Lear.
Good morrow to you both.

Corn.
Hail to your grace! [Kent is set ^note at liberty.

Reg.
I am glad to see your highness.

Lear.
Regan, I think you ^note are; I know what reason
I have to think so: if thou shouldst not ^note be glad,
I would divorce ^note me from thy mother's ^note tomb ^note,
Sepulchring an adultress. [To Kent ^note] O ^note, are you free?
Some other time for that. Beloved Regan,
Thy sister's ^note naught: O Regan, she hath tied
Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, ^note like a vulture, here: ^note [Points to his heart. ^note

I can scarce speak to thee; thou'lt ^note not believe
With how depraved ^note a quality— ^noteO Regan!

Reg.
I pray you ^note, sir, take patience: I have hope
You less know how to value her desert
Than she to scant ^note her duty.

Lear.
Say, how is ^note that?

Reg.
I cannot think my sister in the least
Would fail her obligation: if, sir, ^note perchance
She have restrain'd the riots of your followers,
'Tis on such ground and to such wholesome end
As clears her from all blame. ^note

Lear.
My curses on her!

Reg.
O, sir, you are old;
Nature in you ^note stands on the very verge
Of her ^note confine: you should be ruled and led
By some discretion that discerns your state
Better than you ^note yourself. Therefore I pray you
That to our sister you do make return; ^note
Say you have wrong'd her, sir. ^note

Lear.
Ask her ^note forgiveness?
Do you but ^note mark how this becomes the house: ^{note note} [Kneeling ^note]
‘Dear daughter, I confess that I am old;

Age is unnecessary: on my knees I beg
That you'll vouchsafe me raiment, bed and food.’

Reg.
Good sir, no more; these are unsightly tricks:
Return you to my sister.

Lear. [Rising ^note]
Never ^note, Regan:
She hath abated me of half my train;
Look'd black ^note upon me; struck ^note me with her tongue,
Most serpent-like, upon the very heart:
All the stored vengeances of heaven fall
On her ingrateful ^note top ^note! Strike her young bones,
You taking ^note airs, with lameness. ^note

Corn.
Fie, sir, fie ^note!

Lear. ^note
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 ^note fall ^note and blast her pride. ^note

Reg.
O the ^note blest gods! so will you wish on me,
When the rash mood is on. ^note

Lear.
No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curse:
Thy ^note tender-hefted ^note nature shall not give
Thee ^note o'er ^note to harshness ^note: her ^note eyes are fierce, but thine

Do comfort and not burn. 'Tis not in thee
To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train, ^note
To bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes,
And in conclusion to oppose the bolt
Against my coming in: thou better know'st ^note
The offices of nature, bond of childhood,
Effects of courtesy, dues ^note of gratitude;
Thy half o' the kingdom hast thou ^note not forgot,
Wherein I thee endow'd ^note.

Reg.
Good sir, to the ^note purpose.

Lear.
Who put my man i' the stocks? [Tucket within. ^note

Corn.
What trumpet's that?

Reg.
I know't; my ^note sister's ^note: this approves her letter ^note,
That she would soon be here. Enter Oswald. ^note
Is your lady come?

Lear.
This is a slave whose easy-borrow'd ^note pride
Dwells in the fickle ^note grace of her he ^note follows.
Out, varlet, from my sight!

Corn.
What means your grace? ^note

Lear. ^note
Who stock'd ^note my servant? Regan, I have ^note good hope

Thou didst not know on't ^note. Who ^note comes here? Enter Goneril. ^note
O heavens ^note, ^note
If you do love old men, if your ^note sweet sway
Allow ^note obedience, if ^note yourselves are old,
Make it your cause; send down, and take my part! ^note [To Gon. ^note]
Art not ashamed to look upon this beard?
O Regan, wilt thou ^note take her by the hand?

Gon.
Why not by the hand, sir? How have I offended?
All's not offence that indiscretion finds ^note
And dotage terms so.

Lear.
O sides, you are too tough;
Will you yet hold? ^note How came my man i' the stocks? ^note

Corn.
I set him there, sir ^note: but his own disorders
Deserved much less ^note advancement.

Lear.
You! did you?

Reg.
I pray you, father, being weak ^note, seem so ^note.
If, till the expiration of your month ^note,
You will return and sojourn with my sister,
Dismissing half your train, come then to me:
I am ^note now from home and out of that provision
Which shall be needful for your entertainment.

Lear.
Return to her, and fifty men dismiss'd?
No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose

To wage ^note against the enmity o' the ^note air,
To be a comrade with the wolf and owl,— ^{note note}
Necessity's sharp pinch! Return with her?
Why, the hot-blooded ^note France, that dowerless took
Our youngest born, I could as well be brought ^note
To knee ^note his throne, and, squire-like, pension beg ^note
To keep base life afoot. Return with her?
Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter
To this detested groom. [Pointing ^note at Oswald.

Gon.
At your choice, sir.

Lear.
I ^note prithee, daughter, do not make me mad:
I will not trouble thee, my child; farewell:
We'll no more meet, no more see one another:
But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter;
Or rather a disease that's in ^note my flesh,
Which I must needs call mine: thou art a boil ^note,
A plague-sore ^note, an ^note embossed carbuncle,
In my ^note corrupted blood. But I'll not chide thee;
Let shame come when it will, I do not call it ^note:
I do not bid the thunder-bearer ^note shoot,
Nor tell tales ^note of thee to high-judging ^note Jove:
Mend when thou canst; be better at thy leisure:
I can be patient; I can stay with Regan,
I and my hundred knights.

Reg.
Not altogether so ^note:
I look'd ^note not for you yet, nor am provided
For your fit welcome. Give ear, sir ^note, to my sister;
For those that mingle reason with your ^note passion ^note
Must be content to think you old ^note, and so— ^note
But she knows what she does.

Lear.
Is this well spoken ^note?

Reg.
I dare avouch it, sir: what, fifty ^note followers?
Is it not well? What should you need of more?
Yea, or so many, sith that ^note both charge and danger
Speak ^note 'gainst so great a number? How in one house ^note
Should many people under two commands
Hold amity? 'Tis hard, almost ^note impossible.

Gon.
Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance
From those that she calls servants or from mine?

Reg.
Why not, my lord? If then they chanced ^note to slack you ^note, ^note
We could control them. If you will ^note come to me,
For now I spy a danger, ^note I entreat you
To bring but ^note five and twenty: to no more
Will I give place or notice.

Lear.
I gave you all— ^note

Reg.
And in good time you gave it.

Lear.
Made you my guardians, my depositaries,
But kept ^note a reservation to be follow'd ^note

With such a number. What ^note, must I come to you
With five and twenty, Regan? ^note said you so?

Reg.
And speak 't ^note again, my lord; no more with me.

Lear.
Those wicked creatures yet do look ^note well-favour'd,
When others are more wicked ^note; not being the ^note worst
Stands in some rank of praise. [To Gon. ^note] I'll go with thee:
Thy fifty yet doth double five and twenty,
And thou art ^note twice her love.

Gon.
Hear me, my lord:
What need you five and twenty, ten, or five,
To follow in a house where twice so many
Have a command to tend you?

Reg.
What need ^note one?

Lear.
O, reason not the need ^note: our basest beggars
Are in the poorest thing superfluous:
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man's life 's as ^note cheap as beast's ^note: thou art a lady;
If only to go warm were gorgeous,
Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st ^note,
Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But for true need,— ^note
You heavens, give me that patience, patience ^note I need!
You see me here, you gods, a poor old man ^note,

As full of grief as age; wretched in both:
If it be you that stirs ^note these daughters' hearts
Against their father, fool me not so ^note much
To bear it tamely ^note; touch me with noble anger,
And let ^note not women's weapons, water-drops,
Stain my man's cheeks! No, you unnatural hags, ^note
I will have such revenges on you both
That all the world shall— ^noteI will do such things,— ^note
What they are, yet I know not, but they shall be
The terrors of the earth. ^note You think I'll weep;
No, I'll not weep:
I have ^note full cause of weeping; but this ^note heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand ^note flaws ^note, ^note
Or ere ^note I'll ^note weep. O fool, I shall go mad! [Exeunt ^note Lear, Gloucester, Kent, and Fool.

Corn. ^note
Let us withdraw; 'twill ^note be a storm. ^note[Storm and tempest. ^note

Reg.
This house is little ^note: the old man and his ^note people
Cannot be well bestow'd ^note.

Gon.
'Tis his own blame; hath ^note put himself from rest,
And ^note must needs taste his folly. ^note

Reg.
For his particular, I'll receive him gladly,
But not one follower.

Gon. ^note
So am I purposed ^note.
Where is my lord of Gloucester? ^note

Corn. ^note
Follow'd ^note the old man forth: he is return'd. Re-enter ^note Gloucester.

Glou.
The king is in high rage.

Corn.
Whither ^note is he going?

Glou.
He calls to horse; but will I know not whither ^note. ^note

Corn. ^note
'Tis best ^note to give him way; he leads himself.

Gon.
My lord, entreat him by no means to stay.

Glou.
Alack, the night comes on, and the bleak ^note winds
Do sorely ruffle ^note; for many miles about
There's ^note scarce ^note a bush. ^note

Reg.
O, sir, to wilful men
The injuries that they themselves procure

Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors:
He is attended with a desperate train;
And what they may incense him to ^note, being apt
To have his ear abused, wisdom bids fear.

Corn.
Shut up your doors, my lord; 'tis a wild ^note night:
My Regan ^note counsels well: come out o' the ^note storm. [Exeunt. ^note

Previous section