I must needs call mine: thou art a boil, pawn My life I never held but as A The fpirit of the following paffage feems to be loft in the hands of both the commentators. It fhould perhaps be pointed thus: To be a comrade of the wolf and owl, Neceffity's fharp pinch! Thefe laft words appear to be the reflection of Lear on the wretched fort of exiftence he had defcribed in the preceding lines. STEEVENS. 3bafe life-] i. e. In a fervile ftate. JOHNSON. 4 -and fumpter] Sumpter is a horse that carries neceffaries on a journey, though fometimes used for the cafe to carry them in. Vide Beaumont and Fletcher's Noble Gentleman, Seward's edit. vol. viii. note 35; and Cupid's Revenge. 66 -I'll have a horfe to leap thee, "And thy base iffue fhall carry fumpters." Again, in Webster's Dutchefs of Malfy, 1623: "He is indeed a guarded fumpter-cloth "Only for the remove o' the court." STEEVENS. -thou art a bile, A plague-fore, an emboffed carbuncle, In my corrupted blood.] The context clearly hows that we ought to read-boil. So, in Coriolanus : -boils and plagues "Plaister you o'er!" The A plague-fore, an emboffed carbuncle, In my corrupted blood. But I'll not chide thee; Reg. Not altogether fo, fir; I look'd not for you yet, nor am provided Lear. Is this well spoken now? Reg. I dare avouch it, fir: What, fifty followers? Is it not well? What fhould you need of more ? Yea, or fo many? fith that both charge and danger Speak 'gainst fo great a number? How, in one house, Should many people, under two commands, Hold amity? 'Tis hard; almoft impoffible. Gon. Why might not you, my lord, receive at tendance From thofe that the calls fervants, or from mine? Reg. Why not, my lord? If then they chanc'd to nack you, We could controul them: If you will come to me (For now I spy a danger) I intreat you To bring but five and twenty; to no more Will I give place, or notice. Lear. I gave you all Reg. And in good time you gave it. The word boil, being pronounced as if written bile, occafioned the mistake. In the folio, both here and in Coriolanus, it is spele in the fame manner-byle. MALONE. • embossed carbuncle,] Embossed is fwelling, protuberants JOHNSON. VOL. IX. I i Lear. |