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! 60
Kent. He hath no daughters, sir.
Lear. Death, traitor! nothing could have subdu’d nature
To such a lowness, but his unkind daughters.
Is it the fashion that discarded fathers
Should have thus little mercy on their flesh? 65
Judicious punishment! ’twas this flesh begot
Those pelican daughters.
Edg. Pillicock sat on Pillicock-hill:
Halloo, halloo, loo, loo!
Fool. This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen. 70
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 servingman, 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 woman: 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.
Lear. Why, thou wert 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 on ‘s 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. Prithee, nuncle, be contented; ’tis a naughty night to swim in. Now a little fire in a wide field were like an old lecher’s heart; a small spark, all the rest on ‘s body cold. Look! here comes a walking fire. 75
Enter GLOUCESTER with a torch
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 harelip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the poor creature of earth.
Swithold footed thrice the old;
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?
Lear. What’s he?
Kent. Who’s there? What is ‘t you seek? 80
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 tithing to tithing, and stock-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, Smulkin! peace, thou fiend. 85
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. 90
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, 95
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. 100
Lear. I’ll talk a word with this same learned Theban.
What is your study?
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; 105
His wits begin to unsettle.
Glo. Canst thou blame him? [Storm still.
His daughters seek his death. Ah! that good Kent;
He said it would be thus, poor banish’d man!
Thou sayst the king grows mad; I’ll tell thee, friend, 110
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! 115
I do beseech your Grace, —
Lear. O! cry you mercy, sir.
Noble philosopher, your company.
Edg. Tom’s a-cold.
Glo. In, fellow, there, into the hovel: keep thee warm. 120
Lear. Come, let’s in all.
Kent. This way, my lord.
Lear. With him;
I will keep still with my philosopher.
Kent. Good my lord, soothe him; let him take the fellow. 125
Glo. Take him you on.
Kent. Sirrah, come on; go along with us.
Lear. Come, good Athenian.
Glo. No words, no words: hush.
Edg. Child Rowland to the dark tower came, 130
His word was still, Fie, foh, and fum,
I smell the blood of a British man. [Exeunt.
Act III. Scene V.
A Room in GLOUCESTER’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. 5
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 Gloucester. 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 fully. I will persever in my course of loyalty, though the conflict be sore between that and my blood. 10
Corn. I will lay trust upon thee; and thou shalt find a dearer father in my love. [Exeunt.
Act III. Scene VI.
A Chamber in a Farmhouse adjoining the Castle.
Enter GLOUCESTER, 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 GLOUCESTER.
Edg. Frateretto calls me, and tells me N
ero is an angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend. 5
Fool. Prithee, 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 a gentleman before him.
Lear. To have a thousand with red burning spits
Come hizzing in upon ‘em, — 10
Edg. 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.
[To EDGAR.] Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer;
[To the Fool.] Thou, sapient sir, sit here. Now, you she foxes! 15
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,
And she must not speak
Why she dares not come over to thee. 20
Edg. The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a nightingale. Hopdance cries in Tom’s belly for two white herring. 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 their evidence.
[To EDGAR.] Thou robed man of justice, take thy place; 25
[To the Fool.] And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity,
Bench by his side. [To KENT.] You are o’ the commission,
Sit you too.
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.
Purr! the cat is grey. 30
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 35
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?
Edg. Bless thy five wits!
Kent. O pity! Sir, where is the patience now 40
That you so oft have boasted to retain?
Edg. [Aside.] My tears begin to take his part so much,
They’ll mar my counterfeiting.
Lear. The little dogs and all,
Tray, Blanch, and Sweet-heart, see, they bark at me. 45
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, 50
Hound or spaniel, brach or lym;
Or bobtail 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. 55
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? [To EDGAR.] 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.
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. 60
Re-enter GLOUCESTER.
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 prithee, take him in thy arms;
I have o’erheard a plot of death upon him. 65
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:
If thou shouldst dally-half an hour, his life,
With thine, and all that offer to defend him, 70
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 sinews, 75
Which, if convenience will not allow,
Stand in hard cure. — [To the Fool.] Come, help to bear thy master;
Thou must not stay behind.
Glo. Come, come, away. [Exeunt KENT, GLOUCESTER, and the Fool, bearing away LEAR.
Edg. When we our betters see bearing our woes, 80
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. 85
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
When false opinion, whose wrong thought defiles thee, 90
In thy just proof repeals and reconciles thee.
What will hap more to-night, safe ‘scape the king!
Lurk, lurk. [Exit.
Act III. Scene VII.
A Room in GLOUCESTER’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 traitor Gloucester. [Exeunt some of the Servants.
Reg. Hang him instantly.
Gon. Pluck out his eyes. 5
Corn. 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. 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?
Osw. My Lord of Gloucester hath convey’d him hence:
Some five or six and thirty of his knights, 10
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.
Corn. Get horses for your mistress. 15
Gon. Farewell, sweet lord, and sister.
Corn. Edmund, farewell. [Exeunt GONERIL, EDMUND, and OSWALD.
Go seek the traitor Gloucester,
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 20
Shall do a courtesy to our wrath, which men
May blame but not control. Who’s there? The traitor?
Re-enter Servants, with GLOUCESTER.
Reg. Ingrateful fox! ’tis he.
Corn. Bind fast his corky arms. 25
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’m none. 30
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, 35
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? 40
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. 45
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.
Reg. And false. 50
Corn. Where hast thou sent the king?
Glou. To Dover.
Reg. Wherefore to Dover? Wast thou not charg’d at peril —
Corn. Wherefore to Dover? Let him answer that.
Glo. I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the course. 55
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 60
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 dern time,
Thou shouldst have said, ‘Good porter, turn the key,’ 65
All cruels else subscrib’d: but I shall see
The winged vengeance overtake such children.
Corn. See ‘t shalt thou never. Fellows, hold the chair.
Upon these eyes of thine I’ll set my foot.
Glo. He that will think to live till he be old, 70
Give me some help! O cruel! O ye gods! [GLOUCESTER’S eye put out.
Reg. One side will mock another; the other too.
Corn. If you see vengeance. —
First Serv. Hold your hand, my lord:
I have serv’d you ever since I was a child, 75
But better service have I never done you
Than now to bid you hold.
Reg. How now, you dog!
First Serv. If you did wear a beard upon your chin,
Masters of the Theatre Page 41
