Baft. It was not brought me, my Lord; there's the cunning of it. I found it thrown in at the Cafement of my Clofet. Glo. You know the Character to be your Brother's? Haft. If the matter were good, my Lord, I durft fwear it were his; but in refpect of that, I would fain think it were not. Glo. It is his. Baft. It is his Hand, my Lord; I hope his Heart is not in the Contents. Glo. Has he never before founded you in this Bufinefs? Baft. Never, my Lord. But I have heard him oft maintain it to be fit, that Sons at perfect Age, and Father's de- · clin'd, the Father fhould be as Ward to the Son, and the Son manage his Revenue. Glo. O Villain, Villain! his very Opinion in the Letter. Abhorred Villain! unnatural, deteffed, bruitish Villain! worse than bruitifh! Go, firrah, feek him; I'll apprehend him. Abominable Villain! where is he? Baft. I do not well know, my Lord; if it fill please you to fufpend your Indignation against my Brother, 'till you can derive from him better Teftimony of his Intent, you should run a certain Courfe; where, if you violently proceed against him, miftaking his Purpofe, it would make a great gap in your Honour, and fake in pieces the Heart of his Obedience. I dare pawn down my Life for him, that he hath writ this to feel my Affection to your Honour, and to no other pretence of Danger. Glo. Think you fo? Baft. If your Honour judge it meet, I will place you where you thall hear us confer his, and by an Auricular Affurance have your Sarisfaction, and that without any further delay, than this very Evening. Glo. He cannot be fuch a Monter. out; wind me into him, I pray you; after your own Wildom. in a due refolution. Edmund, feek him I would unflate my felf, to be Baft. I will feek him, Sir, prefently; convey the Bufinefs as I fhall find means, and acquaint you withal, Glo. Thefe late Eclipfes in the Sun and Moon portend no good to us; though the Wildom of Nature can reafon it Dd 4 tius. 1 thus, and thus, yet Nature finds it felf fcourg'd by the fequent Effects. Love cools, Friendship falls off, Brothers divide. In Cities, mutinies; in Countries, difcord; in Palaces, Treafon; and the Bond crack'd, 'twixt Son and Father. This Villain of mine comes under the Prediction; there's Son againft Father, the King falls from biafs of Nature, there's Father against Child. We have feen the best of our time. Machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous Disorders follow us difquietly to our Graves. Find out this Villain, Edmund; it fhall lofe thee nothing, do it carefully and the Noble and true-hearted Kent banish'd! his offence, honefty. 'Tis ftrange. [Exit. Baft. This is the excellent foppery of the World, that when we are fick in Fortune, often the Surfeits of our own Behaviour, we make guilty of our Difafters, the Sun, the Moon, and Stars; as if we were Villains on neceffity, Fools by Heav'nly Compulfion, Knaves, Thiev. s, and Treachers by Spherical Predominance, Drunkards, Lyars, and Adulterers by an inforc'd Obedience of Planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting An admirable Evafion of Whore-mafter-Man, to lay his Goatifh difpofition on the charge of a Star; My Father compounded with my Mother under the Dragon's Tail, and my Nativity was under Urfa Major, fo that it follows, I am rough and lecherous. I should have been that I am, had the Maidenlieft Star in the Firmament twinkled on my Baftardizing. on. Pat! Enter Edgar. -he comes like the Cataftrophe of the old Comedy; my Cue is villainous Melancholy, with a figh like O these Eclipfes do portend thefe Tom 'Bedlam. Divifions! Fa, Sol, La, Me Edg. How now, Brother Edmund, what ferious Contemplation are you in? Baft. I am thinking, Brother, of a Prediction I read this other Day, what should follow thefe Eclipfes. Edg. Do you bufie your felf with that? Baft. I promise you the Eff.&s he writes of, fucceed unhappily. When faw you my Father laft? Edg. The Night gone by. Baft. Baft. Spake you with him? Edg. Ay, two hours together. Baft. Parted you in good Terms, found you no difpleafure in him, by Word, nor Countenance? Edg. None at all. Baft. Bethink your felf wherein you have offended him: And at my entreaty forbear his prefence, until fome little time hath qualified the heat of his difpleafure; which at this inftant fo rageth in him, that with the Mifcihef of your Per fon, it would fcarcely allay Edg. Some Villain hath done me wrong. Baft. That's my fear; I pray you have a continent forbearance 'till the speed of his Rage goes flower: And as I fay, retire with me to my Lodging, from whence I will fitly bring you to hear my Lord fpeak: Pray you go, there's my Key: If you do ftir abroad, go arm'd. Edg. Arm'd, Brother! [Exit. Bast. Brother, I advife you to the beft, I am no honest Man, if there be any good meaning toward you: I have told you what I have feen and heard; but faintly; nothing like the Image and Horror of it; pray you away. Edg. Shall I hear from you anon? Baft. I do ferve you in this Bufinefs: A credulous Father, and a Brother noble, Whofe Nature is fo far from doing harms, That he fufpects none; on whofe foolish Honefty My Practices ride eafie: I fee the Bufinefs Let me, if not by Birth, have Lands by Wit, All with me's meet, that I can fashion fit. [Exit. SCENE II. The Duke of Albany's Palace. Enter Goneril, and Steward. Gon. Did my Father ftrike my Gentleman' for chiding of his Fool? Stew. Ay, Madam. Gon. By Day and Night, he wrongs me; every Hour He flashes into one grofs Crime, or other, That fets us all at odds; I'll not endure it; His Knights grow riotous, and himself upbraids us O On every Trifle. When he returns from hunting, You fhall do well, the fault of it I'll answer. Whofe Mind and mine I know in that are one. Stew. Well, Madam. Gon. And let his Knights have colder Looks among you: What grows of it no matter, advife your Fellows fo, I'll write ftraight to my Sifter to hold my courfe: Prepare for Dinner. Enter Kent difguis'd. Kent. If but as well I other Accents borrow, For which I raz'd my likeness. Now, banifht Kent, Exeunt. Horns within. Enter Lear, Knights and Attendants. Kent. A Man, Sir. it ready: Lear. What doft thou profefs? What wouldft thou with us? Kent. I do profefs to be no less than I feem; to serve him truly that will put me in truft, to love him that is honeft, to converfe with him that is wife, and fays little, to fear Judgment, to fight when I cannot chufe, and to eat no Fish. Lear. What art thou? Kent. A very honeft-hearted Fellow, and as poor as the King. Lear. If thou beeft as poor for a Subject, as he's for a King, thou art poor enough. What would thou? Kent. Service. Lear. Whom wouldst thou ferve? Kent. You. Lear, Doft thou know me, Fellow? Kent. No, Sir, but you have that in your Countenance, which I would fain call Mafter. Lear. What's that? Kent. Authority. Lear. What Services canft thou do? Kent. I can keep honeft Counfels, ride, run, marr a curious Tale in telling it, and deliver a plain Meffage bluntly: That which ordinary Men are fit for, I am qualified in, and the best of me, is diligence. Lear. How old art thou? Kent. Not fo young, Sir, to love a Woman for finging, nor fo old to doat on her for any thing. I have Years on my Back forty eight. Lear. Follow me, thou fhelt ferve me; if I like thee no worfe after Dinner, I will not part from thee yet. Dinner ho, Dinner-where's my Knave? my Fool? go you and call my Fool hither. You, you, Sirrah, where's my Daughter? Enter Steward. Stew. So please you [Exit. Lear. What fays the Fellow there? Call the Coltpole back: Where's my Fool? Ho?----I think the World's afleep, how now? where's that Mungrel? Knight. He fays, my Lord, your Daughter is not well. Lear. Why came not the Slave back to me when I calid him? Knight. Sir, he answered in the roundeft manner, he would not. Lear. He would not? Knight. My Lord, I know not what the matter is; but to my Judgment, your Highnefs is not entertain'd with that Ceremonious Affection as you were wont; there's great abatement of kindness appears as well in the general Dependants, as in the Duke himself alfe, and your Daughter. Lear. Ha! faift thou fo? Knight. I beseech you pardon me, my Lord, if I be mistaken; |
