Page images
PDF
EPUB

(Which I can call but now) I have heard strange Your graces are right welcome.

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 He whom my father nam'd? your Edgar?

Glo. O, lady, lady, shame would have it hid! Reg. Was he not companion with the riotous 10 That tend upon my father?

Glo. I know not, madam: It is too bad, too bad.

[knights

Edm. Yes, madam, he was of that consort.
Reg.No marvel then, though he were ill affected; 15
'Tis they have put him on the old man's death,
To have the expence and waste of his revenues.
I have this present evening from my sister [tions,
Been well inform'd of them; and with such cau-
That, if they come to sojourn at my house,
I'll not be there.

Corn. Nor I, assure thee, Regan.—
Edmund, I hear that you have shewn your father
A child-like office.

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,
Howinmystrengthyou please.--For you, Edmund,
Whose virtue and obedience doth this instant
So much commend itself, you shall be ours;

SCENE II.

[Excunt

[blocks in formation]

4

Stew. Why then I care not for thee. Kent. If I had thee in Lipsbury 1 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, three20 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 cla mourous 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 tript 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|
Reg. Thus out of season; threading dark-ey'd

night.

Occasions, noble Gloster, of some prize 2,
Wherein we must have use of your advice:-
Our father he hath writ, so hath our sister,
Of differences, which I best thought it fit [gers
To answer from our home; the several messen-
From hence attend dispatch. Our good old friend,
Lay comforts to your bosom; and bestow
Your needful counsel to our businesses,
Which crave the instant use.

Glo. I serve you, madam:

king? Draw, you rogue: for though it be night, yet the moon shines; I'll make a sop o' the moonshine of you 10: 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, 45 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 now? What's the matter? Part.

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 might 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. A hundred-pound gentleman is a term of reproach. 'A worstedstocking knave is another term of reproach.-The stockings in Eugland, in the reign of queen Eliza, beth, 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 tradesmen : a slur upon the steward, as taking fees for a recommendation to the business of the family. a cat slave, means no more than you finical rascal, you who are an assemblage of foppery and poverty.

12 You

Kent.

[blocks in formation]

Corn. What is your difference? Speak.
Stew. I am scarce in breath, my lord. [valour.
Kent. No marvel, you have so bestirr'd your 10
You cowardly rascal, nature disclaims in thee;
A tailor made thee.

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. His countenance likes me not. [or hers
Corn. No more, perchance, does mine, or his,
Kent. Sir, 'tis my occupation to be plain;

I have seen better faces in my time
Than stand on any shoulder that I see
Before me at this instant.

Corn. This is some fellow,

[affect
Who, having been prais'd for bluntness, doth
JA
saucy roughness; and constrains the garb,
Quite from his nature: He cannot flatter, he!
An honest mind, and plain, he must speak truth:
An they will take it, so; if not, he's plain. [ness
These kind of knaves I know, which in this plain-
Harbour more craft, and more corrupter ends,
Than twenty silly ducking observants,
That stretch their duties nicely 10.

9

Kent. Sir, in good sooth, or in sincere verity, Under the allowance of your grand aspect, Whose influence, like the wreath of radiant fire 20On flickering " Phoebus' front,

Kent. Thou whoreson zed! thou unnecessary letter!--My lord, if you will give me leave, I will tread this unbolted villain into mortar, and] daub the wall of a jakes with him.-Spare my 25 grey beard, you wagtail?

Corn. Peace, sirrah!

You beastly knave, you know no reverence?
Kent. Yes, sir; but anger hath a privilege.
Corn. Why art thou angry?

Kent. That such a slave as this should wear a
sword,

[these,
Who wears no honesty. Such smiling rogues as
Like rats, oft bite the holy cords' in twain
Too intrinsicate t' unloose: sooth ev'ry passion
That in the nature of their lords rebels;
Bring oil to fire, snow to their colder moods;
Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks
With every gale and vary of their masters;
Knowing nought, like dogs, but following.→
A plague upon your epileptic' visage!
Smile you my speeches, as I were a fool?
Goose, if I had you upon Sarum plain,
I'd drive you cackling home to Camelot'.
Corn. What art thou mad, old fellow?
Glo. How fell you out? say that.
Kent. No contraries hold more antipathy
Than I and such a knave.

Corn. Why dost thou call him knave? What's
his offence?

30

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?
Stew. I never gave him any:

It pleas'd the king his master, very late,
To strike at me, upon his misconstruction;
When he, conjunct, and flattering his displeasure,
Tript me behind; being down, insulted, rail'd,
And put upon him such a deal of man, that
35 That worthy'd him, got praises of the king,
For him attempting who was self-subdu'd;
And, in the fleshment of this dread exploit,
Drew on me here again.

Kent. None of these rogues, and cowards,

40 But Ajax is their fool 12.

[gart,

Corn. Fetch forth the stocks, ho!
You stubborn ancient knave, you reverend brag-
We'll teach you-

Kent. Sir, I am too old to learn:

45 Call not your stocks for me: I serve the king;
On whose employment I was sent to you:
You shall do small respect, shew too bold malice
Against the grace and person of my master,
Stocking his messenger.

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. 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 course 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 vary 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 Somersetshire, 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, rays; this word means to flutter, Their fool means here, their butt, their laughing-stock.

As I have life and honour, there shall he sit 'till

noon.

Regan. 'Till noon! 'till night, my lord; and

all night too.

Kent. Why, madam, 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.

Glo. Let me beseech your grace not to do so:
His fault is much, and the good king his master
Will check him for 't: your purpos'd low cor-
rection

Is such, as basest and the meanest wretches,
For pilferings and most common trespasses,
Are punish'd with: the king must take it ill,
That he, so slightly valu'd in his messenger,
Should have him thus restrain'd.

Corn. I'll answer that.

[worse,
Regan. My sister may receive it much more
To have her gentleman abus'd, assaulted,
For following her affairs.-Put in his legs.-

20

[Take vantage, heavy eyes, not to behold
This shameful lodging.

Fortune, good night; smile once more; turn thy
wheel!
[He sleeps.

SCENE III.
A part of the Heath.
Enter Edgar.

Edg. I heard myself proclaim'd;
And, by the happy hollow of a tree,
Escap'd the hunt. No port is free; no place,
That guard, and most unusual vigilance,
Does not attend my taking. While I may 'scape,
15 will preserve myself: and am bethought
To take the basest and most poorest shape,
That ever penury, in contempt of man, [filth;
Brought near to beast: my face I'll grime with
Blanket my loins; elf all my hair in knots';
And with presented nakedness out-face
The winds, and persecutions of the sky.
The country gives me proof and precedent
Of Bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices,
Strike in their numb'd and mortify'd bare arms
Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary:
And with this horrible object, from low farms,
Poor pelting villages, sheep-cotes, and mills,
Sometime with lunatic bans, sometime with
prayers,
[Tom!
Inforce their charity.-Poor Turlygood; poor
That's something yet;-Edgar I nothing am.

[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
Will not be rubb'd, nor stopp'd: I'll entreat for

Kent. Pray, do not, sir: I have watch'd, and
travell'd hard;

Some time I shall sleep out, the rest I'll whistle.
A good man's fortune may grow out at heels;
Give you good morrow!

Glo. The duke's to blame in this; 'twill be ill
taken.
[Exit.

Kent. Good king, that must approve the com

mon saw!

Thou out of heaven's benediction com'st

To the warm sun'!

Approach, thou beacon to this under globe,
[Looking up to the moon.
That by thy comfortable beams I may
Peruse this letter:-Nothing almost sees miracles,
But misery;-I know, 'tis from Cordelia;
[Reading the letter.
Who hath most fortunately been inform'd
Of my obscur'd course ;-and shall find time
From this enormous state,seeking to give
Losses their remedies;--All wearyand o'er-watch'd,

35

40

1451

[blocks in formation]

[time?

Kent. Hail to thee, noble master!
Lear. How! mak'st thou this shame thy pas
Kent. No, my lord.

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 suw alluded to, is in Heywood's Dialogues on Proverbs, book ii. chap. 5.

"In your running from him to me, ye runne
"Out of God's blessing into the warm sunne."

3i. e. skewers.

2 Hair knotted, was vulgarly supposed to be the work of elves and fairies in the night. i. e. paltry. To ban, is to curse. Mr. Steevens believes that a quibble was here intended.

? Over-lusty in

* Nether-stocks is the

Crewel signifies worsted, of which stockings, garters, night-caps, &c. are made.
this place has a double signification.-Lustiness anciently meant sauciness.
old word for stockings.-Breeches were at that time called "men's over-stocks.”

[ocr errors][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

Fool. We'll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee there's no labouring in the winter. All that follow their noses are led by their eyes, but blind men; and there's not a nose among twenty but 5 can smell him that's stinking. Let go thy hold, when a great wheel runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with following it; but the great one that goes up the hill, let him draw thee after. When a wise man gives thee better counsel, give me mine 10again: I would have none but knaves follow it, since a fool gives it.

[murder
They could not, would not do 't; 'tis worse than
To do upon respect such violent outrage':
Resolve me with all modest haste, which way
Thou might'st deserve, or they impose, this usage, 15]
Coining from us.

Kent. My lord, when at their home

20

I did commend your highness' letters to them,
Ere I was risen from the place that shew'd
My duty kneeling, came there a reeking post,
Stewed in his haste, half breathless, panting forth
From Goneril his mistress, salutations;
Deliver'd letters, spite of intermission2,
Which presently they read: on whose contents,
They summon'd up their meiny, straight took 25
Commanded me to follow, and attend [horse;
The leisure of their answer; gave me cold looks:
And meeting here the other messenger,
Whose welcome, I perceiv'd, had poison'd mine,
(Being the very fellow which of late
Display'd so saucily against your highnes)
Having more man than wit about me, I drew;
He rais'd the house with loud and coward cries:
Your son and daughter found this trespass worth
The shame which here it suffers.

Fool. Winter's not gone yet, if the wild geese
fly that way.

Fathers, that wear rags,

Do make their children blind;

But fathers, that bear bags,

Shall see their children kind.
Fortune, that arrant whore,

That, sir, which serves and seeks for gain,
And follows but for form,
Will pack, when it begins to rain,
And leave thee in the storm.
But I will tarry: the fool will stay,
And let the wise man fly:

The knave turns fool, that runs away;
The fool no knave, perdy.

Kent. Where learn'd you this, fool?
Fool. Not i' the stocks, fool.

Re-enter Lear, with Gloster.

Lear. Deny to speak with me? They are sick,
they are weary?

They have travell'd hard to-night? Mere fetches;
The images of revolt and flying off!
Fetch me a better answer.

Glo. My dear lord,

30 You know the fiery quality of the Duke;
How unremoveable and fixt he is
In his own course.

35

40

Ne'er turns the key to the poor.But, for all this, thou shalt have as many dolours | from thy dear daughters, as thou canst tell in a 45 year.

Lear. O, how this mother swells toward my
heart!

Hysterica passio! down, thou climbing sorrow,
Thy element's below!-Where is this daughter
Kent. With the earl, sir, here within.
Lear. Follow me not; stay here.
Gent. Made you no more offence than what
you speak of?

Kent. None.

[Exit.

How chance the king comes with so small a train?
Fool. An thou hadst been set i' the stocks for
that question, thou hadst well deserv'd it.
Gent. Why, fool?

50

Lear. Vengeance! plague! death! confusion! Fiery? what quality? Why, Gloster, Gloster, I'd speak with the duke of Cornwall, and his wife. Glo. Well, my good lord, I have inform'd them [me, man? Lear. Inform'd them! Dost thou understand Glo. Ay, my good lord.

So.

Lear. The king would speak with Cornwall;
the dear father
[service:
Would with his daughter speak; commands her
Are they inform'd of this?-My breath and blood!
Fiery? the fiery duke? Tell the hot duke, that→→→
No, but not yet:may be he is not well:
Infirmity doth still neglect all office, [selves
Whereto our health is bound; we are not our-
When nature, being oppress'd, commands the
To suffer with the body: I'll forbear; [mind.
And am fallen out with my more headier will,
To take the indispos'd and sickly fit

fore

For the sound man.-Death on my state! where[Looking on Kent. Should he sit here? This act persuades me, 55 That this remotion of the duke and her Is practice only. Give me my servant forth: Go, tell the duke and his wife, I'd speak with them, [me, Now, presently; bid them come forth and near

That is, to violate the public and venerable character of a messenger from the king. 2 Spite of intermission means without pause, without suffering time to intervene. i. e. people. The meaning .is, If this be their behaviour, the king's troubles are not yet at an end. A quibble is here intended between dolours and dollars. The word twenty refers to the noses of the blind men, and not to the men in general. Practice is here used in au ill sense for unlawful urtifice.

[ocr errors]

Or at their chamber door I'll beat the drum, "Till it cry, Sleep to death.

Glo. I would have all well betwixt you.

[Exit. Lear. O me, my heart, my rising heart!—but 5 down.

Fool. Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney' did to the eels, when she put them i' the paste alive; she rapt 'em o' the coxcombs with a stick, and cry'd,] Down, wantons, down:' 'Twas her brother, 10 that, in pure kindness to his horse, butter'd his hay.

Enter Cornwall, Regan, Gloster, and Servants.
Lear. Good-morrow to you both.

Corn. Hail to your grace! [Kent is set at liberty. 15
Reg. I am glad to see your highness.

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

reason

[blocks in formation]

Thy tender-hefted' nature shall not give [thine
Thee o'er to harshness; her eyes are fierce, but
Do comfort, and not burn: "Tis not in thee
To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train,
To bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes',
And, in conclusion, to oppose the bolt
Against my coming in: thou better know'st
20 The offices of nature, bond of childhood,
Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude;
Thy half o' the kingdom thou hast not forgot,
Wherein I thee endow'd.

I have to think so: if thou should'st not be glad,
I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb,
Sepulch'ring an adultress.- -O, are you free?
[To Kent.
Some other time for that.-Beloved Regan,
Thy sister's naught; O Regan, she hath tied
Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here', 25
[Points to his heart.

[ocr errors]

I can scarce speak to thee; thou'lt not believe,
Of how depraved 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 contine; 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 3?
• Dear daughter, I confess that I am old:
Age is unnecessary: on my knees I beg,

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

[Kneeling. 50

"That you'll vouchsafe me raiment,bed,and food." Reg. Good sir, no more; these are unsightly

Return you to my sister.

Lear. Never, Regan:

She hath abated me of half my train;

[blocks in formation]

[tricks:

[blocks in formation]

Look'd black upon me; struck me with her tongue
Most serpent-like, upon the very heart:-

2

Reg. I pray you, father, being weak, seem so. If, 'till the expiration of your month,

Alluding to the fable of Prometheus.

House here signifies

1i. e., probably, a cook or scullion. the order of families, duties of relation. * This may mean, old people are useless. 'i. e. to humble, to pull down. Hefted, Mr. Steevens says, seems to mean the same as heaved: Tender-hefted, i. e. whose bosom is agitated by tender passions. 'i. e. to contract my allowances or proportions settled. -Sizes are certain portions of bread, beer, or other victuals, which in colleges are set down to the account of particular persons. i. e. approve. To find, means little more than to think. 10 By less You

advancement is meant, a still worse or more disgraceful situation; a situation not so reputable.

« PreviousContinue »