The First Web Folio Edition of Shakespeare's Works
A hall in the same. |
[Enter KENT, disguised] |
KENT | If but as well I other accents borrow, | ||
That can my speech defuse, my good intent | |||
May carry through itself to that full issue | |||
For which I razed my likeness. Now, banish'd Kent, | |||
If thou canst serve where thou dost stand condemn'd, | 5 | ||
So may it come, thy master, whom thou lovest, | |||
Shall find thee full of labours. | |||
[Horns within. Enter KING LEAR, Knights, and | |||
Attendants] |
KING LEAR | Let me not stay a jot for dinner; go get it ready. | ||
[Exit an Attendant] | |||
How now! what art thou? |
KENT | A man, sir. | 10 |
KING LEAR | What dost thou profess? what wouldst thou with us? |
KENT | I do profess to be no less than I seem; to serve | ||
him truly that will put me in trust: to love him | |||
that is honest; to converse with him that is wise, | |||
and says little; to fear judgment; to fight when I | 15 | ||
cannot choose; and to eat no fish. |
KING LEAR | What art thou? |
KENT | A very honest-hearted fellow, and as poor as the king. |
KING LEAR | If thou be as poor for a subject as he is for a | ||
king, thou art poor enough. What wouldst thou? | 20 |
KENT | Service. |
KING LEAR | Who wouldst thou serve? |
KENT | You. |
KING LEAR | Dost thou know me, fellow? |
KENT | No, sir; but you have that in your countenance | 25 | |
which I would fain call master. |
KING LEAR | What's that? |
KENT | Authority. |
KING LEAR | What services canst thou do? |
KENT | I can keep honest counsel, ride, run, mar a curious | 30 | |
tale in telling it, and deliver a plain message | |||
bluntly: that which ordinary men are fit for, I am | |||
qualified in; and the best of me is diligence. |
KING LEAR | How old art thou? |
KENT | Not so young, sir, to love a woman for singing, nor | 35 | |
so old to dote on her for any thing: I have years | |||
on my back forty eight. |
KING LEAR | Follow me; thou shalt serve me: if I like thee no | ||
worse after dinner, I will not part from thee yet. | |||
Dinner, ho, dinner! Where's my knave? my fool? | 40 | ||
Go you, and call my fool hither. | |||
[Exit an Attendant] | |||
[Enter OSWALD] | |||
You, you, sirrah, where's my daughter? |
OSWALD | So please you,-- | ||
[Exit] |
KING LEAR | What says the fellow there? Call the clotpoll back. | ||
[Exit a Knight] | |||
Where's my fool, ho? I think the world's asleep. | 45 | ||
[Re-enter Knight] | |||
How now! where's that mongrel? |
Knight | He says, my lord, your daughter is not well. |
KING LEAR | Why came not the slave back to me when I called him. |
Knight | Sir, he answered me in the roundest manner, he would | ||
not. | 50 |
KING LEAR | He would not! |
Knight | My lord, I know not what the matter is; but, to my | ||
judgment, your highness is not entertained with that | |||
ceremonious affection as you were wont; there's a | |||
great abatement of kindness appears as well in the | 55 | ||
general dependants as in the duke himself also and | |||
your daughter. |
KING LEAR | Ha! sayest thou so? |
Knight | I beseech you, pardon me, my lord, if I be mistaken; | ||
for my duty cannot be silent when I think your | 60 | ||
highness wronged. |
KING LEAR | Thou but rememberest me of mine own conception: I | ||
have perceived a most faint neglect of late; which I | |||
have rather blamed as mine own jealous curiosity | |||
than as a very pretence and purpose of unkindness: | 65 | ||
I will look further into't. But where's my fool? I | |||
have not seen him this two days. |
Knight | Since my young lady's going into France, sir, the | ||
fool hath much pined away. |
KING LEAR | No more of that; I have noted it well. Go you, and | 70 | |
tell my daughter I would speak with her. | |||
[Exit an Attendant] | |||
Go you, call hither my fool. | |||
[Exit an Attendant] | |||
[Re-enter OSWALD] | |||
O, you sir, you, come you hither, sir: who am I, | |||
sir? |
OSWALD | My lady's father. | 75 |
KING LEAR | 'My lady's father'! my lord's knave: your | ||
whoreson dog! you slave! you cur! |
OSWALD | I am none of these, my lord; I beseech your pardon. |
KING LEAR | Do you bandy looks with me, you rascal? | ||
[Striking him] |
OSWALD | I'll not be struck, my lord. | 80 |
KENT | Nor tripped neither, you base football player. | ||
[Tripping up his heels] |
KING LEAR | I thank thee, fellow; thou servest me, and I'll | ||
love thee. |
KENT | Come, sir, arise, away! I'll teach you differences: | ||
away, away! if you will measure your lubber's | 85 | ||
length again, tarry: but away! go to; have you | |||
wisdom? so. | |||
[Pushes OSWALD out] |
KING LEAR | Now, my friendly knave, I thank thee: there's | ||
earnest of thy service. | |||
[Giving KENT money] | |||
[Enter Fool] |
Fool | Let me hire him too: here's my coxcomb. | 90 | |
[Offering KENT his cap] |
KING LEAR | How now, my pretty knave! how dost thou? |
Fool | Sirrah, you were best take my coxcomb. |
KENT | Why, fool? |
Fool | Why, for taking one's part that's out of favour: | ||
nay, an thou canst not smile as the wind sits, | 95 | ||
thou'lt catch cold shortly: there, take my coxcomb: | |||
why, this fellow has banished two on's daughters, | |||
and did the third a blessing against his will; if | |||
thou follow him, thou must needs wear my coxcomb. | |||
How now, nuncle! Would I had two coxcombs and two daughters! | 100 |
KING LEAR | Why, my boy? |
Fool | If I gave them all my living, I'ld keep my coxcombs | ||
myself. There's mine; beg another of thy daughters. |
KING LEAR | Take heed, sirrah; the whip. |
Fool | Truth's a dog must to kennel; he must be whipped | 105 | |
out, when Lady the brach may stand by the fire and stink. |
KING LEAR | A pestilent gall to me! |
Fool | Sirrah, I'll teach thee a speech. |
KING LEAR | Do. |
Fool | Mark it, nuncle: | 110 | |
Have more than thou showest, | |||
Speak less than thou knowest, | |||
Lend less than thou owest, | |||
Ride more than thou goest, | |||
Learn more than thou trowest, | 115 | ||
Set less than thou throwest; | |||
Leave thy drink and thy whore, | |||
And keep in-a-door, | |||
And thou shalt have more | |||
Than two tens to a score. | 120 |
KENT | This is nothing, fool. |
Fool | Then 'tis like the breath of an unfee'd lawyer; you | ||
gave me nothing for't. Can you make no use of | |||
nothing, nuncle? |
KING LEAR | Why, no, boy; nothing can be made out of nothing. | 125 |
Fool | [To KENT] Prithee, tell him, so much the rent of | ||
his land comes to: he will not believe a fool. |
KING LEAR | A bitter fool! |
Fool | Dost thou know the difference, my boy, between a | ||
bitter fool and a sweet fool? | 130 |
KING LEAR | No, lad; teach me. |
Fool | That lord that counsell'd thee | ||
To give away thy land, | |||
Come place him here by me, | |||
Do thou for him stand: | 135 | ||
The sweet and bitter fool | |||
Will presently appear; | |||
The one in motley here, | |||
The other found out there. |
KING LEAR | Dost thou call me fool, boy? | 140 |
Fool | All thy other titles thou hast given away; that | ||
thou wast born with. |
KENT | This is not altogether fool, my lord. |
Fool | No, faith, lords and great men will not let me; if | ||
I had a monopoly out, they would have part on't: | 145 | ||
and ladies too, they will not let me have all fool | |||
to myself; they'll be snatching. Give me an egg, | |||
nuncle, and I'll give thee two crowns. |
KING LEAR | What two crowns shall they be? |
Fool | Why, after I have cut the egg i' the middle, and eat | 150 | |
up the meat, the two crowns of the egg. When thou | |||
clovest thy crown i' the middle, and gavest away | |||
both parts, thou borest thy ass on thy back o'er | |||
the dirt: thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown, | |||
when thou gavest thy golden one away. If I speak | 155 | ||
like myself in this, let him be whipped that first | |||
finds it so. | |||
[Singing] | |||
Fools had ne'er less wit in a year; | |||
For wise men are grown foppish, | |||
They know not how their wits to wear, | 160 | ||
Their manners are so apish. |
KING LEAR | When were you wont to be so full of songs, sirrah? |
Fool | I have used it, nuncle, ever since thou madest thy | ||
daughters thy mothers: for when thou gavest them | |||
the rod, and put'st down thine own breeches, | 165 | ||
[Singing] | |||
Then they for sudden joy did weep, | |||
And I for sorrow sung, | |||
That such a king should play bo-peep, | |||
And go the fools among. | |||
Prithee, nuncle, keep a schoolmaster that can teach | 170 | ||
thy fool to lie: I would fain learn to lie. |
KING LEAR | An you lie, sirrah, we'll have you whipped. |
Fool | I marvel what kin thou and thy daughters are: | ||
they'll have me whipped for speaking true, thou'lt | |||
have me whipped for lying; and sometimes I am | 175 | ||
whipped for holding my peace. I had rather be any | |||
kind o' thing than a fool: and yet I would not be | |||
thee, nuncle; thou hast pared thy wit o' both sides, | |||
and left nothing i' the middle: here comes one o' | |||
the parings. | 180 | ||
[Enter GONERIL] |
KING LEAR | How now, daughter! what makes that frontlet on? | ||
Methinks you are too much of late i' the frown. |
Fool | Thou wast a pretty fellow when thou hadst no need to | ||
care for her frowning; now thou art an O without a | |||
figure: I am better than thou art now; I am a fool, | 185 | ||
thou art nothing. | |||
[To GONERIL] | |||
Yes, forsooth, I will hold my tongue; so your face | |||
bids me, though you say nothing. Mum, mum, | |||
He that keeps nor crust nor crum, | |||
Weary of all, shall want some. | 190 | ||
[Pointing to KING LEAR] | |||
That's a shealed peascod. |
GONERIL | Not only, sir, this your all-licensed fool, | ||
But other of your insolent retinue | |||
Do hourly carp and quarrel; breaking forth | |||
In rank and not-to-be endured riots. Sir, | 195 | ||
I had thought, by making this well known unto you, | |||
To have found a safe redress; but now grow fearful, | |||
By what yourself too late have spoke and done. | |||
That you protect this course, and put it on | |||
By your allowance; which if you should, the fault | 200 | ||
Would not 'scape censure, nor the redresses sleep, | |||
Which, in the tender of a wholesome weal, | |||
Might in their working do you that offence, | |||
Which else were shame, that then necessity | |||
Will call discreet proceeding. | 205 |
Fool | For, you trow, nuncle, | ||
The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long, | |||
That it's had it head bit off by it young. | |||
So, out went the candle, and we were left darkling. |
KING LEAR | Are you our daughter? | 210 |
GONERIL | Come, sir, | ||
I would you would make use of that good wisdom, | |||
Whereof I know you are fraught; and put away | |||
These dispositions, that of late transform you | |||
From what you rightly are. | 215 |
Fool | May not an ass know when the cart | ||
draws the horse? Whoop, Jug! I love thee. |
KING LEAR | Doth any here know me? This is not Lear: | ||
Doth Lear walk thus? speak thus? Where are his eyes? | |||
Either his notion weakens, his discernings | 220 | ||
Are lethargied--Ha! waking? 'tis not so. | |||
Who is it that can tell me who I am? |
Fool | Lear's shadow. |
KING LEAR | I would learn that; for, by the | ||
marks of sovereignty, knowledge, and reason, | 225 | ||
I should be false persuaded I had daughters. |
Fool | Which they will make an obedient father. |
KING LEAR | Your name, fair gentlewoman? |
GONERIL | This admiration, sir, is much o' the savour | ||
Of other your new pranks. I do beseech you | 230 | ||
To understand my purposes aright: | |||
As you are old and reverend, you should be wise. | |||
Here do you keep a hundred knights and squires; | |||
Men so disorder'd, so debosh'd and bold, | |||
That this our court, infected with their manners, | 235 | ||
Shows like a riotous inn: epicurism and lust | |||
Make it more like a tavern or a brothel | |||
Than a graced palace. The shame itself doth speak | |||
For instant remedy: be then desired | |||
By her, that else will take the thing she begs, | 240 | ||
A little to disquantity your train; | |||
And the remainder, that shall still depend, | |||
To be such men as may besort your age, | |||
And know themselves and you. |
KING LEAR | Darkness and devils! | 245 | |
Saddle my horses; call my train together: | |||
Degenerate bastard! I'll not trouble thee. | |||
Yet have I left a daughter. |
GONERIL | You strike my people; and your disorder'd rabble | ||
Make servants of their betters. | 250 | ||
[Enter ALBANY] |
KING LEAR | Woe, that too late repents,-- | ||
[To ALBANY] | |||
O, sir, are you come? | |||
Is it your will? Speak, sir. Prepare my horses. | |||
Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend, | |||
More hideous when thou show'st thee in a child | 255 | ||
Than the sea-monster! |
ALBANY | Pray, sir, be patient. |
KING LEAR | [To GONERIL] Detested kite! thou liest. | ||
My train are men of choice and rarest parts, | |||
That all particulars of duty know, | 260 | ||
And in the most exact regard support | |||
The worships of their name. O most small fault, | |||
How ugly didst thou in Cordelia show! | |||
That, like an engine, wrench'd my frame of nature | |||
From the fix'd place; drew from heart all love, | 265 | ||
And added to the gall. O Lear, Lear, Lear! | |||
Beat at this gate, that let thy folly in, | |||
[Striking his head] | |||
And thy dear judgment out! Go, go, my people. |
ALBANY | My lord, I am guiltless, as I am ignorant | ||
Of what hath moved you. | 270 |
KING LEAR | It may be so, my lord. | ||
Hear, nature, hear; dear goddess, hear! | |||
Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend | |||
To make this creature fruitful! | |||
Into her womb convey sterility! | 275 | ||
Dry up in her the organs of increase; | |||
And from her derogate body never spring | |||
A babe to honour her! If she must teem, | |||
Create her child of spleen; that it may live, | |||
And be a thwart disnatured torment to her! | 280 | ||
Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth; | |||
With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks; | |||
Turn all her mother's pains and benefits | |||
To laughter and contempt; that she may feel | |||
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is | 285 | ||
To have a thankless child! Away, away! | |||
[Exit] |
ALBANY | Now, gods that we adore, whereof comes this? |
GONERIL | Never afflict yourself to know the cause; | ||
But let his disposition have that scope | |||
That dotage gives it. | 290 | ||
[Re-enter KING LEAR] |
KING LEAR | What, fifty of my followers at a clap! | ||
Within a fortnight! |
ALBANY | What's the matter, sir? |
KING LEAR | I'll tell thee: | ||
[To GONERIL] | |||
Life and death! I am ashamed | 295 | ||
That thou hast power to shake my manhood thus; | |||
That these hot tears, which break from me perforce, | |||
Should make thee worth them. Blasts and fogs upon thee! | |||
The untented woundings of a father's curse | |||
Pierce every sense about thee! Old fond eyes, | 300 | ||
Beweep this cause again, I'll pluck ye out, | |||
And cast you, with the waters that you lose, | |||
To temper clay. Yea, it is come to this? | |||
Let is be so: yet have I left a daughter, | |||
Who, I am sure, is kind and comfortable: | 305 | ||
When she shall hear this of thee, with her nails | |||
She'll flay thy wolvish visage. Thou shalt find | |||
That I'll resume the shape which thou dost think | |||
I have cast off for ever: thou shalt, | |||
I warrant thee. | 310 | ||
[Exeunt KING LEAR, KENT, and Attendants] |
GONERIL | Do you mark that, my lord? |
ALBANY | I cannot be so partial, Goneril, | ||
To the great love I bear you,-- |
GONERIL | Pray you, content. What, Oswald, ho! | ||
[To the Fool] | |||
You, sir, more knave than fool, after your master. | 315 |
Fool | Nuncle Lear, nuncle Lear, tarry and take the fool | ||
with thee. | |||
A fox, when one has caught her, | |||
And such a daughter, | |||
Should sure to the slaughter, | 320 | ||
If my cap would buy a halter: | |||
So the fool follows after. | |||
[Exit] |
GONERIL | This man hath had good counsel:--a hundred knights! | ||
'Tis politic and safe to let him keep | |||
At point a hundred knights: yes, that, on every dream, | 325 | ||
Each buzz, each fancy, each complaint, dislike, | |||
He may enguard his dotage with their powers, | |||
And hold our lives in mercy. Oswald, I say! |
ALBANY | Well, you may fear too far. |
GONERIL | Safer than trust too far: | 330 | |
Let me still take away the harms I fear, | |||
Not fear still to be taken: I know his heart. | |||
What he hath utter'd I have writ my sister | |||
If she sustain him and his hundred knights | |||
When I have show'd the unfitness,-- | 335 | ||
[Re-enter OSWALD] | |||
How now, Oswald! | |||
What, have you writ that letter to my sister? |
OSWALD | Yes, madam. |
GONERIL | Take you some company, and away to horse: | ||
Inform her full of my particular fear; | 340 | ||
And thereto add such reasons of your own | |||
As may compact it more. Get you gone; | |||
And hasten your return. | |||
[Exit OSWALD] | |||
No, no, my lord, | |||
This milky gentleness and course of yours | 345 | ||
Though I condemn not, yet, under pardon, | |||
You are much more attask'd for want of wisdom | |||
Than praised for harmful mildness. |
ALBANY | How far your eyes may pierce I can not tell: | ||
Striving to better, oft we mar what's well. | 350 |
GONERIL | Nay, then-- |
ALBANY | Well, well; the event. | ||
[Exeunt] |
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