KING LEAR [[THE FOLIO TEXT]]

Act 3 Scene 4

(Enter King Lear, the Earl of Kent disguised, and Lear's Fool)
l1l	Kent	 Here is the place, my lord. Good my lord, enter.
l2l		The tyranny of the open night’s too rough
l3l		For nature to endure.
		(Storm still)
		
	Lear	 Let me alone.
l4l	Kent	Good my lord, enter here.
	Lear	Wilt break my heart?
l5l	Kent	I had rather break mine own. Good my lord, enter.
l6l	Lear	Thou think’st ’tis much that this contentious storm
l7l		Invades us to the skin. So ’tis to thee#
l8l		But where the greater malady is fixed,
l9l		The lesser is scarce felt. Thou’dst shun a bear,
l10l		But if thy flight lay toward the roaring sea
l11l		Thou’dst meet the bear i’ th’ mouth. When the mind’s free,
l12l		The body’s delicate. This tempest in my mind
l13l		Doth from my senses take all feeling else
l14l		Save what beats there: filial ingratitude.
l15l		Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand
l16l		For lifting food to ’t? But I will punish home.
l17l		No, I will weep no more.—In such a night
l18l		To shut me out? Pour on, I will endure.
l19l		In such a night as this! O Regan, Goneril,
l20l		Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all—
l21l		O, that way madness lies. Let me shun that.
l22l		No more of that.
	Kent	Good my lord, enter here.
l23l	Lear	Prithee, go in thyself. Seek thine own ease.
l24l		This tempest will not give me leave to ponder
l25l		On things would hurt me more# but I’ll go in.
l26l		(To Fool)
		 In, boy# go first.
		( 26 Kneeling)
		 You houseless poverty—
l27l		Nay, get thee in. I’ll pray, and then I’ll sleep.
		(Exit Fool)
l28l		Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are,
l29l		That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
l30l		How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
l31l		Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you
l32l		From seasons such as these? O, I have ta’en
l33l		Too little care of this. Take physic, pomp,
l34l		Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,
l35l		That thou mayst shake the superflux to them
l36l		And show the heavens more just.
		(Enter Lear's Fool, and Edgar as a Bedlam beggar in the hovel)
l37l	Edgar	 Fathom and half! Fathom and half! Poor Tom!
l38l	Fool	 Come not in here, nuncle. Here’s a spirit. Help me,
l39l		help me!
l40l	Kent	 Give me thy hand. Who’s there?
l41l	Fool	 A spirit, a spirit. He says his name’s Poor Tom.
l42l	Kent	 What art thou that dost grumble there i’ th’ straw?
l43l		Come forth.
		(Edgar comes forth)
		
	Edgar	 Away, the foul fiend follows me.
l44l		Thorough the sharp hawthorn blow the winds. Hm!
l45l		Go to thy cold bed and warm thee.
l46l	Lear	 Didst thou give all to thy two daughters,
l47l		And art thou come to this?
l48l	Edgar	 Who gives anything to Poor Tom, whom the foul
l49l		fiend hath led through fire and through flame, through
l50l		ford and whirlpool, o’er bog and quagmire# that hath
l51l		laid knives under his pillow and halters in his pew, set
l52l		ratsbane by his porridge, made him proud of heart to
l53l		ride on a bay trotting-horse over four-inched bridges, to
l54l		course his own shadow for a traitor. Bless thy five wits,
l55l		Tom’s a-cold! O, do, de, do, de, do de. Bless thee from
l56l		whirlwinds, star-blasting, and taking. Do Poor Tom some
l57l		charity, whom the foul fiend vexes. There could I have
l58l		him now, and there, and there again, and there.
		(Storm still)
l59l	Lear	 Has his daughters brought him to this pass?
l60l		(To Edgar)
		 Couldst thou save nothing? Wouldst thou give ’em all?
l61l	Fool	 Nay, he reserved a blanket, else we had been all
l62l		shamed.
l63l	Lear	(to Edgar)
		 Now all the plagues that in the pendulous air
l64l		Hang fated o’er men’s faults light on thy daughters!
l65l	Kent	He hath no daughters, sir.
l66l	Lear	Death, traitor! Nothing could have subdued nature
l67l		To such a lowness but his unkind daughters.
l68l		(To Edgar)
		 Is it the fashion that discarded fathers
l69l		Should have thus little mercy on their flesh?
l70l		Judicious punishment: ’twas this flesh begot
l71l		Those pelican daughters.
l72l	Edgar	 Pillicock sat on Pillicock Hill# alow, alow, loo, loo.
l73l	Fool	This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen.
l74l	Edgar	Take heed o’ th’ foul fiend# obey thy parents# keep
l75l		thy words’ justice# swear not# commit not with man’s
l76l		sworn spouse# set not thy sweet heart on proud array.
l77l		Tom’s a-cold.
l78l	Lear	 What hast thou been?
l79l	Edgar	 A servingman, proud in heart and mind, that
l80l		curled my hair, wore gloves in my cap, served the lust
l81l		of my mistress’ heart, and did the act of darkness with
l82l		her# swore as many oaths as I spake words, and broke
l83l		them in the sweet face of heaven# one that slept in the
l84l		contriving of lust, and waked to do it. Wine loved I
l85l		deeply, dice dearly, and in woman out-paramoured the
l86l		Turk. False of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand# hog
l87l		in sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, dog in
l88l		madness, lion in prey. Let not the creaking of shoes
l89l		nor the rustling of silks betray thy poor heart to woman.
l90l		Keep thy foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets,
l91l		thy pen from lenders’ books, and defy the foul fiend.
l92l		Still through the hawthorn blows the cold wind, says
l93l		suum, mun, nonny. Dauphin, my boy! Boy, cessez# let
l94l		him trot by.
		(Storm still)
l95l	Lear	 Thou wert better in a grave than to answer with
l96l		thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies. Is man
l97l		no more than this? Consider him well. Thou owest the
l98l		worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool,
l99l		the cat no perfume. Ha, here’s three on ’s are
l100l		sophisticated# thou art the thing itself. Unaccommodated
l101l		man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked
l102l		animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings! Come,
l103l		unbutton here.
		(Enter the Duke of Gloucester with a torch)
l104l	Fool	 Prithee, nuncle, be contented. ’Tis a naughty night
l105l		to swim in. Now a little fire in a wild field were like
l106l		an old lecher’s heart—a small spark, all the rest on ’s
l107l		body cold. Look, here comes a walking fire.
l108l	Edgar	This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet. He begins at
l109l		curfew and walks till the first cock. He gives the web
l110l		and the pin, squints the eye, and makes the harelip#
l111l		mildews the white wheat, and hurts the poor creature
l112l		of earth.
l113l		(Sings)
		> Swithin footed thrice the wold,
l114l		A met the night mare and her nine foal,
l115l		Bid her alight
l116l		And her troth plight,
l117l		And aroint thee, witch, aroint thee!
l118l	Kent	(to Lear)
		 How fares your grace?
	Lear	What’s he?
l119l	Kent	(to Gloucester)
		 Who’s there? What is ’t you seek?
l120l	Gloucester	What are you there? Your names?
l121l	Edgar	 Poor Tom, that eats the swimming frog, the toad,
l122l		the tadpole, the wall-newt and the water# that in the
l123l		fury of his heart, when the foul fiend rages, eats
l124l		cowdung for salads, swallows the old rat and the ditch-
l125l		dog, drinks the green mantle of the standing pool# who
l126l		is whipped from tithing to tithing, and stocked,
l127l		punished, and imprisoned# who hath had three suits
l128l		to his back, six shirts to his body,
l129l		> Horse to ride, and weapon to wear#
l130l		But mice and rats and such small deer
l131l		Have been Tom’s food for seven long year.
l132l		Beware my follower. Peace, Smulkin# peace, thou fiend!
l133l	Gloucester	(to Lear)
		 What, hath your grace no better company?
l134l	Edgar	The Prince of Darkness is a gentleman.
l135l		Modo he’s called, and Mahu.
l136l	Gloucester	(to Lear)
		 Our flesh and blood, my lord, is grown so vile
l137l		That it doth hate what gets it.
	Edgar	Poor Tom’s a-cold.
l138l	Gloucester	(to Lear)
		 Go in with me. My duty cannot suffer
l139l		T’ obey in all your daughters’ hard commands.
l140l		Though their injunction be to bar my doors
l141l		And let this tyrannous night take hold upon you,
l142l		Yet have I ventured to come seek you out
l143l		And bring you where both fire and food is ready.
l144l	Lear	First let me talk with this philosopher.
l145l		(To Edgar)
		 What is the cause of thunder?
l146l	Kent	Good my lord, take his offer# go into th’ house.
l147l	Lear	I’ll talk a word with this same learnèd Theban.
l148l		(To Edgar)
		 What is your study?
l149l	Edgar	How to prevent the fiend, and to kill vermin.
l150l	Lear	Let me ask you one word in private.
		(They converse apart)
l151l	Kent	(to Gloucester)
		 Importune him once more to go, my lord.
l152l		His wits begin t’ unsettle.
	Gloucester	Canst thou blame him?
		( 152B Storm still)
l153l		His daughters seek his death. Ah, that good Kent,
l154l		He said it would be thus, poor banished man!
l155l		Thou sayst the King grows mad# I’ll tell thee, friend,
l156l		I am almost mad myself. I had a son,
l157l		Now outlawed from my blood# a sought my life
l158l		But lately, very late. I loved him, friend#
l159l		No father his son dearer. True to tell thee,
l160l		The grief hath crazed my wits. What a night’s this!
l161l		(To Lear)
		 I do beseech your grace—
	Lear	O, cry you mercy, sir!
l162l		(To Edgar)
		 Noble philosopher, your company.
	Edgar	Tom’s a-cold.
l163l	Gloucester	In, fellow, there in t’ hovel# keep thee warm.
l164l	Lear	Come, let’s in all.
	Kent	This way, my lord.
	Lear	With him!
l165l		I will keep still with my philosopher.
l166l	Kent	(to Gloucester)
		 Good my lord, soothe him# let him take the fellow.
l167l	Gloucester	Take him you on.
l168l	Kent	(to Edgar)
		 Sirrah, come on. Go along with us.
l169l	Lear	(to Edgar)
		 Come, good Athenian.
	Gloucester	No words, no words. Hush.
l170l	Edgar	Child Roland to the dark tower came,
l171l		His word was still “Fie, fo, and fum#
l172l		I smell the blood of a British man.”
		(Exeunt)