Edg. Do you busy yourself with that?

2

Edm. I promise you, the effects he writes of, succeed unhappily; as of unnaturalness between the child and the parent; death, dearth, dissolution of ancient amities; divisions in state; menaces and maledictions against king and nobles; needless diffidences, banishment of friends, dissipation of cohorts3, nuptial breaches, and I know not what.

Edg. How long have you been a sectary astronomical?

Edm. Come, come; when saw you my father last? Edg. The night gone by.

Edm. Spake you with him?

Edg. Ay, two hours together.

Edm. Parted you in good terms?

Found you no

displeasure in him, by word, or countenance?

Edg. None at all.

Edm. Bethink yourself, wherein you may have of fended him and at my entreaty forbear his presence, till some little time hath qualified the heat of his displeasure', which at this instant so rageth in him, that with the mischief of your person it would scarcely allay.

Edg. Some villain hath done me wrong.

Edm. That's my fears. I pray you, have a continent forbearance, till the speed of his rage goes slower; and, as I say, retire with me to my lodging, from whence I will fitly bring you to hear my lord speak. Pray you, go: there's my key. If you do stir abroad, go armed. Edg. Armed, brother?

66

2 - as of unnaturalness-] These words, and what follows them, down to Come, come," in Edmund's next speech, are only in the quartos.

3 - dissipation of COHORTS,] So the old copies; but Johnson very reason

ably suggested that "cohorts" was a misprint for courts.

the HEAT of his displeasure ;] In Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, it is misprinted," the heart of his displeasure."

That's my fear.] What follows these words, down to, and including, Edgar's speech," Armed brother ?" is not in the quartos.

Edm. Brother, I advise you to the best; I am no honest man, if there be any good meaning towards you: I have told you what I have seen and heard, but faintly; nothing like the image and horror of it. Pray

you, away.

Edg. Shall I hear from you anon?

Edm. I do serve you in this business.—

[Exit EDGAR.

A credulous father, and a brother noble,
Whose nature is so far from doing harms,
That he suspects none, on whose foolish honesty
My practices ride easy!—I see the business.-
Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit:
All with me's meet, that I can fashion fit.

[Exit.

SCENE III.

A Room in the Duke of ALBANY'S Palace.

Enter GONERIL, and OSWALD her Steward.

Gon. Did my father strike my gentleman for chiding of his fool?

Osw. Ay, madam.

Gon. By day and night he wrongs me: every hour He flashes into one gross crime or other,

That sets us all at odds: I'll not endure it.
His knights grow riotous, and himself upbraids us
On every trifle. When he returns from hunting,
I will not speak with him; say, I am sick :
If you come slack of former services,

You shall do well; the fault of it I'll answer.

Osw. He's coming, madam; I hear him.

[Horns within.

Brother, I advise you to the best ;] Here the quartos add, "go armed;" but as our text is from the folio, which before has given, "If you do stir abroad, go armed," this repetition of the injunction is needless.

Gon. Put on what weary negligence you please, You and your fellows; I'd have it come to question: If he distaste it', let him to my sister,

Whose mind and mine, I know, in that are one,
Not to be over-ruled. Idle old man,
That still would manage those authorities,
That he hath given away!-Now, by my life,
Old fools are babes again; and must be us'd
With checks; as flatteries, when they are seen, abus'd.
Remember what I have said.

Osw.

Well, madam.

Gon. And let his knights have colder looks among

you.

What grows of it, no matter; advise your fellows so:
I would breed from hence occasions, and I shall,
That I may speak':-I'll write straight to my sister,
To hold my course.-Prepare for dinner.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

A Hall in the Same.

Enter KENT, disguised.

Kent. If but as well I other accents borrow, That can my speech diffuse', my good intent

7 If he DISTASTE it,] The quartos, "If he dislike it." In the previous line the quartos, needlessly and injuriously, as regards the verse, insert servants after "fellows;" but the whole scene is there printed as prose.

8 Not to be over-ruled. Idle old man,] This and the four lines succeeding it are not in the folio.

9 I would breed from hence occasions, and I shall,

That I may speak :] These words are only in the quartos.

1 That can my speech DIFFUSE,] So all the old editions: to "diffuse” meant, in the time of Shakespeare, to disorder or confuse: "diffus'd attire" is an expression in "Henry V." (Vol. v. p. 556) for disordered dress. A "diffused song," in "The Merry Wives of Windsor," A. iv. sc. 4, is an irregular song. Tollet quoted the following apposite passage from Stow's Chronicle, "I doubt not but thy speech shall be more diffuse to him, than his French shall be to thee."

May carry through itself to that full issue

For which I raz'd my likeness.-Now, banish'd Kent, If thou canst serve where thou dost stand condemn'd, (So may it come!) thy master, whom thou lov'st, Shall find thee full of labours.

Horns within. Enter LEAR, Knights, and Attendants.

Lear. Let me not stay a jot for dinner: go, get it ready. [Exit an Attendant.] How now! what art thou? Kent. A man, sir.

Lear. What dost thou profess? What wouldest thou with us?

Kent. I do profess to be no less than I seem; to serve him truly that will put me in trust; to love him that is honest; to converse with him that is wise, and says little; to fear judgment; to fight when I cannot choose, and to eat no fish.

Lear. What art thou?

Kent. A very honest-hearted fellow, and as poor as the king.

Lear. If thou be as poor for a subject, as he is for a king, thou art poor enough. What wouldest thou? Kent. Service.

Lear. Whom wouldest thou serve?

Kent. You.

Lear. Dost thou know me, fellow?

Kent. No, sir; but you have that in your countenance, which I would fain call master.

Lear. What's that?

Kent. Authority.

Lear. What services canst thou do?

Kent. I can keep honest counsel, ride, run, mar a curious tale in telling it, and deliver a plain message bluntly that which ordinary men are fit for, I am qualified in; and the best of me is diligence.

2 (So may it come !)] This parenthesis is not in the quartos, where the speech, like many others, is printed as prose.

Lear. How old art thou?

Kent. Not so young, sir, to love a woman for singing; nor so old, to dote on her for any thing: I have years on my back forty-eight.

Lear. Follow me; thou shalt serve me: if I like thee no worse after dinner, I will not part from thee yet.-Dinner, ho! dinner!-Where's my knave? my fool? Go you, and call my fool hither.

Enter OSWALD.

You, you, sirrah, where's my daughter?
Osw. So please you,―

[Exit.

Lear. What says the fellow there? Call the clodpole back. Where's my fool, ho?-I think the world's asleep. How now! where's that mongrel?

Knight. He says, my lord, your daughter is not well3. Lear. Why came not the slave back to me, when I called him?

Knight. Sir, he answered me in the roundest manner, he would not.

Lear. He would not!

Knight. My lord, I know not what the matter is; but, to my judgment, your highness is not entertained with that ceremonious affection as you were wont: there's a great abatement of kindness' appears, as well in the general dependants, as in the duke himself also, and your daughter.

Lear. Ha! sayest thou so?

Knight. I beseech you, pardon me, my lord, if I be mistaken; for my duty cannot be silent, when I think your highness wronged.

Lear. Thou but rememberest me of mine own conception. I have perceived a most faint neglect of

3 He says, my lord, your daughter is not well.] In the quartos, this answer is given to Kent, and the next to a servant. In the folio, they seem properly and consistently assigned to one of the knights attending on Lear.

4

of kindness:] These words are wanting in the quartos.