8 She that herself will fliver, and difbranch, And She that herself will SHIVER, and disbranch,] Thus all the editions, but the old quarto, that reads SLIVER, which is right. Shiver means to fhake or fly a-pieces into splinters. As he fays afterwards, Thou'd'ft fiver'd like an egg. But fliver fignifies to tear off or difbranch. So in Macbeth, flips of yew Sliver'd in the moon's eclipfe. WARBURTON. 9 From her material Sap,] Thus the old quarto; but material fap is a phrase that I do not understand. The mothertree is the true technical term; and confidering our author has faid but just before, That nature, which contemns its origin, there is little room to question but he wrote, From her maternal sap. THEOBALD. From her material sap, -] Thus all the editions till Mr. Theobald's, who alters material to maternal; and for these wife reafons: Material fap (says he) I own is a phrafe that I do not understand. The mother-tree is the true technical term, and confidering our author had said juft before, That nature, which contemns its origin, there is no room to question but he wrote, From her maternal fap. And to prove that we may fay maternal sap, he gives many authorities from the claffics, and fays he could produce more, where words equivalent to maternal stock are used; which is quite another thing, as we shall now fee. In making his emendation, the editor did not confider the difference between material fap and material body, or trunk or stock: the latter expreffion being indeed not fo well; material being a properer epithet for body. But the first is right; and we should fay, material fap, not maternal. For material fap fignifies, that whereby a branch is nourished, and increases in bulk by fresh acceffion of matter. On which account material is elegant. Indeed fap, when applied to the whole tree, might be called maternal, but could not be fo when applied to a branch only. For though fap might, in fome fenfe, be faid to be maternal to the tree, yet it is the tree that is maternal to the branch, and not the fap: but here the epithet is applied to the branch. From all this we conclude, that the old reading is the true. But what if, after all, material was used by the writers of these times in the very fenfe of maternal? It would feem fo by the title of an old English translation of Froiffart's Chronicle, which runs in these words, Syr John Froissart's Chronicle, tranflated out of Frenche into our MATERIAL English Tongue by John Bouchier, printed 1525. WARBURTON. E e 2 I fuppofe And come to deadly use. Gon. No more; the text is foolish. Alb. Wifdom and goodness to the vile feem vile: Whofe reverence the head-lugg'd bear would lick, I fuppofe no reader doubts but the word fhould be maternal. Dr. Warburton has taken great pains without much fuccefs, and indeed without much exactnefs of attention, to prove that material has a more proper fenfe than maternal, and yet seemed glad at laft to infer from an apparent error of another press that material and maternal meant the fame. JOHNSON. And come to deadly ufe.] Alluding to the afe that witches and inchanters are faid to make of wither'd branches in their charms. A fine infinuation in the fpeaker, that she was ready for the most unnatural mifchief, and a preparative of the poet to her plotting with the bastard against her husband's life. WARB. 2 A man, a prince by him fo benefited?] After this line I fufpect a line or two to be wanting, which upbraids her for her filler's cruelty to Glo'fter. And my reafon is, that in her anfwer we find thefe words, Fools do thefe villains pity, who are punish'd Ere they have done their mifchief which evidently allude to Glo'fter's cafe. Now I cannot conceive that she would here apologize for what was not objected to her. But I fuppofe the players thought the fpeech too long; which has occafioned throughout, and more particularly in this play, the retrenchment of numerous lines and fpeeches; many of which have been reflored by the care and difcernment of Mr. Pope. WARBURTON. Here is a pompous note to fupport a conjecture apparently erroneous, and confuted by the next fcene, in which the account is given for the first time to Albany of Glo'iter's fufferings. JOHNSON, Like monfiers of the deep.] Fishes are the only animals that are known to prey upon their own fpecies. JOHNSON. Gon. Gon. Milk-liver'd man! That bear'st a cheek for blows, a head for wrongs; Ere they have done their mischief. Where's thy drum? Alb. See thyfelf, devil! + Proper deformity feems not in the fiend So horrid, as in woman. Gon. O vain fool! Alb. [5 Thou changed, and felf-cover'd thing, for Be-monfter not thy feature. Were it my fitness Thy flesh and bones.-Howe'er thou art a fiend, Gon. Marry, your manhood now!] Enter Messenger. Alb. What news? Mef. Oh, my good lord, the duke of Cornwall's dead; Slain by his fervant, going to put out The other eye of Glo'fter. 4 Proper deformity-] i. e. Diabolic qualities appear not fo horrid in the devil to whom they belong, as in woman who unnaturally affumes them. WARBURTON. 5 Thou changed, and felf-cover'd thing,-] Of thefe lines there is but one copy, and the editors are forced upon conjecture. They have published this line thus ; Thou chang'd, and felf-converted thing; but I cannot but think that by felf-cover'd the author meant, thou that haft difguifed nature by wickedness; thou that haft bid the woman under the fiend. JOHNSON. Alb. Glo'fter's eyes! Mef. A fervant, that he bred, thrill'd with remorse, Oppos'd against the act, bending his fword To his great master; who, thereat enrag'd, Alb. This fhews you are above, You juftices, that thefe our nether crimes Mef. Both, both, my lord. This letter, madam, craves a speedy answer; 'Tis from your fifter, Gon. [Afide.] One way, I like this well; But being widow, and my Glo'fter with her, May all the building in my fancy pluck Upon my hateful life: another way, The news is not fo tart. I'll read, and answer. [Exit, Alb. Where was his fon, when they did take his eyes? Mef. Come with my lady hither. Alb. He's not here. Mef. No, my good lord; I met him back again. Alb. Knows he the wickedness? Mef. Ay, my good lord; 'twas he inform'd against him; And quit the house of purpose, that their punishment Might have the freer courfe. Alb. [Afide.] Glo'fter, I live To thank thee for the love thou fhew'dft the king, 6 One way, I like this well;] Gonerill is well pleafed that Cornwall is deftroyed, who was preparing war againft her and her husband, but is afraid of lofing Edmund to the widow. JOHNSON, SCENE [SCENE The French camp, near Dover. 2 III. Enter Kent, and a Gentleman. Kent. Why is the king of France fo fuddenly Gone back? Know you the reason? Gent. Something he left imperfect in the ftate, Which fince his coming forth is thought of; which Imports to the kingdom fo much fear and danger, That his perfonal return was most requir'd and necessary. Kent. Whom hath he left behind him, general? Gent. The mareschal of France, Monfieur le Fer. Kent. Did your letters pierce the queen to any demonftration of grief? Gent. Ay, Sir, fhe took 'em, read 'em in my prefence; And now-and-then an ample tear trill'd down Kent. O, then it mov'd her. Gent. Not to a rage. Patience and forrow ftrove Which fhould exprefs her goodlieft. You have seen Sun-fhine and rain at once: 3 her fmiles and tears Were like a better day. Thofe happy fmiles, That SCENE III.] This fcene, left out in all the common books, is reftored from the old edition; it being manifeftly of Shakefpeare's writing, and neceffary to continue the story of Cordelia, whose behaviour is here most beautifully painted. POPE. This scene seems to have been left out only to fhorten the play, and is neceffary to continue the action. It is extant only in the quarto, being omitted in the firft folio. I have therefore put it between crotchets. JOHNSON. - a Gentleman.] The gentleman whom he fent in the foregoing act with letters to Cordelia. JOHNSON. 3 ber fmiles and tears Were like a BETTER DAY.] It is plain, we fhould read, a wetter May: i. e. A spring season wetter than ordinary. WARBURTON. Ee 4 The |