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his crown, and by his witty sayings kept up his good humour, though he could not refrain sometimes from jeering at his master for his imprudence in giving all away to his daughters, rhymingly saying,

"They for sudden joy did weep,

And I for sorrow sung,

That such a king should play bo-peep,

And go the fools among."

In such wild sayings and scraps of songs this pleasant honest fool poured out his heart even in the presence of Goneril herself. After treating the king thus for some time, Goneril told him that his staying in her palace was inconvenient so long as he kept an establishment of a hundred knights; that it was useless and expensive, and filled her court with riot; and she desired him to lessen their number.

Lear at first could not believe his ears. He could not believe that she grudged him the respect due to his age. But, persisting in her demand, the old man's rage was excited, and he called her a detested kite. He spoke

of ingratitude as being more hideous in a child than the sea-monster and he launched a bitter curse on Goneril, praying that she might never have a child, or if she had, that it might live to treat her with scorn and contempt, so that she might feel how sharper than a serpent's tooth it was to have a thankless child. Goneril's husband, the Duke of Albany, began to excuse himself for any share which Lear might suppose he had taken in the matter, but Lear would not listen, and in a rage ordered the horses to be saddled, and set out with his followers for the abode of Regan. As he went, he thought how small the fault of Cordelia appeared in comparison with her sister's, and he wept; and then he was ashamed that

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such a creature as Goneril should have the power to make him weep.

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1 Albany, the ancient name for the Highlands of Scotland. 2 Burgundy, now a part of France, but formerly an independent state. 3mar, spoil, injure, ruin. crafty, cunning, deceitful. mercenary, moved by the love of gain. spleen, a gland in the interior of the body, near the stomach. It was formerly supposed to be the seat of anger, melancholy, and other feelings. Here it means anger. dotage, second childishness, the childishness of old age. preposterous, Latin, prae, before, and posterus, after; hind before; very absurd or ridiculous. dowry, the marriage portion given with a wife. 10 feign, pretend. estranged, made unfriendly, caused to withdraw.

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REGAN and her husband were keeping their court in great pomp at their palace, and Lear despatched his servant Caius with letters to her, that she might be prepared for his reception. But Goneril had also sent letters to Regan, accusing her father of ill-humour, and advising her not to receive so great a train as he was bringing. This messenger arrived at the same time with Caius, and who should he be but Goneril's steward! Caius challenged him to fight; he refused, and Caius beat him soundly. Regan and her husband, hearing of it, ordered Caius to be put in the stocks, so that the first thing the king saw when he entered the castle, was his faithful servant in that disgraceful situation.

This was a bad 1omen, but a worse followed, when, upon inquiry for his daughter and her husband, he was

told they were weary with travelling all night, and could not see him. He insisted upon their appearing; and when they came, whom should he see in their company but the hated Goneril, who had come to tell her own story, and set her sister against her father!

This sight vexed the old man, the more so when he saw Regan take her by the hand. Regan advised him to go home again with Goneril, dismissing half his attendants, and to ask her forgiveness; for, she said, he was old, and must be ruled by persons that had more discretion than himself. Lear argued against such an unnatural dependence, declaring his resolution never to return, but to stay where he was with Regan, adding that her eyes were not fierce, like Goneril's, but mild and kind; and that rather than return to Goneril, with half his train, he would go to France, and beg a pension of the king, who had married Cordelia.

But he was mistaken in expecting kinder treatment from Regan than from Goneril. As if trying to outdo her sister in 'unfilial behaviour, she declared that she thought fifty knights too many, and that five-and-twenty were enough. Then Lear, nearly heart-broken, turned to Goneril, and said that he would go back with her, for her fifty doubled five-and-twenty, and so her love was twice as much as Regan's. But Goneril said, What need of so many as five-and-twenty? or even ten, or five, when he might be waited upon by her servants, or her sister's servants? So these two wicked daughters would have deprived him of all his train, and of everything to show that he had once been a king. Not that a splendid train is essential to happiness, but from a king to a beggar is a hard change. The ingratitude of his daughters pierced this poor king to the heart; and with this ill-usage, and vexation for having so foolishly given

away a kingdom, his wits began to be unsettled, and he vowed revenge against these unnatural daughters.

While he was thus idly threatening, night came on, and a loud storm of thunder, lightning, and rain. His daughters persisting in their resolution not to admit his followers, Lear chose rather to encounter the fury of the storm abroad, than stay under the same roof with them; and these ungrateful women suffered him to go, and shut their doors upon him.

Thus the old man sallied forth to combat with the 3elements. Upon a heath, exposed to the storm in a dark night, did Lear wander, defying the wind and thunder. He bid the winds blow the earth into the sea, that no token might remain of any such ungrateful animal as man. He had at first no other companion than the poor fool, who still tried to cheer him, saying it was but a naughty night to swim in, and truly the king had better go in and ask his daughter's blessing.

Thus poorly accompanied, this once great monarch was found by his faithful servant Caius, who said, "Alas! sir, are you here? Creatures that love the night, love not such nights as these. This dreadful storm has driven the beasts to their hiding-places. Man's nature cannot endure the affliction or the fear." But Lear rebuked him, saying these lesser evils were not felt where a greater malady was fixed. When the mind is at ease, the body has leisure to be delicate; but the tempest in his mind took all feeling from his senses, save that which was felt at his heart. Then he spoke of filial ingratitude, and said it was as if the mouth should tear the hand for lifting food to it; for parents were hands and food and everything to children.

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Caius, persisting in his entreaties, at last persuaded the king to take shelter in a wretched hovel on the heath,

where the fool first entering, suddenly ran back terrified, saying that he had seen a spirit. But this spirit proved to be only a poor beggar, who had crept into it for shelter, and with his wild talk frightened the fool. The king seeing this poor fellow with nothing but a blanket to

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cover him, could not be persuaded but that he was some father who had given all away to his daughters, and brought himself to that condition; for nothing, he thought, could bring a man to such wretchedness, but having unkind daughters.

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