Lear. A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all ! Off. 'Tis true, my lords, he did. Lear. Did I not, fellow? I have seen the day, with my good biting faulchion Kent. If fortune brag of two she lov'd and hated, Lear. This is a dull sight: Are you not Kent? Kent. The same; Your servant Kent: Where is your servant Caius? Kent. That, from your first of difference and decay, 6 Have follow'd your sad steps. Lear. You are welcome hither. Kent. Nor no man else'; all's cheerless, dark, and * If fortune brag of two she lov'd and hated, One of them we behold.] i, e. If Fortune, to display the plenitude of her power, should brag of two persons, one of whom she had highly elevated, and the other she had wofully depressed, we now behold the latter. 6 of difference and decay,] Decay for misfortunes. 7 Nor no man else;] Kent means, I welcome! No, nor no man else. Alb. He knows not what he says; and vain it is That we present us to him. Very bootless. Enter an Officer. Off. 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, s Shall be applied: For us, we will resign, During the life of this old majesty, To him our absolute power: - You, to your rights; [To EDGAR and KENT. With boot, and such addition as your honours The cup of their deservings. - O, see, see! Lear. And my poor fool is hang'd!1 No, no, no life: Pray you, undo this button2: Thank you, sir. - Look there, look there! 8 Edg. He faints! - My lord, my lord, Kent. Break, heart; I pr'ythee, break! - this great decay may come,] This great decay is Lear, this piece of decay'd royalty, this ruin'd majesty. 9 With boot,] With advantage, with increase. 1 And my poor fool is hang'd!] This is an expression of tenderness for his dead Cordelia, (not his fool, as some have thought,) on whose lips he is still intent, and dies away while he is searching there for indications of life. Poor fool, in the age of Shakspeare, was an expression of endearment. 2 Pray you, undo this button: The Rev. Dr. J. Warton judiciously observes, that the swelling and heaving of the heart is described by this most expressive circumstance. 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. O, he is gone, indeed. Kent. The wonder is, he hath endur'd so long : He but usurp'd his life. Alb. Bear them from hence. - Our present business Is general woe. Friends of my soul, you twain [To KENT and EDGAR. Rule in this realm, and the gor'd state sustain. Alb. The weight of this sad time we must obey; [Exeunt, with a Dead March. 3 The tragedy of Lear is deservedly celebrated among the dramas of Shakspeare. There is perhaps no play which keeps the attention so strongly fixed; which so much agitates our passions, and interests our curiosity. The artful involutions of distinct interests, the striking oppositions of contrary characters, the sudden changes of fortune, and the quick succession of events, fill the mind with a perpetual tumult of indignation, pity, and hope. There is no scene which does not contribute to the aggravation of the distress or conduct of the action, and scarce a line which does not conduce to the progress of the scene. So powerful is the current of the poet's imagination, that the mind which once ventures within it, is hurried irresistibly along. On the seeming improbability of Lear's conduct, it may be observed, that he is represented according to histories at that time vulgarly received as true. And, perhaps, if we turn our thoughts upon the barbarity and ignorance of the age to which this story is referred, it will appear not so unlikely as while we estimate Lear's manners by our own. Such preference of one daughter to another, or resignation of dominion on such conditions, would be yet credible, |