Or at their chamber door I'll beat the drum, Glo. I'd have all well betwixt you. [Exit. Lear. O me, my heart, my rising heart!-but, down. Fool. Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney 2 did to the eels, when she put them i'the paste alive; she rapped 'em o'the coxcombs with a stick, and cried, Down, wantons, down. 'Twas her brother, that, in pure kindness to his horse, buttered his hay. Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, GLOSTER, and Servants. Lear. Good morrow to you both. Hail to your grace! [KENT is set at liberty. Reg. I am glad to see your highness. Lear. Regan, I think you are; I know what reason I have to think so. If thou shouldst not be glad, I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb, Sepulchring an adultress.-O, are you free? [TO KENT. Some other time for that.-Beloved Regan, [Points to his heart. I can scarce speak to thee; thou❜lt not believe, Of how depraved a quality—O Regan! Reg. I pray you, sir, take patience; I have hope, You less know how to value her desert, Than she to scant her duty.3 Lear. Say, how is that? Reg. I cannot think my sister in the least Would fail her obligation. If, sir, perchance, She have restrained the riots of your followers, 1 The meaning of this passage seems to be, "I'll beat the drum till it cries out-Let them awake no more; let their present sleep be their last.” Mason would read, "death to sleep," instead of "sleep to death." 2 A cockney and a ninny-hammer, or simpleton, were convertible terms. 3 This is somewhat inaccurately expressed. Shakspeare having, as on some other occasions, perplexed himself by the word less. 'Tis on such ground, and to such wholesome end, As clears her from all blame. Lear. My curses on her! Reg. O sir, you are old; Of her confine. You should be ruled, and led Say, you have wronged her, sir.1 Lear. Ask her forgiveness? Do you but mark how this becomes the house.2 Dear daughter, I confess that I am old; Age is unnecessary; on my knees I beg, [Kneeling. That you'll vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food. Lear. Never, Regan. She hath abated me of half my train; Looked black upon me; struck me with her tongue, Most serpent-like, upon the very heart. All the stored vengeances of Heaven fall On her ingrateful top! Strike her young bones, Corn. Fie, fie, fie! Lear. You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames Into her scornful eyes! Infect her beauty, You fen-sucked fogs, drawn by the powerful sun, 4 O the blest gods! Reg. So will you wish on me, when the rash mood is on. Lear. No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curse; Thy tender-hefted 5 nature shall not give 1 "Say," &c. This line and the following speech is omitted in the quartos. 2 i. e. the order of families, duties of relation. 3 Unnecessary is here used in the sense of necessitous. 4 Fall seems here to be used as an active verb, signifying to humble or pull down. 5 Tender-hefted may mean moved, or heaving with tenderness. The Thee o'er to harshness; her eyes are fierce, but thine To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train, Reg. Good sir, to the purpose. [Trumpets within. What trumpet's that? Lear. Who put my man i'the stocks? Corn. Enter Steward. Reg. I know't, my sister's; this approves her letter, That she would soon be here.-Is your lady come? Lear. This is a slave, whose easy-borrowed pride Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows.— Out, varlet, from my sight! Corn. What means your grace? Lear. Who stocked my servant? Regan, I have good hope Thou didst not know of't.-Who comes here? Heavens, Enter GONEril. If you do love old men, if your sweet sway Make it your cause; send down, and take my part!— [To GONERIL. O Regan, wilt thou take her by the hand? quartos read tender-hested, which may be right, and signify giving tender hests or commands. A size is a portion or allotment of food. The word and its origin are explained in Minsheu's Guide to Tongues, 1617. The term sizer is still used at Cambridge for one of the lowest rank of students, living on a stated allowance. 2 To allow is to approve, in old phraseology. Gon. Why not by the hand, sir? How have I of fended? All's not offence, that indiscretion finds, And dotage terms so. Lear. O sides, you are too tough! Will you yet hold?-How came my man i'the stocks? Corn. I set him there, sir; but his own disorders Deserved much less advancement.1 Lear. You! did you? Reg. I pray you, father, being weak, seem so.2 If, till the expiration of your month, You will return and sojourn with my sister, Dismissing half your train, come then to me; I am now from home, and out of that provision Which shall be needful for your entertainment. Lear. Return to her, and fifty men dismissed? No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose To wage against the enmity o'the air; To be a comrade with the wolf and owl,Necessity's sharp pinch!-Return with her? Why, the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took Our youngest born, I could as well be brought To knee his throne, and, squirelike, pension beg To keep base life afoot.-Return with her? Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter To this detested groom. [Looking on the Steward At your choice, sir. Gon. Lear. I pr'ythee, daughter, do not make me mad: I will not trouble thee, my child; farewell. We'll no more meet, no more see one another.— But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter; Or rather a disease that's in my flesh, Which I must needs call mine; thou art a boil, 1 By less advancement, Cornwall means that Kent's disorders had entitled him to a post of even less honor than the stocks. 2 Since you are weak, be content to think yourself weak. 3 See p. 14, note 6, ante. 4 Sumpter is generally united with horse or mule, to signify one that carried provisions or other necessaries; from sumptus (Lat.). In the present instance horse seems to be understood. A plague-sore, an embossed' carbuncle, In my corrupted blood. But I'll not chide thee; Reg. Not altogether so, sir; I looked not for you yet, nor am provided For your fit welcome. Give ear, sir, to my sister; Must be content to think you old, and so— But she knows what she does. Is this well spoken, now? Lear. Reg. I dare avouch it, sir. What, fifty followers? Is it not well? What should you need of more? Yea, or so many? sith that both charge and danger Speak 'gainst so great a number? How, in one house, Should many people, under two commands, Hold amity? 'Tis hard; almost impossible.. Gon. Why might not you, my lord, receive attend ance From those that she calls servants, or from mine? Reg. Why not, my lord? If then they chanced to slack you, We could control them. If you will come to me, To bring but five-and-twenty; to no more Lear. I gave you all Reg. And in good time you gave it. Lear. Made you my guardians, my depositaries; With such a number. What, must I come to you Reg. And speak it again, my lord; no more with me. 1 Embossed here means swelling, protuberant. |