King Lear by William Shakespeare

Act 3 - Scene 6

A farmhouse near Gloucester’s Castle.

Earl of Glouchester : Here is better than the open air; take it thankfully. I will [p]piece
out the comfort with what addition I can. I will not be [p]long from
you.

Earl of Kent : All the power of his wits have given way to his impatience. [p]The
gods reward your kindness!

Edgar : Frateretto calls me, and tells me Nero is an angler in the [p]lake of
darkness. Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend.

Fool : Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a gentleman or
a [p]yeoman.

Lear : A king, a king!

Fool : No, he's a yeoman that has a gentleman to his son; for he's a [p]mad
yeoman that sees his son a gentleman before him.

Lear : To have a thousand with red burning spits [p]Come hizzing in upon
'em-

Edgar : The foul fiend bites my back.

Fool : He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's [p]health, a
boy's love, or a whore's oath.

Lear : It shall be done; I will arraign them straight. [p][To Edgar] Come,
sit thou here, most learned justicer. [p][To the Fool] Thou, sapient
sir, sit here. Now, you she-foxes!

Edgar : Look, where he stands and glares! Want'st thou eyes at
trial, [p]madam? [p] Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me.

Fool : Her boat hath a leak, [p] And she must not speak [p] Why
she dares not come over to thee.

Edgar : The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a
nightingale. [p]Hoppedance cries in Tom's belly for two white herring.
Croak [p]not, black angel; I have no food for thee.

Earl of Kent : How do you, sir? Stand you not so amaz'd. [p]Will you lie down and
rest upon the cushions?

Lear : I'll see their trial first. Bring in their evidence. [p][To Edgar]
Thou, robed man of justice, take thy place. [p][To the Fool] And thou,
his yokefellow of equity, [p]Bench by his side. [To Kent] You are o'
th' commission, [p]Sit you too.

Edgar : Let us deal justly. [p] Sleepest or wakest thou, jolly
shepherd? [p] Thy sheep be in the corn; [p] And for one
blast of thy minikin mouth [p] Thy sheep shall take no
harm. [p]Purr! the cat is gray.

Lear : Arraign her first. 'Tis Goneril. I here take my oath before [p]this
honourable assembly, she kicked the poor King her father.

Fool : Come hither, mistress. Is your name Goneril?

Lear : She cannot deny it.

Fool : Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool.

Lear : And here's another, whose warp'd looks proclaim [p]What store her
heart is made on. Stop her there! [p]Arms, arms! sword! fire!
Corruption in the place! [p]False justicer, why hast thou let her
scape?

Edgar : Bless thy five wits!

Earl of Kent : O pity! Sir, where is the patience now [p]That you so oft have boasted
to retain?

Edgar : [aside] My tears begin to take his part so much [p]They'll mar my
counterfeiting.

Lear : The little dogs and all, [p]Tray, Blanch, and Sweetheart, see, they
bark at me.

Edgar : Tom will throw his head at them. Avaunt, you curs! [p] Be thy
mouth or black or white, [p] Tooth that poisons if it bite; [p]
Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim, [p] Hound or spaniel, brach
or lym, [p] Bobtail tyke or trundle-tail- [p] Tom will make
them weep and wail; [p] For, with throwing thus my head, [p]
Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled. [p]Do de, de, de. Sessa! Come,
march to wakes and fairs and market [p]towns. Poor Tom, thy horn is
dry.

Lear : Then let them anatomize Regan. See what breeds about her [p]heart. Is
there any cause in nature that makes these hard [p]hearts? [To Edgar]
You, sir- I entertain you for one of my [p]hundred; only I do not like
the fashion of your garments. You'll [p]say they are Persian attire;
but let them be chang'd.

Earl of Kent : Now, good my lord, lie here and rest awhile.

Lear : Make no noise, make no noise; draw the curtains. [p]So, so, so. We'll
go to supper i' th' morning. So, so, so.

Fool : And I'll go to bed at noon.

Earl of Glouchester : Come hither, friend. Where is the King my master?

Earl of Kent : Here, sir; but trouble him not; his wits are gone.

Earl of Glouchester : Good friend, I prithee take him in thy arms. [p]I have o'erheard a
plot of death upon him. [p]There is a litter ready; lay him
in't [p]And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet [p]Both
welcome and protection. Take up thy master. [p]If thou shouldst dally
half an hour, his life, [p]With thine, and all that offer to defend
him, [p]Stand in assured loss. Take up, take up! [p]And follow me,
that will to some provision [p]Give thee quick conduct.

Earl of Kent : Oppressed nature sleeps. [p]This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken
senses, [p]Which, if convenience will not allow, [p]Stand in hard
cure. [To the Fool] Come, help to bear thy master. [p]Thou must not
stay behind.

Earl of Glouchester : Come, come, away!

Edgar : When we our betters see bearing our woes, [p]We scarcely think our
miseries our foes. [p]Who alone suffers suffers most i' th'
mind, [p]Leaving free things and happy shows behind; [p]But then the
mind much sufferance doth o'erskip [p]When grief hath mates, and
bearing fellowship. [p]How light and portable my pain seems
now, [p]When that which makes me bend makes the King bow, [p]He
childed as I fathered! Tom, away! [p]Mark the high noises, and thyself
bewray [p]When false opinion, whose wrong thought defiles thee, [p]In
thy just proof repeals and reconciles thee. [p]What will hap more
to-night, safe scape the King! [p]Lurk, lurk.
[Exit.]

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