SCENE I.The heath
Enter EDGAR
EDGAR,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 GLOUCESTER,led by an Old Man My father,poorly led?World,world,O world!
But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee,Lie would not yield to age.Old Man O,my good lord,I have been your tenant,and your father's tenant,these fourscore years.GLOUCESTER Away,get thee away;good friend,be gone:
Thy comforts can do me no good at all;
Thee they may hurt.Old Man Alack,sir,you cannot see your way.GLOUCESTER 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'ld say I had eyes again!Old Man How now!Who's there?EDGAR [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.EDGAR [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?GLOUCESTER Is it a beggar-man?Old Man Madman and beggar too.GLOUCESTER 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.EDGAR [Aside]How should this be?
Bad is the trade that must play fool to sorrow,Angering itself and others.--Bless thee,master!GLOUCESTER Is that the naked fellow?Old Man Ay,my lord.GLOUCESTER 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,Who I'll entreat to lead me.Old Man Alack,sir,he is mad.GLOUCESTER '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 Ihave,Come on't what will.
Exit GLOUCESTER Sirrah,naked fellow,--EDGAR Poor Tom's a-cold.
Aside I cannot daub it further.GLOUCESTER Come hither,fellow.EDGAR [Aside]And yet I must.--Bless thy sweet eyes,they bleed.GLOUCESTER Know'st thou the way to Dover?EDGAR 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;Hobbididence,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!GLOUCESTER 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?EDGAR Ay,master.GLOUCESTER There is a cliff,whose high and bending head Looks fearfully in the confined 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.EDGAR Give me thy arm:
Poor Tom shall lead thee.
Exeunt
SCENE II.Before ALBANY's palace
Enter GONERIL and EDMUND
GONERIL Welcome,my lord:I marvel our mild husband Not met us on the way.
Enter OSWALD
Now,where's your master'?OSWALD Madam,within;but never man so changed.
I told him of the army that was landed;
He smiled at it:I told him you were coming:
His answer was 'The worse:'of Gloucester'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.GONERIL [To EDMUND]Then shall you go no further.
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 you dare venture in your own behalf,A mistress's command.Wear this;spare speech;Giving a favour Decline your head:this kiss,if it durst speak,Would stretch thy spirits up into the air:
Conceive,and fare thee well.EDMUND Yours in the ranks of death.GONERIL My most dear Gloucester!
Exit EDMUND
O,the difference of man and man!
To thee a woman's services are due:
My fool usurps my body.OSWALD Madam,here comes my lord.
Exit Enter ALBANY GONERIL I have been worth the whistle.ALBANY O Goneril!
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.GONERIL No more;the text is foolish.ALBANY 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 aged man,Whose reverence even 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!