And pray, and fing, and tell old tales, and laugh As if we were God's fpies. And we'll wear out, Edm. Take them away. Lear. Upon fuch facrifices, my Cordelia, The gods themselves throw incense. SCENE VIII. The Justice of the Gods. (26) The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices Makes inftruments to fcourge us. Of all the gamefters of the court and city: Who for a tiffue robe: whose husband's jealous, Edgar's The Falfe One, A&t 1. Sc. i. The word fpies in the text, is taken in the fense of spies upon any one, to infpect their conduct, not spies employed by a person. (26) The, &c.] This retorting of punishments, and making the means by which we offended the fcourge of our offence, is very common amongst the ancients, and perhaps had its rife from the Jewish people. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, &c. Callimachus, in his hymn to Pallas, tells us, that goddefs depriv'd the young hunter of his eyes, because they had offended, having feen her in the bath. See the Hymn, p. 75. And in Sophocles, at the end of Electra, Orefies cries out to giftus; Peace, and attend me to that place where thou Edgar's Account of his difcovering himself to his Father, &c. Lift a brief tale, And when 'tis told, O, that my heart would burst! That follow'd me fo near (O, our lives sweetness ! Baft. This fpeech of yours hath mov'd me, Alb. If there be more, more woeful, hold it in, For I am almoft ready to diffolve, Hearing of this. Edg.(27) This would have feem'd a period To fuch as love not sorrow: but another, To (27) This, &c.] The baftard, whofe favage nature is well difplayed by it, defires to hear more: the gentle Albany, touch'd at the fad tale, begs him no more to melt his heart: upon which, Edga obferves, fenfibly affected by Edmund's inhumanity, “One should have imagined, this would have feem'd a period, To amplify too much, would make much more, Whilft I was big in clamour, there came a man, Shunn'd my abhorr'd fociety; but now finding SCENE XII. Lear on the Death of Cordelia. Howl, howl, howl, howl!-O you are men of ftone; Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them fo That Heav'ns vault fhou'd crack; fhe's gone for ever! I know when one's dead and when one lives; She's dead as earth! lend me a looking glass, If that her breath will mift or ftain the stone, Why then the lives. This period, a fufficient end of woe, to fuch as love not forrow, who are not pleased to hear of the diftreffes of others: but another (a perfon of another and more cruel temper) to amplify too much, (to augment and aggravate that which is already too great) would still make much more (would still increase it) and top extremity itself; that is, even go beyond that which is already at the utmost limit." Nothing can be plainer than this, which Mr. Warburton condemning as miferable nonfenfe, reads thus, and admits into his text ! This wou'd have feem'd a period; but fuch As love to amplify anothers forrow, Too much, wou'd make much more and top extremity! 'Tis remarkable, this fine fpeech, (and indeed many others) are omitted in the Oxford edition. This feather ftirs, the lives: if it be fo It is a chance which does redeem all forrows, Kent. O my good master. Lear. Pr'ythee away A plague upon your murth'rous traitors all! What is't thou fayeft? Her voice was ever soft, Lear dying. And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life. Why fhould a dog, a horse, a rat have life, And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more. Never, never, never, never, never. • General Obfervation. THE tragedy of Lear (fays Johnfon) is defervedly celebrated among the dramas of Shakespear. There is perhaps no play which keeps the attention fo ftrongly fixed; which fo much agitates our paffions; and interefts our curiofity. The artful involutions of diftinct interefts, the ftriking oppofition of contrary characters, the fudden changes of fortune, and the quick fucceffion of events, fill the mind with a perpetual tumult of indignation, pity, and hope. There is no fcene 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 progrefs of the fcene. So powerful is the current of the poet's imagination, that the mind, which once ventures within it, is hurried irresistibly along. Macbeth. That look not like th' inhabitants o' th' earth, And yet are on't? Live you, or are you aught That man may queftion? You feem to understand me, By each at once her choppy finger laying Upon her skinny lips; You fhould be women: SCENE (1) What, &c.] Shakespear's excellence in these fictitious characters hath been before obferved: In fuch circles, indeed, none could move like him; ghofts, witches, and fairies feem to acknowledge him their fovereign. We must observe, that the reality of witches was firmly believed in our author's time, not only established by law, but by fashion also, and that |