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.

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 meani secures us: and our mere defects

* Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd,] For and known Dr. Johnson proposes to read unknown, which is approved by Tyrwhitt and Malone;-but the meaning of Edgar's speech seems to be this. Yet it is better to be thus, in this fixed and acknowledged contemptible state, than, living in affluence, to be flattered and despised at the same time. He who is placed in the worst and lowest state, has this advantage-he lives in hope, and not in fear, of a reverse of fortune. The lamentable change is from affluence to beggary. He laughs at the idea of changing for the worse, who is already as low as possible. -SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.

b

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.

Our mean,] i. e. Our mediocrity of condition.

Prove our commodities.—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.

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.

Old Man. Madman and beggar too.

Is it a beggarman?

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,

Ang'ring itself and others. [Aside.]-Bless thee, master! Glo. Is that the naked fellow?

Old Man.

Ay, my lord.

Glo. Then, pr'ythee, get thee gone: If, for my sake, Thou wilt o'ertake us, hence a mile or twain, I'the way to Dover, do it for ancient love; And bring some covering for this naked soul, Whom I'll entreat to lead me.

Old Man.

Alack, sir, he's 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 'parrel that I have,

Come on't what will.

Glo. Sirrah, naked fellow.

[Exit.

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

[Aside.

k

daub-] i. e. Disguise.

Glo. Come hither, fellow.

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 the good man 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; and Flibbertigibbet, of mopping and mowing;' who since possesses chamber-maids and waiting-women. So, bless thee, master!

Glo. Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's

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's 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.

Edg.

Poor Tom shall lead thee.

Give me thy arm;

Exeunt.

1 - mopping and mowing ;] To mop and to mowe both mean to make griThe names of the spirits here are from Harsnet's Declaration, and

maces.

have been mentioned before in Act III.

- superfluous,] Here used for our living in abundance.-WARBURTON. That slaves your ordinance, &c.] i. e. Treats it as a slave, makes it subject to him, instead of acting in obedience to it.-STEEVENS.

in]-for into, as we still say to look in a glass.-MALONE.

9

SCENE II.

Before the Duke of Albany's Palace.

Enter GONERIL and EDMUND; Steward meeting them.
Gon. Welcome, my lord: I marvel, our mild husband
Not met us on the way:-Now, where's your master?
Stew. 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.

Then shall you go no further.

[TO EDMUND.

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.

Edm. Yours in the ranks of death.
Gon.

P Our wishes, on the way,

My most dear Gloster! [Exit EDMUND.

May prove effects.] What we wish, before our march is at an end, may be brought to happen, i. e. the murder or despatch of her husband.-STEEVENS.

Decline your head: &c.] She bids him decline his head, that she might give him a kiss (the steward being present), and that it might appear only to him as a whisper.-STEEVENS.

O, the difference of man, and man! To thee
A woman's services are due; my fool
Usurps my bed.

Stew.

Madam, here comes my lord.

Enter ALBANY.

[Exit Steward.

Gon, I have been worth the whistle."

Alb.
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 slivert 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 aged man,

Whose reverence the head-lugg'd bear would lick,
Most barbarous, most degenerate! have you madded.
Could my 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, "Twill come,

r I have been worth the whistle.] Goneril's meaning seems to be-There was a time when you would have thought me worth the calling to you; reproaching him for not having summoned her to consult with on the present critical occasion. -STEEVENS.

• Cannot be border'd certain in itself;] i. e. Cannot from thenceforth be restrained within any certain bounds, but is prepared to break out into the most monstrous excesses every way, as occasion or temptation may offer.-HEATH. sliver-] i. e. Tear off.

t

u She that herself will sliver and disbranch

From her material sap,] She who breaks the bonds of filial duty, and becomes wholly alienated from her father, must wither and perish, like a branch separated from that sap which supplies it with nourishment, and gives life to the matter of which it is composed.-MALONE.

* And come to deadly use.] Alluding to the use that witches and enchanters are said to make of withered branches in their charms. A fine insinuation of the speaker, that she was ready for the most unnatural mischief.-WAR

BURTON.