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Old Man. Fellow, where goest?
Glo. Is it a beggar-man ?

Old Man. Madman and beggar too.

Glo. He has fome reason, elfe he could not beg. I' the last night's ftorm I fuch a fellow faw; Which made me think a man a worm: my fon Came then into my mind, and yet my mind Was then fcarce friends with him. I have heard more fince.

5 As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport.

Edg. How fhould this be?

Bad is the trade, that muft play the fool to forrow,
"Ang'ring itself and others. [Afide.]-Blefs thee,
mafter!

Glo. Is that the naked fellow?
Old Man. Ay, my lord.

Glo. Then pr'ythee, get thee gone. If, for my fake, Thou wilt o'ertake us, hence a mile or twain

I' the way toward Dover, do it for ancient love;
And bring fome covering for this naked soul,
Whom I'll intreat to lead me.

Old Man. Alack, Sir, he is mad.

Glo. 'Tis the time's plague, when madmen lead the blind:

Do as I bid thee, or rather do thy pleasure;

Above the reft, be gone.

Old Man. I'll bring him the best 'parrel that I have, Come on't what will.

Glo. Sirrah, naked fellow.

[Exit.

Edg. Poor Tom's a-cold.-7 I cannot daub it further.

5 As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; They kill us for their Sport.]

[Afide.

"Dii nos quafi pilas homines habent."-Plaut. Captiv. Prol. 1. 22. STEEVENS.

6

Ang' fhing--] Oxford Editor and Dr. Warburton.-Vulg. Ang'ring, rightly. JOHNSON.

-7

I cannot daub it] i. e. Difguife. WARB.

Glo.

Glo. Come hither, fellow.

Edg. [Afide.] And yet I muft.

-Blefs thy fweet eyes, they bleed.

Glo. Know'st thou the way to Dover ?

Edg. Both ftile and gate, horfe-way and foot-path. Poor Tom hath been fcar'd out of his good wits. Bless thee, good man's fon, from the foul fiend. [Five fiends have been in poor Tom at once; of luft, as Obidicut; Hobbididance, prince of dumbnefs; Mahu, of ftealing; Modo, of murder; and Flibbertigibbet, of mopping and mowing; who fince & poffeffes chamber-maids and waiting-women. So bless thee, mafter!]

8

8

Glo.

-poffeffes chamber-maids and waiting-women.-] Shakefpeare has made Edgar, in his feigned diftraction, frequently allude to a vile impofture of fome English jefuits, at that time much the subject of conversation; the hiftory of it having been juft then compofed with great art and vigour of ftile and compofition by Dr. S. Harfenet, afterwards archbishop of York, by order of the privy-council, in a work intitled, Â Declaration of egregious Popish Impoftures to withdraw her Majefty's Subjects from their Allegiance, &c. practifed by Edmunds, alias Wefton, a Jefuit, and divers Romish Priests his wicked Affociates: printed 1603. The impofture was in fubftance this. While the Spaniards were preparing their armado against England, the jefuits were here bufy at work to promote it, by making converts: one method they employed was to difpoffefs pretended demoniacs, by which artifice they made feveral hundred converts amongst the common people. The principal fcene of this farce was laid in the family of one Mr. Edmund Peckham, a Roman-catholic, where Marwood, a fervant of Anthony Babington's (who was afterwards executed for treafon) Trayford, an attendant upon Mr. Peckham, and Sarah and Frifwood Williams, and Anne Smith, three chamber-maids in that family, came into the priest's hands for cure. But the difcipline of the patients was fo long and fevere, and the priests fo elate and careless with their fuccefs, that the plot was difcovered on the confeflion of the parties concerned, and the contrivers of it defervedly punished. The five devils here mentioned, are the names of five of those who were made to act in this farce upon the chamber-maids and waiting-women; and they were generally fo ridiculously nicknamed, that Harfenet has one chapter on the strange names of their devils; left, fays he, meeting them otherwife by chance, you miftake them for the name of tapfters or jugglers WARBURTON.

The

Glo. Here, take this purse, thou whom the heavens

plagues

Have humbled to all ftrokes. That I am wretched,
Makes thee the happier :-heavens deal so still!
Let the fuperfluous and luft-dieted man,

2 That flaves your ordinance, that will not fee
Because he does not feel, feel your power quickly:
So diftribution fhould undo excefs,

And each man have enough. Doft thou know Dover?
Edg. Ay, mafter.

Glo. There is a cliff, whofe high and bending head
Looks fearfully on the confined deep:

Bring me but to the very brim of it,

And I'll repair the mifery thou doit bear,
With fomething rich about me.

I fhall no leading need.

Edg. Give me thy arm; Poor Tom fhall lead thee.

From that place

[Exeunt.

The paffage in crotchets is omitted in the folio, because I fuppofe as the story was forgotten, the jeft was loft. JOHNSON. Let the fuperfluous,] Lear has before uttered the fame fentiment, which indeed cannot be too strongly impressed, tho' it may be too often repeated. JOHNSON.

2 That SLAVES your ordinance,- -] Superfluous is here used for one living in abundance. But the next line is corrupt. The only fenfe I know of, in which faves your ordinance can be understood, is when men employ the form or femblance of religion to compafs their ill defigns. But this will not do here. Glo'fter is fpeaking of fuch who by an uninterrupted courfe of profperity are grown wanton, and callous to the misfortunes of others; fuch as thofe who fearing no reverfe, flight and neglect, and therefore may be faid to brave the ordinance of heaven: which is certainly the right reading. And this is the second time in which flaves has, in this play, been read for braves. WARB.

The emendation is plaufible, yet I doubt whether it be right. The language of Shakespeare is very licentious, and his words have often meanings remote from the proper and original use. To flave or beflave another is to treat him with terms of indignity in a kindred fenfe, to fave the ordinance, may be, to flight or ridicule it. JOHNSON.

To flave an ordinance, is to treat it as a flave, to make it subject to us, instead of acting in obedience to it. STEEVENS. SCENE

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SCENE II.

The duke of Albany's palace.

Enter Gonerill and Edmund.

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Gon. Welcome, my lord. I marvel, our mild

husband

Not met us on the way. Now where's your mafter?

Enter Steward.

Stew. Madam, within; but never man fo chang'd. I told him of the army that was landed;

He fmil'd at it: I told him, you were coming;
His anfwer was, The worfe. Of Glo'fter's treachery,
And of the loyal fervice of his fon,

When I inform'd him, then he call'd me fot;
And told me, I had turn'd the wrong fide out:
What most he should diflite, feems pleafant to him;
What like, offenfive.

Gon. Then fhall you go no further. [To Edmund. It is the cowith terror of his fpirit,

That dares not undertake: he'll not feel wrongs,
Which tie him to an answer. 2 Our wishes, on the way,
May prove effects. Back, Edmund, to my brother;
Haften his musters, and conduct his powers.
I must change arms at home, and give the diftaff
Into my husband's hands. This trusty fervant
Shall pafs between us: ere long you are like to hear,

our mild bufand] It must be remembered that Albany, the husband of Gonerill, disliked, in the end of the first act, the fcheme of oppreffion and ingratitude. JOHNSON. Our wishes, on the way,

2

May prove effe As. -] I believe the meaning of the paffage to be this: "What we wish, before our march is at an "end, may be brought to happen," i. e. the murder or difpatch of her husband. On the way, however, may be equivalent to the expreffion we now ufe, viz. By the way, or By the by, i. e. en pasant. STEEVFNS. : VOL. IX.

Ee

Inte

If you dare venture in your own behalf,

A miftrefs's command. Wear this; fpare fpeech;
[Giving a favour.
3 Decline your head. This kifs, if it durft fpeak,
Would stretch thy fpirits up into the air.

Conceive, and fare thee well.

Edm. Yours in the ranks of death.

Gon. My most dear Glo'fter!
Oh, the difference of man, and man!
To thee a woman's fervices are due,
4 My fool ufurps my body.

Stew. Madam, here comes my lord.

Enter Albany.

Gon. 5 I have been worth the whistle.

Alb. Oh Gonerill!

[Exit Edmund.

You are not worth the duft which the rude wind
Blows in your face.-[6 I fear your difpofition:
That nature, which contemns its origin,

7 Cannot be border'd certain in itself;

3 Decline your head. This kifs, if it durft fpeak,

Would fretch thy Spirits up into the air.] She bids him decline his head, that the might give him a kifs (the steward being prefent) and that it might appear only to him as a whisper. STERVENS.

My fool ufurps my body.] The quarto reads,

My foot ufurps my head. STEEVENS.

I have been worth the whistle.] This expreffion is a reproach to Albany for having neglected her; though you disregard me thus, I have been worth the whistle, I have found one that thinks me worth calling. JOHNSON.

This expreffion is a proverbial one. Heywood in one of his dialogues, confifting entirely of proverbs, fays,

6

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It is a poor dog that is not worth the whistling."

STEEVENS.

I fear your difpofition:] Thefe and the speech enfuing are in the edition of 1608, and are but neceffary to explain the reafons of the deteftation which Albany here expreffes to his wife. POPE.

7 Cannot be border'd certainbounds that nature prescribes.

-] Certain, for within the WARBURTON.

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