Page 1866 - Shakespeare - Vol. 3

FOOL

And I’ll go to bed at noon.

Re-enter Gloucester.

GLOUCESTER
Come hither, friend: where is the King my master?

KENT
Here, Sir; but trouble him not, his wits are gone. [85]

GLOUCESTER
Good friend, I prithee, take him in thy arms;
I have o’erheard a plot of death upon him.

There is a litter ready; lay him in’t,
And drive toward Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet
Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master: [90]

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

Oppressed nature sleeps. [95]
This rest might yet have balm’d thy broken sinews
Which, if convenience will not allow,
Stand in hard cure. (To the Fool.) Come, help to bear thy master;

Thou must not stay behind.

GLOUCESTER
Come, come, away.
(Exeunt Kent, Gloucester, and the Fool, bearing off the King.)

EDGAR
When we our betters see bearing our woes, [100]
We scarcely think our miseries our foes.

Who alone suffers, suffers most i’th’mind,