KING LEAR 4.6

Fields near Dover.

[Enter GLOUCESTER, and EDGAR dressed like a peasant]

GLOUCESTER When shall we come to the top of that same hill?

EDGAR You do climb up it now: look, how we labour.

GLOUCESTER Methinks the ground is even.

EDGAR Horrible steep.

Hark, do you hear the sea? 5

GLOUCESTER No, truly.

EDGAR Why, then, your other senses grow imperfect

By your eyes' anguish.

GLOUCESTER So may it be, indeed:

Methinks thy voice is alter'd; and thou speak'st 10

In better phrase and matter than thou didst.

EDGAR You're much deceived: in nothing am I changed

But in my garments.

GLOUCESTER Methinks you're better spoken.

EDGAR Come on, sir; here's the place: stand still. How fearful 15

And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low!

The crows and choughs that wing the midway air

Show scarce so gross as beetles: half way down

Hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade!

Methinks he seems no bigger than his head: 20

The fishermen, that walk upon the beach,

Appear like mice; and yond tall anchoring bark,

Diminish'd to her cock; her cock, a buoy

Almost too small for sight: the murmuring surge,

That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes, 25

Cannot be heard so high. I'll look no more;

Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight

Topple down headlong.

GLOUCESTER Set me where you stand.

EDGAR Give me your hand: you are now within a foot 30

Of the extreme verge: for all beneath the moon

Would I not leap upright.

GLOUCESTER Let go my hand.

Here, friend, 's another purse; in it a jewel

Well worth a poor man's taking: fairies and gods 35

Prosper it with thee! Go thou farther off;

Bid me farewell, and let me hear thee going.

EDGAR Now fare you well, good sir.

GLOUCESTER With all my heart.

EDGAR Why I do trifle thus with his despair 40

Is done to cure it.

GLOUCESTER [Kneeling] O you mighty gods!

This world I do renounce, and, in your sights,

Shake patiently my great affliction off:

If I could bear it longer, and not fall 45

To quarrel with your great opposeless wills,

My snuff and loathed part of nature should

Burn itself out. If Edgar live, O, bless him!

Now, fellow, fare thee well.

[He falls forward]

EDGAR Gone, sir: farewell. 50

And yet I know not how conceit may rob

The treasury of life, when life itself

Yields to the theft: had he been where he thought,

By this, had thought been past. Alive or dead?

Ho, you sir! friend! Hear you, sir! speak! 55

Thus might he pass indeed: yet he revives.

What are you, sir?

GLOUCESTER Away, and let me die.

EDGAR Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air,

So many fathom down precipitating,

Thou'dst shiver'd like an egg: but thou dost breathe; 60

Hast heavy substance; bleed'st not; speak'st; art sound.

Ten masts at each make not the altitude

Which thou hast perpendicularly fell:

Thy life's a miracle. Speak yet again.

GLOUCESTER But have I fall'n, or no? 65

EDGAR From the dread summit of this chalky bourn.

Look up a-height; the shrill-gorged lark so far

Cannot be seen or heard: do but look up.

GLOUCESTER Alack, I have no eyes.

Is wretchedness deprived that benefit, 70

To end itself by death? 'Twas yet some comfort,

When misery could beguile the tyrant's rage,

And frustrate his proud will.

EDGAR Give me your arm:

Up: so. How is 't? Feel you your legs? You stand. 75

GLOUCESTER Too well, too well.

EDGAR This is above all strangeness.

Upon the crown o' the cliff, what thing was that

Which parted from you?

GLOUCESTER A poor unfortunate beggar. 80

EDGAR As I stood here below, methought his eyes

Were two full moons; he had a thousand noses,

Horns whelk'd and waved like the enridged sea:

It was some fiend; therefore, thou happy father,

Think that the clearest gods, who make them honours 85

Of men's impossibilities, have preserved thee.

GLOUCESTER I do remember now: henceforth I'll bear

Affliction till it do cry out itself

'Enough, enough,' and die. That thing you speak of,

I took it for a man; often 'twould say 90

'The fiend, the fiend:' he led me to that place.

EDGAR Bear free and patient thoughts. But who comes here?

[Enter KING LEAR, fantastically dressed with wild flowers]

The safer sense will ne'er accommodate

His master thus.

KING LEAR No, they cannot touch me for coining; I am the 95

king himself.

EDGAR O thou side-piercing sight!

KING LEAR Nature's above art in that respect. There's your

press-money. That fellow handles his bow like a

crow-keeper: draw me a clothier's yard. Look, 100

look, a mouse! Peace, peace; this piece of toasted

cheese will do 't. There's my gauntlet; I'll prove

it on a giant. Bring up the brown bills. O, well

flown, bird! i' the clout, i' the clout: hewgh!

Give the word. 105

EDGAR Sweet marjoram.

KING LEAR Pass.

GLOUCESTER I know that voice.

KING LEAR Ha! Goneril, with a white beard! They flattered

me like a dog; and told me I had white hairs in my 110

beard ere the black ones were there. To say 'ay'

and 'no' to every thing that I said!--'Ay' and 'no'

too was no good divinity. When the rain came to

wet me once, and the wind to make me chatter; when

the thunder would not peace at my bidding; there I 115

found 'em, there I smelt 'em out. Go to, they are

not men o' their words: they told me I was every

thing; 'tis a lie, I am not ague-proof.

GLOUCESTER The trick of that voice I do well remember:

Is 't not the king? 120

KING LEAR Ay, every inch a king:

When I do stare, see how the subject quakes.

I pardon that man's life. What was thy cause? Adultery?

Thou shalt not die: die for adultery! No:

The wren goes to 't, and the small gilded fly 125

Does lecher in my sight.

Let copulation thrive; for Gloucester's bastard son

Was kinder to his father than my daughters

Got 'tween the lawful sheets.

To 't, luxury, pell-mell! for I lack soldiers. 130

Behold yond simpering dame,

Whose face between her forks presages snow;

That minces virtue, and does shake the head

To hear of pleasure's name;

The fitchew, nor the soiled horse, goes to 't 135

With a more riotous appetite.

Down from the waist they are Centaurs,

Though women all above:

But to the girdle do the gods inherit,

Beneath is all the fiends'; 140

There's hell, there's darkness, there's the

sulphurous pit,

Burning, scalding, stench, consumption; fie,

fie, fie! pah, pah! Give me an ounce of civet,

good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination: 145

there's money for thee.

GLOUCESTER O, let me kiss that hand!

KING LEAR Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality.

GLOUCESTER O ruin'd piece of nature! This great world

Shall so wear out to nought. Dost thou know me? 150

KING LEAR I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thou squiny

at me? No, do thy worst, blind Cupid! I'll not

love. Read thou this challenge; mark but the

penning of it.

GLOUCESTER Were all the letters suns, I could not see one. 155

EDGAR I would not take this from report; it is,

And my heart breaks at it.

KING LEAR Read.

GLOUCESTER What, with the case of eyes?

KING LEAR O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes in your 160

head, nor no money in your purse? Your eyes are in

a heavy case, your purse in a light; yet you see how

this world goes.

GLOUCESTER I see it feelingly.

KING LEAR What, art mad? A man may see how this world goes 165

with no eyes. Look with thine ears: see how yond

justice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark, in

thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which

is the justice, which is the thief? Thou hast seen

a farmer's dog bark at a beggar? 170

GLOUCESTER Ay, sir.

KING LEAR And the creature run from the cur? There thou

mightst behold the great image of authority: a

dog's obeyed in office.

Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand! 175

Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own back;

Thou hotly lust'st to use her in that kind

For which thou whipp'st her. The usurer hangs the cozener.

Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear;

Robes and furr'd gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold, 180

And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks:

Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it.

None does offend, none, I say, none; I'll able 'em:

Take that of me, my friend, who have the power

To seal the accuser's lips. Get thee glass eyes; 185

And like a scurvy politician, seem

To see the things thou dost not. Now, now, now, now:

Pull off my boots: harder, harder: so.

EDGAR O, matter and impertinency mix'd! Reason in madness!

KING LEAR If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes. 190

I know thee well enough; thy name is Gloucester:

Thou must be patient; we came crying hither:

Thou know'st, the first time that we smell the air,

We wawl and cry. I will preach to thee: mark.

GLOUCESTER Alack, alack the day! 195

KING LEAR When we are born, we cry that we are come

To this great stage of fools: this a good block;

It were a delicate stratagem, to shoe

A troop of horse with felt: I'll put 't in proof;

And when I have stol'n upon these sons-in-law, 200

Then, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!

[Enter a Gentleman, with Attendants]

Gentleman O, here he is: lay hand upon him. Sir,

Your most dear daughter--

KING LEAR No rescue? What, a prisoner? I am even

The natural fool of fortune. Use me well; 205

You shall have ransom. Let me have surgeons;

I am cut to the brains.

Gentleman You shall have any thing.

KING LEAR No seconds? all myself?

Why, this would make a man a man of salt, 210

To use his eyes for garden water-pots,

Ay, and laying autumn's dust.

Gentleman Good sir,--

KING LEAR I will die bravely, like a bridegroom. What!

I will be jovial: come, come; I am a king, 215

My masters, know you that.

Gentleman You are a royal one, and we obey you.

KING LEAR Then there's life in't. Nay, if you get it, you

shall get it with running. Sa, sa, sa, sa.

[Exit running; Attendants follow]

Gentleman A sight most pitiful in the meanest wretch, 220

Past speaking of in a king! Thou hast one daughter,

Who redeems nature from the general curse

Which twain have brought her to.

EDGAR Hail, gentle sir.

Gentleman Sir, speed you: what's your will?

EDGAR Do you hear aught, sir, of a battle toward? 225

Gentleman Most sure and vulgar: every one hears that,

Which can distinguish sound.

EDGAR But, by your favour,

How near's the other army?

Gentleman Near and on speedy foot; the main descry 230

Stands on the hourly thought.

EDGAR I thank you, sir: that's all.

Gentleman Though that the queen on special cause is here,

Her army is moved on.

EDGAR I thank you, sir. 235

[Exit Gentleman]

GLOUCESTER You ever-gentle gods, take my breath from me:

Let not my worser spirit tempt me again

To die before you please!

EDGAR Well pray you, father.

GLOUCESTER Now, good sir, what are you? 240

EDGAR A most poor man, made tame to fortune's blows;

Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows,

Am pregnant to good pity. Give me your hand,

I'll lead you to some biding.

GLOUCESTER Hearty thanks: 245

The bounty and the benison of heaven

To boot, and boot!

[Enter OSWALD]

OSWALD A proclaim'd prize! Most happy!

That eyeless head of thine was first framed flesh

To raise my fortunes. Thou old unhappy traitor, 250

Briefly thyself remember: the sword is out

That must destroy thee.

GLOUCESTER Now let thy friendly hand

Put strength enough to't.

[EDGAR interposes]

OSWALD Wherefore, bold peasant, 255

Darest thou support a publish'd traitor? Hence;

Lest that the infection of his fortune take

Like hold on thee. Let go his arm.

EDGAR Ch'ill not let go, zir, without vurther 'casion.

OSWALD Let go, slave, or thou diest! 260

EDGAR Good gentleman, go your gait, and let poor volk

pass. An chud ha' bin zwaggered out of my life,

'twould not ha' bin zo long as 'tis by a vortnight.

Nay, come not near th' old man; keep out, che vor

ye, or ise try whether your costard or my ballow be 265

the harder: ch'ill be plain with you.

OSWALD Out, dunghill!

EDGAR Ch'ill pick your teeth, zir: come; no matter vor

your foins.

[They fight, and EDGAR knocks him down]

OSWALD Slave, thou hast slain me: villain, take my purse: 270

If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;

And give the letters which thou find'st about me

To Edmund earl of Gloucester; seek him out

Upon the British party: O, untimely death!

[Dies]

EDGAR I know thee well: a serviceable villain; 275

As duteous to the vices of thy mistress

As badness would desire.

GLOUCESTER What, is he dead?

EDGAR Sit you down, father; rest you

Let's see these pockets: the letters that he speaks of 280

May be my friends. He's dead; I am only sorry

He had no other death's-man. Let us see:

Leave, gentle wax; and, manners, blame us not:

To know our enemies' minds, we'ld rip their hearts;

Their papers, is more lawful. 285

[Reads]

'Let our reciprocal vows be remembered. You have

many opportunities to cut him off: if your will

want not, time and place will be fruitfully offered.

There is nothing done, if he return the conqueror:

then am I the prisoner, and his bed my goal; from 290

the loathed warmth whereof deliver me, and supply

the place for your labour.

                    'Your--wife, so I would say--

                    'Affectionate servant,

                    'GONERIL.' 295

O undistinguish'd space of woman's will!

A plot upon her virtuous husband's life;

And the exchange my brother! Here, in the sands,

Thee I'll rake up, the post unsanctified

Of murderous lechers: and in the mature time 300

With this ungracious paper strike the sight

Of the death practised duke: for him 'tis well

That of thy death and business I can tell.

GLOUCESTER The king is mad: how stiff is my vile sense,

That I stand up, and have ingenious feeling 305

Of my huge sorrows! Better I were distract:

So should my thoughts be sever'd from my griefs,

And woes by wrong imaginations lose

The knowledge of themselves.

EDGAR Give me your hand: 310

[Drum afar off]

Far off, methinks, I hear the beaten drum:

Come, father, I'll bestow you with a friend.

[Exeunt]

EDGAR		Why, then, your other senses grow imperfect
		By your eyes' anguish.

GLOUCESTER	So may it be, indeed:
	Methinks thy voice is alter'd; and thou speak'st	10
	In better phrase and matter than thou didst.

EDGAR		You're much deceived: in nothing am I changed
		But in my garments.

EDGAR	Come on, sir; here's the place: stand still. How fearful	15
	And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low!
	The crows and choughs that wing the midway air
	Show scarce so gross as beetles: half way down
	Hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade!
	Methinks he seems no bigger than his head:	20
	The fishermen, that walk upon the beach,
	Appear like mice; and yond tall anchoring bark,
	Diminish'd to her cock; her cock, a buoy
	Almost too small for sight: the murmuring surge,
	That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes,	25
	Cannot be heard so high. I'll look no more;
	Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight
	Topple down headlong.

EDGAR	Give me your hand: you are now within a foot	30
	Of the extreme verge: for all beneath the moon
	Would I not leap upright.

GLOUCESTER	Let go my hand.
	Here, friend, 's another purse; in it a jewel
	Well worth a poor man's taking: fairies and gods	35
	Prosper it with thee! Go thou farther off;
	Bid me farewell, and let me hear thee going.

EDGAR		Why I do trifle thus with his despair	40
		Is done to cure it.

GLOUCESTER	[Kneeling] O you mighty gods!
	This world I do renounce, and, in your sights,
	Shake patiently my great affliction off:
	If I could bear it longer, and not fall	45
	To quarrel with your great opposeless wills,
	My snuff and loathed part of nature should
	Burn itself out. If Edgar live, O, bless him!
	Now, fellow, fare thee well.
	[He falls forward]

EDGAR	Gone, sir: farewell.	50
	And yet I know not how conceit may rob
	The treasury of life, when life itself
	Yields to the theft: had he been where he thought,
	By this, had thought been past. Alive or dead?
	Ho, you sir! friend! Hear you, sir! speak!	55
	Thus might he pass indeed: yet he revives.
	What are you, sir?

EDGAR	Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air,
	So many fathom down precipitating,
	Thou'dst shiver'd like an egg: but thou dost breathe;	60
	Hast heavy substance; bleed'st not; speak'st; art sound.
	Ten masts at each make not the altitude
	Which thou hast perpendicularly fell:
	Thy life's a miracle. Speak yet again.

EDGAR		From the dread summit of this chalky bourn.
		Look up a-height; the shrill-gorged lark so far
		Cannot be seen or heard: do but look up.

GLOUCESTER	Alack, I have no eyes.
	Is wretchedness deprived that benefit,	70
	To end itself by death? 'Twas yet some comfort,
	When misery could beguile the tyrant's rage,
	And frustrate his proud will.

EDGAR		Give me your arm:
		Up: so. How is 't? Feel you your legs? You stand.	75

EDGAR		This is above all strangeness.
		Upon the crown o' the cliff, what thing was that
		Which parted from you?

EDGAR	As I stood here below, methought his eyes
	Were two full moons; he had a thousand noses,
	Horns whelk'd and waved like the enridged sea:
	It was some fiend; therefore, thou happy father,
	Think that the clearest gods, who make them honours	85
	Of men's impossibilities, have preserved thee.

GLOUCESTER	I do remember now: henceforth I'll bear
	Affliction till it do cry out itself
	'Enough, enough,' and die. That thing you speak of,
	I took it for a man; often 'twould say	90
	'The fiend, the fiend:' he led me to that place.

EDGAR		Bear free and patient thoughts. But who comes here?
		[Enter KING LEAR, fantastically dressed with wild flowers]
		The safer sense will ne'er accommodate
		His master thus.

KING LEAR		No, they cannot touch me for coining; I am the	95
		king himself.

KING LEAR	Nature's above art in that respect. There's your
	press-money. That fellow handles his bow like a
	crow-keeper: draw me a clothier's yard. Look,	100
	look, a mouse! Peace, peace; this piece of toasted
	cheese will do 't. There's my gauntlet; I'll prove
	it on a giant. Bring up the brown bills. O, well
	flown, bird! i' the clout, i' the clout: hewgh!
	Give the word.	105

KING LEAR	Ha! Goneril, with a white beard! They flattered
	me like a dog; and told me I had white hairs in my	110
	beard ere the black ones were there. To say 'ay'
	and 'no' to every thing that I said!--'Ay' and 'no'
	too was no good divinity. When the rain came to
	wet me once, and the wind to make me chatter; when
	the thunder would not peace at my bidding; there I	115
	found 'em, there I smelt 'em out. Go to, they are
	not men o' their words: they told me I was every
	thing; 'tis a lie, I am not ague-proof.

GLOUCESTER		The trick of that voice I do well remember:
		Is 't not the king?	120

KING LEAR	Ay, every inch a king:
	When I do stare, see how the subject quakes.
	I pardon that man's life. What was thy cause? Adultery?
	Thou shalt not die: die for adultery! No:
	The wren goes to 't, and the small gilded fly	125
	Does lecher in my sight.
	Let copulation thrive; for Gloucester's bastard son
	Was kinder to his father than my daughters
	Got 'tween the lawful sheets.
	To 't, luxury, pell-mell! for I lack soldiers.	130
	Behold yond simpering dame,
	Whose face between her forks presages snow;
	That minces virtue, and does shake the head
	To hear of pleasure's name;
	The fitchew, nor the soiled horse, goes to 't	135
	With a more riotous appetite.
	Down from the waist they are Centaurs,
	Though women all above:
	But to the girdle do the gods inherit,
	Beneath is all the fiends';	140
	There's hell, there's darkness, there's the
	sulphurous pit,
	Burning, scalding, stench, consumption; fie,
	fie, fie! pah, pah! Give me an ounce of civet,
	good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination:	145
	there's money for thee.

GLOUCESTER		O ruin'd piece of nature! This great world
		Shall so wear out to nought. Dost thou know me?	150

KING LEAR		I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thou squiny
		at me? No, do thy worst, blind Cupid! I'll not
		love. Read thou this challenge; mark but the
		penning of it.

EDGAR		I would not take this from report; it is,
		And my heart breaks at it.

KING LEAR	O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes in your	160
	head, nor no money in your purse? Your eyes are in
	a heavy case, your purse in a light; yet you see how
	this world goes.

KING LEAR	What, art mad? A man may see how this world goes	165
	with no eyes. Look with thine ears: see how yond
	justice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark, in
	thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which
	is the justice, which is the thief? Thou hast seen
	a farmer's dog bark at a beggar?	170

KING LEAR	And the creature run from the cur? There thou
	mightst behold the great image of authority: a
	dog's obeyed in office.
	Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand!	175
	Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own back;
	Thou hotly lust'st to use her in that kind
	For which thou whipp'st her. The usurer hangs the cozener.
	Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear;
	Robes and furr'd gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold,	180
	And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks:
	Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it.
	None does offend, none, I say, none; I'll able 'em:
	Take that of me, my friend, who have the power
	To seal the accuser's lips. Get thee glass eyes;	185
	And like a scurvy politician, seem
	To see the things thou dost not. Now, now, now, now:
	Pull off my boots: harder, harder: so.

KING LEAR	If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes.	190
	I know thee well enough; thy name is Gloucester:
	Thou must be patient; we came crying hither:
	Thou know'st, the first time that we smell the air,
	We wawl and cry. I will preach to thee: mark.

KING LEAR	When we are born, we cry that we are come
	To this great stage of fools: this a good block;
	It were a delicate stratagem, to shoe
	A troop of horse with felt: I'll put 't in proof;
	And when I have stol'n upon these sons-in-law,	200
	Then, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!
	[Enter a Gentleman, with Attendants]