sese. It is difficult in this place to say what is meant by it. It should be remembered, that just before, Edgar had been calling on Bessy to come to him; and he may now with equal propriety invite Sessy (perhaps a female name corrupted from Cecilia) to attend him to wakes and fairs. Nor is it impossi ble but that this may be a part of some old song, and origi nally stood thus: Sissy, come march to wakes, And fairs, and market towns.-STEEV. "Do de, de, de" in the language of Tom will mean give, give,-se se. (full stop.) "give, give to him, or himself, i. e. to poor Tom, the real and true poor Tom." In like manner he says in a former scene: "Who gives any thing to poor Tom? do de, do de, bless thee from star-blasting and taking: do poor Tom some charity, &c." This reading appears, the more plausible, as he almost always speaks in the third person. Se se being joined together, as in the folio, the following printer made sessy of them, from the sound. In the songs it is sissy, (abrev.) Cicily. "Come, march to wakes and fairs, and market towns," is probably part of a ballad." Dolphin, my boy, Sessy." Here the french word cessez is, no doubt, employed: and the same in the Taming of the Shrew. Glo. Take up, And follow me. Take up, take up.] take up: B. One of the quartos reads-Take up the king, &c.—the other-Take up to keep, &c. STEEV. "Take up, take up: and follow me." The "keep" of the quarto is right,-only that we must read, "to the keep," that is, bear away the king to the keep or inner fort of Dover Castle. This is said by Gloster in the persuasion that Lear would there be in safety. The context will show that this is the true reading. B. Kent. This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken senses. Thy broken senses.] The quarto, from whence this speech is taken, reads, thy broken sinews. Senses is the conjectural emendation of Theobald. STEEV. The " "This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken senses." senses of Theobald must not be admitted, SHAK. I. L "Sinews the reading of the quarto is in mistake for sinus, i. e. the meniux or skin which incloses the brain. This skin is here supposed to be injured [broken] and hence the distraction of Lear; and which Kent imagines may be 'balmed,' and perhaps remedied, by sleep. We often say, crack-brained, to signify madness: an expression equivalent to the broken sinus' of the text. B. 6 Corn. Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us: Though well we may not pass upon his life Το Though well we may not pass upon his life,] pass, is to pass a judicial sentence. JOHN. The original of the expression, to pass on any one may be traced from Magna Charta : -nec super eum ibimus, nisi per legale judicium pa rium suorum.” ́ It is common to most of our early writers. So, in Acolastus, a comedy, 1529: “ I do not nowe consider the myschiev ous pageants he hath played; I do not now passe upon them.” Again, in If this be not a good Play, the Devil is in It, 1612: "A jury of brokers, impanel'd, and deeply sworne to passe on all villains in hell." STEEV. 66 Though well we may not pass upon his life." "Pass upon his life," is not pass sentence. The expression is from the fencing school [pass-thrust.] It is the same as strike at, upon his life; and which is frequently used at the present day. B. Corn. Bind fast his corky arms. Corky arms.] Dry, wither'd, husky arms. JOHN. As Shakspeare appears from other passages of this play to have had in his eye Bishop Harsenet's Declaration of egregious Popish Impostures, &c. 1603. 4to. it is probable, that this very expressive, but peculiar epithet, corky, was suggested to him by a passage in that very curious pamphlet. "It would pose all the cunning exorcists, that are this day to be found, to teach an old corkie woman to writhe, tumble, curvet, and fetch her morice gamboles, as Martha Bressier (one of the possessed mentioned in the pamphlet) did." PERCY. "Bind fast his corky arms." I rather think that corky signifies large, puffy. Corcous in old language is corpulent, gross of body. When the passage from Harsenet, as quoted by Dr. Percy, is well considered, it will be found that corkie can have no other sense than fat, unwieldy. Had the woman described been dry or withered, she might have tumbled and curvetted easily enough., "Corkie" for corcous. So for nervous, he sometimes writes nervy, and the same of other words. B. Edg. Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd Than still contemn'd and flatter'd. To be worst, The wretch, that thou hast blown unto the worst, Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd.] The meaning is: ""Tis better to be thus contemned, and known to yourself to be contemned:" Or perhaps there is an error, which may be rectified thus: Yet better thus unknown to be contemn'd. When a man divests himself of his real character he feels no pain from contempt, because he supposes it incurred only by a voluntary disguise which he can throw off at pleasure. I do not think any correction necessary. JOHN. I cannot help thinking that this passage should be written thus: Yet better thus unknown to be contemn'd, Than still contemn'd and flatter'd to be worse.. The quarto edition has no stop, after flatter'd. The first folio, which has a comma there, has a colon at the end of the line. The expression in this speech-owes nothing to thy blasts(in a more learned writer) might seem to be copied from Virgil En. xi. 51: "Nos juvenem exanimum, et nil jam cœlestibus ullis "Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd.— A slight correction will be necessary, in order to give consistency to the general reasoning of Edgar. I read and point thus: "Yet better thus, and known to be contemned, "Than still contemn'd and flatter'd: To be worst. "The lowest," &c. The sense of the passage is this: "It is better thus to know myself contemned, than to be contemned, yet not know it by reason of the flatteries which might be poured on me. [To be worst,"] for that is, in fact, to be in the worse condition." He then goes on: "There is no one, however abject, however low in fortune, that does not live in hope: so that the want of earthly comforts, and which is commonly considered as worst, is not such in reality the worst is, to be contemned and fluttered.” When he says: "Welcome, unsubstantial air, to the wretch whom thou hast blown unto the worst: » he uses the expression according to the notion entertained of the worst by the worldling, so different from that of the philosophic mind. An Mr. Steevens's citation from Milton is curious. illustration where the sense is directly the reverse of that in our author's text! B. Edg. World, world, O world! But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee, Life would not yield to age. -World, world, O world! But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee,] The reading of this passage has been explained, but not satisfactorily. My explanation of the poet's sentiment was, "If the number of changes and vicissitudes, which happen in life, did not make us wait, and hope for some turn of fortune for the better, we could never support the thought of living to be old, on any other terms." And our duty, as human creatures, is piously inculcated in this reflection of the author. 1 read therefore, make us wait thee. THEOв. -O world! But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee, The sense of this obscure passage is, O world! so much are human minds captivated with thy pleasures, that were it not for those successive miseries, each worse than the other, which overload the scenes of life, we should never be willing to submit to death, though the infirmities of old age would teach us to chuse it as a proper asylum. Besides, by uninterrupted prosperity, which leaves the mind at case, the body would generally preserve such a state of vigor as to bear up long against the decays of time. These are the two reasons, I suppose, why he said, Life would not yield to age. And how much the pleasures of the body pervert the mind's judgment, and the perturbations of the mind disorder the body's frame, is known to all. WARB. Yield to signifies no more than give way to, sink under, in opposition to the struggling with, bearing up against the infirmities of age. HAN. "O world! "But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee, "Life would not yield to age." It is wholly impossible that such an expression as life would not yield to age,' should have fallen from the pen of Shakspeare. He was too much of a philosopher, too well acquainted with the order of nature to employ it as her language, or to think of establishing it for a truth. I should suppose, indeed, that scarcely any one who had the discourse of reason, would talk in such a manner: yet the editors, by attempting to explain the present reading, appear to be of a different opinion. The passage is slightly corrupt._ ' Life' should be lefe, i. e. love, particular regard to. By strange mutations' I understand-good enjoyed for a time, and then suddenly succeeded by evil. The whole may be interpreted as follows-" O world! thou hast many attractions; and we should not fail to love thee, even to our latest years; were it not that thou unconcernedly seest us thrown, nay often helpest to throw us, from the summit of prosperity to the pit of adversity - by which we are the rather led to hate thee." As to the explication of Hanmer, it does nothing in the case: the physical objection will yet remain. B. Edg. Poor Tom's a-cold.-I cannot daub it further. Aside. -I cannot daub it] i. e. Disguise. WARB. I cannot daub it further.' "I cannot fool it any longer." Dauber, fr. to fool, to banter. B. |