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Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master:
If thou should'st dally half an hour, his life,
With thine, and all that offer to defend him,
Stand in assured loss: Take up, take up;
And follow me, that will to some provision
Give thee quick conduct.

Kent.

Oppress'd nature sleeps:This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken senses, Which, if convenience will not allow,

Stand in hard cure. Come, help to bear thy master;

Thou must not stay behind.

Glo.

[To the Fool.

Come, come, away.

[Exeunt KENT, GLOSTER, and the Fool,
bearing off the King.

Edg. When we our betters see bearing our woes,
We scarcely think our miseries our foes.
Who alone suffers, suffers most i'the mind;
Leaving free things, and happy shows, behind:
But then the mind much sufferance doth o'erskip,
When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship.
How light and portable my pain seems now,

When that, which makes me bend, makes the king bow;
He childed, as I father'd!-Tom, away:

Mark the high noises; and thyself bewray,"

When false opinion, whose wrong thought defiles thee,
In thy just proof, repeals, and reconciles thee.

What will hap more to-night, safe scape the king!
Lurk, lurk.

[Exit.

SCENE VII.

A Room in Gloster's Castle.

Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, GONERIL, EDMUND, and Servants.

Corn. Post speedily to my lord your husband; show

-free things,] States clear from distress.-JOHNSON.

Mark the high noises; and thyself bewray,] Attend to the great events that are approaching, and make thyself known when that false opinion now prevailing against thee shall, in consequence of just proof of thy integrity, revoke its erroneous sentence. To bewray is to discover.-JOHNSON and STEEVENS.

him this letter: the army of France is landed :-Seek [Exeunt some of the Servants.

out the villain Gloster.

Reg. Hang him instantly.
Gon. Pluck out his eyes.

Corn. Leave him to my displeasure. - Edmund, keep you our sister company; the revenges we are bound to take upon your traitorous father, are not fit for your beholding. Advise the duke, where you are going, to a most festinate preparation; we are bound to the like. Our posts shall be swift, and intelligent betwixt us. Farewell, dear sister;-farewell, my lord of Gloster.'

Enter Steward.

How now? Where's the king?

Stew. My lord of Gloster hath convey'd him hence: Some five or six and thirty of his knights,

Hot questrists" after him, met him at gate;
Who, with some other of the lord's dependants,

Are gone with him towards Dover; where they boast
To have well-armed friends.

Corn.

Get horses for your mistress.

Gon. Farewell, sweet lord, and sister.

[Exeunt GONERIL and EDMUND.

Corn. Edmund, farewell.-Go, seek the traitor Gloster,

Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us:

[Exeunt other Servants.

Though well we may not pass upon his life

Without the form of justice; yet our power

Shall do a courtesy to our wrath, which men

May blame, but not control. Who's there? The traitor?

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Re-enter Servants, with GLOSTER.

Reg. Ingrateful fox! 'tis he.

Corn. Bind fast his corky arms.

festinate-] i. e. Husty.

my lord of Gloster.] Meaning Edmund, newly invested with his father's titles. The steward, speaking immediately after, mentions the old earl by the same title.-JOHNSON.

questrists-] i. e. Persons who go in search or quest of another.

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Glo. What mean your graces?-Good my friends,

consider

You are my guests: do me no foul play, friends.

Corn. Bind him, I say.

Reg.

[Servants bind him.

Hard, hard:-O filthy traitor!

Glo. Unmerciful lady as you are, I am none.

Corn. To this chair bind him :-Villain, thou shalt

find

[REGAN plucks his Beard.

Glo. By the kind gods, 'tis most ignobly done

To pluck me by the beard.

Reg. So white, and such a traitor!

Glo.
Naughty lady,
These hairs, which thou dost ravish from my chin,
Will quicken, and accuse thee: I am your host;
With robbers' hands, my hospitable favours"
You should not ruffle thus. What will you do?

Corn. Come, sir, what letters had you late from
France?

Reg. Be simple-answer'd, for we know the truth.

Corn. And what confederacy have you with the traitors Late footed in the kingdom?

Reg. To whose hands have you sent the lunatick king? Speak.

Glo. I have a letter guessingly set down,

Which came from one that's of a neutral heart,

And not from one oppos'd.

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To Dover? Wast thou not charg'd at thy peril

Corn. Wherefore to Dover? Let him first answer that. Glo. I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the

course.a

Reg. Wherefore to Dover?

Will quicken,] i. e. Quicken into life.-M. MASON.

favours-] i. e. Features. The different parts of which a face is composed.-STEEVENS.

the course.] The running of the dogs upon me.-JOHNSON.

Glo. Because I would not see thy cruel nails Pluck out his poor old eyes; nor thy fierce sister In his anointed flesh stick boarish fangs.

The sea, with such a storm as his bare head

In hell-black night endur'd, would have buoy'd up,
And quench'd the stelled fires: yet, poor old heart,
He holp the heavens to rain.

If wolves had at thy gate howl'd that stern time,
Thou should'st have said, Good porter, turn the key;
All cruels else subscrib'd:-But I shall see

The winged vengeance overtake such children.

Corn. See it shalt thou never :-Fellows, hold the chair:

Upon these eyes of thine I'll set my foot.

[GLOSTER is held down in his Chair, while CORNWALL plucks out one of his Eyes, and sets his Foot on it.

Glo. He that will think to live till he be old,

Give me some help :-O cruel! O ye gods!

Reg. One side will mock another; the other too.
Corn. If you see vengeance,-

Serv.

Hold your hand, my lord:

I have serv'd you ever since I was a child;
But better service have I never done you,
Than now to bid you hold.

Reg.

How now, you dog?

Serv. If you did wear a beard upon your chin, I'd shake it on this quarrel: What do you mean?

Corn. My villain !d

[Draws and runs at him.

Serv. Nay, then come on, and take the chance of anger. [Draws. They fight. CORNWALL is wounded. Reg. Give me thy sword.-[To another Servant.] A peasant stand up thus!

[Snatches a Sword, comes behind, and stabs him. Serv. O, I am slain !-My lord, you have one eye left To see some mischief on him :-0!

b

c

JOHNSON.

[Dies.

stelled,] i. e. Fixed, from stell, a fixed place of abode.-NARES. subscrib'd.] Yielded, submitted to the necessity of the occasion.

My villain!] The word is here used in its original sense of one in servitude. STEEVENS.

Corn. Lest it see more, prevent it:-Out, vile jelly! Where is thy lustre now?

[Tears out GLOSTER's other Eye, and throws it on the Ground.

Glo. All dark and comfortless.-Where's my son Edmund?

Edmund enkindle all the sparks of nature,

To quit this horrid act.

Reg.

Out, treacherous villain!

Thou call'st on him that hates thee: it was he
That made the overture of thy treasons to us;

Who is too good to pity thee.

Glo.

Then Edgar was abus'd.

O my follies!

Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him!

Reg. Go, thrust him out at gates, and let him smell His way to Dover.-How is't, my lord? How look you ? Corn. I have receiv'd a hurt :-Follow me, lady.Turn out that eyeless villain ;-throw this slave Upon the dunghill.—Regan, I bleed apace : Untimely come this hurt: give me your arm.

[Exit CORNWALL, led by REGAN ;-Servants unbind GLOSTER, and lead him out. 1 Serv. I'll never care what wickedness I do, If this man come to good.

2 Serv.

If she live long, And, in the end, meet the old course of death,' Women will all turn monsters.

1 Serv. Let's follow the old earl, and get the bedlam To lead him where he would; his roguish madness Allows itself to any thing.

2 Serv. Go thou; I'll fetch some flax, and whites of

eggs,

To apply to his bleeding face. Now, heaven help him! [Exeunt severally.

the overture of thy treasons-] Overture is here used for an opening or discovery. It was he who first laid thy treasons open to us.-MALONE. the old course of death,] that is, die a natural death.-MALONE.

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