I will have such revenges on you both, That all the world shall-I will do such things,

[be

What they are, yet I know not: but they shall The terrors of the earth. You think I'll weep; No, I'll not weep:

I have full cause of weeping; but this heart Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws, Or ere I'll weep. O fool, I shall go mad!

[Exeunt Lear, Gloucester, Kent, and Fool. Storm and tempest. Corn. Let us withdraw; 'twill be a storm. Reg. This house is little: the old man and his people

Cannot be well bestow'd.

291

Gon. 'Tis his own blame; hath put himself from rest,

And must needs taste his folly.

Reg. For his particular, I'll receive him gladly,

But not one follower.

Gon. My lord, entreat him by no means to stay.

Glou. Alack, the night comes on, and the bleak winds

Do sorely ruffle; for many miles about
There's scarce a bush.

Reg.
O, sir, to wilful men,
The injuries that they themselves procure
Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your
doors:

He is attended with a desperate train;
And what they may incense him to, being apt
To have his ear abused, wisdom bids fear. 310
Corn. Shut up your doors, my lord; 'tis a
wild night:

My Regan counsels well; come out the [Exeunt.

storm.

ACT III.

SCENE 1. A heath.

Storm still. Enter KENT and a Gentleman,

meeting.

Kent. Who's there, besides foul weather?

Gent. One minded like the weather, most unquietly.

Kent. I know you. Where's the king? Gent. Contending with the fretful element : Bids the winds blow the earth into the sea, Or swell the curled water 'bove the main, That things might change or cease; tears his white hair,

Which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage,
Catch in their fury, and make nothing of;
Strives in his little world of man to out-scorn
The to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain. 11
This night, wherein the cub-drawn bear would
Couch,

The lica and the belly-pinched wolf
Keep their fur dry, unbonneted he runs,
And bids what will take all.

Kent.
But who is with him?
Geni. None but the fool; who labors to
out-jest

His heart-struck injuries.

Kent.

Sir, I do know you; And dare, upon the warrant of my note, Commend a dear thing to you. There is di

vision,

20

Although as yet the face of it be cover'd
With mutual cunning, 'twixt Albany and

Cornwall;

Who have-as who have not, that their great stars

Throned and set high ?-servants, who seem no less,

Which are to France the spies and specula

tions

Intelligent of our state; what hath been seen,
Either in snuffs and packings of the dukes,
Or the hard rein which both of them have

borne

Against the old kind king; or something deeper,

Whereof perchance these are but furnishings; But, true it is, from France, there comes a power 30

Into this scatter'd kingdom; who already,
Wise in our negligence, have secret feet
In some of our best ports, and are at point
To show their open banner. Now to you:
If on my credit you dare build so far
To make your speed to Dover, you shall find
Some that will thank you, making just report
Of how unnatural and bemadding sorrow
The king hath cause to plain.

I am a gentleman of blood and breeding; 40
And, from some knowledge and assurance,
offer
This office to you.

Gent. I will talk further with you.
Kent.
No, do not.
For confirmation that I am much more
Than my out-wall, open this purse, and take
What it contains. If you shall see Cordelia,-
As fear not but you shall,-show her this

Gent. Give me your hand: have you no more to say?

Kent. Few words, but, to effect, more than all yet;

That, when we have found the king,-in which your pain

That way, I'll this, he that first lights on him Holla the other. [Exeunt severally.

SCENE II. Another part of the heath. Storm still.

Enter LEAR and Fool.

Lear. Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!

You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!

You sulphurous and thought-executing fires, Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts, Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,

Smite flat the thick rotundity o' the world! Crack nature's moulds, all germens spill at

once,

That make ingrateful man!

9

Fool. O nuncle, court holy-water in a dry house is better than this rain-water out o' door. Good nuncle, in, and ask thy daughters' blessing here's a night pities neither wise man nor fool.

Lear. Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! spout, rain

Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters:

I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness; I never gave you kingdom, call'd you children,

You owe me no subscription: then let fall Your horrible pleasure: here I stand, your slave,

21

A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man :
But yet I call you servile ministers,
That have with two pernicious daughters
join'd

Your high engender'd battles 'gainst a head
So old and white as this. O! O! 'tis foul!
Fool. He that has a house to put's head in
has a good head-piece.

The cod-piece that will house
Before the head has any,

The head and he shall louse;

That's sorry yet for thee.

Fool. [Singing] He that has and a little tiny

wit

With hey, 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 :

80

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;

:

Glou. Go to; say you nothing. There's a division betwixt 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's 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. Though 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. 21 Edm. This courtesy, forbid thee, shall the duke

Instantly know; and of that letter too:
This seems a fair deserving, and must draw

SCENE IV. The heath. Before a hovel.
Enter LEAR, KENT, and Fool.

Kent. Here is the place, my lord; good my lord, enter:

The tyranny of the open night's too rough
For nature to endure.
[Storm still.

Lear
Let me alone.
Kent. Good my lord, enter here.
Lear.
Wilt break my heart?
Kent. I had rather break mine own. Good
my lord, enter.

Lear. Thou think'st 'tis much that this contentious storm

Invades us to the skin so 'tis to thee;
But where the greater malady is fix'd,
The lesser is scarce felt. Thou'ldst shun a

bear;

But if thy flight lay toward the raging sea, 10 Thou'ldst meet the bear i' the mouth. When the mind's free,

The body's delicate: the tempest in my mind
Doth from my senses take all feeling else
Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude!
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,-
20
O, that way madness lies; let me shun that;
No more of that.

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 mayst 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!

40

Kent. Give me thy hand. Who's there? Fool. A spirit, a spirit: he says his name's poor Tom.

Kent. What art thou that dost grumble there i' the straw? Come forth.

Enter EDGAR disguised as a mad man. Edg. Away! the foul fiend follows me ! Through the sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind.

Hum! go to thy cold bed, and warm thee. Lear. Hast thou given all to thy two daughters?

And art thou come to this?

50

Edg. Who gives any thing to poor Tom? whom the foul fiend hath led through fire and through flame, and through ford and whirlipool e'er 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 course his own shadow for a traitor. Bless thy five wits! Tom's acold,-O, do de, do de, do de. Bless thee from whirlwinds, star-blasting, and taking! Do poor

Lear. Death, traitor! nothing could have subdued nature

To such a lowness but his unkind daughters. Is it the fashion, that discarded fathers Should have thus little mercy on their flesh ? 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. 81

Edy. 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 serving-man, proud in heart and mind; that curled my hair; wore gloves in my cap; served the lust 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 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 ou'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 wild field were like an old lecher's heart; a small spark, all the rest on's body cold. Look, here comes a walking fire. 119

Kent. Who's there? What is't you seek? Glou. 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 four 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 stockpunished, 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!

'Glou. What, hath your grace no better company?

Edg. The prince of darkness is a gentle

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 reprovable badness in himself.

9

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. 20

Edm. [Aside] If I find him comforting the king, it will stuff his suspicion more fully.-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 farmhouse adjoining the castle.

Enter GLOUCESTER, LEAR, KENT, Fool, and EDGAR.

Glou. 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 his impatience: the gods reward your kindness! [Exit Gloucester.

Edg. Frateretto calls me; and tells me Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend.

Fool. Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a gentleman or a yeoman? 11

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 hissing in upon 'em,

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.

21

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!

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. 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 amazed: