To hear of pleasure's name; Down from the waist they are centaurs, But to the girdle do the gods inherit, [ness, stench,consumption;-Fie,fie, fie! pah! pah! 5 Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear; Robes, and furr'd gowns, hide all. Plate sin with gold, And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks: Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw doth pierce it. None does offend, none, I say, none; 1'llable'em*: Take that of me, my friend, who have the power To seal the accuser's lips. Get thec glass eyes; And, like a scurvy politician, seem [now, now: 10To see the things thou dost not.Now, now, Pull off my boots;-harder, harder; so. Lear. Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality. Glo. O ruin'd piece of nature! this great world Shall so wear out to nought.-Dost thou know me? 15 Lear. I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thon squiny at me? No, do thy worst, blind Cupid; I'll not love.-Read thou this challenge; mark but the penning of it. Glo. Were all the letters suns, I could not see one. 20 Edg. I would not take this from report ;—it is, my heart breaks at it. And Lear. Read. 3 Glo. What, with the case of eyes? Lear. O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes 25 in your head, nor no money in your purse? Your eyes are in a heavy case, your purse in a light: Yet you see how this world goes. Glo. I see it feelingly. Lear. What, art mad? A man may see how 30 this world goes, with no eyes. Look with thine ears: see how yon' justice rails upon yon' simple thief. Hark, in thine ear: Change places; and handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief? Thou hast scen a fariner's dog bark at a 35 beggar? A polecat. 4 Edg. O, matter and impertinency mixt; Reason in madness! Lear. If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes. know thee well enough; thy name is Gloster: Thou must be patient; we came crying hither. Thou know'st, the first time that we smell the air, Wewawle, and cry:-I will preach to thee; mark Glo. Alack, alack the day! come [me. Enter a Gentleman, with Attendants. Lear. No rescue? What, a prisoner? I am even Gent. You shall have any thing. Lear. No seconds? All myself? Gent. Good sir, Lear. I will die bravely, like a bridegroom; what? Gent. You are a royal one, and we obey you. you get it, You shall get it by running. Sa, sa, sa, sa. [Exit. Soyled horse is a term used for a horse that has been fed with hay and corn in the stable during the winter, and is turned out in the spring to take the first flush of grass, or has it cut and carried in to him. This at once cleanses the animal, and fills him with blood. 3 The case of eyes is the socket of either eye. This is an old phrase, signifying to qualify, or uphold them, Dr. Johnson proposes to read, a good flock.-" Flocks (he adds) are wool moulded together. It is very common for madmen to catch an accidental hint, and strain it to the purpose predominant in their minds. Lear picks up a flock, and immediately thinks to surprize his enemies by a troop of horse shod with flocks or felt. Yet block may stand, if we suppose that the sight of a block put him in mind of mounting his horse."- -Mr. Steevens thinks Dr. Johnson's explanation is very ingenious; but believes there is no occasion to adopt it, as the speech itself, or at least the action that should accompany it, will furnish all the connection which he has sought for from an extraneous circumstance. Upon the king's saying, I will preach to thee, the poet seems to have meant him to pull off his hat, and keep turning it and feeling it, in the attitude of one of the preachers of those times (whom Mr. Steevens has seen so represented in ancient prints), till the idea of felt, which the good hat or block was made of, raises the stratagem in his brain of shoeing a troop of horse with a substance soft as that which he held and moulded between his hands. This makes him start from his preachment.-Block anciently signified the head-part of the hat, or the thing on which a hat is formed, and sometimes the hat itself. • Mr. Malone believes a man of salt is a man made up of tears. Gent "Your (wife, so I would say) affectionate "servant, "GONERIL." 300 undistinguish'd space of woman's will!A plot upon her virtuous husband's life; And the exchange, my brother!--Here, in thesands, Thee I'll rake up, the most unsanctified Of murderous lechers: and, in the mature time, With this ungracious paper strike the sight Of the death-practis'do duke: For him 'tis well That of thy death and business I can tell. Stew. A proclaim'd prize! Most happy! Gio. Now let thy friendly hand [Edgar opposes. 40 [Exit Edgar, removing the body. Glo. The king is mad: How stiff is my vile sense, That I stand up, and have ingenious feeling" Edg. Good gentleman, go your gait, and let poor volk pass. And ch'ud ha' been zwagger'd 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', or ise try whether 50 your costard or my bat be the harder: Ch'ill be plain with you. Stew. Out, dunghill! Edg. Ch'ill pick your teeth, zir: Come; no matter for your foyns. [Edgar knocks him down.|55| 8 Re-enter Edgar. Edg. Give me your hand: SCENE VII. A Tent in the French Camp. i. e. sorrows past and present. 'i.e. The main body is expected to be descry'd every hour. quickly recollect the past offences of thy life, and recommend thyself to heaven. * Gang your gate is a common expression in the North. i. e. I warn you. Edgar counterfeits the western dialect. 'i. e. head. i. e. club. To foyn is to make what we call a thrust in fencing. ' i. e. I'll cover.-In Staffordshire, to rake the fire, is to cover it with fuel for the night. 10 The duke of Albany, whose death is machinated by practice or treason. "Ingenious feeling signifies a feeling from an understanding not disturbed or disordered, but which, representing things as they are, makes the sense of pain the more exquisite. Το To match thy goodness? My life will be too short, Kent. To be acknowledg'd,madam,is o'erpay'd. Cor, Be better suited 2: These weeds are memories' of those worser hours; Kent. Pardon me, dear madam; Yet to be known, shortens my made intent": My boon I make it, that you know me not, "Till time and I think meet. Cor. Then be it so, my good lord. How does the king? Phys. Madam, sleeps still. Cor. O you kind gods, [To the Physician. Cure this great breach in his abused nature! Phys. So please your majesty, That we may wake the king? he hath slept long. Cor. Be govern'd by your knowledge, and proeeed I' the sway of your own will. Is he array'd? Gent. Ay, madam; in the heaviness of his sleep, Cor. Very well. pity, 10To see another thus.--I know not what to say.- Cor. O, look upon me, sir, 15 And hold your hands in benediction o'er me:No, sir, you must not kneel. Lear. Pray do not mock me: I am a very foolish fond old man, 20 Not an hour more, nor less; and, to deal plainly, 25 [sic there ! 30 Phys. Please you, draw near.-Louder the muCor. O my dear father! Restoration, hang Thy medicine on my lips; and let this kiss Repair those violent harms, that my two sisters Have in thy reverence made! [flakes 35 Kent. Kind and dear princess! night Against my fire; And wast thou fain, poor father, 45 Had not concluded all.-He wakes; speak to him. 50 Cor. How does my royal lord? How fares your Lear. You do me wrong, to take me out o' the If Cor. And so I am, I am ! [weep not: Lear. Be your tears wet? Yes, 'faith. I pray, you have poison for me, I will drink it. I know, you do not love me; for your sisters Have, as I do remember, done me wrong; You have some cause, they have not, Cor. No cause, no cause. Lear. Am I in France? Kent. In your own kingdom, sir. [rage, Phys. Be comforted, good madam: the great Cor. Will't please your highness walk? Pray you now, forget and forgive: I am old and foolish. [Exeunt Lear, Cordelia, Physician,and Attendants. Gent. Holds it true, sir, That the duke of Cornwall was so slain? Gent. Who is conductor of his people? 55 His banish'd son, is with the earl of Kent i. e. All good which I shall a'lot thee, or measure out to thee, will be scanty, drest, put on a better suit of clothes. 1i. e. memorials, remembrancers. 6 2 i, e. Be better 4 An intent made, is The an intent formed. So we say in common language, to make a design, and to make a resolution. i. e. changed to a child by his years and wrongs. Restoration is recovery personified. allusion, Dr. Warburton says, is to the forlorn-hope in an army, which are put upon desperate adventures, and called, in French, enfans perdus; she therefore calls her father, poor perdu. am strangely imposed on by appearances; I am in a strange mist of uncertainty, ? i. e. to reconcile it to his apprehension. Kent. You know the goodness I intend upon you: Edm. In honour'd love. [way Reg. But have you never found my brother's To the fore-fended' place? [junct Edm. That thought abuses you. 20 25 Alb. Let us then determine [us. Reg. 'Tis most convenient; pray you, go with As they are going out, enter Edgar disguised. Alb. I'll overtake you. -Speak. [Exeunt Edm. Reg. Gon. and Attendants. Reg. I never shall endure her: Dear my lord, 35 When time shall serve, let but the herald cry, Be not familiar with her. Edm. Fear me not: She, and the duke her husband, Enter Albany, Goneril, and Soldiers. [Aside. [ter,[ Alb. Our very loving sister, well be met.- Gon. Combine together 'gainst the enemy: His settled resolution. 2 Each jealous of the other, as the stung Are of the adder. Which of them shall I take? fore-fended means prohibited, forbidden. The meaning of this speech is, The king and others whom we have opposed, are come to Cordelia. I could never be valiant but in a just quarrel. We must distinguish; it is just in one sense and unjust in another. As France invades our land, I am concerned to repel him; but as he holds, entertains, and supports the king, and others whom I fear many just and heavy causes make, or compel, as it were, to oppose us, I esteem it unjust to engage against them. This business (says Albany) touches us, as France invades our land, not as it bolds the king, &c. i. e. emboldens him to assert his former title. i. e. bring my purpose to a successful issue, to completion.-Side seems here to have the sense of the French word partie, in prendre partie, to take his resolution. Edm. Take them away. Lear. Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia, The gods themselves throw incense. caught thee? Have I 5 He, that parts us, shall bring a brand from heaven, 10 Come. [Exeunt Lear, and Cordelia, guarded. [Alarum, and retreat within. 20 Re-enter Edgar. Edg. Away, old man, give me thy hand, away; Glo. No further, sir; a man may rot even here. 25 endure Their going hence, even as their coming hither; Glo. And that's true too. SCENE III. [Exeunt. 30 Enter, in conquest, with drum and colours, Ed- Cor. We are not the first, prison: 40 45 We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage: As if we were God's spies: And we'll wear out, 155 Capt. I'll do 't, my lord. Edm. About it; and write happy, when thou Mark,I say, instantly; and carry it so, Capt. I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dry'd oats; And fortune led you well: You have the captives Edm. Sir, I thought it fit To send the old and miserable king My reason all the same; and they are ready And the best quarrels, in the heat, are curs'd Alb. Sir, by your patience, I hold you but a subject of this war, Reg. That's as we list to grace him. Dr. Johnson thinks that for does not stand in this place as a word of inference or causality. The meaning is rather: Such is my determination concerning Lear; as for my state, it requires now, not deli beration, but defence and support. i. e. To be ready, prepared, is all. Packs is used for combinations or collection, as is a pack of cards. For sects, sets might be more commodiously read. Thus we say, affairs are now managed by a new set. It is usual to smoke foxes out of their holes. i. e. Morbus Gallicus.-Gouge, Fr. signifies one of the common women attending a camp: and as that disease was first dispersed over Europe by the French army, and the women who followed it, the first name it obtained among us was the gougeries, i. e. the disease of the gouges. Flesh and skin. The mean ing is, that the important business he now had in hand, did not admit of debate; he must instantly resolve to do it, or not. i. e. turn the launce-men which are press'd into our service, against us. Methinks, |