Kent. Here, Sir; but trouble him not, his wits are gone. Glo. Good friend, I pr'ythee, take him in thy arms; I have o'er-heard a plot of death upon him. There is a litter ready; lay him in't, And drive toward Dover, friend, where thou fhalt meet Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master: With thine, and all that offer to defend him, take up, up, take And follow me, that will to fome provision 2 [Kent. Oppreft nature fleeps. This reft might yet have balm'd 3 thy broken fenses, Which, if convenience will not allow, Stand in hard cure. Come, help to bear thy mafter; Thou must not ftay behind. Glo. Come, come, away. [To the Fool. [Exeunt, bearing off the king. Manet Edgar. Edg. When we our betters fee bearing our woes, We fcarcely think our miseries our foes. 2 Oppret nature fleeps.] Thefe two concluding fpeeches by Kent and Edgar, and which by no means ought to have been cut off, I have restored from the old quarto. The foliloquy of Edgar is extremely fine; and the fentiments of it are drawn equally from nature and the fubject. Besides, with regard to the ftage, it is abfolutely neceffary: for as Edgar is not defigned, in the conftitution of the play, to attend the king to Dover; how abfurd would it look for a character of his importance to quit the fcene without one word faid, or the leaft intimation what we are to expect from him? THEOBALD. The lines inferted from the quarto are in crotchets. The emiflion of them in the folio is certainly faulty: yet I believe the folio is printed from Shakespeare's laft revifion, carelefly and haftily performed, with more thought of fhortening the fcenes, than of continuing the action. JOHNSON. 3 thy broken fenfes,] The quarto, from whence this speech is taken, reads, thy broken finews. STEEVENS. Who Who alone fuffers, fuffers moft i' the mind; SCENE VII. Changes to Glo'fter's castle. Enter Cornwall, Regan, Gonerill, Edmund, and Servants. Reg. Hang him inftantly. [Exeunt fervants. Corn. Leave him to my displeasure.-Edmund, keep you our fifter company: the revenges we are bound to take upon your traiterous father are not fit for your beholding. Advise the duke, where you are going, to a moft feftinate preparation; we are bound to the like. Our posts shall be swift, and intelligent betwixt Farewell, dear fifter. Farewell, 6 my lord of us. Glo'fter. 4 free things,-] States clear from diftrefs. JOHNSON. 5 Mark the high noifes!] Attend to the great events that are approaching, and make thyfelf known when that falje opinion now prevailing against thee fhall, in confequence of just proof of thy integrity, revoke its erroneous fentence, and recall thee to honour and reconciliation. JOHNSON. 6 my lord of Glofter.] Meaning Edmund, newly invefted with his father's titles. The fteward, fpeaking iramediately after, mentions the old duke by the fame title. Jouss. Dd 3 Enter Enter Steward. How now? Where's the king? Stew. My lord of Glo'fter hath convey'd him hence: Some five or fix and thirty of his knights, 2 Hot queftrifts after him, met him at gate, Corn. Get horfes for your mistress. Gon. Farewell, fweet lord, and fifter. [Exeunt Gonerill and Edmund, Corn. Edmund, farewell.-Go, feek the traitor Glo❜fter, Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us :- Enter Glofter, brought in by fervants, Who's there? the traitor? Reg. Ingrateful fox! 'tis he. Corn. Bind faft his 4 corky arms. Glo. What mean your graces?-Good my friends, confider, You are my guests: do me no foul play, friends. Hot queftrifts after him,-] A queftrift is one who goes in fearch or queft of another. Mr. Pope and Sir T. Hanmer read quefiers. STEEVENS, Though well we may not pass upon his life, •yet our pow'r Shall do a courtesy to our wrath,-] To do a courtesy is to gratify, to comply with, To pass, is to pafs a judicial fentence. JOHNSON. The original of the expreffion, to pass on any one may be tr. ced from MAGNA CHARTA: nec fuper eum ibimus, nifi per legale judicium "parium fuorum." STEEVENS. corky arms.] Dry, wither'd, husky arms. JoHNS. Corn. Corn. Bind him, I fay, Reg. Hard, hard.-Ö filthy traitor! find [They bind him. Glo. Unmerciful lady as you are! I am none. Reg. So white, and fuch a traitor! Thefe hairs, which thou dost ravish from my chin, 5 By the kind gods,] We are not to understand by this the gods in general, who are beneficent and kind to men; but that particular fpecies of them called by the ancients dii hofpitales, kind gods. So Plautus in Pœnulo, "Deum hofpitalem ac tefferam mecum fero." This was a beautiful exclamation, as those who infulted the Speaker were his guests, whom he had hofpitably received into his houfe. But to fay the truth, Shakespeare never makes his people fwear at random. Of his propriety in this matter take the following inftances. In Troilus and Creffida, Æneas, in an expoftulation with Diomede, fwears by the hand of his mother Venus, as a covert reproof for Diomede's brutality in wounding the goddess of beauty in the hand, and a fecret intimation that he would revenge her injuries. In Coriolanus, when that hero is exasperated at the fickle inconftant temper of the multitude, he fwears by the clouds: and again, when he meets his wife after a long abfence, by the jealous queen of heaven; for Juno was fuppofed the aveng refs of conjugal infidelity. In Othello, the double Iago is made to fwear by Janus. And in this very play of Lear, a Pagan, much given to judicial aftrology, very confonantly to his character, fwears By all the operations of the orbs, By whom we do exift, and cease to be. WARBURTON. By the kind gods,- -] Shakespeare hardly received any affistance from mythology to furnish out a proper oath for Glo'fter. People always invoke their deities as they would have them fhew themfelves at that time in their favour; and he accordingly calls thofe kind gods whom he would wish to find fo on this occafion. Our own liturgy will fufficiently evince the truth of this fuppofition. STEEVENS, 6 With robbers' hands, my hospitable favour Reg. 7 Be fimple answer'd, for we know the truth, Corn. And what confederacy have you with the traitors, Late footed in the kingdom? Reg. To whofe hands Have you fent the lunatic king? Speak. Glo. I have a letter gueffingly fet down, Which came from one that's of a neutral heart, And not from one oppos'd. Corn. Cunning Reg. And falfe. Corn. Where haft thou fent the king? Glo. To Dover. Reg. Wherefore to Dover? Waft thou not charg'd, at peril Corn. Wherefore to Dover? Let him first answer that. Glo. I am ty'd to the stake, and I muft ftand 9 the courfe, Reg. Wherefore to Dover? Glo. Because I would not fee thy cruel nails Pluck out his poor old eyes; nor thy fierce fifter In his anointed flesh ftick boarifh fangs. The fea, with such a storm as his bare head 6 my hofpitable FAVOURS] It is nonfenfe to underftand it of gifts, kindneffes, &c. We fhould read FAVOUR, i. e. vifage. For they pluck'd him by the beard. WARBURTON. 7 De fimple anfer'd,] The old quarto reads, Be fimple anfaerer. Either is good fenfe: fimple means plain. STEEV. I am ty'd to the fake,] Šo in Macbeth, 9 They have chain'd me to a flake: I cannot fly, "But, bear-like, I muft ftand the courfe." STEEV. the courje.] The running of the dogs upon me. Joнns, In |