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 The tragedy of King Lear. 
 
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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013139716 
 
THE TRAGEDY OF KING LEAR 
 
THE WORKS ■• 
 
 OF J. ■'*■' 
 
 SHAKESPEARE 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF KING LEAR 
 
 •f 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 W. J., CRAIG 
 
 ? 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
 THE BOWEN-MERRILL CO. 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
^^8i 
 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction vii 
 
 The Tragedy of King Lear i 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 In this edition of the play of King Lear my first object 
 
 has been to give a text as good as possible. At the foot 
 
 of each page I have endeavolired to show how the early 
 
 editions of the play, on which a text must be formed, 
 
 differ from each other, and when the old text has to be 
 
 changed, to record such change, with the name of the editor 
 
 who first introduced it, and the suggester of it (if any). 
 
 Though the work of collating the early editions has been 
 
 already admirably done, — in 1 866 by Mr. W. G. Clark and 
 
 Mr. W. Aldis-Wright in the Cambridge Shakespeare, and 
 
 afterwards by Mr. H. H. Furness in his edition of King 
 
 Lear, the fifth volume of his Variorum Shakespeare (i 880), 
 
 — I thought it best to carefully collate the first edition of 
 
 the play, Quarto I (the Pide Bull edition), 1608, with the 
 
 second edifion, Quarto 2 (the N. Butter edition), 1608, 
 
 and again to collate each of these editions of the play 
 
 independently, with its text in the first edition of the 
 
 works of Shakespeare, (the first Folio, 1623), where it 
 
 was for the third time printed.^ I have also recorded all 
 
 but the minutest differences in the texts of some differing 
 
 copies of Quarto i, and a few readings in the Quarto of 
 
 ^ It stands between Hamlet and Othello : the last page of Hamlet is 282 
 (misprinted 280) ; the first page of Othello is 310, and is printed on the back 
 of the last page of Lear. The page-numbers run from 283 to 309 (308 is 
 misprinted 38). 
 
. via 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 1655, and of the text of the play in the three later Folios ; 
 but for this part of my work I wish here to acknowledge 
 my obligations ' to the Cambridge Shakespeare, to which 
 great work and to Mr. Furness I am indebted for much 
 information which is to be found given in my notes, 
 though I have always endeavoured to verify it. I must 
 also express my obligations to Malone's Variorum edition, 
 Boswell, 1 82 1. 
 
 In my notes Q standing alone indicates the two 
 Quartos of 1608 in agreement, Q i the first published 
 edition of 1608 (the Pide Bull edition), Q 2 the second 
 published edition of that year (the N. Butter edition). 
 By F is indicated the first collected edition of Shake- 
 speare's plays (the first Folio edition of 1623). 
 
 F 2, F 3, and F 4 refer to editions of our poet published 
 in 1632, 1664, and 1685 (the second, third, and fourth 
 Folios). 
 
 I have almost ignored Jane Bell's 1655 reprint of 
 Quarto 2, as it is almost, if not quite, worthless, but when 
 it is quoted it is indicated as Q 3. 
 
 I have very seldom ventured to introduce new read- 
 ings. At IV. vi. 202 I have inserted the word " for," 
 which seems to me to have dropped out of the text. At 
 IV. i. 60 I adopt the form " Hoberdidance " as that is the 
 form found in Harsnett's Declaration ; " Hobbididence " 
 has only the support of the Quartos, as the passage in 
 which it occurs is not in the Folio. At III. vi. 33, however, 
 I think it is best to retain " Hoppedance " of the Quartos. 
 I have placed hyphens between the words " stubborn " 
 and "ancient" at II. ii. 130; and between the words 
 " clamour " and " moistened " at IV. iii. 3 2 — in both cases 
 
INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 following suggestions made by W. Sidney Walker in his 
 Critical Remarks on Shakespeare's Versification (1854). 
 At IV. iv. 6 I print " sentry " ; Johnson adopted " sent'ry," 
 which was not followed; I have shown that the Folio 
 word " centery " is probably only another form of " sentry." 
 At IV. ii. 68 I practically adopt the pointing of my Ox- 
 ford Shakespeare, 1891, which shews that " mew " of the 
 Quartos is an interjection. At iv. iii. 3 5 I believe I have 
 been the first editor who has ventured to print " mate 
 and make," the reading of Quarto i , instead of " mate 
 and mate" of Quarto 2, and at ill. iv. 78 " Pellicock's 
 hill " of the Quartos, instead of " Pillicock-hill " of the 
 Folio and Rowe. At I. ii. 1 46 I print " Fut " of the 
 Quartos instead of " Tut," introduced by Jennens in 
 1770. At I. ii. 21 I, with some hesitation, retain the 
 word " to " (" shall to the legitimate "), the reading of both 
 Quarto and Folio, instead of adopting, as most editors do, 
 " top," the suggestion of Edwards in his Canons of Criti- 
 cism, 1758, first printed in Capell's edition, 1768. As I 
 think a certain sense can be obtained I am unwilling to 
 change the text. At v. iii. 270 I follow Quarto i and 
 read " murderous traitors." Johnson and Jennens follow 
 Quarto 2, and read " murdrous traitors." I prefer the form 
 I print to " murderers, traitors," the reading of the Folio. 
 
 I venture to make a few suggestions in notes to I. ii. 
 1 66 (" dissipation of cohorts ") ; IV. ii. 8 (" When I in- 
 formed him, then ") ; IV. iii. 19, 20 (" her smiles and tears 
 were like a better way ") ; IV. vii. 3 5 (" quick, cross light- 
 ning ") ; II. i. 5 S (" gasted by the noise I made "). 
 
 In the year 1608 there appeared two editions of 
 King Lear, which in the present edition I have described 
 
X INTRODUCTION 
 
 as Quarto i and Quarto 2 ; the first of these editions 
 bore the following title : — " M. William Shakspeare, HIS 
 True Chronicle Historie of the life and death of King Lear 
 and his three Daughters. With the unfortunate life of 
 Edgar, sonne and heire to the Earle of Gloster, and his 
 sullen and assumed humor of TOM of Bedlam : As it 
 was played before the Kings Maiestie at Whitehall vpon 
 S. Stephans night in Christmas Hollidayes. By his 
 Maiesties seruants playing vsually at the Gloabe on the 
 Bancke-side. LONDON, printed for Nathaniel Butter, and 
 are to be sold at his shop in Paul's Church-yard at the 
 signe of the Fide Bull neere St. Austins Gate, 1608." 
 
 The title of the second edition runs as follows : — " M. 
 William Shake-speare, HIS True Chronicle History of the 
 life and death of King Lear, and his three Daughters. 
 With the vnfortunate life of EDGAR, sonne and heire to 
 the Earle of Glocester, and his sullen arid assumed humour 
 of Tom of Bedlam. As it was plaid before the Kings 
 Maiesty at White-Hall, vppon St. Stephen's night, in 
 Christmas HoUidaies. By his Maiesties seruants, playing 
 vsually at the Globe on the Banck-side. Printed for 
 Nathaniel Butter, 1608." 
 
 That these two Quarto editions oi King Lear, and these 
 only, appeared in 1608 was first definitely determined by 
 the Cambridge editors, Mr. W. G. Clarke and Mr. W. 
 Aldis-Wright in the first edition of their great work, the 
 Cambridge Shakespeare, 1866. Before that date it was 
 vaguely supposed that three or more editions of the play 
 were published in 1608, the great differences in the several 
 copies of the Pide Bull edition having induced that belief 
 
 The elaborate collation by the Cambridge editors of 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 six copies of that edition established the fact, that though 
 of these six copies only two are alike in all respects yet 
 they all represent but one edition.^ 
 
 The labours of the Cambridge editors also first gave 
 us the means of proving that this Fide Bull edition was 
 the earlier of the two Quartos, and that the N. Butter 
 edition was little more than a reprint of it. The editors, 
 however, did not arrive at this conclusion till their work 
 was in print, and consequently in the first edition of the 
 Cambridge Shakespeare we find in its footnotes the Pide 
 Bull edition always designated as Q 2 and the N. Butter 
 edition as Q i. They pointed out, however, this error in 
 their Preface to the play, and the matter has been finally 
 set right in the second edition of the Cambridge Shake- 
 speare, 1892, where in the footnotes the notation Q i repre- 
 sents the Pide Bull edition and Q 2 the N. Butter edition. 
 
 The six copieg. of Q i collated by the Cambridge 
 editors, with the notation adopted by them, are as 
 follows : — 
 
 1. Q I (Cap.). Copy in Capell's collection. 
 
 2. Q I (Dev.). Copy in Devonshire Library. 
 
 3. Q'l (Mus. per.). A perfect copy in the British 
 Museum (C. 34, k. 18). 
 
 4. Q I (Mus. imp.). Imperfect copy (wanting title) 
 in British Museum (C. 34, k. 17). 
 
 5. Q I (Bodl. i). Copy in Bodleian Library, want- 
 ing last leaf 
 
 6. Q I (Bodl. 2). Copy in Bodleian Library, want- 
 ing title. 
 
 ^ Mr. Halliwell Phillipps, in his Prefece to the " Ashbee Facsimile of the 
 Pide Bull Quarto," mentions the existence of twelve copies of this Quarto, 
 adding, " No two copies have yet been found which agree with each other." 
 
jciJ INTRODUCTION 
 
 In my footnotes (collations) " Q i one copy " or " some 
 copies " indicates that there is a variation in one or in 
 more of these six Quartos. 
 
 The Cambridge editors accounted for the great varia- 
 tions of the copies of the " Pide Bull " edition on the 
 theory that before all the sheets of the edition were 
 worked off corrections were made at press, and that sub- 
 sequently the corrected and uncorrected sheets were 
 bound up indiscriminately. In 1885, Mr. P. A. Daniel, 
 in his Preface to this Quarto, issued in Dr. Furnivall's 
 Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles, first clearly demonstrated 
 in print the truth of this theory, examining sheet by sheet 
 the several copies of the Quarto ; and further was able to 
 show that the N. Butter edition, giving as it does some- 
 times the corrected and sometimes the uncorrected read- 
 ings of the Pide Bull edition, was in fact merely a reprint 
 of that edition, and could not possibly owe its origin to 
 an independent MS. source. Its position as second in 
 the race, and of inferior authority, may therefore be con- 
 sidered as now definitely established. It nevertheless 
 contains some valuable corrections of the Pide Bull text, 
 which have not been traced to any known copy of that 
 edition, and it is on the whole far better printed, a position 
 not very difficult of attainment, for the Pide Bull edition is 
 perhaps the very worst specimen of the printer's craft that 
 ever issued from the Press. Whether the publication of this 
 Quarto edition of the play was sanctioned by the author, or 
 by the company for whom it was written, is quite unknown ; 
 the following entry in the Stationers' Registers under date 
 26th November 1607, is our earliest notice of it: — 
 
 " John Busby Nathaniel Butter Entred for their 
 
INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 copie under thhandes of Sir George Buck, knight, and 
 Thwardens, A Booke called . Master William Shakespeare 
 his ' historye of Kinge Lear ' as yt was played before the 
 kinges maiestie at Whitehall vppon Sainct Stephens night 
 at Christmas last, by his maiesties servantes, playinge 
 vsually at the ' Globe ' on the Banksyde " {vide Arber, iii. 
 366). Sir George Buck was Master of the Revels. Would 
 his authority extend to sanctioning the publication of 
 " stolne and surreptitious copies " of plays that passed his 
 office ? I must leave the reader to settle that question with 
 Messrs. Heminge and Condell, under whose authority the 
 plays were given to press in 1623, " cured and perfect of 
 their limbes," in the First Folio. In relation to the text of 
 the Folio version, the two Quarto editions may for all prac- 
 tical purposes be considered as one text. This text differs 
 from that of the Folio in a large number of small verbal 
 alterations, but whether they are to be considered as 
 representing the author's original draught, or a revision 
 of it by the author himself, or by others, it is impossible 
 to say with any certainty ; but of the superiority of the 
 Folio text there can be no doubt. The chief value of the 
 Quarto text is that it preserves nearly three hundred lines 
 not found in the Folio, but undoubtedly the work of 
 Shakespeare's hand. Were they additions to his first 
 draught ? or being portions of this first draught, were they 
 purposely omitted in the Folio version ? These questions 
 cannot be answered with any certainty. On the other 
 hand, the Folio version gives us some hundred and ten 
 lines which are not found in the Quartos, and again no 
 one can positively assert that they were additions to the 
 original draught or were knowingly omitted in the Quartos. 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 We do not know, indeed, which of the two versions — 
 Quarto or Folio — first came into being. Only on one 
 point can we feel any certainty, and that is that neither 
 represents in all respects the play as it first came from 
 Shakespeare's hands. Independent MS. origin for both 
 Quarto and Folio there undoubtedly was, but, curiously 
 enough, the printed text of the Quartos appears in places 
 to have affected or infected that of the Folio ; what are 
 admittedly printers' blunders in the Quartos are here and 
 there reproduced in the Folio,^ blunders which could hardly 
 have been made independently of each other. To account 
 for this, Mr. Daniel, in his Preface to Quarto i, before 
 referred to, suggests that the MS. of the Folio version was 
 not printed from directly, but was given to the press 
 through the medium of a copy of Quarto i, altered in 
 accordance with this MS., and that this copy of Quarto i 
 contained at least three of its uncorrected sheets, E, H, and 
 K ; by the carelessness of the scribe engaged in preparing 
 this copy of the Quarto for the Folio edition, some errors 
 escaped correction and so got established in the Folio text. 
 In the case of a text which is known to have been 
 revised by its author, an editor's path is clearly marked 
 out for him : he must follow the latest directions of that 
 author, however in his own judgment he may prefer his 
 earlier utterances. The reader has already seen that as 
 regards the Quarto and Folio text of King Lear we 
 cannot with any certainty determine whether the author 
 was in any way responsible for their differences. My 
 study of the two texts leads me to believe that he was not, 
 
 1 For a list of these, see Mr. P. A. Daniel's before-mentioned Preface to 
 the reprint of Quarto I, pp. xix, xx. 
 
INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 and that we have no evidence that from the time he 
 handed over the play to his company, leaving to them to 
 deal with it at their pleasure, he took any further care of it. 
 A modern text, therefore, must needs be eclectic ; as a 
 basis the Folio is almost necessarily to be chosen, but its 
 authority should not in my opinion be allowed to absolutely 
 override that of the Quarto ; fitness and positive superiority, 
 or what in my judgment I deem to be such, are the only 
 guides I have followed in determining the right to a place 
 in my text of either Quarto or Folio readings where at 
 variance. In this course I do but follow the example of 
 my predecessors, and my readers must therefore not expect 
 to find in my text any very noticeable differences from that 
 generally received ; the ground has been too exhaustively 
 worked by preceding editors to admit of any new discoveries 
 of importance. I refer my readers wishing further informa- 
 tion on this difficult matter to Mr. Daniel's before-mentioned 
 Preface to the reprinted Quarto i, and I may add that 
 there is a long account of the matter in Mr. A. A. Adee's 
 Preface to the Bankside Shakespeare, parallel column 
 reprint of the play, edited by Mr. Appleton Morgan, and 
 that it is^also discussed in Furness's Variorum edition. 
 
 It is practically certain that King Lear was not 
 written earlier than March 1603, nor later than December 
 1606 ; for the first date-limit we have the following entry 
 in the Registers of the Stationers' Company under date 
 March the i6th, 1603 : — 
 
 " Master Robertes Entred for his Copie vnder the 
 handes of the wardens ' A Booke called A Declaracon of 
 egregious popishe ympostures, etc' . . . vjd." (Arber's 
 Transcript, iii. 229). 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 Samuel Harsnett, who died Archbishop of York in 
 163 1, was the author of this strange work, the full title of 
 which is — " A Declaration of Egregious Popishe Impos- 
 tures, to with-draw the harts of Her Maiestie's Subjects 
 from their allegeance, and from the truth of Christian 
 Religion professed in England, under the pretence of 
 casting out devils. PRACTISED by EDMUNDS, alias 
 Weston, a Jesuit, and diuers Romish Priestes his wicked 
 associates. Where-unto are annexed the Copies of the 
 Confessions, and Examinations of the parties themselues, 
 which were pretended to be possessed, and dispossessed, 
 taken upon oath before his Maiesties Commissioners, for 
 causes Ecclesiastical AT LONDON printed by lames 
 Roberts, dwelling in Barbican, 1603." 
 
 Shakespeare, it is practically certain, must have had 
 this book in his hands ; to it he is indebted for the names 
 of the spirits mentioned by Edgar, when keeping up his 
 assumed character of a Bedlam Beggar, and at least twice 
 in the play he seems certainly to have had his eye on 
 passages in it (see notes to Act ill. scene iv. lines 53, 54, 
 and to Act IV. scene i. lines 63, 64). 
 
 As to the other limit, we know that King Lear was 
 written before Saint Stephen's Day (26th December) 
 1 606 ; from the entry in the Stationers' Registers, 
 made November the 29th, 1607, which I have given 
 on pp. xiv, XV. 
 
 We can so far fix the limits to the date of King Lear, 
 but the precise time (between March 1603 and December 
 1 606) at which it was written cannot be clearly demon- 
 strated. Malone conjectured that its first appearance was 
 in March or April 1605. Here it is necessary to refer 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 xvn 
 
 to the old play of King Leir. From Henslowe's Diary 
 (ed. Collier, pp. 33, 34) we learn that a " Kinge Leare " 
 was performed on the 6th April i 5 94, by the combined 
 companies of the Queen and Lord Sussex. This play 
 was in all probability that entered in the Stationers' 
 Registers on the 14th of May 1594, to Edward White, 
 as The moste famous chronicle historye of Leire, kinge of 
 England, and his three Daughters (Arber's Transcript, 
 ii. 649). No copy of White's edition of this play has 
 come down to us, nor is there any record of his ever 
 having transferred his right in it to any other publisher. 
 Eleven years later, 8th of May 1605, Simon Stafford 
 entered on the Stationers' Registers A booke called The 
 Tragecall historie of Kinge Leir and his three Daughiers, 
 etc., as it was latelie acted. On the same day he trans- 
 ferred his rights in it to John Wright, reserving to 
 himself the printing of the book (Arber, iii. 289). The 
 book was published the same year, with the following 
 title-page : — 
 
 " The True Chronicle History of King Leir and his 
 three Daughters, Gonorill, Ragan, and Cordelia. As it 
 hath been diuers and sundry times lately acted. London, 
 printed by Simon Stafford for John Wright, and are to 
 bee sold at his shop at Christ Church dore, next Newgate 
 Market, 1605." 
 
 There is no evidence whatever that this play is 
 identical with that entered to White in iS94; but 
 from its style it may reasonably be supposed of much 
 earlier date than May 1605, and it is extremely probable 
 that Malone is right in assuming that both entries relate 
 to one and the same play. He made its consideration an 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 '••a 
 
 element in determining the date of Shakespeare's Km£^ 
 Lear on the theory that the popularity of this latter, 
 induced Simon Stafford to reprint the old play with the 
 fraudulent intention of palming it off on the public as the 
 Shakespearian play they had applauded on the stage. 
 This would suppose that Shakespeare's Lear had been 
 produced on the stage some little time before Simon 
 Stafford made his first move on the 8th of May i6oS> by 
 entering the old Leir on the Stationers' Registers.; hence 
 Malone conjectured that Shakespeare's King Lear made 
 its first appearance " in March or April 1605." 
 
 Malone's theory as to date has found a modern 
 supporter in Mr. Fleay, who (writing in Robinson's Epitome 
 of Literature, August i, 1879) confidently pronounces 
 that " the play was written before May 8, 1605." He is 
 of opinion that " Malone was right in his date, and in his 
 inference that Stafford , . . wished to pass the old play 
 off as Shakespeare's." After noticing that Shakespeare 
 first gave a tragic ending to the story, Mr. Fleay goes bn, 
 " the old ' Chronicle History ' could not have been described 
 as ' Tragical' in 1605 had not a tragedy on the subject 
 been ' lately acted,' nor could the tragedy have been any 
 other than Shakespeare's." " Wright, however," he goes 
 on, " had not the impudence to put Stafford's ' Tragical 
 History ' on his title-page, though he kept the ' latelie 
 acted ' " ; and this, Mr. Fleay thinks, was the reason why, 
 in 1608, Nathanael Butter described his edition oi King 
 Lear as a " Chronicle History " and not as a tragedy. 
 
 Now though, at first sight, it may puzzle us as to why 
 the pre-Shakespearian play. The Historie of Kinge Leir, 
 should have been described as " tragecall," yet a little con- 
 
INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 sideration of the question will, I think, make it clear that 
 this need not disturb us ; for a tragical history, according 
 to the meaning of these words in the language of that 
 day, it clearly is ; in that age, and long before it, a com- 
 position might quite correctly be so described though it 
 had a prosperous ending. Nahum Tate, in his alteration 
 of King Lear thus quotes from Dryden's Dedication to the 
 Spanish Friar, " Neither is it so trivial an undertaking 
 to make a tragedy end happily ; for 'tis more difficult to 
 save than 'tis to kill " (see Essays of John Dryden, W. P. 
 Ker, 1900, vol. i. p. 249). 
 
 Tragedy originally had the meaning of a composition 
 of a mournful cast. When the old Scottish poet Dunbar 
 in " The Lament for the Makaris " writes of " balat-mak- 
 ing and trigide," by the latter word he can only mean 
 poetry written in a melancholy strain. The old play of 
 King Leir, up to the fifth act, is surely a composition of 
 a most mournful kind. Let us also remember that at this 
 time the historical play was fast losing its vogue, and that 
 tragedy under Shakespeare's influence was in great force ; 
 a not over-scrupulous publisher might well be tempted to 
 give a play of that nature the title " Tragecall " for the pur- 
 pose of tempting buyers ; nor must we forget that in 1623 
 Heminge and Condell put into their list of tragedies in 
 their first edition of the plays of Shakespeare, 1623, at 
 least one play which has a distinctly prosperous conclu- 
 sion ; I, of course, refer to Cymbeline. Now this being so, 
 the only possible shadow of evidence for the fraudulent 
 intention of Simon Stafford in this matter is this, that 
 when the play was published he never gave effect to his 
 intention, for we read on the title-page of the 1605 edition 
 
XX INTRODUCTION 
 
 of this play " The True Chronicle History," not " The 
 Tragecall History of," King Leir ; and I ask, is there in 
 this " matter to condemn a man " ? In spite, therefore, of 
 anything that has been advanced, I cannot but think it 
 clear that this idea of Stafford attempting to gull the 
 public is a matter of the merest conjecture. 
 
 Let us now examine the second part of Malone's 
 evidence for the 1605 date of the play. 
 
 After mentioning Harsnett's book, Malone goes on, 
 " This play is ascertained to have been written after the 
 month of October 1604, by a minute change which 
 Shakespeare made in a traditional line, put into the mouth 
 of Edgar : ' His word was still, Fye, foh, and fum, I smell 
 the blood of a British man.' " 
 
 The old metrical saying, which is found in one of 
 
 Nashe's pamphlets (?>. "Have with you to Saffron-Walden," 
 
 printed in 1595 ; see Grosart's edition of Nashe's Works, 
 
 vol. iii. p. S 3) and in other books, was^" Fy, Fa, Fum, I 
 
 smell the blood of an Englishman " ; and this convinced 
 
 Malone that these words could not have been written till 
 
 t 
 after October the 24th, 1604, when the two kingdoms 
 
 were united in name, and James was proclaimed king of 
 
 Great Britain (see Malone's Shakespeare, Boswell, 1821, 
 
 vol. ii. pp. 404-406). I fully believe in the play having' 
 
 been written after October 1604, but in looking into the 
 
 matter we see that even before that date the change raightt 
 
 well have been made ; for, as Chalmers ^ pointed out, " theife 
 
 was issuyed from Greenwich, on the 13th of May 1603, a 
 
 royal proclamation, declaring that until a complete union 
 
 the King held and esteemed the two realms as presently 
 
 ' Chalmers' Supplemental Apohgy, etc., p. 413. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxi 
 
 united as one kingdom"; and the poet Samuel Daniel in 
 some verses addressed to James, published in 1603, 
 writes : ^ — 
 
 Now thou art All Great Britain, and no more ; 
 No Scot, no English now, nor no Debate. 
 
 Malone makes no mention of the passage at Act iv. vi. 
 
 256, where the Folios read " upon the English party," 
 
 the Quartos having "British"; and Mr. Aldis- Wright, 
 
 in his -Preface to the Clarendon Press edition of King 
 
 Lear (1875), thus cleverly puts it : " It might be inferred 
 
 that the line as it stands in the Folios was written 
 
 before October 1604, ^"d that it was corrected before 
 
 the play was printed in 1608. But it is at least as likely 
 
 that Shakespeare, writing not long after 1 604, while the 
 
 change was still fresh, and before the word ' British ' had 
 
 become familiar in men's mouths, may inadvertently 
 
 have written ' English ' and subsequently changed it into 
 
 ' British.' In III. iv. 195 he had done the same with 
 
 regard to the familiar line of the old ballad, ' I smell the 
 
 blood of an Englishman,' and therefore it is, on the whole, 
 
 probable that Lear was written after and not before the 
 
 proclamation of James the First in 1604." 
 
 Mr. W. Aldis-Wright, indeed, confidently advances 
 
 arguments for a later date than Malone's. Referring 
 
 to Gloucester's speech (at I. ii. 113-115), "these late 
 
 eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us," 
 
 and to Edmund's (at I. ii. 151 and 156), "O! these 
 
 eclipses do portend these divisions," and " I am thinking, 
 
 brother, of a prediction I read this other day, what 
 
 ' See a " Panegyricke CongratulatoVy," delivered to the King's most 
 excellent-Majesty at Burleigh-Harrington in Rutlandshire (Grosart's Daniel, 
 ^885, vol. i. p. 143). 
 
xxii INTRODUCTION '' 
 
 ^f, ■■" 
 
 should follow these "eclipses," he suggests if we read 
 these speeches, after studying a passage of predictions 
 in a book called A Discoursive Probleme concerning 
 Prophecies (1588), written by one John Harvey of King's 
 Lynn, which he quotes, " it can scarcely be doubted that 
 Shakespeare had in his mind the great eclipse [of 1605], 
 and that King Lear was written while the recollection of 
 it was still fresh"; and he thinks this all the more likely, 
 as it haid been preceded (a month before) by an eclipse 
 of the moon. Now to this ingenious supposition, though 
 it has been advanced by a most distinguished, scholar 
 for whose judgment I have the very highest respect, 
 and one to whom every earnest student of , Shakespeare 
 must owe an eternal debt of gratitude, I cannot help 
 taking some exception. Many critics have accepted 
 it. Mr. Boas, for instance, in his able and interesting 
 work, Shakespeare and his Predecessors (1896, p. 438), 
 writes thus: "The reference in Act I. scene ii. to 
 'these late eclipses' must have been suggested by the 
 great eclipse of the sun of October 1605, preceded by 
 an eclipse of the moon in September." Now, though it 
 is quite possible that the speeches in question may refer 
 to the eclipses of the year 1605, and tOj,the numerous 
 predictions concerning them, we must not forget that this 
 is all mere conjecture. I can well imagine that wKen 
 Shakespeare wrote the above passages he may not have 
 been thinking of any particular eclipse '; whether he wrote 
 a little before, or, as I believe, a little after 1605, he 
 would have had in his own recollection, and he ''would 
 have known that it was in'Ihe recollection of his audience 
 that several remarkable eclipses - had been of . recent 
 
INTRODUCTION xxiii 
 
 occurrence. In the year 1598 'there was on the 7th 
 of March a large partial eclipse of the sun visible in 
 England, preceded on the 21st February by a large 
 partial eclipse of the moon, and followed on the i6th 
 August by a total eclipse of the moon ; while in the year 
 1 60 1 an annular eclipse of the sun occurred on the 24th 
 December, which was preceded by two lunar eclipses in 
 that year — one, a small partial eclipse, on the evening of 
 the „ 1 5th June; the other, a large partial eclipse, nearly 
 total, on the evening of the 9th December. Mr. Wright, 
 indeed, in the quotation already mentioned, which he has 
 given from Harvey's Work, includes a passage containing 
 prophecies of eclipses of the sun and moon which were to 
 happen in these two just-mentioned years, as well as in 
 1605 (see the Clarendon Press edition, p. xvi). "More- 
 over, the like concourse of two Eclipses in one, and the 
 same month, shall hereafter more evidently in shew, 
 and more effectually in deed, appeere. Anno 1590. the 
 7. and' 21. dales of July: and Anno 1598. the 11. and 
 25. dales of February; and Anno 1601. the 29. day 
 of Nouember and 14. of December." Now I ask, sup- 
 posing that Shakespeare, when he wrote these passages, 
 had in his _ mind pairs of eclipses visible in England, 
 and. books'" of prediction concerning them, and if we 
 suppose he was writing in the end of 1603 or the 
 beginning of 1604, could he not have written the 
 passages in question concerning the eclipses of 1598 and 
 1 60 1, and the predictions concerning them ? ^ 
 
 . Mr. Wright; also hesitatingly refers to the idea that 
 
 'For information respecting the jgclipses of the years 1598 and 1601, I 
 am indebted to the kindness of Mr. W. H. Wesley, Royal Astronomical 
 Society, Burlington House. 
 
xxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 when Shakespeare wrote the words " machinations, 
 hollowness, treachery," etc. (l. ii. 124, 125), the Gun- 
 powder Plot of the Sth November 1605 was in his 
 mind. This idea, which some critics confidently accept, 
 I take, though possible, to be more visionary than the 
 last; and I think that these words of the late Mr. 
 Halliwell Phillipps are wise, " In fixing the date of a 
 play of Shakespeare, allusions to such matters as 
 eclipses, earthquakes, etc., must be regarded as exceed- 
 ingly treacherous criteria." 
 
 In conclusion, though, as I have already said, we 
 cannot determine the date of this play with absolute 
 precision, I am very strongly inclined to think that it 
 should be placed well within the year 1606. Mr. 
 Sidney Lee, in his Life of Shakespeare (1898), p. 241, 
 places it in that year, though without reason assigned^ 
 My reason is that the fact that it was performed before 
 James the First at the end of 1 606 points to this year ; 
 the plays selected on such occasions being seldom or 
 never old plays. 
 
 Shakespeare, in the tragedy of King' Lear, has not 
 confined himself to the famous tale of the fortunes of 
 that monarch; in Othello he confines himself to the 
 story of the Moor and Desdemona; in Romeo and Juliet 
 he confines himself to the fortunes of that " pair of star- 
 cross'd lovers " ; but in King Lear Shakespeare has 
 introduced, and blended with the original story, another 
 theme of filial ingratitude and of filial faithfulness, that 
 of the Earl of Gloucester and his two sons. 
 
 With regard to the story of King Lear, that touching 
 and oft-told tale, there is not absolute agreement among 
 
INTRODUCTION xxv 
 
 critics as to the exact sources from whence he drew ; he 
 followed, indeed, no one version of the story, known to 
 us, very closely, but altered it in many ways to suit his 
 purpose. 
 
 In the first place, he alone gives it a tragic ending. 
 In all the earlier accounts known to us, King Leir is 
 restored in the end to his dominions by his younger 
 daughter and her husband, the King of France, or the 
 ruler of part of France (or Gaul), and the two dukes are 
 killed in battle. Nor in any known account does an 
 Earl of Kent interfere in the cause of Cordelia, incur the 
 sentence of banishment for so doing, and afterwards 
 serve his king and master in disguise. Lear's fool, 
 who plays such an important part in King Lear, is 
 nowhere else introduced. Again, in all earlier accounts 
 which we possess, Leir's three daughters are unmarried 
 when he questions them about their love for him. 
 Shakespeare alone makes Goneril and Regan married 
 (to the Dukes of Albany and Cornwall) at the beginning 
 of the play ; and he is the first to introduce the Duke 
 of Burgundy, " rivalling " with the King of France for the 
 hand of his youngest daughter (we shall presently see 
 that it is probable he follows a late source with regard 
 to the coming of the King of France to England). 
 
 Again, though in the old accounts Lear's two elder 
 daughters are invariably represented as ruthless and 
 cruel towards their old father (in more than one account 
 the elder plans his murder), not one word is said of their 
 amours. Their common passion for Edmund in our play 
 is therefore a new feature in the story. 
 
 Lastly, Shakespeare alone makes Lear lose his 
 
xxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 reason ; ^ nor is there any note of his " great rage," nor of 
 his cursing his eldest daughter, in any of the old 
 accounts. In these, indeed, Leir bears his wrongs tamely 
 —in many of them he utters, in his lowest estate, a long 
 and pitiful complaint, partly levelled against Fortune. I 
 may here notice that in no account before Shakespeare 
 have I met with the form " Lear " ; it is generally Leir 
 or Leyre. Perhaps, by using the form " Lear," Shake- 
 speare meant to distinguish his tragedy from the old 
 Chronicle History of King Leir. 
 
 Where, then, did Shakespeare learn the story? It 
 may, indeed, have been related to him in his childhood 
 or youth, but as it is' told in Holinshed's Chronicles— th.a.t 
 favourite volume of his, which supplied him with many a 
 plot — he is sure to have read it there. It stands, indeed, 
 but a few pages from the account of Cymbeline, which 
 he used later. In Book II. chapters v. and vi. of that 
 work (to give a condensed account of a rather lengthy 
 narrative), we read that Leir, the son of Bladud, was 
 admitted ruler over the Britons in the year of the world 
 3105 . . . that he had by his wife three daughters, whose 
 names were Gonorilla, Regan, and Cordeilla, whom he 
 greatly loved, especially Cordeilla, the youngest. Coming 
 to great years, and beginning to wax unwieldy through 
 
 ' Unless the old ballad of " King Leir and his Three Daughters" should 
 be older than Shakespeare's account, where Leir grows ' ' frantick mad " (line 
 13s). It is in F. J. Child's English and Scottish Ballads, ,1864, vol. vii. pp. 
 276-283. Child took it from A Collection of Old Ballads, London, 3 vols., 
 1st and 2nd vol. 1723, 3rd vol. 1725. Percy included it in his Seliques, 
 1765, i. 246, "with one or two trifling verbal differences" (Child). 
 Johnson believed King Lear to be posterior to the ballad ; but Ritson, 
 followed by the best later authorities, considers the ballad as modem. In 
 the ballad, the name Cordelia occurs, but also Ragan, instead of Shake- 
 speare's Regan. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxvii 
 
 age, he thought to understand the affections of his three 
 daughters towards him, and prefer whom he best loved 
 to the succession over the kingdom. Gonorilla, the 
 eldest, was first asked by him how she loved him ; who, 
 calling her gods to record, protested that she loved him 
 more than her own life. Leir, being well pleased with 
 this answer, turned to the second, and demanded of her 
 how well she loved him ; who answered (confirming her 
 sayings with great oaths) that she loved him more than 
 tongue could express, and far above all other creatures of 
 the world. Then called he his youngest daughter Cor- 
 deilla before him, and asked of her what account she made 
 of him ; unto whom she made this answer, that knowing 
 the great love and fatherly zeal he had always borne her, 
 she could not answer otherwise than she thought; she 
 protested, that she had loved him, and would, while 
 she lived, love him as her natural father, and she bade 
 him, if he would understand more of her love for him, to 
 ascertain himself that so much as you have so much 
 you are worth, and so much I love you and no more. 
 Leir, nothing satisfied with this answer, married his two 
 eldest daughters, the one to Henninus, the Duke of 
 Cornewal, the other to Maglanus, the Duke of Albania, 
 between whom he willed and ordained that his land 
 should be divided after his death, and that the one-half 
 thereof should be assigned to them in hand ; but for 
 Cordeilla he reserved nothing. Aganippus, however, 
 one of the princes of Gallia, hearing of Cordeilla's beauty, 
 womanhood, and good conditions, asked her in marriage, 
 and wedded her, though her father would give her no 
 dower. After that Leir was fallen into age, the two 
 
xxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 dukes, thinking long ere the government did come into 
 their hands, rose against him in armour, and reft from 
 him the governance of the land, upon conditions to be 
 continued during the term of Leir's life; by the which 
 he was put to his portion, that is to live at a rate 
 assigned him for the maintenance of his estate ; which 
 was in process of time diminished by both the dukes. 
 But the greatest grief Leir took was to see the unkind- 
 ness of Jiis daughters, who seemed to think that all their 
 father had was too much, the same being never so little; 
 in so much that, going from one to the other, he was 
 brought to that misery, that scarcely would they allow 
 him one servant to wait upon him. In the end, such was 
 their unkindness that Leir fled the land, and sailed unto 
 Gallia, to seek some comfort of his younger daughter 
 Cordeilla, whom before time he had hated ; and he was so 
 joyfully, honourably, and lovingly received, both by his 
 son-in-law Aganippus, and also by his daughter Cordeilla, 
 that his heart was greatly comforted. Aganippus, hearing 
 of his wrongs, collected a mighty army and a great navy 
 of ships, and passed into Britaine with Leir. Cordeilla 
 also went, and they fought their enemies, and dis- 
 comfited them in battle, in the which Maglanus and 
 Henninus were slain, and Leir was restored to his 
 kingdom, and he ruled it after this by the space of two 
 years; and then he died, and Cordeilla was admitted 
 Queen, and the supreme governess of Britaine, in the 
 year of the world 3155. 
 
 We see that this account differs in some important 
 respects from that adopted by Shakespeare in King Lear. 
 In the first place, Leir's intention here seems to be to 
 
INTRODUCTION xxix 
 
 hand over his whole kingdom undivided to his youngest 
 daughter Cordeilla, her whom he " best loved." Holin- 
 shed is quite singular in this rendering of the story, 
 and it is rather curious that he should have thus 
 diverged, not only from the older accounts of it, but 
 even from that given by Fabyan and Grafton, the 
 English chroniclers immediately preceding him (see 
 p. xlviii). 
 
 Again, this account varies from that in King Lear, in 
 apparently making Leir wed his eldest daughter to the 
 Duke of Cornewal and the second to the Duke of 
 Albania (Shakespeare making him give the eldest to 
 Albany and the second to Cornwall). This account, I 
 may also observe, compared with Shakespeare's, appears 
 rather to slur over the later events of the story. 
 
 Another rendering of the old story, which Shake- 
 speare had evidently read with care, and which he appears 
 to follow in some particulars, is that given in Spenser's 
 Faerie Queene (Book II. canto lo, stanzas xxvii.— xxxii.). 
 According to Spenser's account, Lear only questions his 
 daughters in order to have his ears gratified with their 
 loving speeches, for he had already divided his " realme " 
 into " equal shayres," which he was about to bestow on 
 them in order of seniority. Shakespeare seems to have 
 followed Spenser here, for in King Lear we are told that 
 the shares given to Albany and Cornwall are so much 
 alike " that curiosity in neither can make choice of other's 
 moiety " ; and though Lear declares that he has reserved 
 for Cordelia " a third more opulent than her sisters," by 
 this he can only mean (if we are not to suppose him 
 suffering from the effects of dotage) that his best-beloved 
 
XXX INTRODUCTION 
 
 child was about to receive at his hands the most fertile 
 and desirable " third." It is also practically certain (for the 
 old ballad " King Leir and his Three Daughters " certainly 
 appears to me to be later than Shakespeare (see p. xxvi, 
 footnote)) that the beautiful name Cordelia comes from 
 the Faerie Queene ; in the older versions she is Cordoylle 
 or Gordoylle, Cordeilla, Cordeill, Cordelia, Cordell (Spenser 
 once has Cordeill). Again, in Spenser, Goneril is made 
 to wed a " King of Scots " (corresponding to Albany in 
 King Lear), and not Cornwal, as in Holinshed. Spenser, 
 I may add, in company with the old play alone, diverges 
 from Shakespeare by making Regan wed the King of 
 Cambria.^ 
 
 Again, in the Faerie Queene account there is a 
 passage which Knight thinks Shakespeare imitated, and 
 that he did so is not impossible (see note to I. iv. 2 3 7). 
 
 But I think it is also certain that the old anonymous 
 play, already referred to, The True Chronicle History of 
 King Leir and his Three Daughters, afforded some hints 
 to Shakespeare for the plot of King Lear. In the 
 footnotes to the present edition I have pointed out 
 several instances in the text where there seems to be an 
 echo from it. But with regard to the plot, in the first 
 place, it appears that he may have followed it in giving 
 to Lear the idea, not only of dividing his kingdom, but 
 also of entirely resigning his power and authority. In 
 the older accounts Leir wishes to wed his daughters " to 
 neighbour princes," and divide his kingdom among them. 
 In Layamon's account, as we shall presently see, the 
 narrative on this point is rather vague and contradictory ; 
 
 ' One account makes Ragan wed the Duke of V\^ales and Cornwall. 
 
INTRODUCTION -rxxxi 
 
 but even here it is plain that Leir does not contemplate 
 absolute resignation, nor is the idea of it brought out in 
 any of the accounts. But Leir, at the opening of the 
 old play (p. 380), thus addresses his nobles : 
 
 The world of me, I of the world am weary, 
 And I would faine resigne these earthly cares, 
 And think upon the welfare of my soule. 
 
 And later (p. 389) he says : 
 
 I presently will dispossesse myselfe. 
 
 And set up these upon my princely throne. 
 
 Compare with these two passages King Lear, I. i. 3 8-4 1 : 
 
 and 'tis our fast intent 
 To shake all cares and business from our age. 
 Conferring them on younger strengths, while we 
 Unburden'd crawl toward death. 
 
 I have said (p. xxix) that Spenser's account may have sug- 
 gested to Shakespeare Lear's division of his kingdom into 
 equal shares ; but the old play may possibly have helped 
 him to this idea, for at the beginning of it (p. 380) Leir 
 says that he will resign his crown 
 
 In equal dowry to my daughters three. 
 
 Here . Skaliger, a courtier, breaks in, and suggests that 
 Leir, knowing his princely daughters have several suitors, 
 should 
 
 . . . make them each a jointer (jointure) more or less 
 As is their worth to them that love profess. 
 
 But Leir declines to do as suggested, saying : 
 
 Both old and young shall have alike for me. 
 
xxxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 The nobles then request Leir to match his daughters 
 with some of the " neighbour kings." Leir assents, but 
 remarks : 
 
 My youngest daughter, fair Cordelia, vows 
 No liking to a monarch, unless love allowes. 
 
 And Perillus, a nobleman, the original of Shakespeare's 
 Kent, exclaiming (p. 381), "Do not force love," Leir 
 says: 
 
 I am resolved, and even now my mind 
 Doth meditate a sudden stratagem, 
 To try which of my daughters loves me best. 
 Which till I know I cannot be at rest. 
 This granted, when they jointly shall contend 
 Each to exceed the other in their love, 
 Then at the vantage will I take Cordelia, 
 Even as she doth protest she loves me best. 
 I'll say then. Daughter, grant me one request : 
 To shew thou lovest me as thy sisters do. 
 Accept a husband whom myself will woo." 
 
 Leir's intention, when he had thus entrapped his 
 daughter, was to " match her with a king of Brittany," 
 I think that the careful reader will not fail to see, though 
 Shakespeare does not suggest this as Leir's reason for 
 his questioning his daughters, that not only had he 
 carefully read it, but that it influenced his mind. 
 
 Again, let us remember that in all the previous 
 accounts of the story the French monarch, Aganippus, 
 hearing of the beauty and good qualities of Cordelia, 
 sends to her father asking her in marriage, and that Leir 
 sends her dowerless to France ; the old play alone before 
 Shakespeare brings the French king to Britain, see p. 
 389, where he says : 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxiii 
 
 Disswade me not, my lords, I am resolv'd 
 
 This next fair winde to sail for Brittany 
 
 In some disguise, to see if flying fame 
 
 Be not too prodigal in the wondrous praise 
 
 Of these three nymphes, the daughters of King Leir. 
 
 Is it not nearly certain that Shakespeare followed 
 this source when he brings the King of France to Lear's 
 Court, where " long had he made his amorous sojourn," a 
 suitor for the hand of the king's youngest daughter? 
 Again, Perillus, as has several times been pointed out, is 
 evidently the original, if only the pale original, of " the 
 noble and true-hearted Kent " of King Lear. In none of 
 the older accounts is there any trace of such a character. 
 Leir goes to France, accompanied with one knight or 
 soldier (in one case with two attendants, a knight and a 
 soldier who had formerly been his standard-bearer). 
 Perillus, in the old play, laments over Leir's conduct 
 towards Cordelia (see p. 389): 
 
 how I grieve to see my lord thus fond. 
 To dote so much upon vain flattering words. 
 
 And later, like Kent, he pleads for her with Leir 
 
 (pp. 396, 397): 
 
 1 have bin silent all this while, my lord. 
 To see if any worthier than myself 
 
 Would once have spoke in poor Cordellae's cause. . . . 
 O heare me speak for her, my gracious lord, 
 Whose deeds have not deserved this ruthless doom. 
 
 And to this Leir hastily replies : 
 
 Urge this no more, and if thou love thy life. 
 
 Observe the closely parallel reply of King Lear in 
 
 Shakespeare to Kent's , similar plea (i. i. 154): 
 
 Kent, on thy life, no more. 
 
xxxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 I- 
 
 Soon after Perillus laments over Leir's evil case 
 when his daughters begin to treat him cruelly, calling 
 him "the myrour of mild patience" (p. 403). ^^ expres- 
 sion resembling King Lear's words, " I will be the pattern 
 of all patience " (ill. ii. 37), and says later (p. 403) = 
 
 Well, I will counsel him the best I can. 
 Would I were able to redress his wrong; 
 Yet what I can, unto my utmost power, 
 He shall be sure of to the latest hour. 
 
 And later still (p. 406), he joins his master in disguise 
 as Kent joins Lear, and on Leir asking, 
 
 What man art thou that takest any pity 
 Upon the worthless state of old [King] Leir, 
 
 Perillus replies. 
 
 One that doth bear as great a share of grief 
 As if it were my dearest father's case. 
 
 Though there is little or no resemblance between the 
 mild Perillus and fiery Kent, yet they have this in 
 common, each follows his master's " sad steps " " from 
 their first of difference and decay " to the end. Again, 
 in the unscrupulous " Messenger " of the old play we 
 doubtless have the origin of Oswald ; with little other- 
 wise in common, one is as ready as the other to carry 
 out the base and criminal orders of their respective 
 mistresses. 
 
 Now, though we have thus seen that this old play 
 unquestionably furnished our poet with some important 
 details, and it may indeed, as Malone darkly hints, have 
 suggested to his mind the idea of dramatising the subject, 
 and though it is not without merit, having some very 
 pathetic scenes, notably one describing the meeting in 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxv 
 
 France between Cordelia and her father, which the writer 
 of " Hohenlinden " and " The Battle of the Baltic " could 
 not read with dry eyes, we must not forget what a gulf 
 there is between it and Shakespeare's marvellous presenta- 
 tion. Nowhere, I think, has he or any other hand given 
 to the world a work more deeply and truly pathetic. 
 With that key so peculiarly his own, he has here fairly 
 unlocked the gates of pity and terror ; and that out of 
 apparently such unpromising materials he should have 
 created such a matchlessly wondrous and perfect result, 
 must indeed be regarded as one of the greatest miracles 
 in all art. We must never, indeed, forget that whatever 
 hints he may have taken as to the rude plan of his work 
 from this or any other quarter, of the real King Lear 
 there is but one source or fountainhead from which 
 he drew, and that is the depths of his own ever-prolific 
 imagination. 
 
 The story of King Lear and his three daughters is 
 a very old one, probably of Celtic origin ; Welsh, and 
 possibly having a still more ancient Irish original. 
 Professor Rhys thus writes to me : " Although I know 
 no trace of the story of King Lear in Welsh literature, I 
 see no reason whatever for supposing that Geoffrey 
 invented it, but I think rather that he found it in a Celtic 
 story." Since I received the above from Professor Rhys, 
 he has kindly referred me to his Celtic Folk-Lore 
 (Clarendon Press (1901), p. 547), where I read the 
 following : — " As to the Leir of Geoffrey's Latin, that 
 name looks as if given its form on the strength of 
 the legr of Legraceaster, the Anglo-Saxon name for the 
 town of Leicester, on which William of Malmesbury 
 
xxxvi INTRODUCTmN, 
 
 writes : ' Legroceastre est civitas antiqua in mediteraneis 
 Anglis a Legra fluvio praeterfluente sic vocata' {Gesta 
 Pontificium, paragraph 176). Professor Stevenson, how- 
 ever, with much plausibility, regards Legra as an old 
 name of the river Soar, and as surviving in that of 
 the village of Leire, spelled ' Legre ' in the Doomsday 
 Book." 
 
 Professor Rhys also informs me that the translation 
 of The Red Book of Jesus College calls Leir always 
 " Llyr," which is the Welsh for the Irish Lir in such 
 names as Mannannan Mac Lir, but that this Llyr is 
 nearly quite unconnected with Welsh literature, and is 
 mixed up with the Lludd Llawereint, the Welsh equiva- 
 lent of the Irish king, Nuada Arget Lamh, that is, Lludd 
 or Nuada of the Silver Hand ; and Professor Rhys has 
 no doubt that the name of the daughter of this Lludd, 
 the Creurdilad of The Black Book of Carmarthen, and 
 Creeidylat in the Kulhwch and Olwen story, is the basis 
 (at several removes perhaps) of the name Cordelia in 
 Shakespeare's King Lear. 
 
 The earliest known account, however, of the story of 
 King Leir and his three daughters is contained in the 
 celebrated Historia Britonum of Geoffrey of Monmouth, 
 written about 1135, dedicated to Robert, Earl of 
 Gloucester, and professedly translated from a Welsh, 
 some say a Breton, MS. 
 
 I here give a translation of Geoffrey's chronicle by 
 Thompson, revised by Giles. As far as it deals with the 
 events related in King Lear, it is given unabridged ; 
 after Lear's departure to France the outline is only 
 sketched. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxvii 
 
 " Leir, the son of Fladud, was advanced to the 
 throne, and nobly governed his country sixty years. He 
 built, upon the river Sore, a city called in the British 
 tongue KaerLeir, in the Saxon Leircestre. He was 
 without male issue, but had three daughters, whose names 
 were Gonorilla, Regau, and Cordeilla, of whom he was 
 dotingly -fond ; but especially of his youngest Cordeilla. 
 When he began to grow old, he had thoughts of dividing 
 his kingdom among them, and of bestowing on them such 
 husbands as were fit to be advanced to the government 
 with them. But to make trial who was worthy of the best 
 part of his kingdom, he went to each of them to ask which 
 of them loved him most. The question being proposed, 
 Gonorilla, the eldest, made answer ' that she called Heaven 
 to witness, she loved him more than her own soul.' The 
 father replied : ' Since you have preferred my declining age 
 before your own life, I will marry you, my dearest daughter, 
 to whomsoever you shall make choice of, and give with 
 you the third part of my kingdom.' Then Regau, the 
 second daughter, willing after the example of her sister 
 to prevail on her father's good nature, answered with an 
 oath, ' that she could not otherwise express her thoughts 
 but that she loved him above all creatures.' The 
 credulous father upon this made her the same promise 
 that he did to her eldest sister, that is the choice of a 
 husband with the third part of his kingdom (' cum 
 alia tertia parte regni,' Geoffrey). But Cordeilla, the 
 youngest, understanding how easily he was satisfied 
 with the flattering expressions of her sisters, was de- 
 sirous to make trial of his affection after a different 
 manner. ' My father,' said she, ' is there any daughter 
 
xxxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 ' <.' 
 
 that can love her father more than duty requires? 
 In my opinion, whoever pretends to it must disguise 
 her real sentiments under the veil of flattery; I have 
 always loved you as a father, nor do I yet depart from 
 my purposed duty ; and if you insist to have something 
 more extorted from me, hear now the greatness of my 
 affection which I always bear you, and take this for a 
 short answer to all your questions : look how much you 
 have, so much is your value, and so much I love you.' 
 The father, supposing she spoke this out of the abundance 
 of her heart, was highly provoked, and immediately re- 
 plied, ' Since you have so far despised my old age as not 
 to think me worthy the love that your sisters express 
 for me, you shall have from me the like regard, and shall 
 be excluded from any share with your sisters in my 
 kingdom. Notwithstanding I do not say but that since 
 you are my daughter, I will marry you to some 
 foreigner if fortune offers you any such husband ; but 
 will never, I do assure you, make it my business to 
 procure so honourable a match for you as for your 
 sisters ; because, though I have hitherto loved you more 
 than them, you have, in requital, thought me less worthy 
 your affections than they.' And without further delay, 
 after consultation with his nobility, he bestowed his two 
 other daughters upon the Dukes of Cornwall and Albania, 
 with half the island at present, but after his death 
 the inheritance of the whole monarchy of Britain. It 
 happened, after this, that Aganippus, King of the Franks, 
 having heard the fame of Cordeilla's beauty, forthwith 
 sent his ambassadors to the king to demand her in 
 marriage. The father, retaining yet his anger towards 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxix 
 
 V 
 
 her, made answer ' that he was very willing to bestow his 
 daughter, but without either money or territories.' . . . 
 When this was told Aganippus, he being very much in 
 love with the lady, sent again to King Leir to tell him 
 ' that he had money and territories enough, as he 
 possessed the third part of Gaul.' ... At last the match 
 was concluded, and Cordeilla was sent to Gaul and 
 married to Aganippus. A long time after this Leir 
 came to be infirm through old age (' torpere coepit 
 senio,' Geoffrey), the two dukes, upon whom he had 
 bestowed Britain and his two daughters, made an 
 insurrection against him, and deprived him of his 
 kingdom and of all regal authority which he had 
 hitherto exercised with great power and glory. At 
 length, by mutual agreement, Maglaunus, Duke of 
 Albania, one of his sons-in-law, took him into his 
 house, together with sixty soldiers, who were to be 
 kept for state. 
 
 " After two years' stay with his son-in-law, his 
 daughter, Gonorilla, grudged the number of his men, who 
 began to upbraid the ministers of the court with their 
 scanty allowance, and having spoken to her husband 
 about it, she gave orders that the numbers of her father's 
 followers should be reduced to thirty, and the rest dis- 
 charged. The father, resenting this treatment, left 
 Maglaunus and went to Henuinus, Duke of Cornwal, to 
 whom he had married his daughter Regau (' petivit 
 Hernuinum ducem Cornuliae,' Geoffrey). Here he met 
 with an honourable reception, but before the year was at 
 an end, a quarrel happened between the two families 
 which raised Regan's indignation ; so that she com- 
 
xl INTRODUCTION 
 
 ■"^ manded her father to discharge all his attendants but 
 five,. and to be contented with their service. This second 
 affliction was insupportable to him, and made him return 
 to his former daughter (' ad primogenitam,' Geoffrey), 
 with hopes that the misery of his position might move 
 in her some sentiments of filial piety, and that he with 
 his family might find a subsistence with her. But 
 she, not forgetting her resentment, swore by the gods 
 he should not stay with her unless he would dismiss 
 his retinue, and be content with the attendance of 
 one man ; and with bitter reproaches she told him 
 how ill his desire of vain-glorious pomp suited his age 
 and poverty. When he found that she was by no means 
 to be prevailed upon, he was at last forced to comply, 
 and, dismissing the rest, to take up with one man only. 
 But by the time he began to reflect more sensibly with 
 himself upon the grandeur from which he had fallen, and 
 the miserable state to which he was now reduced, and to 
 entertain thoughts of going beyond sea to his youngest 
 daughter. Yet he doubted whether he should be able 
 to move her pity because, as was related above, he had 
 treated her so unworthily. 
 
 " However, disdaining any longer to bear such hard 
 usage, he took ship for Gaul." In the passage, he observed 
 that he had only the third place given him among the 
 princes that were with him in the ship, and broke out 
 into a bitter lament, exclaiming against the cruelty of 
 Fortune. Cordeilla, hearing by a messenger of her father's 
 state and arrival, poured forth filial tears, and with her 
 husband and the barons of the realm went out to meet 
 him, and afterwards Aganippus permitted Cordeilla to go 
 
INTRODUCTION xli 
 
 with an army to restore her father. Wherein her piety 
 so prospered that she vanquished her impious sisters, 
 with those dukes ; and Leir, as saith the story, in three 
 years obtained the throne.^ 
 
 We see by this, the first known account, that Leir's 
 object in questioning his daughters was to make trial 
 which of them loved him most, and so was worthiest of 
 the largest share of his kingdom. This reason for the 
 question is not followed by, many writers ; it gives us 
 indeed but a poor idea of the old king's sense ; it is 
 adopted, however, by Higgins in the Mirror for Magis- 
 trates. Cordell is there made to say : 
 
 Us all our father Leire did love too well, God wot. 
 
 But minding her that loVd him best to note. 
 
 Because he had no sonne t' enjoy his land. 
 
 He thought to guerdon most where favour most he fand. 
 
 We have already seen that Spenser, followed by 
 Shakespeare, rejected this motive for Leir's question, 
 giving to him an entirely different one, and that 
 Holinshed adopted a third, different from either. We 
 see also that this, the first account, in spite of a different 
 intimation, makes the two elder sisters select husbands — 
 
 ■^ Milton, in his History of Britain, freely translated Geoffrey's narrative ; 
 he alters it in some important particulars. For instance, he omits the 
 passage which says that Leir meant to give the largest share to the strongest 
 protester. Here are his words (see p. 178): "Failing through age, he 
 determines to bestow his daughters, and so among them to divide his king- 
 dom. Yet, first to try which of them loved him best, ... he resolves a 
 simple resolution to ask them solemnly in order, and which of them should 
 profess largest, her to believe." (Geoffrey's Latin is: "Sed ut sciret quae 
 illarum majori regni parte dignior esset, adivit singuals, ut interrogaret qus; 
 ipsum magis diligeret.") Again, he makes Cordeilla give her harsher reply 
 only when pressed by Leir. He also alters Geoffrey's words, " He bestowed 
 his other two daughters upon the Dukes of Cornwal and Albania," to " He 
 gives in marriage his other daughters, Gonorill to Maglaunus, Duke of 
 Albania, Regan to Henninus, Duke of Cornwal," thus correcting an incon- 
 sistency in Geoffrey's narrative which misled after writers. 
 
xlii INTRODUCTION 
 
 Cornwal and Albania — exactly as they do in Shake- 
 speare, though no single writer of his day appears to 
 adopt it (Spenser being nearest to it). 
 
 We are told also of Leir's household knights (milites ; 
 chevaliers in Wace), and their number (sixty, nearest to 
 " the hundred knights by you to be sustained," of Lear, 
 I. i. 133) is gradually cut down by each succeeding 
 writer, and from all the accounts of Shakespeare's day 
 omitted, except that in the Mirror for Magistrates, where 
 we read " their husbands promised him a gard of sixtie 
 knights " ; the cutting down of the numbers of them, and 
 Leir's " scanty allowance," also remind us of King Lear. 
 
 With regard to Cordeilla's reply to Leir, we observe, 
 in the first place, that she is a good deal " more blunt 
 and saucy " than she is in Shakespeare. Secondly, that 
 her words are nearly identical with those which Holinshed 
 puts into her mouth, " so much as you have so much are 
 you worth, and so much will I love you and no more." 
 Some accounts, on the other hand, as, for instance, those 
 of the Mirror for Magistrates and Spenser, make her 
 speak in much milder tones than she does in King Lear. 
 Shakespeare's words appear to me to be most like those 
 of the old play : 
 
 I cannot paint my duty forth in words, 
 I hope my deeds shall make report of me, 
 But look what love the child doth owe the father, 
 The same to you I beare, my gracious lord. 
 
 It has been noticed, by the way, that Geoffrey is guilty of 
 an inconsistency in making Leir reserve for himself half 
 his kingdom, after he has just parted with two-thirds 
 of it. 
 
INTRODUCTION xliii 
 
 The story of King Leir is next told in the Brut 
 (T Angleterre of Maistre Wace. This romance, founded 
 on Geoffrey of Monmouth's just mentioned, Historia 
 Britonum, appeared about 1155. Wace tells the story 
 in almost exactly four hundred lines of four accents ; 
 though Geoffrey is roughly followed, the story differs 
 from his version in many respects. As to Leir's motive 
 for questioning his daughters, he is at one with him. 
 Wace assigns a peculiarly French motive for Cordeilla's 
 caustic reply ; she speaks in jest to expose the flattery 
 of her sisters' speeches.^ The literal translation is, " she 
 resolves to speak jestingly to her father, and in jesting 
 she wishes to show him how her sisters flattered him." 
 Again, in the following lively passage Wace writes 
 originally, and we are in it a little reminded, I think, of 
 King Lear. Gornorille oft said to her lord, " What is the 
 use of this assembly of men ? By my faith, sir, we are 
 mad to have brought such a crowd here; my father 
 knows not what he does, he is old and dotes 1 (in King 
 Lear, Goneril thrice complains of her father's dotage, 
 I. iv. 314 and 348, II. iv. 200) — shame to him who will 
 increase his madness, or feed such a retinue for him ; 
 his servants wrangle with ours ... he is mad, and his 
 retainers are perverse ... a fool is he who would 
 support such a retinue ; he has over many retainers ; let 
 them depart." Wace, like all these old romancers, is 
 sometimes self-contradictory ; we are first told that Corn- 
 wall wedded the elder daughter, and the Duke of Scot- 
 land the younger (et le Due Descoce L'aisnee), who is 
 
 ' Layamon follows Wace here : " Then answered Cordoylle, loud, and no 
 whit still, with game and with laughter to her loved father. " 
 
xliv INTRODUCTION 
 
 afterwards called Maglamis le Rois Descoce, and we 
 are later told that Leir went to that monarch's court 
 in Scotland; but, later still, it appears that Leir went 
 to his other son-in-law, the husband of Ragau, who 
 lived in Scotland ("qui Ragau avoit, et qui en Escoce 
 mariot ").^ 
 
 We now come to the first English, or rather Semi- 
 Saxon dr Mercian, rendering of the story. Layamon, a 
 priest of Ernley on Severn, included it in his long poem 
 The Brut, founded on Wace, and written at the beginning 
 of the thirteenth century. In this account, which is far 
 the longest and best of all the non-dramatic renderings of 
 the tale known to us, Wace's French account, though on 
 the whole followed, is greatly amplified. Geoffrey is 
 also followed, but this fine and graphic rendering has 
 much original matter (see Sir Frederick Madden's edition, 
 3 vols. 1847, vol. i. pp. 123-158). There are some 
 strange inconsistencies in Layamon. Leir, after his 
 eldest daughter has pleased him with her reply, and 
 before he has heard what her sisters have to say, declares, 
 " thou shalt have the best share of my land," though he 
 had said a little before, " I will prove which of my 
 daughters loves me most, and she shall have the best 
 share of my lordly land." Again, though we are told 
 several times that Leir divided all his land between his 
 two sons-in-law, Maglanus and Henninus (or Hemeri), 
 yet later we read " that the Scottish King and the Duke 
 spake together that they should have all the land in their 
 own hand, and feed Leyre while he lived with forty 
 
 ^ See Le Roman de Brut par Wace par M. le Roux de Lincy, Rouen, 
 1836, torn. i. pp. 81-98 ; from line 1697 to 2096. 
 
INTRODUCTION xlv 
 
 knights," — the probable meaning is that Leir's resigna- 
 tion was only nominal, and that he still kept much power 
 in his own hands. Again, though here as in Geoffrey, 
 Leir declares after disinheriting Cordoylle, that the Duke 
 of Cornwall shall have Gornoille, and the Scottish King 
 Regau the fair, yet, later, at the division of the 
 kingdom, we read, as in Shakespeare, " he gave Gornoille 
 to Scotland's King, and Cornwall's duke he gave Regau." 
 Layamon, in the course of his exciting narrative, has 
 some points which recall Shakespeare. We are told 
 several times a detail which is in no other pre-Shake- 
 pearian account, " that the two dukes found Leir hawks 
 and hounds." This reminds us of Lear (l. iii. 8, 9), where 
 Goneril says, " When he returns from hunting I will not 
 speak with him," and soon after, just before Lear's 
 entrance, we notice the old stage-dirdction of the Folio, 
 " Horns within." It is very remarkable also, I think, 
 that Leir, when excited, invokes Apollo as the Lear of 
 Shakespeare does (l. i. 1 60) ; addressing his youngest 
 child, he says, " I will hear, so help me, Apollo, how dear 
 is my life to thee." Again, in The Brut, Maglaunus, like 
 Albany, is mild, pleading with his fierce wife in Leir's 
 favour, and opposing the lessening of his train, and 
 Gornoille's scornful reply to him, " Be thou still, let me 
 all be " {i.e. leave me to manage), reminds us of Goneril's 
 reply to Albany under similar conditions, " Pray you 
 content " {Lear, I. iv, 35 S). And in The Brut as in Lear, 
 Cornwall is savage and cruel — more so, indeed, than 
 Regau ; when she proposes to him to do away with 
 twenty of her father's knights, and let ten suffice, we 
 read, " Then Duke Hemeri, who betrayed his old father, 
 
xlvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 said, ' As I live, he shall have but five knights ! ' " Other 
 small points are these : — Gornoille, as we have seen she 
 did in Wace, complains of her father's dotage ; in Shake- 
 speare (l. iv. 278) Lear says, " Woe that too late 
 repents," while in The Brut Leir says, " Woe worth the 
 man that hath land with honour, and giveth it unto his 
 child while he may hold it, for oft it chanceth that he re- 
 pents it." This account also most tallies with Shakespeare's 
 picture of the old king's hundred knights with their 
 crowd of squires. In the later accounts there is little 
 or no mention made of Leir's retinue ; in Layamon's 
 account Leir lives with his retinue of forty armed knights, 
 (sixty in Geoffrey), with thane and swain and squire, with 
 horse, and hawk, and hound ; and the mention of the 
 " knights' inn " recalls Goneril's complaint about their 
 quarter in her palace, which she says '' shows like a 
 riotous inn " (l. iv. 264). 
 
 After The Brut, we come on the Leir story in the 
 metrical chronicle of Robert of Gloucester (written after 
 1297). He tells it, greatly abbreviated, from Layamon's 
 account; the story takes up 184 lines of seven (rarely 
 six) accents. We read that after the dukes take the 
 old king's land " the King of Scotland, against his wife's 
 Gornoril's advice, takes him with sixty knights into his 
 house." No reason is assigned for Leir questioning his 
 daughters, except that he is about to give them away 
 in marriage.^ 
 
 Nearly half a century later, Robert Mannyng, of 
 Brunne, in Lincolnshire, deals with the story in about 
 
 iSee Mr. W. Aldis Wright's edition. Roll's Series, 1887, vol. i. pp. 
 50-64, lines 680-864, 
 
INTRODUCTION xlvii 
 
 280 lines of four accents.^ This part of his chronicle, we 
 are often told, is translated from Wace ; but Mannyng cer- 
 tainly does not follow Wace's Leir story closely ; the cir- 
 cumstances leading to the questioning depart from Wace's 
 account, and from Geoffrey's ; it is parallel with that in 
 Robert of Gloucester. Robert Mannyng tells us that 
 " soon they began ' to abate his lieure ' " (compare " to scant 
 my sizes," Lear, II. iv. 178), and afterwards they began 
 " to abate his meyne " (meiny, retinue) of forty knights. 
 
 There is a Latin version of our story in the Flares 
 Historiarum, that chronicle formerly attributed to 
 Mathew of Westminster. Exactly the same account 
 to a letter is found in the Chronica Majora of Mathew 
 Paris, but this part of Paris' chronicle Luard has shown 
 conclusively to be a thing of shreds and patches, in 
 which he levies toll from various old chroniclers. This 
 he seems to have taken from the Flores Historiarum, 
 but Luard, in his Preface to the 1890 edition of that 
 work, proves conclusively that Mathew never had a 
 being, and that the Flores is a medley " partly written 
 and partly composed by various writers of St. Albans 
 and Westminster." ^ The Leir story in each is absolutely 
 identical ; it takes up about sixty-six lines ; the names 
 of the two elder sisters are not given, only Cordeilla; 
 Leir goes to France, attended by a knight and a 
 standard-bearer ("cum uno milite et uno armigero"). 
 
 And now to come to the English chroniclers. The 
 first of them (if so he may be called), John Trevisa, in 
 
 'See Dr. Fumivall's edition, Roll's Series, 1887, vol. i. pp. 81-91, 
 lines 2267-2564. 
 
 2 See Luard edition of the Flores, 1890, vol. i. pp. 31-33 5 ^"^^ l^'S 
 edition of the Chronica Majora, 1890, p. 31. 
 
xlviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 his translation of Higden's Polychronicon (1387), men- 
 tions " King Leir which gatq^ (begot) three daughters, 
 of the storys Britones," that is *^ all. John Harding, the 
 metrical chronicler, writing early in the reign of Henry 
 the Sixth, gives a rude account of the story in seven 
 seven-line stanzas (ed. 181 2, pp. 52-54): here Regan's 
 husband is described as " Hanemos of Wales and Corn- 
 wayle." 
 
 Robert Fabyan, in his New Chronicles of England 
 and France, published (after the author's death) in 
 1 5 1 6, professes to follow Geoffrey of Monmouth in 
 his account of the story, but differs from him in this, 
 that he entirely omits any reference to a motive for 
 Leyr's question. His account runs thus : " Whane 
 this Leyr, or Leyth, after some writers, was fallen 
 in competent age ('in impotent age,' ed. 1559) to 
 know the mynde of his three daughters, _he firste 
 askyd Gonorilla," etc. We find that the story is also 
 briefly told in John Rastell's Chronicle, The Pastime 
 of People, 1529 (ed. 181 1, p. 90). This is the only 
 chronicle account which does not follow Geoffrey's 
 statement as to the husbands of the two elder 
 daughters. Richard Grafton, in his Chronicle at large 
 . . . of the Affayres of England (i 568), follows Fabyan's 
 account almost, if not quite, verbatim (see ed. 1809, 
 pp. 35 and 36). The version in Ralph Holinshed, our 
 next chronicler (1577), has been already dealt with; 
 and, it is rather curious that in assigning a cause for 
 Leir's conduct, he seems to follow no previous form of 
 the story. There are several other versions which 
 possibly Shakespeare may have seen, and taken a hint 
 
INTRODUCTION xlix 
 
 or two from. The old French romance of jPerceforest, 
 composed about the middle of the fifteenth century, 
 probably after 1461, he is not likely to have seen. In 
 that curious medley the story is to be met with (see 
 La Treselegante, Delicieuse, Meliflue et tresplaisante 
 Hystoire du tresnoble, victorieux et excellentisme roy 
 Perceforest, Roy de la grande Bretaigne, fundatieur du 
 Franc palais et du temple du souverain dieu, chap. v. pp. 
 18, 19). It occurs also in that remarkable mediaeval 
 hoard of anecdotes, The Gesta Romanorum, in two 
 wholly different versions. One is found in the ordinary 
 printed edition (see Sir Frederick Madden's edition, i. 
 123—158). But our story, in its other form, fathered 
 on the Emperor Theodosius, " a wys emperour," which 
 appears to have been first noticed by Douce, is found in 
 a different version of the Gesta, contained in a Harleian 
 MS., No. 7333. No names are given to the daughters 
 or their husbands, but the story nearly resembles that of 
 Lear. According to the story in the printed version, 
 " Kynge Leyre's three daughters espouse respectively 
 Managles, the kynge of Scotlonde ; Hanemos, erle of 
 Cornwaylle ; and Agape, kynge of Fraunce." It is possible 
 that our poet, who probably drew from this story-book 
 in his Merchant of Venice, may have seen this account. 
 Again, as Percy was, I think, the first to notice, 
 Camden, in his "Wise Speeches" at the end of his 
 Remains (see ed. 1605, p. 306), told a similar story 
 to that of Leir, of Ina, king of the West Saxons. 
 Malone observed " that it is probable that Shakespeare 
 had a passage of it in his thoughts when he wrote 
 Cordelia's reply to her father." Steevens had pre- 
 d 
 
I INTRODUCTION 
 
 viously quoted a passage from the Mirrour for Magis- 
 trates as a parallel to the same speech ; but Malone 
 thinks that Shakespeare rather drew from Camden, as 
 Camden's book was published recently, before he appears 
 to have composed this play, and " Wise Speeches," near 
 the passage in question, " furnished him with a hint in 
 Coriolanus" Here are the two passages : 
 
 First, Camden : " Ina, king of the West Saxons, had 
 three daughters, of whom upon a time he demanded 
 whether they did love him. . . . The youngest, but the 
 wisest, told her father flatly, without flattery, that albeit 
 she did love, honour, and reverence him . . . yet she 
 did think one day it would come to passe that she 
 would affect another more fervently, meaning her 
 husband, when she were married. . . ." 
 
 Higgins tells, or rather makes Cordell relate, the 
 King Leir story in the first part of the Mirror for Magis- 
 trates, and here is the passage which Steevens noted : 
 
 But not content with this, he asked me hkewise 
 
 If I did not him love and honour well. 
 
 No cause (quoth I) there is I should your grace despise : 
 
 For Nature so doth bind and dutie me compell, 
 
 To love you as I ought my father, well ; 
 
 Yet shortly I may chance, if Fortune will. 
 
 To find in heart to beare another more good will. 
 
 Thus much I said of nuptial loves that ment. 
 
 And Singer writes that Shakespeare may have also 
 taken from the Mirour " a hint for the behaviour of the 
 steward (Oswald). Here is what he must refer to : 
 
 The meaner upstart courtiers thought themselves his mates, 
 His daughter him disdained and fofced not {i.e. regarded 
 not) his foile. 
 
 Warner, again, gives a version of the story in his 
 
rNTRODUCTION li 
 
 ■* ' > 
 
 Albioris England, written in his homely, easy, gossiping, 
 style. No reason is here jassigned for Leir's questioning ; 
 Cordelia's reply to her father resembles that in Spenser, 
 " I love thee as behoveth me as a daughter " ; and as 
 in the old play, Goneril attempts her father's life (see 
 Chalmers, English Poets, 1 8 1 o, vol. iv. p. 5 3 9). 
 
 But, as has been, already mentioned, besides the 
 original story which Shakespeare has adopted and much 
 altered, he has blended with it another story, that of 
 the Earl of Gloucester and his two sons, and I 
 think it is practically certain, as Capell first pointed 
 out, that for this story he is indebted to Sir Philip 
 Sidney's Arcadia, a. book which first appeared in 1590. 
 In that first edition is an episode, entitled " The pitiful 
 state and storie of the Paphlagonian vnkinde King and 
 his kind sonne, first related by the son, then by the 
 blind father." Space will not permit me to reproduce 
 the entire story. I refer my readers to the original 
 work. Book 11. chap, x., ed. iS90, 4to; pp. 132, 133, 
 ed. 1674 fol., or to the Clarendon Press edition of the 
 play (187 s, pp. ix-xiii), where Mr. Wright has printed 
 the part of it to which our poet is indebted. The 
 substance of it is as follows : — " In the kingdome of 
 Galacia, two princes, journeying, are overtaken by a 
 violent storm, and forced to take refuge in a cave, where 
 ' they heard the speech of a couple, who, not perceiving 
 them, being hid within that rude canapie, held a straunge 
 and pitiful disputation, which made them step out, yet 
 in such a sort as they might see vnseene.' The couple 
 consisted of an olde man and a young man who led 
 him. The old man had been rightful Prince of 
 
Hi INTRODUCTION 
 
 «. 
 Paphlagonia, but, by the cruelty of a bastard son of 
 
 his, he had been deprived not only of his kingdom, 
 but of his sight. The bastard son had, by 'his 
 desperate fraud,' etc., prevailed on his father to give 
 orders that his legitimate son should be led by some 
 of his servants (afterwards called thieves) into a forest, 
 and there murdered ; but he was allowed to escape. 
 He served with distinction as a soldier in a neigh- 
 bouring country, and was now attending on his blind 
 father, who was trying to persuade him to lead him 
 to the top of the rock under which their cave ran, 
 that he (as the old man expressed it) might ' free him 
 from so serpentine companion as I am.' " 
 
 With great art Shakespeare has blended and united 
 these two quite separate stories into one harmonious 
 whole. They are connected by various links, of which 
 the principal are these : Gloucester's legitimate son 
 Edgar is associated with his " godfather " Lear in his 
 sad sufferings, and later slays his brother, the base 
 agent of the eldest daughter's designs. It is largely 
 owing to the passionate attachment of Lear's two elder 
 daughters to Edmund that they reap the reward of their 
 crimes. Again, it is through Gloucester's attempt to 
 succour the king that he unfortunately loses his eyes, 
 and it is through this action that Regan's husband, the 
 savage Cornwall, comes by his deserved doom. 
 
 All sane ^ critics are agreed that by interweaving this 
 story with the simple "Leir" story, Shakespeare has, with 
 a stroke of genius, given to his plot a variety, a solidity, 
 
 'But see the criticism of Rumelin in Fumess's Variorum edition, pp. 
 462, 463- 
 
INTRODUCTION liii 
 
 and an interest which even his hand could not have 
 given to the original story by itself. Let us hear 
 Schlegel on this point : " The incorporation of the 
 two stories has been censured as destructive of the 
 unity of action, but whatever contributes to the intrigue 
 or the denouement must always possess unity. And 
 with what ingenuity and skill are the two main parts 
 of the composition dovetailed into one another ! The 
 pity felt by Gloster for the fate of Lear becomes the 
 means which enable his son Edmund to effect his 
 complete destruction, and affords the outcast Edgar 
 an opportunity of being the saviour of his father. On 
 the other hand, Edmund is active in the cause of Regan 
 and Goneril, and the criminal passion which they both 
 entertain for him induces them to execute justice on 
 each other and on themselves. The laws of the drama 
 have therefore been sufficiently complied with. But 
 that is the least ; it is the very combination which 
 constitutes the sublime beauty of the work. . . . Were 
 Lear alone to suffer from his daughters, the impression 
 would be limited to the powerful compassion felt by 
 us for his private misfortune. But two such unheard- 
 of examples taking place at the same time have the 
 appearance of a great commotion in the moral world. 
 The picture becomes gigantic, and fills us with such 
 alarm as we should entertain at the idea that the 
 heavenly bodies might one day fall from their appointed 
 orbits." 1 
 
 King Lear in the Quartos is divided neither into 
 acts nor scenes. In the Folio it is divided into acts 
 
 ''^ Dramatic Literature, Bohn, 1846, p. 412. 
 
liv INTRODUCTION 
 
 and scenes,; in some of the acts the numbering of the 
 scenes is imperfect. Act I. is divided into five scenes, 
 as in the present and all modern editions. In Act II. 
 scenes iii. and iv. in the present edition, and in most 
 modern editions from Steevens, are not numbered, so 
 that the act is only divided into two scenes. In Act III. 
 the seven scenes are numbered, as in the present and all 
 modern editions. In Act IV., by mistake, scene vi. is 
 not numbered (Scena Septima following Scena Quinta). 
 Scene iii. is omitted from the four Folios ; it was 
 inserted from the Quartos by Pope, the second editor. 
 Act V. is divided into three scenes, as in the present and 
 all other modern editions. 
 
 The dramatic time in King Lear is not very clearly 
 marked. Indeed, at times I am not without grave 
 doubts as to whether Shakespeare ever gave a thought 
 to this matter. Eccles, in his edition of the play (1794), 
 was the first to take up the question of dramatic time in 
 King Lecur. His scheme is ingenious, but has this fault, 
 that he is obliged to alter the scenes in order to help 
 his theory. 
 
 Mr. P. A. Daniel computes the number of days 
 taken up by the action of the drama as ten ; he does 
 not alter the arrangement of the scenes as Eccles 
 did. I here give his results : ^ -— Mr. Daniel makes 
 Act I. scene i. occupy one day; he makes scene ii. 
 of the same act take up the second day. To make 
 this possible, he explains Gloucester's words, " and 
 the king gone to-night " (line 24), as meaning that he 
 
 1 See p. A. Daniel, "Time Analysis of the Plots of Shakespeare's Plays" 
 in the Transactions of the New Shakspere Society, 1879, Part ii. pp. 215-224. 
 
INTRODUCTION Iv 
 
 had gone last night (a quite possible meaning in the 
 
 language of Shakespeare's day). After this he supposes 
 
 an interval of something less than a fortnight, quoting 
 
 Lear's words (l. iv. 3 1 S , 3 1 6) : 
 
 What ! fifty of nly followers at a clap ; 
 Within a fortnight ! 
 
 The third day he makes to occupy scenes iii., iv., and 
 V. of Act I. (the day ending soon after the despatch of 
 the messengers Kent and Oswald by Lear and Goneril). 
 The fourth day Mr. Daniel makes to fill up scenes i. and 
 ii. of Act II. ; it ends with Kent sitting in the stocks in 
 Gloucester's castle. The fifth day he makes to occupy 
 scenes iii. and iv. of Act II., and the first six scenes of 
 Act III. This day ends with the terrible night on the 
 heath. The sixth day Mr. Daniel makes to fill up the 
 seventh and last scene of Act III. and the first scene of 
 Act IV. This day opens with Edmund and Goneril 
 pursuing their way to Albany's Castle, bearing the news 
 of the invasion from France, and ends with Edgar, the 
 supposed Bedlam Beggar, leading his blinded father on 
 his way towards Dover. The seventh day he makes to 
 take up the second scene of Act IV. In it is included 
 the latter part of Albany and Goneril's just-mentioned 
 journey, the scene of mutual recrimination between 
 Goneril and her husband, and the arrival of the 
 messenger with the news of the death of Gloucester. 
 After this Mr. Daniel marks a short interval. The 
 eighth day he makes to occupy scene iii. of Act IV. 
 Lear is in Dover, but "a sovereign shame still keeps him 
 from Cordelia," who has landed. The ninth day Mr. 
 Daniel hesitatingly puts into scenes iv., v., and vi. of 
 
Ivi INTRODUCTION 
 
 Act IV. ; it ends with the death of Oswald. Mr. Daniel 
 supposes this may possibly be a continuation of the 
 eighth day. The tenth and last day he makes to start 
 at the seventh scene of Act IV., with Lear carried into 
 the presence of his daughter Cordelia, and to run on to 
 the end of the drama. 
 
 "Of all Shakespeare's plays," writes Coleridge,^ 
 "Macbeth is the most rapid, Hamlet the slowest in 
 movement. Lear combines length with rapidity, like 
 the hurricane and the whirlpool, absorbing while it 
 advances. It begins as a stormy day in summer, with 
 brightness ; but that brightness is lurid, and anticipates 
 the tempest." 
 
 I have in the notes endeavoured to explain to the 
 best of my ability the exact meaning of all the obsolete 
 words and phrases occurring in the play, and when I 
 could, I have illustrated their meaning by examples taken 
 from the writers of the Elizabethan age drawn from my 
 own reading or from the stores collected in the Variorum 
 editions of 1821 and 1880, and from other sources. 
 Where I am indebted to the labours of others, I have 
 endeavoured, as far as possible, to give the name 
 of the editor or commentator from whom I draw, and 
 when, as is not uncommon, he gives no reference to the 
 works of the author he quotes, or an imperfect or faulty 
 reference, I have endeavoured to set down the same 
 correctly. When passages seem obscure, and it is 
 difficult to extract any meaning, or any satisfactory 
 meaning, out of their words, I have tried to paraphrase 
 them ; I found this sometimes a very difficult task. 
 
 ' Lectures on Shakespeare, T. Ashe, 1883, p. 329. 
 
INTRODUCTION Ivii 
 
 One sometimes sees it mentioned by writers of the 
 
 present day tiiat Shakespeare is a writer perfectly clear 
 
 and easy to understand, that he who runs may read him. 
 
 To me such statements seem to be the very reverse of 
 
 the truth. Though to Shakespeare was given, we know, 
 
 the rich gift of ready and felicitous expression to an 
 
 almost superhuman degree, it is nevertheless true that 
 
 often he is a very remarkably obscure writer. Even when 
 
 at his best, in his strong-winged eagle flights into the very 
 
 empyrean of poetry, an expression now and then occurs 
 
 which baffles our best skill to obtain any meaning, or 
 
 any but the most vague or shadowy meaning, out of it. 
 
 In such cases doubtless sometimes, as in IV. iii. 19, 20, 
 
 the obscurity is due to corruption of the text, but the 
 
 careful student of King Lear cannot but admit that there 
 
 are many passages, apparently quite genuine, in which it 
 
 is nearly impossible to get at the poet's exact meaning. 
 
 We " understand a fury in the words 
 But not the words." 
 
 It is perfectly certain that if he had taken the trouble he 
 could easily have made " these odds all even," as I think 
 indeed he may have done in a passage of Julius Cczsar 
 which offended his friend Ben Jonson.^ But the writer 
 who was satisfied to be hardened against the fairest 
 offspring of his imagination, as though they were not 
 his, who could leave Macbeth and The Tempest un- 
 printed, to be hacked and mutilated to suit the ears 
 of every groundling, who could leave us without a 
 proper text for King Lear, was not the man to trouble 
 
 ' See Ben Jonson, Timber: or Discoveries {Works), edited by Cuningham, 
 vol. iii. p. 398 (b). 
 
Iviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 his mind with such details as these. Let us, then, be 
 satisfied with the rich crop he has given us. " Here," 
 surely, if anywhere, is " God's plenty." Let us, then, 
 enjoy it and learn to understand it. That man who sees 
 no difficulty in it I am persuaded can neither enjoy it 
 nor understand it aright. 
 
 Space will not permit me to say very much on the 
 subject of the tragedy of King Lear as a work of art ; 
 that subject has, since the days of Johnson, been handled 
 by many distinguished critics ; and in our own day much 
 has been written on it good, bad, and indifferent. I am 
 inclined to think that, putting living writers aside, the three 
 men whose remarks have shed most light on the subject 
 are Augustus William Schlegel, S. T. Coleridge, and 
 William Hazlitt. For a list of selections from nearly all 
 the leading critics of the play, I would refer my readers 
 to the Appendix to Furness's Variorum edition. Several 
 distinguished writers and critics of the dramatic art 
 regard this play as the very greatest that its author has 
 given us. Shelley, in his Defence of Poetry, comparing 
 it with the masterpieces of .(Eschylus, with which he was 
 well acquainted, leans to the opinion that it is " the most 
 perfect specimen of the dramatic art existing in the 
 world." William Hazlitt pronounced it to be " the best 
 of all Shakespeare's plays." Ten Brinck writes that, 
 " taken as a whole, it is the greatest work that Shakespeare 
 has created"; while Dowden, in his Shakespeare: his 
 Mind and Art, calls it " the greatest single achievement 
 in poetry of the Teutonic or northern genius." As a 
 single work of art, Shakespeare probably surpassed it 
 once at least. As a play, I should be inclined to place 
 
INTRODUCTION lix 
 
 Othello above it ; yet I am fain to believe that in some 
 parts of this drama its author has fairly outdone himself, 
 that he is here at his greatest, and that he has perhaps 
 touched the highest pinnacle of all art. The poet here 
 calmly essays to handle a theme concerning the ways of 
 men which any hand save his would have shrunk from 
 attempting to grasp, a tale of savage and unnatural 
 wrong ruthlessly and deliberately perpetrated on affec- 
 tionate if impulsive parents by children cruel as the 
 grave, cold, selfish, callous ; where the good are beaten 
 down in the struggle, and where the evil ones appear 
 at first to triumph, but in the end, even " in the very 
 blossoms of their fortune," receive a swift and condign 
 punishment ; a scene " dark as hell " is portrayed, yet 
 out of the very depths of its central darkness. Love, 
 ardent and unconquerable, asserts itself like a diamond 
 which, in the very darkest recesses of the mine, shines 
 out illumining the blackest depths with fervid and un- 
 quenchable splendour ! And how high does he some- 
 times rise ! what realms there are full of pity and pathos 
 and passion ! And these wondrously interlaced and 
 blended with snatches of wild mirth, yet mirth full of 
 wisdom even in the midst of the surpassing horrors of 
 the scene ; poor outcast Lear on that dark heath with 
 his bare, discrowned head exposed to rain and storm, and 
 
 To the most terrible and nimble stroke 
 Of quick, cross lightning, 
 
 attended still by his fool, who ever and anon, amid the 
 moaning of the storm, chastises his loved master with 
 the whip of most bitter and sarcastic words, which are 
 most " aculeate and proper," while in the miserable hovel 
 
Ix INTRODUCTION 
 
 the outlawed Edgar is added to the group who per- 
 sonates, to the Hfe, the well-known character of the 
 Bedlam Beggar, a poor, miserable, suffering creature of 
 Shakespeare's age, regarded with a sort of superstitious 
 terror, and who now, " shown to our eyes to grieve our 
 heart," is brimful of strange and wildly eloquent speeches, 
 which, by reason of astonishing vigour and reach, both 
 touch our hearts and appeal strongly to our imagina- 
 tions ; while as the wits of the poor and afflicted king 
 are gradually turning, words fall from his lips pregnant 
 with deep wisdom, and brimful of pity for the sad ills of 
 suffering humanity. He is driven to exclaim: 
 
 Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, 
 That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, 
 How shall your houseless heads . . . defend you 
 From seasons such as these ? O ! I have ta'en 
 Too little care of this. Take physic, pomp, 
 Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel. 
 That thou ma/st shake the superflux to them. 
 And show the heavens more just — 
 
 a fellow-feeling giving him, for the first time, the power 
 of fully sympathising with the woes of the poorest of 
 his former subjects. 
 
 Some modern critics of King Lear will have it that 
 the tragedy owes its existence, largely if not entirely, to 
 the state of mind which — as part of his personal experi- 
 ence — our poet was in when he composed it. Some, 
 indeed, feel confident that this great tragedy owes its 
 being to this or that particular incident or event operat- 
 ing, or perhaps rankling in the mind of the poet ; that 
 some personal motive or mood, they argue, induced 
 Shakespeare to compose it ; that he brought to the work 
 
INTRODUCTION Ixi 
 
 of its composition a mind full of melancholy or of spleen, 
 and that, feeling a deep grudge, a " sseva indignatio," 
 against mankind on account of some wrongs which he 
 fancied he had received at its hands, he deliberately- 
 selected a subject fraught with sadness, and which 
 exhibited mankind at its very worst. Some of these 
 critics seem, indeed, to imply that, through feelings of 
 pique at the remembrance of these wrongs of which his 
 mind still " bore the print," and " out of his weakness 
 and his melancholy," he was minded to give a sad and 
 a miserable ending to these two " old, unhappy, far-off" 
 tales of Leir and the Paphlagonian king, which he had 
 blended into one, and which had before ended pro- 
 sperously. To judge from the words of some of these 
 critics, it looks as if they thought that the poet had 
 fallen into a state of savage misanthropy, and that, to 
 use the words of a writer of his time, " in other men's 
 calamities he was as it were in season." Now, as in 
 support of theories of this kind there is rarely, if ever, 
 vouchsafed to us one grain of evidence, perhaps I may 
 be permitted to record my personal belief that such an 
 origin for * this or any other tragedy of our poet is most 
 improbable. Little, very little, is known to us about the 
 details of Shakespeare's private life. Some modern 
 critics seem to think themselves called upon to manu- 
 facture details concerning it brand-new from the mint 
 of their own prolific imagination : 
 
 giving to airy nothings 
 A local habitation and a name. 
 
 Little, I have just said, is known about the details of our 
 poet's life, but from the little that can be gleaned re- 
 
Ixii INTRODUCTION 
 
 specting it, it would seem clear that he probably led a 
 tranquil, easy existence, that " being of a constant, noble, 
 loving nature," he was beloved by those who really knew 
 him ; that loving his art, he was very careless as to fame ; 
 and that, living in an age when men took their lives 
 more quietly than it is the fashion to do in this busy 
 and feverish age, he may have enjoyed a fair share of 
 happiness. " I did love the man and do honour his 
 memory on this side, idolatry as much as any," writes his 
 choleric, and perhaps somewhat envious, brother-dramatist. 
 " He was indeed honest,'' he goes on, " and of an open 
 and free nature, had an excellent phantasy, brave notions, 
 and gentle expressions." A statement like that — and 
 many more might be added to it — is surely worth a 
 wilderness of baseless conjectures. Doubtless that he 
 elected to leave Comedy and History for a time, and 
 to devote himself to Tragedy may have been owing to 
 more causes than one, and it is possible that in doing so 
 he may have been partly influenced by this sad truth, 
 which every thinking man sooner or later becomes aware 
 of, that much sadness and misery is mixed up in the cup 
 which comes to the lips of most mortal men ; such a 
 contemplation of " the mystery of the cruelty of things '' 
 may, consciously or unconsciously, have turned his 
 thoughts in this sombre direction. Further than this, I 
 feel sure it is impossible for us to go. And even through 
 this most sad play of ours is there not a fresh breath 
 blowing? We are not face to face with the work of a 
 Tourneur, a Webster, or a Ford. There is " a wind on 
 the heath" which purges the air from pestilence. I 
 will quote some eloquent words on King Lear from an 
 
INTRODUCTION Ixiii 
 
 eminent critic of our poet still fortunately with us : ^ — 
 " In this play Shakespeare opposes the presence and 
 influences of evil, not by any transcendental denial of 
 evil, but by the presence of human virtue, fidelity, and 
 self-sacrificial love. In no play is there a clearer and 
 intenser manifestation of loyal manhood and of strong, 
 tender womanhood." I can well believe that Shake- 
 speare, when he penned this mighty drama, was in the 
 mood to chide no breather in the world but himself, and 
 that Timon-like or Jaques-like feelings no more had 
 gained possession of his breast than they were working 
 in the breast of a poet living not far from our own 
 times, a man of mighty genius — if far below the author 
 of King Lear — who, though in trouble and sickness, yet 
 " great of heart," and loving his fellow-men, produced a 
 work of rare genius, but full of intense sadness, and 
 having a most tragic conclusion, and produced it in close 
 connection with two other works formed of very diiiferent 
 stuff. I, of course, refer to Scott's most powerful, yet 
 dark and tragic, tale. The Bride of Lammermoor, which 
 may have been said to have been forged on the same 
 anvil — being written, or rather dictated, at exactly 
 the same time — as those other much less sombre 
 tales, The Heart of Midlothian and The Legend of 
 Montrose. 
 
 And now space will not permit my saying one word 
 respecting the wonderful group of living and breathing 
 characters which the play contains. But, indeed, I have 
 already said too much. It is a play which, great as it is, 
 presents itself plainly before the gaze of men, like a vast 
 1 Edward Dowden, Shakspere: His Mind and AH, 1875. 
 
Ixiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 mountain or the wide sea, and one feels that " all that's 
 spoke is marr'd." 
 
 I wish here, in the first place, to express my grati- 
 tude to my friend, Mr. P. A. Daniel, for much valuable 
 assistance and advice, which he has with the utmost 
 kindness unstintingly afforded me in the preparation of 
 this volume. I wish also to thank my friend Professor 
 Dowden for much kind advice and assistance. I am 
 indebted to my friend Mr. Henry Chichester Hart for 
 some excellent illustrations from Elizabethan literature, 
 and to Professor Rhys for kindly coming to my aid on 
 the question of an ultimate Celtic source for King- Lear. 
 My friends Dr. Furnivall, Professor Hales, Professor Ker, 
 Dr, Norman Moore, Mr, Sidney Lee, and Mr. Stephen 
 Gwynn all kindly furnished information and advice, for 
 which I wish here to return thanks. My thanks are 
 also due to Professor Skeat and Mr. Henry Bradley for 
 information on a point of etymology, to Mr. Gosse for a 
 qifotation from an unpublished satire, and to- Mr. T. 
 Quiller Couch for information as to a supposed Cornish 
 expression. 
 
THE TRAGEDY 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
DRAMATIS PERSONS 
 
 Lear, King of Britain. 
 
 King of France. 
 
 Duke of Burgundy. 
 
 Duke of Cornwall, Husband to Regan. 
 
 Duke of Albany, Husband to Goneril. 
 
 Earl of Kent. 
 
 Earl of Gloucester. 
 
 Edgar, Son to Gloucester. 
 
 Edmund, Bastard Son to Gloucester. 
 
 CuRAN, a Courtier. 
 
 Oswald, Steward to Goneril. 
 
 Old Man, Tenant to Gloucester. 
 
 Doctor. 
 
 Fool. 
 
 4-n Officer, employed by Edmund. 
 
 Gentleman, Attendant on Cordelia. 
 
 A Herald. 
 
 Servants to Cornwall. 
 
 Goneril, "i 
 
 Regan, \ Daughters to Lear. 
 
 Cordelia, J 
 
 Knights of Leaf's train, Officers, Messengers, Soldiers, and 
 Attendants. 
 
 Scene: Britain. 
 
THE TRAGEDY 
 
 KING LEAR, 
 
 ACT I 
 
 SCENE l.^A State Room, in King Lea/s Palace. 
 
 Enter KENT, GLOUCESTER, and EDMUND, 
 
 Kent. I thought the king had more affected the 
 Duke of Albany than Cornwall. 
 
 Glou. It did always seem so to us ; but now, in the 
 
 division of the kingdom, it appears not which 
 
 of the dukes he values most ; for equalities are 5 
 
 A . . . Palace] Capell ; omitted Q, F. Edmund} F, Bastard Q. 4. 
 kingdoiit] F, kingdoTnes Q. 5- equalities'] Q, /qualities F. 
 
 1 . Aorf ... a^c^erf] had more liking, J. values'] eAteras. See II. ii. 153 ; 
 more regard for. See 1 Henry VI. also Henry V. I. ii. 269 :," We never 
 V. V. 57. valued this poor seat of England." 
 
 2. Albany] Holinshed, tells us that 5, d. equalities . . . weighed] tqasXi- 
 Albany extended ' ' from the river ties, shares are so balanced, one 
 Humber to the point of Caithness." against the other, or perhaps are so 
 Albanacte, the youngest son of carefully considered and adjusted. I 
 Brutus, who owned it, gave his name prefer, on the whole, this, the Quarto 
 to it. Holinshed also says that in his reading, but that of the Folio " quali- 
 time only "a small portion of the ties" may be right, in which case the 
 region, under the regiment of a duke, sense would be the values — advan- 
 reteyneth the sayd denomination, tages and disadvantages— of each 
 the rest being called Scotland." share are so equalised. 
 
4 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 so weighed that curiosity in neither can make 
 choice of either's moiety. 
 
 Kent. Is not this your son, my lord ? 
 
 Glou. His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge : I 
 
 have so often blushed to acknowledge him, lO 
 that now I am brazed to it. 
 
 Kent. I cannot conceive you. 
 
 Glou. Sir, this young fellow's mother could ; where- 
 upon she grew round-wombed, and had, indeed, 
 sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband 1 5 
 for her bed. Do you smell a fault ? 
 
 Kent. I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of 
 it being so proper. 
 
 Glou. But I have a son, sir, by order of law, some 
 
 year older than this, who yet is no dearer in my 20 
 
 II. to i(\ Q, too't F. 14. round-wombed] unhyphened Q, F. 19. u 
 
 son, sir] F, sir a son Q. 
 
 6,7. that . . . moiety] That the most the sense of ' ' any portion," as here, 
 
 careful scrutiny of either share could see 1 Henry IV. ni. i. 96 : 
 not induce either of the dukes to ' ' Methinks my moiety, north from 
 prefer his fellow's portion to his Burton here, 
 
 own. In quantity equals not one of 
 
 5. curiosity] the most minute and yours." 
 
 scrupulous attention or examination. 11. brazed] made insensible, 
 
 See scene ii. line 4, also scene iv. hardened by use. So Hamlet, iii. 
 
 line 76 of this Act ; also Timon of iv. 37 : 
 
 Athens, iv. iii. 303, and Ascham, " let me wring your heart : for so I 
 Toxophilus, h.ib^^,'^. 147: "A man shall, . . . 
 must not go too hastily to it (shooting If damned custom have not 
 with the bow), for that is rashness, brazed it so, 
 nor yet make too much to do about That it is proof and bulwark 
 it, for that is curiositie." See Baret, against sense." 
 /4/wea?7«, 1580: "Curiositie,piked(z.e. 1%. proper] handsome, good- 
 picked) diligence" ; also see Webster, looking. So Othello, iv. iii. 35 : 
 The DeviPs Law Case,VL\.y. "A pre- " Des. This Lodovico is a proper 
 cise curiosity has undone me." man. 
 
 7. moiety] Here, as elsewhere in Emil. A very handsome man." 
 
 Shakespeare, any portion, though the 19, 20. some year] about, close on a 
 
 literal meaning is the exact half, in year. So Taming of the Shrew, iv. 
 
 which sense he also uses it. See All's iii. 189: "I think 'tis now some 
 
 Well, III. ii. 69, and elsewhere. For seven o'clock." 
 
sc. I.] KING LEAR 5 
 
 account: though this knave came something 
 saucily into the world before he was sent for, yet 
 was his mother fair ; there was good sport at his 
 making.and the whoreson must be acknowledged. 
 Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund ? 25 
 
 Edm. No, my lord. 
 
 Glou. My Lord of Kent : remember him hereafter 
 as my honourable friend. 
 
 Edm. My services to your lordship. 
 
 Kent. I must love you, and sue to know you better. 30 
 
 Edm. Sir, I shall study deserving. 
 
 Glou. He hath been out nine years, and away he 
 shall again. The king is coming. 
 
 Sennet. Enter one bearing a coronet, KING Lear, 
 Cornwall, Albany, Goneril, Regan, 
 Cordelia, and Attendants. 
 
 Lear, Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, 
 Gloucester. 
 
 22. into\ Q, to F. 26 Edm.] F, Bast Q and throughout. Sennet] F, 
 Sound a Sennet Q. one . . . coronet] Q, omitted F. 
 
 21. accmmf] estimation. So Mer- Put forth their sons to seek pre- 
 
 chant of Venice, III. ii. 157 : ferment out : 
 
 " That only to stand high in your Some to the wars, to try their 
 
 account fortune there." 
 
 I might in virtues ... 33. Sennet] a particular set of notes 
 
 Exceed account." on the trumpet or cornet, sounded 
 
 29. My services to'\ my duty to. at the entrance or exit of a company 
 
 32. out'\ in foreign parts pushing or procession. It is distinct from a 
 
 his fortunes. See Two Gentlemen of flourish. See Marston, Antonio and 
 
 Verona, I. iii. 7: Mellida, i. I: "The Cornets sound 
 
 " He wonder'd that your lordship a: sennet, Enter below Galeatzo. 
 
 Would suffer him to spend his Piero meeteth him, they embrace, at 
 
 youth at home, which the cornets sound a flourish." 
 
 While other men, of slender repu- 34. Attend^ wait on them, usher 
 
 tation, into our presence. 
 
6 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 Glou. I shall, my liege. 35 
 
 \Exeunt Gloucester and Edmund. 
 Lear. Meantime, we shall express our darker purpose. 
 
 Give me the map there. Know that we have 
 
 divided 
 In three our kingdom ; and 'tis our fast intent 
 To shake all cares and business from our age, 
 Conferring them on younger strengths, while we 40 
 Unburden'd crawl toward death. Our son of 
 
 Cornwall, 
 And you, our no less loving son of Albany, 
 We have this hour a constant will to publish 
 Our daughters' several dowers, that future strife 
 May be prevented now. The princes, France and 
 
 Burgundy, 45 
 
 Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love, 
 Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn, 
 And here are to be answer'd. Tell me, my 
 
 daughters. 
 Since now we will divest us both of rule, 
 
 35. liege\ Q, lord F. Exeunt . . . Edmund] Capell, Exit F, omitted Q. 
 36. we shall] F, we will Q ; purpose] F, purposes Q. 37. Give . . . there] F, 
 ihe map there Q ; Know that] F, Know Q. 38. fast] Y, first Q. 39. from 
 our age] F, of our state Q. 40. Conferring] F, cpnfirming Q ; strenphs] 
 F, years Q. 40-45. while . . . now] F, omitted Q. 45. The princes] 
 F, the two great Princes Q. 49, 50. Since . . . state] F, omitted Q. 
 
 36. our darker purpose] our more intention. For ' ' fast " in this sense, 
 secret intention, design. Johnson see Coriolanus, n. iii. 192 : 
 
 thus paraphrases : " We have already "If he should still malignantly 
 
 made known in some measure our remain 
 
 design of parting the kingdom, we Fast foe to the plebeii. 
 
 will now discover what has not 43. constant will] fixed, determined 
 
 been told before, the reasons by purpose,resolve,orwish,pieasure. Cp. 
 
 which we shall regulate the parti- the Latin phrase, certa voluntas. See 
 
 tion." alsov. i.4, "constant pleasure, "and the 
 
 38. fast intent] fixed, unalterable sense of constant in Hamlet, v. ii. 208. 
 
sc. i] KING LEAR 7 
 
 Interest of territory, cares of state, So 
 
 Which of you shall we say doth love us most ? 
 That we our largest bounty may extend 
 Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril, 
 Our eldest-born, speak first. 
 Gan. Sir, I do love you more than words can wield the 
 
 matter ; 5 5 
 
 Dearer than eye-sight, space and liberty ; 
 Beyond what can be valued rich or rare ; 
 No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, 
 
 honour ; 
 As much as child e'er lov'd, or father found ; 
 A love that makes breath poor and speech 
 
 unable ; 60 
 
 Beyond all manner of so much I love you. 
 
 53. Where . . . challenge} F, Where merit doth most challenge it Q. 
 55. do\ Q, omitted F ; words\ Q, word F. 56. and\ F, or Q. 59. 
 much as\ F, much a Q ; foimd'\ ¥, friend Q^. 
 
 50. Interesi\ possession, the present 56. space and liberty] Schmidt 
 
 legal sense, compare "interess'd," line explains space, " space in general (the 
 
 85. See also S Henry VI. in. i. world) " and liberty " the freedom to 
 
 84 : enjoy it " ; but I rather take the 
 
 "AH your interest in those territories meaning to be absolute, complete 
 
 Is utterly bereft you." freedom, "ample room and verge 
 
 53. Where . . . challenge] Steevens enough." 
 
 explains, " Where the claims of 57. valued] estimated. See Comedy 
 
 merit are superadded to that of nature, of Errors, I. i. 24, and compare 
 
 ?'.«. birth. Challenge, to make title to, the expression "unvalued jevifels," 
 
 to claim as one's right." %o 3 Henry Richard III. I. iv. 27. 
 
 VI, III. ii. 86: "-All her perfections 60. ««ai5&] weak, inadequate. See 
 
 challenge sovereignty. " Henry V. , epilogue, I : " My weak and 
 
 55. Sir . . . matter] more than I all unable pen." Nash had written in 
 
 can express in words. Compare the Pierce Penniless, ' ' My unable pen. " 
 
 sense of "handle the theme," Titus See Works, Grosart, ii. 133. 
 
 Andronicus, III. ii. 29 ; see also 61. Beyond . . . viuch] Johnson 
 
 Richard III. Ml. v\\.\<). Capell con- explains "beyond all assignable 
 
 jectured "yield the matter," reading quantity.'' Wright thinks the "so 
 
 and arranging, "Sir, I do love you much" refers to the comparisons by 
 
 Far more than words can wield the which Goneril had tried to measure 
 
 matter : love you. " her love. 
 
8 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 Cor. [Aside.] What shall Cordelia do? Love, and be 
 silent. 
 
 Lear. Of all these bounds, even from this line to this. 
 With shadowy forests and with champains rich'd. 
 With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads, 65 
 We make thee lady : to thine and Albany's issue 
 Be this perpetual. What says our second daughter. 
 Our dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall ? Speak. 
 
 Re£: I am made of that self metal as my sister, 
 
 And prize me at her worth. In my true heart 70 
 I find she names my very deed of love ; 
 
 62. Aside] Pope ; omitted Q, F. 62. do] Q, speaie F. 64. sAad- 
 owy] F, sliady Q. 64, 65. and with . . . rivers] F, omitted Q. 66. 
 issue] Q, isstiesY. 68. to]Cl,of¥; Speak] CI, omitted F. 69. I am] 
 F, Sir I am Q ; that self metat] F (hyphened), the selfe same mettall Q ; 
 as my sister] F, that my sister is Q. 70. worth . . . heart] F, worth in . . . 
 heart, (comma after heart) Q, worth in . . . heart. Theobald (Bishop, conject.). 
 
 62. do] so Q, speak F. It is a field or a champaine. See also 
 
 rather curious to have these rival Cavendish,^j>-J<f'ig'a^,i587: "which 
 
 readings " do " and ' ' speak " when river hath a very good and pleasant 
 
 the two same words come into the ground aboutit, and it is low and cham- 
 
 text later " I '11 do 't before I speak," paignsoil." Payne, Voyages of Eliza- 
 
 line 227 this scene, and again "leaves bethan Seatnen, 1880, p. 266. 
 the history unspoke that it intends to 64. rich'd] enriched, 
 do," lines 237, 238. Did Shakespeare 65. wide-skirted] extensive, far 
 
 first write "do," and then, seeing extended. Compare wide-stretched 
 
 that doing was Cordelia's forte, speak- honours, Henry V. 11. iv. 82. 
 ing her difficulty, did he make her 69. self] same, as in IV. iii. 34, 
 
 consider the more difficult point? "self mate and make." See also the 
 
 64. shadowy] shady. See "this Comedy of Errors, v. i. 10, "that 
 
 shadowy desert," Two Gentlemen of self chain about his neck, "and North's 
 
 Verona, v. iv. 2, and " shadow " sub- Plutarch's Lives ( Tiberius and Caius), 
 
 stantive ; As You Like It, iv. i. 222 : ed. 159S, p. 865 : "They had both 
 
 " I '11 go find a shadow, and sigh till autboritie in one selfe time." 
 he come " ; also North's Plutarch's 70. And prize . . . worth] estimate 
 
 Lives {Life of Caius Marius), ed. myself her equal in the amount of my 
 
 159s, p. 462 : " A country shadowed affection for you. So 7'railus and Cres- 
 
 altogether with woods and trees." sida, iv. iv. 136: "To her own worth 
 
 64. champains]p\a.ms,opencountiy, She shall be priz'd" ; or can it mean 
 
 not hilly or wooded. See Twelfth I estimate my love as equal to her's ? 
 Night, u. V. ij^; Lucrece, 1247. The 71. she names . . . /oz;«] she exactly, 
 
 forms champian and champion are really, and truly describes my love, 
 
 rather more common. Furness quotes Delius explains deed of love as "the 
 
 7X0x10' sitalian Dictionary, Catnpagna, formal legal definition of love." 
 
sc. I.] KING LEAR 9 
 
 Only she comes too short : that I profess 
 Myself an enemy to all other joys 
 Which the most precious square of sense possesses, 
 And find I am alone felicitate 75 
 
 In your dear highness' love. 
 
 Cor. [Aside.] Then poor Cordelia ! 
 
 And yet not so ; since I am sure my love 's 
 More ponderous than my tongue. 
 
 Lear. To thee and thine, hereditary ever, 
 
 Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom, 80 
 No less in space, validity, and pleasure, 
 Than that conferr'd on Goneril. Now, our joy, 
 Although the last, not least ; to whose young 
 love 
 
 72. iomes too short] F, came short Q. 74. possesses] Q, professes F. 
 76. Aside] Pope ; omitted Q, F. 78. ponderous] F, richer Q. 82. 
 co7ifer>'d] F, confirm' d Q ; Now] F, but now Q. 83. the last, not] Q, our 
 last and F, our last, not Pope ; least . . . love] F, least in our deere love, Q. 
 
 72. /,4a/] in that. cannot "coin her heart in words," 
 
 74. square of sense] sense absolute, but her heart has love of a better and 
 sense in its perfection. This meaning weightier metal. 
 
 is well illustrated in a passage from a 8i. validity]v?i\s3s.. See All's fVell, 
 
 little poem found in Bodenham's Bel- v. iii. 192 : 
 
 vedere, 1600; Spenser Society Reprint , "Behold this ring, 
 
 p. 73 '■ Whose high respect and rich validity 
 
 V Councell and good advise is Did lack a parallel." 
 
 wisdom's square 83. the last, twt least] Grant 
 
 And most availling to the life White argues for "our last and least," 
 
 of man." and has convinced Furness who 
 
 Wright explains the whole phrase, prints it, but I feel nearly sure that 
 
 " the most delicately sensitive part of Shakespeare wrote as above. It was 
 
 my nature "; Moberly, " the choicest a very common expression. See 
 
 estimate of sense," comparing TVaj'Aw Kyd's Spanish Tragedy (Dodsley's 
 
 and Cressida, V . \\. 133: "To square Old Plays, Hazlitt, v. 55): "The 
 
 the general sex By Cressid's rule. third and last not least in our 
 
 75. ^&«'Az/«] made happy ; compare account"; and Staunton has given 
 suffocate for suffocated, Troilus and many more instances of its use, quot- 
 Cressida, I. iii. 125. ing Peele's Polhymnia, line 210. 
 
 78. ponderous] Perhaps this word Beaumont and Fletcher's Monsieur 
 
 is suggested by Regan's "self metal," Thomas, iii. i; Middleton's Mayor 
 
 gold, but only the gold of words, of Queenborough, i. 3 ; and the His- 
 
 Cordelia cannot produce golden words, tory of King Leir; Six Old Plays, etc. 
 
10 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 The vines of France and milk of Burgundy- 
 Strive to be interess'd ; what can you say to 
 draw 8 S 
 
 A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak. 
 
 Cor. Nothing, my lord. 
 
 Lear. Nothing? 
 
 Cor. Nothing. 
 
 Lear. Nothing will come of nothing : speak again. 90 
 
 Cor. Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave 
 
 My heart into my mouth : I love your majesty 
 According to my bond ; no more nor less. 
 
 Lear. How, how, Cordelia ! mend your speech a little, 
 Lest you may mar your fortunes. 
 
 Cor. Good my lord, 95 
 
 You have begot me, bred me, lov'd me : I 
 Return those duties back as are right fit, 
 
 84, 85. The . . . interess'd\ F, omitted Q. 85. interess'd] Jennyns, 
 «»^«jiVTheobald, interest F; draiti] F, win Q. 86. Speak] F, omitted Q. 
 88, 89. Lear. Nothing? Cor. Nothing] F, omitted Q. 90. Nothing will come] 
 F, How, nothing cati come Q, Nothing can come Theobald. 93. nor] Q, no 
 F. 94. How . . . Cordelia] F, Go to, go too Q. 95. you] F, it Q. 
 
 Nichols, 1779, vol. ii. p. 464 : "To is a reference to the Latin proverb, " <jc 
 
 thee last of all, Not greeted last, nihilo nihil fit" referred to again I. 
 
 'cause thy desert was small." (Leir iv. 144. 
 
 addressing Mumford. ) 93. bond] obligation, duty as a 
 
 84. milk] pastures, the effect for daughter. See i. ii. 106, II. iv. 
 the cause (Eccles). 177; also "the holy cords," 11. ii. 
 
 85. interess'd] closely connected, 70. 
 
 interested, concerned. See"J^airela 94. How, how] words — like How 
 cane, to absent himself from a bicker- (alone). Two Gentlemen of Verona, II.- 
 ing or battell, wherein he is much iv. 22 — expressive of impatience and 
 interess'd," Cotgrave's French Die- imtation, as in /fomeo and /uliet, in. 
 tionary, and "to interess or interest, v. 153 : "How,how,how, how, chop- 
 to concern or engage," Kersey's Die- logic ! what is this?" So Q 2. See 
 tionaryf 1708. See also Sidney, also Pericles, HI. i. 18. 
 Arcadia,ho6krv., " Her own honour 97. Return those duties .... fit] 
 might be as much interess'd, as Zel- as they, the duties, are right and fit to 
 mane damaged." be returned. Keightley printed " as 
 90. Nothing . . . nothing] There is most fit" 
 
sc. I] KING LEAR il 
 
 Obey you, love you, and most honour you. 
 Why have my sisters husbands, if they say 
 They love you all ? Haply, when I shall wed, i oo 
 That lord whose hand must take my plight shall 
 
 carry 
 Half my love with him, half my care and 
 
 duty : 
 Sure I shall never marry like my sisters. 
 To love my father all. 
 
 Lear. But goes thy heart with this ? 
 
 Cor. Ay, my good lord. 105 
 
 Lear. So young, and so untender ? 
 
 Cor. So young, my lord, and true. 
 
 Lear. Let it be so ; thy truth then be thy dower : 
 For, by the sacred radiance of the sun. 
 The mysteries of Hecate and the night, 1 1 o 
 
 By all the operation of the orbs 
 From whom we do exist and cease to be. 
 Here I disclaim all my paternal care, 
 
 loo. Haply'\ Q 2, Happely Q i, Happily F. 104. To . . . alii Q, 
 omitted F. 105. thy heart with this\ F, this with thy heart Q ; Ay . . . 
 
 lord] F, Ay, good my lord Q. 108. Let it\ F, Well let it Q ; thy] Q, F 1 , 2 ; 
 
 the F 3. no. mysteries] F 2, mistresse Q, miseries F ; night] F, might Q. 
 
 III. operation] Q, F; operations F 2. 
 
 loi. plight] solemn promise, or 78: "Then let her beauty be her 
 
 engagement, troth -plight. SeeAntony wedding-dower." 
 
 and Cleopatra, in. xiii. 126: no. ^«fa/«] here a dissyllable, and 
 
 " Your hand ; this kingly seal I believe it was always so accented 
 
 And plighter of high hearts." by Shakespeare. True, it is a tri- 
 
 104. all] altogether, exclusively, syllable once, in 1 Henry VI. in. 
 
 So Timon of Athens, I. i. 139: ii. 64: "That railing Hecate"; but 
 
 ' ' I will choose it is very improbable Shakespeare 
 
 Mine heir from forth the beggars wrote the scene in which it occurs. 
 
 of the world, in. operation] &^&z\. w^on the life 
 
 And dispossess her all." and death of mortals (Delius). See 
 
 108. thy . . . dower] Compare Antony and Cleopatra, 11. vii. 30, 
 
 the Two Gentlemen of Verona, in. i. where the word means benign agency. 
 
12 
 
 KING LEAH 
 
 [act I. 
 
 Propinquity and property of blood, 
 
 And as a stranger to my heart and me 1 1 5 
 
 Hold thee from this for ever. The barbarous 
 
 Scythian, • 
 Or he that makes his generation messes 
 To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom 
 Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and relieved. 
 As thou my sometime daughter. 
 Kent. Good my liege,: — 120 
 
 Lear. Peace, Kent 1 , 
 
 Come not between the dragon and his wrath. 
 I loved her most, and thought to set' my rest 
 
 118, 119. shall . . . Be] F, s/iall be Q. 
 
 1 14. Propinquity] kindred ; Shake- 
 speare only uses the word here. 
 
 114. property] closest blood rela- 
 tionship, rising, as it were, to identity 
 of blood (Wright). We may compare 
 Richard II. I. ii. I, "The part I had 
 in Woodstock's blood," spoken by 
 Woodstock's brother John of Gaunt. 
 
 116-118. The. . . appetite]Ge.netSi- 
 tion here is generally explained off- 
 spring or progeny ; but why could it not 
 mean parents ? This is quite in the 
 manner of Shakespeare, and, indeed, 
 he twice uses progeny in the sense of 
 ancestors, and so did his contempo- 
 raries ; it is very frequent in Lilly. See 
 1 Henry VI. v. iv. 38, and Coriolanus, 
 I. viii. 12. Though Purchas in his Pil- 
 grimes has a curious passage mention- 
 ing different kinds of cannibalism, he 
 does not mention eating of children by 
 their parents, nor do I know any re- 
 ference to it. On the other hand, 
 Herodotus tells us that the Scythians 
 ate their aged and impotent relations, 
 and Chapman in Byron! s Tragedy, iv. 
 I , has the following passage : 
 "to teach . . . 
 
 The Scythians to inter not eat 
 their parents." 
 
 122. the dragon] Moberly thinks 
 that Lear may here refer to the famous 
 dragon of Britain, which it was natural 
 Lear would wear emblazoned on his 
 helmet ; and this may be. In the old 
 play. The Birth of Merlin, a play 
 formerly attributed to Shakespeare, the 
 dragon of Britain is mentioned more 
 than once. Prince Uter says, v. 2 : 
 
 "We have fair hope tlmt though 
 our dragon sleep 
 Merlin will us and our fair king- 
 dom keep." 
 See also 1 Benry IV. III. i. 151 ; 
 but Shakespeare refers to the dragon 
 often as the emblem of savage ferocity ; 
 See King John, 11. i. 68; Richard, 
 III. V. iii. 350 ; Coriolanus, IV. vii. 23. 
 
 123. set my rest] stake my all. 
 This phrase, like " set up my rest," 
 Merchant of Venice, 11. ii. 1 10, and 
 Romeo and Juliet, v. iii. no, is one 
 borrowed from the game of primero. 
 See Gascoyne, Supposes, iii. 2; "This 
 amorous cause . . . may be compared 
 to them that play at primero : of whom 
 one, peradventure, shall leese a great 
 sum of money before he win one stake, 
 and, at last, half in anger shall set up 
 his rest, win it, and after that another. 
 
sc. I.] KING LEAR 13 
 
 On her kind nursery. Hence, and avoid my 
 
 sight ! 
 So be my grave my peace, as here I give 125 
 
 Her father's heart from her ! Call France. Who 
 
 stirs ? 
 Call Burgundy. Cornwall and Albany, 
 With my two daughters' dowers digest this third ; 
 Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her. 
 I do invest you jointly in my power, 1 30 
 
 Pre-eminence, and all the large effects 
 That troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly 
 
 course. 
 With reservation of an hundred knights 
 By you to be sustain'd, shall our abode 
 Make with you by due turn. Only we still 
 
 retain 135 
 
 128. dowers] F, dower Q ; this] Q, the F. 130. in] Q, with F. 135. 
 turn] F, turns Q ; we still] Q, we shall F. 
 
 and another ; till, at last, he draw the motionless and forget to move, so 
 
 mostpart of the money to his heap, the shocked are they at Lear's rash and 
 
 other by little and little diminishing foolish act." 
 
 his rest, till he come as near the brink 128. digest] amalgamate (Schmidt 
 
 as erst the other was." See also Hay- explains "enjoy"). 
 
 ■vis-zdi. History of England,^, d'^: "he 130. invest . . . power] I follow 
 
 resolved to set up his last rest on crown the Quarto, for Shakespeare, though ' 
 
 and kingdom." The word seems to he has once the expression "invest 
 
 be used with a sort of quibble with its with," Z Henry IV. iv. v. 73, uses 
 
 usual sense. Nash in Have with " invest in " three times. See Measure 
 
 You to Saffron Walden has one form for Measure, in. i. 96 ; As You Like 
 
 of the expression in a similar double It, 11. vii. 58 ; Othello, iv. i. 40. 
 
 significance, "for no roof had he 131. large effects] splendid accom- 
 
 to hide his noddle in, or whither paniments. 
 
 he might go to set up his rest," 132. troop with] go with, are 
 
 p. 159. associated with, as in Romeo and 
 
 124. nursery] nursing, attendance. Juliet, i. v. 50: "So shows a snowy 
 
 126. Who stirs?] This is either dove trooping with crows. " 
 
 used by Lear as a threat, or he was 133. reservatimi] See n. iv. 255. 
 
 surprised to observe, as Furness ex- This word is drawn from the language 
 
 presses it, " the circle of courtiers stand of law, and means a saving clause. 
 
14 KING LEAR [acti. 
 
 The name and all the additions to a king; 
 The sway, revenue, execution of the rest, 
 Beloved sons, be yours : which to confirm. 
 This coronet part betwixt you. 
 
 Kent. Royal Lear, 
 
 Whom I have ever honour'd as my king, 140 
 
 Loved as my father, as my master follow'd. 
 
 As my great patron thought on in my prayers, — 
 
 Lear. The bow is bent and drawn ; make from the 
 shaft. 
 
 Kent. Let it fall rather, though the fork invade 
 
 The region of my heart: be Kent unmannerly, 145 
 When Lear is mad. What would'st thou do, old 
 
 man? 
 Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak 
 
 136. the additions] Q, th' addition F. 139. betwixt] Q, between F. 
 
 146. mad] Q 2, F J man Q i ; would'st] F, wilt, Q. 
 
 136. additions] either the cere- which surely we call in English a broad 
 
 monial observances pertaining to arrow-headoraswallowtayle;theother 
 
 royalty, or else the titles belonging to he called y\wT(li, having two points 
 
 n king. Compare "the farced title stretchingforw^rd,andthisEnglishmen 
 
 running 'fore the king," ^(SMry K. IV. do callaforke-head." See Chapman, 
 
 i. 280. For an instance of the word The Gentleman Usher, iv. i. 10: 
 in this latter sense, see Macbeth, I. iii. ' ' Po. O aunt, my uncle lies shot. 
 106 ; see also Scott, Discovery of Cy. How is he shot ? 
 
 Witchcraft, 1580; Nicholson, 1886, p. Po. Why, with a forked shaft." 
 
 437. " Many other great epithets or See also Brome, The Northern Lass, 
 
 additions are given him for his name." v. i; also Chapman's Iliad, Taylor, 
 
 144. forU] the barbed arrow-head. 1843, vol; i. p. to"] : "And straight 
 
 See Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement, he draws the shaft without the forks." 
 
 "^/«««a«, the forked head of an arrow, Compare also "forked heads," As 
 
 Per de fleische h oreilles, a forked, or You Like It, II. i. 24. 
 barbed arrow-head." Ascham, in his 145. The region of my heart] Thvi 
 
 Toxophilus, Arber, p. 135, writes thus expression is to be met with in Ford, 
 
 of arrow-heads : " Fashion of heades The Lady's Trial, JII. iii. 27 : 
 is divers, and that ofoldetime; two "Here, through a creek, a little 
 maner of arrow heades, sayeth Pollux, inlet, crawls 
 
 was used in olde time. The one he A flake, no bigger than a spider's 
 
 caUethS7Ki;'os,describingitthus,having thread, 
 
 two poyntes or barbes looking back- W^hich sets the region of my 
 
 warde to the stele and the fethers, heart a-fire." 
 
sc. I.] KING LEAR 15 
 
 When power to flattery bows? To plainness 
 honour's bound 
 
 When majesty falls to folly. Reserve thy state ; 
 
 And, in thy best consideration, pheck 150 
 
 This hideous rashness : answer my life my judgment, 
 
 Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least ; 
 
 Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound 
 
 Reverbs no hollowness. 
 Lear. Kent, on thy life, no more. 
 
 Kent. My life I never held but as a pawn i 5 5 
 
 To wage against thine enemies ; nor fear to lose it. 
 
 Thy safety being the motive. 
 Lear. Out of my sight ! 
 
 Kent. See better, Lear ; and let me still remain 
 
 The true blank of thine eye. 
 
 149. falls\ F, stoops Q ; Reserve thy state'] F, Reverse thy doom Q. 
 153. empty-hearted] unhyphened Q, F. 153, 154. sound Reverbs] Q, sounds 
 Reverbe F. 155. as a] Q, as F. 156. thine] F, thy Q ; nor] Q, nere F, 
 157- i^' motive] Q, motive F. 
 
 150. best consideration] best is "hollowly," Tempest, III. i. 70; "a 
 sometimes used by Shakespeare as a hollow friend," Hamlet, in. ii. 218. 
 mere phrase of courtesy, without a 155. held] considered. 
 
 very distinct meaning, as in Cyi^a/a'KC, 155. pawn] a stake which is 
 
 I. i. 156: " make yourself some com- hazarded in a wager ; the only instance 
 
 fort Out of your best advice." Some, in Shakespeare of its use in this sense. 
 
 however, see here a reference to the He usually employs the word in 
 
 saying, " Second thoughts are best." the sense of pledge, something given 
 
 151. answer . . . judgtnent] "Let as a security. See The Two Gentle- 
 ray life be answerable for my judg- men of Verona, I. iii. 47 : " Here is 
 ment, or I will stake my life on my her oath for love, her honour's pawn." 
 opinion " (Johnson). Capell thinks there is an allusion to 
 
 154. Reverbs] reverberates. Some the game of chess, 
 suppose this a coinage of Shakespeare, 156. zfa^e] to stake, as in a wager, 
 
 as no other example of it^ use has yet to risk, to venture. So Cymbeline, 
 
 been found. i. iv. 144 : "I will wage against thy 
 
 154. hollowness] a play on the two gold, gold to it." 
 senses ; the ordinary one, concavity, 158, 159. let me . . . eye] i.e. Keep 
 
 and the sense insincerity. See I. ii. me always in your view (Johnson). 
 122: "machinations, hollowness, 159. blank] the white spot in the 
 
 treachery." Compare also "hollow- centreofthetarget, the white; the word 
 
 hearted," Richard III. iv. iv. 435 ; in this sense is somewhat rare. See 
 
16 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 Lear. Now, by Apollo, — 
 
 Kent. Now, by Apollo, king, 1 60 
 
 Thou swear'st thy gods in vain. 
 
 I^ear. -f''^- O. vassal ! miscreant ! 
 
 \Laying his hand upon his sword. 
 
 Alb., Corn. Dear sir, forbear. 
 
 Kent. Do; 
 
 Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow 
 Upon the foul disease. Revoke thy doom ; 165 
 Or, whilst I can vent clamour from my throat, 
 I '11 tell thee thou dost evil. 
 
 Lear. Hear me, recreant ! 
 
 On thine allegiance, hear me ! 
 Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow, 
 Which we durst never yet, and with strain'd 
 pride 1 7° 
 
 161. O . . . miscreant t\ F, Vassall, recreant. {0 omitted) Q. Laying . . . 
 sword] Rowe ; omitted Q, F. 162. Alb., Com. . . . forbear'] F, omitted Q. 
 164. Kill] F, Doe, kill Q ; the fee] Q, thy fee F. 165. doom] Q, gift F. 167. 
 recreant !]F, omitted Q. i6S. thine]F, thy Q. 169. Since] Q, That F ; 
 zioui] Q, vawes F. 170. strai}i'd]F, straiedQ. 
 
 in the Moral play, The Interlude of 161. miscreant] Perhaps, as Wright 
 
 Youth {Dodsley's Old Plays, Hazlitt, suggests, the word is used in its 
 
 ii. 55). Riot, addressing Youth as to original sense misbeliever. Kent had 
 
 amusements after describing various referred contemptuously to the gods, 
 games of cards, says : 170. strain'd] exaggerated, exces- 
 
 " Yet I can tell you more sive. Johnson explains "straied pride" 
 
 Pink and drink, and also at the of the Quarto as ' ' pride exorbitant, 
 
 blank passing due bounds." Perhaps it might 
 
 And many sports mo." mean presuming. For "strain'd" 
 
 Also see Cotgrave, French Dictionary, compare also Winter's Tale, IV. iv. 
 
 Blanc, the white or mark of a pair of 478 : 
 buts. It is not impossible that in this ' ' What I was I am, 
 passage Shakespeare may havehad one More straining on for plucking 
 
 from Lyly's Euphues and his England, back." 
 
 1580, inhis mind; seeArber, 1868, p. Alsothe curious expression, "strain'd," 
 404: "Theeyeofthe man is the arrow. Winter's Tale, III. ii. 51 : 
 the beautie of the woman, the white, " With what encounter so uncurrent 
 which shooteth not, but receiveth, I 
 
 being the patient, not the agent." Have strain'd to appear thus." 
 
sc. t.] KING LEAR 17 
 
 To come betwixt our sentence and our power, 
 
 Which nor our nature nor our place can bear, 
 
 Our potency made good, take thy reward. 
 
 Five days we do allot thee for provision 
 
 To shield thee from diseases of the world ; 175 
 
 And on the sixth to turn thy hated back 
 
 Upon our kingdom : if on the tenth day following 
 
 Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions, 
 
 The moment is thy death. Away ! By Jupiter, 
 
 This shall not be revok'd. 1 80 
 
 Kent. Fare thee well, king; sith thus thou wilt 
 appear, 
 Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here. 
 
 \To Cordelia.] The gods to their dear shelter take thee, 
 maid, 
 
 171. betwixt] F, between Q ; sentence] Q, sentences F. 173. made] Q I, 
 F ; make Q 2, Q 3. 174. Five] F, Foure Q. 175. diseases] Q, disasters 
 F. 176. sixth]{sixt)'?,fiftCl. 181. Fare]Y, Why fare f^; sith tkus]¥, 
 since thus Q I, since (thus omitted) Q 2, Q 3. 182. Freedom] F, Friend- 
 
 ship Q. 183. To Cordelia] Hanmer, omitted Q, F ; dear shelter] F, pro- 
 
 tection Q ; thee, maid] F (without comma) the maid Q. 
 
 173. Our potency . . . reward] but disease our better mirth " ; and 
 
 Malone explains " as a proof that I see also Calisio and Melibaa : 
 am not a mere threatener, that I have " Nothing may do me more annoy- 
 power as well as will to punish, take the ance, 
 
 due reward of thy demerits " ; could Nothing may do me greater dis- 
 
 it mean "you want me to take back ease." 
 
 my power. Well I do, and you must {Dodsley's Old Plays, Hazlitt, i. 87). 
 take the consequences" ? Pope fol- 177. tenth day] Collier MS. pro- 
 lowed "make good" of Quarto 2, poses "seventh." P.A.Daniel suggests 
 which Boswell, who also reads it, "se'nth," believing that "the sense 
 explains thus : "As thou hast come of the passage requires this altera- 
 with unreasonable pride between the tion " ; and perhaps he is right. ' ' If 
 sentence which I had passed and the we may contract sevennights to 
 power by which I shall execute it, se'nnights," he goes on, "why not 
 take thy reward in another sentence seventh to se'nth?" Notes and 
 which shall make good, shall estab- Conjectural Emendations, 1870, p. 
 \jsh., that power." 77- 
 
 175. cSwisaxw] inconveniences. Com- 181, 182. Fare . . . here] After 
 
 pare to disease, to trouble, Coriolanus, the storm comes the equanimity of 
 
 I. iii. 117 : "as she now is, she will Kent's rhymed lines. 
 
18 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 That justly think'st and hast most rightly said ! 
 [To GonerU and Reg-an.] And your large speeches may 
 your deeds approve, 185 
 
 That good effects may spring from words of love. 
 Thus Kent, O princes ! bids you all adieu ; 
 He'll shape his old course in a country new. [E:f;it. 
 
 Flourish. Re-enter GLOUCESTER, with FRANCE, 
 Burgundy, and Attendants. 
 
 Glou. Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord. 
 
 Lear. My Lord of Burgundy, 1 90 
 
 We first address toward you, who with this king 
 Hath rivall'd for our daughter. What, in the least. 
 Will you require in present dower with her. 
 Or cease your quest of love ? 
 
 Bur. Most royal majesty, 
 
 I crave no more than what your highness offer'd, 195 
 Nor will you tender less. 
 
 Lear. Right noble Burgundy, 
 
 When she was dear to us we did hold her so. 
 But now her price is fall'n. Sir, there she stands : 
 
 184. justly] F, rightly Q ; think' sf] Y, thinks Q ; hasf] Q I, F, hath Q 2 ; 
 rightly'] Tjjtistly Q. 185. To Goneril and Regan] Hanmer, omitted Q, F; 
 And . . . speeches] Q, F, And you, large speechers, Capell. 188. Exit] F, 
 omitted Q. 190. o/'] Q i , F, or Q 2. 191. to-diard]Y, towards Q ; this] 
 F, a Q. 194. Most] F, omitted Q. 195. what] Q, hath F. 
 
 188. shape . . . new] to shape the or horns, to herald the approach of 
 
 course, to proceed, advance, like great persons. So Richard IJI.lv.'w. 
 
 "make thy way," v. iii. 29. So 148: "A flourish, trumpets! strike 
 
 Marlow, Edward II. iv. v. 3: alarum, drums ! " See note to Sennet, 
 
 "Shape we our course to Ireland." line 33 of this scene. 
 
 Kent means that he will, in a foreign 192. rivaltd] been a rival, a, com- 
 
 land, pursue his old way of speaking the petitor. 
 
 plain truth, fearless of consequences. 197. hold her so] hold her on the 
 
 188. Flourish] a blast of trumpets' terms you mention. 
 
SC. I.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 19 
 
 If aught within that little-seeming substance, 
 Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced, 200 
 
 And nothing more, may fitly like your grace, 
 She 's there, and she is yours. 
 
 Bur. I know no answer. 
 
 Lear. Will you, with those infirmities she owes, 
 
 Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate, 204 
 
 Dower'd with our curse and stranger'd with our oath, 
 Take her, or leave her ? 
 
 Bur. Pardon me, royal sir; 
 
 Election makes not up on such conditions. 
 
 Lear. Then leave her, sir ; for, by the power that made me, 
 I tell you all her wealth, [To France.'] For you, 
 great king. 
 
 igg. little-seeniing] Collier ed. 2 (S. Walker conject.); unhyphened Q, F. 
 20I. more] F, else Q. 203. Will] F, Sir, will Q. 205. Dowei'd] 
 
 F, Covered Q. 207. up on] Q, up in F. 2og. To France] Pope ; 
 
 omitted Q, F. 
 
 199. that . . . substance] Some see 
 in this expression a reference to the 
 size of Cordelia, ' 'that substance which 
 is but little in appearance " (Wright). 
 Johnson explains "seeming" as beauti- 
 ful, Steevensas "specious." Moberly 
 explains " her nature, which seems so 
 slight and shallow " ; but can it be that 
 Lear refers ironically to Cordelia's 
 blunt professions of sincerity which 
 she had just contrasted with her sister's 
 alleged insinceri ty ? "If aught within 
 this daughter," he may mean, ' ' who is 
 substance with small speciousness. " 
 Cordelia professes to be all reality and 
 no pretence. " If you like this, take 
 it, and nothing else except my dis- 
 pleasure attached to it." 
 
 200. pieced] attached to it, in addi- 
 tion to it. See Coriolanus, II. iii. 220, 
 and compare "piece out," in. vi. 2 
 of this play. 
 
 201. may . . . grace] may please 
 
 by its fitness, may quite satisfy your 
 grace. For " like " in the sense of 
 "please," see II. ii. 86. 
 
 203. owes] owns. See I. iv. 120. 
 
 207. Election . . . up] I will not 
 select her, choose her for my wife. 
 See Cymbeline, i. ii. 30: "if it be a 
 sin to make a true election (i.e. to 
 choose a good husband) she is 
 damned." "Makes not up" is ex- 
 plained by Johnson as "comes not 
 forward, makes not advances." 
 Malone explains, " comes not to a 
 decision. " 
 
 207. on such conditions] "with such 
 qualities," Schmidt, Zur Textkritik, 
 p. 14. See Henry V. IV. i. 108 : "all 
 his senses have but human conditions. " 
 In his Shakespeare Lexicon, Schmidt 
 had perhaps rightly explained it "on 
 such terms." Palsgrave in his Les- 
 clarcissement defines " condyciouns, 
 maners, " by the Old French "meurs." 
 
20 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 I would not from your love make such a stray 2 1 o 
 To match you where I hate ; therefore beseech you 
 To avert your liking a more worthier way 
 Than on a wretch whom nature is ashamed 
 Almost to acknowledge hers. 
 France. This is most strange, 
 
 That she, that even but now was your best 
 object, 2 1 5 
 
 The argument of your praise, balm of your age. 
 Most best, most dearest, should in this trice of time 
 Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle 
 So many folds of favour. Sure, her offence 
 Must be of such unnatural degree 220 
 
 That monsters it, or your fore-vouch'd affection 
 Fall'n into taint ; which to believe of her, 
 Must be a faith that reason without miracle 
 Should never plant in me. 
 
 215. she, thaf\ Q, she whom F, she who F 2 ; bes{\ Q, omitted F. 217. 
 Most best, most] Q, The best, the F. 221. your] F, you Q ; fore-vouch'd 
 affection] F, for voucht affections Q. 222. FalTn] Q, Fall F. 224. 
 Should] F, Could Q. 
 
 210. make . . . stray] go so much 218. dismantle] strip off. 
 
 away from. 219-222. Sure . . . taint] Malone 
 
 211. Tff] as to. S^e. Richard III. explains, " either her offence must be 
 III. ii. 27 : monstrous, or if she has not com- 
 
 ' ' I wonder he 's so fond mitted any such offence, the affec- 
 
 To trust the mockery of unquiet tion you always professed to have 
 
 slumbers." for her must be tainted and decayed." 
 
 212 To avert . . . way] to tuinyoui This seems tame. May it not mean, 
 
 affections from the unworthy object on "She must surely have cominitted 
 
 which they are now placed, and in some unspeakably horrid act, ere the 
 
 a worthier, better direction ; place warm affection, you always professed 
 
 them on a better person. to hold her in, should thus suddenly 
 
 216. argument] s\ih)ect, theme. So have changed to hate " ? 
 
 Much Ado, u. in. 11. 221. monsters it] So Coriolanus, 
 
 217. Most best, most dearest] See II. ii. 81: "sit, To hear my nothings 
 Hamlet's letter to Ophelia, 11. ii. 122 : monster'd." 
 
 "but that I love thee best, O most 221. or] ere. See Cymbeline, II. 
 best, believe it " (Staunton MS. note), iv. 14. 
 
sc. I.] KING LEAR 21 
 
 Cor. I yet beseech your majesty, 
 
 (If for I want that glib and oily art 225 
 
 To speak and purpose not, since what I well 
 
 intend, 
 I '11 do 't before I speak), that you make known 
 It is no vicious blot, murder or foulness, 
 No unchaste action, or dishonour'd step, 
 That hath deprived me of your grace and favour, 230 
 But even for want of that for which I am richer, 
 A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue 
 That I am glad I have not, though not to have it 
 Hath lost me in your liking. 
 
 Lear. Better thou 
 
 Hadst not been born than not to have pleased me 
 better. 335 
 
 France. Is it but this ? a tardiness in nature 
 Which often leaves the history unspoke 
 That it intends to do ? My Lord of Burgundy, 
 What say you to the lady ? Love 's not love 
 
 226. weir\ Q, will F. 227. make known'] F, may know Q. 228. 
 
 murder or,] Q, F; nor otkerSiingec (Collier MS.). 229. unchaste] F, uncleane 
 Q. 231. richer] F, rich Q. 232. still- soliciting] hyphened Theobald. 
 233. That] F, As Q. 234. Better] F, Go to, go to, better Q. 236. but 
 this ?]Y, no more but this, C^. 237. Which]^ , That C^. 239. Zoz/a 'j] F, 
 Love is, Q. 
 
 225. If for] if it (my fault) is for, 237. history] Schmidt explains as 
 
 2. «. because ; or if (you are enraged at "communication of what is in the 
 
 me) because I am without, have none heart or inner life of man," compar- 
 
 ofit. ing Measure for Measure, I. i. 29; 
 
 228. murder or] It is quite un- Richard III. in. v. 28; Sonnet -Acm. 
 
 necessary to follow Collier's "nor 8. 
 
 other foulness." Cordelia, with a 239. What say you to] how like 
 
 touch of scorn, mentions the most you; will you take, see line 241. A 
 
 extreme vices she can think of. With phrase of invitation, as in Taming of 
 
 the plain speaking so characteristic of the Shrew, IV. iii. 17, Grumio asks 
 
 her, she says, " I have not been dis- Katharina, "What say you to a 
 
 carded and so upbraided because I am neat's foot " ; see also lines 20 and 23 
 
 a murderess, or a wanton." of the same scene. 
 
22 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 When it is mingled with regards that stand 240 
 Aloof from the entire point. Will you have her ? 
 She is herself a dowry. 
 
 Bur. Royal I^ear, 
 
 Give but that portion which yourself proposed, 
 
 And here I take Cordelia by the hand, 
 
 Duchess of Burgundy. 245 
 
 Lear. Nothing : I have sworn ; I am firm. 
 
 Bur. I am sorry, then, you have so lost a father 
 That you must lose a husband. 
 
 Cor. Peace be with Burgundy ! 
 
 Since that respects of fortune are his love, 
 I shall not be his wife. 250 
 
 France. Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich, being poor ; 
 Most choice, forsaken ; and most loved, despised ! 
 Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon : 
 Be it lawful I take up what's cast away. 
 Gods, gods ! 'tis strange that from their cold'st 
 neglect 255 
 
 My love should kindle to inflamed respect. 
 
 240. regards that stand] Pope, respects that stands Q (stads Q l), regards, 
 that stands F, respects that stand Malone. 242. a dowry\ F, and dowre 
 Q ; I^ar] Q, (Leir) King F. 246. / avi firm] F, omitted Q. 249. 
 
 respects of fortune] Q, respects aiid Foi-ttmes F. 
 
 240. regards] considerations. See O no ! it is an ever-fixM 
 Othello, I. i. 154. mark, 
 
 241. entire] essential, chief That looks on tempests, and is 
 (Schmidt) ; single, unmixed by other never shaken." 
 considerations (Johnson). The best 249. respects] prudential coijsider- 
 commentary on these words is Son- ations. So Hamlet, in. ii. 192, 
 net cxvi. 2-6 : 193 : 
 
 " Love is not love "The instances that second mar- 
 
 Which alters vfhen it alteration riage move 
 
 finds, Are base respects of thrift, but 
 
 Or bends with the remover to none of love." 
 
 remove : 256. respect] liking. 
 
sc. I.] KING LEAR 23 
 
 Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my chance. 
 Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France : 
 Not all the dukes of waterish Burgundy 
 Shall buy this unprized precious maid of me. 260 
 Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind : 
 Thou losest here, a better where to iind. 
 
 Lear. Thou hast her, France ; let her be thine, for we 
 Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see 
 That face of hers again; therefore be gone 265 
 
 Without our grace, our love, our benison. 
 Come, noble Burgundy. 
 
 \Flourish. Exeunt Lear, Burgundy, Cornwall, 
 Albany, Gloucester, and Attendants. 
 
 France. Bid farewell to your sisters. 
 
 Cor. The jewels of our father, with wash'd eyes 
 
 257. my\ F, thy Q. 259. of^ F, in Q. 260. Shall\ Q, Can F. 
 
 267. Flourish] F, omitted Q; Exeunt . . . Attendants] Capell, Exit Lear 
 and Burgundy Q, Exeunt F. 269. The] Q, F ; Ye Rowe, ed. 2. 
 
 257. thrown to my chance] allotted and Adonis, line 203, ' She had not 
 
 to me. For chance, in the sense of brought thee forth, but died unkind.'" 
 " lot,"see Twelfth Night, ill. iv. 177 : 262. where] place. So Romeo and 
 
 " If it be thy chance to kill me." Jtdiet, I. i. 204 : "This is not Romeo, 
 
 259. ■z£/a/em/4] abounding in streams, he 's some other where " ; alsoBrome, 
 well watered ; such was the boast of A Jovial Crew ai The Merry Beggars. 
 Burgundy. France plays on the other See Pearson, Works, \%Ti,\\\. t,(>o: 
 sense of the word, weak, thin, poor. "Do not the birds sing here as 
 See Othello, iii. iii. 15: "Or feed sweet and lively 
 
 upon such nice and \vaterish diet." As any other where." 
 
 260. unprized precious] unappre- 266. &»iVo»] blessing, ^o Macbeth, 
 ciated by others, but precious in my II. iv. 40 : " God's benison go with 
 eyes. Wright thinks it may mean you." And see Isac (Townley Mys- 
 " priceless," comparing "unvalued" teries), Surtees Society edition, p. 
 in the sense of invaluable, Richard III. 43 : 
 
 1. iv. 27. "Isac. Where art thou, Esau, my 
 
 261. though unkind] though they son? 
 
 have treatedyou with unnatural cruelty. Esaii. Here, father, and asks thy 
 
 Staunton writes : " Unkind here sig- benyson." 
 
 nifies unnatural, unless France is in- 269. The. . . «/■] You, the jewels of. 
 
 tended to mean 'though unkinn'd,' Rowe reads "ye "in his second edition 
 
 i.e. though forsaken by thy kindred " ; (1714), and he has been followed by 
 
 and adds in a MS. note : "cf. Venus Capell and several modern editors. It 
 
24 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 Cordelia leaves you : I know you what you are ; 270 
 
 And like a sister am most loth to call 
 
 Your faults as they are named. Use well our father : 
 
 To your professed bosoms I commit him : 
 
 But yet, alas ! stood I within his grace, 
 
 I would prefer him to a better place. 275 
 
 So farewell to you both. 
 
 Reg. Prescribe not us our duties. 
 
 Gon. Let your study 
 
 Be to content your lord, who hath receiv'd you 
 At fortune's alms ; you have obedience scanted, 
 And well are worth the want that you have 
 wanted. 2 80 
 
 272. C/se] Q, Love F . 277. Reg., Gon.] F, Gon., Reg. Q ; duties] Q, 
 duty F. 280. worth. . . , wanted] F, wortk the worth that you have 
 
 wanted Q. 
 
 is true that in the MS. "the'' and 273. bosoms] loves; see "the com - 
 
 "ye" are often almdst identical. mon bosom," v. iii. 50. 
 
 269. wasKd] tear-washed, tearful. 275. prefer] advance, as in Richard 
 
 So Midsummer Night's Dream, II. ///. IV. ii. 82 ; recommend (Schmidt), 
 
 ii. 93 : 279. At . . . alms] by the charity, 
 
 "How came her eyes so bright? good offices of fortune. Steevens 
 
 Not with salt tears : quotes Othello, III. iv. 120-122 : 
 
 If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd " So shall I clothe me in a forced 
 
 than hers. " content, 
 
 Much Ado, I. i. 27, also Cyril Tour- And shut myself up in some 
 
 neur. The Atheist's Tragedy, I. ii. 34 : other course, 
 
 "What, ha' you wash'd your eyes To fortune's alms " 
 
 with tears this morning ? " (subject to the kindness of fortune). 
 
 271, 272. to call . . . named] to See Pepys' Z)z'arf, Minors' Bright ed. , 
 
 name them without mincing matters, 1879, iv. 189, "to be buried at the 
 
 to call them by their true ugly names, alms of the parish," i.e. at the expense 
 
 We may compare the common expres- of the parish. 
 
 sion " to call a spade a spade " found 279. scanted] begrudged, stinted, 
 
 in Ben Jonson, Poetaster, v. i; see come short of. So Henry l^.u.vv./^T: 
 
 also The Four Elements, 1519, " Doth like a miser, spoil his coat 
 
 (Dodsley's Old Plays, Hazlitt, i. 49). with scanting 
 
 273. professed] professing. Steevens A little cloth." 
 
 compares longing for longed for. Two 280. And well . . . wanted] and 
 
 Gentlemen of Veroiia [11. vii. 85], and well deserve — (a) to be treated un- 
 
 all-obeying for all obeyed ; Antony kindly, or (fi) to lose your share of 
 
 and Cleopatra [ill. xiii. 77]. the kingdom, in return for your fla- 
 
sc. I.] KING LEAR 25 
 
 Cor. Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides ; 
 
 Who cover faults, at last shame them derides. 
 
 Well may you prosper ! 
 France, Come, my fair Cordelia. 
 
 \Exetmt France and Cordelia. 
 Gon. Sister, it is not little I have to say of what 
 
 most nearly appertains to us both. I think 285 
 
 our father will hence to-night. 
 Reg. That 's most certain, and with you ; next 
 
 month with us. 
 Gon. You see how full of changes his age is ; the 
 
 observation we have made of it hath not been 290 
 
 little : he always loved our sister most ; and 
 
 with what poor judgment he hath now cast 
 
 her off appears too grossly. 
 Reg. 'Tis the infirmity of his age ; yet he hath ever 
 
 but slenderly known himself. 295 
 
 281. pligkted] ¥, pleated Q^, plaited 'Poye, ed. 2 (Theobald). 282. cover} 
 Jennyns ; covers Q, F ; shame ihe?n derides} Q, with shame derides F. 283. 
 /«j] F, omitted Q. 284. little^Y, a little (^. 290. hath not been\Cl, hath 
 been F. 293. too} Q, F ; too too 7 2 ; ^ossly} F, gross Q. 
 
 grant want of kindness and sympathy 301. AndseeZ«r««, line93: "Hid- 
 
 with the wishes of your father. ing base sin in pleats of majesty." See 
 
 280. are worth} deserve. See 11. also Nash, Terrors of Night, Grosart, 
 
 iv. 44, "worth the shame," and Cy*'" Works, iii. 257: "According to 
 
 beline, v. i. 11 : "So had you . . . every labor or exercise the palm of a 
 
 struck Me, wretch, more worth your man's hand is wrythen or pleyted." 
 
 vengeance." See also Tennyson, " Lines to ," 
 
 280. wanted}^oTit., or been, without. Poems, published 1850, p. 16: "False- 
 See Tempest, III. i. 79 : hood shall bare her plaited brow." 
 
 " much less take 282. ff'/^o] those who. 
 
 What I shall die to want." 293. grossly} plainly, obviously. 
 
 281. plighted} folded, complicated, See Henry V. 11. ii, 103 : 
 
 and so, figuratively, dissembling. Some "though the truth of it stands off 
 
 editors prefer plaited — ■ Theobald's as gross 
 
 suggestion, adopted by Pope. Tovey As black and white." 
 
 adopts "pleated" of the Quarto. Both 294-301. 'Tis . . . rtew] Gonerill 
 
 the Quarto and Folio words have really in the old play says of Leir, "For 
 
 the same sense, "folded." Milton he, you know, is always in extremes," 
 
 writes "the plighted clouds," Comus, Six Old Plays, etc., Nichols, ii. 385. 
 
26 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 Gon. The best and soundest of his time hath been 
 but rash ; then must we look to receive from 
 his age, not alone the imperfections of long- 
 engraffed condition, but therewithal the unruly 
 waywardness that infirm and choleric years 300 
 bring with them. 
 
 Reg. Such unconstant starts are we like to have 
 from him as this of Kent's banishment. 
 
 Gon. There is further compliment of leave-taking 
 
 between France and him. Pray you, let's hit 305 
 together: if our father carry authority with 
 such disposition as he bears, this last surrender 
 of his will but offend us. 
 
 297, 298. look to receive from his age'] Q, look from his age, to receive F. 
 298. imperfections] F, imperfection Q ; long - engraffed] hyphened Pope, 
 ingraffed F, ingrafted Q^. 299. the] F, omitted Q. 302. starts] Q I, F; 
 stars Q 2. 305. Pray you] F, Pray Q ; let's hit] Q, let us sit F. 307. 
 disposition] F, dispositions Q. 
 
 297. rash] hasty, hot-headed ; so " O, these flaws and starts 
 Othello, II. i. 279, " he is rash and Impostors to true fear." 
 
 very sudden in choler." The Welsh- And Venus and Adonis, line 302 
 
 man, Fluellen, is described as when (referring to a horse) : 
 
 "touched with choler, hot (i.e. im- "Sometime he scuds far off, and 
 
 pulsive) as gunpowder. " Seel/airyV. there he stares ; 
 
 IV. vii. 188. Several attempts have Anon he starts at stirring of a 
 
 been made to prove that Shakespeare feather." 
 
 in his portrait of Lear was attempting 304. compliment] formality. See 
 
 to depict the fiery, impulsive Celtic }iomeoandJuliet,ll.ii.^^:'^f3.revie\\ 
 
 nature, " the blind hysterics of the compliment." 
 
 Celt." But this is most unlikely. 305, 306. hit together] probably 
 
 He found indeed the mere outline of agree together, act vigorously and in 
 
 Lear in the story, ready to his hand, unison. Perhaps in this dialogue there 
 
 It is not Shakespeare's method to is an echo of the old play. Sits History 
 
 sketch, like Marlow, types of men, of King Leir ; Six Old Plays, etc., 
 
 but man. Nichols, 1779, ii. 415. R^an there 
 
 298, 299. long-engraffcd condition] says : 
 
 Malone explains "qualities of mind, "Yet I will make fair weather, to 
 
 confirmed by long habit. Condition procure 
 
 here, is disposition." See Othello, iv. Convenient means, and then I '11 
 
 i. 204. strike it sure." 
 
 302. starts] impulsive whims; a Schmidt adopts " sit together " of the 
 
 metaphor from the language of horse- Folio, explaining "take counsel 
 
 manship. See Macieth, lu. iv. 63 : together," and he quotes in support of 
 
sc. II.] KING LEAR 27 
 
 Reg. We shall further think on 't 
 
 Gon. We must do something, and i' th' heat. 310 
 
 \Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE II. — A Hall in the Earl of Gloucester's 
 Castle. 
 
 Enter Edmund, with a letter, 
 
 Edm. Thou, Nature, art my goddess ; to thy law 
 My services are bound. Wherefore should I 
 Stand in the plague of custom, and permit 
 The curiosity of nations to deprive me, 
 For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines 5 
 
 309. mi V] Q, of it F. 310. i 'th'} F, it 'h Q. 
 
 Scene II, 
 
 A Hall . . . Castle] Capell ; omitted Q, F. Enter . . . letter] Theobald ; 
 Enter Bastard, Solus Q ; Enter Bastard F. 
 
 it many instances, including Pericles, from the Prayer- Book version of Psalm 
 
 n. iii. 92, " Come, gentlemen, we sit xxxviii. 17 : "And I truly am set in 
 
 too long on trifles." the plague." Staunton thinks it may 
 
 310. j' tK heaf\ at once " while the possibly mean place or boundary (Lat. 
 iron is hot." See Merry Wives, IV. plagd). Edmund's meaning is. Why 
 ii. 239 : " Come, to the forge with should I put myself in a position to 
 it, then ; shape it ; I would not have suffer what custom enforces ? Why 
 things cool"; also 2 Henry IV. 11. should I bide the cruel brunt of her 
 iv. 325: "he will drive you out of decree? 
 
 ■your revenge ... if you take not 4. curiosity'] squeamishness, false 
 
 the heat." Could it be explained "in delicacy, over-particularity or fastidi- 
 
 one continuous effort " ? See Winter's ousness. See line 6, sc. i., and North, 
 
 Tale, I. ii. 96. The expression is found Plutarch's Lives {Cuius .Marius), ed. 
 
 in Malory's Life of King Arthur, book 1595, p. 472 : " Who overthrew him- 
 
 XX. chap. vii. : "It is fallen so, said self in his doinges.not so much for lack 
 
 the king, that I may not with my wor- of reasonable skill of warres, as through 
 
 ship, but {f.e. unless) the queen suffer his unprofitable curiositie and strict- 
 
 the death. So then there was made ness in observing the law." 
 
 great ordinance in this heat, that the 4. deprive me] debar me, keep me 
 
 queen must be judged to the death." out of my rights. See the prose 
 
 Ifystorieofiram6let,cha.p.iv.: "rather 
 
 6cene II. than he would deprive {i.e. disinherit) 
 
 3. Stand . . . custom] stand on, himself." 
 
 be dependent on. Wright aptly quotes 5. ./'"or] because. 
 
28 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act I. 
 
 Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore 
 
 base? 
 When my dimensions are as well compact, 
 My mind as generous, and my shape as true, 
 As honest madam's issue ? Why brand they us 
 With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, 
 
 base ? I o 
 
 Who in the lusty stealth of nature take 
 More composition and iierce quality 
 Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed, 
 Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops. 
 
 10. With . . . base'\ F, with base, base bastardie Q. 13. dull, stale'] 
 
 (no comma) F, stale dull Q ; tired] F, lyed Q I, lied Q 2. 14. the creat- 
 ing] F, the creating of Q, creating Pope. 
 
 6. Lag of] younger than, behind 
 in years. Gloucester tells us (l. i. 20) 
 [hat Edgar was "some year" older 
 than his brother. See Richard III. 
 II. i. 90: "came too lag to see him 
 buried." And Florio, His First 
 Fruits, 1 598 : Serotino, late, lag. 
 
 6. Why . . . base] The expression 
 "base son," for bastard, is to be met 
 with in Sidney's Arcadia, and in the 
 Chronicles of Holinshed and Hall ; 
 but bastard has apparently no etymo- 
 logical connection with the adjective 
 base, coming from quite a different 
 source. See Murray, New English 
 Dictionary, under the word. 
 
 7. dimensions] proportions. So 
 Merchant of Venice, III. i. 62 ; also 
 Cyril Tourneur, The Atheist s Tragedy, 
 V. I ; Works, Collins, 1878, i. 147 : 
 
 ' ' Methinks my parts and my dimen- 
 sions are 
 As many, as large, as well com- 
 pos'd as his." 
 7. compact] made, put together. 
 See Titus Andronicus, v. iii. 88 ; 
 aXsoiht History of King Leir; Six Old 
 Plays, etc., Nichols, ii. 417 : "I have 
 a heart compact of adamant." 
 
 8. generous] gallant, high-spirited, 
 courageous, befitting a person of noble 
 birth. . See Troilus and Cressida, II. 
 ii. 154: 
 
 "can it be 
 
 That so degenerate a strain as this 
 
 Should once set footing in your 
 generous bosoms ? " 
 
 8. as true] as truly stamped, hit off, 
 as true a likeness of my father. See 
 Winter's Tale, v. i. 127: "Your 
 father's image is so hit in you. " 
 
 12. More composition] a fuller 
 blending, mixture. See King John, 
 I. i. 88 : 
 
 ' ' Do you not read some tokens of 
 my son 
 In the large composition of this 
 man?" 
 Spoken of the bastard, Falconbridge. 
 
 14. fops] silly, foolish persons, not 
 dandies. See foppish, i. iv. 166, and 
 foppery, i.ii. 116. See also Mat, afool, 
 a fop, a gul, a mad pash, a harelsrained 
 ninny. Cotgrave, French Dictionary ; 
 also Lodge, Rosalind, p. loi (Shaks. 
 Library, Hazlitt, vol. ii. ) : " Sofoolish, 
 that lije a fop she forgets that she must 
 have alajge harvest for a little corn." 
 
sc. n] KING LEAR 29 
 
 Got 'tween asleep and wake ? Well then, i 5 
 
 Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land : 
 
 Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund 
 
 As to the legitimate. Fine word, " legitimate " ! 
 
 Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed. 
 
 And my invention thrive, Edmund the base 20 
 
 Shall to the legitimate — : I grow, I prosper ; 
 
 Now, gods, stand up for bastards ! 
 
 Enter GLOUCESTER. 
 
 Glou. Kent banish'd thus ! And France in choler parted ! 
 And the king gone to-night ! subscribed his power ! 
 Coniin'd to exhibition ! All this done 25 
 
 Upon the gad ! — Edmund, how now ! what news ? 
 
 15. asleep] Capell {asleep Pope) ; a sleepe Q I, F; sleepe Q 2 ; then] F, the Q. 
 18. Fine . . . "legitimate "] F, omitted Q. 21. Shall to the] Q, F (tooth' Q, 
 to'th' F), shall top Capell (Edwards conject. ). 24. subscribed] Q, prescribed F. 
 
 21. Shall to the] I retain the old Troilus and Cressida, IV. v. 105. 
 reading. "Top" first suggested by Schmidt prefers the Folio word " pre- 
 Edwards in his Canons of Criticism, scribed," and explains "his power is 
 and first put into the text by Capell, restricted, limited, confined in its ex- 
 is generally adopted. But "Shall to" ercise." Tovey explains "cancelled." 
 may be explained shall come up to, or 25. Confind to exhibition] re- 
 shall assail and get the better of; and it striated to an allowance or sum of 
 appears to me to make fair sense, and money for one's support, a. term still 
 to be in the manner of Shakespeare. in use at the universities ; and see Two 
 
 23. And France . . . parted!] In Gentlemen of Verona, I. iii. 69: 
 
 the recorded parting between Lear "What maintenance he from his 
 and France, 1. i., there is no appear- friends receives, 
 ance of any choler in France ; but see Like exhibition thou shalt have 
 I. i. 302, where another interview is from me." 
 spoken of ; this may have been de- See also The London Prodigal, i. I : 
 scribed in b. scene, afterwards struck "Father. What! doth he spend be- 
 out by Shakespeare or by the players ; yond the allowance I left him ? 
 also see II. iv. 215, where the epithet Uncle. How? Beyond that and 
 "hot-blooded" is applied to France. far. Yourexhibitionisnothing." 
 
 24. subscribed] Johnson explained And Cotgrave's French Dictionary : 
 "transferred by signing or subscribing " Exhibition, a gift or exhibition." 
 
 a writing or testimony." Thisispos- 26. Upon the gad!] suddenly as if 
 
 sibly right, but it may mean, as it is pricked by a gad or goad. Compare 
 
 commonly explained, " having yielded "on thespur of the moment," and the 
 
 up." For an example of this sense, see expression "on the spur," at full 
 
30 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 Edm. So please your lordship, none. 
 
 [Putting up the letter. 
 
 Glou. Why so earnestly seek you to put up that letter? 
 
 Edm. I know no news, my lord, 
 
 Glou. What paper were you reading ? 30 
 
 Edm. Nothing, my lord. 
 
 Glou. No ? What needed then that terrible dispatch 
 of it into your pocket ? the quality of nothing 
 hath not much need to hide itself. Let's 
 see : come ; if it be nothing, I shall not need 3 5 
 spectacles. 
 
 Edm. I beseech you, sir, pardon me ; it is a letter 
 from my brother that I have not all o'erread, 
 and for so much as I have perused, I find it 
 not fit for your o'erlooking. 40 
 
 Glou. Give me the letter, sir. 
 
 Edm. I shall offend, either to detain or give it. 
 The contents, as in part I understand them, 
 are to blame. 
 
 Glou. Let 's see, let 's see. 4 5 
 
 Edm. I hope, for my brother's justification, he 
 
 27. Putting . . . letter] Rowe ; omitted Q, F. 32. tieeded] F, needes 
 Q. 39. and\ F, omitted Q. 40. o'erlooking\ F, liking Q. 44. t6\ 
 <iZ;too Q, F. 
 
 speed; for which &e& Julius Ciesar, gad-fly. " Shakespeare uses "gadding " 
 
 V. iii. 29, and North's Plutarch's Lives for running about, in Ronieo and Juliet, 
 
 (Alexander), ed. iS9Si p- 741 : "They iv. ii. 16. Ritson explains "when the 
 
 ran upon the spurr until they had over- iron is hot"; Staunton, "upon the 
 
 taken the foremost that fledde." For spur or point, at the instant." 
 
 gad, a, sharp-pointed instrument, see 28. earnestly] eagerly, excitedly. 
 
 Titus Andronicus, iv. i. 103; compare So Troilus and Cressida, IV. ii. 41 : 
 
 also the expression " with that spur," "How earnestly they knock." 
 
 Timon of Athens, III. vi. 73 (i.e. with 32. terrible] frightened, 
 
 the same alacrity). Moberly explains 40. o'erlooking] inspection. See v. 
 
 "at haphazard." Johnson, "caprici- i. 50, and'Tiuo Gentlemen of Verona, 
 
 ously, as cattle run when stung by the i. ii. 50. 
 
sc. n.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 31 
 
 wrote this but as an essay or taste of my 
 virtue. 
 Glou. This policy and reverence of age makes the 
 world bitter to the best of our times ; keeps our 
 fortunes from us till our oldness cannot relish 
 them. I begin to find an idle and fond bondage 
 in the oppression of aged tyranny, who sways, 
 not as it hath power, but as it is suffered. Come 
 to ine, that of this T may speak more. If our 
 father would sleep till I wake him, you should 
 enjoy half his revenue for ever, and live the 
 beloved of your brother, EDGAR. — Hum ! Con- 
 spiracy ! " Sleep till I wake him, — you should 
 
 48. virtue,"] F, virtue. A letter Q. 
 This F; and reverence] F, omitted Q. 
 ■wakt Q. 
 
 47. essay\ trial. The word is identi- 
 cal with assay. To take the "assay" or 
 " say " of a dish was to try it, taste it. 
 See Hall's Chronicle, ed. 1550, p. 14. 
 ' ' The esquire which was accustomed to 
 serve and take the assay before King 
 Richard" ; also Gervase Markham, 
 Country Farm, p. 61 : " It is good to 
 make the assay at such time as the 
 north wind bloweth. " This reference 
 is to the tasting of wine. 
 
 47. taste] test, trial. See 2 Henry 
 IV. II. iii. 52 : 
 
 " Till that the nobles, and the armed 
 commons. 
 Have of their puissance made a 
 little taste." 
 The verb is in King John, v. vi. 28 : 
 "Who did taste to him?" i.e. who 
 did take the say of his food? See 
 also Speed's Chronicle, Edward I V. 
 c. xii. p. 696 : " Whereof we will 
 tender unto you, in the style of that 
 age, an essay or taste " ; and com- 
 pare the verb " taste," to try, in 
 Xeynard the Fox, Caxton's transla- 
 tion, Arber, p. 69: "With that he 
 
 SO 
 
 55 
 
 49. Glmi. This] Q, Glou. reads. 
 59. Sleep] F, Slept Q ; wake] F, 
 
 tasted to have taken somewhat," i.e. 
 attempted. 
 
 49. This policy and reverence of 
 age] Schmidt explains as "an hendia- 
 dys for the policy of reverencing age." 
 
 50. best of our times] the prime of 
 our lives, our golden time. See before, 
 I. i. 296, for the same expression. 
 
 51. till . . . relish] The Duke 
 in Measure for Measure, harps on 
 this string. See ill. i. 34-38. 
 
 51. relish] appreciate. 
 
 52, 53. to find . . . tyranny] I 
 begin to feel that to be thus oppressed 
 by an aged and tyrannical father is 
 nothing but a state of vain and foolish 
 servitude. 
 
 52. find] feel. See Measure for 
 Measure, v. i. 503: "I find an apt 
 remission in myself." 
 
 53, 54. who . . . suffered] who is 
 able to rule not through its own pure 
 strength, but from the fact that we 
 tamely bear it, endure it. 
 
 53. sways] rules. See 1 Henry VI. 
 III. i. 37: "It is, because no one 
 should sway but he." 
 
32 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 enjoy half his revenue." My son Edgar ! Had 60 
 he a hand to write this ? a heart and brain to 
 breed it in ? When came this to you ? Who 
 brought it? 
 Edm. It was not brought me, my lord ; there 's the 
 
 cunning of it; I found it thrown in at the 65 
 casement of my closet. 
 Glou. You know the character to be your brother's ? 
 Edm. If the matter were good, my lord, I durst 
 swear it were his ; but, in respect of that, I 
 would fain think it were not. 7° 
 
 Glou. It is his. 
 Edm. It is his hand, my lord ; but I hope his heart 
 
 is not in the contents. 
 Glou. Has he never before sounded you in this 
 
 business ? 75 
 
 Edm. Never, my lord : but I have heard him oft 
 
 maintain it to be fit that, sons at perfect age, 
 
 and fathers declined, the father should be as 
 
 ward to the son, and the son manage his 
 
 .,, revenue. 80 
 
 Glou. O villain, villain ! His very opinion in the 
 
 letter ! Abhorred villain ! Unnatural, detested, 
 
 62. this to you] Q, you to this? F. 71. // is his.] F, It is his? Q I, 
 Is it his ? Q 2. 74. Has] F, Hath Q ; before] F, heretofore Q. 76. 
 heard ... oft] F, often heard him Q. 7^- declined] F, declining Q ; the 
 father] F, his father Q. 79. his] F, the Q. 
 
 67. character] handwriting, as in "I am declined 
 
 Hamlet, IV. vii. 52 : Into the vale of years." 
 
 ' ' Laertes. Know you the hand ? 79. ward to] under the tutelage or 
 
 King. 'Tis Hamlet's character." guardianship of ; see Romeo and Juliet, 
 
 69. in respect of that] seeing ii\s as i. v. 42: 
 
 it is, «.«. far from good. "His son was but a ward two 
 
 78. declined] h.\\eA ; so Othello lu. years ago." 
 iii. 265 : 
 
sc. ii] KING LEAR 33 
 
 brutish villain ! worse than brutish ! Go, 
 sirrah, seek him; ay apprehend him. Abomin- 
 able villain ! Where is he ? 85 
 
 Edm. I do not well know, my lord. If it shall 
 please you to suspend your indignation against 
 my brother till you can derive from him better 
 testimony of his intent, you shall run a certain 
 course ; where, if you violently proceed against 90 
 him, mistaking his purpose, it would make a 
 great gap in your own honour, and shake in 
 pieces the heart of his obedience. I dare 
 pawn down my life for him, that he hath 
 wrote this to feel my affection to your honour, 95 
 and to no other pretence of danger. 
 
 Glou. Think you so? 
 
 Edm. If your honour judge it meet, I will place 
 you where you shall hear us confer of this, 
 and by an auricular assurance have your 100 
 
 84. sirrah^ F, sir Q ; ay\ Editor Cambridge Shakespeare, I Q, He F. 
 89. his\ F, this Q ; shall\ Q 2 ; should Q^ i, F. 94. that] F, omitted Q. 
 95. wrote] CI, writ Y . 96. other^Y, further Q. 
 
 90. where] wfcereas. See Corio- speak this, to feel other men's minds " ; 
 
 lanus,\. a. 13; Merchant of Venice, and Hall's Chronicle, 1548, p. 213: 
 
 IV. i. 22; also Gascoyne's Supposes, "or they had felt the minds and 
 
 1566; Hawkins' Origin of the English intents of the rude people." 
 
 Drama, 1773, vol. iii. p. 85 : " For 96. pretence of danger] dangerous 
 
 where I was desirous of a wife, by design or intention. So i. iv. 70, and 
 
 whom I might have issue . . . now see the Two Gentlemen of Verona, in. 
 
 have I little need, that, thanks be to i. 47 : 
 
 God, have found my dearly beloved "For love of you, not hatred of my 
 
 son." > friend, 
 
 92. gap] breach. See Winter's Tale, Hath made me publisher of this 
 
 IV. iii. 198: "break a foul gap into pretence." 
 
 the matter." See also I. iv. 75, and North's 
 
 94. pawn] stake. See note to i. i. Plutarch's Lives (fioriolanus), ed. 
 155. 1597, P- 256: "For these causes 
 
 95. feel] try, test, sound. See line Tullus thought he might no longer 
 68 ; also Henry V. iv. i. 131 : "You delay his pretence and enterprise." 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act I. 
 
 satisfaction; and that without any further 
 delay than this very evening. 
 
 Glou. He cannot be such a monster — 
 
 Edm. Nor is not, sure. 
 
 Glou. — to his father, that so tenderly and entirely 105 
 loves him. Heaven and earth ! Edmund, seek 
 him out; wind me into him, I pray you: 
 frame the business after your own wisdom. I 
 would unstate myself to be in a due resolution. 
 
 Edm. I will seek him, sir, presently ; convey the no 
 business as I shall find means, and acquaint 
 you withal. 
 
 Glou. These late eclipses in the sun and moon 
 
 103. vionster — ] Dyce ; monster. Q, 
 omitted F. 108. the] F ; your\ Q. 
 F, see Q. 
 
 106. Heaven and earth .'] See 
 Hamlet, i. v. 92. 
 
 107. wind . . . hmi] cautiously 
 find out his intentions. Me : dativus 
 ethicus. Wind, to make cautious, 
 indirect advances. So Coriolanus, 
 
 III. iii. 64: 
 
 " We charge you that you have 
 contrived 
 
 ... to wind 
 
 Yourself into a power tyran- 
 nical " ; 
 also Greenway's Tacitus, p. i : " After 
 he had wound himself into the favour 
 of the soldiers by gifts." See also 
 North's PlutarcK s lAfe of Coriolanus, 
 ed. 1597, p. 239, for "to wind out," 
 in the sense of " to cautiously extricate 
 oneself" from a difficult position : 
 ' ' Martius cryed out of them . . . how 
 that leaving the spoil, they should seek 
 to winde themselves out of danger and 
 perill." 
 
 108. frame\ fashion, manage. So 
 Winter's Tale, v. i. 91 ; S Henry IV. 
 
 IV. i. 180. 
 
 109. unstate myself^ give up my 
 
 F. i04-'lo6. Nor. 
 no. ■wilT\ 7,shall<^. 
 
 earth r\ Q, 
 III. find\ 
 
 position as a duke, forfeit my rank 
 and fortune. See Antony and Cleo- 
 patra, III. xiii. 30: "Caesar will Un- 
 state his happiness.'' 
 
 109. to be . . . rasolutiori\ to be 
 quite freed firora doubt and uncertainty 
 (as to this affair). So Othello, III. iii. 
 180: "No; to be once in doubt Is 
 once to be resolved," i.e. to be satis- 
 fied. Mason gives two instances of 
 resolution in this sense from Act in. 
 scene v. of Massinger's Picture : "I 
 have practised," says Sophia, " For my 
 certain resolution, with these cour- 
 tiers," etc. 
 
 1 10. presently^ at once. 
 
 no. wwz*^] manage, carry out with 
 secrecy and tact. "He conveyeth 
 his matters as easily as any man 
 that I know," Palsgrave's Lesclar- 
 cissement, 498. Steevens quotes Lyly, 
 Mother Bombie, ii. i : " Two may, 
 as they say, keep counsel if one be 
 away, to to convey knavery, two are 
 too feW, and four too many." 
 
 113. These late eclipses^ In Novem- 
 ber 1605 a great eclipse of the sun was 
 
sen] KING LEAR 35 
 
 portend no good to us : though the wisdom of 
 
 nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature 1 1 5 
 
 finds itself scourged by the sequent effects. 
 
 Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide : 
 
 in cities, mutinies ; in countries, discord ; in 
 
 palaces, treason ; and the bond cracked 'twixt 
 
 son and father. This villain of mine comes 120 
 
 under the prediction; there's son against 
 
 father: the king falls from bias of nature; 
 
 there's father against child. We have seen 
 
 the best of our time : machinations, hollowness, 
 
 treachery, and all ruinous disorders follow us 125 
 
 disquietly to our graves. Find out this villain, 
 
 Edmund ; it shall lose thee nothing : do it 
 
 carefully. And the noble and true-hearted 
 
 Kent banished ! his offence, honesty ! 'Tis 
 
 strange. [Exit. 130 
 
 115. if] F, omitted Q. Ii8. discord] F, discards Q. Ii8, iig. hi 
 
 palaces] F, palaces Q, 119. and the bond] F, the bond Q ; 'twixt] F, betweene 
 Q. 120-126. This . . . graves] F, omitted in Q. 129. honesty!] F, 
 honest Q. 129, 130. 'Tis strange] F, strange, strange! Q I, strange 
 
 strange! Q 2. 130. Exit] F, omitted Q. 
 
 visible in England, and this possibly 117. falls off] revolts. So IHenry 
 
 was in Shakesp&re's mind when writ- IV. I. iii. 94 : 
 
 ing the above ; just as the earthquake " Revolted Mortimer ! 
 
 which was felt in» England in 1580 He never did fall off, my sovereign 
 
 may have been in his mind when liege, 
 
 referring to the Mantua earthquake in But by the chance of war. " 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, I. iii. 23. 119. bond] See I. i. 93. 
 
 114, 115. though . . . thus] though 122. falls from bias of nature] 
 natural philosophy, or man's reason, runs against natural promptings, acts 
 the wisdom of the natural man, can unnaturally ; a metaphor from the Ian- 
 give various accounts of the cause of guage of bowling. See King John, 
 eclipses, though it professes to show 11. i. 574-580. 
 
 that they proceed from natural causes. 124. best of our time] See I. i. 
 
 115, 116. yet .... effects] yet still, 294; i. ii. 47. 
 
 it is strange that invariably after these 124. hollowness] falseness, insin- 
 
 prodigies, there should follow on dis- cerity. See i. i. 154, and Hamlet, 
 
 asters, wars, earthquakes, etc., which III. ii. 218 : "A hollow friend." 
 scourge mankind. 
 
36 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 Edm. This is the excellent foppery of the world, 
 that, when we are sick in fortune, often the 
 surfeit of our own behaviour, we make guilty 
 of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the 
 stars ; as if we were villains on necessity, fools 1 3 5 
 by heavenly compulsion, knaves thieves and 
 treachers by spherical predominance, drunkards 
 liars and adulterers by an enforced obedience 
 of planetary influence; and all that we are 
 evil in, by a divine thrusting on : an admirable 1 40 
 evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish 
 disposition to the charge of a star! My 
 father compounded with my mother under the 
 dragon's tail, and my nativity was under Ursa 
 major; so that it follows I am rough and 145 
 lecherous. Fut ! I should have been that I 
 
 133. surfeit] Cl,surfets'F. 134,135. the stars] Q, stars ¥. 135. on] 
 F, by Q. 137. iifachers] F, trecherers Q ; spherical] F, spiritual Q. 
 142. to] Q, ff« F ; a star /] F, stars Q. 146. Fu^ Q, omitted F, Tut Jennyns. 
 
 131. foppery] foolishness, stupidity, may that treachour then (he sajd) be 
 
 folly. See fop, I. ii, 14; foppish, i. found." (Spenser also uses the form 
 
 iv. 166. treachetour) ; and see Beaumont and 
 
 133. jM^zi] natural evil result. So Fletcher, Rollo, iii. i. 88. 
 
 Coriolanus, iv. i. 46: "thou art too \T,'j,spherica.lpredominance]'daio'a:^ 
 
 full Of the war's surfeits, to go rove," some special star being predominant, 
 
 i.e. of vifounds and their effects. ruling, at the hour of our birth. See 
 
 135. on] by. So Love's Labour's All's Well, I. i. 211. 
 
 Lost, I. i. 149: "She must lie here 140. divine thrusting on] a super- 
 
 on mere necessity." natural impelling, or incitement. 
 
 137. treachers] traitors; a, word 141. ^a//iA] lascivious. SeeOthello, 
 
 not used again by Shakespeare, but in. iii. 180. 
 
 which is common in the writers of 146. Fut] It is very strange that 
 
 his time. See Drant's translation of Dyce should have had any doubt 
 
 Horace, 1566 : "By art of usury, by that Fut of the Quarto was intended 
 
 guile and treachour's trade " ; also for the oath 'Foot or 'Sfoot ; as a 
 
 Anthony Munday, The Downfall of matter of fact, the phrase Fut, simply, 
 
 Robert, Earl of Huntingdon {Dodsley's is very common indeed, and there is 
 
 Old Plays, Hazlitt, viii. 192): "To no doubt at all but that it is right 
 
 hinder treachers God restoreth sight." here, and that Jennyns' change to Tut 
 
 It is several times found in Spenser's is quite unnecessary. See Marston's 
 
 Faerie Queene,ssva.\i.\. 12: "Where first paxt of Antonio and Mellida, II. i. 
 
sen.] KING LEAR 37 
 
 am had the maidenliest star in the firmament 
 twinkled on my bastardizing. Edgar — 
 
 Enter Edgar. 
 
 and pat he comes, like the catastrophe of the 
 old comedy : my cue is villanous melancholy, i 5 o 
 with a sigh like Tom o' Bedlam. O ! these 
 eclipses do portend these divisions. Fa, sol, 
 la, mi. 
 
 Edg. How now, brother Edmund ! What serious 
 
 contemplation are you in ? 155 
 
 Edm. I am thinking, brother, of a prediction I read 
 this other day, what should follow these 
 eclipses. 
 
 147. in\ F, it/'Q. 148. bastardizing] F, bastardy Q ; Edgar] Enter Edgar 
 
 Q, first £«§■«?- omitted F. 149. and pat^&ttevens, 1778; Edgar; and out 
 Q I (Enter Edgar in margin), Enter Y-A^axand out Q 2 ; Enter Edgar. Pat: 
 F. 150. my cue]Y,mine(i. 151. sigh'\Q2,¥ ; sitkQl; Tomo'^F, 
 
 them of Q. 152, 153. Fa . . . mi] F, (Me); omitted Q. 
 
 15: " Whoop : fut, how he tickles yon 152, 153. Fa . . . mi] Some have 
 
 trout under the gills, " Bullen ( Works), supposed that these musical notes 
 
 i. 34; also II. i. 71; and see the may have been suggested to Edmund 
 
 second part oi Antonio and Mellida, by the word "division," which had 
 
 I. i. 43, 80 ; I. ii. 43 ; also Marston, the sense of musical modulation. See 
 
 What You Will, IV. i. 270. 1 Henry IV. III. i. 211. A similar 
 
 149. pat] exactly when wanted, to play on the two meanings of the 
 
 the minute. word will be found in Beaumont and 
 
 151. like Tom 0' Bedlam] like a bed- Fletcher's play, The Coronation, iii. I : 
 
 lam beggar, or Abraham man. Tom " Is 't not pity any division 
 
 was the name generally assumed by Should be heard out of music ? " 
 
 these vagrants. See Audeley in his But Edward may only be singing. 
 
 Fraternitye of Vagabondes, 1565, Furness compares Mistress Quickly's 
 
 Viles and Furnivall, 1880, p. i : "An "down, down, adown a" in Meny 
 
 Abraham man is he that walketh bare Wives, I. iv. 44. 
 
 armed, and bare legged, and fayneth 157. this other day] a few days ago ; 
 
 himself mad, and caryeth a packe of ' ' the other day " is still used in this 
 
 wool, or a stycke with baken on it, or sense ; and compare Drayton, Eng- 
 
 such lyke toy, and naraeth himselfe land's Heroical Epistles, Rosamond to 
 
 poore Tom." Also in Ben Jonson, Henry II., line 93 : 
 
 The Devil is an Ass,\.\\. 11,^. Pug "As in the tarras here this other day, 
 
 there says, "Your best song 's Tom o' My maid and I did pass the time 
 
 Bethlem." away." 
 
38 KING LEAR [acti. 
 
 Edg. Do you busy yourself with that ? 
 
 Edm. I promise you the effects he writes of sue- 1 60 
 ceed unhappily ; as of unnaturalness between 
 the child and the parent ; death, dearth, dis- 
 solutions of ancient amities ; divisions in state ; 
 menaces and maledictions against king and 
 nobles; needless diffidences, banishment of 165 
 ■• friends, dissipation of cohorts, nuptial breaches, 
 
 and I know not what. 
 Edg. How long have you been a sectary astro- 
 nomical ? 
 
 Edm. Come, come; when saw you my father last? 170 
 
 Edg. The night gone by. 
 
 Edm. Spake you with him ? 
 
 Edg. Ay, two hours together. 
 
 Edm. Parted you in good terms ? Found you no 
 
 displeasure in him by word nor countenance ? 175 
 
 Edg. None at all. 
 
 Edm. Bethink yourself wherein you may have 
 offended him ; and at my entreaty forbear his 
 presence until some little time hath qualified 
 
 159. 'with'\Y , about <^. l6o. writeslY , wnt Q^. 161-iyo. as 0/ . . . 
 CoiiU, co7ne ;] Q, omitted in F. 163. amities] Q i, armies Q 2. 171. The 
 night] F, Why, the night Q i, Why the night Q 2. 173. Ay'] F (/), 
 omitted Q. 175. nor] F, 0;- Q. 179. until] F, till Ql. 
 
 160. succeed] turn out. of, one devoted to, a student of astro- 
 
 165. diffidences] suspicions. See logy. 
 
 1 Henry VI. in. iii. 10 : "We . . . 178, 11<). forbear his presetice^a-voiA 
 
 of thy cunning had no diffidence." meeting him. 
 
 166. dissipation of cohorts] This 179. ?2<o/yS«rf] mitigated. See Ta/a 
 does not read like Shakespeare. Gentlemen of Verona, 11. vii. 22 : 
 Perhaps it is corrupt. Can he have " I do not seek to quench your 
 written, "disputation of consorts," love's hot fire, 
 
 wrangling among fellowships, i.e. But qualify the fire's extremest 
 
 comrades? See 11. i. 98. rage." 
 
 168. sectary astronomical] follower 
 
sen.] KING LEAR 39 
 
 the heat of his displeasure, which at this 1 80 
 instant so rageth in him that with the mis- 
 chief of your person it would scarcely allay. 
 
 Edg. Some villain hath done me wi'ong. 
 
 Edm. That 's my fear, brother. I pray you have a 
 
 continent forbearance till the speed of his rage 185 
 goes slower, and as I say, retire with me to 
 my lodging, from whence I will fitly bring you 
 to hear my lord speak. Pray you, go ; there 's 
 my key. If you do stir abroad, go armed. 
 
 Edg. Armed, brother ! 1 90 
 
 Edm. Brother, I advise you to the best, go armed ; 
 I am no honest man if there be any good 
 meaning towards you; I have told you what 
 I have seen and heard ; but faintly, nothing 
 like the image and horror of it; pray you, 195 
 away. 
 
 Edg. Shall I hear from you anon ? 
 
 Edm. I do serve you in this business. \Exit Edgar. 
 
 A credulous father, and a brother noble. 
 Whose nature is so far from doing harms 200 
 
 182. scarcSly\ F, scarce Q. 184-191. fear . . . Edm. Brother^ F, 
 
 feare brother Q (omitting the rest). 188. yoii\ Rowe, ye F. 189. go 
 armed] Q, omitted F. 193. towards] Q, toward F. 198. Exit Edgar] 
 
 Q r (after line 196 Q 2), Exit (after line 197 F). 
 
 184, 185. have a . . . forbearance] 187. fitly] opportunely. So Timon 
 
 curb, restrain, your feelings, and keep of Athens, in. iv. in : 
 away. For forbear in the sense of "Timon. My steward ! 
 
 withdraw, see Antony and Cleopatra, Flavius. My lord. 
 
 V. ii. 175: "Forbear, Seleucus." Timon. So fitly?" 
 
 Forbearance is used in a similar sense 193. meaning] intention, purpose, 
 in Measure for Measure, iv. i. 22 : 194. faintly] mildly. 
 " I shall crave your forbearance a 195. image and horror] horrible 
 
 little," i.e. I request you to withdraw reality. The horror which an exact 
 
 for a little while. description would fill you with ; an 
 
 hendiadys. 
 
40 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 That he suspects none ; on whose foolish honesty 
 My practices ride easy ! I see the business. 
 Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit : 
 All with me 's meet that I can fashion fit. [Exzi. 
 
 SCENE III. — A Room in the Duke of Albany's 
 Palace. 
 
 Enter GONERIL; and Oswald, her Steward. 
 
 Gon. Did my father strike my gentleman for chiding 
 of his fool ? 
 
 Osiv. Ay, madam. 
 
 Gon. By day and night he wrongs me ; every hour 
 
 He flashes into one gross crime or other, 5 
 
 That sets us all at odds : I '11 not endure it : 
 
 His knights grow riotous, and himself upbraids us 
 
 On every trifle. When he returns from hunting 
 
 I will not speak with him ; say I am sick : 
 
 If you come slack of former services, i o 
 
 A Room . . . Palace] Capell, The Palace Rowe, omitted Q, F. Oswald, her 
 Steward Collier, Gentleman Q I, A Gentleman Q 2, Steward F. 3. Osw.] 
 Collier, Gent. Q, Ste. F ; Ay\ {/) F, Yes Q. 4. ni^hi ke,] Q, night, he, F. 
 
 202. practices] intrigues, complots. ' ' The flash and outbreak of a fiery 
 
 Shakespeare nearly always uses this mind." 
 
 word in a bad sense. 8. When . . . hunting] In the 
 
 story of King Lear as told by Laya- 
 
 „ men in his Brut, the two dukes 
 
 cicetu m. covenanted with Lear "that they 
 
 4. By day atid night] at all times, would provide for the king l)awks and 
 Not, as Malone explains it, an ex- hounds that he might ride over all 
 clamation, as it is in Hamlet, i. v. the country and live in bliss while he 
 164: "O day and night, but this is lived"; and later, it states "that he 
 wondrous strange ! " See also Beau- was by Maglaunus, i.e. Albany, well 
 mont and Fletcher, Wit at Several served, he and his fifty knights, with 
 Weapons, v. i. ; " Pompey. Night horses and with hounds," and Lear's 
 and day ! she might have com- hunting is mentioned at lea^t once 
 manded me." again in the poem. See Sir F. 
 
 5. flashes] breaks out, bursts out Madden's edition. 
 
 suddenly. Compare ^3ot/s^, II. i. 33 : lo. come . . . jct-j;?V«j] are less ser- 
 
sc. Ill] KING LEAR 41 
 
 You shall do well ; the fault of it I '11 answer. 
 
 Osw. He 's coming, madam ; I hear' him. {Horns within. 
 
 Gon. Put on what weary negligence you please, 
 
 You and your fellows ; I 'd have it come to question : 
 If he distaste it, let him to our sister, i 5 
 
 Whose mind and mine, I know, in that are one, 
 Not to be over-rul'd. Idle old man. 
 That still would manage those authorities ^,*; , 
 That he hath given away ! Now, by my life, 
 Old fools are babes again, and must be used 20 
 With checks as flatteries, when they are seen abused. 
 Remember what I have said. 
 
 Osw. Very well, madam. 
 
 Gon. MxxA let his knights have colder looks among you ; 
 What grows of it, no matter; advise your fellows so: 
 I would breed from hence occasions, and I shall, 2 5 
 That I may speak : I '11 write straight to my sister 
 To hold my very course. Prepare for dinner. 
 
 \Exeunt. 
 
 12. Horns . . .] Capell ; omitted Q, F. 1^. fellows'] ¥, fellow servants Q 
 (hyphened Q 2) ; to^Y, inQ. 15. distaste']¥ , dislike Q^; our]Q, mj/F. 17-21. 
 JVot to be . . . abus''d\ Q, omitted F. 22. have said] F, tell you Q ; Very well] 
 Q, Well v. , 25, 26. I would . . . speak] Q, omitted F. 27. very] Q, 
 omitted F ; Prepare] F, Go prepare Q. Exeunt] Q, Exit F. 
 
 viceable, less duteous to him, than you That doth in jealous Kings dis- 
 
 formerly were. See 11. iv. 248 ; also taste the Peers. " 
 
 0/^«//(j, IV. iii. 38, "if they slack their See also the romance of George a 
 
 duties." Compare "come short," to fall Green : "this accident, though it dis- 
 
 short, Measure for Measure, v. i. 220. tasted some, yet it pleased others," 
 
 13. weary] yawning, or with a look Pickering, 1827, p. 7. 
 
 of sickness and disgust. See Pericles, 20,21. Old . . . afej'rf] old men, 
 
 V. i. 58. through dotage, lapse into second 
 
 14. to question] to be discussed. childhood, and must be treated as 
 
 1 5. distaste it] dislike it, relish it children, must be checked when kind- 
 not. So Troilus and Cressida, II. ii. nesses are abused ; or else must be 
 66 ; also Daniel, Philotas, I. i. 24 : checked when they (old fools) are seen 
 
 " Your entertainments, gifts, and to be deceived, and misled by their 
 public grace, followers. 
 
f 
 
 42 KING LEAR [acti. 
 
 SCENE IV. — A Hall in the same. 
 
 Enter KENT, disguised. 
 
 Kent If but as well I other accents borrow, 
 
 That can my speech defuse, my good intent 
 May carry through itself to that full "issue 
 For which I razed my likeness. Now, banish'd Kent, 
 If thou canst serve where thou dost stand con- 
 demn'd, 5 
 
 So may it come, thy master, whom thou lovest. 
 Shall find thee full of laboursJy> 
 
 Horns within. Enter Lear, Knights, and 
 Attendants. 
 
 Lear. Let me not stay a jot for dinner : go, get it 
 
 ready. \Exit an Attendant. 
 
 How now! what art thou:? lo 
 
 A Hall . , . same] Capell; omitted Q, F. Enter Kent, disguised] 
 Rowe ; Enter Kent Q, F. i. welll Q, willV. 6. So may it come] F, 
 omitted Q. 7. ihee full] F, the full Q ; labours] F, labour Q. Horns 
 within] F, omitted Q. Knights and Attendants] Rowe ; and Attendants 
 F ; omitted Q. 9. Exit an Attendant] Malone ; To an Attendant who 
 goes out Capell. 
 
 2. defuse] disorder, confuse, render be no way an Englishman but by 
 indistinct. Diffuse, introduced by face " ; see also " diffusedly," Beau- 
 Theobald, is exactly the same word, mont and Fletcher, Nice Valour, iii. 3. 
 Theobald, by the way, read un- " Go not so diffusedly," the previous 
 necessarily, "And can my speech stage-direction, describes the person 
 diffuse." Rowe had previously read, addressed as "rudely and carelessly 
 "And can my speech disuse." See apparelled." 
 
 " defused attire, ^^«»r)/ V. v. ii. 61. 2-4. my . . . likeness] I may be 
 
 So Folio I (diffus'd Folio 3), and able to carry out the good purpose 
 
 " diffused song," Merry Wives, iv. which made me so to disguise myself, 
 
 iv. 54, for "uncouth song." Nares i.e. I might be able to attend on my 
 
 quotes R. Greene's Greenes Farewell king and master. 
 
 to Folly, Grosart, vol. ix. p. 253 : " I 8. stay] wait. See Two Gentlemen 
 
 have seen an English gentleman so of Verona, i. ii. 131 : "Dinner is 
 
 defused in his suits, his doublet being ready, and thy father stays." 
 
 from the wear of Castile, his hose 8. jot] instant, 
 from Venice, . . . that he seemed to 
 
SC. IV.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 43 
 
 Kent. A man, sir. 
 
 Lear. What dost thou profess? What would'st 
 thou with us ? 
 
 Kent. I do profess to be no less than I seem ; to 
 
 serve him truly that will put me in trust ; to 15 
 love him that is honest ; to converse with him 
 that is wise, and says little ; to fear judgment ; 
 to fight when I cannot choose ; and to eat no 
 fish. 
 
 Lear. What art thou ? 20 
 
 I'Cent. A very honest-hearted fellow, and as poor as 
 the king. 
 
 Lear. If thou be as poor for a subject as he is for a 
 king, thou art poor enough. What would'st 
 thou ? 25 
 
 Kent. Service. 
 
 Lear. Who would'st thou serve? 
 
 24. thou art] Q 2, F ; thai^t Q i. 
 
 23. be] Q, b^st F ; he is] Q, he 's F, 
 27. Who] Q, F ; Whom F 2. 
 
 12. What . . . profess 7] what is 
 your business, what can you do ? See 
 All's Well that Ends Well, 11. i. 105 : 
 " In what he did profess, well found." 
 
 16. converse] (accented on the first 
 syllable) to keep company with, con- 
 sort with. See As You Like It, v. 
 ii. 66 : "I have, since I was three 
 years old, conversed with a magi- 
 cian. " 
 
 17. fear judgment], i.e. coming 
 before a judge (Capell) ; or else, the 
 last judgment (Eccles). 
 
 18. when I cannot choose] when 
 I have no alternative, when I inust. 
 See AlVs Well that Ends Well, 
 I. i. 158. 
 
 18, 19. eat no fish] as W^arburton 
 explains it, " I am no papist, no dis- 
 affected fellow, but a friend to the 
 Government," quoting Beaumont 
 
 and Fletcher, The Woman Hater, 
 iv. 2 : 
 
 " I am glad, gentlemen, you have 
 discovered him ; he should not 
 
 Have eaten under my roof for 
 twenty pounds ; 
 
 And surely 
 
 I did not like him when he 
 called for fish " 
 (Julia exclaiming on J^azarillo the 
 " smell-feast," who had been hunting 
 for ' ' the umbrana's head "). Also Mar- 
 ston, The Dutch Courtezan : "I trust 
 I am none of the wicked that eat fish 
 on Fridays." Capell explains " I am 
 no weakling." See Z Henry IV. 
 IV. iii. 99, where Falstaff speaks of 
 "these demure boys who never come 
 to any proof ; for thin drink doth so 
 over-cool their bloods, and making 
 many fish meals." 
 
44 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 Kent. You. 
 
 Lear. Dost thou know me, fellow ? 
 
 Kent. No, sir ; but you have that in your counten- 30 
 ance which I would fain call master. 
 
 Lear. What 's that ? 
 
 Kent. Authority. 
 
 Lear. What services canst thou do ? 
 
 Kent. I can keep honest counsel, ride, run, mar a 35 
 curious tale in telling it, and deliver a plain 
 message bluntly ; that which ordinary men are 
 fit for, I am qualified in, and the best of me is 
 diligence., 
 
 Lear. How old art thou ? 40 
 
 Kent. Not so young, sir, to love a woman for 
 singing, nor so old to dote on her for anything ; 
 I have years on my back forty-eight. 
 
 Lear. Follow me ; thou shalt serve me : if I like 
 
 thee no worse after dinner I will not part from 45 
 thee yet. Dinner, ho ! dinner ! Where 's my 
 knave ? my fool ? Go you and call my fool 
 hither. \Exit an Attendant. 
 
 34. thoul Q 2, F; omitted Q t. 41. sir\ F, omitted Q. 44. thoiC^ 
 Q, F I ; that F 2. 48. Exit . . .] To an Attendant Capell. 
 
 35. keep honest counsel] keep a 38. qtialified in\ suited for. See 
 secret of an honourable kind. Cymbeline, I. iv. 65. 
 
 36. curious] complicated, elaborate, 47. knwoe] boy, lad, the old sense 
 opposed to plain. Schmidt explains of the word, as in I. iv. 107, also 
 "elegant, nice." Compare the sense Julius Casar, IV. iii. 269: "Gentle 
 ofcuriosityin North's Plutarch' s Lives knave, good night" (Brutus addresses 
 ( Tiberius and Caius), ed. 1 597, p. his page) ; Lear several times ad- 
 865 : ' ' Tiberius' words . . . being dresses the fool as ' ' my boy " ; see 
 very proper and excellently applied, lines 142 and 148 of this scene, and as 
 where Caius' words were full of fine- "lad," line 150. 
 
 nesse and curiosity." 
 
sc. IV.] KING LEAR 45 
 
 Enter OSWALD, 
 You, you, sirrah, where 's my daughter ? 
 Osw. So please you, — {Exit. 50 
 
 Lear. What says the fellow there ? Call the 
 
 clotpoU back. {Exit a Knight. 
 
 Where 's my fool, ho ? I think the world 's 
 asleep. 
 
 Re-enter Knight. 
 
 How now ! where 's that mongrel ? 55 
 
 Knight. He says, my lord, your daughter is not well. 
 
 Lear. Why came not the slave back to me when I 
 called him ? 
 
 Knight. Sir, he answered me in the roundest 
 
 manner, he would not. 60 
 
 Lear. He would not ! 
 
 Knight. My lord, I know not what the matter is ; 
 but, to my judgment, your highness is not 
 entertained with that ceremonious affection as 
 you were wont; there's a great abatement of 65 
 kindness appears as well in the general de- 
 pendants as in the duke himself also and your 
 daughter. 
 
 Enter Oswald Capell ; Enter Steward (at line 49) F, Q. 49. You, you] 
 F, You Q. 52. Exit a Knight Dyce ; omitted Q, F. 54. Re-enter Knight 
 Dyce ; omitted Q, F. 56. daughter] Q, daughters F. 59, 62. 
 
 ICnight] F, Servant Q. 61. He] Q 2, F; ^ Q i. 65, 66. of kindness] 
 F, omitted Q. 
 
 52. clotpoll] blockhead, clown, liter- 59. roundest] plainest, clearest, al- 
 
 ally clod-pate ; see Troilus and Cres- most rudest ; see round, Hamlet, m. 
 
 sida, II. i. 128. It is found in Twelfth i. 191 : " let her be round with him " 
 
 Night, III. iv. 208, in the form clod- — speak out the plain truth to him ; 
 
 pole ; see also Brome, The Northern also Holinshed's Chronicle, ed. 1809, 
 
 Lasse, I. v\. 1^ : p. 442: "and being rebuked with 
 
 ^'' Ho. I said that as you bade me some disdainful speeches of these 
 
 forsooth. Poictevins, he shaped a round an- 
 
 Fit. As I bade you, clotpoll ? " swer." 
 
46 KING LEAR [acti. 
 
 Lear. Ha ! sayest thou so ? 
 
 Knight. I beseech you, pardon me, my lord, if I be 70 
 mistaken ; for my duty cannot be silent when 
 I think your highness wronged. 
 
 Lear. Thou but rememberest me of mine own con- 
 ception : I have perceived a most faint neglect 
 of late ; which I have rather blamed as mine 7 5 
 own jealous curiosity than as a very pretence 
 and purpose of unkindness : I will look further 
 into 't. But where 's my fool ? I have not 
 seen him this two days. 
 
 Knight. Since my young lady's going into France, 80 
 sir, the fool hath much pined away. 
 
 Lear. No more of that ; I have noted it well. Go 
 you, and tell my daughter I would speak with 
 her. \Exit an Attendant. 
 
 Go you, call hither my fool. \Exit an Attendant. 85 
 
 70, etc. Knight] F, Servant Q. 72. ivronged] Q i, F ; is wronged (^ 2. 
 77. purpose] Y, purport Q. 78. my] F, this Q. 82. well] F, omitted Q. 
 84, 85. Exit an Attendant] Dyce ; omitted Q, F. 
 
 73. rememberest] remindest. So "J sojourned in my eldest daughter's 
 Winter's Tale, HI. ii. 231 : " I'll not hoiise 
 
 remember you of my own lord " ; and Where, for a time, I was intreated 
 
 Ford, The Level's Melancholy, ii. i : well . . . 
 
 ' ' I will remember you of an old tale But every day her kindness did 
 
 thatsomethingconcernsyou." GiflFord, grow cold 
 
 Works, 1827, i. 38. Which I, with patience put up 
 
 74. most faint] hardly perceptible, well enough, 
 
 very slight. Schmidt explains ' ' dull, And seemed not to see the things 
 
 languid, cold, "comparing i5/za&«ff?»i!e?" I saw." 
 
 JVight's Dream, i. i. 73. Compare Nichol's 5zjir Old Plays, 1779, ii. 451. 
 
 " Feynt, segnis Promptorium Parvulo- 76. curiosity] explained by Steevens 
 
 rum,"i440. Furness argues that Lear, as "a punctilious jealousy, resulting 
 
 at this stage of the play, would not from a scrupulous watchfulness of his 
 
 have stood "most cold neglect." This own dignity." See note to i. i. 6 ; 
 
 passage in the old play the History of also i. ii. 4. 
 
 King Leir makes for the meaning "](>. very pretence] true, real plan 
 
 " languid, cold." Leir, speaking to or design. So i. ii. 25. 
 
 Cordelia of Gonorill, says : 80, 81. Since . . . away] By this 
 
sc. IV.] KING LEAR 47 
 
 Re-enter OSWALD. 
 
 O ! you sir, you sir, come you hither, sir. 
 
 Who am I, sir? ^^ 
 Osw. My lady's father. 
 Lear. " My lady's father " ! my lord's knave : you 
 
 whoreson dog ! you slave ! you cur ! 90 
 
 Osw. I am none of these, my lord ; I beseech your 
 
 pardon. 
 Lear. Do you bandy looks with me, you rascal ? 
 
 [Striking him. 
 Osw. I '11 not be strucken, my lord. 
 
 Kent. Nor tripped neither, you base foot-ball player. 9 5 
 
 [Tripping up his heels. 
 Lear. I thank thee, fellow; thou servest me, and 
 
 I'll love thee. 
 
 Re-enter Oswald Collier; Re-enter Steward Capell, omitted Q, F. 
 86. you sir . . . sir] 7, you sir, come you hither Q^. 91. thesel F, thisQ. 
 91, 92. your pardon] F, you pardon me Q. 93. Striking him] Rowe ; omitted 
 Q, F. 94. strucken] F, struck Q^. 95. Tripping . . .] Rowe; omitted 
 Q, F. 
 
 delicate stroke Shakespeare gives us at tennis.'' Compare the common ex- 
 
 an insight into the characters of Cor- pression "to bandy words." Seen. iv. 
 
 delia and of Lear, and also of the 178, " to bandy hasty words." Also 
 
 Fool, who, by the way, seems to be Tatningof the Shrew, \.ii. 172: "To 
 
 the most perfect of all the poet's won- bandy word for word, and frown for 
 
 derfiil creations of that kind of person- frown." And Beaumont and Fletcher, 
 
 age. Fair Maid of the Inn : 
 
 93. bandy looks] to impudently ex- " I '11 not bandy words, 
 
 change glances, to endeavour to out- But thus dissolve the contract." 
 
 face, outlook, or bear down with looks. 94. strucken] stricken dumb with 
 
 To bandy is a term in the game of wonder ; see Coriolanus, iv. v. i ; and 
 
 tennis, meaning to toss or drive the 'Dx&yKo^, England' s Heroical Epistles, 
 
 ball from side to side. See Cotgrave, Edward the Fourth to Jane Shore, 
 
 " Tripoter, to bandie, or tosse to and line 14. 
 
 fro as a ball at tennis." Malone quotes 95. you . . . foot-ball player] "Y^m 
 
 "Cole, Diet. 1679" (really Elisha game of football was at this time 
 
 Cole's En,^lish - Latin Dictionary, played much by idle boys in the 
 
 1679): " Clava pilam torquere, to streets, in Cheapside, etc. , to the great 
 
 bandie aball; reticulo pellere,to bandie annoyance of the citizens. 
 
48 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act I. 
 
 Kent. Come, sir, arise, away ! I '11 teach you differ- 
 ences : away, away ! If you will measure your 
 lubber's length again, tarry ; but away ! Go i oo 
 to ; have you wisdom ? so. {Pushes Oswald out. 
 
 Lear. Now, my friendly knave, I thank thee : 
 
 there's earnest of thy service. \Gives Kent money. 
 
 Enter Fool. 
 
 Fool. Let me hire him too : here 's my coxcomb. 
 
 \Offers Kent his cap. 
 Lear. How now, my pretty knave! how dost thou? 105 
 Fool. Sirrah, you were best take my coxcomb. 
 
 98. arise, away] F, omitted Q. lOO, loi. Go to\ F, omitted Q. loi. 
 have you wisdom ? so] Theobald, Aave you wisdom, so F, you have wisedome 
 Q. Pushes . . .] Theobald (substantially), omitted Q, F. 102. my] F, 
 omitted Q. 103. Gives . . .] Capell. 104. Offers Kent . . .] Capell 
 (substantially). 
 
 98. I'll . . . differences] "I '11 teach 
 you your position, which you know 
 not, the difference between the king 
 and a base mongrel like yourself. " 
 
 99, 100. measure . . . length] See 
 Cymbeline, I. ii. 25 : " Till you had 
 measured what a fool you were upon 
 the ground" ; also Midsummer Nigkf s 
 Dream, III. ii. 429 ; Romeo and Juliet, 
 III. iii. 70. 
 
 loi. have you wisdojji?] are you 
 in your senses, that you dare to be 
 so familiar and outspoken in the pre- 
 sence of the king ? The Lord Chief 
 Justice similarly, in S Henry IV. v. v. 
 49, addresses Falstaff in the presence 
 of Henry v. ; "Have you your wits? 
 Know you to whom you speak?" 
 
 103. ?ar««j^] earnest-money, a small 
 sum paid to secure a bargain, called 
 also hansel, god's-penny, arles. See 
 Henry V. n. ii. 169 : 
 
 " And from his coffers 
 Received the golden earnest of 
 his death." 
 We find in Junius' The Nomenclator, 
 
 Higgins, 1585: "Arha, an earnest- 
 penny, or God's pennie, money which 
 is given to confirm and assure a bar- 
 gain." See also Greene's Philomela, 
 Grosart, Works, xi. 183 : "And pull- 
 ing his purse out of his pocket, gave it 
 to him for an earnest-penny for future 
 friendship. " 
 
 104. coxcom,b] the cap of the profes- 
 sional fool. We read in Minshew's 
 Ductor in Linguas, 1617: "Natural 
 idiots and fools have, and still accus- 
 tom themselves to wear, cock's 
 feathers, or a hat with the neck and 
 head of a cock on the top, with a bell 
 thereon." See Douce, Illustrations 
 of Shakespeare, 1807, for representa- 
 tions, and there is a beautiful one 
 prefixed to Rowland's Fool upon Fool. 
 
 106. you were best] it were, it would 
 be best for you, are forms very com- 
 mon in Shakespeare. We find also 
 the forms " I were best," " thou wert 
 best." See Speed's Chronicle, p. 
 1136 : " My counsel is that you were 
 best to yield." 
 
sc. IV.] KING LEAR 49 
 
 Kent. Why, fool ? 
 
 Fool. Why ? for taking one's part that's out of favour. 
 Nay, an thou canst not smile as the wind sits, 
 thou 'It catch cold shortly : there, take my cox- i lo 
 comb. Why, this fellow has banished two on's 
 daughters, and did the third a blessing against 
 his will : if thou follow him thou must needs 
 wear my coxcomb. How now, nuncle 1 Would 
 I had two coxcombs and two daughters ! 115 
 
 Lear. Why, my boy ? 
 
 Fool. If I gave them all my living, I 'd keep my 
 coxcombs myself There 's mine ; beg another 
 of thy daughters. 
 
 Lear. Take heed, sirrah ; the whip. 1 20 
 
 Fool. Truth 's a dog must to kennel ; he must be 
 
 whipped out when Lady the brach may stand 
 
 by the fire and stink. 
 
 107. Kent. Why\ Q, Lear. Why F ; Why, fooir\ Q, Why my Boy ? F. 
 108. one's] Q 2, F ; on's Q i. iii. has] F, hath Q ; on's] Q i, F ; of his 
 Q 2. 112. did\ F, done Q. 117. all my] F, any Q. 118. cox- 
 
 combs] Q I,. F; coxcombe Q 2. 121. Truth's a\ F, Truth is a Q; mtist 
 
 to] F, that must to Q. 122. Lady the brach] Malone (Steevens, comma 
 
 after " Lady" ), Lady oth'e brach Q, the Lady Brach F. 
 
 167. Kent, ^/^j/, y»o/] this speech uncle." The expressions nuncle and 
 
 is in the Folio wrongly given to Lear, naunt are still in use in Yorkshire for 
 
 log. as . . . sits] as the fortunes uncle and aunt. See F. A. Robinson's 
 
 of men veer up and down ; to sit — of Whitby Words, Eng. Dial. Soc, 1871. 
 
 the wind — to be in a certain quarter. 117. living] property. See Mer- 
 
 So Much Ado, II. iii. 103 : " Sits the chant of Venice, v. i. 286. 
 
 wind in that corner." Compare for 122. Lady the brach] In 1 Henry 
 
 the same idea, II. ii. 75= IT^- HI. i. 240, Hotspur says: "I 
 
 " Such smiling rogues as these . . . had rather hear Lady my brach, howl 
 
 . . . turn their halcyon beaks in Irish." Brach, French brae, or 
 
 With every gale and vary of their braque, was the name given to a 
 
 masters. " species of small hound which hunted 
 
 1 10. catch cold] be turned out. by scent. See Troilus and Cressida, 
 
 111. o»'j]ofhis. II. i. 126, and this play, in. vi. 68; 
 IT4. «««c/e .'] Nares notes that " the but it was generally in Shakespeare's 
 
 customary appellation of the licensed day used (to quote the Gentleman's Re- 
 fool to his superiors was nuncle or creation) as " a mannerly name for all 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act 
 
 Lear. A pestilent gall to me ! 
 
 Fool. Sirrah, I '11 teach thee a speech. 
 
 Lear. Do. 
 
 Fool. Mark it, nuncle : 
 
 Have more than thou showest. 
 Speak less than thou knowest, 
 Lend less than thou owest, 
 Ride more than thou goest. 
 Learn more than thou trowest, 
 Set less than thou throwest ; 
 Leave thy drink and thy whore. 
 And keep in-a-door, 
 
 125 
 
 130 
 
 13s 
 
 124. galT\ F, gull Q. 
 hyphened by Capell. 
 
 127. mmcle] F, uncle Q. 135. in-a-door^ 
 
 hound bitches." That this meaning 
 for it was creeping in as early as Henry 
 the Eighth's reign, appears from a 
 passage in Sir Thomas Mora's Com- 
 fort against Tribulation, p. 199, 
 ed. 1573 : " I am so cunning, i.e. un- 
 skilful (ironical), that I cannot tell 
 whether among them {i.e. in the 
 phrase of hunting men) a bitch be a 
 bitch, but as I remember she is no 
 bitch, but a brach. " I find in Rowland's 
 Martin Mar-alts Apology, the term 
 "Friskin Fitzfizler, my lady brach." 
 
 124. A pestilent gall to me!'] The 
 exact significance of these words is 
 not clear. Does Lear connect truth 
 of the last speech with Cordelia, and 
 "Lady the brach" with his more 
 favoured daughters, and are the words 
 another expression of the bubbling-up 
 sorrow for his conduct towards his 
 younger daughter, as if he would say 
 ' ' a plague take me for my folly " ? or is 
 the FodI the ' ' pestilent gall " which 
 continues "gleeking and galling" at 
 him ? or again, is the expression indica- 
 tive of Oswald's late impudent demean- 
 our, which is still rankling in his mind ? 
 
 128. ffizve . . . showest'] do not 
 parade thy wealth. 
 
 129. Speak . . . knowesf] be not 
 a babbler, be reticent. 
 
 1 30. Lend . . . ozaesf] do not lend 
 all thou possessest. For this, a frequent 
 sense of owe, see Richard II. IV. 
 i. 185. 
 
 131. Side . . . goest'] lake the 
 world easy. For go in the sense of 
 walk, see Sonnet cxxx. 11. 
 
 132. Learn . . . trowest] believe 
 not all you hear. For trowin the sense 
 of believe, see 2 Henry VI. II. iv. 
 
 , 38 : "Trowest thou that e'er I '11 look 
 upon the world." Furness, following 
 Capell, explains, "learn more than 
 thou already know." This seems 
 forced. Tovey thinks it may mean 
 "ascertain much, and don't indulge 
 in guessing." 
 
 133. Set . . . throwest] be cau- 
 tious in gaming. Do not stake all 
 thou winnest at a throw. See 
 Richard II. IV. i. 57 : "Who sets me 
 else? by heaven, I'll throw at all." 
 
 135. in-a-door] in doors, at home. 
 Compare Dialogue prefixed to Per- 
 
sc. IV.] KING LEAR 51 
 
 And thou shalt have more 
 Than two tens to a score. 
 Kent. This is nothing, fool. 
 Fool. Then 'tis Hke the breath of an unfee'd lawyer ; 
 
 you gave me nothing for 't. Can you make no 1 40 
 use of nothing, nuncle ? 
 Lear. Why, no, boy ; nothing can be made out of 
 
 nothing. 
 Fool. [To Kent.] Prithee, tell him, so much the rent 
 
 of his land comes to: he will not believe a 145 
 fool. 
 Lear. A bitter fool ! 
 
 Fool. Dost thou know the difference, my boy, be- 
 tween a bitter fool and a sweet fool ? 
 Lear. No, lad ; teach me. 1 5 o 
 
 Fool. That lord that counsell'd thee 
 
 To give away thy land. 
 Come place him here by me. 
 
 Do thou for him stand : 
 The sweet and bitter fool 1 5 5 
 
 Will presently appear ; 
 The one in motley here, 
 The other found out there. 
 
 138. Kent] F, Lear Q. 139. 'Us] F, omitted Q. 141. nuncle\ F, uncle Q. 
 144. [To Kent] Rowe ; omitted Q, F. 148. Dost thou] F, ZIost Q. 149. 
 sweet faoir] Q, sweet one F. 151-167. That lord . . . snatching] Q, omitted F. 
 
 cival's Spanish Dictionary, 1594, p. I47- Uttet^ cruelly sarcastic. ^^ See 
 
 64, "without daring to come near, As You Like It, in. v. 69: "I'll 
 
 nor to come forth-a-doores. " sauce her with bitter words." 
 
 138. This is nothing] I think 151. TT^a^ /o>-rf] Skalliger, a lord in 
 it is right to give this line, as the the old play, who gives certain advice 
 Folio does, to Kent, rather than, to Leir about the division of the 
 with the Quarto, to Lear, for in the kingdom, may have been in Shake- 
 first clause of the fool's speech he speare's mind here, 
 seems to be clearly addressing Kent. lyj. motley] the pied, or parti- 
 
52 KING LEAR [acti. 
 
 Lear. Dost thou call me fool, boy,? 
 
 Fool. All thy other titles thou hast given away; i6o 
 that thou wast born with. 
 
 Kent. This is not altogether fool, my lord. 
 
 Fool. No, faith, lords and great men will not let 
 me; if I had a monopoly out, they would 
 have part on't: and ladies too, they will not 165 
 let me have all the fool to myself; they'll 
 be snatching. Nuncle, give me an egg, and 
 I '11 give thee two crowns. 
 
 Lear. What two crowns shall they be? 
 
 Fool. Why, after I have cut the egg i' the middle 170 
 and eat up the meat, the two crowns of the 
 ^Z?,- When thou clovest thy crown i' the 
 middle, and gavest away both parts, thou 
 borest thine ass on thy back o'er the dirt : 
 thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown when 175 
 thou gavest thy golden one away. If I speak 
 
 164. out\ Q, onH Pope. 165. on't: and . . . too] Capell, an't, and 
 
 ladies too Q I (some copies), a'nt, and lodes too Q I (some copies), on 't and 
 lodes too Q 2. 166. all the fool] Q I, all fool Q 2. 167. Nuncle . . . egg] F, 
 l^ve me an egg, nuncle Q. 174. thine] F, thy Q ; on thy] Q 2, F ; at'h Q I. 
 
 coloured, dress of the domestic fool, from the drama attacking them. See 
 
 Seeyijj/oz^iz/^e//, II. vii. 43, 44. It Malone's .Sia^ej^iore, Boswell, 1821, 
 
 is very often referred to by the dramatic x. 57. 
 
 authors of the time. See Ben Jonson, 173, 174. thou . . . ass] ^sop's 
 
 Epigram, liii. : well-known fable of the man, his two 
 
 ' ' For, but thyself, where, out of sons, and the ass is referred to, a pithy 
 
 motley's he rendering of which was given by 
 
 Could save that line to dedicate Warner in his "Albion's England," 
 
 to thee?" which poem, first published in 1586, 
 
 164. monopoly out] i.e. one granted, had appeared in 1602, " revised newly 
 
 In spite of the Declaratory Act and enlarged by the author." 
 against monopolies, passed at the 176-178. If . . . so] Perhaps it 
 
 end of Elizabeth's reign, James I. means : If my words are folly, yet it 
 
 constantly granted them to his being your interest to believe them 
 
 needy courtiers, and there was a good sense, let the finder out of them 
 
 great popular outcry in consequence, for folly be whipped, for he can be no 
 
 Steevens quotes various passages friend of yours. 
 
sc. IV.] KING LEAR 53 
 
 like myself in this, let him be whipped that 
 
 first finds it so. 
 
 Fools had ne'er less grace in a year ; 
 
 For wise men are grown foppish, 1 80 
 
 And know not how their wits to wear, 
 
 Their manners are so apish. 
 
 Lear. When were you wont to be so full of songs, 
 
 sirrah ? 
 
 Fool. I have used it, nuncle, ever since thou madest 185 
 
 thy daughters thy mothers ; for when thou 
 
 gavest them the rod and puttest down thine 
 
 own breeches. 
 
 Then they for sudden joy did weep. 
 
 And I for sorrow sung, 190 
 
 That such a king should play bo-peep, 
 
 And go the fools among. 
 
 179. grace] F, wit Q. i8i. And] F, They Q ; to] F, do Q. 185. 
 
 ever\ Q, ere F. 186. mothers] F, mother Q. 189-192. Then , . . 
 
 among] put into stanza form by Theobald. 192. fools] Q, Foole, F. 
 
 179. Fools . . . year] Johnson 189, 190. Then . . . sung] We 
 explains: "There was never a time find in Hey wood's Hajie of Lucrece, 
 when fools were less in favour than 1608, as Steevens pointed out, that 
 now, and the reason is they were Valerius sings the following verse : 
 never so little wanted, for wise men " When Tarquin first in court began, 
 now supply their place." Malone And was approved king : 
 quotes a parallel from Lyly, Mother Some men for sudden joy 'gan 
 Bombie, ii. 3 : "I think gentlemen weep, 
 
 had never less wit in a year." See But I for sorrow sing." 
 
 Fairholt, Works, ii. 98. See Works, Pearson, v. 179. The 
 
 180. foppish] foolish.t. See note to first two lines are evidently, by the 
 I. ii^ 14. way, a parody of the first two of the 
 
 185. used it] made a practice of ballad of Sir Lancelot du Lake : 
 it, indulged in the habit. See Hamlet, " When Arthur first in court began, 
 III. ii. 50: "That . . . speaks a And was approved king." 
 most pitiful ambition in the fool that This couplet, slightly altered, is re- 
 uses it"; also Greene, The Collier peatedby Sir John Falsta£f,^A'fK>7/F'. 
 of Croydon (Dodsley's Old Plays, 11. iv. 35, 36. See the ballad in Child's 
 Hazlitt, viii. 399): English and Scottish Ballads, i. 55. 
 
 ' ' They say he is of such religious life Percy had printed it in his Reliques. 
 That angels often use to talk 191. That such . . . bo-peep] play 
 
 with him." silly pranks with, referring to the well- 
 
54 KING LEAR [acti. 
 
 Prithee, nuncle, keep a schoolmaster that can 
 teach thy fool to lie: I would fain learn to 
 ,, lie. 195 
 
 Lear. An you lie, sirrah, we '11 have you whipped. 
 Fool. I marvel what kin thou and thy daughters 
 are: they'll have me whipped for speaking 
 true, thou 'It have me whipped for lying ; and 
 sometimes I am whipped for holding my peace. 200 
 I had rather be any kind o' thing than a fool ; 
 and yet I would not be thee, nuncle; thou 
 hast pared thy wit o' both sides, and left no- 
 thing i' the middle : here comes one o' the 
 parings. 205 
 
 Enter GONERIL. 
 
 Lear. How now, daughter ! what makes that front- 
 let on ? Methinks you are too much of late 
 i' the frown. 
 
 Fool. Thou wast a pretty fellow when thou hadst 
 
 no ne^ to care for her frowning ; now thou art 210 
 an O without a figure. I am better than thou 
 
 194, 195. learn to lie] learnelyeQ I (some copies). 196. An (and) Q I, F ; 
 y/'Q 2 ; sirrah'\¥, omitted Q. 200. sometimes'] F, sometime Q. 201. 0' 
 thing] F, of thing Q. 203. 0' both] F, a both Q. 207. Methinks] Q, 
 omitted F ; of late]Y, alate Q. 210. frowning\Y , frowne Q ; now thou] Q 
 I (some copies) F, thou thou Q i (some copies), Q 2. 
 
 known nursery game; see Faire les soraetimesat night to remove wrinkles. 
 
 deux yeux, to play at bo-peep with, In Lyly, Midas, i. 2, in a long list of 
 
 Cotgrave's ^re»fA Dictimary. It is lady's belongings, we read of " hoods, 
 
 used in a similar metaphorical sense frontlets, wires, caules, curling-irons." 
 
 in the tragedy of Sir John Barna- Malone quoted Euphues and his 
 
 veit, iii. I; BuUen, Old Plays, ii. £«jf/fl«rf, by the same author : "The 
 
 348: "This blinded state that plays next day I, coming to the gallery 
 
 at boa-peep with us." where she was solitaryly walking, with 
 
 206, 207. what . . . on] referring her frowning-cloth, as sick lately of 
 
 to the frowning visage of Goneril. The the suUens," Arber, p. 285. 
 frontlet was a band worn on the fore- 211. an O . . . figure] a mere 
 
 head by women for ornament, and cypher. 
 
sc. IV.] KING LEAR 55 
 
 art now; I am a fool, thou art nothing. [To 
 Gonerii.] Yes, forsooth, I will hold my 
 tongue ; so your face bids me, though you 
 say nothing. 215 
 
 Mum, mum : 
 
 He that keeps nor crust nor crum, 
 
 Weary of all, shall want some. 
 That 's a shealed peascod. [Pointing' to Lear. 
 
 Gon. Not only, sir, this your all-licens'd fool, 220 
 
 But other of your insolent retinue 
 Do hourly carp and quarrel, breaking forth 
 In rank and not-to-be-endured riots. Sir, 
 I had thought, by making this well known unto you, 
 To have found a safe redress ; but now grow fear- 
 ful, 225 
 By what yourself too late have spoke and done. 
 That you protect this course, and put it on 
 
 212, 213. [To Goneril] Pope ; omitted Q, F. 217. nor crust] F, neither 
 crust Q. 219. Pointing to Lear] Johnson, Spoken of Lear Warburton, 
 
 To Kent showing Lear Capell. 221. other\ Q, F ; others Johnson. 
 
 227. put it on\ F, put on Q. 
 
 2 1 8. Wemy of all] sick, dissatis- ages of Elizabethan [Seamen, 1880, 
 tied with everything, caring for no- p. 278. 
 
 thing. 222. carp] may be, as Schmidt ex- 
 
 219. a shealed peascod] a pod with plains it, to find fault with; but it may 
 its peas taken out. To " sheal " or also mean to prate, to talk noisily. 
 " shill " peas is still provincially used Compare "carping fools," 1 Henry 
 for to take peas out of the pod. See IV. Iii. ii. 63 (reading of Q 2). 
 
 in Cotgrave's French Dictionary, 223. rank] gross, excessive. See 
 
 " Goussepiller, to unshale, or take Hamlet, I. ii. 136. 
 
 pulse out of the swad's ; Gousse is 224. unto] Perhaps "to" should 
 
 defined, ' the huske, swad, cod, hull of here stand. 
 
 beanes, peas, etc.'" See also Caven- 225. a safe redress] zzSs, sure, cer- 
 
 dish's /iVrf Fi^ya^, 1587 : "The tops tain. B^e. Cyi>ibeUne,\\. '■a.. it,1: "in 
 
 of the trees grow full of cods, out of all safe reason He must have some 
 
 which the cotton groweth, and in the attendants." Still in occasional use. 
 
 cotton is a seed of the bigness of a pea, 22"]. pit it. on] instigate it, en- 
 
 and in every cod there are seven or courage it. See Coriolaniis, 11. iii. 
 
 eight of these seeds." Piiyne, Voy- 260; Hamlet, N.\\. y^tf. 
 
56 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act I. 
 
 By your allowance; which if you should, the fault 
 Would not 'scape censure, nor the redresses sleep, 
 i Which, in the tender of a wholesome weal, 230 
 
 Might in their working do you that offence. 
 Which else were shame, that then necessity 
 Will call discreet proceeding. 
 Fool. For you know, nuncle. 
 
 The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long, 235 
 That it had it head bit off by it young. 
 So out went the candle, and we were left darkling. 
 Lear. Are you our daughter ? 
 
 229. redresses\ F, redresse Q. 232. Which] F, that Q. 233. Will] 
 F, must Q ; proceeding] F, proceedings Q. 234. know] F, trow Q. 236. 
 it had it head] Q, its had it head F, it had its head Y 2; by it] F, F 2, 
 beit Q, by it's F 3. 
 
 228. allowance] approbation. So 
 Othello, I. i. 128: "If this be known 
 to you and your allowance." See 
 "allow" in this play, II. iv. 189; 
 also see Huloet's Dictionary, 1572, 
 "Allowance, acception or estima- 
 tion" ; also Beaumont and Fletcher, 
 Love's Cure of the Martial Maid, 
 iv. 1 : "one that is, By your allow- 
 ance, and his choice, your servant." 
 
 228-233.] Goneril's speech is a little 
 confused. This is the sense : 1 will 
 check you if you countenance the riots 
 of your retainers, and this severity, 
 due to my anxious desire to have a 
 court free from corruption, may chance 
 offend you. To do this I grant would 
 be under ordinary circumstances re- 
 prehensible on my part, and I would 
 be justly censured for so doing ; 
 but as it is, considering the purity of 
 my motives, everyone will justify 
 me and will applaud my firmness in 
 not yielding to you. 
 
 230. Which] i.e. which remedial pro- 
 ceeding. 
 
 230. the tender] the strong desire 
 for. Shakespeare frequently has the 
 verb to tender in the sense of to have 
 
 a strong regard or respect for. See 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, IV. iv. 
 
 145 ; and there is an instance of the 
 
 substantive in 1 Henry IV. v. iv. 49: 
 
 "Thou . . . show'd thou makest 
 
 some tender of my life, 
 
 In this fair rescue thou hast 
 
 brought to me." 
 
 235. 236. The hedge-sparrow . . . 
 young] This couplet may have been 
 proverbial. ' ' Exactly, " says the fool ; 
 poor Lear, being now an encum- 
 Ijrance, must suffer from the cruel 
 rapacity of those who, by his kind- 
 ness, were made so portly. 
 
 236. it] its. So often, as in S Henry 
 IV. I. ii. 131 : "It hath it original 
 from much grief." And see also 
 Cotgrave's French Dictionary: " Mar- 
 isque, a great unsavoury fig, which, 
 ripening, opens on the sides, and 
 discovers it seeds." 
 
 237. out . . . darkling] It is rather 
 remarkable, as Knight points out, 
 that in the part of Spenser's Faerie 
 Queene which contains the story of 
 King Leyr (Book 11. Canto x. 240- 
 293) there is, in much the same con- 
 nection, a not dissimilar thought : 
 
sc IV.] y KING LEAR 57 
 
 Gon. Come, sir, 239 
 
 I would you would make use of that good wisdom. 
 Whereof I know you are fraught ; and put away V 
 These dispositions which of late transport you 
 From what you rightly are. 
 
 Foo/. May not an ass know when a cart draws the 
 
 horse? Whoop, Jug ! I love thee. 245 
 
 Lear. Doth any here know me ? This is not Lear : 
 
 Does Lear walk thus ? speak thus ? Where are his 
 
 eyes? 
 Either his notion weakens, or 's discernings 
 Are lethargied. Ha ! waking ? 'tis not so. 
 Who is it that can tell me who I am ? 250 
 
 Fool. Lear's shadow. 
 
 239. Come, sir] Q, omitted F. 240. thafl Q, your F. 242. whicli] 
 F, that Q ; transport] F, transforme Q. 246, 247. Doth] Q, Do's F ; This] 
 F, Why this Q. 248. weakens] F, weakness Q ; or ' s' discernings] S. Walker 
 conject., or his discernings Q, his discernings F. 249. lethargied] F, 
 
 lethergie Q I, lethergy, Q 2 ; Hal waking?] F, sleeping or waking ; ha! sure 
 Q. 251. Fool. Lear's shadow] F, Lears shadow Q (giving words to Lear). 
 
 " But true it is, that when the oyle Joan. See the Birth of Merlin, 11. i. 
 
 is spent, Her name is Joan . . . come forward 
 
 The light goes out, and weeke Jug. It was sometimes used as a term 
 
 (wick) is thrown away ; of endearment, and also, much oftener. 
 
 So when he had resigned his as a wanton. Many rather fantastical 
 
 regiment explanations have been proposed in a 
 
 His daughter gan despise his note to Furness' Variorum edition. 
 
 drouping day, 248. notioti] intellectual power. 
 
 And wearie wax of his continual So Macbeth, in. i. 83 ; also Milton, 
 
 stay. Paradise Lost, vii. 176-179 : 
 
 Tho to his daughter Rigan he "the acts of God . . . 
 
 repayred." Cannot without process of speech 
 
 241. fraught] stored, equipped be told, 
 
 with. Compare the similar use of So told as earthly notion can 
 
 "stuffed" in Much Ado, I. i. 56: receive." 
 
 ' ' stuffed with all honourable virtues " ; 25 1 . Lear's shadow] See the History 
 
 also Romeo and Juliet, ni. v. 183. of KingLeir, Nichols, Six Old Plays, 
 
 245. Whoop . . . thee] Steevens ii. 414. Leir says : 
 
 "was informed that this was a quota- " Cease, good Perillus,for to call me 
 
 tion from an old song. " If so, the fool lord, 
 
 may have introduced it to cloak his And think me but the shadow of 
 
 keen words. Jug is tfie nickname of myself. " 
 
58 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 Lear. I would learn that ; for by the marks of sove- 
 reignty, knowledge, and reason, I should be 
 !» false persuaded I had daughters. 
 
 Fool. Which they will make an obedient father. 255 
 
 Lear. Your name, fair gentlewoman ? 
 
 Gon. This admiration, sir, is much o' the savour 
 
 Of other your new pranks, I do beseech you 
 
 To understand my purposes aright : 
 
 As you are old and reverend, should be wise. 260 
 
 Here do you keep a hundred knights and squires ; 
 
 Men so disorder'd, so debosh'd, and bold. 
 
 That this our court, infected with their manners. 
 
 Shows like a riotous inn : epicurism and lust 
 
 Makes it more Hke a tavern or a brothel 265 
 
 Than a graced palace. The shame itself doth speak 
 
 For instant remedy ; be then desired 
 
 252-255. /would. . ./atAer] Q, omitted F. 257. T/iis admiration, sir] 
 F, Come, sir, this admiration Q ; savour] Q, F ; favour Q 3, followed by Capell. 
 259. To] F, omitted Q. 260. As you . . . s7ioiild](l I, F; As you . . . 
 you should Q 2. 261. a] F, one Q. 262. debosh'd] F, deboyst Q, debauch'd 
 Pope. 265. Makes it tnore] F, make more Q, make it more Rowe ; a brothel] 
 F, Brothel, Q. 266. graced] grac'd F, great Q. 267. then] F, thou Q. 
 
 2'^^ false persuaded] false, falsely. Fletcher, The Knight of Malta,\\. 5: 
 
 Perhaps we should hyphen. Com- "That most deboshed knight." 
 
 pare false-derived, Z Henry IV. iv. i. 264. Shmvs] looks, appears. So 
 
 190: "every slight and false-derived Coriolanus, iv. v. 68 : "thou show'st 
 
 cause," hyphened in the old editions, a noble vessel." 
 
 257. admiration] (affected) surprise. 264. epicurism] gluttony. See 
 
 257. »' the savour] of the nature. yiSAiistoxi ^ The Tryumphs of Honour 
 Compare "to smell of calumny," and Industry, 1617 ; BuUen, Works, 
 Measure for Measure, II. iv. 159; vii. 305: "I commend my lord, 
 also, "savours of tyranny," Winter's and his right honourable guests, to 
 Tale, II. iii. 1 19. the solemn pleasure of the feast, from 
 
 258. other your] other of your, whence, I presume, all epicurism is 
 S&sS Henry IV. i\.iv. ^■^: "other banished." Compare also "the 
 his continual followers." English epicures," Macbeth, v. iii. 8. 
 
 262. debosh'd] a variant of de- 266. graced] honourable, the abode 
 
 bauched. See "'Desbauch^, deboshed, of stately decorum graced with the 
 
 lewd, incontinent," Cotgrave's French presence of a sovereign (Warburton). 
 
 Dictionary ; see also Beaumont and 267., desired^ order'd ; as in 
 
sc. IV.] KING LEAR 59 
 
 By her, that else will take the thing she begs, 
 
 A little to disquantity your train ; 
 
 And the remainder, that shall still depend, 270 
 
 To be such men as may besort your age. 
 
 Which know themselves and you. 
 Lear. Darkness and devils ! 
 
 Saddle my horses ; call my train together. 
 
 Degenerate bastard ! I '11 not 'trouble thee : 
 
 Yet have I left a daughter. 275 
 
 Gon. You strike my people, and your disorder'd rabble 
 
 Make servants of their betters. 
 
 Enter Albany. 
 Lear. Woe, that too late repents ; O ! sir, are you come? 
 Is it your will ? Speak, sir. Prepare my horses. 
 Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted 'fiend, 280 
 
 More hideous, when thou show'st thee in a child, 
 Than the sea-monster. 
 
 270. remamdet-lOj remainders Y. 272. Which] Y, Thai Cl I, And Q 2. 
 277. Enter Albany] F, Enter Duke Q. 278. Woe . . . repents] F, We 
 that too late repent' s Q I, We that too late repent' s us Qz; 0, sir . . . come ?] 
 Q, omitted F. 279. will? . . . Prepare my horses] F (comma after will), 
 will that we prepare any horses Q. 
 
 Cymbeline, I. vi. 54: "Desire my 282. the sea-monster] What sea- 
 man's abode wliere I did leave him." monster was Shakespeare thinking of? 
 26g.disqtmntity]catdowD,d\mia.\s\\. The hippopotamus, which Sandys in 
 Compare disproperty, Coriolamis, II. his travels had given a very bad char- 
 i. 264, acter to, is suggested ; also the whale ; 
 
 270. depend]' remain in the position but I think that it is not likely Shake- 
 of dependants. speare had here any special kind of 
 
 271. besort] fit, smt. See Othello, monster in his thoughts, but was think- 
 I. iii. 239. ing of those monsters of classical myth- 
 
 280. marble - hearted] Compare ology slain by Hercules and by Perseus 
 
 m2.xb\^-\>xes^^dm Twelfth Night, \.\. in defence of beauty — these stories 
 
 i27,whichisalsofoundinT.He3rwood, were then very popular. Seehisrefer- 
 
 iJzo/o^ej (Pelopsea and Alope). See ence to the Hercules and Hesione story, 
 
 Pearson, Works, vi. 300 : \T>„Xh& Merchant of Venice, III. ii. 57 : 
 
 "There's none so marble-breasted " The virgin tribute paid by howling 
 
 but doth melt • Troy 
 
 To hear of your disaster." To the sea-monster." 
 
60 KING LEAR [acti. 
 
 Alb. Pray, sir, be patient. 
 
 Lear. [ To Goneril.'\ Detested kite ! thou liest : 
 
 My train are men of choice and rarest parts. 
 
 That all particulars of duty know, 285 
 
 And in the most exact regard support 
 
 The worships of their name. O most small fault, 
 
 How ugly didst thou in Cordelia show ! 
 
 Which, like an engine, wrench'd my frame of nature 
 
 From the fix'd place,drew from myheart all love, 290 
 
 And added to the gall. O Lear, Lear, Lear ! 
 
 Beat at this gate, that let thy folly in, 
 
 [Striking his head. 
 And thy dear judgment out ! Go, go, my people. 
 
 Alb. My lord, I am guiltless, as I am ignorant 
 Of what hath moved you. 
 
 Lear. It may be so, my lord. 295 
 
 282. 283. Alb. Pray, sir, bepatient. Lear] F, omitted Q. 283. [To Goneril] 
 Rowe ; omitted Q, F. 283, 284. liest : My train are\ F, list my train, 
 and Q I, lessen my traine and Q 2. 289. Whidi] F, That Q. 291. O 
 Lear . . . Learl F, Lear, Lear Q. 292. Striking . . . head] Pope ; 
 omitted Q, F. 294. Alb.] F, Duke Q, and through the scene. 295. 
 Of . . . you] F, omitted Q. 
 
 Compare also Lear's saying of Gone- Compare "let me answer to the par- 
 
 ril, II. iv. 132, 133 : ticular of the inter'gatories," All's 
 
 " she hath tied fVell, IV. iii. 207. 
 
 Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a 286, 287. And . . . name'] And are 
 
 vulture, here." most particular in keeping up to the 
 
 That of Prometheus being in his mind, very letter the honourable reputation 
 
 283. kite] a term of strong oppro- they have earned. 
 
 brium, when by Shakespeare applied 286. in . . . regard] the smallest 
 
 to women. See Henry V. II. i. 80 ; points in particular. See Hamlet, 11. 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, in. xiii. 89. ii. 79. 
 
 Turberville in his Book of Faulconrie, 287. worships] honours. 
 
 1575) describes kites as "base, bas- 289. engine] an instrument of tor- 
 
 tardly, refuse, hawks." See also ture, the rack. Steevens quotes 
 
 Greene's Pandosto, Hazlitt, p. 81. Beaumont and Fletcher, The Night 
 
 Dorastus began to rail at Fawnia in WaUier^ iv. I : 
 
 these terms : " Thou disdainful vassal, " Shall murderers be there, for ever 
 
 thou currish kite." djfing, 
 
 284. choice] choicest. Their souls shot through with 
 
 285. particulars'] minute details. adders, torn on engiries." 
 
sc. IV.] KING LEAR 61 
 
 Hear, Nature, hear ! dear goddess, hear ! 
 
 Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend 
 
 To make this creature fruitful! 
 
 Into her womb convey sterility ! 
 
 Dry up in her the organs of increase, 300 
 
 And from her derogate body never spring 
 
 A babe to honour her ! If she must teem. 
 
 Create her child of spleen, that it may live 
 
 And be a thwart disnatured torment to her ! 
 
 Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth, 305 
 
 With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks, 
 
 Turn all her mother's pains and benefits 
 
 To laughter and contempt, that she may feel 
 
 How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is 309 
 
 To have a thankless child ! Away, away ! [Bji::it. 
 
 Alb. Now, gods that we adore, whereof comes this ? 
 
 Gon. Never afflict yourself to know the cause ; 
 
 296. Hear, Nature, hear^ F, Hark, Nature Q ; dear . . . hear^ F, hear, 
 dear goddess] Q. 304. thwart'] F, thourt Q ; disnatur'd] F, disuetur'd 
 Q. 306. cadent] F, accent Q. 308. that she may feel] F, Q 2 (repeated 
 Q i). 310. Away, away!] F, Goe,goe, my people Q. Exit] F, omitted Q. 
 312. the cause'] Q, more of WF. 
 
 301. derogate] debased, degraded, form thrawart: "Thrawart pepul" 
 
 See Cymbeline, 11. I. 48 ; also (people) feroces populi, "thrawart 
 
 Fabyan's Chronicle, Ellis, 1811, p. fates, " contraria feta. 
 
 719 : " The English service and the 304. disKoiui'd] without natural 
 
 Gommunion Book was derogated affection. Steevens quotes Daniel, 
 
 and disannulled." Hymen's Triumph, ii. 4 : 
 
 304. thwart] cross, cross-grained, " I am not so disnatured a man, 
 
 like the Scottish word thrawing. Nor so ill-born, to disesteem her 
 
 Henderson quotes Whetstone, Promos love." 
 
 and Cassandra, 157S — one of Shake- See also 'Sloxio'!, Montaigne, ed. 1632, 
 
 speare's originals: " Sith fortune p. 503 :" In the Turkish Empire there 
 
 thwart doth crosse my joyes with are many who never speak to anybody, 
 
 care. " See also R. Sherwood, who think to honour their nature by 
 
 English- French Dictionary, prefixed disnaturing themselves." 
 
 to Cotgrave's French Dictionary, 306. (raJjM/] I cannot find any other 
 
 1632, " Thwart, pervers, rebours, example of this word so beautifully 
 
 travers.'' In Gavin Douglas' transla- used here, 
 tion of Virgil the word is used in the 
 
62 KING LEAR [acti. 
 
 But let his disposition have that scope 
 That dotage gives it. 
 
 Re-enter Lear. 
 
 Lear. What ! fifty of my followers at a clap ; 315 
 
 Within a fortnight 1 
 Alb. What 's the matter, sir ? 
 
 Lear. I'll tell thee. \To Goneril.'l Life and death! I 
 am asham'd 
 That thou hast power to shake my manhood thus, 
 That these hot tears, which break from me per- 
 force. 
 Should make thee worth them. Blasts and fogs 
 upon thee ! 320 
 
 The untented woundings of a father's curse 
 
 314. Thaf] Q, As F. Re-enter Lear] Steevens, Enter Lear F, omitted Q. 
 316. What's] F, What is Q. 317. [To Goneril] Theobald, omitted Q. 
 319. which'] F, that Q. 320. thee worth them. Blasts'] F, the worst blasts 
 Q. 320, 321. «^o» . . . untentec[]'P , upon the untender Q^ 1 {some copies), 
 upon the untented Q I (some copies), Q 2. 
 
 313. disposition] hnmont. Cressida, II. ii. 16: "The tent that 
 
 315. at a clap] Though this is the searcheth to the bottom of the worst"; 
 only instance in Shakespeare of this ex- and again in the same play, v. i. II, 
 pression, it is extremely common in the quibbEngly ; see also the verb to 
 writers of the time. It occurs very often tent, Caw/awaj, i. ix. 31. Theobald 
 in North's Plutarch's Lives; and in explains thus : "A wounding of such a 
 Harsnet's Declaration more than once, sharp inveterate nature, that nothing 
 See p. 52, ed. 16: " Sara Williams was shall be able to tent it or reach the 
 furnished with all the devils in hell, at bottom, and help to cure it." Steevens 
 a clap." See also J. Heywood, Th,e similarly explains : " Such wounds as 
 Four P. P. (Dodsley's Old Plays, will not admit of having a tent put 
 Hazlitt, i. 370) : into them" (i.e. which are too deep 
 
 " Suddenly as it had thundered, to be probed or searched with safety) ; 
 
 Even at a clap. " and so most modern editors (compare 
 
 321. «Kfe«^erf] I thinkthe explana- Cymbeline,iu.xv. iiT,ii&). Insup- 
 
 tion given by Nares is right, " unap- port of the first (Nares') explanation ; 
 
 peased, not put into a way of cure as it may be advanced that, according to 
 
 a wound is, when a surgeon has put the ideas of all the medical writers of 
 
 a tent into it." See Nares' Glossary, that age, the treatment of a green 
 
 A tent is a roll of lint, used for clean- wound was to tent it or Search it 
 
 ing out a fresh wound. Troilus and immediately ; this was considered to 
 
sciv.] KING LEAR 63 
 
 Pierce every sense about thee ! Old fond eyes, 
 Beweep this cause again, I '11 pluck ye out. 
 And cast you, with the waters that you lose, 
 To temper clay. Yea, is it come to this ? 325 
 
 Let it be so : I have another daughter. 
 Who, I am sure, is kind and comfortable : 
 When she shall hear this of thee, with her nails 
 She '11 flay thy wolvish visage. Thou shalt find 329 
 That I '11 resume the shape which thou dost think 
 I have cast off for ever ; thou shalt, I warrant thee. 
 \Exeunt Lear, Kent, and Attendants. 
 
 Gon. Do you mark that, my lord ? 
 
 Alb. I cannot be so partial, Goneril, 
 To the great love I bear you, — 
 
 Gon. Pray you, content. What, Oswald, ho ! 335 
 
 322. Pierce] F, Q l ; Peruse Q l (some copies) Q 2 ; Old] F, the old Q. 
 323. this eause] Q, F i ; thee once F 2 ; ye] F, you Q. 324. cast you] F, 
 you cast Q ; lose] F 3, loose F, and so Staunton, maie Q. 325. Yea . . . 
 this ?] Q, Ba F. 326. Let it be so] F, omitted Q ; / have another] F, yet 
 have I left a Q, yet I have left Steevens, 1778, 1785. 327. Who] F, Whom 
 Q. 331. thou . . . thee] Q, omitted F. Exeunt Lear . . .] Capell 
 
 substantially; Exit Q 2, F ; omitted Q i. 332. »y/ /o^rf?] Q, omitted F. 
 335, 336. Pray . . . more] F, Covie sir, no titore, you more Q. 
 
 be almost essential. See Clowes, Just such as those may she be said 
 
 Treatise on Gitnshot Wounds, 1596 That lives, ne'er loves, but dies a 
 
 [passim). Compare also Bacon's Essay maid. " 
 
 on Expense: "for wounds cannot be 322. yo«rf] foolish, 
 
 cured without searching," 2. «. tenting. 323. Beweep]vie.sp for, deplore, as 
 
 See also Dekker, Wonder of a King- in Sonnets xxix. 2. 
 
 dom, Pearson, 1873, iv. 225 : 324. that you lose] Staunton retains 
 
 "Tib. 'Tis a green wound indeed. "loose" of the Folio, and explains 
 
 Alp. Tent it, tent it, and keep it "discharge "in the sense of the archery 
 
 from ranckling." verb loose, to shoot an arrow, and 
 
 And a little poem attributed to Beau- the substantive " loose," discharge of 
 
 mont, styled ' ' a Sonnet " •- an arrow. See Henry VIII. v. iv. 59. 
 
 "Like a call without 'anon, sir,' This is too fanciful. Jennyns follows 
 
 Or a question and no answer ; " make " of the Quarto. 
 
 Like a ship was never rigg'd, 327. comfortable] comforting, ready 
 
 Or a mine was never digg'd ; to give comfort. See All's Well, 
 
 Like a wound without a tent, I. i. 86: "Be comfortable to my 
 
 Or civet-box without a scent, . . . mother." 
 
64 KING LEAR [acti. 
 
 {To the Fool.] You, sir, more knave than fool, after your 
 
 master. 
 Fool Nuncle Lear, nuncle Lear! tarry, and take 
 the fool with thee. 
 
 A fox, when one has caught her, 
 And such a daughter, 34° 
 
 Should sure to the slaughter, 
 If my cap would buy a halter ; 
 So the fool follows after. [Exit. 
 
 Gon. This man hath had good counsel. A hundred 
 knights 1 
 'Tis politic and safe to let him keep 345 
 
 At point a hundred knights; yes, that on every 
 
 dream. 
 Each buzz, each fancy, each complaint, dislike. 
 He may enguard his dotage with their powers, 
 And hold our lives in mercy. Oswald, I say 1 
 Alb. Well, you may fear too far. 
 
 337. and take\ Q, take F. 338, 339. with thee. A fox] F, with a 
 
 fox Q. 343. Exit] F, omitted Q. 344-35S ^-^^ "'■"■" • • ■ unfitness] 
 F, omitted Q. 
 
 339-343. A fox . . . after] It Compare ZSr«/«/, IV. v. 90 : "buzzers 
 
 seems that halter and after were pro- to infect his ear"; also Chapman, 
 
 nounced in Shakespeare's day, hauter The Widow's Tears, ii. I, Shepherd, 
 
 and auter. %^e. FXas, English Pro- Works, 1874, p. 315 (a) : "Think 
 
 nunciation, vol. ii. pp. 193-201. 'twas but a buzz devised by him to 
 
 346. At point] in armed readiness, set your brains a-work." 
 
 fully equipped or accoutred. So 348. enguard] protect, surround as 
 
 Ha7nlet,\.\\. 200: " Armed at point with a guard. Compare "ensteep," 
 
 exactly, cap-a-pe." So Quarto 2 (" at Othello, w. i. 7°; "endart," Romeo 
 
 all points," Folio). See also "at a and Juliet, I. iii. 98; "entame,"^J 
 
 ■^xxA," Macbeth, IV. iii. 135. Dyce you Like it. III. v. 48; "englut," 
 
 quotes Herman's Vulgaria, ed. 1530 : Othello, I. iii. 57; "engirt," S Henry 
 
 "to be at point, to be at a stay or VI. v. i. 99. 
 
 stop, i.e. settled, determined, nothing 349. in mercy] "In miserecordia " 
 
 farther being to be said or done. " is the legal phrase. See Merchant of 
 
 347. buzz] idle, vague rumour. Venice, IV. i. 355. 
 
sc. IV.] KING LEAR 65 
 
 Gon. Safer than trust too far. 350 
 
 Let me still take away the harms I fear, 
 ■Not fear still to be taken : I know his heart. 
 What he hath utter'd I have writ my sister ; 
 If she sustain him and his hundred knights, 
 When I have show'd the unfitness, — 
 
 Re-enter Oswald. 
 
 How now, Oswald ! 355 
 What, have you writ that letter to my sister ? 
 
 Osw. Ay, madam. 
 
 Gon. Take you some company, and away to horse : 
 Inform her full of my particular fear ; 
 And thereto add such reasons of your own 360 
 
 As may compact it more. Get you gone, 
 And hasten your return. \Exit Oswald. 
 
 No, no, my lord, 
 This milky gentleness and course of yours 
 
 355. Re-enter Oswald] Collier, Enter Steward F, omitted Q ; Hownow, 
 Oswald 1"^ F ; Gon. What Oswald, ho Oswald. Here Madam Q. 356. 
 What,'\ What F, Gon. What Q ; thafl F, this Q. 357. Ay\ (/) F, Yes Q. 
 359- f""^ F) f'co's Q. 362. And . . . lord] F, And after your returne 
 now my Lord, Q I (some copies), Q 2 ; and hasten your returne now my 
 Lord Q I (some copies). Exit Oswald] Rowe, (Exit Steward), omitted 
 Q, F. 363. milky'] Q, F ; mildie Q I (some copies). 
 
 351,352. Let me . . . taien']'Letmy danger I have referred to, and give 
 
 coursealwaysbetosweepfrommypath further arguments of your own, to 
 
 what is dangerous, and not live in con- show that my fears are not groundless. " 
 
 stant terror of it; something like the 361. compact] confirm, clench, 
 
 words attributed to Henry IV. : "Have give weight or consistency to. See 
 
 I no friend will rid me of this living Cotgia.ve'sFrenchDictionar}/:"Affer- 
 
 fear?" See Hichard II. v. iv. 2. mir, to strengthen, fortifie, confirm, 
 
 359. particular] personal, individ- assure, compact." 
 
 ual, private. Delius and Moberly ex- 363. This . . . yours] The pusil- 
 
 plain "the particulars of my fear." lanimous, or dastardly, weakness of 
 
 The whole sentence may be explained this course of yours ; an hendiadys. 
 
 ' ' inform him fully of the reality of the Tovey compares King John, v. ii. 133: 
 
66 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 Though I condemn it not, yet, under pardon. 
 
 You are much more attask'd for want of wis- 
 dom 365 
 
 Than praised for harmful mildness. 
 Alb. How far your eyes may pierce I cannot tell : 
 
 Striving to better, oft we mar what 's well. 
 Gon. Nay, then — 
 Alb. Well, well; the event. [Exeunt. 370 
 
 SCENE V. — Court before the Same. 
 
 Enter LEAR, Kent, and Fool. 
 
 Lear. Go you before to Gloucester with these letters. 
 Acquaint my daughter no further with any 
 thing you know than comes from her demand 
 
 364. condemn it not] Pope, condemn not F, dislike not Q. 365. You are] 
 F 2, y'are Q, Your are F ; attask'd for] Q 1 (some copies), alapt Q I (some 
 copies), Q 2, at task for F i. 366. praised] F, praise Q. 368. better, 
 oft] F, better ought Q. 370. Exeunt] Q 1, F ; Exit Q 2. 
 
 Scene V. 
 Court . . . Same] Capell. Enter Lear . . . Fool] Q 2 ; Enter Lear, 
 Kent, Gentleman, and Fool F ; Enter Lear Q i. 
 
 " This unhair'd sauciness and boy- 368. Striving . . . weir] possibly 
 
 ish troops, proverbial. 
 
 The king doth smile at." 370. ^^eez/CM^] the issue. Ste Henry 
 
 363. milky] vieak, faint, pusillani- VIIL I. ii. 36: " Daring the event to 
 mous. See Timon of Athens, III. i. the teeth." The weak Albany wards 
 57: "such a faintand milkyheart"; off his wife's coming attack on his wise 
 also " milk-liver'd man," this play, IV. saw, by promptly yielding, "Well, 
 ii. 50; also see Merchant of Venice, we'll see, time will tell." 
 
 HI. ii. 86, and Macbeth, I. v. 18. 
 
 364. Though . . . not] I have, fol- Scene v. 
 lowing Pope, inserted "it" here, as it 
 
 improves, I think, both the sense and i. Gloucester] i.e. the town of that 
 the metre. name, near which the residence of the 
 
 365. a«aj;4W] taken to task, blamed. Duke was. 
 
 I know no other instance of this word, I. these letters] this letter. See line 
 
 but it seems of Shakespeare's mint. 356 of this scene ; also Merchant of 
 
 Furness follows Capell, who adopted Venice, iv. i. iro. 
 
 ' ' at task for " of the Folio, which 3, 4. than . . . letter] than the per- 
 
 Johnson writes " To be at task is to be usal of the letter suggests to her to 
 
 liable to correction and reprehension." ask you. 
 
sc. 
 
 v.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 67 
 
 out of the letter. If your diligence be not 
 
 speedy I shall be there afore you. 5 
 
 Kent. I will not sleep, my lord, till I have delivered 
 
 your letter. \Exit. 
 
 Fool. If a man's brain were in 's heels, were 't not in 
 
 danger of kibes ? 
 Lear. Ay, boy. 10 
 
 Fool. Then, I prithee, be merry ; thy wit shall ne'er 
 
 go slip-shod. 
 Lear. Ha, ha, ha ! 
 Fool. Shalt see thy other daughter will use thee 
 
 kindly ; for though she 's as like this as a crab 's i 5 
 
 like an apple, yet I can tell what I can tell. 
 
 5. aforel F, before Q. 8. brain] Pope, brains Q, F ; were] Q 2, F, where Q 
 I ; in 'f] F, in his Q. 1 1, ne^er] Q, not F. l6. can tell what] F, con, what Q. 
 
 %. If . . . heels] I follow Pope 
 here, reading "brain." S. Walker, 
 Crit. Exam. I. ii. $6, writes, 
 " Brain surely " ; and adds, " Shake- 
 speare uses both ' brains ' and ' brain ' 
 indiscriminately." Furness takes the 
 word here to be used as a singular, 
 citing All's Well, III. ii. l6 : " the 
 brains of my Cupid's knocked out" ; 
 also Hamlet, III. i. 182, "which 
 last," he truly says, "is a bad 
 instance," and perhaps, indeed, in 
 All's Well it would be best to follow 
 Pope's change to brain. 
 
 g. kibes] kibe, I think, here and else- 
 where in Shakespeare has the mean- 
 ing of a chap on the heel, a painful 
 crack in the skin. See Tempest, 11. i. 
 276 ; Merry Wives, I. iii. 35 ; Hamlet, 
 V. i. 153: "Kib'd heels are chapp'd 
 heels." The word kibe, however, was 
 also often used for a chilblain, which 
 may have been its original meaning. 
 It seems to have been used in both 
 senses. For the sense chaps, a 
 chapp'd heel, see Beaumont and 
 Fletcher's Love's Cure, or the Martial 
 
 Maid, II. i. 120; "scabs, chilblains, 
 and kib'd heels " ; see also N. Breton, 
 PasquiVs Procession, 1600, Grosart, 
 p. 160 : " From the blains, and kibes 
 upon my heels. " ' ' Kibby heels " to-day 
 in Cornwall are chapped heels. See 
 Miss M. A. Courtney, West Corn- 
 wall Glossary (Eng. Dial. Soc, i88o) ; 
 also see Ilallwell's Dictionary of 
 Archaic and Provincial Words, 1878 : 
 " Kibby, sore, chapped. Devon." 
 
 11, 12. thy wit . . . slip-shod] i.e. 
 there is no fear of kibes in thy brains 
 — Lear's heels, thinks the Fool, in 
 going on this fool's errand to Regan, 
 are brainless heels. 
 
 12. slip-shod] slippered, in slip- 
 shoes, as slippers were then some- 
 times called. See Ardeii of Fever- 
 sham, V. i. 406: "For in his slip- 
 shoe did I find some rushes." Com- 
 pare Ben Jonson's Alchemist, i. i. 46 : 
 ' ' Your feet in mouldy slippers, for 
 your kibes. " 
 
 15. kindly] a play on the two senses 
 of the word, the usual one, and that 
 of " after her kind," according to her 
 
68 KING LEAR [act i. 
 
 Lear. What canst tell, boy ? 
 
 Fool. She will taste as like this as a crab does to a 
 
 crab. Thou canst tell why one's nose stands 
 
 i' the middle on 's face ? 20 
 
 Lear. No. 
 Fool. Why, to keep one's eyes of either side's nose, that 
 
 what a man cannot smell out, he may spy into. 
 Lear. I did her wrong, — 
 
 Fool. Canst tell how an oyster makes his shell ? 25 
 
 Lear. No. 
 Fool. Nor I neither ; but I can tell why a snail has 
 
 a house. 
 Lear. Why? 
 Fool. Why, to put 's head in ; not to give it away 30 
 
 to his daughters, and leave his horns without a 
 
 case. 
 Lear. I will forget my nature. So kind a father ! 
 
 Be my horses ready ? 
 Fool. Thy asses ai'e gone about 'em. The reason 35 
 
 why the seven stars are no more than seven is 
 
 a pretty reason. 
 
 17. What canst] F {can't), Why . . . thoti Q ; boy\ F, my boy Q. 1%. as . . . 
 fli] F, like this, as Q ; does\ F, doth Q. 19. Thou canst] F, T^ou canst not 
 Q ; stands'] Q 2, F ; stande Q l. 20. on V] F, of his Q. 22. onis eyes] 
 (ones) F, his eyes Q ; of]¥, on Q. 23. he] Q 2, F ; a Q I. 31. to his] 
 Q I, F ; unto his Q 2 ; daughters] F, daughter, Q. 36. more] Q, mo F. 
 
 nature, as it is used in Antony and 20. on 's] of his. 
 
 Cleopatra, v. ii. 264: "Look you, that 22. of either side's, nose] on either 
 
 the worm will do his kind." side of his nose. For "of" in the sense 
 
 15, 16. asacrab'slikeanapple]T)\is of "on," see Taming of the Shrew, 
 
 may have been an old saying, mean- iv. i. 71 : 
 
 ing, as an apple is like an apple. The " Gru. My master riding behind my 
 
 word crab, in Love's labour's Lost, v. mistress, 
 
 ii. 935, may possibly mean the fruit of Curt. Both of one horse ? " 
 
 the wild apple, Pyrus mains, not that 36. the seven stars] the Pleiades, 
 
 of the common crab. See Twelfth So 1 Henry IV. i. ii. 16: "the 
 
 Night, V. i. 230. moon and the seven stars." See also 
 
sc. v.] KING LEAR 69 
 
 Lear. Because they are not eight ? 
 
 Fool. Yes, indeed : thou would'st make a good fool. 
 
 Lear. To take 't again perforce ! Monster ingrati- 40 
 
 tude! 
 Fool. If thou wert my fool, nuncle, I 'd have thee 
 
 beaten for being old before thy time. 
 Lear. How 's that ? 
 Fool Thou should'st not have been old till thou 45 
 
 hadst been wise. 
 Lear. O ! let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven ; 
 
 Keep me in temper ; I would not be mad ! 
 
 Enter Gentleman. 
 
 How now ! Are the horses ready ? 
 Gent. Ready, my lord. 50 
 
 Lear. Come, boy. 
 
 Fool. She that's a maid now, and laughs at my de- 
 parture, 
 
 39. indeed] F, omitted Q. 45. till\ F, before Q. 47. not mad] F, 
 omitted Q ; heaven /] F, heaven ! I would not be mad Q. 48. Enter Gentle- 
 man] Theobald ; omitted Q, F. 49. How now /] F, omitted Q. 50. 
 Gent.] F, Servant Q. 52. that's a\ F, that is Q, that is a Capell. 
 
 Amos V. 8 : " The seven stars and scene iv. So Johnson explains. 
 Orion." Tovey quotes Cotgrave's Steevens thinks he was meditating on 
 French Dictionary: " Pleiade, one of his daughter's having, in so violent 
 the seven sta.rres," and notes that in a manner, deprived him of those 
 Job xxxviii. 31, "opposite the words, privileges, which before she had 
 " the sweet influences of Pleiades " in agreed to grant him. 
 the margin, the Authorised Version has 52, 53. She . . . shorter] The 
 ' ' Cimah or the seven stars. " Furness authenticity of this couplet is doubted 
 thinks the expression may refer to the by some editors. Steevens imagines 
 Great Bear, called the Dipper in it crept into the playhouse copy from 
 America. the mouth of some buffoon actor. 
 37. pretty] apt. Eccles saw in it " the idea that 
 40. to take 't . . . perforce] Lear the fool expects to return soon be- 
 probably means by these words that cause of the ill-treatment he will 
 he has thoughts of getting back his probably receive in the place where 
 power by the assistance of Cornwall he is going." 
 and Regan. See lines 309-313 of 
 
70 KING LEAR [act n. 
 
 Shall not be a maid long, unless things be cut 
 shorter. {Exeunt. 
 
 ACT II 
 
 SCENE I. — A Court within the Castle of the 
 Earl of Gloucester. 
 
 Enter EDMUND and CuRAN, meeting. 
 
 Edm. Save thee, Curan. 
 
 Cur. And you, sir. I have been with your father, 
 and given him notice that the Duke of Corn- 
 wall and Regan his duchess will be here with 
 him this night. 5 
 
 Edm. How comes that ? 
 
 Cur. Nay, I know not. You have heard of the 
 news abroad ? I mean the whispered ones, 
 for they are yet but ear-kissing arguments. 
 
 Edm. Not I : pray you, what are they ? i o 
 
 53. unless] F, except Q. Exeunt] F, Exit Q. 
 
 Act II. Scene i. 
 
 A Court . . . Gloucester] Malone ; omitted Q, F. Edmund . . . 
 meeting] Enter Bast, and Curan meeting Q l ; Enter Bastard, and Curan 
 meetes him Q 2 ; Enter Bastard, and Curan, severally F. 1,6, etc. Edm.] 
 Bast. Q, F. 2. you\ Q, your F. 4. Regani F, omitted Q. 5. this 
 night] F, to night Q. 9. they] F, there Q ; ear-kissing\ F, eare-bussing Q. 
 
 I. Save thee] An ellipsis. God save 9. ear-kissing] very secretly dis- 
 
 thee. A common salutation. See cussed, or as Collier suggests, a 
 
 Twelfth Nighty iii. i. i ; also quibble may have been intended 
 
 Marlow, The Jew of Malta, v. v'\. 66: between ear-bussing (kissing) of Q 
 
 " Save thee, Barrabas ! " and Beau- and buzzing in the sense of buzz'd, 
 
 mont and Fletcher, The Maid's whispered into the ear. See "buzz," 
 
 Tragedy, IV. i. I and 2 : I. iv. 347. 
 
 " Mel. Save you. 9. arguments] themes, subjects (for 
 
 Evan. Save thee, sweet brother." discussion). 
 
sc. I.] KING LEAR 7i 
 
 Cur. Have you heard of no likely wars toward, 
 'twixt the Dukes of Cornwall and Albany ? 
 
 Edm. Not a word. 
 
 Cur. You may do then, in time. Fare you well, sir. 
 
 {Exit. 
 
 Edm. The duke be here to-night ! The better ! best ! i 5 
 This weaves itself perforce into my business. 
 My father hath set guard to take my brother ; 
 And I have one thing, of a queasy question, 
 Which I must act. Briefness and fortune, work ! 
 Brother, a word ; descend : brother, I say ! 20 
 
 Enter EDGAR. 
 
 My father watches : O sir ! fly this place ; 
 Intelligence is given where you are hid ; 
 You have now the good advantage of the night. 
 Have you not spoken 'gainst the Duke of Cornwall? 
 He's coming hither, now, i' the night, i' the 
 haste, 2 5 
 
 And Regan with him ; have you nothing said 
 
 11-13. Have . . . ■word] Q I, F; omitted Q 2. 11. ioward]Cl2, F; towards 
 Q I. 12. the] Q 2, F; the two Q i. 14. do] F, omitted Q. Exit] F, 
 omitted Q. 19. Which . . . work] F, which must aske breefness and fortune 
 help Q. Enter Edgar opposite "itself," line 16, Q; after "which," line 
 19, Q 2; after "work," line 19, F. 21. sir] F, omitted Q. 24. Corn- 
 wall?] F, Cornwall ought Q. 
 
 II. ^aa/arif] coming on, impending, (retained by Jennens), and careful 
 
 See III. iii. 19, and iv. iv. 213 ; also manipulation. 
 
 As You Like It, v. iv. 35 : " there is, 18. queasy] weak, sickly, 
 
 sure, another flood toward " ; also 19. Briefness] promptitude. See 
 
 Six Thoraa.s'M.oie, History of Edward Pericles, v. ii. 280: "In feather'd 
 
 the Fifth, ed. 1557, p. 33 : "no war briefness sails are fiU'd." 
 
 in hand nor none toward." Towards 25. the haste] in great, or hot, 
 
 is used in the same sense in Komeo haste. Compare in the full, for in full, 
 
 andjuliet, I. v. 124. Troilus and Cressida,\'^.^.212. "In" 
 
 18. of a queasy question] ol 3.V\xA, earlier English "in all the haste" 
 
 nature that requires careful handling, was not uncommon " (Wright), 
 which must be treated with delicacy 
 
72 KING LEAR [acth. 
 
 Upon his party 'gainst the Duke of Albany ? 
 
 Advise yourself. 
 Edg. I am sure on 't, not a word. 
 
 Edm. I hear my father coming ; pardon me ; 
 
 In cunning I must draw my sword upon you; 30 
 
 Draw; seem to defend yourself; now quit you well. 
 
 Yield ; come before my father. Light, ho ! here ! 
 
 Fly, brother. Torches ! torches ! So, farewell. 
 
 {Exit Edgar. 
 
 Some blood drawn on me would beget opinion 
 
 [ Wounds his arm. 
 
 Of my more fierce endeavour : I have seen drunk- 
 ards 3 5 
 
 Do more than this in sport. Father ! father ! 
 
 Stop, stop ! No help ? 
 
 27. 'gainsf] F, against Q. 28. yourself '\ F, your — Q. 29, 30. me ; 
 In cunning\ F; me in crauing Q. 31. Draw'\ F, omitted Q. 32. ho{\ 
 F, here Q. 33. brother'] F, brother fly Q. Exit Edgar] F, omitted Q. 
 34. Wounds his arm] Rowe ; omitted Q, F. 
 
 27. Upon his party] Delius thinks promptly and well. So I Samuel iv. 9 : 
 that Edgar is here asked by his brother, "Be strong, and quit yourselves like 
 two quite contrary questions, so as men, and fight." 
 
 to mystify him ; but I think the mean- 34. begef\ procure, gain (for me), 
 
 ing is, "Are you quite sure you told 35. more fierce] particularly fierce, 
 
 nothing on, cast no aspersion upon. See note to iv. 108 of this Act. 
 
 i.e. against, or to the detriment of, his 35, 36. / have seen drunkards 
 
 (Cornwall's) party, which is soon to be . . . sport] Young gallants were 
 
 opposed to that of Albany in the coming wont, under the excitement of drink, 
 
 struggle." Compare the sense of "upon" to wound their arms in order to pledge 
 
 \n Macbeth, IV. iii. 131 : "My first false the health of their mistresses in blood 
 
 speaking was this upon myself." mingled with their drink. Steevens 
 
 28. Advise yourself] recollect gives instances of this custom from 
 yourself, reflect, consider with your- Lusfs Dominion, i. i. 133-135: 
 self See Twelfth Night, iv. ii. 102 : " Smile upon me, 
 "Advise you what to say"; or per- And with my poniard will I stab 
 haps a caution, "be wary," as in my flesh, 
 
 Henry K in. vi. 168: "Go bid thy And quaff carouses to thee of my 
 
 master well advise himself." blood '.' ; 
 
 28. on 7] of it. and Marston, The Dutch Courtezan. 
 
 31. quit, you welt] do what is CoUieraddsmore, fromCooke, Gr««»«V 
 
 necessary to do at this critical juncture, Tu Quoque, and Dekker, The Honest 
 
SCI.] KING LEAR 73 
 
 Enter GLOUCESTER, and Servants with torches. 
 
 Glou. Now, Edmund, where 's the villain ? 
 
 Edm. Here stood he in the dark, his sharp sword out. 
 
 Mumbling of wicked charms, conjuring the moon 
 
 To stand 's auspicious mistress. 
 Glou. But where is he? 40 
 
 Edm. Look, sir, I bleed. 
 
 Glou. Where is the villain, Edmund ? 
 
 Edm. Fled this way, sir. When by no means he could — 
 Glou. Pursue him, ho ! Go after. \Exeunt some Servants. 
 
 " By no means " what ? 
 Edm. Persuade me to the murder of your lordship ; 
 
 But that I told him, the revenging gods 45 
 
 'Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend ; 
 
 Spoke with how manifold and strong a bond 
 
 The child was bound to the father; sir, in fine, 
 
 Seeing how loathly opposite I stood 
 
 To his unnatural purpose, in fell motion, 50 
 
 37. and . . . torches] F, omitted Q. 39. Mumbliitg] F, warbling- Q. 
 40. stattd 'j] Q I , stand his Q 2, stand F. 42. sir. When\ Capell, sir, when Q, 
 F ; could— '\ Q, could. F. 43. hoi'\ F, omitted Q. Exeunt . . . ] Dyce ; Exit 
 Servant Capell ; omitted Q, F. ^^. revenging\V , revengive Q^. ^6. their 
 thunders'] Q, the thunder F. 48. in fine] F, in afiiu Q. 50. iii\ F, with Q. 
 
 Whore. Many more might be pro- See also Nash, The Unforttmate 
 
 duced. One will suffice, from Ben Jon- Z>-«z'«//«>', Gosse, 1892, p. 191: " As- 
 
 sxia, Cynthia's Revels, \v.\.:"\'vio\\\A siring her to stand their merciful 
 
 see how love could work . . . by letting mistress." 
 
 this gallant express himself . . . with 47. bond] see note to I. i. 93. 
 stabbing himself, and drinking healths, 50. in fell motion] with a fierce 
 
 and writing languishing letters in his stab or thrust. Motion was a fencing 
 
 blood." expression. So Twelfth Night, iii. 
 
 38. out] unsheathed, opposed to iv. 303: "He gives me the stuck in 
 "up." Seejulius Ccesar, v. i. 52. with such a mortal motion." See 
 
 40. To stand's . . . mistress] Ma- also Vincentio Saviola, 'Treatise on 
 
 lone quotes ^// 'j Well, III. iii. 7,8: the Duello Sig. xxx. i. 4: "Hold 
 
 " And fortune play upon thy pros- your dagger firm, marking, as it were, 
 
 perous helm, with one eye, the motion of your ad- 
 
 As thy auspicious mistress ! " versary." 
 
74 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act II. 
 
 With his prepared sword he charges home 
 My unprovided body, lanced mine arm : 
 But when he saw my best alarum'd spirits 
 Bold in the quarrel's right, roused to the en- 
 counter. 
 Or whether gasted by the noise I made, S 5 
 
 Full suddenly he fled. 
 Glou. Let him fly far : 
 
 Not in this land shall he remain uncaught ; 
 
 52. lanced^ so Theobald, lancht Q i, launcht Q 2, latch! d F. 53. 
 But whetil Q, And when F, But whe'r Fumess, Staunton conject. 
 54. righfl Q 2, F ; rights Q I. 55. gasted, 'gasted} Capell, ghasted'jetmyns. 
 56. Full'\'F,Butq. 
 
 ton's proposed change "but whe'r," 
 i.e. but whether. It may be right. 
 Collier had previously, in his second 
 edition (1858), taken from, the Collier 
 MS. the full word, reading "but 
 whether." 
 
 53. alarum'd] roused to action, 
 literally called by a trumpet to arms. 
 So Macbeth, II. i. S3 = 
 
 " wither'd murder, 
 Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf. 
 Whose howl 's his watch." 
 
 55. gasted] frightened. See Pals- 
 grave's Lesclarcissenient, 1530 : "I 
 gast him as sore as he was this twelve 
 months." The New Eng. Diet, gives 
 a few instances of this rather rare form. 
 Compare also the forms " aghasting," 
 Nash's Christ s Tears over Jerusalem, 
 Grosart, IV. i. 257;gastness, "thegast- 
 ness of her eye," Othello, v. i. 106 ; 
 the gastfiil seas {i.e. the terrible seas), 
 Gieexic' si'andosto ; ' 'gastful opinions, " 
 Ha-isnet's Declaration, 137. Butgaster 
 is a much more frequently-occurring 
 form ; it is found in Harsnet's Declara- 
 tion, " God-gastering giants"; also 
 in Beaumont and Fletcher's Wit at 
 Several Weapons, i. 3, "the sight of 
 the lady has gastered him " ; and this 
 may well have been Shakespeare's 
 word. 
 
 SI. prepared] unsheathed and ready, 
 as in Romeo and Juliet, 1. i. 116 : 
 ' ' in the instant came, 
 The fiery Tybalt, with his sword 
 prepared." 
 
 51. charges home] makes a home 
 thrust at. So Othello, v. i. 2: "Wear 
 thy good rapier bare, and put it 
 home." 
 
 52. unprovided] unprotected. So 
 Richard III. III. ii. 75 : 
 
 " Where is your boar-spear, man ? 
 Fear you the boar, and go so 
 unprovided ? " 
 
 52. lanced] pierced, wounded. 
 Schmidt, in his edition of this play, pre- 
 serves the old form ' ' lanched. " Knight 
 had previously pleaded for its reten- 
 tion. "To lanch" and " to launch " 
 were in very common use. Wright 
 quotes HoUyband's French Diction- 
 '^O'l 1593= " Poindre, to stick, to 
 lanch." And see Drayton's poem, 
 "The Owle" {Works\ p. 407 : 
 
 "But for my freedom that I used 
 of late 
 To lanch the infection of a 
 prosperous state." 
 Also Sherwood, Eng.-French Diet., 
 1632, "Tolaimch, lancer." 
 
 53. But when] Furness has con- 
 fidently adopted in his edition Staun- 
 
sc. I.] KING LEAR 75 
 
 And found — dispatch. The noble duke my master, 
 My worthy arch and patron, comes to-night : 
 By his authority I will proclaim it, 60 
 
 That he which finds him shall deserve our thanks, 
 Bringing the murderous coward to the stake ; 
 He that conceals him, death. 
 Edm. When I dissuaded him from his intent, 
 
 And found him pight to do it, with curst speech 65 
 I threaten'd to discover him : he replied, 
 " Thou unpossessing bastard ! dost thou think, 
 If I would stand against thee, would the reposal 
 Of any trust, virtue, or worth in thee 
 Make thy words faith'd ? No : what I should 
 deny, — 70 
 
 As this I would ; ay, though thou didst produce 
 
 62. coward'\ F, caitiff Q^. 68. would the reposal] F, could the reposure Q. 
 70. what I should] Q, what should 1 F. 71. ay (/), though] Q, though F. 
 
 58. And . . . dispatch] when he is And noht slayn, but be broght 
 found (I will) dispatch him. War- un-to the stake." 
 
 burton unnecessarily read ' ' And found 65. pight] fully determined. See 
 
 dispatch'd." Staunton quotes a rather the Interlude, Lusty Juventus (Dods- 
 
 poor illustration — but I have no better ley's Old Plays, Hazlitt, ii. 47): 
 
 to ofifer — from Middleton, Blurt Mas- "Therefore my heart is surely pight 
 
 ter Constable, v. i: "There to find Of her alone to have a sight. " 
 
 Fontenelle : found to kill him. " But, 65. <r«>-j-^] sharp, provokingly viru- 
 
 indeed, I think the expression is quite lent. So 2 Henry VI. in. ii. 
 
 in Shakespeare's manner. 3 1 1 : 
 
 59. arch] chief. I believe the only " I would invent as bitter-searching 
 instance, a poor one, of this word's use terms 
 
 which has been produced is one quoted As curst, as harsh, 1 and horrible 
 
 by Steevens from T. Hey wood's play, Tji^ to hear." 
 
 you Know not me you Know no Body, See also Look About You, 1600 
 
 Pearson (ff'or/^j-), 1874,1.239 : "Poole {Dodsley's Old Plays, Hazlitt, vii. 
 
 that arch for truth and honesty." 474): "Ye are too curst methinks, 
 
 62. Bringing. . . stahe] I suppose sir, to your lady." 
 bringing in, taking prisoner. I 67. unpossessing] incapable of hold- 
 think it was customary to chain cap- ing property (Lat., nullius Jilius), and 
 tives to a stake of wood. Compare so beggarly, needy. 
 Chaucer, CaK2'eri5«r)/ Tflfc, line 2552: 68. woa/^fl should. 
 
 "And he that is at mischief, shall 68. ^-c/wa/J placing, 
 
 be take 70. faith'd] credited. 
 
76 KING LEAR [acth. 
 
 My very character, I 'd turn it all 
 To thy suggestion, plot, and damned practice : 
 And thou must make a dullard of the world, 
 If they not thought the profits of my death 7 5 
 
 Were very pregnant and potential spurs 
 To make thee seek it." 
 Glou. Strong and fasten'd villain 1 
 
 Would he deny his letter ? I never got him. 
 
 \Tucket within. 
 Hark! the duke's trumpets. I know not why^e 
 
 comes. 
 All ports I '11 bar ; the villain shall not 'scape ; 8o 
 The duke must grant me that: besides his pic- 
 ture 
 I will send far and near, that all the kingdom 
 
 ']T,. practice\'S, pretence (^. 76. spurs] CI, spirits Y . 77. Strong and 
 fasten'd] Q, strange and fastned, F. 78. / never got him] Q, said he? Y. 
 Tucket within] F (after "seek it," line 77), omitted Q. 79. why] Q, 
 
 wher F. 
 
 72. character] handwriting, as in i. 77. Strortg] reckless. Compare 
 ii. 66. "strong thief," Timon of Athens, iv. 
 
 73. suggestion] evil instigation. The iii. 45. 
 
 verb to suggest in Shakespeare has, 77. fasten'd] inveterate, hardened ; 
 
 generally, the sense of to tempt, to in- perhaps a metaphor from the language of 
 
 cite to evil. See Othello, 11. iii. 358. masonry. In the New Eng. Diet, we 
 
 73. practice] treacherous devices. find an example from Leoni's transla- 
 
 74. make . . . worla] suppose tion of Alberti's Architecture (1726), 
 people to be very dull, very undis- 1.361?: " buildings are taken with the 
 ceming. The expression to make frost before ever they have fastened. " 
 one a dullard, as Steevens has noticed, 80. ports] gates, means of exit, 
 is found in Cymbeline, v. v. 265 : probably, rather than harbours. See 
 
 "What, mak'st thou me a dullard Troilus and Cressida, IV. iv. 113; 
 
 in this act ? " Coriolanus, v. vi. 6 ; but either mean- 
 
 76. pregnant] obvious, readily con- ing would serve here. See Soliman 
 
 ceivable. See Measure for Measure, and Perseda (Dodsley's Old Plays, 
 
 II. i. '23. Furness takes up Nares' Hazlitt, v. 308) : 
 
 idea that it has here the modern "But for assurance that he may 
 
 meaning "productive of something." not 'scape, 
 
 76. potential spurs] powerful in- We'll lay the ports and havens 
 
 ducements. round about. 
 
SCI.] KING LEAR 17 
 
 May have due note of him ; and of my land, 
 
 Loyal and natural boy, I '11 work the means 
 
 To make thee capable. 85 
 
 Enter Cornwall, Regan, and Attendants. 
 
 Corn. How now, my noble friend ! since I came 
 hither, 
 
 Which I can call but now, I have heard strange 
 news. 
 Reg. If it be true, all vengeance comes too short 
 
 Which can pursue the offender. How dost, my 
 lord? 
 Glou. O ! madam, my old heart is crack'd, is crack'd. 90 
 Reg-. What ! did my father's godson seek your life ? 
 
 He whom my father named, your Edgar ? 
 Glou. O ! lady, lady, shame would have it hid. 
 Reg. Was he not companion with the riotous knights 
 
 That tend upon my father ? '95 
 
 Glou. I know not, madam ; 'tis too bad, too bad. 
 Edm. Yes, madam, he was of that consort. 
 
 83. (//<«] F, omitted Q. 85. Enter Cornwall . . .] F (Duke oO, Enter the 
 Duke of Cornwall Q. 87. strange news] Q, strangeness F. go. .'] F, 
 omitted Q ; «j . . .is'] Q, is . , . it 's F. 92. named, your] F, named 
 your Q. 93. !~\ F, Ay (/) Q. 95. tend upon] Theobald, tends ufon 
 Q, terided upon F. 97. of that consort] F, omitted Q. 
 
 84. natural] affectionate, kindly. Heraldry (l6lo), ii. 5, (1660) 65 : 
 So Henry V. II. Prol. 19: "Bastards are not capable of their 
 
 " What mightst thou do . . . father's patrimony. " 
 
 Were all thy children kind and 97. consort] set ; accented on the 
 
 natural ! " second syllable. So Two Gentlemen of 
 
 See Cotgrave, French Dictionary : Verona, I v. i. 64 : " wilt thou be of 
 
 ' ' Naif, . . . natural, kindly, right, our consort ? " and also see Scott's Dis- 
 
 proper, true, no way counterfeit. " We covery of Witchcraft, Book vi. chap. 3 : 
 
 might, perhaps, compare the sense of ' ' where were executed a hundred and 
 
 "child-like," line 106 of this scene. seventy women at one time; besides 
 
 85. capable] able to inherit. The twenty women of that consort who," 
 New Eng. Diet, quotes from Guillim's etc. 
 
78 KING LEAR [acth. 
 
 Reg. No marvel then though he were ill affected ; 
 'Tis they have put him on the old man's death, 
 To have the expense and waste of his revenues, i oo 
 I have this present evening from my sister 
 Been well inform'd of them, and with such cautions 
 That if they come to sojourn at my house, 
 I '11 not be there. 
 
 Corn. Nor I, assure thee, Regan. 
 
 Edmund, I hear that you have shown your father 105 
 A child-like office. 
 
 Edm. 'Twas my duty, sir. 
 
 Glou. He did bewray his practice ; and received 
 This hurt you see, striving to apprehend him. 
 
 Corn. Is he pursued ? 
 
 Glou. Ay, my good lord. 
 
 Corn. If he be taken he shall never more no 
 
 Be fear'd of doing harm ; make your own pur- 
 pose. 
 How in my strength you please. For you, Edmund, 
 
 100. the expense . . . of his] F ; these — and waste of this his, Q I (some 
 copies), Q 2 ; the wast and spoyh of his Q I (some copies). 104, etc. 
 Com.] F, Duke Q. 105. / hear\ F, / heard Q. 107. bewray\ F, 
 betray Q. 112. For] Q, F i ; as for F 2, followed by Jennyns. 
 
 99. put him on] incited him to and Steevens quotes from Sidney's 
 compass. Arcadia, Book ii. : "his heart fainted 
 
 100. To have . . . revenues] to have and gat a conceit that with bewray- 
 the privilege, to be allowed, to spend ing this practice he might obtaine 
 and to squander his (Gloucester's) in- pardon." 
 
 come. m. Be fear' d of doing harm] Ivi'AX 
 
 106. child -like] filial. So Two see that he is no longer an object of 
 Gentlemen of Verona, III. i. 75. dread, lest he should do harm, mis- 
 
 107. bewray] discover, disclose, chief. He will be no longer trouble- 
 See 3 Henry VI. i. i. 211: "Here some. 
 
 comes the Queen,- whose looks be- iii, 112. make . . . please] carry 
 
 wray her anger. " See also R. Greene, out your designs for his capture, using 
 
 Pandosto Hazlitt, p. 31: "seeing for the purpose my authority and re- 
 
 Franion had bewrayed his secrets " ; courses at your will. 
 
SCI.] KING LEAR 79 
 
 Whose virtue and obedience doth this instant 
 So much commend itself, you shall be ours : 
 Natures of such deep trust we shall much need; 1 1 S 
 You we first seize on. 
 
 Edm. I shall serve you, sir. 
 
 Truly, however else. 
 
 Glou. For him I thank your grace. 
 
 Corn. You know not why we came to visit you, — 
 
 Reg. Thus out of season, threading dark-eyed night : 
 
 Occasions, noble Gloucester, of some poise. 120 
 
 Wherein we must have use of your advice. 
 
 Our father he hath writ, so hath our sister, 
 
 Of diiiferences, which I best thought it fit 
 
 To answer from our home ; the several messengers 
 
 From hence attend dispatch. Our good old friend. 
 
 Lay comforts to your bosom, and bestow 126 
 
 113. doth this instant^ Q, F ; doth in this instance Jennyns (Heath conjecture). 
 116. sir\ F, omitted Q. 119. threading] F, threatning<^. 120. poise] Q i 
 (some copies), prise Q l (some copies), prize Q 2, F. 123. differences] Q i 
 (some copies), F ; defences Q I (some copies), Q 2 ; best] Q i (some copies), Q 
 2, F, lest Q I (some copies), least Wright, Cambridge Shakespeare ; thought] Q, 
 though F. 124. home] Q I (some copies), hatid Q I (some copies), Q 2. 
 
 \l^. threading ... night]\X2.vexwi\^ 123. which] referring, as Delius 
 
 dark night, with a quibble. Did Byron points out, not to "differences," but 
 
 imitate this passage when he wrote : to "writ " (to a letter he has writ). 
 
 "O night, 123. best] For "best," Wright, both 
 
 And storm and darkness, ye are in the Cambridge and Clarendon Press 
 
 wondrous strong, editions, has adopted the reading 
 
 Yet lovely in your strength, as is " least, " following some copies of 
 
 the light Quarto i. In that case " from " 
 
 Of a dark eye in woman " ! must be taken in its usual sense. 
 
 Childe Harold, Canto iii. stanza 92. With the reading in the text the 
 
 120. poise] weight, moment, im- word must be understood to mean, 
 
 portance. Malone quotes 0<.4«//», in. as it frequently does in Shakespeare, 
 
 iii. 82 : " It shall be full of poise and "away from." So Hamlet, in. ii. 
 
 difficult weight." "Prize," the reading 22: "from the purpose of play- 
 
 of most old editions, might have the ing." 
 
 same meaning. 125. attend dispatch] are waiting to 
 
 iz'i. differences]q\ia.ite\s. See note be dispatched, sent off. 
 to II. ii. 48. 
 
80 KING LEAR [acth. 
 
 Your needful counsel to our business, 
 Which craves the instant use. 
 Glou. I serve you, madam. 
 
 Your graces are right welcome. 
 
 {Flourish. Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE II. — Before Gloucester's Castle. 
 
 Enter Kent and Oswald, severally. 
 Osw. Good dawning to thee, friend : art of this house ? 
 Kent. Ay. 
 
 Osw. Where may we set our horses ? 
 Kent, r the mire. 
 
 Osw. Prithee, if thou lovest me, tell me. 5 
 
 Kent. I love thee not. 
 Osw. Why, then I care not for thee. 
 Kent. If I had thee in Lipsbury pinfold, I would 
 
 make thee care for me. 
 Osw. Why dost thou use me thus? I know thee not. lo 
 
 127. bii,siness\ Q, businesses F. 129. Flourish] F, omitted Q ; Exeunt] 
 F, after " use " (line 128) Q. 
 
 Scene 11. 
 
 Before . . . Castle] Capell ; omitted Q, F. Enter . . . severally] F 
 (Steward). Enter Kent and Steward Q. 1,3, etc. Osw.] Collier ; Steward 
 or Stew. Q, F. i. dawning] F, even Q, deuen Q 1 (one copy) ; this] F, 
 the Q. 5. lovest] F, love Q. 
 
 I. of this house ?] a servant, a de- recorded. Nares " supposes it is just 
 
 pendant here. See North's Plutarch possible that the expression might 
 
 \LifeofCoriolamts),^ii.\if)t,^-^.'Z\T\ mean in or between my teeth, the 
 
 ' ' They of the house, spying him at the teeth being the pinfold inside the lips 
 
 chimney hearth, wondered what he (ep/cos bhovruv). ' In Beaumont and 
 
 should be." Fletcher, IVit at Several Weapons, 
 
 8. Lipsbury pinfold] 3. ^Vizzlt; ^ex- i. i. : "Lipland" means the lips; 
 
 haps some cant phrase, well known "to purchase lipland," to procure a 
 
 at the time. Capell saw in it possibly kiss : 
 the name of a boxing-ring in some ' ' He does it, 
 
 village of Lipsbury, famous for that Slight, as if he meant to purchase 
 art ; but no village of the name is Lipland." 
 
sc, 
 
 II.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 81 
 
 Kent. Fellow, I know thee. 
 
 Osw. What dost thou know me for? 
 
 Kent. A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats ; 
 a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, 
 hundred-pound, filthy worsted-stocking knave ; 
 a lily-livered, action-taking knave ; a whoreson, 
 glass-gazing, super-serviceable, finical rogue ; 
 
 IS 
 
 i6. knave ;a\ Q, omitted F. 17. super-serviceable, fimcat\Y , superfinicall <^. 
 
 13. eater of broken meats'] a common 
 gird against serving-men. Compare 
 Coriolanus to the servants of Aufidius. 
 Coriolanus, IV. v. 35 : 
 
 " Follow your function, go, 
 And batten on cold bits. " 
 See also Cymbeline, II. iii. ng. 
 
 14. three-suited] Steevens quotes 
 Ben Jonson, The Silent Woman, iv. 
 2. The whole passage runs thus : 
 ' ' Truewit. And the brace of baboons 
 answered, Yes ; and said, thou wert a 
 pitiful poor fellow, and didst live upon 
 posts, and hadst nothing but three 
 suits of apparel," Gifford, ed. 1873, 
 p. 2.2'][b). It has been objected that 
 one of the characters in this play 
 speaks of " three suits to the back " as 
 luxury itself (see Edgar's speech, in. 
 iv. 146). Wright, however, remarks 
 that it is probable that three suits of 
 clothes a year were the part of a ser- 
 vant's allowance, quoting The Silent 
 Woman, iii. I. Mrs. Otter, speaking 
 to her husband, says : "Who gives you 
 maintenance, I pray you ? Who allows 
 you your horsemeat, and man's meat, 
 your three suits of apparel a year ? " 
 OSSioxA. {Works), 1873, p. 2i7(/5). 
 
 15. hundred-pound] a hit at James 
 the First's profuse creation of knights. 
 Steevens quotes Middleton, The 
 Phanix, iv. iii. 55 : " am I used 
 like a hundred-pound gentleman?" 
 See also the mock dedication prefixed 
 to Father Huiberd s Tale, by the same 
 writer : " a costlier exploit, and a 
 hundred-pound feat of arms," BuUen 
 {Works), viii. 51. 
 
 6 
 
 15. worsted ■ stocking]. See Ben 
 Jonson in The Silent Woman, ii. I. 
 Mrs. Otter addressing her husband, 
 speaks of " your four pair of stock- 
 ings, one silk, three worsted" (Gifford, 
 1873, p. 2I7(^)). 
 
 16. lily-livered] cowardly, white- 
 livered. As in Macbeth, v. iii. 15 : 
 
 "Go prick thy face, and over-red 
 thy fear, 
 Thou lily-liver'd boy.'' 
 Lily-livered, imbellis, Coles, Diction- 
 ary, 1676. To have " the liver white 
 and pale " was, according to Sir John 
 Falstaff, "the badge of pusillanimity 
 and cowardice," 2 Henry IV. IV. iii. 
 113. In Nash, Jack Wilton, IS94, 
 Gosse, 1892, p. 21, we read: "his 
 white liver had mixed itself with the 
 white of his eye, and both were turned 
 upwards, as if they had offered them- 
 selvesa fairwhite for death to shoot at." 
 
 16. action-taking] one who declines 
 fighting out a quarrel like a man, but 
 basely goes to law. 
 
 17. glass-gazing] vain, foppish, as 
 in Richard III. i. i. 15. 
 
 1 7- super-servicedble] over-ofiicious, 
 Johnson, and Schmidt's Lexicon ; 
 "above his work" (Wright). 
 
 17. finical] over-nice, affectedly 
 fastidious. The earliest example of this 
 word — ^by no means obsolete — which is 
 given in the New Eng. Diet, is from 
 Nash, Piers Penniless. " She is so 
 finical in her speech as though she 
 spake nothing but what she had first 
 sewed over before in her samplers," 
 Grosart ( Works), ii. 33. 
 
82 KING LEAR [acth. 
 
 one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst 
 be a bawd in way of good service, and art 
 nothing but the composition of a knave, 20 
 beggar, coward, pandar, and the son and heir 
 of a mongrel bitch: one whom I will beat 
 into clamorous whining if thou deniest the 
 least syllable of thy addition. 
 
 Osw. Why, what a monstrous fellow art thou, thus 25 
 to rail on one that is neither known of thee 
 nor knows thee ! 
 
 Kent. What a brazen-faced varlet art thou, to deny 
 thou knowest me! Is it two days since I 
 tripped up thy heels and beat thee before the 30 
 king ? Draw, you rogue ; for though it be 
 night, yet the moon shines : I '11 make a sop 
 o' the moonshine of you. [Drawing his sword. 
 
 Draw, you whoreson cullionly barber-monger, 
 draw. 3 5 
 
 18. one-trunk-inheriting\ F 3, one trunk-inherititigV I, F 2; no hyphens Q. 
 22. one\ F, omitted Q. 23. deniesf] F, deny Q. 24. thy\ F, the Q. 
 25. Why] F, omitted Q. 29. sincel F, ago since Q. 30. tripped up . . . 
 thee] F, beate thee, andtript up thy heeles Q. 32. yet] F, omitted Q. 33- ?A] 
 F, a' Q. Drawing his sword] Rowe ; omitted Q, F. 34. Draw] Q, omitted F. 
 
 18. one-trunk-inheriiing] possess- allusion to a dish called "eggs in 
 
 ing but one trunk, one coflFer of effects, moonshine,'' a receipt for the making 
 
 To inherit has frequently the sense to of which is to be found in Na:rds' 
 
 possess in Shakespeare. See Tempest, Glossary, and which occurs in Gabriel 
 
 II. ii. 179. Here it might have the Yisrvey, Pierces Supererogation, IS73) 
 
 ordinary meaning. Grosart (^Works), ii. p. 63: "I wot 
 
 20. composition of] a mixture, one not what marvellous eggs in moon- 
 made up of, the several qualities of. shine," etc. "To make a sop of" is 
 
 34. thy addition] the titles I have used, more than once, by Shakespeare, 
 
 bestowed on you. See i. i. 136. as in Richard III. i. iv. 162, for to 
 
 32, 33. sop o' the moonshine] If the set floating, as a piece of toast was 
 
 text is not corrupt, Kent must have in sack, or other liquor. See Merry 
 
 meant that he would knock Oswald Wives, III. v. 3. 
 
 into a puddle, or pond, where he 34. cullionly] rascally, base, vile ; 
 
 might look up at the moon. Some from cuUion, a vile fellow, a very 
 
 see in the expression a quibtling common word. See Henry V. in. 
 
SC. 11.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 83 
 
 Osw. Away ! I have nothing to do with thee. 
 
 Kent. Draw, you rascal ; you come with letters 
 against the king, and take Vanity the puppet's 
 part against the royalty of her father. Draw, 
 you rogue, or I '11 so carbonado your shanks : 40 
 draw, you rascal ; come your ways. 
 
 Osw. Help, ho ! murder ! help ! 
 
 Kent. Strike, you slave ; stand, rogue, stand ; you 
 
 neat slave, strike. {Beats him. 
 
 44. Beats him] Beating him Rowe, 
 
 37. come with'] F, bring Q. 
 omitted Q, F. 
 
 ii. 22 ; "Up to the breach, you dogs ! 
 avaunt, you cullions!" Also Peele, 
 Old Wives' Tale, Bullen ( Works), \. 
 328: "Hence, base cuUion!" and 
 see also "Coyon, a coward, cuUion, 
 scoundrel, base fellow," Cotgrave's 
 French Dictionary. 
 
 34. barber-monger] one constant in 
 his attendance at the barber's shop. 
 See Antony and Cleopatra, II. ii. 229 : 
 "Antony, . . . Being barber'd ten 
 times o'er, goes to the feast. " 
 
 38. Vanity] Like Iniquity, Vanity 
 was a common character in the old 
 moralities, and reference is often made 
 to it by the dramatic writers of the 
 time. So Marlow, The Jew of Malta, 
 ii. 3, Havelock Ellis, 1887, p. 262 : 
 
 " Slave. Alas, sir ! I am a very youth. 
 Barrabas. A youth ! I '11 buy you, 
 and marry you to Lady Vanity 
 if you do will." 
 Also Ben Jonson, The Fox, 11. iii. 21 : 
 "Get you a cittern Lady Vanity." 
 Wright quotes the same poet's play, 
 The Devil is an Ass, I. i. 46 : 
 "Sat. What Vice? what kind 
 would'st thou have it of? 
 Pug. Why any, Fraud, 
 
 Or Covetousness, or Lady 
 
 Vanity, 
 Or old Iniquity." 
 
 39. raja/^jo/'JCapell omits the "of." 
 
 40. carbonado] to scotch, or cut cross- 
 wise, a piece of meat before broiling 
 
 or grilling it. See Coriolanas, IV. v. 
 199: " before Corioli he scotched him 
 and notched him, like a carbonado." 
 Cotgrave (French Dictionary) has 
 "Carbonade, a carbonadoe, a rasher 
 on the coals ; also a flash over the face, 
 which vfetcheth the flesh with it." See 
 also Nash, Have With You To Saffron 
 Walden, Collier, p. 17 : "I will de- 
 liver him to thee, to be scotched and 
 carbonadoed. " 
 
 41. come your ways] come along. 
 Hamlet, i. iii. 135. Wright, English 
 Dialect Dictionary, shows that the 
 phrase is still current in northern 
 English shires for " come along, come 
 forward " (generally addressed to chil- 
 dren). 
 
 44. neai\ Johnson explains as 
 ' ' pure, unmixed, perhaps dandified, 
 foppish." Hotspur's "certain lord" 
 on Homildon field, 1 Henry IV. i. iii. 
 33, was "neat and trimly dressed." 
 Singer, improbably, explains "you 
 base cowherd." Staunton thinks it 
 has to do with "horning," quoting 
 A Winter's Tale, I. ii. 123-125 : 
 "We must be neat; not neat, but 
 cleanly, captain : 
 
 And yet the steer, the heifer, and 
 the calf. 
 
 Are all called neat " — 
 where undoubtedly that idea is 
 hinted at ; but here, it is probably not 
 referred to. 
 
84 KING LEAR [acth. 
 
 Osw. Help, ho ! murder! murder! 45 
 
 Enter Edmund, with his rapier drawn. 
 Edm. How now ! What 's the matter ? \Parts them. 
 
 Kent. With you, goodman boy, an you please : 
 come, I '11 flesh ye ; come on, young master. 
 
 Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, Gloucester, and Servants. 
 
 Glou. Weapons ! arms ! What 's the matter here ? 
 
 Corn. Keep peace, upon your lives : 5 o 
 
 He dies that strikes again. What is the matter ? 
 Reg. The messengers from our sister and the king. 
 Co7'n. What is your difference ? speak. 
 Osw. I am scarce in breath, my lord. 
 Kent. No marvel, you have so bestirred your valour. 5 5 
 
 You cowardly rascal, nature disclaims in thee : 
 
 a tailor made thee. 
 
 45. murder! murder 1"^ F, murder, help Q. Enter . . . drawn] Q, Enter 
 
 Bastard F. with . . . drawn] Q, omitted F. 46, etc. Edm.] Bast. Q, F. 
 
 46. Parts them] Grant White, Part F, omitted Q. 47. a»] {and) Q, //F. 
 48. ye'\ F, you Q. Enter Cornwall] F. 
 
 47. Wifk you"] i.e. the matter, the lj3.vahvixo\.e,mh.\s Specimens of Eng- 
 
 quarrel (is) with you. lish Dramatic Poets, " I have selected 
 
 47. goodman ioy] a title of mock this scene, — the combat between Con- 
 respect. Compare Hamlet, v. i. 14, tarino and Ercole from Webster, The 
 ' ' goodman delver. " DeviVs Law Case, — as a specimen of a 
 
 48. fleshi initiate ; originally a hunt- well-managed and gentleman-like dif- 
 ing phrase. In Palsgrave's Z^c/amj-- ference." We learn from the £«^/8>A 
 sement{l^^b), we read: ' ' Flesche as we Dialect DictionaryihaX this meaning of 
 do an hounde, when we give him any the word is still alive in Yorkshire and 
 parte ofawyld beast, to encourage him Lincolnshire for "a wordy quarrel" ; 
 to run well." See also Beaumont and while differ, " to wrangle, to quarrel," 
 Fletcher, Wit at Several Weapons, i. i. : is used over a wider area. 
 
 " The first that fleshed me a soldier, 55. bestirred your valour] you 
 
 sir, have so over-exerted your valorous 
 
 Was that great battle of Alcazar in self; " your valour " may be a mock 
 
 Barbary." title. Compare " Sir Valour," given 
 
 Also Shirley, The Maid's Hevenge, i. by Ulysses to the lazy Achilles, Troilus 
 
 2 ; Gifford i. 107. aTtd Cressida, I. iii. 176. 
 
 53. difference] quarrel, as before, S^- disclaims in t&ee] renounces, 
 
 II. i. 123 ; also Ifenry VIII. I. i. loi. disavows, all part in thee. Steevens 
 
sen] KING LEAR 85 
 
 Corn. Thou art a strange fellow ; a tailor make a 
 man? 
 
 Kent. Ay, a tailor, sir : a stone-cutter or a painter 60 
 could not have made him so ill, though they 
 had been but two hours at the trade. 
 
 Corn. Speak yet, how grew your quarrel ? 
 
 Osw. This ancient ruffian, sir, whose life I have 
 
 spared at suit of his grey beard, — - 65 
 
 Kent. Thou whoreson zed ! thou unnecessary letter ! 
 My lord, if you will give me leave, I will tread 
 this unbolted villain into mortar, and daub 
 the wall of a jakes with him. Spare my grey 
 beard, you wagtail ? 70 
 
 Corn. Peace, sirrah ! 
 
 You beastly knave, know you no reverence? 
 
 60. Ay\ (7) Q, omitted F. 6l. they\ F, he Q. 62. hours] Q, years 
 F ; at the] Q, oth' F. 63. Com.] F, Glost. Q. 69. wall] F, walls Q. 
 71. sirrah !]V, sir Q^. ']2. ktiowyounoreverence]7,youhavenorevere}ice(^. 
 
 quotes Brome, The Northern Lasse, 68. unbolted] coarse, gross, rank. 
 
 IV. ii. 22 : " If you have not your will Literally unsifted. See Troilus and 
 
 in this I will disclaim in your favour Cressida, I. i. 17. The words " finely 
 
 hereafter ''; also Ben Jonson, The Case bolted "are used in a good sense in 
 
 is Altered, v. 4 : Count F.: "Is not Hetiry V. 11. ii. 137 : " Such, and so 
 
 Rachel then thy daughter ? Jaq.Ho, finely bolted, didst thou seem." 
 
 I disclaim in her " ; and Warner's 69. jakes] a privy. See Scott's 
 
 Albions England, Book iii. chap. xvi. Discovery of Witchcraft, Book xiv. 
 
 And also see Ben Jonson, Sctd Shep- chap. xxii. : ' ' Cloacina was goddess 
 
 herd, i. 2 : " The sourer sort Of shep- of the jakes." 
 
 herds now disclaim in all such sport. " 70. wagtail] apparently used as a 
 
 66. thou unnecessary letter I] this term of opprobrium for bustling or 
 
 title is given to the letter Z because it ducking pages and waiting men. 
 
 is generally ignored in the dictionaries Compare silly-ducking, line 106 of 
 
 of the time. Baret omits it altogether this scene. It is sometimes to be 
 
 in his Alvearie. Rider, in his Die- met with in the sense of pert boy or 
 
 tionary, ed. 1640, under Z, writes : child. 
 
 " Graeca litera est quia in Latinis die- 72. beastly] beastlike in the sense 
 
 tionibus non utimur. " Ben Jonson, in of irrational or thoughtless. See 
 
 his English Granimar, writes : "Z is a Merry Wives of Windsor, in. iv. 115, 
 
 letter often heard amongst us, but and compare the sense in Cymbeline, 
 
 seldom seen," Cunningham, Works, in. iii. 40, of the words, "We are 
 
 vol. iii. p. 435 {a). \ beastly." 
 
86 KING LEAR [act n. 
 
 Kent. Yes, sir ; but anger hath a privilege. 
 
 Corn. Why art thou angry ? 
 
 Kent. That such a slave as this should wear a sword, 75 
 
 Who wears no honesty. Such smiling rogues as 
 
 these. 
 
 Like rats, oft bite the holy cords a-twain 
 
 Which are too intrinse t' unloose ; smooth every 
 
 passion 
 
 That in the natures of their lords rebel ; 
 
 Bring oil to fire, snow to their colder moods ; 80 
 
 Renege, afifirm, and turn their halcyon beaks 
 
 With every gale and vary of their masters, 
 
 Knowing nought, like dogs, but following. 
 
 A plague upon your epileptic visage ! 
 
 73. haihl F, has Q. 76. Whd\ F, that Q. 77. (/le holy\ F, those Q ; 
 a-twain\ (unhyphened) F, in twain Q. 78. Which . . . intrinse] Malone, 
 Which are f intrince F, Which are to intrench Q ; f unloose] F, to inloose Q. 
 80. Bring] Q, BeingY ; Jire] F, stir Q ; their] Q, the F. 81. Renege] F 2, 
 Reneag Q, Revenge F i. 82. gale] Q, gall F. 83. dogs] F, days Q. 
 
 73. anger . . . privilege] Compare 81. Renege] deny. So Antony and 
 
 King John, IV. iii. 32, "impatience Cleopatra, I. i. 8: "His captain's 
 
 hath his privilege." heart . . . reneges all temper ' ; and 
 
 77. Ao/ycwrfjjnatural bonds of affec- Stanyhurst, FiV^V^»«zJ, 1582, book 
 tion attaching the parent and child. ii., Arber, 1880, p. 64; "To live 
 
 78. intrinse] intricate, very tightly now longer, Troy burnt, he flatly 
 drawn. I know no other instance reneaged." 
 
 of this form of intricate ; but the form 81, 82. turn . . . masters] This 
 
 ' ' intrinsicate " is not uncommon. See refers to the belief, then current, that 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, v. ii. 307 : the halcyon or king-fisher, if hung up, 
 
 "With thy sharp teeth this knot would turn with the wind. See T. 
 
 intrinsicate Lupton, Tenth Book of Notable Things : 
 
 Of life, at once untie.'' "A little byrde called the King's 
 
 See also Ben Jonson, Cynthia's Fisher, being hanged up in the ayre by 
 
 Revels, v. ii. 19: "certain intrinse- the neck, his nebbe, or bill, will be 
 
 cate strokes, and wards." always direct or straight against the 
 
 78. smooth] humour, flatter. So wind." 
 Richard IJ I. I. iii. 48: "Smile in 84. «/27e^/«V] with a face resembling 
 men's faceSjSmooth, deceive, and cog"; that of one suffering from epilepsy, 
 and Ford's Lome's Sacrifice, i. i. : Oswald pale, and trembling with 
 " till then, smooth her up that fright, was yet smiling and trying 
 he 's a man overjoyed with the hard to put on a look of lofty un- 
 report." concern. 
 
sc, 
 
 II.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 87 
 
 Smile you my speeches, as I were a fool? 85 
 
 Goose, if I had you upon Sarum plain, 
 I 'd drive ye cackling home to Camelot. 
 
 Corn. What ! art thou mad, old fellow ? 
 
 Glou. How fell you out ? say that. 
 
 Kent. No contraries hold more antipathy 90 
 
 Than I and such a knave. 
 
 Com. Why dost thou call him knave ? What is his 
 fault ? 
 
 Kent. His countenance likes me not. 
 
 86. if\ Q 2, F ; and Q. 87. drive ye\ F, send you Q. 92. What is 
 his fault?] F, What's his offence? Q. 
 
 85. Smite"] smile at, sneer at, refuse 
 to take seriously. 
 
 86, 87. Goose . . . Camelot] Came- 
 lot, the residence of Arthur and his 
 Knights of the Round Table. It 
 has been identified with Winchester, 
 and it is made such in Malory, Le 
 Morte Darthur, Book ii. chap. 19, 
 and Book xii. chap. 10 (the Cyte of 
 Camelot, in Englyshe Wynchestre). 
 Capell first saw a quibbling reference 
 here to the Winchester goose, a cant 
 name for a sort of sore, referred to 1 
 Henry VI. i. iii. 53 ; also Troilus and 
 Cressida, v. x. 55 ; also Chapman, 
 Monsieur lyO Hue, xv. i: "Winchester 
 famous for the goose " ; but this idea 
 seems a little far-fetched. For a long 
 note on the passage containing some 
 very fanciful explanations, see Fur- 
 ness' edition of this play. 
 
 90, 91. No . . . knave] Coleridge, 
 Notes on the Plays of Shakespeare, edited 
 by T.Ashe, 1883, p. 336, describes Kent 
 as "perhaps the nearest to perfect good- 
 ness in all Shakespeare's characters." 
 " His direct antithesis," he goes on to 
 remark (p. 337), "is the Steward" 
 (Oswald), "the only character of utter, 
 irredeemable baseness in Shake- 
 speare " ; and I think it is worth con- 
 sideration that this may give us the 
 
 key to the violent bearing of Kent in 
 this scene and the unbridled and 
 coarse language he uses. This is 
 generally considered a blemish in the 
 play ; but we must, I think, try to 
 look at Kent, the brave, the noble, 
 the generous, the true, suddenly con- 
 fronted and opposed in the execution 
 of his duty, at the end of a long and 
 wearisome journey, by Oswald, the 
 basest of the base, who, without 
 one spark of merit, and, as Coleridge 
 describes him, "the willing tool of a 
 Goneril," was yet putting on an air 
 of provoking self-sufficiency, and who, 
 unconscious that he is in the presence 
 of a great nobleman, and, thinking he 
 had only a common serving-man to 
 deal with, was making no effort to 
 cloak his real base motives of action ; 
 and is it strange that the meeting of 
 two such men should be most stormy, 
 and that it should bring out all that 
 was violent in Kent's nature, and that 
 a scene should occur of no less terror 
 than the elements "Offire and water, 
 when the thundering shock At meeting 
 tears the cloudy cheeks of heaven " ? 
 
 93. likes] pleases. See i. i. 203 ; 
 also "her countenance liked him 
 well," Bernard, Terrence in English, 
 ed. 1614, p. 224(a). 
 
88 KING LEAR [acth. 
 
 Corn. No more, perchance, does mine, nor his, nor hers. 
 
 Kent. Sir, 'tis my occupation to be plain : 9 5 
 
 I have seen better faces in my time 
 Than stands on any shoulder that I see 
 Before me at this instant. 
 
 Corn. This is some fellow, 
 
 Who, having been praised for bluntness, doth affect 
 A saucy roughness, and constrains the garb lOO 
 Quite from his nature : he cannot flatter, he, 
 An honest mind and plain, he must speak 
 
 truth : 
 An they will take it, so ; if not, he 's plain. 
 These kind of knaves I know, which in this plain- 
 ness 
 Harbour more craft and more corrupter ends 105 
 Than twenty silly-ducking observants. 
 That stretch their duties nicely. 
 
 94. does\ Q I, do^s F, doth Q 2 ; nor . . . nor\ F, or . . . or Q. 97. 
 Than\ F, {theii) that Q. 98. some\ F, aQ. 102. An . . . plain] F, 
 he must be plain Q. io5. silly-ducking\ F, unhyphened Q. 
 
 97. shoulder'] Shoulder is often, if silly-stately, ludicrously pompous, 
 
 not always, employed by Shakespeare 1 Henry VI. IV. vii. 72. "Duck, 
 
 for the part between the shoulders, the to bow, to cringe. " See Tivion of 
 
 back ; thus "to show their shoulders," Athens, IV. iii. 18 : 
 
 to turn their backs, to run away, An- " the learned pate 
 
 tony and Cleopatra, in. xi. 8. Also Ducks to the golden fool." 
 
 compare "to clap on the shoulder," Also Jfichard III. I. iii. 49; andcom- 
 
 Mtich Ado, 1. i. 261. pare the expression "wagtail," line 70. 
 
 100, loi. constrains . . . nature] 106. observants] obsequious attend- 
 
 forces on himself a demeanour, a char- ants. Compare the sense of the verb "to 
 
 acter, quite opposed, quite unlike what observe" in Timon of Athens, IV. iii. 2 12 : 
 
 is really his. It has been explained, " hinge thy knee, 
 
 "compels, forces the garb, i.e. strips off And let his very breath, whom 
 
 the dress (so as to be) quite away from thou'lt observe, 
 
 the natural man, goes naked, in his Blow off thy cap. " 
 
 absence of manners and in the ip- 107. stretch their duties nicely] are 
 
 decent plainness of his speech." particular to carry out their courtly 
 
 106. silly -ducking] ludicrously oh- duties with the most punctilious 
 
 sequious. Compare the compound care. 
 
sen.] KING LEAR 89 
 
 Kent. Sir, in good faith, in sincere verity, 
 
 Under the allowance of your great aspect. 
 
 Whose influence, like the wreath of radiant fire no 
 
 On flickering Phoebus' front, — 
 
 Corn. What mean'st by this ? 
 
 Kent. To go out of my dialect, which you discom- 
 mend so much. I know, sir, I am no flatterer : 
 he that beguiled you in a plain accent was a 
 plain knave ; which for my part I will not be, 115 
 though I should win your displeasure to en- 
 treat me to't. 
 
 Corn. What was the offence you gave him ? 
 
 Osw. I never gave him any : 
 
 It pleased the king his master very late 120 
 
 To strike at me, upon his misconstruction ; 
 When he, conjunct, and flattering his displeasure, 
 Tripp'd me behind ; being down, insulted, rail'd, 
 
 108. faith, iTt] F, sooth, or in Q, sooth in Steevens. 109. great] F, graund 
 Q I, grand Q 2. III. On\ F, In Q ; flickering] CI, flicking F ; mean'st by] 
 F, meanest thou by Q. 112. dialect] F, dialogue Q. 1 1 8. What was] F, 
 IVhat's Q. 122. conjunct] Q, compact F. 
 
 109. allowance] approval. should win your displeasure, a thing 
 no. influence] a metaphor from far more desirable in my eyes than 
 
 the astrological term, power exercised your favour, the favour of such a man 
 
 by the heavenly bodies. Stt T'empest, as Cornwall." 
 
 I. II. 182. 122. conjunct] joined, united vfith 
 
 111. flickering] shimmering, shin- him, taking her part. See "conjunct," 
 
 ing with an unsteady, wavering light, v. i. 12 ; and the form conjunctive, 
 
 Kent purposely adopts the pompous Hamlet, iv. vii. 14 ; also Othello, 1. 
 
 and affected style of the courtier. iii. 374. Compact (of the Folio) 
 
 114, 115. a plain knave] i.e. the would have much the same meaning, 
 
 plain knave you have just alluded to. It is in Measure for Measure, v. i. 
 
 116, 117. though . . . to't] 242: "Pernicious woman. Compact 
 
 ' ' though I should so far win over, with her that 's gone. " 
 appease, your wrath, that you should 123. being down, insulted] tri- 
 
 entreat me to assume it (again) " ; but umphed, crowed, exulted over me 
 
 perhaps it may be thus explained, " I when I was down. " Insulter, to in- 
 
 will not be a plain knave, though as suit, crow, vaunt, or triumph over," 
 
 a great inducement to be such, though Cotgrave's French Dictionary. See 
 
 to entreat me, induce me, to it, I also As You Like It, in. v. 36. 
 
90 KING LEAR [act n. 
 
 And put upon him such a deal of man, 
 That worthied him, got praises of the king 1 2 5 
 
 For him attempting who was self-subdu'd ; 
 And, in the fleshment of this dread exploit. 
 Drew on me here again. 
 
 Kent. None of these rogues and cowards 
 
 But Ajax is their fool. 
 
 Corn. Fetch forth the stocks ! 
 
 You stubborn-ancient knave, you reverend brag- 
 gart, 1 30 
 We '11 teach you. 
 
 Kent. Sir, I am too old to learn. 
 
 Call not your stocks for me ; I serve the king, 
 On whose employment I was sent to you ; 
 You shall do small respect, show too bold malice 
 Against the grace and person of my master, i 3 5 
 
 124, 125. man, Thaf] F, man, that, ThatX^. 127. fleshmenf\ Y, fleck- 
 iient Q; dread] Q, dead F. 129. Fetch . . . stocks!'] F, Bring forth 
 
 the stocks, ho? Q. 130. ancient] F, miscreant Q, ausrent Q I (some 
 
 copies) ; reverend] Pope ; reverent Q I, F ; unreverent Q 2. 131. Sir] F, 
 omitted Q. 133. employment] F, employments Q. 134. shall] F, should 
 Q ; respect] Q, respects F. 
 
 124. put ■ . . ««»] made himself encourage, to make eager. See Speed's 
 out such a perfect hero. Chronicle, p. 439 : "and the twoyong 
 
 125. i«or/.42«rf] gave him the appear- gallants being thereby fleshed and in- 
 ance of worth. This recalls Milton, curaged, that they intended to have 
 Paradise Lost, i. 529 : marched to London." See also note 
 
 " high v^ords which bore to line 48 of this scene. 
 Semblanceofworth, not substance." 129. But Ajax] Capell explains, 
 
 126. him attempting who] for "Ajax in bragging is a fool to them." 
 assailing one who. Compare the Heath explains, " Just a plain, blunt- 
 sense of " attempt " xa. Merry Wives, brained fellow as Ajax was, is the 
 IV. ii. 226 : " he will never attempt us person these rascals always chuse to 
 again " ; and the Neio English Die- make their butt, put their tricks upon," 
 tionary gives a good instance from Kevisal, 1765, ?• 331. 
 
 Robinson Crusoe, ed. 1858, p. 207 : 130. stubborn - ancient] I hyphen 
 
 "how I should escape from them (the after a suggestion of Sydney Walker, 
 savages) if they attempted me." 130. reverend] The word has here 
 
 127. fleshment] excitement, result- simply the sense of aged, grey- 
 ing from a first success. Flesh, to haired. 
 
sen.] KING LEAR 91 
 
 Stocking his messenger. 
 
 Corn. Fetch forth the stocks ! 
 
 As I have life and honour, there shall he sit till 
 noon. 
 
 Reg. Till noon ! till night, my lord ; and all night 
 too. 
 
 Kent. Why, madam, if I were your father's dog, 
 You should not use me so. 
 
 Reg. Sir, being his knave, I will. 140 
 
 Cam. This is a fellow of the self-same colour 
 
 Our sister speaks of. Come, bring away the stocks. 
 
 \Stocks brought out. 
 
 Glou. Let me beseech your grace not to do so. 
 
 His fault is much, and the good king his master 
 Will check him for 't : your purposed low correction 
 Is such as basest and contemned'st wretches 146 
 For pilferings and most common trespasses 
 Are punish'd with : the king must take it ill. 
 That he, so slightly valued in his messenger. 
 Should have him thus restrain'd. 
 
 Corn. I '11 answer that. 150 
 
 Reg. My sister may receive it much more worse 
 To have her gentleman abused, assaulted, 
 
 136. stocking^ F, stopping Q. 140. should] F, could Q. 141. self- 
 
 same colour] F, self same nature Q I, same nature Q z. 142. speaks of\ 
 Q 2, F ; speak of Cl \. Stocks . . . out] as in Dyce, after line 140 F, 
 omitted Q. 144-148. His . . . with] Q, omitted F. 146. contemne^st] 
 Capell, temnest Q [contaned Q i, one copy). 148. the king must] Q, 
 
 the king his master, needs must] F. 149. he, so] F, he 's so Q. 
 
 141. colour] kind, complexion. Measure for Measure, II. i. 41 : 
 See As You Like It, l. ii. 107 : " sport " Come, bring them away " ; also come 
 of what colour ? " Also in the same away, for come here, as in the song 
 play, III. ii. 435. "Come away, come away, death," 
 
 142. bring away] bring here, or Twelfth Night, II. iv. 52. 
 continue, hasten to bring them. See 
 
92 KING LEAR [act n. 
 
 For following her affairs. Put in his legs. 
 
 [Kent is put in the stocks. 
 
 Come, my good lord, away. 
 
 \Exeunt all but Gloucester and Kent. 
 
 Glou. I am sorry for thee, friend ; 'tis the duke's 
 
 pleasure, 1 5 5 
 
 Whose disposition, all the world well knows. 
 
 Will not be rubb'd nor stopp'd : I '11 entreat for thee. 
 
 Kent. Pray, do not, sir. I have watch'd and travell'd 
 
 hard; 
 
 Some time I shall sleep out, the rest I '11 whistle. 
 
 A good man's fortune may grow out at heels : 1 6o 
 
 Give you good morrow ! 
 
 Glou. The duke's to blame in this; 'twill be ill taken. 
 
 \Exit. 
 
 Kent. Good king, that must approve the common 
 
 saw, 
 
 153. For . . . hgs\ Q, omitted F. Kent . . . stocks] Pope; after line 150 
 Rowe ; omitted Q, F. 154. Come\ Q, Com. Come F; good lord} Q i ; 
 lordC^ 2, F. Exeunt . . .] Exit Q 2, F ; omitted Q I. 155. dtcke's] Q, 
 Dzike F. 158. Pray] F, Pray you Q, 159. otit\ Q 2, F ; on'( Q 1. 
 
 162. io]Qi; too Q 2, F ; taken] F, too/ce Q. Exit] F, Q 2 ; omitted Q I. 
 
 157. rubb'd] interfered with, re- 163-165. Good king . . . sun] 
 
 tarded, a term in bowling when a approve, make good the truth of, 
 
 bowl thrusts another from the neigh- confirm. This expression, meaning to 
 
 bourhood of the small bowl which all go from better to worse, is found in 
 
 aim at, called the mistress, the jack, the Proverbs of John Heywood, 
 
 and more rarely the block. See 1546, Sharman, 1874, p. 115: "In 
 
 Richard II. in. iv. 4 ; also Nash, your running from him to ihe, you 
 
 PasquiVs Apology, Grosart ( Works), i. run Out of God's blessing into the 
 
 214: " Some small rubs have been cast warm sun." It is also to be met 
 in my way to hinder my coming forth. " . with twice in Lyly's Euphties. See 
 
 157. entreat] plead. So Exodus Etiphues and his England, 1580, 
 vii. 28 : " entreat for me." Arber, 1868, p. 320 : " thou forsakest 
 
 158. watch'd] waked, kept awake God's blessing to sit in a warme 
 (longjl sun"; and the phrase is again met 
 
 161. Give you] Ellipsis, God give with — this time reversed — in Letters 
 
 you. So Merry Wives, II. iii. 21: oiFvc^-aes, {Anatomy of Wit): ^'■ihoxi. 
 
 " Give your good morrow " ; see also shall come out of a warm sun into 
 
 Hamlet, I. i. 16. God's blessing," Arber, p. 196. And 
 
sen.] KING LEAR 93 
 
 Thou out of heaven's benediction comest 
 
 To the warm sun ! 165 
 
 Approach, thou beacon to this under globe, 
 
 That by thy comfortable beams I may 
 
 Peruse this letter. Nothing almost sees miracles. 
 
 But misery: I know 'tis from Cordelia, 
 
 Who hath most fortunately been inform'd 170 
 
 Of my obscured course ; and shall find time 
 
 From this enormous state, seeking to give 
 
 Losses their remedies. All weary and o'er- 
 
 watch'd, 
 Take vantage, heavy eyes, not to behold 
 
 168. miracles\Y ,mywracke Ql\ (some copies), Q2; myrackles Ql(one copy). 
 170. most] Q, F; )wt Q^ i (one copy). 171, 172. shall . . . Frotii] Q, F; 
 
 shell . . . ^(77- Daniel conjecture ; j-^e 7/ . . . i^?-OT« Staunton. ly^. o'er- 
 ■watch'd] Q 2, F ; overmatch Q I. 174. Take] Q, F ; Late Q i (one copy). 
 
 it is found in Holinshed's Chronicles, (172). Mason tries to paraphrase 
 
 1577, vol. i. p. 33 (b) ■ " This Augus- thus : " I know that the letter is from 
 
 tine, after his arrival, converted the Cordelia, who hath been informed of 
 
 Saxons, indeed, from Paganism, but, as my obscured course, and I shall gain 
 
 the proverb says, ' bringing them out time by this strange disguise and situa- 
 
 of God's mercy into the warm sun,' tion, which I shall employ in seek- 
 
 he also imbued them with no less hurt- ing to prevent our present losses." 
 
 ful superstition than they had before." Staunton — from a suggestion of Daniel 
 
 The origin of this expression isobscure. — for " shall " read " she '11," i.e. she. 
 
 Can it refer to the folly of leaving some Cordelia, will find time, etc. 
 
 grateful and beneficent shade as of a 172. enormous state] i.e, irregular, 
 
 spreading tree to journey or toil in the lawless state of things. The only 
 
 extreme heat of the midday sun ? instance of this word in any sense in 
 
 166. under globe] Compare to this, Shakespeare. 
 
 "lower world," Richard II. in. ii. 38. 173. o' er-watcK d]Julius Ccesar, iv. 
 
 167. com/ortable]he\^fa\. So All's iii. 241. See also Sidney, Arcadia, 
 Well, I. i. 86: "Be comfortable to Book ii. p. 159, ed. 1590: "he had 
 my mother." withdrawn himself, to pacific with 
 
 I7I-I73- '^"'i ■ • • remedies] ap- sleep his over-watched eyes"; also 
 
 parently hopelessly corrupt. Jennyns Milton's Paradise Lost, ii. 288 : 
 
 started the idea that Kent was read- "The sound of blustering winds, 
 
 ing to himself divided portions of which all night long 
 
 Cordelia's letter. Steevens and after Had rous'd the sea, now with 
 
 him Collier repeat the same idea. hoarse cadence lull 
 
 Malone believes "that two half lines Sea-faring men o'erwatcht." 
 
 have dropped out of the text between 174. Take vantage] seize the offer 
 
 the words 'state' and 'seeking'" of it. 
 
94 KING LEAR [acth. 
 
 This shameful lodging. I75 
 
 Fortune, good night ; smile once more ; turn thy 
 
 wheel ! {He sleeps. 
 
 SCENE III.— -^ Wood. 
 Enter EDGAR. 
 
 Edg. I heard myself proclaim'd ; 
 
 And by the happy hollow of a tree 
 
 Escaped the hunt. No port is free ; no place, 
 
 That guard, and most unusual vigilance, 
 
 Does not attend my taking. Whiles I may 'scape, S 
 
 I will preserve myself; and am bethought 
 
 To take the basest and most poorest shape 
 
 That ever penury, in contempt of man, 
 
 Brought near to beast ; my face I '11 grime with filth. 
 
 Blanket my loins, elf all my hair in knots, i o 
 
 1 76. smile . . . turn] F, smile, once more turn Q. He sleeps] Q 2, Sleeps 
 Q I, omitted F. 
 
 Scene III, 
 
 A Wood] Staunton, a Part of a Heath Theobald ; omitted Q, F. I. 
 heard\ F, hear Q. 5. Does'\ F, Dost Q ; taking. Whiles'] F, taking while 
 Q. 10. elf] '?,else Q, F 2 : /«< F 3 ; hair\ Q, hairs F ; in] F, with Q. 
 
 176. turn thy wheel] Probably the 9. grime] to blacken, discolour, 
 
 key-note of Tennyson's well-known See Catholicon Anglicum, 1483, to 
 
 song in "Enid" {Works), Oxford Grime, /uscare, fuliginare ; also W. 
 
 Miniature, ed. 1900, p. 861 : "Turn H. Marshall's ^arf Yorkshire Words, 
 
 Fortune, turn thy wheel and lower 1788, Skeat(E,D. S.), 1879 : "Grime, 
 
 the proud." to sully with soot or coals"; also 
 
 Scene ni. ^^^ T. Hejrwood, Dialogue vi. (Jupiter 
 and Juno), line 74: "Fearing his 
 
 2. liappy] lucky, i.e. which luckily smudg'd lips should begrime thy 
 presented itself. ' ' Happy, or lucky, " face. " 
 
 Baret, Alvearie, 1580. 10. elf] tangle elf-lock-wise. See 
 
 3. port] means of exit. Romeo and Juliet, i. iv. 89-91 : 
 6. am bethought] have the plan, " This is that very Mab, 
 
 design. See Chaucer, Canterbury That . . . bakes the elf-locks in 
 
 Tales, 767. foul sluttish hairs, 
 
SC. III.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 95 
 
 And with presented nakedness outface 
 The winds and persecutions of the sky. 
 \The country gives me proof and precedent 
 Of Bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices, 
 Strike in their numb'd and mortified bare arms 
 Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary ; 
 And with this horrible object, from low farms. 
 Poor pelting villages, sheep-cotes, and mills. 
 Sometime with lunatic bans, sometime 
 prayers. 
 
 IS 
 
 with 
 
 12. winds'] F, wind Q ; persecatiott] F, persecutions Q. 15. Strike'] 
 
 Q, F; siic/t Furness (S. Walker conject. ); bare] Q, omitted F. 16. 
 
 Pins] Q, F ; Pies Q I (one copy). 17. from] Q, F ; frame Q I (one copy); 
 farms] F, service Q. 18. sheef-cotes] Q, sheeps-coates F. ig. Sometime] 
 Q, Sometimes F. 
 
 Which, once untangled, much 
 misfortune bodes. " 
 Also T. Heywood, Dialogue, xvii. 
 line 17, ed. 1874, Pearson, vi. p. 
 241: 
 
 "What though my thin and un- 
 kemb'd scattered haire 
 Fell in long elfe-locks from my 
 scalpe, now bare ? " 
 Dr. J. Wickham Legge, in a paper 
 read before the New Shakespeare 
 Society, 8th October 1875, confidently 
 identifies "elf-locks" with the malady 
 known to physicians as Plica Polo- 
 nica. Dekker, in his Bellman of 
 London, 1608, describes " the Abram 
 cove" as having "his hair long and 
 filthily knotted, for he keeps no 
 barber." 
 
 II. presented] assumed. 
 
 II, outface] brave. See T. Hey- 
 wood, The Fair Maid of the West, 
 Pearson ( Works), ii. 287 : " Should we 
 contest, I can outface the proudest." 
 
 14. Bedlam beggars] See note I. ii. 
 
 151- 
 IS- 
 
 pain, 
 
 Strike in] drive into. 
 mortified] made insensible to 
 Dekker, in his Bellman of 
 
 London, 1608, describing an Abraham 
 
 man, writes : "You see pinnes stuck 
 in sundry places of his native flesh, 
 especially in his arms, which pain 
 he gladly puts himself to, . . . only to 
 make you believe he is out of his wits. 
 He calls himself by the name of poor 
 Tom." 
 
 16. pricks] skewers. 
 
 17. object] appearance, aspect, as 
 in V. iii. 238. See also Titus An- 
 dronicus, in. i. 64. Lucius exclaims, 
 "Ay me, this object kills me " (seeing 
 the mutilated Lavinia). 
 
 17. low] lowly, humble. See As 
 You Like It, II. iii. 68 : "We'll light 
 upon some settled low content." 
 
 18. pelting] petty, paltry, as in 
 Richard JI. II. i. 60 ; " Like to a 
 tenement or pelting farm " ; also see 
 Golding's OvicFs Metamorphosis, 
 
 1593, Book viii. p. 102 : 
 
 ' ' one cottage afterward 
 Received them, and that was but 
 a pelting one in deede." 
 See also North's Phitarch's Lives, ed. 
 
 1594, p. 886, "being a matter of no 
 moment whether a man be borne in 
 a pelting village or in a famous citie" 
 {Life of Demosthenes). 
 
 19. bans] curses. 
 
96 KING LEAR [actu. 
 
 Enforce their charity!y Popr Turlygod ! poor 
 
 Tom ! ^ 20 
 
 That 's something yet : Edgar I notl^ng am. [Exit. 
 
 SCENE IV. — Be/ore Gloucester's Castle. Kent 
 in the Stocks. 
 
 Enter LEAR, Fool, and Gentleman. 
 
 Lear. 'Tis strange that they should so depart from home, 
 
 And not send back my messenger. 
 Gent. As I learn'd, 
 
 The night before there was no purpose in them 
 
 Of this remove. 
 Kent. Hail to thee, noble master ! 
 
 Lear. Ha ! 5 
 
 Makest thou this shame thy pastime? 
 Kent. No, my lord. 
 
 20. Turlygod] Q, F ; Turlygood Theobald ; Turluru Hanmer, Turlipin 
 Warbiirton conjecture. 
 
 Scene IV. 
 
 Before . . . Castle] changes again to the Earl of . . . Pope ; omitted Q, F. 
 Kent . . . stocks] Dyce ; omitted Q, F. Enter Lear . . .] F, Enter King 
 Q I, Enter King and a Knight Q 2. i. home] F, AenceQ. 2. messenger] 
 Q, messengers F. 2, 6l, Gent.] F, Knight Q. 3. in them] F, omitted Q. 
 4. this] F, his Q. 5. Ha!] F, How Q. 6. thy] Q, ahy F, this Theo- 
 bald ; No, my lord] F, omitted Q. 
 
 20. Turlygod] nothing at all is See Hamlet, m. ii. loi. Compare the 
 
 known of this name. Warburton pro- expression "make nothing of, III. i. 
 
 posed to read Turlipin, Hanmer had 9, also Winter'' s Tale, iii. i. 11. 
 read Turluru in his edition (1744). 
 
 Turlupin was the name given to a iicene IV, 
 
 sect of half-mad beggars, who were 4. remove] a royal change of resid- 
 
 in Paris circa 1500, and also used ence, as in All's Well that Ends Well, 
 
 to perform their religious services v. iii. 131 : 
 
 naked. The word in the text may pos- " Here 's a petition from a Floren- 
 
 sibly be a corrupted form of the above. tine, 
 
 20. poor Tom] See note, i. ii. 151. Who hath, for four or five re- 
 
 21. / nothing am] either "I am moves, come short 
 no longer Edgar," or, "in the char- To tender it herself. " 
 
 acter of Edgar, I have nothing," or Also compare Measure for Measure, 
 "I will be made nothing, ruined." I. i. 44. 
 
sc. IV.] KING LEAR 97 
 
 Fool. Ha, ha ! he wears cruel garters. Horses are 
 tied by the heads, dogs and bears by the neck, 
 monkeys by the loins, and men by the legs : 
 when a man 's over-lusty at legs, then he wears i o 
 wooden nether-stocks. 
 
 Lear. What 's he that hath so much thy place mistook 
 To set thee here ? 
 
 Kent. It is both he and she, 
 
 Your son and daughter. 
 
 Lear. No. 1 5 
 
 Kent. Yes. 
 
 Lear. No, I say. 
 
 Kent. I say, yea. 
 
 Lear. No, no ; they would not. 
 
 Kent. Yes, they have. 20 
 
 Lear. By Jupiter, I swear, no. 
 
 Kent. By Juno, I swear, ay. 
 
 Lear. They durst not do 't ; 
 
 They could not, would not do 't ; 'tis worse than 
 murder, 
 
 7. he\ F, look, he Q ; cruet\ F, crewell Q. 8. heads] F, heels Q, head 
 Boswell. 10. man 's\ Q, man F. 19, 20. No . . . have] Q, omitted 
 F. 22. By. . . ay. Lear] F, omitted Q. 23. could . . . would] 
 
 F, would . . . could Q. 
 
 7. cmel] a play between the adjec- Seven Deadly Sins of London, Arber, 
 
 tive cruel, harsh, — and so causing pain, reprint, p. 31: " tradesmen as if they 
 
 — and crewel, 2. «. made of crewel, thin were dancing galliards are lusty at 
 
 worsted yam. So The Two Angry legs and never stand still." See also 
 
 Women of Abington, 1599 (Dodsley's for it, Massinger, Virgin Martyr, iv. 
 
 Old Plays, Hazlitt, vii. 286): "he ii. 13; 'HVAdXttiysx, Blurt Master Con- 
 
 will have His cruel garters cross about stable, I. i. 91. 
 
 the knee." A similar quibble is found 11. nether-stocks] stockings, "a 
 
 in Green's Menaphon, Arber, p. 36 : hose or netherstock," Baret, Alvearie, 
 
 "with his sheep-hook fiinged with 1580. " Un has de chausses, a. hose, 
 
 cruel to signifie he Was chief of the a stocking or nether-stock," Cotgrave, 
 
 savages"; and see Ben Jonson, French Dictionary. What we now call 
 
 Alchemist, i. i. knee-breeches were then called upper- 
 
 10. lusty at legs] See Dekker, The stocks (in French haul de chausses). 
 
 7 
 
98 KING LEAR [actu. 
 
 To do upon respect such violent outrage. 
 Resolve me, with all modest haste, which way 2 5 
 Thou might'st deserve, or they impose, this usage, 
 Coming from us. 
 Eent. My lord, when at their home 
 
 I did commend your highness' letters to them, 
 Ere I was risen from the place that show'd 
 My duty kneeling, came there a reeking post, 30 
 Stew'd in his haste, half breathless, panting forth 
 From Goneril his mistress salutations ; 
 Deliver'd letters, spite of intermission, 
 Which presently they read : on whose contents 
 They summon'd up their meiny, straight took horse ; 
 Commanded me to follow, and attend 36 
 
 26. mighfst'\'S, may' St Q; impose] F, purpose Q. 31. panting] Q, 
 
 painting F. 34. whose'] Q, those F. , 35. meiny] F, men Q. 
 
 24. upon respect] deliberately. See mend the paper to her gracious 
 King John, iv. ii. 214: hand." 
 
 " when, perchance, it frowns 33, spite of intermission] in spite 
 
 More upon humour than advised of, careless about, interrupting me, 
 
 respect." and interfering with the answer I 
 
 25, Resolve] satisfy, answer ; as in was about to receive. So Macbeth, iv. 
 Richard III. IV. ii. 26 : "I will re- iii. 232: "Cut short all intermission." 
 solve your grace immediately " ; also Steevens explains ' ' without suffering 
 Marlow and Nash, Dido, Queen of time to intervene." 
 
 Carthage, II. i. 62 : " O tell me, for 34. presently] at once. 
 
 I long to be resolved"; also Beau- 35. meiny] household. " Mesnie, 
 
 mont and Fletcher, The Fair Maid a meynie, familie, household company, 
 
 of the Inn : or servants," Cotgrave's French Dic- 
 
 "Duie. What are they ? tionaty. See Stow, Survey of London, 
 
 , Pros. I can resolve you, slaves p. 414 : " the Great Hall hath not 
 
 from the gallies." been furnished with household meynee 
 
 25. wzotfeiif Asjfe] Schmidt explains, and guests." See also the ballad 
 
 " as much haste as may consist with " The Hunting of the Cheviot." See 
 
 telling the whole truth," and quotes Child's ^«^/w^ and Scottish Ballads, 
 
 from this play, IV. vii. 5 : 1864, vii. 30 : 
 
 " All my reports go with the modest " Then the Perse out of Banborowe 
 
 truth ; cam. 
 
 Nor more, nor clipped, but With him a myghtee meany. " 
 
 so." It is found also in Thoresby's Letter 
 
 28. commemi] commit, deliver; as tojohn Ray, 1703 : " Menya, a family, 
 
 in All's Well, v. i. 31; "Com- a house." 
 
sciv] KING LEAR 99 
 
 The leisure of their answer; gave me cold 
 
 looks : 
 And meeting here the other messenger, 
 Whose welcome, I perceived, had poison'd mine. 
 Being the very fellow which of late 40 
 
 Display'd so saucily against your highness, 
 Having more man than wit about me, drew : 
 He raised the house with loud and coward 
 
 cries. 
 Your son and daughter found this trespass worth 
 The shame which here it suffers. 45 
 
 Fool. Winter's not gone yet, if the wild-geese fly 
 that way. 
 
 Fathers that wear rags 
 
 Do make their children- blind. 
 But fathers that bear bags 50 
 
 Shall see their children kind. 
 Fortune, that arrant whore, 
 Ne'er turns the key to the poor. 
 But for all this thou shalt have as many d(3lours 
 for thy daughters as thou canst tell in a year. 5 5 
 
 40. wkicKl F, thatCl. 45. The^Y, This Cl. 46-55. Winter's . . . 
 year] F, omitted Q. 55. /or thy\ Q, F ; for thy deare F 2 ; from thy dear 
 Theobald ; from thy Singer, ed. 2. 
 
 41. Display'd] acted ostentatiously, used for great grief. See Hall's - 
 43. raised the house] awoke the Chronicle, 1500, sig. a a a iv. 3 : 
 
 dependants. See ii. I of this Act. " Lord Lovel in great dolor and agony, 
 
 54. dolours] is. quibble is intended and for fear, in like manner fled. " 
 
 here, as in Tempest, 11. i. 19, and 55. for] because of, owing to, 
 
 Measure for Measure, i. ii. 50, be- almost from. See 2 Henry VI. iv. 
 
 tween dolour, grief, and dollar, the ii. 90. The New Eng. Diet, quotes 
 
 English name for the Spanish peso, or Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden), 1549 : 
 
 "piece of eight" (i.?. of eight reales) ; "the cause was for them that rose 
 
 the name dollar was sometimes also in Essex." Tell, i.e. count, reckon 
 
 given to the German thaler, a large up. See Winter's Tale, IV. iv. 
 
 silver coin. Dolor was commonly 185. 
 
100 KING LEAR [acth. 
 
 Lear. O! how this mother swells up toward my 
 heart ; 
 
 Hysterica passio ! down, thou climbing sorrow ! 
 
 Thy element 's below. Where is this daughter ? 
 Kent. With the earl, sir ; here within. 
 Lear. Follow me not ; stay here. {Exit. 60 
 
 Gent. Made you no more offence but what you speak 
 
 of? 
 Kent. None. 
 
 How chance the king comes with so small a 
 number ? 
 Fool. An thou hadst been set i' the stocks for that 
 
 question, thou hadst well deserved it. 65 
 
 Kent. Why, fool ? 
 Fool. We'll set thee to school to an ant, to teach 
 
 59. here\ F, omitted Q. 60. here\ F, there Q 2, there? Q i. Exit] F, 
 omitted Q. 61. but\ F, then Q, than Capell. 62. None'l F, No Q. 
 63. number'] F, train Q. 64. An] Pope ; And Q I, F j 7/^Q 2. 
 
 56. mother] the Hysterica passio, it takes them with choking in the 
 
 the symptoms of which malady are throat ; and it is an affect of the 
 
 very graphically described by Dray- mother or wombe, wherein the prin- 
 
 ton in his Polyolbion, song vi. lines cipal parts of the bodie by consent 
 
 19-28. Shakespeare may have seen a do suffer diversely according to the 
 
 mention of it in Harsnet's Declaration, diversitie of the causes and diseases 
 
 where it is alluded to several times ; wherewith the matrix is offended." 
 
 we read, for instance, p. 263: "The Could the word, however, be only a 
 
 disease I spoke of was a spice of the contraction of smother ? 
 
 mother, wherewith I had been troubled 6i. Made . . . offence] For ex- 
 
 before my going into France. " There amples of this form, see Measure for 
 
 is also this curious passage in Measure,\v.\x.V)%,\<)<);AsYouLike 
 
 Edward Jordan, A Brief Discourse of It, III. v. 117. 
 
 a Disease called the Suffocation of the 67, 68. to teach . . . winter] no- 
 Mother, 1605, p. 5 : " This disease is thing can be got out of Lear's ruined 
 called by diverse names amongst our fortunes. For winter in the sense of 
 authors, Passio Hysterica, Suffocatio, adversity, compare "quake in the 
 Priefocatio, and Strangulatus uteri, present winter's state," Cymbeline, II. 
 Caducus Matricis, i.e. in English, iv. 5, and ;S ^««;7 /F. iv. iv. 92 ; see 
 the Mother or the Suffocation of the also line 46 of this scene. 
 Mother, because, most commonly. 
 
sc.iv.] KING LEAR 101 
 
 thee there's no labouring i' the winter. All 
 that follow their noses are led by their eyes 
 but blind men ; and there 's not a nose among 70 
 twenty but can smell him that's stinking. 
 Let go thy hold when a great wheel runs down 
 a hill, lest it break thy neck with following it ; 
 but the great one that goes up the hill, let him 
 draw thee after. When a wise man gives thee 75 
 better counsel, give me mine again : I would 
 have none but knaves follow it, since a fool 
 gives it. 
 
 That sir which serves and seeks for gain. 
 
 And follows but for form, 80 
 
 Will pack when it begins to rain. 
 
 And leave thee in the storm. 
 But I will tarry ; the fool will stay. 
 
 And let the wise man fly : 
 The knave turns fool that runs away ; 8 5 
 
 The fool no knave, perdy. 
 Kent. Where learned you this, fool ? 
 Fool. Not i' the stocks, fool. 
 
 71. twenty] F, a hundred CI (a 100 Q i). 73. following it] Q, follow- 
 ing F. 74. up the hill] Q, upward F. 77. have] Q, hause F. 79. 
 which] F, that Q; and seeks] F, omitted Q. 81. begins] Q 2, F ; begin 
 Q I. 88. fooT] F, omitted Q. 
 
 71. stinking] Mason wished to sub- have nothing but their noses to guide 
 
 stitute "sinking" for "stinking," them, they also fly from a king whose 
 
 which Steevens parallels from Antony fortunes are declining ; for of the 
 
 and Cleopatra, HI. x. 26. Malone noses of twenty blind men there is 
 
 defends the old text, comparing AlVs not one who cannot smell him who 
 
 Well that Ends Well, v. ii. 4-6, and 'being muddied in fortune's mood 
 
 paraphrasing, "All men, but blind (or moat) smells somewhat strongly 
 
 men, though they follow their noses, of her displeasure. ' " 
 
 are led by their eyes ; and this 79. sir] great person. Winter's 
 
 class, seeing \hs king ruined, have all Tale, i. ii. 212: "this great sir will 
 
 deserted him. Even blind men, who yet stay longer." 
 
102 KING LEAR [actii. 
 
 Re-enter Lear, with GLOUCESTER. 
 Lear. Deny to speak with me ! They are sick ! They 
 are weary ! 
 
 They have travell'd all the night ! Mere fetches, 90 
 
 The images of revolt and flying off. 
 
 Fetch me a better answer. 
 Glou. My dear lord, 
 
 You know the fiery quality of the duke ; 
 
 How unremoveable and fix'd he is 
 
 In his own course. 95 
 
 Lear. Vengeance ! plague ! death ! confusion ! 
 
 Fiery ! what quality ? Why, Gloucester, Gloucester, 
 
 I 'd speak with the Duke of Cornwall and his wife. 
 Glou. Well, my good lord, I have inform'd them so. 
 Lear. Inform'd them ! Dost thou understand me, man ? 
 Glou. Ay, my good lord. lOi 
 
 Lear. The king would speak with Cornwall; the dear 
 father 
 
 Re-enter Lear . . .]Capell; Enter Lear and Gloucester Q, after "perdy"' 
 
 (line 86) F. go. have] F, omitted Q ; all the nighf] F, hard to night Q. 
 
 90, 91. fetches, The} F, justice, I the Q. 96. plague! death!] F, death, 
 
 plague] Q. 97. Fiefy ! what quality ?] F, what fiery quality Q. 99, 100. 
 
 Well . . . man] F, omitted Q. 102. father] Q, F ; fate Q i (one copy). 
 
 89. Deny] refuse, decline. So 91. images'] appearances, signs, 
 Richard III. v. iii. 343: " My lord, tokens, or else types, embodiments, 
 he doth deny to come." See ^ Henry VI. I. iii. 179. The 
 
 90. fetches] tricks, crafty devices, word may be here dissyllabic, 
 subterfuges ; " a Fetch or cunning drift, 9 1 . flying off] revolt. See ^ ntony 
 Ruse, men^e." Sherwood's English- and Cleopatra, 11. ii. 155 : 
 
 French Dictionary, 1631. See also "To join our kingdoms, and our 
 
 The History of Jacob and Esau, v. 4 hearts ; and never 
 
 (Dodsley's Old Plays, Hazlitt, ii. 251) : Fly off our love again." 
 
 " Ah, 'sembling wretch ! 93. quality] nature, disposition. 
 
 I will be even with thee for this See Twelfth Night, iii. i. 70. 
 
 subtle fetch." 94. unremoveable] stubbornly firm. 
 
 It is in general dialect use throughout So Timon of Athens, v. i. 227 : " His 
 
 England. Sse''Nri^t,English Dialect discontents are unremoveably Coupled 
 
 Dictionary, 1898 (in progress). to nature." 
 
sc.iv.] KING LEAR 103 
 
 Would with his daughter speak, commands her 
 service : 
 
 Are they inform'd of this? My breath and 
 blood ! 
 
 Fiery! the fiery duke! Tell the hot duke 
 that — I OS 
 
 No, but not yet ; may be he is not well : 
 
 Infirmity doth still neglect all office 
 
 Whereto our health is bound ; we are not our- 
 selves 
 
 When nature, being oppress'd, commands the 
 mind 
 
 To suffer with the body. I '11 forbear ; no 
 
 And am fall'n out with my more headier will, 
 
 To take the indisposed and sickly fit 
 
 For the sound man. Death on my state 1 where- 
 fore \Looking on Kent. 
 
 Should he sit here ? This act persuades me 
 
 That this remotion of the duke and her 115 
 
 103. with his] Q, F j with the Q I (one copy) ; commands her service] Q, 
 com^ and tends service Q i (one copy), commands, tends, service F. 104. Are 
 . . . blood!] F, omitted Q. 105. Fiery . . . duke] F, Fiery duke Q ; that — ] 
 F, that Lear Q. 109. commands] Q 2, F ; command Q I. 113. Looking 
 on Lear] Johnson ; omitted Q, F. 
 
 \o^.breathandblood]^AraaA\.c:^otes, iii. 228: "with this more sovereign 
 
 King John, IV. ii. 246: "This king- and boisterous expedition." Heady, 
 
 dom, this confine of blood and breath." impetuous, violent, passionate. See 
 
 105. hot] passionate, hot-tempered. Ascham, Toxophilus, I54S> Arber, 
 
 So Romeo and Juliet, iii. i. 12: 1868, p. 85 : " Wales being headye, 
 
 " thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood and rebelUng many yeares against us." 
 
 as any in Italy." 112. the indisposed . . . Jit] a 
 
 107. office] duty. person suffering from an attack of 
 
 III. am fall'n out . . . a/z7/] and illness which indisposes their mind, 
 
 owing to my excessively > impetuous 115. remotion]x^Taov3i. So Timon 
 
 nature, I have thus erred. of Athens, IV. iii. 346 : " all thy 
 
 III. more headier] See Cymbeline, safety were remotion and thy defence 
 
 III. iv. 164: " the harder heart," i.e. absence." Compare " remove" in line 
 
 the very hard heart ; also Othello, I. 4 of this scene. 
 
104 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act II. 
 
 Is practice only. Give me my servant forth. 
 
 Go tell the duke and's wife I'd speak with 
 
 them, 
 Now, presently : bid them come forth and hear me, 
 -Or at their chamber-door I '11 beat the drum 
 Till it cry sleep to death. I20 
 
 Glou. I would have all well betwixt you. \Exit. 
 
 Lear. O me ! my heart, my rising heart ! but, down ! 
 
 Fool. Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the 
 eels when she put 'em up i' the paste alive ; 
 she knapped 'em o' the coxcombs with a stick, 125 
 and cried " Down, wantons, down ! " 'Twas 
 
 117. Go teiri F, Tell Q. 121. Exit] F, omitted Q. 122. O me . . . 
 
 down\ F, my heart, my heart C^. 124. Vw] F, um Q i, them Q2; 
 up { the'] Q 2 (th'), a th' F, um ifh Q i. 125. knapped 'em] F, rapt um Q. 
 
 116. practice] craft, planned decep- 
 tion. Twelfth Night, v. i. 360: 
 ' ' This practice hath most shrewdly 
 pass'd upon thee. " 
 
 116. forth] out (of the stocks). 
 
 118. presently] at once. 
 
 120. Till . . . death] till by its 
 shrill noise it kills, ' ' murders " sleep. 
 The shrill sound of the kettle-drum 
 seems referred to. 
 
 123. cockney] some explain cook, or 
 diminutive of cook, but no good 
 examples of this sense of the word 
 have been given. Halliwell and 
 Dyce, perhaps rightly, suspect that 
 there is an allusion to some lost story, 
 like that of "the famous ape" in 
 Hamlet, III. iv. 194. The word is 
 rarely used in the sense of a squeam- 
 ish or affected woman. Cotgrave, 
 French Dictionary, defines Coquine 
 as a beggar woman, also a cockney, 
 simper^e-cockit, nice thing ; and the 
 New Eng. Diet, quotes, 1 598, Meres, 
 Wifs Treasury, ' ' Many cockney and 
 wanton women are often sick." The 
 usual sense of nockney is a child 
 
 over-tenderly brought up, hence a 
 milk-sop. See Lyly, Euphues, Arber, 
 p. 103 : "I brought thee up like a 
 cockney." 
 
 125. knapped] Steeveris wished to 
 retain "rapped" of theQuarto,because 
 he said of knap, ' ' this word can only 
 mean to break asunder." It is true 
 that the word has this meaning ; see 
 the Merchant of Venice, III. i. 10, 
 and Psalm xlvi. g (Prayer -Book 
 Version) : "He breaketh the bow and 
 knappeth the spear asunder " ; but it 
 has also the meaning of to strike 
 smartly. See Jamieson's Scottish Dic- 
 tionary, ' ' Kiaap (verb), to strike 
 smartly, as "knap the nail on the 
 head" (Clydes); Knap (sub.), a sharp 
 stroke." Illustrated by "the messan 
 (i.e. little dog) gets a knap," Ramsay, 
 S. Proverbs, p. 76. Burns also uses 
 the expression " knappin -hammers " : 
 "Ye'd better taen up spades and 
 shools, or knappin - hammers " {i.e. 
 hammers for breaking stones) — 
 Epistle to J. Lapraik, line 64. 
 
sc.iv.] KING LEAR 105 
 
 her brother that, in pure kindness to his horse, 
 buttered his hay. 
 
 Re-enter Gloucester, with Cornwall, Regan, 
 
 and Servants. 
 
 Lear. Good morrow to you both. 
 
 Corn. Hail to your grace ! 
 
 \Kent is set at liberty. 
 
 Reg. I am glad to see your highness. i 30 
 
 Lear. Regan, I think you arej I know what reason 
 
 I have to think so : if thou shouldst not be glad, 
 
 I would divorce me from my mother's tomb. 
 
 Sepulchring an adult'ress. \To Kent.] O ! are you 
 
 free? 
 
 Some other time for that. Beloved Regan, 135 
 
 Thy sister 's naught : O Regan ! she hath tied 
 
 Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here. 
 
 [Points to his heart. 
 
 I can scarce speak to thee ; thou 'It not believe 
 
 With how deprav'd a quality — O Regan ! 
 
 128. Re-enter Gloucester . . .] Capell; Enter Duke and Regan Q; Enter 
 Cornwall, Regan, Gloucester, Servants F. 129, etc. Com.] F, Duke Q. 
 Kent . . . liberty] F, omitted Q. 131. ^o«]Q,_j'i7««?-F. 133. mother' si 
 Q, mother F ; tomb^ Q, F ; fruit Q I (one copy). 134. [To Kent] Rowe ; 
 omitted Q, F; O] F, Yea Q. 137. Points to his heart] Pope; omitted 
 Q, F; 139. With how dejiraii'dl F ; Of how depriv'd Q i (some copies), 
 Q 2 ; deptoued Q i (some copies). 
 
 128. buttered . . . hay'] a, stupid Lear's three daughters. In the old 
 
 act, as the horse will not away with play she is mentioned at the opening 
 
 grease. A common trick of cheating as being just dead. See Six Old Flays 
 
 ostlers formerly was to grease the (Nichols), 1779, ii. 379 (Leir speaks) : 
 
 hay, etc. of horses committed to their "Thus, to our griefe, the obse- 
 
 care, and so keep the horse from quies perform'd 
 
 feeding, and then steal the pro- Of our (too late) deceast and 
 
 vender. dearest queen. " 
 
 l'^^. I would . . . tomb] The only 139. quality] manner. So The 
 
 place, I think, in this play where Merchant of Venice, ill. ii. 6 : "Hate 
 
 there is any allusion to the mother of counsels not in such a quality." 
 
106 KING LEAE, [acth. 
 
 Reg, I pray you, sir, take patience. I have hope 1 40 
 You less know how to value her desert 
 Than she to scant her duty. 
 
 Lear. Say, how is that? 
 
 Reg. I cannot think my sister in the least 
 
 Would fail her obligation : if, sir, perchance 
 She have restrain'd the riots of your followers, 145 
 'Tis on such ground, and to such wholesome end. 
 As clears her from all blame. 
 
 Lear. My curses on her ! 
 
 Reg. O, sir ! you are old ; 
 
 Nature in you stands on the very verge 
 Of her confine : you should be ruled and led 150 
 By some discretion that discerns your state 
 Better than you yourself. Therefore I pray you 
 That to our sister you do make return ; 
 Say you have wrong'd her, sir. 
 
 Lear. Ask her forgiveness ? 
 
 Do you but mark how this becomes the house : 155 
 
 " Dear daughter, I confess that I am old ; 
 
 140. you\ F, omitted Q. 142. scanfl F, slack Q. 142-147. Lear. 
 
 Say . . . all blame] F, omitted Q. 149. in you] Y, on you Q. 150. 
 her] Q, his F. 152. you] F, omitted Q. 154. her, sir] Q, her F. 
 155. but] F, omitted Q. 
 
 140-142. I have . . . duty] a pas- the case, the dependent position you 
 
 sage hard to paraphrase. ' ' I hope are in. 
 
 that it is more probable that you are 155. how this becomes the house] 
 
 mistaking her, and trader-estimating how suitable such words are from the 
 
 her attempts to serve you, than that lips of a king. Perhaps it means, how 
 
 she should really be faulty in her it suits our mutual relations that I, a 
 
 duties towards you. " father, should have thus to address 
 
 142. scant] See I. i. 280. you, a (daughter. Steevens quotes an 
 
 150. confine] (accented, as it is in instance of this expression from 
 Hamlet, i. i. 155, on the second Chapman, The Blind Beggar of 
 syllable) assigned limit. Alexandria, 1598, Shepherd, Works, 
 
 151. discretion] the abstract for the 1874, p. 12 (a) : "Come up to supper, 
 concrete ; wise, discreet person, one it will become the house wonderful 
 who fully understands the nature of well." 
 
SC. IV.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 107 
 
 Age is unnecessary : on my knees I beg [Kneeling. 
 
 That you '11 vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food." 
 Reg. Good sir, no more ; these are unsightly tricks. 
 
 Return you to my sister. 
 Lear. [Rising.] Never, Regan, i6o 
 
 She hath abated me of half my train ; 
 
 Look'd black upon me ; struck me with her tongue. 
 
 Most serpent-like, upon the very heart. 
 
 All the stored vengeances of heaven fall 
 
 On her ingrateful top ! Strike her young bones, 165 
 
 You taking airs, with lameness ! 
 
 Corn. Fie, sir, fie ! 
 
 157. Kneeling] The King kneeling Hanmer; omitted Q, F. i6o. 
 
 [Rising] Dyce ; omitted Q, F ; Never'] F, No Q. 162. black] Q I, F ; 
 
 back Q 2. 166. Fie, sir, fie!] F, Fie, fie, sir!] Q. 
 
 157. ^-f unnecessary] is not wanted, 
 is useless, is of no account. Shake- 
 speare in Coriolanus, II. i. 91, uses 
 necessary in the directly opposite sense 
 of indispensably requisite : "a neces- 
 sary bencher in the Capitol." See also 
 Dekker's play, If this be not a Good 
 Play, etc., Pearson, Works, iii. 325 : 
 " What says the prodigal child in the 
 painted cloth ? when all his money was 
 spent and gone, they turned him out 
 unnecessary." Johnson explains, "old 
 age has few wants." 
 
 159, these . , . tricks] Regan 
 refers to Lear's kneeling, and per- 
 haps Shakespeare here girds at the 
 kneeling Leir and Cordelia, in the 
 old play, History of King Leir. See 
 Six Old Plays (Nichols), 452, 453. 
 (Unsightly, unbecoming.) 
 
 161. abated] deprived. 
 
 162. struck . . . tongue] Perhaps 
 an echo of the old play, History of 
 King Leir. See Six Old Plays 
 (Nichols), 1779, ii. 412: "I will' so 
 tongue-whip him." 
 
 164. stored] selected and put aside 
 for use. So Beaumont and Fletcher, 
 The Coxcomb, I. i. 22 : 
 
 ' ' Ric. Why, do you think I can be 
 false ? 
 Viola. No, faith ! 
 You have an honest face ; but 
 if you should — 
 Ric. Let all the stored vengeance 
 
 of heaven's justice — 
 Viola. No more." 
 165. top] head. See Cymbeline, IV. 
 
 "• 354- 
 
 165. young bones] unborn progeny. 
 An expression to be found in the old 
 play, History of King Leir, Six Old 
 Plays, etc. (Nichols), 1779, ii.'4o6: 
 
 ' ' Leir. She breeds young bones. 
 Gon. What ! breeds young bones 
 already?" 
 See also Brome, The Jovial Crew, 
 Pearson, Works, iii. 402 ; and in the 
 ol^ ballad "The Wanton Wife of 
 Bath," line 99. See Child's English 
 Ballads, viii. 135. 
 
 166. taking] infecting, as in IV. vi. 
 29. See also Merry Wives, IV. iv. 
 32: "And there he" (Heme the 
 hunter) "blasts the tree, and takes the 
 cattle." See also Palsgrave, Lesclar- 
 cissement, 153°: " taken, as children's 
 limbs are by the fairies." It is stil 
 
108 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act II. 
 
 Lear. You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames 
 Into her scornful eyes ! Infect her beauty, 
 You fen-suck'd fogs, drawn by the powerful sun, 
 To fall and blast her pride ! 1 7° 
 
 Reg. O the blest gods ! so will you wish on me, 
 When the rash mood is on. 
 
 Lear. No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curse : 
 
 Thy tender-hefted nature shall not give 1 74 
 
 Thee o'er to harshness : her eyes are fierce, but thine 
 Do comfort and not burn. 'Tis not in thee 
 To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train, 
 
 167. LearJ-Q 2, F (Le) ; omitted Q 1. 170. and blast her pride] Q, and 
 blister F. 172. is on] F, omitted Q. 174. Thy] F, The Q; tender- 
 
 hefted] F, tender hestedQ,. 175. Thee] Q 2, F ; The Q, l. 
 
 in provincial use. Also Dickinson's 
 Cumberland Glossary, Eng. Dial.Soc, 
 1878: "Talckan, taking, infectious." 
 
 i6g. fen-such' d] unwholesome 
 vapours sucked up from fens by the 
 heat of the sun. See Tempest, II. ii. I : 
 
 "All the infections that the sun 
 sucks up 
 From bogs, fens, flats." 
 Also see Midsummer Nighfs Dream, 
 II. i. 90. 
 
 170. To fall . . . pride] Malone 
 explains, to fall down (to fall and 
 blast, i.e. to humble and destroy) ; 
 but Wright properly argues for the 
 verb being intransitive. We read in 
 Midsummer Night's Dream, II. i. 88- 
 90, the winds ' ' Have sucked up from 
 the sea Contagious fogs ; which, falling 
 in the land, Have," etc. Lear may 
 here wish the noxious vapours of the 
 fen suck'd up by the sun's rays to fall 
 on his daughter's guilty head, and to 
 destroy her in the pride of her youth. 
 Schmidt suggests that the true read- 
 ing is " to fall and blister pride " (see 
 reading of the Folio), and he quotes 
 in defence of his proposal, Tempest, i. 
 ii. 321-323, and Hamlet, iii.iv, 42-44. 
 
 172. rash mood] hasty passion-fit. 
 For "mood" in this sense, see The 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, IV. i. 51 : 
 " A gentleman, Who, in my mood, I 
 stabbed to the heart." 
 
 174. tender-hefted] a difficult ex- 
 pression. Perhaps, as Wright explains 
 it, set in a delicate bodily frame, 
 quoting Cotgrave, French Dictionary, 
 ' ' Emmanchi, Helved, set into a haft or 
 handle ; Lashche emmanche. Lazy, idle, 
 slothful, weak." Steevens explains, 
 whose bosom is agitated by tender 
 passions, comparing the word "hefts," 
 Winter's Tale, II. i. 45. The 
 Quarto reads "tender hested," which 
 has been explained as, governed by 
 gentle dispositions. Miss Jackson in 
 her Shropshire Word-book has " dead 
 heft, a weight that cannot be lifted," 
 and tender - hefted might simply 
 mean, "pliable, manageable." Lear 
 might be thinking of the dogged, 
 stern, unmoving nature of Goneril. 
 ' ' Hefty " has in America the meaning 
 easy to lift or handle. 
 
 176. Do comfort . . . burn] Malone 
 compares Timon of Athens, v. i. 134 : 
 "Thou Sim, that comfort'st, burn." 
 
sc.iv.] KING LEAR 109 
 
 To bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes, 
 
 And, in conclusion to oppose the bolt 
 
 Against my coming in : thou better know'st 1 80 
 
 The offices of nature, bond of childhood. 
 
 Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude ; 
 
 Thy half o' the kingdom hast thou not forgot, 
 
 Wherein I thee endow'd. 
 Reg. Good sir, to the purpose. 
 
 Lear. Who put my man i' the stocks ? [ Tucket within. 
 Corn. What trumpet 's that ? 185 
 
 Reg. I know 't, my sister's : this approves her letter, 
 
 That she would soon be here. 
 
 Enter Oswald. 
 
 Is your lady come ? 
 
 Lear. This is a slave, whose easy-borrow'd pride 
 
 185. Tucket . . .] F, after line 184, omitted Q. 186. letter] F, letters Q. 
 187. Enter Oswald] Dyce ; Enter Steward after "that," line 185, Q; after 
 "stocks," line 185, F. 188. easy -borrow' cC\ hyphened Theobald. 
 
 178. bandy . . . words] See note "You . , . who ever yet 
 
 to I. iv. 92, "bandy looks." Have . . . display'd the effects 
 
 178. scant my sizes] deal out my Of dispositions gentle." 
 
 food allowances with niggardly hand. 1 85. Tucket] See note to 11. i. 78. 
 
 178. sizes] allowances. See Cot- 186. /,4«oz» V] Steevens has pointed 
 
 ^a.\(:s French Dictionary, " Mesure, out that Regan probably recognised 
 
 scantling, riile, square, proportion, "some distinguishing note or tune," 
 
 size." This word is preserved in the purposely used to facilitate recogni- 
 
 word sizar, familiar to University men, tion, just as before in Othello lago 
 
 originally meaning a class of poor exclaims, " The Moor ! I know his 
 
 scholars who obtained allowances from trumpet," 11. i. 180. Compare a 
 
 the college buttery-hatch. See Sher- point of war, a strain of martial music 
 
 wood, English- French Dictionary, \Z Henry IV. IV. i. 52) ; and see also 
 
 "to Size, En rUniversitede Cambridge, Coriolanus, "TuUus Aufidius obeys 
 
 c'est la mesme chose, comme to battle his points, As if he were his officer," iv. 
 
 en Oxford " ; and in the same Diction- vi. 125 (points here mean bugle calls), 
 
 ary, to battle is described thus: "Estre 186. approves] confirms, is in ac- 
 
 debteur, au College pour ses vivres." cordance with. See 11. ii. 163. 
 
 The word battler was frequently used 188. easy-borrow'd] Explained thus 
 
 in the same sense as sizar. by Moberly, "borrowed without the 
 
 182. Effects] workings, manifesta- troubleof doing anything to justify it." 
 
 tions. See Henry VIII. n. iv. 86: We might, perhaps, compare "easy- 
 
no KING LEAR [actii. 
 
 Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows. 
 
 Out, varlet, from my sight ! 
 Com. What means your grace ? 1 90 
 
 Lear. Who stock'd my servant ? Regan, I have good hope 
 
 Thou didst not know on 't. Who comes here ? 
 
 Enter GONERIL. 
 
 O heavens, 
 If you do love old men, if your sweet sway 
 Allow obedience, if yourselves are old, 1 94 
 
 Make it your cause ; send down and take my part ! 
 \To Goneril.'\ Art not ashamed to look upon this 
 
 beard ? 
 O Regan ! wilt thou take her by the hand ? 
 Gon. Why not by the hand, sir ? How have I offended? 
 All 's not offence that indiscretion finds 
 And dotage terms so. 
 Lear. O sides ! you are too tough ; 200 
 
 Will you yet hold ? How came my man i' the 
 stocks ? 
 
 189. fickle] Q, fickly F ; ^e] Q 2, F ; a Q I. 191. Lear] F, Gon. Q ; 
 stoc^d] 7, struck Q. 192. Enter Goneril] as in Johnson, after "grace," 
 line 190, Q, F. 193. your\ F, you Q. 194. if] Q, if you F. 196. 
 [To Goneril] Johnson ; omitted Q, F. 197. wilt thou] Q, will you F. 
 
 held imprisonment," 1 Henry VI. v. yourselves, make it your business to 
 
 iii. 139. Perhaps Theobald was aid me. Compare Lucrece, 1295 '• 
 
 wrong in hyphening, and "easy" "The cause craves haste." 
 
 may mean easy-going, cooUy-im- 199. finds] takes (so), appreciates 
 
 pudent. (as such), or as Steevens explains it 
 
 194. Allow] approve of. 2 Henry thinks, as used in the sense of the 
 IV. IV. ii. 54 : "I like them all, and do French trouver. 
 
 allow them well." See also Speed's 200, 201. sides . . . hold]. So 
 
 Chronitle, ed. 1613, p. 619: "The Antony and Cleopatra, iv. iv. 39: 
 
 King of France commended the " O, cleave, my sides ! 
 
 man, . . . saying that he loved and Heart, once be stronger than thy 
 
 allowed such as he." continent ; 
 
 195. Make . . . cause] interest Crack thy frail case. " 
 
sc. IV.] KING LEAR in 
 
 Com. I set him there, sir ; but his own disorders 
 Deserved much less advancement. 
 
 Lear. You ! did you ? 
 
 Reg. I pray you, father, being weak, seem so. 
 
 If, till the expiration of your month, 205 
 
 You will return and sojourn with my sister, 
 Dismissing half your train, come then to me : 
 r am now from home, and out of that provision 
 Which shall be needful for your entertainment. 
 
 Lear. Return to her ? and fifty men dismiss'd ? 210 
 
 No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose 
 To wage against 4:he enmity o' the air ; 
 To be a comrade with the wolf and owl. 
 Necessity's sharp pinch ! Return with her ! 214 
 Why, the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took 
 Our youngest born, I could as well be brought 
 To knee his throne, and, squire-like, pension beg 
 
 202. Com.] F, Duke Q ; sir\ Q i, F; omitted Q z. 213. wolf and owl\ 
 Q, Wolfe, andowle F, wolf and howl Qi^kx, ed. 2 (Collier MS.). 215. hot- 
 blooded\ Pope, hot-bloodied Y , hot blood in Q. 217. beg] Q 2, F; ba^Q i. 
 
 212. wage] combat, contend. The the hot bloods between fourteen and 
 only instance of this sense of the word five-and-thirty. " France was before 
 to be found in Shakespeare. (i.ii.2) said to have "in choler parted." 
 
 213. with: . . («(//] Collier followed 217. &nee his throne] Schmidt ex- 
 the Collier MS., and read in the plains knee here to travel on the knees, 
 second edition (1858), "howl" : quoting Coriolanus, v. i. 5 : 
 
 " with the wolf, and howl "A mile before his tent fall down, 
 
 Necessity's sharp pinch." and knee 
 
 Fumess has also adopted this read- The way into his favour." 
 
 ing, but his arguments seem to me The passages are hardly parallel, and 
 
 quite unconvincing. Though I feel "knee his throne" may well mean 
 
 sure that " howl " is not right, there is "fall down on the knee before his 
 
 one passage quoted by Collier which throne." There is a passage, indeed, 
 
 seems a parallel : in The History of King Leir, Six Old 
 
 " better 'twere Plays, etc. (Nichols), ii. 452, which 
 
 I met the ravin lion when he roar'd might appear to be on Schmidt's side. 
 
 With sharp constraint of hunger." Cordelia says : 
 
 All's Well, III. ii. 119-121. "Myself a father have a great way 
 
 215. hot-blooded] passionate, impe- hence, 
 
 tuous, SeeMuchAdOtin.iii.i^i: "3.11 Used me as ill as ever you did her ; 
 
112 KING LEAR [acth. 
 
 To keep base life afoot. Return with her ! 
 Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter 
 To this detested groom. {^Pointing at Oswald. 
 
 Gon. At your choice, sir. 220 
 
 Lear. I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad : 
 I will not trouble thee, my child ; farewelL 
 We'll no more meet, no more see one another; 
 But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my 
 
 daughter ; 
 Or rather a disease that's in my flesh, 225 
 
 Which I must needs call mine : thou art a boil, 
 A plague-sore, an embossed carbuncle. 
 In my corrupted blood. But I '11 not chide thee ; 
 Let shame come when it will, I do not call it : 
 I do not bid the thunder-bearer shoot, 230 
 
 Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove. 
 Mend when thou canst ; be better at thy leisure : 
 
 220. Pointing . . .] Dyce ; Looking on the Steward Johnson ; omitted Q, 
 F. 221. /] F, iVflzu /Q. 2,2.f,. that's in\¥, that lies witkin\Q. 227. 
 an] Q, or F. 230. thunckr-bearer\ F, unhyphened Q. 231. high- 
 judging] F, unhyphened Q. 
 
 Yet, that his reverend age I once Thinges: "one that is infected with 
 
 might see, the plague, having the plague-sore." 
 Ide creep along to meet him on 227. embossed] swollen, tumid. So 
 my knee." As You Like It, II. vii. 67 : "AH the 
 219. sumpter] probably pack-horse embossed sores and headed evils." 
 driver here. See Cotgrave's French Compare also Palsgrave's Lesclar- 
 Dictionary: " Sommier, a Sumpter cissement : "Botch, a sore; bosse de 
 horse, and generally any toyling and pestilence"; 3\sa" Embosser, Xasvi^, 
 load-carrying drudge or groom." One or arise in bunches, hulches, knobs," 
 form of the word, indeed, in the Old Cotgrave's French Dictionary. '■ 
 French is Sommetier, a pack-horse 231. high-Judging] Schmidt ex- 
 driver ; and Professor Skeat notes that plains judging in heaven. It may 
 in the romance of King Alisaunder however, mean Jove the high, the 
 (6023) the men who act as guides to supreme Judge; and perhaps. we may 
 the army are called sumpters. compare the senses of high in " high 
 2.2T. plague-sore] Stte.vtTiS quotes laea.-vexi," Measure for Measure, II. ii. 
 instances of this word out of Thomas 121, and in such expressions as the 
 Lupton's Fourth Booke of Notable High Court of Parliament. 
 
sciv.] KING LEAR 113 
 
 I can be patient ; I can stay with Regan, 
 
 I and my hundred knights, 
 Reg. Not altogether so : 
 
 I look'd not for you yet, nor am provided 235 
 
 For your fit welcome. Give ear, sir, to my sister ; 
 
 For those that mingle reason with your passion 
 
 Must be content to think you old, and so — 
 
 But she knows what she does. 
 Lear. Is this well spoken ? 
 
 Reg. I dare avouch it, sir : what ! fifty followers 240 
 
 Is it not well ? What should you need of more ? 
 
 Yea, or so many, sith that both charge and danger 
 
 Speak 'gainst so great a number? How, in one 
 house. 
 
 Should many people, under two commands. 
 
 Hold amity? 'Tishard; almost impossible. 245 
 Gon. Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance 
 
 From those that she calls servants, or from mine ? 
 Reg. Why not, my lord ? If then they chanced to slack 
 you 
 
 We could control them. If you will come to 
 me, 
 
 For now I spy a danger, I entreat you 250 
 
 To bring but five-and-twenty ; to no more 
 
 Will I give place or notice, 
 
 234. io] F, JO «V, Q. 235. /oo^'f/] F, /od^g Q. 236. j-zV]Q I, F; omitted 
 Q 2. 238. you old] Y,you are old Q ; so—] Rowe ; J^o, Q, F. 239. spoken] 
 F, spoken now Q. 243. Speak] F, Speaks Q ; one house] F, a house Q. 
 248. chanced] F, chanSst Q l, chancst Q 2 ; you] Q, ye F. 
 
 237. mingle . . . /ajjwra] examine 248. j'/ai:/5_)'o/<] be loose or deficient 
 
 your passionate utterances by the light in their duties towards you. So 
 
 of plain reason ; or pour in some cold, Merry Wives, 1 11. iv. 115: 
 calm reason to mitigate the stings of " I must of another errand .... 
 your hot, passionate utterances. what a beast I am to slack it." 
 
 8 
 
114 KING LEAR [acth. 
 
 Lear. I gave you all — 
 
 Reg. And in good time you gave it. 
 
 Lear. Made you my guardians, my depositaries, 
 
 But kept a reservation to be follow'd 255 
 
 With such a number. What ! must I come to you 
 
 With five-and-twenty ? Regan, said you so ? 
 Reg. And speak 't again, my lord ; no more with me. 
 Lear. Those wicked creatures yet do look well- 
 favour'd 
 
 When others are more wicked ; not being the 
 worst 260 
 
 Stands in some rank of praise. \To Gonerili] I '11 go 
 with thee : 
 
 Thy fifty yet doth double five-and-twenty, 
 
 And thou art twice her love. 
 Gon. Hear me, my lord. 
 
 What need you five-and-twenty, ten, or five, 
 
 To follow in a house where twice so many 265 
 
 Have a command to tend you ? 
 Reg. What need one? 
 
 Lear. O ! reason not the need ; our basest beggars 
 
 Are in the poorest thing superfluous : 
 
 259. look'] F, seem Q ; well-favoured'\ hyphened Q 2 ; unhyphened Q i, F. 
 261. [To Goneril] To Gon. Haiuner; omitted Q, F. 266. need\ F, needs 
 Q. 267. need\ F, deed Q. 
 
 254. guardians] managers, steward- 268. Are . . . superjltious'] in their 
 
 esses. poorest possessions have something 
 
 254. depositaries'] trustees in a legal over and above what is necessary for 
 sense. bare existence ; or superfluous may 
 
 255. reservation]^ z^eaaX, a saving have the sense of generous, bountiful ; 
 clause ; also a legal phrase. See 1. i. and it may mean, "the very poorest 
 133. are not stingy of their poor enjoy- 
 
 264, 266. Wkat]-vi\\y. ments." Compare also the sense of 
 
 267. reason] speak of, refer to. See the word in iv. i. 68. 
 
 V. i. 28 and Merchant of Venice, 11. 
 
 viii. 27. 
 
sc.iv] KING LEAR 115 
 
 Allow not nature more than nature needs, 
 
 Man's life is cheap as beast's. Thou art a lady ; 270 
 
 If only to go warm were gorgeous, 
 
 Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st. 
 
 Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But, for true 
 
 need, — 
 You heavens, give me that patience, patience I 
 
 need ! 
 You see me here, you gods, a poor old man, 275 
 As full of grief as age ; wretched in both ! 
 If it be you that stirs these daughters' hearts 
 Against their father, fool me not so much 
 To bear it tamely ; touch me with noble anger. 
 And let not women's weapons, water-drops, 280 
 Stain my man's cheeks ! No, you unnatural hags, 
 I will have such revenges on you both 
 That all the world shall — I will do such things. 
 What they are yet I know not, but they shall be 
 The terrors of the earth. You think I '11 weep ; 285 
 No, I '11 not weep : 
 
 270. life is\ F, life cj Q I, life's as Q 2. 275. maiil F, fellow Q. 
 278. sd\ F, ^a Q I, too Q 2. 279. tamely] F, lamely Q. 280. And let] 
 F, let Q. 283. shall— \ Q 2, F ; shall, Q I. 
 
 270. cheapl of little account, of 279. touch] move, affect. So Tem- 
 little value. See Measure for pest, iv. i. 145 : 
 
 Measure, iii. i. 185. _ _ " Never till this day, 
 
 271, 272. If . . . needs] if that is Saw I him touch'd with anger so 
 so, if the desire for warmth is the distemper'd." 
 
 only reason for wearing thy fine 283-285. I will. . . eorM] Ritson 
 
 array, and in truth this flimsy garb is writes: "evidently from Golding's 
 
 but badly adapted for that end. translation, 1567" [i.e. of Ovid's 
 
 277. y/^zVfe_)'i«<] This pagan note is Metamorphosis, "Book ilv.): 
 
 struck again, I v. i. 36-37 : " The thing that I do purpose on 
 
 " As flies to the wanton boys, are is great, whatere it is ; 
 
 we to the gods ; I know not what it may be 
 
 They kill us for their sport." yet." 
 
116 KING LEAR [actii. 
 
 I have full cause of weeping, but this heart 
 
 Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws 
 
 Or ere I '11 weep. O fool ! I shall go mad. 
 
 [Exeunt Lear, Gloucester, Kent, and Fool. 
 Corn. Let us withdraw, 'twill be a storm. 290 
 
 {Storm heard at a distance. 
 Reg. This house is little : the old man and his people 
 
 Cannot be well bestow'd. 
 Gon. 'Tis his own blame ; hath put himself from rest. 
 
 And must needs taste his folly. 
 Reg. For his particular, I'll receive him gladly, 295 
 
 But not one follower. 
 Gon. So am I purposed. 
 
 Where is my Lord of Gloucester ? 
 Corn. Follow'd the old man forth. He is return'd. 
 
 Re-enter GLOUCESTER. 
 
 Glou. The king is in high rage. 
 
 Corn. Whither is he going? 
 
 288. into a hundred thousand^ F, in a 100 thousand Q I, in a thousand 
 Q 2;jlaws'\ 'F,Jlowes Q. 289. Or ere] Ql,F; ere Q 2. Exeunt . . .] 
 Q 2 ; Exeunt Lear, Leister . . . Q i ; Exeunt F. 290. Storm . . . distance] 
 Capell ; Storm and Tempest F, after ' ' weeping " (line 287) ; omitted Q. 
 2gi.andhis}Q,an' dsF. 296. Gon.] F, Duke, Q. 298. Corn.] F, Reg. 
 Q. Re-enter Gloucester] Dyce ; Enter . . . Q, F, after line 297. 299, 
 300. rage. Com. . . . whither] F, rage, and will I know not whether Q. 
 
 288. flaws] This word is used by gives two instances of the word in 
 
 Shakespeare in the sense of crack, this sense. 
 
 So Love's Labour's Lost, v. ii. 415. 292. besUrafd] put up, lodged. 
 
 See Sherwood, English- French JDic- See IV. vi. 293 ; also 1 Henry VI. 
 
 tionary," Aa3LdtLe:or^SiVi,Creveure," III. ii. 88: "We will bestow you in 
 
 which word is explained in Cotgrave some better place." 
 as"achinke, cleft, rift." It is possible, 295. For. . . particular] as for 
 
 however, that the word may in this him singly, as far as he himself is 
 
 passage mean, ' ' a shiver, a small par- individually concerned. So Corio- 
 
 ticle." H.'Sa^&y, English Dictionary, lanus, IV. vii. 13, "for your par- 
 
 1721, has "Flaw, a fragment," ticular"; Troilus and Cressida, II. 
 
 and the New English Dictionary ii. 9, " my particular." 
 
sc, 
 
 IV.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 117 
 
 Glou. He calls to horse ; but will I know not whither. 300 
 
 Corn. 'Tis best to give him way ; he leads himself. 
 
 Gon. My lord, entreat him by no means to stay. 
 
 G/ou. Alack ! the night comes on, and the high winds 
 Do sorely ruffle ; for many miles about 
 There 's scarce a bush. 
 
 ^e^- O ! sir, to wilful men, 305 
 
 The injuries that they themselves procure 
 Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors ; 
 He is attended with a desperate train. 
 And what they may incense him to, being apt 
 To have his ear abused, wisdom bids fear. 3 1 o 
 
 301. Corn.] F, Reg. Q ; iesij F, g-oocl Q. 303. Ai^A] F, iieaH Q. 
 304. nij^eJF, russell Q I, russel Q 2, rustle Capell. 305. scarce] F, not 
 Q. 309. if»] Q I ; too Q 2, F. 
 
 301. give him way] do not interfere 
 with his going. 
 
 301. he leads himself] it is his own 
 headstrong will, he only is responsible 
 for the course he is taking. 
 
 304. ruffle] to bluster, to be noisy 
 and turbulent. See Titus Andronicus, 
 I. i. 313 : " One fit ... To ruffle in 
 the Commonwealth of Rome " ; also 
 as a substantive, " the ruffle of court," 
 i.e. the noisy bustle, A Lover's Com- 
 plaint, 58. A ruffler was a cheating 
 bully. He is described by Thos, Har- 
 man in his Caveat for Common Curse- 
 tors, 1567, Viles and Fumivall, 1880, 
 p. 29 : " either he hath served in the 
 wars, or else he hath been a serving- 
 man . . . with stout audacity he de- 
 mandeth where he thinketh he may 
 be bold." See also The Contention 
 between Liberality and Prodigality, 
 1602 {Dodsle/s Old Plays, Hazlitt, 
 viii. 376) : 
 
 " There is a certain royster, named 
 Prodigality 
 That long about this town hath 
 ruffled in great jollity." 
 
 Compare also Othello, II. i. 7, " it 
 hath so ruffianed it upon the sea " ; and 
 perhaps " roarer " in Tempest, i. i. iS, 
 quibblingly applied to the raging waves. 
 
 308. with] by. See Winter's 
 Tale, V. ii. 69. 
 
 308. a desperate train] a company of 
 desperate followers. It is not very 
 clear where Lear's knights are sup- 
 posed to go, or if he brought them 
 with him. According to the stage 
 directions in the Folio (before ir. iv.), 
 Lear had only brought "the Fool 
 and one Gentleman" with him into 
 Gloucester's house, and Lear's " small 
 number" is referred to in II. iv. 63. 
 This beingso, it is strange that Regan 
 should have so spoken, but she 
 probably only wished to make a 
 fictitious excuse for her cruelty. 
 
 309. incense him to] provoke him 
 to perpetrate. So Julius Ctesar, 
 I. iii. 13. 
 
 310. To . . . abus'a] See I. iii. 21, 
 and compare A IPs Well that Ends 
 Well, V. iii. 29s : " She does abuse 
 our ears ; to prison with her." 
 
118 KING LEAR [actih. 
 
 Corn. . Shut up your doors, my lord ; 'tis a wild night : 
 My Regan counsels well : come out o' the storm. 
 
 \Exeunt. 
 
 ACT III 
 
 SCENE \.--A Heath. 
 
 A storm, with thunder and lightning. Enter KENT 
 and a Gentleman, meeting. 
 
 Kent. Who 's there, besides foul weather ? 
 
 Gent. One minded like the weather, most unquietly. 
 
 Kent. I know you. Where 's the king ? 
 
 Gent. Contending with the fretful elements ; 
 
 Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea, 5 
 
 Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main, 
 
 312. Regani Q 2, F, Reg. Q i ; o' the\ F, at 'h Q i, ath Q 2. 
 Act III. Scene II. 
 
 A Heath] Rowe ; omitted Q, F. A storm] Rowe (substantially). Storm still 
 F, omitted Q. Enter . . . meeting] Capell, severally F, at several doors Q. 
 I. Who h there'] F, What's here Q, Who's here Malone ; besidesi F, beside Q. 
 4. elements'] F, element Q. 6. main'] Q, F ; moon Jennyns. 
 
 4. fi/«OTfi«^j-] the Quarto " element " Also the "crisp head" of Severn, 
 
 would mean air. Ste Twelfth Night, I. 1 Henry IV. I. iii. 106; "your 
 
 i. 26, and Milton, Co?ffl«j, 299 :" some crisp channels" (of the brooks), 
 
 gay creatures of the element." Lear Tempest, iv. i. 130; "the crisped 
 
 was contending with all the elements, brooks," Milton, Paradise Lost, iv. 
 
 See scene ii. line 16 of this Act : 237. 
 
 ' ' Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are 6. main] land, main-land. Delias 
 
 my daughters : explains "the sea." Capell first noted 
 
 I tax not you, you elements, with that Shakespeare may have taken 
 
 unkindness." this sense of the word from the 
 
 6. curled] By a conceit, the rip- early voyagers. I find it, there, very 
 
 pling foam on the head of agitated common in this sense. See Frobisher, 
 
 water is likened to curled hair. See Voyage, 1577: " Our men repaired to 
 
 2 Henry IV. III. i. 23 : their boats and passed from the main 
 
 " the winds to a small island. " '^s-yor. Voyages of 
 
 Who take the ruffian billows by Elizabethan Seamen, 1880, p. 77, 
 
 the top, " small islands lying off the main," 
 
 Curling their monstrous heads, id. 81. Again, in Hawkins, Voyage, 
 
 and hanging them 1564 : " We took many of that place. 
 
 With deaf ning clamour in the but of the Samboses none at all, for 
 
 slippery clouds." they fled into the main. " Payne, p. 16. 
 
sc, 
 
 !•] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 119 
 
 That things might change or cease ; tears his white 
 
 hair, 
 Which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage, 
 Catch in their fury, and make nothing of; 
 Strives in his little world of man to out-scorn i o 
 The to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain. 
 This night, wherein the cub-drawn bear would 
 
 couch, 
 The lion and the belly-pinched wolf 
 Keep their fur dry, unbonneted he runs. 
 And bids what will take all. 
 
 7-15. tears . . . take alf^ Q, omitted F. 10. out-scorn] Q, F ; out- 
 
 storm Sieevens connect. II. to-and-fro-con/lutm^'] hyphened C3.pell. 13. 
 belly-pinched, h3^hened Pope. 
 
 7. things] the order of the World. 
 Seev. ii. 16, "the mystery of things" ; 
 also Macbeth, in. ii. 16: "But let 
 The frame of things disjoint, both the 
 worlds suffer." 
 
 8. isyafcj] blind, sightless. Macbeth, 
 I. vii, 23 : 
 
 " heaven's cherubim horsed 
 Upon the sightless couriers of the air, " 
 which Johnson has, rightly, I think, 
 explained as "the winds." 
 
 10. little . . . man] Microcosm, 
 the little world, the earth (as dis- 
 tinguished from the macrocosm, the 
 great world, the universe), a name 
 sometimes given to man. So a Lover's 
 Complaint, line 7 : " The fickle maid, 
 fiiU pale, " was ' ' Storming her world 
 with sorrows, wind, and rain." See 
 also Ben Jonson, The Masque of 
 Hymen, 46 : 
 "If there be 
 A power like reason left in that 
 
 huge body. 
 Or little world of man." 
 The first masque of eight men had 
 just issued out of a microcosm or globe 
 figuring man. Also Cyril Toumeur, 
 The Atheisfs Tragedy, 161 1, III. iii. 
 45 ; Works, Churton Collins, i. 92 : 
 
 " But now I am an Emperour of a 
 world, 
 This little world of man." 
 
 11. to . . . conflicting] For sway- 
 ing about in mad, angry conflict, 
 compare "the conflicting elements," 
 Timon of Athens, iv. iii. 230. Also 
 in this play, "the warring winds," 
 IV. vii. 32. 
 
 12. cub-drawn] drawn, i.e. sucked 
 dry, by her cubs, and so ravenous and 
 ferocious. See North's Plutarch 
 Lives (Paulus ^melius), ed. 1695, p. 
 268: "Beasts do give more milke, 
 when they are most drawne and 
 suckt." See As You Like It, IV. iii. 
 115, and again, iv. iii. 127: 
 
 " And did he leave him 
 Food to the suck'd and hungry 
 lioness ? " 
 
 12. couch] i.e. through fright, lie 
 in its lair, not range abroad for prey. 
 
 15. and . . . all] an expression 
 of despair. Compare Antony and 
 Cleopatra, IV. ii. 8 : " I '11 strike, and 
 cry, ' Take all. ' " Also the expression 
 of the despondent Host, Merry Wives 
 of Windsor, IV. vi. 2 : "I will give 
 over all." 
 
120 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act III. 
 
 Kent. But who is with him ? i 5 
 
 Gent. None but the fool, who labours to out-jest 
 
 His heart-struck injuries. 
 Kent. Sir, I do know you ; 
 
 And dare, upon the warrant of my note. 
 Commend a dear thing to you. There is division, 
 Although as yet the face of it be cover'd 20 
 
 With mutual cunning, 'twixt Albany and Cornwall ; 
 Who have — as who have not, that their great stars 
 Throned and set high ? — servants, who seem no less. 
 Which are to France the spies and speculations 
 Intelligent of our state ; what hath been seen, 2 5 
 
 17. heart-struckl hyphened F. i8. note] F, Arte Q. 20. be] Q, is F, 
 22-29. ^'^o ^"■^^ • • • furnishings] F, omitted Q. 23. Throned] F, Throne 
 Theobald, ed. 2. 
 
 16, 17. labours . . . injuries] to 
 drive out, exorcise them by jesting ; 
 or perhaps, to outdo the greatness of 
 his master's wrongs by the wild ex- 
 travagance of his jests. 
 
 1 6. heart-struck] keenly distressing. 
 So II. iv. 162 : 
 " Struck me with her tongue, 
 Most serpent-like, upon the very 
 heart." 
 See note to that passage. Perhaps 
 Milton had King Lear in his mind 
 when he wrote Paradise Lost, xi. 264 : 
 " Adam at the news, 
 Heart-struck, with chilling gripe 
 of sorrow, stood." 
 18. upon the warrant] on the 
 strength of. 
 
 18. note] knowledge, information; 
 or (on the strength of) my knowing 
 you. 
 
 19 Commend] entrust. See Love's 
 Labour s Lost, iii. i. 169. 
 
 19. rf«ar] important, urgently press- 
 ing, of weight or moment. So Romeo 
 and Juliet, v. ii. 19 : 
 
 " The letter was not nice, but full 
 of charge, 
 Of dear import." 
 Something like the sense in Lycidas, 
 line 6 : 
 
 " Bitter constraint, and sad occa- 
 sion dear, 
 Compels me to disturb your 
 season due." 
 22, 23. Who . . . high] As favour- 
 ites of fortune, persons of very high 
 rank invariably have, are attended 
 with. 
 
 24. speculations] close observers ; 
 the abstract for the concrete, like 
 " discretions " for "sensible persons," 
 II. iv. 151 ; "discontents" for "mal- 
 contents," Antony and Cleopatra, I. 
 
 ^^- 39- 
 
 25. Lntelligent] giving information. 
 
 Compare " be intelligent to me," ?.«. 
 make it clear to me, Winter's Tale, 
 I. ii. 378. See also this play, ill. v. 
 II and III. yii. 13. 
 
 25. whaf] i.e. to note, and to 
 report, what. 
 
sc, 
 
 !•] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 121 
 
 Either in snuffs and packings of the dukes, 
 
 Or the hard rein which both of them have borne 
 
 Against the old kind king ; or something deeper, 
 
 Whereof perchance these are but furnishings ; 
 
 But, true it is, from France there comes a power "30 
 
 Into this scatter'd kingdom ; who already. 
 
 Wise in our negligence, have secret feet 
 
 In some of our best ports, and are at point 
 
 27. kave] F 2, Aa(/i F i. 30-42. £u( . . . office to you] Q, omitted F. 
 31. scatter'd'] Q, F ; shatter' d Hanmer. 32. feet] Q I, fee Q 2. 
 
 26. snuffs] disgusts, offence-takings. 
 Compare "in snuff," angry (with a 
 quibble), Midsummer Ni^f s Dream, 
 V. i. 254 ; and iSsaLovis Labour's Lost, 
 V. ii. 22, and " to take in snuff" (also 
 with a quibble), 1 Henry IV. I. iii. 41. 
 See also Speed's Chronicle, ed. 1632, 
 p. 590 (i) : " When this was once known 
 to Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and the 
 angry lords, they took such snuff there- 
 at, that," etc. Also R. Greene, A Quip 
 for an Upstart Courtier, 1 592, Collier, 
 reprint, p. 58 ; "as these were going 
 away in snuff for being thus plainly 
 taunted." 
 
 26. packings] plots, underhand in- 
 trigues, ^a Taming of the Shrew, V. 
 i. 121 : "here 's packing, with a wit- 
 ness, to deceive me" ; also Cymbeline, 
 III. V. 80 ; and see History of King 
 Leir, Six Old Plays, etc. (Nichols), ii. 
 441. Ragan addresses the ambas- 
 sador, " There is good packing 'twixt 
 your king and you. " See also Milton's 
 poem, "On the New Forcers of Con- 
 science, "etc., line 14, "Your plots and 
 packing, worst than those of Trent. " 
 
 27. the hard rein , . . borne] how 
 inflexibly firm, how stiff-necked they 
 have been in their relations with the 
 aged king. So Troilus and Cressida, 
 I. iii. 188, 189 : 
 
 " Ajax is grown self-will'd, and 
 bears his head 
 In such a rein." 
 Ah,oNoxih'sPlutarchLives(Antonius), 
 ed. 1695, p. 985 : "And in the end, 
 
 the horse of the mind, as Plato termed 
 it, that is so hard of raine ; I meane 
 the unreyned lust of concupiscence." 
 It may, however, be explained "the 
 inflexible, cruel way in which they 
 have treated the old kind king." 
 
 29. furnishings] unimportant ap- 
 pendages. (Samples Steevens.) 
 
 29. 30]. Schmidt believes that some 
 words have dropped out between these 
 lines. 
 
 30. power] armed body of men. 
 Again, lii. iii. 14 ; also King John, IV. 
 ii. no : "powers, forces," iv. ii. 16. 
 
 31. scattered] divided, unsettled, 
 disunited (Johnson). Hanmer read 
 "shattered." 
 
 32. have secret feet] have landed 
 secretly. In the History of King 
 Leir the French manage to effect a 
 landing while the Captain of the 
 watch and his brother- watchmen are 
 engaged in a drinking bout ; Six Old 
 Plays (Nichols), ii. 456-458. Compare 
 " footed " this Act vii. 47 ; also Henry 
 V. II. iv. 143. This was a subject which 
 
 had to be treated with much caution 
 before Elizabethan audiences. 
 
 33. at point to] ready to. So Cym- 
 beline, III. vi. I^ : 
 
 " even before I was 
 At point to sink for food " ; 
 and III. i. 30. Also G. Whetstone, 
 Promos and Cassandra, 1578: "My 
 brother slain. My husband, ah ! at 
 point to lose his head," Six Old Plays, 
 etc. (Nichols), 1779, i. 104. 
 
122 KING LEAR [acthi. 
 
 To show their open banner. Now to you : 
 
 If on my credit you dare build so far 35 
 
 To make your speed to Dover, you shall find 
 
 Some that will thank you, making just report 
 
 Of how unnatural and bemadding sorrow 
 
 The king hath cause to plain. 
 
 I am a gentleman of blood and breeding, 40 
 
 And from some knowledge and assurance offer 
 
 This ofiSce to you. 
 
 Gent. I will talk further with you. 
 
 Kent. No, do not. 
 
 For confirmation that I am much more 
 Than my out-wall, open this purse, and take 45 
 What it contains. If you shall see Cordelia, 
 j- As fear not but you shall, show her this ring, 
 ' And she will tell you who your fellow is 
 . That yet you do not know. Fie on this storm ! 
 I will go seek the king. 50 
 
 Gent. Give me your hand. Have you no more to say ? 
 
 Kent. Few words, but, to effect, more than all yet ; 
 
 That, when we have found the king, in which your pain 
 That way, I '11 this, he that first lights on him 
 Holla the other. {JExeunt severally. 5 5 
 
 43. further] F, farther Q. 44. I am^ F, / Q. 47. fear'\ Q 1 , F ; doubt Q 2. 
 48. your] Q, that F. 53. in . . . pain] F, omitted Q. 54. That way, I'll 
 this] F, I'llthis wayjyou that Q. 55. Exeunt severally] Theobald; ExeuntF,Q. 
 
 34. To show . . . banner'] to begin costly gay." Also JiTing' fohn, in. 
 
 the fight. See Coriolanus, in. i. 7, 8. iii. 20. 
 
 38. bemadding] distracting. Com- 48. felhfw] companion, he who 
 pare "madding," Cymbeline, II. ii. 37. talks to you. 
 
 39. plain] complain of. 52. to effect] in importance, 
 45. out-wall] exterior. Compare urgency. 
 
 "wall" in the same sense, Twelfth 53, 54. inwhich your pain. . . this] 
 Night, X. ii. 48; and Sonnet cxlvi. inwhich laborious quest of yours (take 
 4 : " Painting thy outward walls so you) that way, I will take this (way). 
 
SC. II.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 123 
 
 SCENE II. — Another part of the Heath. Storm still. 
 
 Enter LeaR and Fool. 
 
 Lear. Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks ! rage ! blow ! 
 You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout 
 Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks ! 
 You sulphurous and thought-executing fires. 
 Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts, 5 
 
 Another part . . .] Capell. Storm still] F, omitted Q. i. ■winds\ F, 
 ■wind Q. 2. hw-ricanoes] Dyce, Hurricano' s F 2, Hyrricano's F, 
 Hyrcanios, Q. 3. our\ F, the Q ; drown'd] Q, drown F. 4. thought- 
 
 execuiingl F, unhyphened Q. 5. to] Q, of F. 
 
 2. cataracts] probably the flood- 
 gates of the heavens. This according 
 to the New Eng. Diet, was the earliest 
 meaning of the word. In Eden 
 Decades, West India, 1555 (Arber, p. 
 386), a kindred volume to his History 
 of Travaile (that from which Shake- 
 speare borrowed the name Setebos in 
 Tempest), the New Eng. Diet, dis- 
 covers the following curious, and I 
 think parallel passage to this one : 
 "They say . . . that in certeyne places 
 of the sea, they sawe certeyne stremes 
 of water which they caule spoutes faul- 
 ynge owt of the ayer into the sea . . . 
 Sum phantasfe that these shoulde be 
 the catractes of heaven whiche were all 
 opened at Noe's flood. " 
 
 2. hurricanoes] this form of the 
 word is rare. See Troilus and 
 Cressida, v. ii. 172 : 
 
 "The dreadful spout. 
 Which shipmen do the hurricano 
 call." 
 And Nares refers to another instance 
 of the form in Drayton's Mooncalf, 
 1627, 494 : 
 " And downe the sho'wr impetu- 
 ously doth fall 
 As that which men the hurricano 
 call." 
 
 3. arown'd the cocks] submerged 
 
 them quite. A cock seated on a 
 spindle often in Shakespeare's day 
 adorned the tops of the steeples of 
 churches. For "drowned," "sub- 
 merged," compare Ben Jonson, The 
 Sad Shepherd, II. vii. 26 : " Down to 
 the drowned lands of Lincolnshire." 
 
 4. thought-ex ectiting] doing, execut- 
 ing, with rapidity equal to thought. 
 We may compare Tempest, IV. i. 164 : 
 
 " Prospero. Come with a thought. 
 Ariel. Thy thoughts I cleave to." 
 It may have the meaning here there- 
 fore of carrying out the will of Jove 
 with the quickness of thought. Moberly 
 explains ' ' executing the thought of 
 him who casts you." 
 
 5. Vaunt - couriers] forerunners, 
 harbingers, heralds. The word origin- 
 ally meant, the foremost scouts in an 
 army. Malone quotes Tempest, I. ii. 
 201, 202 : 
 
 " Jove's lightnings, the precursors 
 O' the dreadful thunder-claps." 
 Shakespeare may have met the word in 
 Harsnet, Declaration, 1603, p. 12, 
 where we read: "Playing herself five or 
 six parts in this tragedie, the harbinger, 
 the host, the steward, the vaunt- 
 courier, the sacrist, and the pander." 
 See also Nash, Ilave with You to 
 Saffron Walden, 1 596, Grosart( Works), 
 
124 KING LEAR [actih. 
 
 Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking 
 thunder, 
 
 Smite flat the thick rotundity o' the world ! 
 
 Crack nature's moulds, all germens spill at once 
 
 That make ingrateful man ! 
 Fool. O nuncle, court holy-water in a dry house is lo 
 
 better than this rain-water out o' door. Good 
 
 nuncle, in, and ask thy daughters' blessing; 
 
 here's a night pities neither wise man nor fool. 
 Lear. Rumble thy bellyful ! Spit, fire ! spout, rain ! 
 
 6. Singe\ Q I, F ; sing(^ 2 ; a//- j^a,5j«^] hyphened F. 7. Smite] Q, strike F. 
 8. moulds] F, mold Q. 9. make] Q, makes, F. 10. holy-water] F, 
 unhyphened Q. 11. rain-water] F, unhyphened Q. 12. and] Q, 
 omitted F. 13. man] F, }nen Q ; fool] Q, Fools F. 
 
 iii. 136 : " though personally we never spilt." With a play, probably, on its 
 
 met face to face, but by hench-men, other sense "to shed." 
 
 and vant-curriers." 9. ingrateful] ungrateful. Shake- 
 
 5. oak-cleaving thunderbolts]^ a speare uses both forms, 
 very favourite image of Shake- 10. court holy-water] flattery. See 
 
 speare's. See Tempest, v. i. 44-46 ; Florio, Queen Anna's New World 
 
 Measure for Measure, II. ii. 1 15, 1 16 ; of Words : " Mantilizare, to flatter, to 
 
 Coriolanus,v.m.l$'i; Julius Ccesar, fawn upon, to court one with fair 
 
 I. iii. 5, 6. words, to give court holy water " ; and 
 
 7. rotundity] Delius thinks from Cot%i3.ve's, French Dictionary :" 'Eaxi 
 the context ' ' that the roundness of beniste de Court, court holy water, 
 gestation as well as the sphere of the faire words, flattering speeches . . . 
 globe is here suggested." palpable cogging " ; and see also 
 
 8. nature's moulds] Byron's lines on Giles Fletcher, Chrisfs Victory and 
 Sheridan's death are recalled : Triumph (the description of Presump- 
 
 " Sighing that Nature formed but tion). Canto ii. stanza 32 : 
 
 one such man, ' ' A painted face, belied with 
 
 And broke the die in moulding vermeyl store, 
 
 Sheridan." Which light Euelpis every day 
 
 {Works), Murray, 1870, 474 (^). did trim, 
 
 8. germens] the germs or seeds of That in one hand a gilded anchor 
 
 matter. See Macbeth, IV. i. 59 : wore . . . 
 
 ' ' though the treasure . . . Her other hand a sprinkle 
 
 Of nature's germens tumble all carried, 
 
 together." And ever when her lady wavered 
 
 And compare "seeds" in the same Court holy-water all upon her 
 
 sense. Winter's Tale, w.'w. a^?,, 6^^. sprinkled." 
 
 I have never met an example of the 14. thy bellyful] to thy heart's 
 
 form germen. content, hardly considered a vulgar- 
 
 8. spilt] destroy. See Hamlet, IV. ism. See Wilson's Art of Rhetoric, 
 
 V. 20 : "It spills itself in fearing to be 1553, p. 52 : 
 
sen] KING LEAR 125 
 
 Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters : 1 5 
 I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness ; 
 I never gave you kingdom, call'd you children. 
 You owe me no subscription : then let fall 
 Your horrible pleasure; here I stand, your 
 
 slave, 
 A poor, infirm, weak, and despis'd old man. 20 
 
 But yet I call you servile ministers, 
 That have with two pernicious daughters join'd 
 Your high-engender'd battles 'gainst a head 
 So old and white as this, O ! O 1 'tis foul. 
 Fool. He that has a house to put 's head in has a 25 
 good head-piece. 
 
 The cod-piece that will house 
 
 Before the head has any. 
 The head and he shall louse ; 
 
 So beggars marry many. 30 
 
 16. tax\ F (taxe), taske Q. i8. then\ F, why then Q. 22. have . . . 
 join'd] Q, wiM . . . join F. 23. high-engender' d\ F, unhyphened Q ; 
 battles\ F {Battaiks), battle Q. 24. O ! 1\ oh ho F, O Q. 
 
 " let them boast and brag their bellies 23. high-engender'd battles] bat- 
 full." Also North's Plutarch [Life of talions nurtured high, in the heavens, 
 Pompey), p. 685, ed. 1595: "when in the sky. Battle has usually this 
 they plaied all this pageant, and sense. Compare "high -judging," 11. 
 mocked him their bellies full." iv. 228. 
 
 15. fire] to be pronounced as a 27. The cod-piece . . . ] he that 
 dissyllable. will house, provide for, a Goneril or a 
 
 16. tax\ tax, and tax with, to bring Regan, before taking proper measures 
 a charge of something against. See for his own welfare, shall suffer much 
 Measure for Measure, v. i. 312. ignominy therefrom. 
 
 18. subscription] allegiance, sub- 27. (;o(f-/z«f«] an appendage worn by 
 
 mission. Compare "subscribe, to men in front of the close-fitting hose, 
 
 yield," 2 Henry VI. III. i. 38 : "I See The Two Gentlemen of Verona, 
 
 will subscribe and say I wrong'd the II. vii. 53-56. In Measure for 
 
 duke." See also I. ii. 24, and this Measure, III. ii. 122, it is used 
 
 Act, vii. 64. And N. Breton, Honour figuratively as here. 
 of Valour (i()0'^,Vais l"] : "Andtruth 30. beggars marry many'lwiA tohz 
 
 disdaineth to subscribe to error." proverbial. 
 
126 KING LEAR [actih. 
 
 The man that makes his toe 
 
 What he his heart should make, 
 Shall of a corn cry woe, 
 
 And turn his sleep to wake. 
 For there was never yet fair woman but she 3 5 
 made mouths in a glass. 
 Lear. No, I will be the pattern of all patience ; 
 I will say nothing. 
 
 Enter Kent. 
 
 Kent. Who 's there ? 
 
 Fool. Marry, here 's grace and a cod-piece ; that 's 40 
 a wise man and a fool. 
 
 Kent. Alas ! sir, are you here ? things that love night 
 Love' not such nights as these ; the wrathful skies 
 Gallow the very wanderers of the dark, 
 i^nd make them keep their caves. Since I was man 4 5 
 
 33. Shall of] F, Shall have Q. 35. but] hut Q I (some copies). 38. 
 Enter Kent] as in Q 2, after " patience," line 37, Q i ; after " glass," line 36, 
 F. 42. areyoii\Y, sit you (^. 44. wanderers] F, wanderer Q. 45. 
 make] F, makes Q. 
 
 31-34. The 7nan . . . wake] he 44. Gallow] terrify, affright, a very 
 
 who cherishes a mean part of his rare form of gaily, to frighten ; gaily 
 
 body to the exclusion of what is is also rare except in dialect. See it 
 
 really worth jealous cherishing, shall in Elsworthy, Somerset Word- Book, 
 
 suffer lasting harm, and from the very 1886 ; also Sir W. Cope, Hampshire 
 
 part he so foolishly cherished. Of Glossary, 1883. It is a term used 
 
 course, Lear's folly in casting out to-day by whale-fishers. Wright 
 
 Cordelia and enriching her two worth- quotes ' ' gallow, to alarm, to frighten, " 
 
 less sisters, is glanced at. from Huntley's Glossary of the Cots- 
 
 37. 1 will be, . . patience] As Fvli- wold Dialect, 1868. See also King 
 
 ness has noted. Variorum, ed. 1880, Alfred's Boethius, xxxiv. 6: "tha 
 
 p. 174, there is here an undoubted echo wearth ic agaelwed, i.e. then was I 
 
 of the old play. History of King Leir, affrighted." 
 
 Six Old Plays, etc. (Nichols), ii. 403. 45. Afid . . . caves] i.e. not 
 
 PerillUs, the Kent of that play, says of range abroad for prey, compare 
 
 Leir : "couch," i. 12 of this Act; and also 
 
 " But he the myrour mild of patience " cave - keeping evils," Lucrece, 
 
 Puts up all wrongs, and never 1250. 
 gives reply." 
 
sc.ii.] KING LEAR 127 
 
 Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder, 
 Such groans of roaring wind and rain, I never 
 Remember to have heard ; man's nature cannot 
 
 carry 
 The affliction nor the fear. 
 Lear. Let the great gods, 
 
 That keep this dreadful pudder o'er our heads, 50 
 Find out their enemies now. Tremble, thou wretch, 
 That hast within thee undivulged crimes, 
 Unwhipp'd of justice ; hide thee, thou bloody hand, 
 Thou perjur'd, and thou simular of virtue 
 That art incestuous ; caitiff, to pieces shake, 5 5 
 
 That under covert and convenient seeming 
 Hast practised on man's life ; close pent-up guilts, 
 
 49. fear\ F, force Q. 50. ptcdder\ F, Powther Q i, ThundringCl 2, 
 pother Johnson. 54. perjur'cl^ Q, F ; perjure Theobald ; simular'] F, 
 simular man Q. 55. to] F, in Q. 57. Hast] Q, Has F 2, Ha's T". 
 
 46. bursts] peals (the Scottish Furness, who reads pudder, remarks 
 
 brattle). that Charles Lamb prefers it. Pother 
 
 48. carry] bear, endure. We may appears to me to be too ludicrous a 
 compare the vulgar expression ' ' to word for the passage. 
 carry off drink," to bear its effects 54. perjur'd] -peijnied one. Theo- 
 with impunity, which Byron uses in bald read "perjure." 
 his caustic epitaph on "John Adams 54. simular] simulator. I know 
 the Carrier of Southwell" (IVorks), no other instance of simular a sub- 
 Murray, 1840, iii. 17. stantive. As an adjective it is in 
 
 50. pudder] I adopt this, the Folio Cymbeline, v. v. 200 : 
 
 word. Most editors print "pother" " my practice so prevailed, 
 
 of the Quarto. Steevens quotes from That I returned with simular proof 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher, The Scornful enough." 
 
 Lady, ii. 2 (vol. iii. p. 35, Dyce's 55. to . . . shake] So All's Well, 
 
 edition, 1843) : iv. iii. 192: "lest they shake them- 
 
 " Some fellows would have cried selves to pieces. " 
 
 now, and have cursed thee, 56. seeming] hypocritical, or crafty, 
 
 And fain out with their meat, tricks. So Measure for Measure, 11. 
 
 and kept a pudder." iv. 150 : "Seeming! seeming! I will 
 
 And see Killigrew, The Parson's proclaim thee." 
 
 Wedding, ii. "j (Dodsley's Old Plays, 57. ^nzc^jjei/aK] treasonably plotted 
 
 Hazlitt, xiv. 444) : against. So Henry V. 11. ii. 99. 
 
 " Capt. And what becomes of all 57. guilts] guilty deeds, 
 this pudder." 
 
128 KING LEAR [acthi. 
 
 Rive your concealing continents, and cry 
 
 These dreadful summoners grace. I am a man 
 
 More sinn'd against than sinning. 
 Kmt. Alack! bare-headed! 60 
 
 Gracious my lord, hard by here is a hovel ; 
 
 Some friendship will it lend you 'gainst the 
 tempest ; 
 
 Repose you there while I to this hard house,- — 
 
 More harder than the stone whereof 'tis rais'd, 
 ^ Which even but now, demanding after you, 65 
 
 Denied me to come in, — return and force 
 
 Their scanted courtesy. 
 Lear. My wits begin to turn. 
 
 Come on, my boy. How dost, my boy ? Art cold ? 
 
 I am cold myself. Where is this straw, my fellow ? 
 
 The art of our necessities is strange, 70 
 
 That can make vile things precious. Come, your 
 hovel. 
 
 58. concealing continents^ F, concealed centers Q. 60, than\ F, {then) 
 their Q. 63. wkile'\ F, whilst Q. 64. More harder than^ F, More hard 
 than is Q ; stone] Q, stones F. 65. yote] F, me Q. 67. wits begin] F, 
 wit begins Q. 71. That] Q, And F ; yoter] F, you Q. , 
 
 58. Hive . . . continents] burst 63. hard] cruel. So Merchant of 
 
 open whatever conceals thee from Venice, v. i. 81. 
 
 pubhc view. So Anthony and Cleo- 63. house] See n. ii. T.. 
 
 patra, IV. xiv. 40 : 65. Which] the owners of which. 
 
 " Heart, once be stronger than thy 66. Denied . . . in] refused me 
 
 continent, admittance when making inquiries 
 
 Crack thy frail case." about you. For deny, to refuse, see 
 
 58, 59. cry . . . grace] cry for, pray Winter's Tale, v. ii. 139 : " You 
 
 for, mercy at the hands of those dread denied to fightwith me thisother day." 
 
 officers, the ministers of vengeance, z.e. 70. The art . . . strange] art, i.e. 
 
 lettheperpetratorsoftheseguiltydeeds skill in transforming ; need makes us 
 
 cry for mercy. Compare ' ' Cry the man wondrous alchemists, 
 
 mercy," ^i You Like It, III. v. 61. 71. vile] Furness prints the old 
 
 58. summoners] summoner or somp- and common form of the word 
 
 nour, an officer who dragged offenders "vilde," found here and frequently 
 
 before the ecclesiastical courts. in the old editions. 
 
sen.] KING LEAR 129 
 
 Poor fool and knave, I have one part in my heart 
 That 's sorry yet for thee. 
 Fool. He that has and a little tiny wit. 
 
 With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, 7 5 
 
 Must make content with his fortunes fit. 
 Though the rain it raineth every day. 
 Lear. True, my good boy. Come, bring us to this hovel. 
 
 {Exeunt Lear and Kent. 
 Fool. This is a brave night to cool a courtezan. 
 
 I '11 speak a prophecy ere I go : 80 
 
 When priests are more in word than matter ; 
 When brewers mar their malt with water ; 
 When nobles are their tailors' tutors ; 
 No heretics burn'd, but wenches' suitors ; 
 When every case in law is right ; 8 5 
 
 No squire in debt, nor no poor knight ; 
 When slanders do not live in tongues ; 
 Nor cut-purses come not to throngs ; 
 When usurers tell their gold i' the field ; 
 
 72. «■«] F, ^Q. 73. That' s sorrylY , That sorrows Cl. 74. has and 
 a]F, has a Q. 77. Though] F, For Q. 78. my good Q, omitted F. 
 Exeunt . . . Kent] Capell ; Exit F, omitted Q. 79-96. This . . . time] 
 F, omitted Q. 
 
 74-77. He that . . . day] Probably are certainly spurious. They wind 
 
 an adaptation of Feste's song or jig up with the couplet : 
 which closes Twelfth Night. I retain ' ' Then shall the realm of Albion 
 the Folio reading "and a,'' which Turn into confusion. " 
 
 Schmidt considers " a mere expletive The lines are also quoted slightly 
 
 in popular songs. " Compare Twelfth differently, and given to Chaucer in 
 
 Night, V. i. 398 ; Othello, 11. iii. 92. Puttenham, Art of English Poetry, 
 
 78. bring] conduct. about 1585. See Arber, p. 232. 
 
 79. brave] fine, suitable. 84. burn'd] i.e. the lues venerea is 
 81. When priests] These verses quibblingly referred to. Set Cotnedy of 
 
 have a likeness, indeed they may Errors, IV. iii. 57 ; Timon of Athens, 
 
 almost be called a parody of some lines, IV. iii. 141; Coriolanus, in. ii. 24. 
 called "Chaucer's Prophecy." Morris 89. fe//] count. Bo Winter's Tale, 
 
 includes them in his edition of IV. iv. 185 : " He sings several songs 
 
 Chaucer, 1884 (vi. 307), but they faster than you'll tell money." 
 
130 KING LEAR [acthi. 
 
 And bawds and whores do churches build ; 90 
 
 Then shall the realm of Albion 
 
 Come to great confusion : 
 
 Then comes the time, who lives to see 't, 
 
 That going shall be used with feet. 
 This prophecy Merlin shall make ; for I live 9 5 
 before his time. [Exif. 
 
 SCENE III. — A Room in Gloucester's Castle. 
 
 Enter Gloucester and Edmund. 
 
 Glou. Alack, alack ! Edmund, I like not this 
 unnatural dealing. When I desired their 
 leave that I might pity him, they took from 
 me the use of mine own house ; charged me, 
 on pain of their perpetual displeasure, neither to 5 
 speak of him, entreat for him, nor any way 
 sustain him. 
 
 Edm. Most savage and unnatural ! 
 
 Glou. Go to ; say you nothing. There is division 
 
 A . . , Castle] Rowe (substantially) ; omitted Q, F. Enter . . . Edmund] 
 F ; Enter Gloster and the Bastard with lights Q. 3. took'\ Q 2, F ; took me 
 Q I. 5. their perpetual] '^eanyns, their Ql, perpetual ¥. 6. nor] Q, or F. 
 9. There is] F, There's a Q. 
 
 95. Merlin]\T^ 1 Henry IV. m.\. Scene m. 
 150, we read of the dreamer Merlin 
 
 and his prophecies," and some are re- 3. pity] take pity on, relieve. So 
 
 ferred to there. Shakespeare probably Coriolanus, I. vi. 36 : 
 
 drew his knowledge of them from " Condemning some to death, and 
 
 Holinshed's Chronicles, who in turn some to exile ; 
 
 prBbably borrowed from Geoffrey of Ransoming him, or pitying " (z.«. 
 
 Monmouth, Historia Britonum, where sparing), 
 
 they are given at length — not many 6. entreat for] put in for. See 
 
 pages, by the way, from the story of Exodus viii. 9. 
 
 King I^ear and his Three Daughters. 9. Go to] Come, come. 
 
sc. m.] KING LEAR 131 
 
 between the dukes, and a worse matter than lo 
 that. Ihave received a letter this night; 'tis 
 dangerous to be spoken ; I have locked the 
 letter in my closet. These injuries the king 
 now bears will be revenged home ; there 's part 
 of a power already footed ; we must incline to 15 
 the king. I will look him and privily relieve 
 him ; go you and maintain talk with the duke, 
 that my charity be not of him perceived. If 
 he ask for me, I am ill and gone to bed. If I 
 die for it, as no less is threatened me, the king, 20 
 my old master, must be relieved. There is 
 some strange thing toward, Edmund ; pray 
 you, be careful. ■ [^Exit. 
 
 Edm. This courtesy, forbid thee, shall the duke 
 
 Instantly know ; and of that letter too : 2 5 
 
 This seems a fair deserving, and must draw me 
 That which my father loses ; no less than all : 
 The younger rises when the old doth fall. [Exit. 
 
 10. between] F, betwixt Q. 15. footed] F, landed Q. 16. look] F, 
 
 seek Q. 19. If] F, though Q. 22. sotne strange thing] Q, strange 
 things F. 25. too] F, to Q. 26. draw me] Q i, F ; draw to me Q 2. 
 28. The] F, then Q ; doth] F, do Q. 
 
 10. a worse] i.e. a French army has 16. look] look up, search for. So 
 landed. As You Like It, II. v. 34: "he hath 
 
 14. home] fully. So 1 Henry IV. been all this day to look you. " 
 
 I. iii. 288. Also see Yarrington, 22. toward] impending. See 11. 
 
 Two Tragedies in One, v. i. 112; i. 11. 
 
 BuUen, Old Plays, iv. 90: "God 24. This courtesy, forbid thee]'Y\ns, 
 
 lives, and will revenge it home. " kindness, comforting — which you have 
 
 IJ. footed] See note to III. i. 32. surreptitiously offered to Lear, and 
 
 15. 2«ir/j«e ^o] show sympathy with, which you were forbidden to afford 
 join the cause of. So Winter's Tale, him. 
 
 I. ii. 304 : 26. a fair deserving] a fair and 
 
 " a hovering temporizer, that meritorious action. See 1 Henry 
 
 Canst with thine eyes at once see IV. iv. iii. 35: "your great 
 
 good and evil, deservings." 
 Inclining to them both ? " 
 
132 KING LEAR [actih. 
 
 SCENE IV. — The Heath. Before a Hovel. 
 
 Enter Lear, Kent, and Fool. 
 
 Kent. Here is the place, my lord ; good my lord, enter : 
 The tyranny of the open night 's too rough 
 For nature to endure. \Storm still. 
 
 Lear. ' Let me alone. 
 
 Kent. Good my lord, enter here. 
 
 Lear. Wilt break my heart ? 
 
 Kent. I 'd rather break mine own. Good my lord, 
 enter. 5 
 
 Uear. Thou think'st 'tis much that this contentious storm 
 Invades us to the skin : so 'tis to thee ; 
 But where the greater malady is fix'd, 
 The lesser is scarce felt. Thou 'dst shun a bear ; 
 But if thy flight lay toward the roaring sea, i o 
 
 Thou 'dst meet the bear i' the mouth. When the 
 
 mind 's free 
 The body 's delicate ; the tempest in my mind 
 Doth from my senses take all feeling else 
 
 The Heath . . .] Part of the Heath with a Hovel Rowe ; omitted Q, F. 
 3. Storm still] F, omitted Q. 4. here\ F, omitted Q. 6. contentious^ F ; 
 crulentious Q I (some copies), Q 2 ; temfestious Q I (some copies). 10. 
 thy^Q^, they F; roaring] Q I (some copies), F; ragingCl i (some copies), Q 2. 
 12. the tempest^ Q 2, F ; this tempest Q I. 
 
 8, 9. But . . . feltl Lear may be -Othello, in. iii. 340: "I . . . was 
 
 supposed here, or after "there," line free and merry. " See also Middleton 
 
 14, to strike his breast. Shakespeare and Rowley, A Fair Quarrel, i. i. 399 ; 
 
 expressed nearly the same thought Middleton s Works, Bullen, iv. 1 80 : 
 
 afterwards in Cymbeline, iv. ii. 243 : "Then 'tis no prison where the mind 
 
 "Great griefs . . . medicine the less. " is free." 
 
 ii./r«e] at ease, almost gay, or 12. (/«&«/«] averse to pain, shrink- 
 happy. So in III. vi. no: "free ing from it. So "delicate tender- 
 things and happy shows." And so ness," Othello, 11. i. 235. 
 
sciv.] KING LEAR 133 
 
 Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude ! 
 Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand i 5 
 For lifting food to 't ? But I will punish home : 
 No, I will weep no more. In such a night 
 To shut me out ! Pour on ; I will endure. 
 In such a night as this ! O Regan, Goneril ! 
 Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave 
 all, — 20 
 
 O ! that way madness lies ; let me shun that ; 
 No more of that. 
 
 Kent. Good my lord, enter here. 
 
 Lear. Prithee, go in thyself; seek thine own ease : 
 This tempest will not give me leave to ponder 
 On things would hurt me more. But I '11 go in. 2 5 
 \To the Fool.'\ In, boy; go first. You houseless 
 
 poverty, — 
 Nay, get thee in. I '11 pray, and then I '11 sleep. 
 
 \Fool goes in. 
 Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are. 
 That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm. 
 How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, 30 
 
 14. beats\ Q i (some copies), F ; beares Q 1 (some copies), Q 2. 16. home\ 
 F, sure Q. 17, 18. In such . . . endicre] F, omitted Q. 20. gave all) 
 F, gave you all Q. 22. enter Aere] F, enter Q. 23. tAine own] F, thy 
 owneQ2, iAyoneQ I. 26, 27. /n, boy . . . sleep] F, omitted Q. 27. Fool 
 goes in] Johnson. Exit F (after line 26) ; Exit Fool Rowe (after line 26). 
 29. storm] F, night Q. 
 
 14. beats] There is a sort of 16. home] See previous note, scene 
 
 quibble between "beat," to be in a iii. line 14. 
 
 state of restless mental anxiety (see 26. poverty] i.e. needy one, poor 
 
 Tempest, I. ii. 176) and "beat" as one; the abstract for the concrete, 
 
 tempests do. " VVhere tempests never 29. bide] endure. See Twelfth 
 
 beat, nor billows roar," Cowper (from Night, II. iv. 97 : 
 
 Garth), "Lines on Receipt of My " There is no woman's sides 
 
 Mother's Picture," line 97. Can bide the beating of so strong 
 
 a passion." 
 
134 KING LEAR [actih. 
 
 Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend you 
 From seasons such as these ? O ! I have ta'en 
 Too little care of this. Take physic, pomp ; 
 Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel, 
 That thou mayst shake the superflux to them, 3 5 
 And show the heavens more just. 
 
 Edg. [Wztkin.] Fathom and half, fathom and half! 
 
 Poor Tom ! [The Fool runs out from the hovel. 
 
 Fool. Come not in here, nuncle ; here 's a spirit. 
 
 Help me ! help me ! 40 
 
 Kent. Give me thy hand. Who 's there ? 
 
 Fool. A spirit, a spirit : he says his name 's poor Tom. 
 
 Kent, What art thou that dost grumble there i' the 
 straw ? 
 Come forth. 
 
 Enter EDGAR disguised as a madman. 
 
 Edg. Away! the foul fiend follows me ! Through 45 
 
 the sharp hawthorn blow the winds. Humph ! 
 
 go to thy cold bed and warm thee. 
 
 37, 38. Fathom . . . Tom\ F, omitted Q. 38. The Fool . . . hovel] 
 Theobald, after line 40. 42. A spirit, a spirif] F, A spirit Q. 44. 
 Enter . . .] Capell, as madman Theobald (after line 40) ; omitted Q, F. 
 46. blow the winds] F, dtows the cold wind Q ; Humph /] Rowe, Humh 
 F, omitted Q. 47. cold 6ed] Q, ded F. 
 
 ^I. loop'dandwindow'cl]iallo{holes 45,46. Through . . . winds] com- 
 
 and openings. See 1 Henry IV. IV. pare " The Friar of Orders Grey," 
 
 i. 71 : "And stop all sight-holes, every line 95. See Percy's ^<;/«5?a«j : 
 
 loop." Also "Loupe, in a towne " Through the hawthorn blows the 
 
 wall or castell, creneau," Palsgrave, cold wind, 
 
 Lesclarcissement. The original mean- And drizzly rain doth fall. " 
 
 ing of window appears to have been 47. go . . . thee] Sly, in Taming 
 
 wind-eye, i.e. eye, or hole, to admit of the Shrew, Induction, i. 10, 
 
 the wind. uses nearly the same words which 
 
 37. Fathom and half] The floods were probably proverbial: "Goby, 
 
 of rain which he has taken shelter Jeronimy ; go to thy cold bed, and 
 
 from, probably suggest these words warm thee." 
 to Edgar, sounding, as it were, at sea. 
 
sc.iv.] KING LEAR 135 
 
 Lear.fpidst thou give all to thy two daughters ? 
 And art thou come to this ? J 
 
 Ed£: Who gives any thing to poor Tom ? whom the 50 
 foul fiend hath led through fire and through 
 fllame, through ford and whirlpool, o'er bog and 
 quagmire; that hath laid knives under his 
 pillow, and halters in his pew; set ratsbane 
 by his porridge; made him proud of heart, 55 
 to ride on a bay trotting - horse over four- 
 inched bridges, to course his own shadow 
 for a traitor. Bless thy five wits ! Tom 's 
 a - cold. 1 do de, do de, do de. Bless 
 
 48. Didst . . . two] Singer, ed. 2 (1856), ffast thou given all to thy two 
 Q, Did' St thou give all to thy F. 51. through fire] Q, though Fire F. 
 
 51, 52. through flame] F, omitted Q. 52. through ford] Q (foord), through 
 Sword F. S3, hath] F, has Q. 55. porridge] F, pottage Q. 56. 
 /n)*««^-^>-ji?] hyphened by Steevens, 1793. 59. O . . . ufe] F, omitted Q. 
 
 53) S4- hath laid knives . . . pew] 
 Shakespeare must have taken this (as 
 Malone pointed out) from Harsnet. 
 See in the Declaration, 1603, p. 219. 
 Friswood [alias Frauncis), Williams 
 saith "that one, Alexander, an 
 apothecarie, having brought with him 
 from London to Denham (the name 
 of Edmond Peckham's house) on a 
 time, a new halter, and two blades 
 of knives, did leave the same upon 
 the gallerie floare in her master's 
 house ..." and she "having asked 
 Ma Alexander what they did there 
 . . . and, saith he, I perceave that 
 the devil hath lay'd them heere to 
 work some mischief upon you that 
 are possessed." Steevens also quotes 
 from Marlow, Dr. Faustus (scene vi. 
 lines 21-23) '■ 
 
 " Swords, poisons, halters, and 
 
 envenomed steel 
 Are laid before me to despatch 
 
 myself." 
 
 55. porridge] broth. 
 
 56. trotting-horse] a horse trained 
 
 to trot and amble in a stately and 
 measured fashion, and used by great 
 persons in public entries to towns. 
 Other names are a foot-cloth horse, <» 
 cloth-sell horse, an ambling gelding. 
 These names are often associated 
 with the idea of excessive pride and 
 pomp. See Madden, Diary of 
 Master William Silence, 1897, p. 272. 
 56, 57. four-inched] See Ben Jon- 
 son, The Magnetic Lady, v. v. 124: 
 ' ' run over two-inch bridges 
 With his eyes fast, and in the dead 
 of night." 
 58. thy five wits] Malone points out 
 that Stephen Hawes, in his Pastime 
 of Pleasure {circa 1 506), ch. xxiv. 
 stanza 2, describes the five wits thus : 
 " These (the inwarde wits) are the 
 five wits, removing inwardly. 
 First common wit, and then 
 
 imagination. 
 Fantasy, and estimation truely. 
 And memory." 
 Shakespeare, in Sonnet cxli., lines 9, 
 10, as has been pointed out, distin 
 
136 KING LEAR [acthi. 
 
 thee from whirlwinds, star - blasting, and 60 
 
 taking ! Do poor Tom some charity, whom 
 
 the foul fiend vexes. There could I have him 
 
 now, and there, and there, and there again, 
 
 and there. {Storm still. 
 
 Lear. What ! have his daughters brought him to this 
 
 pass? 65 
 
 Couldst thou save nothing ? Didst thou give them 
 
 all? 
 
 Fool Nay, he reserved a blanket, else we had been 
 
 all shamed. i 
 
 Lear. Now all the plagues that in the pendulous air 
 
 Hang fated o'er men's faults light on thy 
 
 daughters ! 7° 
 
 60. star-blasting\ F, starre-blusting Q. 63. and there] F, omitted Q. 
 64. Storm still] F, omitted Q. 65. What ! have his\ Theobald, What, his 
 Q, Hds his F. 66. Didst thou] Q, Would st thou F ; them] Q, 'em F. 
 70. light] F, fall Q. 
 
 guishes between the five wits and the for cold." See also Lonsdale, Glos- 
 
 five senses : sary, 1869, " Didder, to shiver, to 
 
 " But my five wits nor my five tremble." 
 
 senses can 61. taking] infection, evil influences. 
 
 Dissuade one foolish heart from See note to 11. iv. 166. 
 
 serving thee." 69. /ewrfa/oMj] suspended. Schmidt 
 
 And see also in Reginald Scott's Dis- quotes from the old play, once attri- 
 
 covery of Witchcraft, 1584 (Book xii. buted to Shakespeare, The Death of 
 
 ch. xvii.), Saint Adelbert's cursse or Merlin, iv. 1 : "Knowest thou what 
 
 charme against theeves : They are pendulous mischief roofs thy head." 
 
 cursed "in their bodie and soule, in And I note that in the same play 
 
 their five wits and in every place"; (v. I), the expression "pendulous 
 
 and a little lower down the curse goes stones " (referring to Stonehenge) 
 
 on : " And whatsoever is betwixt the occurs. Boswell cites Timon of 
 
 same . . . that is to say, their five Athens, IV. iii. 108-110: 
 
 senses, to wit, their seeing, their hear- "Be as a planetary plague, when 
 
 ing, their smelling, their tasting, and Jove 
 
 their feeling," Nicholson, 1886, pp. Will o'er some high-viced city 
 
 214,215. hang his poison 
 
 59. do de, do de] shivering ex- In the sick air." 
 
 pressed in words. The word to 70. fated]'](itvas,oxv explains invested 
 
 didder is formed in a similar way. with the power of fatal determination. 
 
 See Cotgrave's French Dictionary: Compare "the fated sky," .^//'j ?^e// 
 
 Friler, to Shiver, chatter, or didder that Ends Well, I. i. 232, 
 
SC. IV.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 137 
 
 Kent. He hath no daughters, sir. 
 
 Lear. Death, traitor ! nothing could have subdued nature 
 
 To such a lowness but his unkind daughters. 
 
 Is it the fashion that discarded fathers 
 
 Should have thus little mercy on their flesh ? 75 
 
 Judicious punishment ! 'twas this flesh begot 
 
 Those pelican daughters. 
 Edg. PilHcock sat on Pellicock's hill : 
 
 Halloo, halloo, loo, loo ! 
 Fool. This cold night will turn us all to fools and 80 
 
 madmen. 
 Edg. Take heed o' the foul fiend. Obey thy 
 
 78. PellicocKs hill] Q, Pillicock-hill (hyphened by Rowe) F. 79. Halloo 
 . . . loo] Theobald, alow: alow, loo, loo. F, a lo lo lo Q, 81. 0' the] 0' th 
 F, at' h Q. 
 
 75. Should . . . flesh] Lear here 
 refers either to Ee^ar's wickedness, 
 or else to his trick of sticking thorns 
 in his flesh. 
 
 77. pelican] greedy, cruelly, ra- 
 pacious, referring to the belief current 
 in the age of Shakespeare that young 
 pelicans fed from their mother's 
 breast. See Richard II. 11. i. 126, 
 127, and Hamlet, iv. v. 146, 147. 
 Here the old play The History of 
 King Leir may have suggested it, 
 Six Old Plays, etc. (Nichols), ii. 395 : 
 
 ' ' I am as kind as is the pelican 
 That kills itself to save her young 
 ones' lives." 
 Captain Hawkins in his Secoitd Voyage, 
 1 564-1 565, gives a quaint account of 
 the bird, and refers to this belief : " Of 
 the sea fowl, above all other ... I 
 noted the pelican, which is feigned to 
 be the lovingest bird that is, which, 
 rather than her young should want, 
 will spare her heart's blood out of her 
 belly ; but for all this lovingness she 
 is very deformed to behold, for she is 
 of colour russet," Payne, Voyages of 
 Elizabethan Seamen, 1880, p. 50. 
 
 78. PilHcock . . . hill] Collier 
 quotes from Gammer Gurton's Gar- 
 land: 
 
 " Pillicock, PilHcock sat on a hill. 
 If he 's not gone, he sits there 
 still." 
 I retain the Quarto reading, for I 
 think that Edgar's rhyme was sug- 
 gested by Lear's word "pelican." 
 The word appears to have been some- 
 times used as a term of endearment. 
 ' ' Pinchino, a prime cock, a pillicock, 
 a darling," Florio, Queen Anna's 
 New World of Words. 
 
 79. loo, loo] a cry to excite dogs 
 which I have heard in Cardigan. So 
 Troilus and Cressida, v. vii. 10 : 
 " Enter Menelaus and Paris fight- 
 ing," Thersites exclaims, "Now, 
 bull ! now, dog ! Loo Paris, Loo" (lowe 
 old editions). See also S. Butler, 
 Life off. Butler, Bishop of Lichfield, 
 1896, vol. i. p. 61 : "The youths are 
 brought up with a rooted objection to 
 Saint Johns (College), and, like bull- 
 dogs of true breed, are always ready 
 to fall upon us at the Loo of their 
 seniors. " 
 
138 KING LEAR [act m. 
 
 parents; keep thy word justly; swear not; 
 commit not with man's sworn spouse ; set not 
 thy sweet heart on proud array. Tom's 85 
 a-cold. 
 
 Lear. What hast thou been ? 
 
 Edg. A servingman, proud in heart and mind ; 
 
 that curled my hair, wore gloves in my cap, 
 
 served the lust of my mistress' heart, and 90 
 
 did the act of darkness with her; swore as 
 
 many oaths as I spake words, and broke 
 
 them in the sweet face of heaven ; one that 
 
 slept in the contriving of lust, and waked to 
 
 do it. Wine loved I deeply, dice dearly, 95 
 
 and in woman out - paramoured the Turk : 
 
 false of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand ; 
 
 83. word justly] Pope, words justly Q, words justice F. 95. deeply] 
 
 Q, dearly F (deerely). 
 
 83. word justly] I follow Pope's im- instigation of the first of the seaven 
 provement of the Quarto. Knight and (spirits) . . ..curled his haire and 
 Schmidt follow the Folio text " words used such gestures, as Ma Edmunds 
 justice." presently affirmed that that spirit was 
 
 84. commit] employed in The Two Pride." 
 
 Gentlemen of Verona, v. iv. 77, in 89. wore gloves in my cap] i.e. 
 
 the sense of to sin: " I do as truly suffer favours from his mistress which often 
 
 As e'er I did commit." I find the word took the form of gloves. See Troilus 
 
 in exactly the same sense in which it and Cressida, IV. iv. 73 : 
 
 is here used in Florio, Montaignis " Troilus. Wear this sleeve. 
 
 Essays, Book ii. ch. xii., "commit- Cressida. And you this glove." 
 
 ting with." See also Middleton, 94. contriving] plotting. See 
 
 Women Beware Women, II. ii. 440 ; Merchant of Venice, IV. i. 360 : 
 
 Davenant, The Wits, 11. i. 59. " Thou hast contrived against the 
 
 88. servingman] may be used in very life 
 
 the sense of a lover ; one who serves a Of the defendant." 
 
 mistress, as servant is used in The Two ' ' Contriver, plotter," As You Like 
 
 Gentlemen of Verona, II. iv. 106, //, I. i. 151. Also Cotgrave's French 
 
 etc., a Cavalier Serviente. See Code Dictionary: " Machiner, to machin- 
 
 Physiognomie, Sig. A, iii. 9 : "A ate, frame ; contrive, devise ; plot, 
 
 courtier or servingman." It may well, conspire against." 
 
 however, as Schmidt supposes, be used 96. the Turk] the Grand Turk, the 
 
 in the ordinary sense of servant. Sultan. So Henry V. v. ii. 222. 
 
 89. fw?-/«rf wjy ^a«V] Malone quotes 97. light of ear] "foolishly, credu- 
 Harsnet, "Then Ma Mainy by the lous " (Schmidt). Perhaps " credulous 
 
sc, 
 
 IV.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 139 
 
 hog in sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, 
 dog in madness, Hon in prey. Let not the creak- 
 ing of shoes nor the rustling of silks betray thy 
 poor heart to woman : keep thy foot out of 
 brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen 
 from lenders' books, and defy the foul fiend. 
 Still through the hawthorn blows the cold 
 wind ; says suum, mun, hey no nonny. 
 Dolphin my boy, my boy ; sessa ! let him 
 trot by. 
 
 lOO 
 
 105 
 
 [Storm still. 
 Lear. Why, thou wert better in thy grave than to 
 
 100. rustling] F, ruslngs Q I, ruslings Q 2. loi. woman F, women Q. 
 102. brothels] F, brothell Q ; plackets] F, placket Q. 103. books] F, booke Q. 
 105. says . . . izonny] Eccles, Sayes Suum, mun, nonny, F, hay no on ny, Q, 
 says . . . ha, no, nonny Steevens. 106. piy boy, my boy] Q, my Boy, 
 
 Boy F ; sessa!] Malone, sesey F, caese Q i, cease Q 2. 107. Storm still] F, 
 omitted Q. 108. Why] Q, omitted F; thy grave] Q, a Grave F; than] F, but Q. 
 
 of evil" (Johnson). It may perhaps of a song. See Much Ado About 
 
 mean incapable of retaining a secret. 
 
 98, 99. hog . . . prey] Professor 
 Skeat has noticed that in the old 
 treatise The Ancren Riwle the seven 
 deadly sins are figured under the 
 names of various animals, and Malone 
 quotes a similar passage from Harsnet. 
 See ed. 1603, p. 281. 
 
 99. in prey] in preying, in savage 
 voracity. 
 
 loi, 102. keep . . . plai:kets']plsiAet, 
 
 opening in a petticoat. This phrase 
 
 may have been a familiar one at the 
 
 time. See a rather scurrilous poem, 
 
 " Satire on London Physicians," 
 
 written early in the reign of James I. : 
 
 " Dr. Langport, though I pay for 't, 
 
 I '11 have a fling at your jacket, 
 
 Though you ride in a cart as your 
 
 father did fo 'rt, 
 
 Yet your hand is in every 
 
 placket." 
 
 loj. suum] apparently an imitation 
 
 of the moaning of the wind. " Soo, to 
 
 moan as the wind does," Holland, 
 
 Cheshire Words, Eng. Dial. Soc, 1880. 
 
 105. hay . . . nonny] the burden 
 
 song. 
 Nothing, II. iii. 71 ; also The Two 
 Noble Kinsmen, III. iv. 21 and 24. 
 
 106. Dolphin] Steevens, " the Puck 
 of commentators," mentions that "he 
 had heard from an old gentleman an 
 account of a ballad written on some 
 battle fought in France." The King 
 of France is supposed to be addressing 
 his son, the Dolphin (i.e. the Dauphin), 
 and repeats these two lines : 
 
 " Dolphin, my boy, my boy. 
 Cease, let him trot by," 
 when any adversary the least formid- 
 able crosses the field offering combat. 
 Ben Jonson in Bartholomew Fair, v. 3, 
 makes Cokes use: "Od's my life! 
 ... he shall be Dauphin my boy." 
 
 106. sessa] probably an interjection. 
 See Taming of the Shrew , Induction, 
 I. 6: "let the world slide, sessa." 
 Also compare the expression "sa" 
 in this play, IV. vi. 207. Some ex- 
 plain it as a term of incitement to 
 speed. 
 
 108. thou wert better] it would be 
 better for you ; used irregularly. See 
 note td I. iv. 106. 
 
140 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act III. 
 
 answer with thy uncovered body this extremity 
 of the skies. \ Is man no more than this? iio 
 Consider him well. Thou owest the worm no 
 silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the 
 cat no perfume. Ha! here's three on's are 
 sophisticated j(_thou art the thing itself; un- 
 accommodated man is no more but such a 1 1 5 
 poor, bare, forked animal as thou artTJOff, 
 off, you lendings! Come; unbutton here. 
 
 [Tearing' off his clothes. 
 Fool. Prithee, nuncle, be contented ; 'tis a naughty 
 
 no. than\ F, but Q. 113. Hal\ F, omitted Q. 117. lendings] Q I 
 (some copies), F ; leadings Q i (some copies), Q 2 ; Come ; unbutton AereJF, 
 Come on, be true Q i (some copies), Q 2 ; Come on Q i (some copies). Tearing 
 . . .] Rowe ; omitted Q, F. 118. contented] F, content Q ; 'tis] F, this is Q. 
 
 109. answer] encounter, bear the 
 brunt, stand to. So Coriolanus, I. 
 iv. 52 : 
 
 " he is himself alone, 
 To answer all the city." 
 109. extremity] extreme severity or 
 rigour. So in Winter's Tale, v. ii. 
 129: " extremity of weather continu- 
 ing" ; also Edward III. III. i. 129 : 
 "Or when the exhalations of the air 
 Breaks in extremity of lightning 
 flash." 
 
 112. beast] ox, animal of the ox 
 kind. So also Marlow, Tamburlame 
 the Great, v. ii. 53 : 
 
 " As princely lions when they rouse 
 themselves, 
 Stretching their paws and threat- 
 ening herds of beasts." 
 See Fitzherbert, The Book of Hus- 
 bandry, 1534, Ixii. 29: "a shepe will 
 have the turn (a disease), as well as 
 a beast." It is still in common use. 
 See Wright, Eng. Dial. Dictionaiy, 
 1898 (in progress). 
 
 113. cat] the civet cat is of course 
 referred to. 
 
 114. sophisticated] adulterated, not 
 the real article. See Ben Jonson, The 
 
 Fox, ii. I ( Works), Routledge, 1873, 
 p. 184 (a). Volpone speaks of " a 
 certain powder which made Venus a 
 goddess . . . was lost, happily re- 
 covered by a studious antiquary, who 
 sent a moiety of it to the court of 
 France (but much sophisticated)." 
 See also Cotgrave's French Dic- 
 tionary, " Sophistique, sophisticated, 
 adulterated, falsified." 
 
 115. unaccommodated] TXO'l^At^x^i. 
 by the effects of civilisation. 
 
 wt. forked] two-legged, biped. 
 As Falstaff, $ Henry IV. iii. ii. 334, 
 in derision likens the youthful Shallow 
 to "a forked raddish with a head 
 fantastically carved upon it. " There is 
 a passage in Florio's Montaigne's 
 Essays (Book ii. ch. xii., Morley), 
 286, a favourite book of Shakespeare's, 
 which resembles this one: "for the 
 daily plaints which I often hear men 
 make . . . exclaiming that man is 
 the only forsaken and outcast 
 creature, naked on the bare earth, 
 fast bound and swathed, having 
 nothing to cover and arm himself with, 
 but the spoil of others." 
 
 117. lendings] borrowed articles. 
 
sc. IV.] KING LEAR 141 
 
 night to swim in. Now a little fire in a wild 
 field were like an old lecher's heart ; a small 1 20 
 spark, all the rest on 's body cold. Look ! 
 here comes a walking fire. 
 
 Enter GLOUCESTER, with a torch. 
 
 Edg. This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet: he 
 
 begins at curfew, and walks till the first 
 
 cock ; he gives the web and the pin, squints 1 2 5 
 
 the eye, and makes the hare -lip; mildews 
 
 the white wheat, and hurts the poor creature 
 
 of earth. 
 
 119. wild'\ Q, F; wide Jennyns. 121. on's\ F, in Q. 122. Enter 
 Gloucester] Capell . . . F after line 1 1 7, Enter Gloster Q. 123. Flibber- 
 tigibbet] F, Sriberdegibit Q I, Sirberdegibit Q 2. 124. ti/i the] Q, at F. 
 125. and the fiti, squints] F, the pin, queues Q I (some copies), and 
 the pin, squemes Q I (some copies), the pinqueuer Q 2. 126. hare-lip] Q 
 (some copies), F ; harte lip Q i (some copies), Q 2 (hart). 
 
 119. wild] For "wild" Jennyns the eye of the nature of cataract, 
 
 read "wide," but the change seems See Winter's Tale, i. ii. 291 : 
 unnecessary, though Walker says that " all eyes 
 
 " wild is in the manner of modern. Blind with the pin and web but 
 
 not Elizabethan poetry." theirs." 
 
 122. a waliing^re] Gloucestei vriih "Web in the eye, Taye," Palsgrave's 
 his torch, as is indicated by the stage- Lesclarcissement. Cotgrave explains 
 direction of F. this old French word, Taye, as " a pin 
 
 123. Flibberligibbef] Though this or web in the eye." Vicary in his 
 name is met with earlier, see, for medical work, A Treasure for 
 instance, J. Heywood's Proverbs Englishmen, p. 435, writes of "a 
 (Sharman, 1874, p. 42), "sayd this very good medicine for the pearle on 
 flebergebet," it is quite certain, I think, the eye, or the pin and web. " See also 
 that Shakespeare took it, along with Holland's Pliny, ed. 1601, p. 229 : 
 the other fiend names, from Harsnet, "The doe when she perceiveth her 
 Declaration of Egregious Popish Im- eyes dim and overcast either with the 
 postures, 1603. I read in the British pin and web, or cataract, pricketh 
 Museum Library copy the following them with the sharp pointe of some 
 curious list of fiends, where it appears, bullrush." 
 
 p. 181 : " Lustie Dick, Killico, Hob, 125. j^wjWi'] put a cast into, makes 
 
 Comercap, Puffe, Purre, Frateretto, to squint. 
 
 Flibberdigibet, Haberdicut, Coco- 127. white wheat] wheat no longer 
 
 batto, Maho, Kellicocam," etc. See green, approaching ripeness. See St. 
 
 also the name on p. 49. John iv. 35 : " look on the fields, for 
 
 125. web and the pin] diseases in they are white already to harvest." 
 
142 KING LEAR [act m. 
 
 Swithold footed thrice the old ; 
 He met the night-mare, and her nine-fold ; i 30 
 Bid her alight, 
 And her troth plight. 
 And aroint thee, witch, aroint thee ! 
 Kent. How fares your grace ? 
 
 Lear. What's he? 13S 
 
 Kent. Who's there? What is 't you seek? 
 Glou. What are you there ? Your names ? 
 Edg. Poor Tom ; that eats the swimming frog, the 
 toad, the tadpole, the wall-newt, and the 
 water ; that in the fury of his heart, when the 1 40 
 
 129. Swithold] F, swithald Q, St. Withold Theobald. 130. He met the 
 night-mare] F, Q i (some copies) ; a nellthu night more Q I (some copies), 
 anelthu night Moore Q 2 ; nine-fold] Q, F ; nine foles Tyrwhitt conject. ; 
 nine foals Farmer conject. 131. her alight] F, her, O light Q. 132. 
 troth plight] Q, hyphened F. 139. ivall-newi] Q, F; ivaU-wort Q i 
 
 (some copies). 140. fury] Q i, F ; fruite Q 2. 
 
 129. Swithold] Probably a corrup- in the form of foals," C. H. Herford, 
 
 tion of St. Vitalis, who, it seems, was Eversley edition, 1899. Tyrwhitt 
 
 invoked against the nightmare. believes " it is put, pro metri gratia, 
 
 129. footed . . . old] thrice tra- for nine foals." 
 
 versed the wold. Old is a form of 133. aroint . . . thee] probably 
 
 wold, i.e. down, plain, open country, avaunt, begone, as in Macbeth, I. iii. 
 
 See Thomas Starkey in Dialogue 6 :" aroint thee, witch ! the rump-fed 
 
 between Cardinal Pole, etc., J. M. ronyon cries" (arint is the Quarto 
 
 Cq/w^sx, Early Eng. Text Soc.,!?,"]?,, form here). The verb "arunte" 
 
 ch.iii. p. 73: "The waste groundys, as (see New Eng. Diet.) may have the 
 
 heathys, ibrestys, parkys, and oldys." sense to drive away, as well as its 
 
 See also Drayton, Polyolbion, song 26 : more certain meaning, to scold, to 
 
 " Her banks which, all her course, reprove. Fumess notes that Mr. 
 
 on both sides do abound Mathew discovered, in an old 
 
 With heath and finny olds." Wycliffite tract preserved in the library 
 
 See the form "oulds" in line 100 of of Trinity College, Dublin, two in- 
 
 the same song. stances of this verb in the sense of to 
 
 130. night-mare] the incubus, drive away. I quote one instance : 
 "Night-mare goublin," Palsgrave, "and here schul men arunte the 
 Lesclarcissement. fiend that stirreth men to last " {i.e. to 
 
 130. her nine-fold] Capell explains continue) in this erroure," MS. v. vi. 
 
 "her nine imps or familiars, for 159 (back). 
 
 "that Shakespeare, on the authority 138. /Vor Ti^JSeenotetoi. ii. 151. 
 of verses by R. Scott, makes his 139, 140. the water] the water- 
 nightmare a witch." " Nine familiars newt ; newt, a kind of lizard. 
 
SC. IV.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 143 
 
 foul fiend rages, eats cow-dung for sallets ; 
 swallows the old rat and the ditch-dog ; drinks 
 the green mantle of the standing pool ; who is 
 whipped from tithing to tithing, and stock- 
 punished, and imprisoned ; who hath had 
 three suits to his back, six shirts to his 
 body, 
 
 Horse to ride, and weapon to wear. 
 But mice and rats and such small deer. 
 Have been Toni s food for seven long year. 
 Beware my follower. Peace, Smulkin ! peace, 
 thou fiend ! 
 
 145 
 
 150 
 
 144, 145. stock-punisked} Q, stockt,punisKdY. 145. hath had\ Q, hath F. 
 150. Have] F, Hath Q. 151. Smulkin] F, snulbtigQ, Smolkin Theobald. 
 
 141. for sallets] as a substitute for 
 salads, vegetables. See "Salade, a 
 Sallet of hearbes," Cotgrave's French 
 Dictionary. So ^ Henry VI. iv. x. 
 9 : "I climbed into this garden to 
 see if I can eat grass or pick a sallet. " 
 See also in Tottel's Miscellany, 1557, 
 Arber, 1870, p. iii, Grimald's poem 
 " The Garden " : " Sweet sallet herbs 
 be here, and herbs of every kind." 
 "Sallet herbs," i.e. herbs for the table. 
 
 142. ditch-dog] apparently a dead 
 dog thrown into a ditch. 
 
 143. green mantle] standing water is 
 clothed often with a vegetable growth, 
 the duckweed (Lemna minor). Mr. 
 H. C. Hart informs me that this is 
 the only plant which will grow in 
 perfectly standing water. In Tempest, 
 IV. i. 182, we read of "the filthy 
 mantled pool" (so F i), which, how- 
 ever, probably means covered with a 
 filthy film. 
 
 144. whipped from tithing to tith- 
 ing] tithing, a district, originally a 
 district containing ten families. It 
 was enacted by the statute 39 Eliz. 
 cap. 4, " that vagabonds should be 
 whipped and sent from parish to 
 parish." Meg Merrilies complains 
 
 " that she had been hounded like a 
 stray tike from parish to parish." It 
 was the treatment meted out by 
 Humphrey of Gloucester to the 
 feigned blind and lame man and his 
 wife, 2 Henry VI. 11. i. 158, 159. 
 
 144, 145. stock-punished] punished 
 by being placed in the public stocks. 
 I prefer this, the Quarto reading, 
 to "stocked, punished" of the Folio. 
 
 149, 150. But mice . . . year] 
 Capell remarks that these two lines, 
 in a slightly different form, are to 
 be found in the old romance of Bevis 
 of Hamptoun, where they run thus : 
 
 ' ' Rattes and myse and such small 
 dere 
 Was his mete that seven yere." 
 Dere, animals in general (Malone), 
 game (Schmidt). In Miss Courtney, 
 West Cornwall Glossary, Eng. Dial. 
 Soc, 1880, I find "Small deer, 
 vermin" (F. C); but Mr. Quiller 
 Couch, who in the same year pro- 
 duced a Glossary of East Cornwall, 
 has kindly informed me that he does 
 not believe the word is now in use 
 or remembered in Cornwall. 
 
 151. Smulkin] This name is found 
 in Harsnel's Declaration (1603), 
 
144 KING LEAR [actih. 
 
 Glou. What ! hath your grace no better company ? 
 
 Edg. The prince of darknggs is a gentleman ; Modo 
 
 he's call'd, and' Mahu. iSS 
 
 Glou. Our flesh and blood, my lord, is grown so vile, 
 That it doth hate what gets it. 
 
 Edg. Poor Tom 's a-cold. 
 
 Glou. Go in with me. My duty cannot suffer 
 
 To obey in all your daughters' hard commands : 1 60 
 Though their injunction be to bar my doors, 
 And let this tyrannous night take hold upon you, 
 Yet have I ventured to come seek you out 
 And bring you where both fire and food is ready. 
 
 Lear. First let me talk with this philosopher. 165 
 
 What is the cause of thunder ? 
 
 Kent. Good my lord, take his offer ; go into the house. 
 
 Lear. I '11 talk a word with this same learned Theban. 
 
 What is your study ? 
 
 156. my lord . . . vile] F (vilde), is growne so vild my Lord Q. 
 164. fire and food} F, food and fire Q. 167. Good myl F, my goqd Q. 
 
 168. same] F, most Q, 
 
 in the form "Smolkin," in a long maintain the impression of his assumed 
 
 list of spirits (p. l8l), "Wilkin, character" (quoted by Furness, p. 
 
 Smolkin, Nur," etc. See also the 199). 
 
 name on p. 47. 168. this . . . Thehan\ Steevens 
 
 154, 155. Modo . . . Mahu^These refers to Ben Jonson's Masque, Pan's 
 
 names are common in Harsnet's Anniversary ( Works), Routledge, 
 
 Z)«f&?-aafw» (1603) in the forms Modu 1873, P- 644 (a): "Then conies my 
 
 and Maho; see, for instance, p. 148, learned Theban, the tinker I told you 
 
 "Maho and Modu, the two generals of"; and adds, "perhaps in ridicule 
 
 of the infernal furies." of this passage." This is very doubt- 
 
 156, 157. Our flesh . . . gets it] ful, I should say; mention is made 
 
 Cowden Clarke writes on this : "Some in the ilfaj-y«« before of " a tinker of 
 
 tone or inflection in Edgar's voice has Thebes." See also " boys of Beotia," 
 
 reached the father's heart, and bitterly "things of Thebes"; indeed, the 
 
 recalls the supposed unfilial conduct phrase ' ' learned Theban " may have 
 
 of his elder son, and he links it with been understood at the time. Gifford 
 
 that of Lear's daughters. Edgar, was the first to refute the idea, which 
 
 instinctively feeling this, perseveres many Shakespearean editors had, that 
 
 with his Bedlam cry, to drown the Ben Jonson was always malignantly 
 
 betrayed sound of his own voice and attacking Shakespeare. 
 
sciv.] KING LEAR 145 
 
 Edg. How to prevent the fiend, and to kill vermin. 170 
 
 Lear. Let me ask you one word in private. 
 
 Kent. Importune him once more to go, my lord ; 
 His wits begin to unsettle. 
 
 Glou. Canst thou blame him ? 
 
 \Storm still. 
 His daughters seek his death. Ah ! that good Kent ; 
 He said it would be thus, poor banish'd man ! 175 
 Thou say'st the king grows mad ; I '11 tell thee, 
 
 friend, 
 I am almost mad myself. I had a son, 
 Now outlaw'd from my blood ; he sought my life. 
 But lately, very late ; I lov'd him, friend. 
 No father his son dearer ; true to tell thee, 1 80 
 
 The grief hath crazed my wits. What a night 's this 
 I do beseech your grace, — 
 
 Lear. O ! cry you mercy, sir. 
 
 Noble philosopher, your company. 
 
 Edg. Tom 's a-cold. 1 84 
 
 Glou. In, fellow, there, into the hovel : keep thee warm. 
 
 Lear. Come, let's in all. 
 
 Kent. This way, my lord. 
 
 Lear. With him ; 
 
 172. i7K<:«»2o?-«]F, omitted Q. 173. Storm still] F, omitted Q. 174. ^/i] 
 F,OQ. 178. ^«]Q2, F; aQi. 1^. true\ Clip's ; truth (^z. 181. 
 hcUhl Q I, F ; has Q 2. 182, 183. mercy, sir. Noble] F, mercy, Sir: Noble 
 F, mercy noble Ql. 185. into the hovel]intoth' Hovel Q^z, F; inf hovellCl i. 
 
 178. outlatifd . . . blood'] Con- i.e. that his attainder be re- 
 
 demned to outlawry (lossofestate,etc.), versed. 
 
 through corruption of blood. Those 1S2. cry you mercy]\'begyoyxtp3x- 
 
 subject to attainder (stain or corruption don. See Two Gentlemen of Verona, 
 
 of blood) formerly suffered such loss. v. iv. 94 ; see also in this play, iii. 
 
 We read in 1 Henry VI. III. i. 159 : vi. 52. " I cry you mercy" is very 
 
 " our pleasure is common in Shakespeare and in the 
 
 That Richard be restored to his writers of his time, 
 blood "— 
 10 
 
146 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act III. 
 
 I will keep still with my philosopher. 
 Kent. Good ray lord, soothe him ; let him take the fellow. 
 Glou. Take him you on. 
 
 Kent. Sirrah, come on; go along with us. 190 
 
 Lear. Come, good Athenian. 
 Glou. No words, no words : hush. 
 Edg. Child Rowland to the dark tower came, 
 
 His word was still, Fie, foh, and f urn, 
 
 I smell the blood of a British man. 1 9 S 
 
 '\Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE V. — A Room in Gloucester's Castle. 
 
 Enter CORNWALL and EDMUND. 
 
 Corn. I will have my revenge ere I depart his house. 
 Edm. How, my lord, I may be censured, that 
 
 nature thus gives way to loyalty, something 
 
 fears me to think of. 
 
 193. tower] F, town Q; came F, come Q, followed by Capell (marking 
 the omission of a line, and proposing "The giant roar'd, and out he ran"). 
 
 Scene v. 
 
 A . . . Castle] Capell ; omitted Q, F. 
 (ed. 2, 174s). 
 
 188. soothe'] humour. So Comedy 
 of Errors, iv. iv. 82 ; also Harsnet, 
 Declaration, p. 185 : " She ran as fast 
 as she could, but for any flying it is a 
 mere fable, although at this time she 
 was content to sooth them in it." 
 
 193. Child Rowland . . . came] 
 Fragments of a ballad, ' ' Child Row- 
 land and Burd Ellen," are printed by 
 Professor Child, English and Scottish 
 Ballads, 1864, i. 245, in which is the 
 stanza (p. 251). 
 
 "Withfi, fi, fo, andfum! 
 I smell the blood of a Christian man ! 
 Be he dead, be he living, wi' my 
 brand 
 
 I. his\ F, the Q, this Hanmer 
 
 I'll clash his hams (z.«. brains) 
 frae his ham-pan." 
 
 Scene V. 
 
 2. How .../... censured] 
 what opinion people will hold me in. 
 
 2, 3. that . . . loyalty] that I 
 sacrifice to my loyalty my natural 
 filial feelings. 
 
 3, 4. something fears me] it terrifies 
 me a little. So 3 Henry IV. v. ii. 
 2 : " For Warwick was a bug that 
 fear'd us all." "To feare greatly, 
 to make afraid, Perterreo," Baret, 
 Alvearie, 1580. 
 
scv.] KING LEAR 147 
 
 Corn. I now perceive it was not altogether your 5 
 brother's evil disposition made him seek his 
 death ; but a provoking merit, set a-work by 
 a reproveable badness in himself. 
 
 Edm. How malicious is my fortune, that I must 
 
 repent to be just! This is the letter he 10 
 spoke of, which approves him an intelli- 
 gent party to the advantages of France. O 
 heavens ! that this treason were not, or not I 
 the detector ! 
 
 Corn. Go with me to the duchess. 1 5 
 
 Edm. If the matter of this paper be certain, you 
 have mighty business in hand. 
 
 Corn. True or false, it hath made thee Earl of 
 Gloucester. Seek out where thy father is, that 
 he may be ready for our apprehension. 20 
 
 Edm. [Aside.] If I find him comforting the king, 
 
 10. letter Cl, Letter which F. 11. «/■] Q i, F ; off<^ 2. 13. this treason 
 were fwf\ F, his treason were Q. 21. [Aside] Theobald ; omitted Q, F. 
 
 7, 8. provoking . . . himse/fj pro- of an intelligencer — used in a bad 
 
 yoking, inciting, prompting, stimu- sense — one who conveys information 
 
 lating ; so a provoking merit, etc. , between two parties. See Richard 
 
 may mean an inciting merit in him ///. iv. iv. 71; also compare "in- 
 
 (Edgar), "set to work," forced into teiligencing," JVinter's Ta/e, luiii, 68. 
 
 action by a badness worthy of repre- 21. comforting] The word is used 
 
 hension in himself, i.e. in his father in its strict legal sense, referring to the 
 
 Gloucester. Perhaps it might be thus conduct of an accessory to a crime, 
 
 paraphrased : "A merit, a virtue, in after the fact in the matter of helping 
 
 Edgar, provoking him, i.e. inciting a condemned person. The only in- 
 
 him, in consideration of his father's stance to hand, not a good one, is from 
 
 wickedness, to seek his life. " Some, T.Heywood,^ Edward IV. {IVorhs), 
 
 however, think that " the provoking Pearson, i. 167. Jane Shore, when 
 
 merit " is Gloucester's making him to relieved by Brackenbury, contrary to 
 
 seek Edgar's death. the proclamation, exclaims : 
 
 11. approves him]pioyeshimto'be. "Master lieutenant, in my heart I 
 II, 12. an intelligent party . . . thank you 
 
 France] a person (the legal sense) For this kind comfort to a 
 
 well informed of the landing of the wretched soul." 
 
 French forces. Perhaps " intelligent (Brackenbury had entered " with some 
 
 party" maybe here used in the sense relief in a cloth for Mistris Shore.") 
 
148 KING LEAR [actih. 
 
 it will stuff his suspicion more fully. I will 
 persevere in my course of loyalty, though the 
 conflict be sore between that and my blood. 
 Corn. I will lay trust upon thee ; and thou shalt find 2 5 
 a dearer father in my love. \Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE VI. — A Chamber in a Farmhouse adjoining 
 the Castle. 
 
 Enter GLOUCESTER, Lear, Kent, Fool, and EDGAR. 
 
 Glou. Here is better than the open air ; take it 
 thankfully. I will piece out the comfort with 
 what addition I can : I will not be long from 
 you. 
 
 Kent. All the power of his wits have given way S 
 to his impatience. The gods reward your 
 kindness ! \Exit Gloucester. 
 
 26. dearer] Q, deere F. Exeunt] F, Exit Q. 
 
 Scene vi. 
 
 A . . . Castle] Malone, A Chamber in a Farmhouse Theobald, A Room 
 in some of the outbuildings of the Castle Capell. Enter Gloucester . . .] 
 Enter Gloster and Lear, Kent, Foole, and Tom Q, Enter Kent and Glouces- 
 ter F. 5. have] Q, F ; has Pope ; hath Capell. 6. to his] F, to Q; 
 reward] F, deserve Q. 7. Exit Gloucester] as in Capell, after line 4 F, 
 omitted Q. Enter Lear, Edgar, and Foole] F, omitted Q. 
 
 24. Wfforf] natural temperament. 5. Aaw] It is unnecessary to change 
 
 "have " of the old text to "has," as 
 
 •^""* ^^- Pope and Capell did, such a construc- 
 
 2. piece out] eke out. So Merry tion being quite common in Shake- 
 
 Wives of Windsor, III. ii. 34: "He speare and in the best writers of his 
 
 pieces out his wife's inclination ; he time. See Henry V. v. ii. iS 
 
 gives her folly motion and advant- " The venom of such looks, we 
 
 age. " See also Speed's Chronicle, p. fairly hope, 
 
 6og: " therefore the Lyon's skin not Have lost their quality. " 
 
 being large enough for the Bishop of S) 6. given way to his impatience'] 
 
 Winchester and his factious purposes, have broken down, have become 
 
 they piece them out with the fox's demented, under the influence of his 
 
 case (i.e. skin)." irritation. 
 
sc. VI.] KING LEAR 149 
 
 Edg. Frateretto calls me, and tells me Nero is an 
 
 angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent, 
 
 and beware the foul fiend. lo 
 
 Fool. Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be 
 
 a gentleman or a yeoman ? 
 Lear. A king, a king ! 
 Fool. No ; he 's a yeoman that has a gentleman to 
 
 his son ; for he 's a mad yeoman that sees his 1 5 
 
 son a gentleman before him. 
 Lear, To have a thousand with red burning spits 
 
 Come hissing in upon 'em, — 
 Edg. The foul fiend bites my back. 
 Fool. He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a 20 
 
 wolf, a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's 
 
 oath. 
 Lear. It shall be done ; I will arraign them straight. 
 
 \To Edgar.] Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer; 
 
 10. and} F, omitted Q. 11. 6e] Q i, F ; may be Q 2. 14-17. Fool. 
 No . . . him. Lear.] F, omitted Q. 19-58. Edg. The foul . . . 'scape'iQ, 
 omitted F. 21. health'\ Q, F ; heels Singer. 24. [To Edgar] Capell, 
 To the Fool Hanmer ; justicer\ Theobald, Justice Q. 
 
 8. ^ra&re^/o] a name from Harsnet, 15, 16. his . . . hirii\ Perhaps 
 
 Declaration. See ed. 1603, p. 181 ; proverbial. 
 
 also p. 185, whpre he is called Cap- 21. a horse's healtK\ Perhaps his 
 
 taine Frateretto. seller's account of his condition ; but 
 
 8, 9. Nero . . . darkness'] Ritson see Taming of the Shrew, I. ii, 8l : 
 
 pointed out that this may have come "although she has as many diseases 
 
 from Rabelais, Gargantua, ii. 30 ; as two and fifty horses " ; and also 
 
 "but if so," writes he, "Nero takes see a list of these in the same play, 
 
 the place of Trajan, who angled for in. ii. 50-56. Warburton read 
 
 frogs." Nero is represented as a "a horse's heels," which may be 
 
 fiddler, or rather as a performer on right, as we read in Ray's Proverbs : 
 
 the Viella, i.e. the hurdy-gurdy. The " Trust not a horse's heels, nor 
 
 French words are "Neron estoyt a dog's tooth,'' Bohn, 1879, p. 
 
 Vielleux." We know that a trans- 546. 
 
 lation of Rabelais, The History of 24. justicer] Theobald's proper 
 
 Gargantua, had appeared before change from "justice" of the old 
 
 1575 ; and we read in As You Like editions. So line 58 of this scene, 
 
 It, III. ii. 238, of "Gargantua's and IV. ii. 79 ; also Cymbeline, v. v. 
 
 mouth." 214: "some upright justicer"; also 
 
150 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act III. 
 
 [To the Fool.'] Thou, sapient sir, sit here. Now, you 
 she foxes ! - 25 
 
 Edg. Look where he stands and glares ! Wantest 
 thou eyes at trial, madam ? 
 
 Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me, — 
 Fool. [Sings.] Her boat hath a leak. 
 
 And she must not speak 30 
 
 Why she dares not come over to thee. 
 Edg. The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice 
 of a nightingale. Hoppedance cries in Tom's 
 belly for two white herring. Croak not, black 
 angel ; I have no food for thee. 3 S 
 
 25. [To the Fool] Capell, To Edgar, Hanmer ; here. Now, you\ heere, 
 now you Q 2, here no you Q I. ,26. he'\ Q, F; she Theobald. 26, 27. 
 Wantest . . . eyes] Q, F ; Wantonizeth thou Staunton conject. 28. bourn] 
 (boorne) Capell, broome Q. 29. [Sings'] Wright, Camb. Shak. conject. 
 33. Hoppedance] Q, Hopdance Pope, Hop-dance, Capell. 
 
 Chapman, Revenge for Honour, iii. i, by M. Birch, of which there is a 
 
 Shepherd, 1874, 432 (*) : 
 
 " and our father 
 Is so severe a justicer, not blood 
 Can make a breach upon his faith 
 to justice." 
 
 25. sapient] See Udall's Erasmus 
 Apothegms : "I held this man sapient 
 and wise." 
 
 26, 27. Wantest . . . eyes] Staun- 
 ton conjectures " Wantonizeth thou 
 at trial," and Jennens following a. 
 suggestion of Seward read, "Wan- 
 ton'st thou eyes at trial." 
 
 28-31. Come . . . thee] Capell in 
 his School of Shakespeare prints from 
 a black-letter undated Quarto by W. 
 Wager, entitled " The longer thou 
 liv'st the more fool thou art," the 
 following: — "Here entereth Moros 
 counterfeiting a vain gesture and a 
 foolish countenance, sjmging the 
 foote {f.e. burden) of many songs, as 
 fools were wont : ' Come over the 
 bourn, Besse, my little pretie Besse 
 com over the bourne, besse, to me.'" 
 Capell tells us of an English ballad. 
 
 copy in the library of the Society of 
 Antiquaries, substantially the same, 
 for which Halliwell found the music 
 in a seventeenth century song-book 
 in the British Museum Library. 
 
 29. Her . . . leak] Compare 
 Tempest, I. i. 51. 
 
 33. Hoppedance] I follow the 
 Quarto form here. See note to iv. i. 60. 
 
 34. white herring] probably a 
 pickled herring (not red herring) or 
 else a fresh herring. See Nash, 
 Lenten Stuff: "a white pickled 
 herring ! why it is meat for a prince, " 
 Grosart ( Works), v. 303. Nash, in 
 the same book, distinguishes between 
 white and red herrings : " white her- 
 ring {i.e. pickled) last on long voyages 
 better than red," p. 302. Still the ex- 
 pression was, and is occasionally, now 
 used for fresh herring. ' ' White 
 herring, fresh herring," Peacock, 
 Glossary of Manley and Corringham 
 (Lincolnshire), Eng. Dial. Soc, 1887. 
 
 34. Croak] to make a rumbling 
 sound in the stomach, a sign of great 
 
sc. VI.] KING LEAR 151 
 
 Kent. How do you, sir? Stand you not so amazed : 
 Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions ? 
 Lear. 1 11 see their trial first. Bring in their evidence. 
 \To Edgar ?\ Thou robed man of justice, take thy 
 place; 39 
 
 \To the Fool.'\ And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity, 
 Bench by his side. [To Kent.] You are o' the com- 
 mission, 
 Sit you too. 
 Edg. Let us deal justly. 
 
 Sleepest or wakest thou, jolly shepherd ? 
 
 Thy sheep be in the corn ; 45 
 
 And for one blast of thy minikin mouth. 
 Thy sheep shall take no harm. 
 Purr ! the cat is grey. 
 Lear. Arraign her first; 'tis Goneril. I here take 
 
 38. their evidence] Q, the evidence Pope. 39. [To Edgar] Capell, 
 omitted Q. 40. [To the Fool] Capell, omitted Q. 41. [To Kent] 
 Capell, omitted Q. 
 
 hunger. See Cotgrave's French Die- 41. the commission] a Justice of 
 
 tionary: " Gribouiller, to rumble or the Peace. Compare Z Henry IV. 
 
 croake as the guts do." In the Men- iii. ii. 97. 
 
 cechmus of Plautus translated, — the 46. minikin] delicate, dainty. See 
 
 play from which Shakespeare drew 'Baxei, Alvearie, 1573: " Proper, feat, 
 
 the plot of the Comedy of Errors, — well - fashioned minikin, handsome, 
 
 we read : Concinnus. " The word also occurs as 
 
 " Med. Do not your guts gripe you a musical term. So Marlow, Ignoto, 
 
 and croak. Cunningham, 1870, p. 271 : 
 
 Men. When I am hungry they ' ' I cannot lisp, nor to some fiddle 
 
 do, else not. " sing, > 
 
 Six Old Plays, etc., Nichols, i. 140. Nor run upon a high stretched 
 
 36. amazed] dumfounded. minikin." 
 
 39. robed] We must remember 48. Purr] Is this word suggested 
 Edgar's blanket. by Pur, the name of a demon, or is it 
 
 40. yoke-fellow] partner. So Henry only a cat's pur ? For the name of 
 V. IV. vi. 9. See also Harsnet, the demon, see Harsnet, Declaration, 
 Declaration, 1603, p. 195; also Ben p. 141: "Purre went out in a little 
 Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, v. 2: whirl wind "; compare also " Purson, " 
 "Good sir, vouchsafe a yoke-fellow R. Scott, The Discoverie of Witch- 
 in your madness." craft, Nicholson, 1886, p. 16. 
 
152 KING LEAR [actih. 
 
 my oath before this honourable assembly, she 50 
 
 kicked the poor king her fathew 
 Fool. Come hither, mistress. Is your name Goneril? 
 Lear, She cannot deny it. 
 
 Fool. Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool. 54 
 Lear. And here 's another, whose warp'd looks proclaim 
 
 What store her heart is made on. Stop her there ! 
 
 Arms, arms, sword, fire ! Corruption in the place ! 
 
 False justicer, why hast thou let her 'scape ? 
 Edg. Bless thy five wits ! 
 Kent. O pity ! Sir, where is the patience now 60 
 
 That you so oft have boasted to retain ? 
 Edg. [Aside.] My tears begin to take his part so much, 
 
 They'll mar my counterfeiting. 
 
 50. ske] Q 2, omitted Q i. 54. joint-stool] joynt-stool Q 2,Joyne stoole, 
 Q I. 56. made on] Capell, made an Q, made of Theobald. 62. [Aside 
 Rowe ; omitted Q, F. 63. They '11] Q, They F. 
 
 S4. Cry . . . j/o»/] This proverbial « neatly made stool. Harrison [De- 
 
 expression is found in Ray's iVaw^y-fo, scription of England, ii. 12) has the 
 
 also see J. Withal's Short Dictionary, form " ioyned bed," and we have also 
 
 1554: "Antehac te cornua habere examples of "joyned chair" and 
 
 putabam, I cry you mercy, I took "joyned press." Some good author- 
 
 you for a joyn'd stool." See also ities derive it from the French joint, 
 
 Lyly, Mother Bombie, iv. 2 ( Works), pp. of joindre, to join. Compare 
 
 Fairholt, ii. 121. "A ridiculous in- the term joiner, a workman who 
 
 stance of making an offence worse, by does cabinet work, as distinguished 
 
 a foolish and improbable apology," from the carpenter who works more on 
 
 Nares' Glossary. the rough. The word is probably still 
 
 54. joint-stool] (more properly alive in dialect. Miss G. H. Jackson, 
 
 joyned stool) ; for which see Taming in her Shropshire Word-Book, 1879, 
 
 of the Shrew, 11. i. 199) a low stool, includes it, but marks it as obsolete, 
 with three or four legs fitted into it. 55, 56. whose warped looks . . .] 
 
 See Romeo and Juliet, I. v. 7. Cot- ra&er a difficult pass^e, possibly 
 
 grave defines Scabeau as "a Buffit, corrupt. For " store," Collier, apting 
 
 or ioyned, stoole to sit on,'' and Selle on a suggestion of Theobald, printed 
 
 as "any ill-favoured, ordinarie, or " stone" in his second edition. Jennyns 
 
 countrey stool of a cheaper sort than conjectured "stuff" (1858), and he 
 
 the ioyned, or Buffit, stool." Joint is was followed by Keightley (1864). 
 from joined, the " d " being invoiced ^v,. warp'd] perverse, unnatural 
 
 ioto " t" by theinfluenceof the "st." (Schmidt). Compare "thwart," I. 
 
 Joined probably means made by. a iv. y)H,an6."cxodkeA," S ffenry VI. 
 
 joiner, formed of parts fitted together, v. i. 158. Isahelh. m Measttre for 
 
SC. VI.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 153 
 
 Lear. The little dogs and all, 64 
 
 Tray, Blanch, arid Sweetheart, see, they bark at me. 
 Edg. Tom will throw his head at them. Avaunt, 
 you curs ! 
 
 Be thy mouth or black or white, 
 Tooth that poisons if it bite ; 
 Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim, 70 
 
 Hound or spaniel, brach or lym ; 
 Or bobtail tike or trundle-tail ; 
 Tom will make them weep and wail : 
 For, with throwing thus my head, 
 Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fed. 75 
 
 Do de, de, de. Sessa ! Come, march to 
 
 71. lym'\ Hanmer, him Q, Hym F. 72. Or bobtail tike] F 4, Bobtaik 
 tike Q, Or Bobtaile tight F ; trundle-tai[\ Q, Troiidle taile F. 73. them] 
 Q, him F. 75. leap] Q, leapt F. 76. Do . . . Sessa!] Malone, Do, 
 de, de, de: sese F, loudla doodla Q, Do, do, de, de, etc. (singing) Capell. 
 Measure, in. i. 142, calls her brother 
 
 III. 1. 142 
 Claudio "a warped slip of wilder- 
 ness." "Store," which Schmidt 
 thinks corrupt, may possibly mean 
 "kind, stock, material." 
 
 66. Avaunt] See Cotgrave's French 
 Dictionary, "Devant, Used, as our 
 Avaunt, in the driving away of a dog. " 
 
 71. brack] See note to lady my 
 brach, I. iv. 122. 
 
 71. lyiri] a rare form of lymmer, 
 lime-hound, or liam-hound ; so called 
 from the leather thong, learn, or Ham 
 by which he was invariably led. He 
 was a species of bloodhound which ran 
 by the nose, silently, and was used 
 for finding and harbouring the deer. 
 Randle Holmes, in his Academy of 
 Armoury, says : ' ' The line wherewith 
 we lead them (hounds), for the blood- 
 hound is called lyam, for the greyhound 
 a leash." See Drayton, The Muse's 
 Elizium, Sixth Nimphal, line 61 : 
 " My doghooke at my belt, to which 
 my lyam's tyde" (Silvius, a wood- 
 man, speaks). See also ' ' Limiero, 
 
 a limehound, a bloodhound," Florio, 
 Queen Anna's New World of Words. 
 See also Gascoyne, Noble Art of 
 Venery. "To take my hound in liam, 
 me behind, " Hazlitt ( Works), ii. 306. 
 72. trundle-tail] or trindle-tail, a 
 dog with a curled tail. So in The 
 Return frovi Parnassus, 1602, Arber, 
 1879, p. 30: "Your butcher's dogs, 
 bloodhounds, dunghill dogs, trindle- 
 tails, prick-eard curres " ; also T. 
 Heywood, A Woman Killed with 
 Kindness, i. i., Sir Francis Acton 
 thus reproaches Sir Charles Mount- 
 ford : "Your Hawke is but a Rifler 
 . . . ay, and your dogs trindle-tails 
 and curs " ( Works), Pearson, ii. 99. 
 
 75. hatch] the half door, the lower 
 half of a divided door. See J. Hey- 
 wood, Proverbs : "'Tis good to have 
 a hatch before the durre." " To leap 
 or take the hatch, to make a hurried 
 flight." See King John, y. ii. 138: 
 " To cudgel you and make you take 
 the hatch." 
 
 76. Sessa] See note to in. iv. 106. 
 
154 KING LEAR [act m. 
 
 wakes and fairs and market-towns. Poor 
 Tom, thy horn is dry. 
 
 Lear. Then let them anatomize Regan, see what 
 
 breeds about her heart. Is there any cause in 80 
 nature that makes these hard hearts? \To 
 Edgar.l You, sir, I entertain for one of my 
 hundred; only I do not like the fashion of 
 your garments : you will say they are Persian 
 attire ; but let them be changed. 8 5 
 
 Kent. Now, good my lord, lie here and rest awhile. 
 
 Lear. Make no noise, make no noise; draw the 
 curtains : so, so, so. We '11 go to supper i' 
 the morning: so, so, so. 
 
 Fool. And I '11 go to bed at noon. 90 
 
 Re-enter GLOUCESTER. 
 
 Glou. Come hither, friend : where is the king my master ? 
 Kent. Here, sir ; but trouble him not, his wits are gone. 
 
 81. makes] Q, make F ; these hard hearts] F, this hardnesse Q, hardness 
 Q I. 81, 82. [To Edgar] Capell, 82. for] F, you for Q. 84. you 
 will] F, youle Q. 85. attire] Q, omitted F. 86. and rest] F, omitted 
 Q. 88. so, so, so] Q, so, so F. 89. so, so, so] Q, omitted F. 90. 
 And . . . noon] F, omitted Q. Re-enter Gloucester] Capell ; Enter Gloster 
 Q ; Enter Gloster F, after line 85. 
 
 78. thy horn is dry] The Bedlam "All that served Brutus I will enter- 
 beggar was generally furnished with tain them." See also Mucedorus, 
 a vessel made of horn, which by a {Dodsleys 0ldPlays,H33,Vi\.t,v]i.2\^): 
 chain was attached to his arm. See ' ' Segasto. Thou shalt be my man, 
 Avhtey, NaturalHistory of Wiltshire and wait upon me at the 
 (1656-1691), Briton, 1847, p. 93 : court . . . 
 ' ' Bedlam beggars wore about their Clown. Now you have enter- 
 necks a great home of an ox in a tained me, I will tell you what 
 string or bawdrie, which, when they I can do." 
 came to an house for almes they did 84, 85. Persian attire] This may be 
 wind, and they did put the drink a reminiscence of the Persian embassy 
 given them into this home whereto which visited England in the reign of 
 they did put a stopple." James i. 
 
 82. entertain] engage, take into 90. f'll go to ied at noon] Some see 
 service, as in fulius Ccesar, V, v. 60 : in this expression a presage of the 
 
sc. VI.] KING LEAR 155 
 
 Glou. Good friend, I prithee, take him in thy arms ; 
 I have o'erheard a plot of death upon him. 
 There is a litter ready ; lay him in 't, 9 5 
 
 And drive toward Dover, friend, where thou shalt 
 
 meet 
 Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master : 
 If thou should'st dally half an hour, his life. 
 With thine, and all that offer to defend him, 
 Stand in assured loss. Take up, take up ; 1 00 
 
 And follow me, that will to some provision 
 Give thee quick conduct. 
 Kent. Oppress'd nature sleeps : 
 
 This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken 
 
 sinews 
 Which, if convenience will not allow. 
 Stand in hard cure. \To the Fool.l Come, help to 
 
 bear thy master; 105 
 
 Thou must not stay behind. 
 
 96. toward] F, towards Q. , lOO. Take up, take up] F, Take up to keepe 
 Q I (some copies), Q 2 ; Take up the King Q i (some copies). 102-106. 
 Oppress'd . . . behind] Q, omitted F. 103. sinews] Q, senses Theobald. 
 105. [To the Fool] Theobald ; omitted Q, F. 
 
 death of the fool. The expression is " Lastly, the feeling power which 
 
 not unusual in the Elizabethan drama ; is life's root, 
 
 generally expressive of easy - going Through every living power itself 
 
 conduct. doth shed 
 
 94. upon] against. See Julius By sinews, which extend from 
 
 Ccesar, IV. iii. 169 : head to foot, 
 
 "Young Octavius and Mark And like a net, all on the body 
 
 Antony spread." 
 
 Come down upon us with a 105. Stand in hard cure] are in an 
 
 mighty power." extremely precarious condition or a 
 
 103. broken sinews] racked nerves, nearly desperate state. Compare the 
 
 For "sinews" Theobald quite un- expression "stand in bold cure," 
 
 necessarily read " senses." Schmidt Othello, 11. i. 51 : 
 
 quotes Venus and Adonis, 903 : "A "Therefore my hopes not surfeited 
 
 second fear through all her sinews to death, 
 
 spread." See also Sir John Davies, Stand in bold cure." 
 Nosce Teipsum, sect, xviii. , ' ' Feeling " : 
 
156 KING LEAR [actih. 
 
 Glou. Come, come, away, 
 
 {Exeunt Kent, Gloucester, and the Fool, 
 bearing off the King. 
 Edg. When we our betters see bearing our woes. 
 We scarcely think our miseries our foes. 
 Who alone suffers suffers most i' the mind, 
 Leaving free things and happy shows behind ; 1 1 o 
 But then the mind much sufferance doth o'er- 
 
 skip. 
 When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship. 
 How light and portable my pain seems now, 
 When that which makes me bend makes the king 
 
 bow ; 
 He childed as I father'd ! Tom, away ! 115 
 
 Mark the high noises, and thyself bewray 
 When false opinion, whose wrong thought defiles 
 
 thee^ 
 In thy just proof repeals and reconciles thee. 
 What will hap more to-night, safe 'scape the king ! 
 Lurk, lurk. [Exit. 120 
 
 106. Exeunt . . . King] Capell (substantially), Exit Q, Exeunt F, Exeunt 
 bearing off the King, Manet Edgar Theobald, Exeunt all but Edgar Wright, 
 Camb. Shakespeare. 107-120. Edg. When . . . lurk} Q, omitted F. 109. 
 suffers suffers mosi] Q I, suffers most Q 2. 117. thought defiles'] Theobald, 
 thoughts defile Q. 120. Exeunt] Capell ; Exit Theobald ; omitted Q, F. 
 
 107-120.] Wright thinks this solil- the parallelism existing between the 
 
 oquy not by the hand of Shakespeare, families of Lear and Gloucester, and 
 
 but I cannot see any reason to doubt takes this opportunity of impressing 
 
 it. It is in the rather epigrammatic, it upon his audience, 
 
 sententious style into which characters 110. free things'] things free from 
 
 in plays of this period of his work suffering. 
 
 sometimes fall. See Coriolanus, II. 116, 117. and thyself . . . thee] 
 
 iii. 120-131, Othello, i. iii. 210-220, Moberly explains : " Declare yourself 
 
 Macbeth, v. iv. l6-2l ; in such cases only when false opinion about you 
 
 they always speak in rhyme. Besides, passes away." 
 
 as Furness properly observes, the poet 118. repeals] recalls thee to thy 
 
 through the play lays great stress on proper position. 
 
sc. vii] KING LEAR 157 
 
 SCENE VII. — A Room in Gloucester's Castle. 
 
 Enter CORNWALL, Regan, Goneril, Edmund, 
 and Servants. 
 
 Corn. [To Goneril.] Post speedily to my lord your 
 husband; show him this letter: the army of 
 France is landed. Seek out the traitor 
 Gloucester. [Exeunt some of the Servants. 
 
 Reg. Hang him instantly. 5 
 
 Gon. Pluck out his eyes. 
 
 Corn. Leave him to my displeasure. Edmund, 
 keep you our sister company: the revenges 
 we are bound to take upon your traitorous 
 father are not fit for your beholding. Advise 10 
 the duke, where you are going, to a most 
 festinate preparation : we are bound to the 
 like. Our posts shall be swift and intelligent 
 betwixt us. Farewell, dear sister; farewell, 
 my Lord of Gloucester. 1 5 
 
 A . . . Castle] Capell (substantially) ; Gloucester's Castle Rowe ; omitted 
 Q, F. 3. traitor] F, villain Q. 4. Exeunt . . . Servants] Capell ; 
 omitted Q, F. 8. revenges'] F, revenge Q. 12. festinate] F 2, festiuate 
 Fjfestuant Q. 13. fiosts] F,/iostQ ; and intelligent] F, and intelligence Q. 
 
 9. bound to take] Bound here prob- de Armado, Love's Labou/s Lost, in. 
 
 ably has the same meaning as the i. 6: " bring him festinately hither." 
 word certainly has in line 12, i.e. 12. preparation] getting ready for 
 
 ready to, prepared to, purposing to. battle. So Macbeth, v. iii. 57. 
 See Hamlet, in. iii. 41 : " like a man 12. bound] See note to line g. 
 to double business bound." "Boun" xj,. posts] speedy messengers on 
 
 or ' ' bowne " is the earlier form of the horseback. See 2 Henry IV. In- 
 
 word. duction, 37. 
 
 12. festinate] hasty. A rare word. 13. intelligent] quick at bringing 
 
 Shakespeare puts the word "festin- useful information, communicative, 
 
 ately," i.e. hastily, into the mouth of Compare Winter's Tale, I. ii. 378. 
 
 the affected and pedantic Don Adriano See i. 25 of this Act. 
 
158 KING LEAR [acthi. 
 
 Enter OSWALD. 
 
 How now ! where 's the king ? 
 
 Osw. My Lord of Gloucester hath convey 'd him hence : 
 Sonae five or six and thirty of his knights, 
 Hot questrists after him, met him at gate ; 
 Who, with some other of the lord's dependants, 20 
 Are gone with him towards Dover, where they boast 
 To have well-armed friends. 
 
 Corn. Get horses for your mistress. 
 
 Gon. Farewell, sweet lord, and sister. 
 
 Corn. Edmund, farewell. 
 
 \Exeunt Goneril, Edmund, and Oswald. 
 
 Go seek -the traitor Gloucester, 
 
 Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us. 25 
 
 \Exeunt other Servants. 
 Though well we may not pass upon his life 
 Without the form of justice, yet our power 
 Shall do a court'sy to our wrath, which men 
 
 Enter Oswald] Collier ; Enter Steward F ; Enter Steward Q, after king, 
 line 16. ig. questrists\ F, questrits Q. 21. towards] Q, toward F. 
 24. Exeunt . . . Oswald] Dyce, Capell (substantially), after line 23 ; Exit 
 Gon. and Bast. Q, after line 23 ; Exit F, after line 23. 25. Exeunt . . . 
 Servants] Capell ; omitted Q, F. 26. well\ F, omitted Q. 28. court' sy\ 
 curfsie F, curtesie Q. 
 
 19. questrists] The word is an old translation of the Great Charter, 
 
 irregular formation, but whether it "nor will we pass upon him . . . 
 
 was, as Wright believes, coined by without lawful judgment of his 
 
 Shakespeare or not, it is undoubtedly peers." 
 
 in his manner ; and Heath's proposed 28. do a courfsy] " indulge, gratify, 
 
 " questists " is quite inadmissible. I think" (Johnson). Steevens ex- 
 
 19. at gate] Compare "out at plained, "bend to our wrath as a 
 
 gates," Coriolanus, III. iii. 138. courtesy is made by bending the 
 
 26. pass . . . /«/«] deliver sentence body." Schmidt thinks it means 
 
 on it, sentence him to death. So "to oblige," and Wright "to yield, 
 
 Measure for Measure, II. i. 23 : give way to," comparing Henry V. 
 
 "what know the laws That thieves v. ii. 293: "O Kate, nice customs 
 
 do pass on thieves?" See also the curtsy to great kings." 
 
sc.vii.] KING LEAR 159 
 
 May blame but not control. Who 's there ? The 
 traitor ? 
 
 Re-enter Servants, with GLOUCESTER prisoner. 
 Reg. Ingrateful fox! 'tis he. 30 
 
 Corn. Bind fast his corky arms. 
 
 Glou. What mean your graces? Good my friends, 
 consider 
 You are my guests : do me no foul play, 
 friends. 
 Corn. Bind him, I say. [Servants bind him. 
 
 Reg. Hard, hard. O filthy traitor ! 
 
 Glou. Unmerciful lady as you are, I 'm none. 3 5 
 
 Corn. To this chair bind him. Villain, thou shalt find — 
 
 [Regan plucks his beard. 
 Glou. By the kind gods, 'tis most ignobly done 
 
 To pluck me by the beard. 
 Reg. So white, and such a traitor ! 
 Glou. Naughty lady. 
 
 These hairs, which thou dost ravish from my 
 chin, 40 
 
 Will quicken, and accuse thee : I am your host : 
 
 29. Re-enter . . . Gloucester prisoner] Capell ; Enter Gloster brought in 
 by two or three Q ; Enter Gloucester, and Servants after ' ' comptroU " 
 (line 29) F. 32. mean} F 4 ; means Q, F. 34. Servants . . . him] they 
 bind him Rowe ; omitted Q, F. 35. I'm none] F, lam true Q. 36. 
 find— "ICl, find. F. Regan . . . beard] Johnson ; omitted Q, F. 
 
 31. (r^/-/5y] sapless, dry and withered. 35. i7»w«?ri/^«/] merciless, pitiless. 
 
 This rare word is found in Harsnet, See Captain Smith, True Relation of 
 
 Declaration, 1603, ch. v. p. 23: "it Accidents in Virginia, 1612, Arber, 
 
 would pose all die cunning exorcists 1886, p. 78 : "defending the children 
 
 ... to teach an old corkie woman to with their naked bodies from the un- 
 
 writhe, tumble, curvet, etc." merciful blows they (the guard) pay 
 
 34. filthy] odious, disgraceful. See them soundly. 
 
 Othello, V. ii. 149. 41. quicken] assume life. 
 
160 KING LEAR [acthi. 
 
 With robbers' hands my hospitable favours 
 
 You should not ruffle thus. What will you do ? 
 Corn. Come, sir, what letters had you late from France ? 
 Reg. Be simple-answer'd, for we know the truth. 45 
 
 Corn. And what confederacy have you with the traitors 
 
 Late footed in the kingdom ? 
 Reg. To whose hands have you sent the lunatic king ? 
 
 Speak. 
 Glou. I have a letter guessingly set down, SO 
 
 Which came from one that 's of a neutral heart. 
 
 And not from one opposed. 
 Com. Cunning. 
 
 Reg. And false. 
 
 Com. Where hast thou sent the king ? 
 Glou. To Dover. 
 
 Reg. Wherefore to Dover? Wast thou not charged at 
 peril— 5 5 
 
 Corn. Wherefore to Dover ? Let him answer that. 
 
 45. simple-answer' d'\ F (hyphened Hanmer), simple answerer Q. 47. 
 Late] Q I, F ; Lately Q 2. 48. have you sent] Q 2 ; you have sent Q I, F. 
 55. peril — ] Q, peril, F. 56. answer that] 'V, first answer that Q. 
 
 42. hospitable favours] features of 44. late] lately. So Othello, i. iii. 
 
 me, your host. For "favours, fea- 203. 
 
 tures," see 1 Henry IV. in. ii. 45. Be simple-answe-f'd] give a. 
 136 : simple direct answer. Some editors 
 "When I will wear a garment all prefer the Quarto reading "simple 
 of blood, answerer. " 
 'And stain my favours in a bloody 46. confederacy] evil league, con- 
 mask." spiracy. So Henry VIII. i. ii. 3 : 
 Steevens quotes Drayton, England! s "I stood in the level 
 Heroical Epistles, 1605 — Matilda Of a full-charged confederacy. " 
 to King John, 60, 61 ; Spenser, 47. ^o/e^f] settled, established. See 
 Society Reprint, i888, Part i. p. Henry V. II. iv. 143: "For he is 
 194: ' footed in this land already" (has set 
 " Within the compasse of man's face footing in). See also iii. i. 32. 
 
 we see 50. guessingly set down] written at 
 
 How many sorts of several favours haphazard, without knowledge, from 
 
 be." conjecture. 
 
SC. VII.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 161 
 
 Glou. I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the 
 course. 
 
 Reg. Wherefore to Dover? 
 
 Glou. Because I would not see thy cruel nails 59 
 
 Pluck out his poor old eyes ; nor thy iaerce sister 
 In his anointed flesh stick bearish fangs. 
 The sea, with such a storm as his bare head 
 In hell-black night endured, would have buoy'd up, 
 
 58. to Dover?'] F, to Dover, sir? Q. 61. anointed] Q I (some copies), F ; 
 aurynted Q i (some copies), Q 2 ; stick] F, rash Q, Collier. 62. as his 
 bare] F ; if his lou'd Q i (some copies), Q 2 ; ore his lowd Q i (some copies). 
 63. hell-biack night] Pope, Hell-blacke-night F, hellblacke night Q ; buoy'dV, 
 bod Q I (some copies), layd Q i (some copies), laid Q 2, boil'd Warburton. 
 
 57. course] a relay of dogs set on 
 a baited bear. So Macbeth, v. 
 vii. 2 : 
 
 " They have tied me to the stake ; 
 I cannot fly. 
 But, bear-like, I must fight the 
 course." 
 So Middleton and Dekker, The Hear- 
 ing Girl, Dekker (Works), Pearson, 
 1873, iii. 192 : "A course Captain, a 
 bear comes to the stake " ; also Brome, 
 The Antipodes [Works), Pearson, 
 1873, iii. 195: "You shall see two 
 ten-dog courses at the great bear," 
 i.e. two successive attacks of ten 
 dogs. 
 
 61. In . . . flesh] in the flesh of 
 him the anointed king. 
 
 61. stick bearish fangs] It is not im- 
 possible that "rash," the Quarto word, 
 may be right here or may have been 
 first written by Shakespeare. Collier 
 adopted it. I retain "stick" because 
 I think that word is more suitable 
 to the passage as it now stands. 
 "Rash," a pretty common word, 
 means to strike obliquely with the 
 tusk, as a boar does. It is several 
 times used by Spenser in his Faerie 
 Queene in the sense of to hack, as in 
 IV. ii. 17 : 
 
 " Like two mad mastiffes, each on 
 other flew, 
 
 II 
 
 And shields did share, and mailes 
 did rash, and helmes did hew." 
 Nares quotes Warner, Albion's 
 England, 1586, vii. t. 36: "Ha! 
 cur, avant, the boar so rashe thy 
 hide." 
 
 63. hell-black] See Cavendish, 
 Voyage, 1592, reprinted, E. J. Payne, 
 Voyages of Elizabethan Seamen, 
 1880, p. 317: "The storm growing 
 outrageous, we were constrained . . . 
 to guide the ship in the hell-dark 
 night, when we could not see any 
 shore." Since the above was written 
 I learn from Furness' edition that 
 Capell had noticed the above passage, 
 for he writes: "This bold epithet 
 is probably derived from Hakluyt." 
 Capell's remark by no means deserves 
 the scorn which Furness has treated 
 it with. Shakespeare was fond of 
 taking a picturesque epithet of this 
 kind from a book he was reading, 
 often, as here, slightly modified. It 
 is needless to give examples of this. 
 Shakespeare had previously written, 
 it is true, in Twelfth Night, iv. ii. 
 
 38.39: 
 
 " Clo. Sayest thou that house is 
 dark ? 
 Mai. As hell, SirTopas." 
 63. buoy'd up] rapidly risen up, as 
 a cork buoy does when sunk in water. 
 
162 
 
 KING LEAH, 
 
 [act III. 
 
 And quench'd the stalled fires ; 
 
 Yet, poor old heart, he holp the heavens to rain. 6$ 
 
 If wolves had at thy gate howl'd that dearn time, 
 
 Thou should'st have said " Good porter, turn the key, 
 
 All cruels else subscribed " : but I shall see 
 
 The winged vengeance overtake such children. 
 
 64. stelledl Q i (some copies), Q 2, F ; sieeled Q i (some copies). 65. 
 AoIJ>] F, Aal/ii Q ; rain] F, rage Q. 66. howVd that dearti] Capell, howl'd 
 that Sterne F, heard that dearne Q. 68. subscribed] Q, {subscribed Q l), 
 subscribe F. 
 
 64. stelled fires] Theobald explains 
 " starry fires," as if from Latin, stel- 
 latus ; and so Wright and Dyce ex- 
 plain it. But why may not " stelled," 
 as Nares and Schmidt think, be used 
 in the sense of fixed, the whole expres- 
 sion meaning the iires or lights fixed, 
 or placed, in the sky ? See Lucrece, 
 1444 : " To find a face where all dis- 
 tress is stell'd " ; also Sonnet, xxiv. I : 
 " Mine eye hath play'd the painter, 
 
 and hath stell'd (steeld Quarto, 
 
 1609) 
 Thy beauties form in table of my 
 
 heart." 
 Dowden in his edition of the Sonnets, 
 1881, correctly, I think, explains the 
 word in both passages as "fixed." 
 Wyndham in his edition of the Poems, 
 1898, retains the Quarto form in both 
 cases, explaining it as "engraved," 
 but I think that this word (steeled) 
 can be only a misspelling of ' ' stell'd. " 
 By glancing above, it will be seen 
 that it is the reading of one copy of 
 Quarto I in the present passage, 
 where it could not, I think, mean 
 "engraved." The word, I think, 
 has the same meaning in all three 
 passages ; it is the Middle English 
 "stellen," Old English "stellan," to 
 fix. We find in Jamieson's Scottish 
 Dictionary, "to Stell, Steil, Stile," 
 to which the following senses are 
 given:' — (i) to place, to set; (2) to 
 set, to point, to fix — as, to stell a 
 gun, to point it ; (3) to fix, to make 
 
 firm ; and many examples are given 
 of each sense. I cannot find another 
 instance of ' ' stell'd " in this sense 
 (fixed, placed) in the writers of Shake- 
 speare's day ; but I have little doubt 
 that he always uses it in this sense. 
 Perhaps, indeed, he may here so use it, 
 with a play on the other sense (starry), 
 as he has done in several instances. 
 Compare "beteem," Midsummer 
 Nighfs Dream, I. i. 131, to grant, 
 to allow, with a play on the other 
 sense (to pour out). 
 
 66. dearn\ I adopt the Quarto 
 reading, which means, dreary, dread 
 (following Capell). I think it must 
 have been Shakespeare's word. 
 "Stern," the Folio word, appears com- 
 paratively weak, though Furness 
 quotes from Chapman, Homer s Iliad, 
 xxiv. 330, the words, "in this so stern 
 a time of night. " We read in Pericles, 
 m., Chorus, line 15 : 
 
 " By many a derne and painful 
 perch. 
 Of Pericles the careful search . . . 
 Is made." 
 The New Eng. Diet, quotes " dearne, 
 dirus," from P. Levins, Manipulus 
 Vocabulorum, 1570, also this passage, 
 "the light of Israel was put out 
 for a time. Queen Elizabeth died, a 
 dearne day to England." W. Leigh, 
 Drumme Devot, 1613, p. 35. 
 
 68. subscribed] yielded, gave up 
 for a time their cruel habits, their 
 fierceness. See l. ii. 24. 
 
sc. vii.] KING LEAR 163 
 
 Corn. See 't shalt thou never. Fellows, hold the chair. 70 
 
 Upon these eyes of thine I '11 set my foot. 
 Glou. He that will think to live till he be old, 
 
 Give me some help ! O cruel ! O ye gods ! 
 Reg^. One side will mock another ; the other too. 
 Corn. If you see vengeance, — 
 First Serv. Hold your hand, my lord. 75 
 
 I have served you ever since I was a child. 
 
 But better service have I never done you 
 
 Than now to bid you hold. 
 Reg. How now, you dog ! 
 
 First Serv. If you did wear a beard upon your chin 
 
 I 'd shake it on this quarrel. What do you mean ? 80 
 Corn. My villain ! \They draw and fight. 
 
 First Serv. Nay then, come on, and take the chance of 
 
 anger. 
 Reg. Give me thy sword. A peasant stand up thus ! 
 
 \Takes a sword and runs at him behind. 
 First Serv. O ! I am slain. My lord, you have one eye left 
 
 To see some mischief on him. O ! \^Dies. 8 5 
 
 Corn. Lest it see more, prevent it. Out, vile jelly ! 
 
 •]\. these\Y, those Ql^'i&n.-D.jas,. Ti. ye]Q, you¥. T^. vengeance — ] 
 Q, vengeance. F. 76. you] Q 2, F ; omitted Q i. 81. They draw . . .] 
 They draw Q, omitted F. 82. Nay then] F, Why then Q. 83. Takes 
 . . .] She takes Q, Killes him F. 84. First Serv.] Capell ; Servant Q, F ; 
 you have\ F, yet have you Q, yet you have Steevens (i778)- 85. him\ 
 Q, F ; them Dyce, ed. 2 (1864) ; Dies] Q 2 ; omitted Q I, F. 
 
 80. What . . . mean ?] Furness 86. Out, vile jelly'] Compare Fallc- 
 
 asks, should not these words be given land, The Marriage Night, IV. i 
 
 to Cornwall? I think that it is very (Dodsley's Old Plays, Hazlitt, XV. 
 
 probable Shakespeare so intended ; 168) : 
 
 or perhaps, indeed, Regan should " But here, here I 
 
 speak them. Could melt, transfuse my brains 
 
 82. tahe the chance of anger] run through my sad eyes, 
 
 the risk of fighting while angry. Till they wept blood and dropp'd 
 
 Compare Ant. and Cleo. iv. j. 9, ro. their jelly forth." 
 
164 KING LEAR [actih. 
 
 Where is thy lustre now ? 
 Glou. All dark and comfortless. Where's my son 
 Edmund ? 
 
 Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature 
 
 To quit this horrid act. 
 Reg. Out, treacherous villain ! 90 
 
 Thou call'st on him that hates thee ; it was he 
 
 That made the overture of thy treasons to us, 
 
 Who is too good to pity thee. 
 Glou. O my follies ! Then Edgar was abused. 
 
 Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him ! 95 
 Reg. Go thrust him out at gates, and let him smell 
 
 His way to Dover. \Exit one with Gloucester. 
 
 How is 't, my lord ? How look you ? 
 Com. I have receiv'd a hurt. Follow me, lady. 
 
 Turn out that eyeless villain ; throw this slave 
 
 Upon the dunghill. Regan, I bleed apace : i oo 
 
 Untimely comes this hurt. Give me your arm. 
 
 \Exit Cornwall, led by Regan. 
 Second Serv. I '11 never care what wickedness I do 
 
 If this man come to good. 
 Third Serv. If she live long, 
 
 And in the end meet the old course of death, 
 
 89. enkindle] F, unbridle Q. go. treacherous] F, omitted Q. 97. 
 Exit . . . Gloucester] F, omitted Q. loi. Exit Cornwall . . .] Theo- 
 
 bald, Exit Q, Exeunt F. loz-iio. Second Serv. 77/ . . . Mm\ Q, 
 
 omitted F; Second Serv.] Capell, Servant Q. 103. Third Serv.] Capell, 
 2 Servant Q. 
 
 92. made the overture] laid open, Also "opening it" for "disclosing 
 
 disclosed. Compare in Cymbeline, it," v. v. 42. 
 
 V. v. 58, the use of "opened" for 94. ai«jW] wronged. So Twelfth 
 
 "disclosed." The dying queen Night, v. i. 388. 
 
 " open'd, in despite 96. out at gates] So Coriolanas, m. 
 
 Of heaven and men, her pur- iii. 138 : " Go, see him out at gates. " 
 poses," 104. old] customary, natural. 
 
sc 
 
 VII.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 165 
 
 Women will all turn monsters. 105 
 
 Second Serv. Let's follow the old earl, and get the 
 Bedlam 
 To lead him where he would : his roguish 
 
 madness 
 Allows itself to any thing. 
 Third Serv. Go thou ; I '11 fetch some flax and whites 
 of eggs 
 To apply to his bleeding face. Now, heaven help 
 him! no 
 
 \^Exeunt severally. 
 
 106. Second Serv.] Capell, I Serv. Q. 107. roguish^ omitted Q i 
 
 (some copies). 109. Third Serv.] Capell, 2 Ser. Q. no. Exeunt sever- 
 ally] Theobald, Exit Q. 
 
 106. the Bedlam] the Bedlam 
 beggar. 
 
 107. roguish viadness\ his wild, 
 vagrant, roaming nature. See note 
 to IV. vii. 40. 
 
 108. Allows - . . any thing^ will 
 adopt any course set him. 
 
 109. flax . . . eggs'] See P. Rar- 
 rough, The Method of Physicke, 1601, 
 Book i. p. 61 : "Of the disease which 
 comes of slypping in of stones or 
 chyppes by chance into the eye. " ' 'And 
 upon the eye lay a plaster of flax and 
 the white of an egg, and within three 
 days it will heal the part diseased." 
 See also Dr. Bailly, Two Treatises 
 
 concerning Diseases of the Eye, ed. 
 1616, p. 53. Writing of a hurt eye, he 
 says : ' ' Apply thereupon a plaster of 
 flax and tlie white of an egg." Ben 
 Jonson refers to this treatment in 
 The Case is Altered, II. vii. {Works), 
 Routledge, 1873, 705 {b). Juniper 
 says : ' ' Come, come, you are a foolish 
 naturalist ; go, get a white of an egg 
 and a little flax, and close the breach 
 of the head ; it is the most conducible 
 thing that can be. " It was believed 
 by some commentators that this was 
 meant for a gird at King Lear, till 
 Gifford showed the absurdity of the 
 idea. 
 
166 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 ACT IV 
 
 SCENE I. — The Heath. 
 
 Enter EDGAR. 
 
 Edg. Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd, 
 
 Than still contemn'd and flatter'd. To be worst. 
 The lowest and most dejected thing of fortune, 
 ) Stands still in esperance, lives not in fear : 
 / The lamentable change is from the best ; 5 
 
 N.The worst returns to laughter. Welcome, then, 
 1*hou unsubstantial air that I embrace : 
 The wretch that thou hast blown unto the worst 
 Owes nothing to thy blasts. But who comes here ? 
 
 The Heath] Capell ; An open Country Rowe ; omitted Q, F. i . and 
 k}i(min\ Q, F ; unknown Collier, ed. 2, Johnson conject. 2. Jiattei^d. To 
 be worst] Pope, flatter'd to be 'worst Q, flattered, to be worst F, flatter'd to be 
 worse Tyrwhitt conject. 4. esjierance'] F, experience Q. 6-9. Welcome ' 
 
 . . . blasts] F, omitted Q. 9. But - . . Aere?]F, Who's here CI. 
 
 I . thus, and . . . contemn'd] John- 3. of] at the hands of. Compare 
 
 son explains: " 'Tis better to be thus, All's Well, I. i. 7 ; "you shall find 
 
 contemned, and known to yourself of the king a husband." 
 
 to be contemned." "Known, con- 4. Stands . . . esperance] is never 
 
 scious of, and familiar with contempt " out of hope, never despairs. See 
 
 (Schmidt). Collier, in his second Cymbeline, I. i. 137: "Past hope 
 
 edition {1858), reads "unknown to be and in despair." For "esperance" 
 
 contemned," following a conjecture in the sense of hope, see Troilus 
 
 of Johnson's. and Cressida, v. ii. 121 : "An esper- 
 
 3. most . . . fortune] a. thmgtaost ance so obstinately strong"; also 
 
 dejected of fortune. Shakespeare Hall's Chronicle, ed. 1809, p. 439 : 
 
 often transposes the adjective thus. " relinquishing all hope and esperance 
 
 See Abbott, Shakespeare s Grammar, of any peace." 
 
 419(a). 4. lives . . . yiar] Steevens quotes 
 
 3. dejected] abased, made lowly. Paradise Regained, iii. 206 : " For 
 
 3. thing] in contempt, as in Cym- where no hope is left, is left no 
 
 belinet, I. i. 16 : fear." 
 
 " He that hath miss'd the princess 6. returns to laughter] Moberly 
 
 is a thing hesitatingly explains " the worst must 
 
 Too bad for bad report.'' be on the turn towards good." 
 See in the same play, I. i. 125 ; i. v. 58. 
 
SCI.] KING LEAR 167 
 
 Enter Gloucester, led by an old Man. 
 
 My father, poorly led ? World, world, O world ! lo 
 
 But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee. 
 
 Life would not yield to age. 
 Old Man. O my good lord ! 
 
 I have been your tenant, and your father's tenant. 
 
 These fourscore years. 
 Glou. Away, get thee away ; good friend, be gone : 1 5 
 
 Thy comforts can do me no good at all ; 
 
 Thee they may hurt. 
 Old Man. You cannot see your way. 
 
 Glou. I have no way, and therefore want no eyes ; 
 
 I stumbled when I saw. Full oft 'tis seen, 
 
 Our means secure us, and our mere defects 20 
 
 Prove our commodities. Ah ! dear son Edgar, 
 
 Enter Gloucester . . . Man] Q after age, line 12 ; Enter Gloucester and 
 an Oldman F (after blasts, line 9). 10. poorly ledT\ Q 2, F ; poorlie leed 
 Q I (some copies); parti, eyd CI i (some copies). 14. These . . . years] 
 F, this fourscore — Q. 17. You] F, Alack, sir you] Q. 20. Our . . . 
 Its] Q, F ; Our mean secures us Pope. 21. Ah /] Q, Oh F. 
 
 10-12. World . . . age] a difficult 20. Our means secure us] our re- 
 passage. Perhaps we might thus sources render us careless. For this 
 paraphrase: "If the mutations of sense of "secure," compare Othello, 
 the world did" not give us the spirit i, iii. 10 : " I do not so secure me in 
 of detachment, we could not endure the error." And Staunton quotes Sir 
 the stress and strain of life. Being Thomas More, Life of Edward V. : 
 detached from the world, hating it, "when this lord was most afraid he 
 we can bear its mutations with a was most secure, and when he was 
 certain stoical equanimity." Theo- secure danger was over his head." 
 bald for "hate thee" read "wait See also Ben Jonson, The Forest 
 thee," and explained thus: "If the {Works), Cunningham, iii. 271(0): 
 number of changes and vicissitudes "Man may securely sin, but safely 
 which happen in life did not make never." Wright, however, explains, 
 us wait and hope for some turn of " things we think meanly of, our 
 fortune for the better, we could never mean or moderate conditions, are our 
 support the thought of living to be security." 
 old on any other terms. " 21. commodities]3Av2.vAz.^e^, as in 
 
 16. comforts] See note to III. v. S Henry IV. i. ii. 278: "I will turn 
 
 21. diseases to commodity." 
 
168 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 The food of thy abused father's wrath ; 
 
 Might I but live to see thee in my touch, 
 
 I 'd say I had eyes again. 
 Old Man. How now ! Who 's there ? 
 
 Edg. [Aside.] O gods ! Who is 't can say " I am at 
 the worst"? 25 
 
 I am worse than e'er I was. 
 0/d Man. 'Tis poor mad Tom. 
 
 Edg. [Aside.] And worse I may be yet ; the worst is not 
 
 So long as we can say " This is the worst." 
 Old Man. Fellow, where goest ? 
 
 Glou. Is it a beggar-man ? 
 
 Old Man. Madman and beggar too. 30 
 
 Glou, He has some reason, else he could not beg. 
 
 r the last night's storm I such a fellow saw, 
 
 Which made me think a man a worm : my son 
 
 Came then into my mind ; and yet my mind 
 
 Was then scarce friends with him : I have heard 
 more since. 35 
 
 As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods ; 
 
 They kill us for their sport. 
 Edg. [Aside.] How should this be ? 
 
 22. thy] Q, yotir F. 25, 27, 37, 52, 54. [Aside] Johnson ; omitted 
 
 Q, F. 25. I attt at the] Q, F; I am at F 2. 26. e'er] Rowe ; ere 
 
 Q, F. 28. So long] Q, As longY. 31. He] Q 2, F ; ^ Q I. 32. /' 
 the] F, In the Q. 36. As flies] F, As flies are Q; to wanton] F, toth' 
 wanton Q. 37. hill] F, bitt Q I, bit Q 2, hit Delius conject. 
 
 22. food of] object for, prey for. 33. a man a worm] So Job xxv. 6 : 
 
 See 1 Henry IV. IV. ii. 71 : "food "man that is a worm, and the son of 
 
 for powder." man which is a worm." 
 
 22. abused] deceived, put upon by 36, 37. As . . . sport] In tliis touch 
 
 others. See Cymbeline, III. iv. 123 : of paganism Mr. Swinburne sees the 
 
 " it cannot be, keynote of the play. See 11. iv. 275- 
 
 But that my master is abused." 279. 
 
 25. mad Tom] See note to iii. 37. How . . . this] How is it that 
 
 iii- IS- he no longer believes me to be a. 
 
SCI.] KING LEAR 169 
 
 Bad is the trade that must play fool to sorrow, 
 
 Angering itself and others. Bless thee, master ! 
 Glou. Is that the naked fellow ? 
 
 Old Man. Ay, my lord. 40 
 
 Glou. Then, prithee, get thee gone. If, for my sake, 
 
 Thou wilt o'ertake us, hence a mile or twain, 
 
 r the way toward Dover, do it for ancient love ; 
 
 And bring some covering for this naked soul, 
 
 Who I '11 entreat to lead me. 
 Old Man. Alack, sir ! he is mad. 45 
 
 Glou. 'Tis the times' plague, when madmen lead the blind. 
 
 Do as I bid thee, or rather do thy pleasure ; 
 
 Above the rest, be gone. 
 Old Man. I '11 bring him the best 'parel that I have. 
 
 Come on 't what will, {Exit. 5 o 
 
 Glou. Sirrah, naked fellow, — 
 
 Edg. Poor Tom's a-cold. [Aside.] I cannot daub it further. 
 Glou. Come hither, fellow. 
 
 38. ikat . . . io] F, ikai mast play the fooJe to Q, that nmst play tofoole 
 F 2. 41. Then . . . gone] Q, Get thee away F. 42. hence\ F, here Q. 
 43. toward] Q 1, F; ^o Q 2; towards Capell. 45. f^,4ff] Q, Which Y. 
 49. 'parell Rowe ; Parrell Q, F. 50. Exit] F, omitted Q. 52. daubl 
 F, dance Q ; further] ¥, farther Q. 
 
 traitor. Furness explains Edgar's Antony and Cleopatra, in. xi. 54 ; 
 
 exclamation as referring to his father's 'scuse for excuse, Othello, iv. i. 80. 
 blindness, which he now notices. 52. daub it further] dissemble it 
 
 38. Bad . . . that] He treads an more. Horror and grief at his father's 
 
 evil path that, etc. See Hichard II.lu. state prevent it. Daub is ex- 
 
 iii. 156; "some way of common trade." plained in the New Eng. Diet, as 
 
 Some explain "trade "as "course."' " to put on a false show, to dissemble 
 
 49. 'parel] here used for apparel ; so as to put on a favourable expres- 
 
 as 'pothecary stands for apothecary, sion." See Richard III. III. v. 29: 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, v. iii. 289. See " So smooth he daub'd his vice with 
 
 Mario w, The Jew of Malta, iv. 4 show of virtue." A dialect sense of 
 
 {Works), Cunningham, 1870, p. 110 the word still lives in part of York- 
 
 (a): "here's goodly 'parel, is there shire and South Notts, that of "to 
 
 not?" Shakespeare writes 'pointed cheat, to deceive." See Wright, 
 
 for appointed, Tatning of the Shrew, English Dialect Dictionary, 1898 (in 
 
 III. ii. I ; 'stroyed for destroyed, progress). 
 
170 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act IV. 
 
 Edg. [Aside.] And yet I must. Bless thy sweet eyes, 
 
 they bleed. 
 G/ou. Know'st thou the way to Dover ? ^ 5 5 
 
 Edg. Both stile and gate, horse-way and foot-path. 
 Poor Tom hath been scared out of his good wits : 
 bless thee, good man's son, from the foul fiend ! 
 Five fiends have been in poor Tom at once ; 
 of lust, as Obidicut ; Hoberdidance, prince of 6o 
 dumbness; Mahu, of stealing ; Modo, of murder ; 
 Flibbertigibbet, of mopping and mowing; 
 
 54. And yet Imusf] F, omitted Q. 58. thee, . . , son] F, the good man Q. 
 59-64. Five . . . master] Q, omitted F. 60. of lust, as Obidicut] F, Q ; 
 as . . . lust Hudson, Syd. Walker conject. ; Hoberdidance] Hobbididence 
 Q, Hobbididdance Capell. 62. Flibbertigibbet] Pope, Stiberdegebit Q (re- 
 tained by Furness) ; mopping] Q 2, mobbing, Q i (retained by Jennyns). 
 
 56. horse-way] bridle-path. See 
 Statute 24 Henry viii. cap. 5, "any 
 common, high-way, cart-way, horse- 
 way, or foot-way " ; also Ray's North 
 Country Words, 1674: "Bargh, a 
 horse-way up a steep hill" (York- 
 shire) ; and see T. Heywood, A Mayd 
 Well Lost, Pearson (Works), 1874, 
 iv. 121 : " I have one for the horse- 
 way, another for the foot-way, and a 
 third for the turning-stile. " 
 
 59. Five fiends] Percy notes from 
 Harsnet, Declaration, ' ' Prince Modu 
 and seaven other spirits were in 
 Mainy at once." 
 
 60. 0/ lust, as] Perhaps we ought 
 to accept Sydney Walker's arrange- 
 ment (Crit. Exam. ii. 249), already 
 adopted by Hudson (1863), "as Obi- 
 dicut of lust." Many examples might 
 be given of words having got out of 
 their places in the text of Shakespeare. 
 
 60. Obidicut] This is an evident 
 corruption of the word ' ' Hoberdicut," 
 one of the fiends in Harsnet, Declara- 
 tion, 1603, see page 181 : "Frateretto, 
 Fliberdigibet, Hoberdicut, Tocobatto, 
 Maho " ; and it is again found on page 
 119 of the same book. See Haber- 
 dicut, p. 181. 
 
 60, Hoberdidance] I think it best to 
 print this form of the word, which is 
 found on page 49 of Harsnet, Declara- 
 tion, ed. 1603. Capell read Hobbi- 
 diddance, and Dyce, in his second 
 edition, Hobbididance. The form 
 Hobberdidaunce is found three times 
 on page 180 of Harsnet, and Haberdi- 
 dance on page 140 of the same book. 
 
 61, 62. Mahu, Modo, Flibberti- 
 gibbet] See note to iii. iv. 154. 
 
 62, mopping and mowing] mak- 
 ing mops and mows, i.e. grimaces 
 and mouths. So Tempest, IV. i. 47 : 
 
 " Each one, tripping on his toe. 
 Will be here with mop and 
 mow." 
 And see the verb in the same play, 11. 
 ii. 9. Malone quotes from Harsnet, 
 Declaration : " make an tike faces, grin, 
 mow, and mop like an ape." See 
 also Bamaby Rich, Faults and 
 Nothing but Folly, p. 7 : " Mark but 
 his countenance ; see how he mops, 
 and how he mowes, and how he 
 straines his looks." Huloet in his 
 Dictionary, 1572, thus defines 
 " mow " or " to make a mow " : " It 
 seemeth a word derived of the thing, 
 for we cannot pronounce the wprd 
 
SC. I.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 171 
 
 who since possesses chambermaids and waiting- 
 women. So, bless thee, master ! 
 Glou. Here, take this purse, thou whom the heavens 
 plagues 65 
 
 Have humbled to all strokes : that I am wretched 
 Makes thee the happier : heavens, deal so still ! 
 Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man, 
 That slaves your ordinance, that will not see 69 
 Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly ; 
 So distribution should undo excess. 
 And each man have enough. Dost thou know Dover? 
 
 65. thou\ Q, you {yu) F. 69. slaves'] F, stands Q. 70. doth] Q 2 ; 
 does Q I, F. 71. undo] F, under Q. 
 
 mowe but we almost make a mowe." 
 So also John Baret, Alvearie, 1573, 
 " to mow like an ape, distorquere 
 os" ; and Gervase Markham, Cheap 
 and Good Husbandry, i6n, p. 21 : 
 "making, as it were, mowes or ill- 
 favour'd countenances. 
 
 63, 64. who . . . Tvaiting-women] 
 Theobald, rightly I think, saw an 
 allusion to the three chambermaids in 
 the family of Mr. Edmund Peckham, 
 mentioned in Harsnet, Sara and 
 Friswood Williams and Anne Smith ; 
 others think it "a playful gird at 
 chambermaids who perform antics 
 before their mistresses' looking- 
 glasses." (Rolfe, followed by Mob- 
 erly.) See m. ii. 35, 36. 
 
 68. superfluous] pampered, having 
 the good things of life in too great 
 abundance. Compare the sense of 
 this word in II. iv. 2. 
 
 68. lust-dieted man] This may 
 mean a very greedy or gluttonous 
 man, one whose dieter is Lust ; see 
 Cymbeline, iv. ii. 51. Compare 
 Cloten's speech in Cymbeline, iii. v. 
 146: "when my lust hath dined." 
 Capell reads "lust-dieting." 
 
 69. slaves your ordinance] This is 
 an expression difficult to explain. 
 
 ' ' Braves " was printed by Hanmer ; 
 at Warburton's suggestion, but it was 
 afterwards withdrawn. I think it 
 may, however, have been Shake- 
 speare's word, but "slaves" must 
 stand ; and probably the best explana- 
 tion of it is that in Heath, A Kevisal 
 of Shakespeare^ s Text, 1765, "who, 
 instead of paying the deference and 
 submission due to your ordinance, 
 treats it as his slave, by making it 
 subservient to his views of pleasure 
 and interest, and trampling on and 
 spurning it whenever it ceases to be 
 of service to him in either of those 
 respects." Steevens gives examples 
 of "slaves" for "enslaves" from 
 Heywood, Brazen Age, Pearson, iii. 
 246 ; Massinger, New Way to pay Old 
 Debts, etc. ; and Wright (Clar. Press 
 edition) gives many more. What is 
 the ordinance referred to ? Glouces- 
 ter, made here, though a pagan, to 
 speak like a Christian, is thinking of 
 the commands, ' ' do good and distri- 
 bute," etc., and "to give one's goods to 
 the poor." Ordinance is used in the 
 sense of divine will, Cymbeline, IV. 
 ii. 14s ; Richard III. iv. iv. 183. 
 
 70. /««/] feel the effects of,suffer pain. 
 See Measure for Measure, l. ii. 166. 
 
172 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 Edg. Ay, master. 
 
 Glou. There is a cliff, whose high and bending head 
 
 Looks fearfully in the confined deep ; 7 5 
 
 Bring me but to the very brim of it, 
 And I '11 repair the misery thou dost bear 
 With something rich about me ; from that place 
 » I shall no leading need. 
 
 Edg. Give me thy arm : 
 
 Poor Tom shall lead thee. {Exeunt. 8o 
 
 SCENE II. — Before the Duke of Albany's Palace. 
 Enter GONERIL and EDMUND. 
 
 Gon. Welcome, my lord ; I marvel our mild husband 
 Not met us on the way. 
 
 Enter OSWALD. 
 
 Now, where 's your master ? 
 Osw. Madam, within ; but never man so changed. 
 I told him of the army that was landed ; 
 
 75. fearfully\ 'F,firmely Q ; m] Q, F ; on Rowe. 79. I shall] Q I, F ; 
 Shall / Q 2. 80. Exeunt] F, omitted Q. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 Before . . . Palace] Rowe ; omitted Q, F. Enter Goneril and Edmund] 
 Q (Bastard) ; Enter Goneril, Bastard, and Steward F. 2. Enter Oswald] 
 omitted F ; Enter Steward Q (after master). 
 
 74. bending] beetling. 75. confined] restrained, kept back, 
 
 75. fearfully] for this conceit, com- i.e. (the deep) to which it acts as 
 pare Shelley, The Cenci, III. i. 247- an effectual barrier. Compare "con- 
 250: fining continents," m. ii. 58; and 
 
 " there is a mighty rock King John, w. i. 23-24 : 
 Which has from unimaginable years, "that pale, that white- 
 
 Sustained itself with terror and faced shore, 
 
 with toil Whose foot spurns back the 
 
 Over a gulph.'' ocean's roaring tides." 
 
 75. in] into. So Merchant of And also in this play, 11. iv. 150. 
 Venice, v. i. 56. 
 
sen.] KING LEAR 173 
 
 He smiled at it : I told him you were coming ; 5 
 His answer was " The worse " : of Gloucester's 
 
 treachery, 
 And of the loyal service of his son, ^ 
 
 When I inform'd him, then he call'd me sot, 
 And told me I had turn'd the wrong side out : 
 What most he should dislike seems pleasant to 
 
 him ; i o 
 
 What like, offensive. 
 
 Gon. [To Edmund]. Then shall you go no further. 
 
 It is the cowish terror of his spirit 
 
 That dares not undertake; he'll not feel wrongs 
 
 Which tie him to an answer. Our wishes on the way 
 
 8. iken] Q, F ; iAts or that Anon, conject. lo. most he should dislike] 
 F, he should most desire Q. ii. [To Edmund] Hanmer; omitted Q, F. 
 12. cowish'] Q, F; currish Wright conject.; terror] Q I (some copies), 
 terrer F ; curre Q I (some copies), Q 2. 
 
 8. jfl^] fool, not drunkard, or drunken R. Edwards, Damon and Pithias, 
 fool. See Tempest, III. ii. loi : 1571 (Dodsley's Old Plays, Hazlitt, 
 
 "possess his books; for iv. 67) :■ " That Carisophus my master 
 
 without them was no man but a cow." Wright 
 
 He's but a sot." conjectures "currish"; a word, by 
 
 Also see the title of a book by Armin the way, which is found in Harsnet, 
 
 (author of A Nest of Ninnies), Fool Declaration, and in Greene's Pan- 
 
 upon Fool, or Six Sort of Sots, 1608. dosto. See also Merchant of Venice, 
 
 9. turned . . . out] put a quite IV. i. 292. 
 
 wrong complexion on the matter. 13, 14. he'll. . . answer] he is sure 
 
 'Sta.t-n.cs in Much Ado About Nothing, to ignore wrongs or insults which, if 
 
 III. i. 68, is accused by Hero of he noticed, he would be obliged to 
 
 " turning every man the wrong side resent. 
 out." 13. feel] notice, appear to notice. 
 
 11. What like, offensive] what [he For the word in the sense of to per- 
 should most] like [seems] offensive. ceive by taste, compare Romeo and 
 
 12. cowish] cowardly, dastard. Juliet, i. iii. 31. 
 
 The word in this sense is very rare ; 14. answer] retaliation. So Cym- 
 
 but the New Eng. Diet, gives one beline, v. iii. 79 : 
 
 instance of its use, 1597, W. A. Rem, "Great the slaughter is 
 
 lawless Love, Vision df Rawe Devise: Here made by the Roman; 
 
 "Amid the ere we of cowish carped great the answer be 
 
 knights"; also compare cow in the Britons must take." 
 
 sense of coward. See Cotgrave, 14, 15. Our. . . effects] that which 
 
 French Dictionary: "Coiiard, a we wished for in our conversation on 
 
 coward, a dastard, a cow " ; and also the way, may come to pass. 
 
174 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 May prove effects. Back, Edmund, to my 
 brother ; i S 
 
 Hasten his musters and conduct his powers : 
 I must change arms at home, and give the 
 
 distaff 
 Into my husband's hands. This trusty servant 
 Shall pass between us; ere long you are like to 
 
 hear, 
 If you dare venture in your own behalf, 20 
 
 A mistress's command. Wear this ; spare speech ; 
 
 \^Giving- a favour. 
 Decline your head : this kiss, if it durst speak. 
 Would stretch thy spirits up into the air. 
 Conceive, and fare thee well. 
 Edm. Yours in the ranks of death. 
 Gon. My most dear Gloucester ! 2 5 
 
 [Exit Edmund. 
 O ! the difference of man and man. 
 To thee a woman's services are due : 
 
 15. Edmund} Q 2, F; Edgar Q i. 17. arms\ Q, names F. 21. 
 command'} Q i (some copies), F ; coward] Q i (some copies), Q 2. Giving 
 a favour] Johnson ; Gives him a ring Hanmer ; Puts on a chaine Collier 
 MS. ; omitted Q, F. 24. fare thee weir\ Yyfar you well Q i, faryewell 
 Q 2. 25. Exit Edmund] Rowe (Bastard) ; Exit F (after death), omitted Q. 
 26. O ! . . . man} F, omitted Q; difference} strange difference Pope. 27. 
 a ■woman's'] Q I (some copies), F ; woman's (a omitted) (Q i some copies) Q 2. 
 
 17. arms} the insignia of my sex. 19. like] likely. See iv. vii. 94. 
 
 " I must take the sword out of my 20. venture} be bold or adven- 
 
 weak husband's hands, resigning to turous for your own advantage, 
 
 him the distaff." Compare the old 26. O .' . . . man} Compare The 
 
 terms for husband and wife, "the Two Noble Kinsmen, 11. i. 51, where 
 
 spear side " and " the spindle side " j the jailer's daughter exclaims, 
 
 and see Cymbeline, v. iii. 32-34 : " Lord, the difference of men ! " 
 
 ' ' more charming contrasting Palamon and Arcite with 
 
 With their own nobleness, which her own rustic wooer. 
 
 could have turn'd 
 A distaff to a lance." 
 
sen.] KING LEAR 175 
 
 My fool usurps my body. 
 
 Osw. Madam, here comes my lord. 
 
 {Exit. 
 Enter ALBANY. 
 
 Gon. I have been worth the whistle. 
 
 Alb. O Goneril ! 
 
 You are not worth the dust which the rude wind 30 
 
 Blows in your face. I fear your disposition : 
 
 That nature, which contemns it origin. 
 
 Cannot be border'd certain in itself; 
 
 She that herself will sliver aind disbranch 
 
 From her material sap, perforce must wither 35 
 
 And come to deadly use. 
 
 28. My . . . body\ F, My foote . . . body Q i (some copies), A foole . 
 bed Q I (some copies), My foote . . . head Q 2, My fool . . . bed Malone. 
 Exit] (after death, line 25, F), omitted Q; Exit Steward Q, omitted F, 
 Enter Albany] F; Enter the Duke of Albany Q 2, omitted Q i. 29. 
 whistle'] whistling Q I (some copies). 30. rude] Q i, F ; omitted Q 2 
 31-50. I fear . . . deep] Q, omitted F. 32. it] Q i (some copies), Q 2 
 ith Q I (some copies) ; its Q 3. 35. material] Q, F ; maternal Theobald, 
 
 29. / . . . whistle] I was once The substantive is met with in Ham 
 thought by you as worthy of a little let, I v. vii. 144: "an envious sliver 
 regard. The expression is proverbial, broke." See also Golding's Ovid's 
 See The Proverbs of John Heywood, Metamorphosis, ii. 20 {b) : 
 
 1546, Sharman, 1874, p. 76: "and " she was not so content, 
 
 it is ... A poore dog that is not But tare their tender branches 
 
 worth the whistling." down, and from their slivers went 
 
 31. fear] have fears concerning. Red drops of blood as from a 
 See Titus Andronicus, II. iii. 305 : wound." 
 
 " Fear not thy sons, they shall do The word still lives in dialect : 
 well enough." " sliver, a slice, " Brockett's Glossary 
 
 32. zV] its. See note to I. iv. 236. ef North-Country Words, 1846. It 
 
 33. Cannot . . . itself] cannot be is alive in America. See Thoreau, 
 kept within any fixed bounds, cannot Cape Cod, 1879, p. 9 : "when I was 
 be trusted not to break the pale. The half a mile distant the insignificant 
 best commentary on this line is what sliver which marked the spot looked 
 follows scene vi. line 275, of this like a bleached spar." 
 
 Act : " O undistinguished space of 34. disbranch] sever connection, 
 woman's will." 35. material] nourishing. Theo- 
 
 34. sliver] tear off. See Macbeth, bald read "maternal." 
 
 IV. i. 28 : 36. come to deadly use] i.e. come, 
 
 "slips of yew, be used as a faggot for the burn- 
 
 Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse,'' ing. See Hebrews vi. 8, 
 
176 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 Gon. No more ; the text is foolish. 
 
 Alb. Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile ; 
 
 Filths savour but •themselves. What have you 
 done? 
 
 Tigers, not daughters, what have you perfprm'd ? 40 
 
 A father, and a gracious aged man, 
 
 Whose reverence the head-lugg'd bear would lick. 
 
 Most barbarous, most degenerate ! have you madded. 
 
 Could my good brother suffer you to do it ? 
 
 A man, a prince, by him so benefited ! 4 5 
 
 If that the heavens do not their visible spirits 
 
 Send quickly down to tame these vile offences, . . 
 
 It will come. 
 
 Humanity must perforce prey on itself, 
 
 Like monsters of the deep. 
 Gon. Milk-liver'd man ! 5 o 
 
 That bear'st a cheek for blows, a head for wrongs ; 
 
 42. reverence the\ Q 2, reverence even the Q I. 45. benefited] Q i (some 
 copies) ; beniflicted Q I (some copies) ; benefiicted Q 2. 47. these vile] 
 Jennyns (Heath conjecture), this vild Q i (some copies), the mid Q i (some 
 copies), Q 2, the vile Pope. 49. Humanity] humanly Q I (some copies). 
 
 37. text] the original words of bear." Schmidt explains "led by the 
 
 an author. Here quotation, saying head." Wright quotes Harsnet, p. 
 
 quoted. See Romeo and Juliet, I v. 107: "As men lead Beares by the 
 
 i. 21 : nose." We read in 11. iv. 8 : "horses 
 
 '^Juliet. What must be, shall be. are tied by the heads, dogs and bears 
 
 Friar. That's a certain text." by the neck." 
 
 See also Bacon, Essay on Boldness, 43. madded] maddened. In Cym- 
 
 line I : " It is a trivial grammar beline, IV. ii. 313, we find " madded 
 
 school text" (Latin version, "tritum Hecuba." 
 
 est dicterium "). 47. offences] offenders ; the abstract 
 
 39. Filths . . . themselves] Filthy for the concrete, 
 
 creatures only care for, only appre- 50. Milk-livered] white livered, 
 
 ciate, their Ukes. pusillanimous, cowardly. So in Mer- 
 
 42. head-lug^d] Probably dragged chant of Venice, III. ii. 86 : 
 
 by the head, the ears, and so infuriated " How many cowards . . . 
 
 by the attacks of the dogs. See Who, inward search'd, have livers 
 
 1 Henry IV. I. ii. 83 : "I am as white as milk." 
 
 melancholy as a gib cat or a lugged See note to i. iv. 363. 
 
sen] KING LEAR 177 
 
 Who hast not in thy brows an eye discerning 
 Thine honour from thy suffering ; that not know'st 
 Fools do those villains pity who are punish'd 54 
 Ere they have done their mischief. Where 's thy drum ? 
 France spreads his banners in our noiseless land, 
 With plumed helm thy slayer begins threats, 
 Whiles thou, a moral fool, sitt'st still, and criest 
 " Alack ! why does he so ? " 
 
 Alb. See thyself, devil 1 
 
 Proper deformity seems not in the fiend 60 
 
 So horrid as in woman. 
 
 Gon. O vain fool ! 
 
 Alb. Thou changed and self-cover'd thing, for shame, 
 
 52. eye discerning] Rowe, eye-discerning F, eye deserving Q. 53-59. 
 that . . . so\ Q, omitted F. 54. those] Q l, these Q 2. 57. thy . . . 
 threats] Q I (some copies), Q 2 ; thy state begins thereat, Q i (some copies) ; 
 thy slayer begins his threats Theobald ; the . . . Hanmer ; thy state begins 
 to threat Jennyns ; this Lear begins threats Leo conject. 58. Whiles] Q 2, 
 (Q I some copies), (whiPs) whiVst Q i (some copies), while Capell ; sitt'st 
 . . . criest] Theobald, sits . . . cries Q. 60. deformity] Q i, deformiry Q 
 2 ; seems] shewes Q \ (some copies). 62-68. Thou . , . mew] Q, omitted 
 F. 62. self-cove->'d]Q^; self-coloured fAoheiXy ; sex-covered Hudson, 1879, 
 Crosby conject. 
 
 52, 5,3. An eye discerning . . . suffer- only to be expected from it (the 
 
 z';^] one able to discern that the wrongs fiend); a common sense of proper, 
 
 thou art meekly brooking are incom- See ^ Henry IV. IV. i. 37 : 
 
 patible with thy honour, and ought not " if damn'd Commotion so 
 
 to be tamely put up by a man of spirit. appear'd, 
 
 54, 55. Fools . . . mischief] This In his true, native and most 
 must, I think, refer to her father, proper shape." 
 Lear ; it cannot to Gloucester, for she Delius explains " deformity ^ijhich con- 
 has not yet heard of his misfortunes. ceals itself under a pleasing, fair out- 
 
 56. noiseless] free from the bustle side," comparing the expression "pro- 
 of warlike preparation. per-false," Twelfth Night, 11. ii. 30. 
 
 57. helm] helmet, as in Othello, I. 62. self-cover'd] i.e-haMingthe self, 
 iii. 273. the essence, covered, concealed (not 
 
 57. thy . . . threats] Jennyns reads covered by self). The expression is 
 
 "thy state begins to threat," a read- explained by lines 66, 67 : 
 
 ing made up by mixing the words of ' ' howe'er thou art a fiend, 
 
 two copies of Q I. He has been fol- A woman's shape doth shield thee." 
 
 lowed by the Cambridge editors. The self, the essence of Goneril, is 
 
 60. Proper deformity] deformity, fiend, but that essence is outwardly 
 
 which is the proper attribute of, and changed and covered by the shape of a 
 
 12 
 
178 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act IV. 
 
 Gon. 
 
 Be-monster not thy feature. Were*t my fitness 
 
 To let these hands obey my blood, 
 
 They are apt enough to dislocate and tear 65 
 
 Thy flesh and bones ; howe'er thou art a fiend, 
 
 A woman's shape doth shield thee. 
 
 Marry, your manhood — mew!^ . 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 
 Alb. What news ? 
 
 Mess. O! my good lord, the Duke of Corn wall's dead; 70 
 
 64. hands\ hands of mine Bx.z&ve.ViS,zovL]ex±. 68. manhood — w«ot/] ^raig 
 {Oxford Shakespeare), Daniel conject. ; manhood mew Q i (some dfepies), 
 Clarke and Wright, Cambridge Shakespeare, ed. i. 1866 ; manhood now Q i 
 (some copies), Q 2. Enter a Messenger] after "foole," line 61, F ; Enter a 
 Gentleman after "news," line 69, Q i, after line 68 Q 2. 69. Alb. What 
 news?] Q, omitted F. 70, etc. Mess.] F, Gent. Q. 
 
 woman. Moberly explains (reading 
 "self-coloured"), "a creature whose 
 vile appearance is self-assumed." 
 
 64. obey my blood] do as my passion 
 prompts. Blood in this sense, 
 passionate temper, as in Merchant of 
 Vettice, I. ii. 20 : " The brain may 
 devise laws for the blood, but a hot 
 temper leaps over a cold decree." 
 See HI. v. 24. 
 
 65. apt enough] quite ready. See 
 "apt to quarrel," Romeo and Juliet, 
 III. i. 34 ; " apt to teach," 2 Timothy 
 ii. 24 ; Brome, The Novella ( Works), 
 Pearson, i. 121 : "I am apt enough 
 to mischief." 
 
 65, 66. to . . . bones] For a similar 
 threat as a punishment for infidelity, 
 compare Much Ado, iv. i. 193 ; 
 Othello, III. iii. 431 ; Cymbeline, 11. 
 iv. 147. 
 
 66. howier] although. So Cym- 
 heline, IV. ii. 46 : 
 
 " This youth, howe'er distressed, 
 appears he hath had 
 Good ancestors." 
 68. Marry . . . mew /] In the 
 Oxford Shakespeare, I adopted mew 
 
 of Q I with the above arrange- 
 ment, following a suggestion of my 
 friend Mr. P. A. Daniel. See his 
 Introduction to facsimile reprint of 
 Lear, Quarto I, by C. Praetorius, 
 1885, p. XV. Daniel there notices 
 that the Cambridge editors first intro- 
 duced mew into the text (ed. i., 1866), 
 reading " your manhood mew," which 
 Wright in the Clarendon Press edition 
 of this play, i88i, explains, "keep in, 
 restrain your manhood. " In the second 
 edition of the Cambridge Shakespeare, 
 1 891 , Wright thus arranges ' ' your man- 
 hood ! mew ! " Mew, it seems quite 
 clear to me, is used as an interjection. 
 I add some references of it in this 
 rather common sense, some of which 
 were given by Daniel in his Introduc- 
 tion referred to above. Field, Amends 
 for Ladies, 1618, ii. i ; Ben Jonson, 
 Every Man Out of His Humour, 
 Induction, line 170; Marston, What 
 You Will, line 45; Middleton and 
 Dekker, The Roaring Girl, Prologue, 
 line 6, Bullen, Middleton's Works, 
 iv. 9 ; Dekker, Satiromastix ( Works), 
 Pearson, i. 193 ; Ford, Broken Heart, 
 
sen.] KING LEAR 179 
 
 Slain by his servant, going to put out 
 
 The other eye of Gloucesteij 
 ^ib. - ,_ Gloucester's eyes ! 
 
 Mess. A servant that he bred, thrill'd with remorse, 
 
 Oppos'd against the act, bending his sword 
 
 To his great master; who, thereat enrag'd, 75 
 
 Flew on him, and amongst them fell'd him dead ; 
 
 But not without that harmful stroke, which since 
 
 Hath pluck'd him after. 
 ■Alb. This shows you are above, 
 
 You justicers, that these our nether crimes 
 * So speedily can venge ! But, O poor Gloucester ! 80 
 
 Lost he his other eye ? 
 Mess. Both, both, my lord. 
 
 This letter, madam, craves a speedy answer ; 
 
 'Tis from your sister. [Presents a letter. 
 
 Gon. [Aside.] One way I like this well ; 
 
 But being widow, and my Gloucester with her, 
 
 73. ihrilTd\ F, thrald Q. 7$. thereat enra£d\ Q, threat-enraged F. 
 
 78, 79. above. You justicers] Steevens, 1778, Capell conject. ; above you 
 
 justicers Q i (some copies) ; above your Justices Q i (some copies), Q 2 ; above 
 
 You jtistices F. 83. Presents . . .] omitted Q, F; Gives it Collier MS. 
 
 [Aside] Johnson ; omitted Q, F. 
 
 i. 3; Gifford (Works), 1827, i. 26; " Thy murderous falchion . . . 
 Ford, Sut^s Darling ; Day, Isle of The which thou once didst bend 
 
 Gulls, Induction ; Northward Ho, against her breast." 
 
 i. 2. Spenser uses the word in -this sense 
 
 73. remorse] pity, as in Tempest, in the Faerie Queene. 
 
 V. i. 76. See also S. Daniel, The 75. To] against. See i. ii. 21. 
 
 Civile Wars, 1 595, Book i. stanza 76. amongst them fell'd] between 
 
 15 : him and Regan they fell'd. See 
 
 "False John usurpes his Nephew $ Henry IV. v. iv. 19: "the man is 
 
 Arthur's right dead that you and Pistol beat amongst 
 
 . . . murders his lawful! heire you." 
 
 without remorse." •]!). justicersYyiAges. Seem. vi.23. 
 
 74. Oppos'd] set himself in opposi- 79. nether crimes] lower crimes, 
 tion. '■■B- crimes committed here below. 
 
 74. bending] directing. Sse Richard See Othello, v. ii. 4: "Why gnaw 
 ///. I. ii. 95 : you so your nether lip ?" 
 
180 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 May all the building in my fancy pl'uck 85 
 
 Upon my hateful life : another way, 
 
 The news is not so tart. I '11 read, and answer. 
 
 [Exit. 
 
 Alb. Where was his son when they did take his eyes ? 
 
 Mess. Come with my lady hither. 
 
 Alb. He is not here. 
 
 Mess. No, my good lord ; I met him back again. 90 
 
 Alb. Knows he the wickedness ? 
 
 Mess. Ay, my good lord ; 'twas he inform'd against him. 
 And quit the house on purpose that their punishment 
 Might have the freer course. 
 
 Alb. Gloucester, I live 
 
 To thank thee for the love thou show'dst the king, 95 
 And to revenge thine eyes. Come hither, friend : 
 Tell me what more thou knowest. [Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE III. — The French Camp near Dover. 
 Enter KENT and a Gentleman. 
 
 Kent. Why the King of France is so suddenly gone 
 back know you the reason ? 
 
 85. z«] F, on Q, of Capell. 87. tart] F, tooke Q. Exit] Q, omitted F. 
 93. theirl Q 2, F ; there Q I. 96. thine] F, thy Q. 97. Exeunt] F ; 
 Exit Q. 
 
 Scene in. 
 
 The . . . Dover] Capell (substantially) ; Dover Theobald ; omitted Q, F. 
 1-56. Why the . . . with me] Q, omitted F (the whole Scene). 2. the] 
 Q 2, no Q I. 
 
 85. the building in my fancy] all To see inherited my very wishes, 
 
 the fine plans I had devised, all my And the buildings of my fancy." 
 
 fine castles in the air. Steevens 87. tart] sour, unpleasant. Com- 
 
 quotes from Coriolanus, 11. i. pare " sour adversity," 5 ^««?y F/. 
 
 216: III. i. 24. 
 " I have lived 
 
scm.] KING LEAR 181 
 
 Gent. Something he left imperfect in the state, 
 which since his coming forth is thought of; 
 which imports to the kingdom so much fear 5 
 and danger that his personal return was most 
 required and necessary. 
 
 Kent. Who hath he left behind him general ? 
 
 Gent. The Marshal of France, Monsieur La Far. 
 
 Kent. Did your letters pierce the queen to any 10 
 demonstration of grief ? 
 
 Gent. Ay, sir ; she took them, read them in my presence ; 
 And now and then an ample tear trill'd down 
 Her delicate cheek ; it seem'd she was a queen 
 Over her passion ; who, most rebel-like, 1 5 
 
 Sought to be king o'er her. 
 
 Kent. O ! then it mov'd her. 
 
 Gent. Not to a rage ; patience and sorrow strove 
 
 Who should express her goodliest. You have seen 
 Sunshine and rain at once ; her smiles and tears 
 Were like a better way ; those happy smilets 20 
 
 12. Ay, sir] Theobald (printing /, sir), I say Q. 17. strove] Pope, 
 streme, Q. 20. like . . . •way]Cl,likeawetter May, Theobald (Warburton) ; 
 like an April day Heath conject. ; likeU a better way Daniel conject. 
 
 « 
 
 5. imports] portends. So 1 Henry cat, Delicate, dainty, pleasing, pretie, 
 
 VI.l.\.(i. Comets importing change delicious." 
 
 of time and state. P\\s,a Richard III. 19-20. her . . . way] It is doubt- 
 
 III. vii. 68. ful if any meaning can be got out of 
 
 10. letters] a letter. these words. The whole passage 
 
 10. /«'e?re] compare "thrill'd," last may possibly mean: "Her smiles 
 
 scene, line 73. and tears were like the appearance 
 
 13. trill'd] trickled, coursed. So in the sky, of sunshine and rain to- 
 Ben Jonson, Every Man Out of his gether, were like this, but were more 
 Humour, iii. II : " Did you see how beautiful even than this." But this 
 the tears trill'd?" Routledge ( fJ^r/Sj), is very forced. I am inclined to 
 1873, 5 ('^)- think there is some error, but none of 
 
 14. delicate] lovely, delightful ; as the emendations on the passage seem 
 m Othello, II. \a.. 20 : "She's a most satisfactory. We might perhaps read : 
 fresh and delicate creature. " See " Her smiles and tears were like a 
 Cotgrave, French Dictionary, " Deli- bettering day, a day wet at first but 
 
182 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 That play'd on her ripe lip seem'd not to know 
 What guests were in her eyes ; which parted thencCj 
 As pearls from diamonds dropp'd. In brief, 
 Sorrow would be a rarity most belov'd, 
 If all could so become it. 
 Kent. Made she no verbal question ? 2 5 
 
 Gent. Faith, once or twice she heaved the name of "father" 
 Pantingly forth, as if it press'd her heart ; 
 Cried " Sisters ! sisters ! Shame of ladies ! sisters ! 
 Kent ! father ! sisters ! What ? i' the storm ? i' the 
 
 night ? 
 Let pity not be believed ! " There she shook 30 
 The holy water from her heavenly eyes, 
 And clamour-moisten'd, then away she started 
 To deal with grief alone. 
 
 21. jeewz'rf] Pope, j«eOTfi Q. 32. (■/a;«fl«<r-OT02j^fi»'if]S. Walker conject., 
 clamour mouten'd her Q, clamour moisien'd Capell. 
 
 improving, about to be fine, in which Tempest, 1. ii. 148, Prospero's words, 
 
 the sunshine is fast driving away the "the very rats instinctively have quit 
 
 rain-clouds." But this is no more it," "have/' the old reading, is 
 
 satisfactory than the rest of the properly, I think, retained by the 
 
 guesses. Daniel suggests to me Cambridge editors, though Rowe 
 
 "were like't a better way," which he after Dryden, followed by many after 
 
 explains, "were like it, the sunshine editors, changed it to "had." 
 
 and rain at once, only in a more beau- 24. rarity~\ something highly 
 
 tiful or better fashion." prized. 
 
 21. «^«] is probably "red." We 26. heaved] hxeaXhtA out, uttered 
 
 might compare Venus and Adonis, with effort. Compare As You Like 
 
 1 103, "ripe-red cherries." Compare /;■, 11. i. 36: " The wretched animal 
 
 also A Midsummer Nighfs Dream, heaved forth such groans." 
 
 III. ii. 139, and As You Like It, 32. clamour-moisten^ d\ having her 
 
 m. v. 120. But could it mean " weep- emotion calmed by a flood of tears, 
 
 ing-ripe, ready to weep " ? Compare as the storm is assuaged by a shower 
 
 Love's Labour's Lost, v. ii. 274 ; if so, of rain. See Macbeth, I. vii. 25 : 
 
 it points to the appearance of a lip " And pity . . . 
 
 struggling against tears. Shall blow the horrid deed in 
 
 "21. seem'd] I adopt Pope's change every eye, 
 
 "seem'd" for " seem " of the Quarto. Thattearsshalldrown the wind." 
 
 Coming after "play'd," it is most If we do not hyphen the expression, 
 
 probably right. Still changes of this we must take "moisten'd" as the 
 
 sort must be made with caution. In past tense. 
 
sc.iiij KING LEAR 183 
 
 Kent. It is the stars, 
 
 The stars above us, govern our conditions ; 
 Else one self mate and make could not beget 3 5 
 Such different issues. You spoke not with her since ? 
 
 Gent. No. 
 
 Kent. Was this before the king return'd ? 
 
 Gent. No, since. 
 
 Kent. Well, sir, the poor distressed Lear 's i' the town ; 
 Who sometime, in his better tune, remembers 40 
 What we are come about, and by no means 
 Will yield to see his daughter. 
 
 Gent. Why, good sir ? 
 
 Kent. A sovereign shame so elbows him : his own un- 
 kindness. 
 That stripp'd her from his benediction, turn'd her 
 To foreign casualties, gave her dear rights 45 
 
 35. and make] Q I, and mate Q 2. 
 
 35. self~\ same, identical. See also this Act, scene vii. line 16, 
 
 note to I. i. 69. "jarring senses." 
 
 35. mate and make] I follow Q i, 43. sovereign] all-prevailing. Tovey 
 
 reafing " mate and make." quotes Antony and Cleopatra, v. i. 41, 
 
 35. make] partner. For a number when Cassar, mourning over the dead 
 
 of early instances of the word in this Antony, exclaims : 
 
 sense, compare Eduard Matzner, ' ' But let me lament, 
 
 Altenglische SpracJiprohen, Berlin, With tears as sovereign as the 
 
 i8gi ; as in Alisander, 3309-3314, blood of hearts." 
 
 " Floriant, my gentle make." And 43. e/fojaj ^w«] forcibly thrusts him 
 
 see also Lyly, Mother Bombie, III. back from her breast. His compunc- 
 
 iv. 15 ; Ben jonson. New Inn, i. I ; tion for his cruelty towards his child 
 
 Tale of a Tub, \. i. Shakespeare has mastering his eagerness to approach 
 
 theformmakeless, "amakeless wife," her. Compare J. Heywood, yi Ci4a/- 
 
 Sonnet ix. 4. lenge for Beauty, Pearson ( Works), 
 
 40. sometime] sometimes. Often v. 68 : " That Picke - devant that 
 
 so used. Compare 11. iii. 19. elbowes next the Queen." 
 
 40. better tune] saner intervals. 44. turn'd] turned out, expelled. 
 
 See Hamlet, ni. i. 166 : Compare the expression " to turn 
 
 " Now see that noble and most going," As You Like It, in. i. 18 : 
 
 sovereign reason, " Do this expediently, and turn him 
 
 Like sweet bells jangled, out of going"; aXso Julius Casar, in. iii. 
 
 tune, and harsh " ; 38. 
 
184 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 To his dog-hearted daughters, these things sting 
 His mind so venomously that burning shame 
 Detains him from Cordelia. 
 
 Gent. Alack ! poor gentleman. 
 
 Kent. Of Albany's and Cornwall's powers you heard not ? 
 
 Gent. 'Tis so, they are afoot. 50 
 
 Kent. Well, sir, I '11 bring you to our master Lear, 
 
 And leave you to attend him. Some dear cause 
 Will in concealment wrap me up awhile ; 
 When I am known aright, you shall not grieve 
 Lending me this acquaintance. I pray you, go 55 
 Along with me. {Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE lY.—The Same. A Tent. 
 
 Enter, with drum and colours, CORDELIA, Doctor, 
 and Soldiers. 
 
 Cor. Alack ! 'tis he : why, he was met even now 
 As mad as the vex'd sea ; singing aloud ; 
 
 55. Exeunt] Pope (omitted F) ; Exit Q. 
 
 Scene IV. 
 
 The Same. A tent] Capell ; omitted Q, F ; A Camp Rowe. Enter . . . 
 Soldiers] F, Gentlemen for Doctor ; Enter Cordelia, Doctor, and others Q. 
 2. • vex^d\ F, vent Q. 
 
 46. dog-'hearted'\ fierce. Probably For this sense of "dear," see /?i?wie<3 
 
 referring to the wild savage dog. See 2 and Juliet, v. iii. 32 : 
 Henry IV. IV. v. 132, and Coriolanus, "a ring that I must use 
 
 I. i. 28. Shakespeare rarely, if ever, In dear employment " ; 
 
 says anything good of the dog. also this play, " a dear thing," in. i. 
 
 50. afoot^ in arms, out in the field, ig. 
 So Coriolanus, I. ii. 25 : 
 
 "We shall be shorten'd in our Scene iv. 
 
 aim; which was, 2. ^ex'rf] agitated by the wind. So 
 
 To talce in many towns, ere, Paradise Lost, Book i. line 306 : 
 
 almost, Rome " When with fierce winds Orion 
 
 Should know we were afoot." armed 
 
 52. dear cause] important reason. Hath vex'd the Red Sea coast.'' 
 
sc, 
 
 IV.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 185 
 
 Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds, 
 With hor-docks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers, 
 Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow 5 
 
 In our sustaining corn. A sentry send forth ; 
 Search every acre in the high-grown field. 
 And bring him to our eye. [Exit an Officer. 
 
 3. fumUer\ Theobald, femiter Q, Fenitar Y, fumitory Hanmer. 4. hor- 
 docks\ Q, Hardohes F {Hardocks F 3), burdocks Hanmer, Harlocks Steevens, 
 1778 (Farmer conject.), Hoar-docks Collier (Steevens conject.). 6. sentr^'\ 
 senfry Johnson, centurie Q I, century Q 2, Centery F, cent'ry Pope (reading 
 " send forth a cent'ry ") ; send'\ F ; is sent (^l, 2; is set (^ 3. 7. high-grown] 
 F, hie growne Q. 8. Exit an Officer] Malone ; To an Officer who goes 
 out Capell ; omitted Q, F. 
 
 includes haudoddes among a list of 
 weeds in the corn, p. 29. This 
 Professor Skeat pronounces to be corn 
 blue-bottle ; Fitzherbert describes it, 
 p. 301, as "a blue flower with a few 
 little leaves," Only for its ugly name 
 this might be Shakespeare's word 
 here. Wright found in a MS. Herbal, 
 Hardbake as a name for knapweed, 
 and Turner, in his Names of Herles, 
 1548, gives the name Hardewes for 
 the wild succory {Sichorium infyhis). 
 
 4. cuckoo-flowers'] a name given to 
 various spring flowers. It may mean 
 the cowslip. 
 
 5. idle] unprofitable, worthless, 
 opposed to "sustaining corn," i.e. 
 corn which is the stock of life to us. 
 Compare "idle ■viesAs," Richard III. 
 III. i. 103 ; also J. Gerard, TheJHerball, 
 I597i P' 81, "a small, idle, barren 
 chaffie ear." 
 
 6. seiitry] I take it that "centery" 
 of the Folio as well as the Quarto word 
 "Centurie, Century," is only an older 
 form of sentry. The New Eng. Diet. 
 has " Century, obs. variant of sentry," 
 and gives two examples, one as late as 
 1759: "Having placed centuries at 
 door of the cardinal's apartment," 
 'Rdbetisonyllistoryof Scotland, I. ii.87. 
 Century, a division of a Roman army, 
 is quite out of place in Britain before 
 the Romans. Johnson read sent'ry, 
 "abbreviating pro metri gratia," 
 
 3. rank] luxuriant. Some explain 
 "heavy-scented." Compare Twelfth 
 Night, II. v. 136. 
 
 3. fumiter] the herb fumitory of 
 the genus Fumaria. See Henry V. 
 V. ii. 45 : 
 
 "her fallow leas. 
 The darnel, hemlock, and rank 
 
 fumitory, 
 Doth root upon." 
 See also Cotgrave, ' ' Fume-terre, the 
 hearbe Fumitorie." With the Quarto 
 form (Femiter), compare the form 
 Femetary, which, in Henry V., is 
 the form of the first three Folios. 
 
 3. furrow-weeds] weeds which 
 spring up in the furrow, i.e. in 
 ploughed land See Heywood, The 
 Rape of Lucrece, Pearson ( Works), 
 V. 227 : " Sing birds in every furrow." 
 
 4. hor-docks] I print "hor-docks,'' 
 the Quarto form, which is clearly the 
 same word as the Folio Hardoke, i.e. 
 probably the hoar or white dock. The 
 New Eng. Diet. , following a sugges- 
 tion of R. Prior in his Popular Names 
 of British Plants, 1879, p. 102, 
 explains Hardock (also hordock, har- 
 doke) as "some coarse, weedy plant, 
 probably burdock " {Arctium lappa). 
 This idea is described by Professor 
 Skeat (Introduction to Fitzherbert's 
 Book of Husbandry, 1534, ed. 1882, 
 p. xxx) as "a wild guess that should be 
 rejected." He notes that Fitzherbert 
 
186 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 What can man's wisdom 
 In the restoring his bereaved sense ? 
 He that helps him take all my outward worth, lO 
 
 Doct. There is means, madam ; 
 
 Our foster-nurse of nature is repose, 
 The which he lacks ; that to provoke in him. 
 Are many simples operative, whose power 
 Will close the eye of anguish. 
 
 Cor. All bless'd secrets, 1 5 
 
 All you unpublish'd virtues of the earth, 
 Spring with my tears ! be aidant and remediate 
 In the good man's distress ! Seek, seek for him. 
 Lest his ungovern'd rage dissolve the life 
 That wants the means to lead it. 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 Mess. News, madam ; 20 
 
 The British powers are marching hitherward. 
 Cor. 'Tis known before ; our preparation stands 
 
 8. wisdovil Q I, F ; wisdome do Q 2. lo. helps\ F can helpe Q. ii. 
 Doct.] Q, Gent. F. i8. distress] Q^, desires 7. 20. Enter a Messenger] 
 Q 2 ; Enter Messenger Q i, F. 
 
 8. can] knows. So The Phcenix And thus, my lord, your daughter 
 
 and Turtle, 14 : must be help'd." 
 
 "Let the priest in surplice white, 13. provoke] excite. 
 
 That defunctive music can, 14. jzz»^/«j]«.e, simple herbs, medi- 
 
 Be the death-divining swan.'' cinal plants. So Merry Wives of 
 
 8. ■»«(/»?«] science, medical know- Windsor, in. iii. 79: "and smell 
 ledge. like Bucklersbury in simple time." 
 
 9. bereaved] violently taken away. See also R. Greene, A Quip for an 
 
 10. helps] cures, restores to sanity. Upstart Courtier, p. i : "there grew 
 See Tempest, II. ii. 97 : "I will help many simples whose virtues taught 
 his ague " ; also Grim the Collier of me to be subtle. " 
 
 Croydon, ii. I (Dodsley's Old Plays, 17. aidant and remediate] helpful 
 
 Hazlitt, viii. 404) : and remedial. 
 
 "Your daughter must be cur'd 22. preparatiori] force afoot, ready 
 
 By fasting, prayer, and religious for battle. So Coriolanus, i. ii. 15 : 
 
 works; . . . "These three lead on this preparation." 
 
sc.v.] KING LEAR 187 
 
 In expectation of them. (O dear father ! 
 
 It is thy business that I go about ; 
 
 Therefore great France 25 
 
 My mourning and important tears hath pitied. 
 
 No blown ambition doth our arms incite, 
 
 But love, dear love, and our aged father's right. 
 
 Soon may I hear and see himTy {Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE V. — A Room in Gloucestet's Castle. 
 Enter REGAN and OSWALD. 
 Reg. But are my brother's powers set forth ? 
 Osw. Ay, madam. 
 
 Reg. Himself in person there ? 
 Osw. Madam, with much ado : 
 
 Your sister is the better soldier. 
 Reg. Lord Edmund spake not with your lord at home ? 
 Osw. No, madam. 5 
 
 Reg. What might import my sister's letter to him ? 
 
 26. importanfl Q, imfortuiid] F. 27. incite] F, insite Q2; in sight Q I. 
 29. Exeunt F, Exit Q. 
 
 Scene v. 
 
 A . . . Castle] Capell; omitted Q, F. Oswald] Steward Q, F. 2. 
 ihere'l F, omitted Q. 3. sister «>] Q i, F; sister's Q 2. 4. lord] F, 
 Lady Q. 6. letter] Q 2, F ; letters Q i. 
 
 26. important]irapcatuna.te, eagerly, See also Twelfth Night, n. v, 
 urgent. So All's Well, in. vii. 21 : 48. 
 
 "Now his important blood will Scene v. 
 
 nought deny 2. with much ado]i.e. \3xge&.i!ae-ieX.o 
 
 That she'll demand." with much trouble and difficulty. It 
 
 Compare also Beaumont and Fletcher, would appear that Albany at first 
 
 A Wife for a Month, i. I: "I am no hesitated to serve against an army, 
 
 counsellor nor important suitor. " though it was composed of foreign 
 
 27. blown] puffed out, inflated with invaders which was fighting in the 
 the pride of conquest. See Cymbeline, interests of Lear. 
 
 III. i. 49-S I : 6. import] treat of, bear as the pur- 
 
 " Caesar's ambition, port. See Othello, u.M. 2- Compare 
 
 Which swelled so much that it did also All's Well that Ends Well, n. iii. 
 
 almost stretch 293, , 294 : " There's letters from my 
 
 The sides of the world. " mother, what the import is I know not. " 
 
188 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 Osw. I know not, lady. 
 
 Reg-. Faith, he is posted hence on serious matter. 
 
 It was great ignorance, Gloucester's eyes being 
 out, 
 
 To let him live ; where he arrives he moves i o 
 
 All hearts against us. Edmund, I think, is gone. 
 
 In pity of his misery, to dispatch 
 
 His nigh ted life ; moreover, to descry 
 
 The strength o' th' enemy. 
 Osw. I must needs after him, madam, with my letter, i $ 
 Reg. Our troops set forth to-morrow ; stay with us. 
 
 The ways are dangerous. 
 Osw. I may not, madam ; 
 
 My lady charged my duty in this business. 
 Reg. Why should she write to Edmund ? Might not 
 you 
 
 Transport her purposes by word ? Belike, 20 
 
 Something — I know not what. I '11 love thee much. 
 
 Let me unseal the letter. 
 Osw. Madam, I had rather — 
 
 Reg. I know your lady does not love her husband ; 
 
 I am sure of that : and at her late being here 
 
 8. serious] Q i, F ; a serious Q 2. 1 1. Edmund} F, And now Q. 14. 
 0' th' enemy] F l, cWh army ^ 1, of the Army Q 2. 15. madam} F, 
 omitted Q ; /isWer] F, letters Q. 16. troops set} F, troope sets Q. 21. 
 Something — ] Pope, Some thing Q i, Somethings Q 2, some things F. 
 
 9. ignorance}ia\\y . Compare igno- Have desperatelydespatched their 
 rant, silly, simple, Winter's Tale, 11. i. slavish lives. " 
 
 73: "Thou art most ignorant by age." Marlow, W7>-,4j, Havelock Ellis, 1887, 
 
 12. dispatch} make away with, get p. 83. 
 rid of. So yLarXoyi m ITamburlaine 13. nighted} darkened. So ffam- 
 
 theGr¥at,\. I: let, I. ii. 68: "Good Hamlet, cast 
 
 " The Turk and his great Empress, thy nighted colour off." 
 
 as it seems, 18. charg'dmy duty} earnestly ad- 
 Left to themselves while we were jured, enjoined me, to be obedient, 
 at the fight, duteous. 
 
sc.v] KING LEAR 189 
 
 She gave strange ceilHads and most speaking 
 
 looks 2 5 
 
 To noble Edmund. I know you are of her bosom. 
 
 Osw. I, madam ! 
 
 Reg. I speak in understanding ; you are, I know 't : 
 Therefore I do advise you, take this note : 
 My lord is dead; Edmund and I have talk'd 30 
 And more convenient is he for my hand 
 Than for your lady's. You may gather more. 
 If you do find him, pray you give him this, 
 And when your mistress hears thus much from 
 
 you, 
 I pray desire her call her wisdom to her : 3 5 
 
 So, fare you well. 
 
 If you do chance to hear of that blind traitor. 
 Preferment falls on him that cuts him off. 
 
 Osw. Would I could meet him, madam : I would show 
 What party I do follow. 
 
 Reg. Fare thee well. [Exeunt. 40 
 
 25, milliads Dyce (ed. 2), aliads Q, Eliads F, ceiliads Rowe. 28. 
 
 you . , . know V] F, for I know V Q. 36. So, fare you well\ F, so 
 
 farewell Q. 39. hini\ Q, omitted F ; would^ Q, should F. 40. party'\ 
 F, Lady Q. Exeunt] F, Exit Q. 
 
 25. ««7/2aai] amorous glances. See "Your son . . . 
 
 Merry Wives, I. iii. 68 : " who even Shall secretly into the bosom 
 
 now gave me good eyes too, examined creep 
 
 my parts with most judicious oeilliads. " Of that same noble prelate. '' 
 
 See Cotgrave's French Dictionary, 29. take this note'\ take note of, 
 
 " Olillade, an amorous look, affec- attend to my words, ^c Measure for 
 
 tionate wink." Steevens quotes R. Measure, v. i. 80: "Pray you, take 
 
 Greene, Disputation between a He note of it." See also fFzWer'i- Tale, 
 
 andaShe Cany-Catcher, lS^z,"3.Taoi- v. i. 173. 
 
 ous glances, smirking ceiliades." 30. have talk'd] are affianced to 
 
 26. of her bosom} in her confidence, one another. 
 So i Henry IV. I. iii. 266 : 
 
190 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 SCENE VI. — The Country near Dover. 
 Enter GLOUCESTER and Edgar dressed like a peasant. 
 Glou. When shall we come to the top of that same hill ? 
 Edg. You do climb up it now ; look how we labour. 
 Glou. Methinks the ground is even. 
 Edg. Horrible steep : 
 
 Hark 1 do you hear the sea ? 
 Glou.. No, truly. 
 
 Edg. Why, then your other senses grow imperfect 5 
 
 By your eyes' anguish. 
 Glou. So may it be, indeed. 
 
 Methinks thy voice is alter'd, and thou speak'st 
 
 In better phrase and matter than thou didst. 
 Edg. You 're much deceiv'd ; in nothing am I changed 
 
 But in my garments. 
 Glou. Methinks you 're better spoken, i o 
 
 Edg. Come on, sir ; here 's the place : stand still. How 
 fearful 
 
 And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low ! 
 
 The crows and choughs that wing the midway air 
 
 The . . . Dover] Theobald; Fields . . . Dover Capell; The Country 
 Rowe. Enter Gloucester . . . peasant] Theobald ; Enter Gloucester and 
 Edgar F ; Enter Gloster and Edmund Q. i. we\ Q, I F. 2. up 
 i(\ F, it up Q. 8. /»] F, With Q. lo. you're\ Rowe ; y «« Q, F ; 
 you are Capell. 
 
 \Q. you're better spoken\ya\i.s^esk. compare statute 24, Henry vill., 
 
 with better accent, propriety, grace, cap. 10, "Rookes, crowes, and 
 
 Compare "well-spoken," Tm/o G««W«- choughes do yeerely devour and con- 
 
 men of Verona, I. ii. 10: "a knight sume a wonderful quantity of come 
 
 well-spoken, neat and fine." and graine" (ed. 1636, p. 528) ; and 
 
 13. choughs] in Shakespeare's day see Midsummer Nighf s Dream, II. ii. 
 
 and long after this was the name 21 ; Macbeth, III. iv. 12. Still it is 
 
 applied to the jackdaw {Corvus quite likely that the bird here referred 
 
 monedula). See Junius, The Nomen- to may have been the Cornish chough, 
 
 clator, " Graculus monedula, a Pyrochorax graculus, which is now 
 
 chough, a. daw, a jackdaw." Also sometimes to be met with on Beachy 
 
sc.vi] KING LEAR 191 
 
 Show scarce so gross as beetles ; half way down 
 Hangs one that gathers sampire, dreadful trade ! i S 
 Methinks he seems no bigger than his head. 
 The fishermen that walk upon the beach 
 Appear like mice, and yond tall anchoring bark 
 Diminish'd to her cock, her cock a buoy 
 Almost too small for sight. The murmuring 
 surge, 20 
 
 That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes. 
 Cannot be heard so high. I '11 look no more. 
 Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight 
 Topple down headlong. 
 
 Glou. Set me where you stand. 
 
 Edg. Give me your hand ; you are now within a 
 
 foot 2 S 
 
 Of the extreme verge : for all beneath the moon 
 
 Would I not leap upright. 
 
 15. sampire] Q (retained by Furness), samphire Rowe. 17. walk] Q, 
 walked F; beach] Q i, F; beake Q 2. 19. a buoy] F, a boui Q I, aboue 
 Q 2. 21. pebbles chafes] Pope, peebles chafe Q 2, peeble chaffes Q I, pebble 
 chafes F. 22. heard so high] F, heard, its so hie Q I. 
 
 Head, and may well then have been more frequently called cock-boat. We 
 
 common on Dover Cliff. See Withal's meet the word in Gilbert's Voyage, 
 
 Short Dictionarie, 1554, "a chough 1583: " neither could we espy any of 
 
 graculus, i. e. a Cornish chough Pyro- the men that escaped overboard either 
 
 chorax." Also Florio, Queen Anna's upon the same pinnace or cock, or 
 
 New World of Words, " SpeUnere, a upon rafters," quoted by Wright, 
 
 Cornish chough with red feet." Clarendon Press edition. See Payne, 
 
 15. sampire]! retain with Furness Voyages of Elizabethan Seamen, i?>So, 
 
 the old spelling altered by Rowe. p. 200. Gilbert in the same Voyage, 
 
 Professor Skeat writes that it is "the p. 188, uses "cock-boat " in the same 
 
 more correct form, representing a sense. 
 
 former pronunciation." Sampire is 21. unnumber'd] inmimerahle, like 
 
 the herb of St. Pierre (St. Peter); it unvalued for invaluable. See Drayton, 
 
 was used for pickles. See J. Hey- Polyolbion, song i. line 72 : " And 
 
 wood. Rape of Lucrece, Pearson view about the point th' unnumbered 
 
 {Worhs),v. 2^8. Diayton, Polyolbion, fowl that fly." Also the same poet, 
 
 xvii. 764, refers to it as growing on Man in the Moon, line 185: "th' 
 
 the "cleaves of Dover." unnumbered sholes" (j-.e. shoals of 
 
 19. cock] small ship's boat, also fish). 
 
192 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 Glou. Let go my hand. 
 
 Here, friend, 's another purse ; in it a jewel 
 Well worth a poor man's taking : fairies and 
 
 gods 
 Prosper it with thee ! Go thou further off ; 30 
 
 Bid me farewell, and let me hear thee going. 
 
 Edg. Now fare you well, good sir. 
 
 Glou. With all my heart. 
 
 Edg. Why I do trifle thus with his despair 
 Is done to cure it. 
 
 Glou. [Kneeling.l O you mighty gods ! 
 
 This world I do renounce, and in your sights 3 5 
 
 Shake patiently my great affliction off; 
 
 If I could bear it longer, and not fall 
 
 To quarrel with your great opposeless wills. 
 
 My snuff and loathed part of nature should 
 
 Burn itself out. If Edgar live, O, bless him ! 40 
 
 Now, fellow, fare thee well. 
 
 Edg. Gone, sir : farewell. 
 
 [He throws himself forward and falls. 
 And yet I know not how conceit may rob 
 The treasury of life when life itself 
 
 30. further] 7, farther Q. 32. yott] Q_, ye F. 34. Is] Q 1, F ; 'Tis 
 Q 2. Glou. [Kneeling] He kneeles Q, omitted F. 40. him] F, omitted Q. 
 41. Gone, sir] Q, F ; Good sir F 2. 41. He . . . falls] He fals Q, omitted 
 F, He leaps and falls along Rowe. 42. may] Q 2, F ; tny Q i. 
 
 28. another purse] he had already Plays, 1882), i. 288, it is used for 
 
 given Edgar one purse. See scene i. the smouldering wick of a candle : 
 
 line 65 of this Act. "a Frenchman burns downward like 
 
 37, 38. fall to quarrel] start a candle, and commonly goes out 
 
 quarrelling with, begin repining with a stinke like a snuffe." Com- 
 
 against. Compare "fall to blows," pare also Cymbeline, I. vi. 87. 
 
 begin fighting, 2 Henry VI. II. iii. 80. 42. conceit] imagination,, wrong be- 
 
 39. snuff] inferior, refuse, con- lief. Cotgrave explains the French 
 
 temptible part. In Shirley, The word Fantasie as " opinion, humour. 
 
 Martyr' d Soldier (see BuUen, Old imagination, conceit." 
 
sc.vi.] KING LEAR 193 
 
 Yields to the theft; had he been where he 
 
 thought 
 By this had thought been past. Alive or dead ? 45 
 Ho, you sir ! friend ! Hear you, sir ! speak ! 
 Thus might he pass indeed ; yet he revives. 
 What are you, sir ? 
 Glou. Away and let me die. 
 
 Edg. Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air. 
 So many fathom down precipitating, 50 
 
 Thou'dst shiver'd like an egg; but thou dost 
 
 breathe, 
 Hast heavy substance, bleed'st not, speak'st, art 
 
 sound. 
 Ten masts at each make not the altitude 
 Which thou hast perpendicularly fell : 
 Thy life 's a miracle. Speak yet again. 5 5 
 
 Glou. But have I fallen or no ? 
 Edg. From the dread summit of this chalky bourn. 
 
 45. hadthought\ Q I, F ; thought had Q 2. 46. friend] F, omitted Q. 
 49. gossamer] Campbell, goss'mer Pope, gosmore Q, Gozemore F. 51. 
 
 Thou 'dst] F, Thou hadst Q. 56. no .?] Q 2, F ; wo / Q i. 57. summit] 
 Rowe (ed. 2), following suvimet F 2, Somnei F, sommmis Q i, summons Q 2. 
 
 47. pass] die. See v. iii. 304, and " I will not praise thy 
 
 Z Henry VI. ill. iii. 25 ; see also wisdom, 
 
 Soliman and Perseda, 1599 {Dodsley's Which, like a bourn, a pale, a 
 
 O/i/iVflj'J-, Hazlitt, V. 371): "Trouble shore, confines 
 
 me not ; but let me pass in peace." Thy spacious and dilated parts." 
 
 53. at each] attached end to end. See for the same idea, Cymbeline, in. 
 I know no other instance of this i. 16-20: 
 
 expression. Theobald writes : '"Tis " Remember, sir, my liege, . . 
 
 certain 'tis a bold phrase, but I dare The natural bravery of your isle ; 
 
 warrant 'twas our author's." which stands 
 
 54. _/4//] fallen, irregular. Compare As Neptune's park, ribbed and 
 " I have spoke" {i.e. spoken), Merry paled in 
 
 Wives, I. iii. 14. With rocks unscaleable, and 
 
 57. bourn] defensive pale, limiting roaring waters." 
 
 bound. See Troilus and Cressida, See also King John, il. i. 23-25. 
 II. iii. 260 : 
 
194 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 Look up a -height; the shrill - gorged lark so 
 
 far 
 Cannot be seen or heard : do but look up. 
 Glou. Alack ! I have no eyes. 60 
 
 Is wretchedness deprived that benefit 
 To end itself by death ? 'Twas yet some 
 
 comfort, 
 When misery could beguile the tyrant's rage, 
 And frustrate his proud will. 
 Edg. Give me your arm : 
 
 Up : so ; how is 't ? Feel you your legs ? You 
 stand. 65 
 
 . Glou. Too well, too well. 
 
 Edg. This is above all strangeness. 
 
 Upon the crown o' the cliff what thing was 
 
 that 
 Which parted from you? 
 Glou. A poor unfortunate beggar. 
 
 Edg. As I stood here below methought his eyes 
 
 Were two full moons ; he had a thousand 
 noses, 70 
 
 58. a-height^ hyphened Warburton ; shrill-gorg*d\ hyphened F. 65. how 
 is't? Feel\Y , how fede (). 69. methought] Qi, me tjlought 7, me thoughts 
 Q I. 70. he kad\ F, a had Q. 
 
 58. a-heighi] on high. The New " The cock, that is the trumpet of 
 JSng. Diet, gives an instance from the morn, 
 Rawleigh's Ghost {i(sii), 109: "The Doth with his lofty and shrill- 
 brazen serpent being hanged a height " ; sounding throat 
 and see Wright, Eng. Dialect Diet., Awake the god of day." 
 1898 (in progress), where we find 65. Feel you'], can you use. See 
 that the word is alive to-day in York- E. K.'s Epistle Dedicatory to the Shep- 
 shire. herd's Calendar, 1579, line 175, 
 
 58. shrill - gor^d] shrill - throated, Grosart {Works), 1882, ii. 30: "So 
 
 shrill - voiced. Throat is often used flewe Virgil, as yet not well feeling his 
 
 in the sense of voice or loud note, wings." 
 See Havilet, i. i. 149-151 : 
 
sc.vi] KING LEAR 195 
 
 Horns whelk'd and wav'd like the enridged 
 
 sea : 
 It was some fiend ; therefore, thou happy father, 
 Think that the clearest gods, who make them 
 
 honours 
 Of men's impossibilities, have preserved thee. 
 Glou. I do remember now ; henceforth I '11 bear 7 5 
 
 Affliction till it do cry out itself 
 " Enough, enough," and die. That thing you 
 
 speak of 
 I took it for a man ; often 'twould say 
 " The fiend, the fiend " : he led me to that 
 
 place. 
 Edg. Bear free and patient thoughts. But who comes 
 
 here ? 80 
 
 71. wheWdl Hanmer, welKt Q i, welkt Q 2, wealk'd F. ; enridged'^ Q, 
 enraged F. 73. make them] F, made their Q. 78. 'twould] F, would 
 it Q I, would he Q 2. 
 
 71. a/^^tt'rf] Malonerightly, I think, 73. c/«ar«rf]mostopenandrighteous 
 
 explains this word as " twisted, con- in their dealings, most pure. Wright 
 
 volved." See Goldmg's Ovid s Meta- quotes Timon of Athens, iv. in. 2"; : 
 
 morphosis, i^g^, Book x.. leai 122 {d): "ye clear heavens." See also The 
 
 "Yea even as gladly as the folk Four Elements {DodsUy s Old Plays, 
 
 whose brows sometime did bear Hazlitt, i. 43) : 
 A pair of welked horns." "ye shall hear them sing as sweetly 
 
 Wright (Clarendon Press edition) ex- As they were angels clear." 
 
 plains " swollen, as if with whelks." ggg ^i^^ Beaumont and Fletcher, The 
 
 71. waz/d] exhibitmg a rough ^^^; ^^^-^^^^ ij . 
 
 wave-like form. We still speak 01 ,,-0 ,• -^ . ..1 
 
 <i J -It, " Believe it, a brave gentleman, 
 
 wavea siuc. Worthy the duke's respect, a 
 
 71. enrzdged] inirov/ed. Compare Hear ™ppt i^pntlpman " 
 
 "the ridged sea," Tennyson, The clear sweet gentleman. 
 
 Sea-Fairies, Poems, ed. 1869, p. 44, Schmidt explains "bright, pure, 
 
 and Swinburne's Hendecasyllabics, glorious " ; Tovey, " most manifest 
 
 Poems and Ballads, 1868, p. 234 : in their intervention.'' 
 
 " Where the flower of foam was 80. free] free from fear, unappre- 
 
 blown, a lily hensive. See in. iv. ii. Some ex- 
 
 Dropt among the sonorous fruit- plain "innocent." 
 less fvirrows." 
 
196 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act IV. 
 
 Enter Lear, fantastically dressed with wild flowers. 
 
 The safer sense will ne'er accommodate 
 
 His master thus. 
 Lear. No, they cannot touch me for coining ; I am 
 
 the king himself. 
 Edg. O thou side-piercing sight ! 8 S 
 
 Lear, Nature 's above art in that respect. There 's 
 
 your press-money. That fellow handles his bow 
 
 like a crow-keeper : draw me a clothier's yard. 
 
 Look, look ! a mouse. Peace, peace ! this 
 
 Enter . . . flowers] Capell; Enter Lear mad Q (after "thus," line 
 82) ; Enter Lear F (after "thoughts," line 80). 83. coining\ Q, ciyingV. 
 85. side-piercing] hyphened F. 
 
 81. The safer senselthes&na sense; 
 a man in the perfect possession of his 
 senses would not get himself up in 
 this grotesque garb, fashion. 
 
 81. accommodate] equip, get up. 
 Compare "unaccommodated," ill. 
 iv. 114. 
 
 83. touch] hurt, injure. So 1 
 Henry IV. II. iv. 300 : "the liar will 
 not touch the true prince." 
 
 85. side-piercing] keenly distress- 
 ing; piercing the very heart with 
 grief, as a knife or sword pierces it. 
 
 87., press-money] money given to 
 soldiers when taken into service, 
 impressed, or 'press'd. "To press 
 soldiers, conscribere, colligere milites," 
 Minsheu, Ductor in Linguas, 1617. 
 So 1 ffenry IV. iv. ii. 13: "the king's 
 press," i.e. "the king's levies"; see 
 also "impressed lances," v. iii. 80. 
 
 88. crow-keeper] may either mean a 
 scarecrow or figure set up to frighten 
 away the rooks from the com, with 
 a bow awkwardly tucked under its 
 arm, now called in dialect "a crow- 
 boggart" ; or a boy whose business 
 it is to scare away rooks, now in 
 dialect "crow-boy, crow-frightener." 
 See Romeo and Juliet, I. iv. 6 : 
 
 ' ' We '11 have no Cupid hoodwink'd 
 with a scarf, 
 Bearing a Tartar's painted bow 
 
 of lath. 
 Scaring the ladies like a. crow- 
 keeper." 
 Here the figure is obviously meant. 
 In the old play Dick of Devonshire, 
 ii. 4, Dick Pike evidently refers to 
 the latter. BuUen, Old Plays, ii. 38 : 
 " Are you bouncing ? I'll no 
 further. 
 Sure these can be no crow- 
 keepers nor bird-scarers from 
 the fruit." 
 Douce quotes from Ascham's Toxo- 
 philus: "another" (awkward shooter) 
 "cowereth down and layeth out his 
 buttocks as though he would shoot at 
 crows." See Arber, 1868, p. 145. 
 88. jne] dativus ethicus. 
 88. clothier's yard] an arrow or 
 shaft ; a cloth yard long. This term 
 was often applied to arrows in the old 
 ballads. So "Chevy Chase," line 
 180: , 
 
 " An arrow of a cloth yard long 
 Up to the head he drew.'' 
 And Drayton, in his Polyolbion, de- 
 
sc. 
 
 VI.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 197 
 
 piece of toasted cheese will do't. There's 
 my gauntlet ; I 'II prove it on a giant. Bring 
 up the brown bills. O ! well flown, bird ; i' 
 hewgh ! Give the word. 
 
 90 
 
 95 
 
 the clout, i' the clout 
 
 Edg. Sweet marjoram. 
 
 Lear. Pass. 
 
 Glou. I know that voice. 
 
 Lear. Ha ! Goneril, with a white beard ! They 
 flattered me like a dog, and told me I had 
 white hairs in my beard ere the black ones 
 were there. To say " ay " and " no " to every 1 00 
 thing I said ! " Ay " and " no " too was no 
 
 90. piece of] F, omitted Q. 93. c/out] F, ayre Q ; hewgh] F, hagh Q. 
 
 97. Ha . . . They] with a white beard? They F, ha, Regan, they Q. 
 
 98, 99. had white] Q, had the white F. 100, loi. every thiiig I said] 
 Q I, every thing that I said F, all I said Q 2. 
 
 scribing the mates of Robin Hood, 
 writes, song xxvi. line 328: "They 
 not an arrow drew but was a cloth- 
 yard long." 
 
 gi. gauntlet] a leather glove plaited 
 with steel. So $ Henry IV. I. i. 
 146 : 
 " A scaly gauntlet now, with joints 
 of steel. 
 Must glove this hand." 
 92. the brown bills] the brown bill- 
 men. A brown bill was a sort of pike 
 with a hooked point, called brown 
 because so stained to keep off rust. 
 So Marlow, Edward II. m. ii. 87 : 
 " Lo with a band of bowmen and 
 of pikes 
 Brown bills and targeteers. " 
 
 92. bird] Lear probably gives this 
 term to an imaginary arrow which he 
 imagines has been shot. Some think 
 he believes himself hawking and at 
 the butts by turns. 
 
 93. clout] the mark shot at. So 
 Lovers Labour's Lost, iv. i. 136 : 
 "a' must shoot nearer, or he '11 ne'er 
 
 hit the clout." Also Marlow, 1 Tavi- 
 burlane the Great, II. iv. 8 : " For kings 
 are clouts that every man shoots at." 
 Furnivall, Forewords to the Babees 
 Book, ii. II, writes: "Within thirty 
 years they (the Royal archers of Edin- 
 burgh) shot at a square mark of 
 canvas on a frame, and called the 
 clout, and an arrow striking the 
 target is still called in the clout." 
 
 93. hewgh] this exclamation is, I 
 think, an imitation either of a sup- 
 posed arrow whizzing through the air 
 or of the whistling of the wind. 
 Compare the following from the 
 ballad of " Robin Hood and the Cur- 
 tall Fryer " : 
 
 " The friar set his fist to his mouth, 
 And he whuted whues three. " 
 Child, Eriglish and Scottish Ballads, 
 1864, V. 276. 
 
 93. word] watchword or password. 
 So Richard III. V. iii. 349 : " Our 
 ancient word of courage, fair Saint 
 George." Johnson thinks Lear 
 imagines himself in a garrison. 
 
198 • KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 good divinity. When the rain came to wet me 
 once and the wind to make me chatter, when 
 the thunder would not peace at my bidding, 
 there I found 'em, there I smelt 'em out. Go 105 
 to, they are not men o' their words : they told 
 me I was every thing; 'tis a lie, I am not 
 ague-proof. 
 
 Glou. The trick of that voice I do well remember : 
 Is 't not the king ? 
 
 Lear. Ay, every inch a king : no 
 
 When I do stare, see how the subject quakes. 
 I pardon that man's life. What was thy cause ? 
 Adultery ? 
 
 Thou shalt not die : die for adultery ! No : 
 The wren goes to 't, and the small gilded fly 1 1 S 
 Does lecher in my sight. 
 
 Let copulation thrive ; for Gloucester's bastard son 
 Was kinder to his father than my daughters 
 Got 'tween the lawful sheets, 
 To't, luxury, pell-mell! for I lack soldiers. 120 
 
 102. t6\ Q 2, F ; toe Q 1. 107. eveiy] Q 2, F ; ever Q i. 108. 
 
 ague-proof] F, argtte-proof <^, 114. die: die for] F, die for Q. 116. 
 Does] F, Do Q. 120. lack] Q 2, F; want Q i. 
 
 109. trick] peculiar distinguishing in this weighty cause?" From this 
 
 note or ring. This word is used by meaning the transition to "charge, 
 
 Shakespeare for mark of countenance, accusation," was easy. 
 
 ss Til King John, I. i. 85: "He hath 120. luxury]\\isX. See Hamlet, I. 
 
 a trick of Cceur-de-lion's face." The v. 83. 
 
 expression appears to be drawn from 120. pell-melT] promiscuously, con- 
 
 the language of heraldry. fusedly. So Richard III. v. iii. 312 : 
 
 112. What was thy cause?] what "let's to't pell-mell" (Richard is 
 
 are you accused of? The word first addressing his soldiers before the 
 
 had the meaning "a subject of dis- battle) ; and see also Cotgrave, i^««(rA 
 
 pute, something to be decided between Dictionary: " Pesle-mesle, pell-mell, 
 
 party and party." See 2 Henry VI. confiisedly, hand over head, all on a 
 
 in. i. 289: "What counsel give you heap, one with another. " 
 
SC. VI.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 199 
 
 Behold yond simpering dame, 
 
 Whose face between her forks presageth snow; 
 
 That minces virtue, and does shake the head 
 
 To hear of pleasure's name ; 
 
 The fitchew nor the soiled horse goes to 't 125 
 
 With a more riotous appetite. 
 
 Down from the waist they are Centaurs, 
 
 Though women all above : 
 
 But to the girdle do the gods inherit, 
 
 121, 156. yond} F, yon Q. . 122. presageth} Q, p-esages F. 123. does] F, 
 {do's) do Q. 124. To hear] F, hear Q. 125. The fitchew} F, Tofichew Q. 
 
 122. Whose . . . snow} To look 
 at whose face one would think she 
 was virtue itself. Edwards so ex- 
 plains, rightly, I think. 
 
 122. /oris} legs. Falstaff likens 
 the youthful, nude Shallow to "a 
 forked radish with a head fantastic- 
 ally carved on it," S Henry IV. iii. 
 ii. 334. W^arburton had explained, 
 " her hand held before her face in 
 sign of modesty." H. C. Hart has 
 suggested to me that forks here may 
 mean instruments then worn by 
 women for keeping up their hair, re- 
 ferred to by Stubbes in his Anatomy 
 of Abuses: "and lest it (the hair) 
 should fall down, it is underpropped 
 with forks, wjre, and I cannot tell 
 what." 
 
 122. snow} chastity. See Tempest, 
 IV. i. 55 : 
 
 " The white -cold virgm snow upon 
 
 my heart 
 
 Abates the ardour of my liver." 
 
 Also Cymbeline, 11. v. 13 : 
 
 " I thought her 
 
 As chaste as unsunned snow." 
 
 123. minces virtue} as Singer ex- 
 plains, " who affects the coy timidity 
 of virtue." See Cotgrave, French 
 Dictionary: " Faire la sadinette, to 
 mince it, niceifie it, make it dainty, 
 be very squeamish, backward, or coy. " 
 Collier read "mimic'd." 
 
 125. fitchew} pole-cat. Dyce re- 
 marks that this word was a cant name 
 for a strumpet. 
 
 125. soiled horse} i.e. the horse 
 wanton with rich feeding. See 
 Florio, Mont<^igne's Essays, ed. 1893, 
 vol. ii. p. 343 : "I have put forth an 
 old stalion to soyle " ; also Topsell, 
 History of Four footed Beasts, 1607 : 
 "if the horse go to soyle in April." 
 Compare saouU, glutted . . . cloyed 
 with, Cotgrave, French Dictionary. 
 The word is still alive in dialect. 
 See T. Evans, Leicester Words, 1881 : 
 ' ' to soil a horse is to give him 
 green food in the house." In Derry 
 clover given to a horse is called 
 "soil," and "to soil a horse" means 
 to feed him on such green food. 
 
 129. But . . . inherit} inherit, 
 possess. See Romeo and Juliet, l. ii. 
 30. Furness quotes an extract sent 
 him by Ingleby : "Among the Here- 
 sies that arose early in the Church 
 there started out a sect called the 
 Paterniani . . . whose opinion was 
 that the upper parts of a man's body 
 were made, indeed, by God, but the 
 lower parts, from the girdle, they 
 held were made by the devil," Eng- 
 land's Vanity, 1683, p. 59. The 
 present passage is closely followed in 
 Beaumont and Fletcher's Love's Cure, 
 II. i. 42-45. 
 
200 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 Beneath is all the fiend's : 13° 
 
 There's hell, there's darkness, there's the sul- 
 phurous pit, 
 Burning, scalding, stench, consumption ; fie, fie, 
 fie ! pah, pah ! Give me an ounce of civet, 
 good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination : 
 there 's money for thee. i 3 5 
 
 Glou. O ! let me kiss that hand. 
 
 Lear. Let me wipe it first ; it smells of mortality. 
 
 Glou. O ruin'd piece of nature ! This great world 
 
 Shall so wear out to naught. Dost thou know me ? 
 
 Lear. I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost 140 
 thou squiny at me ? No, do thy worst, blind 
 Cupid ; I '11 not love. Read thou this 
 challenge ; mark but the penning of it. 
 
 G/ou. Were all thy letters suns, I could not see one. 144 
 
 Eei^: [Aside.] I would not take this from report; it is, 
 And my heart breaks at it. 
 
 Lear. Read. 
 
 Glou. What ! with the case of eyes ? 
 
 131. iAere's the sulpkurouslV^n^t (in Globe), there's the sulphury Q, 
 there is the sulphurous F. 132. consuvipti<m\ F, consumation Q. 134. 
 to\ Q, omitted F. 137. Let me •wipe\ F, Here wipe Q. 139. ShaH\ F, 
 Should Q I, SholdQ 2; Dost thou] F, Do you Q. 140. thitu] F, thy Q. 
 141. at me] F, on me Q. 142. this] F, that Q. 143. but] F, omitted 
 Q ; of it] F, of'tCl I, on V Q 2. 144. thy] F, the Q ; see one] Q, sec F. 
 148. the case] Q, F ; this case Rowe. 
 
 134. sweeten my imagination] This still alive in dialect. See EUswoithy, 
 
 expression is found in Marston's play, Somerset Word-Book; "Squiny, to 
 
 Parasitaster or the Fawn, ii. I : squint, to shut one eye, to peep." 
 
 "cherish your hope, sweeten your 148. with . . . «y«] with only the 
 
 imaginations with thoughts of — " sockets which once held the eyes. 
 
 141. sguiny] squint, look askance, See Richard III. I, iv. 29-31 : 
 with side glance. Malone quotes " and in those holes 
 Armin, Nest of Ninnies. See Gro- Where eyes did once inhabit, 
 sart, p. 48 : " the world, queasie- there were crept, 
 stomached, squinnies at this, and As 'twere in scorn of eyes, re- 
 looks as one scorning." The word is fleeting gems." 
 
SC. VI.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 201 
 
 ISO 
 
 iSS 
 
 Lear. O, ho ! are you there with me ? No eyes in 
 your head, nor no money in your purse? 
 Your eyes are in a heavy case, your purse in a 
 Hght : yet you see how this world goes. 
 
 Glou. I see it feelingly. 
 
 Lear. What ! art mad ? A man may see how this 
 world goes with no eyes. Look with thine 
 ears : see how yond justice rails upon yond 
 simple thief. Hark, in thine ear : change 
 places, and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, 
 which is the thief? Thou hast seen a farmer's 
 dog bark at a beggar ? 
 
 150. nor «i7] Q I, F ; nor Q 2. 154. this\ F, the Q. 155. thine\ F, 
 thy Q. 157, 158. change places ; and'] F, omitted Q. 158. handy-dandy\ 
 F, unhyphenedQ. 158, 159. which . . . thief?] F, which is the thief, which 
 
 is the justice ? Q. 
 
 160 
 
 Here we have the reverse of that 
 picture. So a.^\xi Pericles, III. ii. 99: 
 
 " Her eyelids, cases to those 
 heavenly jewels 
 Which Pericles hath lost." 
 Compare also the expression ' ' the 
 cases of their eyes," Wintei's Tale, v. 
 ii. 14. Rowe changed it here to " this 
 case of eyes," which he thought might 
 mean " with this pair of eyes, such a 
 pair " ; and Grant White took a 
 similar meaning out of the present 
 words. Case is, of course, used fre- 
 quently in the sense of pair. 
 
 149. are you there with me?] is 
 that what you are aiming at, what 
 you refer to ? See As You Like It, 
 V. ii. 32. A phrase of the same 
 kind as one in Caxton's translation of 
 Reynard the Fox : "I demanded 
 (says Reynard) of her (the mare) how 
 she would sell it (her foal). She said, 
 ' It is written on my hinder foot ' ; 
 then wist I well where she would be " 
 (Arber, p. 62). 
 
 151. are . . . case] are in a sad 
 plight. 
 
 151, 152. your purse . . . lig-ht] a 
 
 quibble between light, merry, and 
 light, empty. Compare for a similar 
 quibble, Cymbeline, v. iv. 167 (after 
 the tavern) : " purse and brain both 
 empty, — the brain the heavier for 
 being too light, the purse too light, 
 being drawn of heaviness." 
 
 153. feelingly] by experience, by 
 feeling. So As You Like It, 11. i. 1 1. 
 
 157. simple] of low estate. Com- 
 pare the phrase "gentle and simple." 
 See 2 Henry VI. iv. iv. 10, "simple 
 souls " ; Antony and Cleopatra, v. ii. 
 342, " a simple countryman." 
 
 158. handy -dandy] i.e. take your 
 choice ; a well-known game among 
 children. A person places a small 
 object in one of his closed hands and 
 shuffles it, and invites the others to 
 say which hand contains it, repeating 
 at the same time, " Handy-dandy, 
 etc., which hand will you have." See 
 Chapman, The Blind Beggar of 
 Alexandria (Shepherd, 1874, p. 6 
 (b)): " Why, lo ! here we are both ; I 
 am in this hand, and he is in that : 
 handy-dandy, prickly-prandy, which 
 hand will you have ? " 
 
202 KING LEAR [act iv. 
 
 Glou. Ay, sir. 
 
 Lear. And the creature run from the cur ? There 
 thou might'st behold the great image of 
 authority ; a dog 's obeyed in office. 
 Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand ! 165 
 
 Why dost thou lash that whore ? Strip thine own 
 
 back ; 
 Thou hotly lusts to use her in that kind 
 For which thou whipp'st her. The usurer hangs 
 
 the cozener. 
 Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear; 
 Robes and furr'd gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold. 
 And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks ; 171 
 Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it. 
 None does offend, none, I say, none ; I '11 able 'em : 
 Take that of me, my friend, who have the power 
 To seal the accuser's lips. Get thee glass eyes ; 175 
 And, like a scurvy politician, seem 
 
 164. dog''s obeyed^ F, dog, so bade Q I, dog so bad CI 2. 166. iAine] Q, 
 thyV. 167. Thou hotly lusts'\Y , thy blood hotly lusts Ql. 169. Through^ 
 Q, Thorough Y; tatter'd clothes] ¥, tottered rags ; small] Q, great 'P. 170. 
 hide] F, hides Q. 170-175. Plate . . . lips] F, omitted Q, Plate sins 
 Theobald (ed. 2), Place sins F. 
 
 162. craa^are] human being. " place " of Q and F ; clothe it in the 
 
 165. beadle] a parish constable, strong plate armour of gold. Perhaps 
 See 2 Henry VI. II. i. 136. there is a quibble with the sense of 
 
 168. The usurer , . . cozener] a "plate," a coin, a word we find in 
 
 magistrate who secretly practises Antony and Cleopatra, v. ii. 92, and 
 
 usury, though illegal, passes sentence which is still alive in dialect, 
 on one only guilty of petty cheating. 173. able] warrant, vouch for. 
 
 168. cosener] cheat. So Winter's " Ablyn or to make able, Habilito," 
 
 Tale, IV. iv. 256: " there are cozeners Promptorium Parvulorum, 1440. So 
 
 abroad." Middleton, The Changeling, i. ii. 
 
 170. furrd gowns] gowns worn by 136 : " Constable, I '11 able em." 
 aldermen. 176. politician] trickster. Shake- 
 
 170. hide all] Malone quotes speare always uses this word in a 
 
 Lucrece, 93: "Hiding base sin in depreciatory sense. So 1 Henty IV. 
 
 plaits of majesty." 1. iii. 241: "this vile politician, 
 
 170, Plate] Theobald, change for Bolingbroke." 
 
sc.vi.] KING LEAR 2(\3 
 
 To see the things thou dost not. Now, now, now, 
 now; 
 
 Pull off my boots ; harder, harder ; so. 
 Edg. [Aside] O ! matter and impertinency mix'd ; 
 
 Reason in madness. i8o 
 
 Lear. If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes ; 
 
 I know thee well enough ; thy name is Gloucester ; 
 
 Thou must be patient ; we came crying hither : 
 
 Thou know'st the first time that we smell the air 
 
 We waul and cry. I will preach to thee : mark. 1 8 S 
 Glou. Alack, alack the day ! 
 Lear. When we are born, we cry that we are come 
 
 To this great stage of fools. This' a good block ! 
 
 It were a delicate stratagem to shoe 
 
 A troop of horse with felt ; I '11 put 't in proof, 190 
 
 177. J\row . . . Mow'i F, No now Q i, No, now Q 2. 181. fortunes] F, 
 fortune!^. 185. waul] F, wail Q; mark Y , mark me Ql. 188. This'\ 
 Singer, Sid. Walker conject. ; This Q, F; 'Tis a good plot Collier, ed. 2 
 (Collier MS.). 189. shoe\ F, shoot Q. 190. felf\ Y,fell Q; I'll . . . 
 proof] F, omitted Q. 
 
 179. zV«/«;-^««fiKg/] irrelevant words, to the hat of one of the bystanders, 
 
 nonsense. Collier, following his MS., read "'tis a 
 
 i88. T'fe'] this is. I follow Sid- good plot"; this is not to be received, 
 
 ney Walker's suggestion, adopted by though at first sight it looks plausible. 
 
 Singer. Wright, Cambridge Shake- Some have supposed that Lear mis- 
 
 speare, reads "This's." takes a block of wood or the stump 
 
 188. a blocli\ is here probably used of a tree for the mounting block which 
 
 for a hat ; originally the wooden was in every market town, and then 
 
 mould for a hat. See Beaumont and quibbles on the word. 
 Fletcher, Love's Cure, or the Martial i8g, 190. It were . . .felt] Malone 
 
 Maid,\x. \: " though now Your block quotes the following passage from 
 
 head be covered with the Spanish Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Life of 
 
 block"; also C. Tourneur, The Re- Henry the Eighth : "The Lady Mar- 
 
 vengers Tragedy, in. iii. 34: garet . . caused there a joust to be held 
 
 " Come, brother, ere next clock, in an extraordinary manner ; the place 
 
 His head will be made serve a being a large room, raised high from 
 
 bigger block " (quibbling). the ground by many steps, and paved 
 
 Compare also Much Ado, i. i. 77, with black square stones like marble ; 
 
 where the word is used for fashion of while the horses, to prevent sliding and 
 
 hats. (Perhaps so used here.) Lear noise, were shod with felt or flocks." 
 
 may be supposed to snatch off or point See Murray's Reprint, 1872, p. 147. 
 
204 KING LEAE, [activ. 
 
 And when I have stol'n upon these sons-in- 
 law, 
 Then, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill ! 
 
 Enter a Gentleman, with Attendants. 
 Gent. O ! here he is ; lay hand upon him. Sir, 
 
 Your most dear daughter — 
 Lear. No rescue? What! a prisoner? I am even 195 
 
 The natural fool of fortune. Use me well ; 
 
 You shall have ransom. Let me have surgeons ; 
 
 I am cut to the brains. 
 Gent. You shall have any thing. 
 
 Lear. No seconds? all myself? 
 
 Why this would make a man a man of 
 salt, 200 
 
 191. stoVn\ F, stole Q; sons-in-law] Q 2, son in laws Q 1, F. 192. 
 Enter . . . Attendants] Rowe • Enter three Gentlemen Q ; Enter a Gentle- 
 man F ; Enter ... of Cordelia, and Guard Capell. 193. hand] F, hands 
 Q ; Sir\ Q I, F ; Sirs Q 2. 194. Your . . . daughter] F, Your most 
 deere Q l, omitted Q 2. 197. ransom] Q I, F ; a ransom Q 2 ; surgeons] F, 
 a surgeon Capell, a chirurgeon Q 2, a churgion Q I. 200. a man a man 
 of] F, a man of Q- 
 
 192. Then . . . kill] This ciy of the citie, and all his annie with him 
 soldiers, when no quarter was to be in order of battle, crying, ' to the 
 given, is often referred to. See Venus sacke, to the sacke, kill, kill ! ' " 
 and Adonis, 6^2 : 196. natural. . . fortune]hointo 
 
 "Gives false alarms, suggesteth be the sport of fortune. Steevens 
 
 mutiny, quotes Romeo and Juliet, III. i. 141 : 
 
 And in a peacefiil hour doth cry, " O, I am fortime's fool ! " 
 
 ' Kill, kill ! ' " 198. cut to the brains] irritated, 
 
 Malone quotes The Mirrour for vexed to madness. Compare "cut 
 
 Magistrates, ed. 1610, p. 315 : to the heart," Acts of the Apostles 
 
 "Our Englishmen came boldly v. 33 : " When they heard that, they 
 
 forth at night, were cut to the heart." 
 
 Crying, ' St. George, Salisbury, 200. a man of salt] of salt tears. 
 
 kill, kill ! ' " Compare the expressions ' ' thou boy 
 
 I have noticed an allusion also in of tears," Cfl^Vp/awMj, v. v. loi ; "for 
 
 Drayton's Polyolbion. And see also certaindropsof salt" (i.e. fora tearor 
 
 North, Plutarch's Lives (Sylla), ed. two), Coriolanus, v. v. 93; "drops 
 
 '595) P- 505: "Sylla . . . entered full salt," Tempest, i. ii. 155. 
 
sc.vi.] KING LEAR 205 
 
 To use his eyes for garden water-pots, 
 
 Ay, and for laying autumn's dust. 
 Gent. Good sir, — 
 
 Lear. I will die bravely, like a bridegroom. What ! 
 
 I will be jovial : come, come ; I am a king. 
 
 My masters, know you that? 205 
 
 Gent. You are a royal one, and we obey you. 
 Lear. Then there 's life in 't. Nay, an you get it, 
 
 you shall get it by running. Sa, sa, sa, sa. 
 
 {Exit running. Attendants follow. 
 Gent. A sight most pitiful in the meanest wretch. 
 
 Past speaking of in a king! Thou hast one 
 daughter, 2 1 o 
 
 Who redeems nature from the general curse 
 
 Which twain have brought her to. 
 
 Edg. Hail, gentle sir 1 
 
 Gent. Sir, speed you : what 's your will ? 
 
 202. Ay . . . dus{\ Q (for omitted), omitted F. 203. a bridegroonil Q, 
 a smugge bridegroom F. 205. My\ Q, omitted F. 207. Nay, an} 
 Capell, nay and Q I, nay if Q 2, come, and F. 208. by'\ F, with Q ; 
 Sa . . . sd\ F, omitted Q. Exit running] Q ; the King running Exit F ; 
 Attendants follow Capell. 210. one\ Q, a F. 212. have\ F, hath Q.j 
 
 202. a«i?/&r/a}'z«jf] I have ventured 207. there's life in' i} it looks like 
 to introduce *■ for " here ; it, I think, succeeding. Compare A Winter's 
 improves the metre as well as the Tale, iv. iv. 576: "there is some 
 sense. sap in this. " 
 
 203. like a bridegrooni] Compare 208. Sa . . . ja] This word is not 
 Measure for Measure, lii. i. 83-85: uncommon in the dramatic literature 
 
 " If I must die, of the time, and is always expressive 
 
 I will encounter darkness as a bride, of sudden effort or sudden attack. 
 
 And hug it in mine arms." See Cyril Toumeur, The Revenger's 
 
 203. a bridegroom^ The Folio reads Tragedy, v. i : " Vindici. Sa, sa, sa ! 
 
 "a smugge bridegroom." "Smug," thumpe there he lies ! " (stabbing the 
 
 neat, trim. Compare 1 Henry IV. i. Duke). Again, see Middleton, Blurt 
 
 iii. 34: "Fresh as a bridegroom"; Master Constable, III. i. 18: "Then, 
 
 also Beaumont and Fletcher, Woman sir, may you, sir, come upon my 
 
 Pleased, v. 3 : sister, sir, with a first charge, sir, 
 
 "Fy, sir ! so angry Sa, sa, sa, sa ! once giving back, and 
 
 Upon your wedding day? Go thrice coming forward." 
 
 smug yourself." 
 
206 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 Edg. Do you hear aught, sir, of a battle toward ? 
 
 Gent. Most sure and vulgar ; every one hears that, 215 
 
 Which can distinguish sound. 
 Edg. But, by your favour, 
 
 How near 's the other army ? 
 Gent. Near, and on speedy foot ; the main descry 
 
 Stands on the hourly thought, 
 Edg. I thank you, sir : that 's all. 
 
 Gent. Though that the queen on special cause is here, 220 
 
 Her army is moved on. 
 Edg. I thank you, sir. \Exit Gentleman. 
 
 Glou. You ever-gentle gods, take my breath from 
 me: 
 
 Let not my worser spirit tempt me again 
 
 To die before you please ! 
 Edg. Well pray you, father. 
 
 Glou. Now, good sir, what are you ? 225 
 
 Edg. A most poor man, made tame to fortune's blows ; 
 
 Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows, 
 
 214. sir\ F, omitted Q. 215. everyone hears thai] ¥, every one here's 
 that Q I, every ones heares Q 2. 216. WhicK\ Q, ThatY ; soundl\ F, sense 
 Q. 218. speedy foot] F, speed for' t Q (fort Q I); descry'] F> descries Q. 
 219. Stands'] Q 2, F; Standst Q I ; thought] F, thoughts Q. 221. Her] 
 F, Hir Q I, His Q 2. Exit Gentleman] Johnson, Exit Q, after "on" F. 
 222. ever-gentle] hyphened Capell. 226. tame to] F, lame by Q. 
 
 214. toward] See note to 11. i. We expect every hour to be liable to 
 I o. catch sight of the main body approach- 
 
 215. vulgar] in every one's mouth, ing. Compare scene v. line 13 of 
 in general circulation. See Comedy this Act. For " stands on," see 
 of Errors, III. i. 100: "A vulgar Othello, II. '\. ^\ : 
 
 comment will be made of it. " " my hopes, not surfeited to death, 
 
 218. on speedy foot] very quickly Stand in bold cure." 
 
 advancing. Compare the expressions, 227. by the art of] instructed by, 
 
 " upon the foot of motion," Macbeth, doctored by. Schmidt explains " ex- 
 
 II. iii. 131; and "upon the foot of perience." 
 
 fear" (flying in ^zmc), 1 Henry IV. 22^. feeling] heart-felt, severe, as 
 
 V. V. 20. in Romeo and Juliet, iii. v. 75 : 
 
 218, 219. the main . . . thought] "such a feeling loss." This exact 
 
sc.vi.] KING LEAR 207 
 
 Am pregnant to good pity. Give me your hand, 
 I '11 lead you to some biding. 
 Giou. Hearty thanks : 
 
 The bounty and the benison of heaven 230 
 
 To boot, and boot ! 
 
 Enter Oswald. 
 
 Osw. A proclaim'd prize ! Most happy ! 
 
 That eyeless head of thine was first framed flesh 
 To raise my fortunes. Thou old unhappy traitor. 
 Briefly thyself remember : the sword is out 
 That must destroy thee. 
 
 Glou. Now let thy friendly hand 235 
 
 Put strength enough to 't. \Edgar interposes. 
 
 Osw. Wherefore, bold peasant. 
 
 Darest thou support a publish'd traitor ? Hence ; 
 
 230. bounty . . . benison] Q, bornet and the beniz Q I (some copies), 
 231. To . . . boot!] F; to boot, to boot Q i (some copies), Q 2 ; ^o save thee 
 Q I (some copies). Enter Oswald] Collier ; Enter Steward Q, F. 232. 
 first] omitted Q i (some copies). 233. Thou old] F, Thou most Q. 236. 
 Edgar interposes] Collier ; Edgar opposes Johnson ; omitted Q, F. 237. 
 Darest Q 2, F ; Durst Q I. 
 
 expression " feeling sorrows " is found boot,' in addition (to my thanks), 
 
 again in Winter's Tale, iv. ii. 9: "to and (the bounty of heaven) be your 
 
 whose feeling sorrows I might be some help." 
 
 allay." 234. thyself remember] think of 
 
 228. pregnant] disposed, prompt, your soul's health. Compare the ex- 
 ready. So Troilus and Cressida, iv. pression in Cymbeline, v. v. 74 : 
 iv. 90 : " think of your estate." 
 
 " fair virtues all, 234. (;«^] unsheathed, not " up " or 
 
 To which the Grecians are most sheathed. As in Merry Wives, 11. 
 
 prompt and pregnant." iii. 47: "if I see a sword out," 
 
 229. fe'^zw^] abode, dwelling. etc. "Up" is used for sheathed. 
 
 230. benison] blessing. See note See Othello, I. ii. 60 : " Keep up 
 to I. i. 266. your bright swords. " 
 
 231. To boot, and boot] Hereford 237. /aWz>/iV<«s«Vo;-] one who has 
 writes, Eversley Shakespeare, 1899, been publicly proclaimed a traitor. 
 ix. 124: "By the repetition Gloster See 11. iii. i : "I heard myself pro- 
 wishes to convey both meanings, ' to claimed." 
 
208 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act IV. 
 
 Lest that the infection of his fortune take 
 Like hold on thee. Let go his arm. 
 
 Edg. Chill not let go, zur, without vurther 'casion. 240 
 
 Osw. Let go, slave, or thou diest. 
 
 Edg. Good gentleman, go your gait, and let poor 
 volk pass. An chud ha' bin zwaggered out of 
 my life, 'twould not ha' bin zo long as 'tis by a 
 vortnight. Nay, come not near th' old man ; 245 
 keep out, che vor ye, or ise try whither your 
 costard or my ballow be the harder. Chill be 
 plain with you. 
 
 238. thati F, omitted Q. 240. zur\ zir F, sir Q ; vurther\ F, omitted Q ; 
 'casion\ F, cagion Q. 242. and\ omitted Q. 243. »o*] Q 2, F j voke Q i ; 
 hd'\ F, have Q. 244. zd\ so Q i ; as 'its] F, omitted Q. 246. ise] ice F, 
 He Q. 247. costard] Q 2, F ; coster Q i (some copies) ; costerd (some 
 copies) ; ballow] F, bat Q i (some copies), Q 2 ; battero Q i (some copies). 
 
 240. Chilt] I will. This form is 
 very common in the old drama in the 
 speeches of uneducated persons and 
 rustics. It occurs three times in the 
 first eight lines of Act 11. scene 11. 
 of The Contention between Liberality 
 and Prodigality: "Chill now take 
 pains," etc. See aXiia London Prodigal, 
 V. I : "I chill have it despatched." 
 
 242. go your gait] i.e. your own 
 way. The path of an animal was 
 once called its gait. See The Gentle- 
 man's Recreation. 
 
 243. Ati chud] if I could. 
 
 246. che vor ye] I warn you. 
 Capell quotes The Contention between 
 Liberality and Prodigality, II. iii. 4 : 
 ' ' Yea by gis, sir, 'tis high time che 
 vore ye." See also LonMon Prodi- 
 gal, V. I : "Well, che vor ye, he 
 is changed " ; and a few lines on : 
 "And you shall not want for vorty 
 more, I che vore thee." In last case 
 Oliver, a Devonshire clothier speaks. 
 
 246. ise] I shall. 
 
 247. costard] head ; literally a kind 
 of apple used ludicrously, as nut at 
 present vulgarly is, for head ; for the 
 
 sense of apple, see Huloet's Diction- 
 ary, 1572, "apple called costard"; 
 also Drayton, Polyolbion, song xviii. 
 line 684 : 
 
 " The Sweeting, for whose sake the 
 plow-boys oft make war. 
 The Wilding, Costard, then the 
 well-known Pom water." 
 For the sense of head, see Richard 
 III. I. iv. 159: "Take him o'er the 
 costard with the hilt of thy sword " ; 
 also Euterpe (^Herodotus, Book ii.), 
 translated by B. R., 1584, Andrew 
 Lang, 1888, p. 63 : " they yet sol- 
 emnise to Mars a feast of broken 
 pates and bruised costards." 
 
 247. ballow] cudgel. Wright, in 
 the English Dialect Dictionary, 1896, 
 first clearly demonstrates what was 
 not before quite certain that this was 
 a real dialect word. It was before, 
 indeed, given in Grose's Provincial 
 Glossary, 1790, third edition, 1811 ; 
 "Ballow, a pole North"; and in 
 Bailey's Dictionary, 1721, it is ex- 
 plained as "a pole, a long stick, a 
 quarter-staff, etc." Wright quotes: 
 "John Bult, Sheriff's Serjeant at 
 
sc. VI.] KING LEAR 209 
 
 Osw. Out, dunghill ! 
 
 Edg. Chill pick your teeth, zir. Come; no matter 250 
 
 vor your foins. 
 
 {They fight, and Edgar knocks him down. 
 Osw. Slave, thou hast slain me. Villain, take my purse. 
 
 If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body ; 
 
 And give the letters which thou find'st about me 
 
 To Edmund Earl of Gloucester ; seek him out 255 
 
 Upon the English party : O ! untimely death. 
 
 Death ! {Dies. 
 
 Edg. I know thee well : a serviceable villain ; 
 
 As duteous to the vices of thy mistress 
 
 As badness would desire. 
 Glou. What! is he dead ? 260 
 
 250. Chill] Q 2, F ; /& Q I ; zir Q 2, F ; sir Q i. 251. vorl F, for Q. 
 They fight . . . down] Rowe, They fight Q, omitted F ; Edgar . . . down] 
 Rowe, omitted Q, F. 256. English^ F, British Q. 256-257. death. 
 Death /] arranged as in Cambridge Shaks. ; death, death, in line 256, Q, F. 
 257. Dies] He dies Q, omitted F. 
 
 Mace, sues Thomas Hewett, cobbler, Painter's Palace of Pleasure : " Thi- 
 
 for assaulting him with a staff beaked bault . . . turned towards Romeo, 
 
 with iron, called 'a ballowe staff,'" thinking with a foine to run him 
 
 Nottingham Recorder, 1504; and through." See Daniel, New Shaks. 
 
 also from the same paper ; ' ' there was Soc. ed. p. 1 1 2. See also ' ' Coup destoc, 
 
 paid to divers for kyddes and ballowe a thrust, foin, stockado," Cotgrave's 
 
 wood"(ed. 1621). Prench Dictionary. Furnessinhisnote 
 
 249. dunghitr\ applied to a person to " foining fence " in his new edition 
 
 of very base station or strain. So of Much Ado, v. i. 84, states that he 
 
 King John, IV. III. 87: "Out, dung- suspects the word "to have a more 
 
 hill ! darest thou brave a nobleman ? " technical sense," no trace of which I 
 
 also 2 Henry VI. i. iii. 196, and see can as yet find in any of the books 
 
 Hall's Chronicle, ed. 1809, p. 430: on fencing I have examined; but 
 
 " such a dunghill knave and vile-born from the following passage from Re- 
 
 villain." In the north of Ireland a turn from Pai~nassus, 1602, i. II 
 
 dunghill cock is sometimes used for {Dodsley's Old Plays, 'a32\ii\.,\yi.\\(>), 
 
 one not of the game breed ; and Mrs. it appears that thrusts and foins may 
 
 Parker, in her Supplement to the Ox- not be exactly the same : 
 
 ford Glossary, ed. 1881, gives ' ' dung- ' ' Then royster doyster in his oylie 
 
 gul bom, low bred or low born." terms, 
 
 251. foins} thrusts. See S Henry Cutts, thrusts, and foines at 
 IV. II. i. 17 : "he will foin like any whomsoever he meets." 
 devil" ; also Rhomeo and Julietta in 256. Upon\ among. 
 
 14 
 
210 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 Edg. Sit you down, father ; rest you. 
 
 Let 's see these pockets : the letters that he speaks of 
 May be my friends. He 's dead ; I am only sorry 
 He had no other deathsman. Let us see : 
 Leave, gentle wax ; and, manners, blame us not : 265 
 To know our enemies' minds^ we 'd rip their hearts ; 
 Their papers is more lawful. 
 
 Let our reciprocal vows be remembered. You 
 
 have many opportunities to cut him off ; if your 
 
 will want not, time and place will be fruitfully 270 
 
 offered. There is nothing done if he return the 
 
 conqueror ; then am T the prisoner, and his bed 
 
 my gaol ; from the loathed warmth whereof 
 
 deliver me, and supply the place for your labour. 
 
 Your — wife, so I would say — 275 
 
 Affectionate servant, 
 
 GONERIL. 
 
 262. these\ F, his Q ; the letters\ F, these letters Q. 263. sorry] Q 
 
 2, Fj sorrow Q I. 266. we'd] Q, we F. 267. is] Q, T"; are F 2. 
 
 268. Let] Q I ; A Letter. Let Q 2 ; Reads the Letter. Let F ; our] F, your 
 Q. 275, 276. say — Affectionate] F ; say, your affectionate Q I ; say, and 
 your affectionate Q 2. 276. Affectionate] F, Your affectionate Q ; servant] 
 Q 2, F ; servant and for you her owne for Venter Q I. 
 
 264. deathsman] slayer ; literally 270. fruitfully] amply, fully. So 
 executioner, as it is used in Z Hemy All 's Well, II. ii. 73 : 
 
 ^{\^\^ll^P'' T u ,j 1, .1. "Countess. You understand me ? 
 
 "But that . . .1 should rob the clown. Most fruitfully." 
 deathman of his fee, 
 
 I would . . . Give thee thy hire, 274. for your] It is just possible 
 
 and send thy soul to hell." that the nonsense of Q i may point 
 
 Heywood, Fortune by Land and Sea, to some such a meaning as this : 
 
 ii. 2, uses it as it is used here : " and one who holds you her own for 
 
 ' ' I willingly fought with him, but venturing, for your hardihood and 
 
 unwillingly courage on her behalf." Gifford, 
 
 Have I become his deathsman." Gent. Mag., 1844, p. 469, thinks 
 
 {Works, Pearson, vi. 392.) the word a corruption of "and your 
 
 265. Leave] will by your leave, owne for ever " (Fumess). 
 
 As in Twelfth Night, 11. v. 103: 276. servarit] lover. So Two 
 " By your leave, wax." Gentlemen of Verona, 11. i. 140. 
 
sc. VI.] KING LEAR, 211 
 
 O undistinguish'd space of woman's will ! 
 A plot upon her virtuous husband's life, 
 And the exchange my brother ! Here, in the sands. 
 Thee I '11 rake up, the post unsanctified 281 
 
 Of murderous lechers ; and in the mature time 
 With this ungracious paper strike the sight 
 Of the death-practised duke. For him 'tis well 
 That of thy death and business I can tell. 285 
 
 Glou. The king is mad : how stiff is my vile sense 
 That I stand up, and have ingenious feeling 
 Of my huge sorrows ! Better I were distract : 
 So should my thoughts be sever'd from my griefs, 
 And woes by wrong imaginations lose 290 
 
 The knowledge of themselves. \A drum afar off. 
 
 Edg. Give me your hand : 
 
 278. u>idisHnguisKd'\ Q 2, Indistinguisht Q l, indistinguisK d F ; will^ 
 F, wit Q. 280. the\ Q, she F. 284. deatk-p-actised] F, unhyphened Q. 
 285. thy'\ Q I, F ; his Q 2. 289 sever'd'] ¥, fenced Q. 290. lose] Q 2 ; 
 loose Q I, F. 291. Drum. . . off] A drum afar off Q, after "griefs," line 
 289, F. 
 
 278. O . . . wiir\ O undeflnable and quiet,, and lay as cinders, raked 
 
 range of woman's appetite. For up in ashes. " It is used in its present 
 
 "will'.' in this sense, see Lucrece, sense in an epitaph at Lillington, 
 
 247 : " 'Tweenifrozen conscience and Dorset (date 1669) ; " Reader, you 
 
 hot-burning will." have within this grave a cole rakt up 
 
 281. rake uf] cover \ip. The most in dust " (Elworthy). 
 
 usual sense is to cover up half-burned 283. ungracious] wicked. So 3 
 
 brands or peats in their ashes. See Henry VI. IV. x. 88. 
 
 Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement : ' ' Rake, 284. death-practised] whose death 
 
 to cover anything in the fire with was plotted. 
 
 ashes"; see 2X^0 Merry Wives, v. v. 286. stiff] obstinately, unbending. 
 
 48: "Where fires thou iind'st un- As in Coriolanus, i. i. 245 : "What, 
 
 raked." It is still provincially used in art thou stiff ? stand'st out ? " Com- 
 
 this sense in Ireland. See also F. J. pare also in S Henry IV. I. i. 177, 
 
 Elworthy, West Somerset Word-Book, " the stiff-borne action." 
 
 1886: ''Rake up the fire. . . cover 287. ingenious] conscious. See 
 
 the embers with ashes so that they Hamlet, v. i. 271. 
 
 may keep alight " ; see also Florio's 288. distract] out of his senses. 
 
 Montaigne, 1580, Book vi. chap. v. : Zo Julius Ccesar, iv. iii. 155: "she 
 
 "which in their solitude was husht fell distract." 
 
212 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 Far off, methinks, I hear the beaten drum. 
 
 Come, father, I '11 bestow you with a friend. {Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE VII. — A Tent in the French Camp. 
 Enter CORDELIA, Kent, Doctor, and Gentleman. 
 
 Cor. O thou good Kent ! how shall I live and work 
 
 To match thy goodness ? My life will be too short. 
 
 And every measure fail me. 
 Kent. To be acknowledg'd, madam, is o'er-paid- 
 
 All my reports go with the modest truth, S 
 
 Nor more nor clipp'd, but so. 
 Cor. Be better suited : 
 
 These weeds are memories of those worser hours : 
 
 I prithee, put them off. 
 Kent. Pardon me, dear madam ; 
 
 Yet to be known shortens my made intent : 
 
 My boon I make it that you know me not i o 
 
 Till time and I think meet. 
 
 293. Exeunt] F, Exit Q. 
 
 Scene Vll. 
 
 A Tent . . .] so Capell substantially. Enter . . . Gentleman] Enter 
 Cordelia, Kent, and Doctor Q ; Enter Cordelia, Kent, and Gentleman F. 
 8. me'\ Q, omitted F. 
 
 293. bestow^ lodge, house. So Merchant of Venice, i. ii. 79 : " how 
 
 1 Henry VI. in. ii. 88 : oddly is he suited ! " 
 
 " We will bestow you in some better "]. Wiswonej] remembrances, some- 
 place, thing which calls a person or thing to 
 Fitter for sickness, and for crazy remembrance. As in Julius CcBsar, 
 age." III. ii. 139 : " Yea, beg a hair of him 
 See also 11. iv. 292. for memory." 
 
 9. shortens . . . intent] interferes 
 
 Scene ril. -v/iih the carefully thought out course 
 
 2. viatch'] properly come up to in of action which we intended to 
 
 remembering, compensating. pursue. So Coriolanus, I. ii. 23 : 
 
 6. clipped"] curtailed, with some- " we shall be shortened in our 
 
 thing omitted. aim." For "made" Collier read 
 
 6. suited] clothed, dressed. So "main." 
 
sc.vii] KING LEAR 213 
 
 Cor. Then be't so, my good lord. \To the Doctor.]^ How 
 
 does the king? 
 Doct. Madam, sleeps still. 
 Cor. O you kind gods, 
 
 Cure this great breach in his abused nature ! i 5 
 
 The untuned and jarring senses, O ! wind up 
 ^ Of this child-changed father. 
 Doct. So please your majesty 
 
 That we may wake the king ? he hath slept long. 
 Cor. Be govern'd by your knowledge, and proceed 
 
 r the sway of your own will. Is he array'd ? 20 
 
 Enter Lear in a chair carried by Servants. 
 Doct. Ay, madam ; in the heaviness of sleep 
 
 We put fresh garments on him. 
 Kent. Be by, good madam, when we do awake him ; 
 
 I doubt not of his temperance. 
 Cor. Very well. \Music. 
 
 Doct. Please you, draw near. Louder the music there! 2 5 
 Cor. O my dear father ! Restoration hang 
 
 Thy medicine on my lips, and let this kiss 
 
 Repair those violent harms "that my two sisters 
 
 Have in thy reverence made ! 
 
 12. viy good lordl Q I , F ; my lord Q 2 ; [T6 the Boctor] To the Physician 
 Theobald ; omitted Q, F. 13, 17. Doct] Q, Gent. F. 16. Jarring\Y, 
 hurrying Q. 18. Thaf^ Q i, F; omitted Q 2, 3. 20. Enter . . . 
 
 Servants] F, omitted Q. 21. of sleeps F, of his sleep Q. 23. Be . . . 
 madam'] F, Good madam, be by Q. 24. «<;?] Q, omitted F. 24, 25. 
 Cor. Very well . . . Doct. Please . . . there] Q, omitted F. 24. Music] 
 soft music Grant White. 
 
 17. child-changed]c\i3.xigtd.mTa.ind., who gives the first explanation, com- 
 
 made imbecile by the cruelty of his pares "care-crazed" (Richard III. 
 
 children, though Steevens thought it ill. vii. 184), " wave-worn "(7e«/«j-i', 
 
 might mean "changed to a child by ir. i. 120). 
 his years and his wrongs." Malone, 24. temperance] sanity. 
 
214 KING LEAR [act iv. 
 
 Kent. Kind and dear princess ! 
 
 Cor. Had you not been their father, these white flakes 30 
 Had challenged pity of them. Was this a face 
 To be opposed against the warring winds ? 
 To stand against the deep dread-bolted thunder ? 
 In the most terrible and nimble stroke 
 Of quick, cross lightning ? to watch — poor perdu ! 
 With this thin helm ? Mine enemy's dog, 36 
 
 Though he had bit me, should have stood that 
 
 night 
 Against my fire. And wast thou fain, poor father, 
 To hovel thee with swine and rogues forlorn, 
 In short and musty straw ? Alack, alack ! 40 
 
 31. Had challenged'] Q, Did challenge F. 32. opposed] F, exposd Q; 
 warring] Q, jarring F. 33-36. To stand . . . helm 7] Q, omitted F. 
 
 33. dread-bolted] hyphened Theobald. 36. enemy's] F, injurious Q. 
 
 30. flakes] snowy locks. Dictionary, 1841 : " Sentinelle perdu, 
 
 31. (rA«//«»^isrf] claimed as a right, postee dans un lieu tres-advance." 
 See note to i. i. 54. " Enfans perdu '' are there described 
 
 33. dread-bolted] furnished with as " soldats quel attaquent les pre- 
 
 dread bolt. The thunder-stone, or mieres. " So Beaumont and Fletcher, 
 
 bolt, is mentioned, distinct from the The Little French Lawyer, ii. 2 : 
 
 lightning, in Cymbeline, iv. ii. 270, " I am set here like a perdu, 
 
 271 : To watch a fellow that has 
 
 " Fear no more the lightning flash, wronged my mistress." 
 
 Nor the all-dreaded thunder- Also Cyril Tourneur, The Atheists 
 
 stone." Tragedy, ii. 65 : 
 
 35. quick, cross] Perhaps a' hyphen "I would you would relieve me, 
 
 should be placed between these for I am 
 
 words, in which case it would mean So heavy that I shall have much 
 
 " darting quickly across the sky." As ado 
 
 in Romeo and Juliet, 11. ii. 119, 120 : . To stand out my perdu." 
 
 " the lightning, which doth 38. Against] before, opposite to. 
 
 cease to be 39. rogiies] vagabonds, wandering 
 
 Ere one can say, 'it lightens.'" mendicants. " Jioder, to roam, 
 
 35. watch . . . perdu] This refers, not wander, vagabondize it ; rogue 
 
 to the " enfans perdu," forlorn hope, abroad, run up and down," ,Cot- 
 
 but to the " sentinelle perdu" of the grave, French Dictionary. See also 
 
 old French army, i.e. sentries which "roguish," III. vii. 107. 
 
 were placed in very perilous positions. 40. short] either chopped, cut short 
 
 See Noel and Chapsall, French for litter, or scanty. 
 
sc.vii.] KING LEAR 215 
 
 'Tis wonder that thy life and wits at once 
 
 Had not concluded all. He wakes ; speak to him. 
 Doct. Madam, do you ; 'tis fittest. 
 
 Cor. How does my royal lord ? How fares your majesty ? 
 Lear. You do me wrong to take me out o' the grave ; 45 
 
 Thou art a soul in bliss ; but I am bound 
 
 Upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears 
 
 Do scald like molten lead. 
 Cor. Sir, do you know me ? 
 
 Lear. You are a spirit, I know ; when did you die ? 
 Cor. Still, still, far wide. 50 
 
 Doct. He 's scarce awake ; let him alone awhile. 
 Lear. Where have I been ? Where am I ? Fair day- 
 light ? 
 
 I am mightily abused. I should e'en die with pity 
 
 To see another thus. I know not what to say. 
 
 I will not swear these are my hands : let 's see ; 55 
 
 I feel this pin prick. Would I were assured 
 
 Of my condition ! 
 Cor. O ! look upon me, sir, 
 
 And hold your hands in benediction o'er me. 
 
 No, sir, you must not kneel. 
 Lear. Pray, do not mock me: 
 
 I am a very foolish fond old man, 60 
 
 43. Doct.] Q, Gent. F. 48. do you know me .?] F, know meQ_i, know 
 ye me? Q 2. 49. when\ Q 2 ; where Q I, F. 55. hands\ Q, hand¥. 
 59. No, sir] Q, omitted F ; ot«] Q 2, F ; omitted Q i. 
 
 42. a//] altogether, utterly col- 63 : " Is my lord well, that he doth 
 
 lapsed. Steevens quotes Timon of speak so wide ? " 
 
 Athens, i. i. 139: " And dispossess to. fond] foolish. Perhaps we 
 
 her all " shouldread "foolish-fond," z.e.toolish, 
 
 47. 'that\ so that. silly from dotage, like ' ' foolish- 
 
 JO. wide] astray, wandering, not witty," foolish m wisdom, Venus and 
 
 coherent in talk. Mvch Ado, iv. i. Adonis, 838. 
 
216 KING LEAR [activ. 
 
 Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less ; 
 
 And, to deal plainly, 
 
 I fear I am not in my perfect mind. 
 
 Methinks I should know you and know this 
 man; 
 
 Yet I am doubtful: for I am mainly ignorant 6$ 
 
 What place this is, and all the skill I have 
 
 Remembers not these garments ; nor V know not 
 
 Where I did lodge last night. Do not laugh at 
 me; 
 
 For, as I am a man, I think this lady 
 
 To be my child Cordelia. 
 Cor. And so I am, I am. 70 
 
 Lear. Be your tears wet? Yes, faith. I pray, weep 
 not: 
 
 If you have poison for me, I will drink it. 
 
 I know you do not love me ; for your sisters 
 
 Have, as I do remember, done me wrong: 
 
 You have some cause, they have not. 
 Cor. No cause, no cause. 75 
 
 Lear. Am I in France? 
 
 Keni. In your own kingdom, sir. 
 
 Lear. Do not abuse me. 
 Doct. Be comforted, good madam ; the great rage, 
 
 61. not . . . /ess] F, omitted Q. 63. in . . . mind\ Q I, Y ; perfect 
 in my mind Q 2. 68. not] Q I, F ; «o Q 2. 70. / am, I am} F, I 
 am Q. 78. Doct.] Q, Gent. F. 
 
 65. mainly'] perfectly. Elsewhere frenzy, madness. So Comedy of 
 
 in Shakespeare the word has the Errors, iv. iii. 88 : 
 meaning "forcibly, mightily." "The reason that I gather he is mad, 
 
 77. abuse] deceive, misinform. So Besides this present instance of 
 Hamlet, 11. ii. 632. his rage, 
 
 78. rage] like rabies, is used for Is a mad tale he told." 
 
sc. vii] KING LEAR 217 
 
 You see, is kill'd in him : and yet it is danger 
 
 To make him even o'er the time he has lost. 80 
 
 Desire him to go in ; trouble him no more 
 
 Till further settling. 
 Cor. Will 't please your highness walk ? 
 Lear. You must bear with me. 
 
 Pray you now, forget and forgive : I am old and 
 foolish. \Exeunt Lear, Cordelia, Doctor, and 
 
 Attendants. 
 Gent. Holds it true, sir,' that the Duke of Cornwall 85 
 
 was so slain ? 
 Kent. Most certain, sir. 
 Gent. Who is conductor of his people ? 
 Kent. As 'tis said, the bastard son of Gloucester. 
 Gent. They say Edgar, his banished son, is with 90 
 
 the Earl of Kent in Germany. 
 Kent. Report is changeable. 'Tis time to look 
 
 about ; the powers of the kingdom approach 
 
 apace. 
 
 79. kiird\ F, cured Q. 79, 80. and yet . . . losfl Q, omitted F. 84. 
 Pray you now] F, Pray now Q. Exeunt . . . Attendants] Exeunt, Manet, 
 Kent, and Gentlemen Q (Gent..Q i) ; Exeunt F. 85-98. Holds . . . 
 
 fougkf] Q, omitted F. 
 
 80. To . . . even] to score up to, 83, walk] withdraw, retire. So 
 to give full information about. In Much Ado, 11. iii. 218 : " My lord, 
 the same metaphor, from the Ian- will you walk ? dinner is ready " ; 
 guage of accountants, compare also T. Heywood, A Mayd Well Lost 
 Macdeti, V. viii. 62: {PVoris), Pearson, iv. 113: "Sir, 
 
 "We shall not spend a large ex- will you walk" (Stroza to the 
 
 pense of time, duke). 
 
 Before we reckon with your 85. Holds it truel is it still credited ? 
 
 several loves. See Henry VIII. 11. i. 149 : 
 
 And make us even with you." " Second Gent. Did you not . . . 
 
 82. Till . . . settling] till he becomes hear 
 
 more calm. Winters Tale, IV. iv. 481 : A buzzing of a separation ? . . . 
 
 " Then, till the fury of his highness First Gent. Yes, but it held 
 
 settle, not." 
 Come not before him. " 
 
218 KING LEAR [act v. 
 
 Gent. The arbitrement is like to be bloody. Fare 95 
 you well, sir. \Exit. 
 
 Kent. My point and period will be throughly wrought, 
 Or well or ill, as this day's battle 's fought. \Exit. 
 
 ACT V 
 
 SCENE I. — The British Camp near Dover. 
 
 Enter, with drum and colours, EDMUND, REGAN, Officers, 
 Soldiers, and Others. 
 
 Edm. Know of the duke if his last purpose hold, 
 Or whether since he is advis'd by aught 
 To change the course ; he 's full of alteration 
 And self-reproving ; bring his constant pleasure. 
 
 \To an Officer, who goes out. 
 
 Reg. Our sister's man is certainly miscarried. 5 
 
 96. Exit] Exit Gent. Theobald, omitted Q. 98. Exit] Q I, Exit Kent 
 Theobald, omitted Q 2. 
 
 Act V. Scene I. 
 
 Act V. Scene /.] F, not marked Q, Act IV. Sce7ie Vlii. Spedding conject. 
 The . . . Dover] Capell substantially ; omitted Q, F ; A Camp Rowe. 
 Enter . . . Others] Enter . . . Regan, Gentlemen, and Souldiers F ; Enter 
 Edmund, Regan, and their powers Q. 3. he''s\ Q i, F ; he is Q 2 ; 
 
 a/teration] abdication Q i (some copies). 4. To an Officer . . .] To . . . 
 who bows and goes out Capell. 
 
 2. advis'd] counselled, warned, in- " It would be for your honour to 
 duced. So 1 Henry IV. iv. iii. 5, declare 
 
 " Be advised, stir not to-night." Your constant purpose to a single 
 
 3. a/;f«ra//ii«] vacillation. life." 
 
 4. constant pleasure'] fixed, settled 5- '"o«] See 11. iv. 201. 
 decision, resolve, will. Compare 5. >niscarried]^msheA. So Henry 
 "constant will," I. i. 44. See also V. IV. i. 155, "if a son . . . mis- 
 Brome, The Court Beggar, Pearson carry upon the sea " ; also line 44 of 
 ( Works), 1873, i. 206 : this scene. 
 
SCI.] KING LEAR 219 
 
 Edm. 'Tis to be doubted, madam. 
 
 R^S- Now, sweet lord. 
 
 You know the goodness I intend upon you : 
 
 Tell me, but truly, but then speak the truth. 
 
 Do you not love my sister ? 
 Edm. In honour'd love, 
 
 Reg. But have you never found my brother's way lo 
 
 To the forfended place ? 
 Edm. That thought abuses you. 
 
 Reg. I am doubtful that you have been conjunct 
 
 And bosom'd with her, as far as we call hers. 
 Edm. No, by mine honour, madam. 
 Reg. I never shall endure her : dear my lord, i 5 
 
 Be not familiar with her. 
 Edm. Fear me not. 
 
 She and the duke her husband 1 
 
 8. bta trulyl Q i, F ; trvly Q 2. 9. /?«] F, /, Q I, 7 Q 2. 11-13. 
 That . . . hers\ Q, omitted F. 1 6. Fea7- me not'] Q, Fear not F. 
 
 6. d<nibted\{f:3x&Si. So Cymbeline, o?y, "Conjonctif, conjunctive, joining, 
 I. vi. 95: combining." 
 
 " Since doubting things go ill, often 13. bosom'd] either an adjective 
 
 hurts more, meaning ' ' admitted to her confi- 
 
 Than to be sure they do.'' dence" (compare "of his bosom," iv. 
 
 And compare "doubtful," fearful, v. 26), or else it is a verb meaning 
 
 this scene, line 12. "have embraced." Steevens, who 
 
 7. intend . . . yoti] mean to con- gave the latter explanation, quotes 
 fer upon you. T. Heywood, 77ie Silver Age, 11. i. 
 
 8. but theti] but if, in case what I (IVoris), Pearson, 1874, iii. 12 (thir- 
 suspect is true. teen lines from the end of the scene). 
 
 11. forfended] forbidden. Othello, 13. as . . . hers] Tovey explains, 
 V. ii. 32, See also Latimer, i'«-mo»j, "in anything that can be said lo 
 Arber, p. 147: "God forfend that belong to her, to the utmost extent. " 
 ever any such enormitie should be in 16. Fear] doubt, distrust. See 
 England." "fear me not" in a similar sense in 
 
 12. conjunct] See note to 11. ii. Measure for Measure, IV. i. 70; also 
 122 ; and Cotgrave's French Diction- 1 Henry IV. iv. i. 24. 
 
220 KING LEAR [act v. 
 
 Enter, with drum and colours, ALBANY, GONERIL, 
 and Soldiers. 
 
 Gon. [Aside.] I had rather lose the battle than that sister 
 Should loosen him and me. 
 
 Aid. Our very loving sister, well be-met. 20 
 
 Sir, this I heard ; the king is come to his daughter. 
 With others whom the rigour of our state 
 Forced to cry out. Where I could not be honest, 
 I never yet was valiant : for this business, 
 It toucheth us, as France invades our land, 25 
 
 Not holds the king, with others, whom, I fear, 
 Most just and heavy causes make oppose. 
 
 Edm. Sir, you speak nobly. 
 
 Re^. Why is this reason'd ? 
 
 Gon. Combine together 'gainst the enemy ; 
 
 Enter . . . Soldiers] F, Enter Albany and Goneril with Troupes Q. 
 18. [Aside] Theobald; omitted Q, F. 18, 19. lAad . . . him and melQ, 
 omitted F. 18. toe] Theobald, /ow«,Q. 21. Sir, this I heard'\Y, For 
 this I heare Q, Sir, this I hear Theobald. 23-28. Where . . . nobIy\ Q, 
 omitted F. 25. toucheth^ Q 2, touches Q i. 26. Not . . . king\ Q, 
 
 7iot the old king Mason conject. 
 
 20. fe-»«c^] simply met. 35, Wyat's poem, "The Wavering 
 
 22. state'] government rule. See Lover Willeth, etc.": 
 
 note to II. ii. 172. "Yet as I gesse, under disdainful 
 
 23. Where'] in a case, in a position brow 
 
 where. One beame of ruth is in her 
 
 24. for] as for. cloudy look, 
 
 25. 26. // toucheth us . . . others] It Which comfortes the mind, that 
 is of moment to me from the fact that erst for fear shook, 
 
 the King of France invades our land, That, bolded straight, the way 
 
 not from the fact that he puts life into then seek I how 
 
 the cause of the king and others, To utter forth the smart I bide 
 
 whom, etc. within." 
 
 26. holds] encourages. So in the 27. heavy causes] weighty reasons. 
 Interlude, Hickscorner [Dodsleji's Old 28. reason'd] discussed, spoken 
 Plays, Hazlitt, i. 182): "Alas, that about, mentioned. So Merchant of 
 I had not one to bold me, Then should Venice, 11. viii. 27: "I reasoned 
 you see me play the man." Also with a Frenchman yesterday." 
 Tottel's Miscellany, 1557, Arber, p. 
 
SCI.] KING LEAR 221 
 
 For these domestic and particular broils 30 
 
 Art not the question here. 
 Alb- Let 's then determine 
 
 With the ancient of war on our proceeding. 
 Edm. I shall attend you presently at your tent. 
 Reg. Sister, you '11 go with us ? 
 
 Gon. No. 35 
 
 Reg. 'Tis most convenient ; pray you, go with us. 
 Gon. [Aside.] O, ho ! I know the riddle. I will go. 
 
 As they are going out enter EDGAR, disguised. 
 
 Edg. If e'er your grace had speech with man so poor. 
 
 Hear me one word. 
 Alb. I 'II overtake you. Speak. 
 
 \Exeunt Edmund, Regan, Goneril, Officers, 
 
 Soldiers, and Attendants. 
 
 Edg. Before you fight the battle, ope this letter. 40 
 
 If you have victory, let the trumpet sound 
 
 For him that brought it : wretched though I 
 
 seem, 
 I can produce a champion that will prove 
 
 30. and particular broils'] F, dore particulars Q I, doore particulars Q 2. 
 31. the\ F, to Q. 32. proceeding] F, proceedings Q. 33. Edm. I . . . 
 tent] Q, omitted F. 36. pray you] Q, pray F. 37. O . . . riddle] 
 
 Capell first marked aside ; Hanmer had so marked the whole line. As . . . 
 enter Edgar, disguised] Theobald ; Enter Edgar Q i ; Exit, Enter Edgar 
 Q 2 ; Exeunt both the Armies ; Enter Edgar F. 38. man] Q i, F ; 
 
 omitted Q 2. 39. Exeunt . . . Attendants] Theobald ; omitted Q, F. 
 
 30. particular] private, not affect- 32. the ancient of war] the elders, 
 
 ing the general interests. As for the veteran soldier, the ancientry skilled 
 
 ' ' dore " and " doore " " particulars " in the art of war. 
 
 of the Q's, Malone suspects that 33. presently] at once. 
 
 " door" is a misprint for " dear,'' and 36. convenient] befitting. 
 
 Steevens thinks that the phrase means 37. O, ho! . . . riddle] you want 
 
 " particulars at our very doors, close to keep me under your eye so as to 
 
 to us." observe my relations with Edmund. 
 
222 KING LEAR [act v. 
 
 What is avouched there. If you miscarry, 
 
 Your business of the world hath so an end, 45 
 
 And machination ceases. Fortune love you ! 
 
 Alb. Stay till I have read the letter. 
 
 Edg. I was forbid it. 
 
 When time shall serve, let but the herald cry, 
 And I '11 appear again. 
 
 Alb. Why, fare thee well: I will o'erlook thy paper. 50 
 
 \Exit Edgar. 
 
 Re-enter EDMUND. 
 
 Edm. The enemy 's in view ; draw up your powers. 
 
 Here is the guess of their true strength and 
 
 forces 
 By diligent discovery ; but your haste 
 Is now urged on you. 
 Alb. We will greet the time. \Exit. 
 
 Edm. To both these sisters have I sworn my 
 love ; 55 
 
 46. And . . . ceases'] F, omitted Q ; love'] Q, loues F. 50. o'erlook] Q i, 
 F ; look ore Q 2; thy] F, the Q. Exit Edgar] Dyce ; Exit (after "again," 
 line 49) Q, F. Re-enter . . .] Theobald ; Enter Q, F. 52. Here] F, 
 Hard CI; gtiess] Q 2, y ; gtiesse Q i. S4- Exit] omitted Q 2. 56. 
 stung] F, stiftg Q. 
 
 44. avouched] asserted, maintained. The number of our host, and 
 
 44. miscarry] See note to scene i. make discovery 
 
 line 5 of this Act. Err in report of us." 
 
 46. machination] See I. ii. 124. Discoverers are used for scouts in 3 
 
 50. o'erlook] peruse. See 1. ii. Henry IV. iv. i. 3. 
 
 40. 54. greet the time] face the occa- 
 
 51. powers] See IV. ii. 16. sion, meet the emergency. For this 
 
 52. ^««jj-] approximate estimate. sense of "greet "see Titus Andron- 
 
 53. By. . . discovery] o\>\jsxaeAhy icus, IV. ii. 174. Compare also the 
 careful scouting, reconnoitring. See expression "mock the time," Mac- 
 Macbeth, V. iv. 6:' beth, I. vii. 81 : "Away and mock 
 
 " thereby shall we shadow the time with fairest show." 
 
SCI.] KING LEAR 
 
 223 
 
 Each jealous of the other, as the stung 
 
 Are of the adder. Which of them shall I 
 
 take? 
 Both ? one ? or neither ? Neither can be enjoy'd 
 If both remain alive : to take the widow 
 Exasperates, makes mad her sister Goneril ; 60 
 
 And hardly shall I carry out my side, 
 Her husband being alive. Now then, we '11 use 
 His countenance for the battle; which being 
 
 done, 
 Let her who would be rid of him devise 
 His speedy taking off. As for the mercy 65 
 
 Which he intends to Lear and to Cordelia, 
 The battle done, and they within our power, 
 Shall never see his pardon ; for my state 
 Stands on me to defend, not to debate. {Exit. 
 
 64. who] F, that Q. 65. the] F, his Q. 66. intends] F, entends Q i, 
 extends Q 2. 
 
 56. jealous] nourishing suspicion, Perhaps, however, it may mean 
 
 hatred for. support. See Cooper, Thesaunis 
 
 61. carry out my side] Possibly, as (quoted New Eng. Diet.), "agger, 
 
 Monck Mason suggested, a phrase a building, a countenance to a fort- 
 
 from gaming, equivalent to "make ress." 
 
 my game." "Side" was undoubt- 65. taking off] removal, death, as 
 
 edly a term in cards. Mason cites in Macbeth, i. vii. 20. 
 examples from Massinger, The Un- 68. shall] they shall. 
 natural Combat, ii. i ("pull down 68, 69. for my state . . . debate] 
 
 aside"); Beaumont and Fletcher, 7%« for it behoves me not to reason but 
 
 Maid's Tragedy, ii. I ; Ben Jonson, to take prompt measures to maintain 
 
 The Silent Woman (" set up a side "). my high position. 
 But, as Rolfe observes, "there are 69. Stands on me] concerns me 
 
 sides in all kinds of games." Steevens much. See Comedy of Errors, iv. i. 
 
 quotes from the Paston Letters: 68: "Consider how it stands upon 
 
 "Heydon's son hath borne out the my credit," i.e. "how it affects my 
 
 side stoutly here, " iv. 155. credit." Also Golding, Ceesar, sig. 
 
 63. counteitance] authority, credit, D. 43 : " Caesar thought it stood upon 
 
 as in Taming of the Shrew, v. i. him to beware." 
 41. 
 
224 KING LEAR [act v. 
 
 SCENE 11.^— A Field between the two Camps. 
 
 Alarum within. Enter, with drum and colours, LeaR, 
 Cordelia, and their Forces ; and exeunt. 
 
 Enter EDGAR and GLOUCESTER. 
 
 Edg. Here, father, take the shadow of this tree 
 
 For your good host; pray that the right may 
 
 thrive. 
 If ever I return to you again, 
 I 'II bring you comfort. 
 
 Glou. Grace go with you, sir ! {Exit Edgar. 
 
 Alarum ; afterwards a retreat. Re-enter Edgar. 
 
 Edg. Away, old man ! give me thy hand : away ! 5 
 
 King Lear hath lost, he and his daughter ta'en. 
 Give me thy hand ; come on. 
 
 Glou. No further, sir ; a man may rot even here. 
 
 Edg. What ! in ill thoughts again ? Men must 
 endure 
 
 A Field . . .] Capell (substantially ) ; omitted Q, F. Alarum . . . exeunt] 
 F (substantially) ; Alarum. Enter the powers of France over the stage, Cor- 
 delia with her father in her hand Q. I. tree\ F, bush Q. 4. Exit 
 Edgar] Pope; Exit F (after " comfort, " line 4, Q). Alarum . . . retreat] 
 Alarum and retreat within F ; Alarum and retreat Q. Re-enter Edgar] F 
 (enter) omitted Q. 8. further] F, farther Q. 
 
 This battle is very inadequately experience that it was his wisest 
 
 described. Spedding, in a paper in course to make the reference to it as 
 
 the New Shaks. Soc. Transactions, brief, as unimportant, as possible. 
 
 1877-79, P- ii> argues against the This seems to me the reason of the 
 
 present arrangement of scenes (see decided meagreness of description, 
 
 introductory note to v. i.). But an 2. good host] shelterer, entertainer. 
 
 Elizabethan dramatist who wished to Compare "kind host," King John, V. 
 
 represent the British forces defeated i. 32; "kind hostess," Macbeth, II. 
 
 by those of France under any condi- i. 16. 
 tions had a hard task. He knew by 
 
sc. III.] KING LEAR 225 
 
 Their going hence, even as their coming hither : i o 
 Ripeness is all. Come on. 
 Glou. And that 's true too. [Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE III. — The British Camp near Dover. 
 
 Enter, in conquest, with drum and colours, Edmund 
 Lear and Cordelia, prisoners ; Officers, Soldiers, etc. 
 
 Edm. Some officers take them away : good guard, 
 Until their greater pleasures first be known 
 That are to censure them. 
 
 Cor. We are not the first 
 
 Who, with best meaning, have incurr'd the worst. 
 For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down ; 5 
 
 Myself could else out-frown false fortune's frown. 
 Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters ? 
 
 Lear. No, no, no, no ! Come, let 's away to prison ; 
 We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage : 
 When thou dost ask me blessing, I '11 kneel down, i o 
 
 II. And . . . too] F, omitted Q 2. Exeunt] F, Exit Q, omitted Q i. 
 Scene III. 
 
 The . . . Dover] Malone ; omitted Q, F. Enter . . . prisoners, officers 
 . . . etc.] Capell; Enter Souldiers, CaptaineF; Enter Edmund with Lear 
 and Cordelia prisoners Q. 2. first\ F, best Q. S- am /] Q, I am F. 
 8. No, no, no, no] F, No, no Q. 
 
 II. Ripeness is all] to be ready, Also Captain Smith, Discovery of 
 
 prepared for death, is the all in all, Virginia: "Some were censured to 
 
 the important thing. So Hamlet, v. the whipping-post." 
 
 ii. 234: "if it be not now, yet it will 9. 2" the cage] We must not forget 
 
 come ; the readiness is all." that cage had the meaning of prison. 
 
 See 2 Henry VI. iv. ii. 56: "his 
 
 Scene ///. father had never a house but the 
 
 3. fa«iar«] judge, pass sentence on. cage." 
 
 So Measure for Measure, I. iv. 72 : lo. I'll kneel down] Shakespeare 
 
 " Isab. Doth he so seelc his life ? may have had here, and in iv. vii. 59, 
 
 Lucio. Hath censured him al- in his eye the affecting scene in the 
 
 ready." old play. The History of King Leir, 
 
 15 
 
226 KING LEAR [act v. 
 
 And ask of thee forgiveness : so we '11 live, 
 
 And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh 
 
 At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues 
 
 Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them 
 
 too. 
 Who loses and who wins ; who 's in, who 's out ; i 5 
 And take upon 's the mystery of things. 
 As if we were God's spies : and we '11 wear out. 
 In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones 
 That ebb and flow by the moon. 
 
 Edin. Take them away. 
 
 Lear. Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia, 20 
 
 The gods themselves throw incense. Have I 
 caught thee? 
 
 12. andsing\ Q i, F ; omitted Q 2. ■ 
 
 where Cordelia discovers her father In greatness' summer, th4t con- 
 
 in France : firm a prince." 
 
 " But looke, dear father, looTce, See also Beaumpnt and Fletcher, The 
 
 behold and see Coronation, \. I: "The gay flies that 
 
 Thy loving daughter speaketh buz about the court." 
 
 unto thee. [She, kneels. 16. take upmi\ profess to under- 
 
 Leir. O stand thou up ; It is my part stand. ^oZ Henry IV. iv. i. 60 : "I 
 
 to kneel, take not on me here as a physician." 
 
 And ask forgivenesse for my for- '6. the mystery of things] the mys- 
 
 mer fault." terious course of worldly events. See 
 
 Six Old Plays, etc., Nichols, 1779, ''*ings," ni. i. 7 Compare Virgil, 
 
 ii. 452. . Georgics, n. 490: "Fehx, qui potuit 
 
 12. ff/rftofo] improbable fictions of ^f™"" cognoscere causas"; also 
 
 bygone times. See Winter's Tale, ^ rerum causas, Ovid, Ar«^., xv. 68. 
 
 V. ii. 66 ; also As You Like It, I. ??^^ ^•^° Flono, Montaigne Essays, 
 
 ii. 117, and 8. Daniel, The Queen's "■?= " The knowledge of causes doth 
 
 Arcadia iv iii 78 ■ °"'>' concern him who hath the con- 
 
 "Then let us tell old tales, repeat ^"^L?5 J^t^'•" /•!?-r?^'"''"y°'' 
 our dreams Anactoria, line 154: "The mystery 
 
 Or anything mther than think of °^ *" "J^f^ f- '^^"t^=/" 
 
 loy/.. ^ 17- God^s spies] Johnson renders, 
 
 ,, ^jj'j I ,. /7- T I. " angels commissioned to survey and 
 
 n. gilded butterflies] y^xs, gay report the lives of men." Warburton 
 
 '5S'"^/-5''- So Marston, ^»;o»^<, a«rf explains, "spies placed on God 
 
 Melhda, IV. 1. 49 : Almighty to watch his motions." 
 
 Troops of pied butterflies, that 18. packs] combinations, 
 
 flutter still, 18. sects] parties. 
 
SC. HI.] 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 227 
 
 He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven, 
 And fire us hence like foxes. Wipe thine eyes ; 
 The good-years shall devour them, flesh and fell, 24 
 Ere they shall make us weep : we '11 see 'em starve first. 
 Come. {^Exeunt Lear and Cordelia, guarded. 
 
 Ednt. 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 
 
 24. good-years] F, good Q, good-yers Theobald, goujcres Hanmer. 25, 
 'em starve'] Q 3, em starve Q 2, um starve Q r, e'm starv'd F. 26. Exeunt 
 . . . guarded] Theobald; Exit Q2, F; omitted IQ i. 28. Giving . . .] 
 Malone, Whispering Rowe. 29. One] Q i (some copies), Q 2, F ; Atid Q I 
 (some copies). 
 
 22. bring a brand from heaven] 
 Tovey explains, "nothing earthly 
 will part us." 
 
 23. fire . . . foxes] It was formerly 
 usual to expel foxes from their earths 
 by smoke and heat. Referred to again. 
 Sonnet cxliv. : ' ' Till my bad angel fire 
 ray good one out." And see Marlow, 
 Edward the Secoiid, in. ii. 127 : 
 
 " Advance your standards, Edward, 
 
 in the field, 
 And march to fire thera from 
 
 their starting-holes." 
 See also Heywood, Royal King and 
 Loyal Subject, Pearson ( Works), vi. 
 45 : "I '11 not be out till I be fired 
 out.'' Mr. Stephen Phillips in his 
 Herod, 1901, writes (Act iii. p. 123) : 
 "Am I that Herod . . . That fired 
 the robbers out of Galilee." 
 
 24. good - years] Shakespeare has 
 the expression, "What the goodyear," 
 three times — Much Ado, I. iii. I ; 
 Z Henry IV. II. iv. 64 and 191. 
 Hanmer printed here "goujeres," 
 meaning the French disease. It is a 
 word of his own making, which he 
 derived from the old French " gouje," 
 a camp trull (see Cotgrave), a deriva- 
 tion pronounced in the New Eng. 
 Diet, to be "quite inadmissible." 
 Hanmer believes ' ' good-year " to be a 
 
 corruption of the above. His reading 
 has been much followed. The Nevi 
 Eng. Diet., rejecting this, suggests 
 with much plausibility that "what the 
 good year " may be equivalent to the 
 Dutch phrase " wat goet iaer is dat," 
 which Plantijn (1573) renders by the 
 French "Que bon heur est cela." The 
 English expression is often used as a 
 meaningless expletive, and ' ' the word 
 came to be used in imprecatory phrases, 
 as denoting some undefined malefic 
 power or agency " {^New Eng. Diet. ). 
 It is of pretty frequent occurrence. 
 Shakespeare may have met with it in 
 Golding's Ovid. See Met., 1565, leaf 
 34 (<^) ■■ 
 
 "And what a goodyeere have I won 
 by scolding erst (she sed)." 
 
 24. yiesh and fell] This expression, 
 like "fel and bones," Chaucer, 
 Troilus and Cressida, i. 91, seems to 
 have been used to express the whole 
 body. See Lay Folks Mass-book, 
 "Apostles' Creed": "Up he rose 
 flesh and fell. " See also Macbeth, v. 
 V. ii : " my fell of hair," i.e. my shock 
 (literally skin) ; and Gascoyne's Sup- 
 poses, 1566, IV. iii. 22: "I thought 
 they would have flayed me to search 
 between the fell and the flesh for far- 
 things." 
 
228 
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 [act v. 
 
 As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way 30 
 To noble fortunes ; know thou this, that men 
 Are as the time is ; to be tender-minded 
 Does not become a sword ; thy great employment 
 Will not bear question ; either say thou 'It do 't, 
 Or thrive by other means. 
 Offi. I'll do 't, my lord. 35 
 
 Edm. About it ; and write happy when thou hast done. 
 Mark, — I say, instantly, and carry it so 
 As I have set it down. 
 Offi. I cannot draw a cart nor eat dried oats ; 
 
 If it be man's work I '11 do it. \Exit. 40 
 
 33. thy\ Q, F ; my Theobald. 39, 40. I ... do if] Q, omitted F. 40. 
 Exit] Steevens ; Exit Captaine F, after "down," line 38 ; omitted Q. 
 
 33. a sword'] a sworder, a soldier. 
 Compare "lances" for lancers, sol- 
 diers, line 51. 
 
 34. H^t'/l . . , question] bear talking 
 about. This either means, "it must 
 be carried out promptly" or "it is too 
 delicate a matter to be spoken of." I 
 believe Shakespeare had in his mind 
 the old play, The History of King 
 Leir. Regan, when bribing the 
 messenger to murder Leir, says of 
 the project : 
 
 " It is a thing of right strange con- 
 sequence, 
 And well I cannot utter it in 
 words." 
 Six Old Plays, etc. , p. 420. 
 
 36. larite happy] generally ex- 
 plained as "write or style yourself 
 the possessor of happiness." See 
 Johnson, Dictionary, "write, to call 
 oneself, to be entitled to use the style 
 of." So All's Well, n. iii. 208 : " I 
 write man " ; also the same play, II. iii. 
 67 : " And (if I) writ as little beard." 
 But it may possibly mean ' ' write 
 down terms which will make you 
 happy to receive ; these I will grant." 
 
 Kings were in the habit of granting 
 blank charters signed, which could 
 be filled up at pleasure. See Richard 
 II. I. iv. 48. 
 
 37. carry] manage, i.e. make it 
 appear that Cordelia slew herself. 
 See Much Ada, iv. i. 212. 
 
 39, 40. / . . . it] Shakespeare may 
 have had here in his mind the mes- 
 senger or murtherer in The History 
 of King Leir, who is sent by Ragan 
 to murder her father. He displays a 
 similar eagerness for his work. When 
 Ragan asks him, 
 
 " Hast thou the heart to act a 
 stratagem, 
 And give a stabbe or two if need 
 require," 
 he replies — 
 
 "I have a heart compact of ada- 
 mant, 
 Which never knew what melting 
 
 pity meant. 
 I weigh no more the murdring of 
 
 a man 
 Than I respect the cracking of 
 a flea." 
 Six Old Plays, etc, p. 417. . 
 
sc. III.] KING LEAR 229 
 
 Flourish. Enter Albany, Goneril, Regan, Officers, 
 and Attendants. 
 
 Alb. Sir, you have show'd 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 45 
 
 May equally determine. 
 
 Edm. Sir, I thought it fit 
 
 To send the old and miserable king 
 To some retention and appointed guard ; 
 Whose age has charms in it, whose title more. 
 To pluck the common bosom on his side, 50 
 
 And turn our impress'd lances in our eyes 
 Which do command them. With him I sent the 
 queen ; 
 
 Flourish] F, omitted Q. Enter . . .] Capell ; Enter Albany, Goneril, Regan, 
 Soldiers F ; Enter Duke, the two Ladies, and others Q (the Duke, etc. Q 2). 
 41. shcnt^d] Q r, F; shewne Q 2. 43. Who] F, that Q. 44. We\ Q, 
 / F ; require them] F, require then Q. 47. send] Q I (some copies), Q 
 2, F ; saue Q i (some copies). 48. and . . . g-uard] Q I (some copies), 
 Q 2 ; omitted Q l (some copies), F. 49. has] Q, had F. 50. common 
 bosom] Q I (some copies) {bossome) F, common blossomes Q 2, coren bossom 
 Q I (some copies) ; on] F, ofQ. 
 
 41. strain] lineage, race, descent. Weanswerothers'meritsinourname, 
 
 See Cyvtbeline, IV. ii. 24 : Are therefore to be pitied." 
 
 ' ' O noble strain ! 48. retention] close keeping. 
 
 O worthiness of nature ! breed of 49. Whose] depends on "king."_ 
 
 greatness ! " 50. the common bosom] the affection 
 
 43. opposites] enemies, advejsaries. of the vulgar, the common herd. 
 
 'io Measure for Measure, III. \\.l'] 'I,: ^1. our impress'd lances] the 
 
 " you imagine me too unhurtftil an weapons of our own levied soldiers, 
 
 opposite." So 1 Henry IV. i. i. 21 : 
 
 45. merits] deserts, deeds. So " under whose blessed cross 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, v. ii. 178: We are impressed and engaged 
 
 "and, when we fall, to fight." 
 
230 KING LEAR [act v. 
 
 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 5 5 
 
 We sweat and bleed; the friend hath lost his 
 friend, 
 
 And the best quarrels, in the heat, are cursed 
 
 By those that feel their sharpness ; 
 
 The question of Cordelia and her father 
 
 Requires a fitter place. 
 Alb. Sir, by your patience, 6o 
 
 I hold you but a subject of this war. 
 
 Not as a brother. 
 Reg. That 's as we list to grace him : 
 
 Methinks our pleasure might have been de- 
 manded, 
 
 Ere you had spoke so far. He led our powers, 
 
 Bore the commission of my place and person ; 65 
 
 S4. atfurtherl Q i, F ; at a further Q 2. SS-S^- At . . . sharpness] 
 Q, omitted F. S5-6o. At this . . . place] Q, omitted F. 56. We sweat] 
 Q I (some copies), Q 2 ; mee sweat Q i (some copies). 58. sharp- 
 ness] Q I (some copies), Q 2 ; sharpes Q i (some copies). 63. might] F, 
 should Q. 
 
 57. in the heat] v/\\ea\iieh\ooA is wholebusiness." Byron,in some beau- 
 hot, excited, before passion has tiful stanzas in the third canto of 
 cooled. See Coriolanus, III. i. 63: C;4«yrffi ^aro/rf (xxxi.-xxxiii. ), has ex- 
 ' ' Not in this heat, sir, now " ; also pressed a similar sentiment, referring 
 IV. iii. 19 : " and hope to come upon to the feelings of those who have lost 
 them in the heat of their division." friends fighting in their country's 
 The whole passage may be thus ex- cause, 
 plained : ' ' Persons engaged in a 62. list] wish, please. 
 quarrel, even one which they con- 64. spoke so far] i.e. said so much, 
 sider eminently just, if they suffer made such heavy charges. Compare 
 bitterly from the consequences of it, Henry VIII. III. i. 64 : " Your late 
 are at first inclined to curse it, i.e. to censure . . . which was too far." 
 look with feelings of irritation on the 
 
sc.iii.] KING LEAR 231 
 
 The which immediacy may well stand up, 
 
 And call itself your brother. 
 Gon. Not so hot ; 
 
 In his own grace he doth exalt himself 
 
 More than in your addition. 
 R^g- In my rights, 
 
 By me invested, he compeers the best. 70 
 
 Alb. 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 biit a-squint. 
 Reg. Lady, I am not well ; else I should answer 
 
 From a full-flowing stomach. General, 75 
 
 Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony ; 
 
 Dispose of them, of me ; the walls are thine ; 
 
 66. inimediacy\ F, immediate Q. 69. addition] F, advancement Q ; 
 
 rights F, right, Q. 71. Alb.] F, Gon. Q. 75. full-flowing] first 
 
 hyphened by Theobald. 77. Dispose of them] F, omitted Q^; the . . . 
 
 thine] F, they all are thine Hanmer, Theobald conj. ; are] F 2, is F. 
 
 66. The which immediacy] this so tide of passionate language. See 
 close connection with my interests, Titus Adronicus, III. i. 234 : 
 
 thus acting as my lieutenant as well ' ' for losers will have leave 
 
 as my agent. Malone quotes Hamlet, To ease their stomachs with their 
 
 I. ii. 109: ■ , bitter tongues.!' 
 
 " For let the world take note, 77. the walls are thine] Theobald 
 
 You are the most immediate to thought this corrupt, and proposed 
 
 our throne." "they all are thine," which Hanmer 
 
 67. Not so hot] It is unnecessary adopted. Warburton explains, "I 
 you should urge it so excitedly. surrender at discretion," but he gives 
 
 69. your addition] the high terms no example of such a form of expres- 
 you have bestowed on him. Seel. sion. Steevens tries to illustrate it by 
 i. 136, quoting Cymbeline, 11. i. 68 : 
 
 70. compeers] equals. ' ' The heavens hold firm 
 73. That eye . . . a-sguint] refer- The walls of thy dear honour. '' 
 
 ring plainly, as Steevens has pointed Wright thinks it may refer to Regan^s 
 
 out, to the proverb, "Love being castle, referred to at line 246^ of this 
 
 jealous, makes a good eye look a- scene. Schmidt thinks that it refers 
 
 squint." It is in, Ray's Proverbs, to Regan's person, which surrenders 
 
 See Bohn's edition, 1879, p. 446. itself like a vanquished fortress. 
 75. From . , , stomach] in a full 
 
232 KING LEAR [act v. 
 
 Witness the world, that I create thee here 
 
 My lord and master. 
 Gon. Mean you to enjoy him ? 
 
 Alb. The let-alone lies not in your good will. 80 
 
 Ednt. Nor in thine, lord. 
 
 Alb. Half-blooded fellow, yes. 
 
 Reg. [To Edmund?^ Let the drum strike, and prove my 
 
 title thine. 
 Alb. Stay yet ; hear reason. Edmund, I arrest thee 
 
 On capital treason ; and, in thy arrest. 
 
 This gilded serpent. [Pointing to Goneril. 
 
 For your claim, fair sister, 85 
 
 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 loves to me. 
 
 My lady is bespoke. 
 Gon. An interlude ! 90 
 
 Alb. Thou art arm'd, Gloucester; let the trumpet 
 sound : 
 
 If none appear to prove upon thy person 
 
 Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons, 
 
 79. enjoy him?} F, enjoy him then Q. 82. Reg.] F, Bast. ,Q; [To 
 Edmund] Malone ; omitted Q, F ; tide thine'] F, title good Q. 84. thy 
 arrest] F, thine attaint Q. 85. Pointing . . .] Johnson ; omitted Q, F ; 
 sister] Q, Sisters F. 86. bar'] Rowe, ed. 2 ; bare Q, F. 87. this] Q I, 
 F; her Q 2. 88. your bans] Malone, your banes F, the banes Q. 
 89. loves] F, love Q. 90, 91. An interlude! Alb.] F, omitted Q. 
 91. let . . . sound] F, omitted Q. 92. thy person] F, thy head<^. 
 
 80. The let-alone] the power of Quarto reads attaint, i.e. impeach- 
 preventing it, of saying, "Do it ment. 
 
 not." go. An interlude] a play ; the plot 
 
 82. strike] sound, strike up. thickens. Compare Cymbeline, v. v. 
 
 84. 3w-«^] I adopt the Folio word. 228: " Shall 's have a play of this ?" 
 
sc. III.] KING LEAR 233 
 
 There is my pledge ; {Throws down a glove. 
 
 I '11 prove it on thy heart, 
 
 Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less 95 
 
 Than I have here proclaim'd thee. 
 Reg. Sick ! O, sick ! 
 
 Gon. [Aside.] If not, I '11 ne'er trust medicine. 
 Edm. There's my exchange: [Throws down a glove. 
 
 What in the world he is 
 
 That names me traitor, villain-like he lies. 
 
 Call by thy trumpet : he that dares approach, 1 00 
 
 On him, on you, who not ? I will maintain 
 
 My truth and honour firmly. 
 Alb. A herald, ho ! 
 
 Edm. A herald, ho ! a herald ! 
 
 Aid. Trust to thy single virtue ; for thy soldiers. 
 
 All levied in my name, have in my name 105 
 
 Took their discharge. 
 ■Reg. My sickness grows upon me. 
 
 Aid. She is not well ; convey her to my tent. 
 
 [Exit Regan, led. 
 
 Enter a Herald. 
 
 Come hither, herald, — Let the trumpet sound, — 
 
 94, 98. Throws . . .] Malone (throwing) ; omitted Q, F ; prove] Q, make F, 
 97. medicine'] F, foyson Q. loo. thy] Q, the F. 103. Edm. A 
 
 . . . A«ra/(/] Q, omitted F. 106. My]Y, ThisQ. 107. Exit Regan, 
 
 led] Theobald; omitted Q, F (Exit Reg. Rowe). Enter a Herald] as in 
 Hanmer, after "firmly," line 102, F, omitted Q. 
 
 94. //«(^i?]agage. In 1 Henry VI. loi. ;«3/«to'»] justify my words. 
 IV. i. 120, it is used in the same 104. virtue] valour, the pure Latin 
 
 sense: "York. There is my pledge ; sense. Steevens quotes from Raleigh 
 
 accept it, Somerset." (no further reference): "The con- 
 
 97. medici7u] used here for poison- quest of Palestine with singular virtue 
 ous potion. they performed." 
 
 98. exchange] a glove thrown down 
 in exchange ; the technical term. 
 
234 KING LEAR, [act v. 
 
 And read out this. 
 
 Offi. Sound, trumpet ! \A trumpet sounds, no 
 
 Her. If any man of quality or degree within 
 the lists of the army will maintain upon 
 Edmund, supposed Earl of Gloucester, that he is 
 a manifold traitor, let hifn appear by the third 
 sound of the trumpet. He is bold in his defence. 1 1 S 
 
 Edm. Sound! [First trumpet. 
 
 Her. Again ! {Second trumpet. 
 
 Her. Again! [Third trumpet. 
 
 [Trumpet answers within. 
 
 Enter EDGAR, armed, with a trumpet before him. 
 
 Alb. Ask him his purposes, why he appears 
 
 Upon this call o' the trumpet. 
 Her. What are you? 120 
 
 Your name ? your quaUty ? and why you answer 
 
 This present summons ? 
 Edg. Know, my name is lost ; 
 
 By treason's tooth bare-gnawn, and canker-bit : 
 
 Yet am I noble as the adversary 
 
 no. A . . . sounds] F, omitted Q. in. Her. If] Q, Herald reads. 
 If F. Ill, 112. within the lists] F, in the heart Q. 114. by] F, at Q. 
 116. Edm. Sound'] Capell. Bast. Sound Q, omitted F. 117. Her] F, 
 omitted Q. Second trumpet] z Trumpet F, omitted Q. 118. Her. ^^az'« .'] 
 F, omitted Q. 121. your quality '^'l 7, and quality Q. 122. Know\¥, 
 O know Q. 122, 123. lost . . . tooth'] Theobald, lost . . . tooth. Q I, 
 lost . . . tooth ; Q 2, F. 124. Yet am I noble as the adversary] F,- Xet 
 are I viou't where is the adversary ? Q I , Where is the adversary .' Q 2. 
 
 114. manifold] compare "thrice- The canker is the caterpillar. So 
 
 double traitor," Tempest, v. i. 295. Two Gentlemen of Veroiia, I. i. 46 : 
 
 118. with a trumpet before him] "as the most forward bud Is eaten 
 
 preceded by a trumpeter. As in by the canker ere it blow"; also 
 
 Henry V. IV. ii. 61 : "I will the Romeo and Juliet, 1. i. 157, "As is 
 
 banner from a trumpet take.'' the bud bit with an envious worm." 
 
 123. canker-bit] withered ; canker. 
 
sc. III.] KING LEAR 235 
 
 I come to cope. 
 
 Alb. Which is that adversary ? 125 
 
 Edg. What's he that speaks for Edmund Earl of 
 Gloucester ? 
 
 Edm. Himself: what say'st thou to him? 
 
 Edg. Draw thy sword, 
 
 That, if my speech offend a noble heart. 
 Thy arm may do thee justice ; here is mine : 
 Behold, it is the privilege of mine honours, 130 
 
 My oath, and my profession : I protest, 
 Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence. 
 Despite thy victor sword and fire-new fortune. 
 Thy valour and thy heart, thou art a traitor, 
 False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father, 135 
 
 125. cope\ F, cope with all Q ; Which is\ Q i, F ; What is Q i. 130. 
 the . . . honours] Pope, priviledge of my tongue Q, my priviledge, the privi- 
 ledge of mine Honours Y , 132. youth, place] <^, place, youth F. 133. 
 
 Despite] Q, Despise F ; victor sword] Capell, victor-sword F, victor, sword 
 Q ; fire-new] hyphened Rowe ; unhyphened Q, F ; fortune] F, fortutid Q. 
 135. thy gods] Q I, F ; the gods Q 2. 
 
 125. ffl/ij] encounter. So Troilus "I through the ample air in 
 and Cressida, I. ii. 34: "They say triumph high 
 
 he yesterday coped Hector in a Shall lead Hell captive, maugre 
 
 battle, and struck him down." Hell." 
 
 130. privilege of mine hottours] 133. fire-new] brand-new, freshly 
 
 Different explanations have been gained. As in Twelfth Night, iii. ii. 
 
 given for these words, but I think 23: "with some excellent jests, fire- 
 
 Malone rightly paraphrases thus : new from the mint, you should have 
 
 "Behold, it is the privilege or right banged the youth into dumbness." 
 
 of my profession to draw my sword Also Love's Labour's Lost, i. i. 178; 
 
 against a traitor : I protest therefore," also in Quodlibets, by R. H., p. 48 : 
 etc. " At Rome's full shop are sold all 
 
 132. Maugre] in spite of. As kinds of ware ; 
 
 in Twelfth Night, in. i. 163 : Men's souls purged fire-new, you 
 
 "maugre all thy pride." We find may buy them there." 
 
 it in Grafton, Chronicle, 1569, p. 1 34. heart] spirit, courage. So 
 
 989 : " the beasts had not drunk Coriolanus, v. vi. 99 : 
 all day, therefore, at the ford, " He whined and roared away your 
 they would drink maugre their victory; 
 
 leaders." Also Paradise Lost, iii. That . . . men of heart 
 
 255 : Stood wondering at each other." 
 
236 KING LEAR [act v. 
 
 Conspirant 'gainst this high illustrious prince, 
 And, from the extremest upward of thy head 
 To the descent and dust below thy foot, 
 A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou " No," 
 This sword, this arm, and my best spirits are 
 
 bent 140 
 
 To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak, 
 Thou liest. 
 Edm. In wisdom I should ask thy name ; 
 
 But since thy outside looks so fair and war-like. 
 And that thy tongue some say of breeding 
 
 breathes. 
 What safe and nicely I might well delay 14S 
 
 By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn ; 
 
 136. Conspirant] F, Conspicuate Q. 138. below thy foot] F, beneath 
 thy feet Q. 140. are] F, As Q I, /r Q 2. 144. tongue] F, being Q. 
 145. What . . . delay] F, omitted Q. 146. 7-ule] F, right Q. 
 
 136. Conspirant] either an adjec- " Terrible hell make war 
 live meaning conspiring, or a substan- Upon their spotted souls for this 
 tive (a) conspirator. A passage in offence!" 
 
 Harsnet's Declaration, p. 18, may Also in Midsummer Night's Dream, 
 
 have suggested the word (a rare one) I. i. no. See also Cotgrave's i?>-fi«fA 
 
 to Shakespeare : ' ' with all other Dictionary, ' ' Tache, spotted, blotted, 
 
 conspirants in any bad practice." stained, blemished, disgraced." 
 
 137. upward] top. Wright compares 142. In wisdom] Because if his 
 " backward and abysm of time," ?«»;- adversary was not of equal rank 
 
 pest, I. ii. 50. We may also compare Edmund might have declined the 
 
 "inward," the very heart ; "Where- combat (Malone), as Goneril, after the 
 
 fore breaks that sigh From the inward combat (lines 153-155) says : 
 of thee?" Cymbeline, III. iv. 6. "By the law of arms thou wast 
 
 138. descent] lowest part. No not bound to answer 
 other instance, as far as I know, has An unknown opposite.'' 
 
 been cited, of this exact sense of the 144. say] smack flavour or proof, 
 
 word. So Tyndal, Answer to Sir Thomas 
 
 139. toad-spotted] very infamous. More: "and to give a say or a taste 
 spotted with spots of infamy, as a ofwhat trouble shall follow," (f^r/Jj), 
 toad is spotted. Spotted is used by Parker Society, iii. 78. 
 Shakespeare in the sense of stained, 145. safe and nicely] safelj', without 
 polluted with guilt, infamous. So any fear, of clear legal justifica- 
 Richard II. iii. ii. 134: tion. 
 
sc. III.] KING LEAR 237 
 
 Back do I toss these treasons to thy head, 
 With the hell-hated lie o'erwhelm thy heart, 
 Which, for they yet glance by and scarcely bruise, 
 This sword of mine shall give them instant 
 way, 150 
 
 Where they shall rest for ever. Trumpets, speak. 
 {Alarums. They fight. Edmund falls. 
 Alb. Save him ! save him ! 
 
 Gon. This is practice, Gloucester : 
 
 By the law of arms thou wast not bound to 
 
 answer 
 An unknown opposite ; thou art not vanquish'd. 
 But cozen'd and beguil'd. 
 ^ib. Shut your mouth, dame, 155 
 
 Or with this paper shall I stop it. Hold, sir ; 
 Thou worse than any name, read thine own 
 evil : 
 
 147. Back . . . head] F, omitted Q 2, Heere do I tosse those treasons to 
 thy head Q I. 148. hell-hated lie] F, hell hatedly Q ; o'erwhelm] F, ore- 
 
 turn' dC)^. 151. Alarums ... falls] Capell, Alarums. Fights] F, omitted 
 Q. 152. practice] F, 7nere practice Q. 153. arms] Q, warY ; wast] F, 
 art Q; answer] Q i, F; offer Q /.. 155. Shtit] F, Stop Q. 156. 
 Hold, sir] F, omitted Q. 157. name] F, thing Q. 
 
 147. to thy head] in thy teeth, v. ii. 61 : " the jest did glance away 
 So A Midsummer Night's Dream, I. from me." 
 
 i. 106: "I'll avouch it to his head." 152. Alb. .Saw /4m] Johnson thinks 
 
 PiSsa Julius Ceesar, V. i. 64: "De- that Albany desires that Edmund's 
 
 fiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth." life may be spared at present, only 
 
 See 1 Henry IV. V, ii. 43. to obtain his confession and to con- 
 
 148. hell-hated] hated, abhorred, as vict him openly by his own letter, 
 hell is hated, " with the hate of hell." 152. practice] treachery, foul play. 
 Compare "hell-black," III. vii. 63. 154. opposite] See note to line 43 of 
 
 149. for] because. this scene. 
 
 149. glance by] glide past without 155. cozen'd] See note to IV. vi. 
 
 hurting. So in Merry Wives of 168. 
 
 Windsor, v. v. 248 : " I am glad, 156. this paper] the love-letter 
 
 though you have ta'en a special stand written by Goneril to Edmund, which 
 
 to strike at me, that your arrow hath Kent took from Oswald's dead 
 
 glanced" ; also Taming of the Shrew, body. 
 
238 KING LEAR [act v. 
 
 No tearing, lady ; I perceive you know it. 
 
 [Gives the letter to Edmund. 
 Gon. Say, if I do, the laws are mine, not thine : 
 
 Who can arraign me for 't. {Exit. 
 
 jlll,_ Most monstrous ! O! i6o 
 
 Know'st thou this paper ? 
 Edm. Ask me not what I know. 
 
 Alb. Go after her: she's desperate; govern her. 
 
 {Exit an Officer. 
 Edm. What you have charged me with, tha,t have I done, 
 
 And more, much more ; the time will bring it out : 
 
 'Tis past, and so am I. But what art thou 165 
 
 That hast this fortune on me ? If thou 'rt noble, 
 
 I do forgive thee. 
 Edg. Let's exchange charity. 
 
 I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund ; 
 
 If more, the more thou hast wrong'd me. 
 
 My name is Edgar, and thy father's son. 170 
 
 The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices 
 
 Make instruments to plague us : 
 
 158. No\ F, Nay, no Q. Gives the letter . . .] Hudson (offers) ; omitted 
 Q, F. 160. can\ F, shall Q. i6o, 161. Most . . , paper r] F, Most 
 
 monstrous, knowst Q I, Monster, knowst Q 2. l6l. Edm. Ask"] Bast. 
 
 Ask Q, Gon. Ask Q. i66. thou'ri] F, thou bee'st Q. 171. vicesi F, virtues 
 Q. 172. plague US'] F, scourge us Q. 
 
 158. No tearing] In the old play, Notes on Shakespeare : "As the fittest 
 
 The History of King Leir, as Steevens means for reconciling the feelings of 
 
 points out, Ragan tears a letter which the spectators to the horrors of 
 
 Leir shows her, which was written Gloster's after sufferings — at least, of 
 
 by her to procure his death. See rendering them less unendurable . . . 
 
 Six Old Plays (Nichols), ii. 462 : Shakespeare has precluded all excuse 
 
 " Leir. Knowest thou these letters, and palliation of the guilt incurred by 
 
 \She snatches them and both the parents of the base-born 
 
 tears them. Edmund, by Gloster's confession that 
 
 Ragan. Think you to outface me he was at the time a married man and 
 
 with your paltry scrowls ? " already blessed with a lawful heir to 
 
 171, 172. The gods . . . us] Cole- his fortunes." See T. Ashe's edition, 
 
 ridge thus writes in his Lectures and Bell, 1883, p. 333, 
 
sc. III.] KING LEAR 239 
 
 The dark and vicious place where thee he got 
 
 Cost him his eyes. 
 Edm. Thou hast spoken right, 'tis true. 
 
 The wheel is come full circle ; I am here. 175 
 
 Alb. Methough thy very gait did prophesy 
 
 A royal nobleness : I must embrace thee : 
 
 Let sorrow split my heart, if ever I 
 
 Did hate thee or thy father. 
 Edg. Worthy prince, I know 't. 
 
 Alb. Where have you hid yourself? 180 
 
 How have you known the miseries of your father ? 
 Edg. By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale ; 
 
 And when 'tis told, O ! that my heart would 
 burst, 
 
 The bloody proclamation to escape 
 
 That follow'd me so near, — O ! our lives' sweet- 
 ness, 1 8 5 
 
 That we the pain of death would hourly die 
 
 Rather than die at once ! — taught me to shift 
 
 173. thee /4e] Q I, F ; he thee Q 2. 174. rights F, truth Q; 'tis true'] 
 
 F, omitted Q. IJ $. full circle] 7 , full circled Q^. 178, 179. if ever I 
 
 Dicl]¥,ifIdideverQ. 186. we - . . ■wouldl'S, with the paine of death 
 would Q. 
 
 I7S- wheel . . . circle] Compare " remember this another day, 
 
 what Feste jestingly remarks. Twelfth When he shall split thy very 
 
 Night, V. i. 385: "the whirligig of heart with sorrow." 
 
 time brings in his revenges." See Also the same play, v. i. 26, and 
 
 also Cyril Tourneur, The Revenger's Winter's Tale, 1. ii. 349. 
 
 Tragedy, ii. i : "To her indeed 'tis, 186. That . . . die] Compare Cym- 
 
 this wheele comes about!" beline, v. i. 26, 27 : 
 
 176. very gait] See Troilus and " for whom my life 
 
 Cressida, IV. v. 14. Perhaps an echo Is, every breath, a death. " 
 
 of Virgil, ySneid, i. 405 : " Et vera And the expression, "I die daily," i 
 
 incessu patuit de?,." Cor. xv. 31. 
 
 178. split my hear{] See Richard 187. shift] chsmge. See CymSeline, 
 
 III. I. iii. 300 : I. ii. I, and i. v. 54. 
 
240 KING LEAR [act v. 
 
 Into a madman's rags, to assume a semblance 
 That very dogs disdain'd : and in this habit 
 Met I my father with his bleeding rings, 1 90 
 
 Their precious stones new lost ; became his guide, 
 Led him, begg'd for him, sav'd him from despair ; 
 Never — O fault ! reveal'd myself unto him, 
 Until some half-hour past, when I was arm'd ; 
 Not sure, though hoping, of this good success, 195 
 I ask'd his blessing, and from first to last 
 Told him my pilgrimage : but his flaw'd heart, 
 Alack ! too weak the conflict to support ! 
 'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief, 
 Burst smilingly. 
 
 Edm. This speech of yours hath moved me, 200 
 
 And shall perchance do good ; but speak you on ; 
 You look as you had something more to say. 
 
 Alb. If there be more, more woeful, hold it in ; 
 
 For I am almost ready to dissolve, 
 
 1^1. rheirir. The q. 193. /auli .'] F {O FaiAer) Q. 197. »y] Q, 
 our F. 203. more, more'] Q I, F ; any more more Q 2 ; any more Q 3. 
 
 188, 189. semblance. . . disda.in'd] will be, my lord; but the attempt I 
 Shakespeare had observed the strange vow. " So also Lord Herbert of Cher- 
 antipathy the dog has for the vagrant, bury, Life and Reign of Henry the 
 
 190. rings'] sockets — without the Eighth: "The Scots that remain'd, 
 
 jewels of sight. Compare "the case return'd home much griev'd for the 
 
 of eyes," IV. vi. 148; and see Cot- unfortunate success of that day" 
 
 grave's French Dictionary, " Bague, (Flodden), ed. 1872, p. 151, 
 a ring, a jewell set with one pre- 197. flaw'd] crackted or damaged 
 
 cious stone, or more." Also Cyril by a crack, fissure, or flaw. " Crack'd 
 
 Tourneuir, The Revenger's Tragedy, I, heart " is found in 11. i. go, also in 
 
 i. 20 : Coriolanus, v. iii. 9. Also see Henry 
 
 "When two heaven-pointed dia- VIII. I. ii. 21 : 
 
 monds were set ' ' commissions . . . which 
 
 In those unsightly rings." hath flaw'd the heart 
 
 195. success] result of an action. Of all their loyalties." 
 
 The word is used by Shakespeare for Compare also " honour - flaw'd," 
 
 any result, bad as well as good. So Winter's Tale, II. i. 141. 
 All's Well that Ends Well, in. vi. 204. dissolve] melt to tears. Com- 
 
 86: "I know not what the success ^axe Richard II. in. ii. 108. 
 
sc. III.] KING LEAH 2il 
 
 Hearing of this. 
 
 Edg. f This. would have seem'd a period 205 
 
 To such as love not sorrow ; but another, 
 To amplify too much, would make much more. 
 And top extremity. 
 
 Whilst I was big in clamour came there a man, 
 Who, having seen me in my worst estate, 2 1 o 
 
 Shunn'd my abhorr'd society ; but then, finding 
 Who 't was that so endured, with his strong arms 
 He fasten'd on my neck, and bellow'd out 
 As he 'd burst heaven ; threw him on my father ; 
 Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him 215 
 That ever ear received ; which in recounting 
 His grief grew puissant, and the strings of life 
 Began to crack : twice then the trumpets sounded. 
 And there I left him tranced. 
 
 Alb. But who was this ? 
 
 Edg. Kent, sir, the banish'd Kent; who in disguise 220 
 FoUow'd his enemy king, and did him service 
 Improper for a slave. 
 
 205. Hearing of tkis\ Q l, F; omitted Q 2. 205-222. This . . . slave] 
 Q, omitted F. 209. came there'] Theobald, came there in Q. 214. 
 threw hint] Theobald, threw me Q. 215, Told the most] Q i, j4nd told 
 the Q 2. 
 
 206, 207. but . . . much] But en- 210. estate] condition. See Mer- 
 larging too much on another circum- chant of Venice, II. ix. 41 ; As You 
 stance. Like It, i. ii. 17. 
 
 208. top extremity] to surpass, to 214. As] as if. See 11. ii. 85, iii. 
 go beyond the extreme limit of any- iv. 15. 
 
 thing. Compare the expression to 219. tranced] in a trance, sense- 
 be beyond beyond, Cymbeline, in. ii. less. 
 58: "For mine's beyond beyond." 221. enemy] Compare Coriolanus, 
 
 209. big] loud, as in As You Like iv. iv. 24, "this enemy town"; 
 //, II. vii. 161 : "his big manly Antony and Cleopatra, iv. xiv. 71 : 
 voice"; and see Spenser, VirgiPs " the Parthian shafts. Though enemy, 
 Gnat, line 1 1 : lost aim " ; Cymbeline, I. v. 29 : 
 
 "this muse shall speak to thee " he 's for his master, 
 
 In bigger notes." And enemy to my son." 
 
 16 
 
242 
 
 KING £eAR . [actv. 
 
 Enter a Ggnteman, with a bloody knife. 
 
 Gent. Help, help 1 O, help ! 
 
 Edg. What kind of help ? 
 
 Alb. Speak, man. 
 
 Edg. What means that bloody knife ? 
 
 Gent. 'Tis hot, it smokes ; 
 
 It came even from the heart of — O ! she 's dead. 
 Alb. Who dead? speak, man. 226 
 
 Gent. Your lady, sir, your lady : and her sister 
 
 By her is poisoned; she confesses it. 
 Edm. I was contracted to them both : all three 
 
 Now marry in an instant. 
 Edg. Here comes Kent. 230 
 
 Alb. Produce the bodies, be they alive or dead : 
 
 {Exit Gentleman. 
 
 This judgment of the heavens, that makes us tremble. 
 
 Touches us not with pity. 
 
 Enter KENT. 
 
 O ! is this he ? 
 
 The time will not allow the compliment 
 
 Which very manners urges. 
 
 Kent. I am come 235 
 
 Enter a Gentleman . . . knife] Enter one with a bloudie knife Q ; Enter a 
 Gentleman F. 223. O, help /] F, omitted Q ; Speak, man'] F, omitted Q. 
 224. that'] Q, this F ; 'Tis] F, Its Q. 225. 0! she's dead] F, omitted Q. 
 226. Alb. Who . . . man] F, Who man ? speak Q. 228. she confesses it] 
 F, she hath confest it Q^ I, she hasconfest it Q 2. 230. comes Kent] F, comes 
 Kent, sir (I. Enter Kent Q 2, after "pity," line 233, Q i ; after "Kent," 
 line 230, F. Z'il. the]'F, their Q^. Exit Gentleman] Ed. Cambridge Shake- 
 speare; Exit. Gent. Malone, after "pity," line 233 ; omitted Q, F. 232. 
 judgment] F, Justice Q. 233. Touches us not] Q I, F ; Touches not Q 2 ; 
 O ! is this he ?] F, Alb. 'tis he Q. 235. Which] F, That Q. 
 
 234. compliment] See i. i. 304. Wright notes, in Romeo and Juliet, 
 
 235. manners] is singular again, as v. iii. 213. 
 
sc.iii.] , ^ KING LEAR 243 
 
 To bid my king and master aye good night ; 
 
 Is he not here? - 
 A/6. Great thing of us forgot ! 
 
 Speak, Edmund, where 's the king ? and where 's 
 Cordelia ? 
 
 Seest thou this object, Kent ? 
 
 [ Tke bodies of Goneril and Regan are brought in. 
 Kent. Alack ! why thus ? 
 Edm. Yet Edmund was belov'd : 240 
 
 The one the other poison'd for my sake, 
 
 And after slew herself. 
 Alb. Even so. Cover their faces. 
 Edm. I pant for life: some good I mean to do 
 
 Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send, 245 
 
 Be brief in it, to the castle ; for my writ 
 
 Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia. 
 
 Nay, send in time. 
 Alb. Run, run ! O, run ! 
 
 Edg. To who, my lord ? Who has the office ? send 
 
 Thy token of reprieve. 250 
 
 Edm. Well thought on : take my sword. 
 
 Give it the captain. 
 
 Alb. Haste thee, for thy life. \Exit Edgar. 
 
 237. Alb.] Q 2, F ; Duke Q i ; ihing\ Q I, F ; things Q 2. 239. The bodies 
 . . .] Q, Goneril and Regan's bodies brought out F, after line 231. 245. 
 mine\ F, my Q. 246. Be brief in it, to the\ {Be briefe in it) to tK F, Be 
 briefe, int totK Q l, bee briefe, into the Q 2. 247. Is] Q I, F ; 'tis Q 2. 
 249. To who] Q, F I ; To whovi F 2 ; has] F, hath Q. 251-252. sword, 
 Give] Q 2, F ; sword the Captaine, Give Q I. 252. Alb. Baste] Q 2, 
 
 Duke, ffaste, Q i, Edg. Haste F. Exit Edgdr] so Malone; Exeunt Edgar 
 and others Capell ; Exit Messenger Theobald ; Exit a Captain Schmidt ; 
 omitted Q, F. 
 
 2y). object] sight. See 11. iii. 17. sig. yiiii : "he was again appre- 
 242. after'] afterwards. So Tern- hended, and after escaped again." 
 pest, I. ii. 184, and Hall's Chronicle, 
 
244 ^ KING LEAK. ', [act v. 
 
 Edm. He hath comrtiigsion from thy wife and me 
 
 To hang Cordelia in the prison, and 
 
 To lay the blame upon her own despair, 255 
 
 That she fordid herself. 
 Alb. The gods defend her ! Bear him hence awhile. 
 
 \Edmund is borne off. 
 
 Re-enter Lear, with CORDELIA dead in his arms ; 
 Edgar, Officer, and Others. 
 Lear. Howl, howl, howl, howl ! O ! you are men of stones : 
 Had I your tongues and eyes, I 'd use them so 
 That heaven's vault should crack. She 's gone for ever. 
 I know when one is dead, and when one lives ; 261 
 She 's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass ; 
 If that her breath will mist or stain the stone, 
 
 256. That . . . herself] Q i, F ; omitted Q 2. 257. Edmund . . . 
 off] Theobald; omitted Q, F. Re-enter] Dyce ; Enter Q, F. Lear . . . 
 arms] Lear, with Cordelia in his armes Q, F (dead'Rowe) ; Edgar . . . 
 others] Malone ; omitted Q, F. 258. Howl] four times Q, thrice F ; you] 
 Q, your F. 259. fd] IFd F, I would Q. 260. She V] Q l, F ; O, she 
 is Q 2. 263. or stain] Q I, F ; and stain Q 2. 
 
 256. fordid] destroyed, made an 260. heaven's vault] So Tempest, 
 
 end of. See Levins, Manipulus Voca- v. i. 43 : "the azured vault." 
 
 bulorum, 1570, fordo, abolere. See 263. mist]Ao\iA. See Shirley, Tlie 
 
 also Hamlet, v. i. 244, and Gold- Gamester, ii. 3, Gifford and Dyce, 
 
 ing, Ovid, Metamorphosis, ed. 1593, 1832, iii. 221 : 
 
 p. 70 : " Amphion had foredone him- "you do not know 
 
 self already with a knife." What benefit may follow; and 
 
 258. men of stones] Compare Rich- however 
 
 ard III. III. vii. 25 : Your womanish sorrow for the 
 
 " they spake not a word ; present may 
 
 But, like dumb statuas, or breath- So mist your eyes, they will 
 
 ing stones, hereafter open 
 
 Star'd each on other.'' To see and thank my care." 
 
 I do not like to disturb the text, but, 263. stone] Stone here must, I 
 
 considering the numerous examples in think, if it is right, mean a mirror of 
 
 the plays of "s" wrongly occurring polished stone or crystal. "Shine," 
 
 at the end of words (see Sidney Walker, Collier's MS., may be the right word. 
 
 Crit. Exam. i. 237), I feel inclined to See Cyril Toumeur, The Revengei^s 
 
 believe that "men of stone" is right. Tragedy, v. i : " My lord, it is your 
 
sc. III.] KING LEAR 245 
 
 Why, then she lives. 
 Kent. Is this the promis'd end ? 
 
 Edg. Or image of that horror ? 
 
 Alb. Fall and cease? 265 
 
 Lear. This feather stirs ; she lives ! if it be so, 
 
 It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows 
 
 That ever I have felt. 
 Kent. \Kneeling^ O my good master ! 
 
 Lear. Prithee, away. 
 
 Edg. 'Tis noble Kent, your friend. 
 
 Lear. A plague upon you, murderous traitors all ! 270 
 
 I might have sav'd her ; now, she 's gone for 
 ever ! 
 
 Cordelia, Cordelia ! stay a little. Ha ! 
 
 What is 't thou say'st ? Her voice was ever soft. 
 
 Gentle and low, an excellent thing in woman. 
 
 I kill'd the slave that was a-hanging thee. 275 
 
 Offi. 'Tis true, my lords, he did. 
 Lear. Did I not, fellow? 
 
 264. Why, then she] Q I, F ; she then Q 2. 268. That'\ Q, Which F. 
 Kneeling] Theobald ; omitted Q, F. my] F, A my Q. 270. you] Q 2, F ; 
 your Q I ; mterderotts'lQ I, murdrous Q 2, Murderers F. 272. ffa!] Q i, 
 F ; omitted Q" 2. 274. woman] F, women Q. 276. Offi.] Capell, Cap. 
 Q, Gent. F. 
 
 shine must comfort me." The com- " O ruin'd piece of nature ! This 
 
 positor's eye may have been misled great world 
 
 by " stones " or " stone," line 258. Shall so wear out to nought." 
 
 265. Fall and cease] Perhaps this 266. feather] So $ Henry IV. IV. 
 means the general fall and cessation iv. 31-34: 
 
 of things, carrying on the idea of the "By his gates of breath 
 
 last judgment. Capell took "fall" There lies a downy feather 
 
 as a verb, and paraphrased: "Fall which stirs not ; 
 
 heavens and crush a world which is Did he suspire, that light and 
 
 such a scene of calamity." May it weightless down 
 
 not refer to Lear himself? Before in Perforce would move." 
 
 the play, iv. vi. 138, Gloucester 273. voice] See Cymbeline, v. v. 
 
 had likened him to the end of 238 ; Antony and Cleopatra, i. i, 32, 
 
 thine-s: "I- "i- 15- 
 
246 KING LEAR [act v. 
 
 I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion 
 
 I would have made them skip : I am old now, 
 
 And these same crosses spoil me. Who are you ? 
 
 Mine eyes are not o' the best : I '11 tell you straight. 
 Kent. If fortune brag of two she lov'd and hated, 281 
 
 One of them we behold. 
 Lear. This' a dull sight. Are you not Kent ? 
 Kent. The same ; 
 
 Your servant Kent. Where is your servant Caius ? 
 Lear. He 's a good fellow, I can tell you that ; 285 
 
 He '11 strike, and quickly too. He 's dead and rotten. 
 Kent. No, my good lord ; I am the very man, — 
 Lear. I '11 see that straight. 
 Kent. That from your first of difference and decay, 
 
 277. I have] Q I, F ; / /5a Q 2 ; with my goodl Q I, F ; that with my Q 2. 
 278. them] Q, him F. 280. not 0' the] Q I, F ; none 0' th' Q 2. 281. 
 brag] F, brag'd Q ; aitd] F, or Q. 283. This' . . . sighf] F, omitted Q, 
 {this is Q, F, this' Sidney Walker conjecture) ; Are you not] F, Are not 
 you Q. 285. you] F, omitted Q. 289. your first] F, your life Q. 
 
 277. biting] See Winter's Tale, I. grief, or else by the near approach 
 
 II. 157 : of death. 
 
 " my dagger muzzled, 1^^. first of] beginning of. See 
 
 Lest it should bite its master." Timon of Athens, I. i. 118 : 
 
 277.^/i:to«]properlyalightsword, " I am a man 
 
 with the point a little bent inwards. That from my first have been 
 
 281, 282. If . . . behold] Mason inclined to thrift." 
 
 paraphrases thus: "If Fortune, to Also Macbeth, y. ii. II: "their first 
 
 display the plenitude of her power, of manhood. " 
 
 should brag of two persons, one of. 289. difference] Tovey explains, 
 
 whom she had highly elevated, and "change of fortune for the worse," 
 
 the other she had woefully depressed, quoting Timon of Athens, III. i. 49 : 
 
 we now behold the latter." " Is't possible the world should so 
 
 283. This'] this is. See IV. vi. 188. much differ, 
 
 283. dull sight] Steevens quotes And we alive that lived ? " 
 Macbeth, 11. ii. 21 : "This is a sorry We may compare, "differing multi- 
 sight" (looking on his hands), but dull tudes," Cymbeline, III. vi. 86. 
 may mean melancholy ; see Comedy of Schmidt hesitatingly defines first of 
 Errors, \. i. 79, "moody and dull difference as "first turn of fortune." 
 melancholy." See also S Henry IV. Perhaps we might thus paraphrase the 
 I. i. 71. Blakeway thinks Lear's sight whole passage: "From the begin- 
 was bedimmed either by excess of ning of your trouble with your 
 
sc. III.] KING LEAR 247 
 
 Have follow'd your sad steps, — 
 Lear. You are welcome hither. 290 
 
 Kent. Nor no man else. All 's cheerless, dark, and deadly : 
 
 Your eldest daughters have fordone themselves. 
 
 And desperately are dead. 
 Lear. Ay, so I think. 
 
 Alb. He knows not what he says, and vain is it 
 
 That we present us to him. 
 Edg. Very bootless, 295 
 
 Enter an Officer. 
 
 Off. Edmund is dead, my lord. 
 
 Alb. That 's but a trifle here. 
 
 You lords and noble friends, know our intent ; 
 What comfort to this great decay may come 
 Shall be applied : for us, we will resign, 
 During the life of this old majesty, 300 
 
 To him our absolute power: \To Edgar and Kent.'\ 
 You, to your rights, 
 
 290. Yi>u are] Q 2, You'r Q I, Your are F. 292. fordone'] F (fore- 
 done), foredooms Q i , fore-doom' d Q 2. 293. Ay, so I think] F, So think 
 I too Q^ 1, So I think too Q 2. 294. says] F, sees Q ; is it] F, it is Q. 
 295. Enter an Officer] Capell ; Enter Captaine Q ; Enter Messenger F, after 
 "him," line 295. 298. great] F, omitted Q. 301. [To . . . Kent] 
 Malone ; To Edg. Rowe ; omitted Q, F. 
 
 daughters, and the consequent decay, ' ' Grew shameless-desperate . , . 
 
 ruin of your fortune." . . . repented 
 
 291. TVor »Z(;] No, nor any. Capell, The evils she hatch'd were not 
 followed by Malone, considers this as effected ; so, 
 
 meaning, " no one can or will come to Despairing, died." 
 
 a scene like this." Others think that See also extract from Marlow, 1 Tam- 
 
 Kent's words after "sad steps" are burlaine, note to iv. v. 12. 
 
 continued, " I who alone did it." 298. great decay] Capell and 
 
 But Kent was not quite alone in his Steevens refer this to Lear. See iv. 
 
 attendance on Lear. vi. 138: " O ruin'd piece of nature. " 
 
 292. fordone] See fordid, line 256 So Lear is called by Gloucester, 
 of this scene. Delius explains as referring to the 
 
 293. desperately] in or out of de- collective misfortunes which the scene 
 cTioi.- Qrt ritnihpUttp v_ v_ cS-fir ; reveals. 
 
248 KING LEAR [act v. 
 
 With boot and such addition as your honours 
 Have more than merited. All friends shall taste 
 The wages of their virtue, and all foes 
 The cup of their deservings. O ! see, see! 305 
 
 Lear. And my poor fool is hang'd ! No, no, no life ! 
 Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life. 
 And thou no breath at all ? Thou 'It come no more. 
 Never, never, never, never, never ! 
 Pray you, undo this button : thank you, sir. 3 1 o 
 Do you see this ? Look on her, look, her lips. 
 Look there, look there ! \Dies. 
 
 Edg. He faints ! My lord, my lord ! 
 
 Kent. Break, heart ; I prithee, break ! 
 
 Edg. Look up, my lord. 
 
 Kent. Vex not his ghost : O ! let him pass ; he hates him 
 That would upon the rack of this tough world 3 1 5 
 Stretch him out longer. 
 
 306. No, no, no'] F, no, no Q. 307. /lazie] Q 2, F ; o/Q I. 308. TAoa 'If] 
 F, O thou wilt Q. 309. Never] five times in F, thrice Q. 310. Pray 
 
 you] Q I, F ; Pray Q 2. 311, 312. Do you . . . i/iere] F, sir O, 0, o, 
 Q I, sir O, 0, 0, a, Q 2. 312. Dies] He dies F, omitted Q. 313. 
 Kent. £rea^ F, Lear. Break Q. 314. Aates Aim] Q I, F ; /lates him much 
 Q 2. 315. tough] Q, F ; rough Q 3 (?), Pope. 
 
 302. With . . . addition] with xxiii. : "O heavenly fool, thy most 
 
 such addition and surplusage. kiss-vsrorthy face." The expression 
 
 302. boot] what is thrown in at a " poor fool " as a term of pity is found 
 
 bargain. See Troilus and Cressida, several times in Shakespeare. 
 IV. V. 40: "I'll give you boot, I'll 314. pass] die. See note to IV. vi. 
 
 give you three for one." 47. 
 
 306. fool] a term of endearment, 314. he]he that would, etc., hates 
 
 certainly referring to Cordelia, though, him. 
 
 strange to say, some have believed it 315. tough] obdurate, rigid 
 
 referred to the Fool, supposing that (Steevens). Collier remarks the word 
 
 Lear would not have bestowed this does not so much refer to the world 
 
 epithet on his daughter. But see as to the rack. Pope, following Q 3, 
 
 Winter's Tale, II. i. 118: "Do not read "rough," and Capell revived this 
 
 weep, good fools " (Hermione to her reading, believing he had the authority 
 
 waiting gentlewomen). See also of Q 2 for it ; but the letter, there, is 
 
sc. III.] KING LEAR 249 
 
 Edg. He is gone, indeed. 
 
 Kent. The wonder is he hath ertdur'd so long : 
 
 He but usurp'd his Hfe. 
 Alb. Bear them from hence. Our present business 
 
 Is general woe. \To Kent and Edgar?^ Friends of 
 my soul, you twain ■ 320 
 
 Rule in this realm, and the gor'd state sustain. 
 Kent. I have a journey, sir, shortly to go ; 
 
 My master calls me, I must not say no. 
 Edg. The weight of this sad time we must obey ; 
 
 Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. 325 
 
 The oldest hath borne most : we that are young 
 
 Shall never see so much, nor live so long. 
 
 \Exeunt, with a dead inarch. 
 
 316. He\ F, OheC^. 319. Alb.] F, Duke. Q. 320. Is^Y, Is to Q_. 
 [To . . . Edgar] Johnson ; omitted Q, F. 321. realm] F, kingdome Q; 
 gor'd state] Q I, F; good state Q 2. 323. cat/s me, /] F, calls, and I Q. 
 324. Edg.] F, Duke. Q. 326. hath] F, have Q. 327. Exeunt . . . 
 march] F, omitted Q. 
 
 316. gone] dead. the players," by supposing " that he 
 
 321. gor'd] pierced, wounded. who played Edgar, being a more 
 
 322. / have . . . go] So Hamlet, favourite actor than he who person- 
 III. i. 79j 80, Cymbeline, v. iv. 190; ated Albany . . . in spite of decorum, 
 and see Marlow, Edward the Second, it was thought proper he should have 
 V. vi. 65, 66. Mortimer, just before the last word. " But I think that it 
 being led off to execution, says : is most likely that Shakespeare meant 
 
 ' ' weep not for Mortimer, it for Edgar. He is boimd to reply 
 
 That scorns the world, and as a to the speech of Albany addressed to 
 
 traveller Kent and him, announcing that he 
 
 Goes to discover countries yet intends to abdicate the kingdom in 
 
 unknown." their favour. The words "we that 
 
 324-327. The . . . long] I follow are young " come somewhat more nat- 
 
 the Folio, Rowe, Delius, etc., in urally, I think, from his mouth than 
 
 giving this speech to Edgar. Most from that of Albany. The speech, 
 
 modern editors, following the Quarto like that of the Fool at ni. vi. 90, 
 
 and Theobald, give it to Albany. I take to be prophetic of the early 
 
 Theobald accounted for it being death of its speaker. 
 
 spoken by Edgar "in the edition of 
 
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