P. 522.-606.-184. Edg. Do de, de de. Sessa. Come, march to wakes I do not think these words are to be spoken aside, and understood as Mr. Steevens explains them. Kent. P. 524.-609.-186. Oppress'd nature sleeps: This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken senses, Stand in hard cure. I think Theobald's reading broken senses is the true one. P. 537.-619.-202. Edg. Poor Tom hath been scared out of his good I incline to read with Theobald, bless thee, good man, from, &c. Glo. P. 539.-620.-203. Heavens, deal so still! Let the superfluous, and lust-dieted man, That slaves your ordinance, that will not see Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly. I incline to understand that slaves the ordinance of heaven, as Mr. Steevens does. You are not worth the dust which the rude wind I think with Mr. Malone that Mr. Steevens's interpretation is the true one. P. 544.-625.-210. Fools do those villains pity, who are punish'd Ere they have done their mischief. Where's thy drum ? While thou a moral fool, sits still, and cry'st, Alack, why does he so ? Alb. See thyself, devil! Proper deformity seems not in the fiend So horrid as in woman. This fiend, in Mr. Malone's note, clearly means Goneril. I think she means her father, and prefer the punctuation of the folio, viz. a full point after mischief. Gon. Ibid. O vain fool! Alb. Thou chang'd and self-cover'd thing, for shame, I incline to Mr. Malone's interpretation of self-cover'd thing. The holy water from her heavenly eyes, And clamour moisten'd: then away she started To deal with grief alone. I think Malone is right. P. 553.-633.-222. Reg. Lord Edmund spake not with your lord at home? I think with Ritson and Malone, that your lord is the right reading. P. 554.-634.-223. Reg. Why should she write to Edmund ? Might not you Something I know not what :-I'll love thee much, Let me unseal the letter. Stew. Madam, I had rather Reg. I know your lady does not love her husband. Y "Dr. Johnson wonders that Shakespeare "should represent the steward, who is a mere agent of baseness, capable of fidelity! When "a man is amply rewarded for his iniquitous "compliances with the commands of his supe"riors, it is but natural to imagine that he will "be true to his employers, especially as he will "have reason to dread the punishment which "would be inflicted for his disobedience. That "such a wretch should be anxious, when dying, "for the delivery of that letter which he would "not suffer to be unsealed, is not very sur"prising; it was only the consequence of his "pursuing the track of his accustomed practice.' Davies's Dram. Miscel. Vol. II. p. 310. P. 556.-636.—226. Edg. Come on, sir; here's the place:-stand still.- And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low, &c. I think Mr. M. Mason's remark is just. P. 558-637.-228. Edg. Give me your hand: you are now within a foot I incline to think that Malone is right. Heron explains it thus: "Edgar says he is "so near the precipice, that, for all beneath the 66 moon, he would not leap upright, for even in "doing so, the slight bend which his body "would make, would throw him over; or the "fallacious brink crumble beneath his feet." Letters of Literature, p. 307. P. 559.-638.-229. Glos. Now, fellow, fare thee well. [He leaps, and falls along. Edg. Gone, sir? farewell. I incline to read good sir, with the second folio, and the modern editors. P. 560.-639.-230. Edg. Ten masts at each make not the altitude, Thy life's a miracle. "Mr. Pope altered at each to attach'd; and "Dr. Johnson thinks it may stand, if the word 66 was known in our authors time. Minsheu, "who published his Dictionary of nine languages in 1617, a year after Shakespeare's "death, explains the word in the sense in which "it is applied by Mr. Pope, attach, to tack or "fasten together." Davies's Dramatic Miscel. p. 311. This is a contradiction of Mr. Malone's assertion, that the word was not used in the sense required here in Shakespeare's time. I Edg. P. 561-641.-232. But who comes here? Enter Lear, funtastically dressed up with flowers. His master thus. agree with Mr. Steevens. P. 564.-642.-236. Lear. When the rain came to wet me once, and the wind The probability of an allusion to the story of Canute had occurred to me before I read Mr. Steevens's note. P. 564.-643.-237. Lear. Behold yon' simpering dame, That minces virtue, and does shake the head Mr. Edwards is certainly right. I am surprised that the passage should ever have been understood otherwise. P. 567.-646.-240. Lear. Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear; Leave, gentle wax; and, manners, blame us not: [Reads.] Let our reciprocal rows be remember'd. You affectionate servant, O undistinguish'd space of woman's will ! 66 GONERIL. I think Mr. Steevens is right. Mr. Davies (Dram. Miscel. p. 314.) says, Edgar's reflec"tion imports no more than that a vicious "woman sets no bounds to her appetites; such "an one he knew Goneril was, and to her it is applied." |