out, 'Gloster' is nowhere
else used in the play for the place (except in the phrase 'Earl of
Gloster' or 'my lord of Gloster'); and--what is more important--that it
would unquestionably be taken by the audience to stand in this passage
for the Earl, especially as there has been no previous indication that
Cornwall lived at Gloster. One can only suppose that Shakespeare forgot
that he had given no such indication, and so wrote what was sure to be
misunderstood,--unless we suppose that 'Gloster' is a mere slip of the
pen, or even a misprint, for 'Regan.' But, apart from other
considerations, Lear would hardly have spoken to a servant of 'Regan,'
and, if he had, the next words would have run 'Acquaint her,' not
'Acquaint my daughter.'

NOTE V.

SUSPECTED INTERPOLATIONS IN _KING LEAR_.

There are three passages in _King Lear_ which have been held to be
additions made by 'the players.'

The first consists of the two lines of indecent doggerel spoken by the
Fool at the end of Act I.; the second, of the Fool's prophecy in rhyme
at the end of III. ii.; the third, of Edgar's soliloquy at the end of
III. vi.

It is suspicious (1) that all three passages occur at the ends of
scenes, the place where an addition is most easily made; and (2) that in
each case the speaker remains behind alone to utter the words after the
other persons have gone off.

I postpone discussion of the several passages until I have called
attention to the fact that, if these passages are genuine, the number of
scenes which end with a soliloquy is larger in _King Lear_ than in any
other undoubted tragedy. Thus, taking the tragedies in their probable
chronological order (and ignoring the very short scenes into which a
battle is sometimes divided),[270] I find that there are in _Romeo and
Juliet_ four such scenes, in _Julius Caesar_ two, in _Hamlet_ six, in
_Othello_ four,[271] in _King Lear_ seven,[272] in _Macbeth_ two,[273]
in _Antony and Cleopatra_ three, in _Coriolanus_ one. The difference
between _King Lear_ and the plays that come nearest to it is really much
greater than it appears from this list, for in _Hamlet_ four of the six
soliloquies, and in _Othello_ three of the four, are long speeches,
while most of those in _King Lear_ are quite short.

Of course I do not attach any great importance to the fact just noticed,
but it should not be left entirely out of account in forming an opinion
as to the genuineness of the three doubted pass