The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works

2.2 Enter KENT[, disguised,] and OSWALD, ^Fseverally.^F

OSWALD Good dawning to thee, friend. Art of this house?
KENT Ay.
OSWALD Where may we set our horses?
KENT I’the mire.	5
OSWALD Prithee, if thou lov’st me, tell me.
KENT I love thee not.
OSWALD Why then, I care not for thee.
KENT If I had thee in Lipsbury pinfold, I would make
thee care for me.	10
OSWALD Why dost thou use me thus? I know thee not.
KENT Fellow, I know thee.
OSWALD What dost thou know me for?
KENT A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats; a base,
proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited-hundred-pound,	15
filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-
taking ^Qknave, a^Q whoreson, glass-gazing, super-
serviceable, finical rogue; one trunk-inheriting slave,
one that wouldst be a bawd in way of good service and
art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar,	20
coward, pander and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch;
^Fone^F whom I will beat into clamorous whining if thou
deniest the least syllable of thy addition.
OSWALD ^FWhy,^F what a monstrous fellow art thou, thus
to rail on one that is neither known of thee, nor knows	25
thee!
KENT What a brazen-faced varlet art thou to deny thou
knowest me? Is it two days ^Q ago^Q since I tripped up thy
heels and beat thee before the King? Draw, you rogue,
for though it be night, ^Fyet^F the moon shines. [Draws	30
his sword.] I’ll make a sop o’the moonshine of you.
^QDraw^Q you whoreson cullionly barber-monger! Draw!
OSWALD Away, I have nothing to do with thee.
KENT Draw, you rascal! You come with letters against
the King, and take Vanity the puppet’s part against the	35
royalty of her father. Draw, you rogue, or I’ll so
carbonado your shanks! – draw, you rascal, come your
ways!
OSWALD Help, ho! Murder, help!
KENT Strike, you slave. Stand, rogue, stand you neat	40
slave, strike! [Beats him.]
OSWALD Help, ho! Murder, murder!
Enter EDMUND,^Qwith his rapier drawn,^Q CORNWALL, REGAN, GLOUCESTER [and] ^Fservants.^F
EDMUND How now, what’s the matter? ^FPart!^F
KENT [to Edmund] With you, goodman boy, if you
please. Come, I’ll flesh ye; come on, young master.	45
GLOUCESTER Weapons? Arms? What’s the matter here?
CORNWALL Keep peace upon your lives: he dies that
strikes again. What is the matter?
REGAN The messengers from our sister and the King.
CORNWALL [to Kent] What is your difference? Speak.	50
OSWALD I am scarce in breath, my lord.
KENT No marvel, you have so bestirred your valour,
you cowardly rascal; nature disclaims in thee – a tailor
made thee.
CORNWALL Thou art a strange fellow – a tailor make a	55
man?
KENT ^QAy,^Q a tailor, sir; a stone-cutter or a painter could
not have made him so ill, though they had been but
two years o’the trade.
CORNWALL [to Oswald] Speak yet: how grew your	60
quarrel?
OSWALD This ancient ruffian, sir, whose life I have
spared at suit of his grey beard –
KENT Thou whoreson zed, thou unnecessary letter! My
lord, if you will give me leave, I will tread this	65
unbolted villain into mortar and daub the wall of a
jakes with him. [to Oswald] Spare my grey beard, you
wagtail?
CORNWALL Peace, sirrah. You beastly knave, know you
no reverence?	70
KENT Yes, sir, but anger hath a privilege.
CORNWALL Why art thou angry?
KENT That such a slave as this should wear a sword,
Who wears no honesty. Such smiling rogues as these
Like rats oft bite the ^Fholy^F cords atwain	75
Which are too intrince t’unloose; smooth every passion
That in the natures of their lords rebel,
Bring oil to fire, snow to their colder moods,
Renege, affirm and turn their halcyon beaks
With every gale and vary of their masters,	80
Knowing naught, like dogs, but following.
[to Oswald] 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.	85
CORNWALL What, art thou mad, old fellow?
GLOUCESTER How fell you out, say that.
KENT No contraries hold more antipathy
Than I and such a knave.
CORNWALL
Why dost thou call him knave? What is his fault?	90
KENT His countenance likes me not.
CORNWALL
No more perchance does mine, nor his, nor hers.
KENT Sir, ’tis my occupation to be plain:
I have seen better faces in my time
Than stands on any shoulder that I see	95
Before me at this instant.
CORNWALL This is some fellow
Who, having been praised for bluntness, doth affect
A saucy roughness and constrains the garb
Quite from his nature. He cannot flatter, he;
An honest mind and plain, he must speak truth;	100
An 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.	105
KENT Sir, in good faith, ^Qor^Q in sincere verity,
Under th’allowance of your great aspect,
Whose influence, like the wreath of radiant fire
On flickering Phoebus’ front –
CORNWALL What mean’st ^Qthou^Q by this?
KENT To go out of my dialect, which you discommend	110
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’t.
CORNWALL [to Oswald] What was th’offence you gave him?	115
OSWALD I never gave him any.
It pleased the King his master very late
To strike at me upon his misconstruction,
When he, compact and flattering his displeasure,
Tripped me behind; being down, insulted, railed	120
And put upon him such a deal of man
That worthied him, got praises of the King
For him attempting who was self-subdued;
And in the fleshment of this dread exploit
Drew on me here again.
KENT None of these rogues and cowards	125
But Ajax is their fool.
CORNWALL Fetch forth the stocks, ^Q ho^Q!
[Exeunt one or two servants.]
You stubborn, ancient knave, you reverend braggart,
We’ll teach you.
KENT ^FSir,^F I am too old to learn.
Call not your stocks for me; I serve the King,
On whose employment I was sent to you.	130
You shall do small respect, show too bold malice
Against the grace and person of my master,
Stocking his messenger.
CORNWALL Fetch forth the stocks!
As I have life and honour, there shall he sit till noon.
REGAN
Till noon? Till night, my lord, and all night too.	135
KENT Why, madam, if I were your father’s dog
You should not use me so.
REGAN Sir, being his knave, I will.
[^FStocks brought out.^F]
CORNWALL This is a fellow of the selfsame colour
Our sister speaks of. Come, bring away the stocks.
GLOUCESTER Let me beseech your grace not to do so.	140
^QHis fault is much, and the good King, his master,
Will check him for’t. Your purposed low correction
Is such as basest and contemnedst wretches
For pilferings and most common trespasses
Are punished with.^Q	145
The King, ^Fhis master, needs^F must take it ill
That he, so slightly valued in his messenger,
Should have him thus restrained.
CORNWALL I’ll answer that.
REGAN My sister may receive it much more worse
To have her gentleman abused, assaulted,	150
^QFor following her affairs. Put in his legs.^Q
[Kent is put in the stocks.]
^FCORNWALL^F Come, my ^Q good^Q lord, away.
^FExeunt^F [all but Gloucester and Kent].
GLOUCESTER
I am sorry for thee, friend; ’tis the Duke’s pleasure,
Whose disposition all the world well knows
Will not be rubbed nor stopped. I’ll entreat for thee.	155
KENT
Pray ^Q you^Q do not, sir. I have watched and travelled
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.
GLOUCESTER
The Duke’s too blame in this; ’twill be ill taken.	160
Exit.^FF
KENT Good King, that must approve the common 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	165
Peruse this letter. Nothing almost sees miracles
But misery. I know ’tis from Cordelia,
Who hath most fortunately been informed
Of my obscured course,
[reading the letter] and shall find time
From this enormous state, seeking to give	170
Losses their remedies. All weary and o’erwatched,
Take vantage, heavy eyes, not to behold
This shameful lodging.
Fortune, good night: smile once more; turn thy wheel.
[Q Sleeps.^Q]
Enter EDGAR. [2.3]
EDGAR I heard myself proclaimed,	175
And by the happy hollow of a tree
Escaped the hunt. No port is free, no place
That guard and most unusual vigilance
Does not attend my taking. While I may scape
I will preserve myself, and am bethought	180
To take the basest and most poorest shape
That ever penury in contempt of man
Brought near to beast. My face I’ll grime with filth,
Blanket my loins, elf all my hair in knots	[10]
And with presented nakedness outface	185
The winds and persecutions of the sky.
The country gives me proof and precedent
Of Bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices,
Strike in their numbed ^Fand^F mortified ^Q bare^Q arms
Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary;	190
And with this horrible object, from low farms,
Poor pelting villages, sheepcotes and mills,
Sometime with lunatic bans, sometime with prayers,
Enforce their charity. Poor Turlygod, poor Tom,	[20]
That’s something yet: Edgar I nothing am. Exit.	195
Enter LEAR,^FFool and a Knight.^F [2.4]
LEAR
’Tis strange that they should so depart from home
And not send back my messenger.
KNIGHT As I learned,
The night before there was no purpose ^Fin them^F
Of this remove.
KENT [Wakes.] Hail to thee, noble master.
LEAR Ha? Mak’st thou this shame thy pastime?
^FKENT No, my lord.^F	200
FOOL Ha, ha, ^Q look^Q, he wears cruel garters. Horses are
tied by the heads, dogs and bears by the neck, monkeys
by the loins and men by the legs. When a man’s
overlusty at legs, then he wears wooden nether-stocks.
LEAR [to Kent]
What’s he that hath so much thy place mistook	205
To set thee here?
KENT It is both he and she,	[11]
Your son and daughter.
LEAR No.
KENT Yes.
LEAR No, I say.	210
KENT I say, yea.
^QLEAR No, no, they would not.
KENT Yes, they have.^Q
LEAR By Jupiter, I swear no.
^FKENT By Juno, I swear ay.
LEAR^F They durst not do’t:	215
They could not, would not do’t – ’tis worse than murder	[21]
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.	220
KENT My lord, when at their home
I did commend your highness’ letters to them,
Ere I was risen from the place that showed
My duty kneeling, came there a reeking post,
Stewed in his haste, half breathless, panting forth
From Goneril, his mistress, salutations;	225
Delivered letters, spite of intermission,	[31]
Which presently they read; on those contents
They summoned up their meiny, straight took horse,
Commanded me to follow and attend
The leisure of their answer, gave me cold looks;	230
And meeting here the other messenger,
Whose welcome I perceived had poisoned mine,
Being the very fellow which of late
Displayed so saucily against your highness,
Having more man than wit about me, drew.	235
He raised the house with loud and coward cries.	[41]
Your son and daughter found this trespass worth
The shame which here it suffers.
^FFOOL Winter’s not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that way.	240
Fathers that wear rags
Do make their children blind,
But fathers that bear bags
Shall see their children kind:
Fortune, that arrant whore,	245
Ne’er turns the key to the poor.	[51]
But for all this thou shalt have as many dolours for thy
daughters as thou canst tell in a year.^F
LEAR O, how this mother swells up toward my heart!
Hysterica passio, down, thou climbing sorrow,	250
Thy element’s below. Where is this daughter?
KENT With the Earl, sir, ^F here^F within.
LEAR Follow me not; stay here. ^FExit.^F
KNIGHT Made you no more offence but what you speak of?
KENT None. How chance the King comes with so small	255
a number?	[61]
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	260
there’s no labouring i’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 ^Q it^Q;	265
but the great one that goes upward, let him draw thee	[71]
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 ^Fand seeks^F for gain,	270
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:	275
The knave turns fool that runs away,	[81]
The fool no knave perdy.
KENT Where learned you this, fool?
FOOL Not i’the stocks, ^Ffool.^F
Enter LEAR and GLOUCESTER
LEAR
Deny to speak with me? They are sick, they are weary,	280
They ^Fhave^F travelled all the night? – mere fetches ^Qay^Q,
The images of revolt and flying off.
Fetch me a better answer.
GLOUCESTER My dear lord,
You know the fiery quality of the Duke,
How unremovable and fixed he is	285
In his own course.	[91]
LEAR Vengeance, plague, death, confusion!
Fiery? What quality? Why, Gloucester, Gloucester,
I’d speak with the Duke of Cornwall and his wife.
^FGLOUCESTER
Well, my good lord, I have informed them so.	290
LEAR
‘Informed them’? Dost thou understand me, man?^F
GLOUCESTER Ay, my good lord.
LEAR
The King would speak with Cornwall, the dear father
Would with his daughter speak, commands – tends – service.
^FAre they informed of this? My breath and blood!	295
‘Fiery’?^F The fiery Duke, tell the hot Duke that
^Q Lear^Q –	[101]
No, but not yet, maybe he is not well;
Infirmity doth still neglect all office
Whereto our health is bound. We are not ourselves
When nature, being oppressed, commands the mind	300
To suffer with the body. I’ll forbear,
And am fallen out with my more headier will
To take the indisposed and sickly fit
For the sound man.
[Notices Kent.] Death on my state! Wherefore
Should he sit here? This act persuades me	305
That this remotion of the Duke and her	[111]
Is practice only. Give me my servant forth.
^FGo^F tell the Duke and’s 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	310
Till it cry sleep to death.
GLOUCESTER I would have all well betwixt you.^FExit.^F
LEAR O ^Fme,^F my heart! My ^Frising^F heart! ^FBut down!
FOOL Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the eels
when she put ’em i’the paste alive: she knapped ‘em	315
o’the coxcombs with a stick, and cried ‘Down,	[121]
wantons, down!’ ’Twas her brother that in pure
kindness to his horse buttered his hay.
Enter CORNWALL, REGAN,^FGLOUCESTER [and] servants.^F
LEAR Good morrow to you both.
CORNWALL Hail to your grace.
[^FKent here set at liberty.^F]
REGAN I am glad to see your highness.	320
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,
Sepulchring an adultress. [to Kent] O, are you free?
Some other time for that. – Beloved Regan,	325
Thy sister’s naught. O, Regan, she hath tied	[131]
Sharp-toothed unkindness, like a vulture, here.
[Lays his hand on his heart.]
I can scarce speak to thee; thou’lt not believe
With how depraved a quality – O, Regan!
REGAN I pray ^Fyou^F, sir, take patience. I have hope	330
You less know how to value her desert
Than she to scant her duty.
^FLEAR Say? how is that?
REGAN I cannot think my sister in the least
Would fail her obligation. If, sir, perchance
She have restrained the riots of your followers,	335
’Tis on such ground and to such wholesome end	[141]
As clears her from all blame.^F
LEAR My curses on her.
REGAN O, sir, you are old:
Nature in you stands on the very verge
Of her confine. You should be ruled and led	340
By some discretion that discerns your state
Better than you yourself. Therefore I pray ^Fyou^F
That to our sister you do make return;
Say you have wronged her, ^Q sir.^Q
LEAR Ask her forgiveness?
Do you ^Fbut^F mark how this becomes the house?	345
[Kneels.] Dear daughter, I confess that I am old;	[151]
Age is unnecessary. On my knees I beg
That you’ll vouchsafe me raiment, bed and food.
REGAN Good sir, no more. These are unsightly tricks.
Return you to my sister.
LEAR [Rises.] Never, Regan:	350
She hath abated me of half my train,
Looked black upon me, struck me with her tongue
Most serpent-like, upon the very heart.
All the stored vengeances of heaven fall
On her ingrateful top! Strike her young bones,	355
You taking airs, with lameness!
CORNWALL Fie, sir, fie!	[161]
^FLEAR^F
You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames
Into her scornful eyes! Infect her beauty,
You fen-sucked fogs, drawn by the powerful sun
To fall and blister!
REGAN O, the blest gods!	360
So will you wish on me when the rash mood ^Fis on.^F
LEAR No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curse.
Thy tender-hafted nature shall not give
Thee o’er to harshness. Her eyes are fierce, but thine
Do comfort and not burn. ’Tis not in thee	365
To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train,	[171]
To bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes
And, in conclusion, to oppose the bolt
Against my coming in. Thou better knowst
The offices of nature, bond of childhood,	370
Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude.
Thy half o’the kingdom hast thou not forgot,
Wherein I thee endowed.
REGAN Good sir, to the purpose
[^FTucket within.^F]
LEAR Who put my man i’the stocks?
Enter OSWALD.
CORNWALL What trumpet’s that?
REGAN I know’t, my sister’s. This approves her letter	375
That she would soon be here.
[to Oswald] Is your lady come?	[181]
LEAR This is a slave whose easy borrowed pride
Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows.
Out, varlet, from my sight!
CORNWALL What means your grace?
Enter GONERIL.
LEAR
Who stocked my servant? Regan, I have good hope	380
Thou didst not know on’t. Who comes here? O heavens!
If you do love old men, if your sweet sway
Allow obedience, if ^Fyou^F yourselves are old,
Make it your cause. Send down, and take my part!
[to Goneril] Art not ashamed to look upon this beard?	385
O, Regan, will you take her by the hand?	[191]
GONERIL
Why not by the hand, sir? How have I offended?
All’s not offence that indiscretion finds
And dotage terms so.
LEAR O sides, you are too tough!
Will you yet hold? How came my man i’the stocks?	390
CORNWALL I set him there, sir; but his own disorders
Deserved much less advancement.
LEAR You? Did you?
REGAN I pray you, father, being weak, seem so.
If till the expiration of your month
You will return and sojourn with my sister,	395
Dismissing half your train, come then to me.	[201]
I am now from home and out of that provision
Which shall be needful for your entertainment.
LEAR Return to her? And fifty men dismissed?
No! Rather I abjure all roofs and choose	400
To wage against the enmity o’th’ air –
To be a comrade with the wolf and owl –
Necessity’s sharp pinch! Return with her?
Why, the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took
Our youngest born, I could as well be brought	405
To knee his throne and squire-like pension beg,	[211]
To keep base life afoot. Return with her?
Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter
To this detested groom. [Points at Oswald.]
GONERIL At your choice, sir.
LEAR
^Q Now^Q I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad:	410
I will not trouble thee, my child. Farewell:
We’ll no more meet, no more see one another.
But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter,
Or rather a disease that’s in my flesh,
Which I must needs call mine. Thou art a boil,	415
A plague sore, or embossed carbuncle	[221]
In my corrupted blood. But I’ll not chide thee:
Let shame come when it will; I do not call it,
I do not bid the thunder-bearer shoot,
Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove.	420
Mend when thou canst, be better at thy leisure:
I can be patient, I can stay with Regan,
I and my hundred knights.
REGAN Not altogether so, ^Q sir^Q.
I looked not for you yet, nor am provided
For your fit welcome. Give ear, sir, to my sister;	425
For those that mingle reason with your passion	[231]
Must be content to think you ^Qare^Q old, and so –
But she knows what she does.
LEAR Is this well spoken ^Q now^Q?
REGAN I dare avouch it, sir. What, fifty followers?
Is it not well? What should you need of more?	430
Yea, or so many, sith that both charge and danger
Speak ‘gainst so great a number? How in one house
Should many people, under two commands,
Hold amity? ’Tis hard, almost impossible.
GONERIL
Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance	435
From those that she calls servants or from mine?	[241]
REGAN
Why not, my lord? If then they chanced to slack ye
We could control them. If you will come to me –
For now I spy a danger – I entreat you
To bring but five and twenty: to no more	440
Will I give place or notice.
LEAR I gave you all –
REGAN And in good time you gave it.
LEAR – Made you my guardians, my depositaries,
But kept a reservation to be followed
With such a number. What, must I come to you	445
With five and twenty? Regan, said you so?	[251]
REGAN And speak’t again, my lord: no more with me.
LEAR
Those wicked creatures yet do look well favoured
When others are more wicked; not being the worst
Stands in some rank of praise.
[to Goneril] I’ll go with thee;	450
Thy fifty yet doth double five and twenty,
And thou art twice her love.
GONERIL Hear me, my lord:
What need you five and twenty? Ten? Or five?
To follow in a house where twice so many
Have a command to tend you?
REGAN What need one?	455
LEAR O, reason not the need! Our basest beggars	450
Are in the poorest thing superfluous;
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man’s life is cheap as beast’s. Thou art a lady;
If only to go warm were gorgeous,	460
Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear’st,
Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But for true need –
You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need!
You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,
As full of grief as age, wretched in both:	465
If it be you that stirs these daughters’ hearts	[271]
Against their father, fool me not so much
To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger,
And let not women’s weapons, water-drops,
Stain my man’s cheeks. No, you unnatural hags,	470
I will have such revenges on you both
That all the world shall – I will do such things –
What they are yet I know not, but they shall be
The terrors of the earth! You think I’ll weep,
No, I’ll not weep. [^FStorm and tempest.^F]	475
I have full cause of weeping, but this heart	[281]
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws
Or e’er I’ll weep. O fool, I shall go mad.
Exeunt^QLear, Gloucester, Kent, Fool^Q [and Knight].
CORNWALL Let us withdraw; ’twill be a storm.
REGAN This house is little; the old man and’s people	480
Cannot be well bestowed.
GONERIL ’Tis his own blame; hath put himself from rest
And must needs taste his folly.
REGAN For his particular, I’ll receive him gladly,
But not one follower.
GONERIL So am I purposed.	485
Where is my lord of Gloucester?	[291]
Enter GLOUCESTER.
CORNWALL
Followed the old man forth – he is returned.
GLOUCESTER The King is in high rage.
^FCORNWALL Whither is he going?
GLOUCESTER
He calls to horse,^F but will I know not whither.	490
CORNWALL ’Tis best to give him way; he leads himself.
GONERIL [to Gloucester]
My lord, entreat him by no means to stay.
GLOUCESTER
Alack, the night comes on, and the high winds
Do sorely ruffle; for many miles about
There’s scarce a bush.
REGAN O sir, to wilful men	495
The injuries that they themselves procure	[301]
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.	500
CORNWALL
Shut up your doors, my lord; ’tis a wild night.
My Regan counsels well; come out o’the storm.
Exeunt.

3.1 ^FStorm still.^FEnter KENT[, disguised,] and a Knight, severally.

KENT Who’s there, besides foul weather?
KNIGHT One minded like the weather, most unquietly.
KENT I know you. Where’s the King?
KNIGHT Contending with the fretful elements;
Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea,	5
Or swell the curled waters ‘bove the main,
That things might change, or cease; ^Qtears 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 outscorn	10
The to and fro conflicting wind and rain;
This night wherein the cub-drawn bear would couch,
The lion and the belly-pinched wolf
Keep their fur dry, unbonneted he runs,
And bids what will take all.^Q
KENT But who is with him?	15
KNIGHT None but the fool, who labours to outjest
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 division,
Although as yet the face of it is covered	20
With mutual cunning, ’twixt Albany and Cornwall,
^FWho 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 speculations
Intelligent of our state – what hath been seen,	25
Either in snuffs and packings of the dukes,
Or the hard rein which both of them hath borne
Against the old kind King, or something deeper,
Whereof, perchance, these are but furnishings. –^F
^QNow to you:	30
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.	35
I am a gentleman of blood and breeding,
And from some knowledge and assurance
Offer this office to you.^Q
KNIGHT I will talk further with you.
KENT No, do not.
For confirmation that I ^Fam^F much more	40
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 ring,
And she will tell you who your fellow is
That yet you do not know. Fie on this storm;	45
I will go seek the King.
KNIGHT 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,
^FIn which your pain^F that way, I’ll this,
He that first lights on him holla the other. Exeunt.	50

3.2 ^FStorm still.^FEnter LEAR and Fool.

LEAR Blow winds and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers of oak-cleaving thunderbolts,	5
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Strike flat the thick rotundity o’the world,
Crack nature’s moulds, all germens spill at once
That make ingrateful man!
FOOL O, nuncle, court holy-water in a dry house is	10
better than this rain-water out o’door. Good nuncle,
in, ^Q and^Q ask thy daughters blessing. Here’s a night
pities neither wise men nor fools.
LEAR Rumble thy bellyful! Spit fire, spout rain!
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters;	15
I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness.
I never gave you kingdom, called you children;
You owe me no subscription. ^Q Why^Q then, let fall
Your horrible pleasure. Here I stand your slave,
A poor, infirm, weak and despised old man.	20
But yet I call you servile ministers
That will with two pernicious daughters join
Your high-engendered battles ‘gainst a head
So old and white as this. O ^Fho!^F ’tis foul.
FOOL He that has a house to put’s head in has a good headpiece:	25
The codpiece that will house
Before the head has any,
The head and he shall louse:
So beggars marry many.	30
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.	35
Enter KENT[, disguised].
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 codpiece – that’s a wise man and a fool.	40
KENT [to Lear]
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,
And make them keep their caves. Since I was man	45
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
Th’affliction, nor the fear.
LEAR Let the great gods
That keep this dreadful pudder o’er our heads	50
Find out their enemies now. Tremble, thou wretch,
That hast within thee undivulged crimes,
Unwhipped of justice. Hide thee, thou bloody hand,
Thou perjured, and thou simular of virtue
That art incestuous. Caitiff, to pieces shake,	55
That under covert and convenient seeming
Has practised on man’s life. Close pent-up guilts
Rive your concealing continents and cry
These dreadful summoners grace. I am a man
More sinned against than sinning.
KENT Alack, bareheaded?	60
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 –
More harder than the stones whereof ’tis raised,
Which even but now, demanding after you,	65
Denied me to come in – return and force
Their scanted courtesy.
LEAR My wits begin to turn.
[to the Fool] Come on, my boy. How dost my boy? Art cold?
I am cold myself.
[to Kent] Where is this straw, my fellow?
The art of our necessities is strange,	70
And can make vile things precious. Come; your hovel.
[to the Fool] Poor fool and knave, I have one part in my heart
That’s sorry yet for thee.
FOOL He that has ^Fand^F a little tiny wit,
With heigh-ho, the wind and the rain,
Must make content with his fortunes fit,	75
Though the rain it raineth every day.
LEAR True, ^Q my good^Q boy.
[to Kent] Come, bring us to this hovel.
[Exeunt Lear and Kent.]
^FFOOL This is a brave night to cool a courtesan. I’ll
speak a prophecy ere I go:
When priests are more in word than matter,	80
When brewers mar their malt with water,
When nobles are their tailors’ tutors,
No heretics burned but wenches’ suitors;
When every case in law is right
No squire in debt, nor no poor knight;	85
When slanders do not live in tongues,
Nor cut-purses come not to throngs,
When usurers tell their gold i’the field,
And bawds and whores do churches build,
Then shall the realm of Albion	90
Come to great confusion:
Then comes the time, who lives to see’t,
That going shall be used with feet.
This prophecy Merlin shall make, for I live before his time. Exit. ^F	95

3.3 Enter GLOUCESTER and EDMUND, ^Qwith lights ^Q.

GLOUCESTER Alack, alack, Edmund, I like not this
unnatural dealing. When I desired their leave that I
might pity him, they took from me the use of mine
own house; charged me on pain of perpetual
displeasure neither to speak of him, entreat for him, or	5
any way sustain him.
EDMUND Most savage and unnatural.
GLOUCESTER Go to, say you nothing. There is division
between the dukes, and a worse matter than that: I
have received a letter this night – ’tis dangerous to be	10
spoken – I have locked the letter in my closet. These
injuries the King now bears will be revenged home.
There is part of a power already footed; we must
incline to the King. I will look him and privily relieve
him. Go you and maintain talk with the Duke, that my	15
charity be not of him perceived. If he ask for me, I am
ill and gone to bed. If I die for it – as no less is
threatened me – the King my old master must be
relieved. There is strange things toward, Edmund;
pray you, be careful. Exit.	20
EDMUND This courtesy, forbid thee, shall the Duke
Instantly know and of that letter too.
This seems a fair deserving and must draw me
That which my father loses, no less than all.
The younger rises when the old doth fall. Exit.	25

3.4 Enter LEAR, KENT[, disguised,] 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. [^FStorm still.^F]
LEAR Let me alone.
KENT Good my lord, enter ^Fhere^F.
LEAR Wilt break my heart?
KENT
I had rather break mine own. Good my lord, enter.	5
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 fixed,
The lesser is scarce felt. Thou’dst shun a bear,
But if thy flight lay toward the roaring sea,	10
Thou’dst meet the bear i’the mouth. When the mind’s free,
The body’s delicate: this 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	15
For lifting food to’t? But I will punish home;
No, I will weep no more. ^FIn such a night
To shut me out? Pour on, I will endure.^F
In such a night as this? O, Regan, Goneril,
Your old, kind father, whose frank heart gave ^Q you^Q all –	20
O, that way madness lies, let me shun that;
No more of that.
KENT Good my lord, enter ^Fhere^F.
LEAR Prithee go in thyself, seek thine own ease.
This tempest will not give me leave to ponder
On things would hurt me more. But I’ll go in;	25
[to the Fool] ^FIn boy, go first. You houseless poverty –
Nay, get thee in. I’ll pray, and then I’ll sleep.
Exit^F [Fool].
[Kneels.] Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,	30
Your looped and windowed 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	35
And show the heavens more just.
[Enter Fool, as from the hovel.]
^FEDGAR [within] Fathom and half, fathom and half:
Poor Tom!^F
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, ^Fa spirit.^F He says his name’s Poor Tom.
KENT What art thou that dost grumble there i’the straw? Come forth.
Enter EDGAR[, disguised as Poor Tom].
EDGAR Away, the foul fiend follows me. Through the	45
sharp hawthorn blows the ^Q cold^Q wind. ^F Humh,^F go
to thy ^Q cold^Q bed and warm thee.
LEAR Didst thou give all to thy ^Q two^Q daughters? And
art thou come to this?
EDGAR Who gives anything to Poor Tom? Whom the	50
foul fiend hath led through fire and ^Fthrough flame,^F
through ford and whirlpool, o’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	55
bridges, to course his own shadow for a traitor. Bless
thy five wits, Tom’s a-cold. ^FO do, de, do, de, do, de:^F
bless thee from whirlwinds, star-blasting and taking.
Do Poor Tom some charity, whom the foul fiend
vexes. There could I have him now, and there, and	60
there again, ^Fand there.^F[^FStorm still.^F]
LEAR Have his daughters brought him to this pass?
Couldst thou save nothing? Wouldst thou give ’em all?
FOOL Nay, he reserved a blanket, else we had been all shamed.	65
LEAR [to Edgar]
Now all the plagues that in the pendulous air
Hang fated o’er men’s faults light on thy daughters.
KENT He hath no daughters, sir.
LEAR
Death, traitor! Nothing could have subdued nature
To such a lowness but his unkind daughters.	70
Is it the fashion that discarded fathers
Should have thus little mercy on their flesh?
Judicious punishment, ’twas this flesh begot
Those pelican daughters.
EDGAR Pillicock sat on Pillicock hill,	75
Alow, alow, loo, loo!
FOOL This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen.
EDGAR Take heed o’the foul fiend; obey thy parents,
keep thy word justly, swear not, commit not with	80
man’s sworn spouse, set not thy sweet-heart on proud
array. Tom’s a-cold.
LEAR What hast thou been?
EDGAR A serving-man, proud in heart and mind, that
curled my hair, wore gloves in my cap, served the lust	85
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	90
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	95
plackets, thy pen from lenders’ books, and defy the
foul fiend. Still through the hawthorn blows the cold
wind, says suum, mun, nonny, Dauphin my boy, ^Q my^Q
boy, cessez! Let him trot by. [^FStorm still.^F]
LEAR QWhy^Q, thou wert better in a grave than to answer	100
with thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies. Is
man no more than this? Consider him well. Thou
ow’st the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no
wool, the cat no perfume. ^FHa?^F Here’s three on’s us
are sophisticated; thou art the thing itself.	105
Unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor,
bare, forked animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings:
come, unbutton ^Fhere^F. [Tearing at his clothes, he is
restrained by Kent and the Fool.]
^F Enter GLOUCESTER, with a torch.^F
FOOL Prithee, nuncle, be contented; ’tis a naughty night
to swim in. Now a little fire in a wild field were like an	110
old lecher’s heart, a small spark, all the rest on’s body
cold: look, here comes a walking fire.
EDGAR This is the foul ^Qfiend^Q Flibbertigibbet: he
begins at curfew and walks till the first cock; he gives
the web and the pin, squinies the eye and makes the	115
harelip; mildews the white wheat and hurts the poor
creature of earth.
Swithold footed thrice the wold;
He met the nightmare and her nine foal,
Bid her alight and her troth plight,	120
And aroint thee, witch, aroint thee.
KENT How fares your grace?
LEAR What’s he?
KENT [to Gloucester] Who’s there? What is’t you seek?
GLOUCESTER What are you there? Your names?	125
EDGAR 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 foul fiend rages, eats
cow-dung for salads; swallows the old rat and the
ditch-dog; drinks the green mantle of the standing	130
pool; who is whipped from tithing to tithing and
stocked, punished and imprisoned – who hath ^Q had^Q
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	135
Have been Tom’s food for seven long year.
Beware my follower. Peace Smulkin, peace, thou fiend.
GLOUCESTER
What, hath your grace no better company?
EDGAR The prince of darkness is a gentleman. Modo he’s called, and Mahu.	140
GLOUCESTER
Our flesh and blood, my lord, is grown so vile
That it doth hate what gets it.
EDGAR Poor Tom’s a-cold.
GLOUCESTER [to Lear]
Go in with me. My duty cannot suffer
T’obey in all your daughters’ hard commands.	145
Though their injunction be to bar my doors
And let this tyrannous night take hold upon you,
Yet have I ventured to come seek you out,
And bring you where both fire and food is ready.
LEAR First let me talk with this philosopher:	150
[to Edgar] What is the cause of thunder?
KENT Good my lord,
Take his offer, go into the house.
LEAR I’ll talk a word with this same learned Theban:
What is your study?
EDGAR How to prevent the fiend and to kill vermin.	155
LEAR Let me ask you one word in private.
KENT [to Gloucester]
Importune him ^Fonce more^F to go, my lord;
His wits begin t’unsettle.
GLOUCESTER Canst thou blame him?
[^FStorm still.^F]
His daughters seek his death. Ah, that good Kent,
He said it would be thus, poor banished man.	160
Thou sayest the King grows mad; I’ll tell thee, friend,
I am almost mad myself. I had a son,
Now outlawed from my blood; he sought my life,
But lately, very late. I loved him, friend,
No father his son dearer. True to tell thee,	165
The grief hath crazed my wits. What a night’s this?
[to Lear] I do beseech your grace.
LEAR O, cry you mercy, ^Fsir.^F
[to Edgar] Noble philosopher, your company.
EDGAR Tom’s a-cold.
GLOUCESTER
In, fellow, there, into the hovel; keep thee warm.	170
LEAR Come, let’s in all.
KENT This way, my lord.
LEAR With him;
I will keep still with my philosopher.
KENT
Good my lord, soothe him; let him take the fellow.
GLOUCESTER Take you him on.
KENT Sirrah, come on; go along with us.	175
LEAR Come, good Athenian.
GLOUCESTER No words, no words; hush.
EDGAR
Childe Rowland to the dark tower came,
His word was still ‘Fie, foh and fum,
I smell the blood of a British man.’ ^FExeunt.^F	180

3.5 Enter CORNWALL and EDMUND.

CORNWALL I will have my revenge, ere I depart his house.
EDMUND How, my lord, I may be censured that nature
thus gives way to loyalty something fears me to think of.
CORNWALL I now perceive it was not altogether your	5
brother’s evil disposition made him seek his death, but
a provoking merit set a-work by a reprovable badness
in himself.
EDMUND How malicious is my fortune, that I must
repent to be just? This is the letter ^Fwhich^F he spoke	10
of, which approves him an intelligent party to the
advantages of France. O heavens! That this treason
were ^Fnot^F, or not I the detector.
CORNWALL Go with me to the Duchess.
EDMUND If the matter of this paper be certain, you have	15
mighty business in hand.
CORNWALL True or false, it hath made thee Earl of
Gloucester. Seek out where thy father is, that he may
be ready for our apprehension.
EDMUND [aside] If I find him comforting the King, it	20
will stuff his suspicion more fully. [to Cornwall] I will
persever in my course of loyalty, though the conflict be
sore between that and my blood.
CORNWALL I will lay trust upon thee and thou shalt find
a dear father in my love. Exeunt.	25

3.6 Enter KENT[, disguised,] and GLOUCESTER.

GLOUCESTER 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 ^Fhis^F
impatience. The gods reward your kindness.	5
Exit [Gloucester].
Enter LEAR, EDGAR[, disguised as Poor Tom,] and Fool.
EDGAR Frateretto calls me, and tells me Nero is an
angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent, ^Fand^F
beware the foul fiend.
FOOL Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a
gentleman or a yeoman?	10
LEAR A king, a king.
^FFOOL 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^F To have a thousand with red burning spits	15
Come hizzing in upon ‘em!
^QEDGAR 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.	20
[to Edgar] Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer;
[to the Fool] Thou sapient sir, sit here. No, you she-foxes –
EDGAR Look where she stands and glares! Want’st thou
eyes at trial, madam?
Come o’er the bourn, Bessy, to me.	25
FOOL Her boat hath a leak,
And she must not speak
Why she dares not come over to thee.
EDGAR The foul fiend haunts Poor Tom in the voice of
a nightingale. Hoppedance cries in Tom’s belly for	30
two white herring. Croak not, black angel, I have no
food for thee.
KENT How do you, sir? Stand you not so amazed.
Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions?
LEAR I’ll see their trial first. Bring in their evidence.	35
[to Edgar] Thou robed man of justice, take thy place.
[to the Fool] And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity,
Bench by his side. [to Kent] You are o’the commission;
Sit you too.
EDGAR Let us deal justly.	40
Sleepest or wakest thou, jolly shepherd?
Thy sheep be in the corn;
And for one blast of thy minikin mouth
Thy sheep shall take no harm.
Purr, the cat is grey.	45
LEAR Arraign her first, ’tis Goneril – I here take my
oath before this honourable assembly – kicked the
poor King her father.
FOOL Come hither, mistress: is your name Goneril?
LEAR She cannot deny it.	50
FOOL Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool.
LEAR
And here’s another whose warped looks proclaim
What store her heart is made on. Stop her there!
Arms, arms, sword, fire, corruption in the place!
False justicer, why hast thou let her ‘scape?^Q	55
EDGAR Bless thy five wits.
KENT O pity! Sir, where is the patience now
That you so oft have boasted to retain?
EDGAR [aside]
My tears begin to take his part so much
They mar my counterfeiting.
LEAR The little dogs and all,	60
Trey, Blanch and Sweetheart, see, they bark at me.
EDGAR Tom will throw his head at them: avaunt, you curs!
Be thy mouth or black or white,
Tooth that poisons if it bite;	65
Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim,
Hound or spaniel, brach or him,
^FOr^F bobtail tyke or trundle-tail,
Tom will make him weep and wail;
For with throwing thus my head,	70
Dogs leap the hatch and all are fled.
Do, de, de, de. ^FCessez!^F 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 make	75
these hard hearts? [to Edgar] You, sir, I entertain ^Q you^Q
for one of my hundred; only I do not like the fashion
of your garments. You will say they are Persian
^Qattire^Q, but let them be changed.
KENT Now, good my lord, lie here ^Fand rest^F awhile.	80
LEAR Make no noise, make no noise, draw the curtains.
So, so, ^Q so^Q; we’ll go to supper i’the morning ^Qso, so, so.^Q
[He sleeps.]
^FFOOL And I’ll go to bed at noon.^F
Enter GLOUCESTER.
GLOUCESTER
Come hither, friend; where is the King my master?
KENT
Here, sir, but trouble him not; his wits are gone.	85
GLOUCESTER
Good friend, I prithee take him in thy arms.
I have o’erheard a plot of death upon him.
There is a litter ready; lay him in’t
And drive toward Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet
Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master:	90
If thou shouldst dally half an hour his life,
With thine and all that offer to defend him,
Stand in assured loss. Take up, take up,
And follow me, that will to some provision
Give thee quick conduct.
^QKENT Oppressed nature sleeps.	95
This rest might yet have balmed thy broken sinews,
Which if convenience will not allow
Stand in hard cure. [to the Fool] Come, help to bear thy master;
Thou must not stay behind.^Q
GLOUCESTER Come, come away!
Exeunt [all but Edgar;
Kent and the Fool supporting Lear].
^QEDGAR When we our betters see bearing our woes,	100
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.	105
How light and portable my pain seems now,
When that which makes me bend makes the King bow,
He childed as I fathered. Tom, away;
Mark the high noises, and thyself bewray
When false opinion, whose wrong thoughts defile thee,	110
In thy just proof repeals and reconciles thee.
What will hap more tonight, safe ‘scape the King.
Lurk, lurk!^Q [Exit.]

3.7 Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, GONERIL, EDMUND and servants.^FF

CORNWALL [to Goneril] Post speedily to my lord your
husband. Show him this letter: the army of France is
landed. [to servants] Seek out the traitor, Gloucester.
REGAN Hang him instantly! [Some servants rush off.]
GONERIL Pluck out his eyes!	5
CORNWALL Leave him to my displeasure. Edmund, keep
you our sister company; the revenges we are bound to
take upon your traitorous father are not fit for your
beholding. Advise the Duke where you are going to a
most festinate preparation; we are bound to the like.	10
Our posts shall be swift and intelligent betwixt us.
Farewell, dear sister; farewell, my lord of Gloucester.
Enter OSWALD.
How now, where’s the King?
OSWALD
My lord of Gloucester hath conveyed him hence.
Some five- or six-and-thirty of his knights,	15
Hot questrists after him, met him at gate,
Who with some other of the lord’s dependants
Are gone with him toward Dover, where they boast
To have well-armed friends.
CORNWALL Get horses for your mistress. [Exit Oswald.]	20
GONERIL Farewell, sweet lord and sister.
CORNWALL
Edmund, farewell. Exeunt ^QGoneril and Edmund^Q.
[to servants] Go, seek the traitor Gloucester;
Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us.
[Servants leave.]
Though ^Fwell^F we may not pass upon his life
Without the form of justice, yet our power	25
Shall do a courtesy to our wrath, which men
May blame but not control. Who’s there? The traitor?
Enter GLOUCESTER,^Q brought in by two or three^Q ^FServants.^F
REGAN Ingrateful fox, ’tis he.
CORNWALL Bind fast his corky arms.
GLOUCESTER What means your graces?
Good my friends, consider; you are my guests.	30
Do me no foul play, friends.
CORNWALL Bind him, I say –
[Servants bind his arms.]
REGAN Hard, hard. O, filthy traitor!
GLOUCESTER Unmerciful lady as you are, I’m none.
CORNWALL
To this chair bind him. [to Gloucester] Villain, thou shalt find – [Regan plucks his beard.]
GLOUCESTER By the kind gods, ’tis most ignobly done	35
To pluck me by the beard.
REGAN So white, and such a traitor?
GLOUCESTER Naughty lady,
These hairs which thou dost ravish from my chin
Will quicken and accuse thee. I am your host;
With robber’s hands my hospitable favours	40
You should not ruffle thus. What will you do?
CORNWALL
Come, sir, what letters had you late from France?
REGAN Be simple answered, for we know the truth.
CORNWALL
And what confederacy have you with the traitors,
Late footed in the kingdom?
REGAN To whose hands	45
You have sent the lunatic King. Speak.
GLOUCESTER I have a letter guessingly set down
Which came from one that’s of a neutral heart,
And not from one opposed.
CORNWALL Cunning.
REGAN And false.
CORNWALL Where hast thou sent the King?
GLOUCESTER To Dover.	50
REGAN
Wherefore to Dover? Wast thou not charged at peril –
CORNWALL
Wherefore to Dover? Let him ^Q first^Q answer that.
GLOUCESTER
I am tied to the stake and I must stand the course.
REGAN Wherefore to Dover, ^Q sir^Q?
GLOUCESTER Because I would not see thy cruel nails	55
Pluck out his poor old eyes; nor thy fierce sister
In his anointed flesh stick boarish fangs.
The sea, with such a storm as his bare head
In hell-black night endured, would have buoyed up
And quenched the stelled fires.	60
Yet, poor old heart, he holp the heavens to rain.
If wolves had at thy gate howled that stern time,
Thou shouldst have said, ‘Good porter, turn the key,
All cruels else subscribed’; but I shall see
The winged vengeance overtake such children.	65
CORNWALL
See’t shalt thou never. Fellows, hold the chair;
Upon these eyes of thine I’ll set my foot.
GLOUCESTER He that will think to live till he be old,
Give me some help! – O cruel! O you gods!
REGAN One side will mock another – th’other too.	70
CORNWALL If you see vengeance –
1 SERVANT Hold your hand, my lord.
I have served ^Fyou^F ever since I was a child,
But better service have I never done you
Than now to bid you hold.
REGAN How now, you dog?
1 SERVANT If you did wear a beard upon your chin,	75
I’d shake it on this quarrel. What do you mean?
CORNWALL My villein? [They] ^Qdraw and fight. ^Q
1 SERVANT
Nay then, come on, and take the chance of anger.
[He wounds Cornwall.]
REGAN [to another Servant]
Give me thy sword. A peasant stand up thus?
[^Q She takes a sword and runs at him behind.^Q F Kills him.^F]
1 SERVANT
O, I am slain. My lord, you have one eye left	80
To see some mischief on him. O! [He dies.]
CORNWALL Lest it see more, prevent it. Out, vile jelly,
Where is thy lustre now?
GLOUCESTER
All dark and comfortless? Where’s my son Edmund?
Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature	85
To quit this horrid act.
REGAN Out, ^Ftreacherous^F villain,
Thou call’st on him that hates thee. It was he
That made the overture of thy treasons to us,
Who is too good to pity thee.
GLOUCESTER O my follies! Then Edgar was abused?	90
Kind gods, forgive me that and prosper him.
REGAN [to a Servant]
Go, thrust him out at gates and let him smell
His way to Dover. How is’t, my lord? How look you?
CORNWALL I have received a hurt. Follow me, lady.
[to Servants] Turn out that eyeless villain. Throw this slave	95
Upon the dunghill.
Exeunt [Servants] ^Fwith Gloucester^F [and the body].
Regan, I bleed apace;
Untimely comes this hurt. Give me your arm.
Exeunt [Cornwall and Regan].
^Q₂SERVANT I’ll never care what wickedness I do
If this man come to good.
3 SERVANT If she live long
And in the end meet the old course of death,	100
Women will all turn monsters.
2 SERVANT
Let’s follow the old Earl and get the bedlam
To lead him where he would. His roguish madness
Allows itself to anything.
3 SERVANT
Go thou: I’ll fetch some flax and whites of eggs	105
To apply to his bleeding face. Now heaven help him!
Exeunt.^Q