No, I'll not weep. I have full cause of weeping SCENE XIII. Wilful Men. O, fir, to wilful men, The injuries, that they themselves procure, ACT III. SCENE I Defcription of Lear's Diftrefs amidst the Storm. Kent. Where's the king? Gent. Contending with the fretful elements Bids the wind blow the earth into the fea; Or fwell the curled waters 'bove the main, That things might change, or ceafe. tears his white hair, (Which the impetuous blafts with eyelefs rage Catch in their fury ;) Strives in his little world of man t'out-fcorn The to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain. This night, wherein the (13) cub drawn bear would couch, The lion, and the belly-pinched wolf Keep their furr dry; unbonneted he runs, And bids what will take all. + Ibave, &c.] Perhaps this should be, Tho' I've full cause. *See p. 19, n. 6, of this volume. (13) Cub-drawn] i. e. Drawn dry by its cubs, and therefore the more ready to go out in fearch of prey: he fpeaks of a lioness with udders all drazun dry, in the 25th page of the first volume. SCENE SCENE II. Lear's paffionate Exclamations amidst the Tempeft. Blow winds, and crack your cheeks; rage, blow! You cataracts, and hurricanoes, fpout Till you have drencht our steeples, drown'd the cocks! You fulph'rous and thought-executing fires, (14) Vaunt-couriers of oak-cleaving thunder-bolts, Singe my white head. And thou all-shaking thunder, Strike flat the thick rotundity o'th world; Crack nature's mould, all (15) germins fpill at once Rumble thy belly-full, fpit fire, fpout rain; But That have with two pernicious daughters join'd Kent. Alas, fir, are you here? things that love night, Love (14) Vaunt-couriers, &c.] Nothing can be plainer than this paffage, which it is furprizing Mr. Warburton fhould fo much miftake, as to imagine this line the players fpurious iffue, on account of any contradiction in it: the reader may fee his note, and Mr. Edwards's comment upon it, in the Canons of Criticism, p. 33. In the mean time we may be contented with this clear fenfe "You fires and lightnings, fore-runners of the thunder, finge me, &c.--- You thunder ftrike flat the th ck rotundity of the world." (15) Germins] Vulg. Germains-This reading is Mr. Theobald's. The word is derived from germen, σroga, feed, the fenfe is, "Crack nature's mould, and spill all the feeds of matter, that are hoarded within it." In the Winter's Tale, he fays; Let nature crush the fides of th' earth together, See Macbeth, A. 4. S. 2. Love not fuch nights as these : the wrathful skies And make them keep their caves: fince I was man, Lear. Let the great gods," That keep this dreadful pudder o'er our heads, Kent. Alack, bare-headed? Gracious my lord, hard by here is a hovel; Some friendship will it lend you 'gainst the tempeft. * * * * * * * * Lear. Thou think'ft 'tis much, that this contentious ftorm Invades us to the fkin; fo 'tis to thee; But where the greater malady is fixt, The leffer is fcarce felt. Thou'dft fhun a bear, But if thy flight lay tow'rd the roaring fea, Thou'dft meet the bear i'th' mouth. When the mind's free, The body's delicate; the tempeft in my mind Is it not, as this mouth fhould tear this hand For (16) Ġallow] i, e. Scare, frighten. See the foregoing paffage, For lifting food to't?-But I'll punish home; Lear. Pr'ythee, go in thyfelf; feck thine own ease; This tempeft will not give me leave to ponder On things would hurt me more—but I'll go in, In, boy, go first. Nay, get thee in; You houseless poverty I'll pray, and then I'll fleep- Enter Edgar difguis'd like a Madman. Edg. Away! the foul fiend follows me." Through the sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind. Humph, go to thy bed and warm thee. Lear. Didft thou give all to thy daughters? and art thou come to this? *Didft thou give them all? Now all the plagues that in the pendulous air Hang fated o'er mens faults, light on thy daughters! Kent. He hath no daughters, fir. Lear. Death! traitor, nothing could have fubdu'd nature To fuch a lowness, but his unkind daughters. Is it the fashion that difcarded fathers Should Should have thus little mercy on their flesh? SCENE VI. On Man. (18) Is man no more than this? Confider him well. 'Thou ow'it the worm no filk, the beaft no hide, the sheep no wool, the cat no perfume. Ha! here's three of us are sophisticated. Thou art the thing itfelf: unaccommodated man is no more but fuch a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings: come, unbutton here. ACT IV. SCENE, I. The Justice of Providence. That I am wretched, Makes thee the happier; heavens deal so still! (19) That flaves your ordinance, that will not fee And each man have enough. (17) I have given the reader all the most beautiful paffages of this celebrated part of the tragedy, and have avoided any comments on it, as its beauties are fo ftriking, and fo generally commended: however, if he thinks proper, he may, by confulting Mr. Smith's Tranflation of Longinus, find fome obfervations there not unworthy his regard. See the 3d note on the 10th fection. (18) Is man, &c.] See Measure for Measure, Vol. I. p. 49. n. 17. (19) That flaves, &c.] Mr. Warburton is for reading, braves here but he still forgets how frequently Shakespear makes verbs of fubftantives, and inftead of endeavouring to explain his author's words, immediately has recourfe to the eafy art of altering, when there is any difficulty: by flaves your ordinance, the poet means, makes a flave of your ordinance: "makes it fubfervient, as Mr. Upton obferves, to his fuperfluities and lufts.” SCENE |