P. 307. p. 308. "these pockets," these' having been caught, I think, from the next clause. "Your (Wife, so I would say,) affectionate Servant This somewhat singular subscription one of the 4tos. makes yet more strange by adding, "and for you her own for venter." Are we to conclude from this that Goneril makes an allusion to what Mr. Weller would call her second wenter, or, still more prospectively, uses a technical term better suited to the lips of Sergeant Buzfuz? "O, undistinguish'd space of woman's will! ” i. e., O, unmarked, boundless reach of woman's will. It is almost superfluous to mention the misprints, "woman's wit,” in the 4tos., and “Oh, indinguish'd space," &c., in the folio. SCENE VII. "Madam, sleeps still": The folio assigns to the Gentleman those speeches which the quartos give to the Doctor. This union of characters is probably to be attributed, as Mr. Collier remarks, merely to the economy of performers. As to some of the immediately succeeding speeches, there is a disagreement among the folio and the various quartos, which it is needless to specify. The arrangement made by Malone, and adopted by most of his successors, appears to me to be the best suited to the requirements of the Scene and the personages who take part in it. "Please you, draw near. — · Louder the music there": After Cordelia's question, "Is he array'd?" the folio directs Lear to be brought in "on a chaire carried by Servants." But, as Capell remarked, this is a mere stage contrivance, suited to the time when the tragedy was produced. Lear is plainly supposed to be asleep upon a bed, curtained, or in an alcove. With his subtle and ever-present knowledge of mental action and condition, Shakespeare caused Lear to be roused from his convalescent slumber, not by words or touch, which, however gentle, might have stirred up anew the subsiding tumult of his faculties, but by music, soft at first, and gradually swelling louder. This the Physician steps aside to order as soon as he has asked and received, as matter of form, Cordelia's permission to waken her father. Not till then, he being king in the sick room, which the Queen recognizes in the very terms of her assent, does he permit her to approach the bedside, lest the old man should be startled from his sleep by her mere propinquity; and as she approaches, he directs the music to be louder, that the sleeper's senses may be still controlled by the influence least calculated to disturb them. So p. 308. much by way of justifying the arrangement of the text, p. 309. "To be oppos'd": The 4tos., "To be exposd." The p. 310. p. 311. [and yet it is danger” :— These words and the next line are found only in the 4tos. "[Gent. Holds it true, sir": - The remainder of the Scene is omitted from the folio. p. 312. p. 314. ACT FIFTH. SCENE I. [That thought abuses you": This speech and the next are found in the 4tos., but not in the folio. The same remark is to be made as to the words in brackets of Goneril's speech, and of Albany's and Edmund's just below, and again as to Edmund's speech, "I shall attend you," &c. "And hardly shall I carry out my side": - -i. e., carry out, accomplish my design, be successful. The phrase should hardly need explanation as long as people take sides in games and in earnest. SCENE II. "Here, father": - Gloster does not suspect that it is his own loved son who calls him father, on account of the common practice giving that title to all very old men. SCENE III. "The goujeers shall devour them -The French disease was called "the goujeers." The folio has, by a misprint, "the good years. first." we'll see 'em starv'd first": The 4tos., "starve "[Capt. I cannot draw a cart":- This speech is found only in the 4tos. age. your valiant strain":—i. e., your valiant lineSo in the old song, "Of noble strain was Jenkin." p. 317. p. 319. P. 320. p. 321. p. 323. p. 325. p. 326. [and appointed guard]":- These words are not in the folio and one of the 4tos. Below, in this speech, the folio alone omits from "At this time" to the end. i. e., vicariousness. "The which immediacy": "That were the most, if he should husband you” : — The folio assigns this speech to Albany; and perhaps correctly, although the dialogue here is between the two sisters. I'll ne'er trust medicine":-The 4tos., "poison." "[Edm. A herald, ho! a herald": This speech of Edmund's is found only in the 4tos. The same is the case with the Captain's direction below, "Sound, trumpets," and Edmund's afterwards, "Sound." "I come to cope":- So the folio, in accordance with the license of Shakespeare's day, which did not require 'with' to complete the sense of cope.' The 4tos. add two superfluous syllables to the line by reading, "I come to cope withal." “Behold, it is my privilege” : -The 4tos. have, Not improbably, as Mr. Dyce suggests, the words 'my privilege,' in the folio, are the fruit of some mistake in the transcript. "Ask me not what I know These words, manifestly uttered by Goneril, and assigned to her in the 4tos., have the prefix " Edm." in the folio. If more, the more thou hast wrong'd me":— I am inclined to think that this imperfect line is corrupted, and that it was written, "If more, the more thou then hast wronged me.” [This would have seem'd a period" :- The text from these words, inclusive, to the entrance of the Gentleman, is found only in the 4tos. threw me on my father": Does Edgar mean, "Threw himself on my father"? the expression being like "Ascends me into the brain." Some editors very plausibly read, "Threw him," &c. "Howl, howl, howl, [howl]":- The folio omits one repetition of howl. "Is this the promis'd end?” —i. e., the end of all things. This is a dull light : In the old copies, "a dull fight; " but considering the ease with which the_old long ƒ and the 7 might be mistaken for each other, I do p. 327. not hesitate to read, "a dull light." Lear's evil day draws to its close, and "those that look out of the windows are darkened." See his preceding speech. "Break, heart; I pr'ythee, break":— The 4tos. assign this speech to Lear; and I am not sure that it does not belong to him. The stage direction, "He dies," at the end of Lear's foregoing speech, may be only a timely warning to the prompter, such as is constantly found in our old dramas, and especially in the folio edition of Shakespeare's plays. Possibly Lear was supposed to expire during Kent's next speech. I had supposed the rack of this tough world": that Shakespeare wrote, "the rack of this rough world," before I knew that Pope had promulgated that reading, or that in old manuscript and old typography t and r are so much alike that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish them. I am almost sure that Shakespeare wrote 'rough world.' |