GON. This man hath had good counsel :a—a hundred knights!

"Tis politic and safe to let him keep
At point a hundred knights: yes, that on every
dream,

Each buz, each fancy, each complaint, dislike,
He may enguard his dotage with their powers,
And hold our lives in mercy.-Oswald, I say y !—
ALB. Well, you may fear too far.
GON.
Safer than trust too far:
Let me still take away the harms I fear,
Not fear still to be taken: I know his heart.
What he hath utter'd I have writ my sister;
If she sustain him and his hundred knights,
"When I have show'd the unfitness,-

Enter EDGAR.

My father watches:-O, sir, fly this place;
Intelligence is given where you are hid;
You have now the good advantage of the
night :-

Have you not spoken 'gainst the duke of Cornwall? He's coming hither; now, i' the night, i' the haste,

And Regan with him; have you nothing said
Upon his party 'gainst the duke of Albany?
Advise yourself.

EDG.
I am sure on 't, not a word.
EDM. I hear my father coming,-pardon me;
In cunning I must draw my sword upon you:-
Draw seem to defend yourself: now quit you
well.-

:

But that I told him, the revenging gods
'Gainst parricides did all their thunders* bend;
Spoke, with how manifold and strong a bond
The child was bound to the father;-sir, in fine,
Seeing how loathly opposite I stood
To his unnatural purpose, in fell motion
With his prepared sword, he charges home
My unprovided body, lanc'd † mine arm :
But when he saw my best alarum'd spirits,
Bold in the quarrel's right, rous'd to the encounter,
Or whether gasted" by the noise I made,
Full suddenly he fled.

GLO.

Let him fly far: Not in this land shall he remain uncaught; And found-despatch!--The noble duke my

master,

My worthy arch and patron, comes to-night :
By his authority I will proclaim it,

That he which finds him shall deserve our thanks,
Bringing the murderous coward to the stake;
He that conceals him, death.

EDM. When I dissuaded him from his intent,
And found him pight to do it, with curste speech
I threaten'd to discover him: he replied,
Thou unpossessing bastard! dost thou think,
If I would stand against thee, would the reposal
Of any trust, virtue, or worth, in thee
Make thy words faith'd? No: what I should§
(As this I would; ay, though thou didst produce
My very character') I'd turn it all

[deny,

To thy suggestion, plot, and damned practice: And thou must make a dullard of the world, If they not thought the profits of my death

a But when, &c.] "When" is very probably a misprint for wher, or whether.

bgasted-] Gasted, or ghasted, means affrighted, dismayed. e And found-despatch!-] Warburton reads, "And found, dispatch'd:" as also does Mr. Collier's annotator; but the old text is right. Thus, in "Blurt, Master Constable," Act V. Sc. 1,"There to find Fontinelle: found, to kill him." - pight to do it,—] Pight is fixed, settled.

a from our home;] Away from home. b-hundred-pound,-] This epithet is found in Middleton's play of "The Phoenix," Act IV. Sc. 3,

"am I used like a hundred-pound gentleman."

And in Sir Walter Raleigh's speech against Foreign Retailers (Oldys's "Life of Raleigh," p. 68), he says,-"Nay at Milan, where there are three hundred-pound Englishmen, they cannot so much as have a barber among them."

c yet the moor shines,-] That is, now the moon shines, &c. dyou neat sluse,-] The sting in this epithet, "neat," has been quite misunderstood by the commentators who suppose it

Osw. Why, what a monstrous fellow art thou, thus to rail on one that is neither known of thee nor knows thee!

KENT. What a brazen-faced varlet art thou, to deny thou knowest me! Is it two days ago,† since I tripped up thy heels, and beat thee, before the king? Draw, you rogue: for, though it be night, yet the moon shines, I'll make a sop o'the moonshine of you: draw, you whoreson cullionly barber-monger, draw. [Drawing his sword.

Osw. Away! I have nothing to do with thee. KENT. Draw, you rascal! you come with letters against the king; and take Vanity the puppet's part, against the royalty of her father: draw, you rogue, or I'll so carbonado your shanks!-draw, you rascal! come your ways.

Osw. Help, ho murder! help!

KENT. Strike, you slave! stand, rogue, stand! you neat slave, strike! [Beating him. Osw. Help, ho! murder! murder!

Enter EDMUND.

EDм. How now? what's the matter? Part. KENT. With you, goodman boy, an § you please; come, I'll flesh you; come on, young master.

Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, GLOUCESTER, and Servants.

GLO. Weapons! arms! what's the matter here? CORN. Keep peace, upon your lives!

He dies, that strikes again! what is the matter? REG. The messengers from our sister and the king!

CORN. What is your difference? speak.
Osw. I am scarce in breath, my lord.

KENT. No marvel, you have so bestirred your valour. You cowardly rascal, nature disclaims in thee; a tailor made thee.

CORN. Thou art a strange fellow: a tailor make a man?

KENT. Ay, a tailor, sir: a stone-cutter, or a

painter, could not have made him so ill, though they had been but two hours at the trade.

CORN. Speak yet, how grow your quarrel?
Osw. This ancient ruffian, sir, whose life I have
spar'd,

At suit of his grey beard,—

KENT. Thou whoreson zed! thou unnecessary letter! My lord, if you will give me leave, I will tread this unbolted villain into mortar, and daub the wall of a jakes with him.-Spare my grey beard, you wagtail?a

CORN.

Peace, sirrah!

You beastly knave, know you no reverence?
KENT. Yes, sir, but anger hath a privilege.
CORN. Why art thou angry?

KENT. That such a slave as this should wear a sword,

[these,

Who wears no honesty. Such smiling rogues as
Like rats, oft bite the holy cords a-twain
Which are too intrinse t'unloose: smooth every
passion

That in the natures of their lords rebels;
Bring oil to fire, snow to the colder moods;
Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks
With every gale§ and vary of their masters,
Knowing nought, like dogs, but following,-
A plague upon your epileptic visage!
Smile you my speeches, as I were a fool?
Goose, if I had you upon Sarum plain,
I'd drive ye cackling home to Camelot.(1)
CORN. What, art thou mad, old fellow?
GLO. How fell you out? say that.
KENT. No contraries hold more antipathy,
Than I and such a knave.

CORN. Why dost thou call him knave? What's

Than twenty silly ducking 6bservants, That stretch their duties nicely.

KENT. Sir, in good sooth,* in sincere verity, Under the allowance of your grand † aspect, Whose influence, like the wreath of radiant fire On flickering Phoebus' front,

CORN.

What mean'st by this? KENT. To go out of my dialect, which you discommend so much. I know, sir, I am no flatterer: he that beguiled you in a plain accent, was a plain knave; which, for my part, I will not be, though I should win your displeasure to entreat me to 't.

CORN. What was the offence you gave him?
Osw.
I never gave him any:

It pleas'd the king his master very late,
To strike at me, upon his misconstruction;
When he, conjunct,§ and flattering his displeasure,
Tripp'd me behind; being down, insulted, rail'd,
And put upon him such a deal of man,
That worthied him, got praises of the king
For him attempting who was self-subdu'd ;
And, in the fleshment of this dread || exploit,
Drew on me here again.

KENT. None of these rogues and cowards,
But Ajax is their fool.
CORN.

Fetch forth the stocks, ho! You stubborn ancient knave, you reverend braggart,

We'll teach you—

KENT.

Sir, I am too old to learn: Call not your stocks for me: I serve the king; On whose employment I was sent to you: You shall do small respect,¶ show too bold malice Against the grace and person of my master, Stocking his messenger.

CORN.

noon!

Fetch forth the stocks!As I have life and honour, there shall he sit till [night too. REG. Till noon! till night, my lord; and all KENT. Why, madam, if I were your father's dog, You should not use me so.

REG. Sir, being his knave, I will. CORN. This is a fellow of the self-same colour Our sister speaks of.-Come, bring away the stocks. [Stocks brought in.

GLO. Let me beseech your grace not to do so: His fault is much, and the good king his master Will check him for't: your purpos'd low correction Is such, as basest and contemned'st** wretches, For pilferings and most common trespasses