Glo. Alack, alack the day! Lear. When we are born, we cry, that we are come To this great stage of fools;-This a good block33? A troop of horse with felt: I'll put it in proof; Enter a Gentleman, with Attendants. Gent. O, here he is, lay hand upon him.-Sir, Your most dear daughter Lear. No rescue? What, a prisoner? I am even The passage is, however, evidently taken from Pliny, as translated by Philemon Holland, Proeme to b. vii. :- Man alone, poor wretch [nature] hath laid all naked upon the bare earth, even on his birthday to cry and wrawle presently from the very first houre that he is borne into this world.'-Douce. 33 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 fecling it, in the attitude of one of the preachers of those times (whom I have seen 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 the same substance which he held and moulded between his hands. So in Decker's Gull's Hornbook, 1609:- That cannot observe the tune of his hatband, nor know what fashioned block is most kin to his head for in my opinion the brain cannot chuse his felt well. Again, in Run and a Great Cast, no date, Epigram 46, in Sextinum : A pretty blocke Sextinus names his hat, This delicate stratagem is mentioned by Ariosto:- Avesse avuto sotto i piediil feltro.' So in Fenton's Tragical Discourses, 4to. blk. 1. 1567: He attyreth himself for the purpose in a night gowne girt to hym, with a payre of shoes of felte, leaste the noyse of his feete might discover his goinge,' p. 58. It had, however been actually put in practice about fifty years before Shakspeare was born, at a tournament held at Lisle before Henry VIII. [Oct. 13, 1513], where the horses, to prevent their sliding on a black stone pavement, were shod with felt or flocks (feltro sive tomento). See Lord Herbert's Life of King Henry VIII. p. 41 34 This was the cry formerly in the English army when an onset was made on the enemy. So in Venus and Adonis :Gives false alarms, suggesteth mutiny, And in a peaceful hour doth cry, Kill, kill. Again, in The Mirrour for Magistrates, 1610, p. 315:Our Englishmen came boldly forth at night, Crying St. George, Salisbury,—kill, kill, And offer'd freshly with their foes to fight.' The natural fool of fortune35.-Use me well; You shall have ransome. I am cut to the brains. Gent. Let me have a surgeon, You shall have any thing. Lear. No seconds? All myself? Why, this would make a man, a man of salt36, Ay, and for laying autumn's dust. Gent. Good sir,Lear. I will die bravely, like a bridegroom: What? I will be jovial; come, come; I am a king, My masters, know you that!/ Gent. You are a royal one, and we obey you. Lear. Then there's life in it37. Nay, an you get it, you shall get it by running. Sa, sa, sa, sa38. [Exit, running; Attendants follow. Gent. A sight most pitiful in the meanest wretch; Past speaking of in a king!—Thou hast one daughter, Who redeems nature from the general curse Which twain have brought her to. Edg. Hail, gentle sir. Gent. Sir, speed you: What's your will? Edg. Do you hear aught, sir, of a battle toward? Gent. Most sure, and vulgar: every one hears that, Which can distinguish sound. Edg. How near's the other army? But, by your favour, Gent. Near, and on speedy foot, the main descry Stands on the hourly thought39. Edg. I thank you, sir: that's all. 35 So in Romeo and Juliet:-'0, I am fortune's fool. 36 A man of salt' is a man of tears. In All's Well that Ends Well, we meet with Your salt tears head.' And in Troilus and Cressida, the salt of broken tears. Again, in Coriolanus :— He has betray'd your business, and given up, For certain drops of salt, your city Rome.' 37 The case is not yet desperate. So in Antony and Cleopatra :There's sap in't yet.' 38 Mr. Boswell thinks that this passage seems to prove that sessa means the very reverse of cessez. See p. 437, and p. 446, note 14, ante. 39 The main body is expected to be descried every hour. Gent. Though that the queen on special cause is here, Her army is mov'd on. Edg. I thank you, sir. [Exit Gent. Glo. You ever-gentle gods, take my breath from me; Let not my worser spirit40 tempt me again To die before you please! Edg. Edg. A most poor man, made lame by fortune's blows41: Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows426 Am pregnant to good pity. Give me your hand, I'll lead you to some biding. Glo. Hearty thanks: Enter Steward. Stew. A proclaim'd prize! Most happy! That eyeless head of thine was first fram'd flesh To raise my fortunes.-Thou old unhappy traitor, Briefly thyself remember43:-The sword is out That must destroy thee. Glo. Now let thy friendly hand Put strength enough to it. Wherefore, bold peasant, Dar'st thou support a publish'd traitor? Hence; Lest that the infection of his fortune take Like hold on thee. Let go his arm. Edg. Chill not let go, zir, without vurther 'casion. 40 By this expression may be meant my evil genius.” 41 The folio reads made tame by fortune's blows.' The original is probably the true reading. So in Shakspeare's thirtyseventh Sonnet : 'So I made lame by fortune's dearest spight.' 42 Feeling is probably used here for felt. Sorrows known not by relation, but by experience. Warburton explains it, 'Sorrows past and present." 43 i. e.quickly recollect the past offences of thy life, and recommend thyself to heaven.' Stew. Let go, slave, or thou diest. Edg. Good gentleman, go your gait44, 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'ye45, or ise try whether your costard 46 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 vor your foins47. [They fight; and EDGAR knocks him down. Stew. Slave, thou hast slain me:-Villain, take my purse; If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body; And give the letters, which thou find'st about me, [Dies. Glo. What, is he dead? Edg. Sit you down, father; rest you.— Let's see his pockets; these letters, that he speaks of, Leave, gentle wax; and, manners, blame us not: [Reads.] Let our reciprocal vows be remembered. 44 Gang your gait is a common expression in the north In the last rebellion the Scotch soldiers, when they had finished their exercise, were dismissed by this phrase, gang your gaits. 45 i. e. I warn you. When our ancient writers have occasion to introduce a rustic they commonly allot him the Somersetshire dialect. Golding, in his translation of the second book of Ovid's Metamorphoses, makes Mercury, assuming the appearance of a clown, speak with the provinciality of Edgar 46 i. e. head. See vol. ii. p. 316, note 10. A bat is a staff. It is the proper name of a walkingstick in Sussex even at this day. 47 i. e. thrusts. See vol. i. p. 212, note 1. 48 i. e. to rip their papers is more lawful. You have many opportunities to cut him off; if your will want not, time and place will be fruitfully offered. There is nothing done, if he return the conqueror: Then am I the prisoner, and his bed my gaol; from the loathed warmth whereof deliver me, and supply the place for your labour. Your wife, so I would say), and your affectionate servant, GONERIL. O undistinguish'd space of woman's will49!- And the exchange, my brother!-Here, in the sands, [Exit EDGAR, dragging out the Body. 22 Re-enter EDGAR. Edg. Give me your hand: Far off, methinks, I hear the beaten drum. [Exeunt. 49 This seems to me to mean, O how inordinate, how unbounded is the licentious inclination of women.' 50 Thee I'll rake up, the post unsanctified,' &c. i. c. I'll cover thee. In Staffordshire to rake the fire is to cover it for the night. Unsanctified refers to his want of burial in consecrated ground. 51 That is the Duke of Albany, whose death is machinated by practice or treason. 52 Ingenious feeling.' Bullokar, in his Expositor, interprets ingenious by quick conceited,' i. e. acute. This makes Warburton's paraphrase unnecessary. VOL. IX. 21 |
