swift and intelligent betwixt us. Farewell, dear sister: farewell, my lord of Gloster. 1 Enter OSWALD. How now! Where's the king? Oswald. My lord of Gloster hath convey'd him hence: Some five or six and thirty of his knights, Hot questrists 2 after him, met him at gate;3 Are gone with him towards Dover, where they boast Cornwall. Get horses for your mistress. Goneril. Farewell, sweet lord, and sister. [Exeunt GONERIL, EDMUND, and Oswald. Corn. Edmund, farewell. Go, seek the traitor Gloster, Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us. [Exeunt other Servants. Though well we may not pass upon his life* May blame, but not control. Who's there? The traitor? Regan. Ingrateful fox! 't is he. Corn. Bind fast his corky arms. Gloster. What mean your graces? -Good my friends, You are my guests: do me no foul play, friends. find Corn. Bind him, I say. Reg. Glos. consider [Servants bind him. Hard, hard. — O filthy traitor! Unmerciful lady as you are, I am none. Corn. To this chair bind him. Villain, thou shalt [REGAN plucks his beard. Glos. By the kind gods, 't is most ignobly done To pluck me by the beard. Reg. So white, and such a traitor! 1. Meaning Edmund, newly invested with his father's titles. The steward, speaking immediately after, mentions the old earl by the same title. 2. Questrists, seekers. Not in use. 3. i. e. at the gate. 4. i. e. pass sentence upon his life. 5. To do a courtesy is to gratify; literally: shall do homage to wrath. 6. i. e. dry, withered arms. our Gloster. Naughty lady1 These hairs, which thou dost ravish from my chin, You should not ruffle thus. What will you do? Cornwall. Come, Sir, what letters had you late from France? Regan. Be simple-answer'd, for we know the truth. Corn. And what confederacy have you with the traitors Late footed in the kingdom? Reg. Glos. I have a letter guessingly set down,5 Corn. Reg. Cunning. And false. To Dover. Corn. Where hast thou sent the king? Glos. Reg. To Dover? Wast thou not charg'd at peril Wherefore Corn. Wherefore to Dover? Let him answer that. Glos. I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the course." 6 Reg. Wherefore to Dover? Glos. Because I would not see thy cruel nails 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 endured, would have buoy'd up,' Yet, poor old heart, he holp the heavens to rain. 5. I have received a letter, the con 6. The course, the running of the dogs upon me. He compares himself to a bear being baited. 7. To buoy up, to rise up. Most commonly used in the meaning of, to bear up. 8. Stelled, starry, i. e. the fires of the stars. 9. To help was formerly conjugated tents of which are vaguely expressed. | help, holp, holp or holpen. Thou should'st have said, "Good porter, turn the key," Cornwall. See it shalt thou never. Fellows, hold the chair. Upon these eyes of thine I'll set my foot. Give me some help! Regan. One side will mock another; the other too. 1 Servant. Hold your hand, my lord, I have serv'd you ever since I was a child, Reg. How now, you dog! 1 Serv. If you did wear a beard upon your chin, I'd shake it on this quarrel.2 Corn. My villain ! 3 What do you mean? [Draws and runs at him. 1 Serv. Nay then, come on, and take the chance of [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. anger. 1 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. Where is thy lustre now? Out, vile jelly! Glos. All dark and comfortless. Where's my son Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature, Reg. Edmund? Out, treacherous villain! Thou call'st on him that hates thee: it was he That made the overture 5 of thy treasons to us,` Who is too good to pity thee. 1. i. e. All other cruel beings submitted to the necessity of the occasion. 2. i. e. in the cause of this quarrel. 3. The original meaning of the word villain is serf, or servant. 4. To quit, to requite, to repay. 5. Overture is here used for opening, in the sense of discovery; it now usually expresses proposal, except in music. Gloster. O my follies! Then Edgar was abus'd. Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper' him! Regan. Go, thrust him out at gates, and let him smell His way to Dover. How is 't, my lord? How look you? Cornwall. I have receiv'd 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. [Exit CORNWALL, led by REGAN; GLOSTER, and lead him out. Servants unbind 2 Serv. I'll never care what wickedness I do, If this man comes to good. 3 Serv. If she live long, And in the end meet the old course of death, 2 2 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. 3 Serv. Go thou: I'll fetch some flax, and whites of eggs, To apply to his bleeding face. Now, heaven help him! [Exeunt severally. Edgar. Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd Than still contemn'd and flatter'd. To be worst, 5 The lowest and most dejected thing of fortune, Stands still in esperance, lives not in fear: 1. To prosper is not now commonly used as a verb active. 2. i. e. the usual manner of death, die a natural death. 3. i. e. and get the Bedlam beggar to lead him to where ever he wishes to go. 4. It is common to say whites or yokes of eggs, when the white or yoke of more eggs than one is meant. 5. Still, ever, continually. 6 6. He who has experienced the worst blows of fortune, who has become the lowest and most dejected thing upon the face of the earth, may always hope for an improvement in his condition, has nothing to fear: the depressing change is from the best to the worst; the change back again from the worst to better, is to return to the enjoyment of life. The wretch, that thou hast blown unto the worst, Enter GLOSTER, led by an old Man. My father, poorly led? - World, world, O world! Old Man. O my good lord! I have been your tenant, and your father's tenant, these fourscore years. Glos. 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. I stumbled when I saw.2 Full oft 't is seen, Our means secure us; and our mere defects Ah! dear son Edgar, The food of thy abused father's wrath, Old Man. How now! Who's there? Edgar. [Aside.] O gods! Who is 't can say, "I am at the I am worse than e'er I was. 'T is poor mad Tom. worst?" 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? Glos. Is it a beggar-man? Old Man. Madman, and beggar too. Glos. 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. 1. 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. 2. I fell into error when I had eyes to see my way clear. 3. Very often it is seen that our means, i. e. the faculties with which we are gifted, make us over-confident; and our deficiencies prove to our advantage. 4. To abuse, to deceive, to impose upon. |