Act 3 — Scene VI. A chamber in a farmhouse adjoining the castle.
Reading edition
Enter Gloucester, Lear, Kent, Fool, and Edgar.[3817]
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[3818] impatience: the gods reward your kindness! 5
[Exit Gloucester.[3819]
Edg. Frateretto calls me, and tells me Nero is an[3820] angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent, and beware[3821] the foul fiend. Fool. Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a[3822] gentleman or a yeoman.[3823] 10 Lear. A king, a king! Fool. No, he's a yeoman that has a gentleman to his[3824] son, for he's a mad yeoman that sees his son a gentleman[3824][3825] before him.[3824] Lear. To have a thousand with red burning spits[3824][3826] 15 Come hissing in upon 'em,—[3826][3827] Edg. The foul fiend bites my back.[3828] Fool. He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf,[3828][3829] a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath.[3828][3830] Lear. It shall be done; I will arraign them straight.[3828][3831] 20 [To Edgar] Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer;[3828][3832] [To the Fool] Thou, sapient sir, sit here. Now, you she foxes![3828][3833] Edg. Look, where he stands and glares! Wantest[3828][3834][3835][3836][3837] thou eyes at trial, madam?[3828][3834][3835][3837][3838] Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me.[3828][3834][3835][3839] 25 Fool. Her boat hath a leak,[3828][3834][3840][3841] And she must not speak[3828][3834][3841] Why she dares not come over to thee.[3828][3834] Edg. The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of[3828] a nightingale. Hopdance cries in Tom's belly for two white[3828] 30 herring. Croak not, black angel; I have no food for thee.[3828][3842] Kent. How do you, sir? Stand you not so amazed:[3828][3843] Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions?[3828][3843][3844] Lear. I'll see their trial first. Bring in the evidence.[3828][3845][3846] [To Edgar] Thou robed man of justice take thy place;[3828][3845][3847] 35 [To the Fool] And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity,[3828][3845][3848] Bench by his side. [To Kent] You are o' the commission;[3828][3845][3849] Sit you too.[3828][3845] Edg. Let us deal justly.[3828][3845][3850] Sleepest or wakest thou, jolly shepherd?[3828][3845][3850][3851][3852] 40 Thy sheep be in the corn;[3828][3845][3850][3852] And for one blast of thy minikin mouth,[3828][3845][3850][3852] Thy sheep shall take no harm.[3828][3845][3850][3852] Pur! the cat is gray.[3828][3845][3850] Lear. Arraign her first; 'tis Goneril. I here take my[3828][3845][3850][3853] 45 oath before this honourable assembly, she kicked the poor[3828][3845][3853][3854] king her father.[3828][3845][3853] Fool. Come hither, mistress. Is your name Goneril?[3828] Lear. She cannot deny it.[3828][3855] Fool. Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool.[3828][3856] 50 Lear. And here's another, whose warp'd looks proclaim[3828][3857] What store her heart is made on. Stop her there![3828][3857][3858] Arms, arms, sword, fire! Corruption in the place![3828][3859] False justicer, why hast thou let her 'scape?[3828] Edg. Bless thy five wits! 55 Kent. O pity! Sir, where is the patience now, That you so oft have boasted to retain?[3860] Edg. [Aside] My tears begin to take his part so much,[3861] They'll mar my counterfeiting.[3862] Lear. The little dogs and all, 60 Tray, Blanch, and Sweet-heart, see, they bark at me. Edg. Tom will throw his head at them. Avaunt, you[3863] curs![3863] Be thy mouth or black or white,[3863] Tooth that poisons if it bite;[3863] 65 Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim,[3863][3864] Hound or spaniel, brach or lym,[3863][3864][3865] Or bobtail tike or trundle-tail,[3863][3866] Tom will make them weep and wail:[3863][3867] For, with throwing thus my head,[3863] 70 Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled.[3863][3868] Do de, de, de. Sessa! Come, march to wakes and fairs[3869][3870] and market-towns. Poor Tom, thy horn is dry.[3869][3871] Lear. Then let them anatomize Regan; see what[3872][3873] breeds about her heart. Is there any cause in nature that[3872][3874] 75 makes these hard hearts? [To Edgar] You, sir, I entertain[3872][3875] for one of my hundred; only I do not like the fashion[3872][3876] of your garments. You will say they are Persian attire;[3872][3877] but let them be changed.[3872] Kent. Now, good my lord, lie here and rest awhile.[3878] 80 Lear. Make no noise, make no noise; draw the curtains:[3879] so, so, so. We'll go to supper i' the morning. So,[3879][3880] so, so. Fool. And I'll go to bed at noon.
Re-enter Gloucester.[3881]
Glou. Come hither, friend: where is the king my master?[3882] 85 Kent. Here, sir; but trouble him not: his wits are gone. Glou. Good friend, I prithee, take him in thy arms; I have o'erheard a plot of death upon him: There is a litter ready; lay him in't,[3883][3884] And drive toward Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet[3883][3885] 90 Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master:[3883] If thou shouldst dally half an hour, his life,[3883][3886] With thine and all that offer to defend him,[3883] Stand in assured loss. Take up, take up,[3883][3887] And follow me, that will to some provision[3883] 95 Give thee quick conduct. Kent. Oppressed nature sleeps.[3888][3889] This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken sinews,[3888][3890] Which, if convenience will not allow,[3888][3891][3892] Stand in hard cure. [To the Fool] Come, help to bear thy master;[3888][3891][3893] Thou must not stay behind.[3888][3891] Glou. Come, come, away. 100
[Exeunt all but Edgar.[3894]
Edg. When we our betters see bearing our woes,[3895][3896] We scarcely think our miseries our foes.[3895][3896] Who alone suffers suffers most i' the mind,[3895][3897] Leaving free things and happy shows behind:[3895] But then the mind much sufferance doth o'erskip,[3895][3898] 105 When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship.[3895] How light and portable my pain seems now,[3895] When that which makes me bend makes the king bow,[3895] He childed as I father'd! Tom, away![3895][3899] Mark the high noises, and thyself bewray[3895][3900] 110 When false opinion, whose wrong thought defiles thee,[3895][3901] In thy just proof repeals and reconciles thee.[3895] What will hap more to-night, safe 'scape the king![3895][3902] Lurk, lurk. [Exit.[3895][3903]