tr. for 'commit adultery,' appears only in
III. iv. 83, but cf. the famous iteration in _O._
IV. ii. 72 f.

'stand in hard cure,' III. vi. 107, seems to have no
parallel except _O._ II. i. 51, 'stand in bold cure.'

'secure'=make careless, IV. i. 22, appears only here
and in _O._ I. iii. 10 and (not quite the same sense)
_Tim._ II. ii. 185.

Albany's 'perforce must wither,' IV. ii. 35, recalls
Othello's 'It must needs wither,' V. ii. 15.

'deficient,' IV. vi. 23, occurs only here and in _O._
I. iii. 63.

'the safer sense,' IV. vi. 81, recalls 'my blood
begins my safer guides to rules,' _O._ II. iii. 205.

'fitchew,' IV. vi. 124, is used only here, in _O._
IV. i. 150, and in _T.C._ V. i. 67 (where it
has not the same significance).

Lear's 'I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion I
would have made them skip,' V. iii. 276, recalls
Othello's 'I have seen the day, That with this little arm and
this good sword,' etc., V. ii. 261.

The fact that more than half of the above occur in the first two Acts of
_King Lear_ may possibly be significant: for the farther removed
Shakespeare was from the time of the composition of _Othello_, the less
likely would be the recurrence of ideas or words used in that play.

NOTE S.

_KING LEAR_ AND _TIMON OF ATHENS_.

That these two plays are near akin in character, and probably in date,
is recognised by many critics now; and I will merely add here a few
references to the points of resemblance mentioned in the text (p. 246),
and a few notes on other points.

(1) The likeness between Timon's curses and some of the speeches of Lear
in his madness is, in one respect, curious. It is natural that Timon,
speaking to Alcibiades and two courtezans, should inveigh in particular
against sexual vices and corruption, as he does in the terrific passage
IV. iii. 82-166; but why should Lear refer at length, and with the same
loathing, to this particular subject (IV. vi. 112-132)? It almost looks
as if Shakespeare were expressing feelings which oppressed him at this
period of his life.

The idea may be a mere fancy, but it has seemed to me that this
pre-occupation, and sometimes this oppression, are traceable in other
plays of the period from about 1602 to 1605 (_Hamlet_, _Measure for
Measure_, _Troilus and Cressida_, _All's Well_, _Othello_); while in
earlier plays the subje