Edg. Sweet marjoram. Glo. I know that voice. Lear. Ha! Goneril! - with a white beard! - They flatter'd me like a dog; and told me, I had white hairs in my beard, ere the black ones were there. To say ay, and no, to every thing I said!-Ay and no too was no good divinity. When the rain came to wet me once, and the wind to make me chatter; when the thunder would not peace at my bidding; there I found them, there I smelt them out. Go to, they are not men o'their words: they told me I was every thing; 'tis a lie; I am not agueproof. Glo. The trick of that voice I do well remember : Is't not the king? Lear. Ay, every inch a king: When I do stare, see, how the subject quakes. Adultery. Thou shalt not die: Die for adultery! No: The wren goes to't, and the small gilded fly Let copulation thrive, for Gloster's bastard son To't, luxury, pell-mell, for I lack soldiers.- Whose face between her forks presageth snow; To hear of pleasure's name; The fitchew, nor the soiled horse, goes to't Down from the waist they are centaurs, Though women all above: But to the girdle do the gods inherit, luxury,] i. e. Incontinency. fitchew,] i. e. The polecat. P-soiled horse,] i. e. A horse fed with hay and corn in the stable during the winter, and turned out in the spring to take the first flush of grass, or has it cut and carried to him. This at once cleanses the animal, and fills him with blood. STEEVENS. But~] For only. Beneath is all the fiends'; there's hell, there's darkness, there is the sulphurous pit, burning, scalding, stench, consumption;-Fye, fye, fye! pah; pah! Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination: there's money for thee. Glo. O, let me kiss that hand! Lear. Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality. Glo. O ruin'd piece of nature! This great world Shall so wear out to nought.-Dost thou know me? Lear. I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thou squiny at me? No, do thy worst, blind Cupid; I'll not love. Read thou this challenge; mark but the penning of it. Glo. Were all the letters suns, I could not see one. Edg. I would not take this from report ;-it is, And my heart breaks at it. Lear. Read. Glo. What, with the case of eyes? Lear. O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes in your head, nor no money in your purse? Your eyes are in a heavy case, your purse in a light: Yet you see how this world goes. Glo. I see it feelingly. Lear. What, art mad? A man may see how this world goes, with no eyes. Look with thine ears: see how yon' justice rails upon yon' simple thief. Hark, in thine ear: Change places; and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief?-Thou hast seen a farmer's dog bark at a beggar? Glo. Ay, sir. Lear. And the creature run from the cur? There thou might'st behold the great image of authority; a dog's obeyed in office. Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand: Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own back; Thou hotly lust'st to use her in that kind For which thou whipp'st her. The usurer hangs the cozener. Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear; squiny-] i. e. Look asquint. Plate sin with gold, Robes, and furr'd gowns, hide all. And, like a scurvy politician, seem To see the things thou dost not.----Now, now, now, now : Pull off my boots:--Harder, harder; so. Edg. O, matter and impertinency mix'd! Reason in madness! Lear. If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes. Lear. When we are born, we cry, that we are come To this great stage of fools;This a good block?"It were a delicate stratagem, to shoe A troop of horse with felt: I'll put it in proof; Enter a Gentleman, with Attendants. Gent. O, here he is; lay hand upon him. Sir, Your most dear daughter Lear. No rescue? What, a prisoner? I am even The natural fool of fortune. Use me well; You shall have ransome. I am cut to the brains. t Gent. This a Let me have a surgeon, You shall have any thing. I'll able 'em:] An old phrase signifying to qualify, or uphold them. good block?-] Before the king's king's saying, I will preach to thee, the poet seems 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 those times (whom I have seen represented so in ancient prints), till the idea of felt, which the good hat or block was made of, raises the stratagem in his brain of shoeing a troop of horse with a substance the same as that which he held and moulded between his hands. STEEVENS. - kill, kill, &c.] Formerly the word given in the English army when an onset was made on the enemy. - MALONE. Lear. No seconds? All myself? Why, this would make a man, a man of salt,* To use his eyes for garden water-pots, Ay, and for laying autumn's dust. Gent. Good sir, Lear. I will die bravely, like a bridegroom; What? I will be jovial; come, come; I am a king, My masters, know you that? Gent. You are a royal one, and we obey you. Lear. Then there's life in it. Nay, an you get it, you shall get it by running. Sa, sa, sa, sa. [Exit running: Attendants follow. Gent. A sight most pitiful in the meanest wretch; Past speaking of in a king!-Thou hast one daughter, Who redeems nature from the general curse Which twain have brought her to. Edg. Hail, gentle sir. Gent. Sir, speed you: What's your will? Edg. Do you hear aught, sir, of a battle toward? Which can distinguish sound. Edg. How near's the other army? But, by your favour, Gent. Near, and on speedy foot; the main descry Stands on the hourly thought." Edg. I thank you, sir: that's all. Gent. Though that the queen on special cause is here, Her army is mov'd on. Edg. I thank you, sir. [Exit Gent. Glo. You ever gentle gods, take my breath from me; Let not my worser spirita tempt me again To die before you please! Edg. Well pray you, father. Glo. Now, good sir, what are you? Edg. A most poor man, made tame by fortune's blows; a man of salt,] i. e. A man of tears. MALONE. Then there's life in it.] The case is not yet desperate. JOHNSON. the main descry Stands on the hourly thought.] The main body is expected to be descry'd every hour. The expression is harsh. -JOHNSON. a my worser spirit--] i. e. My evil genius. Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows, I'll lead you to some biding. Glo. Hearty thanks: The bounty and the benizon of heaven Stew. Enter Steward. A proclaim'd prize! Most happy! That eyeless head of thine was first fram'd flesh To raise my fortunes. ---Thou old unhappy traitor, Briefly thyself remember: -The sword is out That must destroy thee. Glo. Put strength enough to it. Stew. Now let thy friendly hand [EDGAR opposes. Wherefore, bold peasant, Dar'st thou support a publish'd traitor? Hence; Lest that the infection of his fortune take Like hold on thee. Let go his arm. Edg. Chill not let go, zir, without vurther 'casion. Stew. Let go, slave, or thou diest. Edg. Good gentleman, go your gait,d and let poor volk pass. And ch'ud ha' been zwagger'd out of my life, 'twould not ha' been zo long as 'tis by a vortnight. Nay, come not near the old man; keep out, che vor'ye, or ise try whether your costard or my bat be the harder: Ch'ill be plain with you. Stew. Out, dunghill ! e Edg. Ch'ill pick your teeth, zir: Come; no matter vor your foins.h [They fight; and EDGAR knocks him down. Stew. Slave, thou hast slain me:--Villain, take my purse; known and feeling sorrows,] i. e. Sorrows past and present.-WARBURTON. Briefly thyself remember:-] i. e. Quickly recollect the past offences of thy life, and recommend thyself to heaven. -WARBURTON. go your gait,] Gang your gait is a common expression in the north.STEEVENS. che vor'ye,] I warn you. Edgar counterfeits the western dialect.JOHNSON. costard] i. e. Head. - my bat-] i. e. Club, or staff. your foins.] To foin is to make what we call a thrust in fencing. Shakspeare often uses the word. STEEVENS. g |