GLOUCESTER.
I would have all well betwixt you.
[Exit.]
LEAR.
O me, my heart, my rising heart! — but down!
FOOL.
Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the eels when she
put 'em i' the paste alive; she knapped 'em o' the coxcombs with
a stick and cried 'Down, wantons, down!' 'Twas her brother that,
in pure kindness to his horse, buttered his hay.
[Enter Cornwall, Regan, Gloucester, and Servants.]
LEAR.
Good-morrow to you both.
CORNWALL.
Hail to your grace!
[Kent is set at liberty.]
REGAN.
I am glad to see your highness.
LEAR.
Regan, I think you are; I know what reason
I have to think so: if thou shouldst not be glad,
I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb,
Sepulchring an adultress. — [To Kent] O, are you free?
Some other time for that. — Beloved Regan,
Thy sister's naught: O Regan, she hath tied
Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here, —
[Points to his heart.]
I can scarce speak to thee; thou'lt not believe
With how deprav'd a quality — O Regan!
REGAN.
I pray you, sir, take patience: I have hope
You less know how to value her desert
Than she to scant her duty.
LEAR.
Say, how is that?
