Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

It were a delicate stratagem, to shoe

A troop of horse with felt: I'll put it in proof; And when I have stolen upon these sons-in-law, Then, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill “.

is most kin to his head for in my opinion, the braine that cannot chuse his felt well," &c.

Again, in The Seven Deadly Sinnes of London, by Decker, 1606: "The blocke for his head alters faster than the feltmaker can fitte him."

Again, in Run and a Great Cast, an ancient collection of Epigrams, 4to. without date, Epigram 46. In Sextinum :

"A pretty blocke Sextinus names his hat;
"So much the fitter for his head by that."

5 It were a delicate stratagem, to shoe

STEEVEns.

A troop of horse with felt:] i. e. with flocks kneaded to a mass, a practice I believe sometimes used in former ages, for it is mentioned in Ariosto:

- fece nel cadar strepito quanto

Avesse avuto sotto i piedi il feltro. JOHNSON.

Shakspeare however might have adopted the stratagem of shoeing a troop of horse with felt, from the following passage in Fenton's Tragicall Discourses, 4to. bl. 1. 1567: "— he attyreth himselfe for the purpose in a night-gowne girt to hym, with a paire of shoes of felte, leaste the noyse of his feete shoulde discover his goinge." P. 58.

Again, in Hay any Worke for a Cooper, an ancient pamphlet, no date: "Their adversaries are very eager: the saints in heaven have felt o' their tongues." STEEVENS.

This "delicate stratagem" had actually been put in practice about fifty years before Shakspeare was born, as we learn from Lord Herbert's Life of Henry the Eighth, p. 41. "And now,"

says that historian, "having feasted the ladies royally for divers dayes, he [Henry] departed from Tournay to Lisle, [Oct. 13, 1513,] whither he was invited by the Lady Margaret, who caused there a juste to be held in an extraordinary manner; the place being a fore-room raised high from the ground by many steps, and paved with black square stones like marble; while the horses, to prevent sliding, were shod with felt or flocks (the Latin words are feltro sive tomento): after which the ladies danced all night." MALONE.

Then, KILL, KILL, &c.] This was formerly the word given in the English army, when an onset was made on the enemy. So, in Venus and Adonis :

"Gives false alarms, suggesteth mutiny,

66

And in a peaceful hour doth cry, kill, kill."

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 natural fool of fortune 7.-Use me well; You shall have ransome. Let me have a surgeon, I am cut to the brains

GENT.

You shall have any thing.

LEAR. No seconds? All myself?

Why, this would make a man, a man of salt,
To use his eyes for garden water-pots,

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.

Again, in The Mirrour for Magistrates, 1610, p. 315:

"For while the Frenchmen fresk assaulted still,
"Our Englishmen came boldly forth at night,
"Crying St. George, Salisbury, kill, kill,

"And offered freshly with their foes to fight."
MALONE.

7 The natural fool of FORTUNE.] So, in Romeo and Juliet: "O, I am fortune's fool!"

8

STEEVENS.

a man of SALT,]"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." MALOne. 9 Ay, and FOR laying autumn's dust.] These words are not in the folio. MALONE.

For the sake of metre, I have here repeated the preposition— for, which appears to have been accidentally omitted in the old copies. STEEVENS.

Gent. Good sir,] These words I have restored from one of the quartos. In the other, they are omitted. The folio reads: a smug bridegroom." STEEVENS.

66

LEAR. Then there's life in it 2. Nay, an you get it, you shall get it by running. Sa, sa, sa, sa3.

[Exit, running; Attendants follow. GENT. A sight most pitiful in the meanest wretch;

Past speaking of in a king!-Thou hast one daugh

ter,

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 de

[blocks in formation]

EDG.

I thank you, sir: that's all. 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;

5

Let not my worser spirit tempt me again

2 Then there's life in it.] The case is not yet desperate.

So, in Antony and Cleopatra:

[ocr errors]

"There's sap in't yet." STEEVens.

JOHNSON.

3 Nay, an you get it, &c.] Does not this passage seem to prove sessa, let him trot by," means the very reverse of cessez. See p. 156 and p. 176. BOSWELL.

that

[blocks in formation]

Stands on the hourly thought.] The main body is expected to be descry'd every hour. The expression is harsh. JOHNSON. 5-my worser spirit-] By this expression may be meantmy evil genius." STEEVENS.

66

To die before you please!

EDG.

Well pray you, father.

GLO. Now, good sir, what are you

EDG. A most poor man, made lame by fortune's

blows 5 ;

Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows", Am pregnant to good pity.

I'll lead you to some biding.

GLO.

Give me your hand,

Hearty thanks:

The bounty and the benizon of heaven
To boot, and boot!

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 trai

tor,

Briefly thyself remember" :-The sword is out
That must destroy thee.

[ocr errors]

made TAME BY fortune's blows.] So, in Much Ado About Nothing:

"Taming my wild heart to thy gentle hand." The quartos read:

66

made lame by fortune's blows." STEEVENS.

I believe the original is here, as in many other places, the true reading. So, in our poet's 37th Sonnet :

66

So I, made lame by fortune's dearest spight-."

MALONE.

6 Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows,] i. e. Sorrows past and present. WARBURTON.

Haud ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco.

I doubt whether feeling is not used, with our poet's usual licence, for felt. Sorrows known, not by relation, but by experience. MALONE.

7 Briefly thyself remember:] i. e. Quickly recollect the past offences of thy life, and recommend thyself to heaven.

So Othello says to Desdemona :

66

66

WARBURTON.

If you bethink yourself of any crime, Unreconcil'd as yet to heaven and grace, "Solicit for it straight." MALONE.

GLO.

Now let thy friendly hand [EDGAR opposes. Wherefore, bold peasant,

Put strength enough to it.

STEW.

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.

STEW. Let go, slave, or thou diest.

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 your costard or my bat* be the harder: Ch'ill be plain with

you.

* 2

*So quarto B; quartos A and C, battero; first folio, ballow.

go your gait,] Gang your gait is a common expression in the North. In the last rebellion, when the Scotch soldiers had finished their exercise, instead of our term of dismission, their phrase was, gang your gaits." STEEVENS.

[ocr errors]

9 - che vor'ye,] I warn you. Edgar counterfeits the western dialect. JOHNSON.

When our ancient writers have occasion to introduce a rustick, they commonly allot him this Somersetshire dialect. Mercury, in the second book of Ovid's Metamorphosis, assumes the appearance of a clown, and our translator Golding has made him speak with the provinciality of Shakspeare's Edgar. STEEVENS. your COSTARD] Costard, i. e. head. So, in King Richard III.: "Take him over the costard with the hilt of thy sword." STEEVENS.

2

my BAT- i. e. club. So, in Spenser :

66

a handsome bat he held,

"On which he leaned, as one far in eld.”

Again, in Mucedorus, 1598:

"With this my bat I will beat out thy brains."

Again, in The Pinner of Wakefield, 1599:

66

let every thing be ready,

"And each of you a good bat on his neck." STEEVENS.

Rather, in this place, a staff. In Sussex a walking-stick is

« ZurückWeiter »