THE PLAYS OF William Shakspeare, ACCURATELY PRINTED FROM The Text of the Corrected Copy left by the late GEORGE STEEVENS, ESQ. WITH GLOSSARIAL NOTES, AND A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. IN EIGHT VOLUMES. VOL. VIII. CONTAINING KING LEAR....ROMEO AND JULIET....HAMLET....OTHELLO. Stereotyped by J. Howe.....N. York. PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY H. C. CAREY, AND I LEA, AND M'CARTY & DAVIS, PERSONS REPRESENTED. Lear, king of Britain. King of France. Duke of Burgundy. Earl of Kent. Earl of Gloster. Edgar, son to Gloster. Edmund, bastard son to Gloster. Old Man, tenant to Gloster. Fool. Oswald, steward to Goneril. Servants to Cornwall. Knights attending on the King, Officers, Messengers, Soldiers, and Attendants. Scene, Britain. KING LEAR. ACT I. SCENE 1-A room of state in King Lear's palace. Enter Kent, Gloster, and Edmund. 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 equalities are so weigh'd, that curiosity in neither can make choice of either's moiety.2 Kent. Is not this your son, my lord? Glo. His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I have so often blushed to acknowledge him, that now I am brazed to it.. Kent. I cannot conceive you. Glo. Sir, this young fellow's mother could: whereupon she grew round-wombed; 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.3 Glo. But I have, sir, a son by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account: though this knave came somewhat saucily (1) Most scrupulous nicety. (2) Part or division. (3) Handsome. |