That hast this fortune on me? If thou art noble
I do forgive thee.

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 plague us :

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

EDM.
The wheel is 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

Thou hast spoken right; 't is true;

Did hate thee, or thy father!

EDG.

Worthy prince, I know 't. 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 't is 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 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 our 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 in a man,

Who, having seen me in my worse 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.

EDG.

GENT. Help! help! O help!

What kind of help?

Speak, man.

"T is hot, it smokes ;

ALB.

EDG. What means this bloody knife?
GENT.

It came even from the heart of O she's dead.

ALB. Who dead? speak, man.

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 the bodies, be they alive or dead !— 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 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 :

EDG. To who, 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!-O, you are men of stones;

Had I your tongues and eyes I'd use them so

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? EDG. Or image of that horror?

ALB.

Fall, and cease!

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.

LEAR. Prithee, away.

EDG.

O my good master!

[Kneeling.

"T is 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.

OFF. "T is true, my lords, he did.

LEAR.

Did I not, fellow ?

I have seen the day, with my good biting faulchion
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 is a dull sight. Are you not Kent ?
KENT.

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 fore-done themselves,

And desperately are dead.

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.

Enter an Officer.

That's but a trifle here.

OFF. Edmund is dead, my lord.

ALB.

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 :-You, to your rights;

[To EDGAR and KENT.

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.

[He dies.

He faints! My lord, my lord,

KENT. Break, heart; I prithee, 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 rough 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.