SCENE V. A Room in Gloster's Castle.

Enter REGAN and Steward.

Reg. But are my brother's powers set forth?

Stew.

Reg.

In person there?

Stew.

Ay, madam.

Himself

Madam, with much ado;

Your sister is the better soldier.

Reg. Lord Edmund spake not with your lord at home? Stew. No, madam.

Reg. What might import my sister's letter to him?
Stew. I know not, lady.

Reg. 'Faith, he is posted hence on serious matter.
It was great ignorance, Gloster's eyes being out,
To let him live; where he arrives, he moves

All hearts against us. Edmund, I think, is gone,
In pity of his misery, to despatch

His nighted life; moreover, to descry

The strength o' the enemy.

Stew. I must needs after him, madam, with my letter. Reg. Our troops set forth to-morrow; stay with us; The ways are dangerous.

Stew.
I may not, madam;
My lady charged my duty in this business.

Reg. Why should she write to Edmund? Might not you Transport her purposes by word? Belike,

Something I know not what.-I'll love thee much,
Let me unseal the letter.

Stew. Madam, I had rather

Reg. I know your lady does not love her husband; I am sure of that; and, at her late being here, She gave strange œiliads, and most speaking looks To noble Edmund. I know you are of her bosom. Stew. I, madam?

Reg. I speak in understanding; you are, I know it;
Therefore, I do advise you, take this note.

My lord is dead; Edmund and I have talked;
And more convenient is he for my hand,
Than for your lady's;-you may gather more.
If you do find him, pray you, give him this;
And when your mistress hears thus much from you,
I pray, desire her call her wisdom to her.
So, fare you well.

If you do chance to hear of that blind traitor,
Preferment falls on him that cuts him off.

Stew. 'Would I could meet him, madam! I would show What party I do follow.

Reg.

Fare thee well.

SCENE VI. The Country near Dover.

[Exeunt.

Enter GLOSTER and EDGAR, dressed like a Peasant.
Glo. When shall we come to the top of that same hill?
Edg. You do climb up it now; look, how we labor.
Glo. Methinks the ground is even.
Edg.

Hark, do you hear the sea?

Glo.

Horrible steep.

No, truly.

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

Glo.
So may it be, indeed.
Methinks thy voice is altered; and thou speak'st

In better phrase, and matter, than thou didst.

Edg. You are much deceived; in nothing am I changed But in my garments.

Glo.

Methinks you are better spoken. Edg. Come on, sir; here's the place; stand still.-How

fearful

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

down

The crows, and choughs, that wing the midway air,
Show scarce so gross as beetles. Half way
Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!
Methinks he seems no bigger than his head.
The fishermen, that walk upon the beach,
Appear like mice; and yon' tall, anchoring bark,
Diminished to her cock; her cock, a buoy

Almost too small for sight. The murmuring surge,
That on the unnumbered idle pebbles chafes,
Cannot be heard so high. I'll look no more;
Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight
Topple down headlong.

Glo.
Set me where you stand.
Edg. Give me your hand. You are now within a foot
Of the extreme verge; for all beneath the moon

Would I not leap upright.

Glo.

Let go my hand. Here, friend, is another purse; in it a jewel

Well worth a poor man's taking. Fairies, and gods,

Prosper it with thee! Go thou further off;
Bid me farewell, and let me hear thee going.
Edg. Now fare you well, good sir. [Seems to go.
Glo.
With all my heart.
Edg. Why I do trifle thus with his despair,

Is done to cure it.

Glo.
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
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.

Edg.

[He leaps, and falls along. Gone, sir? farewell.And yet I know not how conceit may rob The treasury of life,

Yields to the theft.

when life itself

Had he been where he thought,

By this, had thought been past.-Alive, or dead?
Ho, you sir! friend!-Hear you, sir?-Speak!
Thus might he pass indeed.-Yet he revives.
What are you, sir?

Glo.

Away, and let me die.

Edg. Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air, So many fathom down precipitating,

Thou hadst shivered like an egg: but thou dost breathe; 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.
Glo. But have I fallen, or no?

Edg. 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.

Glo. Alack, I have no eyes.

Is wretchedness deprived that benefit,

To end itself by death? 'Twas yet some comfort,
When misery could beguile the tyrant's rage,

And frustrate his proud will.

Edg.

Give me your arm;

Up.-So-how is't? Feel you your legs? You stand.

Glo. Too well, too well.

Edg.

This is above all strangeness.

A poor, unfortunate beggar.

Upon the crown o' the cliff, what thing was that
Which parted from you?

Glo.

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

Glo. 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,

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

Edg. Bear free and patient thoughts.- But who comes here?

Enter LEAR, fantastically dressed up with flowers. The safer sense will ne'er accommodate

His master thus.

Lear. No, they cannot touch me for coining; I am the king himself.

Edg. O thou side-piercing sight!

Lear. Nature's above art in that respect. There's your press-money. That fellow handles his bow like a crowkeeper; draw me a clothier's yard.—Look, 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.

Edg. Sweet marjoram.

Lear. Pass.

Glo. I know that voice.

Lear. Ha! Goneril!—with a white beard!-They flattered me like a dog; and told me I had white hairs in my beard, ere the black ones were there. To say ay, and no, to every thing 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 found them, there I smelt them 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.

Glo. The trick of that voice I do well remember. Is't not the king?

Lear.

Ay, every inch a king;

When I do stare, see how the subject quakes.
I pardoned 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
Does lecher in my sight.

Let copulation thrive, for Gloster'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.-
Behold yon simpering dame,

Whose face between her forks presageth snow;
That minces virtue, and does shake the head
To hear of pleasure's name;

The fitchew, nor the soiled horse, goes to't
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'; there's hell, there's darkness, there is the sulphurous pit, burning, scalding, stench, consumption.- Fie, fie, fie! pah; pah! Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination. There's money for thee.

Glo. O, let me kiss that hand!

Lear. Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality. Glo. O ruined piece of nature! This great world Shall so wear out to nought.-Dost thou know me?

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.

Glo. Were all the letters suns, I could not see one. Edg. I would not take this from report;-it is, And my heart breaks at it.

Lear. Read.

Glo. What, with the case of eyes?

Lear. O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes in your 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.

Glo. I see it feelingly.

Lear. What, art mad? A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears; see how yon' justice rails upon yon' 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?

Glo. Ay, sir.

Lear. And the creature run from the cur? There thou