Kent. Who's there? What is't you seek? Glo. What are you there? Your names? Edg. 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 sallets; swallows the old rat, and the ditch-dog; drinks the green mantle of the standing pool; who is whipped from tything to tything, and stocked, punished, and imprisoned; who hath had 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, Have been Tom's food for seven 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.tt

Glo. Our flesh and blood, my lord, is grown so vile,

That it doth hate what gets it.

Edg. Poor Tom's a-cold.

Glo. Go in with me; my duty cannot suffer To obey in all your daughter's hard commands: Though their injunction be to bar my doors, And let this tyrannous night take hold upon

Hush.

Edg. Child Rowland to the dark tower came,
His word was still,-Fie, foh, and fum,
I smell the blood of a British man.

[Exeunt. SCENE V.-A Room in GLOSTER'S Castle. Enter CORNWALL and EDMUND.

Corn. I will have my revenge, ere I depart his house.

Edm. How, my lord, I may be censured, that nature thus gives way to loyalty, something fears me to think of.

Corn. I now perceive, it was not altogether your brother's evil disposition made him seek his death; but a provoking merit, set a-work by a reproveable badness in himself.

Edm. How malicious is my fortune, that I must repent to be just! This is the letter he spoke of, which approves him an intelligent party to the advantages of France. O heavens! that this treason were not, or not I the detector!

Corn. Go with me to the duchess.

Edm. If the matter of this paper be certain, you have mighty business in hand.

Corn. True, or false, it hath made thee earl of Gloster. Seek out where thy father is, that he may be ready for our apprehension.

Edm. [Aside.] If I find him comforting the king, it will stuff his suspicion more fully.-I will persevere in my course of loyalty, though the conflict be sore between that and my blood.

Corn. I will lay trust upon thee; and thou shalt find a dearer father in my love. [Exeunt. SCENE VI-A Chamber in a Farm-House, adjoining the Castle.

Enter GLOSTER, LEAR, KENT, FOOL, and
EDGAR.

Glo. 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 has given way to his impatience:-The gods reward your kindness! [Exit GLOSTEP

Edg. Frateretto calls me; and tells me, Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend.

Fool. Pr'ythee, nuncle, tell me, whether a madman be a gentleman, or a yeoman? Lear. A king, a king!

Fool. No; he's a yeoman, that has a gentle

* Child is an old term for knight. + Addressed to the Fool, who were anciently called

Innocents.

Why she 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 herrings. Croak not, black angel; I have no food for 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 robbed man of justice, take thy place;
And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity,
[To EDGAR.
Bench by his side:-You are of the commission,
[To the FOOL.
Sit you too.
[TO KENT.

Edg. Let us deal justly.
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.

Pur! the cat is grey.

Lear. Arraign her first; 'tis Goneril. I here take my oath before this honourable 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 What store her heart is made of.-Stop her [there! Arms, arms, sword, fire!-Corruption in the place!

False justicer, why hast thou let her 'scape? Edg. Bless thy five wits!

Kent. O pity-Sir, where is the patience That you so oft have boasted to retain? [now, Edg. My tears begin to take his part so much,

[Aside.

They'll mar my countorfeiting.
Lear. The little dogs and all,
Tray, Blanch, and Sweet-heart, see, they bark

at me.

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

Be thy mouth or black or white,
Tooth that poisons if it bite;
Mastiff, grey-hound, mongrel grim,
Hound, or spaniel, brach, or lym;
Or bobtail tike, or trundle-tail;
Tom will make them weep and wail:
For, with throwing thus my head,
Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled.

| Do de, de de. Sessa. Come, march to wakes 863 horn is dry. and fairs, and market towns:-Poor Tom, thy

Edgar is speaking in the character of a madman, who thinks he sees the fiend. + Brook or rivulet. 1 A blood hound.

Lear. Then let them anatomize Regan; see in nature, that makes these hard hearts?— what breeds about her heart: Is there any cause You, Sir, I entertain you for one of my hungarments: you will say, they are Persian dred; only, I do not like the fashion of your attire; but let them be changed. [To EDGAR. Kent. Now, good my lord, lie here, and rest awhile.

Lear. Make no noise, make no noise; draw i'the morning: So, so, so. the curtains: So, so, so: We'll go to supper

Fool. And I'll go to bed at noon.

Re-enter GLOster.

Glo. Come hither, friend: Where is the king my master?

Kent. Here, Sir; but trouble him not, his wits are gone.

Glo. Good friend, I pr'ythee take him in thy
arms;

I have o'er-heard a plot of death upon him:
And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou
There is a litter ready; lay him in't,
shalt meet
Both welcome and protection. Take up thy
[master:
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;
Give thee quick conduct.
And follow me, that will to some provision

Kent. Oppress'd nature sleeps:- [senses, This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken Which, if convenience will not allow,

Stand in hard cure.-Come, help to bear thy master;

Thou must not stay behind.

Glo. Come, come, away.

[To the FOOL.

the king bow;

+ Betray, discover.

1 Serv. Let's follow the old earl, and get the Bedlam*

To lead him where he would; his roguish madAllows itself to any thing. [ness 2 Serv. Go thou; I'll fetch some flax, and whites of eggs,

To apply to his bleeding face. Now, heaven help him! [Exeunt severally.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.-The Heath.

Enter EDGAR.

Edg. Yet better thus, and known to be con

temn'd,

Than still contemn'd and flatter'd.

To be worst, [tune, The lowest, and most dejected thing of forStands still in esperance, lives not in fear: The lamentable change is from the best; The worst returns to laughter. Welcome then, Thou unsubstantial air, that I embrace! The wretch, that thou hast blown unto the worst,

thee, master!

Glo. Is that the naked fellow?
Old Man. Ay, my lord.

Glo. Then, pr'ythee, get thee gone: If, for my sake,

Thou wilt o'ertake us, hence a mile or twain, I'the way to Dover, do it for ancient love; And bring some covering for this naked soul, Whom I'll entreat to lead me.

Old Man. Alack, Sir, he's mad.

Glo. "Tis the time's 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

Enter GLOSTER, led by an OLD MAN. My father, poorly led?-World, world, O world!

But that thy strange mutations make us hate Life would not yield to age. [thee, 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 Thy comforts can do me no good at all, [gone: Thee they may hurt.

Old Man. Álack, Sir, you cannot see your way.

Glo. I have no way, and therefore want no

"eyes;

I stumbled when I saw: Full oft 'tis seen,
Our mean secures us; and our mere defects
Prove our commodities.-Ah, 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!

Old Man. How now? Who's there?

his good wits: Bless the good man from the foul fiend! [Five fiends have been in poor Tom at once; of lust, as Obidicut; Hobbididance, prince of dumbness; Mahu, of stealing; Modo, of murder; and Flibbertigibbet, of mopping and mowing; who since possesses chambermaids and waiting-women. So, bless thee, master!]

Glo. Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's plagues [ed, Have humbled to all strokes: that I am wretchMakes thee the happier :-Heavens, deal so still!

Let the superfluous, and lust-dieted man,
That slaves your ordinance, that will not see
Because he doth not feel, feel your power
quickly;

[Dover?

So distribution should undo excess,
And each man have enough.-Dost thou know
Edg. Ay, master,

Glo. There is a cliff, whose high and bending head

Looks fearfully in the confined deep:
Bring me but to the very brim of it,

am at the worst?

I am worse than e'er I was.

Old Man. Tis poor mad Tom.
Edg. [Aside.] And worse

The worst is not,

With something rich above me: from that place I shall no leading need.

Edg. Give me thy arm;

I may be yet:

Poor Tom shall lead thee.

So long as we can say, This is the worst.
Old Man. Fellow, where goest?

Glo. Is it a beggar-man?

Old Man. Madman and beggar too.

Glo. He has some reason, else he could not beg.

I'the last night's storm I such a fellow saw; Which made me think a man a worm: My son Came then into my mind; and yet my mind Was then scarce friends with him: I have heard more since:

As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport.

Edg. How should this be?-

Bad is the trade must play the fool to sorrow,

* Madman.

+1. e. It is better to be thus contemned and know it, than to be flattered by those who secretly contemn us. I in hope. ♦ Changes.

[Exeunt.

Gon. I have been worth the whistle.t Alb. O Goneril! [wind You are not worth the dust which the rude Blows in your face.-I fear your disposition: That nature, which contemns its origin, Cannot be border'd certain in itself; She that herself will sliver; and disbranch From her material sap, perforce must wither, And come to deadly use.

Gon. No more; the text is foolish.

Alb. Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile: [done? Filths savour but themselves. What have you Tigers, not daughters, what have you per

form'd?

know'st,

Fools do those villains pity, who are punish'd Ere they have done their mischief. Where's thy drum? [land;

France spreads his banners in our noiseless With plumed helm thy slayer begins threats; Whilst thou, a moral fool, sits't still, and cry'st, Alack! why does he so?

Alb. See thyself, devil!

Proper deformity seems not in the fiend

So horrid, as in woman.

1. e. Our wishes on the road may be completed.
+ Worth calling for.
+ Tear off.

remorse,

Oppos'd against the act, bending his sword To his great master; who, thereat enrag'd, Flew on him, and amongst them fell'd him dead: (since

But not without that harmful stroke, which Hath pluck'd him after.

Alb. This shows you are above, You justicers, that these our nether crimes So speedily can venge!-But, O poor Gloster! Lost he his other eye!

Mess. Both, both, my lord.

This letter, madam, craves a speedy answer; 'Tis from your sister.

Gon. [Aside.] One way I like this well; But being widow, and my Gloster with her, May all the building in my fancy pluck Upon my hateful life: Another way, The news is not so tart.-I'll read and answer. [Exit.

Alb. Where was his son, when they did take his eyes?

Mess. Come with my lady hither.
Alb. He is not here.

Mess. No, my good lord; I met him back

again.

Alb. Knows he the wickedness?
Mess. Ay, my good lord; 'twas he inform'd

against him;

[ishment And quit the house on purpose, that their punMight have the freer course. Alb. Gloster, I live [king, To thank thee for the love thou show'dst the And to revenge thine eyes.-Come hither, friend;

Tell me what more thou knowest.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-The French Camp near Dover.

Enter KENT, and a GENTLEMAN. Kent. Why the king of France is so suddenly gone back know you the reason?

Gent. Something he left imperfect in the

state, [which Which since his coming forth is thought of; Imports to the kingdom so much fear and danThat his personal return was most requir'd,

And necessary.

Kent. Who hath he left behind him general! Gent. The Mareschal of France, Monsieur le Fer.

Kent. Did your letters pierce the queen to any demonstration of grief?

Gent. Ay, Sir; she took them, read them in

my presence;

And now and then an ample tear trill'd down