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Lear. Thou but remember'ft me of mine own conception: I have perceived a moft faint neglect of late; which I have rather blamed as mine own jealous curiofity, than as a very pretence and purpose of unkindness : I will look further into't. -But where's my fool? I have not feen him this two days.

Knight. Since my young lady's going into France, fir, the fool hath much pined away.

Lear. No more of that; I have noted it well.-Go you, and tell my daughter I would speak with her.-Go you, call hither my fool.

Re-enter Steward.

O, you fir, , you fir, come you hither: Who am I, fir? Stew. My lady's father.

Lear. My lady's father! my lord's knave: you whorefon dog! you flave! you cur!

Stew. I am none of this, my lord'; I beseech you, pardon me.

Lear. Do you bandy looks with me, you rascal?

Stew. I'll not be ftruck, my lord.

[Ariking him.

Kent. Nor tript neither; you bafe foot-ball player.

[tripping up his heels.

9-a very pretence-] Pretence in Shakspeare generally fignifies defign. So, in a foregoing scene in this play to no other pretence of danger." Again, in Holinfhed, p. 648: " the pretenfed evill purpofe of the queene." STEEVENS.

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I am none of this, my lord; &c.] Thus the quartos. The folio reads-I am none of thefe, my lord; I befcech your pardon.

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MALONE.

-bandy looks-] A metaphor from Tennis:
"Come in, take this bandy with the racket of patience."
Decker's Satiromaftix.

Again:

buckle with them hand to hand,

"And bandy blows as thick as hailstones fall."

Wily Beguiled. STEEVENS. "To bandy a ball," Cole defines, clava pilam torquere ;

"to bandy

at tennis," reticulo pellere. Dict. 1679.

MALONE.

Lear.

Lear. I thank thee, fellow; thou ferveft me, and I'll love thee.

Kent. Come, fir, arife, away; I'll teach you differences; away, away: If you will measure your lubber's length again, tarry: but away: go to; Have you wifdom 3? fo. [pushes the Steward out.

Lear. Now, my friendly knave, I thank thee: there's earneft of thy fervice. [giving Kent money.

Enter Fool.

Fool. Let me hire him too;-Here's my coxcomb.

[giving Kent his cap.

Lear. How now, my pretty knave? how doft thou?
Fool. Sirrah, you were best take
Kent. Why, fool+?

my coxcomb.

Fool. Why? For taking one's part that is out of favour: Nay, an thou canst not fmile as the wind fits, thou❜lt catch cold shortly: There, take my coxcomb: Why, this fellow has banish'd two of his daughters, and did the third a bleffing against his will; if thou follow him, thou must needs wear my coxcomb.-How now, nuncle? 'Would I had two coxcombs, and rwo daughters! Lear. Why, my boy?

3 Have you wisdom ] Thus the folio. The quarto reads-you bave wifdom. MALONE.

4 Why, fool?] The folio reads-why, my boy? and gives this question to Lear. STEEVENS.

5 thou'lt catch cold shortly:] i. e. be turned out of doors, and be expofed to the inclemency of the weather. FARMER.

6 take my coxcomb:] Meaning his cap, called fo, because on the top of the fool or jefter's cap was fewed a piece of red cloth, resembling the comb of a cock. The word, afterwards, was used to denote a vain, conceited, meddling fellow. WARBURTON.

See Fig. XII. in the plate at the end of the first part of K. Henry IV. with Mr. Tollet's explanation, who has fince added, that Minshew, in his Dictionary, 1627, fays, "Natural ideots and fools have, and ftill do accuftome themfelves to weare in their cappes cockes feathers, or a hat with a necke and bead of a cocke on the top, and a bell thereon," &c. STEEVENS.

7 two coxcombs,] Two fools-caps, intended, as it seems, to mark double folly in the man that gives all to his daughters. JOHNSON. Fool.

Fool. If I gave them all my living, I'd keep my coxcombs myself: There's mine; beg another of thy daughters. Lear. Take heed, firrah; the whip.

Fool. Truth's a dog that muft to kennel; he must be whipp'd out, when lady, the brach', may ftand by the fire and ftink.

Lear. A peftilent gall to me!

Fool. Sirrah, I'll teach thee a fpeech.

Lear. Do.

Fool. Mark it, nuncle:

Have more than thou fhoweft,
Speak lefs than thou knowest,
Lend less than thou oweft2,
Ride more than thou goest,

8all my living,] Living in Shakspeare's time fignified eftate, or property. So, in Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, by R. Greene, 1594: "In Laxfield here my land and living lies." MALONE.

9

• beg another of thy daughters.] The fool means to fay, that it is by begging only that the old king can obtain any thing from his daughters: even a badge of folly in having reduced himself to fuch a fituation. MALONE.

lady, the brach-] Brach is a bitch of the hunting kind. "Nos quidem hodie bracb dicimus de cane foeminea, quæ leporem ex odore perfequitur." Spelm. Gloff. in voce Bracco.

Dr. Letherland, on the margin of Dr. Warburton's edition, propofed lady's brach, i. e. favour'd animal. The third quarto has a much more unmannerly reading, which I would not with to establish: but all the other editions concur in reading lady brach. Lady is ftill a common name for a hound. So Hotspur:

"I had rather hear lady, my brach, howl in Irish." Again, in Ben Jonfon's Poem to a Friend, &c.

"Do all the tricks of a falt lady bitch."

In the old black letter Booke of Huntyng, &c. no date, the lift of dogs concludes thus: "and fmall ladi popies that bere awai the fleas and divers fmall fautes." We might read" when lady, the brach," &c. STEEVENS.

Both the quartos of 1608 read-when Lady otb'e brach. I have therefore printed-lady, the brach, grounding myfelf on the reading of thofe copies, though erroneously exhibited, and on the paffage quoted by Mr. Steevens from King Henry IV. P. I. The folio, and the late editions, read-when the lady brach, &c. MALONE.

2 Lend lefs than thou oweft,] That is, do not lend all that thou haft. To cave, in old English, is to poffefs. If owe be taken for to be in debt, the more prudent precept would be:

Lend more than thou owest. JOHNSON.

4

Learn

Learn more than thou troweft 3,
Set lefs than thou throweft;
Leave thy drink and thy whore,
And keep in-a-door,

And thou shalt have more

Than two tens to a score.

Lear. This is nothing, fool.

Fool. Then 'tis like the breath of an unfee'd lawyer; you gave me nothing for't: Can you make no ufe of nothing, nuncle ?

Lear. Why, no, boy; nothing can be made out of nothing.

Fool. Pr'ythee, tell him, fo much the rent of his land comes to; he will not believe à fool.

Lear. A bitter fool!

[to Kent.

Fool. Doft thou know the difference, my boy, between

a bitter fool and a sweet fool?

Lear. No, lad, teach me.

Fool.

That lord, that counsel'd thee

To give away thy land,
Come place him here by me,-

Or do thou* for him ftand:

The sweet and bitter fool

Will presently appear;
The one in motley here,

The other found out there.

Lear. Doft thou call me fool, boy?

Fool. All thy other titles thou haft given away; that thou waft born with.

Kent. This is not altogether fool, my lord.

Fool. No, 'faith, lords and great men will not let me ;

3 Learn more than thou troweft,] To trow, is an old word which WARBURTON. fignifies to believe. The precept is admirable. 4 Lear. This is nothing, fool.] Thus the quartos. In the folio these words are given to Kent. MALONE.

No, lad,-] This dialogue, from No, lad, teach me, down to, Give me an egg, was restored from the first edition by Mr. Theobald. It is omitted in the folio, perhaps for political reafons, as it feemed to cenfure monopolies. JOHNSON.

Or do thou] The word or, which is not in the quartos, was fupplied by Mr. Steevens. MALONE.

if I had a monopoly out, they would have part on't": and ladies too, they will not let me have all fool to myfelf; they'll be fnatching.-Give me an egg, nuncle, and I'll give thee two crowns.

Lear. What two crowns fhall they be?

Fool. Why, after I have cut the egg i' the middle, and eat up the meat, the two crowns of the egg. When thou clovet thy crown i' the middle, and gaveft away both parts, thou boreft thine afs on thy back over the dirt: Thou had'ft little wit in thy bald crown, when thou gaveft thy golden one away. If I fpeak like myself in this, let him be whipp'd that firft finds it fo.

Fools had ne'er lefs grace in a year1;
For wife men are grown foppish;
And know not how their wits to wear,
Their manners are fo apifh.

[Singing.

Lear. When were you wont to be fo full of fongs, firrah? Fool. I have used it, nuncle, ever fince thou madeft thy daughters thy mother: for when thou gavest them the rod, and put'ft down thine own breeches,

6-if I bad a monopoly out, they would have a part on't:-] A fatire on the grofs abufes of monopolies at that time; and the corruption and avarice of the courtiers, who commonly went shares with the patentee. WARBURTON.

The modern editors, without authority, read

a monopoly on't,-.

Monopolies were in Shakspeare's time the common objects of fatire. In the books of the Stationers' Company, I meet with the following entry. "John Charlewoode, Oct. 1587: lycensed unto him by the whole confent of the affiftants, the onlye ymprynting of all manner of billes for plaiers." Again, Nov. 6, 1615. The liberty of printing all billes for fencing was granted to Mr. Purfoot. .STEEVENS.

7 Fools had ne'er less grace in a year;] There never was a time when fools were lefs in favour; and the reason is, that they were never fo little wanted, for wife men now supply their place. Such, I think, is the meaning. JOHNSON.

-lefs grace-] So the folio. Both the quartos read-lefs wit. STEEVENS.

In Mother Bombie, a comedy by Lily, 1594, we find, "I think gentlemen bad never lefs wit in a year." I fufpect therefore the original to be the true reading. MALONE.

8- when thou madeft thy daughters thy mother;] i. e. when you invefted them with the authority of a mother. Thus the quartos. The folio reads, with lefs propriety, thy morbers. MALONE.

Then

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