In hell-black night indur'd, would have buoy'd up, key;" All cruels elfe 2 fubfcrib'd: but I fhall fee Upon thefe eyes of thine I'll fet my foot. [Glofter is held down, while Cornwall treads out one of his eyes. Glo. He that will think to live 'till he be old Give me fome help. O cruel! O you gods! Reg. One fide will mock another; the other too. Corn. If you fee vengeance Serv. Hold your hand, my lord. I have ferv'd you ever fince I was a child, Reg. How now, you dog? Serv. If you did wear a beard upon your chin, I'd shake it on this quarrel: what do you mean? Corn. My villain! Serv. Nay then come on, and take the chance of anger. [Fight; Cornwall is wounded. Reg. [To another fervant.] Give me thy fword.-A peasant stand up thus ? [Comes behind and kills him. Serv. Oh, I am flain!-My lord, you have one eye left To fee fome mischief on him :-oh! 1 [Dies. that ftern time,] Thus the folio. Both the quartos read, that dearn time.- -Dearn is a north-country word, fignifying lonely, folitary, far from neighbours. STEEVENS. -fubfcrib'd:-] Yielded, fubmitted to the necellity of the occafion. JOHNSON, Corn, Corn. Left it fee more, prevent it:-out, vile gelly! Where is thy luftre now? [Treads the other out. Glo. All dark and comfortlefs.Where's my fon Edmund, enkindle all the fparks of nature Reg. Out! Treacherous villain, Thou call'ft on him that hates thee: it was he Who is too good to pity thee. Glo. O my follies! Then Edgar was abus'd. Kind gods, forgive Me that, and profper him! Reg. Go thruft him out At gates, and let him fmell his way to Dover. How is't, my lord, how look you? [Glofter is led out. Corn. I have receiv'd a hurt.-Follow me, lady.Turn out that eyelefs villain.-Throw this flave Upon the dunghill.-Regan, I bleed apace: Untimely comes this hurt. Give me your arm. [Exit Cornwall, led by Regan [1ft Serv. 3 I'll never care what wickedness I do, If this man come to good. 2d Serv. If fhe live long, And, in the end, meet the old courfe of death, 1ft Serv. Let's follow the old earl, and get the 3 I'll never care what wickedness I do,] This fhort dialogue I have inferted from the old quarto, because I think it full of nature. Servants could hardly fee fuch a barbarity committed on their master, without pity; and the vengeance that they prefume muft overtake the actors of it, is a fentiment and doctrine well worthy of the ftage, THEOBALD. It is not neceffary to fuppofe them the fervants of Glo'fter; for Cornwall was oppofed to extremity by his own fervant, JOHNSON. To lead him where he would; his roguish madness 2d Serv. Go thou; I'll fetch 4 fome flax and whites of eggs T'apply to his bleeding face. Now, heaven help him!] [Exeunt feverally. ACT IV. SCENE I. An open country. Enter EDGAR. ET better thus, and known to be contemn'd, 'YE worst, To be The lowest, and moft dejected thing of fortune, - fome flax, &c.] This paffage is ridiculed by Ben Jonfon, in The Cafe is alter'd, 1609. 66 go get a white of an egg, and a little flax, and "clofe the breaches of the head, it is the most con"ducible thing that can be." STEEVENS. Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd,] The meaning is, 'Tis better to be thus contemned, and known to yourself to be contemned. Or perhaps there is an error, which may be rectified thus: Yet better thus unknown to be contemn'd. When a man divefts himself of his real character he feels no pain from contempt, because he fuppofes it incurred only by a voluntary difguife which he can throw off at pleasure. I do not think any correction neceffary. JOHNSON. I cannot help thinking that this paffage fhould be written thus: Yet better thus unknown to be contemn'd, Than ftill contemn'd and flatter'd to be worse. The The wretch, that thou haft blown unto the worst, Owes nothing to thy blafts.-But who comes here? Enter Glofter, led by an old man. My father poorly led? 2 World, world, O world! But that thy ftrange mutations makes us hate thee, Life would not yield to age. Old Man. O my good lord, I have been your tenant, and your father's tenant, Glo. Away, get thee away. Good friend, be gone: Thy comforts can do me no good at all, World, world, O world! But that thy frange mutations makes us hate thee,] The reading of this paffage has been explained, but not fatisfactorily. My explanation of the poet's fentiment was, "If the number "of changes and viciffitudes, which happen in life, did not "make us wait, and hope for fome turn of fortune for the "better, we could never support the thought of living to be "old, on any other terms.' And our duty, as human creatures, is pioufly inculcated in this reflection of the author. I read therefore, make us wait thee. THEOBALD. O world! But that thy ftrange mutations makes us hate thee, Life would not yield to age.] The fenfe of this obfcure paffage is, O world! fo much are human minds captivated with thy pleasures, that were it not for thofe fucceffive miferies, each worfe than the other, which overload the fcenes of life, we fhould never be willing to fubmit to death, tho' the infirmities of old age would teach us to chufe it as a proper afylum. Befides, by uninterrupted profperity, which leaves the mind at eafe, the body would generally preferve fuch a state of vigour as to bear up long against the decays of time. These are the two reafons, I fuppofe, why he faid, Life would not yield to age. And how much the pleafures of the body pervert the mind's judgment, and the perturbations of the mind diforder the body's frame, is known to all. WARBURTON. Yield to fignifies no more than give way to, fink under, in oppofition to the fruggling with, bearing up against the infirmities of age, HANMER. Old Old Man. You cannot fee your way. Glo. I have no way, and therefore want no eyes: I ftumbled when I faw. Full oft 'tis feen, 3 Our mean secures us; and our meer defects Prove our commodities.-— O dear fon Edgar, The food of thy abused father's wrath! Old Man. How now? Who's there? Edg. [Afide.] O gods! 4 who is't can say, I am at the worst? I am worse than e'er I was. Old Man. 'Tis poor mad Tom. Edg. [Afide.] And worse I may be yet: the worst is not, So long as we can fay, This is the worst. 3 Our mean fecures us ;· -] i. e. Moderate, mediocre con dition. WARBURTON. Hanmer writes, by an eafy change, meanness secures us. The two original editions have, Our meanes fecures us. I do not remember that mean is ever ufed as a fubftantive for low fortune, which is the fenfe here required, nor for mediocrity, except in the phrafe, the golden mean. I fufpect the paffage of corruption, and would either read, Our means feduce us: Our powers of body or fortune draw us into evils. Or, Our maims fecure us. That hurt or deprivation which makes us defenceless, proves our fafeguard. This is very proper in Glo'fter, newly maimed by the evulfion of his eyes. JOHNSON. 4 who is't can fay, I am at the worst? So long as we can fay, This is the worst.] i. e. While we live; for while we yet continue to have a fenfe of feeling, fomething worse than the prefent may fill happen. What occafioned this reflection was his rafhly faying in the beginning of this scene, To be worst, The lowest, moft dejected thing of fortune, &c. Old |