Through tatter'd cloaths fmall vices do appear; Robes, and furr'd gowns, hide all. Plate fin with gold, And the strong lance of juftice hurtlefs breaks: To fee the things thou dost not.-Now, now, now, now: Pull off my boots ;-harder, harder; fo. Edg. O, matter and impertinency mixt! Reason in madness ! Lear. If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes. I know thee well enough; thy name is Glofter: Thou must be patient; we came crying hither. 7 Thou know'ft, the first time that we fmell the air, We wawle, and cry:-I will preach to thee; mark me. Glo. Alack, alack the day! 8 Lear. When we are born, we cry, that we are come To this great ftage of fools; This a good block? It 5 Robes, and furr'd gowns, hide all.-] From bide all to accufer's lips, the whole paffage is wanting in the first edition, being added, I fuppofe, at his revifal. JOHNSON. -I'll able 'em:] An old phrafe fignifying to qualify, or uphold them. So Scogan, contemporary with Chaucer, fays: "Set all my life after thyne ordinance, "And able me to mercie or thou deme." But the Oxford editor alters it to abfolve. WARBURTON, 8 Vagitûque locum lugubri complet, ut æquum eft "Cul tantum in vitâ reftat tranfire malorum." Lucretius. STEEVENS. This a good block?] I do not fee how this block corre◄ fponds either with his foregoing or following train of thoughts. Madmen think not wholly at random, I would read thus, a good 004 flock. It were a delicate ftratagem, to fhoe A troop of horse with felt: I'll put it in proof; And flock. Flocks are wool moulded together. The fentence then follows properly: It were a delicate ftratagem to fhoe A troop of horse with felt ; i. e. with flocks kneaded to a mafs, a practice I believe sometimes ufed in former ages, for it is mentioned in Arifto : Fece nel cader ftrepito quanto "Aveffe avuto fotto i piedi il feltro." It is very common for madmen to catch an accidental hint, and ftrain it to the purpose predominant in their minds. Lear picks up a flock, and immediately thinks to furprize his enemies by a troop of horfe fhod with flocks or felt. Yet bleek may ftand, if we fuppofe that the fight of a block put him in mind of mounting his horfe. JOHNSON. -This a good block?] Dr. Johnion's explanation of this paffage is very ingenious; but, I believe, there is no occafion to adopt it, as the fpeech itself, or at least the action that fhould accompany it, will furnish all the connection which he has fought from an extraneous circumftance. Upon the king's faying, I will preach to thee, the poet feems to have meant him to pull off his hat, and keep turning it and feeling it, in the attitude of one of the preachers of thofe times (whom I have seen so represented in ancient prints) till the idea of felt, which the good bat or block was made of, raifes the ftratagem in his brain of fhoeing a troop of horse with a fubftance foft as that which he held and moulded between his hands. This makes him start from his preachment.-Block anciently fignified the head part of the hat, or the thing on which a hat is formed, and sometimes the hat itself. See Much Ado about Nothing: "He weares his faith but as the fashion of his hat; it "changes with the next block." Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Wit at feveral Weapons: "I am fo haunted with this broad-brim'd hat "Of the laft progrefs block, with the young hatband." Again, in the Two Merry Milkmaids, 1620: " my haberdafher has a new block, and will find me and all my generation in beavers, &c." Again, in Decker's Gul's Hornbeck, 1609: "—that cannot obferve the time of his hatband, nor know what fashion'd block is moft kin to his head; for in my opinion, the braine that cannot chufe his felt well, &c." Again, And when I have ftolen upon these fons-in-law, Enter a Gentleman, with attendants. Gent. O, here he is; lay hand upon him.-Sir, Your moft dear daughter Lear. No rescue? What, a prifoner? I am even Gent. You fhall have any thing. Why, this would make a man, ' a man of salt, Ay, and laying autumn's duft. Again, in Run and a great Caft, an ancient collection of Epigrams, 4to. without date. Epigram 46. In Sextinum : "A pretty blocke Sextinus names his hat; "So much the fitter for his head by that." Shakspeare however might have adopted the ftratagem of fhoeing a troop of horse with felt, from the following paffage in Fenton's Tragicall Difcourfes, 4to. bl. 1. 1567: "he attyreth himfelfe for the purpofe in a night gowne girt to hym, with a paire of fhoes of felte, leafte the noyfe of his feete thoulde "difcover his goinge." P. 58. Again, in Hay any Worke for a Cooper, an ancient pamphlet, no date: "Their adverfaries are very eager: the faints in heaven "have felt o' their tongues." STEEVENS. • The natural fool of fortune.] So, in Romeo and Juliet: "O, I am fortune's fool! STEEVENS. -a man of falt,] Would make a man melt away like falt in wet weather. JOHNSON. I believe, a man of falt is a man made up of tears. In All's Well that Ends Well, we meet with-your falt tears' head; and in Troilus and Creffida, the falt of broken tears. Again, in Coriolanus: "He has betray'd your bufinefs, and giv'n up, "For certain drops of falt, your city Rome." MALONE. Gent. Gent. Good fir 2, Lear. I will die bravely, like a bridegroom; what? I will be jovial; come, come, I am a king, My mafters, know you that? 3 Gent. You are a royal one, and we obey you. You fhall get it by running. Sa, fa, fa, fa. [Exit. Edg. Hail, gentle fir. Gent. Sir, fpeed you: What's your will? Edg. Do you hear aught, fir, of a battle toward ? Gent. Moft fure, and vulgar: every one hears that, Which can diftinguish found. Edg. But, by your favour, How near's the other army? 4 Gent. Near, and on speedy foot; the main defcry Stands on the hourly thought. Edg. I thank you, fir: that's all. Gent. Though that the queen on special caufe is Her here, army is mov'd on. Edg. I thank you, fir. [Exit Gent. Glo. You ever-gentle gods, take my breath from me; Let not my worfer fpirit tempt me again To die before you please! Edg. Well pray you, father. 2 Gent. Good fir,- -] Thefe words I have restored from one of the quartos. In the other, they are omitted. The folio reads: STEEVENS. a fnug bridegroom 3 Then there's life in't.] The cafe is not yet defperate. the main defery JOHNSON. Stands on the hourly thought.] The main body is expected to be defer'd every hour. The expreffion is harfh. JOHNSON. Glo. Now, good fir, what are you? Edg. A most poor man, made tame to fortune's blows 5; 'Who, by the art of known and feeling forrows, Am pregnant to good pity. Give me your hand, I'll lead you to fome biding. Glo. Hearty thanks: The bounty and the benizon of heaven Enter Steward. Stew. A proclaim'd prize! Moft happy! Glo. Now let thy friendly hand Stew. Wherefore, bold peafant, [Edgar oppofes. Dar'ft thou fupport a publifh'd traitor? Hence; Like hold on thee. Let go his arm. Edg. Chill not let go, zir, without vurther 'cafion. 8 Edg. Good gentleman, go your gait, and let -made tame to fortune's blows.] The quartos read: -made lame by fortune's blows, STEEVENS. Who, by the art of known and feeling forrows,] i. e. Sorrows paft and prefent; but the Oxford Editor lofes all this fenfe by altering it to, knowing and feeling. WARBURTON. Briefly thyself remember.-] i. e. Quickly recollect the paft offences of thy life, and recommend thyfelf to heaven. WARBURTON. go your gait, ] Gang your gate is a common expreffion in the North. In the laft rebellion, when the Scotch foldiers had finished their exercise, instead of our term of difmiffion, their phrafe was, gang your gaits. STEEVENS. poor |