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To temper clay-Ha! is it come to this?
Let it be so: Yet I have left a daughter,
Who, I am sure, is kind and comfortable;
When she shall hear this of thee, with her nails
She'll flay thy wolfish visage. Thou shalt find, 5
That I'll resume the shape which thou dost think
I have cast off for ever; thou shalt, I warrant thee.
[Exeunt Lear, Kent, and Attendants.

Gon. Do you mark that, my lord?
Alb. I cannot be so partial, Goneril,
To the great love I bear you.

Gon. Pray you, content.-What, Oswald, ho! You, sir, more knave than fool, after your master. To the Fool.

10

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Lear. I will forget my nature.-So kind a father!Be my horses ready?

Fool. Thy asses are gone about 'em. The reason why the seven stars are no more than seven, is a pretty reason.

Lear. Because they are not eight.

Fool. Yes, indeed: Thou would'st make a good fool.

Lear. To take it again perforce'!—Monster! ingratitude!

Fool. If thou wert my fool, nuncle, I'd have thee beaten for being old before thy time. Lear. How's that?

Fool. Thou should'st not have been old before thou hadst been wise.

[Exit Steward. 45|
This milky gentleness, and course of yours,
Though I condemn it not, yet, under pardon,
You are much more at task for want of wisdom,
Than prais'd for harmful mildness.
Alb. How far your eyes may pierce, I cannot 50 mad!-
Striving to better, oft' we mar what's well.

Gon. Nay, then

Alb. Well, well; the event.

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[tell:

[Exeunt.

A Court-yard before the Duke of Albany's Palace. 55 Enter Lear, Kent, and Fool.

Lear. Go you before to Gloster with these let

Lear. O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven! Keep me in temper; I would not be

Enter a Gentleman. How now? are the horses ready? Gent. Ready, my lord.

Lear. Come, boy.

[departure,

Fool. She that's a maid now, and laughs at my Shall not be a maid long unless things be cut

shorter.

[Exeunt.

At point, probably means completely armed, and consequently ready at appointment or com mand on the slightest notice. That is, Unite one circumstance with another, so as to make a To be at task, is to be liable to reprehension and correction. * He is He is meditating on his daughter's having in so violent a manner deprived

consistent account. musing on Cordelia.

him of those privileges which before she had agreed to grant him.

ACT

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Glo. But where is he?
Edm. Look, sir, I bleed.
Glo. Where is the villain,
Edm. Fled this way, sir.

he could

Edmund?
When by no means
[means, what?
Glo. Pursue him, ho!-Go after.-
-By no
Edm. Persuade me to the murder of your lord-
But that I told him, the revenging gods [ship;
'Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend;
10 Spoke, with how manifold and strong a bond
The child was bound to the father ;—Sir, in fine,
Seeing how lothly opposite I stood

To his unnatural purpose, in fell motion,
With his prepared sword, he charges home
15 My unprovided body, lanc'd mine arm:
But when he saw my best alarum'd spirits,
Bold in the quarrel's right, rous'd to the encounter,
Or whether-gasted by the noise I made,
Full suddenly he fled.

[Exit.] Edm. The duke be here to-night? The better!20

Best!

This weaves itself perforce into my business!
My father hath set guard to take my brother;
And I have one thing, of a queazy question,
Which I must act :--Briefness, and fortune, work!--25
Brother, a word;-descend:-Brother, I say;
Ι
Enter Edgar.

My father watches:-O, sir, fly this place;
Intelligence is given where you are hid;
You have now the good advantage of the night:-301
Have you not spoken 'gainst the duke of Cornwall?
He's coming hither, now, i' the night, i' the haste,
And Regan with him; Have you nothing said
Upon his party'gainst the duke of Albany?
Advise yourself.

Edg. I am sure on 't, not a word.

well.

Glo. Let him fly far:

Not in this land shall he remain uncaught; [ter,
And found--Dispatch.-The noble duke my mas-
My worthy arch and patron comes to-night:
By his authority I will proclaim it,

That he, which finds him, shall deserve our thanks,
Bringing the murderous coward to the stake;
He that conceals him, death.

Edm. When I dissuaded him from his intent, And found him pight' to do it, with curst speech threaten'd to discover him: He replied,

[duce

Thou unpossessing-bastard! dost thou think, "If I would stand against thee, would the reposal "Of any trust, virtue, or worth, in thee [deny "Make thy words faith'd? No: what I should 35" (As this I would; ay, though thou didst proMy very character) I'd turn it all "To thy suggestion, plot, and damned practicez "And thou must make a dullard of the world, "If they not thought the profits of my death Were very pregnant and potential spurs "To make thee seek it." [Trumpets within. Glo. O strange, fasten'd villain! [him. Would he deny his letter, said he ?-I never got Hark, the duke's trumpets! I know not why he

Edm. I hear my father coming,-Pardon me :-
In cunning, I must draw my sword upon you:-
Draw: Seem to defend yourself: Now quit you
[here!-40
Yield:-Come before my father;-Light, ho,
Fly, brother;-Torches! torches!-So, farewell.-
[Exit Edgar.

Some blood drawn on me would beget opinion
[Wounds his arm. 45
Of mymorefierce endeavour: I haveseendrunkards
Do more than this in sport.-Father! father!
Stop, stop! No help?

Enter Gloster, and Servants with torches.
Glo. Now, Edmund, where's the villain?
Edm. Here stood he in the dark, his sharp

sword out,

Mumbling of wicked charms, conjuring the moon
To stand his auspicious mistress:-

comes:

All ports I'll bar; the villain shall not 'scape;
The duke must grant me that: besides, his picture
I will send far and near, that all the kingdom
May have due note of him: and of my land,
50 Loyal and natural boy, I'll work the means
To make thee capable'.

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Enter Cornwall, Regan, and Attendants. Corn. How now, my noble friend? since I

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(Which I can call but now) I have heard strange

news.

Reg. If it be true, all vengeance comes too short, Which can pursue the offender. How does my lord? Glo. O, madam, my old heart is crack'd, is 5 crack'd! [life?

Reg. What, did my father's godson seek your
He whom my father nam'd? your Edgar?

Glo. O, lady, lady, shame would have it hid!
Reg. Was he not companion with the riotous 10
That tend upon my father?

Glo. I know not, madam:
It is too bad, too bad.

[knights

Edm. Yes, madam, he was of that consort.
Reg.No marvel then, though he were ill affected;
"Tis they have put him on the old man's death,
To have the expence and waste of his revenues.
I have this present evening from my sister [tions,
Been well inform'd of them; and with such cau-
That, if they come to sojourn at my house,
I'll not be there.

Corn. Nor I, assure thee, Regan.
Edmund, I hear that you have shewn your father
A child-like office.

Edm. 'Twas my duty, sir.

Glo. He did bewray his practice'; and receiv'd This hurt you see, striving to apprehend him, Corn. Is he pursu'd?

Glo. Ay, my good lord.

Corn. If he be taken, he shall never more

Be fear'd of doing harm; make your own purpose,
Howinmystrengthyou please.--For you, Edmund,
Whose virtue and obedience doth this instant
So much commend itself, you shall be ours;

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Stew. Why then I care not for thee. Kent. If I had thee in Lipsbury pinfold, I would make thee care for me.

Stew. Why dost thou use me thus? I know thee not. Kent. Fellow, I know thee.

Stew. What dost thou know me for?

Kent. A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three 20 suited', hundred-pound, filthy worsted-stocking knave; a lily-liver'd, action-taking knave; a whoreson, glass-gazing, super-serviceable, finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that would'st be a bawd, in way of good service, and 25 art nothing but the composition of a knave, beg, gar, coward, pandar, and the son and heir of a mungrel bitch; one whom I will beat into clamourous whining, if thou deny'st the least syllable of thy addition.

30

Stew. Why, what a monstrous fellow art thou, thus to rail on one, that is neither known of thee, or knows thee?

Kent. What a brazen-fac'd varlet art thou, to deny thou know'st me? Is it two days ago, since

Natures of such deep trust we shall much need; 35 I trípt up thy heels, and beat thee, before the

You we first seize on.

Edm. I shall serve you, sir,

Truly, however else.

Glo. For him I thank your grace.

Corn. You know not why we came to visit you. 40
Reg. Thus out of season; threading dark-ey'd

-night.

Occasions, noble Gloster, of some prize',
Wherein we must have use of your advice:-
Our father he hath writ, so hath our sister,

Of differences, which I best thought it fit [gers
To answer from our home '; the several messen-
From hence attend dispatch. Our good old friend,
Lay comforts to your bosom; and bestow
Your needful counsel to our businesses,
Which crave the instant use.

Glo. I serve you, madam:

45

king? Draw, you rogue: for though it be night, yet the moon shines; I'll make a sop o' the moonshine of you : Draw, you whoreson cullionly barber-monger", draw. [Drawing his sword.

Stew. Away; I have nothing to do with thee, Kent. Draw, you rascal: you come with letters against the king; and take vanity the puppet's part, against the royalty of her father: Draw, you rogue, or I'll so carbonado your shanks:-draw, you rascal; come your ways.

Stew. Help, ho! murder! help!

Kent. Strike, you slave; stand, rogue, stand; you neat slave", strike. [Beating him, Stew. Help, ho! murder! murder! 50 Enter Edmund, Cornwall, Regan, Gloster, and Sercants.

Edm. How how? What's the matter? Part.

4

Prize,

1i. e. discover, betray.-Practice is always used by Shakspeare for insidious mischief. or price, for value. i. e. not at home, but at some other place. Lipsbury pinfold may be a cant expression importing the same as Lob's Pound. Three-suited knave night mean, in an age of ostentatious finery like that of Shakspeare, one who had no greater change of raiment than three suits would furnish him with. 6 A hundred-pound gentleman is a term of reproach. 'A worstedstocking knave is another term of reproach.-The stockings in England, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, were remarkably expensive, and scarcely any other kind than silk were worn, even by those who had not above forty shillings a year wages. Lily-liver'd is cowardly; white-blooded and white-liver'd are still in vulgar use. 9 i. e. titles. 10 This is equivalent to our modern phrase of making the sun shine through any one. "Barber-monger may mean dealer in the lower trudesmen : a slur upon the steward, as taking fees for a recommendation to the business of the family. neat slave, means no more than you finical rascal, you who are an assemblage of foppery and poverty.

8

12 You

Kente

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Corn. What is your difference? Speak.
Stew. I am scarce in breath, my lord. [valour.
Kent. No marvel, you have so bestirr'd your 10
You cowardly rascal, nature disclaims in thee;
A tailor made thee.

Corn. Thou art a strange fellow :

A tailor make a man?

Kent. Ay, a tailor, sir: a stone-cutter, or a paint-15 er could not have made him so ill, though they had been but two hours at the trade.

Corn. Speak yet, how grew your quarrel? Stew. This ancient ruffian, sir, whose life I have spar'd

At suit of his grey beard,

Kent. Thou whoreson zed'! thou unnecessary letter!-My lord, if you will give me leave, will tread this unbolted' villain into mortar, and daub the wall of a jakes with him.-Spare my grey beard, you wagtail?

Corn. Peace, sirrah!

You beastly knave, you know no reverence?
Kent. Yes, sir; but anger hath a privilege.
Corn. Why art thou angry?

Kent. That such a slave as this should wear a
sword,

[these,

Who wears no honesty. Such smiling rogues as
Like rats, oft bite the holy cords' in twain
Too intrinsicate t' unloose: sooth ev'ry passion
That in the nature of their lords rebels;
Bring oil to fire, snow to their colder moods;
Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks
With every gale and vary of their masters;
Knowing nought, like dogs, but following.—
A plague upon your epileptic' visage!
Smile you my speeches, as I were a fool?
Goose, if I had you upon Sarum plain,
I'd drive you cackling home to Camelot'.
Corn. What art thou mad, old fellow?
Glo. How fell you out? say that.
Kent. No contraries hold more antipathy
Than I and such a knave.

Corn. Why dost thou call him knave? What's
his offence?

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25

Kent. His countenance likes me not. [or hers.
Corn. No more, perchance, does mine, or his,
Kent. Sir, 'tis my occupation to be plain;

I have seen better faces in my time
Than stand on any shoulder that I see
Before me at this instant.

[affect

Corn. This is some fellow,
Who, having been prais'd for bluntness, doth
A saucy roughness; and constrains the garb,
Quite from his nature: He cannot flatter, he!
An honest mind, and plain,-he must speak truth:
An they will take it, so; if not, he's plain. [ness
These kind of knaves I know, which in this plain-
Harbour more craft, and more corrupter ends,
Than twenty silly' ducking observants,
That stretch their duties nicely 10.

Kent. Sir, in good sooth, or in sincere verity,
Under the allowance of your grand aspect,
Whose influence, like the wreath of radiant fire
On flickering" Phoebus' front,-

Corn. What mean'st thou by this!

Kent. To go out of my dialect, which you discommend so much. I know, sir, I am no flatterer: he that beguil'd you, in a plain accent, was a plain knave; which, for my part, I will not be, though I should win your displeasure to

entreat me to it.

Corn. What was the offence you gave him?
Stew. I never gave him any:

30 It pleas'd the king his master, very late,
To strike at me, upon his misconstruction;
When he, conjunct, and flattering his displeasure,
Tript me behind; being down, insulted, rail'd,
And put upon him such a deal of man, that
That worthy'd him, got praises of the king,
For him attempting who was self-subdu'd;
And, in the fleshinent of this dread exploit,
Drew on me here again.

35

Kent. None of these rogues, and cowards,

40 But Ajax is their fool "2.

Corn. Fetch forth the stocks, ho! [gart, You stubborn ancient knave, you reverend bragWe'll teach you

Kent. Sir, I am too old to learn:

45 Call not your stocks for me: I serve the king;
On whose employment I was sent to you:
You shall do small respect, shew too bold malice
Against the grace and person of my master,
Stocking his messenger.

50 Corn. Fetch forth the stocks:→→→

The

'Mr. Steevens observes, that Zed is here probably used as a term of contempt, because it is the last letter in the English alphabet, and as its place may be supplied by S, and the Roman alphabet has it not, neither is it read in any word originally Teutonic. 2 Unbolted mortar, according to Mr. Tollett, is mortar made of unsifted lime; and therefore, to break the lumps, it is necessary to tread it by men in wooden shoes.--This unbolted villain is, therefore, this coarse rascal. By these holy cords, the poet means the natural union between parents and children.-The metaphor is taken from the cords of the sanctuary; and the fomenters of family-differences are compared to these sacrilegious rats. halcyon is the bird otherwise called the king-fisher.-The vulgar opinion was, that this bird, if hung up, would tary with the wind, and by that means shew from what point it blew. The frighted countenance of a man ready to fall in a fit. "Camelot was the place where, the romances say, king Arthur kept his court in the West: so this alludes to some proverbial speech in those romances.In Somer setshire, adds Hanmer, near Camelot, are many large moors, where are bred great quantities of geese, so that many other places are from hence supplied with quills and feathers. i. e. pleases me not. • i. e. forces his outside or his appearance to something totally different from his natural disposition, Silly here means only simple, or rustic. 10 i. e. foolishly. "Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, says, this word means to flutter. 12 Their foal means here, their butt, their laughingstock.

22

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Kent. Why, madain, if I were your father's dog, 5 You should not use me so.

Regan. Sir, being his knave, I will.

[Stocks brought out. Corn. This is a fellow of the self-same colour Our sister speaks of:-Come, bring away the 10

stocks.

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Is such, as basest and the meanest wretches,
For pilferings and most common trespasses,
Are punish'd with: the king must take it ill,
That he, so slightly valu'd in his messenger,
Should have him thus restrain'd.

Corn. I'll answer that.

Take vantage, heavy eyes, not to behold
This shameful lodging.

Fortune, good night; smile once more; turn thy
wheel!
[He sleeps.

SCENE III.

A part of the Heath.
Enter Edgar.

Edg. I heard myself proclaim'd;
And, by the happy hollow of a tree,
Escap'd the hunt. No port is free; no place,
That guard, and most unusual vigilance,
Does not attend my taking. While I may 'scape,
15 will preserve myself: and am bethought
To take the basest and most poorest shape,
That ever penury, in contempt of man, [filth;
Brought near to beast: my face I'll grime with
Blanket my loins; elf all my hair in knots;
20 And with presented nakedness out-face
The winds, and persecutions of the sky.
The country gives me proof and precedent
Of Bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices,
Strike in their numb'd and mortify'd bare arms
Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary:
And with this horrible object, from low farins,
Poor pelting villages, sheep-cotes, and mills,
Sometime with lunatic bans', sometime with
prayers,
[Tom!
Inforce their charity.-Poor Turlygood; poor
That's something yet;-Edgar I nothing am.

[worse, Regan. My sister may receive it much more To have her gentleman abus'd, assaulted, For following her affairs.-Put in his legs.[Kent is put in the stocks. 25

Come, my good lord; away.

[Exeunt Regan, and Cornwall. Glo. I am sorry for thee, friend; 'tis the duke's pleasure,

Whose disposition, all the world well knows, [thee, 30
Will not be rubb'd, nor stopp'd: I'll entreat for
Kent. Pray, do not, sir: I have watch'd, and
travell'd hard;

Some time I shall sleep out, the rest I'll whistle.
A good man's fortune may grow out at heels;
Give you good morrow!

Glo. The duke's to blame in this; 'twill be ill
taken.
[Exit.

Kent. Good king, that must approve the com

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SCENE IV.

Earl of Gloster's Castle.
Enter Lear, Fool, and Gentleman.

[Exit.

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Fool. Ha, ha; look! he wears cruel garters! Horses are ty'd by the heads; dogs and bears by the neck; monkies by the loins, and men by the legs: when a man is over-lusty at legs, then he 50 wears wooden nether-stocks". [mistook Lear. What's he, that hath so much thy place To set thee here?

That art now to exemplify the common proverb, that out of, &c.; that changest better for worse. Hanmer observes, that it is a proverbial saying, applied to those who are turned out of house and home to the open weather. It was perhaps first used of men dismissed from an hospital, or house of charity, such as was erected formerly in many places for travellers. Those houses had names properly enough alluded to by heaven's benediction. The saw alluded to, is in Heywood's Dialogues on Proverbs, book ii. chap. 5.

4

"In your running from him to me, ye runne
"Out of God's blessing into the warm sunne."

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7

* Hair knotted, was vulgarly supposed to be the work of elves and fairies in the night. 'i. c. skewers. * i. e. paltry. To bun, is to curse. Mr. Steevens believes that a quibble was here intended.— Crewel signifies worsted, of which stockings, garters, night-caps, &c. are made. Over-lusty in this place has a double signification.-Lustiness anciently meant sauciness. "Nether-stocks is the old word for stockings.-Breeches were at that time called "men's over-stocks."

Kent.

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