Alb. Even so; cover their faces.

Edm. I pant for life; fome Good I mean to do,

Despight of mine own nature. Quickly send,

(Be brief) into the Castle; for my Writ

Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia!

Nay, send in time.

Alb. Run, run, O run

Edg. To whom, my lord? who has the office? Send Thy token of reprieve.

Edm. Well thought on, take my fword,

Give it the Captain-

Edg. Hafte thee for thy life.

[Exit Meffenger.

Edm. He hath Commission from thy wife and me

To hang Cordelia in the prifon, and

To lay the blame upon her own despair.

Alb. The Gods defend her! bear him hence a while.

Lear.

[Edmund is borne off.

SCENE X.

Enter Lear, with Cordelia dead in his arms.

HOWL, howl, howl, howl,

men of stone;

- O, you are

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?

Lear. This feather stirs, she lives; if it be so, It is a Chance which do's redeem all forrows, That ever I have felt.

Kent. O my good master !

Lear. Pr'ythee, away

Edg. 'Tis noble Kent, your friend.

[Kneeling.

Lear. A plague upon you, murd'rous traitors all !

I might have sav'd her; now she's gone for ever!

Cordelia,

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.
kill'd the flave, that was a hanging thee.
Gent. 'Tis true, my lords, he did.

Lear. Did I not, fellow ?

I've 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 none o'th' best. I'll tell you strait.
Kent. If fortune brag of two she lov'd and hated,.
One of them we behold.

Lear. Are you not Kent?
Kent. The fame; your servant Kent;

Where is your servant Caius ?

Lear. 'Twas a good fellow, I can tell you that, He'd strike, and quickly too :-he's dead and rotten. Kent. No, my good lord, I am the very man,Lear. I'll fee that strait.

Kent. That, from your first of difference and decay,

Have follow'd your sad steps-
Lear. You're welcome hither.

Kent. Nor no man elfe ;-all's cheerless, dark, and

dead:

Your eldest daughters have fore-done themselves, And desp'rately are dead.

Lear. Ay, fo I think.

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

That we present us to him.

Edg. Very bootless.

Enter a Messenger.

Meff. Edmund is dead, my lord.

Alb. That's but a trifle.

You lords and noble friends, know our intent;
What Comfort to this great Decay inay come,
Shall be apply'd. For us, we will refign,

During the life of this old Majesty,

To him our absolute Power: to you, your Rights,

[To Edgar...

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 fee, fee-

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;

you,

Do you fee this? look on her, look on her lips,

Look there, look there

Edg. He faints, my lord,

Kent. Break heart, I pr'ythee break!

Edg. Look up, my lord.

[He dies.

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 ufurpt his life.

Alb. Bear them from hence, our present business Is general woe: friends of my foul, you twain Rule in this Realm, and the gor'd State fustain. Kent. I have a journey, Sir, shortly to go;

[Dies.

My master calls me; 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 oldeft hath borne most: we, that are young,
Shall never fee so much, nor live so long.

[Exeunt with a dead March.

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TI MON

OF

ATHENS.

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