Strives in his little world of mandeg to outscorn

  The to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain.

  This night, wherein the cub-drawndeg bear would

  couch,deg

  The lion, and the belly-pincheddeg wolf

  Keep their fur dry, unbonneteddeg he runs, 3.1. s.d. still continually

  2 minded ... unquietly disturbed in mind, like the weather

  6 main land

  7 change (1) be destroyed (2) be exchanged (i.e., turned upside down) (3) change for the better

  8 eyeless (1) blind (2) invisible

  10 little world of man (the microcosm, as opposed to the universe or macrocosm, which it copies in little)

  12 cub-drawn sucked dry by her cubs, and so ravenously hungry 12 couch take shelter in its lair

  18 belly-pinched starved

  14 unbonneted hatless

  And bids what will take all.deg

  Kent. But who is with him?

  Gentleman. None but the Fool, who labors to outjest His heart-struck injuries.

  Kent. Sir, I do know you, And dare upon the warrant of my notedeg

  Commend a dear thingdeg to you. There is division,

  Although as yet the face of it is covered

  With mutual cunning, 'twixt Albany and Cornwall;

  Who have--as who have not, thatdeg their great

  stars

  Throneddeg and set high?--servants, who seem no

  less,deg

  Which are to France the spies and speculations

  Intelligentdeg of our state. What hath been seen,

  Either in snuffs and packingsdeg of the Dukes,

  Or the hard rein which both of them hath bornedeg

  Against the old kind King, or something deeper,

  Whereof, perchance, these are but furnishingsdeg--

  But, true it is, from France there comes a powerdeg

  Into this scattereddeg kingdom, who already,

  Wise in our negligence, have secret feet

  In some of our best ports, and are at pointdeg

  To show their open banner. Now to you:

  If on my credit you dare builddeg so far

  Todeg make your speed to Dover, you shall find

  Some that will thank you, makingdeg justdeg report

  Of how unnatural and bemaddingdeg sorrow

  The King hath cause to plain.deg

  I am a gentleman of blood and breeding,deg 15 take all (like the reckless gambler, staking all he has left)

  18 warrant of my note strength of what I have taken note (of you)

  19 Commend ... thing entrust important business

  22 that whom

  22-23 stars/Throned destinies have throned

  23 seem no less seem to be so

  24-25 speculations/Intelligent giving intelligence

  26 snuffs and packings quarrels and plots

  27 hard ... borne close and cruel control they have exercised

  29 furnishings excuses

  30 power army

  31 scattered disunited

  33 at point ready

  35 If ... build if you can trust me, proceed

  36 To as to

  37 making for making

  37 just accurate

  38 bemadding maddening

  39 plain complain of

  40 blood and breeding noble family

  And from some knowledge and assurancedeg offer

  This officedeg to you.

  Gentleman. I will talk further with you.

  Kent. No, do not. For confirmation that I am much more

  Than my out-wall,deg open this purse and take

  What it contains. If you shall see Cordelia,

  As fear not but you shall, show her this ring,

  And she will tell you who that fellowdeg is

  That yet you do not know. Fie on this storm!

  I will go seek the King.

  Gentleman. Give me your hand. Have you no more to say?

  Kent. Few words, but, to effect,deg more than all yet: That when we have found the King--in which your

  paindeg

  That way, I'll this--he that first lights on him,

  Holla the other. Exeunt [severally].

  Scene 2. [Another part of the heath.] Storm still.

  Enter Lear and Fool.

  Lear. Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks. Rage, blow! You cataracts and hurricanoes,deg spout Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the

  cocks.deg 41 knowledge and assurance sure and trustworthy information

  42 office service (i.e., the trip to Dover)

  45 out-wall superficial appearance

  48 fellow companion

  52 to effect in their importance

  53 pain labor 3.2.2 hurricanoes waterspouts

  3 cocks weathercocks

  You sulph'rous and thought-executingdeg fires,

  Vaunt-couriersdeg of oak-cleaving thunderbolts,

  Singe my white head. And thou, all-shaking thunder,

  Strike flat the thick rotunditydeg o' th' world,

  Crack Nature's molds,deg all germains spilldeg at once,

  That makes ingratefuldeg man.

  Fool. O Nuncle, court holy-waterdeg in a dry house is better than this rain water out o' door. Good Nuncle, in; ask thy daughters blessing. Here's a night pities neither wise man nor fools.

  Lear. Rumble thy bellyful. Spit, fire. Spout, rain! Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters.

  I taxdeg not you, you elements, with unkindness.

  I never gave you kingdom, called you children,

  You owe me no subscription.deg Then let fall

  Your horrible pleasure.deg Here I stand your slave,

  A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man.

  But yet I call you servile ministers,deg

  That will with two pernicious daughters join

  Your high-engendered battlesdeg 'gainst a head

  So old and white as this. O, ho! 'tis foul.

  Fool. He that has a house to put 's head in has a good headpiece.deg The codpiecedeg that will house

  Before the head has any,

  The head and hedeg shall louse:

  So beggars marry many.deg

  The man that makes his toe 4 thought-executing (1) doing execution as quick as thought (2) executing or carrying out the thought of him who hurls the lightning

  5 Vaunt-couriers heralds, scouts who range before the main body of the army

  7 rotundity i.e., not only the sphere of the globe, but the roundness of gestation (Delius)

  8 Nature's molds the molds or forms in which men are made

  8 all germains spill destroy the basic seeds of life

  9 ingrateful ungrateful

  10 court holy-water flattery

  16 tax accuse

  18 subscription allegiance, submission

  9 pleasure will

  21 ministers agents

  23 high-engendered battles armies formed in the heavens

  26 headpiece (1) helmet (2) brain

  27 codpiece penis (lit., padding worn at the crotch of a man's hose)

  29 he it

  30 many i.e., lice

  27-30 The ... many i.e., the man who gratifies his sexual appetites before he has a roof over his head will end up a lousy beggar

  What he his heart should make

  Shall of a corn cry woe,

  And turn his sleep to wake.deg

  For there was never yet fair woman but she made

  mouths in a glass.deg

  Enter Kent.

  Lear. No, I will be the pattern of all patience, I will say nothing.

  Kent. Who's there?

  Fool. Marry,deg here's grace and a codpiece; that's a wise man and a fool.deg

  Kent. Alas, sir, are you here? Things that love night Love not such nights as these. The wrathful skies

  Gallowdeg the very wanderers of the dark

  And make them keepdeg their caves. Since I was man

  Such sheets of fire, such bursts
of horriddeg thunder,

  Such groans of roaring wind and rain, I never

  Remember to have heard. Man's nature cannot

  carrydeg

  Th' affliction nor the fear.

  Lear. Let the great gods That keep this dreadful pudderdeg o'er our heads

  Find out their enemies now.deg Tremble, thou wretch,

  That hast within thee undivulged crimes

  Unwhipped of justice. Hide thee, thou bloody hand,

  Thou perjured,deg and thou simulardeg of virtue 31-34 The ... wake i.e., the man who, ignoring the fit order of things, elevates what is base above what is noble, will suffer for it as Lear has, in banishing Cordelia and enriching her sisters

  35-36 made mouths in a glass posed before a mirror (irrelevant nonsense, except that it calls to mind the general theme of vanity and folly)

  40 Marry by the Virgin Mary

  40-41 here's ... fool (Kent's question is answered: The King ["grace"] is here, and the Fool--who customarily wears an exaggerated codpiece. But which is which is left ambiguous, since Lear has previously been called a codpiece)

  44 Gallow frighten

  45 keep remain inside

  46 horrid horrible

  48 carry endure

  50 pudder turmoil

  51 Find ... now i.e., discover sinners by the terror they reveal

  54 perjured perjurer

  54 simular counterfeiter

  That art incestuous. Caitiff,deg to pieces shake,

  That under covert and convenient seemingdeg

  Has practiced ondeg man's life. Closedeg pent-up guilts,

  Rivedeg your concealing continentsdeg and cry

  These dreadful summoners grace.deg I am a man

  More sinned against than sinning.

  Kent. Alack, bareheaded? Gracious my lord,deg hard by here is a hovel;

  Some friendship will it lend you 'gainst the

  tempest.

  Repose you there, while I to this hard house

  (More harder than the stones whereof 'tis raised,

  Which even but now, demanding afterdeg you,

  Denied me to come in) return, and force

  Their scanteddeg courtesy.

  Lear. My wits begin to turn. Come on, my boy. How dost, my boy? Art cold?

  I am cold myself. Where is this straw, my fellow?

  The artdeg of our necessities is strange,

  That can make vile things precious. Come, your

  hovel.

  Poor Fool and knave, I have one part in my heart

  That's sorry yet for thee.

  Fool. [Singing] He that has and a little tiny wit,

  With heigh-ho, the wind and the rain,

  Must make content with his fortunes fit,deg

  Though the rain it raineth every day.

  Lear. True, my good boy. Come, bring us to this hovel. Exit [with Kent].

  55 Caitiff wretch

  56 seeming hypocrisy

  57 practiced on plotted against

  57 Close hidden

  58 Rive split open

  58 continents containers

  58-59 cry ... grace beg mercy from the vengeful gods (here figured as officers who summoned a man charged with immorality before the ecclesiastical court)

  61 Gracious my lord my gracious lord

  65 demanding after asking for

  67 scanted stinted

  70 art magic powers of the alchemists, who sought to transmute base metals into precious

  76 Must ... fit must be satisfied with a fortune as tiny as his wit

  Fool. This is a bravedeg night to cool a courtesan. I'll speak a prophecy ere I go: When priests are more in word than matter;

  When brewers mar their malt with water;

  When nobles are their tailors' tutors,

  No heretics burned, but wenches' suitors;deg

  When every case in law is right,

  No squire in debt nor no poor knight;

  When slanders do not live in tongues;

  Nor cutpurses come not to throngs;

  When usurers tell their gold i' th' field,deg

  And bawds and whores do churches build,deg

  Then shall the realm of Albiondeg

  Come to great confusion.

  Then comes the time, who lives to see't,

  That going shall be used with feet.deg

  This prophecy Merlindeg shall make, for I live before

  his time. Exit.

  Scene 3. [Gloucester's castle.]

  Enter Gloucester and Edmund.

  Gloucester. Alack, alack, Edmund, I like not this unnatural dealing. When I desired their leave that I might pitydeg him, they took from me the use of mine 79 brave fine

  81-84 When ... suitors (the first four prophecies are fulfilled already, and hence "confusion" has come to England. The priest does not suit his action to his words. The brewer adulterates his beer. The nobleman is subservient to his tailor [i.e., cares only for fashion]. Religious heretics escape, and only those burn [i.e., suffer] who are afflicted with venereal disease)

  89 tell ... field count their money in the open

  85-90 When ... build (the last six prophecies, as they are Utopian, are meant ironically. They will never be fulfilled)

  91 Albion England

  94 going ... feet people will walk on their feet

  95 Merlin King Arthur's great magician who, according to Holinshed's Chronicles, lived later than Lear

  3.3.3 pity show pity to

  own house, charged me on pain of perpetual displeasure neither to speak of him, entreat for him, or any way sustaindeg. him.

  Edmund. Most savage and unnatural.

  Gloucester. Go to; say you nothing. There is divisiondeg between the Dukes, and a worsedeg matter than that. I have received a letter this night--'tis dangerous to be spokendeg--I have locked the letter in my closet.deg These injuries the King now bears will be revenged home;deg there is part of a powerdeg already footed;deg we must incline todeg the King. I will lookdeg him and privilydeg relieve him. Go you and maintain talk with the Duke, that my charity be not ofdeg him perceived. If he ask for me, I am ill and gone to bed. If I die for it, as no less is threatened me, the King my old master must be relieved. There is strange things toward,deg Edmund; pray you be careful. Exit.

  Edmund. This courtesy forbiddeg thee shall the Duke Instantly know, and of that letter too.

  This seems a fair deserving,deg and must draw me

  That which my father loses--no less than all.

  The younger rises when the old doth fall.

  Exit.

  3.3.6 sustain care for

  8 division falling out

  9 worse more serious (i.e., the French invasion)

  11 spoken spoken of

  12 closet room

  13 home to the utmost

  13 power army

  14 footed landed

  14 incline to take the side of

  14 look search for

  15 privily secretly

  16 of by

  20 toward impending

  22 courtesy forbid kindness forbidden (i.e., to Lear)

  24 fair deserving an action deserving reward

  Scene 4. [The heath. Before a hovel.]

  Enter Lear, Kent, and Fool.

  Kent. Here is the place, my lord. Good my lord, enter. The tyranny of the open night's too rough

  For nature to endure.

  Storm still.

  Lear. Let me alone.

  Kent. Good my lord, enter here.

  Lear. Wilt break my heart?deg

  Kent. I had rather break mine own. Good my lord, enter.

  Lear. Thou think'st 'tis much that this contentious storm Invades us to the skin: so 'tis to thee;

  But where the greater malady is fixed,deg

  The lesser is scarce felt. Thou'dst shun a bear;

  But if thy flight lay toward the roaring sea,

  Thou'dst meet the bear i' th' mouth.deg When the

  mind's free,deg

  The b
ody's delicate. The tempest in my mind

  Doth from my senses take all feeling else,

  Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude,

  Is it not asdeg this mouth should tear this hand

  For lifting food to't? But I will punish home.deg

  No, I will weep no more. In such a night

  To shut me out! Pour on, I will endure. 3.4.4 break my heart i.e., by shutting out the storm which distracts me from thinking

  8 fixed lodged (in the mind)

  11 i' th' mouth in the teeth

  11 free i.e., from care

  15 as as if

  16 home to the utmost

  In such a night as this! O Regan, Goneril,

  Your old kind father, whose frankdeg heart gave

  all--

  O, that way madness lies; let me shun that.

  No more of that.

  Kent. Good my lord, enter here.

  Lear. Prithee go in thyself; seek thine own ease. This tempest will not give me leave to ponder

  On things would hurt me more, but I'll go in.

  [To the Fool] In, boy; go first. You houseless

  povertydeg--

  Nay, get thee in. I'll pray, and then I'll sleep.

  Exit [Fool].

  Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are,

  That bidedeg the pelting of this pitiless storm,

  How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,

  Your looped and windoweddeg raggedness, defend

  you

  From seasons such as these? O, I have ta'en

  Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp;deg

  Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,

  That thou mayst shake the superfluxdeg to them,

  And show the heavens more just.

  Edgar. [Within] Fathom and half, fathom and half!deg Poor Tom!

  Enter Fool.

  Fool. Come not in here, Nuncle, here's a spirit. Help me, help me!

  Kent. Give me thy hand. Who's there?

  Fool. A spirit, a spirit. He says his name's Poor Tom.

  Kent. What art thou that dost grumble there i' th' straw? Come forth.

  20 frank liberal (magnanimous)

  26 houseless poverty (the unsheltered poor, abstracted)

  29 bide endure

  31 looped and windowed full of holes

  33 Take physic, pomp take medicine to cure yourselves, you great men

  35 superflux superfluity

  37 Fathom and half (Edgar, because of the downpour, pretends to take soundings)

  Enter Edgar [disguised as a madman].