out a figure; I am better than thou art now; I am a fool, thou art nothing. Yes, forfooth, I will hold my tongue; [To Gonerill.] fo your face bids me, tho' you fay nothing. Mum, mum, he that keeps nor cruft nor crum, Weary of all, fhall want fome. [Singing. That's a fheal'd peafcod. Gen. Not only, Sir, this your all-licens'd fool, Do hourly carp and quarrel, breaking forth 1 thought by making this well known unto you, Fool. For you know, nuncle, The hedge-fparrow fed the Cuckoo fo long, So out went the candle, and we were left darkling. [wifdom, Fool. May not an afs know when the cart draws the horfe? whoop, Jug, I love thee. Lear. Does any here know me? this is not Lear: Does Lear walk thus? fpeak thus? where are his eyes? Either his notion weakens, his difcernings Are lethargied-Ha! waking-'tis not fo; Lear's fhadow? I would learn; for by the marks Your Your name, fair gentlewoman?. Gon. This admiration, Sir, is much o' th' favour You, as you're old and reverend, fhould be wife. By her, that elfe will take the thing she begs, Lear. Darkness and devils! Saddle my horfes, call my train together.. Gon. You ftrike my people, and your diforder'd rabble Make fervants of their betters. To them, Enter Albany. [come? Lear. Woe! that too late repents- -O, Sir, are you Is it your will, fpeak, Sir? prepare my horfes. Ingratitude! thou marble-hearted fiend, [To Albany, More hideous when thou fhew'ft thee in a child, Alb. Pray, Sir, be patient. Lear. Detefted kite! thou lieft. [To Gonerill, My train are men of choice and rarest parts, That all particulars of duty know; And in the moft exact regard fupport The worships of their names. O moft small fault! † A little is the common reading; but it appears, from rubat Lear says in the next Scene, that this number fifty was requir'd to be cut off, which (as the editions flood) is no where specify'd by Gonerill. Mr. Pope. How How ugly didst thou in Cordelia fhew? Which, like an engine, wrencht my frame of nature From the fixt 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 judgment ou:.-Go, go, my people. Alb. My lord, I'm guiltlefs, as I'm ignorant, Of what hath moved you. Lear. It may be fo, my lord Hear, Nature, hear; dear Goddefs, hear a Father! To make this creature fruitful: To laughter and contempt; that she may feel, To have a thanklefs child.-Go, go, my people. Alb. Now, Gods, that we adore, whereof comes this? Gon. Never affli&t yourself to know of it: But let his difpofition have that scope, That dotage gives it. Lear. What, fifty of my followers at a clap? Within a fortnight?. Alb. What's the matter, Sir? (11) With cadent tears,] Mr. Warburton very happily here fufpects our author wrote, candent; as an epithet of much more energy, and more likely to effect Lear's imprecation He brings in confirmation, what the king fays prefently after; That thefe hot tears, that break from me perforce, And what he fays towards the end of the 4th act: -but I am bound Upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears Do fcald like molten lead. Lear. I'll tell thee-life and death! I am afham'd, That thou haft power to shake my manhood thus; [To Gon. That these hot tears, which break from me perforce, Should make thee worth them.--blafts and fogs upon thee! Th' untented woundings of a father's curfe (12) Thou fhalt find, Gon. Do you mark that? you, Gonerill, What, Ofwald, ho! You, Sir, more knave than fool, after your mafter. Fool. Nuncle Lear, nuncle Lear, tarry, take the fool A Fox, when one has caught her, And fuch a daughter, Should fure to the flaughter, If my cap would buy a halter, [with thee: [Exit. (12) Th untender woundings,] I have here reftor'd the reading of all the genuine copies, which Mr. Pope had degraded; as it feems the moft expreffive, and conveys an image exactly fuiting with the poet's thought. 'Tis true, untender fignifies, sharp, fevere, harsh, and all the oppofites to the idea of tender. But as a wound untented is apt to rankle inwards, fmart, and fefter, I doubt not, but Shakespeare meant to intimate here; that a father's curfe fhall be a wounding of such a fharp, inveterate nature, that nothing fhall be able to tent it; i. e. to fearch the bottom, and help in the cure of it. We have a paffage in Cymbeline, that very ftrongly confirms this meaning, I've heard, I am a ftrumpet; and mine ear (Therein falfe ftruck) can take no greater wound, or tent to bottom that. Gon Gon. This man hath had good counsel,- a hundred 'Tis politick, and fafe, to let him keep [Knights! A hundred Knights; yes, that on ev'ry dream, Each buz, each fancy, each complaint, diflike, He may enguard his dotage with their pow'rs, And hold our lives at mercy. Ofwald, I fay. Alb. Well, you may fear too far ; Gon. Safer than truft too far. Let me ftill take away the harms I fear, Not fear ftill to be harm'd. I know his heart; How now, Ofwald? Enter Steward. What, have you writ that letter to my fifter? Gon. Take you fome company, and away to horfe; Inform her full of my particular fears, And thereto add fuch reafons of your own, As may compact it more. So get you gone, No, no, my lord, [Exit Sterward. This milky gentleness and courfe of yours, 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, th' event. [Exeunt. SCENE, a Court-yard belonging to the Duke Lear. of Albany's Palace. Re-enter Lear, Kent, Gentleman and Fool. Ga O you before to Glo'fter with these letters; acquaint my daughter no further with any thing you know, than comes from her demand out of B 4 the |