Gent. Alack, poor gentleman!

Kent.Of Albany's and Cornwall's powers you heard not?
Gent. 'Tis so; they are afoot.

Kent. Well, sir, I'й bring you to our master Lear,
And leave you to attend him : some dear cause
Will in concealment wrap me up a while;
When I am known aright, you shall not grieve
Lending me this acquaintance. I pray you, go
Along with me.

The same.

SCENE IV.

[Exeunt.

A Tent. Enter CORDELIA, Physician, and Soldiers.
Cor. Alack, 'tis he; why, he was met even now
As mad as the vex'd sea: singing aloud;
Crown'd with rank fumiter, 3 and furrow-weeds,
With harlocks, 4 hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers,
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow

In our sustaining corn.-A century send forth;
Search every acre in the high-grown field,
And bring him to our eye. [Exit an Officer.]—What
can man's wisdom do,

In the restoring his bereaved sense?

He, that helps him, take all my outward worth.
Phy. There is means, madam :

Our foster-nurse of nature is repose,

The which he lacks; that to provoke in him,

Are many simples operative, whose power
Will close the eye of anguish.

Cor. All bless'd secrets,

All you unpublish'd virtues of the earth,

Spring with my tears! be aidant, and remediate,
In the good man's distress!-Seek, seek for him ;
Lest his ungovern'd rage dissolve the life

That wants the means to lead it.6

Enter a Messenger.

Mes. Madam, news;

The British powers are marching hitherward.
Cor. 'Tis known before; our preparation stands

In expectation of them.-O dear father,

[3] Fumitory. By the old herbalists, written fumittery.

HARRIS.

[4] Harlocks must be a typographical error for charlock, the common name

of sinapis aroensis, wild mustard

HARRIS.

[5] Darnel, according to Gerard, is the most hurtful of weeds among corn.

STEEVENS.

[6] The reason which should guide it.

JOHNSON.

It is thy business that I go about ;
Therefore great France

My mourning, and important tears, hath pitied.?
No blown ambition doth our arms incite,

But love, dear love, and our ag'd father's right:
Soon may I hear, and see him!

SCENE V.

[Exeunt.

A Room in GLOSTER's Castle. Enter REGAN and Steward.

Reg. But are my brother's powers set forth?

Stew. Ay, madam.

Reg. Himself

In person there ?

Stew. Madam, with much ado:

Your sister is the better soldier.

Reg. Lord Edmund spake not with your lord at home? Stew. No, madam.

Reg. What might import my sister's letter to him?
Stew. I know not, lady.

Reg. 'Faith, he is posted hence on serious matter.
It was great ignorance, Gloster's eyes being out,
To let him live; where he arrives, he moves

All hearts against us: Edmund, I think, is gone,
In pity of his misery, to despatch

His nighted life; moreover, to descry

The strength o'the enemy.

Stew. I must needs after him, madam, with my letter. Reg. Our troops set forth to-morrow; stay with us; The ways are dangerous.

Stew. I may not, madam ;

My lady charg'd my duty in this business.

Reg.Why should she write to Edmund? Might not you Transport her purposes by word? Belike,

Something-I know not what

Let me unseal the letter.

Stew. Madam, I had rather

I'll love thee much,

Reg. I know, your lady does not love her husband; I am sure of that: and, at her late being here,

1

She gave strange ciliads, and most speaking looks
To noble Edmund: I know, you are of her bosom.

[7] Important, as in other places in this author, for importunate. JOHNS. [8] No inflated, no swelling pride. JOHNSON.

[9] His life made dark as night by the extinction of his eyes. STEEVENS. [1] Oeillade, Fr. A cast, or significant glance of the eye.. STEEVENS.

Stew. I, madam ?

Reg. I speak in understanding; you are, I know it : Therefore, I do advise you, take this note :2

My lord is dead; Edmund and I have talk'd;
And more convenient is he for my hand,

Than for your lady's :-You may gather more. 3

If you do find him, pray you, give him this ;

And when your mistress hears thus much from you,
I pray, desire her call her wisdom to her.

So, fare you well.

If you do chance to hear of that blind traitor,

Preferment falls on him that cuts him off.

Stew. 'Would I could meet him, madam! I would show

What party I do follow.

Reg. Fare thee well.

SCENE VI.

[Exeunt.

The Country near Dover. Enter GLOSTER, and EDGAR, dressed

like a Peasant.

Glo. When shall we come to the top of that same hill? Edg. You do climb up it now: look, how we labour. Glo. Methinks, the ground is even.

Edg. Horrible steep :

Hark, do you hear the sea?

Glo. No, truly.

Edg. Why, then your other senses grow imperfect By your eyes' anguish.

Glo. So it may be, indeed :

Methinks, thy voice is alter'd ;4 and thou speak'st
In better phrase, and matter, than thou didst.

Edg. You are much deceiv'd; in nothing am I chang'd, But in my garments.

Glo. Methinks, you are better spoken.

Edg. Come on, sir; here's the place :-stand still.How fearful

And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low!

The crows, and choughs, that wing the midway air,
Show scarce so gross as beetles: Half way down
Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!
Methinks, he seems no bigger than his head :
The fishermen, that walk upon the beach,

JOHNSON.

[2] Note means in this place not a letter, but a remark. [3] You may infer more than I have directly told you.

JOHNSON.

[4] Edgar alters his voice in order to pass afterwards for a malignant

spirit.

JOHNSON.

Appear like mice; and yon' tall anchoring bark,
Diminish'd to her cock; her cock, a buoy

Almost too small for sight: The murmuring surge,
That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes,
Cannot be heard so high :—I'll look no more;
Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight
Topple down headlong. 6

Glo. Set me where you stand.

Edg. Give me your hand: You are now within a foot Of the extreme verge for all beneath the moon Would I not leap upright.

Glo. Let go my hand.

Here, friend, is another purse; in it, a jewel

Well worth a poor man's taking: Fairies, and gods,
Prosper it with thee! Go thou further off;

Bid me farewell, and let me hear thee going.
Edg. Now fare you well, good sir.
Glo. With all my heart.

[Seems to go.

Edg. Why I do trifle thus with his despair, Is done to cure it.

Glo. O, you mighty gods!

This world do I renounce; and, in your sights,
Shake patiently my great affliction off:

If I could bear it longer, and not fall

To quarrel with your great opposeless wills,

My snuff, and loathed part of nature, should

Burn itself out. If Edgar live, O, bless him !—

Now, fellow, fare thee well. [He leaps, and falls along. Edg. Gone, sir? farewell.

And yet I know not how conceit may rob

The treasury of life, when life itself

Yields to the theft. Had he been where he thought,
By this, had thought been past.—Alive, or dead?
Ho, you sir! friend !-Hear you, sir ?—speak!

[5] Her cock-her cock-boat. JOHNSON.

[6] This description has has been much admired since the time of Addison, who has remarked, with a poor attempt at pleasantry, that "he who can "read it without being giddy, has a very good head, or a very bad one." The description is certainly not mean, but I am far from thinking it wrought to the utmost excellence of poetry. He that looks from a precipice, finds himself assailed by one great and dreadful image of irresistible destruction. But this overwhelming idea is dissipated and enfeebled from the instant that the mind can restore itself to the observation of particulars, and diffuse its attention to distinct objects. The enumeration of the choughs and crows, the samphire man, and the fishers, counteracts the great effect of the pros. pect, as it peoples the desert of immediate vacuity, and stops the mind in the rapidity of its descent through emptiness and horror. JOHNSON. [7] When life is willing to be destroyed. JOHNSON.

8.. VOL. VIII. ·

Thus might he pass, indeed :-Yet he revives :
What are you, sir?

Glo. Away, and let me die.

Ed. Hadst thou been aught but gossomer, feathers, air, So many fathom down precipitating,

Thou hadst shiver'd like an egg: but thou dost breathe;
Hast heavy substance; bleed'st not; speak'st; art sound.
Ten masts at each make not the altitude,
Which thou hast perpendicularly fell;
Thy life's a miracle: Speak yet again.
Glo. But have I fallen, or no?

Edg. From the dread summit of this chalky bourn:" Look up a-height;-the shrill-gorg'd lark so far Cannot be seen or heard: do but look up.

Glo. Alack, I have no eyes.

Is wretchedness depriv'd that benefit,

To end itself by death? 'Twas yet some comfort,
When misery could beguile the tyrant's rage,
And frustrate his proud will.

Edg. Give me your arm:

Up-So;-How is't? Feel you your legs? You stand. Glo. Too well, too well.

Edg. This is above all strangeness.

Upon the crown o'the cliff, what thing was that
Which parted from you?

Glo. A poor unfortunate beggar.

Edg. As I stood here below, methought, his eyes Were two full moons; he had a thousand noses, Horns whelk'd, and wav'd like the enridged sea; It was some fiend: Therefore, thou happy father, Think that the clearest gods, 3 who make them honours Of men's impossibilities, have preserv'd thee.

Glo. I do remember now: henceforth I'll bear Affliction, till it do cry out itself,

Enough, enough, and, die. That thing you speak of, I took it for a man ; often 'twould say,

The fiend, the fiend: he led me to that place.

Edg. Bear free and patient thoughts.4-But who comes here?

[8]. Thus he might die in reality. We still use the word passing bell. JOH. 191 The substance called gossamer is formed of the collected webs of dying spiders, and during calm weather in autumn sometimes falls in amazing quantities. See Romeo and Juliet, p. 40. HOLT WHITE.

[1] This chalky boundary. STEEVENS.

[2] Varied with protuberances. STEEVENS.

[3] The purest; the most free from evil. JOHNSON. So in Timon of Athens: "Roots, you clear gods." MALONE.

[4] To be melancholy is to have the mind chained down to one painful