The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare

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?

Mess. O, my good lord, the duke of Cornwall's

dead;

Slain by his servant, going to put out

The other eye of Gloster.

Alb.

Gloster's eyes!

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 ?2
Gent. 'Faith, once, or twice, she heav'd the name
of father

Pantingly forth, as if it press'd her heart;

Cried, Sisters! sisters!-Shame of ladies! sisters!

Mess. A servant that he bred, thrill'd with re- Kent! father! sisters! What? the storm? 'the

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

Gent. Ay, sir; she took them, read them in my

night?

Let pity not be believed !—There she shook
The holy water from her heavenly eyes,
And clamour moisten'd: then away she started
To deal with grief alone.

Kent.

It is the stars,
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
unkindness,

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
His mind so venomously, that burning shame
Detains him from Cordelia.

Gent.
Alack, poor gentleman!
Kent. Of Albany's and Cornwall's powers' you
heard not?

Gent. 'Tis so; they are afoot.

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 a while;
When I am known aright, you shall not grieve
Lending me this acquaintance. I pray you, go
Along with me.

[Exeunt

Enter Corde

SCENE IV.-The same. A tent.
lia, 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-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 bereaved sense?
He, that helps him, take all my outward worth.
Phy. 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

(6) Important business. (7) Fumitory.
(8) Charlocks.

In person there?

Stew.

Ay, madam. Himself

Madam, with much ado:
Your sister is the better soldier.
Reg. Lord Edmund spake not with your lord at
home?

Stew. No, madam.
Reg. What might import my sister's letter to him?
Stew. I know not, lady.

Reg. 'Faith, he is posted hence on serious matter.
It was great ignorance, Gloster's eyes being out,
To let him live; where he arrives, he moves
All hearts against us: Edmund, I think, is gone,
In pity of his misery, to despatch

His nighted life; moreover, to descry
The strength o'the enemy.

Stew. I must needs after him, madam, with my letter.

Reg. Our troops set forth to-morrow; stay with us; The ways are dangerous.

Stew.

I may not, madam ; My lady charg'd my duty in this business. Reg. Why should she write to Edmund? Might

not you

Transport her purposes by word? Belike, Something-I know not what:-I'll love thee much, Let me unseal the letter.

Slew.

Madam, I had ratherReg. I know your lady does not love her husband;

I am sure of that: and at her late being here,
She gave strange ciliads, and most speaking looks
To noble Edmund: I know, you are of her bosom.
Stew. I, madam?

Reg. I speak in understanding; you are, know it:

Therefore, I do advise you, take this note:
My lord is dead; Edmund and I have talk'd;
And more convenient is he for my hand,
Than for your lady's :-You may gather more."
If you do find him, pray you, give him this;
And when your mistress hears thus much from you,
I pray, desire her call her wisdom to her.
So, fare you well.

(1) i. e. The reason which should guide it.
(2) Importunate. (3) Inflated, swelling.
(4) i. e. His life made dark as night.

(5) A cast, or significant glance of the eye.

Glo. So may it be, indeed: Methinks, thy voice is alter'd; and thou speak'st In better phrase, and matter, than thou didst. Edg. You are much deceiv'd; in nothing am I chang'd, But in my garments.

Glo.

Methinks, you are better spoken. Edg. Come on, sir; here's the place :-Stand still. -How fearful

And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low!
The crows, and choughs, that wing the midway air,
Show scarce so gross as beetles: Half way down
Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade !
Methinks, he seems no bigger than his head :
The fishermen, that walk upon the beach,
Appear like mice; and yon' tall anchoring bark,
Diminish'd to her cock;10 her cock, a buoy
Almost too small for sight: The murmuring surge,
That on the number'd idle pebbles chafes,
Cannot be heard so high:-I'll look no more;
Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight
Topple down headlong.
Glo.

Set me where you stand. Edg. Give me your hand: You are now within a foot

Of the extreme verge for all beneath the moon Would I not leap upright.

Glo.

Let go my hand.
Here, friend, is another purse; in it, a jewel
Well worth a poor man's taking: Fairies, and gods,
Prosper it with thee! Go thou further off;
Bid me farewell, and let me hear thee going.
Edg. Now fare you well, good sir. [Seems to go.
Glo.
With all my heart.
Edg. Why I do trifle thus with his despair,
Is done to cure it.

Glo.
O you mighty gods!
This world I do renounce; and, in your sights,
Shake patiently my great affliction off':
IfI could bear it longer, and not fall

To quarrel with your great opposeless wills,
My snuff, and loathed part of nature, should
Burn itself out. If Edgar live, O, bless him!—
Now, fellow, fare thee well.

[He leaps, and falls along.
Edg.
Gone, sir? Farewell.
And yet I know not how conceit may rob
The treasury of life, when life itself
Yields to the theft: Had he been where he thought,
By this, had thought been past.—Alive, or dead?

(6) Observe what I am saying. (7) Infer more, (8) Daws. (9) A vegetable gathered for pickling. (10) Her cock-boat. (11) Tumble.

Away, and let me die.

Edg. Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air,

So many fathom down precipitating, Thou hadst shiver'd 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,
Which thou hast perpendicularly fell;
Thy life's a miracle: Speak yet again.
Glo. But have I fallen, or no?

Edg. From the dread summit of this chalky bourn:2

Look up a-height;-the shrill-gorg'd' lark so far
Cannot be seen or heard: do but look up.
Glo. Alack, I have no eyes.-

Is wretchedness depriv'd that benefit,

To end itself by death? 'Twas yet some comfort, When misery could beguile the tyrant's rage, And frustrate his proud will.

Edg. Give me your arm: Up: So;-How is't? Feel you your legs? You

stand.

His master thus.

Ay and no too was no good divinity. When the rain came to wet me once, and the wind to make me chatter; when the thunder would not peace at my bidding; there I found them, there I smelt them out. Go to, they are not men o'their words: they told me I was every thing; 'Tis a lie; I am not ague-proof.

Glo. The trick of that voice I do well remember: Is't not the king?

Lear.

Ay, every inch a king: When I do stare, see, how the subject quakes.I pardon that man's life: what was thy cause? Adultery.

Thou shalt not die: Die for adultery! No:
The wren goes to't, and the small gilded fly
Does lecher in my sight.

Let copulation thrive, for Gloster's bastard son
Was kinder to his father, than my daughters
Got 'tween the lawful sheets.

To't, luxury, pell-mell, for I lack soldiers.-
Behold yon' simpering dame,

Whose face between her forks presageth snow;
That minces virtue, and does shake the head
To hear of pleasure's name;

The fitchew, nor the soiled horse, goes to't
With a more riotous appetite.

Down from the waist they are centaurs,
Though women all above:

But to the girdle do the gods inherit, 12
Beneath is all the fiends'; there's hell, there's dark

ness,

There is the sulphurous pit, burning, scalding, stench, consumption;-Fie, fie, fie! pah; pah! Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination: there's money for thee. Glo. O, let me kiss that hand!

Lear. Let me wipe it first: it smells of mortality. Glo. O ruin'd piece of nature! This great world Shall so wear out to nought-Dost thou know the ?

Lear. I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thou squiny at me? No, do thy worst, blind Cupid; I'll not love.-Read thou this challenge; mark but the penning of it.

Glo. Were all the letters suns, I could not see one. Edg. I would not take this from report;-it is, And my heart breaks at it.

Lear. Read.

Glo. What, with the case of eyes?

Lear. O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes in your head, nor no money in your purse? Your

Lear. No, they cannot touch me for coining; I eyes are in a heavy case, your purse in a light: Yet am the king himself.

Edg. O thou side-piercing sight!

you see how this world goes.

Glo. I sec it feelingly.

Lear. Nature's above art in that respect.-There's Lear. What, art mad? A man may see how this your press-money. That fellow handles his bow world goes, with no eyes. Look with thine ears: like a crow-keeper: draw me a clothier's yard.-see how yon' justice rails upon yon' simple thief. Look, look, a mouse; Peace, peace ;-this piece of Hark, in thine ear: Change places; and, handy toasted cheese will do't.-There's my gauntlet: I'll dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief?prove it on a giant.-Bring up the brown bills. Thou hast seen a farmer's dog bark at a beggar? O, well flown, bird!-i'the clout, i'the clout: hewgh! Give the word.

Edg. Sweet marjoram. Lear. Pass.

Glo. I know that voice.

Lear. Ha! Goneril!-with a white beard! They flatter'd me like a dog; and told me, I had white hairs in my beard, ere the black ones were there. To say ay, and no, to every thing I said!

(1) Thus might he die in reality.

(2) i. e. This chalky boundary of England. (3) Shrill-throated."

(4) Twisted, convolved.

(5) The purest.

(6) An arrow of a cloth-yard long.

Glo. Ay, sir.

Lear. And the creature run from the cur? There thou might'st behold the great image of authority: a dog's obeyed in office.

Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand:
Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own
back;

Thou hotly lust'st to use her in that kind
For which thou whipp'st her. The usurer hangs the

Gent.

Good sir,

Lear. I will die bravely, like a bridegroom:
What?

I will be jovial; come, come; I am a king,
My masters, know you that?

Gent. You are a royal one, and we obey you. Lear. Then there's life in it. Nay, an you get it, you shall get it by running. Sa, sa, sa, sa.

[Exit, running. Attendants follow. Gent. A sight most pitiful in the meanest wretch: Past speaking of in a king!-Thou hast one daughter,

Who redeems nature from the general curse
Which twain have brought her to.
Edg. Hail, gentle sir.
Gent.
Sir, speed you: What's your will?
Edg. Do you hear aught, sir, of a battle toward?
Gent. Most sure, and vulgar: every one hears
that,
Which can distinguish sound.
Edg.
How near's the other army?
Gent. Near, and on speedy foot; the main descry
Stands on the hourly thought."
Edg.

But, by your favour,

I thank you, sir; that's all.

(1) Block anciently signified the head-part of a hat.

(2) i. e. A man of tears.

(s) The main body is expected to be descried every hour.

VOL. II.

Stew. A proclaim'd prize! most happy! That eyeless head of thine was first fram'd flesh To raise my fortunes.-Thou old unhappy traitor, Briefly" thyself remember :-The sword is out That must destroy thee.

Glo.

Now let thy friendly hand
[Edgar opposes.
Wherefore, bold peasant,

Put strength enough to it.
Stew.
Dar'st thou support a publish'd traitor? Hence;
Lest that the infection of his fortune take
Like hold on thee. Let go his arm.

Edg. Ch'ill not let go, zir, without vurther 'casion.
Stew. Let go, slave, or thou diest.

Edg. Good gentleman, go your gait, and let poor volk pass. And ch'ud ha' been zwagger'd out of my life, 'twould not ha' been zo long as 'tis by a vortnight. Nay, come not near the old man; keep out, che vor'ye, or ise try whether your costard' or my bat10 be the harder: Ch'ill be plain with you. Stew. Out, dunghill!

Edg. Ch'ill pick your teeth, zir: Come; no matter vor your foins."

[They fight and Edgar knocks him down. Stew. Slave, thou hast slain me :-Villain, take my purse;

If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;
And give the letters, which thou find'st about me,
To Edmund earl of Gloster; seek him out
Upon the British party :-O, untimely death!

[Dies.
Edg. I know thee well: A serviceable villain;
As duteous to the vices of thy mistress,
As badness would desire.

Glo.

What, is he dead? Edg. Sit you down, father; rest you.Let's see his pockets: these letters, that he speaks of, May be my friends.-He's dead; I am only sorry He had no other death's-man.-Let us see: Leave, gentle wax; and, manners, blame us not: To know our enemies' minds, we'd rip their hearts; Their papers, is more lawful. 12

[Reads.] Let our reciprocal vows be remembered. You have many opportunities to cut him off: if your will want not, time and place will be fruitfully offered. There is nothing done, if he return the conqueror: Then am I the prisoner, and his bed my gaol; from the loathed warmth

(4) Evil genius. (5) Blessing. (6) Reward.
(7) Quickly recollect the offences of thy life.
(8) Go your way.

(9) Head. (10) Club. (11) Thrusts.
(12) To rip their papers is more lawful.

3 P

whereof deliver me, and supply the place for your|
labour.

Your wife (so I would say,) and your
affectionate servant,
GONERIL.

O undistinguish'd space of woman's will!-
A plot upon her virtuous husband's life:
And the exchange, my brother !-Here, in
sands;

Thee I'll rake up,' the post unsanctified
Of murderous lechers: and, in the mature time,
With this ungracious paper strike the sight
Of the death-practis'd duke: For him 'tis well,
That of thy death and business I can tell.

Cor. Had you not been their father, these white
flakes

Had challeng'd pity of them. Was this a face
To be expos'd against the warring winds?
To stand against the deep dread-bolted thunder?
In the most terrible and nimble stroke
Of quick, cross lightning? to watch (poor perdu !')
the With this thin helm ? Mine enemy's dog,"

[Exit Edgar, dragging out the body.
Glo. The king is mad: How stiff is my vile sense,
That I stand up, and have ingenious feeling
Of my huge sorrows! Better I were distract:
So should my thoughts be sever'd from my griefs;
And woes, by wrong imaginations, lose
The knowledge of themselves.

Re-enter Edgar.

[Exe.

Edg. Give me your hand. Far off, methinks, I hear the beaten drum. Come, father, I'll bestow you with a friend. SCENE VII-A tent in the French camp. on a bed asleep; Physician, Gentleman, others, attending: Enter Cordelia and Kent. Cor. O thou good Kent, how shall I live, and work,

Lear
and

To match thy goodness? My life will be too short,
And every measure fail me.

Kent. To be acknowledg'd, madam, is o'er-paid.
All my reports go with the modest truth;
Nor more, nor clipp'd, but so.
Cor.
Be better suited:
These weeds are memories of those worser hours;
I pr'ythee, put them off.
Kent.
Pardon me, dear madam;
Yet to be known, shortens my made intent:"
My boon I make it, that you know me not,
Till time and I think meet.

Cor. Then be it so, my good lord.-How does
the king?
[To the Physician.

Phys. Madam, sleeps still.

Cor. O you kind gods,

Cure this great breach in his abused nature!
The untun'd and jarring senses, O, wind up
Of this child-changed father!

Phys.
So please your majesty,
That we may wake the king? he hath slept long.
Cor. Be govern'd by your knowledge, and pro-

ceed

Though he had bit me, should have stood that night
Against my fire; And wast thou fain, poor father,
To hovel thee with swine, and rogues forlorn,
In short and musty straw? Alack, alack!
'Tis wonder, that thy life and wits at once
Had not concluded all.-He wakes; speak to him.
Phys. Madam, do you; 'tis fittest.

Cor. How does my royal lord? How fares your
majesty?

Lear. You do me wrong to take me out o'the

I will not swear, these are my hands:-let's see,
feel this pin prick. 'Would I were assur'd
Of my condition.

Cor.

O, look upon me, sir,
And hold your hands in benediction o'er me:
No, sir, you must not kneel.
Lear.
Pray, do not mock me:
2I am a very foolish fond old man,
Fourscore and upward; and, to deal plainly,
I fear, I am not in my perfect mind.
Methinks, I should know you, and know this man:
Yet I am doubtful: for I am mainly ignorant
What place this is; and all the skill I have
Remembers not these garments; nor I know not
Where I did lodge last night: Do not laugh at me;
For, as I am a man, I think this lady
To be my child Cordelia.

Cor.

And so I am, I am. Lear. Be your tears wet? Yes, 'faith. I pray,

weep not:

If you have poison for me, I will drink it.
I know, you do not love me; for your sisters
Have, as I do remember, done me wrong:
You have some cause, they have not.

Cor.

Lear. Am I in France?
Kent.

No cause, no cause.

In your own kingdom, sir.

Lear. Do not abuse me.
Phys. Be comforted, good madam: the great
rage,

You see, is cur'd in him and yet it is danger
To make him even" o'er the time he has lost.
Desire him to go in ; trouble him no more,
Till further settling.

Cor. Will't please your highness walk?
Lear.
You must bear with me:
Pray now, forget and forgive: I am old, and foolish.
[Exeunt Lear, Cordelia, Physician, and
Attendants.

Gent. Hold it true, sir,

(6) Thin covering of hair.

(7) To reconcile it to his apprehension.

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The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: Accurately Printed from ..., Volume 2