REG. Lady, I am not well; else I should answer From a full-flowing stomach.-General, Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony; Dispose of them, of me; the walls are thines Witness the world, that I create thee here My lord and master. GON. Mean you to enjoy him? ALB. The let-alone lies not in your good will.' EDM. Nor in thine, lord. ALB. Half-blooded fellow, yes. REG. Let the drum strike, and prove my title thine.1 [TO EDMUND. ALB. Stay yet; hear reason :-Edmund, I arrest thee On capital treason; and, in thy arrest,2 So Milton: "And gladly banish squint suspicion." Comus. HOLT WHITE. -the walls are thine:] A metaphorical phrase taken from the camp, and signifying, to surrender at discretion. A similar allusion occurs in Cymbeline: WARBURTON. "The heavens hold firm the walls of thy dear honour." STEEVENS. The let-alone lies not in your good will.] Whether he shall not or shall, depends not on your choice. JOHNSON. Albany means to tell his wife, that, however she might want the power, she evidently did not want the inclination to prevent the match. RITSON. To obstruct their union lies not in your good pleasure: your veto will avail nothing. MALONE. 1 Reg. Let the drum strike, &c.] So the folio. This line is given to the Bastard in the quartos, and they read Let the drum strike, and prove my title good. Regan, it appears from this speech, did not know that Albany had discharged her forces. MALONE. 2 thy arrest,] The quartos read-thine attaint. STEEVENS. This gilded serpent: [Pointing to GoN.]—for your claim, fair sister, I bar it in the interest of my wife; GON. An interlude !3 ALB. Thou art arm'd, Gloster:-Let the trumpet sound: + If none appear to prove upon thy person,5 Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less Than I have here proclaim'd thee. REG. Sick, O, sick! [Aside. GON. If not, I'll ne'er trust poison. EDM. There's my exchange: [Throwing down a That names me traitor, villain-like he lies: ALB. A herald, ho! 3 An interlude !] This short exclamation of Goneril is added in the folio edition, I suppose, only to break the speech of Albany, that the exhibition on the stage might be more distinct and intelligible. JOHNSON. Let the trumpet sound:] These words are not in the quartos. MALONE. thy person,] The quartos read-thy head. STEEVENS. -poison.] The folio reads-medicine. STEEvens. EDM. A herald, ho, a herald!" ALB. Trust to thy single virtue; for thy soldiers, All levied in my name, have in my name Took their discharge. REG. This sickness grows upon me. Enter a Herald. ALB. She is not well; convey her to my tent. Come hither, herald,-Let the trumpet sound,— [Exit REGAN, led. And read out this. OFF. Sound, trumpet." [A Trumpet sounds. Herald reads. If any man of quality, or degree, within the lists of the army,' will maintain upon Edmund, supposed earl of Gloster, that he is a manifold traitor, let him appear at the third sound of the trumpet: He is bold in his defence. 7 A herald, &c.] This speech I have restored from the quartos. STEEVENS. thy single virtue ;] i. e. valour; a Roman sense of the word. 9 Sound, trumpet.] I have added this from the quartos. STEEVENS. within the lists of the army,] The quartos read:STEEVENS. within the host of the army, Edm. Sound.] Omitted in the folio. MALOne, Enter EDGAR, armed, preceded by a Trumpet. ALB. Ask him his purposes, why he appears Upon this call o'the trumpet. What are you? HER. Your name, your quality? and why you answer This present summons? EDG. Know, my name is lost; By treason's tooth bare-gnawn, and canker-bit: Yet am I noble,3 as the adversary I come to cope withal. ALB. Which is that adversary? EDG. What's he, that speaks for Edmund earl of Gloster? EDM. Himself;-What say'st thou to him? EDG. Draw thy sword; That, if my speech offend a noble heart, 3 Yet am I noble, &c.] One of the quartos reads: yet are I mou't, Where is the adversarie I come to cope withal? —are I mou’t, is, I suppose, a corruption of—ere I move it. STEEVENS. The other quarto also reads-Where is the adversary, &c. omitting the words-Yet am I noble, which are only found in the folio. The word withal is wanting in that copy. MALONE. here is mine. &c.] Here I draw my sword. Behold, it is the privilege or right of my profession to draw it against a traitor. I protest therefore, &c. It is not the charge itself (as Dr. Warburton has erroneously stated,) but the right of bringing the charge and maintaining it with his sword, which Edgar calls the privilege of his profession. MALONE. My oath, and my profession: 5 I protest,- Thou liest. 5 Behold, it is the privilege of mine honours, 8 My oath, and my profession:] The charge he is going to bring against the Bastard, he calls the privilege, &c. To understand which phraseology, we must consider that the old rights of knighthood are here alluded to; whose oath and profession required him to discover all treasons, and whose privilege it was to have his challenge accepted, or otherwise to have his charge taken pro confesso. For if one who was no knight accused another who was, that other was under no obligation to accept the challenge. On this account it was necessary, as Edgar came disguised, to tell the Bastard he was a knight. WARBURTON. The privilege of this oath means the privilege gained by taking the oath administered in the regular initiation of a knight professed. JOHNson. 6 The quartos read-it is the privilege of my tongue. The folio reads: Behold, it is my privilege, The privilege of mine honours, My oath and my profession. MALONE. STEEVENS. Maugre-] i. e. notwithstanding. So, in Twelfth Night: "I love thee so, that maugre all thy pride. 7 Conspirant 'gainst-] The quartos read: Conspicuate 'gainst. STEEVens. STEEVENS. beneath thy feet,] So the quartos. Folio: below thy foot. MALONE. |