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 Hookiovers Ecfi 6ion 
 
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 ?flllian\Sl\cil^speare 
 
 ar\cf •At QtYxpcT of Study 
 
 TVyQ Urvjver'si^y Society 
 New York,
 
 Copyright, 1 90 1 
 
 By 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY
 
 COLLEG 
 LIBRAR 
 
 zKn 
 
 A\ 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF KING LEAR/f ^/ 
 Preface. 
 
 The Early Editions. Two Quarto editions of King 
 Lear appeared in the year 1608, with the following title- 
 pages: — (i.) '' M. William Shak-speare: | HIS | True 
 Chronicle Historic of the life and | death of King Lear 
 and his three Daughters. | With the unfortunate life of 
 Edgar, fonne \ and heire to the Earle of Gloster, and 
 his I sullen and assumed humor of | Tom of Bedlam: | As 
 io was played before the Kings Maieftie at Whitehall vpon \ 
 S. Stephans night in Chriftmas Hollidayes. \ By his Maies- 
 ties Seruants playing vsually at the Gloabe | on the 
 Banck-fide. [Device.] London, | Printed for Nathaniel 
 Butter, and are to be sold at his fhop in Pauls \ Church- 
 yard at the figne of the Pide Bull neere | St. Auftins Gate, 
 1608." 
 
 (ii.) The title of the Second Quarto is almost identical 
 with that of (i.), but the device is different, and there is 
 no allusion to the shop " at the signe of the Pide Bull." 
 
 It is now generally accepted that the " Pide Bull " 
 Quarto is the first edition of the play, but the question of 
 priority depends on the minutest of bibliographical cri- 
 teria, and the Cambridge editors were for a long time 
 misled in their chronological order of the Quartos (vide 
 Cambridge editors' Preface, pp. v.-ix.); the problem is 
 complicated by the fact that no two of the extant six cop- 
 ies of the First Quarto are exactly alike ;'^ they differ in 
 
 * Capell's copy ; the Duke of Devonshire's ; the British Mu- 
 seum's two copies ; the Bodleian two copies.
 
 Preface THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 having one, two, three, or four, uncorrected sheets. The 
 Second Quarto was evidently printed from a copy of the 
 First Quarto, having three uncorrected sheets. A re- 
 print of this edition, with many additional errors, ap- 
 peared in 1655. 
 
 The Folio edition of the play was derived from an in- 
 dependent manuscript, and the text, from a typographical 
 point of view, is much better than that of the earlier 
 editions; but it is noteworthy that some two hundred and 
 twenty lines found in the Quartos are not found in the 
 Folio, while about fifty lines in the Folio are wanting in 
 the Quartos.* 
 
 Much has been written on the discrepancies between 
 the two versions; among modern investigations perhaps 
 the most important are those of (i.) Delius and (ii.) Kop- 
 pel ; according to (i), " in the Quartos we have the play 
 as it was originally performed before King James, and 
 before the audience of the Globe, but sadly marred by 
 misprints, printers' sophistications, and omissions, per- 
 haps due to an imperfect and illegible AIS. In the Folio 
 we have a later MS. belonging to the Theatre, and 
 more nearly identical with what Shakespeare wrote. 
 The omissions of the Quartos are the blunders of the 
 printers ; the omissions of the Folios are the abridge- 
 ments of the actors; " according to (ii.), '' it was Shake- 
 speare's own hand that cut out many of the passages 
 both in the Quarto text and the Folio text. . . . 
 The original form was, essentially, that of the Quarto, 
 then followed a longer form, zuith the additions in the Folio, 
 as substantially our modern editions have again restored 
 
 * To the latter class belong I. ii. 119- 124; I. iv. 345-356; HI. i. 
 22-29; III. ii. 79-95; to the former, I. iii. 17-23; I. iv. 154-169, 252- 
 256; II. ii. 148-151; III. vi. 18-59, 109-122; III. vii. 98-107; IV. i. 
 60-66; IV. ii. 31-50, 53-59, 62-69; IV. vii. 88-95; V. i. 23-28; V. 
 iii. 54-59; V. iii. 204-221. Vide Prsetorius' facsimiles of Quarto i 
 and Quarto 2; Victor's Parallel Text of Quarto i and Folio i 
 (Marburg, 1886), Furness' Variorum, etc.
 
 KING LEAR . Preface 
 
 thein; then the shortest form, as it is preserved for us in 
 the FoHo."^ 
 
 It seems probable that the quarto represents a badly 
 printed revised version of the orginal form of the play, 
 specially prepared by the poet for performance at Court, 
 vv^hereas the folio is the actors' abridged version. It 
 seems hardly possible to determine the question more 
 definitely. 
 
 Tate's Version. For more than a century and a half, 
 from the year 1680 until the restoration of Shakespeare's 
 tragedy at Covent Garden in 1838, Tate's per-version of 
 Lear held the stage, f delighting audiences with " the Cir- 
 cumstances of Lear's Restoration, and the virtuous Ed- 
 gar's Alliance with the amiable Cordelia." It was to 
 this acting-edition that Lamb referred in his famous 
 criticism, " Tate has put his hook into the nostrils of this 
 leviathan for Garrick and his followers," etc. Garrick, 
 Kemble, Kean, and other great actors were quite con- 
 tent with this travesty, but " the Lear of Shakespeare 
 cannot be acted." 
 
 The Date of Composition. The play of King Lear 
 may safely be assigned to the year 1605: — (i.) According 
 to an entry in the Stationers' Register, dated 26th No- 
 vember, 1607, it was " played before the King's Majesty 
 at Whitehall upon S. Stephens' night at Christmas last," 
 i.e. on the twenty-sixth of December 1606 ; (ii.) the names 
 of Edgar's devils, and many of the allusions in Act III. 
 Sc. iv. were evidently derived from Harsnett's Declaration 
 
 * Delius' Essay appeared originally in the German Shakespeare 
 Society Year-Book X. ; and was subsequently translated into 
 English (Nezu. SJiak. Soc. Trans. 1875-6). 
 
 Dr. Koppel's investigations are to be found in his Text-Krit- 
 ische Studien uhcr Richard IIL u. King Lear (Dresden, 1877). 
 A resume of the various theories is given in Furness' edition, pp. 
 
 359-373- 
 t Vide Furness, pp. 467-478.
 
 Preface THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 of Egregious Popish Impostures, which was first pubHshed 
 in 1603; (iii.) the substitution of ''British man'' for 
 '* Englishman " in the famous nursery-rhyme (Act III. Sc. 
 iv. 189) seems to point to a time subsequent to the Union 
 of England and Scotland under James I.; the poet Daniel 
 in a congratulatory address to the King (printed in 1603) 
 wrote thus : — 
 
 " O thou mightie state, 
 Now thou art all Great Britain, and no more, 
 No Scot, no English now, nor no debate ; " * 
 
 (iv.) the allusions to the ''late eclipses" (I. ii. 112, 148, 
 153) have been most plausibly referred to the great 
 eclipse of the sun, which took place in October, 1605, 
 and this supposition is borne out by the fact that John 
 Harvey's Discoursive Problems concerning Prophesies, 
 printed in 1588, actually contains a striking prediction 
 thereof (hence the point of Edmund's comment, " / am 
 thinking of a prediction I read this other day,'' etc.) ; per- 
 haps, too, there is a reference to the Gunpowder Plot in 
 Gloucester's words, " machinations, hollowness, treach- 
 ery, and all ruinous disorders follow us disquietly to our 
 graves." 
 
 The Sources of the Plot. The story of " Leir, the 
 son of Balderd, ruler over the Britaynes, in the year of 
 the world 3105, at what time Joas reigned as yet in Juda," 
 was among the best-known stories of British history. 
 Its origin must be sought for in the dim world of Celtic 
 legend, or in the more remote realm of simple nature- 
 myths, f but its place in literature dates from Geoffrey of 
 
 * It is noteworthy that in IV. vi. 256 the Folio reads "English," 
 where the Quartos have "British." 
 
 t According to some Celtic folk-lorists, " Lir " = Neptune ; the 
 two cruel daughters = the rough Winds ; Cordelia = the gentle 
 Zephyr. I know no better commentary on the tempestuous char- 
 acter of the play; Shakespeare has unconsciously divined the 
 germ of the myth.
 
 KING LEAR Preface 
 
 Monmouth's Latin history of the Britons, Historia Brit- 
 oniim, composed about 1130, based in all probabiHty on 
 an earlier work connected with the famous name of 
 Nennius, though Geoffrey aheges his chief authority was 
 " an ancient British book." To the Historia Britonum 
 we owe the stories of Leir, Gorboduc, Locrine; there, 
 too, we find rich treasures of ^^^thurian romance. 
 • Welsh, French, and English histories of Britain were 
 derived, directly or indirectly, from this Latin history. 
 The first to tell these tales in English verse was Lay- 
 amon, son of Leovenath, priest of Arley Regis, in Wor- 
 cestershire, on the right bank of the Severn, who flour- 
 ished at the beginning of the thirteenth century, and 
 whose English Brut was based on Wace's French Gcstes 
 des Bretons — a versified translation of Geoffrey's history. 
 At the end of the century the story figures again in Rob- 
 ert of Gloucester's Metrical Chronicle; in the fourteenth 
 century Robert of Brunne, in the fifteenth John Har- 
 dyng, re-told in verse these ancient British stories. In 
 the sixteenth century we have Warner's Albion s England 
 — the popular metrical history of the period; we have 
 also the prose chronicles of Fabyan, Rastell, Grafton, 
 and over and above all, HoHnshed's famous Historic of 
 England)"^ the story of Lcir is to be found in all these 
 books. Three versions of the tale at the end o^f the six- 
 teenth century show that the poetical possibilities of the 
 subject were recognised before Shakespeare set thereon 
 the stamp of his genius f : — (i.) in the Mir our for Magis- 
 trates " Queene Cordila " tells her life's " tragedy," how 
 '' in dispaire " she slew herself '' the year before Christ, 
 800"; (ii.) Spenser, in Canto X. of the Second Book of 
 the Faery Queene, summarises, in half a dozen stanzas, 
 
 * In Camden's Remains the " Lear " story is told of the West- 
 Saxon King Ina; in the Gesta Romanorum Theodosius takes the 
 place of King Lear. 
 
 fThe ballad of King Lcir, and his three Daughters {vide 
 Percy's Reliques) is, in all probability, later than Shakespeare's 
 play. 
 
 5
 
 Preface THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 the story of '' Cordelia " — this form of the name, used 
 as a variant of " Cordeill " for metrical purposes, occur- 
 ring here for the first time; the last stanza may be quoted 
 to illustrate the closing of the story in the pre-Shake- 
 spearian versions: — 
 
 "So to his crown she him restord again 
 In which he died, made ripe for death by eld. 
 And after will'd it should to her remain; 
 Who peacefully the same long time did weld. 
 And all men's hearts in due obedience held; 
 Till that her sister's children woxen strong 
 Through proud ambition, against her rebell'd. 
 And ovcrcommen kept in prison long. 
 Till weary of that wretched life herself she hong" ; 
 
 (iii.) of special interest, however, is the pre-Shakespearian 
 drama, which was entered in the books of the Stationers' 
 Company as early as 1594 under the title of " The mostc 
 famous Chronicle historyc of Leire, Kinge of England, 
 and his Three Daughters," but evidently not printed till 
 the year 1605, when perhaps its publication was due to 
 the popularity of the newer Chronicle History on the 
 same subject; " The | True Chronicle Hi | story of King 
 Leir I and his three | daughters, Gonorill, Ragan, and 
 Cordelia. | As it hath bene divers and sundry | times 
 lately acted. | London | printed | by Simon Stafford for 
 John I Wright, and are to bee sold at his shop at | 
 Christes Church dore, next Newgate- | Market, 1605."* 
 It is noteworthy that the play was entered in the Reg- 
 isters on the 8th of May as " the tragicall historic of 
 Kinge Leir," though the play is anything but a '' trag- 
 edy " — its ending is a happy one. It looks, indeed, as 
 though the original intention of the pubHshers was to 
 palm off their " Leir " as identical with the great tragedy 
 of the day. 
 
 * Vide " Six Old Plays on which Shakespeare founded his 
 Measure for Measure," etc.; Hazlitt's Shakespeare's Library, etc.; 
 an abstract of the play is given by Furness, pp. 393-401.- 
 
 6
 
 KING LEAR Preface 
 
 But however worthless it may seem when placed in 
 juxtaposition with " the most perfect specimen of the 
 dramatic art existing in the world,"* yet this less am- 
 bitious and humble production is. not wholly worthless, if 
 only for '^ a certain childlike sweetness " in the por- 
 traiture of " faire Cordelia," 
 
 " Myrrour of vertue, Phoenix of our age! 
 Too kind a daughter for an unkind father! " 
 
 It may be pronounced a very favourable specimen of the 
 popular ' comedies ' of the period to which it belonged 
 (circa 1592), with its conventional classicism, its charac- 
 teristic attempts at humour, its rhyming couplets; like so 
 many of its class, it has caught something of the tender- 
 ness of the Greenish drama, and something — rather less 
 — of the aspiration of the Marlowan.f " With all its de- 
 fects," says Dr. Ward, " the play seems only to await the 
 touch of a powerful hand to be converted into a tragedy 
 of supreme effectiveness; and while Shakespeare's 
 genius nowhere exerted itself with more transcendent 
 
 * Shelley, Defence of Poetry, Essays, etc., 1840, p. 20. 
 
 t Here are a few lines — perhaps ' the salt of the old play ' — 
 by way of specimen: — [the Gallian king is wooing Cordelia dis- 
 guised as a Palmer]. 
 
 ''King. Your birth 's too high for any but a king. 
 Cordelia. My mind is low enough to love a palmer, 
 
 Rather than any king upon the earth. 
 King. O, but you never can endure their life. 
 
 Which is so straight and full of penury. 
 Cordelia. O yes, I can, and happy if I might : 
 
 I '11 hold thy palmer's stafif within my hand, 
 
 And think it is the sceptre of a queen. 
 
 Sometime I '11 set thy bonnet on my head 
 
 And think I wear a rich imperial crown. 
 
 Sometime I '11 help thee in thy holy prayers, 
 
 And think I am with thee in Paradise. 
 
 Thus I '11 mock fortune, as she mocketh me. 
 
 And never will my lovely choice repent ; 
 
 For having thee, I shall have all content,"
 
 Preface THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 force and marvellous versatility, it nowhere found more 
 promising materials ready to its command."* 
 
 Yet Shakespeare's debt to the old play was of the 
 slightest, and some have held that he may not even 
 have read it, but in all probability he derived therefrom 
 at least a valuable hint for the character of Kent, whose 
 prototype Perillus is by no means unskillfully drawn; 
 perhaps_, too, the original of the steward Oswald is to be 
 found in the courtier Scaliger; again it is noteworthy 
 that messengers with incriminating letters play an im- 
 portant part in the earHer as in the later drama; and pos- 
 sibly the first rumblings of the wild storm-scene of ' Lear ' 
 may be heard in the mimic thunder which in ' Lcir ' 
 strikes terror in the heart of the assassin hired to murder 
 king and comrade — " the parlosest old men that ere he 
 heard." 
 
 There is in the '' Chronicle History " no hint of the 
 underplot of Lear, the almost parallel story of Gloster 
 and Edmund, whereby Shakespeare subtly emphasies 
 the leading motif of the play; the vague original thereof 
 is to be found in Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia (Book II. pp. 
 133-158, ed. 1598), {"the pitifu'll state and story of the 
 Paphlagonian vnkinde king, and his kind Sonne, first related 
 by the son, then by the blind father "). 
 
 Duration of Action. The time of the play, accord- 
 ing to Mr. Daniel {vide Transactions of New Shakespere 
 Svc, 1877-79), covers ten days, distributed as follows: — 
 
 Day I, Act I. Sc. i. Day 2, Act I. Sc. ii. An interval of 
 something less than a fortnight. Day 3, Act I. Sc. iii., iv. 
 Day 4, Act XL Sc. i., ii. Day 5, Act II. Sc. iii., iv.; Act 
 III. Sc. i-vi. Day 6, Act III. Sc. vii. ; Act IV. Sc. i. Day 
 7, Act IV. Sc. ii. Perhaps an interval of a day or two. 
 Day 8, Act IV. Sc. iii. Day 9, Act IV. Sc. iv., v., vi. Day 
 10, Act IV. Sc. vii. ; Act V. Sc. i.-iil. 
 
 " The longest period, including intervals, that can be 
 allowed for this play is one month; though perhaps little 
 more than three weeks is sufficient." 
 
 * History of English Dramatic Literature, Vol. I., p. 126. 
 
 8
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Critical Comments. 
 I. 
 
 Argument. 
 
 I. Lear, King of Britain, being desirous of escaping 
 the cares of state on account of advancing years, deter- 
 mines to portion out his kingdom among his three 
 daughters, Goneril, Regan, and CordeHa. In his old age 
 he craves expressions of his daughters' affection. Both 
 Goneril and Regan make most eloquent protestations of 
 their love; and the delighted monarch forthwith bestows 
 on each a third of his kingdom. But Cordeha, disgusted 
 with such lip-service, will not please her father by like 
 avowals, but promises only to love him according to her 
 duty. Lear, enrag^ed, takes away her moiety of the 
 realm and divide? it between Goneril and Regan. The 
 Earl of Kent interposes on behalf of Cordelia, and is 
 himself banished. Though dowerless, Cordelia's hand 
 is sought and obtained by the King of France. 
 
 It is not long before Lear discovers that he has been 
 disappointed in his estimate of the two elder daughters. 
 By agreement, he had reserved nothing more than the 
 title of king, and a retinue of one hundred knights. He 
 was to spend alternately a month at the courts of Goneril 
 and Regan. 
 
 IL They, however, reduce the size of his train and 
 drive him into open rupture with them. 
 
 IIL Finally, after a passionate scene, the old king 
 betakes himself to the desolate heath on a stormy night, 
 where he braves the fury of the elements. He is ac- 
 companied by the two remaining retainers of his Court —
 
 Comments THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 his jester and the Earl of Kent, who has returned from 
 banishment to serve him in disguise. The three take 
 refuge in a hovel, where they encounter a supposed mad- 
 man — Edgar, the disguised son of the Earl of Gloucester, 
 who has been supplanted in his father's affections by his 
 natural half-brother, Edmund. Lear's mind becomes 
 unbalanced. In his extremity the Earl of Gloucester 
 ministers to him. The treacherotis Edmund informs 
 Regan and Goneril of the kindness, and Cornwall, Re- 
 gan's husband, tears out Gloucester's eyes. 
 
 IV, Shortly after, while being led in his blindness on 
 the heath, Gloucester is met and recognized by his dis- 
 owned son Edgar, who, unknown to his father, takes 
 him under his protection and cures Gloucester of his 
 suicidal mania. 
 
 Meanwhile, Cordelia, learning through Kent of her 
 sisters' treachery and the ensuing plight of her father, 
 comes to his relief with a French army. She nurses him, 
 and endeavors to restore him to sanity. 
 
 V. A battle is fought between Cordelia's French 
 troops, and the English forces under the command of 
 Edmund, who holds equivocal relations towards both 
 Goneril and Regan. Cordelia's army is defeated and 
 herself and Lear taken prisoners. Goneril — for Ed- 
 mund's sake — poisons her sister Regan; and afterwards 
 when her husband discovers her perfidy, stabs herself. 
 Edmund is killed in a combat with his wronged brother, 
 Edgar. By an order of Edmund, too late counter- 
 manded, Cordelia is hanged in prison, and Lear dies 
 broken-hearted at this last calamity. 
 
 McSpadden: Shakespearian Synopses. 
 
 H. 
 
 Not a Play for the Stage. 
 
 The Lear of Shakespeare cannot be acted. The con- 
 temptible machinery by which they mimic the storm 
 
 10
 
 KING LEAR Comments 
 
 which he goes out m, is not more inadequate to represent 
 the horrors of the real elements, than any actor can be 
 to represent Lear: they might more easily propose to 
 personate the Satan of Milton upon a stage, or one of 
 Michael Angelo's terrible figures. The greatness of 
 Lear is not in corporal dimension, but in intellectual: 
 the explosions of his passion are terrible as a volcano: 
 they are storms turning up and disclosing to the bottom 
 that sea his mind, with all its vast riches. It is his mind 
 which is laid bare. This case of flesh and blood seems 
 too insignificant to be thought on; even as he himself 
 neglects it. On the stage we see nothing but corporal 
 infirmities and weakness, the impotence of rage; while 
 we read it, we see not Lear, but we are Lear, — we are in 
 his mind, we are sustained by a grandeur which baffles 
 the malice of daughters and storms; in the aberrations of 
 his reason we discover a mighty irregular power of rea- 
 soning, immethodised from the ordinary purposes of life, 
 but exerting its powers, as the wind blows where it Hst- 
 eth, at will upon the corruptions and abuses of mankind. 
 What have looks, or tones, to do with that sublime iden- 
 tification of his age with that of the heavens themselves, 
 when in his reproaches to them for conniving at the in- 
 justice of his children, he reminds them that " they them- 
 selves are old "? What gestures shall .we appropriate 
 to this? What has the voice or the eye to do with such 
 things? But the play is beyond all art, as the tamperings 
 with it show: it is too hard and stony; it must have love 
 scenes, and a happy ending. It is not enough that Cor- 
 delia is a daughter, she must shine as a lover too. Tate 
 has put his hook in the nostrils of this Leviathan, for 
 Garrick and his followers, the showmen of scene, to draw 
 the mighty beast about more easily. A happy ending! — 
 as if the living martyrdom that Lear had gone through, 
 — the flaying of his feelings alive, did not make a fair 
 dismissal from the stage of life the only decorous thing 
 for him. If he is to live and be happy after, if he could 
 sustain this world's burden after, why all this pudder and
 
 Comments THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 preparation, — why torment us with all this unnecessary 
 sympathy? As if the childish pleasure of getting his gilt 
 robes and sceptre again could tempt him to act over 
 again his misused station, — as if at his years, and with his 
 experience, anything was left but to die. 
 
 Lamb: On the Tragedies of Shakespeare. 
 
 III. 
 
 Lear. 
 
 Lear, as first presented to us, is so self-indulgent and 
 unrestrained, has been so fooled to the top of his bent, 
 is so terribly unjust, not only to Cordeha, but to Kent, 
 that one feels hardly any punishment can be too great for 
 him. The motive that he puts to draw forth the desired 
 expression of affection from Cordelia, '' Do profess love 
 to get a big reward," is such that no girl with true love 
 for a father could leave unrepudiated; and when his pro- 
 posal gets the answer it deserves, he meets his daugh- 
 ter's nobleness by curses and revenge. Stripped by his 
 own act of his own authority, his Fool with bitter sar- 
 casms teaches him what a fool he 's been. And few can 
 regret that he was made to feel a bite even sharper than 
 a serpent's tooth. Still one is glad to see that he was 
 early struggling against his own first wild passion, and 
 that he would blame his own jealous curiosity before 
 seeing Goneril's purpose of unkindness. One sympa- 
 thizes with his prayer to heaven to keep him in temper — 
 " he would not be mad " — with his acquirement of some 
 self-control, when excusing the hot duke's insolence by 
 his illness. One sees, though, how he still measures love 
 by the allowances of knights it will give him; and it is 
 not till driven out to the mercy of the winds and storm, 
 till he knows that he is but a " poor, infirm, weak and 
 despised old man," till he can think of the poor naked 
 wretches of whom he has before taken too little care,
 
 KING LEAR Comments 
 
 that one pities the sufferer for the consequences of his 
 own folly. When he recovers from his madness and has 
 come to the knowledge of himself, has found, smelled 
 out those flatterers who 'd destroy him, then is he more 
 truly " every inch a king," though cut to the brains, 
 than ever he was before. The pathos of his recogni- 
 tion of Cordelia, his submission to her and seeking her 
 blessing, his lamentation over her corpse, are exceeded 
 by nothing in Shakspere. Professor Spalding dwells on 
 the last scene as an instance of how Shakspere got his 
 most intense effects by no grand situation, as Massinger 
 did, as Shakspere himself did in earlier time, but out of 
 the simplest materials. Spalding says, " The horrors 
 which have gathered so thickly throughout the last act 
 are carefully removed to the background, but free room 
 is left for the sorrowful group on which every eye is 
 turned. The situation is simple in the extreme; but how 
 tragically moving are the internal convulsions, for the 
 representation of which the poet has worthily husbanded 
 his force! Lear enters with frantic cries, bearing the 
 body of his dead daughter in his arms; he alternates be- 
 tween agitating doubts and wishful unbelief of her 
 death, and piteously experiments on the lifeless corpse; 
 he bends over her with the dotage of an old man's af- 
 fection, and calls to mind the soft lowness of her voice, 
 till he fancies he can hear its murmurs. Then succeeds 
 the dreadful torpor of despairing insanity, during which 
 he receives the most cruel tidings with apathy, or replies 
 to them with wild incoherence; and the heart flows forth 
 at the close with its last burst of love only to break in 
 the vehemence of its emotion, commencing with the ten- 
 derness of regret, swelling into choking grief, and at 
 last, when the eye catches the tokens of mortality in the 
 dead, snapping the chords of life in an agonized horror." 
 Cordelia is as the sun above the deeps of hell shown 
 in Goneril and Regan. One can hardly help wishing 
 that Shakspere had followed the old story told by Lay- 
 amon and other repeaters of Geoffrey of ^lonmouth, and 
 
 13
 
 Comments THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 made Cordelia set her father on the throne again, and 
 reign after him for a while in peace. But the tragedian, 
 the preacher of Shakspere's Third-Period Lesson, did 
 wisely for his art and meaning in letting the daughter 
 and father lie in one grave. 
 
 FuRNiVALL : Tlie Leopold Shakspere. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Cordelia. 
 
 There is in the beauty of Cordelia's character an ef- 
 fect too sacred for words, and almost too deep for tears; 
 within her heart is a fathomless well of purest affection, 
 but its waters sleep in silence and obscurity — never fail- 
 ing in their depth and never overflowing in their fulness. 
 Every thing in her seems to lie beyond our view, and 
 affects us in a manner which we feel rather than per- 
 ceive. The character appears to have no surface, no 
 salient points upon which the fancy can readily seize: 
 there is little external development of intellect, less of 
 passion, and still less of imagination. It is completely 
 made out in the course of a few scenes, and we are sur- 
 prised to find that in those few scenes there is matter for 
 a life of reflection, and materials enough for twenty her- 
 oines. If Lear be the grandest of Shakspeare's trage- 
 dies, Cordelia in herself, as a human being, governed by 
 the purest and holiest impulses and motives, the most re- 
 fined from all dross of selfishness and passion, ap- 
 proaches near to perfection; and in her adaptation, as a 
 dramatic personage, to a determinate plan of action, 
 may be pronounced altogether perfect. The character, 
 to speak of it critically as a poetical conception, is not, 
 however, to be comprehended at once, or easily; and in 
 the same manner Cordelia, as a woman, is one whom 
 we must have loved before we could have known her, 
 and known her long before we could have known her 
 
 14
 
 KING LEAR Comments 
 
 truly. ... It appears to me that the whole charac- 
 ter rests upon the two subHmest principles of human ac- 
 tion — the love of truth and the sense of duty; but these, 
 when they stand alone (as in the Antigone), are apt to 
 strike us as severe and cold. Shakspeare has, therefore, 
 wreathed them round with the dearest attributes of our 
 feminine nature, the power of feeling and inspiring af- 
 fection. The first part of the play shows us how Cor- 
 delia is loved, the second part how she can love. 
 . What is it which lends to Cordelia that pe- 
 cuHar and individual truth of character which distin- 
 guishes her from every other human being? It is a 
 natural reserve, a tardiness of disposition, '' which often 
 leaves the history unspoke that it intends to do "; a sub- 
 dued quietness of deportment and expression, a veiled 
 shyness thrown over all her emotions, her language, and 
 her manner; making the outward demonstration invaria-- 
 bly fall short of what we know to be the feeling within. 
 Not only is the portrait singularly beautiful and inter- 
 esting in itself, but the conduct of Cordelia, and the part 
 which she bears in the beginning of the story, is ren- 
 dered consistent and natural by the wonderful truth and 
 delicacy with which this peculiar disposition is sustained 
 throughout the play. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson: Characteristics of Women. 
 
 Goneril and Regan. 
 
 There is no accounting for the conduct of Goneril and 
 Regan but by supposing them possessed with a very in- 
 stinct and original impulse of malignity. The main 
 points of their action, as we have seen, were taken from 
 the old story. Character, in the proper sense of the 
 term, they have none in the legend; and the Poet but in- 
 
 15
 
 Comments THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 vested them with characters suitable to the part they 
 were beheved to have acted. 
 
 Whatever of soul these beings possess, is all in the 
 head: they have no heart to guide or inspire their under- 
 standing; and but enough of understanding to seize oc- 
 casions and frame excuses for their heartlessness. 
 Without affection, they are also without shame; there 
 being barely so much of human blood in their veins, as 
 may serve to quicken the brain, without sending a blush 
 to the cheek. Their hypocrisy acts as the instinctive 
 cunning of selfishness; with a sort of hell-inspired tact 
 they feel their way for a fit occasion, but drop the mask 
 as soon as their ends are reached. There is a smooth, 
 glib rhetoric in their professions of love, unwarmed with 
 the least grace of real feeling, and a certain wiry viru- 
 lence and intrepidity of thought in their after-speaking, 
 that is almost terrific. No touch of nature finds a re- 
 sponse in their bosoms; no atmosphere of comfort can 
 abide their presence: we feel that they have somewhat 
 within that turns the milk of humanity into venom, 
 which all the wounds they can inflict are but opportu- 
 nities for casting. 
 
 The subordinate plot of the drama serves the purpose 
 of relieving the improbability of their conduct towards 
 their father. Some, indeed, have censured this plot as 
 an embarrassment to the main one; forgetting, perhaps, 
 that to raise and sustain the feelings at any great 
 height, there must be some breadth of basis. A degree 
 of evil, which, if seen altogether alone, would strike us 
 as superhuman, makes a very different impression, when 
 it has the support of proper sympathies and associations. 
 This effect is in a good measure secured by Edmund's 
 independent concurrence with Goneril and Regan in 
 wickedness. It looks as if some malignant planet had 
 set the elements of evil astir in several hearts at the same 
 time; so that " unnaturalness between the child and the 
 parent " were become, sure enough, the order of the 
 day. 
 
 i6
 
 KING LEAR Comments 
 
 Besides, the agreement of the sister-fiends in fihal 
 ingratitude might seem, of itself, to argue some sisterly 
 attachment between them. So that, to bring out their 
 character truly, it had to be shown, that the same prin- 
 ciple which united them against their father would, on 
 the turning of occasion, divide them against each other. 
 Hence the necessity of bringing them forward in rela- 
 tions adapted to set them at strife. In Edmund, ac- 
 cordingly, they find a character wicked enough, and en- 
 ergetic enough in his wickedness, to interest their feel- 
 ings; and because they are both aHke interested in him, 
 therefore they will cut their way to him through each 
 other's life. 
 
 Hudson : The Works of Shakespeare, 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Fool. 
 
 The Fool, the best of Shakespeare's Fools, made 
 more conspicuous by coming after the insignificant 
 Clown in Othello^ is such an echo — mordantly witty, mar- 
 vellously ingenious. He is the protest of sound com- 
 mon-sense against the foolishness of which Lear has 
 been guilty, but a protest that is pure humour; he never 
 complains, least of all on his own account. Yet all his 
 foolery produces a tragic effect. And the words spoken 
 by one of the knights, " Since my young lady's going 
 into France, sir, the fool hath much pined away," atone 
 for all his sharp speeches in Lear. Amongst Shake- 
 speare's other master-strokes in this play must be reck- 
 oned that of exalting the traditional clown, the buffoon, 
 into so high a sphere that he becomes a tragic element 
 of the first order. 
 
 In no other play of Shakespeare's has the Fool so 
 many proverbial words of wisdom. Indeed, the whole 
 piece teems with such words: Lear's ** ' Ay ' and 'no' 
 
 17
 
 Comments THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 too was no good divinity "; Edgar's " Ripeness is all"; 
 Kent's ** To be acknowledged, madam, is o'erpaid." 
 Brandes : William Shakespeare. 
 
 . That exquisite scherzo to Cordelia's andante 
 — the Fool. This characteristic type of the Comedies 
 appears nowhere else in tragedy; but in the close of the 
 comic period we find the Fool shaping towards the func- 
 tions he performs in Lear. Frankness was his official 
 prerogative; fidelity his added grace. The calamities 
 of As You Like It are as the passing of a summer cloud 
 compared with those of Lear; but such as they are, 
 Touchstone shares in them, throwing in his lot with his 
 banished mistresses, and pricking their romantic extrav- 
 agances with the rough-hewn bolts of his dry brain. 
 The overwhelming pathos of Lear is evolved from a sit- 
 uation in itself quite as capable of yielding farce; and as 
 the tragedy deepens, humour melts into pathos in the 
 chorus-like comments of the more exquisite and finely- 
 tempered Touchstone who follows the king into the night 
 and storm, and vanishes from our ken, Hke a wild dream- 
 fancy, when the troubled morning breaks. 
 
 Herford: The Works of Shakespeare. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Edmund. 
 
 Our eyes have been questioning him. Gifted as he is 
 with high advantages of person, and further endowed by 
 nature with a powerful intellect and a strong energetic 
 will, even without any concurrence of circumstances and 
 accident, pride will necessarily be the sin that most easily 
 besets him. But Edmund is also the known and ac- 
 knowledged son of the princely Gloster; he, therefore, 
 has both the germ of pride and the conditions best fitted 
 
 i8
 
 KING LEAR Comments 
 
 to evolve and ripen it into a predominant feeling. Yet 
 hitherto no reason appears w^hy it should be other than 
 the not unusual pride of person, talent, and birth — a 
 pride auxiHary, if not akin, to many virtues, and the nat- 
 ural ally of honourable impulses. But, alas! in his own 
 presence his own father takes shame to himself for the 
 frank avowal that he is his father — he has " blushed so 
 often to acknowledge him that he is now brazed to it." 
 This, and the consciousness of its notoriety; 
 the gnawing conviction that every show of respect is an 
 effort of courtesy which recalls, while it represses, a 
 contrary feeling — this is the ever trickling flow of worm- 
 wood and gall into the wounds of pride; the corrosive 
 vims which inoculates pride with a venom not its own, 
 with envy, hatred, and a lust for that power which, in its 
 blaze of radiance, would hide the dark spots on his disk; 
 with pangs of shame personally undeserved, and there- 
 fore felt as wrongs; and with a blind ferment of vin- 
 dictive working towards the occasions and causes, espe- 
 cially towards a brother, whose stainless birth and law- 
 ful honours were the constant remembrancers of his 
 own debasement, and were ever in the way to prevent 
 all chance of its being unknown or overlooked and for- 
 gotton. Add to this that, with excellent judgement, and 
 provident for the claims of the moral sense; for that 
 which, relatively to the drama, is called poetic justice, 
 and as the fittest means for reconciling the feelings of 
 the spectators to the horrors of Gloster's after-sufferings 
 — at least, of rendering them somewhat less unendurable 
 (for I will not disguise my conviction that in this one 
 point the tragic in this play has been urged beyond the 
 outermost mark and ne plus ultra of the dramatic), 
 Shakespeare has precluded all excuse and palliation of 
 the guilt incurred by both the parents of the base-born 
 Edmund, by Gloster's confession that he was at the 
 time a married man, and already blest with a lawful heir 
 of his fortunes. 
 
 Coleridge: Notes and Lectures upon Shakespeare, 
 
 19
 
 Comments THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Kent and Edgar. 
 
 If the best grace and happiness of Hfe consist in a 
 forgetting of self and a Hving for others, Kent and 
 Edgar are those of Shakespeare's men whom one should 
 most wish to resemble. Strikingly similar in virtues 
 and situation, these two persons are, notwithstanding, 
 widely different in character. Brothers in magnanimity 
 and in misfortune; equally invincible in fidelity, the one 
 to his King, the other to his father; both driven to dis- 
 guise themselves, and in their disguise both serving 
 where they stand condemned; — Kent, too generous to 
 control himself, is always quick, fiery, and impetuous; 
 Edgar, controlling himself even because of his generos- 
 ity, is always calm, collected, and deliberate. Yet it is 
 difficult which of them to prefer. For, if Edgar be the 
 more judicious and prudent, Kent is the more unselfish, 
 of the two: the former disguising himself for his own 
 safety, and then turning his disguise into an opportunity 
 of service; the latter disguising himself merely in order 
 to serve, and then perilling his life in the same course 
 whereby the other seeks to preserve it. Nor is Edgar 
 so lost to himself and absorbed in others but that he can 
 and does survive them; whereas Kent's life is so bound 
 up with others, that their death plucks him after. 
 
 Hudson : The Works of Shakespeare, 
 
 IX. 
 
 Leading Features of the Tragedy. 
 
 Four things have struck us in reading Lear: 
 I. That poetry is an interesting study, for this reason, 
 that it relates to whatever is most interesting in human 
 
 20
 
 KING LEAR Comments 
 
 life. Whoever, therefore, has a contempt for poetry 
 has a contempt for himself and humanity. 
 
 2. That the language of poetry is superior to the lan- 
 guage of painting, because the strongest of our recol- 
 lections relate to feelings, not to faces. 
 
 3. That the greatest strength of genius is shown in de- 
 scribing the strongest passions; for the power of the 
 imagination, in works of invention, must be in propor- 
 tion to the force of the natural impressions which are the 
 subject of them. 
 
 4. That the circumstance which balances the pleasure 
 against the pain in tragedy is, that in proportion to the 
 greatness of the evil is our sense and* desire of the oppo- 
 site good excited; and that our sympathy with actual 
 suffering is lost in the strong impulse given to our nat- 
 ural affections, and carried away with the swelling tide 
 of passion that gushes from and reHeves the heart. 
 
 Hazlitt: Characters of Shakespear's Plays, 
 
 King Lear is, indeed, the greatest single achieve- 
 ment in poetry of the Teutonic, or Northern, genius. 
 By its largeness of conception and the variety of its de- 
 tails, by its revelation of a harmony existing between 
 the forces of nature and the passions of man, by its gro- 
 tesqueness and its sublimity, its own kinship with the 
 great cathedrals of Gothic architecture. To conceive, to 
 compass, to comprehend, at once in its stupendous unity 
 and in its almost endless variety, a building Hke the 
 cathedral of Rheims, or that of Cologne, is a feat which 
 might seem to defy the most athletic imagination. But 
 the impression which Shakspere's tragedy produces, 
 while equally large — almost monstrous — and equally 
 intricate, lacks the material fixity and determinateness 
 of that produced by these great works in stone. Every- 
 thing in the tragedy is in motion, and the motion is that 
 of a tempest. 
 
 Do WD en: Shakspere.
 
 Comments 
 
 The loss of a Cordelia — that is the great catastrophe. 
 We all lose, or live under the dread of losing, our Cor- 
 delia. The loss of the dearest and the best, of that 
 which alone makes life worth living — that is the tragedy 
 of life. Hence the question: Is this the end of the 
 world? Yes, it is. Each of us has only his world, and 
 lives with the threat of its destruction hanging over 
 him. And in the year 1606 Shakespeare w^as in no mood 
 to write other than dramas on the doom of worlds. 
 
 For the end of all things seems to have come when 
 we see the ruin of the moral world — when he who is 
 noble and trustful like Lear is rewarded with ingrati- 
 tude and hate; when he who is honest and brave Hke 
 Kent is punished with dishonour; when he who is mer- 
 ciful like Gloucester, taking the suffering and injured 
 under his roof, has the loss of his eyes for his reward; 
 when he w^ho is noble and faithful like Edgar must wan- 
 der about in the semblance of a maniac, with a rag round 
 his loins; when, finally, she who is the living emblem 
 of womanly dignity and of filial tenderness towards an 
 old father who has become as it were her child — when 
 she meets her death before his eyes at the hands of 
 assassins! What avails it that the guilty slaughter and 
 poison each other afterwards? None the less is this the 
 titanic tragedy of human life; there rings forth from it a 
 chorus of passionate, jeering, wildly yearning, and des- 
 perately wailing voices. 
 
 Brandes: William Shakespeare. 
 
 22
 
 The Tragedy of King Lear.
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONAE. 
 
 Lear^ king of Britain. 
 
 King of France. 
 
 Duke of Burgundy. 
 
 Duke of Cornwall. 
 
 Duke of Albany. 
 
 Earl of Kent. 
 
 Earl of Gloucester. 
 
 Edgar, son to Gloucester. 
 
 Edmund, bastard son to Gloucester, 
 
 CuRAN, a courtier. 
 
 Old Man, tenant to Gloucester. 
 
 Doctor. • 
 
 Fool. 
 
 Oswald, steward to Goneril. 
 
 A captain employed by Edmund. 
 
 Gentleman attendant on Cordelia. 
 
 Herald. 
 
 Servants to Cornwall. 
 
 Goneril, ^ 
 
 Regan, > daughters to Lear. 
 
 Cordelia, ) 
 
 Knights of Lear's train, Captains, Messengers, Soldiers, 
 and Attendants. 
 
 Scene : Britain.
 
 The Tragedy of King Lear. 
 
 ACT FIRST. 
 Scene I. 
 
 King Lear'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 so 
 weighed that curiosity in neither can make 
 choice of cither's moiety. 
 
 Kent. Is not this your son, my lord? 
 
 Glon. His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge : I 
 
 have so often blushed to acknowledge him that lo 
 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 
 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, sir, a son by order of law, some 
 
 year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in 20 
 my account : though this knave came something 
 
 25
 
 Act I. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 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 ac- 
 knowledged. Do you know this noble gentle- 
 man, Edmund? 
 
 Edm. No, my lord. 
 
 Glou. My lord of Kent: remember him hereafter as 
 my honourable friend. 
 
 Edm. My services to your lordship. 30 
 
 Kent. I must love you, and sue to know you better. 
 
 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, Glou- 
 cester. 
 
 Glou. I shall, my liege. [Exeunt Gloucester and Edmund. 
 
 Lear. Meantime we shall express our darker purpose. 
 Give me the map there, ^^iiow we haye^divided 
 In thjree our kingdom : and 'tis our fast intent 
 To shake all cares and business from our age, 40 
 Conferring them on younger strengths, while we 
 Unburthen'd crawl toward death. Our son of Corn- 
 wall, 
 And you, our no less loving son of Albany, 
 We have this hour a constant will to publish 
 Our daughters' several dowers, thatjutiire__stnfe 
 May be prevented joow. The princes, France and 
 
 Burgundy, 
 Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love, 
 
 26
 
 r 
 
 KING LEAR Act I. Sc. i. 
 
 Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn, ^*^~^^ ^ 
 And here are to be answered. Tell me, my daughters, uyi~u^ 
 Since now we will divest us both of rule, 50 Hulxji, 
 
 Interest of territory, cares of state, / n 
 
 Which of you shall we say doth love us most? ; 
 
 That we our largest boimty may extend r" "^ 
 
 Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril, '^''^ 
 Our eldest-born, speak first. 
 
 Gon. Sir, I love you more than words can wield the 
 matter, 
 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 loved or father found; 60 
 A love that makes breath poor and speech unable; 
 Beyond all manner of so much I love you. 
 
 Cor. \Asidc\ 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. 
 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. 
 
 Reg. I am made of that self metal as my sister, 70 
 
 And prize me at her worth. In my true heart 
 I find she names my very deed of love; 
 Only she comes too short : that I profess 
 Myself an enemy to all other joys 
 Which the most precious square of sense pos- 
 sesses, 
 And find I am alone felicitate 
 In your dear highness' love. 
 
 27
 
 Act I. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Cor. [Aside] Then poor Cordelia! 
 
 And yet not so, since I am sure my love 's 
 ]VIore ponderous than my tongue. 80 
 
 Lear, To thee and thine hereditary ever 
 
 Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom, 
 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 
 The vines of France and milk of Burgundy 
 Strive to be interess'd, what can you say to draw 
 A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak. 
 
 Cor. Nothing, my lord. 
 
 Lear. Nothing! 90 
 
 Cor. Nothing. 
 
 Lear. Nothing will come of notliing: speak again. 
 
 Cor. Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave 
 
 My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty 
 According to my bond ; nor more nor less. 
 
 Lear, How, how, CordeHa! mend your speech a little. 
 Lest it may mar your fortunes. 
 
 Cor. Good, my lord. 
 
 You have begot me, bred me, loved me: I 
 Return those duties back as are right fit, 
 Obey you, love you, and most honour you. 100 
 
 Why have my sisters husbands, if they say 
 They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed, 
 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? 
 
 28
 
 KING LEAR Act I. Sc. i. 
 
 Cor. Ay, good my lord. 
 
 Lear. So young, and so untender? 
 
 Cor. So young, my lord, and true. 
 
 Lear. Let it be so; thy truth then be thy dower; no 
 
 For, by the sacred radiance of the sun. 
 The mysteries of Hecate, and the night; 
 By all the operation of the orbs 
 From whom we do exist and cease to be; 
 Here I disclaim all my paternal care, 
 Propinquity and property of blood. 
 And as a stranger to my heart and me 
 Hold thee from this for ever. The barbarous 
 
 Scythian, 
 Or he that makes his generation messes 
 To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom 120 
 
 Be as well neighbour'd, pitied and reheved. 
 As thou my sometime daughter. 
 
 Kent. Good my liege, — 
 
 Lear. Peace, Kent! 
 
 Come not between the dragon and his wrath. 
 
 I loved her most, and thought to set my rest 
 
 On her kind nursery. Hence, and avoid my sight! 
 
 So be my grave my peace, as here I give 
 
 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. 131 
 I do invest you jointly with my power, 
 Pre-eminence and all the large effects 
 That troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly 
 
 course. 
 With reservation of an hundred knights 
 
 29
 
 Act I. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 By you to be sustain'd, shall our abode 
 
 Make with you by due turns. Only we still retain 
 
 The name and all the additions to a king; 
 
 The sway, revenue, execution of the rest, 
 
 Beloved sons, be yours: which to confirm, 140 
 
 This coronet part betwixt you. 
 Kent. Royal Lear, 
 
 Whom I have ever honour'd as my king, 
 
 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, 
 
 When Lear is mad. What wouldst thou do, old 
 man? 
 
 Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak, 
 
 When power to flattery bows? To plainness hon- 
 our 's bound, 150 
 
 When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy doom. 
 
 And in thy best consideration check 
 
 This hideous rashness: answer my life my judge- 
 ment, 
 
 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 
 
 To wage against thy 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 160 
 
 The true blank of thine eye. 
 Lear. Now, by Apollo, — 
 Kent. Now, by Apollo, king, 
 
 30
 
 KING LEAR Act I. Sc. i. 
 
 Thou swear'st thy gods in vain. 
 Lear. O, vassal! miscreant! 
 
 [Laying his hand on his sword. 
 
 ^ ' \ Dear sir, forbear. 
 
 } 
 
 Kent. Do; 
 
 Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow 
 Upon the foul disease. Revoke thy doom; 
 Or, whilst I can vent clamour from my throat, 
 I '11 tell thee thou dost evil. 
 
 Lear. Hear me, recreant! 
 
 On thy allegiance, hear me ! 17° 
 
 Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow, 
 Which we durst never yet, and with strain'd pride 
 To come between 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, 
 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, i8o 
 The moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter, 
 This shall not be revoked. 
 
 Kent. Fare thee well, king: sith thus thou wih appear. 
 Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here. 
 \To Cordelia] The gods to their dear shelter take 
 
 thee, maid. 
 That justly think'st and hast most rightly said! 
 {To Regan and Goncril] And your large speeches may 
 
 your deeds approve. 
 That good effects may spring from words of love. 
 
 31
 
 Actl. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Thus Kent, O princes, bids you all adieu; 
 
 He '11 shape his old course in a country new. [Exit. 
 
 Flourish. Re-enter Gloucester, with France, Burgundy, 
 and Attendants. 
 
 Glou. Here 's France and Burgundy, my noble lord. 191 
 Lear. My lord of Burgundy, 
 
 We first address towards 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, 
 
 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: 
 
 If aught within that little seeming substance, 201 
 
 Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced. 
 
 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, 
 
 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, 211 
 
 I would not from your love make such a stray, 
 
 32
 
 KING LEAR Act I. Sc. i. 
 
 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, 
 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 220 
 
 So many folds of favour. Sure, her offence 
 Must be of such unnatural degree 
 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 
 Could never plant in me. 
 
 Cor. I yet beseech your majesty, — 
 
 If for I want that glib and oily art. 
 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, 230 
 
 No unchaste action, or dishonour'd step. 
 That hath deprived me of your grace and favour; 
 But even for want of that for which I am richer, 
 A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue 
 As 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. 
 
 France. Is it but this? a tardiness in nature 
 Which often leaves the history unspoke 
 That it intends to do? My lord of Burgundy, 240 
 What say you to the lady? Love 's not love 
 
 33
 
 Actl. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 When it is mingled with regards that stand 
 Aloof from the entire point. Will you have her? 
 She is herself a dowry. 
 
 Bur. Royal Lear, 
 
 Give but that portion which yourself proposed, 
 And here I take Cordeha by the hand, 
 Duchess of Burgundy. 
 
 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, 251 
 
 I shall not be his wife. 
 
 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 neg- 
 lect 
 My love should kindle to inflamed respect. 
 Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my chance, 
 Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France: 260 
 Not all the dukes of waterish Burgundy 
 Can buy this unprized precious maid of me. 
 Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind : 
 Thou losest here, a better where to find. 
 
 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 
 Without our grace, our love, our benison. 
 Come, noble Burgundy. 
 
 [Flourish. Exeunt all but France, 
 Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. 
 
 34
 
 KING LEAR Act I. Sc. i. 
 
 France. Bid farewell to your sisters. 270 
 
 Cor. The jewels of our father, with wash'd eyes 
 
 Cordelia leaves you: I know you what you are; 
 
 And, like a sister, am most loath to call 
 
 Your faults as they are named. Us^ 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. 
 
 So farewell to you both. 
 Reg. Prescribe not us our duties. 
 Gon. Let your study 
 
 Be to content your lord, who hath received you 280 
 
 At fortune's alms. You have obedience scanted, 
 
 And well are worth the want that you have wanted. 
 Cor. Time shall unfold w^hat plaited cunning hides: 
 
 Who cover faults, at last shame them derides. 
 
 Well may you prosper! 
 France. Come, my fair Cordelia. 
 
 [Exeunt France and Cordelia. 
 
 Gon. Sister, it is not a little I have to say of what 
 most nearly appertains to us both. I think our 
 father will hence to-night. 
 
 Reg. That 's most certain, and with you; next month ^^ 
 
 with us. 290 "*- /^ 
 
 Gon. You see how full of changes his age is ; the \^>^-^^ 
 
 observation we have made of it hath not been 
 little : he alw^ays loved our sister most ; and with 
 what poor judgement he hath now cast her off 
 appears too grossly. 
 
 Reg. Tis the infirmity of his age: yet he hath ever 
 but slenderly known himself. 
 
 Gon. The best and soundest of his time hath been 
 
 35 

 
 Act I. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 but rash; then must we look to receive from 
 his age, not alone the imperfections of long in- 300 
 grafted condition, but therewithal the unruly 
 waywardness that infirm and choleric years 
 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 
 together : if our father carry authority with such 
 dispositions as he bears, this last surrender of 
 his will but offend us. 310 
 
 Reg. We shall further think on 't. v 
 
 Gvn. We must do something, and i' the heat. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 TJie 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 
 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? 
 Who in the lusty stealth of nature take ii 
 
 More composition and fierce quality 
 
 36
 
 KING LEAR Act I. Sc. ii. 
 
 Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed, 
 
 Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops. 
 
 Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well then, 
 
 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 top 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! 
 Confined to exhibition! All this done 
 Upon the gad! Edmund, how now! what news? 
 
 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 such need to hide itself. Let's see: 
 come, if it be nothing, I shall not need 
 spectacles. 
 
 Edm,. I beseech you, sir, pardon me: it is a letter 
 from my brother, that I have not all o'er-read; 
 and for so much as I have perused, I find it 
 not fit for your o'er-looking. 40 
 
 Glou. Give me the letter, sir. 
 
 37
 
 Actl.Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 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. 
 
 Edm. I hope, for my brother's justification, he wrote 
 this but as an essay or taste of my virtue. 
 
 Glou. [Reads] ' This policy and reverence of age 
 makes the w^orld bitter to the best of our times; 
 keeps our fortunes from us till our oldness 50 
 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 me, that of this I 
 may speak more. If our father would sleep till 
 I waked him, you should enjoy half his revenue 
 for ever, and Hve the beloved of your brother, 
 
 ' Edgar.' 
 
 Hum! Conspiracy! — 'Sleep till I waked him, 
 you should enjoy half his revenue!' — My son 
 Edgar! Had he a hand to write this? a heart 60 
 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 case- 
 ment 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. 
 
 Glou. It is his. 70 
 
 Edm. It is his hand, my lord ; but I hope his heart is 
 not in the contents. 
 
 38
 
 KING LEAR Act I. Sc. ii. 
 
 Gloii. Hath he never heretofore sounded you in this 
 business? 
 
 Edm. Never, my lord: but I have heard him oft 
 maintain it to be fit, that, sons at perfect age, 
 and fathers declining, the father should be as 
 ward to the son, and the son manage his 
 revenue. 
 
 Glou. O villain, villain! His very opinion in the 
 
 letter! Abhorred villain! Unnatural, detested, 80 
 brutish villain ! worse than brutish ! Go, sirrah, 
 seek him; ay, apprehend him: abominable 
 villain! Where is he? 
 
 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 should run a certain 
 course; where, if you violently proceed against 
 him, mistaking his purpose, it would make a 
 great gap in your own honour and shake in 90 
 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 and to no 
 further 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 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 
 loves him. Heaven and earth! Edmund, seek 
 
 39 
 
 100
 
 Actl. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 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. 
 
 Edni. I will seek him,' sir, presently, convey the 
 business as I shall find means, and acquaint you 
 withal. no 
 
 Gloii. These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend 
 no good to us: though the wisdom of nature 
 
 >■ can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds 
 
 .<-^ itself scourged by the sequent effects: love 
 
 ^y' cools, friendship falls ofif, brothers divide: in 
 
 cities, mutinies ; in countries, discord ; in pal- 
 aces, treason ; and the bond cracked 'twixt son 
 and father. This villain of mine comes under 
 the prediction; there's son against father: the 
 king falls from bias of nature; there's father 120 
 against child. We have seen the best of our 
 time: machinations, hollowness, treachery and 
 all ruinous disorders follow us 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. 
 
 Edm, This is the excellent foppery of the world, that 
 <r> when we are sick in fortune — often the surfeit 
 )^ of our own behaviour — we make guilty of our 130 
 
 ^ ' / disasters the sun, the moon and the stars : as if 
 
 ^ -C we were villains by necessity, fools 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 
 
 40
 
 KING LEAR ^^^ ^- ^^- "• 
 
 divine thrusting on: an admirable 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 140 
 nativity was under Ursa major; so that it fol- 
 lows I am rough and lecherous. Tut, I should 
 have been that I am, had the maidenhest star m 
 the firmament twinkled on my bastardizing. 
 
 Edgar — 
 
 Enter Edgar. 
 
 And pat he comes like the catastrophe of the 
 old comedy: my cue is viUanous melancholy, 
 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? _ ^5° 
 
 Edm. I am thinking, brother, of a prediction I read 
 this other day, what should follow these 
 eclipses. 
 Edz Do you busy yourself about that? 
 Edm. I promise you, the effects he writ of succeed 
 unhappily ; as of unnaturalness between the child 
 and the parent ; death, dearth, dissolutions of 
 ancient amities; divisions in state, menaces and 
 maledictions against king and. nobles; needless 
 diffidences, banishment of friends, dissipation 
 of cohorts, nuptial breaches, and I know not 160 
 
 what. . 1 -, 
 
 Edg How long have you been a sectary astronomical? 
 Edm. Come, come; when saw you my father last. 
 Edg. Why, the night gone by. 
 Edm. Spake you with him? 
 Edg. Ay, two hours together. 
 
 41
 
 Act I. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Edm. Parted you in good terms? Found you no 
 displeasure in him by word or countenance? 
 
 Edg. None at all. 
 
 Edm. Bethink yourself wherein you may have of- 170 
 fended him: and at my entreaty forbear his 
 presence till some little time hath qualified the 
 heat of his displeasure, which at this instant so 
 rageth in him that with the mischief of your 
 person it would scarcely allay. 
 
 Edg. Some villain hath done me wrong. 
 
 Edm. That 's my fear. I pray you, have a continent 
 forbearance till the speed of his rage goes 
 slower, and, as I say, retire with me to my lodg- 
 ing, from whence I will fitly bring you to hear 180 
 my lord speak: pray ye, go; there 's my key: if 
 you do stir abroad, go armed. 
 
 Edg. Armed, brother! 
 
 Edm. Brother, I advise you to the best: go armed: 
 I am no honest man if there be any good mean- 
 ing towards you: I have told you what I have 
 seen and heard; but faintly, nothing like the 
 image and horror of it: pray you, away. 
 
 Edg. Shall I hear from you anon? 189 
 
 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 
 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. ^Exit. 
 
 42 
 
 ^^■
 
 KING LEAR Act I.Sc. iii. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 The Duke of Albany's palace. 
 Enter Goneril and Oswald, her steward. 
 
 Gon. Did my father strike my gentleman for chiding 
 of his fool? 
 
 Oszv. Yes, madam. 
 
 Gon. By day and night he wrongs me; every hour 
 He flashes into one gross crime or other, 
 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. 
 You shall do well ; the fault of it I '11 answer. lo 
 
 Osw. He 's coming, madam ; I hear him. [Horjis within. 
 
 Gon. Put on what weary negligence you please. 
 
 You and your fellows; I 'Id have it come to ques- 
 tion : 
 If he distaste it, let him to our sister, 
 Whose mind and mine, I know, in that are one, 
 Not to be over-ruled. 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 
 With checks as flatteries, when they are seen abused. 
 Remember what I tell you. 
 
 Osw. Very well, madam. 21 
 
 Gon. And 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, 
 That I may speak: I '11 write straight to my sister. 
 To hold my very course. Prepare for dinner. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 43
 
 Actl. Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 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, 
 So may it come, thy master whom thou lovest 
 Shall find thee full of labours. 
 
 Horns zuithin. 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 
 
 Kent. A man^ sir. 
 Lear. What dost thou profess? What wouldst 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 
 
 love him that is honest; to converse with him 
 
 that is wise and says little; to fear judgement; 
 
 to fight when I cannot choose, and to eat no 
 
 fish. 
 Lear. What art thou? 
 Kent. A very honest-hearted fellow, and as poor as 20 
 
 the king. 
 Lear. If thou be as poor for a subject as he is for a 
 
 king, thou art poor enough. What wouldst 
 
 thou? 
 Kent. Service. 
 
 Lear. Who wouldst thou serve? 
 
 44
 
 KING LEAR Act I. Sc. iv. 
 
 Kent. You. 
 
 Lear. Dost thou know me, fellow? 
 
 Kent. No, sir; but you have that in your counte- 
 nance which I would fain call master. 
 
 Lear. What 's that ? 30 
 
 Kent. Authority. 
 
 Lear. What services canst thou do? 
 
 Kent. I can keep honest counsel, ride, run, mar a 
 curious tale in telling it, and deliver a plain mes- 
 sage bluntly: that which ordinary men are fit 
 for, I am qualified in, and the best of me is dili- 
 gence. 
 
 Lear. How old art thou? 
 
 Kent. Not so young, sir, to love a woman for sing- 
 ing, nor so old to dote on her for any thing: I 
 have years on my back forty eight. 40 
 
 Lear. Follow me; thou shalt serve me: if I Hke thee 
 no worse after dinner, I will not part from thee 
 yet. Dinner, ho, dinner! Where 's my knave? 
 my fool? Go you, and call my fool hither. 
 
 \_Exit an Attendant. 
 
 Enter Oswald. 
 
 You, you, sirrah, where 's my daughter? 
 
 Osw. So please you, — [Exit. 
 
 Lear. What says the fellow there? Call the clot- 
 poll back. [Exit a Knight. \ Where 's my fool, 
 ho? I think the world 's asleep. 
 
 Re-enter Knight. 
 
 How now! where 's that mongrel? 50 
 
 Knight. He says, my lord, your daughter is not well. 
 Lear. Why came not the slave back to me when I 
 
 called him? 
 
 45
 
 Act I. Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Knight. Sir, he answered me in the roundest man- 
 ner, he would not. 
 
 Lear. He would not! 
 
 Knight. My lord, I know not what the matter is; 
 but, to my judgement, your highness is not en- 
 tertained with that ceremonious affection as you 
 were wont; there 's a great abatement of kind- 60 
 ness appears as w^ell in the general dependants 
 as in the duke himself also and your daughter. 
 
 Lear. Ha! sayst thou so? 
 
 Knight. I beseech you, pardon me, my lord, if I be 
 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 
 own jealous curiosity than as a very pretence 70 
 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, 
 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. 
 
 Re-enter Oszvald. 
 
 0, you sir, you, come you hither, sir: who am 80 
 
 1, sir? 
 
 Osw. My lady's father. 
 
 Lear. My lady's father! my lord's knave: you 
 whoreson dog! you slave! you cur! 
 
 46
 
 KING LEAR Act I. Sc. iv. 
 
 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 struck, my lord. 
 
 Kent. Nor tripped neither, you base foot-ball player. 
 
 [ Tripping tip his heels. 
 
 Lear. I thank thee, fellow; thou servest me, and 90 
 I '11 love thee. 
 
 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 to; 
 have you wisdom? so. {Pushes Oswald out. 
 
 Lear. Now, my friendly knave, I thank thee: 
 
 there 's earnest of thy service. [Givifig Kent money. 
 
 Enter Fool. 
 
 Fool. Let me hire him too : here 's my coxcomb. 
 
 [Offering Kent his cap. 
 
 Lear. How now, my pretty knave! how dost thou? 
 
 Fool. Sirrah, you were best take my coxcomb. 100 
 
 Kent. Why, fool? 
 
 Fool. Why, for taking one's part that 's out of fa- 
 vour: nay, an thou canst not smile as the wind 
 sits, thou 'It catch cold shortly: there, take my 
 coxcomb: why, this fellow hath banished two 
 on 's daughters, and done the third a blessing 
 against his will; if thou follow him, thou must 
 needs wear my coxcomb. How now, nuncle! 
 Would I had two coxcombs and two daughters! 
 
 Lear. Why, my boy? no 
 
 Fool. If I gave them all my living, I 'Id keep my cox- 
 
 47
 
 Act I. Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 combs myself. There's mine; beg another of 
 
 thy daughters. 
 Lear. Take heed, sirrah; the whip. 
 Pool. Truth's a dog must to kennel; he must be 
 
 whipped out, when Lady the brach may stand 
 
 by the fire and stink. 
 Lear. A pestilent gall to me! 
 Fool. Sirrah, I '11 teach thee a speech. 
 Lear. Do. 120 
 
 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. 
 
 And thou shalt have more 130 
 
 Than two tens to a score. 
 
 Kent. This is nothing, fool. 
 
 Fool. Then 'tis like the breath of an unfee'd lawyer, 
 you gave me nothing for 't. Can you make no 
 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 fool. 
 
 Lear. A bitter fool! 140 
 
 "Fool. Dost thou know the difference, my boy, be- 
 tween a bitter fool and a sweet fool? 
 
 Lear. No, lad; teach me. 
 
 48
 
 KING LEAR Act I. Sc. iv. 
 
 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 
 
 Will presently appear; 
 The one in motley here, 150 
 
 The other found out there. 
 
 Lear. Dost thou call me fool, boy? 
 
 Fool. All thy other titles thou hast given away; 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 let me have 
 all the fool to myself ; they '11 be snatching. 
 Give me an tgg, nuncle, and I '11 give thee two 
 crowns. 
 
 Lear. What two crowns shall they be? 
 
 Fool. Why, after I have cut the ^gg in the middle 
 and eat up the meat, the two crowns of the Qgg. 
 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 thou gavest thy golden 
 one away. If I speak like myself in this, let him 
 be whipped that first finds it so. 
 
 [Singing'] Fools had ne'er less wit in a year; 170 
 
 For wise men are grown foppish. 
 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? 
 
 49 
 
 160
 
 Act I. Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Fool. I have used it, nuncle, ever since thou madest 
 thy daughters thy mother : for when thou gavest 
 them the rod and .puttest down thine own 
 breeches, 
 
 [Singing'] Then they for sudden joy did weep, 
 
 And I for sorrow sung, i8o 
 
 That such a king should play bo-peep, 
 And go the fools among. 
 Prithee, nuncle, keep a schoolmaster that can 
 teach thy fool to lie: I would fain learn to lie. 
 
 Lear. An you lie, sirrah, we '11 have you whipped. 
 
 Fool. I marvel what kin thou and thy daughters are : 
 they '11 have me whipped for speaking true, 
 thou 'It have me whipped for lying, and some- 
 times I am whipped for holding my peace. I 
 had rather be any kind o' thing than a fool: and 190 
 yet I would not be thee, nuncle; thou hast 
 pared thy wit o' both sides and left nothing i' 
 the middle. Here comes one o' the parings. 
 
 Enter Goneril. 
 
 Lear. How now, daughter! what makes that frontlet 
 on? Methinks you are too much of late i' the 
 frown. 
 Fool. Thou wast a pretty fellow when thou hadst no 
 need to care for her frowning; now thou art an 
 O without a figure: I am better than thou art 
 now; I am a fool, thou art nothing. [To Gon.] 200 
 Yes, forsooth, I will hold my tongue; so your 
 face bids me, though you say nothing. 
 
 Mum, mum: 
 
 He that keeps nor crust nor crumb, 
 
 Weary of all, shall want some. 
 
 50
 
 KING LEAR Act I. Sc. iv. 
 
 [Pointing to Lear] That 's a shealed peascod. 
 Gon. Not only, sir, this your all-hcensed fool, 
 But other of your insolent retinue 
 Do hourly carp and quarrel, breaking forth 
 In rank and not to be endured riots. Sir, 210 
 
 I had thought, by making this well known unto you, 
 To have found a safe redress; but now grow fearful, 
 By what yourself too late have spoke and done, 
 That you protect this course and put it on 
 By your allowance; which if you should, the fault 
 Would not 'scape censure, nor the redresses sleep, 
 Which, in the tender of a wholesome weal, 
 Might in their working do you that ofifence 
 Which else were shame, that then necessity 
 Will call discreet proceeding. 220 
 
 Fool. For, you know, nuncle. 
 
 The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long, 
 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? 
 
 Gon, Come, sir, 
 
 I would you would make use of that good wisdom 
 Whereof I know you are fraught, and put away 
 These dispositions that of late transform you 
 From what you rightly are. 230 
 
 Fool. May not an ass know when the cart draws the 
 horse? Whoop, Jug! I love thee. 
 
 Lear. Doth any here know me? This is not Lear: 
 
 Doth Lear walk thus? speak thus? where are his 
 
 eyes? 
 Either his notion weakens, his discernings 
 Are lethargied — Ha ! waking ? 'tis not so. 
 Who is it that can tell me who I am? 
 
 51
 
 Act I. Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Fool. Lear's shadow. 
 
 Lear. I would learn that; for, by the marks of sov- 
 ereignty, knowledge and reason, I should be 240 
 false persuaded I had daughters. 
 
 Fool. Which they will make an obedient father. 
 
 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, you should be wise. 
 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, 250 
 Shows like a riotous inn; epicurism and lust 
 Make it more like a tavern or a brothel 
 Than a graced palace. The shame itself doth speak 
 For instant remedy: be then desired 
 By her that else will take the thing she begs 
 A little to disquantity your train, 
 And the remainder that shall still depend, 
 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. 260 
 
 Degenerate bastard! I '11 not trouble thee: 
 Yet have I left a daughter. 
 
 Gon. You strike my people, and your disorder'd rabble 
 Make servants of their betters. 
 
 Enter Albany. 
 
 Lear. Woe, that too late repents, — [To Alb.] O, sir, are 
 you come? 
 
 52
 
 KING LEAR . Act I. Sc. iv. 
 
 Is it your will? Speak, sir. Prepare my horses. 
 Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend, 
 More hideous when thou show'st thee in a child 
 Than the sea-monster! 
 
 Alb. Pray, sir, be patient. 
 
 Lcaj'. [To Gon.] Detested kite! thou liest. 270 
 
 My train are men of choice and rarest parts, 
 That all particulars of duty know. 
 And in the most exact regard support 
 The worships of their name. O most small fault, 
 How ugly didst thou in Cordelia show! 
 That, like an engine, wrench'd my frame of nature 
 From the fix'd place, drew from my heart all love 
 And added to the gall. O Lear, Lear, Lear! 
 Beat at this gate, that let thy folly in 
 
 [Striking his head. 
 
 And thy dear judgement out! Go, go, my people. 
 Alb. My lord, I am guiltless, as I am ignorant 281 
 
 Of what hath moved you. 
 Lear. It may be so, my lord. 
 
 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, 
 
 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 290 
 
 And be a thwart disnatured torment to her. 
 
 Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth; 
 
 With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks ; 
 
 Turn all her mother's pains and benefits 
 
 53
 
 Actl. Sc. IV. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 To laughter and contempt; that she may feel 
 
 How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is 
 
 To have a thankless child! Away, away! [Exit. 
 
 Alb. Now, gods that we adore, whereof comes this? 
 
 Gon. Never afflict yourself to know the cause, 
 
 But let his disposition have that scope 300 
 
 That dotage gives it. 
 
 Re-enter Lear. 
 
 Lear. What, fifty of my followers at a clap! 
 Within a fortnight! 
 
 Alb. What 's the matter, sir? 
 
 Lear. I'll tell thee, [To Gon.'] Life and Death! I am 
 ashamed 
 That thou hast power to shake my manhood thus ; 
 That these hot tears, which break from me perforce, 
 Should make thee worth them. Blasts and fogs 
 
 upon thee! 
 The untented woundings of a father's curse 
 Pierce every sense about thee! Old fond eyes, 
 Beweep this cause again, I '11 pluck ye out 310 
 
 And cast you with the waters that you lose 
 To temper clay. Yea, is it come to this? 
 Let it be so : yet have I left a 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 
 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, 320 
 
 To the great love I bear you, — 
 
 54
 
 KING LEAR Act I. Sc. iv. 
 
 Gon. Pray you, content. What, Oswald, ho! 
 
 [To the Fool] You, sir, more knave than fool, after 
 your master. 
 Fool. Nuncle Lear, nuncle Lear, tarry; take the fool 
 with thee. 
 
 A fox, when one has caught her, 
 And such a daughter, 
 Should sure to the slaughter, 
 If my cap would buy a halter: 
 So the fool follows after. [Exit. 330 
 
 Goi. This man hath had good counsel : a hundred" 
 knights ! 
 'Tis politic and safe to let him keep 
 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! 
 Alb. Well, you may fear too far. 
 
 Gon. Safer than trust too far: 
 
 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: 340 
 
 If she sustain him and his hundred knights, 
 When I have show'd the unfitness, — 
 
 Re-enter Oswald. 
 
 How now, Oswald! 
 What, have you writ that letter to my sister? 
 
 Oszv. Yes, 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 
 As may compact it more. Get you gone; 
 
 55
 
 Actl. Sc. V. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 And hasten your return. [Exit Oszvald.] No, no, 
 
 my lord, 
 This milky gentleness and course of yours 350 
 
 Though I condemn not, yet, under pardon, 
 You are much more attask'd for want of wisdom 
 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 
 
 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 that comes from her 
 demand out of the letter. If your diUgence be 
 not speedy, I shall be there afore you. 
 
 Kent. I will not sleep, my lord, till I have delivered 
 
 your letter. [Exit. 
 
 -7 Fool. If a man's brains 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 
 like an apple, yet I can tell what I can tell. 
 
 Lear. Why, what canst thou tell, my boy? 
 
 s6
 
 KING LEAR Act I. Sc. v. 
 
 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? 
 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 to 30 
 
 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 are gone about 'em. The reason 
 
 why the seven stars are no more than seven is a • 
 
 pretty reason. 
 Lear. Because. they are not eight? 
 Fool. Yes, indeed: thou wouldst make a good fool. 
 Lear. To take 't again perforce! Monster ingratitude! 
 Fool. If thou wert my fool, nuncle, I 'Id have thee 40 
 
 beaten for being old before thy time. 
 Lear. How 's that? 
 Fool. Thou shouldst not have been old till thou 
 
 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? 
 57
 
 Act II. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF | 
 
 Gent. Ready, my lord. 
 
 Lear. Come, boy. 49 
 
 Fool. She that 's a maid now and laughs at my departure 
 
 Shall not be a maid long, unless things be cut 
 
 shorter. [Exeunt. 
 
 ACT SECOND. 
 Scene I. 
 
 The Earl of Gloucester's castle. 
 Enter Edmund and Cur an, 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. 
 
 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? 10 
 
 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 
 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! 20 
 Brother, a word; descend: brother, I say! 
 
 58
 
 KING LEAR Act II. Sc. i. 
 
 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, 
 
 And Regan with him : have you nothing said 
 
 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: 30 
 
 In cunning I must draw my sword upon you: 
 
 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 drunkards 
 
 Do more than this in sport. Father, father! 
 
 Stop, stop! No help? 
 
 Enter Gloucester, and Servants with torches. 
 
 Glou. Now, Edmund, where 's the villain? 
 
 Edm. Here stood he in the dark, his sharp sword 
 
 out, 40 
 
 Mumbling of wicked charms, conjuring the moon 
 
 To stand 's auspicious mistress. 
 Glou. But where is he? 
 
 Edm. Look, sir, I bleed. 
 
 Glou. Where is the villain, Edmund? 
 
 Edm. Fled this way, sir. When by no means he could — 
 
 59
 
 h 
 
 Actll. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 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 
 '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, 50 
 Seeing how loathly opposite I stood 
 To his unnatural purpose, in fell motion 
 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 encounter, 
 Or whether gasted by the noise I made. 
 Full suddenly he fled. 
 
 Glou. Let him fly far: 
 
 Not in this land shall he remain uncaught; 
 
 And found — dispatch. The noble duke my master, 
 
 My worthy arch and patron, comes to-night: 61 
 
 By his authority I will proclaim it, 
 
 That he which finds him shall deserve our thanks. 
 
 Bringing the murderous caitiff 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 
 , I threaten'd to discover him: he replied, 
 \ * Thou unpossessing bastard! dost thou think. 
 
 If I would stand against thee, could the reposure 70 
 Of any trust, virtue, or worth, in thee 
 Make thy words faith'd? No: what I should deny — 
 As this I would; ay, though thou didst produce 
 My very character — I 'Id turn it all 
 
 60 
 
 U
 
 KING LEAR Act II. Sc. i. 
 
 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 
 Were very pregnant and potential spurs 
 To make thee seek it.' 
 
 GIou. Strong and fasten'd villain! 
 
 Would he deny his letter? I never got him. 80 
 
 [Tucket within. 
 Hark, the duke's trumpets! I know not why he 
 
 comes. 
 All ports I '11 bar; the villain shall not 'scape; 
 The duke must grant me that: besides, his picture 
 I will send far and near, that all the kingdom 
 May have due note of him; and of my land, 
 Loyal and natural boy, I '11 work the means 
 To make thee capable. 
 
 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 90 
 
 Which can pursue the offender. How dost, my 
 lord? 
 
 Gloii. O, madam, my old heart is crack'd, is crack'd! 
 
 Reg. What, did my father's godson seek your Hfe? 
 He whom my father named? your Edgar? 
 
 Clou. O, lady, lady, shame would have it hid! 
 
 Reg. Was he not companion with the riotous knights 
 That tend upon my father? 
 
 Clou. I know not, madam: 'tis too bad, too bad. 
 
 Edm. Yes, madam, he was of that consort. 
 
 Reg. No marvel then, though he were ill affected: 100 
 'Tis they have put him on the old man's death. 
 To have the waste and spoil of his revenues. 
 61
 
 Act II. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 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 
 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. no 
 
 Corn. Is he pursued? 
 
 Glou. Ay, my good lord. 
 
 Corn. If he be taken, he shall never more 
 
 Be fear'd of doing harm: make your own purpose, 
 How in my strength you please. For you, Edmund, 
 Whose virtue and obedience doth this instant 
 So much commend itself, you shall be ours: 
 Natures of such deep trust we shall much need: 
 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, — 120 
 Reg. Thus out of season, threading dark-eyed night: 
 Occasions, noble Gloucester, of some poise. 
 Wherein we must have use of your advice: 
 Our father he hath writ, so hath our sister, 
 Of differences, which I least 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 
 Your needful counsel to our business, 
 
 62
 
 KING LEAR Act II. Sc. ii. 
 
 Which craves the instant use. 
 Glou. I serve you, madam: 130 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 10 
 
 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, superserviceable, finical rogue; 
 one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst 
 be a bawd in way of good service, and art noth- 
 ing but the composition of a knave, beggar, 20 
 coward, pandar, and the son and heir of a mon- 
 grel bitch: one whom I will beat into clamor- 
 ous whining, if thou deniest the least syllable 
 of thy addition. 
 
 63
 
 Act II. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Osw. Why, what a monstrous fellow art thou, thus 
 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 ago since I 
 tripped up thy heels and beat thee before the 
 king? Draw, you rogue: for, though it be 30 
 night, yet the moon shines ; I '11 make a sop o' 
 the moonshine of you: draw, you whoreson 
 cullionly barber-monger, draw. [Drawing his sivord. 
 
 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'll so carbonado your shanks: 
 draw, you rascal; come your ways. 
 
 Osw. Help, ho! murder! help! 40 
 
 Kent. Strike, you slave; stand, rogue; stand, you 
 
 neat slave, strike. [Beating him. 
 
 Osw. Help, ho! murder! murder! 
 
 Enter Edmund, zvith his rapier drawn, Cornwall, 
 Regan, Gloucester, and Servants. 
 
 Edm. How now! What 's the matter? [Parting them. 
 Kent. With you, goodman boy, an you please: come, 
 
 I '11 flesh you; come on, young master. 
 Glou. Weapons! arms! What's the matter here? 
 Corn. Keep peace, upon your lives; 
 
 He dies that strikes again. What is the matter? 
 Reg. The messengers from our sister and the king. 50 
 Corn. What is your difference? speak. 
 Osw. 1 am scarce in breath, my lord. 
 
 64
 
 KING LEAR Act II. Sc. ii. 
 
 Kent. No marvel, you have so bestirred your valour. 
 
 You cowardly rascal, nature disclaims in thee : a 
 
 tailor made thee. 
 Corn, Thou art a strange fellow : a tailor make a man ? 
 Kent. Ay, a tailor, sir: a stone-cutter or a painter 
 
 could not have made him so ill, though he had 
 
 been but two hours at the trade. 
 Corn. Speak yet, how grew your quarrel? 60 
 
 Osw. This ancient ruffian, sir, whose life I have 
 
 spared at suit of his gray beard, — 
 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 gray beard, 
 
 you wagtail? 
 Corn. Peace, sirrah! 
 
 You beastly knave, know you no reverence. 
 Kent. Yes, sir, but anger hath a privilege. 70 
 
 Corn. Why art thou angry? 
 Kent. That such a slave as this should wear a sword, 
 
 Who wears no honesty. Such smiling rogues as 
 these, 
 
 Like rats, oft bite the holy cords a-twain 
 
 Which are too intrinse to unloose; smooth every 
 passion 
 
 That in the natures of their lords rebel; 
 
 Bring oil to fire, snow to their colder moods; 
 
 Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks 
 
 With every gale and vary of their masters, 
 
 Knowing nought, like dogs, but following. 80 
 
 A plague upon your epileptic visage! 
 
 Smile you my speeches, as I were a fool? 
 
 Goose, if I had you upon Sarum plain, 
 
 T 'Id drive ye cackling home to Camelot. 
 
 65
 
 Actll. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Corn. What, art thou mad, old fellow? 
 
 Glou. How fell you out? say that. 
 
 Kent. No contraries hold more antipathy 
 
 Than I and such a knave. 
 Corn. Why dost thou call him knave? What is his fault? 
 Kent. His countenance likes me not. 90 
 
 Corn. No more perchance does mine, nor his, nor hers. 
 Kent. Sir, 'tis my occupation to be plain: 
 
 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 
 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. 100 
 
 These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness 
 Harbour more craft and more corrupter ends 
 Than twenty silly ducking observants 
 That stretch their duties nicely. 
 
 Kent. Sir, in good faith, in sincere verity, 
 
 Under the allowance of your great aspect, 
 Whose influence, like the wreath of radiant fire 
 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: no 
 he that beguiled you in a plain accent was a 
 plain knave; which, for my part, I will not be, 
 though I should win your displeasure to entreat 
 me to 't. 
 
 66
 
 KING LEAR Act II. Sc. ii. 
 
 Corn. What was the offence you gave him? 
 
 Osw. I never give him any: 
 
 It pleased the king his master very late 
 To strike at me, upon his misconstruction; 
 When he, conjunct, and flattering his displeasure, 
 Tripp'd me behind; being down, insulted, rail'd, 120 
 And put upon him such a deal of man, 
 That worthied him, got praises of the king 
 For him attempting who was self-subdued, 
 And in the fleshment o^ this dread exploit ' 
 Drew on me here again. 
 
 Kent. None of these rogues and cowards 
 
 But Ajax is their fool. 
 
 Cam. Fetch forth the stocks ! 
 
 You stubborn ancient knave, you reverend braggart, 
 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: 130 
 
 You shall do small respect, show too bold malice 
 Against the grace and person of my master, 
 Stocking his messenger. 
 
 Corn. Fetch forth the stocks! As I have life and hon- 
 our, 
 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. 
 
 Corn. This is a fellow of the self-same colour 139 
 
 Our sister speaks of. Come, bring away the stocks! 
 
 [Stocks brought out. 
 
 Clou. Let me beseech your grace not to do so: 
 
 67
 
 Act II. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 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 
 For pilferings and most common trespasses 
 Are punish'd with: the king must take it ill, 
 That he, so slightly valued in his rhessenger, 
 Should have him thus restrain'd. 
 
 Cam. I '11 answer that. 
 
 Reg. My sister may receive it much more worse, 
 
 To have her gentleman abused, assaulted, 150 
 
 For following her affairs. Put in his legs. 
 
 [Ke7it 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. 
 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 : 
 Give you good morrow! 
 
 Clou. The duke's to blame in this; 'twill be ill taken. 160 
 
 {Exit. 
 
 Kent. Good king, that must approve the common saw, 
 Thou out of heaven's benediction comest 
 To the warm sun! 
 
 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 
 Of my obscured course; and shall find time 
 
 68
 
 KING LEAR Act II. Sc. iii. 
 
 From this enormous state, seeking to give 170 
 
 Losses their remedies. All weary and o'er-watch'd, 
 Take vantage, heavy eyes, not to behold 
 This shameful lodging. 
 
 Fortune, good night: smile once more; turn thy 
 wheel! i^^^'P'- 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 A 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 
 I will preserve myself: and am bethought 
 To take the basest and most poorest shape 
 That every 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, 10 
 
 And with presented nakedness out-face 
 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, 18 
 
 Sometime with lunatic bans, sometime with prayers 
 Enforce their charity. Poor Turlygod! poor Tom! 
 That 's something yet: Edgar I nothmg am. [Exit. 
 69
 
 Act II. Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Scene IV. 
 
 Before 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! 
 
 Makest thou this shame thy pastime? 
 Kent. No, my lord. 
 
 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 lo 
 
 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. 
 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 ; 
 
 70
 
 KING LEAR Act II. Sc. iv. 
 
 They could not, would not do't; 'tis worse than 
 
 murder, 
 To do upon respect such violent outrage: 
 Resolve me with all modest haste which way 
 Thou mightst deserve, or they impose, this usage, 
 Coming from us. 
 l(;^j^t^ 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 kneeUng, 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 
 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 that 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. 
 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 \ 5° 
 
 Shall see their children kind. 
 Fortune, that arrant whore, 
 Ne'er turns the key to the poor. 
 71
 
 Act II. Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 But, for all this, thou shalt have as many do- 
 lours for thy daughter as thou canst tell in a 
 ., year. 
 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 train? 
 Fool. An thou hadst been set i' the stocks for that 
 
 question, thou hadst well deserved it. 
 Kent. Why, fool? 
 
 Fool. We '11 set thee to school to an ant, to teach 
 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 
 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; 
 The fool no knave, perdy. 
 
 72
 
 KING LEAR Act. II. Sc. iv. 
 
 Kent. Where learned you this, fool? 
 Fool. Not i' the stocks, fool. 
 
 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; 
 
 The images of revolt and flying off. 91 
 
 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. 
 Lear. Vengeance! plague! death! confusion! 
 
 Fiery? what quality? Why, Gloucester, Gloucester, 
 
 I 'Id 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 
 
 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— 
 
 No, but not yet : may be he is not well : 
 
 Infirmity doth still neglect all office 
 
 Whereto our health is bound; we are not ourselves 
 
 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 
 
 73
 
 Act II. Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 For the sound man. [Looking on Kent] Death on 
 
 my state! wherefore 
 Should he sit here? This act persuades me 
 That this remotion of the duke and her 
 Is practice only. Give me my servant forth. 
 Go tell the duke and 's wife I 'Id 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. 120 
 
 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 i' the paste alive; she 
 knapped 'em o' the coxcombs with a stick, and 
 cried 'Down, wantons, down!' 'Twas 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. 
 
 Cam. Hail to your grace! 
 
 [Kent is set at liberty. 
 
 Reg. I am glad to see your highness. 130 
 
 Lear. Regan, I think you are; I know what reason 
 I have to think so: If thou shouldst not be glad, 
 I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb. 
 Sepulchring an adultress. [To Kent] O, are you free? 
 Some other time for that. Beloved Regan, 
 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 
 
 74
 
 KING LEAR ^ Act II. Sc. iv. 
 
 With how depraved a quality— O Regan! 
 Re,. I pray you, sir, take patience: I have hope 140 
 
 .You less know how to vahie her desert 
 Than she to scant her duty. 
 
 Lear. ^^^^ ^"'"^ '' ^^^^^ 
 
 Re^ I cannot think my sister in the least 
 
 Would lail her obUgation: if, sir, perchance 
 She have restraint the riots of your followers 
 'Tis on such ground and to such wholesome end 
 As clears her from all blame. 
 Lear. My curses on her I 
 j^ O, sir, you are old; 
 
 ' Nature in you stands on the very verge 
 Of her confine : you should be ruled and led 150 
 Bv 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. 
 
 Ask her forgiveness? 
 '''''do you but mark how this becomes the house: 
 
 [Kfieeling] ' Dear daughter, I confess that I am old, 
 Aee is unnecessary: on my knees I beg 
 That you '11 vouchsafe me raiment, bed and food. 
 Reg, Good sir, no more; these are unsightly tricks: 
 
 "^Return you to my sister. 
 l^^^ [Rising] Never, Regan: 160 
 
 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. 
 You taking airs, with lameness. 
 75
 
 Actll.Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Cam. Fie, sir, fie! 
 
 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. 170 
 
 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 
 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, 
 To bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes. 
 And in conclusion to oppose the bolt 
 Against my coming in: thou better know'st 180 
 
 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? [Tticket within. 
 
 Cam. What trumpet's that? 
 
 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 
 
 Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows. 189 
 Out, varlet, from my sight! 
 Cam. What means your grace? 
 
 76
 
 KING LEAR Act II. Sc. iv. 
 
 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. 
 Make it your cause ; send down, and take my part ! 
 [To Gon.] Art not ashamed to look upon this beard? 
 
 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 ? 
 Corn. 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. 
 
 You will return and sojourn with my sister, 
 
 Dismissing half your train, come then to me : 
 
 1 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 the enmity o' the air. 
 To be a comrade with the wolf and owl, — 
 Necessity's sharp pinch! Return with her? 
 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 
 
 77
 
 Actll. Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 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 '11 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, 
 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: 
 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 
 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 ? 'Tis hard, almost impossible. 
 
 Gon. Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance 
 
 78
 
 KING LEAR Act II. Sc. iv. 
 
 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. 
 Lear. I gave you all — 
 
 ^eg. And in good time you gave it. 
 
 Lear. Made you my guardians, my depositaries, 
 But kept a reservation to be followed 
 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 
 Stands in some rank of praise. [To Gon.] I'll go 
 with thee: ^^^ 
 
 Thy fifty yet doth double five and twenty. 
 And thou art twice her love. 
 QQyi^ Hear me, my lord: 
 
 What need you five and twenty, ten, or five. 
 To follow in a house where twice so many 
 Have a command to tend you? 
 j^(,a What need one? 
 
 Lear. O, reason not the need: our basest beggars 
 Are in the poorest thing superfluous: 
 Allow not nature more than nature needs, 
 Man's life 's as cheap as beast's: thou art a lady; 
 If only to go warm were gorgeous, 271 
 
 Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st, 
 Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But for true 
 need, — 
 
 79
 
 Actll. Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need! 
 You see me here, you gods, a poor old man, 
 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; 
 No, I '11 not weep: 
 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, Gloiieester, Kent, and Fool. 
 
 Corn. Let us withdraw; 'twill be a storm. 290 
 
 [Storm and tempest. 
 
 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 '11 receive him gladly, 
 But not one follower. 
 
 Gon. So am I purposed. 
 
 Where is my lord of Gloucester? 
 
 Cam. 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? 
 
 80
 
 KING LEAR Act III. Sc. i. 
 
 Glou. He calls to horse; but will I know not whither. 300 
 Cam. 'Tis best to give him way; he leads himself. 
 Gon. My lord, entreat him by no means to stay. 
 Glou. Alack, the night comes on, and the bleak winds 
 
 Do sorely ruffle; for many miles about 
 
 There 's scarce a bush. 
 Reg. O, sir, to wilful men 
 
 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. 310 
 
 Corn. Shut up your doors, my lord; 'tis a wild night: 
 
 My Regan counsels well: come out o' the storm. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 ACT THIRD. 
 Scene I. 
 
 A heath. 
 Storm still. 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. 
 Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main. 
 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; 
 81
 
 Act III. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Strives in his little world of man to out-scorn lo 
 
 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. 
 
 Kent. But who is with him? 
 
 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, 
 Either in snufts 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 
 To show their open banner. Now to you: 
 If on my credit you dare build so far 
 To make your speed to Dover, you shall find 
 Some that will thank you, making just r^eport 
 Of how unnatural and bemadding sorrow 
 The king hath cause to plain. 
 82
 
 KING LEAR Act III. Sc. ii. 
 
 I am a gentleman of blood and breeding, 40 
 
 And from some knowledge and assurance offer 
 This ofTfice 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 
 What it contains. If you shall see Cordelia, — 
 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. 
 
 Gent. Give me your hand: 50 
 
 Have you no more to say? 
 
 Kent. Few words, but, to efifect, 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. [Exeunt severally. 
 
 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, 
 Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thun- 
 der, 
 Smite flat the thick rotundity o' the world! 
 
 83
 
 Act III. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Crack nature's moulds, all germins 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! 
 Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters: 
 
 \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 despised 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 
 Sooldandjkvhiteasthis. O! O! 'tis foul! 
 
 Fool. He that has a house to put 's head in has a 
 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 
 
 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 
 made mouths in a glass. 
 
 Lear. No, I will be the pattern of all patience ; 
 I will say nothing. 
 
 84
 
 KING LEAR Act III. Sc. ii. 
 
 Enter Kent. 
 
 Kent. Who's there? 
 
 Fool. Marry, here 's grace and a cod-piece; that 's a 40 
 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, 
 And make them keep their caves : since I was man, 
 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 pother 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 perjured, and thou simular man of virtue 
 That art incestuous: caitiff, to pieces shake. 
 That under covert and convenient seeming 
 Hast practised on man's life: close pent-up guilts. 
 Rive your concealing continents and cry 
 These dreadful summoners grace. I am a man 59 
 More sinn'd against than sinmng. 
 
 Kent. Alack, bare-headed! 
 
 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 stones whereof 'tis raised; 
 Which even but now, demanding after you, 
 Denied me to come in — return, and force 
 Their scanty courtesy. 
 
 85
 
 1 
 
 Actlll. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 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. 
 Poor fool and knave, I have one part in my heart 
 That 's sorry yet for thee. 
 Fool. [Singing] 
 
 He that has and a little tiny wit, — 
 With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, — 
 Must make content with his fortunes fit. 
 For 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; 
 
 No squire in debt, nor no poor knight; 
 
 When slanders do not live in tongues, 
 
 Nor cutpurses come not to throngs; 
 
 When usurers tell their gold i' the field, 
 
 And bawds and whores do churches build; 90 
 
 Then shall the realm of Albion 
 
 Come to great confusion: 
 
 Then comes the time, who Hves to see 't, 
 
 That going shall be used with feet. 
 This prophecy Merlin shall make; for I live before 
 his time. [Exit. 
 
 86
 
 KING LEAR Act III. Sc. Hi. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 Gloucester's castle. 
 
 Enter Gloucester and Edmund. 
 
 Glou. Alack, alack, Edmund, I like not this unnat- 
 ural 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 speak of him, 
 entreat for him, nor any way sustain him. 
 
 Edm. Most savage and unnatural! 
 
 Glou. Go to ; say you nothing. There *s a division 
 betwixt the dukes, and a worse matter than 
 that: I have received a letter this night; 'tis 
 dangerous to be spoken; I have locked the let- lo 
 ter in my closet: these injuries the king now 
 bears will be revenged home; there is part of a 
 power already footed: we must incline to the 
 king. I will seek 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. Though I die 
 for it, as no less is threatened me, the king my 
 old master must be relieved. There is some 
 strange thing toward, Edmund; pray you, be 20 
 careful. [Exit. 
 
 Edm. This courtesy, forbid thee, shall the duke 
 Instantly know, and of that letter too: 
 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. 
 
 87
 
 Act III. Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 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 had rather break mine own. Good my lord, 
 enter. 
 
 Lear. 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 'Idst shun a bear, 
 But if thy flight lay toward the raging sea lo 
 
 Thou 'Idst 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 
 Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude! 
 Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand 
 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 you 
 all, — 20 
 
 I O, that way madness Jiesj^ let me shun that; 
 Nolntrr6~-ol±haiv^ 
 
 Kent. Good my lord, enter here. 
 
 Lear. Prithee, go in thyself ; seek thine own ease : 
 
 88
 
 KING LEAR Act III. Sc. iv; 
 
 This tempest will not give me leave to ponder 
 On things would hurt me more. But I '11 go in. 
 [To the Fool] In, boy; go first. You houseless pov- / 
 erty— ^ 
 
 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 . 
 Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend you / L 
 From seasons such as these? O, I have ta'en 1 /^ 
 
 Too Httle care of this! Take physic, pomp; I 
 
 Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel. 
 That thou mayst shake the superflux to them / 
 And show the heavens more just. ^ 
 
 Edg. [Within] 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 the sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind/ 
 
 Hum! go to thy cold bed and warm thee. 
 Lear. Hast thou given all to thy two daughters? 
 
 and art thou come to this? 
 Edg. Who gives any thing to poor Tom? whom the 50 
 
 foul fiend hath led through fire and through 
 
 89
 
 Act III. Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 flame, through ford and whirlpool, o'er bog and 
 quagmire; that hath laid knives under his pil- 
 low and halters in his pew; set ratsbane by his 
 porridge; made him proud of heart, 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. O, do de, do de, 
 do de. Bless thee from whirlwinds, star-blast- 
 ing, and taking! Do poor Tom some charity, 60 
 whom the foul fiend vexes. There could I 
 have him now, and there, and there again, and 
 there. [Storm still. 
 
 Lear. What, have his daughters brought him to this 
 pass? 
 Couldst thou save nothing? Didst thou give them 
 all? 
 
 Fool. Nay, he reserved a blanket, else we had been 
 all shamed. 
 
 Lear. Now, all the plagues that in the pendulous air 
 
 Hang fated o'er men's faults light on thy daughters? 
 
 Kent. He hath no daughters, sir. 
 
 Lear. Death, traitor! nothing could have subdued nature 
 To such a lowness but his unkind daughters. 71 
 
 Is it the fashion that discarded fathers 
 Should have thus little mercy on their flesh? 
 Judicious punishment! 'twas this flesh begot 
 Those pelican daughters. 
 
 Edg. Pillicock sat on Pillicock-hill: 
 
 Haljoo, halloo, loo, loo! 
 
 Fool. This cold night will turn us all to fools and 
 madmen. 
 
 Edg. Take heed o' the foul fiend: obey thy pa- 80 
 rents; keep thy word justly; swear not; com- 
 mit not with man's sworn spouse; set not thy 
 3weet heart on proud array. Tom 's a-cold, 
 90
 
 KING LEAR Act III. Sc. iv. 
 
 Lear. What hast thou been? 
 
 Edg. A serving-man, proud in heart and mind; that 
 curled my hair; wore gloves in my cap; served 
 the lust of my mistress' heart and 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 90 
 lust and waked to do it : wine loved I deeply, 
 dice dearly, and in woman out-paramoured the 
 Turk: false of heart, light of ear, bloody of 
 hand; hog in sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greedi- 
 ness, dog in madness, lion in prey. Let not the 
 creaking 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.' 100 
 
 Says suum, mun, ha, no, nonny. 
 Dolphin my boy, my boy, sessa! let him trot 
 
 by. [Storm still. 
 
 Lear. Why thou wert better in thy grave than to 
 answer with thy uncovered body this extremity 
 of the skies. Is man no more than this? Con- 
 sider 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 sophisti- no 
 cated. Thou art the thing itself: unaccom- 
 modated man is no more but such a poor, bare, 
 forked animal as thou art. Of¥, ofif, you lend- 
 ings! come, unbutton here. [Tearing ofF his clothes. 
 
 Fool. Prithee, nuncle, be contented; 'tis a naughty 
 night to swim in. Now a little fire in a wild 
 
 91
 
 Act III. Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 field were like an old lecher's heart, a small 
 spark, all the rest on 's body cold. Look, here 
 comes a walking fire. 
 
 Enter Gloucester, zvith 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 the eye 120 
 and makes the hare-lip; mildews the white 
 wheat and hurts the poor creature of earth. 
 Saint Withold footed thrice the 'old ; 
 He met the night-mare and her nine-fold; 
 Bid her alight. 
 And her troth plight. 
 And aroint thee, witch, aroint thee! 
 Kent. How fares your grace ? 
 Lear. What 's he? 
 
 Kent. Who 's there? What is 't you seek? 130 
 
 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 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; 140 
 
 But mice and rats and such small deer 
 Have been Tom's food for seven long year. 
 Beware my follower. Peace, Smulkin; peace, thou 
 fiend! 
 
 92
 
 KING LEAR Act III. Sc. iv. 
 
 Glou. What, hath your grace no better company? 
 
 Edg. The prince of darkness is a gentleman : Modo 
 he 's call'd, and Mahu. 
 
 Glou. Our flesh and blood is grown so vile, my lord, 
 That it doth hate what gets it. 
 
 Edg. Poor Tom 's a-cold. 
 
 Glou. Go in with me: my duty cannot suffer 150 
 
 To obey in all your daughters' hard commands: 
 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./ ^ 
 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? 160 
 
 Edg. How to prevent the fiend and to kill vermin. 
 
 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! 
 Thou say'st the king grows mad: I'll tell thee, 
 
 friend, 
 I am almost mad myself: I had a son, 
 Now outlaw'd from my blood; he sought my Hfe, 
 But lately, very late: I loved him, friend, 170 
 
 No father his son dearer: truth to tell thee. 
 The grief hath crazed my wits. What a night 's this ! 
 I do beseech your grace, — 
 
 93
 
 Actlll.Scv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Lear. O, cry you mercy, sir. 
 
 Noble philosopher, your company. 
 Edg. Tom 's a-cold. 
 
 Glou. In, fellow, there, into the hovel : keep thee warm. 
 Lear. Come, let 's in all. 
 Kent. This way, my lord. 
 
 Lear. With him; 
 
 I will keep still with my philosopher. 
 Kent. Good my lord, soothe him; let him take the fellow. 
 Glou. Take him you on. i8o 
 
 Kent. Sirrah, come on; go along with us. 
 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 fum, 
 I smell the blood of a British man.' [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene V. 
 
 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. 
 
 Corn. I now perceive, it was not altogether your 
 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 re- 
 pent to be just! This is the letter he spoke of, lo 
 which approves him an intelligent party to the 
 
 94
 
 KING LEAR Act III. Sc. vi. 
 
 advantages of France. O heavens! that this 
 treason were not, or not I the detector! 
 
 Corn, Go with me to the duchess. 
 
 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 Glou- 
 cester. Seek out where thy father is, that he 
 may be ready for our apprehension. 
 
 Edm. [Aside] If I find him comforting the king, it 20 
 will stuff his suspicion more fully. — I will per- 
 sever in my course of loyalty, though the con- 
 flict be sore between that and my blood. 
 
 Corn. I will lay trust upon thee, and thou shalt find a 
 
 dearer father in my love. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene VI. 
 
 A chamber in a farmhouse adjoining the castle. 
 Enter Gloucester, Lear, Kent, Fool, and Edgar. 
 
 Clou. Here is better than the open air ; take it thank- 
 fully, 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 to 
 his impatience: the gods reward your kindness! 
 
 [Exit Gloucester. 
 
 Edg. Frateretto calls me, and tells me Nero is an 
 angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent, 
 and beware the foul fiend. 
 
 Fool. Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be 
 
 a gentleman or a yeoman. 10 
 
 Lear. A king, a king! 
 
 Fool. No, he 's a yeoman that has a gentleman to his 
 
 95
 
 Act III. Sc. vi. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 son, for he 's a mad yeoman that sees his 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 wolf, 
 a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's 
 oath. 20 
 
 Lear. It shall be done; I will arraign them straight. 
 
 [To Edgar] Come, sit thou here, most learned 
 
 justicer; 
 [To the Fool] Thou, sapient sir, sit here. Now, you 
 she foxes! 
 Edg. Look, where he stands and glares! Wantest 
 thou eyes at trial, madam? 
 
 Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, tO' me. 
 Fool. Her boat hath a leak. 
 
 And she must not speak 
 Why she dares not come over to thee. 
 Edg. The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of 30 
 a nightingale. Hopdance cries in Tom's belly 
 for two white herring. Croak not, black angel; 
 I have no food for thee. 
 Kent. How do you, sir? Stand you not so amazed: 
 Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions? 
 Lear. I '11 see their trial first. Bring in the evidence. 
 
 [To Edgar] Thou robed man of justice, take thy 
 
 place; 
 [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. 40 
 
 Edg. Let us deal justly. 
 
 96
 
 KING LEAR Act III. Sc. vi 
 
 Sleepest or wakest thou, jolly shepherd? 
 
 Thy sheep be in the corn ; 
 And for one blast of thy minikin mouth, 
 Thy sheep shall take no harm. 
 Pur! the cat is gray. 
 Lear. Arraign her first; 'tis Goneril. I here take 
 my oath before this honourable assembly, she 
 kicked the poor king her father. 
 Fool. Come hither, mistress. Is your name Goneril? 50 
 Lear. She cannot deny it. 
 
 Fool. Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool, r::^^-^ 
 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? 
 Fdg. Bless thy five wits! 
 Kent. O pity! Sir, w^here is the patience now, 
 
 That you so oft have boasted to retain? 
 Fd^. \^Asidc\ My tears begin to take his part so 
 much, 60 
 
 They '11 mar my counterfeiting. 
 Lear. The little dogs and all. 
 
 Tray, Blanch, and Sweet-heart, see, they bark at me. 
 Fdg. 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. 
 
 Hound or spaniel, brach or lym. 
 
 Or bobtail tike or trundle-tail, 7^ 
 
 Tom will make them weep and wail: 
 
 For, with throwing thus my head, 
 
 Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled. 
 
 97
 
 Act III. Sc. vi. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Do de, de, de. Sessa! Come, march to wakes 
 and fairs and market-towns. Poor Tom, thy 
 horn is dry. 
 
 Lear, Then let them anatomize Regan; see what 80 
 breeds about her heart. Is there any cause in 
 nature that makes these hard hearts? [To Ed- 
 gar] You, sir, I entertain for one of my hun- 
 dred; only I do not like the fashion of your 
 garments. You will say they are Persian at- 
 tire; but let them be changed. 
 
 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. 
 
 Re-enter Gloucester. 
 
 Glou. Come hither, friend: where is the king my master? 
 
 Kent. Here, sir; but trouble him not: his wits are gone. 
 
 Glou. Good friend, I prithee, take him in thy arms; 91 
 I have o'erheard a plot of death upon him: 
 There is a litter ready; lay him in 't. 
 And drive toward Dover, friend, where thou shalt 
 
 meet 
 Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master: 
 If thou shouldst dally half an hour, his life, 
 With thine and all that of¥er to defend him, 
 Stand in assured loss. Take up, take up, 
 And follow me, that will to some provision 
 Give thee quick conduct. 
 
 Kent. Oppressed nature sleeps. 100 
 
 This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken sinews, 
 
 98
 
 KING LEAR Act III. Sc. vii. 
 
 Which, if convenience will not allow, 
 
 Stand in hard cure. [To the Fool] Come, help to 
 
 bear thy master; 
 Thou must not stay behind. 
 
 Glou. Come, come, away. 
 
 [Exeunt all but Edgar. 
 
 Edg. When we our betters see bearing our woes, 
 We scarcely think our miseries our foes. 
 Who alone sufifers suffers most i' the mind, 
 Leaving free things and happy shows behind: 
 But then the mind much sufferance doth o'erskip. 
 When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship, no 
 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! 
 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. 
 
 Scene VII. 
 
 Gloucester's castle. 
 Enter Cornwall, Regan, Goneril, Edmund, and Servants. 
 
 Corn. 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. 
 
 Gon. Pluck out his eyes. 
 
 Corn. Leave him to my displeasure. Edmund, keep 
 
 99
 
 Act III. Sc. vii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 you our sister company: the revenges we are 
 bound to take upon your traitorous father are 
 not fit for your beholding. Advise the duke, 
 where you are going, to a most festinate prepa- lo 
 ration: we are bound to the Hke. Our posts 
 shall be swift and intelligent betwixt us. Fare- 
 well, dear sister: farewell, my lord of Glou- 
 cester. 
 
 Enter Oswald. 
 How now! where 's the king? 
 Osw. My lord of Gloucester hath convey'd him hence: 
 Some five or six and thirty of his knights, 
 Hot questrists after him, met him at gate; 
 Who, with some other of the lords dependants, 
 Are gone with him toward Dover; where they boast 
 To have well-armed friends. 
 Cam. Get horses for your mistress. 20 
 
 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. 
 
 {Exeunt other Servants. 
 Though well we may not pass upon his Hfe 
 Without the form of justice, yet our power 
 Shall do a courtesy to our wrath, which men 
 May blame but not control. Who's there? the 
 traitor? 
 
 Enter Gloucester, brought in by two or three. 
 
 Reg. Ingrateful fox! 'tis he. 
 Corn. Bind fast his corky arms. 
 Glou. What mean your graces? Good my friends, 
 consider 
 
 100
 
 KING LEAR Act III. Sc. vii. 
 
 You are my guests : do me no foul play, friends. 31 
 Corn. Bind him, I say. [Servants bind him. 
 
 Reg. Hard, hard. O filthy traitor! 
 
 Giou. Unmerciful lady as you are, I 'm none. 
 Cam. To this chair bind him. Villain, thou shalt find — 
 
 [Regan plucks his beard. 
 Clou. By the kind gods, 'tis most ignobly done 
 
 To pluck me by the beard. 
 Reg. So white, and such a traitor! 
 Clou. Naughty lady, 
 
 These hairs which thou dost ravish from my chin 
 
 Will quicken and accuse thee: I am your host: 
 
 With robbers' hands my hospitable favours 40 
 
 You should not ruffle thus. What will you do? 
 Corn. Come, sir, what letters had you late from France? 
 Reg. Be simple answerer, for we know the truth. 
 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. 
 Clou. I have a letter guessingly set down. 
 
 Which came from one that 's of a neutral heart, 
 
 And not from one opposed. 
 Corn. Cunning. 
 
 Reg. ' And false. 50 
 
 Corn. Where hast thou sent the king? 
 Clou. To Dover. 
 
 Reg. Wherefore to Dover? Wast thou not charged at 
 
 peril — 
 Corn. Wherefore to Dover? Let him first answer that. 
 Clou. I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the course. 
 Reg. Wherefore to Dover, sir? 
 
 lOI
 
 Act III. Sc. vii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Glou. Because I would not see thy cruel nails 
 
 Pluck out his poor old eyes, nor thy fierce sister 
 In his anointed flesh stick boarish fangs. 
 The sea, with such a storm as his bare head 
 In hell-black night endured, would have buoy'd up. 
 And quench'd the stelled fires : 6i 
 
 Yet, poor old heart, he holp the heavens to rain. 
 If wolves had at thy gate howl'd that stern 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. 
 
 Cam. See 't shalt thou never. Fellows, hold the chair. 
 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 you gods! 70 
 
 Reg. One side will mock another; the other too. 
 
 Cam. If you see vengeance — 
 
 First Serv. Hold your hand, my lord: 
 
 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 'Id shake it on this quarrel. What do you mean? 
 
 Cam. 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! 80 
 [ Takes a sword and runs at him behind. 
 
 First Serv. O, I am slain ! Mv lord, you have one eye 
 left 
 To see some mischief on him. O! [Dies. 
 
 Com. Lest it see more, prevent it. Out, vile jelly! 
 Where is thy lustre now? 
 102
 
 KING LEAR Act III. Sc. vii. 
 
 Glou. All dark and comfortless. Where 's my son Ed- 
 mund? 
 
 Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature, 
 
 To quit this horrid act. 
 Reg. Out, treacherous villain! 
 
 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. 90 
 
 Glou. O my follies! Then Edgar was abused. 
 
 Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him! 
 Reg. Go thrust him out at gates, and let him smell 
 
 His way to Dover. [Exit one with Gloucester .1 How 
 is 't, my lord? how look you? 
 Corn. I have received a hurt: follow me, lady. 
 
 Turn out that eyeless villain: throw this slave 
 
 Upon the dunghill. Regan, I bleed apace : 
 
 Untimely comes this hurt: give me your arm. 
 
 [Exit Cornwall, led by Regan. 
 Sec. Serv. I '11 never care what wickedness I do, 
 
 If this man come to good. 
 Third Serv. If she live long, 100 
 
 And in the end meet the old course of death, 
 
 Women will all turn monsters. 
 Sec. 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! [Exeunt severally. 
 
 103
 
 IV.Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 ACT FOURTH. 
 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; 
 The worst returns to laughter. Welcome then, 
 Thou unsubstantial air that I embrace! 
 The wretch that thou hast blown unto the worst 
 Owes nothing to thy blasts. But who comes here? 
 
 Enter Gloucester, led by an Old Man. 
 
 My father, poorly led? World, world, O world! 
 
 But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee, 1 1 
 
 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: 
 
 Thy comforts can do no good at all; 
 
 Thee they may hurt. 
 Old Man. Alack, sir, you cannot see your way. 
 Glou. I have no way and therefore want no eyes ; 
 
 I stumbled when I saw : full oft 'tis seen, 20 
 
 Our means secure us, and our mere defects 
 
 Prove our commodities. Ah, dear son Edgar, 
 
 The food of thy abused father's wrath! 
 
 Might I but live to see thee in my touch, 
 
 i;o4
 
 KING LEAR Act IV. Sc. i. 
 
 I 'Id 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'? 
 I am worse than e'er I was. 
 
 Old 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? 
 
 Gloii. Is it a beggar-man? 30 
 
 Old Man. Madman and beggar too. 
 
 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. 
 As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; 
 They kill us for their sport. 
 
 Edg. [Aside] How should this be? 
 
 Bad is the trade that must play fool to sorrow. 
 Angering itself and others. Bless thee, master! 40 
 
 Glou. Is that the naked fellow? 
 
 Old Man. Ay, my lord. 
 
 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. 
 
 Glou. 'Tis the times' plague, when madmen lead the blind. 
 Do as I bid thee, or rather do thy pleasure ; 
 
 105
 
 Act IV. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Above the rest, be gone. 
 
 Old Man. I '11 bring him the best 'parel that I have, 50 
 Come on 't what will. [Exit. 
 
 Glou. Sirrah, naked fellow, — 
 
 Edg. Poor Tom 's a-cold. [Aside]^ I cannot daub it 
 further. 
 
 Glou. Come hither, fellow. 
 
 Edg. [Aside^ And yet I must. — Bless thy sweet eyes, they 
 bleed. 
 
 Glou. Know'st thou the way to Dover? 
 
 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 60 
 once; of lust, as Obidicut; Hobbididence, 
 prince of dumbness; Mahu, of stealing; Modo, 
 of murder; Flibbertigibbet, of mopping and 
 mowing; who since possesses chambermaids 
 and waiting-women. So, bless thee, master! 
 
 Glou. Here, take this purse, thou whom the heavens' 
 plagues 
 Have humbled to all strokes: that 1 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 70 
 Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly; 
 So distribution should undo excess 
 And each man have enough. Dost thou know 
 Dover? 
 
 Edg. Ay, master. 
 
 Glou. There is a clifif whose high and bending head 
 Looks fearfully in the confined deep: 
 Bring me but to the very brim of it. 
 And I '11 repair the misery thou dost bear 
 106
 
 KING LEAR Act IV. Sc. ii. 
 
 With something rich about me: from that place 
 I shall no leading need. 
 ^j^_ Give me thy arm: 80 
 
 Poor Tom shall lead thee. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 Before the Ditke 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; 
 He smiled at it: I told him you were coming; 
 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 disHke seems pleasant to him; 
 What like, offensive. ^ ^ 
 
 Gon. [To Edm.] Then shall you go no further. 
 
 It is the cowish terror of his spirit, 
 That dares not undertake: he '11 not feel wrongs. 
 Which tie him to an answer. Our wishes on the way 
 May prove effects. Back, Edmund, to my brother; 
 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 
 107
 
 Act IV. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 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! 
 
 [Exit Edmund. 
 O, the difference of man and man! 
 To thee a woman's services are due: 
 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 and disbranch 
 
 From her material sap, perforce must wither 
 
 And come to deadly use. 
 Gon. No more ; the text is fooHsh. 
 Alb. Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile: 
 
 Filths savour but themselves. What have you done? 
 
 Tigers, not daughters, what have you perform'd? 40 
 
 A father, and a gracious aged man. 
 
 Whose reverence even the head-lugg'd bear would 
 lick. 
 
 Most barbarous, most degenerate! have you 
 madded. 
 
 108
 
 KING LEAR Act IV. Sc. ii. 
 
 Could my good brother suffer you to do it? 
 
 A man, a prince, by him so benefited! 
 
 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 ! 50 
 
 That bear'st a cheek for blows, a head for wrongs; 
 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 
 Ere they have done their mischief. Where 's thy 
 
 drum? 
 France spreads his banners in our noiseless land, 
 With plumed helm thy state begins to threat. 
 Whiles thou, a moral fool, sit'st still and criest 
 'Alack, why does he so?' 
 
 Alb. See thyself, devil! 
 
 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, 
 Be-monster not thy feature. Were 't my fitness 
 To let these hands obey my blood. 
 They are apt enough to dislocate and tear 
 Thy flesh and bones: howe'er thou art a fiend, 
 A woman's shape doth shield thee. 
 
 Gon. Marry, your manhood! mew! 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 
 Alb. What news? 
 
 Mess. O, my good lord, the Duke of Cornwall 's dead, 
 
 109
 
 Act IV. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Slain by his servant, going to put out 71 
 
 The other eye of Gloucester. 
 Alb. Gloucester's eyes! 
 
 Mess. A servant that he bred, thrill'd with remorse. 
 
 Opposed against the act, bending his sword 
 
 To his great master; who thereat enraged 
 
 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! 
 
 Lost he his other eye? 
 Mess. Both, both, my lord. 81 
 
 This letter, madam, craves a speedy answer; 
 
 'Tis from your sister. 
 Gon. [Aside] One way I like this well; 
 
 But being widow, and my Gloucester with her, 
 
 May all the building in my fancy pluck 
 
 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 punish- 
 ment 
 
 Might have the freer course. 
 Alb. Gloucester, I live 
 
 To thank thee for the love thou show'dst the king, 
 no
 
 KING LEAR Act IV. Sc. iii. 
 
 And to revenge thine eyes. Come hither, friend: 
 Tell me what more thou know'st. [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? 
 
 Gent. Something he left imperfect in the state which 
 since his coming forth is thought of, which im- 
 ports to the kingdom so much fear 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 dem- lo 
 onstration 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 
 Sought to be king o'er her. 
 
 Kent. O, then it moved 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 
 
 That play'd on her ripe lip seem'd not to know 
 What guests were in her eyes; which parted thence 
 As pearls from diamonds dropp'd. In brief.
 
 Act IV. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Sorrow would be a rarity most beloved, 
 If all could so become it. 
 
 Kent. Made she no verbal question? 
 
 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. 
 
 Kent. It is the stars. 
 
 The stars above us, govern our conditions; 
 Else one self mate and mate could not beget 
 Such different issues. You spoke not with her 
 since? 
 
 Gent. No. 
 
 Kent. Was this before the king return'd? 
 
 Gent. No, since. 
 
 Ke7tt. Well, sir, the poor distress'd 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. 
 
 Gmt. 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 
 To his dog-hearted daughters : these things sting 
 His mind so venomously that burning shame 
 Detains him from Cordelia. 
 
 Ge}it. Alack, poor gentleman! 
 
 Kent. Of Albany's and Cornwall's powers you heard not? 
 
 112
 
 KING LEAR Act IV. Sc. iv. 
 
 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 
 Along with me. [ExeurU. 
 
 Scene IV. 
 
 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; 
 Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds, 
 With bur-docks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers, 
 Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow 
 In our sustaining corn. A century send forth; 
 Search every acre in the high-grown field, 
 And bring him to our eye. [Exit an officer] What 
 
 can man's wisdom 
 In the restoring his bereaved sense? 
 He that helps him take all my outward worth. 10 
 
 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. 
 
 (^^y^ All blest secrets. 
 
 All you unpublish'd virtues of the earth, 
 Spring with my tears! be aidant and remediate 
 
 113
 
 Act IV. Sc. V. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 In the good man's distress! Seek, seek for him; 
 Lest his ungovern'd rage dissolve the hfe 
 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 
 In expectation of them. O dear father, 
 It is thy business that I go about; 
 Therefore great France 
 
 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 him! [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene V. 
 
 Gloucester'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. 
 
 Reg. What might import my sister's letter to him? 
 
 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 10 
 
 All hearts against us: Edmund, I think, is gone, 
 
 114
 
 KING LEAR Act IV. Sc. v. 
 
 In pity of his misery, to dispatch 
 His nighted Hfe; moreover, to descry 
 The strength o' the enemy. 
 
 Osw. I must needs after him, madam, with my letter. 
 
 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 
 She gave strange oeillades and most speaking looks 
 To noble Edmund. I know you are of her bosom. 
 
 Osw. 1, 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. 
 So, fare you well. 
 
 If you do chance to hear of that blind traitor, 
 Preferment falls on him that cuts him ofif. 
 
 Osw. Would I could meet him, madam! I should show 
 What party I do follow. 
 
 Reg, Fare thee well. [Exeunt. 40 
 
 IIS
 
 ActlV. Sc. vi. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Scene VI. 
 
 Fields 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, do you hear the sea? 
 
 Glou. No, truly. 
 
 Edg. Why then your other senses grow imperfect 
 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 deceived: in nothing am I changed 
 But in my garments. 
 
 Glou. Methinks you 're better spoken. 
 
 Edg. Come on, sir ; here 's the place : stand still. How 
 fearful 1 1 
 
 And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low! 
 The crows and choughs that wing the midway air 
 Show scarce so gross as beetles: half way down 
 Hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade! 
 Methinks he seems no bigger than his head: 
 The fishermen that walk upon the beach 
 Appear Hke 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, 
 116
 
 KING LEAR Act IV. Sc. vi. 
 
 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 
 
 Of the extreme verge: for all beneath the moon 
 
 Would I not leap upright. 
 
 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'] O you mighty gods! 
 
 This world I do renounce, and in your sights 
 
 Shake patiently my great affliction ofi: 
 
 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. [He falls forward. 
 
 Edg. Gone, sir: farewell. 
 
 And yet I know not how conceit may rob 
 
 The treasury of hfe, when hfe itself 
 
 Yields to the theft: had he been where he thought, 
 
 By this had thought been past. Alive or dead? 
 
 Ho, you sir ! friend ! Hear you, sir ! speak I 
 
 Thus might he pass indeed: yet he revives. 
 
 What are you, sir? 
 Glou. Away, and let me die. 
 
 117
 
 Act IV. Sc. vi. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Edg. Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air. 
 So many fathom down precipitating, 50 
 
 Thou 'dst shiver'd Hke an tgg\ 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. 
 
 GlovL But have I fall'n, or no? 
 
 Edg. From the dread summit of this chalky bourn. 
 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. 
 
 Gloii. 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 
 Horns whelk'd and waved like the enridged sea: 
 It was some fiend; therefore, thou happy father. 
 Think that the clearest gods, who make them hon- 
 ours 
 Of men's impossibilities, have preserved thee. 
 
 Glou. I do remember now: henceforth I '11 bear 
 Affliction till it do cry out itself 
 118
 
 KING LEAR Act IV. Sc. vi. 
 
 ' Enougl^ 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 
 
 Enter Lear, fantastically dressed zvith 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! 
 
 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 piece 
 of toasted cheese will do 't. There 's my gaunt- 90 
 let; I'll prove it on a giant. Bring up the 
 brown bills. O, well flown, bird! i' the clout, i' 
 the clout : hewgh ! Give the word. 
 
 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 everything that I said! 100 
 
 * Ay ' and ' no ' too was no 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 to, they are not men o' their 
 
 119
 
 ActlV. Sc. vi. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 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: 
 
 When I do stare, see how the subject quakes. no 
 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 
 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. 
 Behold yond simpering dame, 120 
 
 Whose face between her forks presages snow. 
 That minces virtue and does shake the head 
 To hear of pleasure's name; 
 The fitchew, nor the soiled horse, goes to 't 
 With a more riotous appetite. 
 Down from the waist they are Centaurs, 
 Though women all above: 
 But to the girdle do the gods inherit. 
 Beneath is all the fiends'; 
 
 There 's hell, there 's darkness, there 's the sulphur- 
 ous pit, 130 
 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. 
 Glou. O, let me kiss that hand ! 
 
 120
 
 KING LEAR Act IV. Sc. vi. 
 
 Lear. Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality. 
 
 Gioii. O ruin'd piece of nature! This great world 
 
 Shall so wear out to nought. Dost thou know me? 
 
 Lear. I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost 
 
 thou squiny at me? No, do thy worst, blind 140 
 Cupid ; I '11 not love. Read thou this challenge ; 
 mark but the penning on 't. 
 
 Gloii. Were all the letters suns, I could not see one. 
 
 Edg. I would not take this from report: it is, 
 And my heart breaks at it. 
 
 Lear. Read. 
 
 Gloti. What, with the case of eyes? 
 
 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 light: 150 
 yet you see how this world goes. 
 
 Clou. 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? 
 
 Glou. Ay, sir. 160 
 
 Lear. And the creature run from the cur? There 
 thou mightst behold the great image of author- 
 ity: a dog's obeyed in office. 
 Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand! 
 Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own 
 
 back; 
 Thou hotly lust'st to use her in that kind 
 
 121
 
 Act IV. Sc. vi. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 For which thou whip'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; 170 
 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, 
 And, Hke a scurvy politician, seem 
 To see the things thou dost not. 
 Now, now, now, now: pull off my boots: harder 
 harder, so. 
 
 Edg. O, matter and impertinency mix'd! 
 Reason in madness ! 
 
 Lear. If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes. 180 
 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 wawl and cry. I will preach to thee: mark. 
 
 Gloii. Alack, alack the day! 
 
 Lear, When we are born, we cry that we are come 
 
 To this great stage of fools. This 's a good block. 
 It were a delicate stratagem, to shoe 
 A troop of horse with felt: I '11 put 't in proof ; 
 And when I have stol'n upon these sons-in-law, 190 
 » 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 
 
 122
 
 KING LEAR Act IV. Sc. vi. 
 
 The natural fool of fortune. Use me well; 
 
 You shall have ransom. Let me have a surgeon; 
 
 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, 
 
 To use his eyes for garden water-pots, 200 
 
 Aye, and laying autumn's dust. 
 Gent. Good sir, — 
 Lear. I will die bravely, like a smug bridegroom. What! 
 
 I will be jovial: come, come; I am a king, 
 
 My masters, know you that. 
 Gent. You are a royal one, and we obey you. 
 Lear. Then there 's life in it. 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. 
 
 Who redeems nature from the general curse 210 
 
 Which twain have brought her to. 
 Edg. Hail, gentle sir. 
 
 Gent. Sir, speed you: what 's your will? 
 
 Edg. Do you hear aught, sir, of a battle toward? 
 Gent. Most sure and vulgar: every one hears that, 
 
 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. 
 
 Her army is moved on. 
 
 123
 
 Act IV. Sc. vi. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Edg. I thank you, sir. [Exit Gent. 220 
 
 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? 
 Edg. A most poor man, made tame to fortune's blows; 
 
 Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows, 
 
 Am pregnant to good pity. Give me your hand, 
 
 I '11 lead you to some biding. 
 Glou. Hearty thanks; 
 
 The bounty and the benison of heaven 
 
 To boot, and boot ! 
 
 Enter Oswald. 
 
 Osw. A proclaim'd prize! Most happy! 
 
 That eyeless head of thine was first framed flesh 231 
 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 
 
 Put strength enough to 't. [Edgar interposes. 
 
 Wherefore, bold peasant. 
 Barest thou support a publish'd traitor? Hence! 
 Lest that the infection of his fortune take 
 Like hold on thee. Let go his arm. 
 
 Edg. Chill not let go, zir, without vurther 'casion. 
 
 Osw. Let go, slave, or thou diest! * 240 
 
 Edg. Good gentleman, go your gait, and let poor 
 folk pass. An chud ha' been zwaggered out of 
 my life, 'twould not ha' been zo long as 'tis by 
 a fortnight. Nay, come not near th' old man; 
 
 124
 
 KING LEAR Act IV. Sc. vi. 
 
 keep out, che vor ye, or I 'se try whether your 
 costard or my hallow be the harder: chill be 
 plain with you. 
 
 Osw. Out, dunghill! [They fight 
 
 Edg. Chill pick your teeth, zir: come; no matter vor 
 your foins. [Oszvald falls. 
 
 Osw, Slave, thou hast slain me. Villain take my purse : 
 If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body ; 251 
 
 And give the letters which thou find'st about me 
 To Edmund earl of Gloucester; seek him out 
 Upon the British 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? 
 
 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 261 
 He had no other deathsman. Let us see: 
 Leave, gentle wax ; and, manners, blame us not : 
 To know our enemies' minds, we 'Id rip their hearts; 
 Their papers, is more lawful. 
 
 [Reads] ' Let our reciprocal vows be remembered. 
 You have many opportunities to cut him off ; if 
 your will want not, time and place will be fruit- 
 fully offered. There is nothing done, if he re- 
 turn the conqueror: then am I the prisoner, and 270 
 his bed my gaol ; from the loathed warmth 
 whereof deliver me, and supply the place for 
 your labour. 
 
 ' Your — wife, so I would say — 
 ' affectionate servant, 
 
 * GONERIL.' 
 
 125
 
 Act. IV. Sc. vii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 undistingiiish'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 
 
 Of murderous lechers ; and in the mature time 280 
 
 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. 
 
 Glou. The king is mad : how stiff is my vile sense. 
 That I stand up, and have ingenious feeUng 
 Of my huge sorrows! Better I were distract: 
 So should my thoughts be sever'd from my griefs. 
 And woes by wrong imaginations lose 
 The knowledge of themselves. [Drum afar off. 
 
 Edg. Give me your hand: 
 
 Far off, methinks, I hear the beaten drum: 290 
 
 Come, father, I '11 bestow you with a friend. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene VII. 
 
 A tent in the French camp. Lear on a bed asleep, soft music 
 playing; Gentlemen, and others attending. 
 
 Enter Cordelia, Kent, and Doctor. 
 
 Cor. O thou good Kent, how shall I live and work. 
 
 To match thy goodness? My Hfe will be too short, 
 
 And every measure fail me. 
 Kent. To be acknowledged, madam, is o'erpaid. 
 
 All my reports go with the modest truth, 
 
 Nor more nor clipp'd, but so. 
 Cor. Be better suited: 
 
 These weeds are memories of those worser hours: 
 
 1 prithee, put them off. 
 
 126
 
 KING LEAR Act IV. Sc. vii. 
 
 Kent. Pardon me, dear madam; 
 
 Yet to be known shortens my made intent: 
 
 My boon I make it, that you know me not lo 
 
 Till time and I think meet. 
 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! 
 
 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 
 Gent. Ay, madam; in the heaviness of his sleep 
 
 We put fresh garments on him. 
 Doct. Be by, good madam, when we do awake him; 
 
 I doubt not of his temperance. 
 Cor. Very well. 
 
 Doct. Please you, draw near. Louder the music there! 
 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! 
 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! — 
 
 127
 
 Act IV. Sc. vii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 With this thine helm? Mine enemy's dog, 
 
 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 
 
 '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: 
 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! 5° 
 
 Doct. He 's scarce awake: let him alone awhile. 
 Lear. Where have I been? Where am I? Fair daylight? 
 
 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 ; 
 
 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 
 
 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; 
 
 128
 
 KING LEAR Act IV. Sc. vii. 
 
 Yet I am doubtful; for I am mainly ignorant 
 What place this is, and all the skill I have 
 Remembers not these garments, nor I 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. 
 
 Lear. Am I in France? 
 
 Kent. In your own kingdom, sir. 
 
 Lear. Do not abuse me. 
 
 Doct. Be comforted, good madam: the great rage, 
 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 all but Kent and Gentleman. 
 
 Gent. Holds it true, sir, that the Duke of Cornwall 
 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 the 90 
 Earl of Kent in Germany. 
 129
 
 ActV. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Kent Report is changeable. 'Tis time to look 
 about; the powers of the kingdom ap- 
 proach apace. 
 
 Gent. The arbitrement is like to be bloody. Fare 
 
 you well, sir. [Exit. 
 
 Kent. My point and period will be thoroughly wrought, 
 Or well or ill, as this day's battle 's fought. [Exit, 
 
 ACT FIFTH. 
 
 Scene I. 
 
 The British camp near Dover. 
 
 Enter, with drum and colours, Edmund, RegaUy 
 Gentlemen, and Soldiers. 
 
 Edm. Know of the duke if his last purpose hold, 
 Or whether since he is advised by aught 
 To change the course: he 's full of alteration 
 And self-reproving: bring his constant pleasure. 
 
 [To a Gentleman, who goes out. 
 
 Reg. Our sister's man is certainly miscarried. 
 
 Edm. Tis to be doubted, madam. 
 
 Reg. 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 forf ended 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. 
 
 130
 
 KING LEAR Act V. Sc. i. 
 
 Reg. I never shall endure her: dear my lord, 
 
 Be not familiar with her. 
 Edm. Fear me not. — 
 
 She and the duke her husband! 
 
 Enter, with drum and colours, Albany, Goneril, 
 and Soldiers. 
 
 Gon. l^Aside] I had rather lose the battle than that sister 
 Should loosen him and me. 
 
 Alh. Our very loving sister, well be-met. 20 
 
 Sir, this I hear; 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, 
 Not holds the king, with others, whom, I fear. 
 Most just and heavy causes make oppose. 
 
 Edm. Sir, you speak nobly. 
 
 Reg. Why is this reasoned? 
 
 Gon. Combine together 'gainst the enemy; 
 
 For these domestic and particular broils 30 
 
 Are not the question here. 
 
 Alh. Let 's then determine 
 
 With the ancient of war on our proceedings. 
 
 Edm. I shall attend you presently at your tent. 
 
 Reg. Sister, you '11 go with us? 
 
 Gon. No. 
 
 Reg. 'Tis most convenient; pray you, go with us. 
 
 Gon. \_Aside'\ O, ho, I know the riddle. — I will go. 
 
 As they arc going out, enter Edgar disguised. 
 
 Edg. If e'er your grace had speech with man so poor, 
 Hear me one word. 
 
 131
 
 ActV. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Alb. I '11 overtake you. Speak. 
 
 [Exeunt all but Albany and Edgar. 
 
 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 
 What is avouched there. If you miscarry, 
 Your business of the world hath so an end, 
 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 dihgent 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; 
 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 
 
 132
 
 KING LEAR Act V. Sc. ii. 
 
 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. 
 
 Scene IL 
 
 A Held between the two camps. 
 
 Alarum within. Enter , with drum and colours, Lear, 
 
 Cordelia, and Soldiers, over the stage; 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 '11 bring you comfort. 
 
 Glou. Grace go with you, sir! 
 
 [Exit Edgar. 
 
 Alarum and retreat within. Re-enter Edgar. 
 
 Edg. Away, old man; give me thy hand; away! . 
 
 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 
 
 Their going hence, even as their coming hither: lo 
 
 Ripeness is all: come on. 
 Glou. And that 's true too. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 133
 
 ActV. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 The British camp near Dover. 
 
 Enter, in cmiquest, with drum and colours, Edmund; Lear 
 and Cordelia, as prisoners; Captain, Soldiers, &c. 
 
 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; 
 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 
 And ask of thee forgiveness: so we '11 live, ii 
 
 And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh 
 At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues 
 Talk of court news; and we '11 talk with them too, 
 Who loses and who wins, who 's in, who 's out; 
 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. 
 
 Edm. Take them away. 
 
 Lear. Upon such sacrifices, my CordeHa, 20 
 
 The gods themselves throw incense. Have I caught 
 
 thee? 
 He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven. 
 And fire us hence like foxes. Wipe thine eyes; 
 
 134
 
 KING LEAR Act V. Sc. iii. 
 
 The good-years shall devour them, flesh and fell, 
 Ere they shall make us weep; we'll see 'em starve 
 
 first. 
 Come. [Exeunt Lear and Cordelia, guarded. 
 
 Edm. Come hither, captain; hark. 
 
 Take thou this note: go follow them to prison : 
 
 One step I have advanced thee; if thou dost 
 
 As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way 
 
 To noble fortunes: know thou this, that men 30 
 
 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. 
 
 Capt. I '11 do 't, my lord. 
 
 Edm. About it; and write happy when thou hast done. 
 Mark; I say, instantly, and carry it so 
 As I have set it down. 
 
 Capt. I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats ; 
 
 If it be man's work, I '11 do 't. [Exit. 
 
 Flourish. Enter Albany, Goneril, Regan, another Captain, 
 and Soldiers. 
 
 Alb. Sir, you have shown to-day your valiant strain, 40 
 And fortune led you well: you have the captives 
 That 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 
 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, 
 
 135
 
 Act V. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 To pluck the common bosom on his side, 
 
 And turn our impress'd lances in our eyes 50 
 
 Which do command them. With him I sent the 
 
 queen: 
 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 
 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, 
 
 I hold you but a subject of this war, 60 
 
 Not as a brother. 
 
 Reg. That 's as we hst to grace him. 
 
 Methinks our pleasure might have been demanded, 
 Ere you had spoke so far. He led our powers. 
 Bore the commission of my place and person; 
 The which immediacy may well stand up 
 And call itself your brother. , 
 
 Gan. Not so hot : 
 
 In his own grace he doth exalt himself 
 More than in your addition. 
 
 Reg.. In my rights. 
 
 By me invested, he compeers the best. 
 
 Gon. That were the most, if he should husband you. 70 
 
 Reg. Jesters do oft prove prophets. 
 
 Gon. Holla, holla! 
 
 That eye that told you so look'd but a-squint. 
 
 Reg. Lady, I am not well; else I should answer 
 P'rom a full-flowing stomach. General, 
 Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony; 
 136
 
 KING LEAR Act V. Sc. iii. 
 
 Dispose of them, of me; the walls are thine: 
 
 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. 
 Edm. Nor in thine, lord. 
 
 Alb. Half-blooded fellow, yes. 80 
 
 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 thine attaint 
 
 This gilded serpent [pointing to Gon.]. For your 
 claim, fair sister, 
 
 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! 
 
 Alb. Thou art arm'd Gloucester: let the trumpet sound: 
 If none appear to prove upon thy person 91 
 
 Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons. 
 There is my pledge [throwing down a glove^ : I '11 
 
 prove it on thy heart. 
 Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less 
 Than I have here proclaim'd thee. 
 
 Reg. Sick, O, sick! 
 
 Gon. [Aside] If not, I '11 ne'er trust medicine. 
 
 Edm. [ Throwing down a glove] There 's my exchange ; 
 what in the world he is 
 That names me traitor, villain-like he lies: 
 Call by thy trumpet: he that dares approach, 
 
 137
 
 ActV. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 On him, on you, — who not? — I will maintain loo 
 
 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. My sickness grows upon me. 
 
 Alb. She is not well; convey her to my tent. 
 
 [Exit Regan, led. 
 
 Enter a Herald. 
 
 Come hither, herald, — Let the trumpet sound, — 
 And read out this. 
 
 Capt. Sound, trumpet! [A trumpet sounds. 
 
 Her. [Reads'] 'If any man of quaUty or degree no 
 within the Hsts of the army will maintain upon 
 Edmund, supposed Earl of Gloucester, that he 
 is a manifold traitor, let him appear by the third 
 sound of the trumpet: he is bold in his defence.' 
 
 Edm. Sound! [First trumpet. 
 
 Her. Again! [Second trumpet. 
 
 Her. Again! [Third trumpet. 
 
 [Trumpet answers within. 
 
 Enter Edgar, at the third sound, armed, zmth a trumpet 
 before him. 
 
 Alb. Ask him his purposes, why he appears 
 
 Upon this call o' the trumpet. 
 Her. What are you? 
 
 Your name, your quality? and why you answer 120 
 
 This present summons? 
 Edg. Know, my name is lost; 
 
 138
 
 KING LEAR Act V. Sc. iii. 
 
 By treason's tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit: 
 Yet am I noble as the adversary 
 I come to cope. 
 
 Alb. Which is that adversary? 
 
 Edg. What 's he that speaks for Edmund, Earl of Glou- 
 cester? 
 
 EdjH. Himself: what say'st thou to him? 
 
 Edg. Draw thy sword, 
 
 That if my speech ofifend a noble heart. 
 Thy arm may do tfiee justice: here is mine. 
 Behold, it is the privilege of mine honours. 
 My oath, and my profession: I protest, 130 
 
 Maugre thy strength, youth, place and eminence, 
 Despite thy victor sw^ord 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 below thy foot, 
 A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou * No,' 
 This sword, this arm and my best spirits are bent 
 To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak, 140 
 
 Thou liest. 
 
 Edm. In wisdom I should ask thy name, 
 
 But 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 
 By 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, 
 
 139
 
 AclV. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Where they shall rest for ever. Trumpets, speak! 
 [Alarums. They fight. Edmund falls. 
 Alb. Save him, save him ! 
 Gon. This is practice, Gloucester: 151 
 
 By the law of arms thou wast not bound to answer 
 
 An unknown opposite; thou art not vanquish'd, 
 
 But cozen'd and beguiled. 
 Alh. Shut your mouth, dame, 
 
 Or with this paper shall I stop it. Hold, sir; 
 
 Thou worse than any name,* read thine own evil. 
 
 No tearing, lady; I perceive you know it. 
 Gon. Say, if I do, the laws are mine, not thine : 
 
 Who can arraign me for 't? 
 Alb. Most monstrous! 
 
 Know'st thou this paper? 
 Gon. Ask me not what I know. 160 
 
 [Exit. 
 Alb. Go after her: she 's desperate; govern her. 
 Edm. What you have charged 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 '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. 
 
 The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices 170 
 
 Make instruments to plague us: 
 
 The dark and vicious place where thee he got 
 
 Cost him his eyes. 
 Edm. Thou hast spoken right, 'tis true ; 
 
 140
 
 KING LEAR Act V. Sc. iii. 
 
 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. Worthy prince, I know 't. 
 
 Alb. Where have you hid yourself? 
 
 How have you known the miseries of your father? 
 
 Edg. By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale. i8i 
 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 we the pain of death would hourly die 
 - Rather than die at once! — taught 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, 189 
 
 Their precious stones new lost; became his guide, 
 Led him, begg'd for him, saved 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 moved me. 
 
 And shall perchance do good; but speak you on; 
 You look as you had something more to say. 201 
 
 Alb. If there be more, more woful, hold it in; 
 For I am almost ready to dissolve, 
 
 141
 
 ActV. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Hearing of this. 
 
 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 in a man, 
 Who, having seen me in my worst estate, 
 Shunn'd my abhorr'd society; but then, finding 210 
 Who 'twas that so endured, with his strong arms 
 He fasten'd on my neck, and bellow'd out 
 As he 'Id burst heaven; threw him on my father; 
 Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him 
 That ever ear received: 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 tranced. 
 
 Alb. But who was this? 
 
 Edg. Kent, sir, the banish'd Kent; who in disguise 
 
 Follow'd his enemy king, and did him service 220 
 Improper for a slave. 
 
 Enter a Gentleman, with a bloody knife, 
 
 Gent. Help, help, O, help! 
 
 Edg. What kind of help? 
 
 Alb. Speak, man. 
 
 Edg. What means this bloody knife? 
 
 Gent. 'Tis hot, it smokes; 
 
 It came even from the heart of — O, she 's dead! 
 Alb. Who dead? speak, man. 
 Gent. Your lady, sir, your lady: and her sister 
 
 By her is poisoned; she hath confess'd it. 
 Edm. I was contracted to them both : all three 
 
 142
 
 KING LEAR Act V. Sc. iii. 
 
 Now marry in an instant. 
 Edg. Here comes Kent. 
 
 Alh. Produce the bodies, be they alive or dead. 230 
 
 [Exit Gentleman. 
 This judgement 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 
 
 To bid my king and master aye good night: 
 
 Is he not here? 
 Alb. Great thing of us forgot! 
 
 Speak, Edmund, where 's the king? and where 's 
 CordeHa? 
 
 See'st -thou this object, Kent? 
 
 [The bodies of Goneril and Regan are brought in. 
 Kent. Alack, why thus? 
 Edm. Yet Edmund was beloved: 
 
 The one the other poison'd for my sake, 240 
 
 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, 
 
 Be brief in it, to the castle; for my writ 
 
 Is on the life of Lear and on CordeHa: 
 
 Nay, send in time. 
 Alb. Run, run, O, run! 
 
 Edg. To who, my lord? Who hath the ofihce? send 
 
 Thy token of reprieve. 
 
 143
 
 Act V. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Edm. Well thought on: take my sword, 250 
 
 Give it the captain. 
 Alb. Haste thee, for thy life. 
 
 [Exit Edgar. 
 Edm. He hath commission from thy wife and me 
 
 To hang Cordelia in the prison, and 
 
 To lay the blame upon her own despair. 
 
 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, Captain, and others follozuing. 
 
 Lear. Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of 
 stones: 
 
 Had I your tongues and eyes, I 'Id use them so 
 
 That heaven's vault should crack. She 's gone for 
 ever! 
 
 I know when one is dead and when one lives; 260 
 
 She 's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass; 
 
 If that her breath will mist or stain the stone. 
 
 Why, then she lives. 
 Kent. Is this the promised end? 
 
 Edg. Or image of that horror? 
 Alb. Fall and cease. 
 
 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, murderers, traitors all! 
 
 I might have saved her; now she 's gone for ever! 
 
 144 
 
 i
 
 KING LEAR Act V. Sc. Hi. 
 
 Cordelia, Cordelia! stay a little! Ha! 271 
 
 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. 
 Capt. 'Tis true, my lords, he did. 
 Lear. Did I not, fellow? 
 
 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 loved and hated, 280 
 
 One of them we behold. 
 Lear. This is 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; 
 
 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 
 
 Have follow'd your sad steps. 
 Lear. You are welcome hither. 
 
 Kent. Nor no man else; all 's cheerless, dark and deadly. 
 
 Your eldest daughters have fordone themselves, 291 
 
 And desperately are dead. 
 Lear. Ay, so I think. 
 
 Alh. He knows not what he says, and vain is it 
 
 That we present us to him. 
 Edg. Very bootless. 
 
 Enter a Captain. 
 
 Capt. Edmund is dead, my lord. 
 
 145
 
 Act V. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 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, 
 To him our absolute power: [To Edgar and Kent] 
 you, to your rights ; 300 
 
 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! 
 
 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. 
 
 Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips, 310 
 
 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 
 
 Stretch him out longer. 
 
 Edg. He is gone indeed. 
 
 Kent. The wonder is he hath endured so long 
 He but usurp'd his life. 
 
 Alb. Bear them from hence. Our present business 
 
 Is general woe. [To Kent and Edgar] Friends of 
 
 my soul, you twain 
 Rule in this realm and the gored state sustain. 320 
 
 Kent. I have a journey, sir, shortly to go; 
 
 146
 
 KING LEAR Act V. Sc. iii. 
 
 My master calls me, I must not say no. 
 Alb. The weight of this sad time we must obey, 
 Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. 
 The oldest hath borne most: we that are young 
 Shall never see so much, nor live so long. 
 
 [Exeunt, with a dead march. 
 
 147
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Glossary. 
 
 Abated, diminished, deprived; 
 II. iv. i6o. 
 
 Able, uphold, answer for; IV. 
 vi. 172. 
 
 Abused, deceived; IV. i. 23. 
 
 Action-taking; " resenting an 
 injury by a law-suit, instead 
 of fighting it out like a man 
 of honour" (Schmidt); II. 
 ii. 16. 
 
 Addition, distinction, title; II. 
 ii. 26; V. iii. 301. " Your a.," 
 the title you have given 
 him ; V. iii. .68. 
 
 Additions, outward honour, 
 titles; I. i. 137. 
 
 Address, address ourselves; I. 
 i. 192. 
 
 Admiration, amazement, as- 
 tonishment ; I. iv. 244. 
 
 Advise yourself, consider; II. 
 i. 28. 
 
 Affected; "had more a.," had 
 better liked, been more par- 
 tial to; I. i. I. 
 
 After, afterwards; V. iii. 241. 
 
 A-height, aloft, to the height; 
 IV. vi. 58. 
 
 Aidant, helpful; IV. iv. 17. 
 
 Ajax, taken as a typical 
 boaster (according to some, 
 a plain, blunt, brave fellow) ; 
 II. ii. 126. 
 
 Alarum' d; "best a. spirits," 
 
 spirits thoroughly aroused to 
 
 the combat ; II. i. 54. 
 All, altogether; I. i. 105. 
 Allay, be allayed; I. ii. 175. 
 Allozv, approve of; II. iv. 193. 
 Allozvance, countenance, per- 
 mission; I. iv, 214. 
 Alms; "at fortune's a.," as an 
 
 alms of fortune ; I. i. 280. 
 Amity, friendship; II. iv. 244. 
 An, if; I. iv. 185. 
 Ancient of war, experienced 
 
 officers; V. i. 2>^. 
 Answer; " a. my life," let my 
 
 life answer for; I. i. 152. 
 Apollo; "by Apollo," an oath; 
 
 I. i. 161. 
 Appear; " wilt a.," dost wish to 
 
 seem; I. i. 182. 
 Approve, prove; II. ii. 161. 
 Approves, confirms; II. iv. 185. 
 
 , proves; III. v. 11. 
 
 Arbitrement, contest, decision; 
 
 IV. vii. 94. 
 Arch, chief; II. i. 60. 
 Argument, subject; I. i. 217. 
 Aroint thee, make room, away 
 
 with thee (Quartos, " arint 
 
 thee ") ; III. iv. 129. 
 As, as if; III. iv. 15. 
 Assured loss, certainty of loss ; 
 
 III. vi. 98. 
 Attaint, impeachment; V. iii. 
 
 83. 
 
 148
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Attask'd for, blamed for (Fo- 
 lios I, 2, 3, "at task for"; 
 some copies of Quarto i, 
 " attaskt for"; Quartos 2, 3, 
 " alapt") ; I. iv. 366. 
 
 Attend, await; II. i. 126. 
 
 , watch, wait ; II. iii. 5. 
 
 Auricular, got by hearing 
 (Quartos, " aurigular") ; I. 
 ii. 98. 
 
 Avert, turn ; I. i. 213. 
 
 Avouch, own, acknowledge ; II. 
 iv. 239. 
 
 Avouched, asserted; V. i. 44. 
 
 Back, on his way back ; IV. ii. 
 
 90. 
 Ballow, cudgel (Quarto 2, 
 
 "hat") ; IV. vi. 246. 
 Balm'd, cured, healed ; III. vi. 
 
 lOI. 
 
 Bandy, beat to and fro (a term 
 
 in tennis) ; I. iv. 87. 
 Bans, curses ; II. iii. 19. 
 Bar, shut; II. i. Si. 
 
 , debar, exclude ; V. iii. 85. 
 
 Barber-monger, frequenter of 
 
 barbers' shops, fop ; II. ii. 33. 
 Bearing, suffering; III. vi. no. 
 Becomes, suits, agrees with ; 
 
 II. iv. 154. 
 Bedlam, lunatic; III. vii. 103. 
 Bedlam .beggars, mad beggars; 
 
 II. iii. 14. (Cp. illustration.) 
 Beguiled, deceived; II. ii. in. 
 Belike, it may be, perhaps; IV. 
 
 V. 20. 
 Bemadding, maddening ; III. i. 
 
 38. 
 Be-met, met; V. i. 20. 
 Bench, sit on the judgement- 
 seat; III. vi. 39. 
 
 Bending, directing, raising; 
 IV. ii. 74- 
 
 Benison, blessing ; I. i. 267. 
 
 Besort, become; I. iv. 259. 
 
 Best; "were b.," had better; 
 I. iv. 100. 
 
 Bethought; " am b.," have de- 
 cided; II. iii. 6. 
 
 Bestow, place, lodge ; IV. vi. 
 
 293- 
 
 Bestoii/d, housed, lodged; II. 
 iv. 291. 
 
 Betwixt, between ; I. i. 139. 
 
 Bewray, betray, reveal (Quar- 
 tos, "betray") ; II. i. 108. 
 
 Bias of nature, natural direc- 
 tion, tendency; I. ii. 120. 
 
 Bide, bear; III. iv. 29. 
 
 Biding, abiding place ; IV. vi. 
 228. 
 
 Big, loud ; V. iii. 208. 
 
 Blame, fault ; II. iv, 292. 
 
 From a sketch by Inigo Jones of 
 the Palmer's dress worn by Romeo 
 in the Masquerade Scene. 
 
 149
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Blank, the white mark in the 
 centre of the butt at which 
 the arrow is aimed; I. i. i6i. 
 
 Block, fashion of a hat; IV. vi. 
 187. 
 
 Blood, nature; III. v. 23. 
 
 , impulse, passion (Theo- 
 bald, "boiling blood''); IV, 
 ii. 64. 
 
 Blown, ambitious, inflated; IV. 
 iv. 27. 
 
 Boil, inflamed tumour (Quar- 
 tos, Folios, "bile/' "byle") ; 
 II. iv. 225. 
 
 Bolds, encourages; V. i. 26. 
 
 Bond, duty, obligation; I. i. 94. 
 
 Bones; "young b.," i.e. un- 
 born infant; II. iv. 164. 
 
 Boot; " to b., and b.," for your 
 reward ( ? " over and above 
 my thanks ") ; IV. vi. 230. 
 
 Bootless, useless ; V. iii. 294. 
 
 Border' d, limited, confined; 
 IV. ii. 33. 
 
 Bosom; "of her b.," in her 
 confidence; IV. v. 26. 
 
 , " common b.," affection 
 
 of the people ; V. iii. 49. 
 
 BoSm'd, in her confidence ; V. 
 i. 13. 
 
 Bound, ready; III. vii. 11. 
 
 Bourn, brook; III. vi. 27. 
 
 , limit, boundary ; IV. vi. 
 
 57. 
 
 Brack, a female hound (Folios, 
 "the Lady Brack"; Quar- 
 tos, "Lady otk'e brack"; A. 
 Smith, "Lye the brack"); 
 I. iv. 116. 
 
 Brazed, brazened, hardened; I. 
 i. II. 
 
 Brief; "be b. in it," be quick 
 
 about it ; V. iii. 245. 
 British (Folios, "Englisk"); 
 
 IV. vi. 254. 
 Brow of youtk, youthful brow ; 
 
 I. iv. 292. 
 Brown bills, browned halberds 
 
 used by foot-soldiers ; IV. vi. 
 
 91. (Cp. illustration.) 
 
 From original specimens (a) XVItii 
 century, (3) later. 
 
 Buoy'd, lifted itself (Quarto i, 
 Mus. per. and Bodl. 2, 
 " bod " ; Quarto i, Cap. Dev. 
 Mus. imp. and Bodl. i, 
 " layd " ; Quartos 2, 3, 
 "laid") ; III. vii. 60. 
 
 Bur-docks, the plant Arctrum 
 Lappa (Hanmer's emenda- 
 tion ; Quartos, " hordocks " ; 
 Folios I, 2, " Hardokes " ; 
 Folios 3, 4, " Hardocks " ; 
 Farmer conj. 1778, " har- 
 locks " ; Collier, Steevens 
 conj. "hoar-docks" ; IV. iv. 4. 
 
 150
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 But, only; IV. vi. 128. 
 Bus2, whisper; I. iv. 334. 
 By, from (Folios, " on") ; I. ii. 
 132. 
 
 Cadent, falling (Quartos i, 2, 
 " accent " ; Quarto 3, '' ac- 
 cient") ; I. iv. 293. 
 
 Caitiff, wretch (Folios, " cozv- 
 ard") ; II. i. 62,. 
 
 Canielot; "I'd drive ye cackling 
 home to C." ; probably a 
 proverb not yet satisfactorily 
 explained; it is said that 
 near Cadbury in Somerset- 
 shire, the supposed site of 
 Camelot, there are large 
 pools, upon which many 
 geese are bred; II. ii. 84. 
 
 Can, can do; IV. iv. 8. 
 
 Canker-bit, canker-bitten ; V. 
 iii. 122. 
 
 Capable, capable of inheriting; 
 II. i. 85. 
 
 Carbonado, cut across like a 
 piece of meat for broiling or 
 grilling; II. ii. 38. 
 
 Carry, bear; III. ii. 49. 
 
 , carry out, contrive ; V. iii. 
 
 36. 
 
 Carry out my side; "be a win- 
 ner in the game " (Schmidt) ; 
 V. i. 61. 
 
 Case, empty socket ; IV. vi. 126. 
 
 Cat, civet cat; III. iv. 109. 
 
 Cataracts, water-spouts (Quar- 
 to I, " caterickes") ; III. ii. 2. 
 
 Censure, judge, pass sentence 
 upon ; V. iii. 3. 
 
 Centaurs, fabulous monsters, 
 half man, half horse; IV. vi. 
 126. 
 
 Century, troop of a hundred 
 
 men ; IV. iv. 6. 
 Challenge, claim as due ; I. i. 
 
 54- 
 Challenged, claimed; IV. vii. 
 
 31- 
 Champains, plains, open coun- 
 try; I. i. 65. 
 Chance, chances it ; II. iv. 6z. 
 Character, handwriting; I. ii. 
 
 66. 
 Charge, expense, cost ; II. iv. 
 
 242. 
 Check, censure, rebuke ; II. ii. 
 
 149- 
 Che vor ye, I warn you ; IV. vi. 
 
 244. 
 Child-changed, changed by 
 
 children's conduct ; IV, vii. 
 
 17. 
 Child Rowland {v. Note) ; III. 
 
 iv. 184. 
 Chill, I will (Somerset or 
 
 south-country dialect) ; IV. 
 
 vi. 239. 
 Child, I should, or I would 
 
 {cp. "chill"); IV. vi. 242. 
 Clearest, most pure, most glo- 
 rious; IV. vi. yz- 
 Clipp'd, curtailed; IV. vii. 6. 
 Closet, room, chamber; I. ii.65. 
 Clothier's yard, cloth-yard- 
 shaft, arrow; IV. vi. 88. 
 Clot poll, blockhead (Folios, 
 
 " Clot-pole " ; Quartos " clat- 
 
 pole") ; I. iv. 50. 
 Clout, the white mark in the 
 
 centre of the target ; IV. vi. 
 
 92. 
 Cock, cockcrow; III. iv. 121. 
 , cockboat; IV. vi. 19. 
 
 151
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Cockney, a cook's assistant 
 (originally a person con- 
 nected with the kitchen; 
 later, a pampered child) ; II. 
 iv. 123. 
 
 Cocks, weathercocks; III. ii. 3. 
 
 Cod-piece, a part of the male 
 attire; III. ii. 27. 
 
 Cold; " catch c," be turned out 
 of doors ; I. iv. 113. 
 
 Colour, kind (Quartos^ "na- 
 ture") ; II. ii. 145. 
 
 Comfortable, able to comfort ; 
 I. iv. 328. 
 
 , comforting; II. ii. 171. 
 
 Comforting; " giving aid and 
 comfort to" (used in a tech- 
 nical legal sense) ; III. v. 21. 
 
 Commend, deliver ; II. iv. 28. 
 
 Commission, warrant to act as 
 representative ; V. iii. 64. 
 
 Commodities, advantages ; IV. 
 i. 23. 
 
 Compact, put together ; I. ii. 7. 
 
 , give consistency to; I. iv. 
 
 362. 
 
 Compeers, is equal with ; V. iii. 
 69. 
 
 Conceit, imagination ; IV. vi. 
 42. 
 
 Conceive, understand ; IV. ii. 
 24. 
 
 Concluded; " had not c. all," 
 had not come to an end alto- 
 gether; IV. vii. 42. 
 
 Condition, character, habit ; I. 
 i. 301. 
 
 Conditions, character, temper ; 
 IV. iii. 35. 
 
 Confine, limit, boundary; II. iv. 
 150. 
 
 Confined, restricted, limited; I. 
 ii. 25. 
 
 Conjunct, in concert with (Fo- 
 lios, "compact") ; II. ii. 125^ 
 
 , closely united; V. i. 12. 
 
 Conjuring, employing incanta- 
 tions; II. i. 41. 
 
 Consort, company ; II. i. 99. 
 
 Conspirant, conspirator; V. iii. 
 135. 
 
 Constant pleasure, fixed re- 
 solve ; V. i. 4. 
 
 Constrains, forces ; II. ii. 103. 
 
 Contemned'st, most despised 
 (Quartos, '' temnest " ; Pope, 
 " the meanest") ; II. ii. 150. 
 
 Continent, restraining; I. ii. 
 181. 
 
 Continents, that which contains 
 or encloses; III. ii. 58. 
 
 Convenient, proper; V. i. 36. 
 
 Converse, associate, have inter- 
 course ; I. iv. 16. 
 
 Convey, manage with secrecy; 
 I. ii. 109. 
 
 Cope, cope with ; V. iii. 124. 
 
 Corky, withered, dry; III. vii. 
 29. 
 
 Coronet, crown ; I. i. 141. 
 
 Costard, head ; IV. vi. 247. 
 
 Couch, lie close and hidden; 
 III. i. 12. 
 
 Course, way of life ; II. ii. 175. 
 
 , " my very c," the same 
 
 course^ as I do (Folios, "my 
 course ") ; I. iii. 26. 
 
 , " gentleness and c. of 
 
 yours," gentleness of your 
 course; I. iv. 364. 
 
 , " the old c. of jleath," a 
 
 natural death; III. vii. lOi. 
 
 152
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Court holy-water, flattery 
 (" Ray, among his proverbial 
 phrases, mentions court holy- 
 water meaning fair words. 
 The French have the same 
 phrase: Eau benite de Cour," 
 Steevens) ; III. ii. lo. 
 
 Courtesy; " do a c. to," yield, 
 give way to; III. vii. 26. 
 
 Cover, hide; I. i. 284. 
 
 Cowish; " cowish terror," cow- 
 ardly terror [Quarto i (some 
 copies), " cowish curre " ; 
 Wright conj. "currish ter- 
 ror"] ; IV. ii. 12. 
 
 Coxcomb, fool's cap; I. iv. 105. 
 {Cp, illustration.) 
 
 From the Troyes Dance of Death, 
 1499. 
 
 Coxcombs, heads; II. iv. 125. 
 Cozen' d, cheated, deceived; V. 
 
 iii. 154- 
 Cozener, cheater ; IV. vi. 167. 
 Crab, crab-apple ; I. v. 15. 
 Craves, demands ; II. i. 130. 
 Crow-keeper, one who scares 
 
 crows away from a field ; IV. 
 
 vi. 88. 
 Cruel, a play upon crewel, i.e. 
 
 worsted, of which garters 
 
 were made (Quartos i, 
 
 2, " crewell" ; Quarto 3, 
 " crewill " ; Folios 3, 4, 
 "crewel"); II. iv. 7. (Q. 
 illustration.) 
 
 ' Cruel garters.^ 
 
 Cruels; " all c. else, " all their 
 
 other cruelties " {v. Note) ; 
 
 III. vii. 65. 
 Cry; " till it c. sleep to death," 
 
 till its clamour murders 
 
 sleep ; II. iv. 120. 
 Cry grace, cry for pardon; III. 
 
 ii. 58. 
 Cub-drawn, sucked dry by 
 
 cubs, famished ; III. i. 12. 
 Cuckoo-flowers, cowslips ; IV. 
 
 iv. 4. 
 Cue, catch-word ; I. ii. 147. 
 Cullionly, wretched ; II. ii. 36. 
 Cunning, dissimulation; II. i. 
 
 31 • 
 Curiosity, minute scrutiny ; I. 
 
 i. 6. 
 , suspicious watchfulness, 
 
 scrupulousness; I. iv. 75. 
 
 153
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Curiosity, over-nice scrupulous- 
 ness (Theobald, Warburton 
 conj., " curtesie") ; I. ii. 4. 
 
 Curious, nice, elegant; I. iv. 35. 
 
 Curst, shrewish; II. i. 67. 
 
 Darkling, in the dark; I. iv. 
 
 22,7- 
 Daub it, keep up my disguise 
 (Quartos, "dance it"); IV. 
 
 i. 54. 
 Dawning, morning (Quartos, 
 '' euen " ; Pope, " evening ") ; 
 
 II. ii. I. 
 
 Day and night, an oath ; I. iii. 4. 
 Dear, precious, valued; I. iv. 
 
 294. 
 
 , important ; III. i. 19. 
 
 Death-practised; "the d. duke," 
 i.e. whose death is plotted ; 
 IV. vi. 284. 
 
 Deathsman, executioner ; IV. 
 vi. 263. 
 
 Dehosh'd, debauched (Quar- 
 tos, " dehoyst") ; I. iv. 26^. 
 
 Decline, bend; IV. ii. 22. 
 
 Declining, becoming feeble 
 (Folios, "declin'd"); I. ii. 
 78. 
 
 Deed; " my very d. of love," 
 my love in very deed ; I. i. 
 72. 
 
 Deer, game; III. iv. 144. 
 
 Deficient, defective; IV. vi. 23. 
 
 Defuse, disorder, disguise; I. 
 iv. 2. 
 
 Dejected; " d. thing of for- 
 tune," thing dejected by for- 
 tune; IV. i. 3. 
 
 Demanding, asking, enquiring; 
 
 III. ii. 65. 
 
 Deny, refuse ; II. iv. 88. 
 
 Depart, depart from; III. v. i. 
 Depend, be dependent, remain; 
 
 I. iv. 271. 
 Deprive; "disinherit"; I. ii. 4. 
 Derogate, degraded; I. iv. 302. 
 Descry; " main d.," full view 
 
 of the main body; IV. vi. 217. 
 , spy out, discover; IV. v. 
 
 13- 
 Deserving, desert ; III. iii. 24. 
 Desperately, in despair; V. iii. 
 
 292. 
 Detested, detestable; I. ii. 81. 
 Difference; "your first of d.," 
 
 the first reverse of your for- 
 tune ; V. iii: 288. 
 Differences, dissensions; II. i. 
 
 125. 
 Diffidences, suspicions ; I. ii. 
 
 161. 
 Digest, dispose of, use, enjoy; 
 
 I. i. 130. 
 Dimensions, parts of the body; 
 
 I. ii.7. 
 Disasters (used perhaps in its 
 
 original astrological sense) ; 
 
 I. ii. 131. 
 Disbranch, slip, tear off from 
 
 the tree; IV. ii. 34. 
 Disclaims in, disowns ; II. ii. 
 
 59- 
 Discommend, disapprove ; II. 
 
 ii. 115- 
 Discovery, reconnoitring; V. i. 
 
 53. 
 
 Discretion, common sense, wis- 
 dom = discreet person; II. 
 iv. 151. 
 
 Diseases, discomforts (Folios, 
 ''disasters") ; I. i. i77- 
 
 Disnatured, unnatural; I. iv. 
 305. 
 
 154
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Display' d so saucily, made so 
 
 saucy a display; II. iv. 41. 
 Dispositions, moods, humours; 
 
 I. iv. 242. 
 Disquantity, diminish ; I. iv. 
 
 270. 
 Disquietly, causing disquiet ; I. 
 
 ii. 124. 
 Distaff, spinning wheel ; IV. ii. 
 
 17. 
 Distaste, dislike (Quartos, 
 
 "dislike") ; I. iii. 15. 
 Distract, distracted ; IV. vi. 
 
 288. 
 Dolours, used with a play upon 
 
 "dollars" (Folios i, 2, 3, 
 
 ''Dolors"); II. iv. 54- 
 DolpJiin my boy, probably a 
 
 fragment of an old song; III. 
 
 iv. 104. 
 Doom, sentence (Folio i, 
 
 " guift " ; Folios 2, 3, 4, 
 
 "gift") ; I. i. 167. 
 Doubted, feared ; V. i. 6. 
 Doubtful, fearful ; V. i. 12. 
 Drew, I drew my sword ; II. 
 
 iv. 42. 
 Ducking, bowing, fawning ; II. 
 
 ii. 109. 
 Dullard, idiot; II. i. 76. 
 
 Each; "at e.," fastened each to 
 
 each ; IV. vi. 53. 
 Ear-kissing, whispered in the 
 
 ear (Quartos, " eare-buss- 
 
 ing") ; II. i. 9. 
 Earnest, earnest money, money 
 
 paid beforehand as a pledge; 
 
 I. iv. 104. 
 Effects, outward show; I. i, 
 
 133. 
 
 Effects, actions, manifesta- 
 tions ; II. iv. 182. 
 
 , "prove e.," be realized; 
 
 IV. ii. 15. 
 
 Elbows, stands at his elbow ; 
 IV. iii. 44. 
 
 Elements, air and sky (Quar- 
 tos, "element") ; III. i. 4. 
 
 Elf all my hair, tangle, mat my 
 hair (supposed to be the 
 work of elves or fairies) ; 
 II. iii. 10. 
 
 Embossed, protuberant, swol- 
 len ; II. iv. 227. 
 
 End, end of the world; V. iii. 
 263. 
 
 Engine, rack; I. iv. 290. 
 
 Enguard, guard; I. iv. 349. 
 
 Enormous, abnormal ; II. ii. 
 
 Enridged, formed into ridges; 
 IV. vi. 71. 
 
 Entertain, engage ; III. vi. 83. 
 
 Entire, main; I. i. 243. 
 
 Epileptic ; " distorted by grin- 
 ning " ; II. ii. 87. 
 
 Equalities, equal conditions 
 (Folios, "qualities") ; I. i. 5. 
 
 Espcrance, hope; IV. i. 4. 
 
 Essay, assay, trial ; I. ii. 47. 
 
 Estate, condition ; V. iii. 209. 
 
 Even; "even o'er," pass over 
 in his memory; IV. vii. 80. 
 
 Event; "the e.," i.e. the result 
 will prove ; I. iv. 371. 
 
 Evidence, witnesses; III. vi. 37. 
 
 Exhibition, allowance; I. ii. 25. 
 
 Eyeless, blind; III. i. 8. 
 
 Fain, gladly; I. iv. 196. 
 Faint, slight; I. iv. 73. 
 Faith' d, believed; II. i. 72. 
 
 155
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Fall, cause to fall ; II. iv. 170. 
 
 Fast, firm, fixed (Quartos, 
 ''first'') ; I. i. 39- 
 
 Fault, mistake ; V. iii. 192. 
 
 Favours; " my hospitable f./' 
 the features of me your 
 host; III. vii. 40. 
 
 Fear, am afraid of; IV. ii. 31. 
 
 Fears, frightens ; III. v. 4. 
 
 Feature, outward form ; IV. li. 
 63. 
 
 Feeling, heartfelt ; IV. vi. 226. 
 
 Felicitate, made happy ; 1. i. 76. 
 
 Fellow, companion ; III. i. 48. 
 
 Fellows, comrades ; I, iii. 14. 
 
 Fetch, bring (Folios 3, 4, 
 "fet"; Pope, "bring"); II. 
 iv. 92. 
 
 Fetches, pretexts, excuses ; II. 
 iv. 90. 
 
 Fire; " f. us like foxes," al- 
 luding to the practice of 
 smoking foxes out of their 
 holes ; V. iii. 23. 
 
 Fire-new, brand new, fresh 
 from the mint ; V. iii. 132. 
 
 Fish; " eat no f.," i.e. be a Prot- 
 estant (alluding to the Pa- 
 pist custom of eating fish on 
 Fridays) ; I. iv. 18. 
 
 Fitchew, polecat ; IV. vi. 124. 
 
 Fitness; " my f.," a thing be- 
 coming me ; IV. ii. 63. 
 
 Flaw'd, shattered, broken ; V. 
 iii. 196. 
 
 Flaws, shivers, particles; II. iv. 
 288. 
 
 Flesh; "feed with flesh for 
 the first time, initiate " 
 (Schmidt); (Quartos, 
 **Aeash") ; II. ii. 49. 
 
 Flesh and fell, flesh and skin; 
 V. iii. 24. 
 
 Fleshment; "in the f. of," be- 
 ing fleshed with (Quartos i, 
 2, " Hcchuent " ; Quarto 3, 
 " Uechvent") ; II. ii. 130. 
 
 Flibbertigibbet, the name of a 
 fiend; III. iv. 120. 
 
 Flying off, desertion ; II. iv. 91. 
 
 Foins, thrusts in fencing; IV. 
 vi. 251. 
 
 Fond, foolish; I. ii. 52; I. iv. 
 323 ; IV. vii. 60. 
 
 Fool; "poor fool," used as a 
 term of endearment (ad- 
 dressed to Cordelia) ; V. iii. 
 305. 
 
 , "their f.," a fool to 
 
 them; II. ii. 132. 
 
 Foot-ball, I. iv. 89. (Cp. the 
 annexed illustration, copied 
 from a French etching dated 
 1647.) 
 
 o 
 
 Footed, landed; III. iii. 14. 
 Foppish, foolish ; I. iv. 182. 
 For, because ; I. i. 227. 
 
 , as for; II. i. 114; V. i. 24. 
 
 Forbid, forbidden ; III. iii. 22. 
 Fordid, destroyed; V. iii. 255. 
 Fordone, destroyed ; V. iii. 291. 
 F ore-vouch' d, affirmed before; 
 
 I. i. 223. 
 For fended, forbidden; V. i. il. 
 
 156
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Forgot, forgotten; V. iii. 236. 
 Fork, barbed arrow head; I. i. 
 146. (Cp. illustration.) 
 
 U) 
 
 {a) From a specimen found in a tumulus. 
 id) From the Cotton MS., Tib. C. 6 
 (Xth century). 
 
 Forked; " man is ... a 
 
 poor, bare, forked animal " ; 
 
 III. iv. 112. (Cp. the Chinese 
 
 character for man.) 
 
 For that, because ; I. ii. v. 
 Fortune, success ; V. iii. 165. 
 Frame, manage ; I. ii. 107. 
 France, King of France; II. iv. 
 
 215- 
 Frateretto, the name of one of 
 
 Harsnet's fiends; III. vi. 7. 
 Fraught, filled; I. iv. 241. 
 Free, sound, not diseased; IV. 
 , vi. 80. 
 Fret, wear ; 1. iv. 307. 
 
 From, away from ; II. i. 126. 
 
 Frontlet, frown ; I. iv. 207. 
 
 Fruitfully, fully; IV. vi. 270. 
 
 Full, fully; I. iv. 360. 
 
 Full-U owing; " freely venting 
 its passion " ; V. iii. 74. 
 
 Fumiter, fumitory ; IV. iv. 3. 
 
 Furnishings, pretences, out- 
 ward shows ; III. i. 29. 
 
 Furrow-weeds, weeds growing 
 on ploughed land; IV. iv. 3. 
 
 Gad; " upon the g.," on the 
 spur of the moment, sud- 
 denly; I. ii. 26. 
 
 Gait, way ; IV. vi. 242. 
 
 , bearing; V. iii. 175. 
 
 Gallow, frighten, terrify; III. 
 ii. 44- 
 
 Garh, manner of speech ; II. ii. 
 103. 
 
 Garden water-pots; IV. vi. 200. 
 {Cp. illustration.) 
 
 Gardett water-^ot. 
 From a specimen exhumed in Good- 
 man's Fields, Whitechapel. 
 
 T^^7
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Gasted, frightened; II. i. 57. 
 
 Gate; " at g.," at the gate ; III. 
 vii. 17. 
 
 Generation, offspring; I. i. 119. 
 
 Germins, germs, seeds (Theo- 
 bald's emendation ; Quartos, 
 "^Germains" ', Folios i, 2, 
 " germaines " ; Folios 3, 4, 
 " germanes " ; Capell, " ger- 
 mens"); III. ii. 8. 
 
 Give you good morrow, God 
 give you good morning; II. 
 ii. 165. 
 
 Glass-gazing, contemplating 
 himself in a mirror, vain, 
 foppish; II. ii. 19. 
 
 Gloves; " wore g. in my cap," 
 i.e. as favours of my mis- 
 tress; III. iv. 88. 
 
 Good; " made g.," maintained, 
 asserted; I. i. 175. 
 
 Goodman boy, a contemptuous 
 mode of address ; II. ii. 48. 
 
 Good-years, supposed to be cor- 
 rupted from goujere, the 
 French disease (Quartos, 
 "good''; Theobald, " good- 
 jers " ; Hanmer, '' gou- 
 jeres") ; V. iii. 24. 
 
 Got, begot ; II. i. 80. 
 
 Go /o, an exclamation ; III. iii. 8. 
 
 Govern, restrain; V. iii. 161, 
 
 Graced, dignified (Quartos, 
 "' great") ; I. iv. 267. 
 
 Greet the time, "be ready to 
 greet the occasion ; V. i. 54. 
 
 Gross, large; IV. vi. 14. 
 
 Grossly; " palpably, evidently " ; 
 I. i. 295. 
 
 Grow out of heels, reduced to 
 poor condition {cp. ''out at 
 elbows ") ; II. ii. 164. 
 
 Guardians; "my g.," the guar- 
 dians under me of my realm ; 
 II. iv. 254. 
 
 Habit, dress, garb; V. iii. 188. 
 
 Halcyon, kingfisher ("a lytle 
 byrde called the King's 
 Fysher, being hanged up in 
 the ayre by the neck, his 
 nebbe or byll wyll be alwayes 
 dyrect or strayght against 
 ye winde " — Thomas Lupton, 
 Notable Things, B. x.) ; II. 
 ii. 84. 
 
 Half-blooded, partly of noble, 
 partly of mean birth; V. iii. 
 80. 
 
 Handy-dandy, the children's 
 game ; " which hand will you 
 have?"; IV. vi. 157. 
 
 Hap; "what will h.," let what 
 will happen; III. vi. 121. 
 
 Haply, perhaps; I. i. 102. 
 
 Happy, fortunate; II. iii. 2. 
 
 Hatch, half-door; III. vi. 76. 
 
 Headier; " more h.," more 
 headstrong, impetuous ; II. 
 iv. III. 
 
 Head-lugg'd, led by the head; 
 IV. ii. 42. 
 
 Heat; " 1 the heat," a reference 
 probably to the proverb, 
 " Strike the iron while it is 
 hot"; I. i. 312. 
 
 Hecate (dissyllabic) ; (Quartos 
 and Folio i, "Heccat"; Fo- 
 lio 2, " Hecat") ; I. i. 112. 
 
 Hell-hated, " abhorred like 
 hell " ; V. iii. 147. 
 
 Helps, heals, cures; IV. iv. 10. 
 
 Here (used substantively) ; I. 
 i. 264. 
 
 iS8
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 High-engender' d, engendered 
 on high, in the heavens ; III. 
 ii. 2Z. 
 
 Him, himself; V. iii. 213. 
 
 Hit, agree, be of one mind 
 (Folios, "sit") ; I. i. 307. 
 
 Hold, keep, maintain ; II. iv. 
 
 245. 
 
 Holp, helped; III. vii. 62. 
 
 Home, thoroughly, vitally; III. 
 iii. 13. 
 
 Honour d, honourable ; V. i. 9. 
 
 Hopdance, the name of a fiend 
 (probably " Hoherdidance") ; 
 (Quartos, " Hoppedance" ', 
 Capell, "Hopdance"); III. 
 vi. 32. 
 
 Horn; " Poor Tom, thy horn is 
 dry"; III. vi. 79.' {Cp. illus- 
 tration and see Notes.) 
 
 From the portrait of the knave, 
 Mull'd Sack. 
 
 Horse's health, alluding to the 
 belief that " a horse is above 
 
 all other animals subject to 
 disease" (Johnson); III. vi. 
 20. 
 
 Hot-blooded, passionate; II. iv. 
 215- 
 
 House; " the h.," i.e. " the or- 
 der of families, the duties of 
 relation " ; (Theobald " the 
 user"; Collier MS., "the 
 mouth? ") ; II. iv. 155. 
 
 Howe'er, although ; IV. ii. 66. 
 
 Hundred-pound, used as a term 
 of reproach for a person who 
 had saved just enough to 
 pose as a gentleman ; II. ii. 
 17- 
 
 Hurricanoes, water-spouts (Fo- 
 lios 2, 3, 4, " Hurricano's" ; 
 Folio I, " Hyrricano's" ; 
 Quartos i, 2, '' Hircanios " ; 
 Quarto 3. " Hercantos") ; 
 
 III. ii. 2. 
 
 Hysterica passio, hysteria 
 (Quartos, Folios i, 2, " His- 
 torica passio " ; Folio 3, 
 '' Hystorica passio ") ; II. iv. 
 56. 
 
 Idle, foolish, silly ; I. iii. 17. 
 
 , worthless ; IV. iv. 5. 
 
 /// affected, evilly disposed ; II. 
 
 i. 100. 
 Images, signs ; II. iv. 91. 
 Immediacy, being immediately 
 
 next in authority; V. iii. 65. 
 Impertinency, that which is not 
 
 to the point ; IV. vi. 179. 
 Important, importunate; IV. iv. 
 
 26. 
 Impossibilities; "men's i.," 
 
 things impossible to man; 
 
 IV. vi. 74. 
 
 159
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Impress'd, pressed into our 
 service ; V. iii. 50. 
 
 In, at, I. iv. 350 ; into, IV. i. 77. 
 
 Incense, incite, instigate; 11. iv. 
 309. 
 
 Incite, impel ; IV. iv. 27. 
 
 Infect, pollute, poison ; II. iv. 
 168. 
 
 Influence (used as astrological 
 term) ; I. ii. 136. 
 
 Ingenious, intelligent, con- 
 scious; IV. vi. 287. 
 
 Ingrateful, ungrateful ; II. iv. 
 165. 
 
 Innocent, idiot (addressed to 
 the fool); III. vi. 8. 
 
 Intelligent, bearing intelli- 
 gence; (Quartos, "intelli- 
 gence") ; III. vii. 12. 
 
 Intend upon, i.e. intend to con- 
 fer upon ; V. i. 7. 
 
 Intent, intention ; I. i. 39. 
 
 Intent; " made i.," intention, 
 plan I had formed (Collier 
 MS., "main i.") ; IV. vii. 9. 
 
 Interess'd, interested (Folios, 
 "interest") ; I. i. 87. 
 
 Interlude; properly, a short 
 play performed during a 
 banquet ; used loosely for a 
 comedy or farce; V. iii. 89. 
 
 Intrinse, tightly drawn; II. ii. 
 81. 
 
 Invade, pierce, penetrate into ; 
 I. i. 146. 
 
 Invades, penetrates ; III. iv. 7. 
 
 It, its ; I. iv. 236. 
 
 It is, it is true ; IV. vi. 144. 
 
 Jakes, privy; II. ii. 72. 
 Jealous, suspicious ; V. i. 56. 
 
 Joint-stool, a folding-chair 
 (used in proverbial expres- 
 sion, " I took you for a joint- 
 stool ") ; III. vi. 54. 
 
 Judicious, judicial; III. iv. y6. 
 
 Justicer, justice (Theobald's 
 emendation ; Quartos, " ius- 
 tice") ; III. vi. 23. 
 
 Knapped, cracked, tapped 
 (Quartos, "rapt"); II. iv. 
 ^125. 
 
 Knee, kneel down before; II. 
 iv. 217. 
 
 Lag of, later than ; I. ii. 6. 
 
 Lanced, cut (Theobald's emen- 
 dation; Quartos, " launcht" 
 and " lancht " ; Folios, 
 " latch' d") ; II. i. 54. 
 
 Lances, i.e. soldiers carrying 
 lances, lancers ; V. iii. 50. 
 
 Late, lately; I. iv. 226; III. iv. 
 173. 
 
 , " of 1.," lately ; II. iv. 40. 
 
 Least, " in the 1.," at the least ; 
 I. i. 194; 
 
 Leave, with your permission ; 
 IV. vi. 264. 
 
 Light of ear, foolishly credu- 
 lous ; III. iv. 95. 
 
 Lights on, comes across his 
 path; III. i. 54. 
 
 Like, please ; I. i. 203. 
 
 , likely ; I. i. 304. 
 
 Likes, pleases ; II. ii. 96. 
 
 Lily-livered, white-livered, cow- 
 ardly; II. ii. 18. 
 
 Lipsbury pinfold; perhaps a 
 coined name = the teeth, as 
 being the pinfold, or pound, 
 within the lips (Nares) ; II. 
 ii. 9.. 
 
 160
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 List, please; V. iii. 6i. 
 
 , listen to; V. iii. i8i. 
 
 Litter, couch for carrying sick 
 persons and ladies when 
 travelling; III. vi. 97. 
 
 Living, possessions; I. iv. 120. 
 
 Loathly, with abhorrence ; II. i. 
 51-^ 
 
 Look'd for, expected; II. iv. 
 235. 
 
 Loop'd, full of holes (loop- 
 holes) ; III. iv. 31. 
 
 Luxury, lust; IV. vi. 119. 
 
 Lym, bloodhound led in a line 
 of leash (Hanmer's correc- 
 tion ; Quartos i, 3, " Uim " ; 
 Quarto 2, " Him " ; Folios, 
 " Hym " ; Collier MS., 
 "Trim"); III. vi. -72. 
 
 Madded, maddened; IV. ii. 43. 
 
 Mahu, a name in Harsnet's 
 category of devils; III. iv. 
 149. 
 
 Main, sea, ocean ( ? mainland) ; 
 III. i. 6. 
 
 Mainly, mightily; IV. vii. 65. 
 
 Make from, get out of the way 
 of; I. i. 145. 
 
 Makes up, decides ; I. i. 209. 
 
 Mate; " one self m, and m.," 
 the same husband and wife, 
 one and the same pair ; IV. 
 iii. 36. 
 
 Material, forming the substance 
 (Theobald, ''maternal" ; Col- 
 lier conj. "natural") ; IV. ii. 
 35- 
 
 Matter, cause of quarrel ; II. ii. 
 47. 
 
 , meaning, good sense; IV. 
 
 vi. 179. 
 
 Matter; " no m.," does not mat- 
 ter; I. iii, 23. 
 
 Maugre, in spite of; V. iii. 131. 
 
 Means, resources ; IV. i. 22. 
 
 Meet, good, fit ; I. ii. 97. 
 
 Meiny, household, retinue (Fo- 
 lios I, 2, " meiney " ; Quar- 
 tos, "men") ; II. iv. 35. 
 
 Memories, memorials ; IV. vii. 
 7- 
 
 Merit, = desert, in a bad sense ; 
 III. v. 8. 
 
 Merlin, the ancient magician of 
 the Arthurian romance; III. 
 ii. 95. 
 
 Mew, (v. note) ; IV. ii. 68. 
 
 Milk-livered, faint-hearted ; IV. 
 ii. 50. 
 
 Minikin; " m. mouth," i.e. 
 pretty little mouth; III. vi. 
 45. 
 
 Miscarried, lost ; V. i. 5. 
 
 Miscarry, lose ; V. i. 44. 
 
 Mischief; " with the m. of your 
 person," with harm to your 
 life (Hanmer, "without"; 
 Johnson conj. "but with") ; 
 I. ii. 178. 
 
 Misconstruction; "upon his 
 m.," through his misunder- 
 standing me; II, ii. 124. 
 
 Miscreant, vile wretch, (?) 
 misbeliever (Quartos, "recre- 
 ant") ; I. i. 163. 
 
 Modest, becoming; II. iv. 25. 
 
 , moderate ; IV. vii. 5. 
 
 Modo, a name from Harsnet's 
 category of devils ; III. iv. 
 148. 
 
 Moiety, share, portion ; I. i. 7, 
 
 Monsters, makes monstrous ; I. 
 i. 223. 
 
 161
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Moonshines, months; I. ii. 5. 
 
 Mopping and mowing, i.e. ma- 
 king grimaces (Theobald's 
 emendation ; Quartos, " Mo- 
 bing, and mohing") ; IV. i. 
 64. 
 
 Moral, moraHzing; IV. ii. 58. 
 
 MortiHed, insensible; II. iii. 15. 
 
 Mother, i.e. Hysterica passio, 
 hysteria ; II. iv. 56. 
 
 Motion, thrust, impulse; II. i. 
 52. 
 
 Motley, the parti-coloured 
 dress of the fool or jester; I. 
 iv. 160. 
 
 Mouths; " made m.," made 
 grimaces; III. ii. z^. 
 
 Much, great; II. ii. 148. 
 
 Mumbling of, mumbling 
 (Quartos, "warbling") ; II. 
 i. 41. 
 
 Natural, used in the two senses 
 of the word; II. i. 86. 
 
 Naught, naughty, wicked ; II. 
 iv. 136. « 
 
 Naughty, bad; III. iv. 115. 
 
 Neat, finical, foppish, spruce; 
 II. ii. 45. 
 
 Need of, have need of, need; 
 II. iv. 241. 
 
 Nero (Upton conj. '' Trajan," 
 because, according to Rabe- 
 lais, Nero is a fiddler in hell, 
 and Trajan a fisher of 
 frogs) ; III. vi. 7. 
 
 Nether, committed on earth ; 
 IV. ii. 79. 
 
 Nether-stocks, short stockings 
 (Quarto 2, " ncather- 
 stockes") ; II. iv. 11. 
 
 Nicely, with the greatest exact- 
 ness ; II. ii. no. 
 
 Nighted, darkened; IV. v. 13. 
 
 Nine-fold, " nine imps " ( ? ^ 
 nine foals) ; III. iv. 126. 
 
 Noiseless, devoid of noise be- 
 tokening preparations for 
 war; IV. ii. 56. 
 
 Nor, neither; III. ii. 15. 
 
 Note; " take this n.," take note 
 of this, observe this; IV. v. 
 29. 
 
 , notice ; II. i. 85. 
 
 Noted, noticed; I. iv. 81, 
 
 Nothing; "In. am," I cease to 
 be; II. iii. 21. 
 
 "Nothing will come of noth- 
 ing," an allusion to the old 
 proverb, " ex nihilo nihil 
 at" ; I. i. 92. 
 
 Notice, attention, countenance; 
 II. iv. 252. 
 
 Notion, intellectual power, 
 mind ; I. iv. 248. 
 
 Nuncle, " the customary ad- 
 dress of a licensed fool to his 
 superiors " ; I. iv. 117. 
 
 Nursery, nursing; I. i. 126. 
 
 Object; "your best o.," the 
 delight of your eye " ; I. i. 
 217. 
 
 Obscured, disguised ; II. ii. 175. 
 
 Observants, obsequious cour- 
 tiers ; II. ii. 109. 
 
 Occasions, causes; II. i. 122. 
 
 OEillades, glances of the eye 
 (Quartos, " aliads"; Folio i, 
 " Eliads " ; Folios 2, 3, 4, 
 "Iliads"); IV. V. 25. 
 
 O'crlook, read over; V. i. 50. 
 
 162
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 O'er-looking, looking over ; I. 
 ii. 40. 
 
 O'erpaid, to be overpaid ; IV. 
 vii. 4. 
 
 O'er-read, read over; I. ii. 38. 
 
 O'er-watch'd, worn out, ex- 
 hausted with watching; II. ii. 
 177. 
 
 Of, from; IV. vii. 31. 
 
 Offend, injure; I. i. 310. 
 
 Office, duty, service; II. iv. 107. 
 
 'Old, wold; III. iv. 125. 
 
 Oldness, old age; I. ii. 50. 
 
 On, of, 1. i. 144; III. vi. 57; V. 
 iii. 250. 
 
 , at ; II. ii. 28. 
 
 , " our wishes on the way," 
 
 i.e. expressed to each other 
 on the way hither ; IV. ii. 14. 
 
 On't, of it; II. i. 29. 
 
 Ope, open ; V. i. 40. 
 
 Operative, effective ; IV. iv. 14. 
 
 Oppose; "make c," compel to 
 fight against us; V. i. 2y. 
 
 Opposeless, not to be opposed, 
 irresistible; IV. vi. 38. 
 
 Opposite, adverse, hostile; II. 
 
 i. 51- 
 Opposites, opponents ; V. iii. 42. 
 Ordinance, divine law; IV. i. 
 
 71- 
 
 Or ere, before; II. iv. 289. 
 
 Other, others; I. iv. 221. 
 
 Out, abroad; I. i. 33. 
 
 Out-wall, outward appearance ; 
 III. i. 45. 
 
 Overture, opening, disclosure; 
 III. vii. 89. 
 
 O, well flown bird! a phrase 
 taken from falconry, here 
 used figuratively for an ar- 
 row ; IV. vi. 92. 
 
 Owes, possesses ; I. i. 205, 
 Owest, dost own ; I. iv. 133. 
 
 Pack, make off; II. iv. 81. 
 
 Packings, plottings ; III. i. 26. 
 
 Packs, confederacies ; V. iii. 18. 
 
 Pain, pains, labour, lies; III. i. 
 53. 
 
 'Parel, apparel ; IV. i. 51. 
 
 Particular; " for his p.," as re- 
 gards himself personally; II. 
 iv. 295. 
 
 , personal ; V. i. 30. 
 
 Party, side (Quartos ""Lo^y '') ; 
 IV. V. 40. 
 
 Party; " intelligent p.," party 
 intelligent to ; III. v. 12. 
 
 , " upon his p.," on his 
 
 side; II. i. 28. 
 
 Pass, pass away, die ; IV. vi. 47. 
 
 Pass upon, pass sentence upon ; 
 III. vii. 24. 
 
 Pat, just to the purpose, in the 
 nick of time; I. ii. 146. 
 
 Pazvn, a stake hazarded in a 
 wager; I. i. 157. 
 
 Pawn down, pledge; I. ii. 92. 
 
 Peace, hold its peace; IV. vi. 
 104. 
 
 Pelican; the pelican is supposed 
 to feed her young with her 
 own blood ; III. iv. yy. 
 
 Pelting, paltry; II. iii. 18. 
 
 Pendulous, hanging, impend- 
 ing; III. iv. 69. 
 
 Perdu, lost one ; IV. vii. 35. 
 
 Perdy, a corruption of Fr. par 
 Dieu ; II. iv. 85. 
 
 Perfect, mature ; I. ii. yy. 
 
 Perforce, of necessity ; IV. ii. 
 49. 
 
 163
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Period, end, termination ; V. iii. 
 204. 
 
 Persever, the older pronuncia- 
 tion of the word persevere ; 
 III. V. 21. 
 
 Persian attire, alluding to the 
 gorgeous robes of the East 
 (used ironically) ; (Folios, 
 "Persian") ; III. vi. 85. 
 
 Piece, master-piece, model ; IV. 
 vi. 137. 
 
 Pieced, added; I. i. 202. 
 
 Pight, firmly resolved ; II. i. 67. 
 
 Plate, " clothe in plate armour " 
 (Folios, " place " ; corrected 
 by Theobald) ; IV. vi. 169. 
 
 Plight, troth-plight; I. i. 103. 
 
 Plumed helm; IV. ii. 57. Cp. 
 the annexed cut from a print 
 depicting the triumph of the 
 Emperor Maximilian I., c. 
 15 19. The second illustration 
 shows the socket (a) in 
 which the plume was held, 
 and is from a specimen in the 
 Londesborough collection. 
 
 Pillicock, properly a term of Point; "at p.," ready for any 
 
 endearment used in old nur- 
 sery rhymes ; suggested by 
 "pelican"; III. iv. 78. 
 
 Plackets, part of a woman's at- 
 tire; III. iv. 100. 
 
 Plague; " stand in the p. of," 
 perhaps, be plagued by 
 (Warburton, "plage" — 
 place; Simpson conj. "place," 
 etc.) ; I. ii. 3. 
 
 Plain, complain ; III. i. 39. 
 
 Plaited, folded (Quartos i, 2, 
 
 . "pleated"; Folios, "plight- 
 ed")', I. i. 283. 
 
 emergency ; I. iv. 347. 
 , " at p.," on the point of, 
 
 prepared; III. i. 2)3- 
 Poise, moment (Quartos 2, 3, 
 
 Folios, " prise " ; Hanmer, 
 
 "piese"); II. i. 122. 
 Policy and reverence; " policy 
 
 of holding in reverence " 
 
 (Schmidt) ; I. ii. 48. 
 Port, harbour; II. iii. 3. 
 Portable, bearable; III. vi. 115. 
 Ports, gates, ( ?) harbours ; II. 
 
 i. 82. 
 Potency, power; I. i. 175. 
 
 164
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Potential, powerful; 11. i. 78. 
 Pother, turmoil ; III. ii. 50. 
 Power, armed force; III. i. 30. 
 Practice, plotting, stratagem ; 
 
 II. i. 75. 
 
 , stratagem, artifice; II. iv. 
 
 116. 
 Practices, plots ; I. ii. 198. 
 Practised on, plotted against ; 
 
 III. ii. 57- 
 Predominance, influence; I. ii. 
 
 134. 
 Prefer, recommend ; I. i. 277. 
 Pregnant, ready, easily moved; 
 
 II. i. 78; IV. vi. 227. 
 Presently, immediately; I. ii. 
 
 109. 
 Press-money, money given to a 
 
 soldier when pressed into 
 
 service; IV. vi. 87. 
 Pretence, intention, purpose ; I. 
 
 ii. 95. 
 , " very p.," deliberate in- 
 
 tion ; I. iv. 75. 
 Prevent, to anticipate and 
 
 checkmate; III. iv. 164. 
 Proceedings, course of action ; 
 
 V. i. 2,2. 
 Profess, pretend; (?) with 
 
 play upon " profess " = " to 
 
 set up for " ; I. iv. 14. 
 ; *' what dost thou p.," 
 
 what is thy trade, profession ; 
 
 I. iv. 12. 
 Professed, full of professions ; 
 
 I. i. 275. 
 Proper, handsome ; I. i. 18. 
 , " p. deformity," moral de- 
 pravity which is natural to 
 
 him {i.e. the fiend) ; IV. ii. 60. 
 Puissant, powerful, masterful; 
 
 V. iii. 216. 
 
 Puppet, used perhaps contemp- 
 tuously for a wanton ; II. ii. 
 
 39. 
 Pur, imitation of the noise 
 
 made by a cat (but " Purre " 
 
 also the name of a devil in 
 
 Harsnet) ; III. vi. 47. 
 Put on, encourage; I. iv. 227. 
 , incited to; II. i. loi. 
 
 Quality, nature, disposition ; II. 
 iv. 93 ; II. iv. 139. 
 
 Quality, rank; V. iii. no, 120. 
 
 Queasy, ticklish ; II. i. 19. 
 
 Question, matter, cause; V. iii. 
 58. 
 
 , " bear q.," bear to be ar- 
 gued about; V. iii. 2>2>- 
 
 Questrists, searchers ; III. vii. 
 
 17. 
 
 Quicken, come to life; III. vii. 
 
 39. 
 
 Quit, requite, revenge ; III. vii. 
 87. 
 
 Quit you, acquit yourself; II. i. 
 32. 
 
 Raging, angry, furious (Folios, 
 "roaring"); III. iv. 10. 
 
 Rake up, cover with earth ; IV. 
 vi. 281. 
 
 Rank, gross, flagrant; I. iv. 223. 
 
 Rased, erased ; I. iv. 4. 
 
 Reason, argue ; II. iv. 267. 
 
 Reason' d, argued, talked about; 
 V. i. 28. 
 
 Regards, considerations (Quar- 
 tos, "respects") ; I. i. 242. 
 
 Remediate, healing; IV. iv. 17. 
 
 Remember ; " r. thyself," con- 
 fess thy sins ; IV. vi. 233. 
 
 Rememberest, remindest; I. iv. 
 72. 
 
 165
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Remorse, compassion, pity ; IV. 
 ii. 73- 
 
 Remotion, removal; II. iv. 115. 
 
 Remove, removal ; II. iv. 4. 
 
 Renege, deny (Folio i, " Re- 
 uenge " ; Schmidt, " Re- 
 negue") ; II. ii. 84. 
 
 Repeals, recalls ; III. vi. 120. 
 
 Reposure, attributing; the act 
 of reposing (Quartos, " could 
 the reposure " ; Folios, 
 "would the reposal") ; II. i. 
 70. 
 
 Reproveable, blameable ; III. v. 
 9. 
 
 Resolution; " due r.," freedom 
 from doubt ; I. ii. 108. 
 
 Resolve me, tell me, satisfy me ; 
 II. iv. 25. 
 
 Respect; " do r.," show respect, 
 reverence (Folios, "re- 
 spects") ; II. ii. 137. 
 
 , " upon r.," deliberately ; 
 
 II. iv. 24. 
 
 Respects, consideration, mo- 
 tive; I. i. 251, 
 
 Rest; " set my r.," repose my- 
 self (derived probably from 
 the game of cards = to stand 
 upon the cards in one's 
 hand) ; I. i. 125. 
 
 Retention, custody; V. iii. 47. 
 
 Return; "make r.," return; II. 
 iv. 153- 
 
 Revenging, avenging, taking 
 vengeance (Quartos, '' re- 
 uengiue") ; II. i. 47. 
 
 Reverhs, reverberates, re- 
 echoes; I. i. 156. 
 
 Reverend, old (Quarto 2, "vn- 
 reuerent") ; II. ii. 133. 
 
 Rich'd, enriched; I. i. 65. 
 
 Rings, sockets ; V. iii. 189. 
 
 Ripeness, readiness; V. ii. 11. 
 
 Rivall'd; " hath r.," hath been a 
 rival ; I. i. 194. 
 
 Roundest, most direct, plain- 
 est; I. iv. 58. 
 
 Rubb'd, hindered (a term in 
 the game of bowls) ; II. ii. 
 161. 
 
 RufHe; " do r.," are boisterous 
 (Quartos, " russel, " rus- 
 sell"; Capell, "rustle"); II. 
 iv. 304- 
 
 Safer, sounder, more sober ; 
 IV. vi. 81. 
 
 Saint Wit ho Id, a corruption of 
 Saint Vitalis, who was sup- 
 posed to protect from night- 
 mare (Quartos, "swithald"; 
 Folios, " swithold") ; III. iv. 
 125. 
 
 Sallets, sallads ; III. iv. 137. 
 
 Salt; " a man of s.," a man of 
 tears ; IV. vi. 199. 
 
 Satnphire, sea-fennel ; IV. vi. 
 
 15. 
 Save thee, God save thee ; II. 
 
 i. I. 
 Savour hut, have only a relish 
 
 for; IV. ii. 39. 
 Saw, saying, proverb; II. ii. 
 
 167. 
 Say, assay, proof (Pope, 
 
 '"say") ; V. iii. 143. 
 Scant, fall short in ; II. iv. 142. 
 
 , diminish ; II. iv. 178. 
 
 Scanted, grudged ; I. i. 281. 
 Scatter'd, disunited ; III. i. 31. 
 Scythian, considered as a type 
 
 of cruelty; I. i. 118. 
 
 166
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Sea-monster, perhaps an allu- 
 sion to the hippopotamus or 
 the whale ; I. iv. 283. 
 
 Sectary, disciple ; I. ii. 164. 
 
 Secure, make careless ; IV. i. 22. 
 
 Seeming, hypocrisy; III. Ii. 56. 
 
 , " little seeming," seem- 
 ingly small, little in appear- 
 ance; I. i. 201. 
 
 Self, self-same; I. i. 70. 
 
 Self -cover' d; " thou s. thing," 
 thou who a woman hast dis- 
 guised thyself in this diabol- 
 ical shape (Theobald, " self- 
 converted " ; Crosby, " sex- 
 cover' d"^ ; IV. ii. 62. 
 
 Sennet, a set of notes on the 
 cornet or trumpet; I. i. 34- 
 35, Stage Direc. 
 
 Sequent, consequent, following; 
 I. ii. lis. 
 
 Servant, lover; IV. vi. 275. 
 
 Sessa, onward ! (probably a 
 hunting term) ; III. vi. 77. 
 
 Set, stake, wager; I. iv. 136. 
 
 Settling; "till further s.," till 
 his mind is more composed; 
 IV. vii. 82. 
 
 Seven stars, the Pleiades ; I. v. 
 38. 
 
 Shadowy, shady (Quartos, 
 "shady") ; I. i. 65. 
 
 Shealed peascod, shelled pea- 
 pod; I. iv. 219. 
 
 Shows, seems, appears; I. iv. 
 265. 
 
 Shrill-gorged, shrill-throated ; 
 IV. vi. 58. 
 
 Simple ; " simple answerer," 
 simply answerer (Folios, 
 "simple answer' d ") ; III. vii. 
 43. 
 
 Simples, medicinal herbs ; IV. 
 iv. 14. 
 
 Simular; " s. man of virtue," 
 man who counterfeitest vir- 
 tue; III. ii. 54. 
 
 Sir, man ("that sir which," 
 Folio 4, " that, sir, which ") ; 
 II. iv. 78. 
 
 Sith, since (Quartos, "since"); 
 I. i. 183. 
 
 Sises, allowance ; II. iv, 178. 
 
 Slack you, neglect their duty to 
 you; II. iv. 248. 
 
 Slaves, treats as a slave ("by 
 making it subservient to his 
 views of pleasure or inter- 
 est ") ; IV. i. 71. 
 
 Sleep out, sleep away (Quarto 
 I, "sleep ont") ; II. ii. 163. 
 
 Sliver, tear off like a branch 
 from a tree; IV. ii. 34. 
 
 Smile, smile at, laugh to 
 scorn (Folios and Quartos, 
 " smoile" or " snioyle ") ; II. 
 ii. 88. 
 
 Smilets, smiles; IV. iii. 21. 
 
 Smooth, flatter, humour; II, ii, 
 81. 
 
 Smug, trim, spruce ; IV. vi. 202. 
 
 Smulking, a fiend's name, bor- 
 rowed from Harsnet's cate- 
 gory of devils (Quartos, 
 " snulhug"', Theobald, 
 " Smolkin") ; III. iv. 146. 
 
 Snuff, flickering old age ; IV. 
 vi. 39- 
 
 Snuffs, quarrels, "huffs"; III. 
 i. 26. 
 
 So, so be it ; II. ii. 106. 
 
 Soiled; " s. horse," said of " a 
 horse turned out in the 
 spring to take the first flush 
 of grass " ; IV. vi. 124. 
 
 167
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Something, somewhat; I. i. 21. 
 
 Some, someone ; III. i. 37. 
 
 Sometime, once, former; I. i. 
 122. 
 
 , sometimes ( Folios, 
 
 "sometimes") ; II. iii. 19. 
 
 Soothe, humour ; III. iv. 182. 
 
 Sophisticated, adulterated, not 
 genuine; III. iv. no. 
 
 Sop o' the Moonshine; prob- 
 ably alluding to the dish 
 called eggs in moonshine, i.e. 
 " eggs broken and boiled in 
 salad-oil till the yolks became 
 hard; they were eaten with 
 slices of onion fried in oil, 
 butter, verjuice, nutmeg, and 
 salt " ; II. ii. 34. 
 
 Sot, blockhead; IV. ii. 8. 
 
 Space, i.e. " space in general, 
 the world " ; I. i. 57. 
 
 Speak for, call for ; I. iv. 267. 
 
 Speculations, scouts (Johnson, 
 "speculators" ; Collier MS., 
 "spectators") ; III. i. 24. 
 
 Speed you, God speed you ; IV. 
 vi. 212. 
 
 Spherical, planetary (Quartos, 
 "spiritual") ; I. ii. 134. 
 
 Spill, destroy; III. ii. 8. 
 
 Spite of intermission, in spite 
 of interruption ; II. iv. 2i3- 
 
 Spoil, wasting, ruining ; II. i. 
 102. 
 
 Spurs, incentives, incitements 
 (Folios, "spirits") ; II. i. 78. 
 
 Square; "the most precious s. 
 of sense," i.e. " the most deli- 
 cately sensitive part " 
 (Wright) ; I. i. 75. 
 
 Squints, makes to squint; III. 
 iv. 122. 
 
 Squiny, squint ; IV. vi. 140. 
 
 Squire-like, like a squire, at- 
 tendant; II. iv. 217. 
 
 Stands; " s. on the hourly 
 thought," is hourly expected ; 
 
 IV. vi. 218. 
 
 Stand's, stands his (Quartos 2, 
 3, "stand his"; Folios, 
 " stand "} ; II. i. 42. 
 
 Stands on, it becomes, is in- 
 cumbers on ; V. i. 69. 
 
 Star-blasting, blighting by the 
 influence of the stars; III. iv. 
 60. 
 
 Stelled, starry; III. vii. 61. 
 
 Still, continually, always ; III. 
 iv. 181. 
 
 Still-soliciting, ever begging; I. 
 i. 234. 
 
 Stirs; "who s.?" does no one 
 stir?; I. i. 128. 
 
 Stock' d, put in the stocks (Fo- 
 lios, "stockt"; Quarto i, 
 "struck"; Quartos 2, 3, 
 " strucke") ; II. iv. 191. 
 
 Stocking, putting in the stocks 
 (Quartos "Stopping"); II. 
 ii. 139. 
 
 Stock-punished, punished by 
 being set in the stocks (Fo- 
 lios, "stockt, punish'd") ; 
 III. iv. 140. 
 
 Stomach, anger, resentment ; 
 
 V. iii. 74. 
 
 Stone, crystal ; V. iii. 262. 
 
 Straight, straightway, immedi- 
 ately ; II. iv. 35. 
 
 Strain, descent, race ; V. iii. 40. 
 
 Strain'd, excessive (Quartos, 
 " straied") ; I. i. 172. 
 
 Stranger' d, estranged; I. i. 207. 
 
 168
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Stray; " make such a s.," go so 
 far astray; I. i. 212. 
 
 Strength; "in my s.," with 
 power from me, with my au- 
 thority; II. i. 114. 
 
 Strings of life, heart-strings ; 
 V. iii. 216. 
 
 Strong and fasten'd, deter- 
 mined and hardened (so 
 Quartos ; Folios, " O strange 
 and fast'ned") ; II. i. 79. 
 
 Subscribed, surrendered (Fo- 
 lios, " Prescrib'd") ; I. ii. 24. 
 
 , forgiven; III. vii. 65. 
 
 Subscription, submission; III. 
 ii. 18. 
 
 Succeed, come true, follow ; I. 
 ii. 156. 
 
 Success; " good s.," favourable 
 result, issue ; V. iii. 194. 
 
 Sufferance, suffering; III. vi. 
 
 113- 
 
 Suggestion, prompting, tempt- 
 ing; II. i. 75. 
 
 Suited, clad, dressed ; IV. vii. 6. 
 
 Sumpter, pack-horse, hence a 
 drudge; II. iv. 219. 
 
 Superfluous, having too much ; 
 IV. i. 70. 
 
 Superilux, superfluity; III. iv. 
 
 35. 
 Superserviceable, one who is 
 
 above his work (Folios, 
 
 " superserviceable, finical " ; 
 
 Quartos, " superiinicall") ; 
 
 II. ii. 19. 
 Supposed, ■prtt&nded; V. iii. 113. 
 Sustain, support ; V. iii. 320. 
 Sustaining, nourishing ; IV. iv. 6. 
 Swear'st, swearest by; I. i. 163. 
 
 Taint, disgrace ; I. i. 224. 
 
 Taken, overtaken ; I. iv. 353. 
 
 Taking, infection; III. iv, 61. 
 
 , " my t.," to capture me ; 
 
 II. iii. 5. 
 
 , bewitching, blasting; II. 
 
 iv. 166. 
 
 Taking off, slaughter, death ; 
 V. i. 65. 
 
 Taste, test, trial ; I. ii. 47. 
 
 Tell, count, recount; II. iv. 55. 
 
 Temperance, self-restraint, 
 
 calmness ; IV. vii. 24. 
 
 Tend, wait on ; II. iv. 266. 
 
 Tend upon, wait upon; II. i. 97. 
 
 Tender, regard, care for ; I. iv. 
 230. 
 
 Tender-hefted, tenderly framed; 
 II. iv. 174. 
 
 Terrible, terrified, affrighted ; 
 I. ii. 32. 
 
 That, in that ; I. i. 73. 
 
 There; "are you there with 
 me?" is that what you 
 mean?; IV. vi. 148. 
 
 This, this time forth; I. i. 118. 
 
 This 's =: this is (Quartos, Fo- 
 lios, ''this") ; IV. vi. 187. 
 
 Thought-executing ; "doing ex- 
 ecution with rapidity equal 
 to thought"; III. ii. 4. 
 
 Threading, passing through 
 (like a thread through the 
 eye of a needle) ; (Folios, 
 " thredding " ', Quartos, 
 " threatning " ; Theobald 
 
 conj. " treading") ; II. i. 121. 
 
 Three-suited, used contemp- 
 tuously for a beggarly per- 
 son ; probably, having three 
 suits of apparel a year ; or 
 the allowance from a master 
 to his servant ; II. ii. 16. 
 
 169
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Throughly, thoroughly; IV. vii. 
 
 97- 
 Thwart, perverse (Quartos, 
 
 " thourt") ; I. iv. 305. 
 Tike, a small dog ; III. vi. JZ- 
 Time, life ; I. i. 298. 
 Times; " best of our t.," best 
 
 part of our lives; I. ii. 49. 
 Tithing, district, ward; III. iv. 
 
 140. 
 To, as to; III. i. 52. 
 
 , against ; IV. ii. 75. 
 
 , into; II. iv. 120. 
 
 Toad-spotted; "tainted and 
 
 polluted with venom like the 
 
 toad"; V. iii. 138. 
 Tom o' Bedlam, "the common 
 
 name of vagabond beggars, 
 
 either mad or feigning to be 
 
 so " ; I. ii. 148. 
 Took, taken ; V. iii. 105, 
 Top, head; II. iv. 165. 
 , overtop, surpass; V, iii. 
 
 207. 
 Toward, at hand ; IV. vi. 213. 
 Towards, to; I. i. 193. 
 Train, retinue (Folios " num- 
 ber") ; II. iv. 62,. 
 Tranced, entranced ; V. iii. 218. 
 Treachers, traitors (Quartos, 
 
 " Trecherers") ; I. ii. 133. 
 Trick, peculiarity, characteris- 
 tic; IV. vi. 108. 
 TriUe; " on every tr.," on every 
 
 trifling opportunity ; I. iii. 8. 
 Trill' d, trickled; IV. iii. 14. 
 Troop with, accompany, follow 
 
 in the train of; I. i. 134. 
 Trowest, knowest ; I. iv. 135. 
 Trumpet, trumpeter (Folio i, 
 
 " Trumper") ; V. iii. 107. 
 
 Trundle-tail, a curly-tailed 
 dog; III. vi. 7:^. 
 
 Trust, reliance; II. i. 117. 
 
 Tucket, a set of notes played 
 on the trumpet or cornet ; II. 
 i. 80-81. 
 
 Tune, humour; IV. iii. 41. 
 
 Turlygod, a name given to mad 
 beggars ; possibly a corrup- 
 tion of " Turlupin," the name 
 of a fraternity of naked beg- 
 gars in the 14th century 
 (Quarto i, " Tuelygod" ; 
 Theobald, " Turlygood " ; 
 Warburton conj. " Turlu- 
 pin ") ; II. iii. 20. 
 
 Turns; " by due t.," in turn ; I. 
 i. 137. 
 
 Unaccommodated, un supplied 
 with necessaries; III. iv. iii. 
 
 Unbolted, unsifted, coarse; II. 
 ii. 71. 
 
 Unbonneted, with uncovered 
 head; III. i. 14. 
 
 Unconstant, inconstant, fickle; 
 I. i. 304. 
 
 Undistinguish'd, indistinguish- 
 able, boundless ; IV. vi. 278. 
 
 Unkind, unnatural, I. i. 263 ; 
 III. iv. 73. 
 
 Unnumber'd, innumerable; IV. 
 vi. 21. 
 
 Unpossessing, landless ; II, i. 
 
 69. 
 Unprized, not appreciated, or, 
 
 perhaps, priceless ; I. i. 262. 
 Unremoveable, immovable ; II. 
 
 iv. 94- 
 Unsanctiiied, wicked; IV. vi. 
 
 281. 
 Unspoke, unspoken; I. i. 239. 
 
 170
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Unstate, deprive of estate; I. 
 
 ii. io8. 
 Untented, incurable; I. iv. 322. 
 Untimely, inopportunely ; III. 
 
 vii. 98. 
 Upon, against; III. vi. 96. 
 Upward, top ; V. iii. 136. 
 Usage, treatment; II. iv. 26. 
 
 Validity, value; I. i. 83. 
 
 Vanity the Puppet's Part; " al- 
 luding to the old moralities 
 or allegorical plays, in which 
 Vanity, Iniquity, and other 
 vices were personified " 
 (Johnson) ; II. ii. 39. 
 
 Varlet, rascal ; II. ii. 30- 
 
 Vary, change; II. ii. 85. 
 
 Vaunt-couriers, forerunners 
 (Quartos, " vaunt-currers " 
 Folios, " Vaunt-curriors" 
 Capell, " V ant-couriers") 
 III. ii. 5. 
 
 Venge, avenge; IV. ii. 80. 
 
 Villain, serf, servant ; III. vii. 
 78. 
 
 Virtue, valour ; V. iii. 103. 
 
 Vulgar, commonly known ; IV. 
 vi. 214. 
 
 Wage, wage war, struggle, II. 
 
 iv. 212; stake, I. i. 158. 
 Wagtail, the name of a bird ; 
 
 II. ii. 72>- 
 Wake, waking; III. ii. 34- 
 Wall-newt, lizard; III. iv. 135. 
 Wash'd; " w. eyes." eyes 
 
 washed with tears; I. i. 271. 
 Waste, wasting, squandering ; 
 
 II. i. 102. 
 Water, water-newt; III. iv. 135. 
 
 Waterish, abounding with 
 rivers (used contemptuous- 
 ly) ; I, i. 261. 
 
 Wawl, cry, wail ; IV. vi. 184. 
 
 Ways; " come your w.," come 
 on ; II. ii. 42. 
 
 Weal; "wholesome w.," healthy 
 commonwealth ; I. iv. 230. 
 
 Web and the Pin, a disease of 
 the eye, cataract; III. iv. 122. 
 
 Weeds, garments, dress; IV. 
 vii. 7. 
 
 Well-favour'd, handsome, good- 
 looking; II. iv. 259. 
 
 What, who; V. iii. 119. 
 
 Wheel, the wheel of fortune; 
 V. iii. 174. 
 
 Whelk' d, swollen, protruding 
 like whelks; IV. vi. 71. 
 
 Where (used substantively) ; I. 
 i. 264. 
 
 , whereas; I. ii. 89. 
 
 Which, who; IV. vi. 215. 
 
 White Herring, fresh herrings 
 ( ? pickled herring, as in 
 Northern dialects) ; III. vi. 
 
 Who, which ; I. ii. 53. 
 
 Whoop, Jug! I love thee, prob- 
 ably a line from an old song ; 
 I. iv. 232. 
 
 Wield, manage, express; I. i. 
 56. 
 
 Wind; " w. me into him," i.e. 
 worm yourself into his con- 
 fidence {"me," used redun- 
 dantly) ; I. ii. 106. 
 
 Window' d, holes forming win- 
 dows ; III. iv. 31. 
 
 Wisdom of nature, natural 
 philosophy; I. ii. 113. 
 
 171
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 With, by ; II. iv. 256. 
 
 Wits; " five w.," the five intel- 
 lectual powers (common wit, 
 imagination, fantasy, estima- 
 tion, and memory) ; III. iv. 
 
 59. 
 
 Wont, accustomed to be ; I. iv. 
 64. 
 
 Wooden pricks, skewers; II. 
 iii. 16. 
 
 Word, pass-word ; IV. vi. 93. 
 
 , word of mouth ; IV. v. 20. 
 
 Worships, dignity; I. iv. 288. 
 
 Worsted-stocking, worn by the 
 lower classes and serving- 
 men in distinction to silk 
 
 ones which were worn by the 
 gentry; II. ii. 15. 
 
 Worth; "are w.," deserve; I. 
 i. 282. 
 
 Wort hied him, won him repu- 
 tation; II. ii. 128. 
 
 Would, should; II. i. 70. 
 
 Writ, warrant ; V. iii. 245. 
 
 Write happy, consider yourself 
 fortunate; V. ii. 35. 
 
 Wrote, written ; I. ii. 93. 
 
 Yeoman, a freeholder not ad- 
 vanced to the rank of a gen- 
 tleman; III. vi. II. 
 
 Yoke-fellow, companion ; III. 
 vi. 39. 
 
 Unwhipp'd of Justice (III. ii. 53). 
 From an engraving by H. Cock, c. 1550, 
 
 172 
 
 I
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Critical Notes. 
 
 BY ISRAEL GOLLANCZ. 
 
 I. i. 40. 'from our age' ; so Folios; Quartos, 'of our state.' 
 
 I. i. 41-46. {'while we . . . now'); 50-5i» 164; I- ii- 18 
 {'■fine word, legitimate') ', 48 {'and reverence') ; 118-124; I. iv, 
 6 {'so may it come') ; 282; 331-342; omitted in Quartos. 
 
 I. i. 54. 'Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril'; 
 so Folios. Quartos read, ' Where merit doth most challenge it.' 
 
 I. i. 63. ' do' ; so Quartos ; Folios read ' speak.' 
 
 I. i. 79. ' Ponderous ' ; so Folios ; Quartos, ' richer.' 
 
 I. i. 85. 'the last, not least'; so Quartos; Folios read, 'our last 
 and least.' 
 
 I. i. 106; I. ii. 102-104; ii- 155-163 {'as of unnaturalness . . . 
 come'); 182 {'go armed'); I. iii. 17-21; 24-25; I. iv. 154-169; 
 239 ; 252-256 ; omitted in Folios. 
 
 I. i. 112. 'mysteries,' the reading of Folios 2, 3, 4; Quartos, 
 ' mistress e ' ; Folio i, ' miseries.' 
 
 I. i. 148. ' What wouldst thou do, old man?' ; "This is spoken 
 on seeing his master put his hand to his sword " (Capell) ; Folios 
 I, 2, 3, ' wouldest ' ; Quartos, ' wilt.' 
 
 I. i. 151. 'stoops to folly'; so Quartos; Folios, 'falls to folly' 
 (Folio 3, 'fall to folly') : 'Reverse thy doom'; so Quartos; Fo- 
 lios read, ' reserue thy state' 
 
 I. i. 169. 'recreant' ; omitted in Quartos. 
 
 I. i. 176. ' live ' ; so Folios ; Quartos, ' Foure.' 
 
 I. i. 178. 'sixth'; so Folios; Quartos, ' Hft.' 
 
 I. i. 191. This line is given to Cordelia in Folios. 
 
 I. i. 236. ' Better ' ; so Folios ; Quartos, ' go to, go to, better.' 
 
 I. i. 251. 'respects of fortune'; so Quartos; Folios, 'respect 
 and fortunes' 
 
 I. i. 2^2. 'want'; Quartos, 'worth.' Theobald explains the 
 Folio reading, " You well deserve to meet with that want of love 
 froiii your husband, which you have professed to want for our 
 Father." 
 
 173
 
 Notes 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 I, i. 284. 'shame them derides'; so Quartos; Folios, 'with 
 shame derides ' ; Warburton, ' with shame abides' etc. 
 
 I. i. 292. ' hath not been ' ; so Quartos ; Folios, ' hath been! 
 
 I. ii. 10. So Folios ; Quartos read, ' zvith base, base bastardie.' 
 
 I. ii. 21. 'top the'; Edward's conj. of Quartos i, 2, 'tooth''; 
 Quarto 3, 'tooth'; Folios i, 2, ' to'th' ; Folios 3, 4, 'to th',' etc. 
 
 I. ii. 68. ' that,' i.e. the matter, contents. 
 
 I. ii. III. "^ These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no 
 good ' ; V. Preface. 
 
 I. ii. 129. '' surfeit ' ; so Quarto i ; Quartos 2, 3, ' siirfet ' ; Folios 
 I, 2, 3, ' surfets' ; Folio 4, 'surfeits' ; Collier conj. 'forfeit.' 
 
 I. ii. 177-183. 'That's my fear . . . Brother' so Folios; 
 Quartos read, 'That's my feare brother' omitting rest of speech. 
 
 I. iii. 21. ' With checks as flatteries, when they are seen 
 abused'; Tyrwhitt's explanation seems the most plausible, "with 
 checks, as well as flatterers, when they {i.e. flatterers) are seen to 
 be abused." The emendators have been busy with the line without 
 much success. 
 
 I. iv. loi. 'Kent. Why, fool?'; the reading of Quartos; Folios 
 read ' Lear. Why my Boy? ' 
 
 I. iv. 158. * Ladies ' ; Capell's emendation ; Quartos, ' lodes ' ; 
 Collier, ' loads.' 
 
 I. iv. 165. ' Thou borest thine ass on thy back.' Cp. the annexed 
 
 cut from Hans Sachs's rhy- 
 ming paraphrase of the 
 well-known iEsopian fable, 
 c. 1550. 
 
 I. iv. 236. 'Ha! waking?' 
 Quartos read 'sleeping or 
 waking; ha! sure.' 
 
 II. i. 11-13. Omitted in 
 Quartos 2, 3. 
 
 II. i. 48. 'their thunders'; 
 so the Quartos ; Folios, ' the 
 thunder'; Johnson, 'their 
 thunder.' 
 
 II. i. 60. ' dispatch ' ; i.e. 
 ' dispatch him ' ; or perhaps, ' dispatch is the word.' 
 
 II. i. ^2. ' what I should deny ' ; so Quartos ; Folios, *" What 
 should I deny'; Rowe, 'by what I should deny'; Hanmer, 'what 
 I'd deny'; Warburton, 'when I should deny'; Schmidt, 'what, 
 should I deny.' 
 
 174
 
 KING LEAR Notes 
 
 II. i. 80. 'I never got him'; so Quartos; Folios, ^ said he?' 
 
 II. i. 99. 'of that consort' ; so Folios; omitted in Quartos. 
 
 II. i. 102. ' the waste and spoil of his' ; Quarto i, ' the wast and 
 spoyle of his'; Quartos 2, 3, 'these — and waste of this his'; 
 Quarto i (Dev. and Cap.) 'these — and waste of this his'; Folio 
 I, ' th' expense and wast of his'; Folios 2, 3, 4, ' th' expence and 
 wast off 
 
 11. ii. 59. 'hours'; Folios, 'years.' 
 
 11. ii. 75. 'Which are too intrinse to unloose'; Folio i, 'are f 
 intrince'; Folios 2, 3, 4, 'art t'intrince' ; Quartos, 'are to in- 
 trench'; Pope, 'Too intricate'; Theobald, 'Too 'intrinsecate' ; 
 Hanmer, 'too intrinsick ' : 'to unloose'; Folios, ' t' unloose ' \ 
 Quartos, 'to inloose'; Seymour conj. 'to enloose.' 
 
 II. ii. 142-146. 'His fault . . . punish'd with'; omitted in 
 Folios. 
 
 II. ii. 146. 'the king must take it ill'; Folios read, 'the King 
 his Master, vrcds must take it ill.' 
 
 II. ii. 151. Omitted in Folios. 
 
 II. ii. 162-163. ' out of heaven's benediction comest To the warm 
 sun'; cp. Heywood's Dialogues on Proverbs; 'In your rennyng 
 from hym to me, ye runne out of God's blessing into the warm 
 sunne ' ; i.e. from good to worse. Professor Skeat suggests to me 
 that the proverb refers to the haste of the congregation to leave 
 the shelter of the church, immediately after the priest's benedic- 
 tion, running from God's blessing into the warm sun. This ex- 
 planation seems by far the best that has been suggested. 
 
 II. ii. 166. 'miracles'; so Folios; Quartos i, 2, 3, 'my wracke*; 
 Quarto i (Bodl.), 'my rackles.' 
 
 II. ii. 169-171. 'and shall . . . remedies'; many emenda- 
 tions have been proposed to remove the obscurity of the lines, but 
 none can be considered satisfactory. Kent, it must be remem- 
 bered, is 'all weary and o'erwatched.' Jennens suggested that 
 Kent is reading disjointed fragments of Cordelia's letter. 'From 
 this enormous state ' seems to mean ' in this abnormal state of 
 affairs.' 
 
 II. iv. 19-20. Omitted in Folios. 
 
 II. iv. 99-100; 142-147. Omitted in Quartos. 
 
 II. iv. 103. 'commands her service'; so Quartos; Folios, 'com- 
 mands, tends, service.' 
 
 II. iv. 170. 'and blast her pride'; so Quartos; Folios, 'and 
 blister'; Collier MS. and S. Walker conj. 'and blast her'; 
 Schmidt conj. 'and blister pride.' 
 
 175
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 11. iv. 174. ' tender-hefted ' ; so Folios ; Quarto 2, ' tender 
 hested'; Quarto i, ' teder hested'; Quarto 3, 'tender hasted'; 
 Rowe (Ed. 2) and Pope, 'tender-hearted' ; etc. 
 
 II. iv. 303. ' bleak ' ; so Quartos ; Folios, ' high.' 
 
 III. i. 7-15; vi. 18-59; 104-108 ('oppressed . . . behind'); 
 109-122; vii. 99-107; omitted in the Folios. 
 
 III. i. 22-29; ii. 79-96; iv. 17-18; 26-27; 37-38; vi. 13-16; 92; 
 omitted in the Quartos. 
 
 III. ii. 7. 'smite'; so Quartos; Folios, 'strike.' 
 
 III. ii. 9. 'make'; Folios, 'makes.' 
 
 III. ii. 22. ' have . . . join'd ' ; the reading of Quartos ; Fo- 
 lios read ' Tfi// . . . join.' 
 
 III. ii. 37. 'No, I will be the pattern of all patience'; cp. the 
 description of Leir by Perillus in the old play: — 'But he, the myr- 
 rour of mild patience. Puts up all wrongs, and never gives reply.' 
 
 III. ii. 64. 'More harder than the stones'; so Folios; Quartos, 
 'More hard than is the stone.' 
 
 III. ii, y^)- ' That 's sorry ' ; so Folios ; Quartos, ' That sorrowes.' 
 
 III. ii. 7^-77. Cp. Clown's song in Twelfth Night, V. vi. 398. 
 
 III. ii. 95. *" / live before his time'; according to the legend, 
 Lear was contemporary with Joash, King of Judah. The whole 
 prophecy, which does not occur in the Quartos, was probably an 
 interpolation, tacked on by the actor who played the fool. The 
 passage is an imitation of some lines formerly attributed to Chau- 
 cer, called ' Chaucer's Prophecy.' 
 
 III. iv. 6. 'contentious' ; so Folios; Quarto i (some copies), 
 ' tempestious' ; Quartos 2, 3, and Quarto i (some copies), ' cru- 
 lentious.' 
 
 III. iv. 29. 'storm'; so Quartos; Folios, 'night.' 
 
 III. iv. 47. ' Through the sharp hazvtJiorn blows the cold wind,' 
 probably the burden of an old song. 
 
 III. iv. 54-55. 'knives under his pillow and halters in his pew' 
 (to tempt him to suicide). Theobald pointed out that the allu- 
 sion is to an incident mentioned in Harsnet's Declaration. 
 
 III. iv. 81. 'thy word justly'; Pope's emendation; Quartos 
 read, * thy words justly ' ; Folio i, ' thy 7vords Justice.' 
 
 III. iv. 102. ' sessa ' ; Malone's emendation ; Folio i, ' Sesey ' ; 
 Quarto i, ' caese ' ; Quarto 2, ' cease ' ; Capell, ' sesse ' ; etc. 
 
 III. iv. 141-142. Cp. ' The Romance of Sir Bevis of Hamp- 
 toun ' : — 
 
 " Rattes and myce and suche small dere, 
 Was his meate that seuen yere." 
 176
 
 KING LEAR Notes 
 
 III. iv. 184-186. ' Child Rowland to the dark tozver came,' etc. 
 Jamieson, in his Illustrations of Northern Antiquities (1814), has 
 preserved the story as told him by a tailor in his youth ; this 
 Scottish Version has since been reprinted and studied {Cp. Childs' 
 English and Scottish Ballads, and Jacob's English Fairy Tales). 
 
 III. iv. 185. 'His zvord was still' refers, of course, to the giant, 
 and not to Childe Rowland. The same story (with the refrain 
 Fee fo fum. Here is the Englishman) is alluded to in Peele's 
 Old Wives Tale, and it is just possible that it may be the ultimate 
 original of the plot of Milton's Comus {v. Preface, on British for 
 English ) . 
 
 III. vi. 27. 'Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me.' Mr. Chappell 
 (Popular Music of the Olden Time. p. 305, note) says, " The allu- 
 sion is to an English ballad by William Birch, entitled, * A Songe 
 betwene the Quene's Majestic and England,' a copy of which is 
 in the library of the Society of Antiquaries. England commences 
 the dialogue, inviting Queen Elizabeth in the following words : — 
 
 " Come over the horn, Bessy, come over the horn, Bessy, 
 Swete Bessy, come over to me." 
 
 The date of Birch's song is 1558, and it is printed in full in the 
 Harleian Miscellany, X. 260. 
 
 III. vi. 43-46. Put into verse by Theobald. Steevens quotes a 
 line from an old song, 
 
 " Sleepeyst thou, wakyst thou, Jeffery Coke," 
 
 found in ' The Interlude of the Four Elements' (1519). 
 
 III. vi. 79. 'Thy horn is dry.' "A horn was usually carried 
 about by every Tom of Bedlam, to receive such drink as the 
 charitable might afford him, with whatever scraps of food they 
 might give him" (Malone), etc. 
 
 III. vi. 97-110. "Every editor from Theobald downwards," as 
 the Cambridge editors observe, " except Hanmer, has reprinted 
 this speech from the Quartos. In deference to this concensus of 
 authority we have retained it, though, as it seems to us, internal 
 evidence is conclusive against the supposition that the lines were 
 written by Shakespeare." 
 
 III. vii. 58. 'stick,' the reading of Folios; Quartos, 'rash.' 
 
 III. vii. 63. ' howl'd that stern'; Quartos, 'heard that dearne'; 
 Capell, ' howl'd that dearn ' (' dearn ' = obscure, dark, gloomy). 
 
 177
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 III. vii. 65. * All cruels else subscribed' ; so Quartos; Folios, 
 * suhscrihe.' The passage has been variously interpreted ; the 
 weight of authority favouring the Folio reading. Schmidt's ex- 
 planation being perhaps the most plausible : — " Everything which 
 is at other times cruel, shows feeling of regard ; you alone have 
 not done so." Furness makes the words part of the speech ad- 
 dressed to the porter, " acknowledge the claims of all creatures, 
 however cruel they may be at other times " ; or " give up all cruel 
 things else ; i.e. forget that they are cruel." This approximates 
 to the interpretation given by Mr. Wright to the reading in the 
 text, " all their other cruelties being yielded or forgiven." 
 
 IV. i. 6-0. ' zvclconie . . . blasts'; vi. 169-174 {'Plate . . . 
 lips') ; vii. 61 ; omitted in the Quartos. 
 
 IV. i. 12. 'Life zvoiild not yield to age,' i.e. life would not gladly 
 lapse into old age and death. 
 
 IV. i. 38. ' Kill ' ; Quarto i, ' bitt ' ; Quartos 2, 3, ' bit ' (prob- 
 ably an error for 'hit'). 
 
 IV. i. 60-65; ii. 31-50, 53-59, 62-68, 69; iii. (the whole scene); 
 vii. 24-25, 33-36, 79-80, 85-98, omitted in^the Folios. 
 
 IV. ii. 28. 'My fool usurps my body'; so Folios; Quarto i, 'A 
 foole usurps my bed'; Quarto 2, 'My foote usurps my head'; 
 Malone, ' My fool usurps my bed.' 
 
 ly. ii. 47. 'tame these vile offences'; Schmidt conj. 'take the 
 vild offenders' ; Heath conj. 'these vile'; Quarto i, 'this vild'; 
 Pope, ' the vile.' 
 
 IV. ii. 57. 'thy state begins to threat'; Jennens conj.; Quarto 
 I, ' thy state begins thereat ' ; Quartos 2, 3, ' thy slaier begins 
 threats'; Theobald, 'thy slayer begins his threats/ etc. 
 
 IV. ii. 68. 'your manhood! mew!'; some copies of Quarto i 
 read ' manhood mezv ' ; others ' manhood now ' ; so the later Quar- 
 tos ; according to the present reading *" mew ' is evidently a cat- 
 like interjection of contempt. 
 
 IV. iii. 20. ' like a better zvay ' ; so Quartos ; the passage seems 
 to mean that her smiles and tears resembled sunshine and rain, 
 but in a more beautiful manner ; many emendations have been 
 proposed — ' like a wetter May ' (Warburton) ; ' like a better May ' 
 (Malone) ; 'like; — a belter way' (Boaden), etc. 
 
 IV. iii. 30. ' Let pity not be believed ' ; Pope, ' Let pity ne'er 
 believe it'; Capell, 'Let it not be believed' (but ' believed' ^ht- 
 lieved to exist '). 
 
 IV. iii. 32. ' clamour moisten' d ' ; Capell's reading ; Quartos, 
 
 178
 
 KING LEAR Notes 
 
 'And clamour moistened her'; Theobald, 'And, clamour-mo- 
 tion' d' ; Grant White, 'And, clamour-moisten' d,' etc. 
 IV. V. 4. '' lord ' ; so Folios ; Quartos read, ' lady' 
 IV. vi. 98-99. '/ had white hairs in my beard ere the black ones 
 were there ' ; i.e. " I had the wisdom of age before I had attained 
 to that of youth" (Capell). 
 
 IV. vi. 225. ' tame to' ] so Folios ; Quartos, '' lame by.' 
 IV. vii. 32. ' opposed against the warring winds ' ; Quartos, 
 ' Exposd'] Folios, 'jarring.' 
 
 IV. vii. 2>^. 'Mine enemy's'', Folios, 'Mine Enemies'; Quartos 
 I, 2, ' Mine iniurious ' ; Quarto 2, ' Mine injurious ' ; Theobald, 
 ' My very enemy's,' etc. 
 
 IV. vii. 79. ' kill'd'; so Folios; Quartos, 'cured'; Collier conj. 
 ' quell'd.' 
 
 V. i. 11-13, 18-19, 23-28, 33; iii. 38-39, 47, 54-59, 102, 109, 204- 
 221, omitted in the Folios. 
 
 V. i. 46. ' and . . . ceases ' ; iii. 76, 90, 144, 282, omitted in 
 the Quartos. 
 
 V. i. 25-26. Mason's conj. 'Not the old king' for 'not bolds the 
 king' is worthy of mention. Albany's point is that the invading 
 enemy is France and not the wronged king, together with others 
 whom heavy causes compel to fight against them ; otherwise ' not 
 bolds the king' =^' not as it emboldens the king,' an awkward 
 and harsh construction. 
 
 V. ii. 5. Mr. Spedding (Nezf Shak. Soc. Trans., Part I.) plausi- 
 bly suggested that the Fifth Act really begins here, and that the 
 battle takes place between Edgar's exit and re-entrance, the 
 imagination having leisure to fill with anxiety for the issue. 
 
 V. iii. 76. 'the walls are thine'; Theobald conj. 'they all are 
 thine ' (but perhaps the castle-walls are referred to). 
 
 V. iii. 93. 'prove it'; so Quartos; Folios, 'make it'; Anon, 
 conj. 'mark it'; Collier MS., 'make good.' 
 
 V. iii. 96. 'medicine,' Folios; Quartos, ' poyson.' 
 
 V. iii. 129-130. * the privilege of mine honours' ; Pope's reading; 
 Quartos read 'the priuiledge of my tongue'; Folios. ' 7ny prim- 
 ledge, The priuiledge of mine Honours.' Edgar refers to ' the 
 right of bringing the charge' as the privilege of his profession as 
 knight. 
 
 V. iii. 146. Omitted in Quarto 2; Quarto i reads ' Heere do I 
 tosse those treasons to thy head.' 
 
 V. iii. 156. 'name'; Quartos read 'thing.' 
 
 V. iii. 159. 'Most monstrous! know'st'; Steevens' emendation; 
 
 179
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Quarto i reads 'Most monstrous knowst' ; Quartos 2, 3, 'Monster, 
 knowst'; Folios, 'Most monstrous! O know'st'; Capell, 'most 
 monsterous! knozv'st ; Edd. Globe Ed., 'Most monstrous! O! 
 know'st.' 
 
 V. iii. 160. 'Ask me not what I know'; the Folios give this line 
 to Edmund ; the Quartos to Goneril. 
 
 V. iii. 170-171. 'vices . . . plague us'; so Folios; Quartos 
 Ttad'vertucs . . . scourge us' ; Hanmer, ' vices . . . plague 
 and punish us'; Keightley, 'vices . . . plague us in their time' ; 
 Anon. conj. 'vices . . . scourge us and to plague us'; cp. 
 ' Wherewith a man sinneth, by the same also shall he be pun- 
 ished,* Wisdom, xi. 16. 
 
 V. iii. 205. 'but another,' etc., i.e. ''one more such circumstance 
 only, by amplifying what is already too much, would add to it, 
 and so exceed what seemed to be the limit of sorrow " (Wright). 
 
 V. iii. 281. ' One of them zve behold,' i.e. each beholding the 
 other sees one of fortune's two notable objects of love and hate 
 (? for 'we' read 'ye,' as has been suggested). 
 
 V. iii. 310. 'Look on her, look, her lips'; Johnson's emenda- 
 tion; Folio I reads ' Looke her lips' ;¥o\\os, 'looke (or look) on 
 her lips' 
 
 V. iii. 323. This speech is given in the Folios to Edgar, and 
 probably it was so intended by the poet. It has been suggested 
 that the first two lines should be given to Edgar, the last two to 
 Albany. 
 
 180
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Explanatory Notes. 
 
 The Explanatory Notes in this edition have been specially selected and 
 adapted, with emendations after the latest and best authorities, from the 
 most eminent Shakespearian scholars and commentators, includmg Johnson, 
 Malone, Steevens, Singer, Dyce, Hudson, White, Furness, Dowden, and 
 others. This method, here introduced for the first time, provides the best 
 annotation of Shakespeare ever embraced in a single edition. 
 
 ACT FIRST. 
 Scene I. 
 
 I et seq. Johnson thinks " there is something of obscurity or 
 inaccuracy " in the opening of the play. Coleridge remarks upon 
 it as follows : " It was not without forethought, nor is it without 
 its due significance, that the division of Lear's kingdom is in the 
 first six lines of the play stated as a thing already determined 
 in all its particulars, previously to the trial of professions, as the 
 relative rewards of which the daughters were to be made to con- 
 sider their several portions. The strange, yet by no means un- 
 natural, mixture of selfishness, sensibility, and habit of feeling 
 derived from, and fostered by, the particular rank and usages of 
 the individual ; the intense desire of being intensely beloved — 
 selfish, and yet characteristic of the selfishness of a loving and 
 kindly nature alone; the self-supportless leaning for all pleasure 
 on another's breast ; the craving after sympathy with a prodigal 
 disinterestedness, frustrated by its own ostentation, and the mode 
 and nature of its claims; the anxiety, the distrust, the jealousy, 
 which more or less accompany all selfish affections, and are 
 amongst the surest contradistinctions of mere fondness from true 
 love, and which originate Lear's eager wish to enjoy his daugh- 
 ters' violent professions, whilst the inveterate habits of sov- 
 ereignty convert the wish into claim and positive right, and an 
 incompliance with it into crime and treason ; — these facts, these 
 passions, these moral verities, on which the whole tragedy is 
 
 i8i
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 founded, are all prepared for, and will to. the retrospect be found 
 implied, in these first four or five lines of the play. They let us 
 know that the trial is but a trick; and that the grossness of the 
 old king's rage is in part the natural result of a silly trick sud- 
 denly and most unexpectedly baffled and disappointed." 
 
 yj et seq. " We have already," according to Johnson, " 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." 
 
 44. Constant zvill means a firm, determined will; the certa 
 voluntas of Virgil. 
 
 62. Beyond all assignable quantity. I love you beyond limits 
 and cannot say it is so much. 
 
 y2)' That is, she comes short of me in this, that I profess, etc. 
 
 75. square of sense : — Singer proposed to read, " most spacious 
 sphere." Spacious, without sphere, is a very plausible change, but 
 not so necessary or so helpful to the sense as to warrant its 
 adoption. " Whatever meaning or no-meaning we may attach to 
 square of sense, it seems clear to me," says Furness, "that Regan 
 refers to the joys which that square professes to bestow." 
 
 89. Nothing, my lord: — Coleridge remarks upon Cordelia's 
 answer thus : "' There is something of disgust at the ruthless 
 hypocrisy of her sisters, and some little faulty admixture of 
 pride and sullenness in Cordelia's ' Nothing ' ; and her tone is 
 well contrived, indeed, to lessen the glaring absurdity of Lear's 
 conduct, but yet answers the yet more important purpose of 
 forcing away the attention from the nursery-tale, the moment it 
 has served its end, that of supplying the canvas for the picture. 
 This is also materially furthered by Kent's opposition, which dis- 
 plays Lear's moral incapability of resigning the sovereign power 
 in the very act of disposing of it." 
 
 153. The meaning of answer my life my judgement is, let my 
 life be answerable for my judgement, or, / will stake my life on 
 my opinion. 
 
 157-159- ^^y lif^> etc.: — I never regarded my life as my own, 
 but merely entrusted to me as a pawn or pledge, to be employed 
 against your enemies. 
 
 196. A quest is a seeking or pursuit: the expedition in which a 
 knight was engaged is often so named in The Faerie Queene. 
 
 275. We have here professed for professing. Shakespeare 
 often uses one participle for another. 
 
 182
 
 KING LEAR Notes 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 I, 2. " In this speech of Edmund," declares Coleridge, " you 
 see, as soon as a man cannot reconcile himself to reason, how his 
 conscience flies off by way of appeal to Nature, who is sure upon 
 such occasions never to find fault; and also how shame sharpens 
 a predisposition in the heart to evil. ... In the anguish of 
 undeserved ignominy the delusion secretly springs up, of getting 
 over the moral quality of an action by fixing the mind on the mere 
 physical act alone. 
 
 26. Upon the gad I — In haste, equivalent to upon the spur. A 
 gad was a sharp-pointed piece of steel used in driving oxen ; 
 hence goaded. 
 
 107. unstate myself, etc. : — I would give up my estate, all that 
 J am possessed of, to be satisfied of the truth. Shakespeare fre- 
 quently uses resolved for satisfied. 
 
 137-139- on admirable evasion, etc. : — Warburton thinks that the 
 dotages of judicial astrology were meant to be satirized in this 
 speech. Coleridge remarks upon Edmund's philosophizing as fol- 
 lows : " Thus scorn and misanthropy are often the anticipations 
 and mouthpieces of wisdom in the detection of superstitions. 
 Both individuals and nations may be free from such prejudices 
 by being below them, as well as by rising above them." 
 
 145, 146. And pat, etc. : — Perhaps this was intended to ridicule 
 the awkward* conclusions of the old comedies, wherein the per- 
 sons of the scene made their entry inartificially, and just when 
 the poets want them on the stage. 
 
 148. fa, sol, la, mi: — "Shakespeare," says Dr. Burney, "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. . . . 
 Edmund, speaking of eclipses as portents, compares the disloca- 
 tion of events, the times being out of joint, to the unnatural and 
 offensive sounds fa sol la mi." But later authorities do not in- 
 variably accept this view. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 [Enter . . . steward.] "The Steward," says Coleridge, 
 " should be placed in exact antithesis to Kent, as the only char- 
 acter of utter irredeemable baseness in Shakespeare. Even in 
 
 183
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 this the judgement and invention of the Poet are very observable: 
 for what else could the willing tool of a Goneril be? Not a vice 
 but this of baseness was left open to him." 
 
 Scene IV. 
 
 I et seq. We must suppose that Kent advances looking on his 
 disguise. This circumstance very naturally leads to his speech, 
 which otherwise would have no apparent introduction. 
 
 16,17. to converse . . . little: — His meaning is, that he 
 chooses for his companions men who are not tattlers or tale- 
 bearers. 
 
 18. It is not clear how Kent means to make the eating no fish 
 a recommendatory quality, unless we suppose that it arose from 
 the odium then cast upon the papists, who were the most strict 
 observers of periodical fasts, which, though enjoined to the 
 people under the government of Elizabeth, were not very strictly 
 observed by them. So in Marston's Dutch Courtesan : " I trust 
 I am none of the wicked that eat Ush a Fridays." 
 
 70. By jealous curiosity Lear appears to mean a punctilious 
 jealousy resulting from a scrupulous watchfulness of his own 
 dignity. 
 
 75. the fool hath much pined away : — " The Fool," as Cole- 
 ridge observes, " is no comic buffoon to make the groundlings 
 laugh ; no forced condescension of Shakespeare's genius to the 
 taste of his audience. Accordingly the Poet prepares for his 
 introduction, which he never does with any of his common clowns 
 and fools, by bringing him into living connection with the pathos 
 of the play. He is as wonderful a creation as Caliban : his wild 
 babblings and inspired idiocy articulate and gauge the horrors of 
 the scene." 
 
 108. nuncle! — A familiar contraction of mine uncle. It seems 
 that the common appellation of the old licensed fool to his 
 superiors was uncle. In Beaumont and Fletcher's Pilgrim, when 
 Alinda assumes the character of a fool, she uses the same lan- 
 guage. She meets Alfonso, and calls him nuncle; to which he 
 replies by calling her naunt. 
 
 124. Lend less, etc. : — That is, do not lend all that thou hast : 
 owe for own. 
 
 194. frontlet: — This word is here used for frown. A frontlet 
 was a forehead cloth worn by ladies to prevent wrinkles. So in 
 
 184
 
 KING LEAR Notes 
 
 Zepheria, 1594: "And vayle thy face with frozvnes as with a 
 frontlet." 
 
 242. It must be understood, that in the speech beginning " I 
 would learn that," Lear is continuing his former speech, and an- 
 swering his own question, without heeding the Fool's interrup- 
 tion. So, again, in this speech the Fool continues his former 
 one, which referring to shadow. 
 
 337' you may fear too far: — "The monster Goneril," remarks 
 Coleridge, " prepares what is necessary, while the character of 
 Albany renders a still more maddening grievance possible, namely, 
 Regan and Cornwall in perfect sympathy of monstrosity. Not a 
 sentiment, not an image which can give pleasure on its own 
 account, is admitted: whenever these creatures are introduced, 
 and they are brought forward as little as possible, pure horror 
 reigns throughout. In this scene and in all the early speeches 
 of Lear, the one general sentiment of filial ingratitude prevails 
 as the mainspring of the feelings ; in this early stage the out- 
 ward object causing the pressure on the mind, which is not yet 
 sufficientl}'- familiarized with the anguish for the imagination to 
 work upon it." 
 
 Scene V. 
 
 5. The word tJiere in this speech shows that when the King 
 says, " Go you before to Gloucester/' he means the town of 
 Gloucester, which Shakespeare chose to make the residence of 
 the Duke of Cornwall, to increase the probability of their setting 
 out late from thence on a visit to the Earl of Gloucester. The 
 old English earls usually resided in the counties from whence 
 they took their titles. Lear, not finding his son-in-law and his 
 wife at home, follows them to the Earl of Gloucester's castle. 
 
 15. kindly: — The Fool quibbles, using kindly in two senses; as 
 it means affectionately, and like the rest of her kind. 
 
 24. / did her wrong : — Lear has Cordelia in mind now. 
 
 35. seven stars: — Furness asks if the Fool may not refer to 
 the Great Bear's seven stars. 
 
 39. Lear is meditating on what he has before threatened, 
 namely, to " resume the shape which he has cast off." 
 
 45. O, let me not be mad: — "The mind's own anticipation of 
 madness ! " exclaims Coleridge. " The deepest tragic notes are 
 often struck by a half-sense of an impending blow. The Fool's 
 conclusion of this Act by a grotesque prattling seems to indicate 
 the dislocation of feeling that has begun and is to be continued." 
 
 185
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 ACT SECOND. 
 
 Scene I. 
 
 25-28. " In order to confuse his brother and urge him to flight," 
 says DeHus, " Edmund asks him first whether he has not spoken 
 against Cornwall, and then, reversing the question, whether he 
 has not said something on the side of Cornwall against Albany." 
 
 Z^-37' i /JCf^'^ seen drunkards, etc: — These drunken feats are 
 mentioned in Marston's Dutch Courtezan : " Have I not been 
 drunk for your health, eat glasses, drunk wine, stabbed arms, and 
 done all offices of protested gallantry for your sake? " 
 
 42. Gloucester has already shown himself a believer in such 
 astrological superstitions; so that Edmund here takes hold of 
 him by just the right handle. 
 
 86. natural: — The word natural is here used with much art in 
 the double sense of illegitimate and as opposed to unnatural, 
 which latter epithet is implied upon Edgar. 
 
 90. There is a peculiar subtlety and intensity of virulent malice 
 in these speeches of Regan. Coleridge justly observes that she 
 makes " no reference to the guilt, but only to the accident, which 
 she uses as an occasion for sneering at her father." And he adds, 
 " Regan is not, in fact, a greater monster than Goneril, but she 
 has the power of casting more venom." 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 63. Zed is here used as a term of contempt, because Z is the 
 last letter in the English alphabet : it is said to be an unnecessary 
 letter because its place may be supplied by S. 
 
 95-104. This is some fellozv, etc.: — Coleridge has a just remark 
 upon this speech : " In thus placing these profound general truths 
 in the mouths of such men as Cornwall, Edmund, lago, etc., 
 Shakespeare at once gives them utterance, and yet shows how 
 indefinite their application is." It may be added, that an inferior 
 dramatist, instead of making his villains use any such vein of 
 original and profound remark, would probably fill their mouths 
 with something either shocking or absurd; which is just what 
 real villains, if they have any wit, never do. 
 
 97, 98. and constrains, etc.: — Forces his outside, or his appear- 
 ance, to something totally different from his natural disposition. 
 
 186
 
 KING LEAR Notes 
 
 126. Ajax is a fool to them. "These rogues and cowards talk 
 in such a boasting strain that, if we were to credit their account 
 of themselves, Ajax would appear a person of no prowess when 
 compared to them." 
 
 136. "Ver}'- artfully," says Clarke, "is this speech thrown in. 
 Not only does it serve to paint the vindictive disposition of Regan, 
 it also serves to regulate dramatic time by making the sub- 
 sequent scene where Lear arrives before Gloucester's castle and 
 finds his faithful messenger in the stocks appear sufficiently ad- 
 vanced in the morning to allow of that same scene closing with 
 the actual approach of ' night,' without disturbing the sense of 
 probability. Shakespeare makes a whole day pass before our 
 eyes during a single scene and dialogue, yet all seems consistent 
 and natural in the course of progression." 
 
 166. " That Cordelia should have thought of him, or that her 
 letter should have reached him, seems to him such a miracle," 
 says Delius, " as only those in misery experience." 
 
 171. Kent, according to Hudson's original view, addresses the 
 sun, for whose rising he is impatient, that he may read Cordelia's 
 letter. " I know," says he, " this letter which I hold in my hand 
 is from Cordelia; who hath most fortunately been informed of 
 my disgrace and wandering in disguise; and zvho, seeking it, shall 
 find time out of this disordered, unnatural state of things, to give 
 losses their remedies ; to restore her father to his kingdom, her- 
 self to his love, and me to his favour." Hudson, however, sub- 
 sequently adopted Mr. J. Crosby's paraphrase of lines 169-171, as 
 follows : " From this anomalous state of mine, I shall gain time 
 to communicate and co-operate with Cordelia in her endeavour 
 to restore the kingdom to its former condition ; to give losses their 
 remedies, that is, to reinstate Lear on the throne, Cordelia in his 
 favour, and myself in his confidence, and in my own rights and 
 titles." 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 10. Hair thus knotted was supposed to be the work of elves and 
 fairies in the night. 
 
 14. Bedlam beggars: — In The Bell-Man of London, by Dekker, 
 1640, is an account of one of these characters, under the title of 
 Abraham Man : " He sweares he hath been in Bedlam, and will 
 talke frantickely of purpose : you see pinnes stuck in sundry 
 places of his naked flesh, especially in his armes, which paine he 
 
 187
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 gladly puts himselfe to, only to make you believe he is out of his 
 wits. He calls himselfe by the name of Poore Tom, and, coming 
 near any body, cries out. Poor Tom is a-cold. Of these Abraham- 
 men some be exceeding merry, and doe nothing but sing songs 
 fashioned out of their own braines ; some will dance, others will 
 doe nothing but either laugh or weepe ; others are dogged, and 
 so sullen both in looke and speech, that spying but a small com- 
 pany in a house they boldly and bluntly enter, compelling the 
 servants through feare to give them what they demand." 
 
 Scene IV. 
 
 42. The / which is found in line 39, is understood before the 
 vt^ord having, or before drew. The same license is taken by 
 Shakespeare in other places. 
 
 46. If this be their behaviour, the King's troubles are not yet 
 at an end. 
 
 56. Lear affects to pass off the swelling of his heart, ready to 
 burst with grief and indignation, for the disease called the mother, 
 or hysterica passio, which, in the Poet's time, was not thought 
 peculiar to women. It is probable that Shakespeare had this sug- 
 gested to him by a passage in Harsnet's Declaration of Popish 
 Impostures, which he may have consulted in order to furnish out 
 his character of Tom of Bedlam with demoniacal gibberish. 
 " Ma. Maynie had a spice of the hysterica passio, as seems, from 
 his youth ; he himself termes it the moother." It seems the 
 priests persuaded him it was from the possession of the devil. 
 "The disease I spake of was a spice of the mother, wherewith I 
 had been troubled before my going into Fraunce : whether I doe 
 rightly term it the mother or no, I knowe not." 
 
 6y. "Go to the ant, thou sluggard," says Solomon (Proverbs 
 vi. 6-8), " consider her ways, and be wise; which having no guide, 
 overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gather- 
 eth her food in harvest." If, says the Fool (according to Ma- 
 lone), you had been schooled by the ant, you would have known 
 that the King's train, like that sagacious insect, prefer the sum- 
 mer of prosperity to the colder season of adversity, from which 
 no profit can be derived. 
 
 68-70. All men but blind men, though they follow their noses, 
 are led by their eyes ; and this class, seeing the King ruined, have 
 all deserted him : with respect to the blind, who have nothing but 
 
 188
 
 KING LEAR Notes 
 
 their noses to guide them, they also fly equally from a king whose 
 fortunes are declining; for of the noses of blind men there is not 
 one in twenty but can smell him who, being " muddy in Fortune's 
 mood, smells somewhat strong of her displeasure." 
 
 85, 86. It is not easy to make any sense out of these two lines, 
 and perhaps it was not intended that any should be made out of 
 them. Hudson suggests (Harvard ed.) that "the Fool may be 
 using the trick of suggesting a thing by saying its opposite." 
 
 123. cockney: — Of this word, says Nares, the etymology seems 
 most probable which derives it from cookery. Le pays de cocagne, 
 or coquaine, in old French, means a country of good cheer. This 
 famous country, if it could be found, is described as a region 
 " where the hills were made of sugar-candy, and the loaves ran 
 down the hills, crying, Come eat me." This Lubberland, as Florio 
 calls it, seems to have been proverbial for the simplicity or gul- 
 libility of its inhabitants. Dekker, in his Newes from Hell, says, 
 " 'Tis not our fault ; but our mothers', our cockering mothers, who 
 for their labour made us to be called cockneys." 
 
 140-142. This innocent passage has been tortured with a great 
 deal of comment. The meaning of it seems to be, " You less 
 know how to value Goneril's merit, than she knows how to do 
 her duty." Hudson (Harvard ed.) observes: "The difficulty 
 grows from putting a positive and a negative clause together in 
 a comparison." And Furness inquires: "Is the levity ill-timed 
 that suggests that perhaps Regan's speech puzzles poor old Lear 
 himself quite as much as his commentators, and he has to ask 
 her to explain : ' Say, how is that? ' " 
 
 155. tlie house: — That is, according to Warburton, the order of 
 families, duties of relation. 
 
 157. Age is unnecessary : — Johnson's explanation is, " Old age 
 has few wants," but, according to Wright, the words convey 
 Lear's " ironical apology for his useless existence." 
 
 204. being weak, seem so : — Since you are weak, be content to 
 think yourself so. 
 
 253. And in good time you gave it: — Observe what a compact 
 wolfishness of heart is expressed in these few cold and steady 
 words. It is chiefly in this readiness of envenomed sarcasm that 
 Regan is discriminated from Goneril : otherwise they seem almost 
 too much like mere repetitions of each other to come fairly within 
 the circle of nature, who never repeats herself. Yet their very 
 agreement in temper and spirit only makes them the fitter for the 
 work they do. On the whole, it is not easy to imagine how 
 
 189
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 creatures could be framed more apt to drive mad any one who 
 had set his heart on receiving any comfort or kindness from them. 
 To quote Dowden : " The two terrible creatures are, however, 
 distinguishable. Goneril is the calm wielder of a pitiless force, 
 the resolute initiator of cruelty. Regan is a smaller, shriller, 
 fiercer, more eager piece of malice. The tyranny of the elder 
 sister is a cold, persistent pressure, as little affected by tenderness 
 or scruple as the action of some crushing hammer; Regan's 
 ferocity is more unmeasured, and less abnormal or monstrous." 
 
 ACT THIRD. 
 Scene I. 
 
 6. Lear wishes for the destruction of the world, either by the 
 winds blowing the land into the water, or raising the waters so 
 as to overwhelm the land. 
 
 23. whu seem no less: — That is, who seem the servants of 
 Albany and Cornwall, but are really engaged in the service of 
 France as spies, having knowledge of our state ; of what hath been 
 seen here. 
 
 29. Whereof these things are but the trimmings or appendages ; 
 not the thing itself, but only the circumstances, outward shows, or 
 furniture of the thing. 
 
 22. feet: — Footing. The meaning is, they have secretly landed. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 [Lear.] These speeches of Lear amid the tempest contain 
 the grandest exhibition of creative power to be met with. They 
 seem spun out of the very nerves and sinews of the storm. It is 
 the instinct of strong passion to lay hold of whatever objects and 
 occurrences lie nearest at hand, and twist itself a language out of 
 them, incorporating itself with their substance, and reproducing 
 them charged with its own life. To Lear, accordingly, and to us 
 in his presence, the storm becomes all expressive of filial ingrati- 
 tude; seems spitting its fire, and spouting its water, and hurl- 
 ing its blasts against him. Thus the terrific energies and hostil- 
 ities of external nature take all their meaning from his mind; 
 and we think of them only as the willing agents or instruments 
 
 190
 
 KING LEAR Notes 
 
 of his daughters' malice, leagued in sympathy with them, and so 
 taking their part in the controversy. In this power of imagina- 
 tion, thus seizing and crushing the embattled elements into its 
 service, there is a sublimity almost too vast for the thoughts. 
 
 31-34. The man that makes his toe, etc. : — " Unless,'' says 
 White, " the Fool means that the man who keeps his toe as close 
 as he should keep his counsel or the thoughts of his heart, I do 
 not know what he means. No explanation hitherto given of the 
 last quatrain of this proverbial jingle seems worthy of mention. 
 The first refers, as Johnson remarked, to a coarse old saying, ' a 
 beggar marries a wife and lice.' " Hudson sees in line ^2) " a- 
 covert allusion to the King." Furness says lines 31-34 mean : "A 
 man who prefers or cherishes a mean member in place of a vital 
 one shall suffer enduring pain where others would suffer merely 
 a twinge. Lear had preferred Regan and Goneril to Cordelia." 
 
 35, 36. For there ivas never yet, etc. : — " This," says Furness, " is 
 the Fool's way of diverting attention after he has said something 
 a little too pointed; the idea of a very pretty woman making faces 
 in a looking-glass raises a smile." 
 
 40. Meaning the King and himself. Grace was a title of royalty. 
 Cod-piece as a name for the Fool contains whimsical allusion to 
 his wearing this article of dress. 
 
 59. Summoners are officers that summon offenders before a 
 proper tribunal. 
 
 6y-72,' My wits, etc : — " The import of this," says Bucknill, 
 "must be weighed with IV. vi. 101-107, when Lear is incoherent 
 and full of delusion. Insanity arising from mental and moral 
 causes often continues in a certain state of imperfect develop- 
 ment ; . . . a state of exaggerated and perverted emotion, 
 accompanied by violent and irregular conduct, but unconnected 
 with intellectual aberration. . . , Shakespeare contemplated 
 this exposure*and physical suffering as the cause of the first crisis 
 in the malady. Our wonder at his profound knowledge of mental 
 disease increases, the more carefully we study his works ; here 
 and elsewhere he displays with prolific carelessness a knowledge 
 of principles, half of which would make the reputation of a 
 modern ps3^chologist." 
 
 79 et scq. This is a brave night, etc.: — Most of the recent ed- 
 itors regard this whole speech as an interpolation. White and 
 Clarke are followed in this belief by Hudson, who (Harvard ed.) 
 quotes approvingly White's comment : " This loving, faithful 
 creature v/ould not let his old master go off half-crazed in that 
 
 191
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 storm that he might stop and utter such pointless and uncalled- 
 for imitation of Chaucer." 
 
 Scene IV, 
 
 [Enter Lear, etc.] On this scene Coleridge remarks: " O, 
 what a world's convention of agonies is here ! All external na- 
 ture in a storm, all moral nature convulsed — the real madness of 
 Lear, the feigned madness of Edgar, the babbling of the Fool, 
 the desperate fidelity of Kent — surely such a scene was never 
 conceived before or since ! Take it but as a picture for the eye 
 only, it is more terrific than any which a Michael Angelo, inspired 
 by a Dante, could have conceived, and which none but a Michael 
 Angelo could have executed. Or let it have been uttered to the 
 blind, the bowlings of nature would seem converted into the voice 
 of conscious humanity." 
 
 31. The allusion here is to loopholes, such as are found in 
 ancient castles, and designed for the admission of light. 
 
 45. Away! the foul iiend, etc.: — "Edgar's assumed madness," 
 says Coleridge, " serves the great purpose of taking off part of 
 the shock which would otherwise be caused by the true madness 
 of Lear, and further displays the profound difference between the 
 two. In every attempt at representing madness throughout the 
 whole range of dramatic literature, with the single exception of 
 Lear, it is mere light-headedness, especially in Otway. In Edgar's 
 ravings Shakespeare all the while lets you see a fixed purpose, a 
 practical end in view ; — in Lear's, there is only the brooding of 
 the one anguish, an eddy without progression." 
 
 51-53. Alluding to the ignis fatims, supposed to be lights kin- 
 dled by mischievous beings to lead travellers into destruction. 
 
 53 et seq. knives under his pillow, etc.: — So in Harsnet : "This 
 examinant further saith, that one Alexander, an apothecary, 
 having brought with him from London to Denham on a time a 
 new halter, and two blades of knives, did leave the same upon 
 the gallery floor in her master's house." Fiends were commonly 
 represented as thus tempting the wretched to suicide. So in Dr. 
 Faustus, 1604: — 
 
 " Swords, poisons, halters, and envenom'd steel 
 Are laid before me, to dispatch myself." 
 
 58. The five senses were sometimes called the five wits. 
 
 192
 
 KING LEAR Notes 
 
 58, 59. 0, do de, etc. : — These syllables are probably meant to 
 represent the chattering of one who shivers with cold. 
 
 76. 77. PilUcock sat, etc.: — In illustration of this, Halliwell has 
 pointed out the following couplet in Ritson's Gammer Gurton's 
 Garland : — 
 
 " Pillycock, Pillycock sat on a hill ; 
 If he 's not gone, he sits there still." 
 
 86. gloves in my cap : — Gloves were anciently worn in the cap, 
 either as the favour of a mistress, or as the memorial of a friend, 
 or as a badge to be challenged. 
 
 118. Flibbertigibbet: — The names of this fiend and most of the 
 fiends mentioned by Edgar were found in Harsnet, who says : 
 " Frateretto, Fliberdigibet, Hoberdidance, Tocobatto, were four 
 devils of the round or morrice." It was an old tradition that 
 spirits were relieved from confinement at the time of curfew, 
 that is, at the close of the day, and were permitted to wander at 
 large cill the first cock-crowing. Hence, in The Tempest, they 
 are said to " rejoice to hear the solemn curfew." 
 
 123. 'old (for wold) : — Wold is a plain open country, whether 
 hilly or not; formerly spelt old, ould, and wold, indifferently. 
 
 '^Z7y 138. from tithing to tithing: — That is, from parish to 
 parish. The severities inflicted on the wretched beings, one of 
 whom Edgar is here personating, are set forth in Harrison's De- 
 scription of England: " The rogue being apprehended, committed 
 to prison, and tried at the next assizes, if he be convicted for a 
 vagabond, he is then adjudged to be grievously whipped, and 
 burned through the gristle of the right ear with a hot iron, as a 
 manifestation of his wicked life, and due punishment received for 
 the same. If he be taken the second time, he shall then be 
 whipped again," etc. 
 
 146, 147. The prince of darkness, etc.: — So in Harsnet's Dec- 
 laration: " Maho was the chief devil that had possession of 
 Sarah Williams ; but another of the possessed, named Richard 
 Mainy, was molested by a still more considerable fiend, called 
 Modu." Again the said Richard Mainy deposes : " Furthermore 
 it is pretended, that there remaineth still in mee the prince of 
 devils, whose name should be Modu." 
 
 147 et seq. Our iiesh and blood, etc. : — " One of Shakespeare's 
 subtle touches," observes Clarke. " Some tone or inflection in 
 Edgar's voice has reached the father's heart, and bitterly recalls 
 the supposed unfilial conduct of his elder son, and he links it with 
 
 193
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 that of Lear's daughters. Edgar, instinctively feeling this, perse- 
 veres with his Bedlam cry, to drown the betrayed sound of his 
 own voice, and maintain the impression of his assumed char- 
 acter." 
 
 164. His zi'its begin to unsettle : — " When Belvidera," says Hor- 
 ace Walpole, in the postscript to his Mysterious Mother, " talks 
 of ' Lutes, laurels, seas of milk, and ships of amber,' she is not 
 mad, but light-headed. When madness has taken possession of 
 a person, such character ceases to be fit for the stage, or, at least, 
 should appear there but for a short time; it being the business 
 of the theatre to exhibit passions, not distempers. The finest 
 picture ever drawn of a head discomposed by misfortune is that 
 of King Lear. His thoughts dwell on the ingratitude of his 
 daughters, and every sentence that falls from his wildness excites 
 reflection and pity. Had frenzy entirely seized him, our com- 
 passion would abate ; we should conclude that he no longer felt 
 unhappiness. Shakespeare wrote as a philosopher, Otway as a 
 poet." 
 
 173. / do beseech your grace: — "Here," says Clarke, "Glouces- 
 ter attempts to lead Lear towards the shelter he has provided in 
 the farm-house adjoining the castle; but the king will not hear 
 of quitting his ' philosopher.' Gloucester then induces the Bed- 
 lam-fellow to go into the hovel, that he may be out of Lear'ss 
 sight ; but Lear proposes to follow him thither, saying, ' Let 's 
 in all.' Kent endeavours to draw Lear away, but, finding him 
 resolved to ' keep still with ' his * philosopher,' begs Gloucester 
 to humour the King, and ' let him take the fellow ' with him. 
 Gloucester accedes, and bids Kent himself take the fellow with 
 them in the direction they desire to go; and this is done. We 
 point out these details, because, if it be not specially observed, 
 the distinction between the ' hovel ' and the ' farm-house ' would 
 hardly be understood." 
 
 184-186. Child Rowland, Knight Orlando, was reputed to be 
 King Arthur's youngest son. In the second part of Jack and the 
 Giants, which, if not older than the play, may have been com- 
 piled from something that was so, are the following lines, spoken 
 by a giant : — 
 
 " Fee, faw, f um, 
 I smell the blood of an Englishman : 
 Be he alive, or be he dead, 
 I '11 grind his bones to make my bread." 
 
 194
 
 KING LEAR Notes 
 
 Scene V. 
 
 7. a provoking merit : — " A merit he felt in himself which irri- 
 tated him against a father that had none," according to Mason. 
 " A consciousness of his own worth which urged him on," says 
 Wright. Hudson (Harvard ed.) cites Crosby: "It was not alto- 
 gether your brother Edgar's evil disposition that made him seek 
 his father's death : it was the old man's desert that provoked him 
 to it ; that is, the old man deserved it." 
 
 Scene VI. 
 
 6, 7. Frateretto, etc : — Rabelais says that Nero was a fiddler in 
 hell, and Trajan an angler. The history of Garagantua had ap- 
 peared in English before 1575, being mentioned in Laneham's 
 Letter from Killingworth, printed in that year. Fools were an- 
 ciently termed innocents. 
 
 14. he 's a mad yeoman, etc. : — " A rather curious commentary," 
 says Hudson, " on some of the Poet's own doings ; who obtained 
 from the Heralds' College a coat-of-arms in his father's name ; 
 thus getting his yeoman father dubbed a gentleman, in order, no 
 doubt, that himself might inherit the rank." 
 
 24, 25. Wantest thou eyes, etc. : — When Edgar says, " Look, 
 where he stands and glares ! " he seems to be speaking in the 
 character of a madman, who thinks he sees the fiend. " Wantest 
 thou eyes at trial, madam?" is a question addressed to some 
 visionary person, and may mean, as Clarke says, " Do you want 
 eyes to gaze at and admire you during trial, madam? The fiends 
 are there to serve your purpose." 
 
 87. so, so, so : — " Lear," says Bucknill, " is comparatively tran- 
 quil in conduct and language during the whole period of Edgar's 
 mad companionship. It is only after the Fool has disappeared, 
 and Edgar has left to be the guide of his blind father, that the 
 King becomes absolutely wild and incoherent. The singular and 
 undoubted fact is, that few things tranquillize the insane more 
 than the companionship of the insane. It is a fact not easily ex- 
 plicable, but it is one of which, either by the intuition of genius, 
 or by the information of experience, Shakespeare appears to be 
 aware.'' 
 
 88. And I'll go to bed at noon: — These words, found only in 
 the Folio, are the last we have from the Fool. They are probably 
 
 19s
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 meant as a characteristic notice that the poor dear fellow's heart 
 is breaking. His beloved master's wits are shattered, so that he 
 has no longer anything to live for. White remarks : " About 
 the middle of the play the Fool suddenly disappears, making in 
 reply to Lear's remark, ' We '11 go to supper in the morning,' the 
 fitting rejoinder, 'And I '11 go to bed at noon.' Why does he not 
 return ? Clearly for this reason : he remains with Lear during 
 his insanity, to answer in antiphonic commentary the mad King's 
 lofty ravings with his simple wit and homespun wisdom ; but 
 after thai time, when Lear sinks from frenzy into forlorn imbe- 
 cility, the Fool's utterances would have jarred upon our ears. 
 The situation becomes too grandly pathetic to admit the presence 
 of a jester, who, unless he is professional, is nothing. Even 
 Shakespeare could not make sport with the great primal ele- 
 ments of woe. And so the poor Fool sought the little corner 
 where he slept, turned his face to t|ie wall, and went to bed in the 
 noon of his life for the last time — functus officio." 
 
 114. Mark the high noises: — The great events that are ap- 
 proaching. 
 
 Scene VIL 
 
 13. my lord of Gloucester: — Meaning Edmund, newly invested 
 with his father's titles. Oswald, speaking immediately after, men- 
 tions the old earl by the same title. 
 
 83, 84. Out, vile jelly! etc.: — This horrid scene moves Cole- 
 ridge to say : " I will not disguise my conviction that, in this one 
 point, the tragic in this play has been urged beyond the outermost 
 mark and ne plus ultra of the dramatic." And again : " What 
 shall I say of this scene? There is my reluctance to think Shake- 
 speare wrong, and yet — " Tieck argues that the tearing out of 
 Gloucester's eyes did not take place on the stage proper. 
 
 ACT FOURTH. 
 Scene I. 
 
 64. who since possesses, etc.: — "If," says Harsnet, "she have 
 a little helpe of the mother, epilepsie, or cramp, to teach her 
 roll her eyes, wrie her mouth, gnash her teeth, starte with her 
 body, hold her armes and handes stiffe, make antike faces, grinne, 
 
 196
 
 KING LEAR Notes 
 
 Diozv and mop like an ape, then no doubt the young girle is owlc- 
 blasted, and possessed." 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 22. She bids him decHne his head, that she may give him a kiss 
 and appear only to be whispering to him. 
 
 29. / have been worth the zvhistle: — Alluding to the proverb, 
 " It is a poor dog that is not worth the whistling" 
 
 S2, ss. That nature, etc. : — The meaning, as Heath thinks, is, 
 that that nature, which has reached such a pitch of unnaturalness 
 as to contemn its origin, cannot be restrained within any certain 
 bounds. Albany's reasoning is : If she will take her father's life, 
 whose life will she spare? 
 
 36. Alluding to the use that witches and enchanters are said to 
 make of withered branehes in their charms. A fine insinuation in 
 the speaker, that she was ready for the most unnatural mischief, 
 and a preparative of the Poet to her plotting with Edmund 
 against her husband's life. 
 
 83 et seq. One way, etc. : — Goneril's plan was to poison her 
 sister, to marry Edmund, to murder Albany, and to get possession 
 of the whole kingdom. As the death of Cornwall facilitated the 
 last part of her scheme, she was pleased at it ; but disliked it, as 
 it put it in the power of her sister to marry Edmund. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 [Enter . . . Gentleman.] The same gentleman whom he 
 sent in the foregoing Act with letters to Cordelia at Dover. 
 
 25. no verbal question f — That is, discourse, conversation, talk. 
 
 32. That is, her outcries were accompanied or drenched with 
 tears. 
 
 Scene IV. 
 
 11-15. Dr. Kellogg says: "This reply is significant, and worthy 
 of careful attention, as embracing a brief summary of almost the 
 only true principles recognized by modern science, and now car- 
 ried out by the most eminent physicians in the treatment of the 
 insane." 
 
 Scene V. 
 
 33- give him this : — Perhaps a ri)ig, or some token. 
 
 197
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Scene VI. 
 
 15. samphire : — In Shakespeare's time the cliffs of Dover were 
 celebrated for the production of this herb. It is thus spoken of 
 in Smith's History of Waterford, 1774: "Samphire grows in 
 great plenty on most of the seacliffs in this country. It is terrible 
 to see how people gather it, hanging by a rope several fathom 
 from the top of the impending rocks, as it were in the air." It 
 was made into a pickle and eaten as a relish. This use of it is 
 mentioned in Drayton's Polyolbion. 
 
 49. The substance called gossamer is formed of the collected 
 webs of spiders. Some think it the down of plants ; others the 
 vapour arising from boggy or marshy ground in warm weather. 
 The etymon of this word, which has puzzled lexicographers, is 
 said to be summer goose or summer gauze, hence " gauze o' the 
 summer." 
 
 74. men's impossibilities: — Things that seem to men impossible. 
 The incident of Gloucester being made to believe himself ascend- 
 ing, and leaping from, the chalky cliff appears to be a very notable 
 case of inherent improbability overcome in effect by opulence of 
 description. 
 
 82. His master: — His for its here evidently refers to sense. 
 Edgar is speaking of Lear's fantastical dress, and judges from 
 this that he is not in his safer sense ; that is, in his senses. 
 
 122. That minces virtue, etc. : — Puts on an outward affected 
 seeming of virtue. Cotgrave explains mineux-se, " Outzvard seem- 
 ing, also squeamish, quaint, coy, that minces it exceedingly." 
 
 184. zvaivl and cry : — This may have been taken from Pliny, as 
 translated by Holland : " Man alone, poor wretch, nature hath 
 laid all naked upon the bare earth, even on his birthday to cry 
 and zvrazvlc presently from the very first houre that he is borne 
 into this world." 
 
 188, 189. to shoe . . . felt : — We learn from Lord Herbert's 
 Life of King Henry VHI. that such a thing was actually done at 
 the tournament held at Lisle in 15 13: the horses, to prevent their 
 slipping on a black stone pavement, zvere shod with felt or Hocks. 
 So, too, in Fenton's Tragical Discourses, 1567: "He attyreth 
 himself for the purpose in a nightgowne girt to hym, with a 
 payre of shoes of felte, leaste the noyse of his feete might discover 
 his golnge." We should understand that when Lear goes to 
 preaching he takes off his hat and holds it in his hand, as preach- 
 ers were wont to do in the Poet's time. 
 
 198
 
 KING LEAR Notes 
 
 191. This was the cry formerly in the English army when an 
 onset was made on the enemy. 
 
 206. there 's life in 't : — The case is not yet desperate. 
 
 217, 218. the main descry, etc : — The main body is expected to 
 be descried every hour. 
 
 Scene VII. 
 
 25. Louder the music : — Shakespeare considered soft music as 
 favourable to sleep. Lear, we may suppose, had been thus com- 
 posed to rest ; and now the Doctor desires louder music for the 
 purpose of waking him. 
 
 36-38. Mine enemy's dog, etc : — Verplanck tells us that Jarvis, 
 the American painter-artist, used often to quote this passage as 
 accumulating in the shortest compass the greatest causes of dis- 
 like, to be overcome by good-natured pity. " It is not merely the 
 personal enemy, for whom there might be human sympathy, that 
 is admitted to the family fireside, but his dog, and that a dog that 
 had inflicted his own share of personal injury, and that, too, upon 
 a gentle being from whom it was not possible that he could have 
 received any provocation." 
 
 ACT FIFTH. 
 Scene I. 
 
 45,46. Your business, etc.: — All designs against your life will 
 have an end. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 27. this note: — This is a warrant signed by Edmund and 
 Goneril, for the execution of Lear and Cordelia, referred to later. 
 
 65. immediacy : — This apt and forcible word is probably of the 
 Poet's own coinage. Nares says that " the word, so far as is 
 known, is peculiar to this passage." Of course the meaning is, 
 that Edmund has his commission directly from her, and not 
 through any one else ; that is, he is her lieutenant, not Albany's. 
 So in Hamlet we have "the most immediate to the throne." 
 
 72. look'd but asquint : — Alluding to the proverb, " Love being 
 jealous makes a good eye look a-squint." So in Milton's Comus: 
 *' And gladly banish squint suspicion." 
 
 79. To obstruct their union lies not in your power. 
 
 118, 119. Ask him, etc.: — This is according to the old cere- 
 
 199
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 monial of the trial by combat in cases criminal. Thus in Selden's 
 Duello : " The appellant and his procurator first come to the 
 gate. The constable and marshal demand by voice of herald, 
 what he is, and why he comes so arrayed." 
 
 141. In wisdom, etc. : — Because, if his adversary were not of 
 equal rank, Edmund might decline the combat. 
 
 150. Where they, etc. : — To that place where they shall rest for- 
 ever ; that is, in Edgar's heart. 
 
 185. That we, etc. : — " To die hourly the pains of death," is a 
 periphrasis for to suffer hourly the pains of death. 
 
 264. Fall and cease : — To cease is to die. Albany is looking with 
 attention on the pains employed by Lear to recover his child, and 
 knows to what miseries he must survive, when he finds them to 
 be ineffectual. Having these images present to his eyes and 
 imagination, he cries out, " Rather fall, and cease to be at once, 
 than continue in existence only to be wretched." 
 
 297. this great decay: — That is Lear. Shakespeare means the 
 same as if he had said, " this piece of decayed royalty." Glouces- 
 ter calls him in a preceding Scene " ruin'd piece of nature." 
 
 305. my poor fool: — This is not a reference to the Fool, but an 
 expression of tenderness for Cordelia, on whose lips Lear is still 
 intent, and dies while he is searching there for indications of life. 
 
 309. Pray you, undo this button : — " Scarcely," says The Quar- 
 terly Review, April 1833, " have the spectators of this anguish 
 had time to mark and express to each other their conviction of 
 the extinction of his mind, when some physical alteration, made 
 dreadfully visible, urges Albany to cry out, ' O, see, see ! ' The 
 intense excitement which Lear had undergone, and which lent 
 for a time a supposititious life to his enfeebled frame, gives place 
 to the exhaustion of despair. But even here, where any other 
 mind would have confined itself to the single passion of parental 
 despair, Shakespeare contrives to indicate by a gesture the very 
 train of internal physical changes which are causing death. The 
 blood gathering about the heart can no longer be propelled by 
 its enfeebled impulse. Lear, too weak to relieve the impediments 
 of his dress, which he imagines cause the sense of suffocation, 
 asks a bystander to ' undo this button.' " 
 
 322. My master, etc. : — His beloved Lear. " Kent is, perhaps," 
 says Coleridge, " the nearest to perfect goodness in all Shake- 
 speare's characters. . . . His passionate affection for, and 
 fidelity to, Lear act on our feelings in Lear's own favour : virtue 
 itself seems to be in company with him." 
 
 200
 
 KING LEAR 
 
 Questions on King Lear. 
 
 I. Give the date of composition. Mention some of the pre- 
 Shakespearian forms of the story and show wherein they differ 
 from Shakespeare. What is the duration of the action of the 
 play? Is the underplot, that concerning Edgar and Gloucester, 
 to be found in the old plays ? 
 
 ACT FIRST. 
 
 2. What two things in the dialogue between Kent and Glouces- 
 ter (Sc. i.) indicate the problems that the play will work out? 
 
 3. In the division of the kingdom was the share of each daugh- 
 ter to be equal? What distinction did Lear make, if any, in 
 terms expressive of his personal regard for the three sisters? 
 
 4. How did each sister answer him? 
 
 5. How do you judge Cordelia's attitude towards her father? 
 What trait does she share in common with her father that doubt- 
 less accounts for her attitude? 
 
 6. What part in the situation does Kent play? 
 
 7. Do the exigencies of the moment alone account for the sum- 
 mary way Lear disposes of the Earl of Kent ? 
 
 8. What poetic justice do you feel in Cordelia's marriage? 
 
 9. How early in the play do the consequences of Lear's rash- 
 ness begin to overtake him? 
 
 10. Of Edmund's soliloquy in Sc. ii. Coleridge says, " As soon 
 as a man cannot reconcile himself to reason, his conscience flies 
 off by way of appeal to Nature." Do you adopt the adverse crit- 
 icism implied or have you something to say for Edmund? 
 
 11. How does the intrigue of Edmund, which may be said to 
 be an underplot, resemble the main plot? Where is this intrigue 
 summarized in a sentence? 
 
 12. What state of mind is indicated in Goneril by her charging 
 her father (line 4) with gross crime? 
 
 13. What indications do you see in Sc. iii., aside from the ex- 
 pressed apprehension of Lear, of his approaching madness? 
 
 201
 
 Questions THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 14. What dramatic uses do the sallies of the Fool serve? Why, 
 do you understand, does Kent return disguised? 
 
 15. What impression do you get of Albany in Sc. iv. ? What is 
 his attitude towards Lear? Towards his wife? 
 
 16. What allusion in Sc. v. does Lear make to Cordelia? 
 
 17. Describe the underplay of Lear's thought while he banters 
 with the Fool. 
 
 ACT SECOND. 
 
 18. What complications of the action are prophesied in the 
 dialogue between Edmund and Curan? Why do Cornwall and 
 Regan come to Gloucester's castle? How does this journey ad- 
 vance the fortunes of Edmund? 
 
 19. Does it seem that Edgar plays too easily into the hands of 
 Edmund? How does Cornwall hear the strange news mentioned 
 in line 89? How does Regan comment to Gloucester on Edgar's 
 supposed perfidy? 
 
 20. Of what arrayal of opposing forces are we made aware, 
 by hints as well as by facts ? 
 
 21. Indicate the ironic quality of Kent's speech, line 9, Sc. ii. 
 
 22. Tn what character does Kent display himself in the second 
 Scene? 
 
 23. In Cornwall's speech" on bluntness (102 et seq.) does Shake- 
 speare suit the speech to the occasion ; to the speaker ; or does 
 he merely take occasion for the statement of a general truth? 
 
 24. To what disaster does Kent come? 
 
 25. What does Edgar determine upon doing, as disclosed in 
 the third Scene? 
 
 26. What account of a preceding action do you get from Kent 
 (Sc. iv.) that helps to explain the animus of Kent in his scene 
 with Oswald? 
 
 27. Explain the transitions of feeling in Lear in his talk (Sc. 
 iv.) with Regan. Where is the climax of this interview? What 
 example of supreme dramatic intuition is here exhibited? 
 
 28. In actual fact, is Regan any more cruel towards Lear than is 
 Goneril? Which has the greater power of arousing abhorrence? 
 
 29. Wherein resides the cruelty of the daughters' act in de- 
 priving Lear of his train, since the motives they allege may be 
 said to conform to reason? How does Lear suggest the answer? 
 Would his emotional state permit him to stop and reason at this 
 point ? 
 
 .».. 202
 
 KING LEAR Questions 
 
 30. What are the passions with which his nature is stirred? 
 
 31. What preparation for the following Act does this Scene 
 provide ? 
 
 ACT THIRD. 
 
 32. What emotional purpose is served in the first Scene? What 
 mechanical purpose which concerns the plot? 
 
 SS. Does the madness of Lear reach its climax of sublimity in 
 the second Scene? Is the pitch so high that the two preceding 
 Scenes are necessary to prepare for it? What proof have you 
 that Lear has not yet wholly lost his reason? 
 
 34. What fitness to the time is seen in the Fool's song? 
 
 35. Why is Sc. iii. set in prose? Does this Scene mark the 
 climax of the subplot ; if so, where do you find the climax of the 
 main plot? What is the most intimate connecting link between 
 the two plots ? 
 
 36. In contrasting the madness of Lear and Edgar, what evi- 
 dences do you find showing it to be real in one case and assumed 
 in the other? • 
 
 Sy. At what point does Lear's reason really desert him? 
 
 38. In Sc. v, what turn do Edmund's machinations take? What 
 reward is he promised? 
 
 39. What form does Lear's madness take in the sixth Scene? 
 What do Edgar and the Fool attempt in relation to it? 
 
 40. What is the significance of the Fool's last words, / '// go to 
 bed at rwon? Why does he/ disappear from the play at this point? 
 
 . 41. What action does Gloucester take to circumvent the daugh- 
 ters in their further purposes against Lear? 
 
 42. How are Gloucester's secret efforts in the King's behalf 
 discovered? 
 
 43. Who suggests the punishment that is visited upon Glouces- 
 ter? 
 
 44. Aside from the personal violence that is offered to Glouces- 
 ter, from what spiritual offense does he try to dissuade his per- 
 secutors? 
 
 45. Contrast the poetry of Gloucester's speech (vi. 56) with 
 the speeches put into the mouths of Regan, Goneril, and Corn- 
 wall. Why does imagery seem unfit to the expression of their 
 thoughts and purposes? 
 
 46. How does Gloucester learn of the treachery of Edmund? 
 
 47. Is this Scene too brutal for representation on the stage? 
 
 203
 
 Questions THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 What alleviating element turns the spectator's feeling from horror 
 to pity? 
 
 ACT FOURTH. 
 
 48. What foreshadowing of Edgar's future fortune does his 
 soliloquy, with which the Act opens, contain? 
 
 49. Describe the philosophical nature of Edgar's reflections in 
 Sc. i. How does the sight of Gloucester modify Edgar's earlier 
 optimism? 
 
 50. Comment on this example of Shakespeare's use of contrast 
 as an effective dramatic element. 
 
 51. Comment on the irony of Gloucester's words to Edgar. 
 What is its peculiar character? 
 
 52. What request does Gloucester make of Edgar? 
 
 53. Why has Albany taken no part in the action up to this 
 point? What opinion of his character do you get from the ac- 
 counts of Oswald and of Goneril? 
 
 54. What is the effect on the spectator of the amorous passage 
 between Edmund and Goneril? Explain (ii. 14, 15) Our wishes 
 on the way may prove effects. 
 
 55. What profound general truth (ii. 46) is expressed by Al- 
 bany? Where is a similar thought uttered in reflection upon the 
 nature of Regan? 
 
 56. What effect upon the complexion of events do we look to 
 find resulting from the death of Cornwall ? In what respects will 
 Albany supply his place? 
 
 57. What is foreshadowed in Goneril's 
 
 May all the building in my fancy pluck 
 Upon my hateful life? 
 
 How has Goneril been instrumental in defeating her own dearest 
 purposes? 
 
 58. What is the dramatic character of the third Scene? What 
 portends from the enforced return to his own country of the 
 King of France? 
 
 59. What similarity to and what difference from our previous 
 impression of Cordelia does the account of her in this Scene 
 furnish? 
 
 60. Where else (besides line 35) in the play is there allusion to 
 the stars as governing the courses of men? 
 
 204
 
 KING LEAR Questions 
 
 6i. From Kent's report of Lear do we judge that he still retains 
 some powers of reason? 
 
 62. What preparation does Sc. iv. make for the crowning scene 
 of Lear's madness? 
 
 63. How does Sc. v. advance the plot in regard to the relations 
 of Edmund and Gloucester ; of Regan and Goneril ; of Edmund 
 and Regan ? What is one made to feel here about the impending 
 mutual disaster of the conspirators? Is there any passion in Re- 
 gan's regard for Edmund? 
 
 64. What means does Edgar employ for curing Gloucester of 
 his suicidal purposes? What parallelism is there between this 
 and the way the Fool tries to check the growing madness of 
 Lear? 
 
 65. What is Shakespeare's descriptive method in the passage 
 in Sc. vi. beginning line 11? How does he secure largeness of 
 view? 
 
 66. Is there sublimity in this final exhibition of Lear's mania? 
 What thoughts are most frequently recurrent in his mind? 
 
 67. What profit did Oswald intend to make out of Gloucester? 
 What types similar to Oswald do you recall in other plays of 
 Shakespeare ? 
 
 68. How is Edgar put in possession of facts that give to him 
 the controlling hand in the game that is to follow? 
 
 69. What reward does Kent desire for his services? What 
 further development of the action is prepared for by him? 
 
 70. How are the events connected with Lear leading up to the 
 present briefly summarized? What are the remedies proposed 
 by the Doctor for the cure of Lear's derangement? What is the 
 emotional effect of Lear's return to sanity? 
 
 71. How does the end of Act IV. prepare for catastrophe? 
 How are the events not intimately concerning Lear summarized? 
 
 ACT FIFTH. 
 
 72. What purposes are becoming paramount in the minds of the 
 sisters ? 
 
 73. What does Edgar's speech to Albany foreshadow? 
 
 74. How does Edmund, at the close of Sc. i. complete the state- 
 ment of the problem with which the Scene opened? 
 
 75. What law of tragedy demands the defeat of Cordelia's 
 
 205
 
 Questions THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 army? Why does no Scene represent the conflict, as in so many 
 of Shakespeare's plays? 
 
 76. What delicacy of art does Shakespeare show in not bringing 
 the three sisters face to face again? Is it comparable to a similar 
 delicacy in the case of Octavia and Cleopatra? Does one feel 
 that the tiger is rising in Cordelia as shown by the line, 
 
 Shall zve not see these daughters and these sisters f 
 
 77. What comment (Sc. iii. 8 et seq.) on Shakespeare's era does 
 Lear furnish? 
 
 78. What do you understand to be the instructions contained in 
 the note Edmund gives to the officer? 
 
 79. Has Edmund met any check in his career before his dif- 
 ference with Albany in the third Scene? What is the last as- 
 sumption of this interloper? How has he all along played a part 
 of impostor consistent with his birth? 
 
 80. "What caused the sudden illness of Regan? What is its 
 dramatic effect? 
 
 81. What double action is taking place in this Scene. How 
 does Goneril quit it? 
 
 82. Mention the order of fatalities as they occur in the Scene. 
 What dramatic effect is produced? 
 
 83. In the last act of Edmund's life what palliating touch does 
 the Poet allow? 
 
 84. Hamlet closes with a note of optimism. Can the same be 
 said of King Lear? 
 
 85. What is the reply of Kent to Albany's expressed will that he 
 share in the rule of the realm? 
 
 86. Dramatic art requires that all catastrophe be led up to by 
 gradual stages, that events be foreshadowed. Does Shakespeare 
 in King Lear present especially notable examples of this law? 
 Mention some instance where the law is observed. 
 
 87. What difference do you see between the two sisters in force 
 of character? Which took the initiative part? 
 
 88. Is there any hint in this play of Christian religion or 
 ethics? 
 
 89. As an example of Shakespeare's resourcefulness, collect to- 
 gether the various expressions used in reference to the blinded 
 eyes of Gloucester. 
 
 206 
 
 k
 
 KING LEAR Questions 
 
 90. Even with the modern development of stage effects, do 
 you think King Lear a play fit for stage representation ? 
 
 91. Would you prefer that Shakespeare had followed the lines 
 of the old story, and made Cordelia set her father again upon the 
 throne, and rule after him a while? Or does the high pitch of 
 passion demand death as the only adequate end? 
 
 92. What was there in the character of Regan whereby she 
 deceived Lear longer than Goneril had done? 
 
 93. When does Edgar learn for the first time that his father 
 has been deceived? 
 
 94. What point in the development of the underplot does this 
 mark ? 
 
 95. What was the function of the Fool in developing the idea 
 of the plot? 
 
 96. Is any play of Shakespeare's so complex in plot? Is there 
 anything in this complexity that seems to interfere with simplicity 
 of action? 
 
 97. Your estimate of the character of Edmund, as compared 
 with lago, for instance? 
 
 98. In this play are not the characters that might be called 
 minor more forceful in individuality than in other plays — say 
 Macbeth, Hamlet? 
 
 99. Coleridge has called Kent the nearest approach to pure 
 goodness of any character conceived by Shakespeare. Comment 
 upon this. 
 
 100. Mention some specimens of literature written since King 
 Lear and evidently inspired by it. 
 
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