Puslapio vaizdai
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The images of revolt and flying off.

* Fetch me a better anfwer.

Glo. My dear lord,

You know the fiery quality of the duke,
How unremoveable and fixt he is

In his own course.

Lear. Vengeance! y plague! death! confufion!2 What fiery quality? Why, Glofter, a Glofter, I'd fpeak with th duke of Cornwall, and his wife.

Glo. Well, my good lord, I have inform'd them fo. Lear. Inform'd them? Doft thou understand me, man? Glo. Ay, my good lord.

Lear. The king would fpeak with Cornwall; the dear

father

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Would with his daughter fpeak, commands her fervice;
Are they inform'd of this?-My breath and blood!--
Fiery? the fiery duke? tell the hot duke, that—f
No, but not yet; may be, he is not well;

Infirmity doth fill neglect all office,

Whereto our health is bound; we're not ourselves,
When nature, being oppreft, & commands the mind

* So all before P.; he and all after bring for fetch.

The qu's place death before plague.

2 So the qu's; the fo's and R. read fiery? what quality? P. and all after

fiery? what fiery quality?

So all before P.; he and all after read Glofler only once.

b Thefe two fpeeches in italic are not in the qu's.

The fo's read commands, tends, fervice; R. command tends fervice,

d The qu's omit this line.

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The qu's read fiery duke, tell the hot duke that Lear.

f Here J. puts a direction, [Glo'ster offers to go. So that he makes

Glo'fter going, not with half his errand, but without any

The ft q. reads command.

of it.

Το

To fuffer with the body. I'll forbear;

And am fallen out with my more ↳ headier will,

To take the indifpos'd and fickly fit

For the found man.-Death on my ftate! [Looking on Kent.
Wherefore should he fit here? this act k perfuades me,
That this remotion of the duke and her

Is practice only. Give me my fervant forth.

1 Go, tell the duke and 's wife, I'd fpeak with them. Now! presently! bid them come forth and hear me, Or at their chamber-door I'll beat the drum,

Till it cry, fleep to death.

Glo. I would have all well betwixt you.

[Exit.

Lear. "Oh me, my heart, my rifing heart! but down. Fool. Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the eels, when she put them i'th' paste alive; ' she rapt 'em o'th' coxcombs with a stick, and cry'd, down wantons, down. 'Twas her brother that in pure kindness to his horse butter'd his " hay.

t

h P. and H. read heady for headier.

i After ftate P. reads but; followed by all after; but then wherefore is

by them, made a part of this line, as in the folio's.

k H. reads perfuadeth.

1 The qu's omit go.

m The qu's read Ile for I'd.

n This speech in the qu's is only O my heart! my heart.

• The 2d, 3d, and 4th fo's, R. P. and H. read he for fhe.

P The ad q. reads put um up i'th', &c.

4 The xft q. páft; the 2d, the fo's, and R. pafte; P. and all after pasty, But who ever heard of an eel-pafly?

R. P. and H. read he for fe.

The fo's and R. knapt for rapt.

The 3d and 4th qu's, R. P. and H. read his for her.

The ad and 3d fo's hey for hay.

SCENE

SCENE XI.

Enter Cornwall, Regan, Glo'fter, and fervants.

Lear. Good morrow to you both.

Corn. Hail to your grace.

[Kent is fet at liberty.

Reg. I am glad to fee your highnefs.

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W

Lear.. Regan, I think you are; I know what reafon
I have to think fo; if thou " fhouldft not be glad,
I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb,
Sepulchring an adultrefs. O, are you free?
Some other time for that. Beloved Regan,
Thy fifter's naught: oh Regan, he hath tied
Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture here;

[Points to his

heart.

I can scarce speak to thee; thou'lt not believe,
Of how deprav'd a quality—Oh Regan!
Reg. I pray you, fir, take patience; I have hope,
You lefs know how to value her defert,

Than fhe to a fcan her duty.

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So all before P.; he and all after read wert not for should not be.

The qu's read yea for 0.

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

The qu's read depriv'd for deprav'd.

* The qu's read flacke her duty; the fo's, R. P. T. W. and J. fcant her

duty; H. fean her duty; J. propofes this emendation, without telling us that

H. has made it.

b These two fpeeches in italic are not in the qu's,

So all before P.; he and H. omit fay.

F

Would

Would fail her obligation. If, fir, perchance
She have reftrain'd the riots of your followers,
'Tis on fuch ground, and to fuch wholefome end,
As clears her from all blame.

Lear. My curfes on her!
Reg. O fir, you are old;

Nature in you stands on the very verge
Off her confine; you should be rul'd and led
By some discretion, that difcerns your state
Better than you yourself: therefore I pray & you,
That to our fifter you do make return;

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Do you

1 but mark, how this becomes me now: Dear daughter, I confefs that I am old;

Age is unnecessary; on my knees I beg,

[Kneels.

That you'll vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food.
Reg. Good fir, no more: these are unfightly tricks;
Return you to my fifter.

So all before P.; he and all after omit fir.

The qu's read on for in.

f The 1ft q. his for her.

The qu's omit you.

h The fo's and R. omit fit.

i The qu's omit but.

k For me now, the qu's, fo's, R. P. W. and J. read the house, which W. interprets, the order of families, the duties of relation, which are scandalously disturbed by the father's fubmiffion to the daughter. H. reads becometh us. T. the ufe; but who ever said, this becomes the custom or use? What agrees with custom, or rather nature; does indeed become the perfon who uses it. We make it better fenfe by reading me now, and referring it to what follows, which infers a fortiori that much less would it become him to afk his daughter forgiveness.

Lear.

Lear. Never, Regan:

She hath abated me of half my train;

Look'd black upon me; ftruck me with her tongue,
Moft ferpent-like, upon the very heart.

All the stor❜d vengeances of heaven fall

On her ingrateful" top! Strike her young bones, •You taking airs, with lamenefs !

Corn. P Fie, fir, fie.

Lear. You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames Into her scornful eyes! infect her beauty,

Ye fen-fuck'd fogs, drawn by the pow'rful fun

To fall, and a blast her pride!

Reg. O the bleft Gods!

So will you wish on me, when the rash mood r is on.
Lear. No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curfe:

• Thy tender-hefted nature shall not give

Thee o'er to harfhnefs; her eyes are fierce, but thine
Do comfort, and not burn. 'Tis not in thee
To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train,
To bandy hafty words, to fcant my fizes,

The qu's read no, Regan!

The 2d q. reads back; T. blank.

n P. and H. read head for top.

• For you taking, P. reads infecting. Is not this an unwarrantable licence to alter at this rate, when the word was intelligible enough, and, no doubt, agreeable to the language of that time. This alteration is the more furprizing, because P. has retained the fame word afterwards in the fame sense, Act iii. Sc. vi. "Blefs thee from whirlwinds—and taking, &c."

P The qu's read fie, fie, fir.

For blaft her pride the fo's and R. read blifter.

The qu's omit is on; and have a dash signifying interruption after mood. • The qu's read the tender-hefted, &c. R.'s 12mo and P. tender-hearted. So all but 7.

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