Lear. A pestilent gall to me!

Fool. Sirrah, I'll teach thee a speech.
Lear. Do.

Fool. Mark it, nuncle :

Have more than thou showest,

Speak less than thou knowest,
Lend less than thou owest,1
Ride more than thou goest,
Learn more than thou trowest,2
Set less than thou throwest;
Leave thy drink and thy whore,
And keep in-a-door,

And thou shalt have more

Than two tens to a score.'

Lear. This is nothing, fool.

Fool. Then 'tis like the breath of an unfeed lawyer; you gave me nothing for 't: can you make no use of nothing, nuncle?

Lear. Why, no, boy; nothing can be made out of nothing.

Fool. Pr'ythee, tell him, so much the rent of his land comes to; he will not believe a fool. [to Kent. Lear. A bitter fool!

Fool. Dost thou know the difference, my boy, between a bitter fool and a sweet fool?

Lear. No, lad; teach me.

Fool.

That lord, that counsel'd thee

To give away thy land,

1 Ownest, possessest.

2 Believest.

Come place him here by me,-
Or do thou for him stand:
The sweet and bitter fool
Will presently appear;
The one in motley here,

The other found out there.'

Lear. Dost thou call me fool, boy?

Fool. All thy other titles thou hast given away;

that thou wast born with.

Kent. This is not altogether fool, my lord.

Fool. No, faith, lords and great men will not let me: if I had a monopoly out, they would have part on't and ladies too, they will not let me have all fool to myself; they'll be snatching. Give me an egg, nuncle, and I'll give thee two crowns.

Lear. What two crowns shall they be?

Fool. Why, after I have cut the egg i' the middle, and eat up the meat, the two crowns of the egg. When thou clovest thy crown i' the middle, and gavest away both parts, thou borest thine ass on thy back over the dirt. Thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown, when thou gavest thy golden one away. If I speak like myself in this, let him be whipped that first finds it so.

'Fools had ne'er less grace 1 in a year,

For wise men are grown foppish;
And know not how their wits to wear,
Their manners are so apish.'

[singing.

1 Favor.

Lear. When were you wont to be so full of songs, sirrah?

Fool. I have used it, nuncle, ever since thou madest thy daughters thy mother; for when thou gavest them the rod, and puttest down thine own breeches,

Then they for sudden joy did weep,

And I for sorrow sung,

That such a king should play bo-peep,
And go the fools among.'

{singing.

Pr'ythee, nuncle, keep a schoolmaster that can teach thy fool to lie: I would fain learn to lie.

Lear. If you lie, sirrah, we 'll have you whipped. Fool. I marvel, what kin thou and thy daughters are they'll have me whipped for speaking true; thou 'lt have me whipped for lying; and sometimes I am whipped for holding my peace. I had rather be any kind of thing than a fool; and yet I would not be thee, nuncle: thou hast pared thy wit o' both sides, and left nothing in the middle. Here comes one o' the parings.

Enter GONERIL.

Lear. How now, daughter? What makes that frontlet1 on? Methinks, you are too much of late i' the frown.

A forehead-cloth worn formerly by ladies, to which Lear compares the frowning brow of Goneril.

Fool. Thou wast a pretty fellow, when thou hadst no need to care for her frowning; now thou art an O1 without a figure. I am better than thou art now; I am a fool, thou art nothing.-Yes, forsooth, I will hold my tongue; so your face [to Gon.] bids me, though you say nothing. Mum, mum !

'He that keeps nor crust nor crum,
Weary of all, shall want some.'—

That's a shealed peascod.2

[pointing to Lear.

Gon. Not only, sir, this your all-licensed fool, But other of your insolent retinue

Do hourly carp and quarrel, breaking forth.

In rank and not to be endured riots.

Sir,

I had thought, by making this well known unto

you,

To have found a safe redress; but now grow fearful,
By what yourself too late have spoke and done,
That you protect this course, and put it on
By your alle vance; which if you should, the fault
Would not cape censure, nor the redresses sleep;
Which, in the tender of a wholesome weal,3
Might in their working do you that offence,
Which else were shame, that then necessity
Will call discreet proceeding.

Fool. For you trow, nuncle,

The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long,

That it had its head bit off by its young.'

1 A real cipher. 2 A mere husk which contains nothing. Well-governed state.

So, out went the candle, and we were left darkling. Lear. Are you our daughter?

Gon. Come, sir, I would, you would make use of that good wisdom whereof I know you are fraught; and put away these dispositions, which of late transform you from what you rightly are.

Fool. May not an ass know when the cart draws the horse? Whoop, Jug! I love thee.1

Lear. Does any here know me ?-Why this is not Lear. Does Lear walk thus? speak thus? Where are his eyes? Either his notion weakens, or his discernings are lethargied.-Sleeping or waking?— Ha! sure 'tis not so.-Who is it that can tell me who I am?-Lear's shadow? I would learn that; for by the marks of sovereignty, knowlege, and reason, I should be false persuaded I had daughters. Fool. Which they will make an obedient father. Lear. Your name, fair gentlewoman?

Gon. Come, sir;

This admiration is much o' the favor 2

Of other your new pranks. I do beseech you
To understand my purposes aright.

As you are old and reverend, you should be wise:
Here do you keep a hundred knights and squires;
Men so disorder'd, so debauch'd, and bold,
That this our court, infected with their manners,
Shows like a riotous inn: epicurism and lust
Make it more like a tavern or a brothel,

1 The burthen of an old song.

2 Complexion.