CORNWALL Go with me to the Duchess.
EDMUND If the matter of this paper be certain, you have
15
mighty business in hand.
CORNWALL True or false, it hath made thee Earl of
Gloucester. Seek out where thy father is, that he may
be ready for our apprehension.
EDMUND [aside] If I find him comforting the King, it
20
will stuff his suspicion more fully. [to Cornwall] I will
persever in my course of loyalty, though the conflict be
sore between that and my blood.
CORNWALL I will lay trust upon thee and thou shalt find
a dear father in my love. Exeunt.
25
3.6 Enter KENT[, disguised,] and GLOUCESTER.
GLOUCESTER 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 have given way to FhisF
impatience. The gods reward your kindness.
5
Exit [Gloucester].
Enter LEAR, EDGAR[, disguised as Poor Tom,] and Fool.
EDGAR Frateretto calls me, and tells me Nero is an
angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent, FandF
beware the foul fiend.
FOOL Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a
gentleman or a yeoman?
10
LEAR A king, a king.
FFOOL No, he’s a yeoman that has a gentleman to his
son; for he’s a mad yeoman that sees his son a
gentleman before him.
LEARF To have a thousand with red burning spits
15
Come hizzing in upon ‘em!
QEDGAR The foul fiend 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.
20
[to Edgar] Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer;
[to the Fool] Thou sapient sir, sit here. No, you she-foxes –
EDGAR Look where she stands and glares! Want’st thou
eyes at trial, madam?
Come o’er the bourn, Bessy, to me.
25
FOOL Her boat hath a leak,
And she must not speak
Why she dares not come over to thee.
EDGAR The foul fiend haunts Poor Tom in the voice of
a nightingale. Hoppedance cries in Tom’s belly for
30
two white herring. Croak not, black angel, I have no
food for thee.
KENT How do you, sir? Stand you not so amazed.
Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions?
LEAR I’ll see their trial first. Bring in their evidence.
35
[to Edgar] Thou robed man of justice, take thy place.
[to the Fool] And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity,
Bench by his side. [to Kent] You are o’the commission;
Sit you too.
EDGAR Let us deal justly.
40
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.
Purr, the cat is grey.
45
LEAR Arraign her first, ’tis Goneril – I here take my
oath before this honourable assembly – kicked the
poor King her father.
FOOL Come hither, mistress: is your name Goneril?
LEAR She cannot deny it.
50
FOOL Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool.
LEAR
And here’s another whose warped looks proclaim
What store her heart is made on. Stop her there!
Arms, arms, sword, fire, corruption in the place!
False justicer, why hast thou let her ‘scape?Q
55
EDGAR Bless thy five wits.
KENT O pity! Sir, where is the patience now
That you so oft have boasted to retain?
EDGAR [aside]
My tears begin to take his part so much
They mar my counterfeiting.
LEAR The little dogs and all,
60
Trey, Blanch and Sweetheart, see, they bark at me.
EDGAR Tom will throw his head at them: avaunt, you curs!
Be thy mouth or black or white,
Tooth that poisons if it bite;
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Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim,
Hound or spaniel, brach or him,
FOrF bobtail tyke or trundle-tail,
Tom will make him weep and wail;
For with throwing thus my head,
70
Dogs leap the hatch and all are fled.
Do, de, de, de. FCessez!F 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 make
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these hard hearts? [to Edgar] You, sir, I entertain Q youQ
for one of my hundred; only I do not like the fashion
of your garments. You will say they are Persian
QattireQ, but let them be changed.
KENT Now, good my lord, lie here Fand restF awhile.
80
LEAR Make no noise, make no noise, draw the curtains.
So, so, Q soQ; we’ll go to supper i’the morning Qso, so, so.Q
[He sleeps.]
FFOOL And I’ll go to bed at noon.F
Enter GLOUCESTER.
GLOUCESTER
Come hither, friend; where is the King my master?
KENT
Here, sir, but trouble him not; his wits are gone.
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GLOUCESTER
Good friend, I prithee 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 toward Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet
Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master:
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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.
QKENT Oppressed nature sleeps.
95
This rest might yet have balmed thy broken sinews,
Which if convenience will not allow
Stand in hard cure. [to the Fool] Come, help to bear thy master;
Thou must not stay behind.Q
GLOUCESTER Come, come away!
Exeunt [all but Edgar;
Kent and the Fool supporting Lear].
QEDGAR When we our betters see bearing our woes,
100
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.
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How light and portable my pain seems now,
When that which makes me bend makes the King bow,
He childed as I fathered. Tom, away;
Mark the high noises, and thyself bewray
When false opinion, whose wrong thoughts defile thee,
110
In thy just proof repeals and reconciles thee.
What will hap more tonight, safe ‘scape the King.
Lurk, lurk!Q [Exit.]
3.7 Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, GONERIL, EDMUND and servants.FF
CORNWA
LL [to Goneril] Post speedily to my lord your
husband. Show him this letter: the army of France is
landed. [to servants] Seek out the traitor, Gloucester.
REGAN Hang him instantly! [Some servants rush off.]
GONERIL Pluck out his eyes!
5
CORNWALL Leave him to my displeasure. Edmund, 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.
10
Our posts shall be swift and intelligent betwixt us.
Farewell, dear sister; farewell, my lord of Gloucester.
Enter OSWALD.
How now, where’s the King?
OSWALD
My lord of Gloucester hath conveyed him hence.
Some five- or six-and-thirty of his knights,
15
Hot questrists after him, met him at gate,
Who with some other of the lord’s dependants
Are gone with him toward Dover, where they boast
To have well-armed friends.
CORNWALL Get horses for your mistress. [Exit Oswald.]
20
GONERIL Farewell, sweet lord and sister.
CORNWALL
Edmund, farewell. Exeunt QGoneril and EdmundQ.
[to servants] Go, seek the traitor Gloucester;
Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us.
[Servants leave.]
Though FwellF we may not pass upon his life
Without the form of justice, yet our power
25
Shall do a courtesy to our wrath, which men
May blame but not control. Who’s there? The traitor?
Enter GLOUCESTER,Q brought in by two or threeQ FServants.F
REGAN Ingrateful fox, ’tis he.
CORNWALL Bind fast his corky arms.
GLOUCESTER What means your graces?
Good my friends, consider; you are my guests.
30
Do me no foul play, friends.
CORNWALL Bind him, I say –
[Servants bind his arms.]
REGAN Hard, hard. O, filthy traitor!
GLOUCESTER Unmerciful lady as you are, I’m none.
CORNWALL
To this chair bind him. [to Gloucester] Villain, thou shalt find – [Regan plucks his beard.]
GLOUCESTER By the kind gods, ’tis most ignobly done
35
To pluck me by the beard.
REGAN So white, and such a traitor?
GLOUCESTER Naughty lady,
These hairs which thou dost ravish from my chin
Will quicken and accuse thee. I am your host;
With robber’s hands my hospitable favours
40
You should not ruffle thus. What will you do?
CORNWALL
Come, sir, what letters had you late from France?
REGAN Be simple answered, for we know the truth.
CORNWALL
And what confederacy have you with the traitors,
Late footed in the kingdom?
REGAN To whose hands
45
You have sent the lunatic King. Speak.
GLOUCESTER I have a letter guessingly set down
Which came from one that’s of a neutral heart,
And not from one opposed.
CORNWALL Cunning.
REGAN And false.
CORNWALL Where hast thou sent the King?
GLOUCESTER To Dover.
50
REGAN
Wherefore to Dover? Wast thou not charged at peril –
CORNWALL
Wherefore to Dover? Let him Q firstQ answer that.
GLOUCESTER
I am tied to the stake and I must stand the course.
REGAN Wherefore to Dover, Q sirQ?
GLOUCESTER Because I would not see thy cruel nails
55
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 endured, would have buoyed up
And quenched the stelled fires.
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Yet, poor old heart, he holp the heavens to rain.
If wolves had at thy gate howled that stern time,
Thou shouldst have said, ‘Good porter, turn the key,
All cruels else subscribed’; but I shall see
The winged vengeance overtake such children.
65
CORNWALL
See’t shalt thou never. Fellows, hold the chair;
Upon these eyes of thine I’ll set my foot.
The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works Page 284
