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That he hath giv'n away!-Now, by my life, "Old fools are babes again; and must be us'd With Checks, as flatteries when they're seen abus'd.

ftored from the old Quarto. The last verfe, which I have ventured to amend, is there printed thus:

With Checks, like Flateries when

they are jeen abus'd.

THEOBALD.

9 Old Fools are babes again; and must be us'd With Checks LIKE Flatt'ries when they're feen abus'd.] Thus the old Quarto reads these lines. It is plain they are corrupt. But they have been made worfe by a fruitless attempt to cerrect them. And first, for

Old Fools are babes again; A proverbial expreffion is here plainly alluded to; but it is a ftrange proverb which only informs us that fools are innocents. We should read,

Old FOLKS 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 Checks LIKE Flatt'ries

when they're jeen abus'd. Mr. Theobald reftores it thus, With Checks like Flatt'rers when

they're feen to abufe us. Let us confider the fenfe a little. Old Folks, fays the fpeaker, are Babes again; well, and what then? Why then they must be ufed like Flatterers. But when Shakespear quoted the Proverb, we may be affured his purpose was to draw fome inference from it, and not run rambling after a fimilitude. And that inference

Re

was not difficult to find, had common fenfe been attended to, which tells us Shakespear must have wrote,

Old Folks are babes again; and must be us'd

With Checks, NOT FLATT'RIES

when they're feen abus'd. i. e. Old folks being grown children again, they fhould be used as we use children, with Checks, when we find that the little Flatt'ries we employed to quiet them are abufed, by their becoming more peevish and perverfe by indulgence.

-When they're feen ubus'd. i. e. when we find that thofe

Flatt'rics are abused.

WARBURTON. Thefe lines hardly deferve a note, though Mr. Theobald thinks them very fine. Whether fools or folks fhould be read is not worth enquiry. The controverted line is yet in the old quarto, not as the editors reprefent it, but thus:

With checks as flatteries when

they are feen abus'd.

I am in doubt whether there is any errour of tranfcription. The fenfe feems to be this: Old men must be treated with checks, when as they are feen to be deceived with flatteries: or, when they are once weak enough to be seen abused by flatteries, they are then weak enough to te ufed with checks. There is a play of the words used and abused. To abuje is, in our authour, very frequently the

fame

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; advise your fellows fo. I'll write ftrait to my fifter to hold my courfe. Prepare for dinner. [Exeunt.

SCENE

XII.

Changes to an open Place before the Palace.

Enter Kent difguis'd.

F but as well I other accents borrow,

Kent. And can my speech difufe, my good intent I'

May carry thro' itself to that full iffue,

For which I raz'd my likeness. Now, banifh'd Kent, If thou can'st serve where thou doft stand condemn'd, So may it come Thy mafter, whom thou lov'fst, Shall find thee full of labours.

Horns within.

Enter Lear,

Enter Lear, Knights and Attendants.

Lear. Let me not stay a jot for dinner. Go, get it

ready.

How now, what art thou?

Kent. A man, Sir.

[To Kent.

Lear. What doft thou profefs? what wouldst thou with us?

Kent. I do profefs to be no less than I feem; to ferve him truly, that will put me in truft to love him that is honeft; to converfe with him that is wife and

fame as to deceive. This conftruction is harsh and ungrammatical; Shakespeare perhaps thought it vicious, and chose to throw away the lines rather than correct them, nor would now thank the offici

oufnefs of his editors, who reftore what they do not understand.

bim that is wife AND SAYS little;] Tho' faying little may be the character of wisdom, it was not a quality to chufe a com

and fays little; to fear judgment; to fight when t cannot chufe, and to eat no fish.

2

Lear. What art thou?

Kent. A very honeft-hearted fellow, and as poor as the King.

Lear. If thou be'ft as poor for a fubject, as he is for a King, thou art poor enough. What wouldeft thou? Kent. Service.

Lear. Whom wouldst thou ferve?

Kent. You.

Lear. Doft thou know me, fellow?

Kent. No, Sir, but you have that in your counte nance, which I would fain call Master.

Lear. What's that?

Kent. Authority.

Lear. What fervices canft thou do?

Kent. I can keep honeft counfels, ride, run, marr a

panion by for his converfation. We should read, TO SAY little; which was prudent when he chose 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. WARBURTON.

To converfe fignifies immediately and properly to keep company, not to difcourfe or talk. His meaning is, that he chooses for his companions men of referve and caution; men who are no tattlers nor tale-bearers. The old reading is the true.

2 and to eat no fifh.] In Queen Elizabeth's time the Papifts were efteemed, and with good reason, enemies to the government. Hence the proverbial phrafe of, He's an honest man and eats no fish; to fignify he's a friend to the Government and a Proteftant. The

eating fifh; on a religious ac count, being then esteem'd fuch a badge of popery, that when it was enjoin'd for a feafon by act of parliament, for the encouragement of the fifh-towns, it was thought neceffary to declare the reafon; hence it was called Cecil's Faft. To this disgraceful badge of popery, Fletcher alludes in his Woman-hater, who makes the courtezan fay, when Laza rillo, in fearch of the Umbrano's head, was feized at her house by the Intelligencers, for a traytor. Gentlemen, I am. glad you have difcovered him. He should not have eaten under my roof for twenty pounds. And fure I did not like him when he called for fih. And Marfion's Dutch Courtezan. I trust I am none of the wicked that eat fish a fryday.

WARBURTON.

cu

Curious tale in telling it, and deliver a plain meffage 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 finging; nor fo old, to doat on her for any thing. I have years on my back forty-eight.

Lear. Follow me, thou fhalt ferve me; if I like thee no worfe after dinner, I will not part from thee yet. Dinner, ho, dinner-Where's my knave? my fool?

Enter Steward.

Go you, and call my fool hither. You, you, firrah, where's my daughter? Stew. So pleafe you.

[Exit. Lear. What fays the fellow there? Call the clodpoll back-Where'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'd him?

Knight. Sir, he anfwer'd me in the roundest manher, he would not.

Lear. He would not?

Knight. My Lord, I know not what the matter is, but, to my Judgment, your Highnels is not entertain'd with that ceremonious affection as you were wont; there's a great abatement of kindness appears as well in the general dependants, as in the Duke himfelf alfo, and your daughter.

Lear. Ha! fay'st thou fo?

Knight. I beseech you, pardon me, my Lord, if I be mistaken; for my duty cannot be filent, when I think your Highness is wrong'd.

Lear. Thou but remember'ft me of my own conception. I have perceived a moft faint neglect of late, VOL. VI.

D

which

which I have rather blamed as my own jealous curiofi ty, than as a very pretence and purpose of unkindness; I will look further into't. But where's my fool? 1 have not seen him these two days.

Knight. Since my young lady's going into France, Sir, the fool hath much pin'd 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.

Enter Steward.

you, Sir, come you hither, Sir; who am I, Sir? 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 thefe, my Lord; I beseech your pardon.

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

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

[Striking bim.

[Tripping up his heels. Thou ferv'ft me, and

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

Lear. I thank thee, fellow.

I'll love thee.

Kent. Come, Sir, arife, away. I'll teach you differences. Away, away; if you will meafure your lubber's length again, tarry again; but away, go to, have you wisdom? fo.- [Pufbes the Steward out. Lear. Now, my friendly knave, I thank thee. There's earneft of thy fervice. [Giving money.

SCENE

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