"If you do love old men: if that yourselves are old, "Make it your cause; send down and take my part! "If your sweet sway, all owe obedience ?”

It will be seen, I think, that the train of thought is here more regular than in the text. "Take my part," is not as the Editors imagine, stand by, or side with me, but "take my kingly part, assume my earthly dominion.” This the words "make it your cause," and particularly “send down,” i, e. a delegate) will surely imply; for had the meaning been "assist me," the poet would, no doubt, have written look down and take," &c. "watch and take care of."

"If your sweet sway, all owe obedience," that is, "you [Heaven] having taken the rule instead of me, obedience will necessarily follow with all. The further implied meaning will be that the hearts of his daughters would thus be turned from wickedness," and that comfort might yet be his. The "hallow" of Warburton is out of the question. B.

Kent. But, true it is, from France there comes a

power

Into this scatter'd kingdom; who already,
Wise in our negligence, have secret fee

In some of our best ports, and are at point
banner.

To show their open

from France there comes a power Into this scatter'd kingdom; who already, Wise in our negligence, have secret sea

In some of our best ports.

Scatter'd kingdom, if it have any sense, gives us the idea of a kingdom fallen into an anarchy: but that was not the case. It submitted quietly to the government of Lear's two sous in law. It was divided, indeed, by this means, and so hurt, and weaken'd. And this was what Shakspeare meant to say, who, without doubt, wrote:

scathed kingdom;

i. e. hurt, wounded, impaired. And so he frequently uses scath for hurt or damage. Again, what a strange phrase is, having sea in a port, to signify a fleet's lying at anchor? which

is all it can signify. And what is stranger still, a secret sea, that is, lying incognito, like the army at Knight's Bridge in The Rehearsal. Without doubt the Poet wrote: -have secret seize

--In some of our best ports ;

i. e. they are secretly secure of some of the best ports, by having a party in the garrison ready to second any, attempt of their friends, &c. The exactness of the expression is remarkable; he says, secret seize in some, not of some. For the first implies a conspiracy ready to seize a place on warning, the other, a place already seized. WARB.

The learned critic's emendations are now to be examined. Scattered he has changed to scathed for scattered, he says, gives the idea of an anarchy, which was not the case. It is unworthy a lover of truth, in questions of great or little moment, to exaggerate or extenuate for mere convenience, or for vanity yet less than convenience. Scattered naturally means divided, unsettled, disunited.-Next is offered with great pomp a change of sea to seize; but in the first edition the word is fee, for hire, in the sense of having any one in fee, that is, at devotion for money. Fee is in the second quarto changed to see, from which one made sea and another seize. JOHN.

From France there comes a power,' &c. A scattered kingdom,'as Warburton has already insinuated, has scarcely any meaning and scathed the reading proposed by him, accords not, as Johnson ohserves, with the then condition

of the country. The words immediately following'wise in our negligence,' direct us to read- Satured (i. e. saturated) kingdom.' The meaning of the whole will be"a kingdom grown indolent as from satiety or repletion." B.

Lear.

Close pent-up guilts,

Rive your concealing continents.

-concealing continents,-] Continent stands for that which contains or incloses. JOHN.

The quartos read, concealed centers. STEEV.

"Continents.' Concealing Continents' has very little force compared with concealed centers,' the true and proper reading. The center, with anatomists, is the heart. "May close pent-up guilts, says Lear, tear in pieces your deceitful hearts." B.

Fool. He that has a little tiny wit,

With heigh, ho, the wind and the rainMust make content with his fortunes fit; For the rain it raineth every day.

He that has a little tiny wit,-] I fancy that the second line of this stanza had once a termination that rhymed with the fourth; but I can only fancy it; for both the copies agree. It was once perhaps written,

"He

With heigh ho, the wind and the rain in his way. The meaning seems likewise to require this insertion. that has wit, however small, and finds wind and rain in his way, must content himself by thinking that somewhere or other it raineth every day, and others are therefore suffering like himself." Yet I am afraid that all this is chimerical, for the burthen appears again in the song at the end of Twelfth Night, and seems to have been an arbitrary supplement, without any refe rence to the sense of the song. JOHN.

'He that has a little tiny wit.'-I think with Johnson that a rhyme is wanting in the second line of this song. We may print rain-a as in burlesque poetry and which will suit exceedingly well with the present character. B.

Edg. Saint Withold footed thrice the wold;
He met the night-mare, and her nine-fold,
́Bid her alight,

And her troth plight,

And, Aroynt thee, witch, aroynt thee?

Saint Withold footed thrice the wold,
He met the night-mare, and her nine-fold,
Bid her alight, and her troth plight,
And aroynt thee, witch, aroynt thee !]

We should read it thus:

Saint Withold footed thrice the wold,
He met the night-mare, and her name told,
Bid her alight, and her troth plight,

And aroynt thee, witch, aroynt thee right.

i. e. depart forthwith. WARB.

In the old quarto the corruption is such as may deserve to be noted. "Swithald footed thrice the olde anelthu night moore and her nine fold bid her, O light and her troth plight and arint thee, with arint thee." JOHN.

There is no occasion for Dr. Warburton's reading, "aroynt thee right," or depart forthwith. How aroynt could ever be supposed to have the sense of depart, 1 have not been able to discover.

B.

Edg. Child Rowland to the dark tower came, Child Rowland-] In the old times of chivalry, the noble youth who were candidates for knighthood, during the season of their probation, were called Infans, Varlets, Damoysels, Bacheliers. The most noble of the youth particularly, Infans: Here a story is told, in some old ballad, of the famous hero and giant-killer Roland, before he was knighted, who is, therefore, called Infans: which the ballad-maker translated Child Roland. WARB.

This word is in some of our ballads. Child Walter, and a Lady. JOHN.

There is a song of

'Child Rowland to the dark tower came.' Warburton's explication is in part satisfactory: but it must be observed that the epithet child was formerly applied to the Knight at all times, that is, however long his standing might have been. The whole of the matter is this: Child' is the Spanish cid, i. e. brave, valiant, or it may be understood of the two Saxon words, Cid [contracted of Cidere] and Cild, confounded perhaps together-the first signifying a chider, a reprover, and by courtesy a hero: the second a child, according to the ordinary acceptation. B.

Corn. I now perceive, it was not altogether your brother's evil disposition made him seek his death; but a provoking merit, set a-work by a reprovable badness in himself.

--but a provoking merit,] i. e. A merit which being neglected by the father, was provoked to an extravagant act. The Oxford editor, not understanding this, alters it to provoked spirit. WARB.

Provoking, here means stimulating; a merit he felt in himself, which irritated him against a father that had none. MONCK MASON. But a provoking merit.' The Editors do not underCornwall is not talking of Edgar's

stand this passage.

seeking the death of his father, but of the father's seeking the death of his son. B.

Edg. Look, where he stands and glares !Wantest thou eyes at trial, madam?

Wantest, &c.] I am not confident that I understand the meaning of this desultory speech. When Edgar- says, Look where he stands and glares! he seems to be speaking in the character of a mad man, who thinks he sees the fiend. Wantest thou eyes at trial, madam? is a question which appears to be addressed to the visionary Goneril, or some other abandoned female, and may signify, Do you want to attract admiration even while you stand at the bar of justice? Mr. Seward pròposes to read, wanton'st instead of wantest. STEEV.

At trial, madam?] It may be observed that Edgar, being supposed to be found by chance, and therefore to have no knowledge of the rest, connects not his ideas with those of Lear, but pursues his own train of delirious or fantastic thought. To these words, At trial, madam? I think therefore that the name of Lear should be put. The process of the dialogue will support this conjecture. JOHN.

'Wantest thou eyes at trial?' I think with Mr. Steevens, that see how he glares! means see how the fiend glares, but wantest thou eyes át trial madam,?' I do not understand. We may surely read,

Wantest thou gies at trial, madam ?'

Lear, in his frenzy, is proceeding to the trial of his daughters. Edgar instantly pretends to see the foul fiend, and in an apostrophe to the absent daughters and supposing that one of them is arraigned, he says: “ Do you want Directors, madam ?"—"are you in want of counsel "-The implication is sufficiently seen.

B.

Edg. Do de, de de. Sessy, come, march to wakes and fairs, and market towns:

Sessey, come, &c. Here is sessey again, which I take to be the French word cessez pronounced cessey, which was, I suppose, like some others in common use among us. It is an interjection enforcing cessation of any action, like be quiet, have done. It seems to have been gradually corrupted into, sa, so. WARB.

This word is wanting in the quarto: in the folio it is printed