He whom my father nam'd? your Edgar? Glo. O, lady, lady, shame would have it hid! Reg. Was he not companion with the riotous knights That tend upon my father? Glo. I know not, madam: It is too bad, too bad. Edm. Yes, madam, he was. Reg. No marvel then, though he were ill affected; "Tis they have put him on the old man's death, To have the waste and spoil of his revenues. I have this present evening from my sister Been well inform'd of them; and with such cautions, That, if they come to sojourn at my house, I'll not be there. Corn. Nor I, assure thee, Regan. Edmund, I hear that you have shown your father Edm. 'Twas my duty, sir. Glo. He did bewray his practice ;4 and receiv'd Glo. Ay, my good lord, he is. Corn. If he be taken, he shall never more Be fear'd of doing harm: make your own purpose, So much commend itself, you shall be ours; Edm. I shall serve you, sir, Truly, however else. Glo. For him I thank your grace. Corn. You know not why we came to visit you,- Wherein we must have use of your advice :- Of differences, which I best thought it fit To answer from our home; the several messengers Lay comforts to your bosom ; and bestow [4] Bewray-that is, discover, betray. STEEV. [5] Some weight, or moment. MALONE. [6] Not at home, but at some other place. JOHNSON. Before GLOSTER's Castle. Enter KENT and Steward severally. Stew. Good dawning to thee, friend: Art of the house? Kent. Ay. Stew. Where may we set our horses? Kent. I'the mire. Stew. Pr'ythee, if thou love me, tell me. Kent. I love thee not. Stew. Why, then I care not for thee. Kent. If I had thee in Lipsbury pinfold, I would make thee care for me. Stew. Why dost thou use me thus? I know thee not. Kent. Fellow, I know thee. Stew. What dost thou know me for? Kent. A knave; a rascal, an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundredpound, filthy worsted-stocking knave; a lily-liver'd, action-taking knave; a whorson, glass-gazing, superserviceable, finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldest be a bawd, in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pandar, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch one whom I will beat into clamorous whining, if thou deniest the least syllable of thy addition. 8 Stew. Why, what a monstrous fellow art thou, thus to rail on one,that is neither known of thee,nor knows thee? Kent. What a brazen-faced varlet art thou to deny thou knowest me? Is it two days ago, since I tripped up [6] The allusion which seems to be contained in this line I do not understand. In the violent eruption of reproaches which burst from Kent in this dialogue, there are some epithets which the commentators have left unexpounded, and which I am not very able to make clear. Lily-liver'd-is cowardly; white-blooded and white-liver'd are still in vulgar use. JOHNS. [7] Three suited knave,-might mean, in an age of ostentatious finery like that of Shakspeare, one who had no greater change of cloaths than three suits would furnish him with. A worsted-stocking knave-is another reproach of the same kind. The stockings in England, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, as I learn from Stubbs's Anatomie of Abuses, printed in 1595, were remarkably expensive, and scarce any other kind than silk were worn, even, as this author says, by those who had not above forty shillings a year wages. STEEVENS. [8] That is, titles.-Kent is not only boisterous in his manners, but abusive in his language. His excessive ribaldry proceeds from an over solicitude to, prevent being discovered: like St. Peter's swearing from a similar motive. HENLEY. thy heels, and beat thee, before the king? Draw, you rogue: for, though it be night, the mooon shines; I'll make a sop o'the moonshine of you. Draw, you whorson cullionly barber-monger, draw. [Drawing his sword. Stew. Away; I have nothing to do with thee. Kent. Draw, you rascal: you come with letters against the king; and take vanity the puppet's part, against the royalty of her father: Draw, you rogue, or I'll so carbonado your shanks :-draw, you rascal; come your ways. Stew. Help, ho! murder! help! Kent. Strike, you slave; stand, rogue, stand; you neat slave, strike. Stew. Help, ho! murder! murder! [Beating him. Enter EDMUND, CORNWALL, REGAN, GLOSTER, and Servants. Edm. How now? What's the matter? Part. Kent. With you, goodman boy, if you please; come, Ill flesh you; come on, young master. Glo. Weapons! arms! What's the matter here? He dies, that strikes again: What is the matter? Stew. I am scarce in breath, my lord. Kent. No marvel, you have so bestirred your valour. You cowardly rascal, nature disclaims in thee; a tailor made thee. Corn. Thou art a strange fellow: a tailor make a man? Kent. Ay, a tailor, sir; a stone-cutter, or a painter, could not have made him so ill, though they had been but two hours at the trade. Corn. Speak yet, how grew your quarrel? Stew.This ancient ruffian, sir, whose life I have spar'd, At suit of his grey-beard, - Kent. Thou whorson zed! thou unnecessary letter !* -My lord, if you will give me leave, I will tread this unbolted villain2 into mortar, and daub the wall of a jakes with him.-Spare my grey beard, you wagtail? [9] Alluding to the mysteries or allegorical shows, in which vanity, iniqui ty, and other vices, were personified. JOHNSON. [1] Zed is here probably used as a term of contempt, because it is the last letter in the English alphabet, and as its place may be supplied by S, and the Roman alphabet has it not. STEEVENS. [2] Unbolted mortar is mortar made of unsifted lime, and therefore to break the lumps it is necessary to tread it by means of wooden shoes. This unbolted villain is therefore this coarse rascal. TOLLET. Corn. Peace, sirrah! You beastly knave, know you no reverence ? Kent. That such a slave as this should wear a sword, Who wears no honesty. Such smiling rogues as these, Like rats, oft bite the holy cords atwain Which are too intrinse t' unloose: 3 smooth every passion Say that. Kent. No contraries hold more antipathy, Than I and such a knave. Corn. Why dost thou call him knave? What's his offence ? Kent. His countenance likes me not. Corn. No more, perchance, does mine, or his, or hems. I have seen better faces in my tinie, Than stands on any shoulder that I see Corn. This is some fellow, Who, having been prais'd for bluntness, doth affect Quite from his nature: He cannot flatter, he !— [3] By these holy cords the poet means the natural union between parents and children. The metaphor is taken from the cords of the sanctuary; and the fomenters of family differences are compared to those sacrilegious rats. The expresssion is fine and noble. WARBURTON. [4] The halcyon is the bird otherwise called the kingfisher. The vulgar opinion was, that this bird, if hung up, would vary with the wind, and "by that means show from what point it blew. STEEVENS. [5] The frighted countenance of a man ready to fall in a fit. JOHNS. [6] Camelot was the place where the romances say king Arthur kept his court in the west; so this alludes to some proverbial speech in those romances. WARBURTON. In Somersetshire, near Camelot, are many large moors, where are bred great quantities of geese, so that many other places are from hence supplied with quills and feathers. HANMER. An honest mind and plain,-he must speak truth: These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness That stretch their duties nicely. Kent. Sir, in good sooth, in sincere verity, Under the allowance of your grand aspéct, Whose influence, like the wreath of radiant fire On flickering Phoebus' front, Corn. What mean'st by this? Kent. To go out of my dialect, which you discommend so much. I know, sir, I am no flatterer: he that beguiled you, in a plain accent, was a plain knave ; which, for my part, I will not be, though I should win your displeasure to intreat me to it.7 Corn. What was the offence you gave him? It pleas'd the king his master, very late, To strike at me, upon his misconstruction; When he, conjunct, and flattering his displeasure, Kent. None of these rogues, and cowards, Corn. Fetch forth the stocks, ho! You stubborn ancient knave, you reverend braggart, Kent. Sir, I am too old to learn: Call not your stocks for me: I serve the king; On whose employment I was sent to you: You shall do small respect, show too bold malice Corn. Fetch forth the stocks: As I've life and honour, there shall he sit till noon. [7] Though I should win you, displeased as you now are, to like me so well as to intreat me to be a knave. JOHNSON. [8] Ajax is a fool to them, there are node of these knaves and cowards, that if you believe themselves, are not so brave, that Ajax is a fool compared to them. M. MASON. |