With fhadowy forefts and with champains rich'd,
With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,
We make thee lady. To thine and Albany's iffue
Be this perpetual.What fays our fecond daughter,
Our dearest Regan, wife of Cornwall? fpeak.

Reg. I am made of that felf-metal as my fifter,
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart,
I find, the names my very deed of love,
Only the comes too fhort; that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys,

5 Which the moft precious fquare of fenfe poffeffes; And find, I am alone felicitate

In your dear highness' love.

Cor. Then poor Cordelia!

And yet not fo; fince, I am fure, my love's 6 More pond'rous than my tongue.

Lear. To thee, and thine, hereditary ever, Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom; 7 No lefs in fpace, validity, and pleasure,

41

[Afide.

that I profefs] That feems to ftand without relation, but is referred to find, the firft conjunction being inaccurately fuppreffed. I find that the names my deed, I find that I profefs, &c. JOHNSON.

Which the most precious fquare of fenfe poffeffes ;] By the fquare of fenfe, we are, here, to understand the four nobler fenfes, viz. the fight, hearing, tafe, and smell. For a young lady could not, with decency, infinuate that the knew of any pleafures which the fifth afforded. This is imagined and expreffed with great propriety and delicacy. But the Oxford Editor, for Square, reads Spirit. WARBURTON.

This is acute; but perhaps Square means only compass, comprehenfion. JOHNSON.

6 More pond'rous than MY tongue.] We fhould read, their tongue, meaning her fifters.

WARBURTON.

I think the prefent reading right. JOHNSON.

More pond'rous than my tongue.] Thus the folio: the quarto reads, more richer. STEEVENS.

7 No lefs in space, validity,] Validity, for worth, value; not for integrity, or good title.

WARBURTON.

Than

Than that confirm'd on Gonerill.- Now our joy,
9 Although our laft, not leaft, to whofe young love
The vines of France, and milk of Burgundy,
Strive to be int'refs'd; what fay you, to draw
A third, more opulent than your fifters? Speak.
Cer. Nothing, my lord.

Lear. Nothing?

Cor. Nothing.

Lear. Nothing can come of nothing: speak again.
Cor. Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty
According to my bond; nor more, nor lefs.

Lear. How now, Cordelia? mend your fpeech a little,

Left you may mar your fortunes.

Cor. Good, my lord,

You have begot, bred me, lov'd me: I
Return thofe duties back, as are right fit;

Obey you, love you,

Why have my fifters
They love you all?

8

and most honour you. husbands, if they fay

Haply, when I shall wed,

That

Now our joy,] Here the true reading is picked out of

two copies. Butter's quarto reads,

But now our joy,

Although the laft, not leaft in our dear love,

What can you fay to win a third, &c.

The folio,

Now our joy,

Although our laft, and leaft; to whofe young love
The vines of France, and milk of Burgundy,

Strive to be int'refs'd. What can you Jay? JOHNSON. Although our laft, not leaft, &c.] So in the old anonymous play, King Leir fpeaking to Mumford,

1

2

66

to thee laft of all;

"Not greeted laft, 'caufe thy defert was fmall." STEEV, to draw] The quarto reads,- -to win. STEEVENS. Haply, when I fall wed, &c.] So in The Mirror of Magifirates, 1586, Cordila fays,

"To

That lord, whofe hand must take my plight, fhall

carry

Half my love with him, half my care and duty:
Sure, I fhall never marry like my fifters,

3 To love my father all.

Lear. But goes thy heart with this?
Cor. Ay, my good lord.

Lear. So young, and fo untender?

Cor. So young, my lord, and true.

Lear. Let it be fo--thy truth then be thy dower:

For, by the facred radiance of the fun,

The mysteries of Hecat, and the night;
By all the operations of the orbs,

From whom we do exift, and ceafe to be;
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
4 Hold thee, from this, for ever.
Scythian,

The barbarous

Or he that makes his generation meffes
To gorge his appetite, fhall to my bofom
Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and reliev'd,
As thou, my fometime daughter.

Kent. Good, my liege———

Lear. Peace, Kent!

Come not between the dragon and his wrath:
I lov'd her moft, and thought to fet my reft
On her kind nursery.-Hence, and avoid my fight!

So be my grave my peace, as here I give

[To Cordelia.

"To love you as I ought, my father, well;
"Yet fhortly I may chance, if fortune will,
"To find in heart to beare another more good will:
"Thus much I said of nuptial loves that meant."
STEEVENS.

3 To love my father all.-] Thefe words are reftered from the first edition, without which the fenfe was not complete. PoPE. 4 Hold thee, from this,-] i. e. from this time. STEEV.

Her

Her father's heart from her!-Call France.-Who

ftirs?

Call Burgundy.Cornwall and Albany,
With my two daughters' dowers digeft this third:
Let pride, which the calls plainnefs, marry her.
I do inveft you jointly with my power,
Preheminence, and all the large effects

That troop with majefty. Our felf, by monthly course,
With refervation of an hundred knights,.

By you to be fuftain'd, fhall our abode

Make with you by due turns. 5 Only we ftill retain
The name and all the addition to a king;
The fway, revenue, execution of the reft,
Beloved fons, be yours: which to confirm,
This coronet part between you.

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 prayers.-

5

Only retain

The name, and all the addition to a king:

The fway, revenue, execution,

Beloved jons, be yours

lines thus;

-] The old books read the

The fway, revenue, execution of the reft,
Beloved fons, be yours.

This is evidently corrupt; and the editors not knowing what to make of of the reft, left it out. The true reading, without doubt, was,

The fway, revenue, execution of th' heft,

Beloved fons, be yours."

Heft is an old word for regal command; fo that the fenfe of the whole is,-I will only retain the name and all the ceremonious obfervances that belong to a king; the effentials, as fway, revenue, administration of the laws, be yours. WARBURTON.

- execution of the reft,] I do not fee any great difficulty in the words, execution of the rest, which are in both the old copies. The execution of the reft is, I fuppofe, all the other bufinefs. Dr. Warburton's own explanation of his amendment confutes it; if befl be a regal command, they were, by the grant o. Lear, to have rather the bet than the execution. JOHNSON. Lear.

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 wouldst thou do, old man? 6 Think'st thou, that duty fhall have dread to speak, When power to flattery bows? To plainnefs honour's bound,

When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy doom,
And in thy beft 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
7 Reverbs no hollownefs.

Lear. Kent, on thy life, no more.

• Think'ft thou, that duty shall have dread to speak,] 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 ancient 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, reverse thy doom, and has froops inftead 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 honour

Is bound, when majefty to folly falls.

Referve thy ftate; with better judgment check
This hideous rafhness; 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 flate, which conduces more to the progrefs of the action. JOHNSON.

Referve thy ftate, is the reading of the folio. STEEVENS. 7 Reverbs] This I prefume to be a word of the poet's own making, meaning the fame as reverberates. STEEVENS.

Kent.