us hit together: if our father carry authority
with such dispositions as he bears, this last
surrender of his will but offend us. 310
Reg. We shall further think on 't.
Gon. We must do something, and i' the heat.
Scene Two
[Earl of Gloucester's Castle]
Enter Bastard [Edmund, with a letter.]
Edm. Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me, 4
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true, 8
As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?
Who in the lusty stealth of nature take
More composition and fierce quality 12
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops,
Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land: 16
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate. Fine word, 'legitimate!'
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base 20
308 hit: agree
310 offend: harm
3 plague: snare
4 curiosity: pedantry
6 Lag of: behind
14 fops: fools
19 speed: succeed
