Glo. Alack, alack the day! Lear. When we are born, we cry, that we are come To this great stage of fools ;- -This a good block?1— It were a delicate stratagem, to shoe A troop of horse with felt:2 I'll put it in proof; Thus also, in Sidney's Arcadia, Lib. II: "The child feeles that, the man that feeling knowes, This a good block?] Perhaps, we should read'Tis a good block. Ritson. Steevens. Upon the king's saying, I will preach to thee, the poet seems to have meant him to pull off his hat, and keep turning it and feeling it, in the attitude of one of the preachers of those times, (whom I have seen so represented in ancient prints) till the idea of felt, which the good hat or block was made of, raises the stratagem in his brain of shoeing a troop of horse with a substance soft as that which he held and moulded between his hands. This makes him start from his preachment.-Block anciently signified the head part of the hat, or the thing on which a hat is formed, and sometimes the hat itself.-See Much Ado about Nothing: "He wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat; it changes with the next block.” Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Wit at several Weapons: "I am so haunted with his broad-brim'd hut, "Of the last progress block, with the young hatband." Again, in The Two Merry Milkmaids, 1620: "my haberdasher has a new block, and will find me and all my generation in beavers," &c. Again, in Decker's Gul's Hornbook, 1609: "— that cannot observe the time of his hatband, nor know what fashioned block 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 felt-maker can fitte him." 66 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." Steevens. 2 It were a delicate stratagem, to shoe 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 And when I have stolen upon these sons-in-law, Enter a Gentleman, with Attendants. Lear. No rescue? What, a prisoner? I am even You shall have ransome. Let me have a surgeon, Gent. You shall have any thing. Lear. No seconds? All myself? Why, this would make a man, a man of salt,5 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. 3 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, "And in a peaceful hour doth cry, kill, kill.” Again, in The Mirrour for Magistrates, 1610, p. 315: "For while the Frenchmen fresh assaulted still, "Our Englishmen came boldly forth at night, "Crying, St. George, Salisbury, kill, kill, "And offered freshly with their foes to fight." 4 The natural fool of fortune.] So, in Romeo and Juliet : "O, I am fortune's fool!" Steevens. Malone. 5 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 Corio: tanus: "He has betray'd your business, and given up "For certain drops of salt, your city Rome." Malone. Ay, and for laying autumn's dust.6 Gent. Good sir,7 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. Lear. Then there 's life in it. Nay, an you get it, you shall get it by running. Sa, sa, sa, sa. [Exit, running; Attendants follow. Gent. A sight most pitiful in the meanest wretch; Past speaking of in a king!—Thou hast one daughter, Who redeems nature from the general curse Which twain have brought her to. Edg. Hail, gentle sir. your will? Gent. Edg. But, by your favour, Gent. Near, and on speedy foot; the main descry Stands on the hourly thought.9 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; Let not my worser spirit1 tempt me again 6 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. 7 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. 8 Then there's life in it.] The case is not yet desperate. Johnson. So, in Antony and Cleopatra: "There's sap in 't yet." Steevens. -the main descry Stands on the hourly thought.] The main body is expected to be descry'd every hour. The expression is harsh. Johnson. 1 my worser spirit-] By this expression may be meantmy evil genius. Steevens. * To die before you please! Edg. Well pray you, father. Glo. Now, good sir, what are you? Edg. A most poor man, made tame by fortune's blow's ;2 Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows,3 Am pregnant to good pity. Give me your hand, I'll lead you to some biding. Glo. Hearty thanks: The bounty and the benizon of heaven Stew. Enter Steward. A proclaim'd prize! Most happy! That eyeless head of thine was first fram'd flesh To raise my fortunes.-Thou old unhappy traitor, Briefly thyself remember :4-The sword is out That must destroy thee. Glo. Now let thy friendly hand [EDG. opposes. Put strength enough to it. Wherefore, bold peasant, Like hold on thee. Let go his arm. 2 Edg. Ch'ill not let go, zir, without vurther 'casion. Stew. Let go, slave, or thou diest. Nothing: made tame by fortunes blows.] So, in Much Ado about "Taming my wild heart to thy gentle hand." The quartos read: made lame by fortune's blows." Steevens. The folio has-made tame to fortune's blows. I believe the original is here, as in many other places, the true reading. So, in our poet's 37th Sonnet: “So I, made lame by fortune's dearest spight, -." Malone. 3 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. 4 Briefly thyself remember :] i. e. Quickly recollect the past offences of thy life, and recommend thyself to heaven. Warburton. So Othello says to Desdemona: "If you bethink yourself of any crime, Edg. Good gentleman, go your gait,5 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 bat7 be the harder: Ch'ill be plain with you. Stew. Out, dunghill! Edg. Ch'ill pick your teeth, zir: Come; no matter vor your foins. [They fight; and EDG. knocks him down. Stew. Slave, thou hast slain me:-Villain, take my purse; If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body; And give the letters, which thou find'st about me, 5 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. 6 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 Metamorphoses, assumes the appearance of a clown, and our translator Golding has made him speak with the provinciality of Shakspeare's Edgar. Steevens. -7 my bat] A staff. In Sussex a walking-stick is called a bat. Bats and clubs are distinguished in Coriolanus, Act I, sc. i: "Where go you with bats and clubs. H. White. 8 no matter vor your foins.] To foin, is to make what we call a thrust in fencing. Shakspeare often uses the word. Steevens. 9 To Edmund earl of Gloster;] Mr. Smith has endeavoured, without any success, to prove, in a long note, that we ought to readletter both here and below, because the Steward had only one letter in his pocket, namely, that written by Goneril. But there is no need of change, for letters formerly was used like epistolæ in Latin, when one only was intended. So, in Act I, sc. v, Lear says to Kent, "Go, you, before to Gloster, with these letters ;" and Kent replies, “ I will not sleep, my lord, till I have delivered your letter?" Again, in Act IV, sc. v, the Steward says to Regan, "I must needs after him, madam, with my letters," meaning only Goneril's letter which Edgar presently reads. Such, as I observed on that passage, is the reading of the original quarto copies, which in the folio is changed to letter. Whether the Steward had also a letter from Regan, it is not here necessary to inquire. The words which he uses do not, for the reason I have assigned, necessarily imply two letters; and as Edgar finds no letter from Regan, we may infer that when she said to the |