734 Gracious my lord, hard by here is a hovel; Lear. My wits begin to turn. — Come on, my boy! How dost, my boy? Art cold? Fool. He that has a little tiny wit,— With heigh, ho, the wind and the rain, When priests are more in word than matter; No squire in debt, nor no poor knight; And bawds and whores do churches build; - Come to great confusion. Then comes the time, who lives to see't, That going shall be us'd with feet. [Storm still. The tyranny of the open night's too rongh Lear. Let me alone! Kent. Good my lord, enter here! Kent. I'd rather break mine own. Good my lord, Lear. Thou think'st 'tis much, that this conten- Invades us to the skin: so 'tis to thee; The body's delicate: the tempest in my mind Kent. Good my lord, enter here! Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, This prophecy Merlin shall make; for I live before From seasons such as these? O, I have ta'en his time. [Exit. Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp! SCENE III. A room in GLOSTER's castle. Glo. Alack, alack, Edmund! I like not this unnatural dealing. When I desired their leave that I might pity him, they took from me the use of mine own house; charged me, on pain of their perpetual displeasure, neither to speak of him, entreat for him, nor any way sustain him. Edm. Most savage and unnatural! Poor Tom! [The Fool runs out from the hovel. Kent. Give me thy hand! - Who's there? straw? Come forth! Glo. Go to say you nothing! There is division between the dukes; and a worse matter than that: I have received a letter this night; -'tis dangerous Enter EDGAR, disguised as a madman. to be spoken; I have locked the letter in my clo- Edg. Away! the foul fiend follows me!set: these injuries the king now bears will be revenged Through the sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind!home: there is part of a power already footed: Humph! go to thy cold bed, and warm thee! daughters? we must incline to the king. I will seek him, and Lear. Hast thou given all to thy two Tom? whom privily relieve him: go you, and maintain talk with And art thou come to this? the duke, that my charity be not of him perceived. Edg. Who gives any thing to poor If he ask for me, I am ill, and gone to bed. If I die the foul fiend hath led through fire and through for it, as no less is threatened me, the king my old flame, through ford and whirlpool, master must be relieved. There is some strange thing quagmire; that hath laid knives under his pillow, [Exit. and halters in his pew; set ratsbane by his porridge; made him proud of heart, to ride on a bay trotting horse over four-inched bridges, to course his ow toward, Edmund; pray you, be careful! Edm. This courtesy, forbid thee, shall the duke This seems a fair deserving, and must draw me a-cold. O, do de, do de, do de! - Bless thee from The younger rises, when the old doth fall. [Exit. whirlwinds, star-blasting, and taking! Do pour some charity, whom the foul fiend vexes! There SCENE IV. —A part of the heath, with a hovel. could I have him now, Kent. Here is the place, my lord! good my lord, Lear. What, have his daughters brought him to Could'st thou save nothing? Did'st thou give them all? that in the fury of his heart, when the foul fiend Fool. Nay, he reserved a blanket, else we had been rages, eats cow-dung for sallets; swallows the old all shamed. Fool. This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen. Edg. Take heed o'the foul fiend! Obey thy parents! keep thy word justly! swear not! commit not with man's sworn spouse! set not thy sweet heart on proud array! Tom's a-cold. Lear. What hast thou been? Edg. A serving-man, proud in heart and mind; that curled my hair; wore gloves in my cap, served the lust of my mistress's heart, and did the act of darkness with her; swore as many oaths as I spake words, and broke them in the sweet face of heaven one that slept in the contriving of lust, and waked to do it. Wine loved I deeply; dice dearly; and in woman, out-paramoured the Turk. False of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand; hog in sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, dog in madness, lion in prey. Let not the creaking of shoes, nor the rustling of silks, betray thy poor heart to women! Keep thy foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen from lenders' books, and defy the foul fiend! - Still through the hawthorn blows the cold wind. Says suum mun, ha no nonny, dolphin my boy, my boy, sessa! let him trot by! rat, and the ditch dog; drinks the green mantle of But mice, and rats, and such small deer, Glo. What, hath your grace no better company? Glo. Our flesh and blood, my lord, is grown so vile, Glo. Go in with me! my duty cannot suffer ban: - Lear. I'll talk a word with this same learned TheWhat is your study? Edg. How to prevent the fiend, and to kill vermin. Lear. Let me ask you one word in private. Kent. Impórtune him once more to go, my lord, His wits begin to unsettle. Glo. Can'st thou blame him? His daughters seek his death. —A, that good Kent! He said it would be thus. - Poor banish'd man!Thou say'st the king grows mad; I'll tell thee, friend, [Storm still continues. I am almost mad myself: I had a son, Lear. Why, thou were better in thy grave, than Now outlaw'd from my blood; he sought my life, to answer with thy uncovered body this extremity But lately, very late; I lov'd him, friend, of the skies. Is man no more, than this? Consider No father his son dearer: true to tell thee, him well! Thou owest the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the cat no perfume! Ha! here's three of us are sophisticated! - Thou art the thing itself: unaccommodated man is no more, but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thon art.-Off, off, you lendings! Come; unbutton here![Tearing off his clothes. Fool. Pr'ythee, nuncle, be contented! this is a naughty night to swim in! - Now a little fire in a wild field were like an old lecher's heart; a small spark, all the rest of his body cold. Look, here comes a walking fire! Edg. This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet: he begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock; he gives the web and the pin, squints the eye, and makes the hare-lip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the poor creature of earth. Saint Withold footed thrice the wold; And her troth plight, And aroint thee, witch, aroint thee! Kent. How fares your grace? Enter GLOSTER, with a torch. Lear. What's he? Kent. Who's there? What is't you seek? I [Storm continues. Glo. In, fellow, there, to the hovel! keep thee warm! I will keep still with my philosopher. Glo. Take him you on! Kent. Sirrah, come on! go along with us! Edg. Child Rowland to the dark tower came, Corn. I now perceive, it was not altogether your brother's evil disposition made him seek his death; but a provoking merit, set a-work by a reproveable badness in himself. Edm. How malicious is my fortune, that I must repent to be just! This is the letter he spoke of, which approves him an intelligent party to the advantages of France. O heavens! that this treason were not, or not I the detector! Corn. Go with me to the dutchess! Edm. If the matter of this paper be certain, you have mighty business in hand. Corn. True, or false, it hath made thee earl of Gloster. Seck out where thy father is, that he may be ready for our apprehension. Edm. Aside.] If I find him comforting the king, it will stuff his suspicion more fully.-I will persevere in my course of loyalty, though the conflict be sore between that and my blood. Corn. I will lay trust upon thee; and thou shalt find a dearer father in my love. [Exeunt. 4 chamber in a farm-house, ad- Enter GLOSTER, LEAK, KENT, Fool, and EDgar. Lear. Arraign her first; 'tis Goneril. I here take my oath before this honourable assembly, she kicked the poor king her father. Fool. Come hither, mistress! Is your name Goneril? Lear. She cannot deny it. Fool. Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool, Lear. And here's another, whose warp'd looks proclaim What store her heart is made of. Stop her there! Arms arms, sword, fire! - Corruption in the plax! False justicer, why hast thou let her 'scape? Edg. Bless thy five wits! Kent. O pity!— Sir, where is the patience now, Be thy mouth or black or white, Edg. Frateretto calls me; and tells me, Nero is an Do de, de de, Sessa! Come, march to wakes and angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent, and fairs, and market-towns. Poor Tom, thy horn is dry! beware the foul fiend. Fool. Pr'ythee, nuncle, tell me, whether a madman be a gentleman, or a yeoman? Lear. A king, a king! Fool. No; he's a yeoman, that has a gentleman to his son: for he's a mad yeoman, that sees his son gentleman before him. a Lear. To have a thousand with red burning spits Come hizzing in upon them: - Edg. The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a nightingale. Hopdance cries in Tom's belly for two white herrings. Croak not, black angel! I have no food for thee! Kent. How do you, sir? Stand you not so amaz'd: Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions? 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 ashur Lear. Make no noise, make no noise! draw the cur tains! So, so so. We'll go to supper i'the morning So, so, so. Fool. And I'll go to bed at noon. Glo. Come hither, friend! Where is the king master? Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master: Kent. Oppress'd nature sleeps: Lear. I'll see their trial first. Bring in the evi-This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken senses. dence! -- Reg. Hang him instantly! Corn. Leave him to my displeasure! - Edmund, keep you our sister company; Reg. Wherefore to Dover? Glo. Because I would not see thy cruel nails Pluck out his poor old eyes; nor thy fierce sister the revenges we In his anointed flesh stick boarish fangs. are bound to take upon your traitorous father, are The sea, with such a storm, as his bare head not fit for your beholding. Advise the duke, where In hell-black night endur'd, would have buoy'd up, you are going, to a most festinate preparation; we And quench'd the stelled fires: yet, poor old heart, are bound to the like. Our posts shall be swift, and He holp the heavens to rain. intelligent betwixt us. Farewell, dear sister! -Fare- If wolves had at thy gate howl'd that stern time, well, my lord of Gloster! Enter Steward. How now? Where's the king? Stew. My lord of Gloster hath convey'd him hence: To have well-armd friends. Corn. Get horses for your mistress. [Exeunt Goneril and Edmund. Corn. Edmund, farewell!- Go, seek the traitor Gloster, Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us! Thou should'st have said, Good porter, turn the key! chair! fellows, hold the I have serv'd you ever since I was a child; Than now to bid Though well we may not pass upon his life Re-enter Servants, with GLOSter. Corn. Bind fast his corky arms. Glo. What mean your graces? - Good my friends, consider You are my guests: do me no foul play, friends! Reg. So white, and such a traitor! These hairs, which thou dost ravish from my chin, Reg. Be simple-answer'd, for we know the truth. Reg. How now, you dog? Serv. If you did wear a beard upon your chin, I'd shake it on this quarrel. What do mean? you Corn. My villain! [Draws, and runs at him. Serv. Nay, then come on, and take the chance of anger! [Draws. They fight. Cornwall is wounded. Reg. Give me thy sword. [To another Servant.] A peasant stand up thus! [Snatches a sword, comes behind, and stabs him. Serv. O, I am slain !- My lord, you have one eye left Glo. All dark and comfortless.. Where's my son Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature, Reg. Ont, treacherous villain! Thou call'st on him that hates thee: it was he SCENE I.- The heath. Enter EDGAR. Edg. Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd, Than still contemn'd and flatter'd. To be worst, The lowest, and most dejected thing of fortune, Stands still in esperance, lives not in fear : The lamentable change is 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, get thee 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? S A D C Edg. How should this be?— Glo. Then, pr'y thee, get thee gone! If, for my sake, Old Man. Alack, sir, he's mad! Glo. 'Tis the times' plague, when madmen lead the Do as I hid thee, or rather do thy pleasure; Old Man. I'll bring him the best 'parel that I have, Glo. Sirrah, naked fellow! Exit. Edg. Poor Tom's a-cold. I cannot daub it farther. Glo. Come hither, fellow! [Aside. Bless thy sweet Glo. Know'st thou the way to Dover? Edg. Both stile and gate, horse-way, and foot-path. 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 chambermaids 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, Glo. There is a cliff, whose high and bending head Edg. Give me thy arm, Poor Tom shell lead thee! [Exeunt. SCENE II.-Before the Duke of ALBANY's palace. Enter GONERIL and EDMUND; Steward meeting them. Gon. Welcome, my lord! I marvel, our mild has band rmaster? Edg. [Aside.] O gods! Who is't can say, I am at Not met us on the way. Now, where's your m the worst! I am worse than e'er I was. Old Man. 'Tis poor mad Tom. 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; Edg. [Aside.] And worse I may be yet. The worst His answer was: The worse; of Gloster's treachery 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. since: As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport. A |