Enter Gloster, led by an Old Man, l.h.

Old M. Oh, my good lord, I have been your tenant, And your father's tenant, these fourscore years.

Glos. Away, get thee away; good friend, begone Thy comforts can do me no good at all;

Thee they may hurt.

Old M. You cannot see your way.

Glos. I have no way, and therefore want no eyes, I stumbled when I saw.—Oh, dear son Edgar!

The food of thy abused father's wrath,

Might I but live to see thee in my touch,

I'd say I had eyes again.

Edg. (Aside.) Alas! he's sensible that I was wronged, And, should I own myself, his tender heart

Would break betwixt the extremes of grief and joy.

Old M. How now? who's there?

Edg. (Advances r.h. of Glos.) A charity for poor Tom.

Play fair, and defy the foul fiend.

(Aside.) Oh, gods! and must I still pursue this trade, Trifling beneath such loads of misery?

Old M. (r.c.) 'Tis poor mad Tom.

Glos. (r.c.) In the late storm I such a fellow saw, Which made me think a man a worm.

Where is the lunatic?

Old M. Here, my lord.

Glos. Get thee now away; if, for my sake, Thou wilt o'ertake us hence a mile or two

I' th' way to Dover, do 't for ancient love,

And bring some covering for this naked wretch,
Whom I'll entreat to lead me.

Old M. Alack, my lord, he's mad.

Glos. 'Tis the time's plague, when madmen lead the blind.

Do as I bid thee.

Old M. I'll bring him the best 'parel that I have,

Come on't what will.

Glos. Sirrah! naked fellow !

[Exit, L.F.

Edg. (r.h.) Poor Tom's a-cold.—(Aside.) I cannot fool it

longer,

And yet I must.—Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed;
Believ't, poor Tom e'en weeps his blind to see 'em.

Glos. Know'st thou the way to Dover?

Edg. Both stile and gate, horse-way and foot-path.
Poor Tom has been scared out of his good wits.
Bless every true man's son from the foul fiend !

Glos. Here, take this purse; that I am wretched
Makes thee the happier. Heav'n deal so still!
Thus let the griping usurer's hoard be scattered,
So distribution shall undo excess,

And each man have enough. Dost thou know Dover?
Edg. Ay, master.

Glos. There is a cliff, whose high and bending head
Looks dreadfully down upon the roaring deep;

Bring me but to the very brink of it,

And I'll repair the poverty thou bear'st

With something rich about me.—From that place

I shall no leading need.

Edg. Give me thy arm; poor Tom shall guide thee.

SCENE III.—Albany's Palace.

[Exit R.H

Enter Goneril, with a letter, and Oswald, l.h.

Gen. (l.c.) It was great ignorance, Gloster's eyes being

out,

To let him live; where he arrives he moves

All hearts against us. Edmund, I think, is gone,

In pity to his misery, to dispatch him.

Osw. (l.h.) No, madain; he's returned on speedy summons Back to your sister.

Gon. Ah! I like not that!

Such speed must have the wings of love. Where's Albany?

Osw. Madam, within; but never man so changed:

I told him of the uproar of the peasants—

He smiled at it; when I informed him

Of Gloster's treason—

Gon. Trouble him no further;

It is his coward spirit. Back to our sister;
Hasten her musters on, and let her know

I have given the distaff into my husband's hands;
That done, with special care deliver these dispatches,
In private, to young Gloster.

Enter CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD, R.H.

Cap (r.h.) Oh, madam, most unseasonable news!
The Duke of Cornwall's dead of his late wound,
Whose loss your sister has in part supplied,
Making brave Edmund general of her forces.
Gon. (Aside.) One way, I like this well;
But, being a widow, and my Gloster with her,
'T may blast the promised harvest of our love.

A word more, sir: (To Oswald,) add speed to your jour

ney;

And if you chance to meet with that blind traitor,
Preferment falls on him that cuts him off.

[Exeunt, Goneril and Captain, r.h., Oswald, l.h.

SCENE IV. Another Part of the Country.

Enter GLOSTER, and Edgar as a Peasant, l.h.u.e. Glos. When shall we come to th' top of that same

hill ?

Edg. We climb it now, mark, how we labor.

Glos. Methinks the ground is even.

Edg. Horribly steep. Hark, do you hear the sea?
Glos. No, truly.

Edg. Why, then your other senses grow imperfect,
By your eyes' anguish.

Glos. So it may be, indeed.

Methinks thy voice is altered, and thou speak'st

In better phrase and matter than thou didst.

Edg. You are much deceived; in nothing am I altered

but my garments.

Glos. Methinks, you're better spoken.

Edg. Come on, sir; (Crosses to r.h.) here's the place. How fearful

And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low!

The crows and choughs, that wing the midway air
Shew scarce so big as beetles; half way down
Hangs one that gathers samphire—dreadful trade!
The fishermen that walk upon the beach,
Appear like mice; and yon tall anch'ring bark
Seems lessened to her cock; her cock, a buoy
Almost too small for sight; the murm'ring surge

Cannot be heard so high.

I'll look no more,

Lest my brain turn, and the disorder make me

Tumble down headlong.

Glos. Set me where you stand.

Edg. (Puts him across to r.h.) You are now within a

foot of th' extreme verge:

For all beneath the moon I would not now

Leap forward.

Glos. (r.h.) Let go my hand.

Here is another purse, in it a jewel

Well worth a poor man's taking. Get thee farther,

Bid me farewell, and let me hear thee going.

Edg. Fare you well, sir. (Retires a little, r.h.) That

I do trifle thus

With his despair, is with design to cure it.

(Aside.) Glos. (Kneels.) Thus, mighty gods, this world I do re

nounce,

And in your sight shake my afflictions off ;
If I could bear them longer, and not fall
To quarrel with your great opposeless wills,
My snuff and feebler part of nature should
Burn itself out. If Edgar live, oh, bless him!
Now, fellow, fare thee well.

(Prepares to fall, when Edgar advances and
catches him)

Edg. Hold-who comes here?

Enter King Lear, with a Coronet of Flowers on his head and Straw in his hand, l.h.u.E. §.

Lear. No, no; they cannot touch me for coining; < I am the king himself.

Edg. Oh, piercing sight!

Lear. Nature's above art in that respect. There's your press-money. That fellow handles his bow like a crowkeeper;—draw me a clothier's yard. A mouse, a mouse! Peace, hoa! There's my gauntlet; I'll prove it on a giant. Bring up the brown bills; well flown, barb; I' th' white; i' th' white ;—Hewgh I give the word.

Edg. Sweet Marjoram.

Lear. Pass.

Glos. I know that voice.

o ide attemptr

(Edgar crosses, L.H.)

Lear. Ha! Goneril! With a white beard? They flattered me like a dog, and told me I had white hairs on my chin, before the black ones were there. (r.h.) To say ay and no to everything that I said. Ay, and no, too, was no good divinity. When the rain came once to wet me, and the winds to make me chatter,—when the thunder would not peace at my bidding, there I found 'em, there I smelt them out. Go to, they are not men of their words; they told me I was everything; 'tis a lie ;

I am not ague-proof. (l.h.)

Glos. That voice I well remember: is't not the king? Lear. Ay, every inch a king! When I do stare,

See how the subject quakes

I pardon that man's life. What was the cause?
Adultery?

Thou shalt not die. Die for adultery? No!

The wren goes to't, and the small, gilded fly

Engenders in my sight. (r.h.) Let copulation thrive;
For Gloster's bastard son was kinder to his father

Than were my daughters, got i' th' lawful bed.

To't, luxury, pell mell; for I lack soldiers—

There's money for thee.

Glos. (r.h.c.) Let me kiss that hand.

Lear. Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality.

Glos. Speak, sir: do you know me?

Lear. I remember thine eyes well enough. Nay, do

thy worst, blind Cupid, I'll not love—Read me this chal

lenge; mark but the penning of it.

Glos. Were all the letters suns, I could not see.

Lear. Read, read, read.

Glos. What with this case of eyes?

Lear. Oh, ho are you there with me?

No eyes in

your head, nor no money in your purse? Yet you see

how this world goes.

Glos. I see it feelingly.

Lear. What, art mad? A man may see how this world goes, with no eyes. Look with thy ears; see how yon justice rails on yon simple thief. Hark in thine ear: shake 'em together, and the first that drops, be it thief or justice, is a villain.—Thou hast seen a farmer's dog bark at a beggar?