Act 2 — Scene III. A wood.

Edg. I heard myself proclaim'd;[3300] And by the happy hollow of a tree Escaped the hunt. No port is free; no place, That guard and most unusual vigilance[3301] Does not attend my taking. Whiles I may 'scape[3302] 5 I will preserve myself: and am bethought To take the basest and most poorest shape[3303] That ever penury in contempt of man Brought near to beast: my face I'll grime with filth, Blanket my loins, elf all my hair in knots,[3304] 10 And with presented nakedness out-face The winds and persecutions of the sky.[3305] The country gives me proof and precedent[3306] Of Bedlam beggars, who with roaring voices Strike in their numb'd and mortified bare arms[3307] 15 Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary;[3308] And with this horrible object, from low farms,[3309] Poor pelting villages, sheep-cotes and mills,[3310] Sometime with lunatic bans, sometime with prayers,[3311] Enforce their charity. Poor Turlygod! poor Tom![3312] 20 That's something yet: Edgar I nothing am. [Exit.