'Sure th' offence
Must be of such unnatural degree,
As monsters it; or your fore-voucht affection
Could not fall into taint; which to believe
Of her must be a faith reason without
A miracle should never plant in me.'
The next lines he also alters thus:
'Cor. I yet beseech your Majesty, (if so
I want that glib and oily art, to speak
And purpose not, since what I well intend,
I'll do't before I speak) that you make known &c.'
Note VII.
I. 4. 225-228. In this passage Rowe followed the Folios. Pope introduced some of the lines of the Quartos, making verse of them thus:
'Lear's shadow? I would learn, for by the marks
Of sovereignty, of knowledge, and of reason,
I should be false persuaded I had daughters.
Your name, fair gentlewoman?'
Theobald and Hanmer followed Pope. So did Warburton, except that in the second line he read 'Of sovereignty of knowledge, &c.' Johnson and Capell followed the Folios. Steevens in his edition of 1773 read as in the text, but in 1778 recurred to the reading of Pope: except that he transferred 'Lear's shadow?' to the end of the previous line, and for 'learn' read 'learn that.' Mr Dyce, in his first edition, arranged lines 225-228 thus:
'Lear. I would learn that; for by the marks of sovereignty,
Knowledge, and reason,
I should be false persuaded I had daughters.'
In his second edition he reads: