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.
– William Shakespeare
King Lear, Act 2, Scene 2. The loyal Kent is still standing up for King Lear, as he tells Cornwall that locking the Lear’s servant in the stocks is very disrespectful towards the King. This reflects the continuing power struggle that is going on between Lear and his supporters and the forces against him, among them Cornwall and his wife Regan.