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King Lear

Act III, Scene 4

The heath. Before a hovel.
 
[Enter LEAR, KENT, and Fool]
 
KENT
        ,    2        ,          ,     ,              ,
      Here is the | place my | lord, good / my lord^|enter,
           ,     ,     2     ,       ,             ,
      The tyr|anny | of the op|en night's | too* rough
           ,       ,       ,
      For na|ture to | endure.
 
[Storm still]
 
LEAR
                               ,          ,
                              Let me | alone.
 
KENT
        ,             ,        ,
      Good my | lord^ent|er here.
 
LEAR
                                         ,          ,
                                  Wilt break | my heart?
 
KENT
       2      ,       ,           ,      ,    2       ,
      I had rath|er break | mine own,| good my lord^|enter.
 
LEAR
              ,            ,           ,        ,          ,
      Thou thinkst |'tis much | that this | conten|tious storm
           ,     ,            ,         ,         ,
      Invades | us to | the skin:| so 'tis | to thee,
            ,           ,       ,    ,        ,
      But where | the great|er mal|ady | is fixed,
           ,              ,     ,               ,        ,
      The les|ser is / scarce felt.| Thou'dst^shun | a bear,
                      ,     ,     ,           ,       ,
      But if thy // flight lay toward | the roar|ing sea,
                 ,          ,      2      ,                   ,     ,
      Thou'dst^meet | the bear | in the mouth,| when the / mind's free,
           ,       ,     ,         ,      3  3     ,
      The bo|dy's del|icate:| the temp|est in my mind,  ??
             ,         ,       ,          ,         ,
      Doth^from | my sens|es take | all* feel|ing else,
        ,           T     T     T   3 3   ,      ,
      Save what | beats there. Fil|ial ingrat|itude,
       ,       ,              ,              ,           ,
      Is it | not as | this mouth | should tear | this hand
            ,        ,      2     ,     2      ,        ,
      For lift|ing food | to it? But | I will pun|ish home;
       ,             ,          ,         ,        ,
      No, I | will weep | no* more;| in such | a night,
           ,        ,      T   T  T       2    ,
      To shut | me out?| Pour on, I | will endure:
           ,        ,          ,       ,       ,    ,
      In such | a night | as this?| O Reg|an, Gon|eril,
            ,      ,    ,               T     T     T    ___
      Your old | kind fath/er, whose^|frank heart gave | all,  (hex with prev)
          ,          ,         ,               ,    ,
      O that | way* mad|ness lies,| let me / shun that:
           ,         ,
      No more | of that.
 
KENT
                          ,             ,       ,
                        Good my | lord^ent|er here.
 
LEAR
       ,          ,      ,     ,         ,    ,
      Prithee go^in thyself, seek thine own ease,  ????
            ,      2      ,      ,         ,         ,
      This temp|est will not | give me | leave to | ponder
            ,             ,         ,          ,        ,
      On things | would hurt | me more,| but I'll | go^in,
       T  T    T     ,            ,          ,   2
      In boy, go | first. You | houseless | poverty*,
            ,          ,          ,          ,           ,
      Nay* get | thee in;| I'll pray,| and then | I'll sleep.
        T    Tx    T          ,      ,         ,
      Poor naked wretch|es, where|soere | you are
             ,          ,       ,         ,   2      ,
      That bide | the pelt|ing of | this pit|iless storm,
       ,                 ,          ,      .   T T    T
      How shall | your house|less heads,| and^unfed sides,
             ,          ,    ,    ,                ,        2->
      Your loped,| and wind|owed rag/gedness | defend || you
            ,         ,         ,       ,          ,
      From seas|ons such | as these?| O I | have tane
       T    Tx     T         ,           ,        ,
      Too little care | of this:| Take^phys|ic, pomp,
          ,         ,         ,            ,        ,
      Expose | thyself | to feel | what wretch|es feel,
             ,            ,          ,      ,         ,
      That thou | mayst^shake | the sup|erflux | to them,
            ,          ,        ,     __    oo
      And show | the heav|ens more | just.|
 
EDGAR
Fathom, and half, fathom and half; Poor Tom.
 
FOOL
Come not in here nuncle, here's a spirit, help me, help me.
 
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 in the straw? Come forth.
 
[Enter EDGAR disguised as a mad man]
 
EDGAR
Away, the foul fiend follows me, through the sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind. Hum, go to thy cold bed and warm thee.
 
LEAR
Hast thou given all to thy two daughters? And art thou come to this?
 
EDGAR
Who gives anything to poor Tom? Whom the foul fiend hath led through fire, and through flame, through sword, and whirlpool, ere bog, and quagmire, that hath laid knives under his pillow, and halters in his pew, set ratsbane by his porridge, made film 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 Tom some charity, whom the foul fiend vexes. There could I have him now, and there, and there again, and there.
 
[Storm still]
 
LEAR
Have his daughters brought him to this pass? Couldst thou save nothing? Didst thou give them all?
 
FOOL
Nay, he reserved a blanket, else we had been all shamed.
 
LEAR
           ,           ,            ,         ,    2    ,
      Now all | the plagues | that in | the pend|ulous air
        ,   ,    2              ,      ,                ,
      Hang fat/ed ore men's^|faults, light / on thy | daughters.
 
KENT
He hath no daughters, sir.
 
LEAR
       ___      ,        ,          ,               ,     ,
      Death | traitor,| nothing | could have | subdued | nature
           ,       ,                    ,  ,    ,         o
      To such | a low|ness, but his // unkind daught|ers.    (hex with prev)
        x           ,         ,       ,        ,
      Is it the | fashion,| that dis|carded | fathers,
               ,      T    Tx    T      ,           ,
      Should have | thus little mer|cy on | their flesh:
         ,        ,     2        ,           ,        ,
      Judi|cious pun|ishment, 'twas | this flesh | begot
        ,    ,           ,
      Those pel/ican | daughters.    \\
 
EDGAR
Pillicock sat on Pillicock-hill, halloo: halloo, loo, loo.
 
FOOL
This cold night will turn us all to fools, and madmen.
 
EDGAR
Take heed of the foul fiend, obey thy parents, keep thy word justice, swear not, commit not, with man's sworn spouse; set not thy sweet heart on proud array. Tom's a-cold.
 
LEAR
What hast thou been?
 
EDGAR
A serving-man? 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 spake 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 in 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. Still through the hawthorn blows the cold wind: Says suum, mun, ha, no, nonny. Dolphin my boy, my 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. Is man no more than this? Consider him well. Thou owest the worm no silk; the beast, no hide; the sheep, no wool; the cat, no perfume. Ha? Here's three on us are sophisticated. Thou art the thing itself; 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 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, all the rest on his body, cold: Look, here comes a walking fire.
 
[Enter GLOUCESTER, with a torch]
 
EDGAR
This is the foul Flibbertigibbet; he begins at curfew, and walks at first cock: he gives the web and the pin, squints the eye, and makes the hare-lip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the poor creature of earth.
 
[singing]
        ,        ,          ,          ,
      Withold | footed | thrice the | old,
      <-       T   .    T     T     .   T    T    T
        He || met the night-mare,| and her nine-fold;
       ,           ,      .   T    T     T
      Bid her | alight,| and her troth plight,
         2   ,       T    T    .  T     ____
      And aroint | thee witch, aroint | thee.
 
KENT
How fares your grace?
 
LEAR
What's he?
 
KENT
Who's there? What is it you seek?
 
GLOUCESTER
What 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 old rat, and the ditch-dog; drinks the green mantle of the standing pool: who is whipped from tithing to tithing, and stock, punished, and imprisoned: who hath had three suits to his back, six shirts to his body:
        ,          ,          ,            ,
      Horse to | ride, and | weapon | to wear:
            ,          ,     .    T    T     T
      But mice,| and rats,| and such small deer,
        .    T    T     T     .    Tx    T    T
      Have been Tom's food,| for seven long year:
 
Beware my follower. Peace Smulkin, peace thou fiend.
 
GLOUCESTER
What, hath your grace no better company?
 
EDGAR
The prince of darkness is a gentleman. Modo he's called, and Mahu.
 
GLOUCESTER
Our flesh and blood, my lord, is grown so vile, that it doth hate what gets it.
 
EDGAR
Poor Tom's a-cold.
 
GLOUCESTER
          ,         ,       ,     ,         x
      Go in | with me:| my du|ty can|not suffer
        2  ,        ,           ,           ,         ,
      To obey | in all | your daught|ers' hard | commands:
         ,               ,        ,       ,         ,
      Though their | injunc|tion be | to bar | my doors,
           ,          ,    2      ,            ,      ,        ->
      And let | this tyr|annous night | take^hold | upon || you,
       ,        2   ,               ,    ,         ,
      Yet | have I vent|ured to / come seek | you out,
            ,        2        ,      ,           ,        ,
      And bring | you where both | fire, and | food is | ready.
 
LEAR
        ,              ,           ,        ,     ,
      First let | me talk | with this | philos|opher,
        ,    2        ,          ,
      What is the | cause of | thunder?
 
KENT
                                            2     ,      ,          ,   ->
                                        Good my lord | take his || offer,
          ,   2      ,
      Go in|to the house.  \\
 
LEAR
             ,        ,        2       ,      ,        ,
      I'll talk | a word | with this same | learned | Theban.
        ,    2        ,
      What is your | study?  \\
 
EDGAR
       ,            ,          ,        2     ,     ,
      How to | prevent | the fiend,| and to kill | vermin.
 
LEAR
       ,        T   T   T      ,        ,
      Let me | ask you one | word in | private.
 
KENT
       ,      ,          T    T   .  T        ,
      Impor|tune him | once more to go | my lord,
            ,       ,      2     x
      His wits | begin | to unsettle.
 
GLOUCESTER
                                       ,            ,
                                     Canst thou | blame him?
            ,          ,          ,      ,                 ,
      His daught|ers seek | his death:| ah, that*| good* Kent,
           ,      2       ,     T     T   T         ,
      He said | it would be | thus: poor ban|ished man:
             ,      .    T    T    T           ,            ,
      Thou sayst | the king grows mad,| I'll tell | thee friend
       2    ,       ,        ,       ,       ,
      I am al|most mad | myself.| I had | a son,
       T   T   T         2     ,           ,          ,
      Now outlawed | from my blood:| he sought | my life,
            ,       ,      ,        ,             ,
      But late|ly: ve|ry late:| I loved | him (friend)
           ,    2     ,      ,        ,          ,
      No fath|er his son | dearer:| truth to | tell thee,
            ,             ,          ,                ,      ,
      The grief | hath crazed | my wits.| What a / night's this?
         ,       ,            ,
      I do | beseech | your grace.
 
LEAR
         ,         ,      ,
      O cry | you mer|cy sir:  (tri with prev)
       ,          ,     ,          ,     ,
      Noble | philo|sopher,| your comp|any.
 
EDGAR
Tom's a-cold.
 
GLOUCESTER
In fellow there, into the hovel; keep thee warm.
 
LEAR
        ,              ,
      Come, let's^|in all.
 
KENT
                               ,         ,
                         This^way,| my lord.
 
LEAR
                                                   ,
                                             With^him;
                 ,    ,           ,       ,     ,
      I will / keep still | with my | philos|opher.
 
KENT
        T   T   T       ,
      Good my lord,| soothe him:  \\
       ,          ,         ,
      Let him | take the | fellow.
 
GLOUCESTER
                                        ,         ,
                                  Take^him | you^on.
 
KENT
Sirrah, come on: go along with us.
 
LEAR
Come, good Athenian.
 
GLOUCESTER
No words, no words, hush.
 
EDGAR
        ,    ,         2        T   Tx     T
      Child Row/land to the | dark tower came,
            ,          ,      T    T    .   T
      His word | was still,| Fie, foh, and fum,
          ,           ,       2    ,       ,
      I smell | the blood | of a Brit|ish man.
 
[Exeunt]

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