The crows and choughs, that wing the midway air,
Show scarce so gross as beetles: half-way down
Hangs one that gathers samphire; 1 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,
Diminish'd to her cock; 2 her cock, a buoy
Almost too small for sight: the murmuring surge,
That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes,
Cannot be heard so high.—I'll look no more;
Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight
Topple 3 down headlong.

Glos.

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.

Glos.

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 farther off;
Bid me farewell, and let me hear thee going.
Edg. Now fare you well, good sir.

Glos.

[seems to go. With all my heart.

Edg. Why I do trifle thus with his despair,

Is done to cure it.

Glos.

O, you mighty gods!

1 A plant gathered for pickling. 3 Tumble.

2 Her cock-boat.

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, when life itself

Yields to the theft.

thought,

Had he been where he

By this had thought been past.—Alive, or dead?
Ho, you, sir! friend!—Hear you, sir?-speak!
Thus might he pass indeed: 2 yet he revives.
What are you, sir?

Glos.

Away, and let me die.

Edg. Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air,

So many fathom down precipitating,

Thou hadst shiver'd 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.

1 i. e. when life is willing to be destroyed.
2 Thus might he die in reality.

Thy life's a miracle: speak yet again.
Glos. 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.

Glos. 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.

Glos. Too well, too well.

Edg.

This is above all strangeness.

Upon the crown o' the cliff, what thing was that

Which parted from you?

Glos. A poor unfortunate beggar. Edg. As I stood here below, methought, his eyes Were two full moons: he had a thousand noses, Horns whelk'd,1 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.

Glos. 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 crow-keeper: 1 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.3-O, well flown, bird!-i' the clout, i' the clout: hewgh! Give the word.

Edg. Sweet marjoram.

Lear. Pass.

Glos. I know that voice.

Lear. Ha! Goneril!-with a white beard!They flattered me like a dog; and told me, I had

A scarecrow.

3 Battle-axes.

An arrow of a yard in length.

The clout is the white mark at which archers aim.

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.

Glos. 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 pardon 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