Puslapio vaizdai
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Glo. By the kind gods, 'tis most ignobly done

To pluck me by the beard.

Reg. So white, and such a traitor!

Glo. Naughty lady, These hairs, which thou dost ravish from my chin, Will quicken, and accuse thee: I am your host; With robbers' hands, my hospitable favours1 You should not ruffle thus. What will you do? Corn. Come, sir, what letters had you late from France?

Reg. Be simple-answer'd, for we know the truth. Corn. And what confederacy have you with the

traitors

Late footed in the kingdom?

Reg. To whose hands have you sent the lunatick king?

Speak.

Glo. I have a letter guessingly set down,

Which came from one that's of a neutral heart,

And not from one oppos'd.

Corn.

Reg.

Cunning.

Corn. Where hast thou sent the king?

Glo.

Reg.

And false.

To Dover.

Wherefore

To Dover? Wast thou not charg'd at thy peril—† Corn. Wherefore to Dover? Let him first answer

that.

Glo. I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the

course.

1

Reg. Wherefore to Dover?

Glo. Because I would not see thy cruel nails

9 Will quicken,] i. e. quicken into life.

1 my hospitable favours-] Favours means the same as features, i. e. the different parts of which a face is composed.

1

+ "at peril"- MALONE.

the course.] The running of the dogs upon me.

Pluck out his poor old eyes; nor thy fierce sister
In his anointed flesh stick boarish fangs.

The

sea, with such a storm as his bare head
In hell-black night endur'd, would have buoy'd up,
And quench'd the stelled fires: yet, poor old heart,
He holp the heavens to rain.

If wolves had at thy gate howl'd that stern time,
Thou should'st have said, Good porter, turn the key;
All cruels else subscrib'd2:- But I shall see

The winged vengeance overtake such children.

Corn. See it shalt thou never: - Fellows, hold the

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Upon these eyes of thine I'll set my foot.

[GLOSTER is held down in his Chair, while
CORNWALL plucks out one of his Eyes, and
sets his Foot on it.

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

Serv.
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.

Hold your hand, my lord:

How now, you dog?

Reg.
Serv. If you did wear a beard upon your chin,
I'd shake it on this quarrel: What do you mean?

Corn. My villain!

[Draws, and runs at him. Serv. Nay, then come on, and take the chance of

anger.

[Draws. They fight. CORNWALL is wounded. Reg. Give me thy sword. -[To another Servant.] A peasant stand up thus!

[Snatches a Sword, comes behind, and stabs him.

2

occasion.

subscrib'd.] Yielded, submitted to the necessity of the

Serv. O, I am slain! - My lord, you have one eye

left

To see some mischief on him: —O!

[Dies. Corn. Lest it see more, prevent it:-Out, vile jelly! Where is thy lustre now?

[Tears out GLOSTER's other Eye, and throws it

on the Ground.

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

Edmund enkindle all the sparks of nature,

To quit this horrid act.

Out, treacherous villain!

Reg.
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

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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 receiv'd a hurt: Turn out that eyeless villain;

Follow me, lady. throw this slave

Upon the dunghill. -Regan, I bleed apace:
Untimely come this hurt: give me your arm.

[Exit CORNWALL, led by REGAN;- Servants unbind GLOSTER, and lead him out. 1 Serv. I'll never care what wickedness I do, If this man come to good.

2 Serv.

If she live long, And, in the end, meet the old course of death, * Women will all turn monsters.

3

1 Serv. Let's follow the old earl, and get the bedlam

the overture of thy treasons —] Overture is here used for an opening or discovery. It was he who first laid thy treasons open

to us.

4 the old course of death,] that is, die a natural death.

To lead him where he would; his roguish madness
Allows itself to any thing.

2 Serv. Go thou; I'll fetch some flax, and whites 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?-

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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.

World, world, O world!

But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee,] O world! if reverses of fortune and changes such as I now see and feel, from ease and affluence to poverty and misery, did not show us the little value of life, we should never submit with any kind of resignation to the weight of years, and its necessary consequence, infirmity and death. MALONE.

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. Alack, sir, 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 mean secures us :
Prove our commodities.

and our mere defects

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Ah, 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?

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. 1.

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?

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.

How should this be?

Bad is the trade must play the fool to sorrow,

6 Our mean secures us ;] Mean is here a substantive, and signifies a middle state. Mr. Malone reads " Our means secure us."

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