incline to the king. I will seek him, and privily relieve him go you, and maintain talk with the duke, that my charity be not of him perceived. If he ask for me, I am ill, and gone to bed. If I die for it, as no less is threatened me, the king, my old master, must be relieved. There is some strange thing toward, Edmund; pray you, be careful. [Exit. Edm. This courtesy, forbid thee, shall the duke Instantly know; and of that letter too. This seems a fair deserving, and must draw me That which my father loses; no less than all: The younger rises, when the old doth fall. [Exit. SCENE IV. A Part of the Heath, with a Hovel. Enter LEAR, KENT, and Fool. Kent. Here is the place, my lord; good my lord, enter: The tyranny of the open night's too rough For nature to endure. Lear. [Storm still. Let me alone. Wilt break my heart? Good my lord, Kent. Good my lord, enter here. Kent. I'd rather break mine own. enter. Lear. Thou think'st 'tis much, that this contentious storm1 word occurs again in the same sense, in scene 7 of this act, and there it is "footed" in all the copies. The quartos often print verse as prose, but in this scene they have printed prose as verse: the last speech is verse according to all the old copies, but sadly mangled in the quartos. 1 — that this CONTENTIOUS Storm] The quarto without the publisher's address has crulentious, and that with the publisher's address, tempestuous. "Contentious" of the folio is no doubt the true word. Invades us to the skin: so 'tis to thee; The lesser is scarce felt. Thou'dst shun a bear; Thou'dst meet the bear i̇' the mouth. When the mind's free, The body's delicate: the tempest in my mind Kent. Good my lord, enter here. Lear. Pr'ythee, go in thyself; seek thine own ease: This tempest will not give me leave to ponder On things would hurt me more.-But I'll go in: In, boy; go first.-[To the Fool.] You houseless po verty, Nay, get thee in. I'll pray, and then I'll sleep". [Fool goes in. Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, 2 the ROARING Sea,] So one of the quartos and the folio: the other quartos, "raging sea.' To shut me out!-Pour on; I will endure :] Omitted in the quartos, which just above read, "I will punish sure," for "I will punish home." whose frank heart gave all,] The quartos, "gave you all." 4 5 I'll pray, folio. and then I'll sleep.] This and the preceding line are only in the 6 This pitiless STORM,] The quartos, "this pitiless night." Other variations are of comparatively little import. Too little care of this. Take physic, pomp; Edg. [Within.] Fathom and half', fathom and half! Poor Tom! [The Fool runs out from the Hovel. Fool. Come not in here, nuncle; here's a spirit. Help me! help me! Kent. Give me thy hand.-Who's there? Fool. A spirit, a spirit: he says his name's poor Tom. Kent. What art thou that dost grumble there i' the straw? Come forth. Enter EDGAR, disguised as a Madman. Edg. Away! the foul fiend follows me !Through the sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind3.Humph! go to thy cold bed, and warm thee. Lear. Hast thou given all to thy two daughters? And art thou come to this? Edg. Who gives any thing to poor Tom? whom the foul fiend hath led through fire and through flame', through ford and whirlpool, over bog and quagmire; that hath laid knives under his pillow, and halters in his pew; set ratsbane by his porridge'; made him proud of heart, to ride on a bay trotting-horse over four-inched bridges, to course his own shadow for a traitor.-Bless thy five wits?! Tom's a-cold.-O! do 7 Fathom and half,] This speech is not in the quartos. 8 blows the cold wind.] The folio reads incorrectly, as appears on its own authority afterwards, "blow the winds," and subsequently, "go to thy bed." The words, "Go to thy cold bed, and warm thee," occur in the "Taming of the Shrew," Vol. iii. p. 107. See the note upon them. Lear's next speech stands thus in the folio, "Didst thou give all to thy daughters?" * — and through flame,] These words are only in the folio, which, however, reads corruptly, sword, instead of "ford" of the quartos. 2 Bless thy five wits?] The five senses were formerly called "the five wits," de, do de, do de.-Bless thee from whirlwinds, starblasting, and taking! Do poor Tom some charity, whom the foul fiend vexes.-There could I have him now,—and there,—and there,—and there again, and there. [Storm continues. Lear. What! have his daughters brought him to this pass1? Could'st thou save nothing? Didst thou give them all? Fool. Nay, he reserved a blanket, else we had been all shamed. Lear. Now, all the plagues, that in the pendulous air Hang fated o'er men's faults, light on thy daughters! Kent. He hath no daughters, sir. Lear. Death, traitor! nothing could have subdued nature To such a lowness, but his unkind daughters. as many authorities establish, but perhaps none so clearly as the following passage from the interlude of "The Worlde and the Chylde," printed by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1522, and introduced into vol. xii. of the last edition of "Dodsley's Old Plays." I am indebted to Mr. Bruce for directing my attention to it it occurs on p. 334 :— 66 Age. Of the v. wittes I wolde have knowynge. "Perseveraunce. Forsoth, syr, herynge, seynge, and smellynge, 66 The remenaunte tastynge, and felynge : These ben the v. wittes bodely, And, syr, other v. wittes there ben. Age. Syr perseveraunce I know not them. "Perseveraunce. Now, repentaunce, I shall you ken. They are the power of the soule : Clere in mynde, there is one, Understondynge, and compassyon: These belonge unto perseveraunce. "Age. Gramercy, perseveraunce, for your trewe techynge." 3 - star-blasting, and TAKING!] We have had "taking" in the same sense before in this play, p. 410 : "Strike her young bones, You taking airs, with lameness." "Taking," in both these instances, means the same as blasting. The preceding interjections, to indicate shuddering with cold, are not in the quartos. WHAT! HAVE his daughters brought him to this pass?] The folio omits "What!" necessary to the metre ; and the quartos omit" have,” (which in the folio is printed has) necessary to the sense. Is it the fashion, that discarded fathers Should have thus little mercy on their flesh? Edg. Pillicock sat on Pillicock-hill3:— Halloo, halloo, loo, loo! Fool. This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen. Edg. Take heed o' the foul fiend. Obey thy parents; keep thy word justly; swear not; commit not with man's sworn spouse; set not thy sweet heart on proud array. Tom's a-cold. Lear. What hast thou been? Edg. A serving-man, proud in heart and mind; that curled my hair, wore gloves in my cap, served the lust of my mistress's heart, and did the act of darkness with her; swore as many oaths as I spake words, and broke them in the sweet face of heaven: one, that slept in the contriving of lust, and waked to do it. Wine loved I deeply; dice dearly; and in woman, out-paramoured the Turk false of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand; hog in sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, dog in madness, lion in prey. Let not the creaking of shoes, nor the rustling of silks, betray thy poor heart to woman: keep thy foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen from lenders' books, and defy the foul fiend. Still through the hawthorn blows the cold 5 Pillicock sat on Pillicock-hill:] Mr. Halliwell has pointed out to me, that "Pillicock" is thus mentioned in Ritson's "Gammer Gurton's Garland :" "Pillycock, Pillycock sat on a hill ; If he's not gone, he sits there still." It is also introduced into the second edition of Mr. Halliwell's “Nursery Rhymes," p. 159, and it is certainly singular, as he observes, that neither Douce, nor any of the commentators, should have referred to it. He adds, that the meaning of "Pillicock may be found in MS. Harl. No. 913, fo. 54, of as early a date as the thirteenth century. The Rev. Mr. Barry has referred me to a much later authority, Florio's Italian Dictionary, 1611. 6— keep thy word justly,] The reading of the folio is, "keep thy word's justice," which the second folio altered to "keep thy word, justice." |