Came 'er the bourn, Bessy, to me :— Fool. Her beat hath a leak, And she must not speak Why she dares not come over to thee. Kent. How do you, sir? Stand you not so amaz’d: Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions? Lear. I'll see their trial first :-Bring in the evidence. Thou robed man of justice, take thy place ; And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity, Bench by his side :-You are of the commission, Edg. Let us deal justly. Sleepest or wakest thou, jolly shepherd? And for one blast of thy minikin mouth, Pur! the cat is gray. [TO EDGAR. [To the Fool. [TO KENT. Lear. Arraign her first: 'tis Goneril. I here take my oath before this honorable assembly, she kicked the poor king her father. Fool. Come hither, mistress; Is your name Goneril? Lear. She cannot deny it. Fool. Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint stool. Lear. And here's another, whose warp'd looks proclaim Arms, arms, sword, fire !-Corruption in the place! Edg. Bless thy five wits! Kent. O pity!-Sir, where is the patience now, That you so oft have boasted to retain ? Edg. My tears begin to take his part so much, They'll mar my counterfeiting. Lear. The little dogs and all, Tray, Blanch, and Sweet-heart, see, they bark at me. [Aside Edg. Tom will throw his head at them :—Avaunt, you curs! Be thy mouth or black or white, Tooth that poisons if it bite; Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled. Do de, de de. Sessa. Come, march to wakes and fairs, and market towns:-Poor Tom, thy horn is dry. Lear. Then let them anatomize Regan, see what breeds about her heart Is there any cause in nature, that makes these hard hearts ? -You, sir, I entertain you for one of my hundred; only, I do not like the fashion of your garments: you will say, they are Persian attire; but let them be changed. Kent. Now, good my lord, lie here, and rest awhile. [TO EDGAR. Lear. Make no noise, make no noise; draw the curtains: So, so, so: We'll go to supper i' the morning: So, so, so. Fool. And I'll go to bed at noon. Re-enter GLOSTER. Glo. Come hither, friend: Where is the king my master? I have o'erheard a plot of death upon him: There is a litter ready; lay him in't, And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet Kent. Oppress'd nature sleeps:— This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken senses, Stand in hard cure.-Come, help to bear thy master; Glo. Come, come, away. [To the Fool. [Exeunt KENT, GLOSTER, and the Fool, bearing off the KING. Edg. When we our betters see bearing our woes, We scarcely think our miseries our foes. Who alone suffers, suffers most i' the mind; Leaving free things, and happy shows, behind: But then the mind much sufferance doth o'erskip. When that, which makes me bend, makes the king bow; Mark the high noises: and thyself bewray, When false opinion, whose wrong thought defiles thee, What will hap more to-night, save 'scape the king! [Exit. ACT IV. Regan and Cornwall issue orders to Edmund to seek out his Father, and bring him back to the Castle. Gloster is overtaken, and is punished for his commiseration towards the King, by the loss of his eyes. In this state he is carried back to the Heath, and is there encountered by his Son Edgar. SCENE I.-The Heath. Enter EDGAR. Edg. Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd, The wretch, that thou hast blown unto the worst, Enter GLOSTER, led by an Old Man. My father, poorly led? World, world, O world! Life would not yield to age. Old Man. O my good lord, I have been your tenant, and your father's tenant, these fourscore years. Glo. Away, get thee away; good friend, be gone: Thy comforts can do me no good at all, Thee they may hurt. Old Man. Alack, sir, you cannot see your way. I stumbled when I saw: Full oft 'tis seen, Our mean secures us; and our mere defects Old Man. How now? Who's there? Edg. [Aside.] O gods! who is't can say, I am at the worst? I am worse than e'er I was. Old Man. 'Tis poor mad Tom. Edg. [Aside.] And worse I may be yet: The worst is not, So long as we can say, This is the worst. Old Man. Fellow, where goest? Glo. Is it a beggar man? Glo. He has some reason, else he could not beg Edg. How should this be? Bad is the trade must play the fool to sorrow, Ang'ring itself and others.-[Aside.]—Bless thee, master! Glo. Is that the naked fellow ? Old Man. Ay, my lord. Glo. Then, pr'ythee, get thee gone: If, for my sake, I' the way to Dover, do it for ancient love; Old Man. Alack, sir, he's mad. Glo. 'Tis the times' plague when madmen lead the blind. Do as I bid thee, or rather do thy pleasure; Above the rest, be gone. Old Man. I'll bring him the best 'parel that I have, Come on't what will. [Exit. Glo. Sirrah, naked fellow. Edg. Poor Tom's a-cold.-I cannot daub it further. [Aside. Glo. Come hither, fellow. Edg. [Aside.] And yet I must.-Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed. Glo. Know'st thou the way to Dover ? Edg. Both stile and gate, horse-way, and foot-path Poor Tom hath been scared out of his good wits: Bless the good man from the foul fiend! Glo. Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's plagues Have humbled to all strokes: that I am wretched, Makes thee the happier :-Heavens, deal so still ! Let the superfluous, that will not see Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly; And each man have enough.-Dost thou know Dover? Glo. There is a cliff, whose high and bending head Bring me but to the very brim of it, And I'll repair the misery thou dost bear, With something rich about me: from that place I shall no leading need. Edg. Poor Tom shall lead thee. Give me thy arm; [Exeunt, Edgar, still unknown to his father, leads him to a spot which he beant fully describes as being Dover Cliffs. The whole scene is exquisitely wrought up. SCENE VI.—The Country near Dcver. Re-enter GLOSTER, and EDGAR dressed like a peasant. Edg. Hark, do you hear the sea? Glo. Horrible steep: No, truly. Ellg. Why, then your other senses grow imperfect By your eyes' anguish. Glo. So may it be, indeed: Methinks, thy voice is alter'd: and thou speak'st In better phrase, and matter, than thou didst. Edg. You are much deceiv'd: in nothing am I chang'd, But in my garments. Glo. Methinks, you are better spoken. Edg. Come on, sir: here's the place ;-stand still-How fearful And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low ! The crows, and choughs, that wing the midway air, Almost too small for sight: The murmuring surge, Glo. Set me where you stand. Edg. Give me your hand: You are now within a foot Of the extreme verge: for all beneath the moon Would I not leap upright. Glo. Well worth a poor man's taking: Go thou further off; [Seems to go. With all my heart. O you mighty gods! Glo. If I could bear it longer, and not fall To quarrel with your great opposeless wills, Edg. [He leaps, and falls along. Gone, sir? farewell.- Yields to the theft: Had he been where he thought, |