Glou. Methinks y"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. Halfway down Hangs one that gathers sampire- dreadful trade!
Methinks he seems no bigger than his head.
The fishermen that walk upon the beach Appear like mice; and yond tall anchoring bark, Diminish"d to her c.o.c.k; her c.o.c.k, a buoy Almost too small for sight. The murmuring surge That on th" unnumb"red idle pebble chafes Cannot be heard so high. I"ll look no more, Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight Topple down headlong.
Glou. Set me where you stand.
Edg. Give me your hand. You are now within a foot Of th" extreme verge. For all beneath the moon Would I not leap upright.
Glou. Let go my hand.
Here, friend, is another purse; in it a jewel Well worth a poor man"s taking. Fairies and G.o.ds Prosper it with thee! Go thou further off; Bid me farewell, and let me hear thee going.
Edg. Now fare ye well, good sir.
Glou. With all my heart.
Edg. [aside]. Why I do trifle thus with his despair Is done to cure it.
Glou. O you mighty G.o.ds! He kneels.
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.
He falls [forward and swoons].
Edg. 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 pa.s.s indeed. Yet he revives.
What are you, sir?
Glou. Away, and let me die.
Edg. Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air, So many fadom down precipitating, Thou"dst 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 alt.i.tude Which thou hast perpendicularly fell.
Thy life is a miracle. Speak yet again.
Glou. But have I fall"n, 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.
Glou. 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 stand.
Glou. Too well, too well.
Edg. This is above all strangeness.
Upon the crown o" th" cliff what thing was that Which parted from you?
Glou. 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 and wav"d like the enridged sea.
It was some fiend. Therefore, thou happy father, Think that the clearest G.o.ds, who make them honours Of men"s impossibility, have preserv"d thee.
Glou. 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.
Enter Lear, mad, [fantastically dressed with weeds].
But who comes here?
The safer sense will ne"er accommodate His master thus.
Lear. No, they cannot touch me for coming; 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"
th" clout, i" th" clout! Hewgh! Give the word.
Edg. Sweet marjoram.
Lear. Pa.s.s.
Glou. 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 everything 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 "em, there I smelt "em out. Go to, they are not men o" their words! They told me I was everything. "Tis a lie- I am not ague-proof.
Glou. 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 Gloucester"s b.a.s.t.a.r.d son Was kinder to his father than my daughters Got "tween the lawful sheets.
To"t, luxury, pell-mell! for I lack soldiers.
Behold yond simp"ring 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 appet.i.te.
Down from the waist they are Centaurs, Though women all above.
But to the girdle do the G.o.ds inherit, Beneath is all the fiend"s.
There"s h.e.l.l, there"s darkness, there"s the sulphurous pit; burning, scalding, stench, consumption. Fie, fie, fie! pah, pah!
Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination. There"s money for thee.
Glou. O, let me kiss that hand!
Lear. Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality.
Glou. O ruin"d piece of nature! This great world Shall so wear out to naught. Dost thou know me?
Lear. I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thou squiny at me?
No, do thy worst, blind Cupid! I"ll not love. Read thou this challenge; mark but the penning of it.
Glou. Were all the letters suns, I could not see one.
Edg. [aside] I would not take this from report. It is, And my heart breaks at it.
Lear. Read.
Glou. What, with the case of eyes?
Lear. O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes in your head, nor no money in your purse? Your eyes are in a heavy case, your purse in a light. Yet you see how this world goes.
Glou. I see it feelingly.
Lear. What, art mad? A man may see how the world goes with no eyes.
Look with thine ears. See how yond justice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark in thine ear. Change places and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief? Thou hast seen a farmer"s dog bark at a beggar?
Glou. Ay, sir.
Lear. And the creature run from the cur? There thou mightst behold the great image of authority: a dog"s obeyed in office.
Thou rascal beadle, hold thy b.l.o.o.d.y hand!
Why dost thou lash that wh.o.r.e? Strip thine own back.
Thou hotly l.u.s.ts to use her in that kind For which thou whip"st her. The usurer hangs the cozener.
Through tatter"d clothes small vices do appear; Robes and furr"d gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold, And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks; Arm it in rags, a pygmy"s straw does pierce it.
None does offend, none- I say none! I"ll able "em.
Take that of me, my friend, who have the power To seal th" accuser"s lips. Get thee gla.s.s eyes And, like a scurvy politician, seem To see the things thou dost not. Now, now, now, now!
Pull off my boots. Harder, harder! So.
Edg. O, matter and impertinency mix"d!
Reason, in madness!
Lear. If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes.
I know thee well enough; thy name is Gloucester.
Thou must be patient. We came crying hither; Thou know"st, the first time that we smell the air We wawl and cry. I will preach to thee. Mark.
Glou. Alack, alack the day!
Lear. When we are born, we cry that we are come To this great stage of fools. This" a good block.
It were a delicate stratagem to shoe A troop of horse with felt. I"ll put"t in proof, And when I have stol"n upon these sons-in-law, Then kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!
Enter a Gentleman [with Attendants].