Re-enter Servants, with GLOSter. Reg. Ingrateful fox! 'tis he. Corn. Bind fast his corky arms.R Glo. What mean your graces ? Reg. friends, consider Good my You are my guests: do me no foul play, friends. 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. corky arms.] Dry, withered, husky arms. • Will quicken,] i. e. quicken into life. my hospitable favours-] Favours means the same as features, i, e. the different parts of which a face is composed. Corn. Reg. Cunning. And false. Corn. Where hast thou sent the king? Glo. To Dover. To Dover? Wast thou not charg'd at thy perilCorn. 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 The sea, with such a storm as his bare head If wolves had at thy gate howl'd that stern time, The winged vengeance overtake such children. Corn. See it shalt thou never:-Fellows, hold the chair: 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. Hold your hand, my lord: I have serv'd you ever since I was a child; the course.] The running of the dogs upon me. subscrib'd:] Yielded, submitted to the necessity of the But better service have I never done you, Reg. How now, you dog? 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. 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, enkindle all the sparks of nature, Reg. Out, treacherous villain! Thou call'st on him that hates thee: it was he Who is too good to pity thee. Glo. Then Edgar was abus'd. O my follies! Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him! Reg. Go, thrust him out at gates, and let him smell 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. His way to Dover.-How is't, my lord? How look you? Corn. 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;—Servants unbind GLOSTER, and lead him out. 1 Serv. I'll never care what wickedness I do, If this man comes to good. If she live long, 2 Serv. And, in the end, meet the old course of death,* Women will all turn monsters. 1 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. 2 Serv. Go thou; I'll fetch some flax, and whites of eggs, To apply to his bleeding face. Now, heaven help [Exeunt severally. him! 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 old course of death,] That is, die a natural death. The worst returns to laughter. Welcome then, 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,5 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 mean secures us; and our mere defects 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. 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 secures us;] Mean is here a substantive, and signifies a middle state. |