Is it you will? [To ALB.] Speak, Sir.-Prepare my horses.

Ingratitude thou marble-hearted fiend,

More hideous, when thou show'st thee in a

child,

Than the sea-monster !

Alb. Pray, Sir, be patient.

Lear. Detested kite! thou liest :

[To GONERIL.

My train are men of choice and rarest parts,

That all particulars of duty know:

And in the most exact regard support

'Tis politic and safe to let him keep

At point, a hundred knights! Yes, that on
every dream,

Each buz, each fancy, each complaint, dislike,
He may enguard his dotage with their powers,

The worships of their name. O most small And hold our lives in mercy.-Oswald, I say!fault,

nature

How ugly didst thou in Cordelia show!
Which, like an engine, wrench'd my frame of
[love,
From the fix'd place; drew from my heart all
And added to the gall. O Lear, Lear, Lear!
Beat at this gate that let thy folly in,

[Striking his Head. And thy dear judgment out! Go, go, my people. Alb. My lord, I am guiltless, as I am ignoOf what hath mov'd you: [rant

Lear. It may be so, my lord.-Hear, nature,
hear;

Dear goddess, hear! Suspend thy purpose, if
Thou didst intend to make this creature fruitful!
Into her womb convey sterility!

Dry up in her the organs of increase;
And from her derogate + body never spring
A babe to honour her! If she must teem,
Create her child of spleen; that it may live,
And be a thwart disnatur'd torment to her!
Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth!
With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks;
Turn all her mother's pains and benefits
To laughter and contempt; that she may feel
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child!-Away, away!

[Exit.

Alb. Now, gods that we adore, whereof comes

this ?

Gon. Never afflict yourself to know the cause; But let his disposition have that scope

That dotage gives it.

Re-enter LEAR.

Alb. Well, you may fear too far.
Gon. Safer than trust:

Let me still take away the harms I fear,
Not fear still to be taken. I know his heart:
What he hath utter'd, I have writ my sister;
If she sustain'd him and his hundred knights,
When I have show'd the unfitness-How now,
Oswald ?

Enter STEWARD.

What, have you writ that letter to my sister?
Stew. Ay, madam.

Gon. Take you some company, and away to
horse :
Inform her full of my particular fear;
And thereto add such reasons of your own,
As may compact it more. Get you gone;
And hasten your return. [Exit STEW.] No, no,
my lord,

This milky gentleness, and course of your's,
Though I condemn it not, yet, under pardon,
You are much more attask'd for want of wis-
Than prais'd for harmful mildness. [dom,

Alb. How far your eyes may pierce, I can-
not tell;

Striving to better, oft we mar what's well.
Gon. Nay, then-

Alb. Well, wel!; the event.

[Exeunt

SCENE V.-Court before the same.

Enter LEAR, KENT, and FOOL. Lear. Go you before to Gloster with these letters: acquaint my daughter no further with any thing you know, than comes from her demand out of the letter: If your diligence be not speedy,

Lear. What, fifty of my followers, at a clap! I shall be there before you. Within a fortnight?

The untented woundings of a father's curse
Pierce every sense about thee !-Old fond eyes,
Beweep this cause again, I'll pluck you out;
And cast you, with the waters that you lose,
To temper clay.-Ha! is it come to this?
Let it be so-Yet have I left a daughter,
Who, I am sure, is kind and comfortable;
When she shall hear this of thee, with her nails
She'll flay thy wolfish visage. Thou shalt find,
That I'll resume the shape which thou dost

think

I have cast off for ever; thon shalt, I warrant thee.

[Exeunt LEAR, KENT, and Attendants. Gon. Do you mark that, my lord? Alb. I cannot be so partial, Goneril, To the great love I bear you,Gon. Pray you, content.-What, Oswald, ho! You, Sir, more knave than fool, after your master. [To the FOOL. Fool. Nuncle Lear, nuncle Lear, tarry, and take the fool with thee.

Fool. Why, to put his head in; not to give it away to his daughters, and leave his horns without a case.

Lear. I will forget my nature--So kind a father-Be my horses ready?

Fool. Thy asses are gone about 'em. The
• Armed.
1 Liable to reprehension

reason why the seven stars are no seven, is a pretty reason.

more than | Of my more fierce endeavour: I have seen

Lear. Because they are not eight? Fool. Yes, indeed: Thou wouldst make a good fool.

Lear. To take it again perforce !-Monster ingratitude!

Fool. If thou wert my fool, nuncle, I'd have thee beaten for being old before thy time. Lear. How's that?

Fool. Thou shouldst not have been old, before thou hadst been wise.

Lear. O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven!

Keep me in temper; I would not be mad !

Enter GENTLEMAN.

How now! Are the horses ready?

Gent. Ready, my lord.

Lear. Come, boy.

Fool. She that is maid now, and laughs at my
departure,

Shall not be a maid long, unless things be cut
shorter.
[Exeunt.

ACT II.

drunkards

Do more than this in sport.-Father! father!
Stop, stop! No help?

Enter GLOSTER, and Servants with Torches.
Glo. Now, Edmund, where's the villain?
Edm. Here stood he in the dark, his sharp
sword out,

Mumbling of wicked charms, conjuring the

moon

To stand his auspicious mistress :-
Glo. But where is he?

Edm. Look, Sir, I bleed.

Glo. Where is the villain, Edmund ?

Edm. Fled this way, Sir. When by no means he could

Glo. Pursue him, ho!-Go after.-[Exit Servant. By no means,-what?

Edm. Persuade me to the murder of your
lordship;

But that I told him, the revenging gods
'Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend;
Spoke, with how manifold and strong a bond
The child was bound to the father;-Sir, in

fine,

Seeing how loathly opposite I stood

To his unnatural purpose, in fell motion,
With his prepared sword, he charges home

SCENE L-A Court within the Castle of the My unprovided body, lanc'd mine arm:

Earl of GLOSTER.

Cur. Nay, I know not: You have heard of the news abroad: I mean, the whispered ones, for they are yet but ear-kissing arguments?

Edm. Not I: 'Pray you, what are they? Cur. Have you heard of no likely wars toward, 'twixt the dukes of Cornwall and Albany?

Edm. Not a word.

Cur. You may then, in time. Fare you well, Sir.

But when he saw my best alarum'd spirits,
Bold in the quarrel's right, rous'd to the en-
counter,

Or whether gasted by the noise I made,
Full suddenly he fled.

Glo. Let him fly far:

Not in this land shall he remain uncaught;
And found-Despatch.-The noble duke my

master,

My worthy arch and patron, comes to-night:
By his authority I will proclaim it,
That he, which finds him, shall deserve our
thanks,

Bringing the murd'rous coward to the stake;
He, that conceals him, death.

Edm. When I dissuaded him from his intent, And found him pight to do it, with curst speech

[Exit. I threaten'd to discover him: He replied, Edm. The duke be here to-night? The bet-Thou unpossessing bastard! dost thou thin

ter! Best!

Reg. No marvel then, though he were ill deuy thou know'st me! Is it two days ago, since affected;

I tripp'd up thy heels, and beat thee, before the the moon shines; I'll make a sop i'the moorshine of you: Draw, you whorson cullionly

'Tis they have put him on the old man's death,king? Draw, you rogue; for, though it be night, To have the waste and spoil of his revenues.

I have this present evening from my sister
Been well inform'd of them; and with such cau-barber-monger, draw.

Edmund, I hear that you have shown your fa- puppet's part, against the royalty of her fa

Scene II.

Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon + beaks,
With every gale and vary of their masters,
As knowing nought, like dogs, but following.-
A plague upon your epileptic visage !
Smile you my speeches, as I were a fool ?
Goose, if I had you upon Sarum plain,
I'd drive ye cackling home to Camelot.t
Corn. What, art thou mad, old fellow ?
Glo. How fell you out?

Say that.

Kent. No contraries hold more antipathy, Than I and such a knave.

Corn. Why dost thou call him knave? What's

his offence ?

Kent. His countenance likes me not. §
Corn. No more, perchance, does mine, or his,

or her's.

Kent. Sir, 'tis my occupation to be plain;
I have seen better faces in my time,
Than stands on any shoulder that I see
Before me at this instant.

[affect
Corn. This is some fellow,
Who, having been prais'd for bluntness, doth
A saucy roughness; and constrains the garb,
Quite from his nature: He cannot flatter, he !-
An honest mind and plain, he must speak

truth:

And they will take it, so; if not, he's plain.
These kind of knaves I know, which in this
plainness

Harbour more craft, and more corrupter ends,
Than twenty silly ducking observants,
That stretch their duties nicely.

Kent. Sir, in good sooth, in sincere verity,
Under the allowance of your grand aspect,
Whose influence, like the wreath of radiant fire
On flickering Phoebus' front,-

Corn. What mean'st by this? Kent. To go out of my dialect, which you discommend so much. I know, Sir, I am no flatterer he that beguiled you in a plain accent, was a plain knave; which, for my part, I will not be, though I should win your displeasure to

entreat me to it.

Corn. What was the offence you gave him?
Stew. Never any :

It pleas'd the king his master, very late,
To strike at me, upon his misconstruction;
When he, conjunct, and flattering his displea-

sure,

Tripp'd me behind; being down, insulted, rail'd,
And put upon him such a deal of man,
That worthy'd him, got praises of the king
For him attempting who was self-subdu'd;
And, in the fleshment of this dread exploit,
Drew on me here.

Kent. None of these rogues, and cowards,
But Ajax is their fool. ¶

Corn. Fetch forth the stocks, ho!
You stubborn ancient knave, you reverend
We'll teach you-

Our sister speaks of: -Come, bring away the 1 stocks.

Glo. Let me beseech your grace not to do so⚫ His fault is much, and the good king his master Will check him for't: your purpos'd low correc.

tion

Is such, as basest and contemned'st wretches,
For pilferings and most common trespasses,
Are punish'd with the king must take it ill,
That he's so slightly valued in his messenger,
Should have him thus restrain'd.

Corn. I'll answer that.

Reg. My sister may receive it much more
worse,

To have her gentleman abus'd, assaulted,
For following her affairs.-Put in his legs.-
[KENT is put in the Stocks.

Come, my good lord; away.

[Exeunt REGAN and CORNWALL. Glo. I am sorry for thee, friend; 'tis the duke's pleasure,

Whose disposition, all the world well knows,
Will not be rubb'd nor stopp'd: I'll entreat for

thee.

Kent. Pray, do not, Sir: I have watch'd, and
travell'd hard;
Some time I shall sleep out, the rest I'll whistle.
A good man's fortune may grow out at heels:
Give you good morrow!

Glo. The duke's to blame in this; 'twill be ill
taken.
[Exit.
Kent. Good king, that must approve the com-

mon saw!

Thou out of heaven's benediction com'st
To the warm sun!

Approach, thou beacon to this under globe,
That by thy comfortable beams I may
Peruse this letter !-Nothing almost seems mira-
cles,
But misery;-I know 'tis from Cordelia;
Who hath most fortunately been inform'd
of my obscured course; and shall find time
From this enormous state,-seeking to give
Losses their remedies :-All weary and o'er-
watch'd,

Take vantage, heavy eyes, not to behold
This shameful lodging.

Fortune, good night: smile once more; turn thy
wheel!t
[He sleeps

SCENE III.-A part of the Heath.
Enter EDGAR.

Edg. I heard myself proclaim'd;
And, by the happy hollow of a tree,

Escap'd the hunt. No port is free; no place,
That guard, and most unusual vigilance,
Does not attend my taking. While I may
scape,

[gart,
brag-I will preserve myself; and am bethought
To take the basest and most poorest shape,
That every penury, in contempt of man,
Brought near to beast: my face I'll grime with
filth;

Kent. Sir, I am too old to learn:
Call not your stocks for me: I serve the king;
On whose employment I was sent to you:
You shall do small respect, show too bold malice
Against the grace and person of my master,
Stocking his messenger.

Corn. Fetch forth the stocks:

As I've life and honour, there shall he sit till

Commanded me to follow, and attend
The leisure of their answer; gave me cold
And meeting here the other messenger,
Whose welcome, I perceiv'd, had poison'd mine,
(Being the very fellow that 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 :

Gent. Made you no more offence than what you speak of?

Kent. None.

How chance the king comes with so small a train ?

Fool. An thou hadst been set i'the stocks for that question, thou hadst well deserv'd 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 it; but the great one that goes up the hill, 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 turus fool, that runs away;
The fool no knave, perdy.

Kent. Where learned you this, fool?
Fool. Not i'the stocks, fool.

Re-enter LEAR, with GLOSTER.

Lear. Deny to speak with me? They are sick? they are weary?

They

have travell'd hard to-night?
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!

sion!

Mcre

confu

the dear father

Would with his daughter speak, commands her service:

Are they inform'd of this?-My breath and blood!

Fiery? the fiery duke ?-Tell the hot duke, that

Your son and daughter found this trespass No, but not yet :-may be, he is not well :

worth

Infirmity doth still neglect all office,
Whereto our health is bound; we are not our-
selves,
[mind

When nature, being oppress'd, commands the
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.

[Exit.

Glo. I'd have all well betwixt you.
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 them i'the paste;

Removing from their own house.
* Crust of a pic.

↑ Artifice.