Edm. So please your lordship, none. [Putting up the letter. Glou. Why so earnestly seek you to put up that letter? Edm. I know no news, my lord. Glou. What paper were you reading? Edm. Nothing, my lord. Glou. No? What needed then that terrible dispatch 30 of it into your pocket? the quality of nothing 35 Edm. I beseech you, sir, pardon me; it is a letter from my brother that I have not all o'erread, Glou. Give me the letter, sir. Edm. I shall offend, either to detain or give it. are to blame. Glou. Let's see, let's see. Edm. I hope, for my brother's justification, he 40 45 27. Putting letter] Rowe; omitted Q, F. 32. needed] F, needes Q. 39. and] F, omitted Q. 40. o'erlooking] F, liking Q. 44. to] Q3; too Q, F. speed; for which see Julius Cæsar, v. iii. 29, and North's Plutarch's Lives (Alexander), ed. 1595, p. 741: “They ran upon the spurr until they had overtaken the foremost that fledde." For gad, a sharp-pointed instrument, see Titus Andronicus, IV. i. 103; compare also the expression "with that spur," Timon of Athens, 111. vi. 73 (i.e. with the same alacrity). Moberly explains "at haphazard." Johnson, "capriciously, as cattle run when stung by the gad-fly." Shakespeare uses "gadding' for running about, in Romeo and Juliet, IV. ii. 16. Ritson explains "when the iron is hot"; Staunton, "upon the spur or point, at the instant. 28. earnestly] eagerly, excitedly. So Troilus and Cressida, IV. ii. 41: "How earnestly they knock." 32. terrible] frightened. 40. o'erlooking] inspection. See v. i. 50, and Two Gentlemen of Verona, I. ii. 50. wrote this but as an essay or taste of my Glou. This policy and reverence of age makes the world bitter to the best of our times; keeps our fortunes from us till our oldness cannot relish them. I begin to find an idle and fond bondage in the oppression of aged tyranny, who sways, not as it hath power, but as it is suffered. Come to me, that of this I may speak more. If our father would sleep till I wake him, you should enjoy half his revenue for ever, and live the beloved of your brother, EDGAR.-Hum! Conspiracy! "Sleep till I wake him,—you should 48. virtue,] F, virtue. A letter Q. This F; and reverence] F, omitted Q. wakt Q. 47. essay] trial. The word is identical with assay. To take the "assay" or say" of a dish was to try it, taste it. See Hall's Chronicle, ed. 1550, p. 14. "The esquire which was accustomed to serve and take the assay before King Richard"; also Gervase Markham, Country Farm, p. 61: “It is good to make the assay at such time as the north wind bloweth." This reference is to the tasting of wine. 47. taste] test, trial. See 2 Henry IV. 11. iii. 52: "Till that the nobles, and the armed commons, Have of their puissance made a little taste." The verb is in King John, v. vi. 28: "Who did taste to him?" i.e. who did take the say of his food? See also Speed's Chronicle, Edward IV. c. xii. p. 696: "Whereof we will tender unto you, in the style of that age, an essay or taste"; and compare the verb "taste,' to try, in Reynard the Fox, Caxton's translation, Arber, p. 69: "With that he 50 55 49. Glou. This] Q, Glou. reads. 59. Sleep] F, Slept Q; wake] F, tasted to have taken somewhat," i.e. attempted. 49. This policy and reverence of age] Schmidt explains as "an hendiadys for the policy of reverencing age." 50. best of our times] the prime of our lives, our golden time. See before, I. i. 296, for the same expression. 51. till.. relish] The Duke in Measure for Measure, harps on this string. See 111. i. 34-38. 51. relish] appreciate. 52, 53. to find. tyranny] I begin to feel that to be thus oppressed by an aged and tyrannical father is nothing but a state of vain and foolish servitude. 52. find] feel. See Measure for Measure, v. i. 503: "I find an apt remission in r1yself." 53, 54. who suffered] who is able to rule not through its own pure strength, but from the fact that we tamely bear it, endure it. 53. sways] rules. See 1 Henry VI. III. i. 37: "It is, because no one should sway but he." enjoy half his revenue." My son Edgar! Had 60 Edm. It was not brought me, my lord; there's the cunning of it; I found it thrown in at the 65 casement of my closet. Glou. You know the character to be your brother's? Edm. If the matter were good, my lord, I durst swear it were his; but, in respect of that, I would fain think it were not. Glou. It is his. Edm. It is his hand, my lord; but I hope his heart is not in the contents. Glou. Has he never before sounded you in this business? Edm. Never, my lord: but I have heard him oft maintain it to be fit that, sons at perfect age, and fathers declined, the father should be as ward to the son, and the son manage his revenue. Glou. O villain, villain! His very opinion in the letter! Abhorred villain! Unnatural, detested, 62. this to you] Q, you to this? F. Is it his? Q2. 74. Has] F, Hath heard.. oft] F, often heard him Q. father] F, his father Q. 79. his] F, 67. character] handwriting, as in Hamlet, IV. vii. 52: "Laertes. Know you the hand? King. 'Tis Hamlet's character." 69. in respect of that] seeing it is as it is, i.e. far from good. 78. declined] failed; so Othello III. iii. 265: 70 75 80 76. 71. It is his.] F, It is his? Q I, Q; before] F, heretofore Q. 78. declined] F, declining Q; the the Q. "I am declined Into the vale of years." 79. ward to] under the tutelage or guardianship of; see Romeo and Juliet, I. v. 42: "His son was but a ward two years ago." brutish villain ! worse than brutish! Go, sirrah, seek him; ay apprehend him. Abomin Edm. I do not well know, my lord. If it shall please you to suspend your indignation against Glou. Think you so? Edm. If your honour judge it meet, I will place you where you shall hear us confer of this, and by an auricular assurance have your 100 84. sirrah] F, sir Q; ay] Editor Cambridge Shakespeare, I Q, le F. 89. his] F, this Q; shall] Q 2; should Q 1, F. 94. that] F, omitted Q. 95. wrote] Q, writ F. 96. other] F, further Q. satisfaction; and that without any further delay than this very evening. Glou. He cannot be such a monster Edm. Nor is not, sure. Glou. to his father, that so tenderly and entirely 105 loves him. Heaven and earth! Edmund, seek him out; wind me into him, I pray you: frame the business after your own wisdom. I would unstate myself to be in a due resolution.' Edm. I will seek him, sir, presently; convey the 110 business as I shall find means, and acquaint you withal. Glou. These late eclipses in the sun and moon 103. monster-] Dyce; monster. Q, F. 104-106. Nor... earth !] Q, omitted F. 108. the] F; your] Q. F, see Q. 107. wind "We charge you that you have contrived also Greenway's Tacitus, p. 1: "After he had wound himself into the favour of the soldiers by gifts." See also North's Plutarch's Life of Coriolanus, ed. 1597, p. 239, for "to wind out," in the sense of "to cautiously extricate oneself" from a difficult position: "Martius cryed out of them... how that leaving the spoil, they should seek to winde themselves out of danger and perill. 108. frame] fashion, manage. So Winter's Tale, v. i. 91; 2 Henry IV. IV. i. 180. 109. unstate myself] give up my 110. will] F, shall Q. III. find] position as a duke, forfeit my rank and fortune. See Antony and Cleopatra, III. xiii. 30: "Cæsar will Unstate his happiness." 109. to be. resolution] to be quite freed from doubt and uncertainty (as to this affair). So Othello, 111. iii. 180: "No; to be once in doubt Is once to be resolved," i.e. to be satisfied. Mason gives two instances of resolution in this sense from Act III. scene v. of Massinger's Picture: "I have practised," says Sophia, "For my certain resolution, with these courtiers," etc. 110. presently] at once. 110. convey] manage, carry out with secrecy and tact. "He conveyeth his matters as easily as any man that I know," Palsgrave's Lesclarcissement, 498. Steevens quotes Lyly, Mother Bombie, ii. I: Two may, as they say, keep counsel if one be away, but to convey knavery, two are too few, and four too many.' 113. These late eclipses] In November 1605 a great eclipse of the sun was |