Reg. We shall further think on 't Gon. We must do something, and i̇' th' heat. 310 [Exeunt. SCENE II-A Hall in the Earl of Gloucester's Castle. Enter EDMUND, with a letter. Edm. Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines 5 309. on't] Q, of it F. 310. i'th'] F, it 'h Q. Scene II. A Hall... Castle] Capell; omitted Q, F. Enter... letter] Theobald ; Enter Bastard, Solus Q; Enter Bastard F. it many instances, including Pericles, II. iii. 92, "Come, gentlemen, we sit too long on trifles.' 310. ' th' heat] at once "while the iron is hot." See Merry Wives, IV. ii. 239: 66 Come, to the forge with it, then; shape it; I would not have things cool"; also 2 Henry IV. II. iv. 325: "he will drive you out of your revenge if you take not the heat." Could it be explained "in one continuous effort"? See Winter's Tale, I. ii. 96. The expression is found in Malory's Life of King Arthur, book xx. chap. vii.: "It is fallen so, said the king, that I may not with my worship, but (i.e. unless) the queen suffer the death. So then there was made great ordinance in this heat, that the queen must be judged to the death." Scene II. 3. Stand. . . custom] stand on, be dependent on. Wright aptly quotes from the Prayer-Book version of Psalm xxxviii. 17: "And I truly am set in the plague. Staunton thinks it may possibly mean place or boundary (Lat. plaga). Edmund's meaning is, Why should I put myself in a position to suffer what custom enforces? Why should I bide the cruel brunt of her decree? 4. curiosity] squeamishness, false. delicacy, over-particularity or fastidiousness. See line 6, sc. i., and North, Plutarch's Lives (Caius Marius), ed. 1595, p. 472: "Who overthrew himself in his doinges,not so much for lack of reasonable skill of warres, as through his unprofitable curiositie and strictness in observing the law." 4. deprive me] debar me, keep me out of my rights. See the prose Hystorie of Hamblet, chap. iv.: "rather than he would deprive (i.e. disinherit) himself." 5. For] because. Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base? When my dimensions are as well compact, My mind as generous, and my shape as true, Who in the lusty stealth of nature take 10. With base] F, with base, base bastardie Q. 6. Lag of] younger than, behind in years. Gloucester tells us (I. i. 20) that Edgar was "" 'some year" older than his brother. See Richard III. II. i. 90: came too lag to see him buried." And Florio, His First Fruits, 1598: Serotino, late, lag. 66 6. Why. base] The expression "base son," for bastard, is to be met with in Sidney's Arcadia, and in the Chronicles of Holinshed and Hall; but bastard has apparently no etymological connection with the adjective base, coming from quite a different source. See Murray, New English Dictionary, under the word. So 7. dimensions] proportions. Merchant of Venice, III. i. 62; also Cyril Tourneur, The Atheist's Tragedy, v. 1; Works, Collins, 1878, i. 147: "Methinks my parts and my dimensions are As many, as large, as well compos'd as his." 7. compact] made, put together. See Titus Andronicus, v. iii. 88; also the History of King Leir; Six Old Plays, etc., Nichols, ii. 417: "I have a heart compact of adamant." IO . 13. dull, stale] 14. the creat 8. generous] gallant, high-spirited, courageous, befitting a person of noble birth. See Troilus and Cressida, II. ii. 154: can it be That so degenerate a strain as this Should once set footing in your generous bosoms?" 8. as true] as truly stamped, hit off, as true a likeness of my father. See Winter's Tale, v. i. 127: "Your father's image is so hit in you." 12. More composition] a fuller blending, mixture. See King John, I. i. 88: "Do you not read some tokens of my son In the large composition of this man ?" Spoken of the bastard, Falconbridge. 14. fops] silly, foolish persons, not dandies. See foppish, I. iv. 166, and foppery, 1. ii. 116. See also Mat, a fool, a fop, a gul, a mad pash, a harebrained ninny. Cotgrave, French Dictionary; also Lodge, Rosalind, p. 101 (Shaks. Library, Hazlitt, vol. ii.): “So foolish, that like a fop she forgets that she must have a large harvest for a little corn. Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well then, Enter GLOUCESTER. 15 20 Glou. Kent banish'd thus! And France in choler parted! And the king gone to-night! subscribed his power! Confin'd to exhibition! All this done 25 Upon the gad!-Edmund, how now! what news? 15. asleep] Capell (a-sleep Pope); a sleepe Q1, F; sleepe Q2; then] F, the Q. 18. Fine..."legitimate"] F, omitted Q. 21. Shall to the] Q, F (tooth' Q, to'th' F), shall top Capell (Edwards conject.). 21. Shall to the] I retain the old reading. "Top" first suggested by Edwards in his Canons of Criticism, and first put into the text by Capell, is generally adopted. But "Shall to may be explained shall come up to, or shall assail and get the better of; and it appears to me to make fair sense, and to be in the manner of Shakespeare. 23. And France... parted!] In the recorded parting between Lear and France, I. i., there is no appearance of any choler in France; but see I. i. 302, where another interview is spoken of; this may have been described in a scene, afterwards struck out by Shakespeare or by the players; also see II. iv. 215, where the epithet "hot-blooded" is applied to France. 24. subscribed] Johnson explained transferred by signing or subscribing a writing or testimony.' This is possibly right, but it may mean, as it is commonly explained, "having yielded up." For an example of this sense, see 66 24. subscribed]Q, prescrib'd F. Troilus and Cressida, IV. v. 105. Schmidt prefers the Folio word "prescribed," and explains "his power is restricted, limited, confined in its exercise." Tovey explains "cancelled." 25. Confin'd to exhibition] restricted to an allowance or sum of money for one's support, a term still in use at the universities; and see Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1. iii. 69: "What maintenance he from his friends receives, Like exhibition thou shalt have from me." See also The London Prodigal, i. 1: "Father. What! doth he spend be yond the allowance I left him? Uncle. How? Beyond that and far. Your exhibition is nothing." And Cotgrave's French Dictionary: Exhibition, a gift or exhibition." 26. Upon the gad!] suddenly as if pricked by a gad or goad. Compare on the spur of the moment," and the expression on the spur, at full 66 Edm. So please your lordship, none. [Putting up the letter. Glou. Why so earnestly seek you to put up that letter? Edm. I know no news, my lord. Glou. What paper were you reading? Edm. Nothing, my lord. Glou. No? What needed then that terrible dispatch 30 of it into your pocket? the quality of nothing 35 Edm. I beseech you, sir, pardon me; it is a letter from my brother that I have not all o'erread, Glou. Give me the letter, sir. Edm. I shall offend, either to detain or give it. are to blame. Glou. Let's see, let's see. Edm. I hope, for my brother's justification, he 40 45 27. Putting letter] Rowe; omitted Q, F. 32. needed] F, needes 39. and] F, omitted Q. 40. o'erlooking] F, liking Q. 44. to] Q3; too Q, F. speed; for which see Julius Cæsar, v. iii. 29, and North's Plutarch's Lives (Alexander), ed. 1595, p. 741: "They ran upon the spurr until they had overtaken the foremost that fledde." For gad, a sharp-pointed instrument, see Titus Andronicus, IV. i. 103; compare also the expression "with that spur, Timon of Athens, III. vi. 73 (i.e. with the same alacrity). Moberly explains 'at haphazard." Johnson, "capriciously, as cattle run when stung by the gad-fly." Shakespeare uses "gadding" for running about, in Romeo and Juliet, Iv. ii. 16. Ritson explains "when the iron is hot"; Staunton, "" upon the spur or point, at the instant." 28. earnestly] eagerly, excitedly. So Troilus and Cressida, IV. ii. 41 : "How earnestly they knock." 32. terrible] frightened. 40. o'erlooking] inspection. See v. i. 50, and Two Gentlemen of Verona, I. ii. 50. wrote this but as an essay or taste of my Gloú. This policy and reverence of age makes the world bitter to the best of our times; keeps our 48. virtue,] F, virtue. A letter Q. This F; and reverence] F, omitted Q. wakt Q. 47. essay] trial. The word is identical with assay. To take the "assay" or 66 say "of a dish was to try it, taste it. See Hall's Chronicle, ed. 1550, p. 14. "The esquire which was accustomed to serve and take the assay before King Richard"; also Gervase Markham, Country Farm, p. 61: "It is good to make the assay at such time as the north wind bloweth." This reference is to the tasting of wine. 47. taste] test, trial. See 2 Henry IV. 11. iii. 52: "Till that the nobles, and the armed commons, Have of their puissance made a The verb is in King John, v. vi. 28: 50 55 49. Glou. This] Q, Glou. reads. 59. Sleep] F, Slept Q; wake] F, tasted to have taken somewhat," i.e. attempted. 49. This policy and reverence of age] Schmidt explains as an hendiadys for the policy of reverencing age.' 50. best of our times] the prime of our lives, our golden time. See before, I. i. 296, for the same expression. 51. till relish] The Duke in Measure for Measure, harps on this string. See III. i. 34-38. 51. relish] appreciate. 52, 53. to find. tyranny] I begin to feel that to be thus oppressed by an aged and tyrannical father is nothing but a state of vain and foolish servitude. 52. find] feel. See Measure for Measure, v. i. 503: "I find an apt remission in myself." 53, 54. who. suffered] who is able to rule not through its own pure strength, but from the fact that we tamely bear it, endure it. 53. sways] rules. See 1 Henry VI. III. i. 37: "It is, because no one should sway but he." |