King Lear by William Shakespeare

Act 4 - Scene 6

The country near Dover. Enter Gloucester, and Edgar [like a Peasant].

Earl of Glouchester : When shall I come to th' top of that same hill?

Edgar : You do climb up it now. Look how we labour.

Earl of Glouchester : Methinks the ground is even.

Edgar : Horrible steep. [p]Hark, do you hear the sea?

Earl of Glouchester : No, truly.

Edgar : Why, then, your other senses grow imperfect [p]By your eyes' anguish.

Earl of Glouchester : So may it be indeed. [p]Methinks thy voice is alter'd, and thou
speak'st [p]In better phrase and matter than thou didst.

Edgar : Y'are much deceiv'd. In nothing am I chang'd [p]But in my garments.

Earl of Glouchester : Methinks y'are better spoken.

Edgar : Come on, sir; here's the place. Stand still. How fearful [p]And dizzy
'tis to cast one's eyes so low! [p]The crows and choughs that wing the
midway air [p]Show scarce so gross as beetles. Halfway down [p]Hangs
one that gathers sampire- dreadful trade! [p]Methinks he seems no
bigger than his head. [p]The fishermen that walk upon the
beach [p]Appear like mice; and yond tall anchoring bark, [p]Diminish'd
to her cock; her cock, a buoy [p]Almost too small for sight. The
murmuring surge [p]That on th' unnumb'red idle pebble chafes [p]Cannot
be heard so high. I'll look no more, [p]Lest my brain turn, and the
deficient sight [p]Topple down headlong.

Earl of Glouchester : Set me where you stand.

Edgar : Give me your hand. You are now within a foot [p]Of th' extreme verge.
For all beneath the moon [p]Would I not leap upright.

Earl of Glouchester : Let go my hand. [p]Here, friend, is another purse; in it a
jewel [p]Well worth a poor man's taking. Fairies and gods [p]Prosper
it with thee! Go thou further off; [p]Bid me farewell, and let me hear
thee going.

Edgar : Now fare ye well, good sir.

Earl of Glouchester : With all my heart.

Edgar : [aside]. Why I do trifle thus with his despair [p]Is done to cure it.

Earl of Glouchester : O you mighty gods! He kneels. [p]This world
I do renounce, and, in your sights, [p]Shake patiently my great
affliction off. [p]If I could bear it longer and not fall [p]To
quarrel with your great opposeless wills, [p]My snuff and loathed part
of nature should [p]Burn itself out. If Edgar live, O, bless
him! [p]Now, fellow, fare thee well. [p]
He falls [forward and swoons].

Edgar : Gone, sir, farewell.- [p]And yet I know not how conceit may rob [p]The
treasury of life when life itself [p]Yields to the theft. Had he been
where he thought, [p]By this had thought been past.- Alive or
dead? [p]Ho you, sir! friend! Hear you, sir? Speak!- [p]Thus might he
pass indeed. Yet he revives. [p]What are you, sir?

Earl of Glouchester : Away, and let me die.

Edgar : Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air, [p]So many fadom
down precipitating, [p]Thou'dst shiver'd like an egg; but thou dost
breathe; [p]Hast heavy substance; bleed'st not; speak'st; art
sound. [p]Ten masts at each make not the altitude [p]Which thou hast
perpendicularly fell. [p]Thy life is a miracle. Speak yet again.

Earl of Glouchester : But have I fall'n, or no?

Edgar : From the dread summit of this chalky bourn. [p]Look up a-height. The
shrill-gorg'd lark so far [p]Cannot be seen or heard. Do but look up.

Earl of Glouchester : Alack, I have no eyes! [p]Is wretchedness depriv'd that benefit [p]To
end itself by death? 'Twas yet some comfort [p]When misery could
beguile the tyrant's rage [p]And frustrate his proud will.

Edgar : Give me your arm. [p]Up- so. How is't? Feel you your legs? You stand.

Earl of Glouchester : Too well, too well.

Edgar : This is above all strangeness. [p]Upon the crown o' th' cliff what
thing was that [p]Which parted from you?

Earl of Glouchester : A poor unfortunate beggar.

Edgar : As I stood here below, methought his eyes [p]Were two full moons; he
had a thousand noses,Horns whelk'd and wav'd like the enridged
sea. [p]It was some fiend. Therefore, thou happy father, [p]Think that
the clearest gods, who make them honours [p]Of men's impossibility,
have preserv'd thee.

Earl of Glouchester : I do remember now. Henceforth I'll bear [p]Affliction till it do cry
out itself [p]'Enough, enough,' and die. That thing you speak of, [p]I
took it for a man. Often 'twould say [p]'The fiend, the fiend'- he led
me to that place.

Edgar : Bear free and patient thoughts. [p] Enter Lear, mad, [fantastically
dressed with weeds]. [p]But who comes here? [p]The safer sense will
ne'er accommodate [p]His master thus.

Lear : No, they cannot touch me for coming; [p]I am the King himself.

Edgar : O thou side-piercing sight!

Lear : Nature 's above art in that respect. There's your press [p]money. That
fellow handles his bow like a crow-keeper. Draw me [p]a clothier's
yard. Look, look, a mouse! Peace, peace; this piece [p]of toasted
cheese will do't. There's my gauntlet; I'll prove it [p]on a giant.
Bring up the brown bills. O, well flown, bird! i' [p]th' clout, i' th'
clout! Hewgh! Give the word.

Edgar : Sweet marjoram.

Lear : Pass.

Earl of Glouchester : I know that voice.

Lear : Ha! Goneril with a white beard? They flatter'd me like a dog, [p]and
told me I had white hairs in my beard ere the black ones [p]were
there. To say 'ay' and 'no' to everything I said! 'Ay' and [p]'no' too
was no good divinity. When the rain came to wet me [p]once, and the
wind to make me chatter; when the thunder would [p]not peace at my
bidding; there I found 'em, there I smelt 'em [p]out. Go to, they are
not men o' their words! They told me I was [p]everything. 'Tis a lie-
I am not ague-proof.

Earl of Glouchester : The trick of that voice I do well remember. [p]Is't not the King?

Lear : Ay, every inch a king! [p]When I do stare, see how the subject
quakes. [p]I pardon that man's life. What was thy
cause? [p]Adultery? [p]Thou shalt not die. Die for adultery?
No. [p]The wren goes to't, and the small gilded fly [p]Does lecher in
my sight. [p]Let copulation thrive; for Gloucester's bastard
son [p]Was kinder to his father than my daughters [p]Got 'tween the
lawful sheets. [p]To't, luxury, pell-mell! for I lack
soldiers. [p]Behold yond simp'ring dame, [p]Whose face between her
forks presageth snow, [p]That minces virtue, and does shake the
head [p]To hear of pleasure's name. [p]The fitchew nor the soiled
horse goes to't [p]With a more riotous appetite. [p]Down from the
waist they are Centaurs, [p]Though women all above. [p]But to the
girdle do the gods inherit, [p]Beneath is all the fiend's. [p]There's
hell, there's darkness, there's the sulphurous pit; [p]burning,
scalding, stench, consumption. Fie, fie, fie! pah, pah! [p]Give me an
ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my [p]imagination. There's
money for thee.

Earl of Glouchester : O, let me kiss that hand!

Lear : Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality.

Earl of Glouchester : O ruin'd piece of nature! This great world [p]Shall so wear out to
naught. Dost thou know me?

Lear : I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thou squiny at me? [p]No, do
thy worst, blind Cupid! I'll not love. Read thou this [p]challenge;
mark but the penning of it.

Earl of Glouchester : Were all the letters suns, I could not see one.

Edgar : [aside] I would not take this from report. It is, [p]And my heart
breaks at it.

Lear : Read.

Earl of Glouchester : What, with the case of eyes?

Lear : O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes in your head, nor no [p]money in
your purse? Your eyes are in a heavy case, your purse [p]in a light.
Yet you see how this world goes.

Earl of Glouchester : I see it feelingly.

Lear : What, art mad? A man may see how the world goes with no eyes. [p]Look
with thine ears. See how yond justice rails upon yond [p]simple thief.
Hark in thine ear. Change places and, handy-dandy, [p]which is the
justice, which is the thief? Thou hast seen a [p]farmer's dog bark at
a beggar?

Earl of Glouchester : Ay, sir.

Lear : And the creature run from the cur? There thou mightst behold [p]the
great image of authority: a dog's obeyed in office. [p]Thou rascal
beadle, hold thy bloody hand! [p]Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip
thine own back. [p]Thou hotly lusts to use her in that kind [p]For
which thou whip'st her. The usurer hangs the cozener. [p]Through
tatter'd clothes small vices do appear; [p]Robes and furr'd gowns hide
all. Plate sin with gold, [p]And the strong lance of justice hurtless
breaks; [p]Arm it in rags, a pygmy's straw does pierce it. [p]None
does offend, none- I say none! I'll able 'em. [p]Take that of me, my
friend, who have the power [p]To seal th' accuser's lips. Get thee
glass eyes [p]And, like a scurvy politician, seem [p]To see the things
thou dost not. Now, now, now, now! [p]Pull off my boots. Harder,
harder! So.

Edgar : O, matter and impertinency mix'd! [p]Reason, in madness!

Lear : If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes. [p]I know thee well
enough; thy name is Gloucester. [p]Thou must be patient. We came
crying hither; [p]Thou know'st, the first time that we smell the
air [p]We wawl and cry. I will preach to thee. Mark.

Earl of Glouchester : Alack, alack the day!

Lear : When we are born, we cry that we are come [p]To this great stage of
fools. This' a good block. [p]It were a delicate stratagem to
shoe [p]A troop of horse with felt. I'll put't in proof, [p]And when I
have stol'n upon these sons-in-law, [p]Then kill, kill, kill, kill,
kill, kill!

Gentleman : O, here he is! Lay hand upon him.- Sir, [p]Your most dear daughter-

Lear : No rescue? What, a prisoner? I am even [p]The natural fool of fortune.
Use me well; [p]You shall have ransom. Let me have a surgeon; [p]I am
cut to th' brains.

Gentleman : You shall have anything.

Lear : No seconds? All myself? [p]Why, this would make a man a man of
salt, [p]To use his eyes for garden waterpots, [p]Ay, and laying
autumn's dust.

Gentleman : Good sir-

Lear : I will die bravely, like a smug bridegroom. What! [p]I will be jovial.
Come, come, I am a king; [p]My masters, know you that?

Gentleman : You are a royal one, and we obey you.

Lear : Then there's life in't. Nay, an you get it, you shall get it [p]by
running. Sa, sa, sa, sa!

Gentleman : A sight most pitiful in the meanest wretch, [p]Past speaking of in a
king! Thou hast one daughter [p]Who redeems nature from the general
curse [p]Which twain have brought her to.

Edgar : Hail, gentle sir.

Gentleman : Sir, speed you. What's your will?

Edgar : Do you hear aught, sir, of a battle toward?

Gentleman : Most sure and vulgar. Every one hears that [p]Which can distinguish
sound.

Edgar : But, by your favour, [p]How near's the other army?

Gentleman : Near and on speedy foot. The main descry [p]Stands on the hourly
thought.

Edgar : I thank you sir. That's all.

Gentleman : Though that the Queen on special cause is here, [p]Her army is mov'd
on.

Edgar : I thank you, sir

Earl of Glouchester : You ever-gentle gods, take my breath from me; [p]Let not my worser
spirit tempt me again [p]To die before you please!

Edgar : Well pray you, father.

Earl of Glouchester : Now, good sir, what are you?

Edgar : A most poor man, made tame to fortune's blows, [p]Who, by the art of
known and feeling sorrows, [p]Am pregnant to good pity. Give me your
hand; [p]I'll lead you to some biding.

Earl of Glouchester : Hearty thanks. [p]The bounty and the benison of heaven [p]To boot, and
boot!

Oswald : A proclaim'd prize! Most happy! [p]That eyeless head of thine was
first fram'd flesh [p]To raise my fortunes. Thou old unhappy
traitor, [p]Briefly thyself remember. The sword is out [p]That must
destroy thee.

Earl of Glouchester : Now let thy friendly hand [p]Put strength enough to't.

Oswald : Wherefore, bold peasant, [p]Dar'st thou support a publish'd traitor?
Hence! [p]Lest that th' infection of his fortune take [p]Like hold on
thee. Let go his arm.

Edgar : Chill not let go, zir, without vurther 'cagion.

Oswald : Let go, slave, or thou diest!

Edgar : Good gentleman, go your gait, and let poor voke pass. An chud [p]ha'
bin zwagger'd out of my life, 'twould not ha' bin zo long as [p]'tis
by a vortnight. Nay, come not near th' old man. Keep out, [p]che vore
ye, or Ise try whether your costard or my ballow be the [p]harder.
Chill be plain with you.

Oswald : Out, dunghill!

Edgar : Chill pick your teeth, zir. Come! No matter vor your foins.

Oswald : Slave, thou hast slain me. Villain, take my purse. [p]If ever thou
wilt thrive, bury my body, [p]And give the letters which thou find'st
about me [p]To Edmund Earl of Gloucester. Seek him out [p]Upon the
British party. O, untimely death! Death!

Edgar : I know thee well. A serviceable villain, [p]As duteous to the vices of
thy mistress [p]As badness would desire.

Earl of Glouchester : What, is he dead?

Edgar : Sit you down, father; rest you. [p]Let's see his pockets; these
letters that he speaks of [p]May be my friends. He's dead. I am only
sorry [p]He had no other deathsman. Let us see. [p]Leave, gentle wax;
and, manners, blame us not. [p]To know our enemies' minds, we'ld rip
their hearts; [p]Their papers, is more lawful. Reads the letter. [p]
'Let our reciprocal vows be rememb'red. You have many [p]opportunities
to cut him off. If your will want not, time and [p]place will be
fruitfully offer'd. There is nothing done, if he [p]return the
conqueror. Then am I the prisoner, and his bed my [p]jail; from the
loathed warmth whereof deliver me, and supply the [p]place for your
labour. [p] 'Your (wife, so I would say) affectionate servant,
'Goneril.' [p]O indistinguish'd space of woman's will! [p]A plot upon
her virtuous husband's life, [p]And the exchange my brother! Here in
the sands [p]Thee I'll rake up, the post unsanctified [p]Of murtherous
lechers; and in the mature time [p]With this ungracious paper strike
the sight [p]Of the death-practis'd Duke, For him 'tis well [p]That of
thy death and business I can tell.

Earl of Glouchester : The King is mad. How stiff is my vile sense, [p]That I stand up, and
have ingenious feeling [p]Of my huge sorrows! Better I were
distract. [p]So should my thoughts be sever'd from my griefs, [p]And
woes by wrong imaginations lose [p]The knowledge of themselves.

Edgar : Give me your hand. [p]Far off methinks I hear the beaten
drum. [p]Come, father, I'll bestow you with a friend. Exeunt.

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Next: Act 4 - Scene 7

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