Reg. Lord Edmund spake not with your lord

at home?

Stew. No, madam.

Reg. What might import my sister's letter to him?

Stew. I know not, lady.

Reg. 'Faith, he is posted hence on serious

matter.

It was great ignorance, Gloster's eyes being out,
To let him live; where he arrives, he moves
All hearts against us; Edmund, I think, is gone,
In pity of his misery, to despatch

His nighted life; moreover, to descry

The strength o' the enemy.

Stew. I must needs after him, madam, with my letter.

Reg. Our troops set forth to-morrow; stay with us;

The ways are dangerous.

Stew.
I may not, madam;
My lady charg'd my duty in this business.
Reg. Why should she write to Edmund? Might
not you

Transport her purposes by word? Belike,
Something I know not what:-I'll love thee
much,

Let me unseal the letter.

Stew.

Madam, I had ratherReg. I know, your lady does not love her

husband;

I am sure of that: and, at her late being here, She gave strange œiliads, and most speaking looks

To noble Edmund: I know, you are of her bosom.

Stew. I, madam?

Reg. I speak in understanding; you are, 1
know it:

Therefore, I do advise you, take this note:
My lord is dead; Edmund and I have talk'd;
And more convenient is he for my hand,

Than for your lady's :-You may gather more.
If you do find him, pray you, give him this;
And when your mistress bears thus much from

you,

I pray, desire her call her wisdom to her.

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So, fare you well.

If you do chance to hear of that blind traitor, Preferment falls on him that cuts him off.

Stew. 'Would, I could meet him, madam! I would show

What party I do follow.

Reg.

Fare thee well. [Exeunt.

SCENE VI. The Country near Dover.

Enter GLOSTER, and EDGAR, dressed like a Peasant. Glo. When shall we come to the top of that same hill?

Edg. You do climb up it now: look, how we

labour.

Glo. Methinks the ground is even.

Edg.

Hark, do you hear the sea?

Glo.

Horrible steep:

No, truly.

Edg. Why, then your other senses grow im.

perfect

By your eyes' anguish.
Glo.
So may it be, indeed:
Methinks, thy voice is alter'd; and thou speak'st
In better phrase, and matter, than thou didst.
Edg. You are much deceiv'd; in nothing ain
I chang'd,

But in my garments.

Glo.

Methinks, you are better spoken. Edg. Come on, sir; here's the place:-stand still.-How fearful

And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low!
The crows, and choughs, that wing the midway

air,

Show scarce so gross as beetles: Half way down Hangsone that gathers samphire; 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; 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 down headlong.

Glo.

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.

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

Glo.

[Seems to go. With all my heart.

Edg. Why I do trifle thus with his despair,

Is done to cure it.

Glo.

you mighty gods! 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: Had he been where he thought,

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

Glo.

Away, and let me die. Edg. Had'st thou been aught but gossomer, feathers, air,

So many fathom down precipitating,

Thou had'st 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;
Thy life's a miracle: Speak yet again.
Glo. But have I fallen, or no?

Edg. From the dread summit of this chalky
bourn :

Look up a-height;-the shrill-gorg'd lark so far
Cannot be seen or heard: do but look up.
Glo. Alack, I have no eyes.-

Is wretchedness depriv'd 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 Glo. Too well, too well.

[stand.
Edg.
This is above all strangeness.
Upon the crown o' the cliff, what thing was that
Which parted from you?

Glo.
A poor unfortunate beggar.
Edg. As I stood here below, methought, his

eyes

Were two full moons; he had a thousand noses, Horns welk'd, and wav'd like the enridged sea; It was some fiend: therefore, thou happy father, Think that the clearest gods, who make them honours

Of men's impossibilities, have preserv'd thee.
Glo. 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: be 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: 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.-O, well flown, bird !-i' the clout, i' the clout; hewgh!-Give the word.

Edg. Sweet marjoram.

Lear. Pass.

Glo. I know that voice.

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

Glo. The trick of that voice I do well remem

ber:

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
With a more riotous appetite.

Down from the waist they are centaurs,
Though women all above;

But to the girdle do the gods inherit,

Beneath is all the fiends'; there's hell, there's darkness,

There is the sulphurous pit, burning, scalding, stench, consumption;-Fye, fye, fye; pah; pah! Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination; there's money for thee. Glo. O, let me kiss that hand!

Lear. Let me wipe it first; it smells of mor. tality.

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