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,
But other of your infolent retinue,

Do hourly carp and quarrel, breaking forth
In rank and not to be endured riots.

1 thought by making this well known unto you,
T' have found a fafe redress; but now grow fearful,
By what yourself too late have spoke and done,
That you protect this course, and put it on
By your allowance; if you should, the fault
Would not 'fcape cenfure, nor the redreffes fleep;
Which, in the tender of a wholesome weal,
Might in their working do you that offence,
(Which elfe were fhame,) that then neceffity
Will call difcreet proceeding.

Fool. For you know, nuncle,

The hedge-fparrow fed the Cuckoo fo long,
That it had its head bit off by its Young;

So out went the candle, and we were left darkling.
Lear. Are you our daughter?

[wifdom,
Gon. I would, you would make ufe of your good
Whereof I know you are fraught, and put away
Thefe difpofitions, which of late tranfport you
From what you rightly are.

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;
Who is it that can tell me who I am?

Lear's fhadow? I would learn; for by the marks
Of fovereignty, of knowledge, and of reason,
I fhould be falfe perfuaded I had daughters.
B 2

Your

Your name, fair gentlewoman?.

Gon. This admiration, Sir, is much o' th' favour
Of other your new pranks. I do beseech you,
To understand my purposes aright.

You, as you're old and reverend, fhould be wife.
Here do you keep a hundred Knights and Squires,
Men fo diforder'd, fo debauch'd and bold,
That this our Court, infected with their manners,
Shews like a riotous Inn; Epicurism and luft
Make it more like a tavern or a brothel,
Than a grac'd Palace. Shame itself doth speak
For inftant remedy. Be then defir'd

By her, that elfe will take the thing she begs,
Of fifty to difquantity your train;
And the remainders, that fhall ftill depend,
To be fuch men as may befort your age,
And know themselves and you.

Lear. Darkness and devils!

Saddle my horfes, call my train together..
Degen'rate baftard! I'll not trouble thee;
Yet have I left a daughter.

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,
Than the fea-monster,

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!
Sufpend thy purpose, if thou didst intend

To make this creature fruitful:
Into her womb convey fterility,
Dry up in her the organs of increase,
And from her derogate body never spring
A babe to honour her! If the muft teem,
Create her child of fpleen, that it may live,
And be a thwart difnatur'd torment to her;
Let it ftamp wrinkles in her brow of youth,
With candent tears fret chanels in her cheeks: (11).
Turn all her mother's pains and benefits

To laughter and contempt; that she may feel,
How fharper than a ferpent's tooth it is,

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)
Pierce every fense about thee! Old fond eyes,
Beweep this caufe again, I'll pluck ye out,
And caft you, with the waters that you lofe,
To temper clay. Ha! is it come to this?
Let it be fo: I have another daughter,
Who, I am fure, is kind and comfortable;
When the fhall hear this of thee, with her nails
She'll flea thy wolfifh vifage.
That I'll refume the shape,
I have caft off for ever.

Thou fhalt find,
which thou doft think
[Ex. Lear and attendants.

Gon. Do you mark that?
Alb. I cannot be fo partial,
To the great love I bear
Gon. Pray you, be content.

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,
So the fool follows after.

[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;
What he hath utter'd, I have writ my fifter;
If she'll sustain him and his hundred Knights,
When I have fhew'd th' unfitnefs-

How now, Ofwald?

Enter Steward.

What, have you writ that letter to my fifter?
Stew. Ay, Madam.

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,
And haften your return.

No, no, my lord,

[Exit Sterward.

This milky gentleness and courfe of yours,
Though I condemn it not, yet, under pardon,
You are much more at tafk for want of wisdom,
Than prais'd for harmful mildness.

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