kean was the first to fix the terrible ending to shakespeare's "king lear", which had been replaced on stage since 1681 by nahum tate's happy ending adaptation "the history of king lear". kean had previously acted as tate's lear, but told his wife that the london audience "have no notion of what i can do till they see me over the dead body of cordelia." kean played as lear for a few performances. they were not well received, though one critic described his dying scene as "deeply affecting", and with regret, he changed back to tate.