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, horseway 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 chambermaids and waiting women. So, bless thee, master! Glo. Here, take this purse, thou whom the heavens plagues Have humbled to all strokes: that I am wretched, And each man have enough.-Dost thou know May prove effects. Back, Edmund, to my brother; Decline your head. This kiss, if it durst speak, Edm. Yours in the ranks of death. You are not worth the dust which the rude wind 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 performed? A father, and a gracious agéd man, Whose reverence the head-lugged bear would lick, Most barbarous, most degenerate! have you madded. Could my good brother suffer you to do it? If that the heavens do not their visible spirits Humanity must perforce prey on itself, 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 required And necessary. Kent. Who hath he left behind him general? Gent. The Mareschal of France, Monsieur le Fer. Kent. Did your letters pierce the queen to any demonstration of grief? Gent. Ay, sir: she took them, read them in The stars above us, govern our conditions; Kent. Was this before the King returned? Kent. Well, sir; the poor distresséd 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 unkindness, That stripped her from his benediction, turned her 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 vexéd sea: singing aloud; Crowned with rank fumiter and furrow weeds, With harlocks, 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 bereavéd sense? He that helps him, take all my outward worth. Transport her purposes by word? Belike, Something I know not what.-I'll love thee much, Let me unseal the letter. Madam, I had rather- Reg. I speak in understanding you are, I know it: Therefore, I do advise you, take this note: My lord is dead; Edmund and I have talked; I pray, desire her call her wisdom to her. If you do chance to hear of that blind traitor, Glo. Methinks you are better spoken. Edg. Come on, sir; here's the place :-stand still. How fearful And dizzy 't is to cast one's eyes so low! Glo. Set me where you stand. within a foot Of the extreme verge: for all beneath the moon Would I not leap upright. O you mighty gods! This world I do renounce; and in your sights [He leaps and falls along. Edg. Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air, So many fathom down precipitating, Thou hadst shivered like an egg: but thou dost breathe; Hast heavy substance; bleed'st not; speak'st; art sound! Ten masts at each make not the altitude Glo. But have I fallen, or no? Edg. From the dread summit of this chalky bourn. Is wretchedness deprived that benefit Edg. Give me your arm: Up-so.-How is 't? Feel you your legs? You stand. I took it for a man: often 't would say, "The fiend, the fiend!" He led me to that place. Edg. Bear free and patient thoughts.-But who comes here? Enter LEAR, fantastically dressed up with flowers. Lear. No, they cannot touch me for coining: I am the King himself. Edg. O thou side-piercing sight! Lear. Nature's above art in that respect.There's your press-money.-That fellow handles his bow like a crowkeeper: draw me a clothier's yard. Look, look, a mouse! Peace, peace: this piece of toasted cheese will do 't.-There's my gauntlet: I'll prove it on a giant.-Bring up the brown bills.-O, well flown, bird! i' the clout, i' the clout: hewgh!-Give the word. Edg. Sweet marjoram. |