EDM. Come hither, captain; hark.

Take thou this note; [Giving a paper.] go, follow them to prison :

One step I have advanc'd thee; if thou dost
As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way
To noble fortunes: Know thou this,-that men
Are as the time is: to be tender-minded

Does not become a sword:-Thy great employ

ment

Will not bear question; either say, thou'lt do't, Or thrive by other means.

Perfeci quid enim toties per jurgia? dixit. which is thus anglicized, p. 35:

"And what a good yeare have I wonne by scolding erst? she sed." STEEVENS.

The old copies have good yeares, the common corruption in Shakspeare's time of the other word. Sir T. Hanmer made the

Nakyd asyde,

JOHNSON.

So, Skelton's works, p. 257:

"Neither flesh nor fell."

Chaucer uses fell and bones for skin and bones :

"And said that he and all his kinne at ones,

"Were worthy to be brent with fell and bones."

Troilus and Cresseide.

Grey.

In The Dyar's Play, among the Chester Collection of Mysteries, in the Museum, Antichrist says:

"I made thee, man, of flesh and fell." Again, in The Contention betwyxte Churchyeard and Camell, &c. 1560:

"This lesson heether to I kept, and shall here after kepe, "Tylle I to earthe retorne again where fleshe and fell must sleepe." STEEvens.

3 Take thou THIS NOTE;] This was a warrant, signed by the Bastard and Goneril, for the execution of Lear and Cordelia. In a subsequent scene Edmund says—

66

quickly send,

:

"Be brief in't,-to the castle: for my writ
"Is on the life of Lear, and of Cordelia :-
"He hath commission from thy wife and me
"To hang Cordelia in the prison." MALONE.

OFF.

I'll do't, my lord.

EDM. About it; and write happy, when thou hast done.

Mark, I say, instantly; and carry it so,

As I have set it down.

OFF. I cannot draw a cart. 5, nor eat dried oats; If it be man's work, I will do it.

Flourish.

[Exit Officer.

Enter ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN,
Officers, and Attendants.

ALB. Sir, you have shown to-day your valiant

strain,

And fortune led you well: You have the captives
Who were the opposites of this day's strife:
We do require them of you; so to use them,
As we shall find their merits and our safety
May equally determine.

EDM.

Sir, I thought it fit

To send the old and miserable king

To some retention, and appointed guard 7;
Whose age has charms in it, whose title more,

THY great employment

Will not bear question;] By great employment was meant the commission given him for the murder; and this, the Bastard tells us afterwards, was signed by Goneril and himself. Which was sufficient to make this captain unaccountable for the execution. WARBURTON.

The important business which is now entrusted to your management, does not admit of debate: you must instantly resolve to do it, or not. Question, here, as in many other places, signifies discourse, conversation. MALONE.

So, in The Merchant of Venice :

"You may as well use question with the wolf." STEEVENS. 5 I cannot draw, &c.] These two lines I have restored from the old quarto. STEEVENS.

We do require THEM of you ;] So the folio. The quartos read: "We do require then of you so to use them." MALONE. - and appointed guard ;] These words are from quarto B ; they are omitted in quartos A and C, and in the folio.

7

MALONE.

8

To pluck the common bosom on his side,
And turn our impress'd lances in our eyes
Which do command them. With him I sent the
queen;

My reason all the same; and they are ready
To-morrow, or at further space, to appear
Where you shall hold your session. [At this time o,
We sweat, and bleed: the friend hath lost his

friend;

And the best quarrels, in the heat, are curs'd
By those that feel their sharpness:-

The question of Cordelia, and her father,
Requires a fitter place 1.]

ALB.

I hold you but a subject of this war,

Not as a brother.

REG.

Sir, by your patience,

That's as we list to grace him.

9

Methinks, our pleasure might have been de

manded,

2

Ere you had spoke so far. He led our powers;
Bore the commission of my place and person;
The which immediacy" may well stand up,
And call itself your brother.

* Quartos, should.

8 And turn our IMPRESS'D lances in our eyes] i. e. Turn the launcemen whom we have hired by giving them press-money, (See p. 224, n. 3,) against us.

So, in Antony and Cleopatra, Act III. Sc. VII.:

Impress, however, in this place, may possibly have its common signification. STEEVENS.

9[At this time, &c.] This passage, well worthy of restoration, is omitted in the folio. JOHNSON.

Requires a fitter place.] i. e. The determination of the question what shall be done with Cordelia and her father, should be reserved for greater privacy. STEEVENS. 2 Bore the COMMISSION of]

3 The which IMMEDIACY-]

Commission, for authority. WARBURTON, Immediacy is supremacy in op

GON.

4

Not so hot:

In his own grace * he doth exalt himself,
More than in your advancement 5.

REG.

In my rights, By me invested, he compeers the best.

GON. That were the most, if he should husband

you.

REG. Jesters do oft prove prophets.

GON. Holla, holla! That eye, that told you so, look'd but a-squint'. REG. Lady, I am not well; else I should an

swer

From a full-flowing stomach.-General,

Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony;

position to subordination, which has quiddam medium between itself and power. JOHNSON.

Immediacy here implies proximity without intervention; in rank, or such a plenary delegation of authority, as to constitute the person on whom it is conferred, "another self: alter et idem." HENLEY.

Immediacy is, I think, close and immediate connexion with me, and direct authority from me, without, to use Dr. Johnson's words, quiddam medium. So, in Hamlet:

66

-

let the world take note,

"You are the most immediate to our throne."

MALONE.

Immediate is the reading of the quartos. Boswell.

4 In his own GRACE-] Grace here means accomplishments, or honours. So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona :

"With all good grace to grace a gentleman." STEEVENS. in your ADVANCEMENT.] So the quartos. Folio-your addition. MALONE.

5

6 Gon. That were THE MOST, if he should husband you.] If he were married to you, you could not say more than this, nor could be enjoy greater power. Thus the quartos. In the folio this line is given to Albany. MALONE.

7 That eye, that told you so, look'd but A-SQUINT.] Alluding to the proverb: "Love being jealous makes a good eye look asquint." See Ray's Collection. STEEVENS.

So Milton:

"And gladly banish squint suspicion." Comus.

HOLT WHITE.

8

Dispose of them, of me; the walls are thine ® :
Witness the world, that I create thee here

My lord and master.

GON.
ALB. The let-alone lies not in your good will 9.
EDM. Nor in thine, lord.

Mean you to enjoy him?

ALB.

Half-blooded fellow, yes.

REG. Let the drum strike, and prove my title

thine'.

[To EDMUND. ALB. Stay yet; hear reason:-Edmund, I arrest

thee

On capital treason; and, in thy arrest

2

This gilded serpent: [Pointing to GoN.]-for your claim, fair sister,

I bar it in the interest of my wife;

'Tis she is sub-contracted to this lord,

And I, her husband, contradict your bans.
If you will marry, make your love to me,
My lady is bespoke.

8

THE WALLS are thine:] A metaphorical phrase taken from the camp, and signifying, to surrender at discretion.

A similar allusion occurs in Cymbeline:

WARBURTON.

"The heavens hold firm the walls of thy dear honour." STEEVENS.

This line is not in the quartos. BOSWELL.

9 The let-alone lies not in your good will.] Whether he shall not or shall, depends not on your choice. JOHNSON.

Albany means to tell his wife, that, however she might want the power, she evidently did not want the inclination to prevent the match. RITSON.

To obstruct their union lies not in your good pleasure: your veto will avail nothing. MALONE.

Reg. Let the drum strike, &c.] So the folio. This line is given to the Bastard in the quartos, and they read

"Let the drum strike, and prove my title good."

Regan, it appears from this speech, did not know that Albany had discharged her forces. MALONE.

2-thy arrest,] The quartos read-thine attaint. STEEVENS.