King Lear by William Shakespeare (summer reads txt) 📕

to ride, and weapons to wear;—

But mice and rats, and such small deer,

Have been Tom’s food for seven long year.

Beware my follower.—Peace, Smulkin; peace, thou fiend!

 

Glou.

What, hath your grace no better company?

 

Edg.

The prince of darkness is a gentleman:

Modo he’s call’d, and Mahu.

 

Glou.

Our flesh and blood, my lord, is grown so vile

That it doth hate what gets it.

 

Edg.

Poor Tom’s a-cold.

 

Glou.

Go in with me: my duty cannot suffer

To obey in all your daughters’ hard commands;

Though their injunction be to bar my doors,

And let this tyrannous night take hold upon you,

Yet have I ventur’d to come seek you out

And bring you where both fire and food is ready.

 

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.

Importune him once more to go, my lord;

His wits begin to unsettle.

 

Glou.

Canst 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, sir.—

Noble philosopher, your company.

 

Edg.

Tom’s a-cold.

 

Glou.

In, fellow, there, into the hovel; keep thee warm.

 

Lear.

Come, let’s in all.

 

Kent.

This way, my lord.

 

Lear.

With him;

I will keep still with my philosopher.

 

Kent.

Good my lord, soothe him; let him take the fellow.

 

Glou.

Take him you on.

 

Kent.

Sirrah, come on; go along with us.

 

Lear.

Come, good Athenian.

 

Glou.

No words, no words: hush.

 

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.]

 

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 hath 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

suspicion more fully.—I will persever 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 Farmhouse adjoining the Castle.

 

[Enter Gloster, Lear, Kent, Fool, and Edgar.]

 

Glou.

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.

 

Kent.

All the power of his wits have 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.—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 hissing in upon ‘em,—

 

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.—

[To Edgar.] Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer—

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

 

Edg.

Look, where he stands and glares!—Want’st thou eyes at trial,

madam?

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.

Hoppedance cries in Tom’s belly for two 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 their evidence.

[To Edgar.] Thou, robed man of justice, take thy place;—

[To the Fool.] And thou, his yokefellow of equity,

Bench by his side:—[To Kent.] you are o’ 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.

Purr! the cat is gray.

 

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 on.—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.

[Aside.] My tears begin to take his part so much

They’ll 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 them.—Avaunt, you curs!

Be thy mouth or black or white,

Tooth that poisons if it bite;

Mastiff, greyhound, 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.

 

Lear.

Then let them anatomize Regan; see what breeds about her

heart. Is there any cause in nature that makes these hard

hearts?—[To Edgar.] You, sir, I entertain you for one of my

hundred; only I do not like the fashion of your garments: you’ll

say they are Persian; but let them be changed.

 

Kent.

Now, good my lord, lie here and rest awhile.

 

Lear.

Make no noise, make no noise; draw the curtains:

So, so. We’ll go to supper i’ the morning.

 

Fool.

And I’ll go to bed at noon.

 

[Re-enter Gloster.]

 

Glou.

Come hither, friend: where is the king my master?

 

Kent.

Here, sir; but trouble him not,—his wits are gone.

 

Glou.

Good friend, I pr’ythee, take him in thy arms;

I have o’erheard a plot of death upon him;

There is a litter ready; lay him in’t

And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet

Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master;

If thou shouldst dally half an hour, his life,

With thine, and all that offer to defend him,

Stand in assured loss: take up, take up;

And follow me, that will to some provision

Give thee quick conduct.

 

Kent.

Oppressed nature sleeps:—

This rest might yet have balm’d thy broken sinews,

Which, if convenience will not allow,

Stand in hard cure.—Come, help to bear thy master;

[To the Fool.] Thou must not stay behind.

 

Glou.

Come, come, away!

 

[Exeunt Kent, Gloster, and the Fool, bearing off Lear.]

 

Edg.

When we our betters see bearing our woes,

We scarcely think our miseries our foes.

Who alone suffers suffers most i’ the mind,

Leaving free things and happy shows behind:

But then the mind much sufferance doth o’erskip

When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship.

How light and portable my pain seems now,

When that which makes me bend makes the king bow;

He childed as I fathered!—Tom, away!

Mark the high noises; and thyself bewray,

When false opinion, whose wrong thought defiles thee,

In thy just proof repeals and reconciles thee.

What will hap more to-night, safe ‘scape the king!

Lurk, lurk.

 

[Exit.]

 

Scene VII. A Room in Gloster’s Castle.

 

[Enter Cornwall, Regan, Goneril, Edmund, and Servants.]

 

Corn.

Post speedily to my lord your husband, show him this letter:—

the army of France is landed.—Seek out the traitor Gloster.

 

[Exeunt some of the Servants.]

 

Reg.

Hang him instantly.

 

Gon.

Pluck out his eyes.

 

Corn.

Leave him to my displeasure.—Edmund, keep you our sister

company: the revenges we are bound to take upon your traitorous

father are not fit for your beholding. Advise the duke where you

are going, to a most festinate preparation: we are bound to the

like. Our posts shall be swift and intelligent betwixt us.

Farewell, dear sister:—farewell, my lord of Gloster.

 

[Enter Oswald.]

 

How now! Where’s the king?

 

Osw.

My lord of Gloster hath convey’d him hence:

Some five or six and thirty of his knights,

Hot questrists after him, met him at gate;

Who, with some other of the lord’s dependants,

Are gone with him towards Dover: where they boast

To have well-armed friends.

 

Corn.

Get horses for your mistress.

 

Gon.

Farewell, sweet lord, and sister.

 

Corn.

Edmund, farewell.

 

[Exeunt Goneril, Edmund, and Oswald.]

 

Go seek the traitor Gloster,

Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us.

 

[Exeunt other Servants.]

 

Though well we may not pass upon his life

Without the form of justice, yet our power

Shall do a courtesy to our wrath, which men

May blame, but not control.—Who’s there? the traitor?

 

[Re-enter servants, with Gloster.]

 

Reg.

Ingrateful fox! ‘tis he.

 

Corn.

Bind fast his corky arms.

 

Glou.

What mean your graces?—Good my friends, consider

You are my guests: do me no foul play, friends.

 

Corn.

Bind him, I say.

 

[Servants bind him.]

 

Reg.

Hard, hard.—O filthy traitor!

 

Glou.

Unmerciful lady as you are, I’m none.

 

Corn.

To this chair bind him.—Villain, thou shalt find,—

 

[Regan plucks his beard.]

 

Glou.

By the kind gods, ‘tis most ignobly done

To pluck me by the beard.

 

Reg.

So white, and such a traitor!

 

Glou.

Naughty lady,

These hairs which thou dost ravish from my chin

Will quicken, and accuse thee: I am your host:

With robber’s hands my hospitable favours

You should not ruffle thus. What will you do?

 

Corn.

Come, sir, what letters had you late from France?