[prison:

Lear. No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage : When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down, 10

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,

Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out;
And take upon's the mystery of things,
As if we were God's spies: and we'll wear out,
In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great

Take them away.

Lear. Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia, 20 The gods themselves throw incense. Have I caught thee?

He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven,

And fire us hence like foxes. Wipe thine eyes;
The good-years shall devour them, flesh and fell,
Ere they shall make us weep: we'll see 'em
starve first.

Come. [Exeunt Lear and Cordelia, guarded.
Edg. Come hither, captain; hark.
Take thou this note [giving a paper]; go follow
them to prison:

One step I have advanced thee; if thou dost
As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way
To noble fortunes: know thou this, that men
Are as the time is: to be tender-minded
Does not become a sword: thy great employ-
ment

31

From a full-flowing stomach. General,
Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony;
Dispose of them, of me; the walls are thine:
Witness the world, that I create thee here
My lord and master.

Gon.

Mean you to enjoy him? Alb. The let-alone lies not in your good

Reg. [To Edmund] Let the drum strike, and prove my title thine.

Alb. Stay yet; hear reason. Edmund, I arrest thee

On capital treason; and, in thine attaint,
This gilded serpent [pointing to Gon.]. For
your claim, fair sister,

I bar it in the interest of my wife :
'Tis she is sub-contracted to this lord,
And I, her husband, contradict your bans.
If you will marry, make your loves to me,
My lady is bespoke.

Gon.

An interlude !

That names me traitor, villain-like he lies:
Call by thy trumpet: he that dares approach,
On him, on you, who not? I will maintain 100
My truth and honor firmly.

Alb. A herald, ho!
Edm.
A herald, ho, a herald !
Alb. Trust to thy single virtue; for thy
soldiers,

All levied in my name, have in my name
Took their discharge.

Reg.

My sickness grows upon me. Alb. She is not well; convey her to my tent. [Exit Regan, led.

Enter a Herald. Come hither, herald,-Let the trumpet sound, And read out this.

Capt. Sound, trumpet ! [A trumpet sounds. Her. [Reads] If any man of quality or degree within the lists of the army will maintain upon Edmund, supposed Earl of Gloucester, that he is a manifold traitor, let him appear by the third sound of the trumpet: he is bold in his defence.'

Edm. Sound! Her. Again! Her. Again!

[First trumpet. [Second trumpet. [Third trumpet. [Trumpet answers within.

Enter EDGAR, at the third sound, armed, with a trumpet before him.

Alb. Ask him his purposes, why he appears Upon this call o' the trumpet.

Her.

What are you? 119 Your name, your quality ? and why you answer This present summons?

Edg.

Know, my name is lost; By treason's tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit: Yet am I noble as the adversary

I come to cope.

Alb.

Which is that adversary?

Edg.

What's he that speaks for Edmund
Earl of Gloucester ?

Edm. Himself: what say'st thou to him?
Edg.
Draw thy sword,

That, if my speech offend a noble heart,
Thy arm may do thee justice here is mine.
Behold, it is the privilege of mine honors,
My oath, and my profession protest, 130
Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and emi-
nence,

Despite thy victor sword and fire-new fortune.
Thy valor and thy heart, thou art a traitor;
False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father;
Conspirant gainst this high-illustrious prince;
And, from the extremest upward of thy head
To the descent and dust below thy foot,
A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou' No,'
This sword, this arm, and my best spirits, are
bent

To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak, 140
Thou liest.

Edm. In wisdom I should ask thy name; But, since thy outside looks so fair and warlike, And that thy tongue some say of breeding breathes,

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,

This sword of mine shall give them instant

That we the pain of death would hourly die
Rather than die at once!-taught me to shift
Into a madman's rags; to assume a semblance
That very dogs disdain'd: and in this habit
Met I my father with his bleeding rings,
Their precious stones new lost became his
guide,

190

Led him, begg'd for him, saved him from despair;

Never,-O fault!-reveal'd myself unto him,
Until some half-hour past, when I was arm'd:
Not sure, though hoping, of this good success,
I ask'd his blessing, and from first to last
Told him my pilgrimage: but his flaw'd
heart,

Alack, too weak the conflict to support!
"Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,
Burst smilingly.

Edm. This speech of yours hath moved me,

And shall perchance do good but speak you

on;

200 You look as you had something more to say. Alb. If there be more, more woeful, hold

it in;

For I am almost ready to dissolve,
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,
Aud top extremity.

Whilst I was big in clamor came there in a

Edg. What means that bloody knife?
Gent.

It came even from the heart of-0, she's

By her is poisoned; she hath confess'd it. Edm. I was contracted to them both all three

Now marry in an instant.
Edg.

Here comes Kent. Alb. Produce their bodies, be they alive or dead : 230

This judgment of the heavens, that makes us tremble,

Touches us not with pity. [Exit Gentleman. Enter KENT.

O, is this he? The time will not allow the compliment Which very manners urges.

Kent. I am come To bid my king and master aye good night : Is he not here?

Alb.

Great thing of us forgot! Speak, Edmund, where's the king? and where's Cordelia ?

See'st thou this object, Kent ?

[The bodies of Goneril and Regan are brought in.

Kent. Alack, why thus ? Edm. Yet Edmund was beloved: The one the other poison'd for my sake, 240 And after slew herself.

Alb. Even so. Cover their faces.
Edm. I pant for life: some good I mean to
do,

Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send,
Be brief in it, to the castle; for my writ
Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia :
Nay, send in time.
Aĺb.
Run, run, O, run!
Edg. To who, my lord? Who hath the
office? send
Thy token of reprieve.

Edm. Well thought on: take my sword, 250 Give it the captain.

Alb. Haste thee, for thy life. [Exit Edgar. Edm. He hath commission from thy wife

and me