King Lear

philosopher. Kent Good my lord, soothe him; let him take the fellow. Gloucester Take him you on. Kent Sirrah, come on; go along with us. King Lear Come, good Athenian. Gloucester No words, no words: hush. Edgar

Child Rowland to the dark tower came,
His word was still⁠—Fie, foh, and fum,
I smell the blood of a British man.

Exeunt.

Scene V

Gloucester’s castle.

	Enter Cornwall and Edmund.
Cornwall	I will have my revenge ere I depart his house.
Edmund	How, my lord, I may be censured, that nature thus gives way to loyalty, something fears me to think of.
Cornwall	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 reprovable badness in himself.
Edmund	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!
Cornwall	Go with me to the duchess.
Edmund	If the matter of this paper be certain, you have mighty business in hand.
Cornwall	True or false, it hath made thee earl of Gloucester. Seek out where thy father is, that he may be ready for our apprehension.
Edmund	Aside. If I find him comforting the king, it will stuff his suspicion more fully.⁠—I will persevere in my course of loyalty, though the conflict be sore between that and my blood.
Cornwall	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 the castle.

	Enter Gloucester, King Lear, Kent, Fool, and Edgar.
Gloucester	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 Gloucester.
Edgar	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?
King 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.
King Lear	To have a thousand with red burning spits Come hissing in upon ’em⁠—
Edgar	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.
King Lear	It shall be done; I will arraign them straight. To Edgar. Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer; To the Fool. Thou, sapient sir, sit here. Now, you she foxes!
Edgar	Look, where he stands and glares! Wantest thou eyes at trial, madam? Come o’er the bourn, Bessy, to me⁠—
Fool	Her boat hath a leak, And she must not speak Why she dares not come over to thee.
Edgar	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 amazed: Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions?
King Lear	I’ll see their trial first. Bring in the evidence. To Edgar. Thou robed 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.
Edgar	Let us deal justly. Sleepest or wakest thou, jolly shepherd? Thy sheep be in the corn; And for one blast of thy minikin mouth, Thy sheep shall take no harm. Pur! the cat is gray.
King 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?
King Lear	She cannot deny it.
Fool	Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool.
King 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?
Edgar	Bless thy five wits!
Kent	O pity! Sir, where is the patience now, That thou so oft have boasted to retain?
Edgar	Aside. My tears begin to take his part so much, They’ll mar my counterfeiting.
King Lear	The little dogs and all, Tray, Blanch, and Sweet-heart, see, they bark at me.
Edgar	Tom will throw his head at them. Avaunt, you curs! Be thy mouth or black or white, Tooth that poisons if it bite; Mastiff, grey-hound, mongrel grim, Hound or spaniel, brach or lym, Or bobtail tike or trundle-tail, Tom will make them weep and wail: For, with throwing thus my head, Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled.
	Do de, de, de. Sessa! Come, march to wakes and fairs and market-towns. Poor Tom, thy horn is dry.
King 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.
King Lear	Make no noise, make no noise; draw the curtains: so, so, so. We’ll go to supper i’ he morning. So, so, so.
Fool	And I’ll go to bed at noon.
	Re-enter Gloucester.
Gloucester	Come hither, friend: where is the king my master?
Kent	Here, sir; but trouble him not, his wits are gone.
Gloucester	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 Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master: If thou shouldst dally half an hour, his life, With thine, and all that offer