ACT V
Sc. III

ALB.

Where have you hid yourself?

How have you known the miseries of your father?
EDG. By nursing them, my Lord. List a brief tale;
And, when 'tis told, O, that my heart would burst!
The bloody proclamation to escape,

That follow'd me so near (O, our lives' sweetness!
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,
Led him, begg'd for him, sav'd 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.

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200

EDM.
This speech of your's 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 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,

And top extremity.

Whilst I was big in clamour, came there in a man,
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
As he 'ld burst Heaven; threw him on my father;
Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him
That ever ear receiv'd; which in recounting
His grief grew puissant, and the strings of life

210

Began to crack: twice then the trumpets sounded,

ACT V

And there I left him tranc'd.

Sc. III

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, with a bloody knife.

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GENT. Your Lady, Sir, your Lady! and her sister
By her is poison'd; she confesses 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.

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This judgment of the Heavens, that makes us tremble,
Touches us not with pity.

[Exit Gentleman.

Speak, Edmund, where's the King? and where's
Cordelia ?

[The bodies of GONERIL and REGAN are brought in. See'st thou this object, Kent?

KENT. Alack, why thus?

EDM.

Yet Edmund was belov'd:

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The one the other poison'd for my sake,
And after slew herself.

ACT V
Sc. III

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.

EDG. To who, my Lord? Who has the office? send

Thy token of reprieve.

EDM.

Give it the captain.

ALB.

Well thought on: take my sword;

Haste thee, for thy life. [Exit EDGAR.

EDм. He hath commission from thy wife and me

To hang Cordelia in the prison, and

To lay the blame upon her own despair,

That she fordid herself.

ALB. The Gods defend her! Bear him hence awhile.

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[EDMUND is borne off.

Re-enter LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms; EDGAR,
Captain, and others following.

LEAR. Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of
stones!

Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld use them so

260

That Heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever!
I know when one is dead, and when one lives;
She's dead as earth! Lend me a looking-glass ;
If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
Why, then she lives.

KENT.

Is this the promis'd end?

Fall, and cease!

EDG. Or image of that horror?

ALB.
LEAR. This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so,

It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows

That ever I have felt.

KENT [kneeling.]

LEAR. Pr'ythee, away!

EDG.

O my good Master!

"Tis noble Kent, your friend.

LEAR. A plague upon you, Murderers, Traitors all!
I might have sav'd her; now she's gone for ever!

Cordelia, Cordelia! stay a little. Ha!

What is 't thou say'st? Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman.

I kill'd the slave that was a-hanging thee.

CAPT. 'Tis true, my Lords, he did.

LEAR.

Did I not, Fellow?

I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion

I would have made them skip: I am old now,
And these same crosses spoil me. Who are you?
Mine eyes are not o' the best: I'll tell you straight.
KENT. If Fortune brag of two she lov'd and hated,
One of them we behold.

LEAR. This' a dull sight. Are you not Kent?
ΚΕΝΤ.

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The same,

Your servant Kent. Where is your servant Caius?
LEAR. He's a good fellow, I can tell you that;

He'll strike, and quickly too. He's dead and rotten.
KENT. No, my good Lord; I am the very man-
LEAR. I'll see that straight.

KENT. That, from your first of difference and decay,
Have follow'd your sad steps-

LEAR.

You are welcome hither.

KENT. Nor no man else. All's cheerless, dark, and

deadly:

Your eldest daughters have fordone themselves,

And desperately are dead.

ALB. He knows not what he says; and vain is it

That we present us to him.

290

EDG.

Very bootless.

Enter a Captain.

CAPT. Edmund is dead, my Lord.

ALB.

That's but a trifle here.

You Lords and noble Friends, know our intent:

What comfort to this great decay may come

Shall be applied: for us, we will resign,

During the life of this old Majesty,

To him our absolute power. [to EDGAR and KENT.]

You, to your rights;

VIII AAA

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ACT V

Sc. III

With boot, and such addition as your honours
Have more than merited. All friends shall taste
The wages of their virtue, and all foes

The

cup of their deservings. O, see, see!

LEAR. And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life!
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,

And thou no breath at all? Thou 'lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never!

Pray you, undo this button. Thank you, Sir.

Do you see this? Look on her-look-her lips-
Look there, look there!

EDG.

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[dies.

He faints! My Lord, my Lord!

KENT. Break, Heart; I pr'ythee, break!

EDG.

Look up, my Lord.

KENT. Vex not his Ghost: O, let him pass! he hates him
That would upon the rack of this tough World

Stretch him out longer.

EDG.

He is gone indeed.

KENT. The wonder is, he hath endur'd so long:

He but usurp'd his life.

ALB. Bear them from hence. Our present business

Is general woe. [to KENT and EDGAR.] Friends of my
soul, you twain

Rule in this Realm, and the gor'd State sustain.
KENT. I have a journey, Sir, shortly to go;

My master calls me, I must not say no.
EDG. The weight of this sad time we must obey;
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
The oldest hath borne most: we that are young
Shall never see so much, nor live so long.

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[exeunt, with a dead march.