The tyranny of the open night's too rough
For nature to endure.

Lear. Let me alone.

Kent, Good my lord, enter here.

Lear. Wilt break my heart?

enter.

¡quagmire; that hath laid knives under his pillow, [Storm fill and halters in his pew; fet ratfbane by his por ridge; made him proud of heart, to ride on a bay trotting horfe over four-inch'd bridges, to courie his own fhadow for atraitor:-Blefis thy five wits1!

Kent. I'd rather break mine own: Good my lord, Tom's a-cold.--O, do de, do de, do de.-Hefs thee
[ftorm from whirlwinds, ftar-blafting, and taking! Do
Lear. Thou think'st 'tis much, that this contentious poor Tom fome charity, whom the foul fiend
Invades us to the skin: fo 'tis to thee;
But where the greater malady is fix'd,

The leffer is fcarce felt. Thou'dft fhun a bear;
But if thy flight lay toward the raging fea,
Thou'dit meet the bear i' the mouth. When the
mind's free,

The body's delicate: the tempeft in my mind
Doth from my fenfes take all feeling elfe,
Save what beats there.-Filial ingratitude!
is it not as this mouth fhould tear this hand,
For lifting food to't?-But I will punish home :-
No, I will weep no more.-In fuch a night
To thut me out!-Pour on; I will endure :-
In fuch a night as this! O Regan, Goneril!--
Your old kind father, whofe frank heart gave you
all,-

O, that way madness lies; let me shun that ;
No more of that,-

[eafe;

Kent. Good my lord, enter here.
Lear. Pr'ythee, go in thyself; feek thine own
This tempert will not give me leave to ponder
On things would hurt me more.—But I'll go in :-
In, boy; go first.-[To the Fool.] You houfelefs
poverty,

vexes:There could I have him now,-and there,-and there,-and there again, and there.

[Storm fil

Lear. What, have his daughters brought him to this pats ?

Fall? Could't thou fave nothing? Didst thou give them Fool. Nay, he referv'd a blanket, elie we had been all fhamed.

Lear. Now, all the plagues that in the penda
lous air

Hang fated o'er men's faults, light on thy daughters!
Kent. He hath no daughters, fir.

Lear. Death, traitor! nothing could have fub-
du'd nature

To fuch a lownels, but his unkind daughters.-
Is it the fafhion, that difcarded fathers
Should have thus little mercy on their flesh?
Judicious punishment ! 'twas this flesh begot
Thofe pelican 3 daughters.

F45. Pillicock fat on pillicock-hill ;-
Hallco, halloo, loo, loo!

Fool. This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen.

Eug. Take heed o' the foul fiend: Obey thy Nay, get thee in. I'll pray, and then I'll fleep.-parents; keep thy word juftly; fwear not; com[Fool goes in. mit not with man's worn fpoufe; fet not thy fweet heart on proud array: Tom's a-cold.

Poor naked wretches, wherefoe'er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitilefs (torm,
How fhall your houseless heads, and unfed fides,
Your loop'd and window'd raggednets, defend you
From feafons fuch as these? O, I have ta'en
Too little care of this! Take phyfic, pomp;
Expofe thyfelf to feel what wretches feel:
That thou may'it shake the fuperflux to them,
And fhew the heavens more juft.

Edg. [within.] Fathom and half, fathom

Lear. What halt thou been?

Edg. A ferving-man, proud in heart and mind; that curl'd my hair, wore gloves in my cap 4, ferv'd the luft of my miftrefs's heart, and did the aft of darkness with her : fwore as many oatis as I fpake words, and broke them in the tweet face of heaven: one that flept in the contriving of luft, and wak'd to do it: Wine lov'd I deeply; dice and dearly; and in woman, out-paramour'd the Turk : Falfe of heart, light of ear 5, bloody of hand; Hig Fool. Come not in here, nuncle, here's a fpirit.in floth, fox in ftealth, wolf in greedinefs, dog in Help me, help me! [The Fool runs out from the bovil, Gent. Give me thy hand.---Who's there? Fool. A fpirit, a fpirit; he fays his name's poor [the straw Kent. What art thou that doft grumble there Come forth.

half! Poor Tom!

Tom.

madnefs, lion in prey. Let not the creaking of fhoes, nor the rustling of filks, betray thy poor heart to women: Keep thy foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen from lenders' i'books, and defy the foul fiend.- -Still through the hawthorn blows the cold wind: Says fuum, mun, ha nononny, dolphin my boy, boy, Selfy; et him trot by. [Storx fill.

Enter Edgar, difguis'd as a madman.
Edg. Away! the foul fiend follows me
Through the fharp hawthorn blows the cold wind.—
Humph! go to thy cold bed, and warm thee.
I car. Hait thou given all to thy two daughters

And art thou come to this?

Lear. Why thou were better in thy grave, than to aniwer with thy uncover'd body this extremity of the fkies-Is man no more than this? Confider him well: thou oweft the worm no filk, the beat Edg. Who gives any thing to poor Tom? whom no hide, the sheep no wool, the cat no perfume :the foul fiend hath led through fire and through Ha! here's three of us are fophifticated! fláme, through foid and whirlpool, over bog and art the thing itself; unaccommodated man is no

1 So the five fenfes were called by our old writers. 2 To take is to blaft, or flike with ma lignant influence. 3 The young pelican is fabled to fuck the mother's blood. 41. c. his miftrefs' favours: which was the fashion of that time. 51. e. ready to receive malicious reports.

mere

here.

more but fuch a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art. -Off, off, you lendings :-Come; unbutton [Tearing off his clothes. Fool. Pr'ythee, nuncle, be contented; this is a naughty night to fwim in.--Now a little fire in a wild field, were like an old lecher's heart; a small fpark, and all the rest of his body cold.-Look, here comes a walking fire.

Edg. This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet: he begins at curfew, and walks 'till the firft cock; he gives the web and the pin, fquints the eye, and makes the hare-lip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the poor creature of earth.

Saint Withold footed thrice the wold 2;
He met the night-mare, and her nine-fold;
Bid ber alight,

And her troth plight,

And, Avoynt thee, witch, aroynt thee 3! Kent. How fares your grace?

Enter Glofter, with a torch.

Lear. What's he?

Kent. Who's there? What is 't you feek?
Glo. What are you there? Your names?
Edg. Poor Tom; that eats the fwimming frog,
the toad, the tadpole, the wall-newt, and the wa-
ter-newt; that in the fury of his heart, when the
foul fiend rages, eats cow-dung for fallets; fwal-
lows the old rat, and the ditch-dog; drinks the
green mantle of the ftanding pool; who is whipt
from tything to tything 4, and stock'd, punish'd,
and imprison'd;"who hath had three fuits to his
back, fix fhirts to his body, horfe to ride, and
weapon to wear,—

But mice, and rats, and fach fmall deer 5,
Have been Tom's food for feven long year.
Beware my follower:-Peace, Smolkin; peace,
thou fiend!

Glo. What, hath your grace no better company?
Edg. The prince of darkness is a gentleman;
Modo he's call'd, and Mahu.

[vile,

Glo. Our flesh and blood, my lord, is grown fo That it doth hate what gets it.

Edg. Poor Tom's a-cold.

Glo. Go in with me; my duty cannot fuffer
To obey in all your daughters' hard commands:
Though their injunction be to bar my doors,
And let this tyrannous night take hold upon you;
Yet have I ventur'd to come feek you out,
And bring you where both fire and food is ready.
Lear. First let me talk with this philofopher;
What is the caufe of thunder?

Kent. My good lord, take his offer;

|

He faid it would be thus :-Poor banish'd man!--
Thou fay'ft, the king grows mad; I'll tell thee,
friend,

I am almoft mad myfelf: I had a fon,
Now out-law'd from my blood; he fought my life,
But lately, very late; I lov'd him, friend,-
No father his fon dearer: true to tell thee,
The grief hath craz'd my wits. What a night's this!
I do befeech your grace,—

Lear. O, cry you mercy, fir :-
Noble philofopher, your company.
Edg. Tom's a-cold.

I

[warm,

Glo. In, fellow, there, to the hovel: keep thee
Lear. Come, let's in all.

Kent. This way, my lord.

Lear. With him ;

will keep ftill with my philofopher.

Kent. Good my lord, footh him; let him take the fellow.

Glo. Take him you on.

Kent. Sirrah, come on; go along with us.
Lear, Come, good Athenian.

Glo. No words, no words: hufh.
Edy. Child Rowland to the dark tower came,
His word was fill,-Fie, fob,' and fum,
I fmell the blood of a British man. [Exeunt,

3 These

1 Difeafes of the eye.. 2 Wold fignifies a down, or ground hilly and void of wood. verfes were no other than a popular charm, or night-fpell against the Epialtes; and the laft line is the formal execration or apoftrophe of the fpeaker of the charm to the witch, aroynt thee right, i. e. depart forthwith. Bedlams, gipfies, and fuch-like vagabonds, ufed to fell these kind of fpells or charms to the people. They were of various kinds for various diforders. 4 A tything is a divifion of a place, a diftrict; the fame in the country, as a ward in the city. In the Saxon times every hundred was divided into things. $ Deer in old language is a general word for wild animals.

6 In

the old times of chivalry, the noble youth who were candidates for knighthood, during the feafon of their probation, were called Infans, Varlets, Damoyfels, Bacheliers; the most noble of the youth par ticularly, Infans. Here a story is told, in fome old ballad, of the famous hero and giant-killer Roland, before he was knighted, who is, therefore, called Infans; which the ballad-maker tranflated, Child Roland.

Come, fit thou here, moft learned justicer ;-
[To Edgar.
Thou, fapient fir, fit here. [To the Fool.]-Now,
you the foxes!-

Edg. Look, where he ftands and glares!
Wanteft thou eyes at trial, madam ?
"Cone o'er the bourn, Beffy, to me :-
I col. "Her boat hath a leak,

"And the muft not fpeak
"Why the dares not come over to thee."
Edg. The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the
voice of a nightingale. Hopdance cries in Tom's
belly for two white herring, Croak not, black
angel; I have no food for thee.

וי

Edg.

me.

Tom will throw his head at them :—
Avaunt, you curs !

Be thy mouth or black or white,
Tooth that poifons if it bite;
Mattiff, grey-hound, mungril grim,
Hound, or fpaniel, brache 7, or lym3 ;
Or bobtail tike 9, or trundle-tail;
Tom will make him weep and wail;
For, with throwing thus my head,
Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled.
Do de, de de. Seffy, come, march to wakes and
fairs,

And market towns:-Poor Tom, thy horn is dry.
Lear. Then let them anatomize Regan, fee what
breeds about her heart: Is there any cause in na-
ture, that makes these hard hearts-You, fir, I en-
tertain you for one of my hundred; only, I do not
like the fashion of your garments: you will fay,
they are Perfian attire; but let them be chang'd.

[To Edgar.

1 i. e. Supporting, helping. 2 Abourn in the North fignifies a rivulet or broek. Hence the names of many of our villages terminate in burn, as Milburn, Sherburn, &c. 3 White herrings are pickled herrings. 4 Minikin was anciently a term of endearment. 5 This is a proverbial expreffion. 6 To have the roof of the mouth black is in tome dogs a proof that their breed is genuine. 7 Aracke is a dog that hunts by fcent wild beatts, birds, and even fishes, and the female of it is called a brache. A limmer or leamer, a dog of the chace, was fo called from the leam or leath in which he was held he was let flip.. 9 Tijk is the Runic word for a little, or worthless dog.

Kent,

Kent. Now, good my lord, lie here, and reft when you are going, to a most feftinate preparaa while. [curtains: tion; we are bound to the like. Our posts shall Lear. Make no noise, make no noife; draw the be fwift, and intelligent betwixt us. So, fo, fo: We'll go to fupper 'i the morning: dear fifter;-farewel, my lord of Gloiter.

So, fo, fo.

If thou should'it dally half an hour, his life,
With thine, and all that offer to defend him,
Stand in affured lofs: Take up, take up ;
And follow me, that will to fome provifion
Give thee quick conduct.

Kent. Oppreffed nature fleeps:-
:-

Enter Steward.

How now? Where's the king?

Farewel,

Stew. My lord of Glofter hath convey'd him

hence :

Some five or fix and thirty of his knights,
Hot queftrifts 2 after him, met him at gate;
Who, with fome other of the lord's dependants,
Are gone with him towards Dover; where they
boaft

To have well-armed friends.

Corn. Get horfes for your mistress.
Gon. Farewel, fweet lord, and fifter.

[Exeunt Goneril, and Edmund. Corn. Edmund, farewel.-Go, feek the traitor Glofter,

Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us :
Though well we may not pafs upon his life
Without the form of justice; yet our power

This reft might yet have balm'd thy broken fenfes, Shall do a courtesy to our wrath 3, which men
Which, if convenience will not allow,

Stand in hard cure.--Come, help to bear thy mafter;
Thou must not stay behind.

Glo. Come, come, away.

[To the Fool

[Exeunt, bearing off the King.
Manet Edgar.

Edg. When we our betters fee bearing our woes,
We fcarcely think our miseries our foes.
Who alone fuffers, fuffers most i' the mind;
Leaving free things, and happy thows behind:
But then the mind much fufferance doth o'erikip,
When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship.
How light and portable my pain feems now,
When that, which makes me bend, makes the
king bow;

He childed, as I father'd!——Tom, away :
Mark the high noifes; and thyfelf bewray,
When falfe opinion, whose wrong thought defiles

thee,

In thy juft proof, repeals and reconciles thee.
What will hap more to-fight, fafe 'fcape the king!
Lurk, Lurk.-

SCEN E VII.
Glofter's Cafile.

[Exit.

Enter Cornwall, Regan, Goneril, Edmund, and Ser

May blame, but not controul.

The traitor?

Who's there?

Enter Glofter, brought in by fervants.
Reg. Ingrateful fox! 'tis he.

Corn. Bind faft his corky 4 arms.

Glo. What mean your graces ?-Good my
friends, confider

You are my guests: do me no foul play, friends.
Corn. Bind him, I fay.

[They bind him.
Reg. Hard, hard :-O filthy traitor!
Glo. Unmerciful lady as you are, I am none.
Corn. To this chair bind him :-Villain, thou
[Regan pluck; his beard,
Glo. By the kind gods, 'tis molt ignobly done
To pluck me by the beard.

1. c. States clear from diftrefs. 2. A queftris is one who goes in fearch or queft of another. 3. To do a courte fy is to gratify, to comply with. To pas, as to pass a judicial sentence.

4 i. c. dry,

a wither'd, hulky arms. S-Favours bere means the fame as features, i, e. the different parts of which a face is compofed.

Walt

Edg. YET better thus, and known to be con-Owes nothing to thy blafts.--But who comes here è

1 i. e. the running of the dogs upon me. 2 i. e. yielded, fubmitted to the neceflity of the occafion. 3 Villain is here perhaps ufed in its original fenfe of one in fervitude. of this obfcure paffage is, O world fo much are human minds captivated with thy pleasures, that were it not for thofe fucceffive miferies, each worfe than the other, which overload the scenes of life, we should never be willing to fubmit to death, though the infirmities of old age would teach us to chufe it as a proper afylum. Befides, by uninterrupted profperity, which leaves the mind at eafe, the body would generally preferve fuch a flate of vigour as to bear up long against the decays of time. Thefe are the two reafons, it is fuppofed, why he faid, "Life would not yield to age." And how much the pleafures of the body pervert the mind's judgment, and the perturbations of the mind diforder the body's frame, is known to all.