Re-enter Edmund.

Edm. The enemy's in view, draw up your powers. Here is the guess of their true strength and forces By diligent discovery :-but your haste

1s now urg'd on you. Alb.

We will greet the time. [Exit. Edm. To both these sisters have I sworn my love; Each jealous of the other, as the stung

Are of the adder. Which of them shall I take?
Both? one? or neither? Neither can be enjoy'd,
If both remain alive: To take the widow,
Exasperates, makes mad her sister Goneril;
And hardly shall I carry out my side,

Her husband being alive. Now then, we'll use

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 debate.

[Exit.

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's frown.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 care: 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 Talk of court-news; and we'll talk with them too,Who loses, and who wins; who's in, who's out;And take upon us the mystery 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. Edm. Take them away. Lear. Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia,

Off. I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats: If it be man's work, I will do it. Flourish. Enter Albany, Goneril, Regan, Offer, and Attendants.

Alb. Sir, you have shown 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 then 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, And turn our impress'd lances in our eyes Which do command them. With him I sent de

queen;

My reason all the same; and they are ready
To-morrow, or at further space, to appear
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:➡
The question of Cordelia, and her father,
Requires a fitter place.

Alb.

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

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

Gon.
Not so hot:
In his own grace he doth exalt himself,
More than in your advancement.

Reg.
In my rights,
By me invested, he compeers the best..
Gon. That were the most, if he should husband you!
Reg. Jesters do oft prove prophets.

Gon.

Holla, bolla!

That eye, that told you so, look'd but a-squint.
Reg. Lady, I am not well; else I should answer
From a full flowing stomach.-General,
Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony ;

Witness the world, that I create thee bere My lord and master.

Gon.

Mean you to enjoy him? Alb. The let-alone lies not in your good-will. Edm. Nor in thine, lord. Alb. Half-blooded fellow, yes. Reg. Let the drum strike, and prove my title thine. [To Edmund.

Alh. Stay yet; hear reason:-Edmund, I arrest thee On capital treason; and, in thy arrest,

This gilled serpent :-[Pointing to Gon.]-For your claim, fair sister,

I bar it in the interest of my wife;
'Tis she is sub-contracted to this lord,

And I, her husband, contradict your bans.
If you will marry, make your love to me,
My lady is bespoke.

Gon.

An interlude !

That, if my speech offend a noble heart,
Thy arm may do thee justice: here is mine.
Behold, it is the privilege of mine honours,
My oath, and my profession :-1 protest,
Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence,
Despite 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,
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.

Edm. In wisdom, I should ask thy name;
But, since thy outside looks so fair and warlike,
And that thy tongue some 'say of breeding breather,
What safe and nicely I might well delay
By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn:
Back do I toss these treasons to thy head;
With the bell-hated lie o'erwhelm thy heart;
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 falts.

Alb. O save him, save him!

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 scourge us :

The dark and vicious place where thee he got,
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 prophecy
A royal nobleness :-I must embrace thee;
Let sorrow split my heart, if ever I

Did hate thee, or thy father!

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

That follow'd me so near, (O our lives' sweetness!
That with the pain of death we'd hourly die,
Rather than die at once!) taught me to shift
Into a mad-man's rags; to assume a semblance
That very dogs disdain'd: and in this habit
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 my 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 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 there I left him tranc'd.

Alb.

But who was this?

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

What kind of help?

Alb.

Speak, man.

Edg. What means that bloody knife? Gent. 'Tis hot, it smokes ;

It came even from the heart ofAlb.

Who, man? speak. and her sister

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

Alb. Produce their bodies, be they alive or dead!-This judgement of the heavens, that makes us tremble, 'Fouches us not with pity. [Exit Gentleman.

Edg. "Tis noble Kent, your friend Lear. A plague upon you, murderers, traites all, I might have sav'd 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. Offl. "Tis true, my lords, he did.

Lear.

Did I not, feller? I have seen the day, with my good biting faulchim I would have made them skip: I am okl now, And these same crosses spoil me.-Who are you! Mine eyes are none o'the best :-I'll tell you straigh Kent. If fortune brag of two she lov'd 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 you servant Caius ?

Lear. He's a good fellow, I can tell you that; He'll strike, and quickly too :-He's dead and rotti Kent. No, my good ford; 1 am the very man Lear. I'll see that straight.

Kent. That, from your first of difference and dots, Have follow'd your sad steps.

Lear.

You are welcome bathr

Kent. Nor no man else; all's cheerless, dark, nul

deadly