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;

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

Cor.

me;

For, as I am a man, I think this lady

To be my child Cordelia.

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.

61. So reads the folio: the words, "not an hour more nor less," are not in the quartos. Those words have been unceremoniously cast out by divers editors, as having no business in the text. We quote, and cordially endorse, Knight's remarks on the subject: Malone says, "The folio absurdly adds, not an hour more nor less; that is, not an hour more nor less than an indeterminate number, for such is fourscore and upwards.' Why, who is speaking? One who speaks logically and collectedly? No! one who immediately after says, 'I fear I am not in my perfect mind.' It was the half-consciousness of the 'foolish fond old man' which Shakespeare meant to express by the mixture of a determinate and an indeterminate idea; a depth of poetical truth which Steevens and Ritson call 'the interpolation of some foolish player.””—H. N. H.

Cor.

Lear. Am I in France?
Kent.

Lear. Do not abuse me.

No cause, no cause.

In your own kingdom, sir,

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 Earl of Kent in Germany.

Kent. Report is changeable. 'Tis time to look

79. “kill'd"; so Ff.; Qq., "cured"; Collier conj. "quell'd."-I. G. 79-80. Omitted in the Folios.-I. G.

91

80. Mrs. Jameson has the following not more beautiful than just remark of this wonderful scene: "The subdued pathos and simplicity of Cordelia's character, her quiet but intense feeling, the misery and humiliation of the bewildered old man, are brought before us in so few words, and sustained with such a deep intuitive knowledge of the innermost working of the human heart, that as there is nothing surpassing this scene in Shakespeare himself, so there is nothing that can be compared with it in any other writer.”H. N. H.

85-98. Omitted in the Folios.-I. G.

about; the powers of the kingdom approach
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 colors, Edmund, Regan, 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
self-reproving: bring his

And

pleasure.

constant

[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 honor'd love.

Reg. But have you never found my brother's

way

To the forfended place?

Edm.

10

That thought abuses you. Reg. I am doubtful that you have been conjunct And bosom'd with her, as far as we call hers.

11-13, omitted in the Folios.-I. G.

13. "bosom'd"; taken into her confidence.-C. H. H.

Edm. No, by mine honor, madam.

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 colors, Albany, Goneril, and Soldiers.

Gon. [Aside] I had rather lose the battle than that

sister

Should loosen him and me.

Alb. Our very loving sister, well be-met.

20

Sir, this I hear; the king is come to his daughter,

With others whom the rigor of our state

Forced to cry out. Where I could not be hon-
est,

I never yet was valiant: for this business,
It toucheth us, as France invades our land,
Not bolds the king, with others, whom, I fear,
Most just and heavy causes make oppose.

Edm. Sir, you speak nobly.

Reg.

Why is this reason'd?

Gon. Combine together 'gainst the enemy;

17. That is, "here she comes, and the duke her husband." The speech is commonly pointed as if interrupted and left incomplete, thus: "She, and the duke her husband,-”—H. N. H.

18-19, 23-28, omitted in the Folios.-I. G.

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.-I. G.