Keep their fur dry, unbonneted he runs, Kent. But who is with him? Gent. None but the fool; who labours to out-jest His heart-struck injuries. Kent. Sir, I do know you; 3 And dare, upon the warrant of With mutual cunning, 'twixt Albany and Cornwall; I am a gentleman of blood and breeding; 3 the warrant of my art,] On the strength of my physiognomy. skill in Either in snuffs and packings -] Snuffs are dislikes, and packings underhand contrivances. are but furnishings;] Or samples. 6 have secret feet] i. e. secret footing. VOL. VIII. G G Gent. I will talk further with you. Kent. That yet you do not know. Fye on this storm! Gent. Give me your hand: Have you no more tõ 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. SCENE IÍ. [Exeunt severally Another Part of the Heath. Storm continues. Enter LEAR and Fool. Lear. Blow, wind, 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, 8 Vaunt couriers to oak-cleaving thunder-bolts, Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder, Strike flat the thick rotundity o'the world! 7-thought-executing-] Doing execution with rapidity equal to thought. 18 Vaunt couriers-] Avant couriers, Fr. This phrase is not unfamiliar to other writers of Shakspeare's time. It originally meant the foremost scouts of an army. Crack nature's moulds, all germens spill at once, That make ingrateful man! 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 men nor fools. Lear. Rumble thy bellyfull! Spit, fire! spout, rain! Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters: That have with two pernicious daughters join'd The cod-piece that will house, The head and he shall louse ;- The man that makes his toe What he his heart should make, Shall of a corn cry woe, And turn his sleep to wake. -for there was never yet fair woman, but she made mouths in a glass. court holy-water-] Proverbial for fair words. You owe me no subscription;] Subscription for obedience. Enter KENT. Lear. No, I will be the pattern of all patience, I will say nothing. Kent. Who's there? Fool. Marry, here's grace, and a cod-piece; that's a wise man, and a fool. Kent. Alas, sir, are you here? things that love night, Love not such nights as these; the wrathful skies Gallow the very wanderers of the dark, 2 And make them keep their caves: Since I was man, Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder, Such groans of roaring wind and rain, I never Remember to have heard: man's nature cannot carry The affliction, nor the fear. Lear. Let the great gods, Unwhipp'd of justice: Hide thee, thou bloody hand; These dreadful summoners grace.I am a man, Kent. Alack, bare-headed! Gracious my lord, hard by here is a hovel; Some friendship will it lend you 'gainst the tempest; Repose you there: while I to this hard house, Gallow signifies to scare or frighten. 3-concealing continents,] Continent stands for that which contains or incloses. 4 These dreadful summoners grace.] Summoners are here the officers that summon offenders before a proper tribunal, (More hard than is the stone whereof 'tis rais'd; Lear. My wits begin to turn.Come on, my boy: How dost, my boy? Art cold? I am cold myself. Where is this straw, my fellow? The art of our necessities is strange, That can make vile things precious. Come, your hovel, Poor fool and knave, I have one part in my heart That's sorry yet for thee. Fool. He that has a little tiny wit, With heigh, 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: When priests are more in word than matter; No squire in debt, nor no poor knight; Come to great confusion. Then comes the time, who lives to see't, |