[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.')
[174] See ii. ii. 162 to end. The light-heartedness disappears, of course, as Lear's misfortunes thicken.
[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. He twice speaks of the gods in another manner (i. i. 185, iii. vi. 5), and he was accustomed to think of Lear in his 'prayers' (i. i. 144).
[176] The 'clown' in Antony and Cleopatra is merely an old peasant. There is a fool in Timon of Athens, however, and he appears in a scene (ii. ii.) generally attributed to Shakespeare. His talk sometimes reminds one of Lear's fool; and Kent's remark, 'This is not altogether fool, my lord,' is repeated in Timon, ii. ii. 122, 'Thou art not altogether a fool.'
[177] [This is no obstacle. There could hardly be a stage tradition hostile to his youth, since he does not appear in Tate's version, which alone was acted during the century and a half before Macready's production. I had forgotten this; and my memory must also have been at fault regarding an engraving to which I referred in the first edition. Both mistakes were pointed out by Mr. Archer.]
[178] In parts of what follows I am indebted to remarks by Cowden Clarke, quoted by Furness on i. iv. 91.