Have follow'd

your sad steps.

Lear.

You are welcome hither.

Kent. Nor no man else: all's cheerless, dark and

deadly.

Your eldest daughters have fordone themselves,

And desperately are dead.

Lear.

Ay, so I think.

Alb. He knows not what he says, and vain is it That we present us to him.

Edg.

Very bootless.

Enter a Captain.

Capt. Edmund is dead, my lord.

Alb.

That's but a trifle here.

You lords and noble friends, know our intent.
What comfort to this great decay may come
Shall be applied: for us, we will resign,
During the life of this old majesty,

To him our absolute power: [To Edgar and Kent] you, to

your rights;

With boot, and such addition as your honours

Have more than merited.

All friends shall taste

is it ] Ff. it is Qq.

295. Enter...] Enter Captaine. Qq. Enter a Messenger. Ff (after him). Enter an Officer. Capell.

296. Capt.] Q2. Cap. Q.Q3. Mess.
F. Mes. FF3F4. Off. Capell.
296-303. That's......merited.] As
in Ff. Prose in Qq.

296. here] om. Pope.
298. great] om. Qq.

301. [To Edgar and Kent] Ma-
lone. To Edg. Rowe. om. QqFf.
you, to your] to you, your

290

295

300

The wages of their virtue, and all foes

The cup of their deservings. O, see, see!

Lear. And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life!

Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,

And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never!

Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.

Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,
Look there, look there!

Edg.

305

310

[Dies.

Look up, my lord.

He faints. My lord, my lord! Kent. Break, heart; I prithee, break!

Edg.

Kent. Vex not his ghost: O, let him pass! he hates him That would upon the rack of this tough world

Stretch him out longer.

Edg

He is gone indeed.

Kent. The wonder is he hath endured so long:

He but usurp'd his life.

Alb. Bear them from hence. Our present business

Is general woe. [To Kent and Edgar] Friends of my soul, you twain

305. O, see, see!] Given to Lear by Hanmer.

306–310. And..............sir.] As in Ff. Prose in Qq.

306. poor fool poor soul Anon. conj. (Gent. Mag. LX. 402). pure soot (i. e. sweet) Becket conj.

No, no, no] Ff. no, no Qq.

307. have] of Qz 308. Thou'lt] Ff. O thou wilt Qq. 309. Never] Five times in Ff. Thrice in Qq.

conj.

Never] No, never Seymour

310. you] om. QxQ3.
310-312. sir. Do...there!] sir, 0,

315

320

Rule in this realm and the gored state sustain.
Kent. I have a journey, sir, shortly to go;
My master calls me, I must not say no.

Alb. The weight of this sad time we must obey,
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
The oldest hath borne most: we that are young
Shall never see so much, nor

live so long.

[Exeunt, with a dead march.

325

NOTES.

NOTE I.

ACT I. SCENE I. The acts and scenes are marked throughout in the Folios, but not in the Quartos.

NOTE II.

1. 1. 25, 26. There is a curious example of careless printing here in the third Quarto, which reads:

'Bast. No my Lord.

Glo. My services to your Lordship.

unrable friend.

Kent. I must love you &c.'

NOTE III.

I. I. 36. and tis our fast intent.' 'This,' says Warburton, 'is an interpolation of Mr Lewis Theobald, for want of knowing the meaning of the old reading in the Quarto of 1608, and first folio of 1623; where we find it-and 'tis our FIRST intent, which is as Shakespear wrote it.' Warburton's error was corrected by Johnson.

NOTE IV.

1. 1. 80-84. The reading given in the except as otherwise stated in the foot note.

text is that of the Folios, The first Quarto, which is

followed, except in the spelling of a word or two, by the rest, has:

'but now our ioy,

Although the last, not least in our deere loue,

What can you say to win a third, more opulent
Then your sisters.'

Pope reads:

'Now our joy,

Although our last, not least; to whose young love,
The vines of France, and milk of Burgundy,
Strive to be int'rest: what say you to draw
A third, more opulent than your sisters? speak.'

Capell:

'Now, our joy,

Although the last, not least in our dear love,
What can you say, to win a third more opulent
Than your two sisters?'

Malone first gave the passage exactly as it stands in our text.

NOTE V.

I. I. 114. This and other anonymous conjectures are found in MS. in an imperfect copy of the second Quarto of 1608, now in the British Museum (C. 34. k. 17). Besides those which we have quoted there are many others made by the MS. corrector which agree either with the other Quartos or with the Folios..

NOTE VI.

I. I. 220. Hanmer, adopting Rowe's alteration, reads the whole passage thus:

The next lines he also alters thus:

'Cor. I yet beseech your Majesty, (if so

I want that glib and oily art, to speak
And purpose not, since what I well intend,
I'll do't before I speak) that you make known &c.'