And come to deadly use.

Gon. No more; 'tis foolish.

Alb. Wifdom and goodness to the vile feem vile,
Filths favour but themselves. What have you done?
Tygers, not daughters, what have you perform'd?
A father, and a gracious aged man,

Most barb'roas, moft degenerate, have you madded.
Cou'd my good Brother fuffer you to do it,

derstand. The mother-tree is the
true technical term, and confider-
ing our author had faid juft before,
That Nature, which contemns
its origine there is no room to
queftion but he wrote, From her
maternal fap. And to prove that
we may fay maternal fap, he
gives many authorities from the
claffics, and fays he could pro
duce more, where words equiva-
lent to maternal flock are used;
which is quite another thing, as
we shall now fee. In making
his emendation, the editor did
not confider the difference be-
tween material fap and material
body, or trunk or ftock: The
latter expreffion being indeed not
fo well; maternal being a pro-
perer epithet for body. But the
firft is right; and we should fay,
material fap, not maternal. For
material fap fignifies, that where-
by a branch is nourished, and
increases in bulk by fresh accef-
fion of matter. On which ac-
count material is elegant. In-
deed Sap, when applied to the
whole tree, might be called ma-
ternal, but could not be fo when
applied to a branch only. For
tho' fap might, in fome fenfe,
be faid to be maternal to the
tree, yet it is the tree that is ma.
ternal to the branch, and not

VOL. VI.

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 ufed by the writers of thefe times in the very fenfe of maternal? It would feem fo by the title of an old English tranflation of FroifJart'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.

I fuppofe no reader doubts but the word fhould be maternal. Dr. Warburton has taken great pains without much fuccefs, and indeed without much exactness of attention, to prove that material has a more proper ferife than maternal, and yet feems glad at last to infer from an apparent errour of another prefs that material and maternal mean the fame.

6 And come to deadly ufe.] Alluding to the ufe 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 mischief, and a preparative of the poet to her plotting with the bastard against her husband's life. WARE. I

A

▾ A man, a Prince by him fo benefited?
If that the heav'ns do not their visible Spirits
Send quickly down to tame the vile offences,
Humanity must perforce prey on itself,
Like monsters of the deep.

Gon. Milk-liver'd man!

That bear'st a cheek for blows, a head for wrongs;
Who haft not in thy brows an eye difcerning
Thine honour from thy fuffering; that not know'st,
Fools do thefe villains pity, who are punish'd
Ere they have done their mischief. Where's thy Drum?
France spreads his Banners in our noiseless land,
With plumed helm thy flayer begins his threats;
Whilft thou, a moral fool, fit'ft ftill, and cryft,
"Alack! why does he fo?".

Alb. See thyfelf, devil:

Proper deformity feems not in the fiend
So horrid as in woman.
Gon. O vain fool!

merous lines and fpeeches; ma ny of which have been restored 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'fter's fufferings,

8 Like monfiers of the def Fifhes are the only animals that are known to prey upon their own fpecies.

9 Proper deformity-i. e. diabolic qualities appear rot fo horrid in the devil to whom they belong, as in woman who unnaturally affumes them.

WARBURTON.

Alb

Alb. Thou changed, and felf-cover'd thing, for

Shame,

Be-monster not thy feature. Were't my fitness

To let thefe bands obey my blood,

They're apt enough to dislocate and tear

Thy flesh and bones.-Howe'er thou art a fiend,
A woman's fhape doth fhie'd thee.

Gon. Marry, your manhood now!·

Enter Mellenger.

Mef. Oh, my good Lord, the Duke of Cornwall's dead,

Slain by his fervant, going to put out

The other eye of Glofter.

Alb. Glofter's eyes!

Mef. A fervant, that he bred, thrill'd with remorse, Oppos'd against the act, bending his fword

To his great mafter; who, thereat enrag'd,
Flew on him, and amongst them fell'd him dead,
But not without that harmful stroke, which fince
Hath pluck'd him after.

Alb. This fhews you are above,

You Juftices, that these our nether crimes
So fpeedily can 'venge. But O poor Glo❜fler!
Loft he his other eye?

Mef. Both, both, my Lord.

-This letter, Madam, craves a speedy answer; 'Tis from your fister.

Gon. [Afide] One way, I like this well;

Thou changed, and felf-cover'd thing!] Of these fines there is but one copy, and the editors are forced upon conjecture. They have published

this line thus:

meant, thou that haft difquifed nature by wickedness; thou that haft bid the woman under the fiend.

2 One way, I like this well;] Gonerill is well pleased that Corn. wall is destroyed, who was preparing war against her and her hufband, but is afraid of lofing Edmund to the widow. I 2

Thou chang'd, and felf-converted thing!but I cannot but think that by felf-cover'd the authour

But

But being widow, and my Glo'fter with her,
May all the building in my fancy pluck

Upon my hateful life.

The news is not fo tart.

Another way,

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 course.

Alb. [Afide.] Glo'fter, I live

To thank thee for the love thou fhew'dft the King, And to revenge thine eyes. Come hither, friend, Tell me, what more thou know'st.

[Exeunt.

Kent. WHY the King of France is fo fuddenly gore

back

Know you the reason?

Gent. Something he left imperfect in the State, Which fince his coming forth is thought of, which

3 SCENE III.] This Scene left out in all the common books, is restored from the old edition; it being manifeftly of ShakeSpear's writing, and neceffary to continue the ftory of Cordelia, whofe behaviour is here most beautifully painted.

POPE.

This fcene feems 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 in Italicks.

4 The Gentleman whom he fent in the foregoing act with letters to Cordelia.

Imports the Kingdom fo much fear and danger,
That bis perfonal Return was most requir'd and neceffary,
Kent. Whom bath he left behind him General?
Gent. The Marefchal of France, Monfieur le Far.
Kent. Did your letters pierce the Queen to any demon-
Atration of grief?

Gent. Ay, Sir, fhe took 'em, read'em in my prefence; And now and then an ample tear trill'd down

Her delicate cheek; it feem'd, she was a Queen
Over ber paffion, which, moft rebel-like,

Sought to be King o'er her.

Kent. O, then it mov'd her,

Gent. Not to a Rage.

Patience and Sorrow Arove

Which fhould exprefs ber goodlieft; you have seen
Sun-fbine and rain at once; ber Smiles and Tears
Were like a wetter May. Thofe happy smiles,
That play'd on her ripe lip, feem'd not to know
What guests were in her Eyes; which parted thence,
As pearls from diamonds dropt.-In brief,

Sorrow would be a rarity most belov❜d,

If all could fo become it.

5

6

Kent. Made fhe no verbal queftion?

-her Smiles and Tears Were like a BETTER DAY.-] It is plain, we fhould read,

-a WETTER MAY.

i. e. a fpring feafon wetter than ordinary. WARBURTON. Made fhe no verbal QUESTION] Why, what kind of queftion could fhe make but verbal? Does not the word quef tion imply it? This is enough to prove fomething wrong. The anfwer fhews where it is. For tho' the Gentleman fays yes to the queftion; yet inftead of proving his words, he runs out into a long itory of Cordelia's com

Gent.

plaints and exclamations. The question then evidently was,

Made fhe no verbal QUEST? From quefus, complaint, i. e. did fhe lament and complain in words? And this was a proper question, because the might have done it in fighs, and inarticulate exclamations. The answer too, is proper, and to the point, as the reader may fee. But the editors not understanding the fhort word queft, lengthened it into one, they did: And fo made Kent afk a nonfenfical question, and the Gentleman give as impertinent an answer. WARE.