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Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer;
Thou, sapient Sir, sit here. Now, you she foxes!
Edg. Look, where he stands and glares!
Wantest thou eyes at trial, Madam?

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[TO EDGAR.

Edg. The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a nightingale. Hopdance 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.

Thou robed man of justice, take thy place;

And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity.

Bring in the evidence.

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[TO EDGAR.

[To the Fool.

Bench by his side.

You are o' the commission,

[TO KENT.

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; 't is 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.

Arms, arms, sword, fire!

Stop her there!
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 Sweet-heart, see, they bark at me.
Edg. Tom will throw his head at them.

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.

Avaunt, you

Do, de, de, de. See, see! 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? You, Sir, [To EDGAR.] 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. 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 little ready; lay him in 't,

And drive toward Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet
Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master:
If thou should'st 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.

Oppress'd nature sleeps:

This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken senses,
Which, if convenience will not allow,

61

Stand in hard cure. Come, help to bear thy master;
Thou must not stay behind.

[To the Fool.

Glo.

Come, come, away.

[Exeunt KENT, GLOSTER, and the Fool, bearing off

the King.

Edg. When we our betters see bearing our woes,

We scarcelly 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 father'd! - 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.

SCENE VII.

A Room in GLOSTER'S Castle.

[Exit.

Enter CORNWALL, Regan, GonerIL, EDMUND, and Servants. Corn. Post speedily to my lord your husband; show him this

letter:

Gloster.

the army of France is landed.

Reg. Hang him instantly,

Gon. Pluck out his eyes.

Seek out the traitor

[Exeunt some of the Servants.

Corn. Leave him to my displeasure. — Edmund, keep you

VI.

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.

[Exeunt GONERIL, EDMUND, and OSWALD.

Corn. Edmund, farewell. — 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! 't is he.

Corn. Bind fast his corky arms.

Glo. What mean your graces? — Good my friends, consider You are my guests: do me no foul play, friends.

Corn. Bind him, I say.

Hard, hard.

-

[Servants bind him.

O filthy traitor!

Reg.
Glo. Unmerciful lady as you are, I am none.
Corn. To this chair bind him.

- Villain, thou shalt find
[REGAN plucks his Beard.

Glo. By the kind gods, 't is most ignobly done

To pluck me by the beard.

Reg. So white, and such a traitor!

Naughty lady,

Glo.

These hairs, which thou dost ravish from my chin,
Will quicken, and accuse thee. I am your host:
With robbers' hands my hospitable favours
You should not ruffle thus. What will you do?

Corn. Come, Sir, what letters had you late from France?
Reg. Be simple-answer'd, for we know the truth.

Corn. And what confederacy have you with the traitors

Late footed in the kingdom?

To whose hands

Reg.
Have you sent the lunatic king? Speak.

Glo. I have a letter guessingly set down,
Which came from one that 's of a neutral heart,
And not from one oppos'd.

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Corn.

Wherefore to Dover? Let him answer that.

Glo. I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the course. Reg. Wherefore to Dover?

Glo. Because I would not see thy cruel nails

Pluck out his poor old eyes; nor thy fierce sister
In his anointed flesh rash boarish fangs.

The sea, with such a storm as his bare head

In hell-black night endured, would have buoy'd up,
And quench'd the stelled fires;

Yet, poor old heart, he holp the heavens to rain.
If wolves had at thy gate howl'd that stern time,
Thou should'st have said,

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Good porter, turn the key,"

All cruels else subscrib'd: but I shall see
The winged vengeance overtake such children.

Corn. See it shalt thou never.
Upon these eyes of thine I 'll set my foot.

Fellows, hold the chair.

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