Enter Lear, Kent ⌜in disguise,⌝ and Fool.KENT Here is the place, my lord. Good my lord, enter. The tyranny of the open night ’s too rough For nature to endure.Storm still.LEAR Let me alone.KENT 5 Good my lord, enter here.LEAR Wilt break my heart?KENT I had rather break mine own. Good my lord, enter.LEAR Thou think’st ’tis much that this contentious storm Invades us to the skin. So ’tis to thee.10 But where the greater malady is fixed, The lesser is scarce felt. Thou ’dst shun a bear, But if ⟨thy⟩ flight lay toward the roaring sea,
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Thou ’dst meet the bear i’ th’ mouth. When the mind’s free,15 The body’s delicate. ⟨This⟩ tempest in my mind Doth from my senses take all feeling else Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude! Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand For lifting food to ’t? But I will punish home.20 No, I will weep no more. [In such a night To shut me out? Pour on. I will endure.] In such a night as this? O Regan, Goneril, Your old kind father whose frank heart gave all! O, that way madness lies. Let me shun that;25 No more of that.KENT Good my lord, enter here.LEAR Prithee, go in thyself. Seek thine own ease. This tempest will not give me leave to ponder On things would hurt me more. But I’ll go in.—30 [In, boy; go first.—You houseless poverty— Nay, get thee in. I’ll pray, and then I’ll sleep.]⌜Fool⌝ exits. Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,35 Your looped and windowed raggedness defend you 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,40 That thou may’st shake the superflux to them And show the heavens more just.[EDGAR ⌜within⌝ Fathom and half, fathom and half! Poor Tom!Enter Fool.]FOOL Come not in here, nuncle; here’s a spirit. Help45 me, help me!
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KENT Give me thy hand. Who’s there?FOOL A spirit, a spirit! He says his name’s Poor Tom.KENT What art thou that dost grumble there i’ th’ straw? Come forth.Enter Edgar ⌜in disguise.⌝EDGAR 50Away. The foul fiend follows me. Through the sharp hawthorn ⟨blows the cold wind.⟩ Hum! Go to thy ⟨cold⟩ bed and warm thee.LEAR Didst thou give all to thy daughters? And art thou come to this?EDGAR 55Who gives anything to Poor Tom, whom the foul fiend hath led ⟨through⟩ fire and through flame, through ⟨ford⟩ and whirlpool, o’er bog and quagmire; that hath laid knives under his pillow and halters in his pew, set ratsbane by his porridge,60 made him proud of heart to ride on a bay trotting horse over four-inched bridges to course his own shadow for a traitor? Bless thy five wits! Tom’s a-cold. O, do de, do de, do de. Bless thee from whirlwinds, star-blasting, and taking! Do Poor Tom65 some charity, whom the foul fiend vexes. There could I have him now, and there—and there again —and there.Storm still.LEAR Has his daughters brought him to this pass?— Couldst thou save nothing? Wouldst thou give ’em70 all?FOOL Nay, he reserved a blanket, else we had been all shamed.LEAR Now all the plagues that in the pendulous air Hang fated o’er men’s faults light on thy daughters!KENT 75He hath no daughters, sir.LEAR Death, traitor! Nothing could have subdued nature To such a lowness but his unkind daughters.
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Is it the fashion that discarded fathers Should have thus little mercy on their flesh?80 Judicious punishment! ’Twas this flesh begot Those pelican daughters.EDGAR Pillicock sat on Pillicock Hill. Alow, alow, loo, loo.FOOL This cold night will turn us all to fools and85 madmen.EDGAR Take heed o’ th’ foul fiend. Obey thy parents, keep thy word’s justice, swear not, commit not with man’s sworn spouse, set not thy sweet heart on proud array. Tom’s a-cold.LEAR 90What hast thou been?EDGAR A servingman, proud in heart and mind, that curled my hair, wore gloves in my cap, served the lust of my mistress’ heart and did the act of darkness with her, swore as many oaths as I spake95 words and broke them in the sweet face of heaven; one that slept in the contriving of lust and waked to do it. Wine loved I ⟨deeply,⟩ dice dearly, and in woman out-paramoured the Turk. False of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand; hog in sloth, fox in100 stealth, wolf in greediness, dog in madness, lion in prey. Let not the creaking of shoes nor the rustling of silks betray thy poor heart to woman. Keep thy foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen from lenders’ books, and defy the foul fiend.105 Still through the hawthorn blows the cold wind; says suum, mun, nonny. Dolphin my boy, boy, sessa! Let him trot by.Storm still.LEAR Thou wert better in a grave than to answer with thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies.—Is110 man no more than this? Consider him well.—Thou ow’st the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the cat no perfume. Ha, here’s three on ’s are sophisticated. Thou art the thing itself; unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare,
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115 forked animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings! Come, unbutton here.⌜Tearing off his clothes.⌝FOOL Prithee, nuncle, be contented. ’Tis a naughty night to swim in. Now, a little fire in a wild field were like an old lecher’s heart—a small spark, all120 the rest on ’s body cold.Enter Gloucester, with a torch. Look, here comes a walking fire.EDGAR This is the foul ⟨fiend⟩ Flibbertigibbet. He begins at curfew and walks ⟨till the⟩ first cock. He gives the web and the pin, squints the eye, and125 makes the harelip, mildews the white wheat, and hurts the poor creature of earth. Swithold footed thrice the ’old,
He met the nightmare and her ninefold,
Bid her alight,
130 And her troth plight,
And aroint thee, witch, aroint thee.KENT How fares your Grace?LEAR What’s he?KENT Who’s there? What is ’t you seek?GLOUCESTER 135What are you there? Your names?EDGAR Poor Tom, that eats the swimming frog, the toad, the tadpole, the wall newt, and the water; that, in the fury of his heart, when the foul fiend rages, eats cow dung for sallets, swallows the old140 rat and the ditch-dog, drinks the green mantle of the standing pool; who is whipped from tithing to tithing, and stocked, punished, and imprisoned; who hath ⟨had⟩ three suits to his back, six shirts to his body,145 Horse to ride, and weapon to wear;
But mice and rats and such small deer
Have been Tom’s food for seven long year.
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Beware my follower. Peace, Smulkin! Peace, thou fiend!GLOUCESTER, ⌜to Lear⌝ 150 What, hath your Grace no better company?EDGAR The Prince of Darkness is a gentleman. Modo he’s called, and Mahu.GLOUCESTER, ⌜to Lear⌝ Our flesh and blood, my lord, is grown so vile That it doth hate what gets it.EDGAR 155Poor Tom’s a-cold.GLOUCESTER, ⌜to Lear⌝ Go in with me. My duty cannot suffer T’ obey in all your daughters’ hard commands. Though their injunction be to bar my doors And let this tyrannous night take hold upon you,160 Yet have I ventured to come seek you out And bring you where both fire and food is ready.LEAR First let me talk with this philosopher. ⌜To Edgar.⌝ What is the cause of thunder?KENT Good my lord, take his offer; go into th’ house.LEAR 165 I’ll talk a word with this same learnèd Theban.— What is your study?EDGAR How to prevent the fiend and to kill vermin.LEAR Let me ask you one word in private.⌜They talk aside.⌝KENT, ⌜to Gloucester⌝ Importune him once more to go, my lord.170 His wits begin t’ unsettle.GLOUCESTER Canst thou blame him?Storm still. His daughters seek his death. Ah, that good Kent! He said it would be thus, poor banished man. Thou sayest the King grows mad; I’ll tell thee,175 friend,
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I am almost mad myself. I had a son, Now outlawed from my blood. He sought my life But lately, very late. I loved him, friend, No father his son dearer. True to tell thee,180 The grief hath crazed my wits. What a night’s this! —I do beseech your Grace—LEAR O, cry you mercy, sir. ⌜To Edgar.⌝ Noble philosopher, your company.EDGAR Tom’s a-cold.GLOUCESTER, ⌜to Edgar⌝ 185 In fellow, there, into th’ hovel. Keep thee warm.LEAR Come, let’s in all.KENT This way, my lord.LEAR, ⌜indicating Edgar⌝ With him. I will keep still with my philosopher.KENT, ⌜to Gloucester⌝ 190 Good my lord, soothe him. Let him take the fellow.GLOUCESTER, ⌜to Kent⌝ Take him you on.KENT, ⌜to Edgar⌝ Sirrah, come on: go along with us.LEAR Come, good Athenian.GLOUCESTER No words, no words. Hush.EDGAR
195 Child Rowland to the dark tower came.
His word was still “Fie, foh, and fum,
I smell the blood of a British man.”They exit.
King Lear
