master; Thou must not stay behind. [To the Fool. EDG. When we our betters see bearing our woes, He childed, as I father'd!-Tom, away! In thy just proof, repeals and reconciles thee. What will hap more to-night, safe 'scape the king! Lurk, lurk. [Exit. Some five or six and thirty of his knights, Get horses for your mistress. GON. Farewell, sweet lord, and sister. [Exeunt GONERIL and EDMUND. 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 Without the form of justice, yet our power Shall do a courtesy to our wrath, which men May blame, but not control. Who's there? The traitor? GLO. I am tied to the stake, and I must stand GLO. Because I would not see thy cruel nails Yet, poor old heart, he holp the heavens to rain. Upon these eyes of thine I'll set my foot. GLO. He that will think to live till he be old, Give me some help!-O cruel!-O you gods! REG. One side will mock another; the other too. CORN. If you see vengeance, 1 SERV. REG. 1 SERV. If you did wear a I'd shake it on this quarrel. CORN. My villain ! (*) Old text, you have. lord! How now, you deg! beard upon your chin, What do you mean? [Draws. (+) First folio cmits, first. (1) Old text, subscribe. Out, treacherous villain! 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. O my follies! Then Edgar was abus'd.Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him! REG. Go, thrust him out at gates, and let him smell [look you? His way to Dover.-How is 't, my lord? How 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 GLOUCESTER, and lead him out. 2 SERV. I'll never care what wickedness I do, If this man come to good. 3 SERV. If she live long, And, in the end, meet the old course of death, Women will all turn monsters. [Bedlam 2 SERV. Let's follow the old earl, and get the 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's bleeding face. him! Now, heaven help [Exeunt severally. aand lead him out.] In the folio the scene concludes here. Our means secure us; and our mere defects OLD MAN. at the worst ? I am worse than e'er I was ; OLD MAN. "Tis poor mad Tom. 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 footpath. 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; Hobbididance, prince of dumbness; Mahu, of stealing; Modo, of murder; and Flibbertigibbet, of mopping and EDG. [Aside.]-And worse I may be yet: the mowing,-who since possesses chamber-maids worst is not, So long as we can say, This is the worst. OLD MAN. Fellow, where goest? As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods,— EDG. [Aside.] How should this be?— This was an old stumbling-block to the critics Some have a'tered it to.-"Our mean secures us," &c., that is, our middle state keeps us in safety: others would read,-"Our meanness secures us: Johnson proposed,-"Our means seduce us; or "Our maims secure us: and Mr. Collier's annotator reads,-" Our wants secure us." All this controversy arose apparently from misapprehension of the sense in which the word "secure" is to be understood. To secure now means only to protect, to keep safely; but in old language it very commonly signified also, to render us and waiting-women. So, bless thee, master! GLO. Here, take this purse, thou whom the Have humbled to all strokes: that I am wretched, [Dover? careless, over-confident, unguarded, and this appears to be its meaning here. Thus, in Sir T. More's "Life of Edward V.":"Oh the uncertain confidence and shortsighted knowledge of man! When this lord was most afraid, he was most secure; and when he was secure, danger was over his head." Again, in Judges viii. 11:—“ And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host, for the host was secure." b Then, pr'ythee, get thee gone:] So the quartos; the folio reads, "Get thee away," &c. five fiends, &c.] The remainder of the speech is not given in the folio. When I inform'd him, then he call'd me sot, him; What like, offensive. GON. [To EDMUND.] Then shall you go no further. 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; If you dare venture in your own behalf, EDM. Yours in the ranks of death. My most dear Gloster! [Exit EDMUND. Most barbarous, most degenerate!—have you madded. Could my good brother suffer you to do it? If that the heavens do not their visible spirits Like monsters of the deep. Fools do those villains pity who are punish'd |