No, but not yet:-may be, he is not well: Whereto our health is bound; we are not ourselves, When nature, being oppress'd, commands the mind And am fallen out with my more headier will, For the sound man.-Death on my state! wherefore [looking on Kent. Should he sit here? This act persuades me, That this remotion of the duke and her Is practice only. Give me my servant forth: Till it cry, Sleep to death. Glo. I'd have all well betwixt you. [Exit. Lear. O me, my heart, my rising heart!-but, down. Fool. Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the. eels, when she put them i'the paste alive; she rapp'd 'em o'the coxcombs with a stick, and cry'd, Down, wantons, down: 'Twas her brother, that, in pure kindness to his horse, butter'd his hay. Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, GLOSTER, and Servants. Hail to your grace! [Kent is set at liberty. Reg. I am glad to see your highness. Lear. Regan, I think you are; I know what reason I have to think so: if thou should'st not be glad, I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb, Sepulch'ring an adultress.-O, are you free? [to Kent. Some other time for that.-Beloved Regan, Reg. I pray you, sir, take patience; I have hope, Than she to scant her duty. Lear. Say, how is that? Reg. I cannot think, my sister in the least Lear. My curses on her! Reg. O, sir, you are old; Nature in you stands on the very verge Of her confíne: you should be rul'd, and led Say, you have wrong'd her, sir. Do Lear. Ask her forgiveness? you but mark how this becomes the house 45. Dear daughter, I confess that I am old; [kneeling. That you'll couchsafe me raiment, bed, and food. Reg. Good sir, no more; these are unsightly tricks. Return you Lear. to my sister. Never, Regan: She hath abated me of half my train; Look'd black upon me; struck me with her tongue, Most serpent-like, upon the very heart : All the stor❜d vengeances of heaven fall On her ingrateful top! Strike her young bones, You taking airs, with lameness! Corn. Fie, fie, fie! Lear. You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames Into her scornful eyes! Infect her beauty, You fen-suck'd fogs, drawn by the powerful sun, To fall and blast her pride! Reg. Thee o'er to harshness; her eyes are fierce, but thine Thy half o'the kingdom hast thou not forgot, Wherein I thee endow'd. Reg. I know't, my sister's: this approves her letter, That she would soon be here.-Is your lady come? Lear. This is a slave, whose easy-borrow'd pride Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows:Out, varlet, from my sight! Corn. What means your grace? Lear. Who stock'd my servant? Regan, I have good hope Thou didst not know of't.-Who comes here? O heavens, Enter GONERIL. If you do love old men, if your sweet sway Allow obedience, if yourselves are old, Make it your cause; send down, and take my part! Art not asham'd to look upon this beard? - O, Regan, wilt thou take her by the hand? [to Gon. Gon. Why not by the hand, sir? How have I offended? All's not offence, that indiscretion finds, And dotage terms so. Lear. O, sides, you are too tough! Will you yet hold?-How came my man i'the stocks? Corn. I set him there, sir: but his own disorders Deserv'd much less advancement. Lear. You! did you? Reg. I pray you, father, being weak, seem so. Gon. [Looking on the Steward. At your choice, sir. Lear. I pr'ythee, daughter, do not make me mad; I will not trouble thee, my child; farewell: We'll no more meet, no more see one another :- Or, rather, a disease that's in my flesh, A plague-sore, an embossed carbuncle, |