Page:William Hazlitt - Characters of Shakespear's Plays (1817).djvu/191

Rh Lear. Are you our daughter? Gonerill. Come, sir, I would, you would make use of that good wisdom Whereof I know you are fraught; and put away These dispositions, which of late transform you From what you rightly are. Fool. May not an ass know when the cart draws the horse?Whoop, Jug, I love thee. Lear. Does any here know me?Why, this is not Lear: Does Lear walk thus? speak thus?Where are his eyes? Either his notion weakens, or his discernings Are lethargy'dHa! waking?'Tis not so. Who is it that can tell me who I am;Lear's shadow? I would learn that: for by the marks Of sov'reignty, of knowledge, and of reason, I should be false persuaded I had daughters. Your name, fair gentlewoman? Gonerill. Come, sir: This admiration is much o' the favour Of other your new pranks. I do beseech you To understand my purposes aright: As you are old and reverend, you should be wise: Here do you keep a hundred knights and squires; Men so disorder'd, so debauch'd, and bold, That this our court, infected with their manners, Shews like a riotous inn: epicurism and lust Make it more like a tavern, or a brothel, Than a grac'd palace. The shame itself doth speak For instant remedy: be then desir'd By her, that else will take the thing she begs, A little to disquantity your train; And the remainder, that shall still depend, To be such men as may besort your age, And know themselves and you.