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 two white herring. Croak not, black angel; I have no food for thee. 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 evi dence. Thou robed man of justice, take thy place; [To EDGAR. And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity, [To the Fool. Bench by his side.-You are o' the commission, Sit you too. [TO KENT. Edg. Let us deal justly. Sleepest, or wakest thou, jolly shepherd? Thy sheep be in the corn; And for one blast of thy minikin mouth, Pur! the cat is grey. Lear. Arraign her first; 'tis Goneril. I here take logue between Elizabeth and England, (printed by W. Pickering without date) which thus commences : "Come over the bourn, Bessy, come over the bourn, Bessy, Sweet Bessy, come over to me; And I shall thee take, And my dear lady make Before all that ever I see." It is in the same measure as the addition by the Fool; and in W. Wager's interlude "The longer thou livest, the more Fool thou art," part of the same song is thus sung by Moros, who may be called the hero : "Come over the boorne, Besse, My little pretie Besse, Come over the boorne, Besse, to me." The last is referred to by Steevens, but he was probably not acquainted with Birch's parody to the same tune. See also, "Old ballads, from early printed copies," among the publications of the Percy Society. 8vo. 1840. The quartos misprint "bourn," broom. my oath before this honourable assembly, she kicked the poor king her father. 8 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 on.-Stop her there! Edg. Bless thy five wits! Kent. O pity!-Sir, where is the patience now, That you so oft have boasted to retain ? Edg. [Aside.] My tears begin to take his part so much, They'll mar my counterfeiting. Lear. The little dogs and all, 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, Do, de, de, de. See, see?! 8 Come, march to wakes SHE kicked] "She" is omitted in one of the quartos, (that with the Stationer's address) but found in the others. 9 brach or lym ;] For "brach," see this play, p. 379. "Lym" is printed Him and Hym in all the old copies, folio and quarto; but according to Minsheu, (as referred to by Malone) a lym or lyme, is a blood-hound; Chaucer has it lymer : "tike" is misprinted tight in the folio. 1 Tom will make them] So the quartos; the folio" will make him.” 2 Do, de, de, de. See, see !] In the quartos "loudla, doodla," omitting sese as it stands in the folio; which may either be a repetition of sesey, which we have before had p. 428, or more probably an exclamation by Edgar, directing attention to the supposed flight of the dogs. and fairs, and market towns.-Poor Tom, thy horn is dry3. Lear. Then, let them anatomize Regan, see what breeds about her heart. Is there any cause in nature, that makes these hard hearts?-You, sir, [To EDGAR.] I entertain you for one of my hundred; only, I do not like the fashion of your garments: you will say, they are Persian attire3; but let them be changed. Kent. Now, good my lord, lie here, and rest awhile. Lear. Make no noise, make no noise: draw the curtains. So, so, so we'll go to supper i' the morning: So, so, so. Fool. And I'll go bed at noon. Re-enter GLOSTER. Glo. Come hither, friend: where is the king my master? Kent. Here, sir; but trouble him not, his wits are gone. Glo. Good friend, I pr'ythee take him in thy arms; I have o'er-heard a plot of death upon him. There is a litter ready; lay him in't, 3 Poor Tom, thy horn is dry.] Malone furnishes the following note :—A horn was usually carried about by every Tom of Bedlam, to receive such drink as the charitable might afford him, with whatever scraps of food they might give him. When, therefore, Edgar says, his horn is dry, or empty, I conceive he merely means, in the language of the character he assumes, to supplicate that it may be filled with drink. See a Pleasant Dispute between Coach and Sedan, quarto, 1636: "I have observed when a coach is appendant by two or three hundred pounds a yeere, marke it, the dogges are as leane as rakes; you may tell all their ribbes lying by the fire; and Tom-a-Bedlam may sooner eate his horne, than get it filled with small drinke; and for his old almes of bacon there is no hope in the world." Malone misquotes the title of the tract, which is "Coach and Sedan, pleasantly Disputing," &c. In Hausted's "Rival Friends," 1632, a Tom o' Bedlam is introduced, and Anteros says of him, "Ah! he has a horn like a Tom o' Bedlam." The quartos "that makes this 4 that makes these hard hearts?] hardness?" This speech is there given as verse. 5 they are Persian ATTIRE ;] "Attire," which is wanting in the folio, is found in all the quartos: two lines above, the folio omits " "entertain," but in neither case is the word absolutely necessary to the sense. And I'll go to bed at noon.] Not in the quartos. you" after 1 And drive toward Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master: Kent. Oppress'd nature sleeps': This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken senses, Stand in hard cure.-Come, help to bear thy master; Glo. [To the Fool. Come, come, away. [Exeunt KENT, GLOSTER, and the Fool, bearing off the King. Edg. When we our betters see bearing our woes, Who alone suffers, suffers most i' the mind, He childed, as I father'd!-Tom, away! Mark the high noises; and thyself bewray, When false opinion, whose wrong thought defiles thee, [Exit. 7 - Oppress'd nature sleeps:-] This speech and all that follows it to the end of the scene, is not in the folio, though inserted in every quarto. The folio concludes the scene with the words, "Come, come, away," assigned to Gloster, after "Give thee quick conduct." 8thy broken SENSES ;] The quartos have sinews for "senses," which was Theobald's improvement. SCENE VII. A Room in GLOSTER'S Castle. Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, GONERIL, EDMUND, and Servants. Corn. Post speedily to my lord your husband; show him this letter:-the army of France is landed.—Seek out the traitor Gloster". [Exeunt some of the Servants. Reg. Hang him instantly. Gon. Pluck out his eyes. Corn. Leave him to my displeasure.-Edmund, keep you our sister company: the revenges we are bound to take upon your traitorous father are not fit for your beholding. Advise the duke, where you are going, to a most festinate preparation: we are bound to the like. Our posts shall be swift and intelligent betwixt Farewell, dear sister: - farewell, my lord of us. Gloster. Enter OSWALD. How now! Where's the king? Osw. My lord of Gloster hath convey'd him hence: Some five or six and thirty of his knights, Hot questrists after him, met him at gate; Are gone with him towards Dover, where they boast Corn. Get horses for your mistress. Gon. Farewell, sweet lord, and sister. [Exeunt GONERIL, EDMUND, and OSWALD. Corn. Edmund, farewell. - Go, seek the traitor Gloster, Seek out the TRAITOR Gloster.] "The rillain Gloster" in the quartos. |