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 5 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 10 again: I would have none but knaves follow it, since a fool gives it.
[murder
They could not, would not do 't; 'tis worse than
To do upon respect such violent outrage1:
Resolve me with all modest haste, which way
Thou might'st deserve, or they impose, this usage, 15
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 shew'd
My duty kneeling, came there a recking post,
Stewed in his haste, half breathless, panting forth
From Goneril his mistress, salutations;
Deliver'd letters, spite of intermission,
Which presently they read: on whose contents,
They summon'd up their meiny', straight took 25
Commanded me to follow, and attend [horse;
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, I 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.
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,
they are weary?
They have travell'd hard to-night? Mere fetches;
The images of revolt and flying off!
Fetch me a better answer.
30 You know the fiery quality of the Duke;
How unremoveable and fixt he is
In his own course.
But, for all this, thou shalt have as many dolours' from thy dear daughters, as thou canst tell in a 45
Lear. O, how this mother swells toward my
heart!
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.
Gent. Made you no more offence than what
you speak of?
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.
Gent. Why, fool?
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 [me, man? Lear. Inform'd them! Dost thou understand Glo. Ay, my good lord.
Lear. The king would speak with Cornwall;
the dear father
[service:
Would with his daughter speak; commands her
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, [selves
Whereto our health is bound; we are not our-
When nature, being oppress'd, commands the
To suffer with the body: I'll forbear; [mind
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! where-
fore
[Looking on Kent.
Should he sit here? This act persuades me,
55 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,
[me,
Now, presently; bid them come forth and near
That is, to violate the public and venerable character of a messenger from the king. intermission means without pause, without suffering time to intervene. i. e. people. The meaning is, If this be their behaviour, the king's troubles are not yet at an end. "A quibble is here intended between dolours and dollars. The word twenty refers to the noses of the blind men, and not to the men in general. Practice is here used in au il sense for unlateful artifice.
Or at their chamber door I'll beat the drum, 'Till it cry, Sleep to death.
Glo. I would have all well betwixt you.
[Exit. Lear. O me, my heart, my rising heart!-but 5 down.
Fool. Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney' did to the eels, when she put them i' the paste alive; she fapt 'em o' the coxcombs with a stick, and cry'd, Down, wantons, down:' 'Twas her brother, 10 that, in pure kindness to his horse, butter'd his hay.
Enter Cornwall, Regan, Gloster, and Sercants.
Lear. Good-morrow to you both.
Corn. Hail to your grace! [Kent is set at liberty.
Reg. I am glad to see your highness.
Lear. Regan, I think you are; I know what
I have to think so: if thou should'st not be glad,
I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb,
Sepulch'ring an adultress.-O, are you free?
[To Kent.
Thy tender-hefted' nature shall not give [thine
Thee o'er to harshness; her eyes are fierce, but
Do comfort, and not burn: "Tis 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
20 The offices of nature, bond of childhood,
Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude;
Thy half o' the kingdom thou hast not forgot,
Wherein I thee endow'd.
Some other time for that.-Beloved Regan,
Thy sister's naught; O Regan, she hath tied
Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here', 25
[Points to his heart.
I can scarce speak to thee; thou'lt not believe,
Of how depraved 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
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, sir.
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,
Reg. I know 't, my sister's: this approves her
letter,
30 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,
40 If you do love old men, if your sweet sway
Allow obedience, if yourselves are old, [part!
Make it your cause; send down, and take my
Art not asham'd to look upon this beard?-
450, Regan, wilt thou take her by the hand?
Gon. Why not by the hand, sir? How have I
offended?
[Kneeling. 50 "That you'll vouchsafe me raiment,bed,and food.' Reg. Good sir, no more; these are unsightly
She hath abated me of half my train;
Look'd black upon me; struck ine with hertongue
Most serpent-like, upon the very heart:
1i. e., probably, a cook or scullion. Alluding to the fable of Prometheus. the order of families, duties of relation. * This may mean, old people are useless. ' i. e. to humble, to pull down. 'Hefted, Mr. Steevens says, seems to mean the same as heaved: Tender-hefted, i. e. whose bosom is agitated by tender passions. 1i. e. to contract my allowances or proportions settled. -Sizes are certain portions of bread, beer, or other victuals, which in colleges are set down to the account of particular persons. i. e. approve. To find, means little more than to think. 10 By less
advancement is meant, a still worse or more disgraceful situation; a situation not so reputable.
You will return and sojourn with my sister,
Dismissing half your train, come then to me;
I am now from home, and out of that provision
Which shall be needful for your entertainment.
Lear. Return to her, and fifty men dismiss'd?
No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose
To wage against the enmity o' the 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 10
Our youngest born, I could as well be brought
To knee his throne, and, squire-like, pension beg
To keep base life afoot';-Return with her?
Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter 3
To this detested groom. [Looking on the steward. 15
Gon. At your choice, sir.
[me mad;
Lear. Now I pr'ythee, daughter, do not make
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; 20
Or, rather, a disease that's in my flesh,
Which I must needs call mine: thou art a bile,
A plague-sore, an embossed carbuncle,
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 :
Mend, when thou canst; be better, at thy leisure:
I can be patient; I can stay with Regan,
I, and my hundred knights.
Reg. Not altogether so, sir;
I look'd not for you yet, nor am provided
For your fit welcome: Give ear, sir, to my sister;
For those that mingle reason with your passion,
Must be content to think you old, and so-
But she knows what she does.
Lear. Is this well spoken now?
Reg. I dare avouch it, sir: What, fifty followers? Is it not well? What should you need of more? Yea, or so many? sith that both charge and danger Speak 'gainst so great a number? How, in one house,
When others are more wicked; not being theworst,
Stands in some rank of praise:-I'll go with thee;
[To Goneril.
Thy fifty yet doth double five-and-twenty,
And thou art twice her love.
Gon. 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?
Lear. O, reason not the need: our basest beggars
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,
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
You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,
As full of grief as age; wretched in both!
If it be you that stir these daughters' hearts
Against their father, fool me not so much
To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger!
250, let not women's weapons, water-drops,
Stain my man's cheeks!-No, you unnatural hags,
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
30 The terrors of the earth. You think, I'll weep;
No, I'll not weep:-
Should many people, under two commands,
Hold amity? Tis hard; almost impossible.
Gon. Why might not you, my lord, receive 45
attendance
From those that she calls servants, or from mine?
Reg. Why not, my lord? If then they chanc'd
We could controul them: If you will come to me, 50 (For now I spy a danger) I intreat you
To bring but five-and-twenty; to no more
Will I give place, or notice.
Lear. I gave you all
Reg. And in good time you gave it.
Lear. Made you my guardians, my depositaries;
But kept a reservation to be follow'd
With such a number: What, must I come to you
With five-and-twenty, Regan? said you so?
Reg. And speak it again, my lord; no more
with me.
[favour'd,
Lear. Those wicked creatures yet do look well-
I have full cause of weeping; but this heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws,
Or ere I'll weep:-O fool, I shall go mad!
[Exeunt Lear, Gloster, Kent, and Fool.
Corn. Let us withdraw, 'twill be a storm.
[Storm and tempest heard.
Reg. This house is little; the old man and his
people
Cannot be well bestow'd.
Gon, 'Tis his own blame; he hath put himself And must needs taste his folly.
Reg. For his particular, I'll receive him gladly, But not one follower.
Gon. So am I purpos'd,
Where is my lord of Gloster?
Re-enter Gloster.
Corn. Follow'd the old man forth :-He is re-
Glo. The king is in high rage.
Corn. Whither is he going?
Glo. He calls to horse; but will I know not
Corn.'Tis best to give him way; he leads himself.
Gon. My lord, entreat him by no means to stay.
Glo. Alack, the night comes on, and the bleak
winds
Do sorely ruffle; for many miles about
There's scarce a bush.
Reg. O, sir, to wilful men,
The injuries, that they themselves procure,
Must be their school-masters: Shut up your doors;
He is attended with a desperate train;
1i. e. to make war. 2 i. e. in a servile state. Sumpter is a horse that carries necessaries on a journey; though sometimes used for the case to carry them in. Embossed is swelling, protuberant.
And what they may incense him to, being apt
To have his ear abus'd, wisdom bids fear. [night:
Corn. Shut up your doors, my lord; 'tis a wild
My Regan counsels well: come out o' the storm.
A Storm is heard, with thunder and lightning.
Enter Kent, and a Gentleman, meeting.
WHO's there, besides foul weather?
Gent. One minded like the weather,
most unquietly.
Kent. I know you: Where's the king?
Gent. Contending with the fretful element:
Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea,
Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main ',
That things might change, or cease: tears 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 out-scorn
The to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain. [couch,
This night, wherein the cub-drawn bear would
The lion and the belly-pinched wolf
Keep their fur dry, unbonneted he runs,
And bids what will take all.
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;
[10]I am a gentleman of blood and breeding,
And from some knowledge and assurance, offer
This office to you.
Gent. I will talk further with you.
Kent. No, do not.
15 For confirmation that I am much more
Than my out-wall, open this purse, and take
What it contains: If you shall see Cordelia,
(As fear not but you shall,) shew her this ring;
And she will tell you who your fellow is
20 That yet you do not know.-Fie on this storm!
I will go seek the king,
[to say!
Gent. Give me your hand: Have you no more
Kent. Few words, but, to effect, more than all
[your pain
25 That, when we have found the king, (in which
That way; I'll this,) he that first lights on him,
Holla the other.
[Exeunt severally.
You cataracts, and hurricanoes, spout
35Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunder-bolts,
Singemy white head! And thouall-shakingthunder,
Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world!
Crack nature's moulds; all germens spill at once,
That make ingrateful man!
And dare, upon the warrant of my note 3,
Commend a dear thing to you. There is division,
Although as yet the face of it be cover'd [wall;
With mutual cunning, 'twixt Albany and Corn-
Who have (as who have not, that their great stars 40
Throne and set high?) servants, who seem no less;
Which are to France the spies and speculations
Intelligent of our state; what hath been seen,
Either in snuffs and packings of the dukes;
Or the hard rein which both of them have borne 45
Against the old kind king; or something deeper,
Whereof, perchance, these are but furnishings;-
But, true it is, from France there comes a power
Into this scatter'd kingdom; who already,
Wise in our negligence, have secret fee
In some of our best ports, and are at point
To shew their open banner. --Now to you:
If on my credit you dare build so far
shall find
To make your speed to Dover, you
Some that will thank you, making just report
Of how unnatural and bemadding sorrow
The king hath cause to plain.
Fool.Onuncle, 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 belly full! Spit, fire! spout,
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters:
I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness;
50I never gave you kingdom, call'd you children,
You owe me no subscription; why then let fall
Your horrible pleasure; here I stand, your slave,
A poor, infirm, weak, and despis'd old man :-
But yet
I call you servile ministers,
55 That have with two pernicious daughters join'd
Your high-engender'd battles, 'gainst a head
So old and white as this. O! O! 'tis foul"!!
1 The main seems to signify here the main land, the continent. are drawn dry by its young. packings underhand contrivances. That is, Avant-couriers, Fr. matter that are hoarded within it." words. Subscription for obedience.
2 Cub-drawn means, whose dugs
Snuffs are dislikes, and i. e. divided, unsettled.
My observation of your character.
i. e. colours, external pretences.
"Crack nature's mould, and spill (or destroy) all the seeds of
Court holy-water is a proverbial expression, meaning fair
"1i. e. shameful, dishonourable.
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
The affliction, nor the fear.
[carry
Must make content with his fortunes fit ;
For the rain it raineth every day.
Lear. True, my good boy.-Come, bring us
[Exit,
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;
When brewers mar their malt with water;
When nobles are their tailors' tutors';
10 No heretics burn'd, but wenches' suitors:
Then comes the time, who lives to see't,
That going shall be us'd with feet.-
When every case in law is right;
No squire in debt, nor no poor knight;
15 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
20 Come to great confusion.
Lear. Let the great gods,
That keep this dreadful pother o'er our heads,
Find out their enemies now. Tremble,thou wretch,|30|
That hast within thee undivulged crimes,
Unwhipt of justice: Hide thee, thou bloody hand;
Thou perjur'd, and thou simular man of virtue
That art incestuous: Caitiff, to pieces shake,
That, under covert and convenient seeming *,
Hast practis'd on man's life!-Close pent up guilts,
Rive your concealing continents, and cry
These dreadful summoners' grace.—I am a man,
More sinn'd against, than sinning.
Kent. Alack, bare-headed!
Gracious my lord, hard by here is a hovel;
Some friendshipwill it lend you 'gainst the tempest;
Repose you there: while I to this hard house,
(More hard than is the stone whereof 'tis rais'd;
Which even but now, demanding after you,
Deny'd me to come in) return, and force
Their scanted courtesy.
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
This prophecy Merlin shall make; for I live before his time.
SCENE III.
An Apartment in Gloster's Castle.
Enter Gloster, and Edmund.
Glo. Alack, alack, Edmund, I like not this Junnatural dealing: When I desired their leave that I might pity him, they took from me the use of mine own house; charg'd me, on pain of their perpetual displeasure, neither to speak of him, entreat for him, nor any way sustain him.
Edm. Most savage, and unnatural!
Glo. Go to; say you nothing: There is division between the dukes; and a worse matter than that: 35I have received a letter this night;-'tis dangerous to be spoken.I have lock'd 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 seek 40 him, and privily relieve him: go you, and maintain talk with the duke, that my charity be not of hiin perceived: If he ask for ine, I am ill, and gone to bed. If I die for it, as no less is threaten'd me, the king ny old master must be relieved. 45 There is some strange thing toward, Edmund; pray you, be careful. [Exit. Edm. This courtesy, forbid thee, shall the duke Instantly know; and of that letter too:-That which my father loses; no less than all: This seems a fair deserving, and must draw me The younger rises, when the old doth fall. [Exit. SCENE IV.
i. e. A beggar marries a wife and lice. 2 Alluding perhaps to the saying of a contemporary wit, That there is no discretion below the girdle. Gallow, a west-country word, signifies to scare or frighten. * Convenient seeming is appearance such as may promote his purpose to destroy. tinent stands for that which contains or incloses. 'Summoners mean here the officers that summon offenders before a proper tribunal. 'i. e. invent fashions for them. The disease to which wenches' suitors are particularly exposed, was called in Shakspeare's time the brenning or burning.
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