The sense, I think, would be strengthened by reading to, instead of " and."

"With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks."

"Cadent tears" has, certainly, a very clear and obvious meaning; and the thought has been adopted by Mr. Mason, in Verses Addressed to a Young Gentleman :

"Whose cheeks, bestrew'd with roses, know "No channel for the tide of tears."

But this is a sense that appears too mild for the present occasion, and ill suited to the vehemence and acrimony of Lear's passion; I therefore think that "candent," as suggested by Dr. Warburton, is the true word. The quarto reads "accent tears," which may have been formed from accendere, and have the same meaning as candent. 374. "That dotage gives it."

Something seems to have been lost; perhaps like this:

"That fretfulness, and wayward dotage gives

it."

375. "The untented woundings"

This, I am afraid, is an incurable sore, which the critical chirurgeon will probe and torture in vain ; for wounds are then most severely painful when they are exposed to the tent. "Untender," as one of the quartos has it, may, perhaps, be the true word, implying pitiless.

376. "I have cast off for ever.

"

The disorder, here, might be removed in this

way:

"I have cast off for ever.

"I warrant thee."

Gon. "

Ay, thou shalt,

Do you mark that, my lord ?"

Alb. "I cannot be so partial, Goneril,

"To the great love I bear".

Gon. "

Pray you content.

"What Oswald, ho! You, sir, more knave than fool,

"After your master."

To let him keep

"At point, a hundred knights. Yes, that on every dream.”

We might read smoothly:

"At point a hundred knights, that on each dream."

377. "When I have show'd the unfitness,-how now, Oswald ?”

The latter part of this line is manifest interpolation; the speaker had but the moment before called Oswald to her, and could not, therefore, be surprised at his approach:

"When I have shew'd th' unfitness.

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Have you writ

[Enter Oswald.

Osw. "

"That letter to my sister?"

Ay, good madam.”

"Shew'd" for "shewn."

378. "Than prais'd for harmless mildness.”

Something is wanting; perhaps :

By those who judge, than prais'd for harmless mildness."

Gon. "Nay then, believe me, sir."

Alb. "

Well, well, th' event."

CALBO!

ACT II. SCENE I.

According to Mr. Eccles's arrangement, which appears very judicious, this Act begins with Edmund's soliloquy.

383. "The duke be here to night? the better ! best!"

There is, in the quarto, no note of admiration between "better" and "best," and I cannot but consider it erroneous: the sense of the passage seems to be, my projects, which have been ripening, are now mature; what had thriven and improved, seems now to be perfect.

384.

Have you nothing said
"Upon his party 'gainst the duke?"

Upon the subject of his party; have you made no disclosure of his purpose.

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385. (Draw:) seem to defend yourself: now quit you well."

"Draw" is of no use but to encumber the

verse.

"Do more than this in sport: O father, father!"

Without this supplement of the apostrophe O, we have a line only in syllables.

1

387. "He that conceals him death."

The want of concord, in this hemistic, will suggest the means of repairing the measure:

He that conceals him shall abide the death."

Hemistics, without any cause from the interruptions of passion, are, generally, perhaps always, the marks of mutilation or corruption: that which closes Gloster's speech might thus be

corrected:

"All ports I'll bar-where'er the villain is "He shall not scape; the duke must grant me that;

"Besides, his picture I'll send far and near, "That all the kingdom may have note of him, "And of my land, loyal and natural boy, "I'll work the means to make thee capable."

392.

Your graces are right welcome."

"To my poor house your graces are right wel

come."

SCENE II.

395. "A base, proud, shallow, beggarly, threesuited, hundred pound, filthy, worstedstocking knave," &c.

i. e. A fellow made up of inconsistencies; as well in his exterior habiliments as in the composition of his mind, he is, at once, proud and beggarly, and even the cloaths he wears are not adapted to each other, but are rather a suit made out of three suits; he is insolent and mean; and, while his vanity displays a silken doublet, his avarice betrays itself in hose of worsted.

$98. "

You neat slave.”

Mr. Steevens, when he says, "neat slave means no more than finical rascal, an assemblage of foppery and poverty," ascribes to the expression much more than, I believe, belongs to it; and I don't suppose any one will admit his definition. Dr. Johnson's, I think, is the true explanation, a mere knave; a pure, unmixed one; and this appears to be the sense in the quoted passage from Ben Jonson :

"By thy leave, my neat scoundrel.”

"Weapons! arms! outrage! What's the matter here ?”

Corn. "What tumult's this? Keep peace upon your lives."

Some such words as the Italics here supply seem to have been lost: but the whole dialogue is corrupted.

"Nature disclaims in thee."

This phrase occurs in Jonson's Volpone:

Abhors his knowledge: I disclaim in him."

400. "Who wears no honesty."

Again the measure wants reformation :

"Who wears no honesty-such smiling rogues "As these, like rats, oft bite the cords atwain, "Too intrinsicate t' unloose, smooth every passion."

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'Holy" I consider, with Mr. Malone, an interpolation. "Inloose" is the reading of the quarto, which leads to the correct word, enloose," To "unloose" should be "to make fast,"