Wherein I thee endow'd. Reg. Good sir, to the purpose. [Trumpets within. What trumpet 's that? Lear. Who put my man i' the stocks? Corn. Enter Steward. Reg. I know 't, my sister's:9 this approves her letter, That she would soon be here.-Is your lady come? Lear. This is a slave, whose easy-borrow'd pride Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows:Out, varlet, from my sight! Corn. What means your grace? Lear. Who stock'd my servant? Regan, I have good hope Thou didst not know of 't.-Who comes here? O hea vens, Enter GONERIL. If you do love old men, if your sweet sway 9 Corn. What trumpet's that? Reg. I know 't, my sister's:] Thus, in Othello: It should seem from both these passages, and others that might be quoted, that the approach of great personages was announced by some distinguishing note or tune appropriately used by their own trumpeters. Cornwall knows not the present sound; but to Regan, who had often heard her sister's trumpet, the first flourish of it was as familiar as was that of the Moor to the ears of Iago. Steevens. 1 If you do love old men, if your sweet sway Allow obedience, if yourselves are old,] Mr. Upton has proved by irresistible authority, that to allow signifies not only to permit, but to approve, and has deservedly replaced the old reading, which Dr. Warburton had changed into hallow obedience, not recollecting the scripture expression, The Lord alloweth the righteous, Psalm xi, ver. 6. So, in Greene's Never too late, 1616; “—she allows of thee for love, not for lust." Again, in his Farewell to Follie, 1617: " I allow those pleasing poems of Guazzo, which begin," ,"&c. Again, Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch, concerning the reception with which the death of Cæsar met: "they neither greatly reproved, nor allowed the fact." Dr. Warburton might have found the emendation which he proposed, in Tate's alteration of King Lear, which was first published in 1687. Steevens. 2 if yourselves are old,] Thus Statius, Theb. X, 705. hoc, oro, munus concede parenti, "Si tua maturis signentur tempora canis, "Et sis ipse parens." Steevens. Make it your cause; send down, and take my part !— Art not asham'd to look upon this beard?— [To GON. Gon. Why not by the hand, sir? How have I offended? All's not offence, that indiscretion finds,3 O, Regan, wilt thou take her by the hand? And dotage terms so. Lear. O, sides, you are too tough! Will you yet hold?-How came my man i' the stocks? Corn. I set him there, sir: but his own disorders Deserv'd much less advancement.4 Lear. You! did you? 3 that indiscretion finds.] Finds is here used in the same sense as when a jury is said to find a bill, to which it is an allusion. Our author again uses the same word in the same sense in Hamlet, Act V, sc. i: "Why, 'tis found so." Edwards. To find is little more than to think. The French use their word trouver in the same sense; and we still say I find time tedious, or I find company troublesome, without thinking on a jury. 4 Steevens. much less advancement.] The word advancement is ironically used for conspicuousness of punishment; as we now say, a man is advanced to the pillory. We should read: but his own disorders Deserv'd much more advancement Johnson. By less advancement is meant, a still worse or more disgraceful situation; a situation not so reputable. Percy Cornwall certainly means, that Kent's disorders had entitled him even to a post of less honour than the stocks Steevens. 5 I pray you father, being weak, seem so.] The meaning is, since you are weak, be content to think yourself weak. Johnson. 6 No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose To wage against the enmity of the air; Necessity's sharp pinch!] To wage is often used absolutely with Why, the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took To this detested groom. [Looking on the Steward. At your choice, sir. Gon. Lear. I pr'ythee, daughter, do not make me mad; Which I must needs call mine: thou art a boil,1 out the word war after it, and yet signifies to make war, as before in this play: My life I never held but as a pawn "To wage against thine enemies." The words-necessity's sharp pinch! appear to be the reflection of Lear on the wretched sort of existence he had described in the preceding lines. Steevens. 7 8 base life —] i. e. In a servile state. Johnson. and sumpter -] Sumpter is a horse that carries necessaries on a journey, though sometimes used for the case to carry them in. -See Beaumont and Fletcher's Noble Gentleman, Seward's edit. Vol. VIII, note 35; and Cupid's Revenge: -I'll have a horse to leap thee, "And thy base issue shall carry sumpters." Again, in Webster's Duchess of Malfy, 1623: "His is indeed a guarded sumpter-cloth, "Only for the remove o' the court." Steevens. • But yet thou art my flesh, &c.] So, in King Henry VI, Part I: "God knows, thou art a collop of my flesh." Steevens. 1 thou art a boil, &c.] The word in the old copies is written byle, and all the modern editors have too strictly followed them. The mistake arose from the word boil being often pronounced as if written bile. In the folio, we find in Coriolanus the same false spelling as here: 66 Byles [boils] and plagues 24 plague-sore,] So, in Thomas Lupton's Fourth Booke of Notable Thinges, bl. I. 4to:" If you wyll knowe whether one shall escape or not, that is infected with the plague, (having the plague-sore) gave the partie, &c. And also anoint the plague-sure" &c. The plague-sore, we may suppose, was the decisive mark of infection. Steevens. In my corrupted blood. But I'll not chide thee; Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove: I, and my hundred knights. Reg. Not altogether so, sir; Is this well spoken now? Lear. Reg. I dare avouch it, sir: What, fifty followers? Is it not well? What should you need of more? Yea, or so many? sith that both charge and danger Speak 'gainst so great a number? How, in one house, Should many people, under two commands, Hold amity? 'Tis hard; almost impossible. Gon. Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance From those that she calls servants, or from mine? Reg. Why not, my lord? If then they chanc'd to slack you, We could controul them: If you will come to me, To bring but five and twenty; to no more Lear. I gave you all Reg. And in good time you gave it. Lear. Made you my guardians, my depositaries; But kept a reservation to be follow'd With such a number: What, must I come to you With five and twenty, Regan? said you so? Reg. And speak it again, my lord; no more with me. Lear. Those wicked creatures yet do look well-fa vour'd, When others are more wicked; not being the worst, 3 embossed carbuncle,] Embossed is swelling, protuberant. So, in Timon of Athens: "Whom once a day with his embossed froth Johnson. Stands in some rank of praise:-I'll go with thee; Thy fifty yet doth double five and twenty, [To GON. Hear me, my lord; Gon. Reg. What need one? Lear. O, reason not the need: our basest beggars Are in the poorest thing superfluous: Allow not nature more than nature needs, Man's life is cheap as beast's: thou art a lady; Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear❜st, That all the world shall I will do such things, I have full cause of weeping; but this heart 4 Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favour'd, When others are more wicked;] This passage, I think, should be pointed thus: Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favour'd, When others are more wicked; not being the worst That is, to be not the worst deserves some praise. Tyrwhitt. 5-- patience, patience I need!] I believe the word patience was repeated inadvertently by the compositor. Malone. The compositor has repeated the wrong word: Read: Or, still better, perhaps : 6 You heavens, give me patience!-that I need. Ritson. poor old man,] The quarto has, poor old fellow. Johnson. |