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; | 5 |
| | 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! | 10 |
| | But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee, | |
| | Lie would not yield to age. | |
GLOUCESTER | |
I have no way, and therefore want no eyes; | |
| | I stumbled when I saw: full oft 'tis seen, | 20 |
| | 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! | 25 |
GLOUCESTER | |
Then, prithee, get thee gone: if, for my sake, | |
| | Thou wilt o'ertake us, hence a mile or twain, | 50 |
| | 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. | |
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 | 70 |
| | 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 | 75 |
| | 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, | 80 |
| | And each man have enough. Dost thou know Dover? | |
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