SCENE XIII.

To them, Enter Fool.

Fool. Let me hire him too. Here's my coxcomb.
[Giving Kent bis cap.
Lear. How now, my pretty knave? how do'ft thou?
Fool. Sirrah, you were best take my coxcomb.
Kent. Why, my boy?

Fool. Why? for taking one's part, that is out of favour: Nay, an thou canst not smile as the wind fits, thou'lt catch cold shortly. There, 3 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 muft needs wear my coxcomb. How now, nuncle? Would I had + two.coxcombs, and twó daughters.

Lear. Why, my boy?

4.

Fool. If I give them all my living, I'll keep my coxcombs myself. There's mine, beg another of thy daughters.

Lear. Take heed, Sirrah, the whip.

Fool. Truth's a dog muft to kennel; he must be whip'd out, when the lady brach may stand by th' fire

and ftink.

Lear. A peftilent gall to me.

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

Fool. Mark it, nuncle.

3 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, refembling the comb of a cock. The word, afterwards, ufed to

[To Kent.

1

36

Have more than thou fhoweft,
Speak leis than thou knoweft,
*Lend lefs than thou owest,
Ride more than thou goeft,
s Learn more than thou troweft,
Set less than thou throweft,
Leave thy drink and thy whore,
And keep within door,

And thou fhalt have more
Than two tens to a score.

Kent. This is nothing, fool.

Fool. Then it is 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 a fool. [To Kent. Lear. A bitter fool!

Fool. Doft thou know the difference, my boy, between a bitter fool and a fweet one?..

Lear. No, lad, teach me.

6

Fool. That Lord, that counsel'd thee to give away
thy Land,

Come, place him here by me! do thou for him ftand;
The fweet 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.

Lend less than thou owel,]
That is, do Rot
lend all that thou
haft. To owe 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 oweft.
5 Learn more than thou troweft,]
To e, is an old word which

fignifies to believe. The precept is admirable.

WARD.

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.

Kent.

Kent. This is not altogether fool, my Lord.

Fool. No, faith; Lords, and great men will not let me; ' if I had a monopoly on't, they would have part on't: nay, the Ladies too, they'll not let me have all fool to myself, 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' th' middle and eat up the meat, the two crowns of the egg. When thou cloveft thy Crown i' th' middle and gav'ft away both parts, thou bor'ft thine afs on thy back o'er the dirt. Thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown, when thou gav'ft thy golden crown away. If I speak like myself in this, let him be whip'd that first finds it so.

8

* Fools ne'er bad lefs grace in a year,

For wife men are grown foppish;
And know not how their wits to wear,
Their manners are fo apifh.

[Singing,

Lear. When were you won't to be fo full of fongs, firrah?

Fool. I have used it, nuncle, e'er fince thou mad'ft thy daughters thy mothers; for when thou gav'ft them the rod, and put'st down thy own breeches,

Then they for fudden joy did weep,
And I for forrow fung,

That fuch a King should play bo-peep,

And go the fools among.

[Singing.

Pr'ythee, nuncle, keep a fchool-mafter that can teach thy fool to lye; I would fain learn to lye.

7 If I bad a monopoly on't, 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 fhares with the patentee. WARB.

8 Fools ne'er had lefs grace in a

year,] There never was a time when fools were lefs in favour, and the reafon is, that they were never fo little wanted, for wife men now fupply their place. Such I think is the meaning. The old edition has wit for grace.

D 3

Lear.

Lear. If you lye, firrah, we'll have you whipt. Fool. I marvel what kin thou and thy daughters are: they'll have me whipt for speaking true, thou'l have me whipt for lying; and, fometimes, I am whipt for holding my peace. I had rather be any kind o'thing than a fool, and yet I would not be thee, nuncle; thou haft pared thy wit o'both fides, and left nothing i'th'middle; here comes one o' th' parings.

Lear. How now, daughter, what makes that frontlet on? You are too much of late i'th' frown.

Fool. Thou waft a pretty fellow, when thou hadst no need to care for her frowning; now thou art an a without a figure; I am better than thou art now; I am a fool, thou art nothing.Yes, forfooth, I will hold my tongue; [To Gonerill.] so your face bids me, tho' you fay nothing.

Mum, mum, He that keeps nor cruft nor crum, [Singing. Weary of all, fhall want fome.

That's a fheal'd peafcod.

[Pointing to Lear, Gon. Not only, Sir, thus your all-licens'd fool, But others of your infolent retinue,

Do hourly carp and quarrel, breaking forth
In rank and not to be endured riots.

I thought, by making this well known unto you,
T' have found a fafe redress; but now grow fearful,
By what yourself too late have spoke and done,
That you protect this courfe, and put it on
By your allowance; if you fhould, the fault
Would not 'scape cenfure, nor the redreffes fleep,
Which, in the tender of a wholesome weal,
Might in their working do you that offence,

Which else were shame, that then neceffity
Will call difcreet proceeding.

Fool. For you know, nuncle,

The hedge fparrow fed the Cuckoo fo long,
That it had its head bit off by its Young.

So out went the candle, and we were left darkling.
Lear. Are you our daughter?

Gon, I would, you would make use of your good wisdom,

Whereof I know you are fraught, and put away
Thele difpofitions, which of late transport you
From what you rightly are,

Fool. May not an Afs know when the cart draws the horse? * Whoop, Jug, I love thee.

Lear. Does any here know me? This is not Lear. Does Lear walk thus? fpeak thus? where are his eyes? Either his notion weakens, his difcernings

Are lethargy'd-Ha! waking?-'tis not fo,
Who is it that can tell me who I am?
• Fool. Lear's fhadow,

• Whoop, Jug, &c.] There are in the fool's fpeeches feveral paffages which feem to be proverbial allufions, perhaps not now to be understood.

9 Fool. Lear's fhadow.] I have given this paffage according to the firft folio. The quarto, which the modern editors have followed, makes Lear con tinue the speech thus:

Who I am?

Lear's fhadow? I would learn
that; for by the marks
Of fovereignty, of knowledge
and reajon,
I fhould be false perfuaded 1 bad
daughters.

Your name, fair gentlewoman? I think the folio in this place preferable. Dr. Warburton has inferted thefe lines with the fol

lowing note:

for by the marks Of fovereignty, of knowledge,

and of reafon.] His daugh ters prove fo unnatural, that, if he were only to judge by the reafon of things, he muft conclude, they cannot be his daughters. This is the thought. But how does his kingship or fovereignty enable him to judge in this mat ter? The line, by being falfe pointed, has loft its fenfe. We fhould read,

Of fovereignty of knowledge,i.e. the understanding. He calls it, by an equally fine phrase, in Hamlet, Sov'reignty of reafo And it is remarkable that the E ditors had depraved it there too. See Note, Act 1. Scene 7. of that play. WARBURTON.

D 4

Lear,