advantages of France. Oh heavens! that this treafon were not; or not I the detector! Corn. Go with me to the dutchefs. Edm. If the matter of this paper be certain, you have mighty business in hand. Corn. True or falfe, it hath made thee earl of Glo'fter. Seek out where thy father is, that he may be ready for our apprehenfion. 2 Edm. [Afide.] If I find him comforting the king, it will ftuff his fufpicion more fully.-I will perfevere in my course of loyalty, though the conflict be fore between that and my blood, Corn. I will lay truft upon thee; and thou fhalt find a dearer father in my love. [Exeunt. Enter Glofter, Lear, Kent, Fool, and Edgar. Glo. Here is better than the open air; take it thankfully. I will piece out the comfort with what addition I can: I will not be long from you. [Exit. Kent. All the power of his wits has given way to his impatience. The gods reward your kindness! Edg. Fraterretto calls me; and tells me, Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, Innocent, and beware the foul fiend. Fool. Pr'ythee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a gentleman or a yeoman? Lear. A king, a king! Fool. No; he's a yeoman, that has a gentleman to his fon for he's a mad yeoman, that fees his fon a gentleman before him. 2 comforting] He uses the word in the juridical fenfe for Supporting, helping, according to its derivation; falvia confortat ne vos. —— -Schol. Sal. JOHNSON. Lear. Lear. To have a thousand with red burning fpits 1 Come hizzing in upon 'em. [Edg. The foul fiend bites my back. Fool. He's mad that trufts in the tameness of a wolf, 2 a horfe's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath. Lear. It fhall be done, I will arraign them strait :Come, fit thou here, most learned justicer ;Thou fapient Sir, fit here.-Now, ye fhe foxes!— Edg. Look, where he ftands and glares! Wanteft thou eyes 3 at trial, madam?] Come hizzing in upon 'em.- -] Then follow in the old edition feveral speeches in the mad way, which probably were left out by the players, or by Shakespeare himself: I fhall however infert them here, and leave them to the reader's mercy. POPE. As Mr. Pope had begun to infert several speeches in the mad way, in this fcene, from the old edition, I have ventured to replace feveral others, which ftand upon the fame footing, and had an equal right of being reflored. THEOBALD. What is omitted in the folio, and inferted from the older copy, I have enclosed in crotchets. JOHNSON. the HEALTH of a horfe,-] Without doubt we fhould read heels, i. e. to ftand behind him. WARBURTON. Shakespeare is here fpeaking not of things maliciously treacherous, but of things uncertain and not durable. A horfe is above all other animals fubject to difeafes. JOHNSON. 3 I am not confident that I understand the meaning of this defultory fpeech. When Edgar fays, Look where he ftands and glares! he feems to be speaking in the character of a mad man, who thinks he fees the fiend. Wanteft thou eyes at trial, madam? is a quetion which appears to be addreffed to the vifionary Gonerill, and may fignify, Do you want to attra& admiration, even while you fand at the bar of justice? STEEVENS. At trial, madam?] It may be obferved that Edgar, being fuppofed to be found by chance, and therefore to have no knowledge of the reft, connects not his ideas with those of Lear, but purfues his own train of delirious or fantaftic thought. To these words, At trial, madam? I think therefore that the name of Lear fhould be put. The process of the dialogue will fupport this conjecture. JOHNSON. Come 4 Come oe'er the broom, Beffy, to me: Fool. Her boat bath a leak, and he must not speak, Why he dares not come over to thee. [Edg. The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a nightingale. 5 Hopdance cries in Tom's belly for two white herrings. Croak not, black angel; I have no food for thee. Kent. How do you, Sir? Stand you not fo amaz'd: Will you lie down and reft upon the cushions? Lear. I'll fee their trial firft.-Bring in the evidence. Thou robed man of juftice, take thy place: Bench by his fide.-You are o' the commiffion, fit you too. Edg. Let us deal justly. 6 Sleepeft. or wakeft thou, jolly fhepherd? And for one blast of thy minikin mouth, Purre! the cat is grey. Lear. Arraign her firft; 'tis Gonerill. I here take my oath before this honourable affembly, fhe kick'd the poor king her father. Come o'er the broom, Befly, to me:] As there is no relation between broom and a boat, we may better read, Come o'er the brook, Befly, to me. JOHNSON. Hopdance cries in Tom's belly-] Sarah Williams confeffed (fee Harfenet's book, p. 195.) that when he was troubled with a croaking in her ftomach from emptinefs, the priests. perfuaded her it was the fiend within her. STEEVENS. Sleepest, or wakeft, &c.] This feems to be a ftanza of fome paftoral fong. A fhepherd is defired to pipe, and the request is enforced by a promife, that though his fheep be in the corn, i. e. committing a trefpaís by his negligence, implied in the queftion, Sleepest thou or swakeft? Yet a fingle tune upon his pipe fhall fecure them from the pound. JOHNSON. VOL. IX. D d Fool. Fool. Come hither, miftrefs; is your name Gonerill? Lear. She cannot deny it. Fool. Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool. Lear. And here's another, whofe warpt looks pro claim What store her heart is made of.-Stop her there! Arms, arms, fword, fire!-Corruption in the place! Falfe jufticer, why haft thou let her 'scape? Edg. Blefs thy five wits.] Kent. O pity!-Sir, where is the patience now, That you fo oft have boafted to retain? Edg. My tears begin to take his part so much, They'll mar my counterfeiting. Lear. The little dogs and all, [Afide. Tray, Blanch, and Sweet-heart, fee, they bark at me. Edg. Tom will throw his head at them.-Avaunt, you curs! Be thy mouth or black or white, 7 dogs. POFE. brache or hym, &c.] Names of particular forts of Sir T. Hanmer for hym reads lym. JOHNSON. In Ben Jonfon's Bartholomew Fair, Quarlous fays,-" all the "lime-hounds of the city fhould have drawn after you by the "fcent."A limmer or leamer, a dog of the chace, was fo calied from the leam or leash in which he was held till he was let flip. I have this information from Caius de Canibus Britannicis.- -So in the book of Ancient Tenures, by T. B. 1679, the words, canes domini regis lefos," are tranflated" Leafh "hounds, fuch as draw after a hurt deer in a leash, or liam.” Again, in Maffenger's Bashful Lover, 66 fmell out "Her footing like a lime-bound." STEEVENS. Do Do de, de de. fairs, Seffy, come, march to wakes and And market towns. Poor Tom, 9 thy horn is dry. Lear. Then let them anatomize Regan. See what breeds about her heart. Is there any caufe in nature that makes these hard hearts ?-You, Sir, I entertain you for one of my hundred; only, I do not like the fashion of your garments. You will fay they are Perfian; but let them be changed. I Kent. Now, good my lord, lie here and reft awhile. Lear. Make no noise, make no noise; draw the So, fo, fo, we'll go to fupper i' the morning. Re-enter Glofter. Glo. Come hither, friend? Where is the king, my master? 8 Seffy, come, &c.] Here is feffey again, which I take to be the French word ceffez pronounced celey, which was, I fuppofe, like fome others in common ufe among us. It is an interjection enforcing ceffation of any action, like, be quiet, have done. It seems to have been gradually corrupted into, fo, jo. JOHNS. This word is wanting in the quarto: in the folio it is printed fefe. It is difficult in this place to fay what is meant by it. It fhould be remembered, that juft before Edgar had been calling on Belly to come to him; and he may now with equal propriety invite Selly (perhaps a female name corrupted from Cecilia) to attend him to wakes and fairs. It is not impoffible that this may be a part of fome old fong, and originally ftood thus: Ciffy, come march to wakes And fairs, and market towns. There is another line in the character of Edgar which I am very confident I have seen in an old ballad, viz. 9 Thro' the sharp haw-thorn blows the cold wind. STEEV. thy born is dry. Men that begged under pretence of lunacy used formerly to carry a horn, and blow it through the streets. JOHNSON. I You will fay they are Perfian;] Alluding perhaps to Clytus refusing the Perfian robes offered him by Alexander. Dd 2 STEEVENS! Kent. |