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Hast practis'd on man's life!-Close pent-up guilts,
Rive your concealing continents, and cry
These dreadful summoners grace.-I am a man,
More sinn'd against, than sinning.
Kent.
Alack, bare-headed!
Gracious, my lord, hard by here is a hovel;
Some friendship will it lend you 'gainst the tempest;
Repose you there while I to this hard house
(More hard than is the stone whereof 'tis rais'd;
Which even but now, demanding after you,
Denied me to come in), return, and force
Their seanted courtesy.

Lear.
My wits begin to turn.-
Come on, my boy: How dost, my boy? Art cold?
I am cold myself.-Where is this straw, my fellow?
The art of our necessities is strange,

That can make vile things precious. Come, your hovel, Poor fool and knave, I have one part in my heart That's sorry yet for thee.

Fool. He that has a little tiny wit,→

With heigh, ho, the wind and the rain,-
Must make content with his fortunes fit;
For the rain it raineth every day.
Lear. True, my good boy.-Come, bring us to this
hovel.
[Exeunt Lear and Kent.
Fool. This is a brave night to cool a courtezan.-
I'll speak a prophecy ere I go:

When priests are more in word than matter;
When brewers mar their malt with water;
When nobles are their tailors' tutors;
No heretics burn'd, but wenches' suitors:
When every case in law is right;
No squire in debt, nor no poor knight;
When slanders do not live in tongues;
Nor cutpurses come not to throngs;
When usurers tell their gold i'the field:

And bawds and whores do churches build;-
Then shall the realm of Albion

Come to great confusion,

Then comes the time, who lives to see't, That going shall be us'd with feet. This prophecy Merlin shall make; for I live before his time. [Exit.

SCENE III. A Room in Gloster's Castle. Enter Gloster and Edmund. 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!

:

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 to be spoken; I have locked the letter in my closet: these injuries the king now bears will be revenged home; there is part of a power already footed: we must incline to the king. I will seek 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, I am ill, and gone to bed. If I die for it, as no less is threatened me, the king, my old master, must be relieved. There is some strange thing toward, Edmund; pray you, be careful. [Exit. Edm. This courtesy, forbid thee, shall the duke Instantly know; and of that letter too :-This seems a fair deserving, and must draw me That which my father loses; no less than all: The younger rises, when the old doth fall. SCENE IV, A Part of the Heath, with a Hovel, Enter Lear, Kent, and Fool.

[Exit.

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Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand,
For lifting food to't?-But I will punish home :—
No, I will weep no more.-In such a night
To shut me out!-Pour on; I will endure :-
In such a night as this! O'Regan, Goneril !—
Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all,—
O, that way madness lies; let me shun that;
No more of that,-

Kent.

Good, my lord, enter here. Lear. Pr'ythee, go in thyself; seek thine own ease; This tempest 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 houseless. poverty,

Nay, get thee in. I'll pray, and then I'll sleep.-
[Fool goes in.

Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads, and unfed sides,
Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend you
From seasons such as these? O, I have ta'en
Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp;
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel;
That thou may'st shake the superflux to them,
And show the heavens more just.
Edg. [Within] Fathom and half, fathom and half!
Poor Tom!
[The Fool runs out from the Hovel.
Fool. Come not in here, nuncle, here's a spirit.
Help me, help me!

Kent. Give me thy band.-Who's there? [Tom.
Fool. A spirit, a spirit; he says his name's poor
Kent. What art thou that dost grumble there i'the
Come forth.
[straw?

Enter Edgar, disguised as a Madman, Edg. Away! the fou! fiend follows me !-Through the sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind.Humph! go to thy cold bed, and warm thee.

Lear. Hast thou given all to thy two daughters? And art thou come to this!

Edg. Who gives any thing to poor Tom? whom the foul fiend hath led through fire and through flame, through ford and whirlpool, over bog and quagmire; that hath laid knives under his pillow, 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 curse his own shadow for a traitor:-Bless thy five wits! Tom's a-cold.-O, do de, do de, do de.-Bless thee from whirlwinds, starblasting, and taking! Do poor Tom some charity, whom the foul fiend vexes: There could I have him now, and there, and there,-and there again, and there. [Storm continues.

Lear. What, have his daughters brought him to this pass? Couldst thou save nothing? Didst thou give them all? Fool. Nay, he reserved a blanket, else we had been all shamed."

Lear. Now, all the plagues that in the pendulous air Hang fated o'er men's faults, light on thy daughters! Kent. He hath no daughters, sir. [nature

Lear. Death, traitor! nothing could have subdu'd To such a lowness, but his unkind daughters.Is it the fashion, that discarded fathers Should have thus little merey on their flesh? Judicious punishment! 'twas this flesh begot Those pelican daughters.

Edg. Pillicock sat on pillicook's hill; Halloo, halloo, loo, loo!

Fool. This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen.

Edg. Take heed ofthe 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 last of my mistress' 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. [Storm still continues. Lear. Why, thou were better in thy grave, than to answer with thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies.-Is man no more than this! Consider 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 thou 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 bare-lip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the poor creature of earth.

Saint Withold footed thrice the wold;

He met the night-mare, and her nine-fold;
Bid her alight,

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? Glo. What are you there? Your names? Edg. Poor Tom; that eats the swimming frog, the toad, the tadpole, the wall-newt, and the water; that, in the fury of his heart, when the foul fiend rages, eats cow-dung for sallets; swallows the old rat, and the ditch-dog; drinks the green mantle of the standing pool; who is whipped from tything to tything, and stocked, punished, and imprisoned ; who hath had three suits to his back, six shirts to his body, horse to ride, and weapon to wear,

But mice, and rats, and such small deer, Have been Tom's food for seven long year. Beware my follower:-Peace, Smolkin; peace, thou fiend!

Glo. What, hath your grace no better company? Edg. The prince of darkness is a gentleman;

Modo he's call'd, and Mahu.

Glo. Our flesh and blood, my lord, is grown so vile, That it doth hate what gets it.

Edg. Poor Tom's a cold.

Glo. Go in with me; my duty cannot suffer To obey in all your daughters' hard commands: Though their injunction be to bar my doors, And let this tyrannous night take hold upon you; Yet have I ventur'd to come seek you out, And bring you where both fire and food is ready. Lear, First let me talk with this philosopher :What is the cause of thunder?

Kent. Good, my lord, take his offer;

Go into the house.

No words, no words:

Lear. Come, good Athenian.
Glo.
Hush.
Edg. Child Rowland to the dark tower came,
His word was still,- Fie, fok, and fum,

I smell the blood of a British man. [Exeunt.
SCENE V. A Room in Gloster's Castle.
Enter Cornwall and Edmund.
Corn. I will have my revenge, ere I depart his
house.

Edm. How, my lord, I may be censured, that nature thus gives way to loyalty, something fears me to think of.

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 duchess..

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. Seek 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 fally--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.

SCENE VI.

A Chamber in a Farm-house adjoining the Castle. Enter Gloster, Lear, Kent, Fool, and Edgar. Glo. Here is better than the open air; take it thankfully: I will piece out the comfort with what addition I can: I will not be long from you.

Kent. All the power of his wits has given way to his impatience:-The gods reward your kindness! [Exit Gloster.

Edg. Frateretto calls me; and tells me, Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent, and 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 sou a gentleman before him.

Lear. To have a thousand with red burning spits Come hissing in upon them :

Edg. The foul tiend bites my back.

Fool. He's mad, that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath. Lear. It shall be done, I will arraign them straight:Come, sit thou here, most learned justiçer ;(To Edgar.

Lear. I'll talk a word with this same learned The-Thou, sapient sir, sit here. [To the Fool]-Now, you What is your study?

[ban:

Edg. How to prevent the fiend, and to kill vermin. Lear. Let me ask you one word in private. Kent, Importune him once more to go, my lord, His wits begin to unsettle. Glo. Canst thou blame him? His daughters seek his death:-Ah, 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, I am almost mad myself: I had a son, Now outlaw'd from my blood; he sought my life, But lately, very late; I lov'd him, friend,No father his son dearer: true to tell thee, [Storm continues.

The grief hath craz'd my wits. What a night's this! I do beseech your grace,

Lear.

O, cry you mercy,

Noble philosopher, your company. Edg. Tom's a-cold.

she foxes 1

Edg. Look, where he stands and glares!Wantest thou eyes at trial, madam?

Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me:Fool. Her boat hath a leak,

An she must not speak

Why she dares not come over to thee.

Edg. The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a nightingale. Hepdance 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. I'll see their trial first:-Bring in the evidence.

Thou robed man of justice, take thy place;

[To Edgar, And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity, [To the Fool. Bench by his side:-You are of the commission, [To Kent.

Glo. In, fellow, there, to the hovel: keep thee Sit you too.
Lear. Come, let's in all..
[ warm

Kent.

Lear.

This way, my lord.

With him;

I will keep still with my philosopher.
Kent. Good, my lord, sooth him; let him take the
Glo. Take him you on.
[fellow.
Kent. Sirrah, come on; go along with us.

Edg. Let us deal justly.

Sleepest, or wakest thou, jolly shepherd?

Thy sheep be in the corn;

And for one blast of thy minikin mouth,

Thy sheep shall take no harm.

Pur! the cat is gray.

Lear. Arraign her first; 'lis 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 place! False justicer, why hast thou let her 'scape?

Edg. Bless thy five wits!

Kent. O pity-Sir, where is the patience now, That you so oft have boasted to retain ?

Edg. My tears begin to take his part so much, They'll mar my counterfeiting.

Lear. The little dogs and all,

[Aside.

Tray, Blanch, and Sweetheart, see, they bark at me. Edg. Tom will throw his head at them :-Avaunt, you curs!

Be thy mouth or black or white,
Tooth that poisons if it bite;
Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim,
Hound, or spaniel, brach, or lym;
Or bubtail tike, or trundle-tail;
Tom will make them weep and wail:
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 awhile.

Lear. Make no noise, make no noise: draw the curtains: So, so, so: We'll go to supper i'the morning: So, so, so.

Fool. And I'll go to bed at noon.
Re-enter Gloster.

master?

[meet

Glo. Come hither, friend: Where is the king, my [gone. Kent. Here, sir; but trouble him not, his wits are 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 Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master: If thou shouldst 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.

Oppress'd nature sleeps: This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken senses,Which, if convenience will not allow, Stand in hard cure.-Come, help to bear thy master; Thou must not stay behind. [To the Fool. Come, come, away. [Exeunt Kent, Gloster, and the Fool, bearing off the King.

Glo.

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 He childed, as I father'd !--Tom, away: [bow; Mark the high noises; and thyself bewray, 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.

SCENE VII. A Room in Gloster's Castle. Enter Cornwall, Regan, Goneril, Edmund, and Servants.

Corn. Post speedily to my lord your husband; show him this letter:-the army of France is landed:Seek out the villain Gloster.

[Exeunt some of the Servants.

Reg. Hang him instantly. Gon. Pluck out his eyes. Corn. Leave him to my displeasure.-Edinund, 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 ns. Farewell, dear sister;-farewell, my lord of Gloster.

Enter Steward.

How now? where's the king?

Stew. My lord of Gloster bath convey'd him hence; Some five or six and thirty of his knights, Hot questrists after him, met him at gate; Who, with some other of the lord's dependants, Are gone with him towards Dover; where they boast 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 courtesy to our wrath, which men May blame, but not control. Who's there? The traitor ?

Re-enter Servants, with Gloster.

[consider

Reg. Ingrateful fox! 'tis be. Corn. Bind fast his corky arms. Glo. What mean your graces?-Good, my friends, 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, 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?

Reg. Be simple-answer'd, for we know the truth. Corn. And what confederacy have you with the Late footed in the kingdom? [traitors

Reg. To whose hands have you sent the lunatic Speak. [king?

Glo. I have a letter guessingly set down, Which came from one that's of a neutral heart, And not from one oppos'd.

Corn.

Cunning.

And false.

Reg.

Corn. Where hast thou sent the king?

Glo.

To Dover.

Reg. Wherefore To Dover? Wast thou not charg'd at thy peritCorn. Wherefore to Dover? Let him first answer [course.

that.

Glo. I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the 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 shouldst have said, Good porter, turn the key:
All cruels else subscrib'd:-But I shall see
The winged vengeance overtake such children.
Corn. See it shalt thou never:-Fellows, hold the
Upon these eyes of thine I'll set my foot. [chair:
[Gloster is held down in his Chair, while
Cornwall plucks out one of his Eyes, and
sets his Foot on it.

Glo. He, that will think to live till he be old,
Give me some help :-O cruel! O ye gods!
Reg. One side will mock another; the other too.
Corn. If you see vengeance,
Serv.

Hold your hand, my lord: I have serv'd you ever since I was a child; But better service have I never done you, Than now to bid you hold.

Reg. How now, you dog?

Serv. If you did wear a beard upon your chin, I'd shake it on this quarrel: What do you mean?

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 To see some mischief on him :-0! [Dies. Corn. Lest it see more, prevent it:-Out, vile jelly! Where is thy lustre now?

[Tears out Gloster's other Eye, and throws it on the Ground.

Glo. All dark and comfortless.- Where's my son
Edmund ?

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 overture of thy treasons to us;
Who is too good to pity thee.

Glo.

Then Edgar was abus'd.

O my follies!

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 un-
bind Gloster, and lead him out.

1 Serv. 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 Bedlam To lead him where he would; his roguish madness Allows itself to any thing.

[of eggs, 2 Serv. Go thou; I'll fetch some flax, and whites 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 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 M. 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 M. 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 M. How now? Who's there? Edg. [Aside] O gods! Who is't can say, I am at I am worse than e'er I was. [the worst? Old M.

"Tis poor mad Tom. Edg. [Aside] And worse I may be yet: The worst So long as we can say, This is the worst. [is not, Old M. Fellow, where goest? Glo. Is it a beggar-man? Gld M. Madman and beggar too. Glo. He has some reason, eise 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 [since : Was then scarce friends with him: I have heard more As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport.

Edg.

[ter!

How should this be ?Bad is the trade must play the fool to sorrow, Ang'ring itself and others. [Aside)-Bless thee, masGlo. Is that the naked fellow ? Old M. Ay, my lord. Glo. Then, pr'ythee, get thee gone: If, for my sake, 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.

Old M.

Alack, sir, he's mad. Glo. "Tis the times' plague, when madmen lead the Do as I bid thee, or rather do thy pleasure; [blind: Above the rest, be gone.

Old M. I'll bring him the best 'parrel that I have, Come on't what will. [Exit.

Glo. Sirrah, naked fellow.

Edg. Poor Tom's a-cold.-I cannot daub it further. [Aside. Glo. Come hither, fellow. [eyes, they bleed. Edg. [Aside] And yet I must.-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 Obidicul; Hobbididdance, prince of dumbuess; Mahu, of stealing; Modo, of murder; and Flibber tigibbet, 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, Makes thee the happier: Heavens, deal so still! Let the superfluous, and lust-dieted man,

That slaves

Because he doth ordinance, that will not see

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 repair the misery thou dost bear, With something rich about me; from that place I shall no leading need. Edg. Give me thy arm; Poor Tom shall lead thee. SCENE II. Before the Duke of Albany's Palace. Enter Goneril and Edmund; Steward meeting them. Gon. Welcome, my lord: I marvel, our mild hus

band

[Exeunt.

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,

When I inform'd him, then he call'd me sot;
And told me, I had turn'd the wrong side out:-
What most he should dislike, seems pleasant to him;
What like, offensive.
Gon.

Then shall you go no further.
[To Edmund.
It is the cowish terror of his spirit,
That dares not undertake: he'll not feel wrongs,
Which tie him to an answer: Our wishes, on the way,
May prove effects. 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 bands. 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!
O, the difference of man, and man! To thee
[Exit Edmund.
A woman's services are due; my fool
Usurps my bed.
Stew.

Madam, here comes my lord. [Exit. Enter Albany, Gon. I have been worth the whistle. Alb.

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 sliver 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.
Could my good brother suffer you to do it?
A man, a prince, by him so benefited?

If that the heavens do not their visible spirits
Send quickly down to tame these vile offences,
"Twill come,

Humanity must perforce prey on itself,
Like monsters of the deep.

Gon.

Milk-liver'd man;

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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?

Kent. Did your letters pierce the queen to any demonstration of grief!

Gent. Ay, sir; she took them, read them in my pre-
And now and then an ample tear trill'd down [sence;
Her delicate cheek: it seem'd, she was a queen
Over her passion; who, most rebel-like,
Sought to be king o'er her.

Kent.
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
Pantingly forth, as if it press'd her heart; father
Cried, Sisters! sisters !-Shame of ladies! sisters!
Kent! father: sisters! What? i'the storm? i'the
Let pity not be believed!-There she shook [night?
The holy water from her heavenly eyes,
And clamour moisten'd then away she started
To deal with grief alone.
It is the stars,

Kent.
The stars above us, govern our conditions;
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:

Who sometime, in his better tune, remembers
What we are come about, and by no means
Will yield to see his daughter.

Gent.

Why, good sir? Kent. A sovereign shame so elbows him his own ankindness,

That stripp'd her from his benediction, turn'd her
To foreign casualties, gave her dear rights
To his dog-hearted daughters,-these things sting

Mess. O, my good lord, the duke of Cornwall's dead; His mind so venomously, that burning shame
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 remorse,
Oppos'd against the act, bending his sword
To his great master; who, thereat enrag'd,
Plew 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.

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Alb. Where was his son, when they did take his
Mess, Come with my lady hither. [eyes?
Alb.
He is not here.
Mess. No, my good lord; I met him back again.
Alb. Knows he the wickedness?
Chim;
Mess. Ay, my good lord; 'twas he inform'd against
And quit the house on purpose, that their punishment
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.

Kent. Why the king of France is so suddenly gone back know you the reason?

Gent. Something he left imperfect in the state,
Which since his coming forth is thought of; which
Imports to the kingdom so much fear and danger,
That his personal return was most requir'd,
And necessary.

Kent. Who hath he left behind him general?
Gent. The mareschal of France, monsieur le Fer.

Detains him from Cordelia.

Gent.
Alack, poor gentleman!
Kent. Of Albany's and Cornwall's powers you
Gent. 'Tis so; they are afoot.
[heard not?
Kent. Well, sir, I'll bring you to our master Lear,
And leave you to attend him some dear cause
Will in concealment wrap me up awhile;
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 Cordelia, 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, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-tlowers,
Darnel, and all the idie 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.
Phys. 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
Will close the eye of anguish.

Cor.

All bless'd secrets,
All you unpublish'd virtues of the earth,
Spring with my tears! be aidant, and remediate,
In the good man's distress!--Seek, seek for him;
Lest his ungovern'd rage dissolve the life
That wants the means to lead it.
Enter a Messenger.

Mess.

Madam, news;
The British powers are marching hitherward.
Cor. "Tis known before; our preparation stands
In expectation of them.-Ó dear father,
It is thy business that I go about.
Therefore great France

My mourning, and important tears, hath pitied.
No blown ambition doth our arms incite,
But love, dear love, and our ag'd father's right:
Soon may I hear, and see him.
[Exeunt.

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