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? Gent. Most sure and vulgar; every one hears that, Which can distinguish sound. But, by your favor, Gent. Near, and on speedy foot; the main descry Edg. I thank you, sir; that's all. Gent. Though that the queen on special cause is here, Her army is moved on. Edg. I thank you, sir. [Exit Gent. Glo. You ever-gentle gods, take my breath from me; Let not my worser spirit 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 lame by fortune's blows; 3 Who, by the art of known and feeling1 sorrows, Am pregnant to good pity. Give me your hand, Glo. Hearty thanks. The bounty and the benison of Heaven 1 The main body is expected to be descried every hour. 2 By this expression may be meant "my evil genius.” 3 The folio reads, "made tame by fortune's blows." The original is probably the true reading. So in Shakspeare's thirty-seventh Sonnet:-- “So 1, made tame by fortune's dearest spight.” 4 Feeling is probably used here for felt. Stew. Enter Steward. A proclaimed prize! Most happy! That eyeless head of thine was first framed 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 published traitor? Hence; Like hold on thee. Let go his arm. Edg. Ch'ill not let go, zir, without vurther 'casion. Stew. Let go, slave, or thou diest. 2 Edg. Good gentleman, go your gait, and let poor volk pass. And ch'ud ha' been zwaggered 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,s or ise try whether your costard or my bat be the harder. Ch'ill be plain with you. Stew. Out, dunghill! 4 3 Edg. Ch'ill pick your teeth, zir; come; no matter vor your foins.5 [They fight; and EDGAR knocks him down. Stew. Slave, thou hast slain me.-Villain, take my purse; If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body; And give the letters, which thou find'st about me, Upon the British party.-O, untimely death. As duteous to the vices of thy mistress, As badness would desire. [Dies. 1 i. e. "quickly recollect the past offences of thy life, and recommend thyself to Heaven." 2 Gang your gait is a common expression in the north. 3 i. e. I warn you. 4 i. e. head. A bat is a staff. It is the proper name of a walking-stick, in Sussex, even at this day. 5 i. e. thrusts. Glo. What, is he dead? Edg. Sit you down, father; rest you.--- Let's see his pockets; these letters, that he speaks of, Leave, gentle wax; and, manners, blame us not; [Reads.] Let our reciprocal vows be remembered. You have many opportunities to cut him off; if your will want not, time and place will be fruitfully offered. There is nothing done, if he return the conqueror. Then am I the prisoner, and his bed my jail; from the loathed warmth whereof, deliver me, and supply the place for your labor. Your wife, (so I would say,) and your affectionate servant, O undistinguished space of woman's will!? GONERIL. And the exchange, my brother!--Here, in the sands, Of murderous lechers; and, in the mature time, [Exit EDGAR, dragging out the body. Glo. The king is mad. How stiff is my vile sense, That I stand up, and have ingenious feeling5 Of my huge sorrows! Better I were distract; 1 i. e. to rip their papers is more lawful. 2 This seems to mean, "O, how inordinate, how unbounded, is the licentious inclination of women!" 3 "Thee I'll rake up, the post unsanctified," &c. i. e. I'll cover thee. Unsanctified refers to his want of burial in consecrated ground. 4 That is, the duke of Albany, whose death is machinated by practice or treason. 5 "Ingenious feeling." Bullokar, in his Expositor, interprets ingenious by quick-conceited, i. e. acute. So should my thoughts be severed from my griefs; Edg. Re-enter EDGAR. Give me your hand; Far off, methinks, I hear the beaten drum. SCENE VII. A Tent in the French Camp. LEAR on a bed asleep: Physician, Gentleman,1 and others attending. Enter CORDELIA and Kent. Cor. O thou good Kent, how shall I live, and work, To match thy goodness? My life will be too short, And every measure fail me. Kent. To be acknowledged, madam, is o'erpaid. All my reports go with the modest truth; Nor more, nor clipped, but so. 3 Be better suited." Cor. These weeds are memories of those worser hours; I pr'ythee, put them off. Pardon me, dear madam; 4 Kent. Till time and I think meet. Cor. Then be it so, my good lord.-How does the king? Phys. Madam, sleeps still. Cor. [To the Physician. O you kind gods, Cure this great breach in his abused nature! 1 In the folio, the gentleman and the physician are one and the same person. 2 i. e. be better dressed, put on a better suit of clothes. 3 Memories are memorials. 4 A MADE intent is an INTENT formed. The untuned and jarring senses, O, wind up, Phys. So please your majesty, That we may wake the king? he hath slept long. Cor. Be governed by your knowledge, and proceed I' the sway of your own will. Is he arrayed? Gent. Ay, madam; in the heaviness of his sleep, We put fresh garments on him. Phys. Be by, good madam, when we do awake him; I doubt not of his temperance. Cor. Very well. Phys. Please you, draw near.-Louder the music there.2 Cor. O my dear father! Restoration, hang Repair those violent harms, that my two sisters Kent. Kind and dear princess! Cor. Had you not been their father, these white flakes Had challenged pity of them. Was this a face To stand against the deep, dread-bolted thunder? Of quick, cross lightning? to watch (poor perdu!) 1 That is, changed by his children; a father whose jarring senses have been untuned by the ingratitude of his daughters. 2 This and the foregoing speech are not in the folio. It has been already observed, that Shakspeare considered soft music as favorable to sleep. Lear, we may suppose, had been thus composed to rest; and now the physician desires louder music to be played, for the purpose of waking him. 3 The lines in crotchets are not in the folio. The allusion is to the forlorn hope of an army, called in French enfans perdus; amongst other desperate adventures in which they were engaged, the night-watches seem to have been a common one. |