41 These hairs which thou dost ravish from my chin Sealed Reg. Be simple answerer, for we know the truth. Corn. And what confederacy have you with the traitors Late footed in the kingdom? Reg. To whose hands have you sent the lunatic king? Speak. Glou. I have a letter guessingly set down, Which came from one that 's of a neutral heart, Corn. Reg. Cunning. And false. 51 To Dover. Corn. Where hast thou sent the king? Reg. Wherefore to Dover? Wast thou not Corn. Wherefore to Dover? Let him first answer that. Glou. I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the course. Reg. Wherefore to Dover, sir? Glou. Because I would not see thy cruel nails Pluck out his poor old eyes, nor thy fierce sister 59. "stick," the reading of Ff.; Qq., "rash."—I. G. In what follows, the quartos have "lov'd head" for "bare head," The sea, with such a storm as his bare head 60 In hell-black night endured, would have buoy'd up, And quench'd the stelled fires: Yet, poor old heart, he holp the heavens to rain. All cruels else subscribed: but I shall see The winged vengeance overtake such children. Corn. See 't shalt thou never. Fellows, hold the chair. Upon these eyes of thine I'll set my foot. Glou. He that will think to live till he be old, 70 'lay'd up" for "buoy'd up," "steeled fires" for "stelled fires," rage 64. "howl'd that stern"; Qq., “heard that dearne"; Capell, "howl'd that dearn"; ("dearn"= obscure, dark, gloomy).—I. G. 65. "shouldst"; wouldst.-C. H. H. 66. “All cruels else subscribed"; so Qq.; Ff. “subscribe." The passage has been variously interpreted; the weight of authority favoring the Folio reading, Schmidt's explanation being perhaps the most plausible: "Everything which is at other times cruel, shows feeling or regard; you alone have not done so." Furness makes the words part of the speech addressed to the porter, "acknowledge the claims of all creatures, however cruel they may be at other times," or "give up all cruel things else; i. e., forget that they are cruel." This approximates to the interpretation given by Mr. Wright to the reading in the text, "all their other cruelties being yielded or forgiven."-I. G. But this makes Gloster shift his ground rather awkwardly. He has just urged that even Cornwall would pity wolves (though not men); he would now argue: Cornwall alone among cruel men has no pity.-C. H. H. First Serv. Hold your hand, my lord: I have served you ever since I was a child; Reg. How now, you dog! First Serv. If you did wear a beard upon your chin, I'ld shake it on this quarrel. What do you mean? Corn. My villain! [They draw and fight. First Serv. Nay, then, come on, and take the chance of anger. 80 Reg. Give me thy sword. A peasant stand up thus! [Takes a sword and runs at him behind. First Serv. O, I am slain! My lord, you have one eye left To see some mischief on him. O! [Dies. Corn. Lest it see more, prevent it. Out, vile jelly! Where is thy luster now? Glou. All dark and comfortless. Where's my son Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature, 84. This scene, horrid enough at the best, is rendered much more so in modern editions until Knight's by the stage-directions which are unwarrantably thrust into it, representing everything to be done in the full view of the audience. Coleridge says, "I will not disguise my conviction that, in this one point, the tragic in this play has been urged beyond the outermost mark and ne plus ultra of the dramatic," And again: "What shall I say to this scene? There is my reluctance to think Shakespeare wrong, and yet-" Tieck argues that the tearing out of Gloster's eyes did not take place on the stage proper.-H. N. H: Reg. Out, treacherous villain! Thou call'st on him that hates thee: it was he 91 Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him! Reg. Go thrust him out at gates, and let him smell His way to Dover. [Exit one with Gloucester. How is 't, my lord? how look you? Corn. I have received a hurt: follow me, lady. Turn out that eyeless villain: throw this slave Upon the dunghill. Regan, I bleed apace: Untimely comes this hurt: give me your arm. ☆ [Exit Cornwall, led by Regan. Sec. Serv. I 'll never care what wickedness I do, 100 If this man come to good. Third Serv. If she live long, And in the end meet the old course of death, Women will all turn monsters. Sec. Serv. Let's follow the old earl, and get the Bedlam To lead him where he would: his roguish mad ness Allows itself to any thing. Third Serv. Go thou: I'll fetch some flax and whites of eggs To apply to his bleeding face. Now, heaven help him! 100-107. Omitted in the Folios.-I. G. [Exeunt severally. ACT FOURTH SCENE I The heath. Enter Edgar. Edg. Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd, Than still contemn'd and flatter'd. To be worst, The lowest and most dejected thing of for- Stands still in esperance, lives not in fear: The worst returns to laughter. Welcome then, The wretch that thou hast blown unto the worst Enter Gloucester, led by an Old Man. My father, poorly led? World, world, O world! 10 But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee, Life would not yield to age. 6-9. "Welcome blasts"; vi. 169-174 ("Plate lips"); vii. 61; omitted in the Quartos.-I. G. 12. "Life would not yield to age," i. e. life would not gladly lapse into old age and death.-I. G. |