The tragedy of King Lear

List of Illustrations vii  About Longman Cultural Editions ix  About This Edition xi  Introduction xiv  Table of Dates xxii  King Lear 1  The Texts of King Lear 134  Contexts 139  Shakespeare’s Narrative and Dramatic Sources 141 RAPHAEL HOLINSHED, from “The Second Booke of the Historie of England” in The First and Second Volumes of Chronicles (1587) 144 From The True Chronicle History of King Leir and his three daughters . . . As it hath beene divers and sundry times lately acted (1605) 147 SIR PHILIP SIDNEY, from The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (1590) 154  The State 158 From An Exhortation Concerning Good Order and Obedience to Rulers and Magistrates (1570) 160 CHARLES MERBURY, from A Brief Discourse of Royal Monarchie, as of the Best Common Weale (1581) 162 SIR THOMAS SMITH, from De Republica Anglorum (1583) 163JAMES VI OF SCOTLAND, from The Trew Law of Free Monarchies (1599) 164JAMES I OF ENGLAND, from A Speech [. . .] delivered in the Upper House of Parliament on Monday the 19 March 1604, being the first day of the First Parliament 167 THOMAS SACKVILLE AND THOMAS NORTON, from Gorbuduc (1562) 169 SAMUEL HARSNETT, from A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures (1603) 173 The Household 176 MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE, from “Of the Affection of Fathers for Their Children” from The Essays (London, 1603) 179 WILLIAM GOUGE, from Of Domesticall Duties (1622) 184 JOSEPH SWETNAM, from The Arraignment of Lewde, Idle, Forward, and Unconstant Women (1615) 191JANE ANGER, from Her Protection for Women (1589) 193  Fools and Folly 194 ERASMUS, from A Letter to Martin Dorp (1515) 195 ROBERT ARMIN, from Foole upon Foole (1600) 196  “Good” and “Evil” 200 WILLIAM HARRISON, from “Of the Ancient Religion Used in Albion” (1587) 201 JEAN CALVIN, from Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536) 205 RICHARD HOOKER, from Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1593) 209 THOMAS HOBBES, from Leviathan (1651) 215 ST. AUGUSTINE, from The City of God, Book XIX (c. 413—427) 218  Early Readings and Rewritings 220  NAHUM TATE, from The History of King Lear (1681) 222 LEWIS THEOBALD, from The Censor (1715) 230 SAMUEL JOHNSON, from “Notes on King Lear” in The Plays of William Shakespeare (London, 1765) 233 GEORGE COLMAN, from the Preface to The History of King Lear (1768) 236CHARLES LAMB, from “On the Tragedies of Shakespeare, considered with reference to their fitness for stage representation” (1810) 238CHARLES LAMB, from “King Lear” in Tales from Shakespeare (1807) 241 WILLIAM HAZLITT, from The Characters of Shakespear’sPlays (1818) 247SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, from Lectures on Shakespeare (1818) 251 JOHN KEATS, “On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again” (1818) 254A. C. BRADLEY, from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth (1904) 255  Adaptations of King Lear 259  Further Reading 261