1    Some officers take them away: good guard,
2    Until their greater pleasures first be known
3    That are to censure them.

4    We are not the first
5    Who, with best meaning, have incurr'd the worst.
6    For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down;
7    Myself could else out-frown false fortune's frown.
8    Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?

9    No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison:
10   We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage:
11   When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,
12   And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live,
13   And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
14   At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
15   Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,
16   Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out;
17   And take upon's the mystery of things,
18   As if we were God's spies: and we'll wear out,
19   In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones,
20   That ebb and flow by the moon.

21   Take them away.

22   Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia,
23   The gods themselves throw incense. Have I caught thee?
24   He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven,
25   And fire us hence like foxes. Wipe thine eyes;
26   The good-years shall devour them, flesh and fell,
27   Ere they shall make us weep: we'll see 'em starve
28   first. Come.

29   Come hither, captain; hark.
30   Take thou this note;
Giving a paper
31   go follow them to prison:
32   One step I have advanced thee; if thou dost
33   As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way
34   To noble fortunes: know thou this, that men
35   Are as the time is: to be tender-minded
36   Does not become a sword: thy great employment
37   Will not bear question; either say thou'lt do 't,
38   Or thrive by other means.

39   I'll do 't, my lord.

40   About it; and write happy when thou hast done.
41   Mark, I say, instantly; and carry it so
42   As I have set it down.

43   I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats;
44   If it be man's work, I'll do 't.

45   Sir, you have shown to-day your valiant strain,
46   And fortune led you well: you have the captives
47   That were the opposites of this day's strife:
48   We do require them of you, so to use them
49   As we shall find their merits and our safety
50   May equally determine.

51   Sir, I thought it fit
52   To send the old and miserable king
53   To some retention and appointed guard;
54   Whose age has charms in it, whose title more,
55   To pluck the common bosom on his side,
56   An turn our impress'd lances in our eyes
57   Which do command them. With him I sent the queen;
58   My reason all the same; and they are ready
59   To-morrow, or at further space, to appear
60   Where you shall hold your session. At this time
61   We sweat and bleed: the friend hath lost his friend;
62   And the best quarrels, in the heat, are cursed
63   By those that feel their sharpness:
64   The question of Cordelia and her father
65   Requires a fitter place.

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

69   That's as we list to grace him.
70   Methinks our pleasure might have been demanded,
71   Ere you had spoke so far. He led our powers;
72   Bore the commission of my place and person;
73   The which immediacy may well stand up,
74   And call itself your brother.

75   Not so hot:
76   In his own grace he doth exalt himself,
77   More than in your addition.

78   In my rights,
79   By me invested, he compeers the best.

80   That were the most, if he should husband you.

81   Jesters do oft prove prophets.

82   Holla, holla!
83   That eye that told you so look'd but a-squint.

84   Lady, I am not well; else I should answer
85   From a full-flowing stomach. General,
86   Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony;
87   Dispose of them, of me; the walls are thine:
88   Witness the world, that I create thee here
89   My lord and master.

90   Mean you to enjoy him?

91   The let-alone lies not in your good will.

92   Nor in thine, lord.

93   Half-blooded fellow, yes.

To EDMUND
94    Let the drum strike, and prove my title thine.

95   Stay yet; hear reason. Edmund, I arrest thee
96   On capital treason; and, in thine attaint,
97   This gilded serpent
Pointing to Goneril
98   For your claim, fair sister,
99   I bar it in the interest of my wife:
100  'Tis she is sub-contracted to this lord,
101  And I, her husband, contradict your bans.
102  If you will marry, make your loves to me,
103  My lady is bespoke.

104  An interlude!

105  Thou art arm'd, Gloucester: let the trumpet sound:
106  If none appear to prove upon thy head
107  Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,
108  There is my pledge;
Throwing down a glove
109  I'll prove it on thy heart,
110  Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less
111  Than I have here proclaim'd thee.

112  Sick, O, sick!

Aside
113   If not, I'll ne'er trust medicine.

114  There's my exchange:
Throwing down a glove
115  what in the world he is
116  That names me traitor, villain-like he lies:
117  Call by thy trumpet: he that dares approach,
118  On him, on you, who not? I will maintain
119  My truth and honour firmly.

120  A herald, ho!

121  A herald, ho, a herald!

122  Trust to thy single virtue; for thy soldiers,
123  All levied in my name, have in my name
124  Took their discharge.

125  My sickness grows upon me.

126  She is not well; convey her to my tent.
Exit Regan, led
Enter a Herald
127  Come hither, herald,--Let the trumpet sound,
128  And read out this.

129  Sound, trumpet!

Reads
130   'If any man of quality or degree within
131  the lists of the army will maintain upon Edmund,
132  supposed Earl of Gloucester, that he is a manifold
133  traitor, let him appear by the third sound of the
134  trumpet: he is bold in his defence.'

135  Sound!

136  Again!

137  Again!
Third trumpet

138  Ask him his purposes, why he appears
139  Upon this call o' the trumpet.

140  What are you?
141  Your name, your quality? and why you answer
142  This present summons?

143  Know, my name is lost;
144  By treason's tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit:
145  Yet am I noble as the adversary
146  I come to cope.

147  Which is that adversary?

148  What's he that speaks for Edmund Earl of Gloucester?

149  Himself: what say'st thou to him?

150  Draw thy sword,
151  That, if my speech offend a noble heart,
152  Thy arm may do thee justice: here is mine.
153  Behold, it is the privilege of mine honours,
154  My oath, and my profession: I protest,
155  Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence,
156  Despite thy victor sword and fire-new fortune,
157  Thy valour and thy heart, thou art a traitor;
158  False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father;
159  Conspirant 'gainst this high-illustrious prince;
160  And, from the extremest upward of thy head
161  To the descent and dust below thy foot,
162  A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou 'No,'
163  This sword, this arm, and my best spirits, are bent
164  To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak,
165  Thou liest.

166  In wisdom I should ask thy name;
167  But, since thy outside looks so fair and warlike,
168  And that thy tongue some say of breeding breathes,
169  What safe and nicely I might well delay
170  By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn:
171  Back do I toss these treasons to thy head;
172  With the hell-hated lie o'erwhelm thy heart;
173  Which, for they yet glance by and scarcely bruise,
174  This sword of mine shall give them instant way,
175  Where they shall rest for ever. Trumpets, speak!

176  Save him, save him!

177  This is practise, Gloucester:
178  By the law of arms thou wast not bound to answer
179  An unknown opposite; thou art not vanquish'd,
180  But cozen'd and beguiled.

181  Shut your mouth, dame,
182  Or with this paper shall I stop it: Hold, sir:
183  Thou worse than any name, read thine own evil:
184  No tearing, lady: I perceive you know it.

185  Say, if I do, the laws are mine, not thine:
186  Who can arraign me for't.

187  Most monstrous! oh!
188  Know'st thou this paper?

189  Ask me not what I know.

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

191  What you have charged me with, that have I done;
192  And more, much more; the time will bring it out:
193  'Tis past, and so am I. But what art thou
194  That hast this fortune on me? If thou'rt noble,
195  I do forgive thee.

196  Let's exchange charity.
197  I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund;
198  If more, the more thou hast wrong'd me.
199  My name is Edgar, and thy father's son.
200  The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
201  Make instruments to plague us:
202  The dark and vicious place where thee he got
203  Cost him his eyes.

204  Thou hast spoken right, 'tis true;
205  The wheel is come full circle: I am here.

206  Methought thy very gait did prophesy
207  A royal nobleness: I must embrace thee:
208  Let sorrow split my heart, if ever I
209  Did hate thee or thy father!

210  Worthy prince, I know't.

211  Where have you hid yourself?
212  How have you known the miseries of your father?

213  By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale;
214  And when 'tis told, O, that my heart would burst!
215  The bloody proclamation to escape,
216  That follow'd me so near,--O, our lives' sweetness!
217  That we the pain of death would hourly die
218  Rather than die at once!--taught me to shift
219  Into a madman's rags; to assume a semblance
220  That very dogs disdain'd: and in this habit
221  Met I my father with his bleeding rings,
222  Their precious stones new lost: became his guide,
223  Led him, begg'd for him, saved him from despair;
224  Never,--O fault!--reveal'd myself unto him,
225  Until some half-hour past, when I was arm'd:
226  Not sure, though hoping, of this good success,
227  I ask'd his blessing, and from first to last
228  Told him my pilgrimage: but his flaw'd heart,
229  Alack, too weak the conflict to support!
230  'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,
231  Burst smilingly.

232  This speech of yours hath moved me,
233  And shall perchance do good: but speak you on;
234  You look as you had something more to say.

235  If there be more, more woeful, hold it in;
236  For I am almost ready to dissolve,
237  Hearing of this.

238  This would have seem'd a period
239  To such as love not sorrow; but another,
240  To amplify too much, would make much more,
241  And top extremity.
242  Whilst I was big in clamour came there in a man,
243  Who, having seen me in my worst estate,
244  Shunn'd my abhorr'd society; but then, finding
245  Who 'twas that so endured, with his strong arms
246  He fastened on my neck, and bellow'd out
247  As he'ld burst heaven; threw him on my father;
248  Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him
249  That ever ear received: which in recounting
250  His grief grew puissant and the strings of life
251  Began to crack: twice then the trumpets sounded,
252  And there I left him tranced.

253  But who was this?

254  Kent, sir, the banish'd Kent; who in disguise
255  Follow'd his enemy king, and did him service
256  Improper for a slave.

257  Help, help, O, help!

258  What kind of help?

259  Speak, man.

260  What means that bloody knife?

261  'Tis hot, it smokes;
262  It came even from the heart of--O, she's dead!

263  Who dead? speak, man.

264  Your lady, sir, your lady: and her sister
265  By her is poisoned; she hath confess'd it.

266  I was contracted to them both: all three
267  Now marry in an instant.

268  Here comes Kent.

269  Produce their bodies, be they alive or dead:
270  This judgment of the heavens, that makes us tremble,
271  Touches us not with pity.
Exit Gentleman
Enter KENT
272  O, is this he?
273  The time will not allow the compliment
274  Which very manners urges.

275  I am come
276  To bid my king and master aye good night:
277  Is he not here?

278  Great thing of us forgot!
279  Speak, Edmund, where's the king? and where's Cordelia?
280  See'st thou this object, Kent?

281  Alack, why thus?

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

285  Even so. Cover their faces.

286  I pant for life: some good I mean to do,
287  Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send,
288  Be brief in it, to the castle; for my writ
289  Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia:
290  Nay, send in time.

291  Run, run, O, run!

292  To who, my lord? Who hath the office? send
293  Thy token of reprieve.

294  Well thought on: take my sword,
295  Give it the captain.

296  Haste thee, for thy life.

297  He hath commission from thy wife and me
298  To hang Cordelia in the prison, and
299  To lay the blame upon her own despair,
300  That she fordid herself.

301  The gods defend her! Bear him hence awhile.

302  Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:
303  Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld use them so
304  That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever!
305  I know when one is dead, and when one lives;
306  She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;
307  If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
308  Why, then she lives.

309  Is this the promised end

310  Or image of that horror?

311  Fall, and cease!

312  This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so,
313  It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows
314  That ever I have felt.

Kneeling
315   O my good master!

316  Prithee, away.

317  'Tis noble Kent, your friend.

318  A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all!
319  I might have saved her; now she's gone for ever!
320  Cordelia, Cordelia! stay a little. Ha!
321  What is't thou say'st? Her voice was ever soft,
322  Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman.
323  I kill'd the slave that was a-hanging thee.

324  'Tis true, my lords, he did.

325  Did I not, fellow?
326  I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion
327  I would have made them skip: I am old now,
328  And these same crosses spoil me. Who are you?
329  Mine eyes are not o' the best: I'll tell you straight.

330  If fortune brag of two she loved and hated,
331  One of them we behold.

332  This is a dull sight. Are you not Kent?

333  The same,
334  Your servant Kent: Where is your servant Caius?

335  He's a good fellow, I can tell you that;
336  He'll strike, and quickly too: he's dead and rotten.

337  No, my good lord; I am the very man,--

338  I'll see that straight.

339  That, from your first of difference and decay,
340  Have follow'd your sad steps.

341  You are welcome hither.

342  Nor no man else: all's cheerless, dark, and deadly.
343  Your eldest daughters have fordone them selves,
344  And desperately are dead.

345  Ay, so I think.

346  He knows not what he says: and vain it is
347  That we present us to him.

348  Very bootless.

349  Edmund is dead, my lord.

350  That's but a trifle here.
351  You lords and noble friends, know our intent.
352  What comfort to this great decay may come
353  Shall be applied: for us we will resign,
354  During the life of this old majesty,
355  To him our absolute power:
To EDGAR and KENT
356  you, to your rights:
357  With boot, and such addition as your honours
358  Have more than merited. All friends shall taste
359  The wages of their virtue, and all foes
360  The cup of their deservings. O, see, see!

361  And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life!
362  Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,
363  And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,
364  Never, never, never, never, never!
365  Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.
366  Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,
367  Look there, look there!

368  He faints! My lord, my lord!

369  Break, heart; I prithee, break!

370  Look up, my lord.

371  Vex not his ghost: O, let him pass! he hates him much
372  That would upon the rack of this tough world
373  Stretch him out longer.

374  He is gone, indeed.

375  The wonder is, he hath endured so long:
376  He but usurp'd his life.

377  Bear them from hence. Our present business
378  Is general woe.
To KENT and EDGAR
379  Friends of my soul, you twain
380  Rule in this realm, and the gored state sustain.

381  I have a journey, sir, shortly to go;
382  My master calls me, I must not say no.

383  The weight of this sad time we must obey;
384  Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
385  The oldest hath borne most: we that are young
386  Shall never see so much, nor live so long.