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 th' law of arms, thou wast not bound to answer
An unknown opposite; thou art not vanquish'd,
But cozen'd and beguil’d.

Alb.

sir!

Shut your mouth, dame;

Or with this paper shall I stop it? [To EDG.] Hold,
[Gives the letter to GONERIL.
Thou worse than any name, read thine own evil:
No tearing, lady; I perceive you know it.

Gon. Say, if I do, the laws are mine, not

[Exit an Officer.

Alb. Go after her: she's desperate; govern her.

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'rt 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 plague us :

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

Edm.

Thou'st spoken right, 'tis true;

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

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.

tale;

List a brief

And when 'tis told, O that my heart would burst!
The bloody proclamation to escape,

That follow'd me so near, (0, our lives' sweet

ness!

That we the pain of death would hourly die,
Rather than die at once!) taught me to shift
Into a madman's rags, t' assume a semblance
That very dogs disdain'd; and in this habit

1

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 woeful, 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 'twas that so endur'd, with his strong arms
He fasten'd on my neck, and bellow'd out
As he'd burst heaven; threw me 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 trumpets 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.

Alb.

What kind of help?

Edg. What means that bloody knife?

Speak, man.

'Tis hot, it smokes ;

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 hath confess'd it.

Edm. I was contracted to them both all three Now mairy in an instant.

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.

Edg.

Here comes Kent.

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 Cor

delia ?

Seest thou this object, Kent?

[The bodies of GONERIL and REGAN are

brought in.

Yet Edmund was belov'd :

Kent. Alack! why thus?

Edm.

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 th' castle; for my writ

Is on the life of Lear, and on Cordelia.

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 a

while.

[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. She's gone for

ever.

I know when one is
She's dead as earth.

dead, and when one lives;

- 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

Lear. A plague upon you, murtherers, traitors

all!

I might have sav'd her; now, she's gone for ever! Cordelia, Cordelia! stay a little. Ha!