for fo much as I have perus'd, I find it not fit for your
overlooking.
Glo. Give me the letter, Sir.
Edm. I fhall offend, either to detain, or give it ; the
contents, as in part I underftand them, are to blame.
Glo. Let's fee, let's fee.
Edm. I hope, for my brother's juflification, he wrote
this but as an effay, or tafte of my virtue.
3 Noiv, Gods,Jtandupforbajlardi!} For what reafon ? He
does not tel! us ; but the poet alludes to the debaucheries of the
Pagan Gods, who made heroes of all their baftards.
4 fubfcrib'd bis powr ! ] Sub/criPd, for transferred, alie-
nated.
VOL. VI. C Glo.
i8 King L E A R.
Glo. [reads.] J This policy and reverence of ages makes
the world bitter to the left of our times ; keeps our
fortunes from us, 'till our oldnefs cannot relijh them. I
begin to find an idle and fond bondage in the opprejfion of
aged tyranny ; which fways, not as it hath power , but
as it is fuffered. Come to me, that of this I may fpcak
more. If our father would Jleep, till I ivak'd him^ you
Jhould enjoy half his revenue for ever, and live the be,-
~loved of your brother Edgar. >Hum Confpiracy!
fleep, till I wake him you fhould enjoy
half his revenue' 'My Ton Edgar I had he a hand
to write this ! a heart and brain to breed it in ! When
came this to you ? who brought it ?
Edm. It was not brought me, my lord ; there's the
cunning of it. I found it thrown in at the cafement
of my clolet.
Glo. You know the character to be your brother's ?
Edm. If the matter were good, my lord, I durft
Twear, it were his 5 but in refpect of that, I would
fain think, it were not.
Glo. It is his.
Edm. It is his hand, my lord ; I hope, his heart is
not in the contents.
Glo. Has he never before founded you in this bu-
fmefs ?
Edm. Never, my lord. But I have heard him ofc
maintain it to be fit, that fons at perfect age, and fa-
thers declining, the father fhould be as a ward to the
ion, and the fon manage his revenue.
Glo. O villair , villain ! his very opinion in the
letter. Abhorred villain ! unnatural, detefted, bru-
tifh villain ! worfe than brutifti ! Go, firrah, feek
5 This policy avd reverence of ages'] Ages fignines former times.
So the fenfe of the words is this, what between the policy of fome,
and the fuperltitious reverence of others to old cuftoms, it is now
become an eitablifhed rule, that fathers {hall keep all they have
till they die.
him ;
King LEAR. 19
him ; I'll apprehend him. Abominable villain, where
is he?
Edm. I do not well know, my lord ; if it fhall
pleafe you to fufpend your indignation againft my
brother, 'till you can derive from him better teftimo-
ny of his intent, you fliould run a certain courfe ;
where, if you violently proceed againft him, miftak-
ing his purpofe, it would make a great gap in your
own honour, and make in pieces the heart of his obe-
dience. I dare pawn down my life for him, that he
hath writ this to feel my affedion to your Honour,
and to no other 6 pretence of danger.
Glo. Think you fo?
Edm. If your Honour judge it meet, I will place
you where you mail hear us confer of this, and by an
auricular afTurance have your fatisfaction : and that,
without any further delay than this very evening.
Glo. He cannot be fuch a monfler.
Edm. Nor is not, fure.
Glo. To his Father, that fo tenderly and entirely
loves him- . Heav'n and Earth! Edmund feek
him out ; wind me into him, I pray you ; frame the
bufinefs after your own wifdom. 7 I would unftate
myfelf, to be in a due refolution.
Edm. I will feek him, Sir, prefently : 8 convey
the buiinefs as I fhall find means, and acquaint you
withal.
Glo. Thefe late eclipfes in the fun and moon por-
tend no good to us 5 tho* the wifdom of nature can
reafon it thus and thus, yet nature h^nds itfelf fcourg'd
6 pretence of danger.] Pretence, for purpofe. Danger, for
wickednefs.
7 I would unjlate myfelf, to be in a due refolutlon."\ i. e. I will ^/
throw afide all confideration of my relation to him, that I may
aft as juftice requires.
8 convey the bufinefi\ Convey, for introduce : but convey is a
fine word, as alluding to the praftice of clandeltine conveying
goods fo as not to be found upon the felon.
C 2 by
King LEAR.
by the fequent effects. " Love cools, friendfhip falls
" off, brothers divide. In cities, mutinies ; in coun-
'.' tries, difcord , in Palaces, treafon j and the bond
" crack'd 'twixt fon and father." This villain of mine
comes under the prediction, there's fon againft father -,
the King falls from biafs of nature ; there's father againft
child. " We have feen the beft of our time. Machina-
*' tions, hollownefs, treachery, and all ruinous diforders
" follow us difquietly to our graves! '* Find out this
villain, Edmund ; it ihall lofe thee nothing, do it care-
fully and the noble and true-hearted Kent banifh'd !
his offence, Honefty. 'Tis ftrange. [Exit.
SCENE VIII.
Manet Edmund.
Edm. " 9 This is the excellent foppery of the world,
" that, when we are fick in fortune, (often the fur-
" feits
9 This is the excellent foppery of the ivorld, &c ] In Shakefpear's
belt plays, befides the vices that arife from the fubjeft, there is
generally fome peculiar prevailing Folly, principally ridiculed, that
runs thro' the whole piece. Thus, in the Tempeft, the lying dif-
polition of travellers, and in As you like it, the fantattick hu-
mour of courtiers, is expofed and fatirized with infinite pleafantry.
In like manner, in this play of Lear, the dotages of judicial
aflrology are feverely ridiculed. I fancy, was the date of its firft
performance well confidered, it would be found that fomething or
other happened at that time which gave a more than ordinary run
to this deceit, as thefe words feem to intimate. / am thinking, bro-
ther, of a prediction I read this other day, ivkat Jhould 'follow thefe
eclipfes. However this be, an impious cheat, which had fo little
foundation in nature or reafon, fo deteflable an original, and fuch
fatal confequences on the manners of the people, who were at that
time ftrangely befotted with it, certainly deferved the fevereft lafh
of fatire. It was a fundamental in this noble fcience, that what-
ever feeds of good difpofitions the infant unborn might be endowed
with, either from nature, or tradu&ively from its parents, yet if,
at the time of its birth, the delivery was by any cafualty fo acce-
lerated or retarded, as to fall in with the predominancy of a ma-
lignant conitellation, that momentary influence would entirely
change
King LEAR. 21
*' feits of our own behaviour) we make guilty of our
" difafters, the fun, the moon and (lars, as if we
" were villains on necefficy i fools, by heavenly com*
" pulfioni
change hs nature, and bias it to all the contrary ill qualities. So
wretched and monftrous an opinion did it fet out with.^ But the'
Italians, to whom we owe this, as well as moft other unnatural
crimes and follies of thefe latter ages, fomented its original impiety
to the moll deteflable height of extravagance. Petrus Aponenjls,'
an Italian phyfician of the Xlllth century, affures us that thofe
prayers which are made to God when the moon is in conjunction
with Jupiter in the Dragon's tail, are infallibly heard. But after
him Cardan, with the boldnefs and impiety of an atheill and a
madman, both of which he was, cait the nativity of Jefus Chrift,
and found by the great and illuftrious concourfe of liars at his
birth, that he muft needs have the fortune which befel him, and.
become the author of a Religion which mould fpread itfelf far and
near for many ages. The great Milton with a juft indignation of
this impiety, hath, in his Paradife Regain's 1 , fatirized it in a very
beautiful manner, by putting thefe reveries into the mouth of the
Devil where he addreffes Jefus Chrift in the following manner:
If I read aught in hea<vn,
Or hca<vn write aught of fate, by 'what the Jlars
Voluminous or Jingle characters,
In their conjunction met, gii>e me to fpell,
Sorrows and labours, oppojition, hate
Attends thee t fcorns, reproaches, injuries,
Violence and Jlripes, and lajlly cruel death :
A kingdom they portend thee, but what kingdom*
Real or allegoric, I difctrn not,
Nor when ; eternal fure, as without end,
Without beginning ; fur no date prefixt
Direffs me in the fiarry rubric fet. lib. 4. VCr. 382.
Where it is to be obferved, that the Poet thought it not enough to
difcredit judicial Ajlrology by making it patronifed by the Devil,
without mewing at the fame time the abfurdity of it. He has
therefore very judicioufly made him blunder in the expreffion, of
portendinga kingdom which was without beginning. This deftroys all
he would infmuate. The Poet's conduft is fine and ingenious. Nor
could the licentious Rabelais himfelf forbear to ridicule this impious
dotage, which he does with exquifite addrefs and humour, where
in the fable which he fo agreeably tells from ^fop, of the man
who applied to Jupiter for the lofs of his hatchet, he makes thofe,
who, on the poor man's good fuccefs, had projected to trick Ju-
piter by the fame petition, a kind of aftrologick atheifts, who
C 3 afcribed
LEAR.
*' pulfion; knaves, thieves, and treacherous, by fphe-
" rical predominance , drunkards, Jyars, and adulte-
" rers, by an inforc'd obedience of planetary in-
" fluence ; and all that we are evil in, by a divine
" thrufting on. x An admirable evafion of" whore-
' mafter Man, to lay his goatifh difpofition on the
<c change of a ftar ! my father compounded with my
" mother under the Dragon's tail, and my nativity
" was under Urfa major ; fo that it follows, I am
afcribed this good fortune, that they imagined they were now all
going to partake of, to the influence of fome rare ccnjunclion and
configuration of the ftars. Hen, ben, difent Us Et doncques, telle
eft au temps prefent la revolution des Cieulx, la cancellation des Aflres^
& afpefl des Planetes, que quiconque Coignee perdra, foabdain de-
wiendra ainfi riche ? Nou. Prol. du IV. Livre.
But to return to Sbakefpear. So blafphemous a delufion, there-
fore, it became the honelly of our Poet to expofe. But it was a
tender point, and required managing. For this impious juggle had
in his time a kind of religious reverence paid to it. It was there-
fore to be done obliquely ; and the circumltances of the fcene fur-
nifhed him with as good an opportunity as he could wiih. The
perfons in the drama are all pagans, fo that as, in compliance to
cuftom, his good characters were not to fpeak ill of judicial Aftro-
logy, they could on account of their religion give no reputation to
it. But in order to expofe it the more, he, with great judgment,
makes thefe pagans Fatalifts j as appears by thefe words of Lear,
By ail the operations of the otbt,
Frqfft whom ive do exijl and ceafe to be.
For the dcclrine of fate is the true foundation of judicial Aflro-
logy. Having thus difcredited it by the very commendations given
to it, he was in no danger of having his direct fatire againft it mif-
takcn, by its being put (as he was obliged, both in paying
regard to cuftom, and in following nature) into the mouth of the
villain and atheilt, efpecially when he has added fuch force of rea-
fon to his ridicule, in the words referred to in the beginning of
the note.
I An admirable evafion to lay fas difpcfition on the C H A R G E
ef ajfar!~] We fhould read, CHANGE of aftar! which both the
i'enfe and grammar require. It was the opinion of Aitrologers,
(lee what is faicljull above) that the momentary influence did ail;
apd we do not fay. Lay a thing on the charge, but to the charge.
Tfcfides, change' aniwering to evajion juft above, gives additional
to the expreiiion.
" rough
King LEAR.
" rough and lecherous. I fhould have been what I
" am, had the maidenlieft liar in the firmament
" twinkled on my baftardizing.
S C E N E IX.
To bim> Enter Edgar.
pat! * he comes like the Cataftropheoftheold
" comedy j" my cue is villainous Melancholy, with
2 He comes, like the Cataftrophe of the old comedy ;] This we
are to underftand as a compliment, intended by the Author, on the
natural winding up of the plot in the Comedy of the ancients;
which as it was owing to the artful and yet natural introduction
of the perfons of the Drama into the fcene, juft in the nick of time,
or pat t as our author fays, makes the fimilitude very proper. This,
without doubt, is the fupreme beauty of Comedy, considered as an
attion. And as it depends folely on a Uriel obfervance of the Uni-
ties, it mews that thefe Unities are in nature, and in the reafon
of things, and not in a meer arbitrary invention of the Greeks, as
feme of our own country critics, of a low mechanick genius, have,
by their works, perfuaded our wits to believe. For common fenfc
requiring that the fubject of one comedy mould be one afiion, and
that that action mould be contained nearly within the period of
time which the reprefentation of it takes up ; hence we have the
unities of Time and Action ; and, from thefe, unavoidably arifes
the third, which is that ef Place. For when the whole of one
afiion is included within a proportionable fmall fpace of time,
there is no room to change thefcene, but all muft be done upon
one/pot of ground. Now, from this laft unity (the neceffary iffue
of the two other, which derive immediately from nature) pro-
ceeds all that beauty of the catajlrophe, or the winding up the plot
in the ancient comedy. For all the perfons of the Drama being
to appear and aft on one limited fpot, and being by their feve-
ral inttrefts to embarras, and at length to conduct the action to its
deftin'd period, there is need of consummate skill to bring them on t
and take them off", naturally and nectffarily : for the grace of action
requires the one, and the perfection of it the other. Which con-
duct of the action, muft needs produce a beauty that will give a ju-
dicious mind the higheft pleafure. On the other hand, when a
comic writer has a whole country to range in, nothing is eafier than
\ofind the perfons of the Drama juft where he would have them j
and this requiring no art, the beauty we fpeak of is not to be found.
Confequently a violation of the unities deprives the Drama of one
VOL. VI. C 4 of
King
LEAR.
a figh like font o' Bedlam O, thefe eclipfes portend
thefedivifions! fa, fol, la, me
Edg. How now, brother Edmund^ what ferious con-
templation are you in ?
Edm. I am thinking, brother, of a prediction I
read this other day, what fhould follow thefe eclipfes.
Edg. Do you bufie yourfelf with that ?
Edm. I promife you, the effects, he writes of, fuc-
ceed unhappily. When faw you my father laft ?
Edg. The night gone by.
Edm. Spake you with him ?
Edg. Ay, two hours together.
Edm. Parted you in good terms, found you no dif-
pleafure in him, by word or countenance ?
Edg. None at all.
Edm. Bethink yourfelf, wherein you have offended
him : and at my intreaty, forbear his prefence, until
fome little time hath qualified the heat of his difplea-
fure ; which at this initant fo rageth in him, that with
the mifchief of your perfon it would fcarcely allay.
Edg. Some villain hath done me wrong.
Edm. That's my fear ; I pray you, have a conti-
nent forbearance 'till the fpeed of his rage goes flower :
and, as I fay, retire with me to my lodging, from
whence I will fitly bring you to hear my lord fpeak :
pray you, go, there's my key : if you do ftir abroad,
go arm'd.
Edg. Arm'd, brother!
Edm. Brother, I advife you to the bed ; I am no
honeft man, if there be any good meaning toward
you : I have told you what I have feen and heard, but
of its greateft beauties ; which proves what I afferted, that the
three unities cue no arbitrary mechanic invention, but founded in
, reafon and the nature of things. l fhe lempeft of Shake/pear fuf-
ficiently proves him to be well acquainted with thefe unities ; and
the paffage in queftion mews him to have been ilruck with the
beauty that refulu irom them.
faintly ;
King LEAR. 25
faintly; nothing like the image and horror of it: pray
you, away.
Edg. Shall I hear from you anon? [Exti,
SCENE X.
Edm. I do ferve you in this bufinefs:
A credulous father, and a brother noble,
Whofe nature is fo far from doing harms,
That he fufpeds none ; on whofe foolifh honefty
My practices ride eafie : I fee the bufinefs.
Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit j
All with me's meet, that I can faihion fit, [Exit*
SCENE XL
We Duke of Albany y s Pahce.
Enter Gonerill and Steward.
Con. T^\ID my father ftrike my gentleman for
i>J chiding of his fool ?
Stew. Ay, madam.
Gon. By day and night, he wrongs me ; every hour
He flames into one grofs crime or other,
That fets us all at odds ; I'll not endure it :
His Knights grow riotous, and himfelf upbraids us
On ev'ry trifle. When he returns from hunting
I will not fpeak with him ; fay, I am fick.
If you come flack of former fervices,
You (hall do well ; the fault of it I'll anfwer.
Stew. He's coming, Madam, I hear him.
Gon. Put on what weary negligence you pleafe,
You and your fellows : I'd have it come to queftion.
If he diftafte it, let him to my fifter,
Whofe mind and mine, I know, in that are one,
Not to be over-rul'd : Idle old Man,
That
26 Kivg L E A R.
That ftill would manage thofe Authorities,
That he hath giv'n away! Now, by my Life,
3 Old. Folks are Babes again ; and muft be ufed
With Checks, not FJatt'ries when they're feen abus'd.
Remember, what I have faid.
Stew. Very well, Madam.
Gon. And let his Knights have colder looks among
you: what grows of it, no matter; advife your fel-
lows fo: PJ1 write ftrait to my fifter to hold my
courfe : prepare for dinner. {Exeunt.
3 Old FOOLS are babes again ; and mujl be ufed
With Checks LIKE Flatteries when they re feen abus'd. ] Thus
the old Quarto reads thefe lines. It is plain they are corrupt. But
they have been made worfe by a fruitlefs attempt to correft them.
And firft, for
Old Foo LS are babes again ;
A proverbial expreflion is here plainly alluded to ; but it is a ftrange
proverb which only informs us that fools are innocents. We
fhould read,
Old Fo LKS are Babes again ; -
Thus fpeaks the proverb, and with the ufual good fenfe of one.
The next line is jumbled out of all meaning. }
With Chicks LIKE Flat fries nuken they re feen abus'd.
Mr. Theobald reflores it thus,
With Checks like Flatterers - when they're feen to abufe vs.
Let us confider the fenfe a little. Old Folks, fays the fpeaker, art
Babes again; well, and what then? Why then they muft be ufed
like Flatterers. But when Shakefpear quoted the Proverb, we may
be affured his purpofe was to draw fome inference from it, and not
run rambling after a fimilitude. And that inference was not dif-
ficult to find, had common fenfe been attended, to, which tells us
Shakefpear muft have wrote,
Old Folks are Babes again ; and m*ft be ufed
With Checks, NOT FLATT'RIES it^fa thfre feen abus'd.
i. e. Old folks being grown children again, they mould be ufed
as we ufe children, with Checks, when we find that the little Flat-
fries we employed to quiet them are abus'd, by their becoming
mre peevilh and perverfe by indulgence.
When they're ft en avuid.
i, e. when .we find that thofe Flau'ries are abufc-J.
SCENE
LEAR. 27
SCENE XII.
Changes to an open Place before the Palace,
Enter Kent dijguifd.
1
And can my fpeech diffufe, my good intent
May carry thro* itfelf to that full ifTue,
For which I raz'd my likenefs. Now, banifh'd Keni 9
If thou can*ft ferve where thou do ft ftand condemned,
So may it come, thy matter, whom thou lov'ft,
Shall find thee full of labours.
Horns within. Enter Lear, Knights and Attendants.
Lear. Let me not ftay a jot for dinner, go, get it
ready :
How now, what art thou ? [To Kent.
Kent. A man, Sir.
Lear. Whatdoft thou profefs? what would J ft thou
with us?
Kent. I do profefs to be no lefs than I feem ; to
ferve him truly, that will put me in truft ; to love him
that is honeil ; to converfe with + him that is wife ; to
fay little; to fear judgment ; to fight when I cannot
chufe, 5 and to eat no fifh.
Lear.
4 him that is wife AND SAYS little i\ Tho' faying little may
be the character of wifdom, it was not a quality to chufe a compa-
nion by for his converfation. We fhould read, TO SAY little - t
which was prudent when he chofe a wife companion to profit by. So
that it was as much as to fay, I profefs to talk little myfelf, that I
may profit the more by the converfation of the wife.
5 and to eat nofjb.'] In Queen Elizabeths time the Papifts were
efteemed, and with good reafon, enemies to the government. Hence
the proverbial phrafe of, He*i an honeft man and eats nofijh ; to
fignify he's a friend to the Government and a Proteftant. The
eating fiih, on a religious account, being then efteem'd fuch a badge
of popery, that when it was enjoin'd for a feafon by aft of parlia-
King LEAR.
Lear. What art thou? %
Kent. A very honeft- hearted fellow, and as poor
as the King.
Lear. If thou beeft as poor for a fubjecl:, as he is
for a King, thou art poor enough. What would'ft
thou ?
Kent. Service.
Lear. Whom would'ft thou ferve?
Kent. You.
Lear. Doil thou know me, fellow ?
Kent. No, Sir, but you have that in your counte*
nance-, which I would fain call Mafter.
Lear. What's that ?
Kent. Authority.
Lear. What fervices canft thou do ?
Kent. I can keep honeft counfels, ride, run, marr a
curious tale in telling it, and deliver a plain mefiage
bluntly : that which ordinary men are fit for, I am
qualify'd in : and the beft of me is diligence.
Lear. How old art thou ?
Kent. Not fo young, Sir, to love a woman for Ting-
ing ; nor fo old, to doat on her for any thing. I
have years on my back forty eight.
Lear. Follow me, thou flialt ferve me ; if I like
thee no worfe after dinner, I will not part from thee
yet. Dinner, ho, dinner- wherc's my knave? my
fool ? go you, and call my fool hither. You, you,
firrah, where's my daughter ?
menr, for the encouragement of the fifti-towns, it was thought
neceffary to declare the reafon ; hence it was called Cecil's Faft.
To this difgraceful badge of popery, Fletcher alludes in his Woman-
hater, who makes the courtezan fay, when Lfizari/Jo, in fearch of
the Umbrano's head, was feized at her houfe by the Intelligencers,
for a traytor. Gentlemen, 1 am glad you have difcovered him. He
Jhould not have eaten under my roof for twenty pounds. And fur e I
did not like him ivhen b& called for fjh. And Mar/Ion's, Dutch Cour-
tezm. I truft I am none of the wicked that ec.l fjb afrjday.
Enter
King LEAR. 29
Enter Steward.
Stew. So pleafe you {Exit.
Lear. What fays the fellow there ? call the clot-
pole back : vvhere's my fool, ho? I think the
world's afleep : how now ? where's that mungrel ?
Knight. He fays, my lord, your daughter is not
well.
Lear. Why came not the flave back to me when I
call'dhim!
Knight. Sir, he anfwer'd me in the roundel! man-
ner, he would not.
Lear. He would not?
Knight. My lord, I know not what the matter is ;
but, to my Judgment, your Highnefs is not entertain'd
with that ceremonious affection as you were wont ;
there's a great abatement of kindnefs appears as well
in the general dependants, as in the Duke himfelf al
fo, and your daughter.
Lear. Ha! fay 'ft thou fo ?
Knight. I befeech you pardon me, my lord, if I be
miftaken ; for my duty cannot be filent, when I think
your Highnefs is wrong'd.
Lear. Thou but remember'ft me of my own con-
ception. I have perceiv'd a moft faint neglect of late,
which I have rather blamed as my own jealous curiofi-
ty, than as a very 6 pretence and purpofe of unkind-
nefs ; I will look further into't ; but where's my
fool ? I have not feen him thefe two days.
Knight. Since my young lady's going into France^
Sir, the fool hath much pined away.
Lear. No more of that, I have noted it well ; go
you and tell my daughter, I would fpeak with her.
6 pretence an j purpofe of unkindnefs ;] Pretence, for indication.
So the fenfe is, A purpofe of unkindnefs, a defign that that un-
kindnefs fhould be feen.
Go
30 King LEAR.
Go you, call hither my fool. O, you, Sir, come you
hither, Sir ; who am I, Sir ?
Enter Steward.
Stew. My lady's father.
Lear. My lady's father ? my lord's knave f- you
whorfon dog, you flave, you cur.
Stew. I am none of thefe, my lord ; I befeech your
pardon.
Lear. Do you bandy looks with me, you rafcal ?
[Striking him.
Stew. I'll not be ftruck, my lord.
Kent. Nor tript neither, you bafe foot- ball player.
[Tripping up his heels.