You! did you?

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:
We'll no more meet, no more see one another :-
But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter;
Or rather a disease that's in my flesh,
Which I must needs call mine: thou art a boil,
A plague-sore, an * embossed carbuncle,
In my corrupted blood. But I'll not chide thee;
Let shame come when it will, I do not call it :
I do not bid the thunder-bearer shoot,
Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove:
Mend when thou canst; be better at thy leisure:
I can be patient; I can stay with Regan,
I and my hundred knights.

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,

(*) First folio, or.

To be a comrade with the wolf and owl,-
Necessity's sharp pinch !]

Mr. Collier's annotator changes this to,

"To be a comrade with the wolf, and howl Necessity's sharp pinch."

Must be content to think you old, and so—
But she knows what she does.
LEAR.
Is this well spoken?
REG. I dare avouch it, sir: what, fifty followers?
Is it not well? What should you need of more?
Yea, or so many, sith that both charge and danger
Speak 'gainst so great a number? How, in one
house,

Should many people, under two commands,
Hold amity? 'Tis hard; almost impossible.

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 chanc'd to slack ye,

We could control them. If you will come to me,
(For now I spy a danger) I entreat you
To bring but five and twenty; to no more
Will I give place or notice.

LEAR. I gave you all—

REG.

And in good time you gave it. LEAR.-Made you my guardians, my depositaries;

But kept a reservation to be followed
With such a number. What, must I come to you
With five and twenty? Regan, said you so?

REG. And speak 't again, my lord; no more
with me.

LEAR. Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favour'd,

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,
And thou art twice her love.
GON.
Hear me, my lord;
What need you five and twenty, ten, or five,
To follow in a house, where twice so many
Have a command to tend you?

REG.
What need one?
LEAR. O, reason not the need: our basest
beggars

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;
If only to go warm were gorgeous,

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,

44 - give me but patience," &c.

You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,
As full of grief as age; wretched in both!
If it be you that stir these daughters' hearts
Against their father, fool me not so much
To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger,
And let not women's weapons, water-drops,
Stain my man's cheeks !-No, you unnatural hags,
I will have such revenges on you both,
That all the world shall-I will do such things-
What they are, yet I know not;-but they shall be
The terrors of the earth. You think, I'll weep;
No, I'll not weep:-

I have full cause of weeping; but this heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws,
Or ere I'll weep.-O, fool, I shall
go mad!
[Exeunt LEAR, GLOUCESTER, KENT, and
Fool.-Storm heard at a distance.
CORN. Let us withdraw, 't will be a storm.
REG. This house is little; the old man and his
people

Cannot be well bestow'd.

[rest,

(*) First folio, high.

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 Keep their fur dry, unbonneted he runs, And bids what will take all.

KENT.

But who is with him? GENT. None but the fool; who labours to out-jest

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;

C

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*
Intelligent of our state; what hath been seen,
Either in snuffs and packings" of the dukes;
Or the hard rein which both of them have borne
Against the old kind king; or something deeper,
Whereof, perchance, these are but furnishings;-
But, true it is, from France there comes a power
Into this scatter'd kingdom; who already,
Wise in our negligence, have secret feet
In some of our best ports, and are at point
To show their open banner.-Now to you;
If on my credit you dare build so far
To make your speed to Dover, you shall find
Some that will thank you, making just report
Of how unnatural and bemadding sorrow
The king hath cause to plain.

I am a gentleman of blood and breeding;
And, from some knowledge and assurance, offer
This office to you.

GENT. I will talk further with you.
KENT.

No, do not.

For confirmation that I am much more
Than my out-wall, open this purse, and take
What it contains. If you shall see Cordelia,
(As fear not but you shall) show her this ring;
And she will tell you who your fellow is
That yet you do not know.-Fie on this storm!
I will go seek the king.

GENT. Give me your hand: have you no more to say?

KENT. Few words, but, to effect, more than all yet,

That, when we have found the king, (in which your pain

That way, I'll this) he that first lights on him
Holla the other.

[Exeunt severally.

SCENE II.—Another part of the Heath. Storm

continues.

Enter LEAR and Fool.

LEAR. Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!

rage! blow!

You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd† the cocks!

(*) First folio, that.
(+) First folio, drown.
Which are to France the spies and speculations
Intelligent of our state:]

For "speculations" we should perhaps read speculators, which formerly meant watchers, overlookers, observers, &c. Johnson proposed speculators, and Mr. Singer found the correction in a marginal note of his copy of the second folio.

b Either in snuffs and packings of the dukes:] "Snuffs" mean pelty dissentions, tifs: and “packings" signify plūts, intrigues,

&c.

e-furnishings;-] That is, according to Steevens, samples: but

spout, rain!

Spit, fire!

Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters:
I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness;
I never gave you kingdom, call'd you children,
You owe me no subscription; then let fall
Your horrible pleasure; here I stand, your slave,
A poor, infirm, weak, and despis'd old man :—
But yet I call you servile ministers,
That have with two pernicious daughters join'd
Your high-engender'd battles 'gainst a head
So old and white as this. O! O! 't is foul!
FOOL. He that has a house to put's head in,
has a good head-piece.

The cod-piece that will house,
Before the head has any,
The head and he shall louse ;-
So beggars marry many.
The man that makes his toe

What he his heart should make,
Shall of a corn cry woe,

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'aliodola, “To cog, to frist, to flatter, to give one Court-hollie water," &c.: and Mantellizzare, “To court one with faire words or give court-holy water"

That have with two pernicious daughters join'd-] The folio reads,

"That will with two pernicious daughters join,” &c.