* I have to think so: if thou shouldst not be glad, I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb, Sepulchring an adultress.-O, are you free? [TO KENT. 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❜lt not believe, With how deprav'd a quality-O Regan! REG. I pray you, sir, take patience: I have hope, You less know how to value her desert, LEAR. LEAR. My curses on her! O, sir, you are old; LEAR. Ask her forgiveness? Do you but mark how this becomes the house: (5) Thy tender-hefted nature shall not give thine Do comfort, and not burn. 'Tis not in thee Good sir, to the purpose. LEAR. Who put my man i'the stocks? [Trumpets without. CORN. 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.- CORN. have good hope Thou didst not know on't.-Who comes here? O heavens, Enter GONERIL. Never, Regan! struck me with her If do love old men, you if your sweet sway Allowf obedience, if yourselves are old, (†) First folio omits, sir. a Say, how is that?] This and the next speech are not in the quartos. b You taking airs,-] To take, in old language, signified to blast, or infect with baneful influence. So in Act III. Sc. 4,"Bless thee from whirlwinds, star-blasting, and taking." e To fall and blast her pride!] The folio tamely reads,"To fall and blister." (*) First folio inserts, you. d Thy tender-hefted nature-] Tender-hefted is a very doubtfal expression; and "tender hested," the reading of the quartos, is not much less so: but we have not sufficient confidence in the substitution, "tender-hearted," which Rowe and Pope adopt, to alter the ancient text. 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; I 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! 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 To keep base life afoot.-Return with her! Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter To this detested groom. [Pointing to OSWALD. At your choice, sir. GON. LEAR. I pr'ythee, daughter, do not make me mad: I will not trouble thee, my child; farewell: 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, Is this well spoken? Must be content to think you old, and so— Should many people, under two commands, GON. Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance From those that she calls servants, or from mine? REG. Why not, my lord? If then they chane'd to slack ye, We could control them. If you will come to me, LEAR. I gave you all— And in good time you gave it. LEAR.-Made you my guardians, my depositaries; But kept a reservation to be followed LEAR. Those wicked creatures yet do look When others are more wicked; not being the worst Stands in some rank of praise.—I'll go with thee; [To GONERIL. Thy fifty yet doth double five and twenty, REG. Are in the poorest thing superfluous : Allow not nature more than nature needs, Man's life is cheap as beast's: thou art a lady; Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st, Which scarcely keeps thee warm.-But, for true need, You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need! b And Mr. Collier terms the alteration, "A fortunate recovery of what must have been the real language of the poet"! b You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need!] Mr. Collier's annotator reads, - give me but patience," &c. G You see me here, you gods, a poor old man, I have full cause of weeping; but this heart [Exeunt LEAR, GLOUCESTER, KENT, and Cannot be well bestow'd. [rest, KENT. I know you. Where's the king? Which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage, a Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main,-] That is, the main land. b That things might change or cease ;] The remainder of this speech is omitted in the folio. The lion and the belly-pinched wolf KENT. 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 With mutual cunning,-'twixt Albany and Cornwall; Who have (as who have not, that their great stars Thron'd and set high?) servants, who seem no less, (*) First folio, is. c Who have (as who have not, &c.] This and the seven following lines are omitted in the quartos, and the remainder of the speech commencing, "But, true it is," is left out of the folio. Which are to France the spies and speculations* open you If on my I am a gentleman of blood and breeding; GENT. I will talk further with you. No, do not. 'SCENE II. You sulphurous and thought-executing fires, Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunder-bolts, Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder, Strike flat the thick rotundity o'the world! Crack nature's moulds, all germens spill at once, That make ingrateful man! FOOL. O nuncle, court holy-water in a dry house is better than this rain-water out o'door. Good nuncle, in, and † ask thy daughters' blessing; here's a night pities neither wise men nor fools. Spit, fire! LEAR. Rumble thy bellyfull! The cod-piece that will house, What he his heart should make, 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. Enter KENT. KENT. Who's there? FOOL. Marry, here's grace and a cod-piece; that's a wise man and a fool. [night, KENT. Alas, sir, are you here? things that love Love not such nights as these; the wrathful skies (*) First folio, of. (†) First folio omits, and. the illustration he cites from the Epistle prefixed to Greene's "Groats-worth of Witte,"-"For to lend the world a furnish of witte, she lays her owne to pawne,"-is not conclusive. dcourt holy-water-] Glozing speeches. Florio translates, Dare l'allodola, "To cog, to foist, to flatter, to give one Court-hollie water," &c. and Mantellizzare, "To court one with faire words or give court-holy-water." e That have with two pernicious daughters join'd-] The folio reads, "That will with two pernicious daughters join," &c. |