Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

the foul fiend hath led through fire and through flame, through ford and whirlpool, over bog and quagmire; that hath laid knives under his pillow, and halters in his pew; set ratsbane by his porridge; made him proud of heart, to ride on a bay trottinghorse over four-inched bridges, to course his own shadow for a traitor.-Bless thy five wits! Tom's a-cold.-O, do de, do de, do de. Bless thee from whirlwinds, starblasting, and taking! Do poor Tom some charity, whom the foul fiend vexes: there could I have him now, and there, and there, and there again, and there. [storm continues. Lear. What, have his daughters brought him to

this pass

1

Couldst thou save nothing? Didst thou give them all?

Fool. Nay, he reserved a blanket, else we had been all shamed.

Lear. Now, all the plagues that in the pendulous

air

Hang fated o'er men's faults, light on thy daughters! Kent. He hath no daughters, sir.

Lear. Death, traitor! nothing could have subdued

nature

To such a lowness but his unkind daughters.

Is it the fashion, that discarded fathers
Should have thus little mercy on their flesh?
Judicious punishment! 'twas this flesh begot

To take is to blast, or strike with malignant influence.

Those pelican daughters.

Edg. Pillicock sat on pillicock's-hill; Halloo, halloo, loo, loo!

Fool. This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen.

Edg. Take heed o' the foul fiend: obey thy parents; keep thy word justly; swear not; commit not with man's sworn spouse; set not thy sweet heart on proud array. Tom's a-cold.

Lear. What hast thou been?

Edg. A serving-man, proud in heart and mind; that curled my hair, wore gloves in my cap,1 served the lust of my mistress's heart, and did the act of darkness with her; swore as many oaths as I spake words, and broke them in the sweet face of heaven: one, that slept in the contriving of lust, and waked to do it: wine loved I deeply; dice dearly; and in woman out-paramoured the Turk: false of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand; hog in sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, dog in madness, lion in prey. Let not the creaking of shoes nor the rustling of silks betray thy poor heart to women: keep thy foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen from lenders' books, and defy the foul fiend.Still through the hawthorn blows the cold wind. Says suum, mun, ha no nonny, dolphin my boy, my boy, sessa; let him trot by. [storm still continues.

1 It was formerly the custom for lovers to wear gloves in their hats, as the favors of their mistresses.

Lear. Why, thou were better in thy grave, than to answer with thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies.-Is man no more than this? Consider him well thou owest the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the cat no perfume.Ha! here's three of us are sophisticated; thou art the thing itself: unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art.Off, off, you lendings: come; unbutton here.

[tearing off his clothes.

Fool. Pr'ythee, nuncle, be contented; this is a naughty night to swim in. Now a little fire in a wild field were like an old lecher's heart; a small spark, all the rest of his body cold.-Look, here comes a walking fire.

Edg. This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet: he begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock: he gives the web and the pin,1 squints the eye, and makes the hare-lip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the poor creature of earth.

Saint Withold 2 footed thrice the wold; 3

He met the night-mare, and her nine-fold;
Bid her alight,

And her troth plight;

And, aroint thee, witch, aroint thee!'

1 Diseases of the eye.

2 A saint, said to protect his devotees from the disease

called the night-mare.

3 Open plain.

4 Avaunt.

:

Lear. Why, thou were better in thy grave, than to answer with thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies.-Is man no more than this? Consider him well thou owest the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the cat no perfume.— Ha! here's three of us are sophisticated; thou art the thing itself: unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art.— Off, off, you lendings: come; unbutton here.

[tearing off his clothes.

Fool. Pr'ythee, nuncle, be contented; this is a naughty night to swim in. Now a little fire in a wild field were like an old lecher's heart; a small spark, all the rest of his body cold.-Look, here comes a walking fire.

Edg. This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet: he begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock: he gives the web and the pin,1 squints the eye, and makes the hare-lip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the poor creature of earth.

[ocr errors]

3

Saint Withold 2 footed thrice the wold; 3

He met the night-mare, and her nine-fold;

Bid her alight,

And her troth plight;

And, aroint thee, witch, aroint thee!'

1 Diseases of the eye.

2 A saint, said to protect his devotees from the disease

called the night-mare.

3 Open plain.

4 Avaunt.

« AnteriorContinuar »