Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

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.-
Nay, send in time.

[blocks in formation]

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 1 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, howl!—O, you are men

of stones:

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

1 Destroyed.

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 promised end? 1

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! [kneeling.

Lear. Pr'ythee, away.

Edg.

"Tis noble Kent, your friend.

Lear. A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all! I might have saved 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. 'Tis true, my lords, he did.

Did I not, fellow?

Lear. I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion I would have made them skip: I am old now, And these same crosses spoil me.—Who are you

?

1 i. e. the end of the world, foretold by our Saviour.
2 i. e. die. Albany here addresses Lear.

Mine eyes are none o' the best: I'll tell you

straight.

Kent. If Fortune brag of two she loved 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 foredoom'd 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.

[blocks in formation]

You lords, and noble friends, know our intent.
What comfort to this great decay 1 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 honors
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 3 is hang'd! No, no, no life:

Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,

And thou no breath at all? O, thou wilt 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.

Look up, my lord.

He faints! My lord, my lord, Kent. Break, heart; I pr'ythee, break!

Edg.

Kent. Vex not his ghost. O, let him pass! he

hates him,

That would upon the rack of this tough world

Stretch him out longer.

Edg.

i. e. Lear.

O, he is gone, indeed.

2 Increase.

3 An expression of tenderness for his dead Cordelia.

« AnteriorContinuar »