I find, she names my very deed of love,
Only she comes too short; that I profess]
_That_ seems to stand without relation, but is referred to _find_, the
first conjunction being inaccurately suppressed. I find _that_ she names
my deed, I find that I profess, &c.
I.i.76 (315,5) Which the most precious square of sense possesses]
[Warburton explained "square" as the "four nobler senses"] This is
acute; but perhaps _square_ means only _compass, comprehension_.
I.i.80 (315,6) More pond'rous than my tongue] [W: their tongue] I think
the present reading right.
I.i.84 (316,8) Now our joy] Here the true reading is picked out of two
copies. Butter's quarto reads,
--_But_ now our joy,
Although the last, not least in our dear love,
What can you say to win a third, &c.
The folio,
--Now our joy,
Although our last, _and_ least; to whose young love
The vines of France, and milk of Burgundy,
Strive to be int'ress'd. _What can you say?_
I.i.138 (318,5) The sway, revenue, execution of the rest] [W: of th'
hest] I do not see any great difficulty in the words, _execution of the
rest_, which are in both the old copies. The _execution of the rest_ is,
I suppose, _all the other business_. Dr. Warburton's own explanation of
his amendment confutes it; if _hest_ be a _regal comnand_, they were, by
the grant of Lear, to have rather the _hest_ than the execution.
1.1.149 (319,6)
Think'st thou, that duty shall have dread to speak,
When power to flattery bows? To plainness honour's bound,
When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy doom,
And in thy best consideration check
This hideous rashness: answer my life my judgment,
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least]
I have given this passage according to the old folio, from which the
modern editions have silently departed, for the sake of better numbers,
with a degree of insincerity, which, if not sometimes detected and
censured, must impair the credit of ancient books. One of the editors,
and perhaps only one, knew how much mischief may be done by such
clandestine alterations. The quarto agrees with the folio, except that
for _reserve thy state_, it gives, _reverse thy doom_, and has _stoops_
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
stake my life on my opinion_.--The reading which, without any right, has
possessed all the modern copies is this;
--to plainness honour
Is bound, when majesty to folly falls.
Reserve thy state; with better judgment check
This hideous rashness; with my life I answer,
Thy youngest daughter, &c.
I am inclined to think that _reverse thy doom_ was Shakespeare's first
reading, as more apposite to the present occasion, and that he changed
it afterwards to _reserve thy state_, which conduces more to the
progress of the action.
I.i.161 (320,9) The true blank of thine eye] The _blank_ is the _white_
or exact mark at which the arrow is shot. _See better_, says Kent, _and
keep me always in your view_.
I.i.172 (320,1) strain'd pride] The oldest copy reads _strayed pride_;
that is, _pride exorbitant_; pride passing due bounds.
I.i.174 (320,3) Which nor our nature, nor our place, can bear;/ Our
potency made good] [T: (Which ... bear) ... made good] [Warburton
defended "make"] Theobald only inserted the parenthesis; he found _made
good_ in the best copy of 1623. Dr. Warburton has very acutely explained
and defended the reading that he has chosen, but I am not certain that
he has chosen right. If we take the reading of the folio, _our potency_
made _good_, the sense will be less profound indeed, but less intricate,
and equally commodious. _As thou hast come with unreasonable pride
between the_ sentence _which I had passed, and the_ power _by which I
shall execute it_, take thy reward _in another sentence which shall_
make good, _shall establish, shall maintain_, that power. If Dr.
Warburton's explanation be chosen, and every reader will wish to choose
it, we may better read,
Which nor our nature, nor our state can bear,
_Or_ potency make good.--
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 easy and
clear.--Lear, who is characterized as hot, heady, and violent, is, with
very just observation of life, made to entangle himself with vows, upon
any sudden provocation to vow revenge, and then to plead the obligation
of a vow in defence of implacability.
I.i.181 (322,4) By Jupiter] Shakespeare makes his Lear too much a
mythologist: he had Hecate and Apollo before.
I.i.190 (322,6) He'll shape his old course] He will follow his old
maxims; he will continue to act upon the same principles.
I.i.201 (323,7) If aught within that little, seeming, substance]
_Seeming_ is _beautiful_.
I.i.209 (323,9) Election makes not up on such conditions] To _make up_
signifies to complete, to conclude; as, _they made up the bargain_; but
in this sense it has, I think, always the subject noun after it. To
_make up_, in familiar language, is, neutrally, _to come forward_, to
_make advances_, which, I think, is meant here.