Act 3 — Scene IV. The heath. Before a hovel.[3667]
Reading edition
Scene IV. The heath. Before a hovel.[3667]
Enter Lear, Kent, and Fool.
Kent. Here is the place, my lord; good my lord, enter:[3668] The tyranny of the open night's too rough[3668][3669] For nature to endure. [Storm still.[3668][3670] Lear. Let me alone.[3671] Kent. Good my lord, enter here.[3671] Lear. Wilt break my heart?[3672] Kent. I had rather break mine own. Good my lord, enter.[3673] 5 Lear. Thou think'st 'tis much that this contentious storm[3674] Invades us to the skin: so 'tis to thee;[3675] But where the greater malady is fix'd The lesser is scarce felt. Thou'ldst shun a bear,[3676] But if thy flight lay toward the raging sea[3677] 10 Thou'ldst meet the bear i' the mouth. When the mind's free[3678] The body's delicate: the tempest in my mind[3679] Doth from my senses take all feeling else Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude![3680] Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand[3681] 15 For lifting food to't? But I will punish home.[3682] No, I will weep no more. In such a night[3683] To shut me out! Pour on; I will endure.[3683] In such a night as this! O Regan, Goneril! Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave you all,—[3684] 20 O, that way madness lies; let me shun that; No more of that. Kent. Good my lord, enter here.[3685] Lear. Prithee, go in thyself; seek thine own ease:[3686] This tempest will not give me leave to ponder On things would hurt me more. But I'll go in. 25 [To the Fool] In, boy; go first. You houseless poverty,—[3687][3688][3689] Nay, get thee in. I'll pray, and then I'll sleep.
Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,[3691] How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, 30 Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend you[3692] From seasons such as these? O, I have ta'en Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp; Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel, That thou mayst shake the superflux to them 35 And show the heavens more just.[3693] Edg. [Within] Fathom and half, fathom and half![3694][3695] Poor Tom! [The Fool runs out from the hovel.[3695][3696] Fool. Come not in here, nuncle, here's a spirit. Help[3697] me, help me![3697] 40 Kent. Give me thy hand. Who's there?[3698] Fool. A spirit, a spirit: he says his name's poor Tom.[3699] Kent. What art thou that dost grumble there i' the straw?[3700][3701] Come forth.[3700]
Enter Edgar disguised as a madman.[3702]
Edg. Away! the foul fiend follows me! 'Through the[3703][3704][3705][3706] 45 sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind.' Hum! go to thy[3704][3706][3707] cold bed and warm thee.[3704][3708] Lear. Hast thou given all to thy two daughters? and[3709][3710] art thou come to this?[3709] Edg. Who gives any thing to poor Tom? whom the 50 foul fiend hath led through fire and through flame, through[3711] ford and whirlpool, o'er bog and quagmire; that hath laid[3712] knives under his pillow and halters in his pew; set ratsbane[3713] by his porridge; made him proud of heart, to ride on[3714] a bay trotting-horse over four-inched bridges, to course his[3715] 55 own shadow for a traitor. Bless thy five wits! Tom's[3716] a-cold. O, do de, do de, do de. Bless thee from whirlwinds,[3716][3717] star-blasting, and taking! Do poor Tom some[3718] charity, whom the foul fiend vexes. There could I have him now, and there, and there again, and there. [Storm still.[3719]60 Lear. What, have his daughters brought him to this pass?[3720] Couldst thou save nothing? Didst thou give them all?[3721] Fool. Nay, he reserved a blanket, else we had been all shamed.[3722] Lear. Now, all the plagues that in the pendulous air 65 Hang fated o'er men's faults light on thy daughters![3723] Kent. He hath no daughters, sir. Lear. Death, traitor! nothing could have subdued nature To such a lowness but his unkind daughters. Is it the fashion that discarded fathers 70 Should have thus little mercy on their flesh? Judicious punishment! 'twas this flesh begot[3724] Those pelican daughters.[3724][3725] Edg. Pillicock sat on Pillicock-hill:[3726][3727] Halloo, halloo, loo, loo![3726][3728] 75 Fool. This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen. Edg. Take heed o' the foul fiend: obey thy parents;[3729] keep thy word justly; swear not; commit not with man's[3730] sworn spouse; set not thy sweet heart on proud array.[3731] 80 Tom's a-cold. Lear. What hast thou been? Edg. A serving-man, proud in heart and mind; that curled my hair; wore gloves in my cap; served the lust of[3732] my mistress' heart and did the act of darkness with her;[3733] 85 swore as many oaths as I spake words and broke them in the sweet face of heaven: one that slept in the contriving of[3734] lust and waked to do it: wine loved I deeply, dice dearly,[3735] and in woman out-paramoured the Turk: false of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand; hog in sloth, fox in stealth,[3736] 90 wolf in greediness, dog in madness, lion in prey. Let not the creaking of shoes nor the rustling of silks betray thy[3737] poor heart to woman: keep thy foot out of brothels, thy[3738] hand out of plackets, thy pen from lenders' books, and defy[3739] the foul fiend. 95 'Still through the hawthorn blows the cold wind.'[3740] Says suum, mun, ha, no, nonny.[3741] Dolphin my boy, my boy, sessa! let him trot by.
[Storm still.[3742]
Lear. Why, thou wert better in thy grave than to answer[3743][3744] with thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies.[3744] 100 Is man no more than this? Consider him well. Thou owest[3744][3745] the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the[3744] cat no perfume. Ha! here's three on's are sophisticated.[3744][3746] Thou art the thing itself: unaccommodated man is no more[3744] but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art. Off, off,[3744] 105 you lendings! come, unbutton here.[3744]
[Tearing off his clothes.[3747]
Fool. Prithee, nuncle, be contented; 'tis a naughty night[3748] to swim in. Now a little fire in a wild field were like an[3749] old lecher's heart, a small spark, all the rest on's body cold.[3750] Look, here comes a walking fire. 110
Enter Gloucester, with a torch.[3751]
Edg. This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet: he begins at[3752] curfew and walks till the first cock; he gives the web and[3753][3754] the pin, squints the eye and makes the hare-lip; mildews[3754][3755] the white wheat and hurts the poor creature of earth.[3756] Saint Withold footed thrice the 'old;[3757][3758] 115 He met the night-mare and her nine-fold;[3757][3759] Bid her alight,[3757][3760] And her troth plight,[3757][3761] And aroint thee, witch, aroint thee![3757][3762] Kent. How fares your grace? 120 Lear. What's he?[3763] Kent. Who's there? What is't you seek?[3764] Glou. What are you there? Your names? Edg. Poor Tom, that eats the swimming frog, the toad, the tadpole, the wall-newt and the water; that in the fury[3765] 125 of his heart, when the foul fiend rages, eats cow-dung for sallets; swallows the old rat and the ditch-dog; drinks the[3766] green mantle of the standing pool; who is whipped from tithing to tithing, and stock-punished, and imprisoned;[3767] who hath had three suits to his back, six shirts to his body,[3768] 130 horse to ride and weapon to wear;[3769] But mice and rats and such small deer[3770] Have been Tom's food for seven long year.[3771] Beware my follower. Peace, Smulkin; peace, thou fiend![3772] Glou. What, hath your grace no better company? 135 Edg. The prince of darkness is a gentleman: Modo[3773][3774] he's call'd, and Mahu.[3773][3775] Glou. Our flesh and blood is grown so vile, my lord,[3776][3777] That it doth hate what gets it.[3776][3778] Edg. Poor Tom's a-cold.[3779][3780] 140 Glou. Go in with me: my duty cannot suffer[3781] To obey in all your daughters' hard commands:[3781] Though their injunction be to bar my doors[3781][3782] And let this tyrannous night take hold upon you,[3781] Yet have I ventured to come seek you out[3781][3783] 145 And bring you where both fire and food is ready.[3781][3784] 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.[3785] Lear. I'll talk a word with this same learned Theban.[3786][3787] 150 What is your study?[3786] Edg. How to prevent the fiend and to kill vermin. Lear. Let me ask you one word in private.[3788] Kent. Importune him once more to go, my lord;[3789][3790] His wits begin to unsettle.[3789] Glou. Canst thou blame him? [Storm still.[3791]155 His daughters seek his death: ah, that good Kent![3792] He said it would be thus, poor banish'd man! Thou say'st the king grows mad; I'll tell thee, friend,[3793] I am almost mad myself: I had a son,[3794] Now outlaw'd from my blood; he sought my life,[3795] 160 But lately, very late: I loved him, friend, No father his son dearer: truth to tell thee,[3796] The grief hath crazed my wits. What a night's this![3797] I do beseech your grace,—[3798] Lear. O, cry you mercy, sir.[3799] Noble philosopher, your company.[3799] 165 Edg. Tom's a-cold.[3780] Glou. In, fellow, there, into the hovel: keep thee warm.[3800] Lear. Come, let's in all. Kent. This way, my lord. Lear. With him;[3801] I will keep still with my philosopher.[3801] Kent. Good my lord, soothe him; let him take the fellow.[3802] 170 Glou. Take him you on. Kent. Sirrah, come on; go along with us.[3803] Lear. Come, good Athenian.[3804] Glou. No words, no words: hush.[3804] Edg. Child Rowland to the dark tower came:[3805] 175 His word was still 'Fie, foh, and fum, I smell the blood of a British man.' [Exeunt.[3806]