The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 3: Books for ChildrenLamb, Charles
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The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 3: Books for Children
Lamb, Charles
Children's poetry; Children's stories
But he that has a little tiny wit,
With heigh ho, the wind and the rain!
Must make content with his fortunes fit,
Though the rain it raineth every day:
and swearing it was a brave night to cool a lady's pride.
Thus poorly accompanied this once great monarch was found by his ever
faithful servant the good earl of Kent, now transformed to Caius, who
ever followed close at his side, though the king did not know him to
be the earl; and he said, "Alas! sir, are you here? creatures that
love night, love not such nights as these. This dreadful storm has
driven the beasts to their hiding places. Man's nature cannot endure
the affliction or the fear." And Lear rebuked him and said, these
lesser evils were not felt, where a greater malady was fixed. When the
mind is at ease, the body has leisure to be delicate; but the tempest
in his mind did take all feeling else from his senses, but of that
which beat at his heart. And he spoke of filial ingratitude, and said
it was all one as if the mouth should tear the hand for lifting food
to it; for parents were hands and food and everything to children.
But the good Caius still persisting in his intreaties that the king
would not stay out in the open air, at last persuaded him to enter
a little wretched hovel which stood upon the heath, where the fool
first entering, suddenly ran back terrified, saying that he had seen
a spirit. But upon examination this spirit proved to be nothing more
than a poor Bedlam-beggar, who had crept into this deserted hovel for
shelter, and with his talk about devils frighted the fool, one of
those poor lunatics who are either mad, or feign to be so, the better
to extort charity from the compassionate country-people; who go about
the country, calling themselves poor Tom and poor Turlygood, saying,
"Who gives any thing to poor Tom?" sticking pins and nails and sprigs
of rosemary into their arms to make them bleed; and with such horrible
actions, partly by prayers, and partly with lunatic curses, they move
or terrify the ignorant country-folks into giving them alms. This
poor fellow was such a one; and the king seeing him in so wretched
a plight, with nothing but a blanket about his loins to cover his
nakedness, could not be persuaded but that the fellow was some father
who had given all away to his daughters, and brought himself to that
pass: for nothing he thought could bring a man to such wretchedness
but the having unkind daughters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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