To temper clay-Ha! is it come to this? Gon. Do you mark that, my lord? Gon. Pray you, content.-What, Oswald, ho! You, sir, more knave than fool, after your master. To the Fool. 10 Lear. I will forget my nature.-So kind a father!Be my horses ready? Fool. Thy asses are gone about 'em. The reason why the seven stars are no more than seven, is a pretty reason. Lear. Because they are not eight. Fool. Yes, indeed: Thou would'st make a good fool. Lear. To take it again perforce'!—Monster! ingratitude! Fool. If thou wert my fool, nuncle, I'd have thee beaten for being old before thy time. Lear. How's that? Fool. Thou should'st not have been old before thou hadst been wise. [Exit Steward. 45| Gon. Nay, then Alb. Well, well; the event. [tell: [Exeunt. A Court-yard before the Duke of Albany's Palace. 55 Enter Lear, Kent, and Fool. Lear. Go you before to Gloster with these let Lear. O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven! Keep me in temper; I would not be Enter a Gentleman. How now? are the horses ready? Gent. Ready, my lord. Lear. Come, boy. [departure, Fool. She that's a maid now, and laughs at my Shall not be a maid long unless things be cut shorter. [Exeunt. At point, probably means completely armed, and consequently ready at appointment or com mand on the slightest notice. That is, Unite one circumstance with another, so as to make a To be at task, is to be liable to reprehension and correction. * He is He is meditating on his daughter's having in so violent a manner deprived consistent account. musing on Cordelia. him of those privileges which before she had agreed to grant him. ACT Glo. But where is he? he could Edmund? To his unnatural purpose, in fell motion, [Exit.] Edm. The duke be here to-night? The better!20 Best! This weaves itself perforce into my business! My father watches:-O, sir, fly this place; Edg. I am sure on 't, not a word. well. Glo. Let him fly far: Not in this land shall he remain uncaught; [ter, That he, which finds him, shall deserve our thanks, Edm. When I dissuaded him from his intent, And found him pight' to do it, with curst speech threaten'd to discover him: He replied, [duce Thou unpossessing-bastard! dost thou think, "If I would stand against thee, would the reposal "Of any trust, virtue, or worth, in thee [deny "Make thy words faith'd? No: what I should 35" (As this I would; ay, though thou didst proMy very character) I'd turn it all "To thy suggestion, plot, and damned practicez "And thou must make a dullard of the world, "If they not thought the profits of my death Were very pregnant and potential spurs "To make thee seek it." [Trumpets within. Glo. O strange, fasten'd villain! [him. Would he deny his letter, said he ?-I never got Hark, the duke's trumpets! I know not why he Edm. I hear my father coming,-Pardon me :- Some blood drawn on me would beget opinion Enter Gloster, and Servants with torches. sword out, Mumbling of wicked charms, conjuring the moon comes: All ports I'll bar; the villain shall not 'scape; Enter Cornwall, Regan, and Attendants. Corn. How now, my noble friend? since I (Which I can call but now) I have heard strange news. Reg. If it be true, all vengeance comes too short, Which can pursue the offender. How does my lord? Glo. O, madam, my old heart is crack'd, is 5 crack'd! [life? Reg. What, did my father's godson seek your Glo. O, lady, lady, shame would have it hid! Glo. I know not, madam: [knights Edm. Yes, madam, he was of that consort. Corn. Nor I, assure thee, Regan. Edm. 'Twas my duty, sir. Glo. He did bewray his practice'; and receiv'd This hurt you see, striving to apprehend him, Corn. Is he pursu'd? Glo. Ay, my good lord. Corn. If he be taken, he shall never more Be fear'd of doing harm; make your own purpose, 15 4 Stew. Why then I care not for thee. Kent. If I had thee in Lipsbury pinfold, I would make thee care for me. Stew. Why dost thou use me thus? I know thee not. Kent. Fellow, I know thee. Stew. What dost thou know me for? Kent. A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three 20 suited', hundred-pound, filthy worsted-stocking knave; a lily-liver'd, action-taking knave; a whoreson, glass-gazing, super-serviceable, finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that would'st be a bawd, in way of good service, and 25 art nothing but the composition of a knave, beg, gar, coward, pandar, and the son and heir of a mungrel bitch; one whom I will beat into clamourous whining, if thou deny'st the least syllable of thy addition. 30 Stew. Why, what a monstrous fellow art thou, thus to rail on one, that is neither known of thee, or knows thee? Kent. What a brazen-fac'd varlet art thou, to deny thou know'st me? Is it two days ago, since Natures of such deep trust we shall much need; 35 I trípt up thy heels, and beat thee, before the You we first seize on. Edm. I shall serve you, sir, Truly, however else. Glo. For him I thank your grace. Corn. You know not why we came to visit you. 40 -night. Occasions, noble Gloster, of some prize', Of differences, which I best thought it fit [gers Glo. I serve you, madam: 45 king? Draw, you rogue: for though it be night, yet the moon shines; I'll make a sop o' the moonshine of you : Draw, you whoreson cullionly barber-monger", draw. [Drawing his sword. Stew. Away; I have nothing to do with thee, Kent. Draw, you rascal: you come with letters against the king; and take vanity the puppet's part, against the royalty of her father: Draw, you rogue, or I'll so carbonado your shanks:-draw, you rascal; come your ways. Stew. Help, ho! murder! help! Kent. Strike, you slave; stand, rogue, stand; you neat slave", strike. [Beating him, Stew. Help, ho! murder! murder! 50 Enter Edmund, Cornwall, Regan, Gloster, and Sercants. Edm. How how? What's the matter? Part. 4 Prize, 1i. e. discover, betray.-Practice is always used by Shakspeare for insidious mischief. or price, for value. i. e. not at home, but at some other place. Lipsbury pinfold may be a cant expression importing the same as Lob's Pound. Three-suited knave night mean, in an age of ostentatious finery like that of Shakspeare, one who had no greater change of raiment than three suits would furnish him with. 6 A hundred-pound gentleman is a term of reproach. 'A worstedstocking knave is another term of reproach.-The stockings in England, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, were remarkably expensive, and scarcely any other kind than silk were worn, even by those who had not above forty shillings a year wages. Lily-liver'd is cowardly; white-blooded and white-liver'd are still in vulgar use. 9 i. e. titles. 10 This is equivalent to our modern phrase of making the sun shine through any one. "Barber-monger may mean dealer in the lower trudesmen : a slur upon the steward, as taking fees for a recommendation to the business of the family. neat slave, means no more than you finical rascal, you who are an assemblage of foppery and poverty. 8 12 You Kente Corn. What is your difference? Speak. Corn. Thou art a strange fellow : A tailor make a man? Kent. Ay, a tailor, sir: a stone-cutter, or a paint-15 er could not have made him so ill, though they had been but two hours at the trade. Corn. Speak yet, how grew your quarrel? Stew. This ancient ruffian, sir, whose life I have spar'd At suit of his grey beard, Kent. Thou whoreson zed'! thou unnecessary letter!-My lord, if you will give me leave, will tread this unbolted' villain into mortar, and daub the wall of a jakes with him.-Spare my grey beard, you wagtail? Corn. Peace, sirrah! You beastly knave, you know no reverence? Kent. That such a slave as this should wear a [these, Who wears no honesty. Such smiling rogues as Corn. Why dost thou call him knave? What's 20 25 Kent. His countenance likes me not. [or hers. I have seen better faces in my time [affect Corn. This is some fellow, Kent. Sir, in good sooth, or in sincere verity, Corn. What mean'st thou by this! Kent. To go out of my dialect, which you discommend so much. I know, sir, I am no flatterer: he that beguil'd you, in a plain accent, was a plain knave; which, for my part, I will not be, though I should win your displeasure to entreat me to it. Corn. What was the offence you gave him? 30 It pleas'd the king his master, very late, 35 Kent. None of these rogues, and cowards, 40 But Ajax is their fool "2. Corn. Fetch forth the stocks, ho! [gart, You stubborn ancient knave, you reverend bragWe'll teach you Kent. Sir, I am too old to learn: 45 Call not your stocks for me: I serve the king; 50 Corn. Fetch forth the stocks:→→→ The 'Mr. Steevens observes, that Zed is here probably used as a term of contempt, because it is the last letter in the English alphabet, and as its place may be supplied by S, and the Roman alphabet has it not, neither is it read in any word originally Teutonic. 2 Unbolted mortar, according to Mr. Tollett, is mortar made of unsifted lime; and therefore, to break the lumps, it is necessary to tread it by men in wooden shoes.--This unbolted villain is, therefore, this coarse rascal. By these holy cords, the poet means the natural union between parents and children.-The metaphor is taken from the cords of the sanctuary; and the fomenters of family-differences are compared to these sacrilegious rats. halcyon is the bird otherwise called the king-fisher.-The vulgar opinion was, that this bird, if hung up, would tary with the wind, and by that means shew from what point it blew. The frighted countenance of a man ready to fall in a fit. "Camelot was the place where, the romances say, king Arthur kept his court in the West: so this alludes to some proverbial speech in those romances.In Somer setshire, adds Hanmer, near Camelot, are many large moors, where are bred great quantities of geese, so that many other places are from hence supplied with quills and feathers. i. e. pleases me not. • i. e. forces his outside or his appearance to something totally different from his natural disposition, Silly here means only simple, or rustic. 10 i. e. foolishly. "Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, says, this word means to flutter. 12 Their foal means here, their butt, their laughingstock. 22 Kent. Why, madain, if I were your father's dog, 5 You should not use me so. Regan. Sir, being his knave, I will. [Stocks brought out. Corn. This is a fellow of the self-same colour Our sister speaks of:-Come, bring away the 10 stocks. Is such, as basest and the meanest wretches, Corn. I'll answer that. Take vantage, heavy eyes, not to behold Fortune, good night; smile once more; turn thy SCENE III. A part of the Heath. Edg. I heard myself proclaim'd; [worse, Regan. My sister may receive it much more To have her gentleman abus'd, assaulted, For following her affairs.-Put in his legs.[Kent is put in the stocks. 25 Come, my good lord; away. [Exeunt Regan, and Cornwall. Glo. I am sorry for thee, friend; 'tis the duke's pleasure, Whose disposition, all the world well knows, [thee, 30 Some time I shall sleep out, the rest I'll whistle. Glo. The duke's to blame in this; 'twill be ill Kent. Good king, that must approve the com 35 40 45 SCENE IV. Earl of Gloster's Castle. [Exit. Fool. Ha, ha; look! he wears cruel garters! Horses are ty'd by the heads; dogs and bears by the neck; monkies by the loins, and men by the legs: when a man is over-lusty at legs, then he 50 wears wooden nether-stocks". [mistook Lear. What's he, that hath so much thy place To set thee here? That art now to exemplify the common proverb, that out of, &c.; that changest better for worse. Hanmer observes, that it is a proverbial saying, applied to those who are turned out of house and home to the open weather. It was perhaps first used of men dismissed from an hospital, or house of charity, such as was erected formerly in many places for travellers. Those houses had names properly enough alluded to by heaven's benediction. The saw alluded to, is in Heywood's Dialogues on Proverbs, book ii. chap. 5. 4 "In your running from him to me, ye runne 6 7 * Hair knotted, was vulgarly supposed to be the work of elves and fairies in the night. 'i. c. skewers. * i. e. paltry. To bun, is to curse. Mr. Steevens believes that a quibble was here intended.— Crewel signifies worsted, of which stockings, garters, night-caps, &c. are made. Over-lusty in this place has a double signification.-Lustiness anciently meant sauciness. "Nether-stocks is the old word for stockings.-Breeches were at that time called "men's over-stocks." Kent. |