Edg.
Yet ^note better thus, and known ^note to be contemn'd,
Than still contemn'd and flatter'd. To be worst, ^note
The lowest and ^note most dejected ^note thing of fortune,
Stands still in esperance ^note, lives not in fear:
The lamentable change is from the best;
The worst returns to laughter. ^note Welcome then,
Thou unsubstantial air that I embrace!

The wretch that thou hast blown unto the worst
Owes nothing to thy ^note blasts. ^note But who comes here? ^note Enter Gloucester, led by an Old Man. ^note
My father, poorly led? ^note World, world, O world! ^note
But that thy strange mutations make us hate ^note thee,
Life would not ^note yield to age.

Old Man.

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

Glou.
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, ^note you cannot see your way.

Glou.
I have no way and therefore want no eyes;
I stumbled when I saw: full oft 'tis seen,
Our means secure ^note us, and our mere defects
Prove our commodities. Ah ^note, 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 ^note there?

Edg. [Aside] ^note
O gods! Who is't can say ‘I am at the ^note worst’?
I am ^note worse than e'er ^note I was.

Old Man.
'Tis poor mad Tom.

Edg. [Aside] ^note
And worse I may be yet: the worst is not
So long ^note as we can say ‘This is the worst.’

Old Man.
Fellow, where goest?

Glou.
Is it a beggar-man?

Old Man.
Madman and beggar too.

Glou.
He ^note has some reason, else he could not beg.
I' the ^note 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 ^note heard more since. ^note
As flies to wanton ^note boys, are we to the gods;
They kill ^note us for their sport.

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

Glou.
Is that the naked fellow?

Old Man.
Ay, my lord.

Glou.
Then, prithee, get thee gone ^note: if for my sake

Thou wilt o'ertake us hence ^note a mile or twain
I' the way toward ^note Dover, do it for ancient love;
And bring some covering for this ^note naked soul,
Who ^note I'll entreat to lead me.

Old Man.
Alack, sir, he is mad.

Glou.
'Tis the times' ^note plague, when madmen lead the blind. ^note
Do as I bid thee ^note, or rather do thy pleasure;
Above the rest, be gone.

Old Man.
I'll bring him the best 'parel ^note that I have,
Come on't what will. [Exit. ^note

Glou.
Sirrah, ^note naked fellow,— ^note

Edg.
Poor Tom's a-cold. [Aside] ^note I cannot daub it ^note further ^note.

Glou.
Come hither, fellow.

Edg. [Aside] ^note
And yet I must. ^note Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed. ^note

Glou.
Know'st thou the way to Dover?

Edg.

Both stile and gate, horse-way and foot-path. Poor Tom hath been scared ^note out of his good wits. Bless thee, good man's son, ^note from the foul fiend! ^note Five fiends have been in poor Tom at once ^note; of lust, as Obidicut; ^note Hobbididence ^note, prince of

dumbness ^note; Mahu, of stealing; Modo ^note, of murder; Flibbertigibbet ^note, of mopping and mowing; ^note who since possesses chambermaids and waiting-women. So, bless thee, master! ^{note note}

Glou.
Here, take this purse, thou whom the heavens' ^note plagues ^note
Have humbled to all strokes: that I am wretched
Makes thee ^note the happier. Heavens, deal so still!
Let the superfluous and ^note lust-dieted ^note man,
That slaves ^note your ordinance, that will not see
Because he doth ^note not feel, feel your power quickly;
So distribution should undo ^note excess
And each man have enough. Dost thou know Dover?

Edg.
Ay, master.

Glou.
There is a cliff whose high and bending head
Looks fearfully ^note in ^note 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 ^note no leading ^note need. ^note

Edg.
Give me thy arm:
Poor Tom shall lead thee. ^note [Exeunt. ^note

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