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Glo. What are you there your names?

Edg. Poor Tom; that eats the swimming frog, the toad, the tadpole, the wall-newt, and the water ;3 that in the fury of his heart, when the foul fiend rages, eats cow-dung for sallets; swallows the old rat, and the ditch-dog; drinks the green mantle of the standing pool; who is whipped from tything to tything, and stocked, punished, and imprisoned; who hath had three suits to his back, six shirts to his body, horse to ride, and weapon to wear,

But mice, and rats, and such small deer,5
Have been Tom's food for seven long year,

Beware my follower:-Peace,Smolkin; peace, thou fiend
Glo. What, hath your grace no better company?
Edg. The prince of darkness is a gentleman;
Modo he's call'd, and Mahu."

Glo. Our flesh and blood, my lord, is grown so vile, That it doth hate what gets it.

Edg. Poor Tom's a-cold.

Glo. Go in with me; my duty cannot suffer
To obey in all your daughters' hard commands:
Though their injunction be to bar my doors,
And let this tyrannous night take hold upon you;
Yet have I ventur'd to come seek you out,

And bring you where both fire and food is ready..
Lear. First let me talk with this philosopher :
-What is the cause of thunder?

Kent. Good my lord, take his offer ;

Go into the house.

Lear. I'll talk a word with this same learned Theban : -What is your study?

Edg. How to prevent the fiend, and to kill vermin. Lear. Let me ask you one word in private.

Kent. Impórtune him once more to go, my lord,

[3] i. e. the water-newt. This was the phraseology of Shakspeare's time. "He was a wise man and a merry," was the common language. So Falstaff says to justice Shallow," he is your serving-man, and your husband,” i. e. husband-man. MALONE.

[4] A tything is a division of a place, a district; the same in the country, as a ward in the city. In the Saxon times every hundred was divided into tythings. STEEVENS.

[5] Deer-in old language, is a general word for wild animals. STEEV. [6] So, in Harsnet's Declaration, Maho was the the chief devil that had possession of Sarah Williams. STEEVENS.

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His wits begin to unsettle.7

Glo. Canst thou blame him?

His daughters seek his death :-Ah, that good Kent!-
He said it would be thus :-Poor banish'd man!--
Thou say'st, the king grows mad; I'll tell thee, friend,
I am almost mad myself: I had a son,

Now outlaw'd from my blood: he sought my life,
But lately, very late; I lov'd him, friend,-

No father his son dearer: true to tell thee,

[Storm continues.

The grief hath craz'd my wits. What a night's this! I do beseech your grace,

Lear. O, cry you mercy,

Noble philosopher, your company.

Edg. Tom's a-cold.

Glo. In, fellow, there, to the hovel : keep thee warm. Lear. Come, let's in all.

Kent. This way, my lord.

Lear. With him ;

I will keep still with my philosopher.

Kent. Good my lord, sooth him; let him take the fellow.

Glo. Take him you on.

Kent. Sirrah, come on; go along with us.
Lear. Come, good Athenian.

Glo. No words, no words:

Hush.

Edg. Child Rowland to the dark tower came,&
His word was still,-Fie, foh, and fum,

I smell the blood of a British man.

[Exeunt

[7] On this occasion, I cannot prevail on myself to omit the following excellent remark of Mr. Horace Walpole (now Lord Orford] inserted in the postscript to his Mysterious Mother. He observes, that when Belvidera talks of

"Lutes, laurels, seas of milk, and ships of Amber,—

she is not mad, bur light-headed When madness bas taken possession of a person, such character ceases to be fit for the stage, or at least should ap per there but for a short time; it being the business of the theatre to exhibit passions, not distempers. The finest picture ever drawn of a head discomposed by misfortune, is that of King Lear. His thoughts dwell on the ingratitude of his daughters, and every sentence that falls from his wildness excites reflection and pity. Had frenzy entirely seized him, our com. passion would abate: we should conclude that he no longer felt unhappiness. Shakspeare wrote as a philosopher, Otway as a poet." STEEVENS.

58] Child is a common term in our metrical romances and ballads; and is generally, if not always, applied to the hero or principal personage, who is sometimes a knight, and sometimes a thief Syr Tryamoure is repeatedly so called both before and after his knighthood. I think, however, that this line is part of a translation of some Spanish, or perhaps, French ballad. But the two following lines evidently belong to a different subject: I find them in the Second Part of Jack and the Giants, which, if not as old as Shakspeare's

SC ENE V.

A Room in GLOSTER's Castle. Enter CORNWALL and EDMUND. Corn. I will have my revenge, ere I depart his house, Edm. How, my lord, I may be censured, that nature thus gives way to loyalty, something fears me to think of. Corn. I now perceive, it was not altogether your brother's evil disposition made him seek his death; but a provoking merit,7 set a-work by a reproveable badness in himself.

Edm. How malicious is my fortune, that I must repent to be just! This is the letter he spoke of, which approves him an intelligent party to the advantages of France. O heavens! that this treason were not, or not I the detector!

Corn. Go with me to the duchess.

Edm. If the matter of this paper be certain, you have mighty business in hand.

Corn. True, or false, it hath made thee earl of Gloster. Seek out where thy father is, that he may be ready for our apprehension.

Edm. [Aside.] If I find him comforting the king, 8 it will stuff his suspicion more fully.-I will persevere in my course of loyalty, though the conflict be sore between that and my blood.

Corn. I will lay trust upon thee; and thou shalt find a dearer father in my love. [Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

A Chamber in a Farm-House adjoining the Castle. Enter GLOSTER, LEAR, KENT, Fool, and EDGAR.

Glo. Here is better than the open air; take it thankfully I will piece out the comfort with what addition I can: I will not be long from you.

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time, may have been compiled from something that was so: They are utter, ed by a giant :

"Fee, faw, fum,

"I smell the blood of an Englishman;

"Be he alive, or be he dead,

"I'll grind his bones to make me bread."

English is here judiciously changed to British, because the characters are Britons, and the scene is laid long before the English had any thing to do with this country. Our author is not so attentive to propriety on every oc casion. RITSON.

[7] Provoking-stimulating; a merit he felt in himself, which irritated him against a father that had none.

MASON.

[8] Comforting-is here used in the juridical sense for supporting, helping, according to its derivation; salvia confortat nerves-Schol. Sal. JÖHNSON.

Kent. All the power of his wits has given way to his impatience :-The gods reward your kindness!

[Exit GLO. Edg. Frateretto calls me; and tells me, Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend.9

Fool. Pr'ythee, nuncle, tell me, whether a madman be a gentleman, or a yeoman?

Lear. A king, a king!

Fool. No; he's a yeoman, that has a gentleman to his son for he's a mad yeoman, that sees his son a gentleman before him.

Lear. To have a thousand with red burning spits Come hissing in upon them :

Edg. The foul fiend bites my back.

Fool. He's mad, that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath.

Lear. It shall be done, I will arraign them straight:Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer; [To EDG.' -Thou, sapient sir, sit here. [To the Fool.] Now, you she foxes!—

Edg. Look, where he stands and glares !Wantest thou eyes at trial, madam ?

Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me :3

Fool. Her boat hath a leak,

And she must not speak

Why she dares not come over to thee.

Edg. The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a nightingale. Hopdance cries in Tom's belly for

[9] Perhaps he is here addressing the Fool. Fools were anciently called Innocents. STEEVENS.

[1] Shakspeare is here speaking not of things maliciously treacherous, but of things uncertain and not durable. A horse is above all other animals subject to diseases. JOHNSON.

[2] I am not confident that I understand the meaning of this desultory speech. When Edgar says, "Look where he stands and glares !" he seems to be speaking in the character of a madman, who thinks he sees the fiend. "Wantest thou eyes at trial, madam ?" is a question which appears to be adressed to the visionary Goneril. STEEVENS-It may be observed that Edgar, being supposed to be found by chance, and therefore to have no knowledge of the rest, connects not his ideas with those of Lear, but pursues his own train of delirious or fantastic thought. To these words, "Ai trial madam?" I think therefore that the name of Lear should be put. The process of the dialogue will support this conjecture. JOHNSON.

[3] A bourn in the north signifies a rivulet or brook. Hence the names of many of our villages terminate in burn, as Milburn, Sherburn, &c. To this I may add, that bourn, a boundary, is from the French borne. Bourne, or as it ought to be spelt, burn, a rivulet, is from the German burn, or born, a well.

STEEVENS

two white herring.

no food for thee.

Croak not, black angel; I have

Kent. How do you, sir? Stand you not so amaz’d: Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions?

Lear.I'll see their trial first:-Bring in the evidence.Thou robed man of justice, take thy place; [To EDG. -And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity, [To the Fool. Bench by his side :-You are of the commission,

Sit you too.

Edg. Let us deal justly.

[TO KENT.

Sleepest, or wakest thou, jolly shepherd ?

Thy sheep be in the corn;

And for one blast of thy minikin mouth,
Thy sheep shall take no harm.

Pur! the cat is grey.

Lear, Arraign her first; 'tis Goneril. I here take my oath before this honourable assembly, she kicked the poor king her father.

Fool. Come hither, mistress; Is your name Goneril? Lear. She cannot deny it.

Fool. Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool. Lear. And here's another, whose warp'd looks proclaim What store her heart is made of.-Stop her there! Arms, arms, sword, fire !-Corruption in the place! False justicer, why hast thou let her 'scape? Edg. Bless thy five wits!

Kent. O pity-Sir, where is the patience now, That you so oft have boasted to retain ?

Edg. My tears begin to take his part so much, They'll mar my counterfeiting.

Lear. The little dogs and all,

[Aside.

Tray, Blanch, and Sweet-heart, see, they bark at me. Edg. Tom will throw his head at them :-Avaunt, you curs !

Be thy mouth or black or white,'
Tooth that poisons if it bite ;

Mastiff, grey-hound, mongrel grim,
Hound, or spaniel, brach, or lym ;2

[9] Sarah Williams confessed (see Harsnet's book, p. 195.) that when she was troubled with a croaking in her stomach, from emptiness, the priests persuaded her that it was the fiend within her. STEEVENS.

[1] To have the roof of the mouth black is in some kind of dogs a proof that their breed is genuine. STEEVENS.

[2] Brach or lym, &c.-Names of particular sorts of dogs. POPE. A limner, or leamer, a dog of the chace, was so called from the leam or leash in which he was held till he was let slip. So in the book of Ancient

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