Lear. True, my good boy. Come, bring us to this

Fool.

hovel.

This is a brave night to cool a curtezan.

I'll speak a prophecy f ere I go.

[Exit.

When priests are more in

word than matter,

When brewers marr their malt with water;
When nobles are their tailors' tutors h;

No hereticks i burn'd, but wenches' fuitors;
Then comes the time who lives to fee't
That going shall be us'd with feet.
When every cafe in law is right,

No fquire in debt, nor no poor knight;
When flanders do not live in tongues;
" Nor cut-purfes come not to throngs;
When ufurers tell their gold i'th' field;
And bawds and whores do churches build:

Then fhall the realm of Albion

Come to great confufion.

This prophecy Merlin shall make, for I " live before his time.

• So the qu's; the rest true boy, &c.

d This fpeech is not in the qu's.

So all before P. who reads 'tis for this is; followed by the rest.

f Before ere P. inferts or; followed by T. and H. Here W. takes occafion to fay or ere I go is not English, and should be helped thus, I'll speak a prophecy or two ere I go, &c.

So the ift and 2d fo's; the rest read words.

i. e. invent fashions for them. W.

i The disease to which wenches fuitors are particularly expofed, was called in Shakespeare's time the brenning or burning. J.

* In all editions before H. these two lines are not inferted till after confufion below; but being placed fo, the fenfe is loft.

1 W. and J., read and for nor.

So all before P. he and all after read and for nor.

So the 1ft and ad fo's; the reft infert do before live.

SCENE IV.

An apartment in Glo'fter's caftle.

Enter Glo'fter and Edmund.

Glo. Alack, alack, Edmund, I like not this unnatural dealing; when I defired their leave that I might pity him, they took from me the use of mine own houfe; charg'd me on pain of P their perpetual displeasure, neither to speak of him, entreat for him, nor any way sustain him. Edm. Most favages and unnatural!

T

Glo. Go to; fay you nothing. There's a divifion u between the dukes, and a worse matter than that. I have receiv'd a letter this night-'tis dangerous to be spokenI have lock'd the letter in my closet. These injuries the king now bears will be revenged home; there is part of a power already w footed; we must incline to the king; I will * feek him, and privily relieve him; go you, and maintain talk with the duke, that my charity be not of him perceived; if he ask for me, Ì am ill, and gone to bed. If I die for it, as no lefs is threaten'd me, the king my old mafter must be re

In the fo's this is called fcena tertia; in R. Sc. IL

So the qu's; the rest omit their.

The qu's omit perpetual.

So the qu's; the reft er for nor.

R. omits and.

So the qu's; the reft there is divifion, &c.

The qu's read betwixt.

The qu's read landed for footed..

*So the qu's; the fo's and R. look him; P. and the rest look for him.

lieved.

lieved. There y are ftrange things toward, Edmund; pray you, be careful.

Edm. This courtesy, forbid thee, shall the duke
Inftantly know, and of that letter too.

This seems a fair deferving, and muft z draw me
That which my father loses; no less than all.
The younger rifes, when the old b doth fall.

[Exit.

Kent. Here is the place, my lord; good my lord, enter.

The tyranny of the open night's too rough

For nature to endure.

[Storm continuing.

C Lear. Let me alone.

f

Kent. Good my lord, enter here.

Lear. & Wilt break my heart?

Kent. I'd rather break my own; good my lord, enter.
Lear. Thou think'ft 'tis much, that this a contentious ftorm

Y The qu's read is some strange thing, &c. the fo's and R. is firange things. z The 2d q. reads draw to me,

a The qu's read then for the.

b The qu's read do for doth.

The fo's call this fcena quarta; R. Sc. III.

d P. omits the.

J. has these two following speeches twice over.

f The qu's omit bere.

8 So all before T.'s duodecimo; who reads will't, i. e. will it; but wilt, where thou is understood, feems to be the true reading by the next speech. W. and J. follow T.

h The qu's read crulentious storme, &c.

i

Invades us to the fkin; fo 'tis to thee:

But where the greater malady is fixt,

The leffer is scarce felt. Thou'dft fhun a bear;

m

But if thy flight lay toward the raging sea,

Thou'dft meet the bear i'th' mouth. When the mind's free
The body's delicate; the tempeft in my mind
Doth from my fenfes take all feeling elfe,

n Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude!

Is it not, as this mouth fhould tear this hand
For lifting food to't?-But I will punish P home-
No, I will weep no more- In fuch a night
To fhut me out?—Pour on, I will endure-
In fuch a night as this? O Regan, Gonerill,

Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave you all— O, that way, madness lies; let me fhun that;

No more of that.

8

Kent. Good my lord, enter here.

Lear. Pr'ythee, go in thyself; seek thine own cafe ;

This tempeft will not give me leave to ponder

On things would hurt me more

-But I'll go in.

* In boy, go first.

[To the Fool.]

You houfelefs poverty—

Nay, get thee in;

I'll pray, and then I'll fleep—

[Fool goes,

To the fkin fo: tis-fo's and R.'s 8vo. k The 2d q. reads thou wouldst, &c.

The 4th f. R. and P. read light for lay. m So the qu's; the reft roaring for raging.

The qu's read fave what bears their filial ingratitude, &c.

The 3d and 4th fo's and R.'s 8vo read his for this.

P The qu's read fure for home.

This in italic is not in the qu's.

All but the qu's omit you.

The qu's omit here.

These two lines are not in the qu's,

Poor

Poor naked wretches, wherefoe'er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless u night!
How fhall your houseless heads, and unfed fides,
Your loop'd and window'd raggedness defend you
From feafons fuch as thefe? O, I have ta'en

Too little care of this. Take phyfic, pomp;
Expofe thyfelf to feel what wretches feel;
That thou may'st shake the superflux to them,
And shew the heavens more just.

Edg. [within.] Fathom and half, fathom and half! Poor

Tom.

Fool. Come not in here, nuncle, here's a fpirit. Help me, [The Fool runs out from the hovel.

help me.

Kent. Give me thy hand: who's there?

Fool. A fpirit, a fpirit; he fays his name's poor Tom. Kent. What art thou that doft grumble there i'th' ftraw? Come forth.

SCENE VI.

Enter Edgar, disguised as a madman.

Edg. Away! the foul fiend follows me. Through the fharp hawthorn blows the cold wind.

2

bcold bed and warm thee.

So the qu's; the rest storm for night.

The fo's and R. read iop'd.

* This fpeech of Edgar is omitted in the qu's.

Y The qu's have a spirit but once,

z The fo's and R. read blow the winds.

The qu's omit bumph.

All but the qu's amit cold.

a

Humph, go to thy