PERSONS REPRESENTED. LEAR, King of Britain. Appears, Act I. sc. 1; sc. 4; sc. 5. Act II. sc. 4. Appears, Act I. sc. 2. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 4. Act III. sc. 3; sc. 4; sc. 6; sc. 7. Act IV. sc. 1; sc. 6. Act V. sc. 2. EDGAR, son to Gloster. Appears, Act I. sc. 1; sc. 2. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. EDMUND, bastard son to Gloster. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 3. CURAN, a courtier. Appears, Act II. sc. 1. Old Man, tenant to Gloster. Appears, Act IV. sc. 1. Physician. Appears, Act IV. sc. 4. Fool. Appears, Act I. sc. 4; sc. 5. Act II. sc. 4. OSWALD, steward to Goneril. Appears, Act I. sc. 3; sc. 4. Act II. sc. 2; sc. 4. Act III. sc. 7. Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 5; sc. 6. An Officer, employed by Edmund. Appears, Act V. sc. 3. Gentleman, attendant on Cordelia. Appears, Act IV. sc. 7. A Herald. Appears, Act V. sc. 3. Appear, Act III. sc. 7. GONERIL, daughter to Lear. Appears, Act I. sc. 1; sc. 3; sc. 4. Act II. sc. 4. REGAN, daughter to Lear. Appears, Act I. sc. 1. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 4. CORDELIA, daughter to Lear. Appears, Act I. sc. 1. Act IV. sc. 4; se. 7. Knights attending on the King, Officers, Messengers, Soldiers, and Attendants. SCENE,-BRITAIN. KENT. I thought the king had more affected the duke of Albany than Cornwall. GLO. It did always seem so to us: but now, in the division of the kingdom", it appears not which of the dukes he values most; for qualities are so weigh'd, that curiosity in neither can make choice of either's moietyd. C b Johnson says, "There is something of obscurity, or inaccuracy, in this preparatory scene. The king has already divided his kingdom, and yet, when he enters, he examines his daughters to discover in what proportions he should divide it." Coleridge has shown that there is no inaccuracy; but that the king, having determined upon the division of his kingdom, institutes the trial of professions in strict accordance with his complicated character. Qualities. In the quartos, equalities. • Curiosity-exact scrutiny. Moiety. In the same way Hotspur calls his third share a moiety. In both these cases it is used for an assigned proportion. (See note on Henry IV., Part I.,' Act III., Scene 1.) KENT. Is not this your son, my lord? GLO. His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I have so 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 she grew roundwombed; and had indeed, sir, a son for her cradle, ere she had a husband for her bed. Do you smell a fault? KENT. I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it being so proper. GLO. But I have a son, sir, by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account: though this knave came somewhat saucily toa the world before he was sent for, yet was his mother fair; there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged.-Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund ? EDM. No, my lord. GLO. My lord of Kent: remember him hereafter as my honourable friend. KENT. I must love you, and sue to know you better. EDM. Sir, I shall study deserving. GLO. He hath been out nine years, and away he shall again:-The king is coming. [Trumpets sound within. Enter LEAR, CORNWALL, ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN, CORDELIA, and Attendants. LEAR. Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloster. [Exeunt GLOSTER and EDMUND. Give me the map there.-Know, that we have divided, To shake all cares and business from our age; We have this hour a constant will to publish Our daughters' several dowers, that future strife May be prevented now. The princes, France and Burgundy, Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn, And here are to be answer'd.-Tell me, my daughters, (Since now we will divest us, both of rule, Interest of territory, cares of state,) Which of you, shall we say, doth love us most? That we our largest bounty may extend Where nature doth with merit challenge.-Goneril, a To-the quartos, into. The quartos, "where merit doth most challenge it." GON. Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter, Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare; No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour: A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable; COR. What shall Cordelia speak a? Love, and be silent. REG. I am made of that self metal as my sister, COR. I find she names my very deed of love; Only she comes too short,—that I profess Myself an enemy to all other joys, Which the most precious square of sense possesses; In your dear highness' love. Then poor Cordelia! And yet not so; since, I am sure, my love 's More ponderous than my tongue. b LEAR. To thee, and thine, hereditary ever, Than that conferr'dd on Goneril.-Now, our joy, [Aside. [Aside. a Speak. The quartos read, "What shall Cordelia do?" This feebler reading destroys the force of the answer, "Love, and be silent." Ponderous. The quartos, richer. Validity-value, worth. Conferr'd. The quartos read confirm'd. In the same way, in the beginning of the scene, when Lear, according to the folio, says, Conferring them on younger strengths,"-the quarto reads confirming. • We give the text as it stands in the folio, by which we lose the words which have passed into a household phrase, "Although the last not least." But in truth the modern text is not to be found in any edition of Shakspere. The quartos read,— "But now our joy, Although the last, not least in our dear love, What can you say to win a third, more opulent Than your sisters?" It will be seen that the poet has revised his text, re-arranging the lines, and introducing a new member of the sentence, "to whose young love," &c. Johnson says, "The true reading is picked out of two copies:" but surely this mode of picking out is least likely to furnish us with the true reading. The vines of France and milk of Burgundy LEAR. Nothing? COR. Nothing. LEAR. Nothing will come of nothing: speak again. My heart into my mouth; I love your majesty COR. They love you, all? Haply, when I shall wed, That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry Half my love with him, half my care, and duty: Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters, [To love my father all.d] LEAR. But goes thy heart with this? COR. LEAR. So young, and so untender? COR. So young, my lord, and true. Ay, my good lord. LEAR. Let it be so:-Thy truth then be thy dower : From whom we do exist, and cease to be; Hold thee, from this, for ever. The barbarous Scythian, Or he that makes his generation messes a Interess'd. This verb, from the French intéresser, is used also by Ben Jonson and Massinger. The quartos read, "nothing can come of nothing." The ancient saying, ex nihilo nihil fit, is repeated in the fourth scene of this Act even more literally: "nothing can be made out of nothing." • You-the quartos, it. The line in brackets is not found in the folio. • The quartos read, "But goes this with thy heart?" and Malone attributes the change in the folio to the editor of that edition, who, he says, did not understand this kind of phraseology. We have no doubt, speaking generally, that the minute changes of language in the folio are of the author, not of the editor. |