Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

Conferring them on younger * strengths, 1 while we Unburden'd crawl tow'rd death. Our fon of Cornwall,

And you, our no less loving fon of Albany,

We have this hour a constant will to publish

Our daughters' feveral dow'rs, that future ftrife

May be prevented now. - The princes, France, and Burgundy, Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love,

Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,

And here are to be answer'd. Tell me, my daughters,

(Since now we will divest us both of rule,

Interest of territory, cares of state)

Which of you, shall we say, doth love us most ?

That we our largest bounty may extend

Where nature doth with merit challenge. Gonerill,

Our eldest born, speak first.

Gon. Sir, I do love you more than words can * wield

the matter,

Dearer than eye-fight, space, and liberty;

Beyond what can be valued rich or rare;

No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;

i The qu's read confirming.

* The qu's read years for strengths.

I What is in italic is omitted in the qu's.

m The qu's read The two great princes, &c. The 3d and 4th fo's read

prince for princes.

So the qu's; all the rest younger.

• The 3d and 4th fo's omit me.

PP. omits my, followed by the after-editors.

4 These two lines are omitted in the qu's.

The qu's read, Where merit doth most challenge it, Gonerill, &c.

$ This line is omitted by P. and all after but J. in the room of which

they put I love you, fir.

The fo's, R. and J. omit do.

u The fo's, and R. read word.

The ad q. reads weild.

As

[ocr errors]

As much was child e'er lov'd, or father found;

A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable,

y Beyond all manner of fo much I love you.

Cor. What shall Cordelia do? love and be filent. [Afide. Lear. Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,

2

With fhadowy forests, band with champains rich'd,
With plenteous rivers, and wide-fkirted meads,

We make thee lady.

Be this perpetual.

To thine and Albany's iffue

What fays our fecond daughter?

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Our dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall, fpeak.

Reg. f Sir, I am made of the self-fame metal that my fifter is; And prize me at her worth. In my true heart

I find, the names my very deed of love;

h Only she comes too fhort; that I profess

1

Myself an enemy to all other joys,

Which the most precious i fquare of fenfe k poffeffes,

And

w The qu's read a for as; and

* Friend for found.

Beyond, &c. i. e. Beyond all imaginable extent of whatever I have yet

expreffed. Heath.

2 The fo's and R. read speak for do.

a The qu's read shady.

b The words in italic omitted in the qu's.

So the 1ft f. the ad and all after champions.

So the qu's; the rest of for to.

• The fo's and R. omit speak.

f So the qu's; the reft read, I am made of that felf mettle as my fifter, and prize, &c.

There is no ftop in the qu's after worth; but in the fo's a period, which feems to give the better fenfe. Upon examining her own fincere heart, she finds her love equal to her fifters, nay greater.

b The qu's read, Only she came fort, &c.

By the fquare of fenfe, we are here to understand the four nobler senses, viz. the fight, hearing, taße, and smell: for a young lady could not, with

A 3

decency,

And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear highness' love.

Cor. Then poor Cordelia!

And yet not so, since I am fure, my love's
More pond'rous than m my tongue.

Lear. To thee and thine, hereditary ever,
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom;
No less in space, validity, and pleasure,
Than that conferr'd on Gonerill. Now our joy,
Although our last, not least; to whose young love,
The vines of France, and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interess'd. What can you say to win
A third, more opulent than your sisters? Speak.
Cor. Nothing, my lord.
"Lear. Nothing!
u Cor. Nothing.

[Afide.

decency, infinuate she knew of any pleasures which the fifth afforded. This is imagined and expressed with great propriety and delicacy. W.

But by square of fenfe, Shakespear seems rather to understand the whole compass or extent of sense, without regard to any particular number, as W. supposes. Besides, by an exclusion of the fifth from the number of the senses he makes the lady infinuate the idea of that very pleasure which he represents her as affecting to feem totally ignorant of.

H. reads fpirit for square.

* The fo's and R. read profefsses.

1 The qu's read, More richer.

ra W. fays we should read their tongue. See Heath in loc.

The qu's road confirm'd.

• Before now the qu's read but.

The qu's read, not least in our dear love, what can you fay, &c.

The fo's, R. and P. read intereft.

P. and all after him read, What fay you, &c.

• So the qu's; all the rest read draw for win.

The qu's omit fpeak.

These two freeches are not in the qu's.

Lear.

W

X

Lear. Nothing can come of nothing; speak again.

Cor. Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty

According to my bond, nor more nor less.

Lear. How, how, Cordelia? mend your fpeech a little, Left it may mar your fortunes.

Cor. Good my lord,

You have begot me, bred me, lov'd me: I
Return those duties back, as are right fit;

Obey you, love you, and most honour you.
Why have my fifters hufbands, if they fay,

They love you, all? haply when I shall wed,
That lord, whofe hand must take my plight, fhall carry
Half my love with him, half my care and duty."

с

Sure, I fhall never marry like my fifters,

To love my father, all.

e

Lear. But goes thy heart with this?

Car. Ay, my good lord.

Lear. So young, and fo untender?

Cor. So young, my lord, and true.

Lear. Well, let it be fo; 8 thy truth then be thy dower: For by the facred radiance of the fun,

The qu's read How? Nothing can come, &c.
So the qu's, T. W. and J. the reft will.
Y So the qu's; Steevens, not; the rest no.
The qu's read Go to, go to, mend, &c.
So the qu's; the reft read you for it.
The fo's and R. read happily.

• R.'s oft. merry.

The fo's and R. omit thefe words in italic.

The qu's read, But goes this with thy heart?

f All but the qu's omit Well.

■ The 3d and 4th fo's and R. read the for thy.

A 4

The

The mysteries of Hecate, and the i night,
By all the k operations of the orbs,

From whom we do exist, and cease to be,

Here I difclaim all my paternal care,

Propinquity and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me

Hold thee, from this, for ever. The barbarous Scythian,

Or he that makes his generation, messes

To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well-neighbour'd, pitied, and reliev'd,

As thou, my fometime daughter.

Kent. Good my liege

Lear. Peace, Kent!

[ocr errors]

Come not between the dragon and his wrath.

I lov'd her most, and thought to set my rest

On her kind nursery. Hence, mand avoid my fight! [To Con.

So be my grave my peace, as here I give

Her father's heart from her. Call France-who stirs?

h The qu's read mistresse; the ist f. miferies.

i The qu's read might.

* The qu's and ist f. operation.

Call

I The qu's omit to my bosom.

m So all before P. who, with the after-editors, omits and.

All the modern editions direct the words, Hence, and avoid my fight, to be spoken to Cordelia; but they are undoubtedly addressed to Kent. For in the next words Lear fends for France and Burgundy, in order to tender them his youngest daughter, if either of them would accept her without a dowry. At fuch a time therefore to drive her out of his prefence would be a contradiction to his declared intention. Heath.

And for that very reafon I think, with fubmiffion, the words arè spoken to Cordelia, and not to Kent. It is plain, Cordelia had raised his fury to the highest pitch; Kent was not yet so far advanced; he had but just begun to speak, and that in the most respectful terms, Good my liege.-Lear, with all his rage, still retained so much love and respect for him, and fo much hope

of

« AnkstesnisTęsti »