ACT SECOND

SCENE I

The Earl of Gloucester's castle.

Enter Edmund and Curan, meeting.

Edm. Save thee, Curan.

Cur. And you, sir. I have been with your

father and given him notice that the Duke

of Cornwall and Regan his duchess will be
here with him this night.

Edm. How comes that?

Cur. Nay, I know not. You have heard of the
news abroad, I mean the whispered ones,
for they are yet but ear-kissing arguments?
Edm. Not I: pray you, what are they?
Cur. Have you heard of no likely wars toward,
'twixt the Dukes of Cornwall and Albany?
Edm. Not a word.

Cur. You may do then in time. Fare you well,

sir.

10

[Exit.

Edm. The duke be here to-night? The better!

best!

This weaves itself perforce into my business.
My father hath set guard to take my brother;
And I have one thing, of a queasy question,

11-13. Omitted in Qq. 2, 3.-I. G.

Which I must act: briefness and fortune, work!
Brother, a word; descend: brother, I say!

Enter Edgar.

My father watches: O sir, fly this place;
Intelligence is given where you are hid;

21

You have now the good advantage of the night: Have you not spoken 'gainst the Duke of Cornwall?

He's coming hither, now, i' the night, i' the
haste,

And Regan with him: have you nothing said
Upon his party 'gainst the Duke of Albany?
Advise yourself.

30

Edg.
I am sure on 't, not a word.
Edm. I hear my father coming: pardon me:
In cunning I must draw my sword upon you:
Draw: seem to defend yourself: now quit you
well.

Yield: come before my father. Light, ho, here!
Fly, brother. Torches, torches! So farewell.
[Exit Edgar.

Some blood drawn on me would beget opinion

[Wounds his arm. Of my more fierce endeavor: I have seen drunkards

24. "advantage"; opportunity.-C. H. H.

27, 28. "have you nothing said "; have you said nothing upon the party formed by him against the Duke of Albany?—H. N. H.

36, 37. "I have seen," etc. These drunken feats are mentioned in Marston's Dutch Courtezan: "Have I not been drunk for your health, eat glasses, drunk wine, stabbed arms, and done all offices of protested gallantry for your sake?"-H. N. H.

Do more than this in sport. Father, father!
Stop, stop! No help?

Enter Gloucester, and Servants with torches.

Glou. Now, Edmund, where's the villain?

Edm. Here stood he in the dark, his sharp sword

Edm. Fled this way, sir. When by no means he

could

Glou. Pursue him, ho!-Go after. [Exeunt some Servants.] 'By no means' what?

Edm. Persuade me to the murder of your lordship;
But that I told him the revenging gods

'Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend,
Spoke with how manifold and strong a bond
The child was bound to the father; sir, in fine,
Seeing how loathly opposite I stood
To his unnatural purpose, in fell motion
With his prepared sword he charges home
My unprovided body, lanced mine arm:
But when he saw my best alarum'd spirits

51

41, 42. Gloucester has already shown himself a believer in such astrological superstitions; so that Edmund here takes hold of him by just the right handle.-H. N. H.

42. "'"; so Q. 1; Q. 2, “his”; Ff. omit.-C. H. H.

48. "their thunders"; so the Qq.; Ff., "the thunder"; Johnson, "their thunder."-I. G.

Bold in the quarrel's right, roused to the en

counter,

Or whether gasted by the noise I made,

Full suddenly he fled.

Glou.

Let him fly far:
Not in this land shall he remain uncaught:
And found-dispatch. The noble duke my
master,

My worthy arch and patron, comes to-night.
By his authority I will proclaim it,

60

That he which finds him shall deserve our
thanks,

Bringing the murderous caitiff to the stake;
He that conceals him, death.

Edm. When I dissuaded him from his intent

And found him pight to do it, with curst speech
I threaten'd to discover him: he replied,
"Thou unpossessing bastard! dost thou think,
If I would stand against thee, could the repos-

ure

Of any trust, virtue, or worth, in thee

70

Make thy words faith'd? No: what I should deny

As this I would; aye, though thou didst produce

My very character-I 'ld turn it all

To thy suggestion, plot, and damned practice:
And thou must make a dullard of the world,

60. "dispatch"; i. e. "dispatch him"; or perhaps, "dispatch is the word."-I. G.

72. "what I should deny"; so Qq.; Ff., "What should I deny"; Rowe, "by what I should deny"; Hanmer, "what I'd deny"; Warburton, "when I should deny"; Schmidt, "what, should I deny.”—I. G.

If they not thought the profits of my death
Were very pregnant and potential spurs
To make thee seek it.'

Glou.

Strong and fasten'd villain! Would he deny his letter? I never got him. .80 [Tucket within. Hark, the duke's trumpets! I know not why he

comes.

'All ports I'll bar; the villain shall not 'scape; The duke must grant me that: besides, his pic

ture

I will send far and near, that all the kingdom
May have due note of him; and of my land,
Loyal and natural boy, I'll work the means
To make thee capable.

Enter Cornwall, Regan, and Attendants.

Corn. How now, my noble friend! since I came hither,

Which I can call but now, I have heard strange

news.

Reg. If it be true, all vengeance comes too short 90 Which can pursue the offender. How dost, my lord?

Glou. O, madam, my old heart is crack'd, is crack'd! Reg. What, did my father's godson seek your life? He whom my father named? your Edgar?

78. "potential spurs"; the folio reads, "potential spirits."-H. N. H. 80. "I never got him"; so Qq.; Ff., "said he?"-I. G.

86. The word "natural" is here used with exquisite art in the double sense of illegitimate and as opposed to unnatural, which latter epithet is implied upon Edgar.-H. N. H.

93, 94. There is a peculiar subtlety and intensity of virulent malice in these speeches of Regan. Coleridge justly observes that she makes