i

i

Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my chance,
Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France;
Not all the dukes c in wat'rish Burgundy
d Shall buy this unpriz'd, precious maid of me.
Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind;
Thou losest here, a better where to find.

Lear. Thou hast her, France; let her be thine, for we

Have no such daughter; nor shall ever fee

That face of her's again; therefore be gone

Without our grace, four love, our benizon.
Come, noble Burgundy.

[Flourish. Exeunt Lear and

France. Bid farewel to your sisters.
Cor. The jewels of our father, with wash'd eyes

Cordelia leaves you; I know h you what you are,
And, like a fifter, am most loth to call
Your faults as they are nam'd. Love well our father;
To your professed bosoms I commit him;
But yet, alas! stood I within his grace,
I would prefer him to a better place.

So farewel to you both.

The qu's read thy for my.

So the qu's; all the rest read of for in.

d So the qu's; all the rest read can for fhall.

Here and where are converted into nouns in this place.

f J. inferts without again before our love.

So the qu's, fo's, and R.'s octavo; all the rest read ye for the.

h All before R.'s duodecimo have you, all the rest omit it, except Steevens: So all before P. who alters profeffed to profeffing, followed by all the reft.

Be to content your lord, who hath receiv'd you

At fortune's alms; you have obedience scanted,

And well are worth them want that you have wanted.

Cor. Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides,
Who cover faults, at last ishame them derides.
Well may you profper!

Gon. Sister, it is not a little I have to fay

Of what most nearly appertains to us both.
I think our father' will hence to-night.

* The qu's give this speech to Gonerill, and the next to Regan.

1 So the qu's; all the rest read duty.

m The qu's read worth for want. H. reads And well are worthy te want, &c.

W. alters this to vaunted, and gives the following note;
wanted] This nonsense must be corrected thus,

And well are worth the want that you have vaunted.

i. e. that disherifon, which you so much glory in, you deferve. W.

But did she not rather glory in her modesty and fincerity, which occafioned that disherifon? The old reading is not elegant indeed, but it is intelligible: it is a kind of Hebraifm, like feeding feed, Gen. i. 29.

• The qu's read pleated; the fo's, R. and P.'s q. plighted; all the rest

plaited.

PH. reads cover'd; all other editions covers.

* So the qu's; all the rest read with shame for shame them.

The qu's omit my.

• P. alters I have to I've; followed by the rest.

* R. and all after read will go hence.

Reg

Reg. That's " most certain, and with you; next month

with us.

Gon. You see how full of changes his age is, the observation we have made of it hath not been little; he always lov'd our sister most, and with what poor judgment he hath now cast her off, appears too y grofly.

Reg. 'Tis the infirmity of his age; yet he hath ever but Menderly known himself.

Gon. The best and foundest of his time hath been but rash; then must we look, z from his age to receive not alone the • imperfections of long ingrafted condition, but therewithal the unruly waywardness, that infirm and choleric years bring with them.

Reg. Such unconstant c starts are we like to have from him, as this of Kent's banissiment.

Gon. There is further compliment of leave-taking between d France and him. Pray you, let us hit together. If our father carry authority, with such & dispositions as he bears,

this last surrender of his will but offend us. Reg. We shall further think hon't.

Gon. We must do something, and i'th' heat.

[Exeunt.

u In all the editions till P. who, with all after him, omits most. The fo's and R. omit not.

* The 2d, 3d, and 4th fo's, and R. read appears too too grossy. The qu's read groffe.

* The qu's read to receive from his age.

• The qu's read imperfection.

b The qu's omit the.

• The ad q. reads stars.

d Hanmer reads Burgundy for France.

• The qu's read pray let's hit, &c.

f Fo's, R. P. and H. read fit for bit.

So the qu's; all the rest disposition.

So the qu's; all the rest of it for on't.

B3

SCENE

i A castle belonging to the earl of Gloucester. Enter Bastard

with a letter.

Baft. Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law

My services are bound; wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The courtesy of nations to deprive me,

For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines
Lag of a brother ? m Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,

My mind as generous, and my shape as true,
As honest madam's issue?

Why brand they us with base, base bastardy?
Who, in the lufty stealth of nature, take
More compofition and fierce quality;

• Than doth within a dull, stale tired bed

i The feene is not described in either qu's, fo's, or R. This is called scena fecunda in fo's.

* W. remarks, that to stand in the plague of custom, is an abfurd exprefsion. We should read plage, i. e. the place, the country, the boundary of custom. Why should I, when I profess to follow the freedom of nature, be confined within the narrow limits of custom? Plage is a word in common use amongst the old English writers. So Chaucer, The plagis of the north by land and fea. From plaga. W.

1 The qu's, fo's, and R. curiosity; P. nicety; T. and the rest courtesy. m H. reads and why bastard? base?

n So the qu's; all the rest with base, with baseness, bastardy, base, base; but then they make why brand they us, a part of the foregoing line. But in this reading there seems to be too much repetition.

• R.'s oct. that.

The qu's, a ftale, dull, lyed (2d q. lied) bed.

Go

Go to 9 the creating of a whole tribe of fops,
Got 'tween afleep and wake? Well then, t
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land;
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund,
As to th'legitimate; u fine word-legitimate!-
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall w top th' legitimate. I grow, I profper;
Now, gods, stand up for bastards.

1

To him enter Glo'ster.

Glo. Kent banish'd thus! and France in choler parted! And the king gone to-night! * subscrib'd his power ! Confin'd to exhibition! y all this done

Upon the gad!--Edmund, how now? what news?

The fo's and R. read th'; all the rest omit the.

So the qu's; the rest omit of.

• The ad q. omits a.

H. adds after then, good brother, to fill up the measure; the qu's read the for then.

u The qu's omit fine word legitimate!

The qu's read tooth'; the fo's, R. and P.'s q. to'th'; H. toe th'; which he interprets, being upon even ground with him, as the treading on another's heels signifies the being not far behind him: but if toe be read, J. would have it signify, to kick out, or supplant. P.'s duodecimo reads be 'th; followed by T. W. and J. But perhaps Shakespear wrote top th' legitimate. i. e. get above him; the corruption of this, by writing an o instead of a p, was very easy. If a conjecture be made without any regard to the traces of the letters, out, or rout, are better than be.

* The fo's and R. read prefcrib'd.

▼ So the qu's, ist f. and J. the three last fo's and R. read all this gone, which P. alters all is gone.