The History of King Lear
The History of King Lear is an adaptation by Nahum Tate of William Shakespeare's "King Lear". It first appeared in 1681, some seventy-five years after Shakespeare's version, and is believed to have replaced Shakespeare's version on the English stage in whole or in part until 1838.
The History of King Lear
In a letter to the editor of "The Spectator" in 1828, Charles Lamb expressed his "indignation at the sickly stuff interpolated by Tate in the genuine play of "King Lear"" and his disgust at "these blockheads" who believed that "the daughterly "Cordelia" must whimper [her] love affections before [she] could hope to touch the gentle hearts in the boxes." Some years previously, Lamb had criticised Tate's alterations as "tamperings", and had complained that for Tate and his followers, Shakespeare's treatment of Lear's story: