ACT III. SCENE I.-A Heath. A Storm is heard, with Thunder and Lightning. Enter KENT, and a Gentleman, meeting. Kent. Who's here, beside foul weather? Gent. One minded like the weather, most unquietly. Kent. I know you; Where's the king? Gent. Contending with the fretful element : Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea, Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main,' That things might change, or cease: tears his white hair; Catch in their fury, and make nothing of: The to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain. This night, wherein the cub-drawn beark would couch, The lion and the belly-pinched wolf Keep their fur dry, unbonneted he runs, And bids what will take all. Kent. Gent. None but the fool; His heart-struck injuries. Kent. And dare, upon But who is with him? who labours to out-jest Sir, I do know you; the warrant of my art,' Commend a dear thing to you. There is division, With mutual cunning, 'twixt Albany and Cornwall; the main,] i. e. The main land, the continent. the cub-drawn bear-] i. e. Whose dugs are drawn dry by its young. As no animals leave their dens by night but for prey; the meaning is, that even hunger and the support of her young, would not force the bear to leave her den in such a night.-WARBURTON. the warrant of my art,] On the strength of my skill in physiognomy.— STEEVENS. Either in snuffs and packings" of the dukes; I am a gentleman of blood and breeding; Gent. I will talk further with you. No, do not. y? Gent. Give me your hand: Have you no more to say Kent. Few words, but, to effect, more than all yet; That, when we have found the king, (in which your pain That way; I'll this :) he that first lights on him, Holla the other. [Exeunt severally. Either in snuffs and packings-] Snuffs are dislikes, and packings underhand contrivances.-STEEVENS. furnishings;] i. e. External pretences, or perhaps samples. P- have secret feet-] i. e. Secret footing. SCENE II. Another part of the Heath. Storm continues. Enter LEAR and FOOL. Lear. Blow, wind, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow! You cataracts, and hurricanoes, spout Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks! Vaunt couriers' to oak-cleaving thunder-bolts, Crack nature's moulds, all germens spills at once, Fool. O, nuncle, court holy-water' in a dry house is better than this rain-water out o'door. Good nuncle, in, and ask thy daughters' blessing; here's a night pities neither wise men nor fools. Lear. Rumble thy bellyfull! Spit, fire! spout, rain! Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters : I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness, I never gave you kingdom, call'd you children, You owe me no subscription;" why then let fall Your horrible pleasure; here I stand, your slave, A poor, infirm, weak, and despis'd old man :— But yet I call you servile ministers, That have with two pernicious daughters join'd Your high-engender'd battles, 'gainst a head So old and white as this. O! O! 'tis foul! Fool. He that has a house to put his head in, has a good head-piece. - thought-executing—] Doing execution with rapidity equal to thought. -JOHNSON. Vaunt couriers-] Avant couriers, Fr. This phrase is not unfamiliar to the writers of Shakspeare's time. It originally meant the foremost scouts of an army.-STEEVENS. spill-] i. e. Destroy.-STREVENS. tcourt holy-water-] i. e. Fair words: the expression is proverbial.— Ray's Proverbs, p. 184. subscription ;] i. e. Obedience, submission. The cod-piece that will house, The head and he shall louse;· So beggars marry many.* The man that makes his toe What he is heart should make, Shall of a corn cry woe, And turn his sleep to wake. -for there was never yet fair woman, but she made mouths in a glass. Enter KENT. Lear. No, I will be the pattern of all patience, I will say nothing. Kent. Who's there? Fool. Marry here's grace, and a cod-piece; that's a wise man, and a fool. Kent. Alas, sir, are you here? things that love night, Love not such nights as these; the wrathful skies Gallow the very wanderers of the dark, And make them keep their caves: Since I was man, Remember to have heard: man's nature cannot carry Lear. Let the great gods, Unwhipp'd of justice: Hide thee, thou bloody hand; Hast practis'd on man's life!-Close pent-up guilts, * So beggars marry many.] i. e. So many beggars marry, before they have houses to put their heads in.-M. MASON. of a corn cry woe,] i. e. Be pained by.-MALONE. z Gallow―] i. e. Scare or frighten, a west-country word.—WARBURTON. a - convenient seeming-] i. e. Appearance such as may promote his purpose to destroy.-JOHNSON. Rive your concealing continents, and cry These dreadful summoners grace.—I am a man, Kent. Alack, bare-headed! Gracious my lord, hard by here is a hovel; Some friendship will it lend you 'gainst the tempest; (More hard than is the stone whereof 'tis rais'd; Denied me to come in,) return, and force Their scanted courtesy. Lear. My wits begin to turn. Come on, my boy; How dost, my boy? Art cold? I am cold myself.-Where is this straw, my fellow? The art of our necessities is strange, That can make vile things precious. Come, your hovel, That's sorry yet for thee. Fool. He that has a little tiny wit, With heigh, ho, the wind and the rain,— Must make content with his fortunes fit ; Lear. True, my good boy.-Come, bring us to this hovel. [Exeunt LEAR and KENT. Fool. This is a brave night to cool a courtezan.— I'll speak a prophecy ere I go: When priests are more in word than matter; When nobles are their tailors' tutors; No hereticks burn'd, but wenches' suitors ;d No squire in debt, nor no poor knight; And bawds and whores do churches build ; continents,] i. e. Those things which contain or inclose,-JOHNSON. summoners—] i. e. The officers that summon offenders before a proper tribunal.-STEEVENS. d — burn'd, but wenches' suitors;] The disease to which wenches' suitors are particularly exposed was called the brenning or burning.-JOHNSON. |