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Alb. Half-blooded fellow, yes.

Gon. Mean you to enjoy him?

Alb. The let alone lies not in your good will'.
Edm. Nor in thine, lord.

Reg. Let the drum strike, and prove my title 25 Your name, your quality? and why you answer

Enter Edgar, armed.

Alb. Ask him his purposes, why he appears

Upon this call o' the trumpet.

Her. What are you?

thine.

[thee

This present summons?

Alb. Stay yet; hear reason:-Edmund, I arrest

Edg. Know, my name is lost;

On capital treason; and, in thy arrest,

[Pointing to Goneril.

By treason's tooth bare-gnawn, and canker-bit;
Yet am I noble, as the adversary

I bar it in the interest of my wife;

Alb. Which is that adversary? [of Gloster?

'Tis she is sub-contracted to this lord,

Edg. What's he, that speaks for Edmund eart
Edm. Himself;-What say'st thou to him ?

Edg. Draw thy sword;

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That, if my speech offend a noble heart,
Thy arm may do thee justice: here is mine.

This gilded serpent: -for your claim, fair sister, 30 I come to cope withal.

And I, her husband, contradict your banns.

If you will marry, make your love to me,

My lady is bespoke.

Alb. Thou art arm'd, Gloster:-Let the trum- Behold, it is the privilege of mine honours,

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My oath, and my profession :-I protest,-
Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence,
40 Despight thy victor sword, and fire-new fortune,
Thy valour, and thy heart, -thou art a traitor;
False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father;
Conspirant 'gainst this high illustrious prince;
And, from the extremest upward of thy head,

[Aside. 45 To the descent and dust beneath thy feet,
A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou, No,
This sword, this arm, and my best spirits, are bent
To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak,
Thou liest.

That names me traitor, villain-like he lies :
Call by thy trumpet: he that dares approach,
On him, on you, (who not?) I will maintain
My truth and honour firmly.
Alb. A herald, ho!

Edm. A herald, ho, a herald !

50 Edm. In wisdom, I should ask thy name;
But, since thy out-side looks so fair and warlike,
Andthat thytonguesome'say'of breedingbreathes,
What safe and nicely I might well delay

Commission, for authority. * Immediacy implies supremacy, in opposition to subordination. 3 Grace here means accomplishments, or honours. 4 A inetaphorical phrase taken from the camp, and signifying, to surrender at discretion. 'Whether he shall not or shall, depends not on your choice. • The charge he is here going to bring against the Bastard, he calls the privilege, &c.; to understand which phraseology, we must consider that the old rites of knighthood are here alluded to; whose oath and profession required him to discover all treasons, and whose privilege it was to have his challenge accepted, or otherwise to have his charge taken pro confesso. For if one who was no knight, accused another who was, that other was under no obligation to accept the challenge. On this account it was necessary, as Edgar came disguised, to tell the Bastard he was a knight. 'Say, for essay, some shew or probability.

His countenance for the battle; which being done,
Let her, who would be rid of him, devise
His speedy taking off. As for the mercy
Which he intends to Lear, and to Cordelia, -
The battle done, and they within our power,
Shall never see his pardon: for my state
Stands on me to defend, not to debate1. [Exit.

SCENE Н.

A Field between the two Camps.
um and

Alarum within. Enter, with drum
colours,
Lear, Cordelia, and Soldiers over the stage; and
Enter Edgar, and Gloster.

exeunt.

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5 He, that parts us, shall bring a brand from heaven,
And fire us hence, like foxes. Wipe thine eyes;
The goujeers' shall devour them, flesh, and fell,
Ere they shall make us weep: we'll see them

starve first.

10 Come. [Exeunt Lear, and Cordelia, guarded.
Edm. Come hither, captain; hark.
Take thou this note; go, follow them to prison:
One step I have advanc'd thee; if thou dost
As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way

Edg. Here, father, take the shadow of this tree 15 To noble fortunes: Know thou this, that men

For your good host; pray that the right maythrive:
If ever I return to you again,

I'll bring you comfort.

Glo. Grace go with you, sir!

[Exit Edgar.

Are as the time is: to be tender-minded [ment
Does not become a sword:-Thy great employ-
Will not bear question '; either say, thou 'lt do't,
Or thrive by other means.

[Alarum, andretreat within. 20 Capt. I'll do't, my lord.
Re-enter Edgar.

Edg. Away, old man, give me thy hand, away; King Lear hath lost, he and his daughter ta'en:

Give me thy hand, come on.

Edm. About it; and write happy, when thou
hast done.

Mark,I say, instantly; and carry it so,
As I have set it down.

Glo. No further, sir; a man may rot even here. 25 Capt. I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dry'd oats; Edg. What, in ill thoughts again? Men must

endure

Their going hence, even as their coming hither;
Ripeness is all: Come on.

Glo. And that's true too.

SCENE III.

[Exeunt. 30

Enter, in conquest, with drum and colours, Edmund; Lear, and Cordelia, as prisoners; Soldiers, Captain.

[guard;

Edm. Some officers take them away: good 35
Until their greater pleasures first be known,
That are to censure them.

Cor. We are not the first,
Who, with best meaning, have incurr'd the worst.
For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down;
Myself could else out-frown-false fortune'sfrown.---
Shall we not see these daughters, and these sisters?
Lear. No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to
prison:

We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness: So we'll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues

If it be man's work, I will do it. [Exit Capt.
Flourish. Enter Albany, Goneril, Regan and Soldiers.
Alb. Sir, you have shewn to-day your valiant
strain,

And fortune led you well: You have the captives
Who were the opposites of this day's strife:
We do require them of you; so to use them,
As we shall find their merits and our safety
May equally determine.

Edm. Sir, I thought it fit
To send the old and miserable king
To some retention, and appointed guard;
Whose age has charms in it, whose title more,
To pluck the common bosom on his side,
40 And turn our imprest lances in our eyes
Which do command them. With him I sent the

queen;

My reason all the same; and they are ready
To-morrow, or at a further space, to appear
45 Where you shall hold your session. At this time,
We sweat, and bleed: the friend hath lost his
friend;

And the best quarrels, in the heat, are curs'd
By those that feel their sharpness:-

Talk of court news; and we'lltalk with them too,-- 50 The question of Cordelia, and her father,

Who loses, and who wins; who's in, who's out; -
And take upon us the mystery of tery of things,
As if we were God's spies: And we'll wear out,
In a wall'd prison, packs and sects' of great ones,
That ebb and flow by the moon.

55

Requires a fitter place.
Alb. Sir, by your your patience, patie
I hold you but a subject of this war,
Not as a brother.

Reg. That's as we list to grace him.

Dr. Johnson thinks that for does not stand in this place as a word of inference or causality. The meaning is rather : Such is my determination concerning Lear; as for my state, it requires now, not deli beration, but defence and support. i. e. To be ready, prepared, is all. 'Packs is used for combinations or collection, as is a pack of cards. For sects, sets might be more commodiously read. Thus we say, affairs are now managed by a new set. It is usual to smoke foxes out of their holes. i. e. Morbi Gallicus. Gouge, Fr. signifies one of the common wonen attending a camp: and as that dises first dispersed over Europe by the French army, and the women who followed the f obtained among us was the gougeries, i. e. the disease of the gouges. • Flesh ing is, that the important business he now had in hand, did not admit of d resolve to do it, or not. i. e. tu launce-men which are press'd inte

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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 theyyet glance by, and scarcelybruise)

Told him my pilgrimage: But his flaw'd heart, (Alack, too weak the conflict to support!) 'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy, and grief, Burst smilingly.

This sword of mine shall give them instant way, 5 Edm. This speech of yours hath mov'd me,

Where they shall rest for ever. --Trumpetsspeak. [Alarum. Fight. Edmund falls.

Alb. Save him, save him!

Gon. This is mere practice, Gloster: [swer
By the law of arms, thou wast not bound to an-10
An unknown opposite; thou art not vanquish'd,
'But cozen'd and beguil'd.

Alb. Shut your mouth, dame,

Or with this paper shall I stop it :-Hold, sir :

Thou worse than any name, read thine own evil :- 15 Whilst I was big in clamour, came there in a man, 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. Monster, know'st thou this paper?

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, holditin:
For I am almost ready to dissolve,
Hearing of this.

Edg. - This would have seem'd a period Tosuch as love not sorrow; but, another';ست To amplify too-much, would make much more, And top extremity:

Gon. Ask me not what I know. (Exit Gon. Alb. Goafter her; she's desperate; govern her. Edm. What you have charg'd me with, that I have done;

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 20 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 more, much more: the time will bring it out; 25 And there I left him tranc'd.

"Tis past, and so am I: But what art thou,

Alb. But who was this?

[guise

That hast this fortune on me? If thou art noble,

Edg. Kent, sir, the banish'd Kent; who in dis

I do forgive thee.

Follow'd his enemy king, and did him service

Edg. Let us exchange charity.

Improper for a slave.

I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund; 30 Enter a Gentleman hastily, with a bloody knife.

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The dark and vicious place where thee he got, 35 Gent. 'Tis hot, it smoaks;

Cost him his eyes.

Edm. Thou hast 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 it.

Gent. Your lady, sir, your lady: and her sister By her is poison'd; she hath confess'd it. 40 Edm. I was contracted to them both; all three Now marry in an instant.

Alb. Where have you hid yourself? [ther?
How have you known the miseries of your fa-45
Edg. By nursing them, my lord. List a brief
[burst!
And, when 'tis told, O, that my heart would
The bloody proclamation to escape,

tale;

Enter Kent.

Alb. Produce the bodies, be they alive or dead! [Goneril and Regan's bodies brought out.

This judgement of the heavens, that makes us tremble,

Touches us not with pity.-
Edg. Here comes Kent, sir.

Alb. O! is this he? The time will not allow

That follow'd me so near, (O our lives' sweetness! 50 The compliment which very manners urge.

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Not sure, though hoping, of this good success, 60 The one the other poison'd for my sake,

I ask'd his blessing, and from first to last

And after slew herself.

The sense may probably be this: This would have seemed a period to such as love not sorrow; but, another, i. e. but I must add another, i. e. another period, another kind of conclusion to my story, such as will increase the horrors of what has been already told.

Alb

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Edg. Haste thee for thy life. [Exit Messenger.
Edm. He hath commission from thy wife and
To hang Cordelia in the prison, and
To lay the blame upon her own despair,

That she fordid herself.

[me

5

Kent. No, my good lord; I am the very man;-
Lear, I'll see that straight.

[decay3,

Kent. That, from your first of difference and

Have follow'd your sad steps.

Lear. You are welcome hither. [and deadly. Kent. Nor no man else; all's cheerless, dark, 10 Your eldest daughters have fore-doom'd themAnd desperately are dead.

Lear. Ay, so I think.

[selves,

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

That we present us to him.

15 Edg. Very bootless.

Enter a Messenger.

Mes. Edmund is dead, my lord,
Alb. That's but a trifle here.-

Alb. The gods defend her! Bear him hence awhile. [Edmund is borne off. Enter Lear, with Cordelia dead in his arms. Lear. Howl, howl, howl, howl! - O, you are 20 What comfort to this great decay' may come, 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 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 that does redeem all sorrows

That ever I have felt.

Kent. O my good master!

Lear. Prythee, away.

Edg. 'Tis noble Kent, your friend.

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25 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! [life.

Lear. And my poor fool is hang'd'! No, no, no
30 Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life, [more,
And thou no breath at all? O, thou wilt come no
Never, never, never, never, never!-
Pray you, undo this button: Thank you, sir.-
Do you see this? Look on her, look on her lips,

[Kneeling. 35 Look there, look there!

Lear. A plague upon you, murderers, traitors

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

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ever!-Cordelia, Cordelia, stay a little. Ha! 40 That would upon the rack of this tough world

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To fordo signifies to destroy. * Mr. Steevens affixes the following meaning to this exclamation of Albany: "He is looking with attention on the pains employed by Lear to recover his child, and knows to what miseries he must survive, when he finds them to be ineffectual. Having these images present to his eyes and imagination, he cries out, Rather fall, and cease to be, at once, than continue in existence only to be wretched." Decay for misfortunes. + That is, have anticipated their own doom. 'i. e. to this piece of decay'd royalty, this ruin'd majesty. With advantage, with increase. 'Mr. Steevens remarks, that this is an expression of tenderness for his dead Cordelia, (not his fool, as some have thought,) on whose lips he is still intent, and dies away while he is searching for life there. The Rev. Dr. J. Warton judiciously observes, that the swelling and heaving of the heart is described by this most expressive circumstance. 2 i. e. this obdurate, rigid world.

3Q 3

ROMEO

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