voking merit, set a-work by a reproveable badness in himself.1 Edmund. How malicious is my fortune, that I must repent to be just! This is the letter which he spoke of, which approves him an intelligent party to the advantages of France.2 O heavens! that this treason were not, or not I the detector! Cornwall. Go with me to the duchess. Edm. If the matter of this paper be certain, you have mighty business in hand. Corn. True, or false, it hath made thee earl of Gloster. Seek out where thy father is, that he may be ready for our apprehension. Edm. [Aside.] If I find him comforting the king, it will stuff his suspicion more fully.3 [To him.] I will persevere in my course of loyalty, though the conflict be sore between that and my blood. Corn. I will lay trust upon thee; and thou shalt find a dearer father in my love. SCENE VI. A Chamber in a Farm-House, adjoining the Castle. Gloster. Here is better than the open air; take it thankfully. I will piece out the comfort with what addition I can: 4 I will not be long from you. Kent. All the power of his wits has given way to his impatience. The gods reward your kindness! 5 [Exit GLOSTER. Edgar. Frateretto calls me, and tells me, Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent," and beware the foul fiend. 1. i. e. but rather an impulsive (good)| 3. i. e. it will strengthen the susfeeling, excited by a blamable badness picion against him. which he perceived in his father. The a in a-work is a contraction of at, as in the expressions a-walking, afishing, &c. 2. i. e. which proves that he is a partizan of France, seeking intelligence which may be of advantage to that country. 4. I will endeavour to improve the accommodation as far as possible. 5. Frateretto is a companion spirit to Flibertigibbet already mentioned by Edgar. 6. Fools were called innocents. Fool. Pr'ythee, nuncle, tell me, whether a madman be a gentleman, or a yeoman? Lear. A king, a king! Fool. No: he's a yeoman, that has a gentleman to his son; for he 's a mad yeoman, that sees his son a gentleman before him. Lear. To have a thousand with red burning spits Come hissing in upon 'em:1 Edgar. The foul fiend bites my back. Fool. He's mad, that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath. Lear. It shall be done; I will arraign them straight. Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer; [To EDGAR. Thou, sapient Sir, sit here. Now, you she foxes! Edg. Look, where he stands and glares! Wantest thou eyes at trial, Madam? 2 Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me:3 Fool. Her boat hath a leak, And she must not speak Why she dares not come over to thee. Edg. The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a nightingale. Hopdance cries in Tom's belly for two white herring. Croak not, black angel; I have no food for thee. Kent. How do you, Sir? Stand you not so amaz'd: Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions? Lear. I'll see their trial first. Bring in the evidence. — Thou robed man of justice, take thy place; [To EDGAR. And thou, his yoke-fellow 5 of equity; [To the Fool. Bench by his side. — You are o' the commission,' [To KENT. Sit you too. Edg. Let us deal justly. 1. Lear in this and the following speeches is thinking of the revenge to be executed on his daughters. 2. Edgar is humouring Lear's train of thought. 3. Bourn, brook. Still used in the Scottish dialect. Bessy, a corruption and diminutive of Elizabeth. This is a fragment of an old ballad, commenced by Edgar and continued by the fool. 4. Hoberdidance was another spirit, King Lear. companion to the two already mentioned. 5. Yoke-fellow, companion. Compare note 9, page 55. 6. The court of judges is called the bench; the verb here used is derived from the substantive, signifying : to take seat among the judges. 7. To be of the commission signifies in law, to be authorised to exercise jurisdiction, to be a justice or judge. 5 Sleepest, or wakest thou, jolly shepherd? And for one blast of thy minikin mouth, Pur! the cat is grey. Lear. Arraign her first; 't is Goneril. I here take my oath before this honourable assembly, she kicked the poor king her father. Fool. Come hither, mistress. Is your name Goneril? Fool. Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool. What store her heart is made on.2 Stop her there! Edgar. Bless thy five wits! Kent. O pity! Sir, where is the patience now, That you so oft have boasted to retain? Edg. [Aside.] My tears begin to take his part so much, They 'Il mar my counterfeiting. Lear. The little dogs and all, Tray, Blanch, and Sweet-heart, see, they bark at me. you curs! Be thy mouth or black or white, Mastiff, or greyhound, mongrel, grim, 1. Minikin, diminutive. 2. Whose shriveled looks proclaim what is contained in her heart. On, for of: see note 3, page 20. 3. Corruption, bribery. 4. Brach, a bitch-hound; lym, limehound, or bloodhound. 6 Avaunt, 5. Tike, dog: still in use in Scotland; bobtail, a tail cut short; trundletail, a round tail, i. e. a dog with a curly tail. 6. A hatch is a half door, i. e. the lower half. Do, de, de, de. Sessa! Come, march to wakes 2 and fairs, and market towns. Poor Tom, thy horn is dry.3 Lear. Then, let them anatomize Regan, see what breeds about her heart. Is there any cause in nature, that makes these hard hearts? You, Sir, [To EDGAR.] I entertain you for one of my hundred; only, I do not like the fashion of your garments: you will say, they are Persian attire; but let them be changed. Kent. Now, good my lord, lie here, and rest awhile. So, so, so Re-enter GLOSTER. Glos. Come hither, friend: where is the king my master? Kent. Here, Sir; but trouble him not, his wits are gone. Glos. Good friend, I pr'ythee take him in thy arms; I have o'er-heard a plot of death upon him. There is a litter ready; lay him in 't, And drive toward Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet Kent. Oppress'd nature sleeps: This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken senses, Stand in hard cure Come, help to bear thy master; 1. Sessa! This word, which occurs also in Scene 4 of this act (page 60), has been variously explained as being an exclamation of encouragement, or as signifying, be quiet, have done. 2. A wake was an ancient festival on the dedication of a parish church, kept by watching all night. In Ireland a wake is the watching by a corpse, frequently leading to scenes of great disorder. [To the Fool. 3. The Bedlam beggars much frequented wakes and fairs, the number of people collected together on those occasions favouring the exercise of their profession; they are described as having carried the horn of an ox slung round their necks, into which they put any liquor which was given them. 4. i. e. are in a very precarious state. Gloster. Come, come, away. [Exeunt KENT, GLOSTER, and the Fool, bearing off the King. Edgar. When we our betters see bearing our woes, We scarcely think our miseries our foes. Who alone suffers, suffers most i' the mind, When that which makes me bend, makes the king bow: When fase opinion, whose wrong thought defiles thee, SCENE VII. A Room in GLOSTER'S Castle. [Exit. Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, GONERIL, EDMUND, and Servants. Cornwall. Post speedily to my lord your husband; show the army of France is landed. him this letter: Seek [Exeunt some of the Servants. Regan. Hang him instantly. Corn. Leave him to my displeasure. Edmund, keep you our sister company: the revenges we are bound to take upon your traitorous father are not fit for your beholding. Advise the duke, where you are going, to a most festinate 5 preparation: we are bound to the like. Our posts shall be 1. i. e. things, or beings, free from such distress, and all appearances of happiness. 2. Bearing, suffering, endurance. 3. i. e. he fared at the hands of his children as I at those of my father. 4. Attend to the great events that are approaching, and make thyself known when that false opinion now prevailing against thee shall, in consequence of just proof of thy integrity, revoke its erroneous sentence. 5. Festinate, hasty, hurried. Exhort the duke, to whom you are going, to arm with all speed. This word is not in use. 6. i. e. we will do the same. Bound, in this sense, signifies destined; it is used especially as expressive of an intention to come to any place: “Willing we sought your shores, and hither bound, The port so long desir'd at length we found." Dryden. |
