LEAR. Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favour'd,

When others are more wicked; not being the worst

Stands in some rank of praise. [To GONERIL.] I'll go with

thee;

Thy fifty yet doth double five-and-twenty,

And thou art twice her love.

GON.

Hear me, my lord;

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What need you five-and-twenty, ten, or five,
To follow in a house where twice so many
Have a command to tend you?

REG.

What need one?

LEAR. O, reason not the need: our basest beggars.

Are in the poorest thing superfluous:

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Allow not nature more than nature needs,

Man's life is cheap as beast's: thou art a lady;

If only to go warm were gorgeous,

Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st,

Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But, for true need,—

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You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need!

You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,
As full of grief as age; wretched in both :
If it be you that stir these daughters' hearts
Against their father, fool me not so much

To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger,
And let not women's weapons, water-drops,

Stain my

man's cheeks! No, you unnatural hags,

I will have such revenges on you both
That all the world shall-I will do such things,—

What they are yet I know not, but they shall be
The terrors of the earth. You think I'll weep;
No, I'll not weep:

I have full cause of weeping; but this heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws,
Or ere I'll weep. O, fool, I shall go mad!

[Exeunt LEAR, GLOUCESTER, KENT, and Fool.

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CORN. Let us withdraw, 'twill be a storm.

[Storm heard at a distance. REG. This house is little; the old man and his people Cannot be well bestow'd.

GON. 'Tis his own blame; hath put himself from rest, And must needs taste his folly.

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REG. For his particular, I'll receive him gladly,

GON.

But not one follower.

Where is my lord of Gloucester?

So am I purposed.

CORN. Follow'd the old man forth: he is return'd.

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Re-enter GLOUCESTER.

GLO. The king is in high rage.

CORN.

Whither is he going?

GLO. He calls to horse; but will I know not whither.
CORN. 'Tis best to give him way; he leads himself.
GON. My lord, entreat him by no means to stay.
GLO. Alack, the night comes on, and the high winds
Do sorely ruffle; for many miles about

There's scarce a bush.

REG.

The injuries that they themselves procure

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O, sir, to wilful men

Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors;

He is attended with a desperate train;

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And what they may incense him to, being apt

To have his ear abused, wisdom bids fear.

CORN. Shut up your doors, my lord; 'tis a wild night: My Regan counsels well: come out o' the storm.

[Exeunt.

ACT III.

SCENE I. A heath. A storm, with thunder and lightning.

Enter KENT and a Gentleman, meeting.

KENT. Who's there, besides foul weather?

GENT. One minded like the weather, most unquietly.
KENT. I know you. Where's the king?

GENT. Contending with the fretful elements;

Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea,

5

Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main,

That things might change or cease: tears his white hair,

Which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage,

Catch in their fury, and make nothing of:

Strives in his little world of man to out-scorn

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The to-and-fro conflicting wind and rain.

This night, wherein the cub-drawn bear would couch,
The lion and the belly-pinched wolf

Keep their fur dry, unbonneted he runs,

And bids what will take all.

KENT.

But who is with him?

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GENT. None but the fool; His heart-struck injuries. KENT.

And dare upon the warrant of my note,

Commend a dear thing to you. There is division,
Although as yet the face of it be cover'd

who labours to outjest

Sir, I do know you;

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With mutual cunning, 'twixt Albany and Cornwall;
Who have-as who have not, that their great stars

Throned and set high ?-servants, who seem no less,
Which are to France the spies and speculations
Intelligent of our state; what hath been seen,
Either in snuffs and packings of the dukes,

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Or the hard rein which both of them have borne
Against the old kind king, or something deeper,
Whereof perchance these are but furnishings,-
But true it is, from France there comes a power
Into this scattered kingdom; who already,
Wise in our negligence, have secret feet
In some of our best ports, and are at point
To show their open banner. Now to you:
If on my credit you dare build so far

To make your speed to Dover, you shall find
Some that will thank you, making just report
Of how unnatural and bemadding sorrow
The king hath cause to plain.

I am a gentleman of blood and breeding,
And from some knowledge and assurance offer
This office to you.

GENT. I will talk further with you.
KENT.

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35

40

No, do not.

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For confirmation that I am much more
Than my out-wall, open this purse and take
What it contains. If you shall see Cordelia,-
As fear not but you shall,-show her this ring,
And she will tell you who your fellow is

That yet you do not know.

I will go seek the king.

GENT.

Have you no more to say?

Fie on this storm!

Give me your hand:

KENT. Few words, but, to effect, more than all yet;

That when we have found the king,-in which your pain

That way, I'll this-he that first lights on him

Holla the other.

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[Exeunt severally. 55

Storm continues.

SCENE II. Another part of the heath.

Enter LEAR and Fool.

LEAR. Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout

Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers of oak-cleaving thunder-bolts,

Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world!

Crack nature's moulds, all germins spill at once
That make ingrateful man!

5

FOOL. O nuncle, court holy-water in a dry house is better 10 than this rain-water out o' door. Good nuncle, in, and ask thy daughters' blessing; here's a night pities neither wise men nor fools.

LEAR. Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! spout, rain!
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters:
I tax you not, you elements, with unkindness;
I never gave you kingdom, called you children,
You owe me no subscription; then let fall
Your horrible pleasure; here I stand, your slave,
A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man :
But yet I call you servile ministers,
That have with two pernicious daughters join'd
Your high-engendered battles 'gainst a head
So old and white as this. O! O! 'tis foul!

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20

FOOL. He that has a house to put his head in has a good 25 head-piece.

The man that makes his toe

What he his heart should make,

Shall of a corn cry woe,

And turn his sleep to wake.

For there was never yet fair woman but she made mouths in

a glass.

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