nt's reference to Oswald (long before there is any sign
of Goneril's intrigue with Edmund) as 'one that would be a bawd in way
of good service' (II. ii. 20); and Edgar's words to the corpse of Oswald
(IV. vi. 257), also spoken before he knew anything of the intrigue with
Edmund,

I know thee well: a serviceable villain;
As duteous to the vices of thy mistress
As badness would desire.

Perhaps Shakespeare had conceived Goneril as a woman who before her
marriage had shown signs of sensual vice; but the distinct indications
of this idea were crowded out of his exposition when he came to write
it, or, being inserted, were afterwards excised. I will not go on to
hint that Edgar had Oswald in his mind when (III. iv. 87) he described
the serving-man who 'served the lust of his mistress' heart, and did the
act of darkness with her'; and still less that Lear can have had Goneril
in his mind in the declamation against lechery referred to in Note S.

I do not mean to imply, by writing this note, that I believe in the
hypotheses suggested in it. On the contrary I think it more probable
that the defects referred to arose from carelessness and other causes.
But this is not, to me, certain; and the reader who rejects the
hypotheses may be glad to have his attention called to the points which
suggested them.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 269: It has been suggested that 'his' means 'Gloster's'; but
'him' all through the speech evidently means Lear.]

NOTE U.

MOVEMENTS OF THE DRAMATIS PERSONAE IN ACT II. OF _KING LEAR_.

I have referred in the text to the obscurity of the play on this
subject, and I will set out the movements here.

When Lear is ill-treated by Goneril his first thought is to seek refuge
with Regan (I. iv. 274 f., 327 f.). Goneril, accordingly, who had
foreseen this, and, even before the quarrel, had determined to write to
Regan (I. iii. 25), now sends Oswald off to her, telling her not to
receive Lear and his hundred knights (I. iv. 354 f.). In consequence of
this letter Regan and Cornwall immediately leave their home and ride by
night to Gloster's house, sending word on that they are coming (II. i. 1
ff., 81, 120 ff.). Lear, on his part, just before leaving Goneril's
house, sends Kent with a letter to Regan, and tells him to be quick, or
Lear will be there before him. And we find that Kent reaches Regan and
delivers his letter before Oswald, Goneril's messenger. Both the
messengers are taken