Page:King Lear (1917) Yale.djvu/70

54  Reg. I am glad to see your highness.

Lear. Regan, I think you are; I know what reason

I have to think so: if thou shouldst not be glad,

I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb,

Sepulchring an adult'ress.—[To Kent.] O! are you free? Some other time for that. Beloved Regan,

Thy sister's naught: O Regan! she hath tied

Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here:

I can scarce speak to thee; thou'lt not believe

With how deprav'd a quality—O Regan!

Reg. 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?

Reg. 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!

Reg. 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.

Lear. Ask her forgiveness?

Do you but mark how this becomes the house:

 136 naught: worthless

139 quality: manner

150 confine: territory

155 house: household order

