When ufurers tell their gold i' th' field,

And bawds and whores do churches build:
Then fhall the realm of Albion

Come unto great confufion.`

This prophecy Merlin fhall make, for I do live before his

time.

[Ex.

Glo. A Lack, alack, Edmund, I like not this unnatural

dealing; when I defired their leave that I might pity him, they took from me the ufe of mine own house, charg'd me on pain of perpetual difpleasure, neither to fpeak of him, entreat for him, or any way fuftain him. Baft. Moft favage and unnatural!

Glo. Go to; fay you nothing. There is divifion between the Dukes, and a worse matter than that: I have received a letter this night, 'tis dangerous to be fpoken, I have lock'd the letter in my clofet: thefe injuries the King now bears will be revenged home; there is part of a power already footed; we must incline to the King, I will look for him, and privily relieve him; go you and maintain talk with the Duke, that my charity be not of him perceiv'd; if he ask for me, I am ill, and gone to bed; if I die for it, as no lefs is threatned me, the King my old mafter must be relieved. There are ftrange things toward, Edmund; pray you, be careful. [Exit.

Baft. This courtefie forbid thee fhall the Duke,
Inftantly know, and of that letter too.

This feems a fair deserving, and must draw me
That which my father lofes; no less than all.
The younger rifes, when the old doth fall.

[Exit. SCENE

Part of the Heath with a Hovel.

Enter Lear, Kent, and Fool.

Kent. Here is the place, my Lord, good my Lord, enter; The tyranny of th' open night's too rough

For nature to endure.

Lear. Let me alone.

Kent. Good my Lord, enter here.

Lear. Wilt break my heart?

[Storm ftill.

Kent. I'd rather break mine own; good my Lord, enter. Lear. Thou think'ft 'tis much that this contentious

Invades us to the skin; fo 'tis to thee;

But where the greater malady is fixt,

The leffer is fcarce felt. Thou'dft fhun a bear;

But if thy flight lay toward the roaring fea,

-

[ítorm

Thou'dft meet the bear i' th' mouth; when the mind's free,
The body's delicate; the tempeft in my mind
Doth from my fenfes take all feeling else,
Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude!
Is it not, as this mouth fhould tear this hand
For lifting food to't? But I'll punish home;
No, I will weep no more-in fuch a night,
To fhut me out?-pour on, I will endure:
In fuch a night as this? O Regan, Gonerill,
Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all-
O, that way madness lyes, let me fhun that,
No more of that.

Kent. Good my Lord, enter here.

Lear. Pr'ythee, go in thy felf, feek thine own ease, This tempeft will not give me leave to ponder On things would hurt me more-but Ill go in; In, boy, go first. You houfelefs povertyNay, get thee in; I'll pray, and then I'll fleep

[Ex. Fool.

Poor

Poor naked wretches, wherefoe'er you are

That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm!
How fhall your houseless heads, and unfed fides,
Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend you
From feafons fuch as thefe?-O, I have ta'en
Too little care of this: take phyfick, pomp!
Expose thy felf to feel what wretches feel,
That thou may'st shake the fuperflux to them,
And fhew the heav'ns more just.

Edg. [Within.] Fathom and half, fathom and half! poor Tom!

Fool. Come not in here, nuncle, here's a fpirit, help me, help me, [The Fool runs out from the Hovel. Kent. Give me thy hand, who's there?

Fool. A fpirit, a fpirit, he fays his name's poor Tom. Kent. What art thou that do'ft grumble there i' th' ftraw? come forth.

Enter Edgar, difguis'd like a Madman.

Edg. Away, the foul fiend follows me. Through the fharp hawthorn blows the cold wind. Humph, go to thy bed and warm thee.

Lear. Did't thou give all to thy daughters? and art thou come to this?

Edg. Who gives any thing 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 pue; fet ratsbane by his porridge, made him proud of heart, to ride on a bay trotting horfe, over four inch'd bridges, to courfe his own fhadow for a traitor,blefs thy five wits, Tom's a cold. O do, de, do, de, do, de,— bless thee from whirl-winds, ftar-blafting, and taking; do poor Tom fome charity, whom the foul fiend vexes. There could I have him now, and there, and here again, and there. [Storm fill.

Lear.

Lear. What! have his daughters brought him to this Could'st thou fave nothing? did't thou give 'em all? [pass? Fool. Nay, he referv'd a blanket, elfe we had been all fhamed.

Lear. Now all the plagues that in the pendulous air Hang fated o'er men's faults, light on thy daughters! Kent. He hath no daughters, Sir.

Lear. Death, traitor, nothing could have fubdu'd nature To fuch a lownefs, but his unkind daughters.

Is it the fashion, that difcarded fathers
Should have thus little mercy on their flesh?
Judicious punishment! 'twas this flesh begot
Those pelican daughters.

Edg. Pillicock fat on pillicock-hill, alow, alow, loo, loo. Fool. This cold night will turn us all to fools, and mad-men.

Edg. Take heed o' th' foul fiend, obey thy parents, keep thy word juftly, fwear not, commit not with man's fworn fpoufe; fet not thy fweet heart on proud array. Tom's a-cold.

Lear. What haft thou been?

Edg. A ferving-man, proud in heart and mind; that curl'd my hair, wore gloves in my cap, ferv'd the luft of my mistress's heart, and did the act of darkness with her: fwore as many oaths as I fpake words, and broke them in the fweet face of heav'n. One that flept 'on` the contriving luft, and wak'd to do it. Wine lov'd I deeply; dice dearly; and in woman, out-paramour'd the Turk. Falfe of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand; hog in floth, fox in ftealth, wolf in greedinefs, dog in madness, lion in prey. Let not the creaking of fhoes, nor the rustling of filks, betray thy poor heart to woman. Keep thy foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen from lenders books, and defie the foul fiend. Still through the hawthorn blows the cold wind: fays fuum, mun, nonny, dolphin my boy, boy, Seffey: let him trot by. [Storm Still.

Lear.

Lear. Thou wert better in a grave, than to anfwer with thy uncover'd body this extremity of the skies. Is man no more than this? Confider him well. Thou ow'st the worm no filk, the beaft no hide, the fheep no wool, the cat no perfume. Ha! here's three of us are fophifticated. Thou art the thing it felf; unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings: come unbutton here.

[Tearing off his cloaths. Fool. Pr'ythee, nuncle, be contented; 'tis a naughty night to swim in. Now a little fire in a wild field were like an old letcher's heart, a fmall fpark, and all the reft on's body cold; look, here comes a walking fire.

Edg. This is the foul Flibbertigibbet; he begins at curfew, and walks 'till the firft cock; he gives the web and the pin, fquints the eye, and makes the hare-lip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the poor creatures of the earth.

2/St. Withold footed thrice the wold;`
He met the night-mare, and her nine-fold,
Bid ber alight, and her troth plight,
And aroynt thee, witch, aroynt thee!

Kent. Who's there? what is't you seek?
Glo. What are you there? your names?

Edg. Poor Tom, that eats the fwimming frog, the toad, the tod-pole; the wall-newt, and the water-newt; that in the fury of his heart, when the foul fiend rages, eats cowdung for fallets; fwallows the old rat, and the ditch-dog; drinks

I creature

2 Swithold footed thrice the old... old edit. Bishop's emend.