Kent. I will not sleep, my lord, till I have delivered your letter.

[Exit.

Fool. If a man's brains were in's heels, were't not in danger of kibes?

Lear. Ay, boy.

Fool. Then, I pr'ythee, be merry; thy wit shall not 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 is like an apple, yet I can tell what I can tell.

Lear. What canst tell, boy?

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.

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 his head in; not to give it away to 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 wouldest make a good fool.

0 - yet I can tell what I can tell.] So the folio: the quartos, "Yet I con what I can tell" i. e. “I know what I can tell," which may be the right reading, though the text of the folio seems preferable. Lower down, in the Fool's answer to Lear, the quartos have not " indeed," which is found in the folio.

Lear. To take it again perforce!-Monster ingratitude!

Fool. If thou wert my fool, nuncle, I'd have thee beaten for being old before thy time.

Lear. How's that?

Fool. Thou shouldst not have been old before 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?

Gent. Ready, my lord.

Lear. Come, boy.

Fool. She that's a maid now, and laughs at my de

parture,

Shall not be a maid long, unless things be cut shorter.

[Exeunt.

ACT II. SCENE I.

A Court within the Castle of the Earl of GLOSTER.

Enter EDMUND and CURAN, meeting.

Edm. Save thee, Curan.

Cur. And you, sir. I have been with your father, and given him notice, that the duke of Cornwall, and Regan his duchess, will be here with him to-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-bussing arguments'.

7

but ear-BUSSING arguments?] A play, probably, upon bussing and buzzing: the folio has it "ear-kissing."

Edm. Not I: pray you, what are they?

Cur. Have you heard of no likely wars toward, 'twixt the dukes of Cornwall and Albany?

Edm. Not a word3.

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 queazy question,

Which I must act.-Briefness, and fortune, work!—
Brother, a word;-descend :-brother, I say;

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; 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.

8 Not a word.] This and the preceding speech are in the quarto with the publisher's address, and in the folio, but not in the other quartos. In the next line the folio alone reads, "You may do, then, in time." Other variations are hardly worth particular notice.

9 Which I must ACT.-Briefness, and fortune, WORK!] The quartos give this line, "Which must ask briefness and fortune help.”

1 Advise YOURSELF.] The quartos "Advise your-" as if the sentence were incomplete from Edgar's interruption.

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 GLOSTER, and Servants with Torches.

Glo. Now, Edmund, where's the villain?

Edm. Here stood he in the dark, his sharp sword out,

Mumbling of wicked charms, conjuring the moon

To stand auspicious mistress.

Glo. Pursue him, ho!-Go after.-[Exit Serv.] 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,
Seeing how loathly opposite I stood
To his unnatural purpose, in fell motion,
With his prepared sword he charges home
My unprovided body, lanc'd mine arm:
But when he saw my best alarum'd spirits,

2 Do more than this in sport.] Many passages might be produced from writers of the time to show, that young men out of gallantry sometimes stabbed their arms, in order to be able to drink the healths of their mistresses in blood. 3 MUMBLING of wicked charms,] The quartos "Warbling of charms," evidently a misprint.

did all THEIR THUNDERS bend ;] So the quartos: the folio "all the thunder bend." Lower down the folio alone reads, "latch'd mine arm," for "lanc'd mine arm." Latch'd, which in "Midsummer Night's Dream," Vol. ii. p. 427, seems used for licked, cannot be right here.

Bold in the quarrel's right, rous'd to th' encounter,
Or whether gasted by the noise I made,

Full suddenly he fled.

Glo.

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:

By his authority I will proclaim it,

That he, which finds him, shall deserve our thanks,
Bringing the murderous coward 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, would the reposals
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'd turn it all

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."

Glo.
Strong and fasten'd villain!
Would he deny his letter?-I never got him2.

[Tucket within.

5 My worthy ARCH] i. e. chief, now used, as Steevens states, only in composition, as arch-duke, arch-angel, arch-fiend, &c.

6

the murderous cOWARD] In the quartos, "murderous caitiff." And found him FIGHT to do it,] i. e. pitched, in the sense of fixed or deter

mined.

8

would the reposal] The quartos "could the reposure."

My very character,] i. e. my own hand-writing. In the next line, for "practice" of the folios, the quartos have pretence.

1- and potential SPURS] "Spurs," the reading of the quartos, for spirits of the folio, is here evidently to be preferred. The same remark will apply to the next line, where the folio reads poorly "O, strange and fasten'd villain," which, besides, does not suit the measure.

2 I never got him.] For this passage the folio merely has, said he, in refer