Off. If it be man's work, I will do it.

[Exit Officer. Flourish. Enter Albany, Goneril, Regan, Officers, and Attendants.

-Alb. Sir, You have shown to-day your valiant strain,

And fortune led you well: You have the captives, Who were the opposites of this day's strife: We do require them of you; so to use them, As we shall find their merits and our safety May equally determine.

Edm.

Sir, I thought it fit To send the old and miserable king To some retention, and appointed guard; Whose age has charms in it, whose title more, To pluck the common bosom on his side, And turn our impress'd lances in our eyes Which do command them. With him I sent the queen;

My reason all the same: and they are ready
To-morrow, or at further space, to appear
Where you shall hold your session. At this time,
We sweat, and bleed; the friend hath lost his
friend;

And the best quarrels, in the heat, are curs'd
By those that feel their sharpness:-
The question of Cordelia, and her father,
Requires a fitter place.

Alb.

Sir, by your patience,
I hold you but a subject of this war,
Not as a brother.

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;
Bore the commission of my place and person;
The which immediacy1 may well stand up,
And call itself your brother.

Gon.
Not so hot:
In his own grace he doth exalt himself,
More than in your advancement.

Reg.
In my rights,
By me invested, he compeers the best.
Gon. That were the most, if he should husband
Reg. Jesters do oft prove prophets. [you.
Gon.
Holloa, holloa!
That eye, that told you so, look'd but a-squint.
Reg. Lady, I am not well; else I should answer
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 wed him?
Alb. The let-alone lies not in your good will.
Edm. Nor in thine, lord.

Alb. Half-blooded fellow, yes. Reg. [To Edmund.] Let the drum strike, and prove my title thine. [thee Alb. Stay yet; hear reason:-Edmund, I arrest On capital treason; and, in thy arrest, 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 banns. 1 Nearness to my authority.

trumpet sound:

If none appear to prove upon thy person,
Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,
There is my pledge: [Throwing down a Glove.]
I'll prove it on thy heart,

Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less
Than I have here proclaim'd thee.
Reg.
Sick, O, sick!
Gon. [Aside.] If not, I'll ne'er trust poison.
Edm. There's my exchange: [Throwing down
a glove.] what in the world he is
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
My truth and honour firmly.
Alb. A herald, ho!

Edm.
A herald, ho, a herald!
Alb. Trust to thy single virtue1; for thy soldiers,
All levied in my name, have in my name
Took their discharge.

Reg.

This sickness grows upon me. Enter a Herald.

Alb. She is not well; convey her to my tent. [Exit Regan, led. Come hither, herald,-Let the trumpet sound,And read out this. Off. Sound trumpet.

[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 traitor, let him appear at the third sound of the trumpet: He is bold in his defence. Edm. Sound.

Her. Again. Her. Again,

[1 Trumpet. [2 Trumpet. [3 Trumpet.

[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 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 withal. Alb. Which is that adversary? Edg. What's he, that speaks for Edmund earl of Gloster?

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: nere is mine. Behold, it is the privilege of mine honours, My oath, and my profession: I protest,Maugrethystrength, youth,place, and eminence, Despite thy victor sword, and fire-new fortune, Thy valour, and thy heart,--thou art a traitor: False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father; 2 Notwithstanding.

1 Valour.

Conspirant 'gainst this high illustrious prince;
And, from the extremest upward of thy head,
To the descent and dust beneath thy feet,
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,
Thou liest.

Edm. In wisdom, I should ask thy name: But, since thy outside looks so fair and warlike, And that thy tongue some 'say1 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 way,
Where theyshall rest for ever.-Trumpets,speak.
[Alarums. They fight. Edmund falls.
Alb. O save him, save him!

Gon. This is mere practice,2 Gloster. Bythe law of arms, thou wast not bound to answer An unknown opposite; thou art not vanquish'd, But cozen'd and beguil'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.

Most monstrous!

[Gives the Letter to Edmund. Gon. Say, if I do; the laws are mine, not thine: Who shall arraign me for't? Alb. Know'st thou this paper? Gon. Ask me not what I know. [Exit Gon. 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;

And more, much more; the time will bring it out; '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:
If more, the more thou hast wrong'd me.
My name is Edgar, and thy father's son.
The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to scourge us:

The dark and vicious place where thee he got,
Cost him his eyes.

Edm. Thou hast spoken right, 'tis true; The wheel has 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! Edg.

Worthy prince,

I know it well.
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
The bloody proclamation to escape, [burst!
That follow'd me so near, (O, our lives' sweetness!
Tha with the pain of death we'd hourly die,
1 Sample.

2 Artifice.

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.

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 woful, 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 a man,
Who having seen me in my worst estate,
Shunn'd my abhorr'd society; but then, finding
Who 't was that so endur'd, with his strong arms
He fasten'd on my neck, and bellow'd out
As he'd 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
Began to crack: Twice then the trumpet sounded,
And there I left him tranc'd.

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.

Alb.

What kind of help?
Speak, man.

Edg. What means that bloody knife?
Gent.

"Tis hot, it smokes;

It came even from the heart of

Alb. Who, man? speak. 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.

A. Produce their bodies, be they alive or dead!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?

See'st thou this object, Kent?

[The Bodies of Goneril and Regan are brought in.

Kent. Alack, why thus?

Edm.

Yet Edmund was belov'd: The one the other poison'd for my sake, And after slew herself.

Alb. Even so.-Cover their faces. Edm. I pant for lite: -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.

Alb.

Run, run, O, run

Lear.

Alb. The gods defend her! Bear him hence awhile. [Edmund is borne off. Enter Lear, with Cordelia dead in his Arms; Edgar, Officers, and others.

Lear. Howl, howl, howl, howl!-O, ye are men of stones:

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; 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? Edg. Or image of that horror? Alb. Fall, and cease! Lear. This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so, It is a chance that does redeem all sorrows That ever I have felt.

Kent.

O my good master! [Kneeling. Lear. Pr'ythee, away. Edg.

"Tis noble Kent, your friend. L. 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. Off. "Tis true, my lords, he did. Lear. Did I not, fellow? I have seen the day, with my good bitingfaulchion I would have made them skip: I am old now, And these same crosses spoil me.-Who are you? Mine eyes are none o' the best:-I'll tell straight.

you

Kent. If fortune brag of two she lov'd and One of them we behold. [hated, Lear. This is a dull sight: Are you not Kent? ¡ Destroyed.

Lear.

Ay, so I think. Alb. He knows not what he says; and vain it is That we present us to him. Edg.

Very bootless.1

Enter an Officer.

lord.

my

Off. Edmund is dead,
Alb.
That's but a trifle here.--
You lords and noble friends, know our intent,
What comfort to this great decay 2 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;

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!

L. 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? O, thou wilt 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!-
[He dies.
Edg. 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.
O, 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, and I must not say, no.

Alb. 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. [Exeunt, with a dead March, 2 (Decayed royalty.)

1 Useless.

PROLOGUE.

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows Do, with their death, bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, nought could

remove,

Is now the two hours' traffick of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Act First.

SCENE I.-A PUBLICK PLACE. Enter Sampson and Gregory, armed with Swords and Bucklers.

S. Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry coals.1 Gre. No, for then we should be colliers. Sam. I mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw. Gre. Ay, while you live, draw your neck out of the collar.

Sam. I strike quickly, being moved.

G. But thou art not quickly moved to strike. S. 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 runn'st away.

S. A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will take the wall of any man of Montague's. 1 Bear injuries.

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:wall, and thrust his maids to the wall. therefore I will push Montague's men from the

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, and I'm a pretty piece of flesh thou hadst been poor John. Gre."Tis well, thou art not fish; if thou hadst, Draw thy tool; here come two of the house of the Montagues.

Enter Abram and Balthazar.

Sam. My naked weapon is out; quarrel, I will back thee.

Gre. How? turn thy back, and run?

Sam. Fear me not.

Gre. No, marry: I fear thee!

Sam. Let us take the law of our sides; let them begin.

Gre. I will frown as I pass by; and let them take it as they list.

S. Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them; which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it. Abr. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Sam. I do bite my thumb, sir.

Abr. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Sam. Is the law on our side, if I say--ay? Gre. No.

Sam. No, sir; I do not bite my thumb at you, sir: but I bite my thumb, sir.

Gre. Do you quarrel, sir?

Abr. Quarrel, sir; no, sir.

Sam. If you do, sir, I am for you; I serve as good a man as you.

Abr. No better.

Sam. Well, sir.

Enter Benvolio at a distance.

master's kinsmen.

Sam. Yes, better, sir.
Abr. You lie.

Sam. Draw, if you be men.-Gregory, remember thy swashing blow. [They fight. Ben. Part, fools; put up your swords; you know not what you do. [Beats down their Swords. Enter Tybalt.

T. What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?

Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death. Ben. I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword, Or manage it to part these men with me. Tyb. What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee; [word, Have at thee, coward. [They fight. Enter several Partizans of both Houses, who join the fray; then enter Citizens with Clubs. Cit. Clubs, bills, and partizans! strike! beat them down! [tagues! Down with the Capulets! down with the MonEnter Capulet, in his Gown; and Lady Capulet. Cap. What noise is this?-Give me my long sword, ho!

La. Cap. A crutch, a crutch!-why call you

for a sword?

Cap. My sword, I say!-Old Montague is come, And flourishes his blade in spite of me.

Enter Montague, and Lady Montague. Mon. Thou villain, Capulet,-Hold me not,

let me go.

La. Mon. Thou shalt notstir onefoot to seek afoe.

Enter Prince, with Attendants.
Prin. Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,-
Will they not hear?-what, ho! you men, you
beasts,-

That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistemper'd2weapons to the ground,
And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Capulet and Montague,
Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets;
And made Verona's ancient citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments,
To wield old partizans,3 in hands as old,
Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate:
If ever you disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
For this time, all the rest depart away:
You, Capulet, shall go along with me;
And, Montague, come you this afternoon,
To know our further pleasure in this case,
To old Free-town, our common judgment-place.
Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.

[Exeunt Prince, and Attendants: Capulet,
Lady Capulet, Tybalt, Citizens, and
Servants.

1 (As we now call Police !) 2 Angry 8 Likes.

I drew to part them; in the instant came
The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepar'd;
Which, as he breath'd defiance to my ears,
He swung about his head, and cut the winds,
Who, nothing hurt withal, hiss'd him in scorn:
While we were interchanging thrusts and blows,
Came more and more, andfought on part and part,
Till the prince came, who parted either part.

La. Mon. O, where is Romeo!-saw you him to-
Right glad I am, he was not at this fray. [day?
Ben. Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd suu
Peer'd forth the golden window of the east,
A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad;
Where,-underneath the grove of sycamore,
That westward rooteth from the city's side,-
So early walking did I see your son:
Towards him I made; but he was 'ware of me,
And stole into the covert of the wood:
I, measuring his affections by my own,-
That most are busied when they are most alone,-
Pursu'd my humour, not pursuing his,
And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me.
With tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew,
Mon. Many a morning hath he there been seen,
Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs:
But all so soon as the all-cheering sun
Should in the furthest east begin to draw
The shady curtains from Aurora's bed,
Away from light steals home my heavy son,
And private in his chamber pens himself;
Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out,
And makes himself an artificial night:
Black and portentous must this humour prove,
Unless good counsel may the cause remove.

Ben. My noble uncle, do you know the cause? Mon. I neither know it nor can learn of him. Ben. Have you impórtun'd him by any means? Mon. Both by myself, and many other friends: But he, his own affection's counsellor, Is to himself-I will not say, how true-But to himself so secret and so close, So far from sounding and discovery, As is the bud bit with an envious worm, Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air, Or dedicate his beauty to the sun. [grow, Could we but learn from whence his sorrows We would as willingly give cure, as know.

Enter Romeo, at a distance.

Ben. See, where he comes: So please you, step aside;

I'll know his grievance, or be much denied.
Mon. I would, thou wert so happy by thy stay,
To hear true shrift.-Come, madam, let's away.
[Exeunt Montague and Lady.
Ben. Good morrow, cousin.
Rom.
Is the day so young?
Ben. But new struck nine.
Rom.

Ah me! sad hours seem long. Was that my father that went hence so fast? Ben. It was:- What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours?

Rom. Not having that, which having, makes them short