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Lear. First let me talk with this philosopher :

What is the cause of thunder?

Kent. Good my lord, take his offer;

Go into the house.

Lear. I'll talk a word with this same learned Theban:What is your study?

Edg. How to prevent the fiend, and to kill vermin.
Lear. Let me ask you one word in private.

Kent. Impórtune him once more to go, my lord,

His wits begin to unsettle.

Glo.

Can'st thou blame him?

His daughters seek his death: Ah, that good Kent!-
He said it would be thus: - Poor banish'd man!-

Thou say'st, the king grows mad; I'll tell thee, friend,
I am almost mad myself: I had a son,
Now outlaw'd from my blood: he sought my life,
But lately, very late; I lov'd him, friend,-
No father his son dearer: true to tell thee,

[Storm continues.

The grief hath craz'd my wits. What a night's this!

I do beseech your grace,

Lear.

O, cry you mercy,

Noble philosopher, your company.

Edg. Tom's a-cold.

Glo. In, fellow, there, to the hovel: keep thee warm.

Lear. Come, let's in all.

Kent.

Lear.

This way, my lord.

With him;

I will keep still with my philosopher.

Kent. Good my lord, sooth him; let him take the fellow.

Glo. Take him you on.

Kent. Sirrah, come on; go along with us.

Lear. Come, good Athenian.

Glo.

Hush.

No words, no words:

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

[Exeunt.

b Child Rowland-) The word child (however it came to have this sense) is often applied to knights, &c. in old historical songs and romances.-PERCY.

SCENE V.

A Room in Gloster's Castle.

Enter CORNWALL and EDMUND.

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 hatlı 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 suspicions more fully. I will persevere 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 Farm-House, adjoining the 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.

• Provoking merit,] i. e. A merit he felt in himself, which irritated him against a father that had none.-M. MASON.

Kent. All the power of his wits has 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.d Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend.

Fool. Pr'ythee, 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 hizzing in upon them :--

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 :Come, sit thou there, most learned justicer;

[TO EDGAR.

Thou, sapient sir, sit here. [To the Fool.]-Now, you she

foxes!

Edg. Look, where he stands and glares !

Wantest thou eyes?

Lear.

At trial, madam ?

Edgar. 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.

Edg. The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a nightingale. Hopdance cries in Tom's belly for two

d Frateretto Nero, &c.] Frateretto is one of the devils mentioned by Harsnet.-Nero is introduced at least 800 years before he was born.-MALONE. Pray, innocent,] Perhaps he is here addressing the fool. Fools were anciently called innocents. STEEVENS.

e

A horse's health:] A horse is above all other animals subject to diseases.JOHNSON. Warburton and Ritson propose reading heels for health.

g

At trial, madam?] These words, on the authority of Dr. Johnson, 1

have given to Lear. In the old copy they are attributed to Edgar. -bourn,] i.e. A rivulet.

h

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.

Thou robed man of justice, take thy place;

And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity,

[TO EDGAR.

[To the Fool.

[TO KENT.

Bench by his side;-You are of 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,
Thy sheep shall take no harm.

Pur! the cat is grey.

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? Lear. She cannot deny it.

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 of.-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. My tears begin to take his part so much,

They'll mar my counterfeiting.

Lear. The little dogs and all,

[Aside.

Tray, Blanch, and Sweet-heart, see, they bark at me.

Edg. Tom will throw his head at them :-Avaunt, you

curs!

k

White herring,] i. e. Pickled herrings-STERVENS.

STEEVENS.

minikin mouth,] Minikin was anciently a term of endearment.

1

:

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.P

Lear. Then let them anatomize to Regan, see what breeds about her heart: Is there any cause in nature, that makes these hard hearts ?-You, sir, I entertain you 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. [To EDGAR.

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 pr'ythee, take him in thy arms;
I have o'er-heard a plot of death upon him:
There is a litter ready; lay him in't,

And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet

brach, or lym,] Names for particular sorts of dogs. - Brach seems to have been a female lurcher or beagle, or any fine-nosed hound; a lym was a blood hound. -NARES and MALONE.

m

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P

tike,] i. e. A little worthless dog, from Tijk, Runick. -trundle-tail,] ,] i. e. Curly-tail: a trundle was any thing round.-NARES. -Sessa,] i. e. Be quiet.

thy horn is dry.] This was a proverbial expression, signifying that a person had said all he had to say. The allusion is to the horn which is still used in many places in the country as a cup for drinking.-STLEVENS.

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