To thank thee for the love thou fhewedft the King,
And to revenge thine eyes. Come hither, friend,
Tell me what more thou knoweft.
[Exeunt.

SCENE, Dover.

Enter KENT, and a Gentleman.

Kent. The King of France fo fuddenly gone Know you

the reaion?

[back !. Gent. Something he left imperfect in the itate, Which fince his coming forth is thought of, which Imports the kingdom to much fear and danger, That his return was moft required and neceflary. Kent. Who hath he left behind him General? Gent. The Marefchal of France, Monfieur le Far. Kent. Did your letters pierce the Queen to any demonftration of grief?

Gent. Ay, Sir, the took 'em, read 'em in my prefence;

And now and then an ample tear trilled down
Her delicate cheek: it feemed fhe was a Queen
Over her paflion, which, most rebel-like,
Sought to be king o'er her.

Kent. O, then it moved her-

Gent. But not to rage. Patience and forrow ftrove

Which fhould express her goodlieft; you have seen Sunshine and rain at once-her fmiles and tears (44)

(44)-her fmiles and tears

Were like a better day.] Mr Pope, who thought fit to restore this fcene from the old Quarto, tacitly funk this paffage upon us, becaufe he did not understand it. Indeed it is corrupt; and he might have done himself fome honour in attempting the cure; but rhime and criticism, he has convinced us, do not always center in the fame perfon. My friend Mr Warburton, with very happy fagacity, ftruck out the emendation which I have inferted to the text. And in

Were like a wetter May.

Those happieft fmiles,

That played on her ripe lip, feemed not to know
What guests were in her eyes, which parted thence,
As pearls from diamonds dropt.—In brief,
Sorrow would be a rarity most beloved,

If all could fo become it.

Kent. Made the no verbal queftion?

Gent. Yes, once or twice the heaved the name of Father

Pantingly forth, as if it preffed her heart.

Cried, Sifters, fitters!-Shame of Ladies! fifters ! Kent! father! fifters! What? i' the ftorm? i' the night?

Let. Pity ne'er believe it !-----there fhe shook
The holy water from her heavenly eyes;

And clamour-motioned, then away the started (45)
To deal with grief alone.

confirmation of it I must observe, that it is very familiar with our Poet, in the defcription of perfons, to allude to the feafons of the year. To give a few inftances; Much Aas about Nothing:

Defpight his nice fence and his active practice,

His May of youth and bloom of luftyhood.

Rich. 11.

My Queen to France, from whence, fet forth in pomp,
She came adorned hither like sweet May;

Sent back, like Hallowmas, or shortest day.

Timon of Athens ;

She whom the fpittle-house and ulc'rous fores
Would caft the gorge at, this embalms and spices
To the April day again.

Hamlet;

-O rofe of May!

Dear maid kind fifter! &c.

(45) Anu clamour-moistened,] This paffage, again, Mr Pope firk upon us; and for the fame reafon, I fuppofe. Mr Warburton difcovered likewife, that this was corrupt: for though clamour (as he observes) may distort the mouth, it is not wont to moiften the eyes. But clamour-motioned conveys a very beautiful idea of grief in Cordelia, and exactly

Kent. It is the stars,

The stars above us govern our conditions;
Elfe one felf-mate and mate could not beget 1.
Such different iffues. Spoke you with her fince?
.Gent. No.

Kent. Was this before the King returned?
Gent. No, fince.

Kent. Well, Sir, the poor diftreffed Lear's in town;

Who fometines in his better tune remembers
What we are come about, and by no means
Will yield to fee his daughter.

Gent. Why, good Sir?

Kent. A fov'reign fhame fo bows him: his un kindness,

That ftripped her from his benediction, turned her To foreign cafualties, gave her dear rights

To his dog-hearted daughters; there things fling

him

So venomoufly, that burning fhame detains him
From his Cordelia.

Gent. Alack, poor gentleman!

1. Kent. Of Albany's and Cornwall's powers you Gent. 'Tis fo, they are a-foot... [heard not? Kent. Well, Sir, I'll bring you to our master Lear,

in character. She bore her grief hitherto, fays the relater, in filence: but being no longer able to contain it, and wanting to vent it in groans and cries, the flies away and retites to her closet to deal with it in private. This he finely calls clamour-motioned, or provoked to a loud expretion of her forrow, which drives her from company! It is not impoffible but Shakespeare might have formed this fine picture of, Cordelia's agony from Holy' writ, in the conduct of Jofeph; who, being no longer able to reftrain the vehemence of his affection, commanded all his retinue from his prefence; and then wept aloud, and difcovered himself to his brcthren.

And leave you to attend him. Some dear cause
Will in concealment wrap me up awhile:
When I am known aright, you fhall not grieve
Lending me this acquaintance. Pray, along with
[Exeunt.

me.

SCENE, a Camp

Enter CORDELIA, Phyfician, and Soldiers.

Cor. Alack, 'tis he; why, he was met even now! As mad as the vexed fea, finging aloud,

Crowned with rank fumiter, (46) and furrow. weeds,

With 'hardocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers,
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that. grow

In our fustaining corn. Send forth a cent'ry;
Search every acre in the high-grown field,
And bring him to our eye. What can man's wifdom

(46) Crowned with rank fenitar,] There is no fuch herb or weed that I can find, of English growth; though all the copies agree in the corruption. I dare fay I have reftored its right name; and we meet with it again in our Author's Henry V. and partly in the fame company as we have it here;

her fallow leaves

The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory
Do root upon.

For this weed is called both famitory and fumiter, nearer to the French derivation fume-terre, which the Latin fhopinen term fumaria. It is the fame which by Pliny (from Diofcorides and the other Greek phyficians) is named xxvos: because the juice of it has the effect, which smoke has, of making the eyes water. And as to the growth of it. Pliny tells us particularly that it fprings up in gardens and fields of barley; Nefcitur in hortes et fegetibus hordeaceis) which our Author here calls, in our fustaining corn.-I obferve, in Graucer, it is written femetere; by a corruption either of the fcribe, or of vulgar pronunciation; if of the latter, it might from thence easily flide, in progrefs of time, into fenitar.

In the restoring his bereaved fenfe?

He that helps him, take all my outward worth.
Phyf. There are means, Madam:

Our fotter-nurfe of Nature is repofe,

The which he lacks; that to provoke in him,
Are many fimples operative, whose power
Will clofe the eye of Anguish.

Cor. All bleffed fecrets,

All you unpublifhed virtues of the earth,
Spring with my tears; be aidant and remediate
In the good man's distress! feek, feek for him;
Left his ungoverned rage diffolve the life-

That wants the means to lead it.

Enter a Meffenger..

Mef. News, Madam:

The British powers are marching hitherward.-
Cor. 'Tis known before. Our preparation itands
In expectation of them. O dear father,

[France
It is thy bufmess that I go about: therefore great
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 !

SCENE, Regan's Palace.

Enter REGAN and Steward.

[Exeunt.

Reg. But are my brother's powers set forth?

Stew. Ay, Madam.

Reg. Himself in perfon there?

at Stew. With much ado:

Your fifter is the better foldier.

Reg. Lord Edmund fpake not with your Lady au

Stew. No, Madam.

[home?

Reg. What might import my fifter's letter to him?