James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
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SCENE III.
A Part of the Heath.
Enter Edgar.
Edg.
I heard myself proclaim'd:
And, by the happy hollow of a tree,
Escap'd the hunt. No port is free; no place,
That guard, and most unusual vigilance,
-- 104 --
Does not attend my taking. While I may scape,
I will preserve myself: and am bethought
To take the basest and most poorest shape,
That every penury, in contempt of man,
Brought near to beast: my face I'll grime with filth;
Blanket my loins; elf all my hair in knots8 note
;
And with presented nakedness out-face
The winds, and persecutions of the sky.
The country gives me proof and precedent
Of Bedlam beggars9 note
, who, with roaring voices,
-- 105 --
Strike in their numb'd and mortified bare arms
Pins, wooden pricks1 note
, nails, sprigs of rosemary;
And with this horrible object, from low farms2 note,
Poor pelting villages3 note
, sheep-cotes and mills,
-- 106 --
Sometime with lunatick bans4 note
, sometime with prayers,
Enforce their charity.—Poor Turlygood! poor Tom5 note
!
That's something yet;—Edgar I nothing am6 note
.
[Exit.
James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
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