Page images
PDF
EPUB

Sc. VIII. Edm. confeffes his treasons. Edg. difcovers himself, and relates the share he hath had in the action of

the play. Edm. relents.

Sc. IX. Enter a Gentleman with a bloody knife, which he brings reeking from the heart of Gon. who had killed herself, and confessed that she had poisoned her fifter Reg. Enter Kent, discovering himself, and enquiring for the King; which puts Alb. on queftioning Edm. about him and Cor. The bodies of Gon. and Reg. are brought in. Edm. finding himfelf near death, defires that meffengers may be quickly fent to the prifon to fave the lives of Lear and Cor. for whofe murder he and Gen. had given orders. Edm. is borne off.

Sc. X. Enter Lear with Cor. dead in his arms. Afterwards a meffenger with the news of Edmund's death. Lear dies of grief for the lofs of Cordelia. Exeunt with a dead march.

ERRATU M.

P. 133. note, for and R. and J. read R.'s 8vo.

1

KING LE A R.

АСТ І.

I

SCENE I,

The King's Palace.

Enter Kent, Glofter, and Edmund the Baftard.

Kent.

THOUGHT the king had more affected the duke of Albany than Cornwall.

Gb. It did always feem b fo to us, but now in the divifion of the kingdom it appears not which of the dukes he values moft; for equalities are so weighed, that curiosity in neither can make choice of either's moiety.

Kent. Is not this your fon, my lord?

Glo. His breeding, fir, hath been at my charge. I have fo often blush'd to acknowledge him, that now I am braz'd to't. Kent. I cannot conceive you.

Glo. Sir, this young fellow's mother could, whereupon fhe grew round-wombed; and had indeed, fir, a fon for her

The scene is not defcribed in the qu's or fo's.

The three last fo's emit so.

The qu's read kingdoms.

So the qu's; all the rest, qualities.

A

cradle,

cradle, ere fhe had a husband for her bed. Do you smell a fault?

1

Kent. I cannot wish the fault undone, the iffue of it being fo proper.

[ocr errors]

g

Glo. But I have, fir, a fon by order of law, fome f year elder than this is, who yet is no dearer in my account. Though this knave came & fomewhat faucily into the world before he was fent for, yet was his mother fair: there was good sport at his making, and the whorefon must be acknowledged. Do you know this i noble gentleman, Edmund? Edm. No, my lord.

Glo. My lord of Kent.-Remember him hereafter as my honourable friend.

Edm. My fervices to your lordship.

Kent. I must love you, and fue to know you better.

k

Edm. Sir, I fhall ftudy deferving.

Glo. He hath been out nine years, and away he fhall again.
-The king is coming.

['Trumpets found within.

So the qu's; all the rest read, But I have a fon, fir, by, &c.

f The Oxford editor, not understanding the common phrase, alters year to

years. He did not consider the bastard says,

For that I am fome twelve or fourteen moon-fbines

Lag of a brother.

8 The qu's read fomething.

W.

h So the qu's; the rest read to for into.

iSo the qu's, and 1 f. the rest read nobleman, Edmund ?

P. is the first who reads ftudy your deferving; followed by the aftereditors; but the word your here interpolated is certainly fuperfluous.

This direction is put in by T.

SCENE

SCEN E II.

Enter King Lear, Cornwall, Albany, Gonerill, Regan, Cordelia, and attendants,

C

Lear. Attend my lords of France and Burgundy, Glofter, Glo. I fhall, my liege. [Exit.

d

Lear. Mean time we will exprefs our darker purposes; 'Give me the map there. Know, we have divided

h

In three our kingdom; and 'tis our 1 faft intent

To shake all cares and business from our age,

The qu's read Sound a fennet, enter one bearing a coronet, then Lear, then the dukes of Albany and Cornwall, next Gonorill, Regan, Cordelia, with followers.

b So the qu's; the reft read the for my.

P. and H. omit Glo'fter.

4 So the qu's; the rest, sball for will.

e So the qu's; the rest purpose.

f The qu's omit Give me.

8 So the qu's, and ist and 2d fo's; the reft read here.

h The qu's read firft; P. leaves it quite out; W. fays, this (viz. the word fast) is an interpolation of T. for want of knowing the meaning of the old reading in the q. 1608, and 1 f. 1623, viz. first; (but here W. falfely accuses T. of interpolation, for all the fo's and R. read faft) which is as Shakespear wrote it. (a thing impoffible to be known) who makes Lear declare his purpose with a dignity becoming his character: that the first reafon of his abdication was the love of his people, that they might be protected by such as were better able to difbarge the truft; and his natural affection for his daughters only the fecond. W.

But it seems more likely that Shakespear wrote faft, i. e. firm and unalterable, because it makes better fenfe in this place. He is fo far from giving the love of his people as the first reafon of his abdication, that he does not fo much as hint at that, but his own cafe is the reafon he gives, as the word unburden'd demonstrates; and he gives no fecond reafon at all.

From our age. The qu's read of our state.

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »