King Lear - Act 4 - Scene 1

SCENE I. The heath.

    Enter EDGAR

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;
    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!
    But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee,
    Lie would not yield to age.

Old Man

    O, my good lord, I have been your tenant, and
    your father's tenant, these fourscore years.

GLOUCESTER

    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.

GLOUCESTER

    I have no way, and therefore want no eyes;
    I stumbled when I saw: full oft 'tis seen,
    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!

Old Man

    How now! Who's there?

EDGAR

    [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.

EDGAR

    [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?

GLOUCESTER

    Is it a beggar-man?

Old Man

    Madman and beggar too.

GLOUCESTER

    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.

EDGAR

    [Aside] How should this be?
    Bad is the trade that must play fool to sorrow,
    Angering itself and others.--Bless thee, master!

GLOUCESTER

    Is that the naked fellow?

Old Man

    Ay, my lord.

GLOUCESTER

    Then, prithee, get thee gone: if, for my sake,
    Thou wilt o'ertake us, hence a mile or twain,
    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.

Old Man

    Alack, sir, he is mad.

GLOUCESTER

    '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 'parel that I have,
    Come on't what will.

    Exit

GLOUCESTER

    Sirrah, naked fellow,--

EDGAR

    Poor Tom's a-cold.

    Aside
    I cannot daub it further.

GLOUCESTER

    Come hither, fellow.

EDGAR

    [Aside] And yet I must.--Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed.

GLOUCESTER

    Know'st thou the way to Dover?

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
    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
    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?

EDGAR

    Ay, master.

GLOUCESTER

    There is 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.

EDGAR

    Give me thy arm:
    Poor Tom shall lead thee.

    Exeunt