This, and the
imperfect line 'Make instruments to plague us,' suggest that Shakespeare
wrote at first simply,
Make instruments to plague us.
_Edm._ Th' hast spoken truth.
The Quartos show other variations which seem to point to the fact that
the MS. was here difficult to make out.]
[Footnote 172: IV. i. 1-9. I am indebted here to Koppel,
_Verbesserungsvorschlaege zu den Erlaeuterungen und der Textlesung des
Lear_ (1899).]
[Footnote 173: See I. i. 142 ff. Kent speaks, not of the _injustice_ of
Lear's action, but of its 'folly,' its 'hideous rashness.' When the King
exclaims 'Kent, on thy life, no more,' he answers:
My life I never held but as a pawn
To wage against thy enemies; nor fear to lose it,
_Thy safety being the motive_.
(The first Folio omits 'a,' and in the next line reads 'nere' for 'nor.'
Perhaps the first line should read 'My life I ne'er held but as pawn to
wage.')]
[Footnote 174: See II. ii. 162 to end. The light-heartedness disappears,
of course, as Lear's misfortunes thicken.]
[Footnote 175: This difference, however, must not be pressed too far;
nor must we take Kent's retort,
Now by Apollo, king,
Thou swear'st thy gods in vain,
for a sign of disbelief.
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