Lear. When power to flattery bows? To plainness honour's bound When majesty falls to folly. Reserve thy state; 150 This hideous rashness: answer my life my judgment, Kent, on thy life, no more. 155 Kent. My life I never held but as a pawn Lear. To wage against thine enemies; nor fear to lose it, Out of my sight! Kent. See better, Lear; and let me still remain The true blank of thine eye. 149. falls] F, stoops Q; Reserve 153. empty-hearted] unhyphened Q, F. Reverbe F. 155. as a] Q, as F. 157. the motive] Q, motive F. 150. best consideration] best is sometimes used by Shakespeare as a mere phrase of courtesy, without a very distinct meaning, as in Cymbeline, 1. i. 156: "make yourself some comfort Out of your best advice." Some, however, see here a reference to the saying, "Second thoughts are best." 151. answer... judgment] "Let my life be answerable for my judgment, or I will stake my life on my opinion" (Johnson). 154. Reverbs] reverberates. Some suppose this a coinage of Shakespeare, as no other example of its use has yet been found. 154. hollowness] a play on the two senses; the ordinary one, concavity, and the sense insincerity. See 1. ii. 122 : "machinations, hollowness, treachery. Compare also "hollow hearted," Richard III. Iv. iv. 435; thy state] F, Reverse thy doom Q. 153, 154. sound Reverbs] Q, sounds 156. thine] F, thy Q; nor] Q, nere F. "hollowly," Tempest, III. i. 70; hollow friend," Hamlet, 111. ii. 218. 155. held] considered. a 155 pawn] a stake which is hazarded in a wager; the only instance in Shakespeare of its use in this sense. He usually employs the word in the sense of pledge, something given as a security. See The Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1. iii. 47: "Here is her oath for love, her honour's pawn." Capell thinks there is an allusion to the game of chess. 156. wage] to stake, as in a wager, to risk, to venture. So Cymbeline, 1. iv. 144: "I will wage against thy gold, gold to it." 158, 159. let me... eye] i.e. Keep me always in your view (Johnson). 159. blank] the white spot in the centre of the target, the white; the word in this sense is somewhat rare. See Lear. Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow Upon the foul disease. Revoke thy doom; Or, whilst I can vent clamour from my throat, On thine allegiance, hear me ! 165 Hear me, recreant! Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow, Which we durst never yet, and with strain'd pride 170 161. O... miscreant !] F, Vassall, recreant. (O omitted) Q. Laying. . sword] Rowe; omitted Q, F. 162. Alb., Corn., . . forbear] F, omitted Q. 164. Kill]F, Doe, kill Q; the fee] Q, thy fee F. 165. doom] Q, gift F. 167. recreant !] F, omitted Q. 168. thine] F, thy Q. vow] Q, vowes F. 170. strain'd] F, straied Q. in the Moral play, The Interlude of Youth (Dodsley's Old Plays, Hazlitt, ii. 55). Riot, addressing Youth as to amusements after describing various games of cards, says: 169. Since Q, That F; 161. miscreant] Perhaps, as Wright suggests, the word is used in its original sense misbeliever. Kent had referred contemptuously to the gods. 170. strain'd] exaggerated, exces"Yet I can tell you more sive. Johnson explains "straied pride” Pink and drink, and also at the of the Quarto as "pride exorbitant, blank And many sports mo." Also see Cotgrave, French Dictionary, Blanc, the white or mark of a pair of buts. It is not impossible that in this passage Shakespeare may have had one from Lyly's Euphues and his England, 1580, in his mind; see Arber, 1868, p. 404: "The eye of the man is the arrow, the beautie of the woman, the white, which shooteth not, but receiveth, being the patient, not the agent." passing due bounds." Perhaps it might mean presuming. For "strair'd" compare also Winter's Tale, IV. iv. 478: "What I was I am, More straining on for plucking Also the curious expression, "strain'd," "With what encounter so uncurrent I Have strain'd to appear thus." To come betwixt our sentence and our power, To shield thee from diseases of the world; 175 And on the sixth to turn thy hated back The moment is thy death. This shall not be revok'd. 180 Kent. Fare thee well, king; sith thus thou wilt appear, Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here. [To Cordelia.] The gods to their dear shelter take thee, F. maid, 171. betwixt] F, between Q; sentence] Q, sentences F. 173. made] QI, F; make Q 2, Q 3. 174. Five] F, Foure Q. 175. diseases] Q, disasters 176. sixth] (sixt) F, fift Q. 181. Fare] F, Why fare Q; sith thus] F, since thus Q1, since (thus omitted) Q 2, Q 3. 182. Freedom] F, Friend ship Q. 183. To Cordelia] Hanmer, omitted Q, F; dear shelter] F, protection Q; thee, maid] F (without comma) the maid Q. 173. Our potency reward] Malone explains "as a proof that I am not a mere threatener, that I have power as well as will to punish, take the due reward of thy demerits"; could it mean 66 you want me to take back my power. Well I do, and you must take the consequences"? Pope followed "make good" of Quarto 2, which Boswell, who also reads it, explains thus: "As thou hast come with unreasonable pride between the sentence which I had passed and the power by which I shall execute it, take thy reward in another sentence which shall make good, shall establish, that power." 175. diseases] inconveniences. Compare to disease, to trouble, Coriolanus, I. iii. 117: "as she now is, she will (Dodsley's Old Plays, Hazlitt, i. 87). 177. tenth day] Collier MS. proposes "seventh." P. A. Daniel suggests "se'nth," believing that "the sense of the passage requires this alteration"; and perhaps he is right. "If we may contract sevennights to se'nnights," he goes on, 'why not seventh to se'nth?" Notes and Conjectural Emendations, 1870, p. 77. 181, 182. Fare . . . here] After the storm comes the equanimity of Kent's rhymed lines. That justly think'st and hast most rightly said! [To Goneril and Regan.] And your large speeches may your deeds approve, 185 That good effects may spring from words of love. Flourish. Re-enter GLOUCESTER, with FRANCE, Glou. Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord. Bur. Lear. 190 We first address toward you, who with this king Most royal majesty, I crave no more than what your highness offer'd, 195 Right noble Burgundy, But now her price is fall'n. Sir, there she stands: 184. justly] F, rightly Q; think'st] F, thinks Q; hast] Q 1, F, hath Q2; rightly] F, justly Q. 185. To Goneril and Regan] Hanmer, omitted Q, F; And speeches] Q, F, And you, large speechers, Capell. 188. Exit] F, omitted Q. 190. of]Q 1, F, or Q 2. 191. toward] F, towards Q; this] F, a Q. 194. Most] F, omitted Q. 195. what] Q, hath F. 188. shape.. new] to shape the course, to proceed, advance, like "make thy way," v. iii. 29. So Marlow, Edward II. IV. v. 3: "Shape we our course to Ireland." Kent means that he will, in a foreign land, pursue his old way of speaking the plain truth, fearless of consequences. 188. Flourish] a blast of trumpets or horns, to herald the approach of great persons. So Richard ÏII. IV. iv. 148: "A flourish, trumpets! strike alarum, drums!" See note to Sennet, line 33 of this scene. 192. rivall d] been a rival, a competitor. 197. hold her so] hold her on the terms you mention. Bur. If aught within that little-seeming substance, 200 I know no answer. Lear. Will you, with those infirmities she owes, Bur. 204 Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate, Pardon me, royal sir; Election makes not up on such conditions. Lear. Then leave her, sir; for, by the power that made me, I tell you all her wealth. great king, [To France.] For you, 199. little-seeming] Collier ed. 2 (S. Walker conject.); unhyphened Q, F. 201. more] F, else Q. 203. Will F, Sir, will Q. 205. Dower'd] F, Covered Q. 207. up on] Q, up in F. 209. To France] Pope; omitted Q, F. 199. that... substance] Some see in this expression a reference to the size of Cordelia, "that substance which is but little in appearance" (Wright). Johnson explains "seeming" as beautiful, Steevens as "specious." Moberly explains "her nature, which seems so slight and shallow"; but can it be that Lear refers ironically to Cordelia's blunt professions of sincerity which she had just contrasted with her sister's alleged insincerity? "If aught within this daughter," he may mean, "who is substance with small speciousness. Cordelia professes to be all reality and no pretence. "If you like this, take it, and nothing else except my displeasure attached to it." by its fitness, may quite satisfy your grace. For "like" in the sense of "please," see II. ii. 86. 203. owes] owns. See 1. iv. 120. 207. Election up] I will not select her, choose her for my wife. See Cymbeline, 1. ii. 30: "if it be a sin to make a true election (i.e. to choose a good husband) she is damned." Makes not up" is explained by Johnson as "comes not forward, makes not advances." Malone explains, comes not to a decision." 66 207. on such conditions] "with such qualities," Schmidt, Zur Textkritik, p. 14. See Henry V. IV. i. 108: "all his senses have but human conditions." In his Shakespeare Lexicon, Schmidt had perhaps rightly explained it "on such terms.' Palsgrave in his Lesclarcissement defines "condyciouns, 201. may... grace] may please maners," by the Old French "meurs." 200. pieced attached to it, in addition to it. See Coriolanus, 11. iii. 220, and compare "piece out," III. vi. 2 of this play. |