8 Kent. My life I never held but as a pawn To wage against thine enemies; nor fear to lose it, Thy fafety being the motive. Lear. Out of my fight! Kent. See better, Lear; and let me ftill remain [Laying his band on his fword. Alb. Corn. Dear Sir, forbear. Kent. Kill thy phyfician, and thy fee bestow Lear. Hear me, recreant! On thine allegiance hear me ! Since thou haft fought to make us break our vow, Which we durft never yet, and with ftrain'd pride 2 To come betwixt our fentence and our power; 3 Which nor our nature, nor our place, can bear; Our potency made good, take thy reward. a paren Five To wage against thine enemies ;—] i. e. I never regarded my life as my own, but merely as a thing of which I had the poffeffion, not the property; and which was entrusted to me to be employed in waging war against your enemies. STEEVENS. 9 The true blank of thine eye.] The blank is the white or exact mark at which the arrow is fhot. See better, fays Kent, and keep me always in your view. JOHNSON. I --frain'd pride] The oldeft copy reads frayed pride; that is, pride exorbitant; pride paffing due bounds. JOHNSON. 2 To come betwixt our fentence and our power;] Power, for execution of the fentence. WARBURTON. Rather, as Mr. Edwards obferves, our power to execute that Jentence. STEEVENS. 3 Which nor our nature, nor our place, can bear, Our potency make good;-] Mr. Theobald, by putting the Five days we do allot thee, for provifion first line into a parenthefis, and altering make to made in the fecond line, had deftroyed the fenfe of the whole; which, as it flood before he corrupted the words, was this: "You have "endeavoured, fays Lear, to make me break my oath; you "have prefumed to ftop the execution of my fentence: the "latter of thefe attempts neither my temper nor high station "will fuffer me to bear; and the other, had I yielded to it, my power could not make good, or excufe."--Which, in the first line, referring to both attempts: but the ambiguity of it, as it might refer only to the latter, has occafioned all the obfcurity of the paffage. WARBURTON. Theobald only inferted the parenthefis; he found made good in the best copy of 1623. Dr. Warburton has very acutely explained and defended the reading that he has chofen, but I am not certain that he has chofen right. If we take the reading of the folio, our potency made good, the fenfe will be lefs profound indeed, but lefs intricate, and equally commodious. As thou haft come with unreasonable pride between the fentence which I had paffed, and the power by which I shall execute it, take thy reward in another fentence which shall make good, fhall establish, Shall maintain, that power. If Dr. Warburton's explanation be chofen, and every reader will wish to choose it, we may better read, Which nor our nature, nor our state can bear, Or potency make good. Mr. Davies thinks, that our potency made good relates only to our place. Which our nature cannot bear, nor our place, without departure from the potency of that place. This is eafy and clear. Lear, who is characterized as hot, heady, and violent, is, with very just observation of life, made to entangle himself with vows, upon any fudden provocation to vow revenge, and then to plead the obligation of a vow in defence of implacability. JOHNSON. In my opinion, made, the reading of all the editions, but the quarto, which reads make good, is right. Lear had juft delegated his power to Albany and Cornwall, contenting himfelf with only the name and all the additions of a king: he could therefore have no power to inflict on Kent the punishment which he thought he deferved. Our potency made good feems to me only this: They to whom I have yielded my perver and authority, yielding me the ability to difperfe it in this inftance, take thy reward. STEEVENS. VOL. IX. X Upon Upon our kingdom: if, the tenth day following, Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions, The moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter, This fhall not be revok'd. Kent. Fare thee well, king: fith thus thou wilt appear, 5 Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.— The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid, [To Cordelia. That juftly think'st, and hast most rightly faid! And, your large fpeeches may your deeds approve, [To Regan and Gonorill. That good effects may spring from words of love.Thus Kent, O princes, bids you all adieu; "He'll fhape his old courfe in a country new. [Exit. Re-enter Glofter, with France and Burgundy, and attendants. Glo. Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord. We first addrefs toward you, who with this king Bur. Moft royal majefty, I crave no more than hath your highness offer'd, Lear. Right noble Burgundy, When fhe was dear to us, we did hold her fo; 4 By Jupiter,] Shakespeare makes his Lear too much a mythologiit: he had Hecate and Apollo before. JOHNSON. 's Freedom lives hence,] So the folio: both the quartos concur in reading-Friendship lives hence. STEEVENS. He'll shape his old courfe] He will follow his old maxims; he will continue to act upon the fame principles. JOHNSON. If aught within that little, 7 feeming, fubftance, Bur. I know no answer. 8 Lear. Will you with those infirmities fhe owes, Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate, Dower'd with our curfe, and ftranger'd with our oath, Take her, or leave her? Bur. Pardon me, royal Sir; 9 Election makes not up on fuch conditions. Lear. Then leave her, Sir; for, by the power that made me, I tell you all her wealth.-For you, great king, [To France. I would not from your love make such a stray, France. This is most strange! you That fhe, who even but now was your best object, 7 Seeming is beautiful. JOHNSON. Seeming rather means fpecious. STEEVENS. 8 owes,] i. e. Poffeffed of. STEEVENS. 9 Election makes not up on fuch conditions.] To make up fignifies to complete, to conclude; as, they made up the bargain; but in this fenfe it has, I think, always the fubject noun after it. To make up, in familiar language, is, neutrally, to come forward, to make advances, which, I think, is meant here. JOHNSON. 1 The best, the deareft;] Beft is added from the first copy. JOHNSON. X 2 That 2 That monsters it: or your fore-vouch'd affection Cor. I yet befeech your majesty, To fpeak and purpofe not; fince what I well intend, No unchafte action, or difhonour'd step, That hath depriv'd me of your grace and favour: 2 The common books read, — or your fore-vouch'd affection Fall'n into taint : This line has no clear or ftrong fenfe, nor is this reading authorized by any copy, though it has crept into all the late editions. The early quarto reads, or you for vouch'd affections Fall'n into taint. The folio, or your fore-vouch'd affection Fall into taint.. Taint is used for corruption and for difgrace. If therefore we take the oldest reading it may be reformed thus: fare her offence Must be of fuch unnatural degree, That monsters it; or you for vouch'd affection Fall into taint. Her offence must be prodigious, or you must fall into reproach for having vouched affection which you did not feel. If the reading of the folio be preferred, we may with a very flight change produce the fame fenfe: fure her offence Must be of fuch unnatural degree, That monfters it, or your fore-vouch'd affection That is, falls into reproach or cenfure. But there is another. poffible fenfe. Or fignifies before, and or ever is before ever; the meaning in the folio may therefore be, Sure her crime muft be monftrous before your affection can be affected with hatred. Let the reader determine.As I am not much a friend to conjectural emendation, I should prefer the latter fenfe, which requires no change of reading. JOHNSON. But |