Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

ear. I'll tell thee--Life and death! I am asham'd That thou haft power to shake my manhood thus; [To Gon. That these hot tears, which break from me perforce, d Should make thee worth them. -Blasts and fogs upon thee!

Th' untented woundings of a father's curse

1

• Pierce every f sense about thee! Old fond eyes,
Beweep this cause again, I'll pluck ye out,
And cast you, with the waters that you make,
To temper clay. Ha! is it come to this?
Let it be so: PI have another daughter,
Who, I am fure is kind and comfortable;
When she shall hear this of thee with her nails

She'll flay thy wolfish visage. Thou shalt find,
That I'll refume the shape, which thou dost think
I have caft off for ever. • Thou shalt I warrant thee.

The qu's read that for which.

[Exeunt Lear and attendants.

d The qu's read Should make the worst blasts and fogs upon the untented

(ad q. ustender, so P.) woundings, &c.

• The ad q. read perufe for pierce.

f W. reads fence.

* The qu's read the old fond eyes, &c.

h So the qu's, ift f. T. W. and J. the other fo's beweep thee once again;

R. P. and H. beweep ber once again.

i The qu's read you for ye.

* The qu's read you caft for cast you.

So the qu's; the ist and ad fo's loofe for make; the rest lofe.

The qu's read yea for ha!

The ist q. reads is't for is it. The fo's and R. omit is it come a this?

• The qu's omit let it be fo.

P The qu's read yet have I left a daughter.

The qu's read flay; all the rest flea.

So T. W. and f. the rest wolvish.

All but the qu's omit thou shalt I warrant thee.

D

SCENE

50

SCENE

Gon. Do you mark that, my lord ?
Alb. I cannot be so partial, Gonerill,

XVI.

To the great love I bear you,一
Gon. Pray you, w be content.

* What, Oswald, ho!

You, y fir, more knave than fool, after your mafter. [To the fool.

Fool. Nuncle Lear, nuncle Lear, tarry, and take the fool with a thee.

A fox, when one has caught her,

And fuch a daughter,

Should fure to the flaughter,

If my cap would buy a halter;

So the fool follows after.

[Exit.

Gon. This man hath had good counsel. A hundred knights!

'Tis politic, and fafe, to let him keep

At point a hundred knights; yes, that on ev'ry dream,

Each buz, each fancy, each complaint, dislike,
He may enguard his dotage with their powers,
And hold our lives at mercy. Ofwald, I fay.
Alb. Well, you may fear too far.

• All but the qu's omit my lord.

u The qu's read come, fir, no more, for pray you, be content.

Be is not in the fo's; R. first puts it in.

* The qu's omit what, Oswald, bo!

Y The qu's omit fir.

* All but the qu's omit and.

a The qu's omit thee.

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

c H. reads is't for 'tis.

The fo's and R. read in for at.

Gon.

[ocr errors]

Gon. Safer than trust too far.

Let me still take away the harms I fear,
Not fear ftill to be taken. I know his heart!
What he hath utter'd, I have writ my fifter
If & be sustain him and his hundred knights,
When I have sbew'd th' unfitness

8 How now, Oswald?

Enter Steward.

What, have you writ that letter to my fister?

Stew. h Yes, madam.

[blocks in formation]

Gon. Take you fome company, and away to horfe;

Inform her full of my particular fears,

And thereto add such reasons of your own,

As may compact it more. 1 Go, get you gone,

And haften your return.

■ No, no, my lord,

• This milky, gentle, easy course of yours,

[blocks in formation]

[Exit Steward.

Gon. What have you writ this letter, &c.

the fo's, J. the rest ay.

i P. and H. omit and.

* The fo's, R. and J. read fear.

1 There is no word in the place of go in either qu's, fo's, or R.; P. puts

fo; followed by the rest.

For baften the 2d q. reads after.

The qu's read now, my lord, &c.

• All the editions read this milky (ad q. mildie) gentleness and course, &c. So that the alteration in the text is conjectural.

[blocks in formation]

Though I condemn 9 not, yet under your pardon,. $ You are much more at task for want of wisdom,

Than w prais'd for harmless mildness.

Alb. How far your eyes may pierce, I cannot tell;

y Striving to better, oft we mar what's well.

Gon. Nay, then

Alb. Well, well, th' event.

[Exeunt.

SCENE

XVII.

- A court-yard belonging to the Duke of Albany's palace.

Enter, Lear, Kent, * Gentleman, and Fool.

Lear. [to a Gentleman.] Go you before to Glo'ster with these letters. You with this to my daughter Regan. [to Kent.] Acquaint my daughter no further with any thing you know, than comes from her demand out of the letter; if your diligence be not speedy, I shall be there before you.

P The qu's read dislike for condemn.

After condemn, P. and all after read it.

Your is conjectural, being in none of the editions.

$ The ift f. reads your are, &c.

For at task the ist q. reads attaskt; which perhaps Shakespear might have written, meaning thereby call'd to task. The ad q. reads alapt for et task.

w The qu's read pruife.

So R. P. and H. the reft read harmful.

The qu's read ftriving to better ought, we mar, &c.

* This description of the scene first given by T. followed by W. and J.

• The qu's omit, the rest add Gentleman after Kent: and rightly: for it is plain the letter to Regan was sent by Kent; those to Glo'sfter by another:

the order to Kent is left out; I have therefore fupplied it.

So the qu's; all the rest afore.

Kent.

Kent. I will not sleep, my lord, till I have delivered your

letter.

[Exit.

Fool. If a man's c brains d were in his heels, wer't not in

danger of kibes?

Lear. Ay, boy.

Fool. Then I pr'ythee, be merry, thy wit shall not go flipshod.

Lear. Ha, ha, ha.

Fool. Shalt see, thy other daughter will use thee kindly; for though she's as like this as a crab's like an apple, yet I can tell what I can tell.

Lear. Why what can'st thou tell, my boy?

Fool. She will taste as like this, as a crab does to a crab. Thou can'st not tell why one's nose stands i'th' middle i of one's face?

Lear. No.

Fool. Why to k keep one's eyes of either side one's nose,

that what a man cannot smell out, he may spy into.

Lear. I did her wrong

Fool. Can'st tell how an oyster makes his shell?

Lear. No.

Fool. Nor I neither; but I can tell why a snail has a house. Lear. Why?

< P. alters this to brain; followed by all after.

The ist q. reads where.

• The qu's read nere for not.

f The qu's read I con what I can tell.

& So the qu's; the rest what can'ft tell, boy?

h So the qu's; the ist and ad fo's thou can't tell, &c. the 3d f. and all

after can'ft thou tell, &c.

i The qu's read of his face; the fo's and R. on's face.

* The qu's read keep his eyes on either side his nose, &c.

The fo's read fide's nose, &c.

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinua »