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That haft within thee undivulged crimes,

2

Unwhipt of justice. Hide thee, thou bloody hand,
Thou Perjure, and thou Simular of virtue,
That art incestuous. Caitiff, shake to pieces,
3 That under covert and convenient seeming,
Haft practis'd on man's life!-Close pent-up guilts,
Rive your concealing continents and afk
Thefe dreadful fummoners grace.-I am a man,
More finn'd againft, than finning.

Kent. Alack, bare-headed?

Gracious my Lord, hard by here is a hovel,
Some friendship will it lend you 'gainft the tempest;
Repose you there, while I to this hard house,
More hard than is the ftone whereof 'tis rais'd,
Which ev'n but now, demanding after you,
Deny'd me to come in, return, and force
Their fcanted courtesy.

Lear. My wits begin to turn.

Come on, my boy. How doft, my boy? art cold?

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G 2

.e. under cover of a frank, open, focial converfation. This raifes the fenfe, which the poet expreffes more at large in Timon of Athens, where he fays,

-The fellow that
Sits next him now, parts bread
with him, and pledges
The breath of him in a divided
draught;

Is th' readieft man to kill him.—
WARBURTON.

Convenient needs not be understood in any other than its ufual and proper sense; accommodate to the prefent purpose ; fuitable to a defign. Convenient Seeming is appearance fuch as may promote his purpose to destroy.

4-concealing continents-] Continent ftands for that which contains or incloses.

I'm

I'm cold myself. Where is the straw, my fellow?
The art of our neceffities is ftrange,

That can make vile things precious. Come, your

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hovel.

Poor fool and knave, I've one part in my heart,

That's forry yet for thee.

6

Fool. He that has an a little tyny wit,

With beigh bo, the wind and the rain;
Muft make content with his fortunes fit,
Though the rain it raineth every day.

Lear. True, my good boy. Come, bring us to this

hovel.
Fool. 'Tis a brave night to cool a curtezan.
I'll fpeak a prophecy ere 1

5

-one part in my heart,]

Some editions read,

--thing in my heart, from which Hanmer, and Dr. Warburton after him, have made firing, very unneceffarily; both the copies have part.

6 He that has but a little tyny

wit,] I fancy that the fecond line of this ftanza had once a termination that rhymed with the fourth; but I can only fancy it; for both the copies agree. It was once pe haps written,

With heigh ho, the wind and the

rain in his way. The meaning feems likewife to require this infertion. He that has wit, however fall, and finis wind and rain in his way, muft content himself by thinking, that fomewhere or other it raineth every day, and others are therefore fuffering like himself.

7 I'll speak a prophecy or ere I go; When priests are more in words

than matter; When brewers marr their malt

with water;

go.

[Exit.

When

When nobles are their tailors

tulos;

No bereticks burn'd, but wenches'
fuitors;

When every cafe in law is right,
No 'Squire in debt, nor no poor
Knight;

When flanders do not live in
tongues,

And cut-purfes come not to throngs;

When ufurers tell their gold i'th' fie d,

And bards, and whores, do
churches build:

Then shall the realm of Albion
Come to great confufion
Then comes the time, who lives
to feet,

That Going fhall be us'd with

feet. The judicious reader will obferve through this heap of nonsense and confufion, that this is not one but two prophecies. The firft, a fatyrical de fcription of the present manners as future: And the fecond, a fatyrical defcription of future manners, which the corruption of

the

When priests are more in words than matter,
When brewers marr their malt with water;
"When nobles are their tailors' tutors;
9 No hereticks burnt, but wenches' fuitors;
Then comes the time, who lives to fee't,
That going fhall be us❜d with feet.
When every cafe in law is right,
No squire in debt, and no poor knight;
When flanders do not live in tongues;
And cut-purfes come not to throngs;

the prefent would prevent from ever happening. Each of thefe prophecies has its proper inference or deduction: yet, by an unaccountable ftupidity, the first editors took the whole to be all one prophecy, and fo jumbled the two contrary inferences together. The whole then fhould be read as follows, only premifing that the first line is corrupte d' by the lofs of a word -or ere I go, is not English, and fhould be helped thus,

1. I'll Speak a prophecy or two ere 1 go.

When priefts are more in words

than matter,

When brewers marr their malt
with water;
When nobles are their tailors'

tutors;

No hereticks burnt, but wenches'
Juitors;

Then comes the time, who lives
to feet,

That Going fhall be us'd with feet. i. e. Now.

2. When every fe in law is right

No Jquire in debt, and no poor knight;

When flanders do not live in tongues;

And cut-purfes come not to brongs

When ufurers tell their gold 'th' field;

And awds and whores do
charches build:

Then jhall the realm of Albion
Come to great confufion. i. e.
Never.

The agacity and acuteness of Dr. Warburton are very confpicuous in this note. He has difentangled the confufion of the paffage, and I have inferted his emendation in the text. Or e'er is proved by Mr. Upton to be good English, but the controverfy was not neceflary, for or is not in the old copies.

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When ufurers tell their gold i'th' field;

And bawds and whores do churches build:
Then shall the realm of Albion

Come to great confusion.

This prophecy Merlin fhall make, for I do live before his time.

[Exit.

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Glo.

A

An Apartment in Glo'fter's Caftle.

Enter Glo'fter, and Edmund.

LACK, alack, Edmund, I like not this unnatural dealing; when I defir'd their leave that I might pity him, they took from me the use of mine own houfe; charg'd me on pain of perpetual displeasure, neither to speak of him, entreat for him, or any way sustain him.

Edm. Moft favage and unnatural!

Glo. Go to; fay you nothing. There is divifion between the Dukes, and a worse matter than that. I have receiv'd a letter this night. 'Tis dangerous to be spoken. I have lock'd the letter in my clofet. These injuries, the King now bears, will be revenged home, there is part of a power already footed; we must incline to the King; I will look for him, and privily relieve him; go you, and maintain talk with the Duke, that my charity be not of him perceiv'd; if he ask for me, I am ill, and gone to bed. If I die for it, as no less is threaten'd me, the King my old mafter must be reliev'd. There are ftrange things toward, Edmund; pray, you, be careful. [Exit. Edm. This curtesy, forbid thee, fhall the Duke Inftantly know, and of that letter too. This feems a fair deferving, and muft draw me That which my father loses; no less than all. The younger rifes, when the old doth fall.

[Exit, SCENE

SCENE V.

Changes to a part of the Heath with a Hovel.

Kent.

H

Enter Lear, Kent, and Fool.

ERE is the place, my Lord; good my
Lord, enter.

The tyranny o'the open night's too rough

For nature to endure.

Lear. Let me alone.

Kent. Good my Lord, enter here.
Lear. Let me alone.

Kent. Good my Lord, enter here.

Lear. Will't break my heart?

[Storm fill.

Kent. I'd rather break mine own; good my Lord,

enter.

Lear. Thou think'ft 'tis much, that this contentious ftorm

Invades us to the fkin; fo 'tis to thee;

But where the greater malady is fixt,

The leffer is fcarce felt. Thou'dft fhun a bear;
But if thy flight lay toward the roaring sea,
Thou'dft meet the bear i'th'mouth.

free,

When the mind's

The body's delicate; the tempeft in my mind
Doth from my senses take all Feeling else,
Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude!
Is it not, as this mouth fhould tear this hand
For lifting food to't?-But I'll punish home;
No, I will weep no more-In fuch a night,
To shut me out?-Pour on, I will endure-
In fuch a night as this? O Regan, Gonerill!-
Your old kind father, whofe frank heart gave all-
O, that way, madness lies; let me fhun that
No more of that.

Kent. Good my Lord, enter here.

G 4

Lear.

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