Lear. Pray, do not mock me:
I am a very foolish fond old man,
Fourfcore and upward;

Not an hour more or lefs: and, to deal plainly,
I fear, I am not in my perfect mind.

Methinks, I fhould know you, and know this man;
Yet I am doubtful: for I am mainly ignorant,
What place this is; and all the skill I have,
Remembers not thefe garments; nor, I know not
Where I did lodge laft night. Do not laugh at me;
For, as I am a man, I think this lady

To be my child Cordelia.

If

Cor. And fo I am; I am.

Lear. Be your tears wet? Yes, 'faith.
weep not.

you have poison for me, I will drink it.
I know, you do not love me; for your fifters
Have, as I do remember, done me wrong:
You have fome cause, they have not.

· Cor. No caufe, no cause.

Lear. Am I in France?

Kent. In your own kingdom, Sir.
Lear. Do not abuse me.

I pray

Phyf. Be comforted, good madam: the great rage, You fee, is cur'd in him. [7 And yet 'tis danger To make him even o'er the time he has loft.]

whether thefe accidental refemblances proceed from imitation, or a fimilarity of thinking on the fame occafion, I can only point out this to the reader, to whofe determination I leave the queftion. STEEVENS.

5 I fear, I am not in my perfect mind.] The quarto reads, I fear, I am not perfect in my mind. JOHNSON. So one of the quartos. The other reads according to the present text. STEEVENS.

-

is cur'd―] Thus the quartos.

is kill'd.

STEEVENS.

The folio reads,

? And, yet, &c.] This is not in the folio. JOHNSON. 8 To make him even o'er the time-] i. e. To reconcile it to his apprehenfion. WARBURTON.

VOL. IX.

Gg

Defire

Defire him to go in; trouble him no more,
Till further fettling.

Cor. Will't please your highness walk?
Lear. You must bear with me;

Pray you now, forget and forgive: I am old and foolish.

[Exeunt Lear, Cordelia, Phyfician, and Attendants. [Gent. 9 Holds it true, Sir,

That the duke of Cornwall was fo flain?

Kent. Moft certain, Sir.

Gent. Who is conductor of his people?

Kent. As it is faid, the bastard fon of Glo'fter.
Gent. They fay Edgar,

His banifh'd fon, is with the earl of Kent

In Germany.

Kent. Report is changeable.

'Tis time to look about; the powers o' the kingdom Approach apace.

Gent. The arbitrement is like to be bloody.

Fare you well, Sir.

[Exit. Kent. My point and period will be throughly

wrought,

Or well, or ill, as this day's battle's fought.] [Exit.

What is printed in crotchets is not in the folio. It is at leaft proper, if not neceffary; and was omitted by the author, I fuppofe, for no other reafon than to fhorten the reprefentation. JOHNSON.

ACT

ACT V. SCENE I.

The camp of the British forces, near Dover.

Enter, with drums and colours, Edmund, Regan, Gentlemen, and Soldiers.

K

EDMUND.

NOW of the duke, if his laft purpose hold; Or whether fince he is advis'd by aught To change the courfe. He's full of alteration, And felf-reproving:-bring his conftant pleasure. Reg. Our fifter's man is certainly miscarry'd. Edm. 'Tis to be doubted, madam.

Reg. Now, fweet lord,

You know the goodness I intend upon you:

Tell me,-but truly,—but then speak the truth,

Do you not love my fifter?

Edm. In honour'd love.

[Reg. 3 But have you never found my brother's way To the 4 fore-fended place?

2

Edm. That thought abuses you.

of alteration,] One of the quartos reads,

of abdication. STEEVENS.

his conftant pleasure.] His fettled refolution. JOHNS. 3 But have you never, &c.] The first and laft of these speeches, printed in crotchets, are inferted in Sir Thomas Hanmer's, Theobald's, and Dr. Warburton's editions; the two intermediate ones, which were omitted in all others, I have restored from the old quartos, 1608. Whether they were left out thro' negligence, or because the imagery contained in them might be thought too luxuriant, I cannot determine; but fure a material injury is done to the character of the Baftard by the omission; for he is made to deny that flatly at firft, which the poet only meant to make him evade, or return flight answers to, till he is urged fo far as to be obliged to fhelter himself under an immediate falfhood. STEEVENS.

fore-fended place?] Fore-fended means prohibited, forbidden. STEEVENS.

Gg 2

Reg.

Reg. I am doubtful, that you have been conjunct
And 4 bofom'd with her, as far as we call hers.
Edm. No, by mine honour, madam.]

Reg. I never fhall endure her: dear my lord,
Be not familiar with her.

Edm. Fear me not.

She, and the duke her husband

Enter Albany, Gonerill, and Soldiers.

Gon. I had rather lose the battle, than that sister Should loofen him and ine.

[Afide.

Alb. Our very loving fifter, well be-met.-
5 Sir, this I hear; the king is come to his daughter,
With others, whom the rigour of our state
Forc'd to cry out. [Where I could not be honest,
I never yet was valiant: for this bufinefs,
It toucheth us, as France invades our land,

4

Not

bofom'd with her,-] Bofom'd is ufed in this sense by

Heywood, in The Fair Maid of the Weft, 1631;

"We'll crown our hopes and wishes with more pomp
"And fumptuous coft, than Priam did his fon
"That night he bofom'd Helen." STEEVENS.

Sir, this I hear,-to-make oppose,-] This is a very plain fpeech, and the meaning is, The king and others whom we have oppofed are come to Cordelia. I could never be valiant but in a just quarrel. We muft diftinguish; it is juft in one fenfe and unjust in another. As France invades our land I am concerned to repel him, but as he holds, entertains, and fupports the king, and others whom I fear many juft and heavy caufes make, or compel, as it were, to oppofe us, I esteem it unja to engage against them. This fpeech, thus interpreted according to the common reading, is likewife very necessary; for otherwife Albany, who is characterifed as a man of honour and obferver of juftice, gives no reafon for going to war with those, whom he owns had been much injured under the countenance of his power. Notwithstanding this, Mr. Theobald, by an unaccountable turn of thought, reads the fourth line thus,

I never yet was valiant: 'fore this bufinefs, &c. puts the two laft lines in a parenthefis, and then paraphrafes the whole in this manner. "r, it concerns me (tho' not the king

Not holds the king; with others, whom, I fear,
Most just and heavy causes make oppose.
Edm. Sir, you fpeak nobly.]

Reg. Why is this reafon'd?

Gon. Combine together 'gainst the enemy: For these domeftic and particular broils 8 Are not to question here.

Alb. Let us then determine

With the ancient of war on our proceeding. [Edm. I fhall attend you presently at your tent.] Reg. Sifter, you'll go with us?

Gon. No.

Reg. 'Tis moft convenient: pray you, go with us, Gon. [Afide.] Oh, ho, I know the riddle: I will

go.

As they are going out, enter Edgar disguised. Edg. If e'er your grace had fpeech with man fo

poor,

Hear me one word.

Alb. I'll overtake you. -Speak.

[Exeunt Edm. Reg. Gon. and Attendants. Edg. Before you fight the battle, ope this letter. If you have victory, let the trumpet found For him that brought it. Wretched though I seem,

"king and the difcontented party) to question about your "interest in our fifter, and the event of the war." What he means by this I am not able to find out; but he gives a reason why his reading and fenfe should be preferred. And Regan and Gonerill in their replies feem both apprehensive that this fubject was coming into debate. Now all that we can collect from their replies is, that they were apprehenfive he was going to blame their cruelty to Lear, Glo'iter, and others; which it is plain, from the common reading and the fenfe of the laft line, he was. WARB.

Moft juft and heavy caufes make oppofe.

• Not holds the king;] The quartos read bolds. STEEV. 7 For the domeftic and particular broils] This is the reading of the folio. The quartos have it,

For thefe domestic doore particulars. STEEVENS.
Are not to question here.] Thus the quartos. The folio reads,
Are not the question here. STEEVENS.

Gg3

I can