I'd speak with the duke of Cornwall, and his wife.
Glo. Well, my good lord, I have inform'd them so.
Lear. Inform'd them! Dost thou understand me, man?
Glo. Ay, my good lord.

Lear. The king would speak with Cornwall; the

dear father

Would with his daughter speak, commands her service:
Are they inform'd of this?-My breath and blood !
Fiery? The fiery duke?-Tell the hot duke, that-
No, but not yet :-may be, he is not well:
Infirmity doth still neglect all office,

Whereto our health is bound; we are not ourselves,
When nature, being oppress'd, commands the mind
To suffer with the body: I'll forbear;

And am fallen out with my more headier will,
To take the indispos'd and sickly fit

For the sound man. -Death on my state! wherefore

[Looking on KENT.

Should he sit here? This act persuades me,
That this remotion of the duke and her

Is practice only. Give me my servant forth :
Go, tell the duke and his wife, I'd speak with them,
Now, presently: bid them come forth and hear me,
Or at their chamber-door I'll beat the drum,

Till it cry-Sleep to death.

Glo. I'd have all well betwixt you. [Exit. Lear. O me, my heart, my rising heart!-but, down. Fool. Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the eels, when she put them i'the paste alive; she rapp'd 'em o'the coxcombs with a stick, and cry'd, Down, wantons, down: 'Twas her brother, that, in pure kindness to his horse, butter'd his hay.

Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, GLOSTER, and Servants. Lear. Good-morrow to you both.

Corn. Hail to your grace! (KENT is set at liberty. Reg. I am glad to see your highness.

Lear. Regan, I think you are; I know what reason I have to think so: if thou should'st not be glad, I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb, Sepúlch'ringan adultress.-O, are you free? [TO KENT. Some other time for that.-Beloved Regan, Thy sister's naught: O Regan, she hath tied

[1] Practice is in Shakspeare, and other old writers, used commonly in an ill sense for unlawful artifice. JOHNSON.

Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here :2

[Points to his heart.

I can scarce speak to thee; thou'lt not believe,
Of how deprav'd a quality-O Regan!

Reg. I pray you, sir, take patience; I have hope,
You less know how to value her desert,
Than she to scant her duty.3

Lear. Say, how is that?

Reg. I cannot think, my sister in the least
Would fail her obligation: If, sir, perchance,
She have restrain'd the riots of your followers,
'Tis on such ground, and to such wholesome end,
As clears her from all blame.

Lear. My curses on her!

Reg. O, sir, you are old;

Nature in you stands on the very verge
Of her confíne: you should be rul'd, and led
By some discretion, that discerns your state
Better than you yourself: Therefore, I pray you,
That to our sister you do make return;
Say, you have wrong'd her, sir.

Lear. Ask her forgiveness?

Do you but mark how this becomes the house : 4
Dear daughter, I confess that I am old;
Age is unnecessary : 5 on my knees I beg, [Kneeling.
That you'll vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food.

Reg. Good sir, no more: these are unsightly tricks :

Return you to my sister.

Lear. Never, Regan :

She hath abated me of half my train;

Look'd black upon me ; struck me with her tongue, Most serpent-like, upon the very heart :

All the stor'd vengeances of heaven fall

On her ingrateful top! Strike her young bones,

You taking airs, with lameness !

Corn. Fye, fye, fye!

Lear. You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames

Into her scornful eyes! Infect her beauty,
You fen-suck'd fogs, drawn by the pow'rful sun,
To fall and blast her pride !

Reg. O the blest gods !

So will you wish on me, when the rash mood's on.

Lear. No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curse ;
Thy tender-hefted nature shall not give
Thee o'er to harshness; her eyes are fierce, but thine
Do comfort, and not burn, 'Tis not in thee
To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train,
To bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes, &
And, in conclusion, to oppose the bolt
Against my coming in. Thou better know'st
The offices of nature, bond of childhood,
Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude;

Thy half o'the kingdom hast thou not forgot,
Wherein I thee endow'd.

Reg. Good sir, to the purpose.

[Trumpets within.

Lear. Who put my man i' the stocks?

Corn. What trumpet's that?

Enter Steward.

Reg. I know't, my sister's: this approves her letter,

That she would soon be here. Is your lady come?
Lear. This is a slave, whose easy-borrow'd pride

Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows:-
Out, varlet, from my sight!

Corn. What means your grace?

Lear. Who stock'd my servant? Regan, I have good hope Thou didst not know of't.-Who comes here? O heavens,

Enter GONERIL.

If you do love old men, if your sweet sway
Allow obedience, if yourselves are old,

Make it your cause; send down, and take my part!-
Art not asham'd to look upon this beard? - [To GON.
O Regan, wilt thou take her by the hand?

Gon. Why not by the hand, sir? How have I offended? All's not offence, that indiscretion finds, And dotage terms so.

Lear. O, sides, you are too tough !

[7] Hefted-seems to mean the same as heaved. Tender-hefted-i.e. whose bosom is agitated by tender passions. The formation of such a participle, I believe, cannot be grammatically accounted for. STEEVENS.

[8] To contract my allowances or proportions settled. JOHNSON.

[9] To allow-signifies not only to permit, but to approve. So the scrip ture expression, "The Lord alloweth the righteous," Ps. xi. 6. STEEV.

Will you yet hold? - How came my man i'the stocks? Corn. I set him there, sir: but his own disorders ?

Deserv'd much less advancement.

Lear. You! did you?

Reg. I pray you, father, being weak, seem so.2
If, till the expiration of your month,
You will return and sojourn with my sister,
Dismissing half your train, come then to me;
I am now from home, and out of that provision
Which shall be needful for your entertainment.

Lear. Return to her, and fifty men dismiss'd?
No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose
To wage against the enmity o'the air;
To be a comrade with the wolf and owl,-
Necessity's sharp pinch!-Return with her ?
Why, the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took
Our youngest born, I could as well be brought
To knee his throne, and, squire-like, pension beg
To keep base life afoot.-Return with her?
Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter 3
To this detested groom.

Gon. At your choice, sir.

[Looking on the Steward.

Lear. I pr'ythee, daughter, do not make me mad;
I will not trouble thee, my child; farewell:
We'll no more meet, no more see one another :-
But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter;
Or, rather, a disease that's in my flesh,

Which I must needs call mine: thou art a boil,
A plague-sore, an embossed carbuncle,

In my corrupted blood. But I'll not chide thee;
Let shame come when it will, I do not call it :
I do not bid the thunder-bearer shoot,
Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove.
Mend, when thou canst; be better, at thy leisure:
I can be patient; I can stay with Regan,
I, and my hundred knights.

Reg. Not altogether so, sir;

I look'd not for you yet, nor am provided
For your fit welcome: Give ear, sir, to my sister;
For those that mingle reason with your passion,
Must be content to think you old, and so-

[1] Kent's disorders had entitled him to a post of less honour than the stocks. STEEVENS.

[2] Since you are weak, be content to think yourself weak. JOHNSON. [3] Sumpter-is a horse that carries necessaries on a journey, though sometimes used for the case to carry them in. STEEVENS.

But she knows what she does.

Lear. Is this well spoken now?

Reg. I dare avouch it, sir. What, fifty followers ?

Is it not well? What should you need of more ?
Yea, or so many? sith that both charge and danger
Speak 'gainst so great a number? How, in one house,
Should many people, under two commands,
Hold amity? 'Tis hard; almost impossible.

Gon. Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance From those that she calls servants, or from mine?

Reg. Why not, my lord? If then they chanc'd to slack

you,

We could control them: If you will come to me, (For now I spy a danger,) I entreat you

To bring but five and twenty; to no more

Will I give place, or notice.

Lear. I gave you all

Reg. And in good time you gave it.

Lear. Made you my guardians, my depositaries ;

But kept a reservation to be follow'd

With such a number: What, must I come to you
With five and twenty, Regan? said you so ?

Reg. And speak it again, my lord; no more with me.
Lea. Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favour'd,
When others are more wicked; not being the worst,
Stands in some rank of praise :-I'll go with thee;
Thy fifty doth yet double five and twenty, [TO GON.
And thou art twice her love.

Gon. Hear me, my lord;

What need you five and twenty, ten, or five,
To follow in a house, where twice so many
Have a command to tend you?

Reg. What need one ?

Lear. O, reason not the need: our basest beggars

Are in the poorest thing superfluous :

Allow not nature more than nature needs,

Man's life is cheap as beast's. Thou art a lady;
If only to go warm were gorgeous,

Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st,
Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But, for true need,-
You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need!
You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,
As full of grief as age; wretched in both !
If it be you that stir these daughters' hearts
Against their father, fool me not so much
To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger!