If only to go warm were gorgeous,

[ACT II.

change of Lear

chany, June

proud kuning

Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st,
Which scarcely keeps thee warm.-But, for true need,-
You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need! a
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.-Storm
heard at a distance.

CORN. Let us withdraw, 't will be a storm.

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.

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

But not one follower.

GON.

So am I purpos'd,—

Where is my lord of Gloster?

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

Re-enter GLOUCESTER.

Whither is he going?

GLO. He calls to horse; but will I know not whither.

CORN. "T is 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 bleak winds
Do sorely ruffle; for many miles about

There's scarce a bush.

• You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need!] Mr. Collier's annotator reads,

b

66

give me but patience," &c.
CORN.
Whither is he going?
GLO. He calls to horse ;] Omitted in the quartos.

Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors:
He is attended with a desperate train;

And what they may incense him to, being apt

To have his ear abus'd, wisdom bids fear.

CORN. Shut up your doors, my lord; 't is a wild night; My Regan counsels well: come out o' the storm.

[Exeunt.

АСТ 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,

Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main,a

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

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?

GENT. None but the fool; who labours to out-jest

His heart-struck injuries.

KENT.

Sir, I do know you,

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

With mutual cunning,-'twixt Albany and Cornwall;
Who have (as who have not, that their great stars
Thron'd and set high?) servants, who seem no less,

(*) First folio, is.

Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main,-] That is, the main land.

That things might change or cease;] The remainder of this speech is omitted in the folio.

e Who have (as who have not, &c.] This and the seven following lines are omitted in the quartos, and the remainder of the speech commencing, "But, true it is," is left out of the folio.

has to tell Cordeliai what has happened.

द

Which are to France the spies and speculations"
Intelligent of our state; what hath been seen,
Either in snuffs and packings of the dukes;
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 scatter'd 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.

No, do not.
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.-Fie on this storm!
I will go seek the king.

GENT. Give me your hand: have you no more to say ?
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.

[Exeunt severally.

SCENE II.-Another part of the Heath. Storm continues.

Enter LEAR and Fool.

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

(*) First folio, that.

Which are to France the spies and speculations
Intelligent of our state ;]

For speculations" we should perhaps read speculators, which formerly meant watchers, overlookers, observers, &c. Johnson proposed speculators, and Mr. Singer found the correction in a marginal note of his copy of the second folio.

Either in snuffs and packings of the dukes;] "Snuffs" mean petty dissensions, tiffs and "packings" signify plots, intrigues, &c.

c

furnishings;-] That is, according to Steevens, samples: but the illustration he cites from the Epistle prefixed to Greene's "Groats-worth of Witte,"-"For to lend the world a furnish of witte, she lays her owne to pawne,"-is not conclusive.

Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd* the cocks!
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,

Vaunt-couriers tot 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 germens spill at once,

That make ingrateful man!

FOOL. O nuncle, court holy-watera in a dry house is better 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.

not

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

FOOL. He that has a house to put's head in, has a good head-piece.
The cod-piece that will house,

Before the head has any,
The head and he shall louse ;-

So beggars marry many.

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.

LEAR. No, I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.

KENT. Who's there?

Enter KENT.

FOOL. Marry, here's grace and a cod-piece; that's a wise man and a fool.

KENT. Alas, sir, are you here? things that love night,

Love not such nights as these; the wrathful skies

Gallow the very wanderers of the dark,

And make them keep their caves: since I was man,

First folio, drown.

(†) First folio, of. (1) First folio omits, and.

court holy-water-] Glozing speeches. Florio translates, Dare l'allodola, “To cog, to foist, to flatter, to give one Court-hollie water," &c.: and Mantellizzare, “To court one with faire words or give court-holy-water."

b That have with two pernicious daughters join'd-] The folio reads,—

"That will with two pernicious daughters join," &c.

Gallow-] A right, terrify.—A common provincialism at this day.

Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder,
Such groans of roaring wind and rain, I never
Remember to have heard: man's nature cânnot carry
The affliction nor the fear.

LEAR.

Let the great gods,
That keep this dreadful pother* o'er our heads,
Find out their enemies now. Tremble, thou wretch,
That hast within thee undivulged crimes,

Unwhipp'd of justice!-Hide thee, thou bloody hand!
Thou perjur'd, and thou simular of virtue
That art incestuous!-caitiff, to pieces shake,
That under covert and convenient seeming
Hast practis'd on man's life!-Close pent-up guilts,
Rive your concealing continents, and cry

These dreadful summoners grace!-I am a man,
More sinn'd against than sinning.

KENT.
Alack, bare-headed!
Gracious my lord, hard by here is a hovel;

Some friendship will it lend you 'gainst the tempest:
Repose you there, while I to this hard house,

(More harder than the stones whereof 't is rais'd;

Which even but now, demanding after you,

Denied me to come in) return, and force

Their scanted courtesy.

LEAR.

My wits begin to turn.

Come on, my boy: how dost, my boy? art cold?
I am cold myself. Where is this straw, my fellow?
The art of our necessities is strange,

And can make vile things precious. Come, your hovel.-
Poor fool and knave, I have one part in my heart
That's sorry yet for thee.

FOOL. [Singing.]

He that has and a little tiny wit,—
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,—
Must make content with his fortunes fit,
Though the rain it raineth every day.

LEAR. True, boy.-Come, bring us to this hovel.

[Exeunt LEAR and KENT.

FOOL. This is a brave night to cool a courtezan.-
I'll speak a prophecy ere I go:

When priests are more in word than matter;
When brewers mar their malt with water;

(*) First folio, pudder.

Thou perjur'd,-] Theobald and Mr. Collier's annotator read, and perhaps rightly,

See note (*), p. 102, Vol. I.

C

"Thou perjure," &c.

b simular-] That is, simulator, counterfeit.

Come, bring us to this hovel.] The remainder of the scene is only found in the folio.