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Lear. Say? How is that?

Reg. I cannot think my fifter in the leaft
Would fail her obligation. If, Sir, perchance,
She have reftrain'd the riots of your followers,
'Tis on fuch ground, and to fuch wholefome end,
As clears her from all blame.

Lear. My curfes on her!

Reg. O Sir, you are old;

Nature in you ftands on the very verge
Of her confine: you should be rul'd, and led
By some discretion, that difcerns your state
Better than you yourfelf: therefore, I pray you,
That to our fifter you do make return;
Say, you have wrong'd her, Sir,

Lear. Afk her forgiveness?

'Do you but mark how this becomes the house?

Dear

make any alteration.-Scant may mean to adapt, to fit, to proportion; which fenfe feems still to be retained in the mechanical term fcantling. JOHNSON.

1 Do you but mark how this becomes the boufe ?] This phrase to me is unintelligible, and feems to fay nothing to the purpose: neither can it mean, how this becomes the order of families. Lear would certainly intend to reply, how does asking my daughter's forgiveness agree with common fashion, the eftablished rule and cuftom of nature? No doubt, but the poet wrote, becomes the ufe. And that Shakespeare employs use in this fignification, is too obvious to want a proof. THEOBALD.

Do you but mark bow this becomes the house?] Mr. Theobald fays, This phrafe feems to fay little to the purpose;" and therefore alters it to, becomes the ufe, which fignifies lefs. The Oxford Editor makes him still more familiar-becometh us. All this chopping and changing proceeds from an utter ignorance of a great, a noble, and a moft expreffive phrafe,—becomes the boufe ;-which fignifies the orders of families, duties of relation. WARBURTON.

With this most expreffive phrafe I believe no reader is fatisfied. I fufpect that it has been written originally,

Afk her forgiveness?

Do you but mark how this becometh-thus.
Dear daughter, I confefs, &c.

Becomes the boufe, and becometh thus, might be easily confounded by readers fo unskilful as the original printers. JOHNSON.

VOL. IX.

Bb

Dr.

Dear daughter, I confess that I am old,

2 Age is unneceffary: on my knees I beg,

[Kneeling.

That you'll vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food.

Reg. Good Sir, no more. These are unfightly tricks: Return you to my fister.

Lear. Never, Regan:

She hath abated me of half my train:

3. Look'd black upon me; ftruck me with her tongue, Moft ferpent-like, upon the very heart..

All the ftor'd vengeances of heaven fall

On her ingrateful top! Strike her young bones,
You taking airs, with lamenefs !-

Corn. Fie, Sir, fie!

Lear. You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding. flames

Into her fcornful eyes! Infect her beauty,
You fen-fuck'd fogs, drawn by the powerful fun
♦ To fall, and blast her pride!

Reg. O the bleft gods!

So will you wish on me, 5 when the rafh mood is on.. Lear. No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curse;

Dr. Warburton's explanation may be fupported by the following paffage in Milton on Divorce, book ii. ch. 12. "How hurtful, how deftructive it is to the house, the church, and "commonwealth!" TOLLET.

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2 Age is unneceffary:-] i. e. Old age has few wants. JOHNS. 3 Look'd black upon me ; -] To look black, may easily be explained to look cloudy or gloomy. See Milton:

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"So frown'd the mighty combatants, that hell "Grew darker at their frown."- JOHNSON. So Holinfhed, vol. iii. p. 1157;-" The bishops thereat repined, and looked black." TOLLET.

To fall, and blaft her pride!] Thus the quarto: the folio reads not fo well, to fall and blifter. I think there is ftill a fault, which may be eafily mended by changing a letter:

Infect her beauty,

Ye fen-fuck'd fogs, drawn by the powerful fun,
Do, fall, and blaft her pride! JOHNSON.

when the rafh mood is on.] Thus the folio. The

quarto reads only,when the rafb mood- perhaps leaving the fentence purpofely unfinished. STEEVENS.

Thy

Thy tender-hefted nature shall not give

Thee o'er to harshness; her eyes are fierce, but thine Do comfort, and not burn. 'Tis not in thee

To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train,

To bandy hafty words,
And, in conclufion, to
Against my coming in.

to fcant my sizes,
oppofe the bolt
Thou better know't

The offices of nature, bond of childhood,
Effects of courtefy, dues of gratitude :

Thy half o' the kingdom thou haft not forgot,
Wherein I thee endow'd.

Reg. Good Sir, to the purpose. [Trumpets within.
Lear. Who put my man i' the stocks?

Enter Steward.

Corn. What trumpet's that?

Reg. I know't, my fifter's. This approves her letter, That she would foon be here. Is your lady come? Lear. This is a flave, whofe eafy-borrow'd pride Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows. Out, varlet, from my fight!

Corn. What means your grace?

Lear. Who stockt my fervant? Regan, I have good hope

Thou didst not know on't.Who comes here? O

heavens,

•-tender-hefted-] This word, though its general meaning be plain, I do not critically understand. JOHNSON.

Thy tender-befted nature-] Hefted feems to mean the fame as heaved. Tender-hefted, i. e. whofe bofom is heaved by tender paffions. The formation of fuch a participle, I believe, cannot be grammatically accounted for. Shakespeare ufes hefts for beavings in The Winter's Tale, act ii. Both the quartos however read, "tender-hefted nature;" which may mean a nature which is governed by gentle paffions. Heft is an old word fignifying command. Hefted is the reading of the folio. STEEVENS. 7 to fcant my fizes,] To contract my allowances or proportions fettled. JOHNSON.

A fizer is one of the lowest ranks of ftudents at Cambridge, and lives on a stated allowance. STEEVENS. Bb 2

Enter

Enter Gonerill.

7 If you' do love old men, if your fweet Tway Allow obedience, if yourselves are old,

Make it your caufe; fend down, and take my part!Art not afham'd to look upon this beard?

[To Gon O, Regan, will you take her by the hand?

Gon. Why not by the hand, Sir? How have I offended?

All's not offence & that indifcretion finds,

And dotage terms fo.

• Lear. O, fides, you are too tough!

Will you yet hold?-How came my man i'the stocks? Corn. I fet him there, Sir: but his own disorders Deierv'd 9,much lefs advancement.

Lear. You! did you?

Reg. 'Í

pray you, father, being weak, seem fo. If, till the expiration of your month,

You

7 If you do love old men, if your Sweet fway ALLOW obedience, if yourselves are old,] Mr. Upton has proved by irresistible authority, that to allow fignifies not only to permit, but to approve, and has defervedly replaced the old reading, which Dr. Warburton had changed into ballow obedience, not recollecting the fcripture expreffion, The Lord ALLOWETH the righteous, Pfalm xi. ver. 6. Dr. Warburton might have found the emendation which he propofed, in Tate's alteration of King Lear, which was first published in 1687. STEEV. that indifcretion finds,] Finds is here used in the fame fenfe as when a jury is faid to find a bill, to which it is an allufion. Our author again ufes the fame word in the fame fenfe in Hamlet, ac v. sc. 1.

8

Why 'tis found fo."

EDWARDS.

To find is little more than to think. The French use their word trouver in the fame fenfe; and we ftill fay I find time tedious, or I find company troublefome, without thinking on a jury. STEEVENS.

9

—much less advancement.] The word advancement is` ironically ufed here for confpicuoufnefs of punishment; as we now fay, a man is advanced to the pillory. We fhould read,

JOHNSON.

-but his own diforders Deferv'd much more advancement. -Cornwall feems to mean, that his own disorders had intitled him even a poft of lefs honour than the ftocks. I pray you, father, being weak, SEEM fo.]

STEEVENS: This is a very

odd

You will return and fojourn with my fifter,
Difmiffing half your train, come then to me:
I am now from home, and out of that provifion
Which fhall be needful for your entertainment.

Lear. Return to her, and fifty men dismiss'd? 2 No, rather I abjure all roofs, and chuse To wage against the enmity o' the air; To be a comrade with the wolf and owl, Neceffity's fharp pinch.-Return with her? Why, the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took Our youngest born, I could as well be brought To knee his throne, and 'fquire-like penfion beg, To keep 3 base life afoot.Return with her?

odd request. She furely afked fomething more reafonable. We fhould read,

being weak, deem't so.

i. e. believe that my husband tells you true, that Kent's disorders deferved a more ignominious punishment. WARBURTON, The meaning is, fince you are weak, be content to think yourself weak. No change is needed. JOHNSON.

66

2 No, rather I abjure all roofs, and chufe

To wage against the enmity o' the air;

To be a comrade with the wolf and ozvl,

Neceffity's fharp pinch.] Thus fhould thefe lines (in the order they were read, in all the editions till Mr. Theobald's) be pointed the want of which pointing contributed, perhaps, to mislead him in tranfpofing the fecond and third lines; on which imaginary regulation he thus defcants. "The breach "of the fenfe here is a manifeft proof that these lines were "tranfpofed by the firft editors. Neither can there be any "fyntax or grammatical coherence, unless we fuppofe (neceffity's Sharp pinch) to be the accufative to (wage." But this is fuppofing the verb wage, to want an accufative, which it does not. To wage, or wager against any one, was a common expreffion; and, being a fpecies of acting (namely, acting in oppofition) was as proper as to fay, act againf any one. to wage against the enmity of the air, was to ftrive or fight against it. Neceffity's fharp pinch, therefore, is not the accufative to wage, but declarative of the condition of him who is a comrade of the wolf and owl; in which the verb (i) is understood. The confequence of all this is, that it was the laft editors, and and not the firft, who tranfpofed the lines from the order the poet gave them: for the Oxford Editor follows Mr. Theobald. WARBURTON,

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bafe life-] i. e. In a fervile state. JOHNSON.

Bb 3

So,

Perfuade

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