From this enormous flate, and seek to give

Loffes their remedies. All
All weary and o'er-watch'd,
Take 'vantage, heavy eyes, not to behold

This fhameful lodging.

Fortune, good night; fmile once more, turn thy wheel.

Edg.

SCENE

VIII.

Changes to a Part of a Heath.
Enter Edgar.

"VE heard myself proclaim'd;

I'VE

[He fleeps.

And, by the happy hollow of a tree,
Efcap'd the hunt. No port is free, no place,
That Guard and most unusual vigilance

Does not attend my taking. While I may 'fcape,
I will preferve myfelf: and am bethought
To take the baseft and the poorest shape,
That ever Penury in contempt of man

Brought near to beaft: my face I'll grime with filth,
Blanket my loins; elfe all my hair in knots;
And with prefented nakedness out-face
The winds, and perfecutions of the sky.
The country gives me proof and prefident
Of bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices,
Strike in their numb'd and mortify'd bare arms
Pins, wooden pricks, nails, fprigs of rofemary;
And with this horrible object, from low farms,
Poor pelting villages, sheep-coats and mills,
Sometimes with lunatic bans, fometimes with pray'rs,
Inforce their charity; poor Turlygood! poor Tom!-
That's fomething yet: Edgar I nothing am. [Exit.

Lear.

Changes again to the Earl of Glo'fter's Castle.
Enter Lear, Fool, and Gentleman.

IS ftrange, that they should fo depart from

Gent.

And not fend back my meffenger.

Gent. As I learn'd,

The night before, there was no purpose in them
Of this remove.

Kent. Hail to thee, noble master!

Lear. Ha! mak'st thou thy fhame thy pastime? Kent. No, my lord.

Fool. Ha, ha, he wears cruel garters; horses are ty'd by the heads, dogs and bears by th' neck, monkeys by th' loins, and men by th' legs; when a man is over-lufty at legs, then he wears wooden nether flocks.

Lear. What's he, that hath fo much thy Place miftook,

To fet thee here?

Kent. It is both he and fhe, Your fon and daughter.

Lear. No.

Kent. Yes.

Lear. No, I fay.

Kent. I fay, yea.

Lear. By Jupiter, I swear, no.

Kent. By Juno, I swear, ay.

Lear. They durft not do't.

They could not, would not do't; 'tis worfe than murder,

To do upon respect fuch violent outrage:
Refolve me with all modeft hafte, which way
Thou might'st deserve, or they impose this usage,
Coming from us?

Kent. My lord, when at their home

I did commend your Highness' letters to them,
Ere I was rifen from the place, that fhew'd
My duty kneeling, came a reeking Poft,
Stew'd in his hafte, half breathlefs, panting forth
From Gonerill his miftrefs, falutation;
Deliver'd letters fpight of intermiffion,
Which prefently they read: on whofe contents

They

*They fummon'd up their meiny, ftrait took horfe; Commanded me to follow, and attend

The leifure of their answer; gave me cold looks;
And meeting here the other meffenger,
Whose welcome, I perceiv'd, had poifon'd mine;
(Being the very fellow, which of late

Difplay'd fo faucily against your Highness,)
Having more man than wit about me, I drew;
He rais'd the house with loud and coward cries:
Your fon and daughter found this trefpafs worth
The fhame which here it fuffers.

Fool. Winter's not gone yet, if the wild geefe fly
that way.

Fathers, that wear rags,

Do make their children blind;
But fathers, that bear bags,
Shall fee their children kind.
Fortune, that arrant whore,
Ne'er turns the key to th' poor.

But, for all this, thou fhalt have as many dolours from
Thy dear daughters, as thou canft tell in a year.
Lear. Oh, how this mother fwells up tow'rd my
heart!

Hyfterica paffio, down, thou climbing forrow,
Thy element's below; where is this daughter?
Kent. With the Earl, Sir, here within.
Lear. Follow me not; ftay here.

Gent. Made you no more offence,

But what you fpeak of?

Kent. None.

[Exit.

How chance the King comes with so small a number? Fool. An thou hadst been set i'th' ftocks for that queftion, thou'dft well deferved it.

Kent. Why, fool?

Fool. We'll fet thee to school to an Ant, to teach thee there's no lab'ring i'th' winter. All, that follow their noses are led by their eyes, but blind men; and

They fummon'd up their meiny,-] Meiny, i. e. People. Mr Pope.
There's

There's not a nose among twenty, but can smell him that's flinking-let go thy hold, when a great wheel runs down a hill, left it break thy neck with following it; but the great one that goes upward, let him draw thee after. When a wife man gives thee better counfel, give me mine again; I would have none but knaves follow it, fince a fool gives it. That Sir, which ferves for gain,

And follows but for form,

Will pack, when it begins to rain,
And leave thee in the ftorm:

But I will tarry, the fool will ftay,
And let the wife man fly :

The knave turns fool, that runs away;

The fool no knave, perdy.

Kent. Where learn'd you this, fool?
Fool. Not i'th' Stocks, fool.

Lear.

Enter Lear and Glo'fter.

ENY to fpeak with me? they're fick,

They have travell'd all the night? mere fetches,
The images of revolt and flying off,

Bring me a better anfwer

Glo. My dear lord,

You know the fiery quality of the Duke:
How unremovable, and fixt he is

In his own course.

Lear. Vengeance! plague! death! confufion! Fiery? what fiery quality? why, Glofter,

I'd fpeak with the Duke of Cornwall, and his wife. Glo. Well, my good lord, I have inform'd them fo. Lear. Inform'd them? doft thou underftand me,

man ?

Glo. Ay, my good lord?

Lear. The King would speak with Cornwall, the

dear father

Wou'd

Wou'd with his daughter speak; commands her fer

vice:

Are they inform'd of this ?-my breath and blood!-
Fiery? the fiery duke? tell the hot Duke, that
No, but not yet; may be, he is not well;

Infirmity doth ftill neglect all office,

Whereto our health is bound; we're not ourselves,
When Nature, being oppreft, commands the mind
To fuffer with the body. I'll forbear;

And am fall'n out with my more headier will,
To take the indifpos'd and fickly fit

For the found man.-Death on my ftate! but wherefore
Should he fit here? this Act perfuades me,

That this remotion of the Duke and her

Is practice only. Give me my servant forth;
Go, tell the Duke and's wife, I'd speak with them:
Now, prefently,-bid them come forth and hear me,
Or at their chamber-door I'll beat the drum,
'Till it cry, fleep to death.

[Exit.

Glo. I would have all well betwixt you. Lear. Oh me, my heart!. my rifing heart! but down. Fool. Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the Eels, when he put them i'th' Pafty alive; fhe rapt 'em o'th' coxcombs with a stick, and cry'd, down wantons, down; 'Twas her brother, that in pure kindnefs to his horse butter'd his hay.

Enter Cornwell, Regan, Glo'fter, and Servants.
Lear. G Corn. Hail to your Grace?
O O D-morrow to you both.

[Kent is fet at liberty.

Reg. I am glad to fee your Highness.

Lear. Regan, I think, you are; I know, what reason

I have to think fo; if thou wert not glad,
I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb,

Sepulchring an adult'refs. Ó, are you free?[To Kent.

Some other time for that. Beloved Regan,

Thy