Sir, this I hear,-The king is come to his | SCENE 11.-A Field between the Two Camps. daughter, With others, whom the rigour of our state I never yet was valiant: for this business, Most just and heavy causes make oppose.t Reg. Why is this reason'd? · Gon. Combine together 'gainst the enemy: or these domestic and particular broils rt not to question here. Alb. Let us then determine ith the ancient of war on our proceedings. Edm. I shall attend you presently at your tent. Edm. The enemy's in view; draw up your powers. [forces Here is the guess of their true strength and By diligent discovery;—but your haste Is now urg'd on you. Alb. We will greet the time.§ [Exit. Let her, who would be rid of him, devise Alarum within.-Enter, with Drum and Colours, LEAR, CORDELIA, and their Forces; and Exeunt. Enter EDGAR and GLOSTER. tree Edg. Here, father, take the shadow of this [thrive: For your good host; pray that the right may If ever I return to you again, I'll bring you comfort. Glo. Grace go with you, Sir! [Exit EDGAR. Alarums; afterwards a Retreat.-Re-enter EDGAR. Edg. Away, old man, give me thy hand, away; [ta en: King Lear hath lost, he and his daughter Give me thy hand, come on. Glo. No further, Sir; a man may rot eveD here. Edg. What, in ill thoughts again? Men must endure Their going hence, even as their coming hither [Exeuni SCENE III.-The British Camp near Dover. Enter, in Conquest, with Drum und Colours, EDMUND; LEAR and CORDELIA, as Prisoners, Officers, Soldiers, &c. Edm. Some officers take them away: good Until their greater pleasures first be know guard; That are to censuret them. Cor. We are not the first, [worst. Who, with best meaning, have incurr'd the For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down; Myself could else out-frown false fortune's frown.[sisters? Shall we not see these daughters, and these Lear. No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison: We two alone will sing like birds i'the cage: When thou dost ask my blessing, I'll kneel down, And ask of thee forgiveness: So we'll live, And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,[outWho loses, and who wins; who's in, who's And take upon us the mystery of things, As if we were God's spies: And we'll wear out, [ones, In a wall'd' prison, packs and sects of great That ebb and flow by the moon. Edm. Take them away. Lear. Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia, The gods themselves throw incense. Have I caught thee? He, that parts us, shall bring a brand from heaven, [eyes; And fire us hence, like foxes. Wipe thine The goujeerst shall devour them, flesh and fell. Ere they shall make us weep: we'll see them starve first. Come. [Exeunt LEAR and CORDELIA, guarded, One step I have advanc'd thee; if thou dost I. e. To be ready prepared, 16 1!l. + Pass judgement on them. 1 The French disease Skin. Mark,-I say, instantly; and carry it so, Off. I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats; [Exit OFFICER. Flourish. Enter ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN, OFFICERS, and Attendants. Alb. Sir, you have shown to-day your val- Edm. Sir, I thought it fit To send the old and miserable king My reason all the same; and they are ready Alb. Sir, by your patience, I hold you but a subject of this war, Reg. That's as we list to grace him. Methinks, our pleasure might have been demanded, Ere you had spoke so far. He led our powers; Gon. Not so hot: By me invested, he compeers the best. Gon. That were the most, if he should hus- Reg. Jesters do oft prove prophets. That eye, that told you so, look'd but a-squint. answer From a full-flowing stomach.-General, Gon. Mean you to enjoy him? Alb. The let-alone lies not in your good will. Edm. Nor in thine, lord. Alb. Half-blooded fellow, yes. Admit of debate. To be discoursed of in greater privacy. Reg. Let the drum strike, and prove my Alb. Stay yet; hea reason:-Edmund, I On capital treason; and, in thy arrest, I bar it in the interest of my wife; Gon. An interlude! Alb. She is not well; convey her to my tent. [A Trumpet sounds. HERALD reads. If any man of quality, or degree, within the lists of the army, will maintain upon EDMUND, supposed earl of GLOSTER, that he is a manifold truitor, let him appear at the third sound of the trumpet: He is bold in his defence. [Trumpet answers within. Enter EDGAR, armed, preceded by a Trumpet. Alb. Ask him his purposes, why he appears Upon this call o'the trumpet. Her. What are you? Your name, your quality? and why you answer By treason's tooth bare-gnawn, and canker- Alb. Which is that adversary? Edm. Himself;-What say'st thou to him? That, if my speech offend a noble heart, Alluding to the proverb: "Love being jealous makes My oath and my profession: I protest, good eye look a-squint." The hinderance. 1. e. Valour. Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and emi- | And, when 'tis told, O, that my heart would The bloody proclamation to escape, [burst!That follow'd me so near, (O our lives' sweet nence, Despite thy victor sword, and fire-new fortune, To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak Edm. In wisdom, I should ask thy name;t But, since thy outside looks so fair and warlike, [breathes, And that thy tongue some 'say of breeding What safe and nicely I might well delay By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn: Back do I toss these treasons to thy head; With the hell-hated lie o'erwhelm thy heart; Which, (for they yet glance by, and scarcely bruise,) [way, This sword of mine shall give them instant Where they shall rest for ever.-Trumpets, speak. [Alarums.-They fight.—EDMUND falls. save him, save him! Alb. Gon. This is mere practice, Gloster: By the law of arms, thou wast not bound to answer An unknown opposite; thou art not vanBut cozen'd and beguil'd. [quish'd, Alb. Shut your mouth, dame, Or with this paper shall I stop it:-Hold, Sir:Thou worse than any name, read thine own evil: No tearing, lady; I perceive, you know it. [Gives the Letter to EDMUND. Gon. Say, if I do; the laws are mine, not Who shall arraign me for't? [thine: Alb. Most monstrous! Know'st thou this paper? Gon. Ask me not what I know. [Exit GONERIL. Alb. Go after her: she's desperate; govern her. [To an OFFICER, who goes out. Edm. What you have charg'd me with, that have I done; [out; And more, much more: the time will bring it 'Tis past, and so am I: But what art thou, That hast this fortune on me? If thou art noble, I do forgive thee. Edg. Let's exchange charity. I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund; The dark and vicious place where thee he got, Edm. Thou hast spoken right, 'tis true; The wheel is come full circle; I am here. Alb. Methought, thy very gait did prophesy A royal nobleness:-I must embrace thee; Let sorrow split my heart, if ever I Did hate thee, or thy father! ness! That with the pain of death we'd hourly die, That very dogs disdain'd: and in this habit (Alack, too weak the conflict to support!) Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief, Burst smilingly. Edm. This speech of yours hath mov'd me, And shall, perchance, do good: but speak you on; You look as you had something more to say. Alb. If there be more, more woeful, hold it For I am almost ready to dissolve, [in; Hearing of this. Edg. This would have seem'd a period To such as love not sorrow; but another, To amplify too much, would make much more, And top extremity. [man, Whilst I was big in clamour, came there a Who having seen me in my worst estate, Shunn'd my abhorr'd society; but then, finding Who 'twas that so endur'd, with his strong arms He fasten'd on my neck, and bellow'd out Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him, Alb. But who was this? Edg. Kent, Sir, the banish'd Kent; who in disguise Follow'd his enemy king, and did him service Improper for a slave. Enter a GENTLEMAN hastily, with a bloody Knife. Gent. Help! help! O help! Edg. What kind of help? Alb. Speak, man. Edg. What means that bloody knife? It came even from the heart of- Gent. Your lady, Sir, your lady: and her By her is poison'd; she confesses it. [sister Edm. I was contracted to them both; all Now marry in an instant. [three Alb. Produce their bodies, be they alive or dead! Kent. I am come To bid my king and master aye* good night; Alh. Great thing of us forgot!- See'st thou this object, Kent? [The Bodies of GONERIL and REGAN Kent. Alack, why thus? Edm. Yet Edmund was belov'd: Alb. Even so.-Cover their faces. Edm. I pant for life:-Some good I mean to Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send,— Alb. Run, run, O, run 875 man; Lear. I'll see that straight. Kent. That, from your first of difference and Have follow'd your sad steps. [decay, Lear. You are welcome hither. Kent. Nor no man else; all's cheerless, dark, and deadly.[selves, Your eldest daughters have fore-doom'd themAnd desperately are dead. Lear. Ay, so I think. Alb. He knows not what he says; and vain Edg. To who, my lord?-Who has the of- That we present us to him. fice? send Thy token of reprieve. Edm. Well thought on; take my sword, Alb. Haste thee, for thy life. [Exit EDGAR. and me To hang Cordelia in the prison, and Alb. The gods defend her! Bear him hence Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so That heaven's vault should crack :-O, she is gone for ever! I know when one is dead, and when one lives; If that her breath will mist or stain the stone, Kent. Is this the promis'd end?‡ Lear. This feather stirs; she lives! if it be Edg. Very bootless. Enter an OFFICER. (it is Stretch him out longer. That would upon the rack of this tough world Edg. O, he is gone, indeed. He but usurp'd his life. Kent. The wonder is, he hath endur'd so [long: Alb. Bear them from hence.-Our present business Is general woe. twain Friends of my soul, you [To KENT and EDGAR. Rule in this realm, and the gor'd state sustain. Kent. I have a journey, Sir, shortly to go; My master calls, and I must not say, no. Alb. The weight of this sad time we must obey; young, Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. * Useless. of endearment. † I. e. Lear. ¶ Die. Gre. But thou art not quickly moved to strike. Sam. A dog of the house of Montague moves me. Gre. To move, is-to stir; and to be valiant, is-to stand to it: therefore, if thou art mov'd, thou run'st away. Sam. A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's. Gre. That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes to the wall. Sam. True; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall:therefore I will push Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall. Gre. The quarrel is between our masters, and us their men. Sam. 'Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant: when I have fought with the men, I will be cruel with the maids; I will cut off their heads. Gre. The heads of the maids? Sam. Ay, the heads of the maids, or ther maidenheads; take it in what sense thou wilt. Gre. They must take it in sense, that feel |