Your son and daughter.

LEAR. NO.

KENT. Yes.

LEAR. No, I say.

KENT. I say, yea.

LEAR. No, no; they would not.

KENT. Yes, they have.

LEAR. By Jupiter, I swear, no.

KENT. By Juno, I swear, ay.

LEAR. They durst not do 't;

They could not, would not do 't; 't is worse than murder, To do upon respect such violent outrage:

Resolve me, with all modest haste, which way

Thou mightst deserve, or they impose, this usage,
Coming from us.

KENT.

My lord, when at their home
I did commend your highness' letters to them,
Ere I was risen from the place that show'd
My duty kneeling, came there a reeking post,
Stew'd in his haste, half breathless, panting forth
From Goneril his mistress, salutations;
Deliver❜d letters, spite of intermission,

Which presently they read: on those contents
They summon'd up their meiny, straight took horse;
Commanded me to follow, and attend

The leisure of their answer; gave me cold looks:
And meeting here the other messenger,

Whose welcome, I perceiv'd, had poison'd mine,
(Being the very fellow which of late

Display'd so saucily against your highness,)
Having more man than wit about me, drew;
He rais'd the house with loud and coward cries:

Your son and daughter found this trespass worth
The shame which here it suffers.

FOOL. Winter 's not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that

way.

Fathers that wear rags do make their children blind;

But fathers that bear bags shall see their children kind. Fortune, that arrant whore, ne'er turns the key to the

poor.

toward my heart!

But, for all this, thou shalt have as many dolours for thy
daughters, as thou canst tell in a year.
LEAR. O, how this mother swells up
Hysterica passio!-down, thou climbing sorrow,
Thy element 's below!-Where is this daughter?
KENT. With the earl, sir, here within.

LEAR.

Follow me not; stay here. [Exit. GENT. Made you no more offence but what you speak of? KENT. None.

How chance the king comes with so small a number?

FOOL. An thou hadst been set i' the stocks for that question, thou hadst well deserved it.

KENT. Why, fool?

FOOL. We'll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee there's no labouring in the winter. All that follow their noses are led by their eyes, but blind men; and there's not a nose among twenty but can smell him that 's stinking. Let go thy hold, when a great wheel runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with following; but the great one that goes upward, let him draw thee after. When a wise man gives thee better counsel, give me mine again : I would have none but knaves follow it, since a fool gives it.

That, sir, which serves and seeks for gain,
And follows but for form,

Will pack, when it begins to rain,

And leave thee in the storm.
But I will tarry; the fool will stay,
And let the wise man fly :

The knave turns fool that runs away;
The fool no knave, perdy.

KENT. Where learn'd you this, fool?

FOOL. Not i' the stocks, fool.

Re-enter LEAR, with GLOSTER.

LEAR. Deny to speak with me? They are sick? the are

weary?

They have travell'd all the night? Mere fetches;

The images of revolt and flying off!

Fetch me a better answer.

GLO.

My dear lord,

You know the fiery quality of the duke;

How unremoveable and fix'd he is

In his own course.

LEAR. Vengeance! plague! death! confusion!-
Fiery? what quality? why, Gloster, Gloster,

I'd speak with the duke of Cornwall and his wife.
GLO. Well, my good lord, I have inform'd them so.
LEAR. Inform'd them! Dost thou understand me, man ?

GLO. Ay, my good lord.

LEAR. The king would speak with Cornwall; the dear

father

Would with his daughter speak, commands, tends, service:
Are they inform'd of this ?- -My breath and blood!—
Fiery the fiery duke !-Tell the hot duke that-

No, but not yet:—may be, he is not well:
Infirmity doth still neglect all office,

Whereto our health is bound; we are not ourselves,
When nature, being oppress'd, commands the mind
To suffer with the body: I'll forbear;

And am fallen out with my more headier will,
To take the indispos'd and sickly fit

For the sound man.-Death on my state! wherefore

[Looking on KENT. Should he sit here? This act persuades me, That this remotion of the duke and her

Is practice only. Give me my servant forth:
Go, tell the duke and his wife, I'd speak with them,
Now, presently: bid them come forth and hear me,
Or at their chamber door I 'll beat the drum,

Till it cry sleep to death.

GLO. I'd have all well betwixt you.

[Exit.

LEAR. O me, my heart, my rising heart!--but down. FOOL. Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the eels, when she put 'em i' the paste alive; she knapp'd 'em o' the coxcombs with a stick, and cry'd, "Down, wantons, down:' 'T was her brother that, in pure kindness to his horse, butter'd his hay.

Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, GLOSTER, and Servants. LEAR. Good morrow to you both.

CORN.

Hail to your grace! [KENT is set at liberty. REG. I am glad to see your highness.

[TO KENT.

LEAR. Regan, I think you are; I know what reason
I have to think so; if thou shouldst not be glad,
I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb,
Sepulch'ring an adultress. O, are you free?
Some other time for that.—Beloved Regan,
Thy sister 's naught: O Regan, she hath tied
Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here,—

[Points to his heart.

I can scarce speak to thee; thou 'lt not believe,
With how deprav'd a quality-O Regan!

REG. I pray you, sir, take patience; I have hope
You less know how to value her desert,
Than she to scant her duty.

LEAR.

Say, how is that?

REG. I cannot think my sister in the least
Would fail her obligation: If, sir, perchance,
She have restrain'd the riots of your followers,
'Tis on such ground, and to such wholesome end,
As clears her from all blame.

LEAR. My curses on her!

REG.
O, sir, you are old;
Nature in you stands on the very verge

Of her confine: you should be rul❜d, and led
By some discretion, that discerns your state
Better than you yourself: Therefore, I pray you,
That to our sister you do make return:
Say, you have wrong'd her.

LEAR. Ask her forgiveness?

Do you but mark how this becomes the house? "Dear daughter, I confess that I am old!

Age is unnecessary: on my knees I beg,

[Kneeling.

That you'll vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food."
REG. Good sir, no more; these are unsightly tricks :
Return you to my sister.

She hath abated me of half my train;

Look'd black upon me; strook me with her tongue,
Most serpent-like, upon the very heart :-

All the stor'd vengeances of heaven fall

On her ingrateful top! Strike her young bones,
You taking airs, with lameness!

CORN.

Fye, sir, fye!

LEAR. You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames Into her scornful eyes! Infect her beauty,

You fen-suck'd fogs, drawn by the powerful sun,

To fall and blister.

REG. O the blest gods! So will you wish on me, When the rash mood is on.

LEAR. No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curse ;
Thy tender-hefted nature shall not give

Thee o'er to harshness; her eyes are fierce, but thine
Do comfort, and not burn: "T is not in thee

To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train,
To bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes,
And, in conclusion, to oppose the bolt
Against my coming in: thou better know'st
The offices of nature, bond of childhood,
Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude;

Thy half o' the kingdom hast thou not forgot,
Wherein I thee endow'd.

REG.

Good sir, to the purpose. [Trumpets within LEAR. Who put my man i' the stocks?

CORN.

What trumpet's that

Enter Steward.

REG. I know 't, my sister's: this approves her letter,
That she would soon be here.-Is your lady come?
LEAR. This is a slave, whose easy-borrow'd pride
Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows:-
Out, varlet, from my sight!

CORN.

What means your grace?

LEAR. Who stock'd my servant? Regan, I have good hope Thou didst not know on 't.-Who comes here? O, heavens,