Lear. With him; I will keep still with my philosopher. Kent. Good my lord, soothe 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: 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. SCENE V. A room in GLOSTER's castle. Enter CORNWALL and EDMUND. [Exeunt. 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 perséver 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 farmhouse adjoining GLOSTER'S 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 have given way to his impatience:—the gods reward your kindness! [Exit Gloster. Edg. Frateretto calls me; and tells me Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness. - Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend. Fool. Prithee, 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 gentleman to his son; for he's a mad yeoman that sees his son a gentleman before him. Lear. To have a thousand with red burning spits Come hissing in upon 'em, Edg. The foul fiend bites my back. Fool. He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath. Lear. It shall be done; I will arraign them straight. [To Edgar] Come, sit thou here, most learnèd justicer; [To the Fool] Thou, sapient sir, sit here. foxes! Edg. Look, where he stands and glares! eyes at trial, madam? Fool. Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me: Her boat hath a leak, And she must not speak Now, you she -- Why she dares not come over to thee. Wantest thou 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. 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. [To Edgar] Thou robèd man of justice, take thy place; [To the Fool] And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity, Bench by his side: - [To Kent] You are o' the commission, Sit you too. 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 Pur! the cat is gray. 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? 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 on. 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 now That you so oft have boasted to retain? Edg. [aside] My tears begin to take his part so much, They'll mar my counterfeiting. Lear. The little dogs and all, Tray, Blanch, and Sweetheart, see, they bark at me. Edg. Tom will throw his head at them. - Avaunt, you curs! Tooth that poisons if it bite; Do de, de, de. Sessa! Come, march to wakes and fairs and market-towns. Poor Tom, thy horn is dry. Lear. Then let them anatomize Regan; see what breeds about her heart. Is there any cause in nature that makes these hard hearts? - [To Edgar] You, sir, I entertain for one of my hundred; only I do not like the fashion of your garments: you will say they are Persian attire; but let them be changed. Kent. Now, good my lord, lie here and rest awhile. Lear. Make no noise, make no noise; draw the curtains: so, so, so: we'll go to supper i' the morning: so, so, so. 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 prithee, take him in thy arms; I have o'erheard a plot of death upon him: There is a litter ready; lay him in't, And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet If thou shouldst dally half an hour, his life, With thine, and all that offer to defend him, Kent. Oppress'd nature sleeps: This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken sinews, Which, if convenience will not allow, Come, come, away. [Exeunt Kent, Gloster, and the Fool, bearing off Lear. Edg. When we our betters see bearing our woes, We scarcely think our miseries our foes. Who alone suffers suffers most i' the mind, When that which makes me bend makes the king bow, - Tom, away! Mark the high noises; and thyself bewray, When false opinion, whose wrong thoughts defile thee, SCENE VII. A room in GLOSTER's castle. [Exit. Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, GONERIL, EDMUND, and Servants. Corn. Post speedily to my lord your husband; show him this letter: the army of France is landed. Seek out the traitor Gloster. [Exeunt some of the Servants. Reg. Hang him instantly. Corn. Leave him to my displeasure. - Edmund, keep you our sister company: the revenges we are bound to take upon your traitorous father are not fit for your beholding. Advise the duke, where you are going, to a most festinate preparation: we are bound to the like. Our posts shall be swift and intelligent betwixt us. Farewell, dear sister: - farewell, my Lord of Gloster. Enter OSWALD. How now! where's the king? Osw. My Lord of Gloster hath convey'd him hence: Some five or six and thirty of his knights, Hot questrists after him, met him at gate; Who, with some other of the lords dependants, Are gone with him towards Dover; where they boast Corn. Get horses for your mistress. |