If wolves had at thy gates howl'd that stern time,
Thou shouldst have said, 'Good porter, turn the key,'
All cruels else subscrib'd:-but I shall see

The winged vengeance overtake such children.

CORN. See't shalt thou never.-Fellows, hold the chair.-
Upon these eyes of thine I'll set my foot.

GLO. He that will think to live till he be old,
Give me some help!-O cruel!—O you gods!
REG. One side will mock another; the other too.
CORN. If you see vengeance,—

FIRST SERV.

Hold your hand, my lord:

I have serv'd you ever since I was a child;
But better service have I never done you
Than now to bid you hold.

REG.

FIRST SERV. If you did wear a

How now, you dog!

beard upon your chin,

I'd shake it on this quarrel. What do you mean?

CORN. My villain!

[Draws.

FIRST SERV. Nay, then, come on, and take the chance of anger. [Draws. They fight. CORNWALL is wounded.

REG. Give me thy sword.— -A peasant stand up thus! [Takes a sword from another Servant, and runs at First Servant behind. have one eye left

FIRST SERV. O, I am slain !—My lord, you

To see some mischief on him.—O!

CORN. Lest it see more, prevent it.—Out, vile jelly !

Where is thy lustre now?

GLO. All dark and comfortless.-Where's my son Edmund ?

Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature,

To quit this horrid act.

REG.

Out, treacherous villain!

Thou call'st on him that hates thee: it was he
That made the overture of thy treasons to us;
Who is too good to pity thee.

GLO.

Then Edgar was abus'd.—

O my follies!

Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him!

REG. Go thrust him out at gates, and let him smell

His way to Dover.-How is 't, my lord? how look you?
CORN. I have received a hurt :-follow me, lady.-

Turn out that eyeless villain ;-throw this slave
Upon the dunghill.—Regan, I bleed apace :
Untimely comes this hurt: give me your arm.

80

[Dies.

[Exit CORNWALL, led by REGAN.-Some of the Servants
unbind GLOSTER, and lead him out.

SEC. SERV. I'll never care what wickedness I do,
If this man come to good.

THIRD SERV.

If she live long,

And, in the end, meet the old course of death,
Women will all turn monsters.

SEC. SERV. Let's follow the old earl, and get the Bedlam
To lead him where he would: his roguish madness
Allows itself to any thing.

100

THIRD SERV. Go thou: I'll fetch some flax and white of eggs To apply to his bleeding face. Now, heaven help him! [Exeunt severally.

ACT IV

SCENE I.-The Heath

Enter EDGAR

EDG. Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd,
Than still contemn'd and flatter'd. To be worst,
The lowest and most dejected thing of fortune,
Stands still in esperance, lives not in fear:
The lamentable change is from the best;
The worst returns to laughter. Welcome, then,
Thou unsubstantial air that I embrace!

The wretch that thou hast blown unto the worst
Owes nothing to thy blasts.—But who comes here?

Enter GLOSTER, led by an Old Man

My father, poorly led ?-World, world, O world!
But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee,

Life would not yield to age.

ΤΟ

OLD MAN. O, my good lord, I have been your tenant, and your

father's tenant, these fourscore years.

GLO. Away, get thee away; good friend, be gone :

Thy comforts can do me no good at all;

Thee they may hurt.

OLD MAN.

You cannot see your way.

GLO. I have no way, and therefore want no eyes;

I stumbled when I saw: full oft 'tis seen,
Our means secure us, and our mere defects
Prove our commodities.—O dear son Edgar,
The food of thy abused father's wrath!
Might I but live to see thee in my touch,
I'd say I had eyes again!

OLD MAN.

How now!

Who's there?

20

EDG. [aside.] O gods! Who is 't can say, 'I am at the worst'?

I am worse than e'er I was.

OLD MAN.

'Tis poor mad Tom.

EDG. [aside.] And worse I may be yet: the worst is not
So long as we can say, 'This is the worst.'

OLD MAN. Fellow, where goest?
GLO.

Is it a beggar-man ?

30

OLD MAN. Madman and beggar too.
GLO. He has some reason, else he could not beg.
I' the last night's storm I such a fellow saw;
Which made me think a man a worm: my son
Came then into my mind; and yet my mind

Was then scarce friends with him: I have heard more since.
As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods,—

They kill us for their sport.

EDG. [aside.]

How should this be?—

Bad is the trade that must play fool to sorrow, Angering itself and others.-Bless thee, master! GLO. Is that the naked fellow?

Ay, my lord.

OLD MAN.
GLO. Then, prithee, get thee gone: if, for my sake,
Thou wilt o'ertake us, hence a mile or twain,
I' the way toward Dover, do it for ancient love;
And bring some covering for this naked soul,
Which I'll entreat to lead me.

OLD MAN.

Alack, sir, he is mad.

GLO. 'Tis the times' plague, when madmen lead the blind.

Do as I bid thee, or rather do thy pleasure;

Above the rest, be gone.

OLD MAN. I'll bring him the best 'parel that I have,

Come on 't what will.

GLO. Sirrah, naked fellow,

EDG. Poor Tom's a-cold.—I cannot daub it further.

GLO. Come hither, fellow.

40

[Exit.

51

[Aside.

EDG. [aside.] And yet I must.-Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed. GLO. Know'st thou the way to Dover?

EDG. Both stile and gate, horse-way and foot-path. Poor Tom hath been scared out of his good wits :-bless thee, good man's son, from the foul fiend!-five fiends have been in poor Tom at once; of lust, as Obidicut; Hobbididance, prince of dumbness; Mahu, of stealing; Modo, of murder; Flibbertigibbet, of mopping and mowing,-who since possesses chambermaids and waiting-women. So, bless thee, master!

GLO. Here, take this purse, thou whom the heavens' plagues
Have humbled to all strokes: that I am wretched
Makes thee the happier:-heavens, deal so still!
Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man,

That slaves your ordinance, that will not see
Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly;
So distribution should undo excess,

And each man have enough.-Dost thou know Dover?
EDG. Ay, master.

GLO. There is a cliff, whose high and bending head
Looks fearfully in the confinèd deep:

Bring me but to the very brim of it,

And I'll repair the misery thou dost bear

With something rich about me: from that place

I shall no leading need.

EDG.

Give me thy arm :

Poor Tom shall lead thee.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. Before the Duke of Albany's Palace

Enter GONERIL and EDMUND; OSWALD meeting them

GON. Welcome, my lord: I marvel our mild husband
Not met us on the way.-Now, where's your master?
Osw. Madam, within; but never man so chang'd.
I told him of the army that was landed;
He smil'd at it: I told him you were coming;
His answer was, 'The worse : of Gloster's treachery,
And of the loyal service of his son,

--

When I inform'd him, then he call'd me sot,
And told me I had turn'd the wrong side out:-
What most he should dislike seems pleasant to him;
What like, offensive.

GON.

ΙΟ

Then shall you go no further. [To EDM.
It is the cowish terror of his spirit,
That dares not undertake: he'll not feel wrongs,
Which tie him to an answer. Our wishes on the way
May prove effects. Back, Edmund, to my brother;
Hasten his musters and conduct his powers:

I must change arms at home, and give the distaff
Into my husband's hands. This trusty servant
Shall pass between us: ere long you are like to hear,
If dare venture in your own behalf,

you

A mistress's command. Wear this; spare speech;

Decline your head: this kiss, if it durst speak,
Would stretch thy spirits up into the air :-
Conceive, and fare thee well.

EDM. Yours in the ranks of death.

20

[Giving a favour.

You are not worth the dust which the rude wind

Blows in your face. I fear your disposition :
That nature, which contemns its origin,
Cannot be border'd certain in itself;

She that herself will sliver and disbranch
From her material sap, perforce must wither,
And come to deadly use.

GON. No more; the text is foolish.

ALB. Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile:

Filths savour but themselves. What have you done?
Tigers, not daughters, what have you perform'd?
A father, and a gracious agèd man,

Whose reverence the head-lugg'd bear would lick,
Most barbarous, most degenerate! have you madded.
Could my good brother suffer you to do it?

A man, a prince, by him so benefited!

If that the heavens do not their visible spirits
Send quickly down to tame these vile offences,
It will come,

Humanity must perforce prey on itself,

Like monsters of the deep.

GON.

Milk-liver'd man!

That bear'st a cheek for blows, a head for wrongs;

Who hast not in thy brows an eye discerning

Thine honour from thy suffering; that not know'st
Fools do those villains pity who are punish'd

Ere they have done their mischief. Where's thy drum?
France spreads his banners in our noiseless land;
With plumed helm thy slayer begins threats;
Whiles thou, a moral fool, sitt'st still, and criest,
'Alack, why does he so?'

ALB.

See thyself, devil!
Proper deformity seems not in the fiend
So horrid as in woman.

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