Lear. Pr'ythee, go in thyfelf; feek thine own ease This Tempeft will not give me leave to ponder 3 On things would hurt me more-But I'll go in. verty Nay, 'get thee in; I'll pray, and then I'll fleep [Fool goes in. Poor naked wretches, where foe'er you are, That 'bide the pelting of this pitiless storm! 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 doft grumble there i'th' ftraw? Come forth. SCENE VI. 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. • In, boy, co firft.] These two lines were added in the authour's revifion, and are only in the folio They are very judicioufly intended to reprefent that humility, or tenderness, or neglect of forms, which affliction forces on the mind. 2 Humph, go to thy bed] So the folio. The quarto, Go to thy cold bed and warm thee. Lear. Lear. Didit 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 3 led through fire and through flame, through ford and through whirlpool, o'er bog and quagmire; that hath laid knives under his pillow, and halters in his pew; fet ratfbane by his porridge; made him proud of heart, to ride on a bay trotting horfe over four inch'd bridges, to courfe his own hadow for a traitor. Blefs thy five wits; Tom's -cold. O do de, do de, do de. Bless thee from whirl-winds, ftar-blafting, and taking. Do poor Tom tome charity, whom the foul fiend vexes There could I have him now-and there-and here again, and there [Storm ftill. Lear What, have his daughters brought him to this pass? -Couldft thou fave nothing? didft thou give 'em all? 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 fubdued nature To fuch a lownefs, but his unkind daughters. 3 led through fire and through flame,] Alluding to the igis fatuus, fuppofed to be lights kindled by mischievous beings to lead travellers into deftruction. 4 laid knives under his pillow,] He recounts the temptations by which he was prompted to fuicide; the opportunities of detroying himself which often oc curred to him in his melancholy moods. 5 tak ng.] To take is to blast, or ftrike with malignant influ ence. -ftrike her young limbs Ye taking airs with lameness. -pelican daughters.] The young pelican is fabled to fuck the mother's blood. Edg. Edg. Pillicock fat on pillicock-hill, Halloo, halloo, loo, loo! Fool. This cold night will turn us all to fools, and madmen. Edg. Take heed o'th' foul fiend. Obey thy parents. Keep thy word juftly. Swear not. Commit not with man's fworn fpoufe. Set not thy fweet heart on proud array. Tom's a-cold. Lear. What haft thou been? 6 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 dark nefs with her; fwore as many oaths as I fpake words, and broke them in the fweet face of heav'n. One that slept in 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 stealth, wolf in greediness, 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 defy the foul fiend. Still through the hawthorn blows the cold wind: fays fuum, mun, nonny, dolphin my boy, boy, Seffey: let him trot by. 8 [Storm ftill. Dolphins, my boy, ceafe, let him trot by. Of interpreting this there is not much hope or much need. But any thing may be tried. The mad man, now counterfeiting a proud fit, fuppofes himself met on the road by fome one that disputes the way, and cries Hey!--Nobut altering his mind condefcends to let him pafs, and calls to his boy Dolphin [Rodolph] not to contend with him. OnDolphin, my boy, ceafe. Let him trot by. Lear. Lear. Thou wert better in thy grave, than to answer with thy uncover'd body this extremity of the skies. Is man no more than this? Confider him well. Thou ow'ft the worm no filk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the cat no perfume. Ha! here's three of us are fophifticated, thou art the thing itself; unaccommodated man is no more but fuch a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings. Come. Unbutton here. [Tearing off his clothes. Fool. Pr'ythee, nuncle, be contented; 'tis a naughty night to fwim in. Now a little fire in a wild field were like an old lecher'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 •Fliber di= curfew, and walks till the firft cock. He gives the web-gibbet. and the pin, squints the eye, and makes the hair-lip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the poor creature hare-lip. of the earth. 9 Saint Withold footed thrice the Wold, * SCENE Saint Withold footed thrice the He met the night-mare, and her NAME TOLD, Bid her alight, and her troth And aroynt thee, switch, aroynt thee RIGHT. i. e. Saint Withold traverfing the from SCENE VII. Enter Glo'fter, with a Torch. Lear. What's he? Kent. Who's there? what is't you feek? Edg. Poor Tom, that eats the fwimming frog, the toad, the tadpole; the wall-newt, and the waternewt; that in the fury of his heart, when the foul fiend rages, eats cow-dung for fallets, fwallows the old rat, and the ditch dog, drinks the green mantle of the ftanding pool; who is whipt from tything to tything, and stock-punish'd, and imprifon'd: who hath had three fuits to his back, fix fhirts to his body; Horfe to ride, and weapon to wear; 2 But mice, and rats, and fuch small deer from a story of him in his le- Saint George, Saint George, our Lady's Knight, He walks by day, fo he does by And when he hid her found, WARBURTON. In the old quarto the corrup tion is fuch as may deferve to be noted. Swithold footed thrice the old another night Moore and ber nine fold bid her, O light, and her troth plight, and arint thee, with arint thee. 2 -Small deer] Sir Thomas Hanmer reads geer, and is followed by Dr. Warburton. But deer in old language is a general word for wild animals. Be |