a figure I am better than thou art now: I am a fool, thou art nothing.-Yes, forsooth, I will hold my tongue; so your face [to GoN.] bids me, though you say nothing. Mum, mum, He that keeps nor crust nor crum, That's a sheal'd peascod." [Pointing to LEAr. Gon. Not only, sir, this your all-licens'd fool, But other of your insolent retinue Do hourly carp and quarrel; breaking forth In rank and not-to-be-endured riots. Sir, I had thought, by making this well known unto you, Fool. For you trow, nuncle, The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long, So, out went the candle, and we were left darkling.* Gon. Come, sir, I would, you would make use of that good wisdom whereof I know you are fraught; and put away these dispositions, which of late transform you from what you rightly are. That's a sheal'd peascod.] i. e. Now a mere husk, which contains nothing. The outside of a king remains, but all the intrinsic parts of royalty are gone: he has nothing to give.-JOHNSON. t u put it on-]i. e. Promote, push forward. were left darkling] Shakspeare's fools are certainly copied from the life. The originals whom he copied were no doubt men of quick parts; lively and sarcastick. Though they were licensed to say any thing, it was still necessary to prevent giving offence, that every thing they said should have a playful air: we may suppose therefore that they had a custom of taking off the edge of too sharp a speech by covering it hastily with the end of an old song, or any glib nonsense that came into the mind. I know no other way of accounting for the incoherent words with which Shakspeare often finishes this fool's speeches.-Sir JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Fool. May not an ass know when the cart draws the horse?-Whoop, Jug! I love thee." Lear. Does any here know me?-Why this is not Lear: does Lear walk thus? speak thus? Where are his eyes? Either his notion weakens, or his discernings are lethargied. Sleeping or waking?-Ha! sure 'tis not so. -Who is it that can tell me who I am?-Lear's shadow?2 I would learn that; for by the marks of sovereignty, knowledge, and reason, I should be false persuaded I had daughters." Fool. Which they will make an obedient father." Gon. Come, sir; This admiration is much o'the favour Of other your new pranks. I do beseech you As you are old and reverend, you should be wise: Than a grac'd palace. The shame itself doth speak By her, that else will take the thing she begs, A little to disquantity your train; And the remainder, that shall still depend, - Whoop Jug! I love thee.] This, as I am informed, is a quotation from the burthen of an old song.-STEEVENS. Lear's shadow?] In the folio these words are given to the fool: perhaps correctly. for by the marks of sovereignty, knowledge, and reason, &c.] i. e. If I judge by the marks (i. e. ensigns) of sovereignty, which my daughters now enjoy, and which they derived from me; by my knowledge, and by my reason, I should be induced to think I had daughters, yet that must be a false persuasion; it cannot be."-M. MASON. Which they will make an obedient father.] Which, is on this occasion used with two deviations from present language. It is referred, contrary to the rules of grammarians, to the pronoun I, and is employed, according to a mode now obsolete, for whom the accusative case of who.-STEEVENS. c - o'the favour—] i. e. Of the complexion. still depend,] i. e. Continue in service,—WARBURTON. Lear. Darkness and devils! Saddle my horses; call my train together.- Gon. You strike my people; and your disorder'd rabble Make servants of their betters. Enter ALBANY. Lear. Woe, that too late repents,-O, sir, are you come? Is it your will? [to ALB.] Speak, sir.—Prepare my More hideous, when thou show'st thee in a child, Alb. Pray, sir, be patient. Lear. Detested kite! thou liest: [to GONERIL.] My train are men of choice and rarest parts, That all particulars of duty know: And in the most exact regard support The worships of their name.-O most small fault, horses. Which, like an engine,' wrench'd my frame of nature Beat at this gate, that let thy folly in, [Striking his head. Alb. My lord, I am guiltless, as I am ignorant Of what hath mov'd you. Lear. It may be so, my lord,-Hear, nature, hear; Dear goddess, hear! Suspend thy purpose, if Dry up in her the organs of increase; e Than the sea-monster!] Mr. Upton observes, that the sea-monster is the hippopotamus, the hieroglyphical symbol of impiety and ingratitude. Sandys, in his Travels, says, "That he killeth his sire, and ravisheth his own dam."STEEVENS. an engine,]-here means the rack. derogate-] i. e. Degraded, blasted. Create her child of spleen; that it may live, To have a thankless child!-Away, away! [Exit. Alb. Now, gods, that we adore, whereof comes this? Gon. Never afflict yourself to know the cause; But let his disposition have that scope That dotage gives it. Re-enter LEAR. Lear. What, fifty of my followers, at a clap! Within a fortnight? Alb. . What's the matter, sir? [thee! Lear. I'll tell thee;-Life and death! I am asham'd That thou hast power to shake my manhood thus: [TO GONERIL. That these hot tears, which break from me perforce, Should make thee worth them.-Blasts and fogs upon The untented woundings of a father's curse Pierce every sense about thee!-Old fond eyes, Beweep this cause again, I'll pluck you out; And cast you, with the waters that you lose, To temper clay.-Ha! is it come to this? Let it be so :-Yet have I left a daughter, Who, I am sure, is kind and comfortable; When she shall hear this of thee, with her nails She'll flay thy wolfish visage. Thou shalt find, That I'll resume the shape which thou dost think I have cast off for ever; thou shalt, I warrant thee. [Exeunt LEAR, KENT, and Attendants. i Gon. Do you mark that, my lord? cadent tears-] i. e. Falling tears. her mother's pains and benefits,] i. e. Her maternal cares and good offices. -MALONE. kuntented-] i. e. Unappeased: not put into a way of cure, as a wound is when a surgeon has put a tent into it. A tent is a roll of lint employed in examining or purifying a deep wound.-NARES' Glossary. Alb. I cannot be so partial, Goneril, To the great love I bear you, Gon. Pray you, content.-What, Oswald, ho! You, sir, more knave than fool, after your master. [To the Fool. Fool. Nuncle Lear, nuncle Lear, tarry, and take the fool with thee. A fox, when one has caught her, And such a daughter, Should sure to the slaughter, If my cap would buy a halter; So the fool follows after. [Exit. Gon. This man hath had good counsel :-A hundred knights! 'Tis politick, and safe to let him keep At point,' a hundred knights. Yes, that on every dream, He may enguard his dotage with their powers, Gon. If she sustain him and his hundred knights, When I have show'd the unfitness.- How now, Oswald? Enter Steward. What, have you writ that letter to my sister? Stew. Ay, madam. Gon. Take you some company, and away to horse': 1 At point,] Completely armed, and consequently ready at appointment or command on the slightest notice.-STEEVENS. trust too far.] So all the old copies: Steevens omits too far, for the sake of the metre. A compact it more.] Unite one circumstance with another, so as to make a consistent account.-JOHNSON. |