As full of grief as age; wretched in both!
If it be you, that& ftir thefe daughters' hearts
Against their father, fool me not h so much
To bear it i tamely; touch me with noble anger; .
* O let not womens' weapons, water-drops,
Stain my man's cheeks. No, you unnatural hags,
I will have fuch revenges on you both,

That all the world fhall-I will do fuch things-
What they are, yet I know not; but they shall be
The terrors of the earth. You think, I'll weep;
No, I'll not weep.-

-

I have full caufe of weeping; m but this heart
Shall break into a n hundred thousand flaws
Or ere I weep. O fool, I fhall go mad.

[Exeunt Lear, Glo'fter, Kent, and Fool.

SCEN E XIII.

Corn. Let us withdraw, 'twill be a ftorm.

[Storm and tempeft.

Reg. This houfe is little; the old man and his people

Cannot be well beftow'd.

The qu's and fo's read firs.

The 1ft q. reads to; the 2d too for fo.

i The qu's read lamely.

k The fo's and R. read and for 0.

1 H. reads though before I have, to make up the omiffion of but in this

line, in w ich he had followed R.

So all before P. who, with all after, omits but.

So all before P. he and all after omit hundred.

The qu's read flowes for flaws.

The qu's and 1ft f. read Ile for I.

Gonz

1

Gon. 'Tis his own blame; he 'ath put himself from reft, And needs must taste his folly.

Reg. For his particular, I'll receive him gladly; But not one follower.

Gan. So am I purpos'd.

Where is my lord of Glofter?

Enter Glo'fter.

Corn. Follow'd the old man forth. He is return'd.
Glo. The king is in high rage.

* Corn. Whither is he going?

Glo. He calls to horfe; but will I know not whither.
Corn. 'Tis beft to give him way, he leads himself.
Gon. My lord, intreat him by no means to stay.

Glo. Alack, the night comes on, and the u bleak winds Do forely rufsle, for many miles about

W

There's not a bush.

Reg. O fir, to wilful men,

The injuries, that they themselves procure,

Must be their schoolmafters. Shut up your doors:

He is attended with a desperate train,

And what they may incenfe him to, being apt

To have his ear abus'd, wisdom bids fear.

Corn. Shut up your doors, my lord; 'tis a wild night. My Regan counfels well: come out o'th' form.

So H. for he hath; all other editions bath.

What is in italic is not in the qu's, P. T. W. and 7

The qu's, P. T. W. and J. read and for but.

The qu's read good for best.

So the qu's; the rest high for bleak.

w The fo's, R. T. W. and J. read ruffle for russle.

So the qu's; the reft read fearce for not.

[Exeunt.

ACT

ACT III.

SCENE I,

A Heath.

s c

A form is heard, with thunder and lightning. Enter Kent, and a Gentleman, feverally.

Kent.

WHAT's here, beside foul weather?

Gent. One minded like the weather, most unquietly. Kent. I know you. Where's the king?

Gent. Contending with the fretful elements;

Bids the wind blow the earth into the fea;

Or fwell the curled waters 'bove the moon,

a So the qu's; the reft read who's there, befides, &c. The qu's read element.

Though all the editions have main, it is very likely Shakespeare wrote moon, which is much better, because it more strongly expreffes (according to Shakespeare's custom) the confusion which Lear in his rage would have introduced into nature; befides main is ambiguous, applicable to fea or land: it is ufed of land only by feamen that I know of: the poets always underftood by this word the main fea. The effect of overflowing the land is not fo great nor fo certain confusion: the fea often does that and returns to his nfual bounds: whereas the fwelling of the waters above the moon is ontirely præternatural, and beft answers the madness of bidding the wind blow the earth into the fea. There is a strong resemblance between this passage in Shakespeare and the following of Æfchylus in hisPrometheus vindus; who talks of fwelling the fea, not above the moon, but above the very stars.

· χθόνα δ' ἐκ πυθμένων

*Αὐταῖς ῥίζαις πνεῦμα κραδαίνοι,
Κῦμα δὲ πόντω τραχεῖ ῥοθίῳ

Συγχώσειεν, τῶν τ' ἐρανίων
Ατρων διόδεις

That

That things might charge or ceafe; d tears his white hair, Which the impetuous blafts with eyeless rage

Catch in their fury, and make nothing of;

• Strives in his little world of man t'out-fcorn

The to-and-fro conflicting wind and rain.

This night, wherein the cub-drawn bear would couch,

The lion, and the belly-pinched wolf

Keep their fur dry; unbonneted he runs,

And bids what will, take all.

Kent. But who is with him?

Gent. None but the Fool, who labours to out-jeft

His heart-ftruck injuries.

Kent. Sir, I do know you, And dare upon the warrant of Commend a dear thing to you. (Although as yet the face of it

With mutual cunning) 'twixt

Albany and Cornwall,

*Who have (as who have not, that their great ftars
in Thron'd and fet high?) fervants, who seem no less;
Which are to France the fpies and fpeculations
Intelligent of our flate: what hath been feen,
Either in fnuffs and packings of the dukes;

d What is in italic is omitted by the fo's and R.

• P. and H. omit the two following lines.

f P. and H. read in which for wherein.

The qu's read art for note.

h So the qu's; the rest is for be.

P. and H. read craft for cunning.

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

1 So the fo's, and R.'s 8vo; the rest whom for that.

m T.'s 12mo, W. and J. read throne.

P.'s 12mo reads have for bath.

Or the hard rein, which both of them have born
Against the old kind king; or something deeper,
Whereof, perchance, thefe are but furnishings--
"But true it is, from France there comes a power
"Into this scatter'd kingdom, who already
"Wife in our negligence, hath fecret fee
"In fome of our best ports, and are at point
"To fhew their open banner.

-Now to you,
"If on my credit you dare build fo far
"To make your speed to Dover, you shall find
"Some that will thank you, making just report,
“Of how unnatural and ⚫ bemadding forrow
"The king hath cause to plain.

"I am a gentleman of blood, and breeding,
"And from fome knowledge and affurance offer
"This office to you."

Gent. "I will talk further with you.

Kent. No, do not.

For confirmation that I am much more

Than my out-wall, open this purfe and take
What it contains. If you fhall fee Cordelia,
(As, fear not but you fhall) fhew her this ring,
And she will tell you who that fellow is

• The ift f. reads bath for have.

P Thefe lines with commas prefixed are not in the fo's.

For featter'd, H. reads fhatter'd, W. fcathed.

So the ad q. and J.; the 1ft feet for fee; P. T. and H. fea; W. feize.

P. and H. madding for bemadding.

So the qu's; P. and all the rest read

Ofer this office.

and affurance of you,

P. and all after read I'll.

"So the qu's and fo's; the rest that for this.

* So the fo's. For that the qu's read your; R. and all after this.

7

That