poor volk pafs. And ch'ud ha' been zwagger'd out of my life, 'twould not ha' been zo long as 'tis by a vortnight. Nay, come not near the old man; keep out, che vor'ye, or ife try whether ' your coftard or my bat be the harder: Chi'll be plain with you. Stew. Out, dungill! Edg. Chi'll pick your teeth, zir: Come; ' no matter vor your foyns. [Edgar knocks him down. Stew. Slave, thou haft flain me:-Villain, take my purse; If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body; And give the letters, which thou find'ft about me, To Edmund earl of Glofter; feek him out Upon the English party : death! party, untimely death, [Dies. Edg. I know thee well: A ferviceable villain; As duteous to the vices of thy miftrefs, As badnefs would defire. Glo. What, is he dead? Edg. Sit you down, father; reft you.Let's fee his pockets: thefe letters, that he speaks of, May be my friends.-He's dead; I am only forry He had no other death's-man.-Let us fee:Leave, gentle wax, and, manners, blame us not: che vor'ye,] I warn you. Edgar counterfeits the western dialect. JOHNSON. 1 your coftard,] Coftard, i. e. head. See Vol. II. P. 433. 436. STEEVENS. my bat,] i. e. club. So, in Spenfer: a handfome 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: 3 -let every thing be ready, "And each of you a good bat on his neck." STERVENS. no matter vor your foins.] To foyn, is to make what we call a thrust in fencing. Shakspeare often ufes the word. STEEVENS. To *To know our enemies' minds, we'd rip their hearts; Their papers are more lawful.. Reads the letter. Let our reciprocal vows be remember'd. You have many opportunities to cut him off: if your will want not, time and place will be fruitfully offered. There is nothing done, if he return the conqueror: Then am I the prifoner, and his bed my gaol; from the loath'd warmth whereof deliver me, and supply the place for your labour. Your (wife, fo I would fay) affectionate fervants, Goneril, O undistinguish'd fpace of woman's will!-A plot upon her virtuous hufband's life; And the exchange, my brother!-Here, in the fands, Thee I'll rake up, the poft unfanctified 4 To 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 confeffion of their fecrets; to tear open their letters is more lawful. WARBURTON. it. The quarto reads, we'd rip their hearts, and so I have printed STEEVENS. 5 -affectionate fervant.] After fervant, one of the quartos has this ftrange continuation: " -and for you her owne for venter, Gonerill." STEEVENS. O undiftinguish'd space of woman's wit!] So the first quarto reads, but the firft folio better, will. I have no idea of the meaning of the first reading, but the other is extremely fatirical; the varium & mutabile femper, of Virgil, more ftrongly and happily expreffed. The mutability of a woman's will, which is fo fudden, that there is no space or diftance between the present will and the next. Honeft Sancho explains this thought with infinite humour, Entre el fi 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. 7 Thee I'll rake ups -] I'll cover thee. In Staffordshire, to rake the fire, is to cover it with fuel for the night. JOHNSON. Of Of murderous lechers: and, in the mature time, [Exit Edgar, removing the body. Re-enter Edgar. Edg. Give me your hand: Far off, methinks, I hear the beaten drum. Enter Cordelia, Kent, and Phyfician. Cor. O thou good Kent, how fhall I live, and work, To match thy goodness? My life will be too fhort, And every measure fail me. Kent. To be acknowledg'd, madam, is o'erpay'd. the death-practis'd duke:] The duke of Albany, whose death is machinated by practice or treafon. JOHNSON. —and have ingenious feeling] Ingenious feeling fignifies a feeling from an understanding not difturbed or difordered, but which, reprefenting things as they are, makes the fenfe of pain the more exquifite. WARBURTON. '-fever'd-] The quartos read fenced. STEEVENS. 2 every measure fail me.] All good which I'fhall allot thee, or measure out to thee, will be fcanty. JOHNSON. All All my reports go with the modest truth; Cor. 3 Be better fuited: + These weeds are memories of those worfer hours; I pr'ythee, put them off. Kent. Pardon me, dear madam; Yet to be known, ' fhortens my made intent: 'Till time and I think meet. Cor. Then be it fo, my good lord.-How does the king? Phyf. Madam, sleeps ftill. Cor. O you kind gods, [To the Phyfician. Cure this great breach in his abused nature! The untun'd and jarring fenfes, O, wind up "Of this child-changed father! 3 Be better fuited:] i. e. Be better dreft, put on a better fuit of cloaths. STEEVENS. + Thefe weeds are memories of thofe worfer hours;] Memories, i. e, Memorials, remembrancers. Shakspeare ufes the word in the fame fenfe, As You Like It, A& II. fc. 3: O, my fweet mafter! O you memory So, in Stowe's Survey of London, 1618-" A printed memorie hanging up in a table at the entrance into the church-door." MALONE. 5 shortens my made intent ;] There is a diffonancy of terms in made intent; one implying the idea of a thing done, the other, undone. I fuppofe Shakspeare wrote-laid intent, i. e. projected. WARBURTON. An intent made, is an intent formed. So we fay in common language, to make a defign, and to make a refolution. JOHNSON. Of 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. Lear is become infane, and this is the change referred to. Infanity is not the property of fecond childhood, but dotage. Confonant to this explanation is what Cordelia almoft immediately adds: "O my dear father! restoration hang Repair thofe violent harms, that my two fifters "Have in thy reverence made !" HENLEY. Phyf. Phyf. So please your majefty, That we may wake the king? he hath slept long. Cor. Be govern'd by your knowledge, and proceed I' the fway of your own will. Is he array'd? Lear is brought in in a chair. Gent. 7 Ay, madam; in the heaviness of his fleep, We put fresh garments on him. Phyf. Be by, good madam, when we do awake him; I doubt not of his temperance. 8 Cor. Very well. Phyf. Please you, draw near.-Louder the music there! Cor., O my dear father! Reftoration, hang Repair those violent harms, that my two fifters Kent. Kind and dear princefs! Cor. Had you not been their father, these white flakes Had challeng'd pity of them. Was this a face Ay, madam, &c.] The folio gives these four lines to a Gentleman. One of the quartos (they were both printed in the fame year, and for the fame 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 firft, which beft belong to an attendant, to the Gentleman in waiting, and the other two to the Phyfician, on account of the caution contained in them, which is more fuitable to his profeffion. STEEVENS. In the folio the Gentleman and (as he is here called) the Phyfician, is one and the fame perfon. REMARKS. Very well.] This and the following line I have reftored from the quartos. STEEVENS. -Reftoration, bang Thy medicine on my lips; -] This is fine. She in vokes the goddefs of health, Hygieia, under the name of Reftauration, to make her the minifter of her rites, in this holy office of recovering her father's loft fenfes. WARBURTON. Reftoration is no more than recovery perfonified. STEVENS. To |