Glou. Good friend, I prithee, take him in thy arms;
I have o'erheard a plot of death upon him.
There is a litter ready; lay him in't,

Kent.

95

And drive toward Dover, friend, where thou shalt
meet

Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master:
If thou should'st dally half an hour, his life,
With thine, and all that offer to defend him,
Stand in assured loss. Take up, take up;

And follow me, that will to some provision
Give thee quick conduct.

Oppress'd nature sleeps

This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken sinews

Which, if convenience will not allow,

Stand in hard cure. [To the Fool.] Come, help to

bear thy master;

Thou must not stay behind.

96. toward] F, towards Q.

105

100. Take up, take up] F, Take up to keepe

102-106.

QI (some copies), Q 2; Take up the King Q I (some copies). Oppress'd... behind] Q, omitted F. 103. sinews] Q, senses Theobald. 105. [To the Fool] Theobald; omitted Q, F.

Glou

Come, come, away.

[Exeunt Kent, Gloucester, and the Fool, bearing off the King.

Edg. When we our betters see bearing our woes,

We scarcely think our miseries our foes.
Who alone suffers suffers most i' the mind,

Leaving free things and happy shows behind; 110
But then the mind much sufferance doth o'er-
skip,

When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship.

How light and portable my pain seems now,

When that which makes me bend makes the king

bow;

He childed as I father'd! Tom, away!

115

Mark the high noises, and thyself bewray

When false opinion, whose wrong thought defiles thee,

In thy just proof repeals and reconciles thee.

What will hap more to-night, safe 'scape the king!
Lurk, lurk.
[Exit. 120

109.

106. Exeunt King] Capell (substantially), Exit Q, Exeunt F, Exeunt bearing off the King, Manet Edgar Theobald, Exeunt all but Edgar Wright, Camb. Shakespeare. 107-120. Edg. When... lurk] Q, omitted F. suffers suffers most] Q 1, suffers most Q 2. 117. thought defiles] Theobald, thoughts defile Q. 120. Exeunt] Capell; Exit Theobald; omitted Q, F.

SCENE VII.-A Room in Gloucester's Castle.

Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, GONERIL, Edmund,
and Servants.

Corn. [To Goneril.] Post speedily to my lord your husband; show him this letter: the army of

keep you our sister company: the revenges
we are bound to take upon your traitorous
father are not fit for your beholding. Advise
the duke, where you are going, to a most
festinate preparation: we are bound to the
like. Our posts shall be swift and intelligent
betwixt us. Farewell, dear sister; farewell,
my Lord of Gloucester.

ΙΟ

15

A... Castle] Capell (substantially); Gloucester's Castle Rowe; omitted

Q, F. 3. traitor] F, villain Q. 4. Exeunt.. Servants] Capell; omitted Q, F. 8. revenges] F, revenge Q. 12. festinate] F 2, festiuate F, festuant Q. 13. posts] F, post Q; and intelligent] F, and intelligence Q.

9. bound to take] Bound here probably has the same meaning as the word certainly has in line 12, i.e. ready to, prepared to, purposing to. See Hamlet, 111. iii. 41: like a man to double business bound." Boun " or "bowne" is the earlier form of the word.

66

66

12. festinate] hasty. A rare word. Shakespeare puts the word "festinately," i.e. hastily, into the mouth of the affected and pedantic Don Adriano

de Armado, Love's Labour's Lost, III. i. 6: "bring him festinately hither."

12. preparation] getting ready for battle. So Macbeth, v. iii. 57.

12. bound] See note to line 9. 13. posts] speedy messengers on horseback. See 2 Henry IV. Induction, 37.

13. intelligent] quick at bringing useful information, communicative. Compare Winter's Tale, 1. ii. 378. See i. 25 of this Act.

Enter OSWALD.

How now! where's the king?

Osw. My Lord of Gloucester hath convey'd him hence: Some five or six and thirty of his knights,

Corn.

Hot questrists after him, met him at gate;

Who, with some other of the lord's dependants, 20
Are gone with him towards Dover, where they boast
To have well-armed friends.

Get horses for your mistress.

Gon. Farewell, sweet lord, and sister.
Corn. Edmund, farewell.

[Exeunt Goneril, Edmund, and Oswald.
Go seek the traitor Gloucester,

Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us.

25 [Exeunt other Servants.

Though well we may not pass upon his life
Without the form of justice, yet our power

Shall do a court'sy to our wrath, which men

Enter Oswald] Collier; Enter Steward F; Enter Steward Q, after king, line 16. 19. questrists] F, questrits Q. 21. towards] Q, toward F. 24. Exeunt Oswald] Dyce, Capell (substantially), after line 23; Exit Gon. and Bast. Q, after line 23; Exit F, after line 23. 25. Exeunt Servants] Capell; omitted Q, F. 26. well] F, omitted Q. 28. court'sy] curt'sie F, curtesie Q.

19. questrists] The word is an irregular formation, but whether it was, as Wright believes, coined by Shakespeare or not, it is undoubtedly in his manner; and Heath's proposed "questists" is quite inadmissible.

19. at gate] Compare "out at gates," Coriolanus, 111. iii. 138. 26. pass... life] deliver sentence on it, sentence him to death. So Measure for Measure, 11. i. 23

"what know the laws That thieves do pass on thieves?" See also the

35

You are my guests: do
friends.

Corn. Bind him, I say.

Reg.

Glou. Unmerciful lady as you are, I'm none.

Corn. To this chair bind him. Villain, thou shalt find

Will quicken, and accuse thee: I am your host:

40

29. Re-enter... Gloucester prisoner] Capell; Enter Gloster brought in by two or three Q; Enter Gloucester, and Servants after "comptroll" (line 29) F. 32. mean] F 4; means Q, F. 34. Servants . . . him] they bind him Rowe; omitted Q, F. 35. I'm none] F, I am true Q. find-]Q, find. F. Regan ... beard] Johnson; omitted Q, F.

31. corky] sapless, dry and withered. This rare word is found in Harsnet, Declaration, 1603, ch. v. p. 23: "it would pose all the cunning exorcists

36.

35. Unmerciful] merciless, pitiless. See Captain Smith, True Relation oj Accidents in Virginia, 1612, Arber, 1886, p. 78: "defending the children with their naked bodies from the unmerciful blows they (the guard) pay

to teach an old corkie woman to writhe, tumble, curvet, etc." 34. filthy] odious, disgraceful. See them soundly. Othello, v. ii. 149.

41. quicken] assume life.