Gent. None but the Fool, who labours to out-jeft His heart-ftruck injuries.

Kent. Sir, I do know you,

And dare, upon the warrant of my 'note,
Commend a dear thing to you. There's divifion,
Although as yet the face of it is cover'd

With mutual cunning, 'twixt Albany and Cornwall,
2 Who have, (as who have not, whom their great stars
Throne and fet high?) fervants, who feem no less;
Which are to France the fpies and fpeculations
Intelligent of our fate. What hath been seen,
Either in fnuffs and packings of the Dukes;
Or the hard rein, which both of them have borne
Against the old kind king; or fomething deeper,
Whereof, perchance, thefe are but furnishings.
[3 But true it is, from France there comes a power

1

4

-my note,] My obfervation of your character.

2 Who have, as who have not -] The eight fubfe quent Verfes were degraded by Mr. Pope, as unintelligible, and to no purpofe For my part, I fee nothing in them but what is very cafy to be understood; and the Lines feem abfolutely neceffary to clear up the Motives, upon which France prepared his Invafion: nor without them is the Sense of the Context compleat.

THEOBALD.

3 But true it is, &c] In the old editions are the five following lines which I have inferted in the text, which feem neceffa ry to the plot, as a preparatory to the arrival of the French army with Cordelia in 4 4. How both thefe. and a whole fcene between Kent and this gentleman in the fourth act, came to

Inte

Into this fcatter'd kingdom; who already,
Wife in our negligence, have fecret fee
In fome of our belt ports, and are at point
To fhew their open banner-Now to you,
If on my
credit you dare build fo far
To make your speed to Dover, you shall find

And fo he frequently ufes feath
for hurt or damage. Again,
what a strange phrafe is, having
fea in a port, to fignify a fleet's
lying at anchor? which is all it
can fignify. And what is ftrang-
er ftill, a fecret fea, that is, ly-
ing cognito, like the army at
Knight's-bridge in the Rehearsal.
Without doubt the poet wrote,
-have fecret SEIZE

Inf me of our beft port.. they are fecretly fecure of fome of the best ports, by having a party in the garrifon ready to fecond any attempt of their friends, &c. The exactness of the expreffion is remarkable; he fays, fecret feize in fome, not of fame. For the first implies a confp racy ready to feize a place on warning, the other, a place already feized. WARBURTON. The true ftate of this fpeech cannot from all thefe notes be discovered. As it now ftands it is collected from two editions: the lines which I have diftinguished by Italicks are found in the folio, not in the quarto; the following lines inclofed in crotchets are in the quarto, not in the folio. So that if the fpeech be read with omiffions of the Italicks, it will stand according to the first edition; and if the Italicks are read, and the lines that follow them omitted, it will then ftand according to the fecond. The fpeech is now tedious be

caufe it is formed by a coalition. of both. The fecond edition is generally beft, and was probably nearest to Shake peare's laft copy, but in this paffage the first is preferable; for in the folio, the meffenger is fent, he knows not why, he knows not whither. I fuppofe Shake care thought his plot opened rather too early, and made the alteration to veil the event from the audience; but trufting too much to himfelf, and full of a fingle purpose, he did not accommodate his new lines to the rest of the scene.

The learned critick's emendations are now to be examined. Scattered he has changed to feathed; for Scattered, he fays, gives the idea of an anarchy, which was not the cafe. It may be replied that feathed gives the idea of ruin, waste and defolation, which was not the cafe. It is unworthy a lover of truth, in queftions of great or little moment, to aggravate or extenuate for mere convenience, or for vanity yet lefs than convenience. Scattered naturally means divided, unfettled, difunited.

Next is offered with great pomp a change of fea to feize,

but in the firit edition the word is fee, for hire, in the fenfe of having any one in fee, that is, at devofun for money. Fee is in the fecond quarto changed to fee, from which one made fea and another fize.

Some that will thank you, making just report,
Of how unnatural and bemadding forrow
The King hath caufe to plain.

I am a gentleman of blood and breeding,

And from fome knowledge and affurance of you,
Offer this Office.]

Gent. I'll talk further with you.

Kent. No, do not.

For confirmation that I am much more
Than my out-wall, open this purfe and take
What it contains. If you fhall fee Cordelia,
As, fear not, but you fhall, fhew her that Ring,
And the will tell you who this fellow is,
That yet you do not know. Fy on this storm!
I will go feek the King.

Gent. Give me your hand, have you no more to say? Kent. Few words, but, to effect, more than all yet; That, when we have found the King, for which you

take

That way, I this, he that firft lights on him,

Halloo the other.

SCENE

[Exeunt feverally.

II.

Storm ftill. Enter Lear and Fool.

Lear. Blow winds, and crack your cheeks; rage, blow!

You cataracts, and hurricanoes, spout

'Till you have drencht our steeples, drown'd the cocks! You fulph'rous and thought-executing fires,

Vaunt couriers of oak-cleaving thunder bolts,

Singe my white head. And thou all-fhaking thunder,

-the King, in which your to thought. pain

Strike flat the thick rotundity o'th' world,
'Crack nature's mould, all germins fpill at once
That make ingrateful man.

Fool. O nuncle, court-holy-water in a dry houfe is better than the rain-waters out o'door. Good nuncle, in, and ask thy daughters bleffing, here's a night that pities neither wife men nor fools.

Lear. Rumble thy belly full, fpit fire, fpout rain 3 Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters. I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness, I never gave you kingdoms, call'd you children; 7 You owe me no fubfcription; then let fall Your horrible pleasure.

8

Here I ftand, your flave,
A poor, infirm, weak, and despis'd old man.
But yet I call you fervile minifters,

That have with two pernicious daughters join'd
Your high engender'd battles, 'gainst a head
So old and white as this. Oh! oh!* 'tis foul.

-here I ftand your BRAVE; i. e. I defy your worst rage, as he had faid jult before. What led the editors into this blunder was what should have kept them out of it, namely the following line,

6 Crack Nature's Mould, all tion; yet fure he owed them Germains pill at once] Fhus none. We should read, all the Editions have given us this Paffage, and Mr. Pope has explain'd Germains to mean relations, or kindred Elements. But the Poet means here, "Crack "Nature's Mould, and fpill all "the Seeds of Matter, that are "hoarded within it." To retrieve which Senfe, we must write Germins, from Germen. Our Author not only ufes the fame Though again, but the Word that afcertains my Explication. In Winter's Tale;

Let Nature cru the Sides o'th'

Earth together,
And marr the Seeds within.

THEOBALD. 7 You owe me no fubfcription.] Subfcription, for obedience. WAR. bere I ftand your SLAVE;] But why for It is true, he fays, that they owed him no JubfcripVOL. VI.

A poor, infirm, weak, and de-
Spis'd old man!

And this was the wonder, that
fuch a one should brave them all.
WARBURTON.

The meaning is plain enough, he was not their flave by right or compact, but by neceffity and compulfion. Why should a paffage be darkened for the fake of changing it? Befides of Brave in that fenfe I remember no example.

tis foul.] Shameful; dif

honourable,

Fool. He that has a house to put's head in, has a good head-piece.

The codpiece that will house,
Before the head has any,

The head and he fhall lowfe;

*So beggars marry many.
That man that makes his toe,
What he his heart fhould make,

Shall of a corn cry woe,

And turn his fleep to wake.

For there was never yet fair woman, but she made mouths in a glass.

SCENE III.

To them, Enter Kent.

Lear. No, I will be the pattern of all patience, I will fay nothing.

Kent. Who's there?

Fool. Marry here's grace, and a cod-piece, that's a wife man and a fool.

Kent. Alas, Sir, are you here? Things, that love night,

Love not fuch nights as thefe, the wrathful skies 9 Gallow the very wand'rers of the dark,

And make them keep their Caves. Since I was man, Such sheets of fire, fuch burfts of horrid thunder, Such groans of roaring wind and rain, I never Remember to have heard. Man's nature cannot carry Th' affliction, nor the 'fear.

Lear. Let the great Gods,

That keep this dreadful pother o'er our heads,
Find out their enemies now.

So beggars marry many.] That is, a beggar marries a wife and

lice.

9 Gallow the very wand'rers of the dark,] Gallow, a

Tremble, thou wretch,

weft-country word, fignifies to fcar or frighten. WARBURTON.

So the folio, the later editions read, with the quarto, force for fear, lefs elegantly.

That