My royal father to relieve, or die.

[exeunt Cordelia and Aranthe

Edm. In this disguise, we'll instantly

Go seek the king!- -ha! ha! a lucky change:

That virtue, which I fear'd would be my hind'rance,

Has proved the bawd to my design.

I'll bribe two ruffians shall at distance follow,

And seize them in some desert place; and there
Whilst one retains her, t'other shall return

T'inform me where she's lodged: I'll be disguised too,
Whilst they are poaching for me, I'll to the duke
With these despatches: then to the field,
Where, like the vigorous Jove, I will enjoy
This Semele in a storm; twill deaf her cries,
Like drums in battle, lest her groans should pierce
My pitying ear, and make the am'rous fight less fierce.
[exit

SCENE III-another part of the heath-rain-thunder

-lightning.

enter king LEAR and KENT.

Kent. Here is the place, my lord; good my lord,

enter:

The tyranny of this open night's too rough

For nature to endure.

Lear. Let me alone.

Kent. Good my lord, enter.

Lear. Wilt break my heart?

Kent. I'd rather break my own.

Lear. Thou think'st tis much that this contentious storm

Invades us to the skin; so tis to thee;
But where the greater malady is fix'd,
The lesser is scarce felt: the tempest in my mind
Does from my senses take all feeling else,
Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude!
Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand
For lifting food to't?- -but I'll punish home!

D

No, I will weep no more. (rain-thunder-lightning)
In such a night
To shut me out!

-pour on, I will endure

In such a night as this! o Regan, Goneril!

Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all-
Oh, that way madness lies! let me shun that;
No more of that.

Kent. See, my lord, here's the entrance.
Lear. Well, I'll go in,

And pass it all: I'll pray, and then I'll sleep.

(thunder)

Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are,
That 'bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides
Sustain this shock? your raggedness defend you
From seasons such as these ? oh, I have ta'en
Too little care of this. Take physic, pomp;
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,
That thou may'st cast the superflux to them,
And show the heavens more just!

Edg. (in the hovel) Five fathom and a half.-Poor
Tom!

Kent. What art thou that dost grumble there i' th’
straw ?

Come forth,

enter EDGAR, disguised.

Edg. Away! the foul fiend follows me through the sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind- -mum, go to thy bed and warm thee-ha! what do I see? By all my griefs, the poor old king bare headed, And drench'd in this foul storm! professing syrens, Are all your protestations come to this?

Lear. Tell me, fellow, didst thou give all to thy two daughters ?

Edg. Who gives any thing to poor Tom, whom the foul fiend has led through fire and through flame, through bushes and bogs? that has laid knives under his pillow, and halters in his pew; that has made him proud of heart to ride on a bay trotting horse over four

inched bridges, to course his own shadow for a traitor? -bless thy five wits! Tom's a cold. Bless thee from whirlwinds, star blasting, and taking! do poor Tom some charity, whom the foul fiend vexes. Sa, sa; there I could have him now, and there, and there again.

Lear. What, have his daughters brought him to > this pass?

Could'st thou save nothing? didst thou give them all? Kent. He has no daughter, sir.

Lear. Death! traitor, nothing could have subdu'd

nature

To such a lowness, but his unkind daughters.

Edg. Pillicock sat upon pillicock hill; hallo, hallo, hallo.

Lear. Is it the fashion that discarded fathers Should have such little mercy on their flesh ? Judicious punishment! twas this flesh begot Those pelican daughters.

Edg. Take heed of the foul fiend; obey thy parents; keep thy word justly; swear not; commit not. with man's sworn spouse; set not thy sweet heart on proud array. (wind and rain) Tom's a cold.

Lear. What hast thou been?

Edg. A serving-man, proud of heart; that curled my hair; used perfume and washes; that served the lust of my mistresses heart, and did the act of darkness with her; swore as many oaths as I spoke words; and broke them all in the sweet face of heaven: let not the paint, nor the patch, nor the rustling of silks, betray thy poor heart to woman; keep thy foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen from creditors' books and defy the foul fiend. (wind and rain) Still through the hawthorn blows the cold wind.- Ha, no nonny, dolphin, my boy, my boy, sessa; let him trot by.

Lear. Death! thou wert better in thy grave, than thus to answer with thy uncovered body this extremity of the sky Yet consider him well, and man's no more than this; thou art indebted to the worm for no silk,

to the beast for no hide, to the cat for no perfume.-
Ha here's too of us are sophisticated: thou art the
thing itself; unaccommodated man is no more than
such a poor, bare, forked, animal as thou art.
Off, off, ye vain disguises, empty lending.

I'll be my original self; quick, quick, uncase me.
Kent. Defend his wits, good heaven!

Lear. One point I had forgot; what is your name! Edg. Poor Tom, that eats the swimming frog, the wall-newt and the water-newt; that in the fury of his heart, when the foul fiend rages, eats cow dung for sallads, swallows the old rat and the ditch dog; that drinks the green mantle off the standing pool; that's whipt from tything to tything; that has three suits tą his back, six shirts to his body;

Horse to ride, and weapon to wear;

But rats and mice, and such small deer,
Have been Tom's food for seven long year.

Beware my follower; peace, Smolkid, peace, thoá foul fiend!

Lear. One word more, but be sure true counsel; tell me, is a madman a gentleman, or a yeoman?

Kent. I fear'd twou'd come to this; his wits are gone.

Edg. Frateretto calls me, and tells me, Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend.

Lear. Right, ha! ha!-was it not pleasant to have a thousand with red hot spits come hissing in upon them?

Edg. My tears begin to take his part so much,

They mar my counterfeiting.

Lear. The little dogs and all, Tray, Blanch, and Sweetheart, see, they bark at me.

Edg. Tom will throw his head at 'em: 'vaunt, ye curs!

Be thy mouth or black, or white,
Tooth that poisons, if it bite;

P

Mastiff, greyhound, mungrel grim,
Hound, or spaniel, brache, or lym,
Bob-tail tike, or trundle tail;
Tom will make 'em weep and wail
For with throwing thus my head,

· Dogs leap the haich, and all are fled. See, see,

see.

Come, march to wakes, and fairs, and market towns. -Poor Tom, thy horn is dry.

Lear. You, sir, I entertain you for one of my hundred; only I do not like the fashion of your garments; you'll say they're persian; but no matter, let 'em be changed.

Edg. This is the foul Flibbertigibbet; he begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock; he gives the web, and the pin; knits the elflocks, squints the eye, and makes the hare lip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the poor creatures of the earth.

enter GLOSTER.

Saint Withold footed thrice the wold,
He met the nightmare and her nine fold,
Twas there he did appoint her;
He bid her alight, and her troth plight,
And aroint the witch, droint her.

Glost. What, has your grace no better company? Edg. The prince of darkness is a gentleman; Modo he is called, and Mahu.

Glost. Go with me, sir; hard by I have a tenant. My duty cannot suffer me to obey in all your daughters' hard commands: though their injunctions be to bar my doors, and let this tyrannous night take hold upon you, yet I have ventured to come seek you out, and bring you where both fire and food are ready.

Kent. Good my lord, take this offer.

Lear. First, let me talk with this philosopher,
Say, Stagyrite, what is the cause of thunder?
Glost. Beseech you, sir, go with me.