Imatges de pàgina
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Poor pelting villages, fheep-coats and mills,

Sometimes with lunatick bans, fometimes with pray'rs, Inforce their charity; poor Turlygood! poor Tom!That's fomething yet: Edgar I nothing am.

[Exit.

SCENE changes, again, to the Earl of
Glofter's Caftle.

Lear."

'T

Enter Lear, Fool, and Gentleman.

IS ftrange, that they should so depart from And not fend back my meffenger. [home, Gent. As I learn'd,

The night before, there was no purpose in them
Of this remove.

Kent. Hail to thee, noble master!

Lear. Ha! mak'ft thou thy fhame thy pastime?
Kent. No, my lord.

Fool. Ha, ha, he wears cruel garters; horfes are ty'd by the heads, dogs and bears by th' neck, monkeys by th' loins, and men by th' legs; when a man is overlufty at legs, then he wears wooden nether stocks.

Lear. What's he, that hath fo much thy place miftook, To fet thee here?

Kent. It is both he and she, Your fon and daughter.

Lear. No.

Kent. Yes.

Lear. No, I fay.

Kent. I fay, yea.

Lear. By Jupiter, I fwear, no.

Kent. By Juno, I swear, ay.

Lear. They durft not do't.

They could not, would not do't; 'tis worse than murder, To do upon refpect fuch violent outrage:

Refolve me with all modeft hafte, which way

Thou might'ft deserve, or they impofe, this ufage,
Coming from us?

Kent. My lord, when at their home

I did commend your Highness' letters to them,

Ere

Ere I was rifen from the place, that fhew'd
My duty kneeling, came a reeking Poft,

Stew'd in his hafte, half breathlefs, panting forth.
From Gonerill his miftrefs, falutation;

Deliver❜d letters fpight of intermiffion,
Which presently they read: on whose contents
They fummon'd up their meiny, ftrait took horfe;
Commanded me to follow, and attend

The leifure of their answer; gave me cold looks;
And meeting here the other meffenger,

Whose welcome, I perceiv'd, had poifon'd mine;
(Being the very fellow, which of late

Difplay'd fo faucily against your Highness,)
Having more man than wit about me, I drew;
He rais'd the houfe with loud and coward cries:
Your fon and daughter found this trespass worth
The fhame which here it fuffers.

Fool. Winter's not gone yet, if the wild geefe fly that way. Fathers, that wear rags,

Do make their children blind;

But fathers, that bear bags,

Shall fee their children kind.

Fortune, that arrant whore,
Ne'er turns the key to th' poor,

heart!

But, for all this, thou fhalt have as many dolours from
Thy dear daughters, as thou canst tell in a year.
Lear. Oh, how this mother fwells up tow'rd my
Hyfterica paffio,down, thou climbing forrow,
Thy element's below; where is this daughter?
Kent. With the Earl, Sir, here within.
Lear. Follow me not; ftay here.

Gen. Made you no more offence,

But what you fpeak of?

Kent. None;

[Exit

How chance the King comes with fo fmall a number? Fool. An thou hadst been fet i' th' ftocks for that queftion, thou'dft well deferved it?

Kent. Why, fool?

Fool. We'll fet thee to fchool to an Ant, to teach thee there's no lab'ring i' th' winter. All, that follow

their nofes, are led by their eyes, but blind men; and there's not a nofe among twenty, but can fmell him that's ftinking-let go thy hold, when a great wheel runs down a hill, left it break thy neck with following it; but the great one that goes upward, let him draw thee after. When a wife man gives thee better counsel, give me mine again; I would have none but knaves follow it, fince a fool gives it.

That Sir, which ferves for gain,
And follows but for form,
Will pack when it begins to rain,
And leave thee in the ftorm:
But I will tarry, the fool will ftay,
And let the wife man fly :

The knave turns fool, that runs away;

t

The fool no knave, perdy.

Kent. Where learn'd you this, fool?

Fool. Not i' th' Stocks, fool.

Enter Lear and Glo'fter.

Lear. Deny to speak with me? they're fick, they're

weary,

They have travell'd all the night? mere fetches,
The images of revolt and flying off.

Bring me a better anfwer

Glo. My dear lord,

You know the fiery quality of the Duke:
How unremoveable, and fixt he is

In his own courfe.

Lear. Vengeance! plague! death! confufion!
Fiery? what fiery quality? why, Glofter,

I'd fpeak with th' Duke of Cornwall, and his wife.
Glo. Well, my good lord, I have inform'd them fo.
Lear. Inform'd them? doft thou understand me, man?
Glo. Ay, my good lord.

[father

Lear. The King would fpeak with Cornwall, the dear Wou'd with his daughter fpeak; commands her fervice: Are they inform'd of this ?-my breath and blood!Fiery the fiery Duke ? tell the hot Duke, thatNo, but not yet; may be, he is not well;

3

Infirmity

Infirmity doth ftill neglect all office,

Whereto our health is bound; we're not ourselves,
When Nature, being oppreft, commands the mind
To fuffer with the body. I'll forbear;

And am fall'n out with my more headier will,
To take the indifpos'd and fickly fit,

For the found man.-Death on my ftate! but wherefore Should he fit here? this Act perfuades me,

That this remotion of the Duke and her

Is practice only. Give me my fervant forth;

Go, tell the Duke and's wife, I'd fpeak with them: Now, prefently,bid them come forth and hear me, Or at their chamber-door I'll beat the drum,

'Till it cry, fleep to death.

Glo. I would have all well betwixt you. [Exit Lear. Oh me, my heart! my rifing heart! but down. Fool. Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the Eels, when he put them i' th' Pafty alive; fhe rapt 'em o' th' coxcombs with a ftick, and cry'd, down wantons, down; 'Twas her brother, that in pure kind. nefs to his horse butter'd his hay.

Enter Cornwall, Regan, Glo'fter, and Servants.
Lear. Good-morrow to you both.

Corn. Hail to your Grace!

[Kent is fet at liberty. Reg. I am glad to fee your Highness.

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Lear. Regan, I think, you are; I know, what reafon

I have to think fo; if thou wert not glad,

I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb,

Sepulchring an adult'refs. O, are you free? [To Kent,
Some other time for that. Beloved Regan,
Thy fifter's nought: oh Regan, fhe hath tied
Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here;
[Points to his heart,

I can fcarce fpeak to thee; thou❜lt not believe,
With how deprav'd a quality-oh Regan!-
Reg. I pray you, Sir, take patience; I have hope,
You lefs know how to value her defert,
Than fhe to fcant her duty.

Lear

Lear. Say? How is that?

Reg. I cannot think, my fifter in the leaft
Would fail her obligation. If, perchance,
She have reftrain'd the riots of your followers;
"Tis on fuch ground, and to fuch wholesom end,
As clears her from all blame.

Lear. My curfes on her!

Reg. O Sir, you are old,

Nature in you ftands on the very verge
Of her confine; you fhould be rul'd and led
By fome difcretion, that difcerns your state
Better than you yourfelf: therefore, I pray you,
That to our fifter you do make return;
Say, you have wrong'd her, Sir.

Lear. Afk her forgiveness?

Do you but mark, how this becomes the Ufe? (18) Dear daughter, I confefs, that I am old;

Age is unneceffary: on my knees I beg,

That you'll vouchfafe me raiment, bed, and food.
Reg. Good Sir, no more; these are unfightly tricks:
Return you to my
fifter.

Lear. Never, Regan:

She hath abated me of half my train;

(18) Do you but mark bow this becomes the houfe?] This phrafe is to me unintelligible, and feems to fay nothing to the purpose: Nei. ther can it mean, as I conceive, how this becomes the order of families. Lear would certainly intend to reply, how does asking my daughter's forgiveness become me as a father, and agree with common fashion, the establish'd rule and cuftom of nature? And therefore it feems no doubt to me, but the poet wrote, as I have alter'd the text. Let us examine, how he has exprefs'd elsewhere upon this sentiment. Alonfo fays, in the Tempeft;

But, oh, how oddly will it found, that I

Muft afk my child forgiveness?

And Volumnia, in Coriolanus, fays to her fon;
I kneel before thee, and unproperly

Shew duty as miftaken all the while
Between the child and parent.

Now what is odd, and improper, and mistaken, must be concluded to be against rule and cuftom: And that Shakespeare employs Use in this fignification, is too obvious to want a proof,

Look'd

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