Yes, truly, for look you, the sins of the father 1 are to be laid upon the children.
LANCELET
Yes, truly, for look you, the sins of the father 1
are to be laid upon the children . Therefore I 2
promise you I fear you . I was always plain with you, 3
and so now I speak my agitation of the matter. 4
Therefore be o’ good cheer, for truly I think you 5
are damned. There is but one hope in it that can do 6
you any good, and that is but a kind of bastard hope 7
neither. 8
[Act 3 Scene 5]
Footnotes
1 –2. sins . . . children: See Deuteronomy 5.9, where God promises to visit “the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, even unto the third and fourth generation.” (See also Exodus 20.5 and 34.7.)
3 . fear you: i.e., fear for you
4 . agitation: i.e., perhaps, cogitation
7 . bastard: counterfeit, not genuine (Jessica picks up the usual meaning of the word at line 12 .)
