Reg.

Gon. If not, I'll ne'er trust poison.

That names me traitor, villain-like he lies:
Call by thy trumpet: he, that dares approach,
On him, on you, (who not?) I will maintain
My truth and honour firmly.

Alb. A herald, ho! Edm.

A herald, ho, a herald!

Alb. Trust to thy single virtue; for thy soldiers, All levied in my name, have in my name

Took their discharge.

Reg.

This sickness grows upon me. Enter a Herald.

Alb. She is not well; convey her to my tent.
(Exit Regan, led.

Come hither, herald,-Let the trumpet sound,—
And read out this.
Off. Sound, trumpet.

(A Trumpet sounds.) Herald reads.

If any man of quality, or degree, within the lists of the army, will maintain upon Edmund, supposed earl of Gloster, that he is a manifold traitor, let him appear at the third sound of the trumpet: He is bold in his defence. Elm. Sound. Her. Again.

Her. Again.

I come to cope withal. Alb.

Which is that adversary? Edg. What's he, that speaks for Edmund earl of Gloster?

Elm, Himself;-what say'st thou to him?
Edg.
Draw the sword;

That, if my speech offend a noble heart,
Thy arm may do justice: here is mine.
Behold, it is the privilege of my honours,
My oath, and my profession: I protest,—
Mangre 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;
Conspirant gainst this high illustrious prince;
And, from the extremest upward of thy head,
To the descent and dust beneath thy feet,
A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou, No,

|

Alb.

Know'st thou this paper?

Most monstrous!

Gon.
Alb. Go after her: she's desperate; govern her.
(To an Officer, who goes out.)
Edm. What you have charg'd me with, that have
I done;

And more, much more; the time will bring it out;
'Tis past and so am I: But what art thou,"
That hast this fortune on me? If thou art 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.
The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to scourge us:

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.
Alb. Methought 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.

I know it well.

Alb.

Worthy prince,

Where have you hid yourself? 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' sweetness
That with the pain of death we'd hourly die,
Rather than die at once!) tanght me to shift
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,

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,
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 mov'd me,
And shall, perchance, do good: but speak you on;
You look as you had something more to say.

Alb. If there be more, more woful, hold it in; For I am almost ready to dissolve,

Edm. In wisdom, I should ask thy name; Bst, since thy outside looks so fair and warlike, And that thy tongue some 'say of breeding breathes, What safe and nicely I might well delay Ky rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn: 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, Where they shall rest for ever. - Trumpets, speak. (Alarums. They fight. Edmund falls.) Alb. O save him, save him! Gon. This is mere practice, Gloster: 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.

Edg.

This would have seem'd a period 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,

Shunn'd my abhorr'd society; but then, finding
Who 'twas that so endur'd, 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,
That ever ear receiv'd; which in recounting
His grief grew puissant, and the strings of life
Began to crack: Twice then the trumpet sounded,
And there I left him tranc'd.

Alb.
But who was this?
Edg. Kent, sir, the banish'd Kent; who, in dic

P 513. Critical Remarks, 1. 37.

the public has decided.] Dr. Johnson should rather have said that the managers of the theatres royal have decided, and the public has been obliged to acquiesce in their decision. The altered play has the upper gallery on its side; the original drama was patronized by Addison. "Victrix causa Diis placuit, sed victa Catoni." STEEVENS.

ACT I.

SCENE 1.

P. 513, e. 1, l. 7. in the division of the kingdom,] There is something of obscurity or inaccuracy in this preparatory scene. The king has already divided his kingdom, and yet when he enters he examines his daughters, to discover in what proportions he should divide it. Perhaps Kent and Gloster only were privy to his design, which he still kept in his own hands, to be changed or performed as subsequent reasons should determine him. JOHNSON. Id. 1.9.that curiosity in neither-] Curiosity is scrupulousness, or captiousness. Id. l. 10. of either's moiety.] The strict sense of the word moiety is half, one of two equal parts: but Shakspeare commonly uses it for any part or division. Id c. 2, l. 2.

some.

being so proper] i. e. hand

1.1.4. some year elder than this,] i. e. about a year.

P.514, c. 1, 1.7. express our darker purpose.] That is, we have already made known in some measure our desire of parting the kingdom; we will now discover what has not been told before, the reasons by which we shall regulate the partition. This interpretation will justify or palliate the exordial dialogue. JOHN

possesses: Perhaps square means only compass, comprehension; or, the full complement of all the senses.

Id. 1. 59. No less in space, validity,] Validity, for worth, value; not for integrity, or good title. Id. 1. 63. Strive to be interess'd;] To interest and to interesse, are not, perhaps, different spellings of the same verb, but are two distinct words, though of the same import; the one being derived from the Latin, the other from the French intéresser.

-

Id l. 68. " will come"-MALONE. Id. c. 2. l. 21.. — generation—] i. e. his children. Id. l. 43. all the additions to a king;) All the titles belonging to a king.

Id. l. 45. execution of the rest.] All the other business.

Id. 1. 66. Reverbs-] This is, perhaps, a word of the poet's own making, meaning the same as reverberates.

Id. 1. 73. The true blank of thine eye,] The blank is the white or exact mark at which the arrow is shot. See better, says Kent, and keep me always in your view.

P.

515, c. 1, l. 12. (Which nor our nature nor our place can bear)

Our potency made good,] i. e. They to whom I have yielded my power and authority. yielding me the ability to dispense it in this instance, take thy reward.

Id. l. 18. By Jupiter,] Shakspeare makes his Lear too much a mythologist: he had Hecate and Apollo before. JOHNSON.

Id. 1. 29. He'll shape his old course-] He will follow his old maxims; he will continue to act upon the same principles.

Id. 1. 37. -quest of love?] Quest of love is amorous expedition. The term originated from Romance. A quest was the expedition in which a knight was engaged.

Id. l. 17. Thou, nature, art my goddess; Edmund calls nature his goddess, for the same reason that we call a bastard a natural son; one, who, according to the law of nature, is the child of his father, but according to those of civil society, is mullius filius.

Id. 1. 19. Stand in the plague of custom: Wherefore should I acquiesce, submit tamely to the plagues and injustice of custom?

Id. 1. 20. The curiosity of nations-] i. e. the idle, nice distinctions of the world.

Id. l. 20. --to deprive me.] To deprive was, in our author's time, synonymous to disinherit. Id 1. 42. subscrib'd his power! To subscribe in Shakspeare, is to yield or surrender. exhibition! is allowance. The term is yet used in the universities. Id. l. 44 All this done

Id. l. 43.

whereas. Id l. 33. to your honour,] It has been already observed that this was the usual mode of address to a lord in Shakspeare's time. Id. l. 33. pretence-] Pretence is design, purpose.

Id.

15. -I would unstate myself to be in a due resolution.] i. e. he would give all he possessed to be certain of the truth; for that is the meaning of the words to be in a due resolution.

Id. l. 47. convey the business-] To convey is to carry through; in this place it is to manage artfully we say of a juggler, that he has a clean conveyance. Id. 1 50.--the wisdom of nature-] that is, though natural philosophy can give account of eclipses, yet we feel their consequences. Id. l. 70. - and treachers.] for treacherous. P. 517, c. 1. 1. 5. -0, these eclipses do portend | these divisions! fa, sol, la, mi. The commentators, not being musicians, have regarded this passage perhaps as unintelligible nonsense, and therefore left it as they found it, without bestowing a single conjecture on its meaning and import. Shakspeare however shows by the context that he was well acquainted with the property of these syllables in solmization, which imply a series of sounds so unnatural, that ancient musicians prohibited their use. The monkish writers on music say, mi contra fa est diabolus: the interval fa mi, including a tritonus, or sharp 4th, consisting of three

tones, without the intervention of a semi-tone. expressed in the modern scale by the letters FGA B, would form a musical phrase extremely disagreeable to the ear. Edmund, speaking of eclipses as portents and prodigies, con pares the dislocation of events, the times bei out of joint. to the unnatural and oficus. sounds, fa, sol, la, mi. DR. BURNEY.

SCENE III.

Id. c. 2, l. 1. Old fools are babes again; an must be us'd

With checks, as flatteries-when they are seen abus d.] i. e. when old fools w... ze yield to the appliances of persuasion, hard treatment must be employed to compel the submission. When 'flatteries are seen to he abus'd by them, checks must be used, as De only means left to subdue them.

SCENE IV.

Id. l. 14. That can my speech diffuse,] To difuse speech, siguities to disorder it, and so to daguise it. Id. 1.31 -to converse with him that is wise, ma says little; To converse signifies immediates and properly to keep company, not to discours or talk. and to eat no fish.] In queen Ezabeth s time the Papists were esteemed, a u with good reason, enemies to the goveraret Hence the proverbial phrase of, He's an hetiss man, and eats no fish; to signify he's a inte to the government and a Protestant P. 518, c. 1, Z. S.

Id. 1. 32.

lious jealousy.

-jealous curiosity,] Punte

Id. 1. 8. ――a very pretence-] Pretence in Shakspeare generally signifies design

Id. 1. 13. Since my young lady's going into France sir, the fool hath much pined away, is an endearing circumstance in the fool's char racter, and creates such an interest to ba favour, as his wit alone might have failed w procure for him STEEVENS.

Id. l. 52. —— all my living,] Living in Shakspeare's time signified estate, or property. Id. 1. 57. Lady, the brach,] Brach is a bitch of the hunting kind.

Id. 1. 65. Lend less than thou owest.] That is, é. not lend all that thou hast. To owe, in od English, is to possess.

Id. 1. 67. Learn more than thou trowest.] To trow, is an old world which significs to believe Id. c. 2. l. 20. if I had a monopoly cut, tari would have part on't :) A satire on the tim abuses of monopolies at that time; as the corruption and avarice of the courtiers, wi commonly went shares with the patentee. 1. 33. Fools had ne'er less grace in a year. There never was a time when fools were les in favour; and the reason is, that they were never so little wanted, for wise men now Sup y

Id.

Id.

Id.

their place. Such I think is the meal

JOHNSON.

l. 60. that frontlet-] A frontlet wax 3
forehead-cloth, used formerly by ladies at ri
to render that part smooth. Lear,
means to say, that Goneril's brow was as curr
pletely covered by a frown, as it would be by
a froutlet. MALONE.

1. 70. That's a sheal'd peascod. i e, zowa mere husk, which contains nothing. The outs de of a king remains, but all the intrinsic parts of royalty are gone: he has nothing to he Id. l. 78. -put it on- i. e. promote, push & forward.

Id. 1.79. By your allowance;] By your appr

bation.

P. 519, c. 1, l. 9. were left darkling.] Shakspeare's fools are certainly copied from the life. The originals whom he copied were no doubt men of quick parts; lively and sarcastic. Though they were licensed to say any thing, it was still necessary to prevent giving offence, that every thing they said should have a playful air; we may suppose therefore that they had a custom of taking off the edge of too sharp a speech by covering it hastily with the end of an old song, or any glib nonsense that came into the mind. I know no other way of accounting for the incoherent words with which Shakspeare often finishes his fool's speeches.

SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.

Id 1 24 for by the marks of sovereignty, knowledge, and reason, &c.] Were I to judge from the marks of sovereignty, of knowledge, or reason, I should be induced to think I had daughters, yet that must be a false persuasion; -it cannot be.

Id.1.25. Which they will make an obedient father.] Which, is on this occasion used with two de

viations from present language. It is referred, contrary to the rules of grammarians, to the pronoun 1, and is employed, according to a mode now obsolete, for whom, the accusative case of who.

Id. 1 28.
Id. 1. 41.

in service.

o'the favour-] i. of the complexion. still depend,] Depend, for continue

Id 1.56. Than the sea-monster!] Mr. Upton observes, that the sea-monster is the hippopotamus, the hieroglyphical symbol of impiety and ingratitude.

Id. l. 64. like an engine,] By an engine is meant

the rack.

Id. l. 77. from her derogate body-] Derogate for degraded, blasted.

Id. c. 2, 1.3. cadent tears-] i. e. falling tears. Id. 14. Turn all her mother's pains, and benefits,] Her maternal cares and good offices.

Id. 1. 25. The untented woundings-] Untented

wounds, means wounds in their worst state, not having a tent in them to digest them: and may possibly signify here such as will not admit of having a tent put into them for that purpose. Id. 1. 52. At point,] Completely armed, and consequently ready at appointment or command on the slightest notice.

Id 1 58 trust too far:"-MALONE

Id 1.71. compact it more.] Unite one circumstance with another, so as to make a con

Id. 1. 21.

Id.

SCENE II.

action-taking knave ;] i. e. a fellow, who, if you beat him, would bring an action for the assault.

Id. l. 28. addition.] i. e. titles. These titles were probably familiar in Shakspeare's time among the lower classes, although their meaning be now lost. The conjectures of the annotators have been but idly employed on them. 1. 41. —vanity the puppet's part.] Alluding to the old moralities, in which vanity, iniquity, and other vices, were personified. Id. l. 47. neat slave. You finical rascal. Id. l. 75. - this unbolted villain-] Unbolted mortar is mortar made of unsifted lime, and therefore to break the lumps it is necessary to tread it by men in wooden shoes. This unbolted villain is therefore this coarse rascal.

P. 522, c. 1, l. 8. Which are too intrinse] for intrinsicate.

Id. 1. 12. -and turn their halcyon beaks, &c.]

The halcyon is the bird otherwise called the king-fisher. The vulgar opinion was, that this bird, if hung up, would vary with the wind, and by that means show from what point

it blew.

Id. 1.15. epileptic visage !] The frighted countenance of a man ready to fall in a fit. Id. l. 18. Camelot.] Was the place where the romances say king Arthur kept his court in the West; so this alludes to some proverbial speech in those romances.

Id. 1. 26.

-likes me not.] i. e. pleases me not. Id 1.36. constrains the garb,

Quite from his nature:] Forces his outside or his appearance to something totally diffe rent from his natural disposition.

Id. l. 47. On flickering Phœbus' front,] To flicker is to flutter; like the motion of a flame. Id. l. 53. -though I should win your displeasure to entreat me to it.] Though I should win you, displeased as you now are, to like me so well as to entreat me to be a knave. JOHNSON. Id. l. 55. "I never gave him any :"-MALONE. Id. l. 63. -fleshment-] A young soldier is said

to flesh his sword, the first time he draws blood with it. Fleshment, therefore, is here metaphorically applied to the first act of service, which Kent, in his new capacity, had performed for his master.

Id. l. 64. "Here again."-MALONE.

Id. 1. 66. But Ajax is their fool.] i. e. is a fool to them.

ld. c. 2, l. 18. It should be remembered, that formerly in great houses, as still in some colleges, there were moveable stocks for the correction of the servants. FARMER.