But there of that he was deny'd,
Which she had promis'd late:
For once refusing, he should not
Come after to her gate.

Thus 'twixt his daughters, for relief
He wander'd up and down;
Being glad to feed on beggar's food,
That lately wore a crown.

And calling to remembrance then
His youngest daughter's words,
That said, the duty of a child
Was all that love affords:
But doubting to repair to her,

Whom he had banish'd so,
Grew frantick mad; for in his mind

He bore the wounds of woe:

Which made him rend his milk-white locks,

And tresses from his head,

And all with blood bestain his cheeks, age and honour spread :

With

To hills and woods, and watry founts,

He made his hourly moan,

Till hills and woods, and senseless things, Did seem to sigh and groan.

Even thus possest with discontents,
He passed o'er to France,
In hopes from fair Cordelia there

To find some gentler chance:

Most virtuous dame! which when she heard

Of this her father's grief,

As duty bound, she quickly sent

Him comfort and relief:

peers,

And by a train of noble

In brave and gallant sort,

She gave in charge he should be brought

To Aganippus' court;

Whose royal king, with noble mind,

So freely gave consent,

To muster up his knights at arms,

To fame and courage bent.

And so to England came with speed,

To repossess king Leir,

And drive his daughters from their thrones
By his Cordelia dear;

Where she, true-hearted noble queen,

Was in the battle slain :

Yet he, good king, in his old days,
Possest his crown again.

But when he heard Cordelia's death,
Who died indeed for love

Of her dear father, in whose cause,
She did this battle move;
He swooning fell upon her breast,

From whence he never parted:

But on her bosom left his life,
That was so truely hearted.

The lords and nobles when they saw

The end of these events

The other sisters unto death

They doomed by consents;

And being dead, their crowns they left

Unto the next of kin :

Thus have you seen the fall of pride,

This ballad, which by no means deserves a place in any edition of Shakspeare, is evidently a most servile pursuit,-not, indeed, of our author's play,

which the writer does not appear to have read, but of Holinshed's Chronicle, where, as in Geoffrey of Monmouth, the king of France is called, Aganippus. I suppose, however, that the performance and celebrity of the play might have set the ballad-maker at work, and furnished him with the circumstance of Lear's madness, of which there is no hint either in the historian or the old play. The omission of any other striking incident may be fairly imputed to his want of either genius or information. All he had to do was to spin out a sort of narrative in a sort of verse, to be sung about the streets, and make advantage of the publick curiosity. I much doubt whether any common ballad can be produced anterior to a play upon the same subject, unless in the case of some very recent event. RITSON.

END OF VOL. XVII.

Printed by S. Hamilton, Weybridge.

Princeton University Library

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