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 way,
Where they shall rest for ever.

Trumpets, speak. [Alarums. They fight. EDMUND falls.

Alb. O save him, save him!

Gon.

This is mere practice?, Gloster : By the law of arms, thou wast not bound to answer An unknown opposite; thou art not vanquish❜d, But cozen'd and beguil❜d.

Alb.

Or with this

Shut your mouth, dame,

shall I stop it: paper

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 thine: Who shall arraign me for 't?

Alb.

Know'st thou this paper?
Gon.

Most monstrous!

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;

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.

I know it well.

Alb.

Worthy prince,

father?

Where have you hid yourself? How have you known the miseries of your 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 with the pain of death we'd hourly die,
Rather than die at once!) taught me to shift
Into a mad-man'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!)

8 Hear.

"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 dis

guise

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 means that bloody knife?

Edg.

What kind of help?

Alb.

Speak, man.

'Tis hot, it smokes ;

Alb.

Who, man? speak.

Gent.

It came even from the heart of —

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.

Alb. Produce their bodies, be they alive or dead!

This judgment of the heavens, that makes us

tremble,

Touches us not with pity.

[Exit Gentleman.

Enter KENT.

Edg.

Here comes Kent, sir.

Alb. O! it is 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 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 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.

Alb.

Run, run, O, run —

9 For ever.

Edg. To whom, my lord? Who has the office?

send

Thy token of reprieve.

Edm. Well thought on; take my sword,

Give it the captain.

Alb. Haste thee, for thy life.

[Exit EDGAR.

Edm. 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.

[EDMUND is borne off.

Enter LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his Arms; EDGAR, Officer, and others.

Lear. Howl, howl, howl, howl!-O, you 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
Why, then she lives.
Kent.

mist or stain the stone,

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'y thee, away.

Edg.

'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!

1 Destroyed herself