ACT IV.

Scene I. The heath.[3996]

Enter Edgar.

Edg. Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd,[3997]
 Than still contemn'd and flatter'd. To be worst,[3998]
 The lowest and most dejected thing of fortune,[3999]
 Stands still in esperance, lives not in fear:[4000]
 The lamentable change is from the best; 5
 The worst returns to laughter. Welcome then,[4001][4002]
 Thou unsubstantial air that I embrace![4002]
 The wretch that them hast blown unto the worst[4002]
 Owes nothing to thy blasts. But who comes here?[4002][4003][4004]

Enter Gloucester, led by an Old Man.[4005]

My father, poorly led? World, world, O world![4005][4006] 10
 But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee,[4007]
 Life would not yield to age.[4008]
Old Man. O, my good lord, I have been your tenant,[4009]
 and your father's tenant, these fourscore years.[4009][4010]
Glou. Away, get thee away; good friend, be gone: 15
 Thy comforts can do me no good at all;
 Thee they may hurt.
Old Man. Alack, sir, you cannot see your way.[4011]
Glou. I have no way and therefore want no eyes;
 I stumbled when I saw: full oft 'tis seen, 20
 Our means secure us, and our mere defects[4012]
 Prove our commodities. Ah, dear son Edgar,[4013]
 The food of thy abused father's wrath!
 Might I but live to see thee in my touch,
 I'ld say I had eyes again!
Old Man. How now! Who 's there?[4014] 25
Edg. [Aside] O gods! Who is't can say 'I am at the worst'?[4015][4016]
 I am worse than e'er I was.[4017]
Old Man. 'Tis poor mad Tom.
Edg. [Aside] And worse I may be yet: the worst is not[4015]
 So long as we can say 'This is the worst.'[4018]
Old Man. Fellow, where goest?
Glou. Is it a beggar-man? 30
Old Man. Madman and beggar too.
Glou. He has some reason, else he could not beg.[4019]
 I' the last night's storm I such a fellow saw,[4020]
 Which made me think a man a worm: my son
 Came then into my mind, and yet my mind 35
 Was then scarce friends with him: I have heard more since.[4021]
 As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods;[4022]
 They kill us for their sport.[4023]
Edg. [Aside] How should this be?[4015][4024][4025]
 Bad is the trade that must play fool to sorrow,[4024][4026]
 Angering itself and others. Bless thee, master![4024][4027] 40
Glou. Is that the naked fellow?
Old Man. Ay, my lord.
Glou. Then, prithee, get thee gone: if for my sake[4028]
 Thou wilt o'ertake us hence a mile or twain[4029]
 I' the way toward Dover, do it for ancient love;[4030]
 And bring some covering for this naked soul,[4031] 45
 Who I'll entreat to lead me.[4032]
Old Man. Alack, sir, he is mad.
Glou. 'Tis the times' plague, when madmen lead the blind.[4033]
 Do as I bid thee, or rather do thy pleasure;[4034]
 Above the rest, be gone.
Old Man. I'll bring him the best 'parel that I have,[4035][4036] 50
 Come on't what will. [Exit.
Glou. Sirrah, naked fellow,—[4037]
Edg. Poor Tom's a-cold. [Aside] I cannot daub it further.[4015][4038]
Glou. Come hither, fellow.
Edg. [Aside] And yet I must. Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed.[4015][4039]55
Glou. Know'st thou the way to Dover?
Edg. Both stile and gate, horse-way and foot-path. Poor[4040]
 Tom hath been scared out of his good wits. Bless thee, good[4040][4041][4042]
 man's son, from the foul fiend! Five fiends have been in poor[4040][4042][4043]
 Tom at once; of lust, as Obidicut; Hobbididence, prince of[4043][4044] 60
 dumbness; Mahu, of stealing; Modo, of murder; Flibbertigibbet,[4043][4045]
 of mopping and mowing; who since possesses[4043][4046]
 chambermaids and waiting-women. So, bless thee, master![4043][4047]
Glou. Here, take this purse, thou whom the heavens' plagues[4048]
 Have humbled to all strokes: that I am wretched[4049] 65
 Makes thee the happier. Heavens, deal so still![4049]
 Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man,[4050]
 That slaves your ordinance, that will not see[4051]
 Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly;[4052]
 So distribution should undo excess[4053] 70
 And each man have enough. Dost thou know Dover?
Edg. Ay, master.
Glou. There is a cliff whose high and bending head
 Looks fearfully in the confined deep:[4054]
 Bring me but to the very brim of it, 75
 And I'll repair the misery thou dost bear
 With something rich about me: from that place[4055]
 I shall no leading need.[4055][4056]
Edg. Give me thy arm:[4057]
 Poor Tom shall lead thee. [Exeunt.[4057][4058]

Scene II. Before the Duke of Albany's palace.

Enter Goneril and Edmund.[4059]

Gon. Welcome, my lord: I marvel our mild husband
 Not met us on the way.

Enter Oswald.[4060]

Now, where's your master?
Osw. Madam, within; but never man so changed.[4061]
 I told him of the army that was landed;[4061]
 He smiled at it: I told him you were coming;[4061] 5
 His answer was, 'The worse:' of Gloucester's treachery[4061]
 And of the loyal service of his son[4061]
 When I inform'd him, then he call'd me sot[4061]
 And told me I had turn'd the wrong side out:[4061]
 What most he should dislike seems pleasant to him;[4061][4062] 10
 What like, offensive.[4061][4063]
Gon. [To Edm.] Then shall you go no further.
 It is the cowish terror of his spirit,[4064]
 That dares not undertake: he'll not feel wrongs,
 Which tie him to an answer. Our wishes on the way[4065]
 May prove effects. Back, Edmund, to my brother;[4065][4066] 15
 Hasten his musters and conduct his powers:
 I must change arms at home and give the distaff[4067]
 Into my husband's hands. This trusty servant
 Shall pass between us: ere long you are like to hear,[4068]
 If you dare venture in your own behalf,[4069] 20
 A mistress's command. Wear this; spare speech;

[Giving a favour.[4070]

Decline your head: this kiss, if it durst speak,
 Would stretch thy spirits up into the air:
 Conceive, and fare thee well.[4071]
Edm. Yours in the ranks of death.
Gon. My most dear Gloucester![4072] 25

[Exit Edmund.[4073]

O, the difference of man and man![4072][4074][4075]
 To thee a woman's services are due:[4075][4076]
 My fool usurps my body.[4075]
Osw. Madam, here comes my lord. [Exit.

Enter Albany.[4077]

Gon. I have been worth the whistle.[4078]
Alb. O Goneril![4079]
 You are not worth the dust which the rude wind[4079][4080] 30
 Blows in your face. I fear your disposition:[4081]
 That nature which contemns its origin[4081][4082]
 Cannot be border'd certain in itself;[4081][4083]
 She that herself will sliver and disbranch[4081][4084]
 From her material sap, perforce must wither[4081][4085] 35
 And come to deadly use.[4081]
Gon. No more; the text is foolish.[4081][4086]
Alb. Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile:[4081]
 Filths savour but themselves. What have you done?[4081][4087]
 Tigers, not daughters, what have you perform'd?[4081] 40
 A father, and a gracious aged man,[4081]
 Whose reverence even the head-lugg'd bear would lick,[4081][4088]
 Most barbarous, most degenerate! have you madded.[4081]
 Could my good brother suffer you to do it?[4081]
 A man, a prince, by him so benefited![4081][4089] 45
 If that the heavens do not their visible spirits[4081]
 Send quickly down to tame these vile offences,[4081][4090][4091]
 It will come,[4081][4090][4092]
 Humanity must perforce prey on itself,[4081][4093][4094]
 Like monsters of the deep.[4081][4093]
Gon. Milk-liver'd man! 50
 That bear'st a cheek for blows, a head for wrongs;[4095]
 Who hast not in thy brows an eye discerning[4096][4097]
 Thine honour from thy suffering; that not know'st[4096][4098][4099]
 Fools do those villains pity who are punish'd[4098][4099][4100]
 Ere they have done their mischief. Where's thy drum?[4098] 55
 France spreads his banners in our noiseless land,[4098][4101]
 With plumed helm thy state begins to threat,[4098][4102]
 Whiles thou, a moral fool, sit'st still and criest[4098][4103]
 'Alack, why does he so?'[4098]
Alb. See thyself, devil![4104]
 Proper deformity seems not in the fiend[4104][4105] 60
 So horrid as in woman.[4104]
Gon. O vain fool!
Alb. Thou changed and self-cover'd thing, for shame,[4106][4107]
 Be-monster not thy feature. Were 't my fitness[4106][4108][4109]
 To let these hands obey my blood,[4106][4109][4110]
 They are apt enough to dislocate and tear[4106][4109][4111] 65
 Thy flesh and bones: howe'er thou art a fiend,[4106][4112]
 A woman's shape doth shield thee.[4106]
Gon. Marry, your manhood mew.[4106][4113]

Enter a Messenger.

Alb. What news?[4114]
Mess. O, my good lord, the Duke of Cornwall's dead,[4115][4116] 70
 Slain by his servant, going to put out[4116]
 The other eye of Gloucester.[4116]
Alb. Gloucester's eyes!
Mess. A servant that he bred, thrill'd with remorse,[4117]
 Opposed against the act, bending his sword[4118]
 To his great master; who thereat enraged[4118][4119] 75
 Flew on him and amongst them fell'd him dead,[4120]
 But not without that harmful stroke which since[4121][4122]
 Hath pluck'd him after.[4122]
Alb. This shows you are above,[4123][4124]
 You justicers, that these our nether crimes[4123][4124][4125]
 So speedily can venge. But, O poor Gloucester![4123] 80
 Lost he his other eye?[4123]
Mess. Both, both, my lord.[4126]
 This letter, madam, craves a speedy answer;[4126]
 'Tis from your sister.[4126]
Gon. [Aside] One way I like this well;[4127]
 But being widow, and my Gloucester with her,[4128]
 May all the building in my fancy pluck[4129] 85
 Upon my hateful life: another way,[4130]
 The news is not so tart. I'll read, and answer. [Exit.[4130][4131]
Alb. Where was his son when they did take his eyes?[4132]
Mess. Come with my lady hither.
Alb. He is not here.[4133]
Mess. No, my good lord; I met him back again. 90
Alb. Knows he the wickedness?
Mess. Ay, my good lord; 'twas he inform'd against him,
 And quit the house on purpose, that their punishment[4134]
 Might have the freer course.
Alb. Gloucester, I live[4135][4136]
 To thank thee for the love thou show'dst the king,[4135][4136][4137] 95
 And to revenge thine eyes. Come hither, friend:[4135][4136][4138]
 Tell me what more thou know'st. [Exeunt.[4136][4139]

Scene III. The French camp near Dover.[4140]

Enter Kent and a Gentleman.