For, with throwing thus my head, Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled. Do de, de de. Sessa. Come, march to wakes and fairs, and market-towns:-Poor Tom, thy horn is dry.
Lear. Then let them anatomize Regan; see what breeds about her heart: Is there any cause in nature, that makes these hard hearts?-You, sir, I entertain you for one of my hundred; only, I do not like the fashion of your garments: you will say, they are Persian attire; but let them be changed. {To Edgar. Kent. Now, good my lord, lie here, and rest a while.
Glo. Come hither, friend: Where is the king my master?
Kent. Here, sir; but trouble him not, his wits
are gone.
Glo. Good friend, I pr'ythee take him in thy arms;
I have o'erheard a plot of death upon him:
There is a litter ready; lay him in't,
And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt
meet
Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master:
If thou should'st dally half an hour, his life,
With thine, and all that offer to defend him,
Stand in assured loss: Take up, take
up;
And follow me, that will to some provision
Give thee quick conduct.
Kent.
keep you our sister company; the revenges we are bound to take upon your traitorous father, are not fit for your beholding. Advise the duke, where you are going, to a most festinate preparation; we are bound to the like. Our posts shall be swift and intelligent betwixt us. Farewell, dear sister;—farewell, my lord of Gloster.3
Some five or six and thirty of his knights, Hot questrists4 after him, met him at gate; Lear. Make no noise, make no noise; draw the Who, with some other of the lord's dependants, curtains: So, so, so: We'll go to supper i'the morn-Are gone with him towards Dover; where they ing: So, so, so.
boast
Fool. And I'll go to bed at noon.
Re-enter Gloster.
Oppress'd nature sleeps :This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken senses, Which, if convenience will not albw, Stand in hard cure.-Come, help tobear thy master; Thou must not stay behind. [To the Fool. Glo. Come, come, away. [Exeunt Kent, Gloster, and the Fool, bearing off the King.
Corn. Post speedily to my lord your husband; show him this letter:-the army of France is landed: -Seek out the villain Gloster.
Enter Steward.
How now? Where's the king?
Stew. My lord of Gloster hath convey'd him hence :
Edg. When we our betters see bearing our woes,
We scarcely think our miseries our foes.
Who alone suffers, suffers most i'the mind;
Leaving free things, and happy shows, behind:
But then the mind much sufferance doth o'erskip,
When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship.
How light and portable my pain seems now,
When that, which makes me bend, makes the king
bow;
He childed, as I father'd!-Tom, away:
Mark the high noises; and thyself bewray,2
When false opinion, whose wrong thought defiles
thee,
In thy just proof, repeals, and reconciles thee.
What will hap more to-night, safe 'scape the king!
Lurk, lurk.
[Exit.
[Exeunt some of the Servants.
Reg. Hang him instantly.
Gon. Pluck out his eyes.
Corn. Leave him to my displeasure.-Edmund,
(1) The great events that are approaching. (2) Betray, discover.
To have well-armed friends.
Corn.
Get horses for your mistress.
Gon. Farewell, sweet lord, and sister.
[Exeunt Goneril and Edmund.
Corn. Edmund, farewell.-Go, seek the traitor
Gloster,
Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us.
[Exeunt other Servants.
Though well we may not pass upon his life
Without the form of justice; yet our power
Shall do a courtesys to our wrath, which men
May blame, but not control. Who's there? The
traitor?
Reg. Be simple-answer'd, for we know the truth. Corn. And what confederacy have you with the traitors
Late footed in the kingdom?
Reg. To whose hands have you sent the lunatic king? Speak.
Glo. I have a letter guessingly set down, SCENE VII-A room in Gloster's castle. En-Which came from one that's of a neutral heart, ter Cornwall, Regan, Goneril, Edmund, and Ser- And not from one oppos'd.
vants.
Corn.
Cunning.
Reg.
And false.
Corn. Where hast thou sent the king?
Glo.
Reg.
To Dover? Wast thou not charg'd at thy peril-
To Dover.
Wherefore
Re-enter Servants, with Gloster.
Reg. Ingrateful fox! 'tis he.
Corn. Bind fast his corky6 arms.
Glo. What mean your graces?-Good my friends,
consider
You are my guests: do me no foul play, friends.
Corn. Bind him, I say. [Servants bind him.
Reg.
Hard, hard :-O filthy traitor!
Glo. Unmerciful lady as you are, I am none.
Corn. To this chair bind him:-Villain, thou
shalt find- [Regan plucks his beard.
Glo. By the kind gods, 'tis most ignobly done
To pluck me by the beard.
Reg. So white, and such a traitor!
Glo.
Naughty lady,
These hairs, which thou dost ravish from my chin,
Will quicken,7 and accuse thee: I am your host;
With robbers' hands, my hospitable favours
You should not ruffle thus. What will you do?
Corn. Come, sir, what letters had you late from
France?
Corn. Wherefore to Dover? Let him first answer that.
Glo. I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the
course.
Reg. Wherefore to Dover?
Glo. Because I would not see thy cruel nails
Pluck out his poor old eyes; nor thy fierce sister
In his anointed flesh stick boarish fangs.
The sea, with such a storm as his bare head
In hell-black night endur'd, would have buoy'd up,
And quench'd the stelled' fires: yet, poor old heart,
He holp the heavens to rain.
If wolves had at thy gate howl'd that stern time,
Thou should'st have said, Good porter, turn the key;
All cruels else subscrib'd:2-But I shall see
The winged vengeance overtake such children.
Corn. See it shalt thou never:-Fellows, hold the chair:
Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature,
To quit this horrid act.
Reg.
Out, treacherous villain!
Thou call'st on him that hates thee: it was he
That made the overture4 of thy treasons to us;
Who is too good to pity thee.
Glo.
O my follies!
Then Edgar was abus'd.—
Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him!
Reg. Go, thrust him out at gates, and let him smell
His way to Dover.-How is't, my lord? How look
you?
Corn. I have receiv'd a hurt:-Follow me, lady.
Turn out that eyeless villain ;-throw this slave Upon the dunghill.-Regan, I bleed apace : Untimely comes this hurt: Give me your arm. [Exit Cornwall, led by Regan;-Servants unbind Gloster, and lead him out.
1 Sery. I'll never care what wickedness I do, If this man comes to good. 2 Serv. If she live long, And, in the end, meet the old course of death, Women will all turn monsters.
1 Serv. Let's follow the old earl, and get the Bedlams
(1) Starred.
(2) Yielded, submitted to the necessity of the
occasion.
(3) Requite. (4) Laid open. (5) Madman.
To lead him where he would; his roguish madness Allows itself to any thing.
2 Serv. Go thou; I'll fetch some flax, and whites of eggs,
To apply to his bleeding face. Now, heaven help him! [Exeunt severally.
ACT IV.
SCENE I.-The heath. Enter Edgar.
Edg. Yet better thus, and known to be con temn'd,
Than still contemn'd and flatter'd.6 To be worst,
The lowest, and most dejected thing of fortune,
Stands still in esperance,' lives not in fear:
The lamentable change from the best;
The worst returns to laughter. Welcome then,
Thou unsubstantial air, that I embrace!
The wretch, that thou hast blown unto the worst,
Owes nothing to thy blasts.-But who comes
here?-
Enter Gloster, led by an Old Man.
My father, poorly led?-World, world, O world! But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee, Life would not yield to age.
Old Man. O my good lord, I have been your tenant, and your father's tenant, these fourscore
years.
*
Glo. Away, getthee away; good friend, be gone Thy comforts can do me no good at all, Thee they may hurt.
Old Man. Alack, sir, you cannot see your way.
Glo. I have no way, and therefore want no eyes;
I stumbled when I saw: Full oft 'tis seen,
Our mean secures us; and our mere defects
Prove our commodities.--Ah, dear son Edgar,
The food of thy abused father's wrath!
Might I but live to see thee in my touch,
I'd say, I had eyes again!
Old Man.
How now? Who's there?
Edg. [Aside.] 0 gods! Who is't can say, I am
at the worst?
I am worse than e'er I was.
Old Man.
'Tis poor mad Tom. Edg. [Aside.] And worse I may be yet: The worst is not,
So long as we can say, This is the worst.
Old Man. Fellow, where goest?
Glo.
Is it a beggar-man?
Old Man. Madman and beggar too.
Glo. He has some reason, else he could not beg.
I'the last night's storm I such a fellow saw;
Which made me think a man a worm: My son
Came then into my mind; and yet my mind
Was then scarce friends with him: I have heard
more since :
As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport.
Edg. How should this be?- When I inform'd him, then he call'd me sot; Bad is the trade must play the fool to sorrow, And told me, I had turn'd the wrong side out:Ang'ring itself and others. [Aside.]-Bless thee,|| What most he should dislike, seems pleasant to him; What like, offensive. Gon.
master!
Glo. Is that the naked fellow?
Old Man.
Ay, my lord.
Glo. Then, pr'ythee, get thee gone: If, for myIt is the cowish terror of his spirit,
That dares not undertake: he'll not feel wrongs,
sake,
Which tie him to an answer: Our wishes, on the
way,
Thou wilt o'ertake us, hence a mile or twain, I'the way to Dover, do it for ancient love; And bring some covering for this naked soul, Whom I'll entreat to lead me.
[Exit.
Glo. Sirrah, naked fellow. Edg. Poor Tom's a-cold-I cannot daub' it fur[Aside.
ther.
Glo. Come hither, fellow. Edg. [Aside.] And yet I must.-Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed.
Glo. Know'st thou the way to Dover? Edg. Both stile and gate, horse-way, and footpath. Poor Tom hath been scared out of his good wits: Bless the good man from the foul fiend! Five fiends have been in poor Tom at once; of lust, as Obidicut; Hobbididance, prince of dumbness; Mahu, of stealing; Modo, of murder; and Flibbertigibbet, of mopping and mowing; who since possesses chamber-maids and waiting-women. So, bless thee, master!
Glo. Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's plagues
Have humbled to all strokes: that I am wretched,
Makes thee the happier :-Heavens, deal so still!
Let the superfluous, and lust-dieted man,
That slaves your ordinance,2 that will not see
Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly;
So distribution should undo excess,
And each man have enough.-Dost thou know
Dover?
Edg. Ay, master.
Glo. There is a cliff, whose high and bending
head
Looks fearfully in the confined deep:
Bring me but to the very brim of it,
And I'll repair the misery thou dost bear,
With something rich about me: from that place
I shall no leading need.
Give me thy arm;
Edg.
Poor Tom shall lead thee.
[Exeunt. SCENE II-Before the Duke of Albany's palEnter Goneril and Edmund; Steward meeting them.
ace.
Gon. Welcome, my lord: I marvel, our mild husband
Not met us on the way :-Now, where's your master?
Stew. Madam, within; but never man so chang'd: I told him of the army that was landed; He smil'd at it: I told him, you were coming; His answer was, The worse: of Gloster's treachery, And of the loyal service of his son,
Then shall you go no further. [To Edmund.
节
May prove effects.3 Back, Edmund, to my brother;
Hasten his musters, and conduct his powers:
I must change arms at home, and give the distaff
Into my husband's hands. This trusty servant
Shall pass between us: ere long you are like to hear,
If
you dare venture in your own behalf,
A mistress's command. Wear this; spare speech;
[Giving a favour.
Decline your head this kiss, if it durst speak,
Would stretch thy spirits up into the air ;--
Conceive, and fare thee well.
Edm. Yours in the ranks of death.
Gon.
My most dear Gloster!
[Exit Edmund.
O, the difference of man, and man! To thee
A woman's services are due; my fool
Usurps my bed.
Stew.
Enter Albany.
Gon. I have been worth the whistle.4 Alb.
Madam, here comes my lord. [Exit Steward.
O Goneril!
You are not worth the dust which the rude wind
Blows in your face-I fear your disposition :
That nature, which contemns its origin,
Cannot be border'd certain in itself;
She that herself will slivers and disbranch
From her material sap, perforce must wither,
And come to deadly use.
Gon. No more; the text is foolish.
Alb. Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile. Filths savour but themselves. What have you done? Tigers, not daughters, what have you perform'd? A father, and a gracious aged man, Whose reverence the head-lugg'd bear would lick, Most barbarous, most degenerate! have you madded.
(1) Disguise.
(2) i. e. To make it subject to us, instead of pleted. acting in obedience to it.
VOL. II.
France spreads his banners in our noiseless land:
With plumed helm thy slayer begins threats;
Whilst thou, a moral fool, sit'st still, and cri'st,
Alack! why does he so?
Alb.
See thyself, devil!
Proper deformity seems not in the fiend
So horrid, as in woman.
Gon.
O vain fool!
(3) 1. e. Our wishes on the road may be com
(5) Tear off,
(4) Worth calling for. 3 P
Alb. Thou changed and self-cover'd thing, for
shame,
Be-monster not thy feature. Were it my fitness
To let these hands obey my blood,
They are apt enough to dislocate and tear
Thy flesh and bones:-Howe'er thou art a fiend,
A woman's shape doth shield thee.
Gon. Marry, your manhood now!
Enter a Messenger.
Alb. What news?
Mess. O, my good lord, the duke of Cornwall's dead;
Slain by his servant, going to put out
The other eye of Gloster.
Alb.
Gloster's eyes! Mess. A servant that he bred, thrill'd with
morse,
Oppos'd against the act, bending his sword
To his great master: who, thereat enrag'd,
Flew on him, and amongst them fell'd him dead:
But not without that harmful stroke, which since
Hath pluck'd him after.
Alb.
This shows you are above,
You justicers, that these our nether crimes
So speedily can venge!-But, O poor Gloster!
Lost he his other eye?
Mess.
Both, both, my lord.-
This letter, madam, craves a speedy answer;
'Tis from your sister.
Gon. [Aside.] One way I like this well;
But being widow, and my Gloster with her,
May all the building in my fancy pluck
Upon my hateful life: Another way,
The news is not so tart.-I'll read, and answer.
[Exit.
Alb. Where was his son, when they did take his
eyes?
Mess. Come with my lady hither.
Alb.
He is not here.
Mess. No, my good lord; I met him back again.
Alb. Knows he the wickedness?
Mess. Ay, my good lord; 'twas he inform'd
against him;
And quit the house on purpose, that their punish
ment
Might have the freer course.
Alb.
Gloster, I live
To thank thee for the love thou show'dst the king,
And to revenge thine eyes.-Come hither, friend;
Tell me what more thou knowest. [Exeunt.
SCENE III.-The French camp near Dover.
Enter Kent, and a Gentleman.
Pantingly forth, as if it press'd her heart;
Cried, Sisters! sisters!-Shame of ladies! sisters! re-Kent! father! sisters! What? the storm? i'the night?
Let pity not be believed!3-There she shook
The holy water from her heavenly eyes,
And clamour moisten'd: then away she started
To deal with grief alone.
Kent.
It is the stars,
The stars above us, govern our conditions:4
Else one self mate and mate could not beget
Such different issues. You spoke not with her since?
Gent. No.
Kent. Was this before the king return'd?
Gent.
No, since.
Kent. Well, sir; The poor distress'd Lear is i'the
town:
Sought to be king o'er her.
Kent.
(1) Inclination. (2) Discourse, conversation.
(3) i. e. Let not pity be supposed to exist.
(4) Dispositions. (5) Forces.
O, then it mov'd her.
Gent. Not to a rage; patience and sorrow strove
Who should express her goodliest. You have seen
Sunshine and rain at once; her smiles and tears
Were like a better day: Those happy smiles,
That play'd on her ripe lip, seem'd not to know
What guests were in her eyes; which parted thence,
As pearls from diamonds dropp'd.—In brief, sorrow
Would be a rarity most belov'd, if all
Could so become it.
Kent.
Made she no verbal question ??
Gent. 'Faith, once, or twice, she heav'd the name
of father
Gent.
Alack, poor gentleman! Kent. Of Albany's and Cornwall's powers you heard not?
Gent. 'Tis so; they are afoot.
Kent. Well, sir, I'll bring you to our master Lear,
And leave you to attend him: some dear causes
Will in concealment wrap me up a while;
When I am known aright, you shall not grieve
Lending me this acquaintance. I pray you, go
Along with me.
[Exeunt.
SCENE IV.-The same. A tent. Enter Cor-
delia, Physician, and Soldiers.
Cor. Alack, 'tis he; why, he was met even now
As mad as the vex'd sea: singing aloud;
Crown'd with rank fumiter, and furrow-weeds,
With harlocks,8 hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers,
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow
In our sustaining corn.-A century send forth;
Search every acre in the high grown field,
And bring him to our eye. [Exit an Officer.]--
What can man's wisdom do,
In the restoring his bereaved sense?
He, that helps him, take all my outward worth,
Phy. There is means, madam:
Our foster-nurse of nature is repose,
The which he lacks; that to provoke in him,
Are many simples operative, whose power
(6) Important business. (7) Fumitory.
(8) Charlocks.
know it:
Therefore, I do advise you, take this note :6
My lord is dead; Edmund and I have talk'd;
And more convenient is he for my hand,
Than for your lady's :-You may gather more.7
If you do find him, pray you, give him this;
And when your mistress hears thus much from you,||
I pray, desire her call her wisdom to her.
So, fare you well.
(1) i. e. The reason which should guide it.
(2) Importunate. (3) Inflated, swelling.
(4) 1. e. His life made dark as night.
(5) A cast, or significant glance of the eye.
If you do chance to hear of that blind traitor,
Preferment falls on him that cuts him off.
Stew. 'Would I could meet him, madam! I
would show
What party I do follow.
Reg.
Fare thee well. [Exe.
SCENE VI-The country near Dover. Enter
Gloster, and Edgar, dressed like a peasant.
Glo. When shall we come to the top of that same
hill?
Edg. You do climb up it now: look, how we
labour.
Glo. Methinks, the ground is even.
Edg
Hark, do you. hear the sea?
Glo.
No, truly.
Edg. Why, then your other senses grow imper-
fect
By your eyes' anguish.
Glo.
So may it be, indeed:
Methinks, thy voice is alter'd; and thou speak'st
In better phrase, and matter, than thou didst.
Edg. You are much deceiv'd; in nothing am
chang'd,
But in my garments.
Glo.
Methinks, you are better spoken.
Edg. Come on, sir; here's the place:-Stand still.
-How fearful
And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low!
The crows, and choughs, that wing the midway air,
Show scarce so gross as beetles: Half way down
Hangs one that gathers samphire ;9 dreadful trade!
Methinks, he seems no bigger than his head:
The fishermen, that walk upon the beach,
Appear like mice; and yon' tall anchoring bark,
Diminish'd to her cock ;10 her cock, a buoy
Almost too small for sight: The murmuring surge,
That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes,
Cannot be heard so high:-I'll look no more;
Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight
Topplell down headlong.
Glo.
Set me where you stand.
Edg. Give me your hand: You are now within
a foot
Of the extreme verge for all beneath the moon
Would I not leap upright.
Glo.
Let go my hand.
Here, friend, is another purse; in it, a jewel
Well worth a poor man's taking: Fairies, and gods,
Prosper it with thee! Go thou further off;
Bid me farewell, and let me hear thee going.
Edg. Now fare you well, good sir. [Seems to go.
Glo.
With all my heart.
Edg. Why I do trifle thus with his despair,
Is done to cure it.
Glo.
O you mighty gods!
This world I do renounce; and, in your sights,
Shake patiently my great affliction off:
If I could bear it longer, and not fall
To quarrel with your great opposeless wills,
My snuff, and loathed part of nature, should
Burn itself out. If Edgar live, O, bless him!-
Now, fellow, fare thee well.
[He leaps, and falls along.
Edg.
Gone, sir? Farewell.-
And yet I know not how conceit may rob
The treasury of life, when life itself
Yields to the theft: Had he been where he thought,
By this, had thought been past.-Alive, or dead?
(6) Observe what I am saying. (7) Infer more. (8) Daws. (9) A vegetable gathered for pickling. (10) Her cock-boat. (11) Tumble.
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