'Sound a sonnet,' and in Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of Malta, v. 2, it is in the form synnet.' A sennet appears to have been a particular set of notes on a trumpet or cornet which marked the entrance or exit of a procession, and is different from a flourish, for in Dekker's Satiromastix (1602), quoted by Steevens in his note on Julius Caesar, i. 2. 24, we have ، Trumpets sound a flourish, and then a sennet.' In Marston's Antonio and Mellida, 2nd part, act ii. sc. I, we find 'The Cornets sound a cynet.' A further corruption occurs in Webster, Vittoria Corombona, i. 1, where the quartos give as a stage direction Enter Senate.'

24. Gloucester, spelt 'Gloster' in the early copies, but 'Gloucester' in the stage direction at the beginning of the scene in the folios.

26. I shall. See Abbott, 315.

27. shall. So the folios. The quartos have 'will.'

Ib. darker purpose, more secret design, with which Gloucester and Kent were not acquainted, though they were aware of the king's general in

tention.

28, 29. divided In three. Compare 2 Henry IV, i. 3. 74:

'So is the unfirm king

In three divided.'

29. our fast intent, our firm intention, stedfast purpose. The quartos read 'first.' For 'fast' in this sense see Coriolanus, ii. 3. 192:

If he should still malignantly remain

Fast foe to the plebeii.'

30. from our age. So the folios. The quartos have of our state.' In the next line they read 'yeares' for 'strengths,' and omit from ' while we' to May be prevented now.'

31. Conferring. The reading of the folios. The quartos have ‘ 'Confirming.' 34. a constant will, a steady, settled purpose, synonymous with the 'fast intent' of line 29. For constant' in this sense compare Julius Cæsar, iii. 1. 60 :

'But I am constant as the northern star.'

Omitted in the quartos.

36. The princes. The quartos here, see l. 30, read 'The two great princes.' 40, 41. Since now... state. 44. Where . . . challenge. merit most doth challenge it.'

So the folios. The quartos have 'Where The reading here adopted signifies, as Steevens explains, 'where the claim of merit is superadded to that of nature.' For 'challenge' in this sense see iv. 7. 31, and Othello, i. 3. 188:

And so much duty as my mother show'd
To you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I may profess
Due to the Moor my lord.'

46. more than words can wield the matter, more than words can express; the matter being too weighty to be conveyed in mere words.

47. space, the limits within which motion is possible. Compare Antony and Cleopatra, i. I. 34:

Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch

Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space.'

52. Beyond all manner of so much, beyond all these comparisons by which Goneril sought to measure her love.

55. shadowy. So the folios. The quartos read 'shady' in the same Compare Two Gentlemen of Verona, v. 4. 2:

sense.

6

This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods.'

See also this play, v. 2. I:

'Here, father, take the shadow of this tree
For your good host.'

Ib. champains, plains. Compare Deut. xi. 30 (ed. 1611):‘In the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champion ouer against Gilgal.' In Ezekiel xxxvii. 2, the marginal note to 'valley' is 'or, champian.' See Twelfth Night, ii. 5. 174, where it is spelt' champian' in the folios: 'Daylight and champian discovers not more.' In Florio's Italian Dictionary we find,

'Campagna, a field or a champaine.'

Ib. rich'd, enriched. The quartos omit two half lines, and with champains... rivers.'

59. Speak. Omitted in the folios.

61. I am made... sister. The reading of the folios. The first quarto, followed substantially by the others, has

'Sir, I am made of the selfe-same mettall that my sister is.' For 'self' in the sense of selfsame' see Richard II, i. 2. 23: 'That metal, that self mould, that fashion'd thee.'

62. names my very deed of love, exactly describes my love. 63. that, in that, or for that. So in Richard II, v. 5. 27: Like silly beggars,

Who sitting in the stocks refuge their shame,

That many have and others must sit there.'

65. Which the most precious square of sense possesses, that is, which the most delicately sensitive part of my nature is capable of enjoying. The folios read professes.'

66. felicitate, made happy, For instances of participles formed on the model of the Latin participles in -atus, compare 'consecrate' (Titus Andronicus, i. I. 14), 'excommunicate' (Article 33), 'articulate' (1 Henry IV, v. I. 72), 'suffocate' (Troilus and Cressida, i. 3. 125), 'create' (Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1. 412).

69. More richer. So the quartos. The folios read 'More ponderous,' which has the appearance of being a player's correction to avoid a piece of imaginary bad grammar. For instances of such double comparatives see 'more better,' The Tempest, i. 2. 19; Hamlet, ii. I. 11; and Abbott, § II.

72. validity, value, worth. Compare All's Well that Ends Well, v. 3. 192: 'O behold this ring,

Whose high respect and rich validity

Did lack a parallel.'

And Hamlet, iii. 2. 199.

73. conferr'd. So the folios. The quartos have confirmed.' See 1. 31. 73-77. Now... sisters? This is the reading of Malone, founded mainly upon the folios, which have in 1. 74,

Although our last and least; to whose yong loue,' &c.

In the first quarto the passage stands thus:

'but now our ioy,

Although the last, not least in our deere loue,
What can you say to win a third, more opulent

Than your sisters.'

Compare Julius Cæsar, iii. 1. 189:

Though last, not least in love, yours, good Trebonius.'

75. milk of Burgundy. Burgundy was famous for its pastures. See below, line 250.

76. interess'd. The folios have interest.' For the form of the word see Cotgrave (Fr. Dict.): 'Interessé. . . Interessed, or touched in; dishonoured, hurt, or hindered by; &c.' Steevens quotes from the preface to Drayton's Polyolbion: There is scarce any of the nobilitie, or gentry of this land, but he is some way or other by his blood interessed therein.' And from Ben Jonson's Sejanus, iii. I:

·

But that the dear republic,

Our sacred laws, and just authority

Are interess'd therein, I should be silent."

See also Massinger, the Duke of Milan, i. 1:

The wars so long continued between

The emperor Charles, and Francis the French king,
Have interess'd in either's cause the most

Of the Italian princes.'

And Florio (Ital. Dict.): 'Interessare, to interesse, to touch or concerne a mans maine state or fee-simple, to concerne a mans reputation'; and 'Interessato, interessed, touched in state, in honour or reputation.' Again in Minsheu (Span. Dict.): Interessado, m. interessed, hauing right in.' For other instances of verbs of which the participial form has become a new verb, compare 'graff,' 'hoise,' which appear in modern speech as 'graft,' 'hoist.'

86. Good my lord. See Abbott, § 13.

87. begot. Shakespeare (see Merchant of Venice, iii. 2. 65, ii. 2. 37) uses both forms of the participle 'begot' and 'begotten.' In the Authorised Version the latter only occurs.

88. those duties back as are right fit. For the construction of 'as' following the demonstrative pronoun see Julius Cæsar, i. 2. 34:

'I have not from your eyes that gentleness

And show of love as I was wont to have.'

Under these hard conditions as this time
Is like to lay upon us.'

See also Lear, i. 4. 58.

91. all, altogether. See Abbott, § 28.

92. plight, that is, troth-plight, or pledge of betrothal. Ger. pflicht, Du. pligt, duty or obligation. The A. S. pliht corresponds to the other meaning of the word, which occurs in Troilus and Cressida, iii. 2. 168: 'To keep her constancy in plight and youth.'

The verb is found in the Marriage Service, And thereto I plight thee my troth.' And Lucrece, 1690:

'Shall plight your honourable faiths to me.'

95. To love my father all. Omitted in the folios.

IOI. mysteries. So the later folios. The quartos read mistresse'; the first folio'miseries.'

Ib. Hecate. The spelling of the third and fourth folios.

The quartos

and first folio have Heccat'; the second folio 'Hecat.' The word is a disyllable in Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1. 391; Macbeth, ii. 1. 52, iii. 2. 41, iii. 5. I; and Hamlet, iii. 2. 269. It is a trisyllable only in I Henry VI, iii. 2. 64, a significant fact as regards Shakespeare's part in that play.

102. the operation of the orbs. Compare Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 7. 30: 'Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun." . This belief in planetary influence is in keeping with the speech of Edmund in the next scene.

105. property of blood, the closest blood relationship, rising as it were to identity of blood. 'Proper' in the sense of 'own' occurs frequently, as for instance in Hamlet, v. 2. 66:

'Thrown out his angle for my proper life.'

107. from this, that is, from this time. The ellipsis is more common in the phrases by this' (Henry VIII, iii. 2. 83), and by that' (Exodus xxii. 26).

Ib. The barbarous Scythian. Purchas, in his Pilgrimage (ed. 1614, p. 396), says, after describing the cruelties of the Scythians, 'These customes were generall to the Scythians in Europe and Asia (for which cause Scytharum facinora patrare, grew into a prouerbe of immane crueltie, and their Land was iustly called Barbarous): others were more speciall and peculiar to particular Nations Scythian.'

108. his generation, his offspring. The word in this sense is familiar from Matthew iii. 7, O generation of vipers'; a passage which must have

been in Shakespeare's mind when he wrote (Troilus and Cressida, iii. 1. 146), Is love a generation of vipers?'

109. The quartos omit the words 'to my bosom,' relieving the construction at the expense of the metre.

III. sometime. See note on Richard II, iv. 1. 169.

Ib. Good my liege. See 1. 86.

114. to set my rest, a phrase from the game of cards called primero, used in a double sense. Metaphorically, 'to set one's rest' is to stake one's all. Literally in the game of primero it signifies to stand upon the cards in one's hand.' For an example of the metaphorical sense see Bacon's Essay xxix. p. 128 (ed. Wright): There be many Examples, where Sea-Fights have beene Finall to the warre; But this is, when Princes or States, have set up their Rest, vpon the Battailes.' Compare Romeo and Juliet, v. 3. 110. 115. nursery, nursing.

Ib. Hence, and avoid my sight! Rowe applies these words to Cordelia, Heath to Kent. The words are plainly addressed to Cordelia, although she does not leave the scene, which Lear in his passion would soon forget. After the king in reply to Kent's interruption had justified his conduct he could scarcely order him from his sight.

119. digest, in a metaphorical sense, incorporate; and hence, dispose of. Compare Cotgrave (Fr. Dict.), ' Digerer. To digest, concoct; brooke, beare, digest, abide, away with; also, to 'sort, order, dispose.'

122. effects, used apparently of the outward attributes of royalty, everything that follows in its train. See ii. 4. 175.

123. Ourself. Compare Richard II, i. 4. 42, where it is put into the mouth of the king:

'We will ourself in person to this war.'

125. shall, here in the ordinary future sense, as if it had been preceded bywe,' with perhaps something of the idea of fixed intention.

127. additions, titles. See ii. 2. 22, and All's Well that Ends Well, ii. 3. 134:

'Where great additions swell's, and virtue none,
It is a dropsied honour.'

Also Macbeth, i. 3. 106; Hamlet, i. 4. 20.

128. of the rest, which Lear had not enumerated.

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130. This coronet. Professor Delius draws a distinction between crown

and coronet,' regarding the latter as denoting a ducal crown and not the royal diadem. But there can be no such distinction here.

134. make from, get away from. Compare Heywood, The Fair Maid of the West (Works, ii. p. 375):

'If thou seest any (like them) make from the shore,'

So 'make out' in Twelfth Night, ii. 5. 65; 'make unto,' Titus Andronicus, v. I. 25; 'make forth,' Julius Cæsar, v. I. 25.

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