Puslapio vaizdai
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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 entreat me to it.7

Corn. What was the offence you gave him?
Stew.
Never any: +

It pleas'd the king his master, very late,

To strike at me, upon his misconstruction;

When he, conjunct, and flattering his displeasure,
Tripp'd me behind: being down, insulted, rail'd,
And put upon him such a deal of man,
That worthy'd him, got praises of the king
For him attempting who was self-subdu'd ;
And, in the fleshment of this dread exploit,
Drew on me here. ‡

Kent.

None of these rogues, and cowards,

But Ajax is their fool."

Corn.

Fetch forth the stocks, ho!

You stubborn ancient knave, you reverend braggart,

We'll teach you

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
Against the grace and person of my master,

Stocking his messenger.

7 though I should win your displeasure to entreat me to it.] Though I should win you, displeased as you now are, to like me so well as to entreat me to be a knave. JOHNSON.

+ "I never gave him any :"- MALONE.

-fleshment- A young soldier is said to flesh his sword, the first time he draws blood with it. Fleshment, therefore, is here metaphorically applied to the first act of service, which Kent, in his new capacity, had performed for his master.

here again." MALONE.

6 But Ajax is their fool.] i. e. is a fool to them.

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Corn.

Fetch forth the stocks:

As I've life and honour, there shall he sit till noon. Reg. Till noon! till night, my lord; and all night too. Kent. Why, madam, if I were your father's dog, You should not use me so.

Reg.

Sir, being his knave, I will. [Stocks brought out.

Corn. This is a fellow of the self-same colour Our sister speaks of: - Come, bring away the stocks. Glo. Let me beseech your grace not to do so: His fault is much, and the good king his master Will check him for't: your purpos'd low correction Is such, as basest and contemned'st wretches, For pilferings and most common trespasses, Are punish'd with: the king must take it ill, That he's so slightly valued in his messenger, Should have him thus restrain'd.

Corn.

I'll answer that.

Reg. My sister may receive it much more worse,
To have her gentleman abus'd, assaulted,
For following her affairs. Put in his legs. —

Come, my good lord; away.

[KENT is put in the Stocks.'

[Exeunt REGAN and CORNWALL. Glo. I am sorry for thee, friend; 'tis the duke's plea

sure,

Whose disposition, all the world well knows,

Will not be rubb'd, nor stopp'd: I'll entreat for thee. Kent. Pray, do not, sir: I have watch'd, and travell'd

hard;

Some time I shall sleep out, the rest I'll whistle.

A good man's fortune may grow out at heels:
Give you good morrow!

Glo. The duke's to blame in this; 'twill be ill taken.

[Exit.

It should be remembered, that formerly in great houses, as still in some colleges, there were moveable stocks for the correction of the

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Kent. Good king, that must approve the common

saw ! 2

Thou out of heaven's benediction com'st

To the warm sun!

Approach, thou beacon to this under globe,
That by thy comfortable beams I may

Peruse this letter ! - Nothing almost sees miracles,
But misery ;-I know, 'tis from Cordelia;
Who hath most fortunately been inform'd
Of my obscured course; and shall find time
From this enormous state,- seeking to give
Losses their remedies:- All weary and o'er-watch'd,
Take vantage, heavy eyes, not to behold

This shameful lodging.

Fortune, good night; smile once more; turn thy wheel!

SCENE III.

A part of the Heath.

Enter EDGAR.

Edg. I heard myself proclaim'd;

And, by the happy hollow of a tree,

Escap'd the hunt. No port is free; no place,

That guard, and most unusual vigilance,

[He sleeps.

Does not attend my taking. While I may scape,
I will preserve myself: and am bethought
To take the basest and most poorest shape,
That ever penury, in contempt of man,

Brought near to beast: my face I'll grime with filth;
Blanket my loins; elf all my hair in knots;3

• Good king, that must approve the common saw ! &c.] The saw alluded to, is in Heywood's Dialogues on Proverbs,

"In your running from him to me, ye runne

"Out of God's blessing into the warme sunne.”

— elf all my hair in knots;] Hair thus knotted, was vulgarly supposed to be the work of elves and fairies in the night.

And with presented nakedness out-face
The winds, and persecutions of the sky.
The country gives me proof and precedent
Of Bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices,
Strike in their numb'd and mortified bare arms
Pins, wooden pricks", nails, sprigs of rosemary;
And with this horrible object, from low farms,
Poor pelting villages, sheep-cotes and mills,
Sometime with lunatick bans', sometime with prayers,
Enforce their charity. Poor Turlygood! poor Tom!8
That's something yet;- Edgar I nothing am.

[Exit.

SCENE IV.

Before Gloster's Castle.

Enter LEAR, Fool, and Gentleman.

Lear. 'Tis strange, that they should so depart from

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4 Of Bedlam beggars,] These were a species of beggars, such as had been in Bedlam, and when partly recovered and allowed to go out, were licensed to beg. Edgar borrows his dress from them, and the phrases of Poor Tom, Poor Tom is a-cold.

5

wooden pricks,] i. e. skewers.

6 Poor pelting villages,] beggarly or petty.

7— lunatick bans,] To ban, is to curse.

8

poor Turlygood! poor Tom!] For Turlupin. In the fourteenth century there was a new species of gipsies, called Turlupins, a fraternity of naked beggars, which ran up and down Europe.

Fool. Ha, ha; look! he wears cruel garters! Horses are tied by the heads; dogs, and bears, by the neck; monkies by the loins, and men by the legs: when a man is over-lusty at legs, then he wears wooden netherstocks.1

Lear. What's he, that hath so much thy place mistook To set thee here?

Kent.

It is both he and she,

Your son and daughter.

Lear. No.

Kent. Yes.

Lear. No, I say.

Kent. I say, yea.

Lear. No, no; they would not.

Kent. Yes, they have.

Lear. By Jupiter, I swear, no.

Kent. By Juno, I swear, ay.

Lear. They durst not do't;

They could not, would not do't; 'tis worse than murder, To do upon respect such violent outrage: 2

Resolve me, with all modest haste, which way

Thou might'st deserve, or they impose, this usage,
Coming from us.

Kent.
My lord, when at their home,
I did commend your highness' letters to them,
Ere I was risen from the place that show'd
My duty kneeling, came there a reeking post,
Stew'd in his haste, half breathless, panting forth
From Goneril his mistress, salutations;

3

Deliver❜d letters, spite of intermission, 3

9 he wears cruel garters !] Probably a quibble was here intended. Crewel signifies worsted, of which stockings, garters, nightcaps, &c. are made.

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wooden nether-stocks.] Nether-stocks is the old word for stockings. Breeches were at that time called "men's overstockes." 2 To do upon respect such violent outrage:] To be so grossly deficient in respect.

3 —spite of intermission,] i. e. without pause, without suffering time to intervene.

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