SCENE VI. A Chamber in a Farm-House, adjoining the Castle. Enter GLOSTER, LEAR, KENT, Fool, and EDGar. Glo. 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 has given way to his impatience:-The gods reward your kindness! Edg. Frateretto calls me; and an angler in the lake of darkness. and beware the foul fiend. [Exit GLOSTER. tells me, Nero is Pray, innocent,7 Fool. Pr'ythee, nuncle, tell me, whether a madman be a gentleman, or a yeoman? 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 hizzing in upon them: 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. Lear. It shall be done, I will arraign them straight: Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer; [To EDGAR. Thou, sapient sir, sit here. [To the Fool.]-Now, you she foxes! 7-Pray, innocent,] Perhaps he is here addressing the Fool. Fools were anciently called Innocents. Edg. Look, where he stands and glares!→→ Wantest thou eyes at trial, madam? Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me:- 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 amaz'd: Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions? Lear. I'll see their trial first:-Bring in the evi dence. Thou robed man of justice, take thy place; [To EDGAR. And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity, [To the Fool. Bench by his side:-You are of the commission, Sit you too. Edg. Let us deal justly. [TO KENT Sleepest, or wakest thou, jolly shepherd? Thy sheep be in the corn; And for one blast of thy minikin mouth, Pur! the cat is grey. Lear. Arraign her first; 'tis Goneril. I here take my oath before this honourable assembly, she kicked the poor king her father. Fool. Come hither, mistress; Is your name Goneril? Come o'er the bourn,-] A bourn in the north signifies a rivulet or brook. • Lear. She cannot deny it. Fool. Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool. Lear. And here's another, whose warp'd looks proclaim What store her heart is made of.-Stop her there! Arms, arms, sword, fire!-Corruption in the place! False justicer, why hast thou let her 'scape? Kent. O pity!-Sir, where is the patience now, That you so oft have boasted to retain? Edg. My tears begin to take his part so much, They'll mar my counterfeiting. Lear. The little dogs and all, [Aside. Tray, Blanch, and Sweet-heart, see, they bark at me. Edg. Tom will throw his head at them:-Avaunt, you curs! Be thy mouth or black or white, Do de, de de. Sessa. Come, march to wakes and fairs, and market towns:-Poor Tom, thy horn is dry. Lear. Then let them anatomize Regan, see what breeds about her heart: Is there any cause in nature, that makes these hard hearts?You, sir, I entertain you for one of my hundred; only, I do not like 9- brach or lym; &c.] Names of particular sorts of dogs. Ни VOL. VIII the fashion of your garments: you will say, they are Persian attire; but let them be changed. [TO EDGAR. Kent. Now, good my lord, lie here, and rest awhile. Lear. Make no noise, make no noise; draw the curtains: So, so, so: We'll go to supper i the morning: So, so, so. Fool. And I'll go to bed at noon. Re-enter GLOSTER. Glo. Come hither, friend: Where is the king my master? Kent. Here, sir; but trouble him not, his wits are gone. Glo. Good friend, I pr'ythee take him in thy arms; I have o'er-heard a plot of death upon him: There is a litter ready; lay him in't, And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master: Kent. Oppress'd nature sleeps:This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken senses, Which, if convenience will not allow, Stand in hard cure.-Come, help to bear thy master; Thou must not stay behind. Glo. [To the Fool. Come, come, away. [Exeunt KENT, GLOSTER, and the Fool, bearing off the King. 1 ・you will say, they are Persian attire;] Alluding, per haps, to Clytus refusing the Persian robes offered him by Alexander. Edg. When we our betters see bearing our woes, We scarcely think our miseries our foes. Who alone suffers, suffers most i' the mind; Leaving free things, and happy shows, behind: But then the mind much sufferance doth o'erskip, When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship. How light and portable my pain seems now, When that, which makes me bend, makes the king bow; He childed, as I father'd!-Tom, away: Mark the high noises; and thyself bewray,* In thy just proof, repeals, and reconciles thee. SCENE VII. A Room in Gloster's Castle. Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, GONERIL, EDMUND, and Servants. Corn. Post speedily to my lord your husband; show him this letter:-the army of France is landed:-Seek out the villain Gloster. [Exeunt some of the Servants. Reg. Hang him instantly. Gon. Pluck out his eyes. Corn. Leave him to my displeasure.-Edmund, keep you our sister company; the revenges we are 2 free things,] States clear from distress. Mark the high noises;] Attend to the great events that are approaching, and make thyself known when that false opinion now prevailing against thee shall, in consequence of just proof of thy integrity, revoke its erroneous sentence. and thyself bewray,] i. es discover. |
