part between you.

This Coronet
Kent. Royal Lear,

[Giving the Crown.

Whom I have ever honour'd as my King,

Lov'd as my father, as my mafter follow'd,
As my great patron thought on in my pray❜rs-
Lear. The bow is bent and drawn, make from the
fhaft.

Kent. Let it fall rather, though the fork invade
The region of my heart; be Kent unmannerly,
When Lear is mad. What wouldft thou do, old man?
Think'ft thou, that duty fhall have dread to speak,
When pow'r to flatt'ry bows? To plainnefs honour's
bound,

When majefty falls to folly. Referve thy state,
And in thy best confideration check

This hideous rafhnefs; anfwer my life my judgment,
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee leaft;
Nor are thofe empty hearted, whofe low found
Reverbs no hollowness.

Lear. Kent, On thy life no more.
Kent, My life I never held but as a pawn

8 Think't thou, that duty shall

bave dread to freak,] I have given this paffage according to the old folio, from which the modern editions have filently departed, for the fake of better numbers, with a degree of infincerity, which, if not fometimes detected and cenfured, muft impair the credit of antient books. One of the editors, and perhaps only one, knew how much mischief may be done by fuch clandeftine alterations.

The quarto agrees with the folio, except that for referve thy ftate, it gives, reverfe thy doom, and has foops instead of falls to folly.

The meaning of answer my life my judgment is, Let my life

be answerable for my judgment, or I will take my life on my opinion.

The reading which, without any right, has poffeffed all the modern copies is this,

-to plainnefs boncur Is bound, when Majesty to folly. falls.

Referve thy ftate; with better judgment check

This hideous rafbnefs; with my life I answer,

Thy youngest daughter, &c. I am inclined to think that reverfe thy doom was Shakespeare's first reading, as more appofite to the prefent occafion, and that he changed it afterwards to referve thy fiate, which conduces more to the progress of the action.

Το

To wage against thine enemies, nor fear to lose it,
Thy fafety being the motive,

Lear. Out of my fight!

Kent. See better, Lear, and let me ftill remain

The true blank of thine eye.

Lear. Now by Apollo

Kent. Now by Apollo, King, Thou fwear'ft thy Gods in vain. Lear. O vaffal! mifcreant!

[Laying his hand on his fword.

Alb. Corn. Dear Sir, forbear.

Kent. Kill thy phyfician, and thy fee bestow
Upon the foul difeafe; revoke thy doom,
Or whilft I can vent clamour from my throat,
I'll tell thee, thou doft evil.

Lear. Hear me, recreant?

Since thou hast fought to make us break our vow,
Which we durft never yet; and with strain'd pride,
* To come betwixt our fentence and our power;
Which nor our nature, nor our place, can bear;

-ftrain'd pride,] The oldeft copy reads, ftrayed pride; that is, pride exorbitant; pride paffing due bounds.

To come betwixt our sentence and our power;] Power, for execution of the fentence.

WARBURTON.

3 Which nor our nature, nor our
place can bear.

Our potency make good;] Mr.
Theobald, by putting the first
line into a parenthefis, and al-
tering make to made in the fe-
cond line, had defroyed the
fenfe of the whole; which, as it

Our

ftood before he corrupted the words, was this: "You have "endeavoured, fays Lear, to "make me break my oath, "you have prefumed to flop the

execution of my fentence; "the latter of thefe attempts "neither my temper nor high "ftation will fuffer me to bear: "and the other, had I yielded "to it, my power could not "make good, or excufe.". Which, in the firft line, referring to both attempts. But the ambiguity of it, as it might refer only to the latter, has occafioned all the obfcurity of the paffage.

WARBURTON.

Theobald only inferted the parenthefis; he found made gond in the best copy of 1623. Dr.

War

Our potency made good, take thy reward.
Five days we do allot thee for provision,
To fhield thee from difafters of the world;
And on the fixth, to turn thy hated back
Upon our Kingdom; if, the tenth day following,
Thy banifh'd trunk be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter,
This fhall not be revok'd.

4

Kent. Fare thee well, King; fith thus thou wilt

appear,

Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.
The gods to their dear fhelter take thee, maid,

[To Cordelia.
That juftly think'ft, and haft most rightly said.
And your large fpeeches may your deeds approve,
[To Reg. and Gon.
That good effects may fpring from words of love.
Thus Kent, O Princes, bids you all adieu;
5 He'll shape his old courfe in a country new.

Warburton has very acutely explained and defended the reading that he has chofen, but I am not certain that he has chofen right. If we take the reading of the folio, our potency made good, the fenfe will be less profound indeed, but lefs intricate, and equally commodious. A thou hast come with unreasonable pride between the fentence which I had paffed, and the power by which I jhall execute it, take thy reward in another fentence which fball make good, shall establish, fhall maintain, that power.

If Dr. Warburton's explanation be chofen, and every reader will wish to choose it, we may better read,

Which nor our nature, nor our
flate can bear,
Or potency make good.

[Exit.

Mr. Davies thinks, that our potency made good relates only to our place.--Which our nature cannot bear, nor our place, without departure from the potency of that place. This is eafy and clear.

Lear, who is characterized as hot, heady and violent, is, with very juft obfervation of life, made to entangle himself with vows, upon any fudden provocation to vow revenge, and then to plead the obligation of a vow in defence of implacability.

4 By Jupiter.] Shakespeare makes his Lear too much a mythologift: he had Hecate and Afolio before.

5 He'll shape his old courfeHe will follow his old maxims; he will continue to act upon the fame principles.

SCENE

Enter Glo'fter, with France and Burgundy, and Attendants.

Glo. Here's France and Burgundy, my noble Lord.
Lear. My Lord of Burgundy,

We first address tow'rd you, who with this King,
Have rivall'd for our daughter; what in the leaft
Will you require in prefent dower with her,
Or ceafe your queft of love?

Bur. Moft royal majesty,

I crave no more than what your Highness offer'd,
Nor will you tender less.

Lear. Right noble Burgundy,

When she was dear to us, we held her fo;

6

But now her price is fall'n. Sir, there fhe ftands,
If aught within that little feeming fubftance,
Or all of it with our difpleafure piec'd,

And nothing more, may fitly like your Grace,
She's there, and fhe is your's.

Bur. I know no answer.

Lear. Will you, with thefe infirmities fhe owes, Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,

Dower'd with our curie, and stranger'd with our oath, Take her, or leave her?

Bur. Pardon, royal Sir;

Election makes not up on fuch conditions. Lear. Then leave her, Sir; for by the pow'r that made me,

I tell you all her wealth. For you, great King,

-

[To France.
I would not from your love make such a stray,
To match you where I hate; therefore befeech you,
T'avert your liking a more worthy way

Than on a wretch, whom nature is afham'd
Almoft t' acknowledge hers.

France. This is most strange!

That fhe, who ev'n but now was your beft object, The argument of your praife, balm of your age, The best, the dearest, should in this trice of time Commit a thing fo monftrous, to dismantle

7

So many folds of favour! fure, her offence
Must be of fuch unnatural degree,
That monsters it;

8

or your fore-vouch'd affection

-or you for vouch'd affections Fal'n into taint. The folio,

-or your fore-vouch'd affection Fall into taint. Taint is ufed for corruption and for disgrace. If therefore we take the oldeft reading, it may be reformed thus:

-fure ber offence Must be of fuch unnatural degree, That monfers it; or you for vouch'd affection

Fall into taint.

gious, or you must fall into re• proach for having vouched affection which you did not feel.

If the reading of th: folio be preferred, we may with a very flight change produce the fame fente.

-fure her offence

Must be of fach unnatural degree,

That menflers it, or your fore vouch'd affection

Falls into taint.

That is, falls into reproach or cenfure.

But there is another poffible fenfe. Or fignifies before, and or ever is before ever; the meaning in the folio may therefore be, Sure her crime must be monstrous before your affection can be infected with hatred. Let the reader determine.

As I am not much a friend to conjectural emendation, I fhould prefer the latter fenfe, which re

Her offence must be prodi- quires no change of reading.

Fall