Page:William Hazlitt - Characters of Shakespear's Plays (1817).djvu/195

senger (Kent) in the stocks, all his suspicions are roused again, and he insists on seeing them.

"Enter Cornwall, Regan, Gloster, and Servants.

Lear. Good-morrow to you both.
Cornwall. Hail to your grace![Kent is set at liberty.
Regan. I am glad to see your highness.
Lear. Regan, I think you are; I know what reason
I have to think so: if thou should'st not be glad,
I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb,
Sepulch'ring an adultress.——O, are you free?
[To Kent.
Some other time for that.——Beloved Regan,
Thy sister's naught: O Regan, she hath tied
Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here——
[Points to his heart.
I can scarce speak to thee; thou'lt not believe,
Of how deprav'd a quality——O Regan!
Regan. I pray you, sir, take patience; I have hope
You less know how to value her desert,
Than she to scant her duty.
Lear. Say, how is that?
Regan. I cannot think my sister in the least
Would fail her obligation; if, sir, perchance,
She have restrain'd the riots of your followers,
'Tis on such ground, and to such wholesome end,
As clears her from all blame.
Lear. My curses on her!
Regan. O, sir, you are old;
Nature in you stands on the very verge
Of her confine: you should be rul'd, and led
By some discretion, that discerns your state
Better than you yourself: therefore, I pray you,
That to our sister you do make return;

Say, you have wrong'd her, sir.