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If you have victory, let the trumpet sound
For him that brought it: wretched though I seem,
I can produce a champion that will
What is avouched there. If you miscarry,
Your business of the world hath so an end,
And machination ceases. Fortune love you!
Alb. Stay till I have read the letter.
Edg.
I was forbid it.
When time shall serve, let but the herald cry,
And I'll appear again.

Alb. Why, fare thee well: I will o'erlook thy
paper.
[Exit Edgar. 50

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
Is now urged 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

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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. 69

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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
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's the mystery of things,

Edm.

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.
Take them away.
Lear. Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia, 20
The gods themselves throw incense. Have I
caught thee?

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

Come. [Exeunt Lear and Cordelia, guarded.
Edm. Come hither, captain; hark.
Take thou this note [giving a paper]; go follow
them to prison:

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One step I have advanced thee; if thou dost
As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way
Are as the time is: to be tender-minded
To noble fortunes: know thou this, that men
Does not become a sword: thy great employment
Will not bear question; either say thou❜lt do 't,
Or thrive by other means.
Capt.

I'll do't, my lord. Edm. About it; and write happy when thou hast done.

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

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

Flourish. Enter ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN, another Captain, and Soldiers.

Alb. Sir, you have shown to-day your valiant strain,

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And fortune led you well: you have the captives
That 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

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Edm. There's my exchange [throwing down a glove]: what in the world he is

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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!
Alb. Trust to thy single virtue; for thy soldiers,
All levied in my name, have in my name
Took their discharge.
Reg.
My sickness grows upon me.
Alb. She is not well; convey her to my tent.
[Exit Regan, led.

Enter a Herald.

Come hither, herald,-Let the trumpet sound,60 And read out this.

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:

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From a full-flowing stomach. General,
Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony;
Dispose of them, of me; the walls are thine:
Witness the world, that I create thee here
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. 80
Reg. [To Edmund] Let the drum strike, and
prove my title thine.
Alb. Stay yet; hear reason. Edmund, I ar-
rest thee

On capital treason; and, in thine attaint,

Capt. Sound, trumpet! [A trumpet sounds. Her. [Reads] 'If any man of quality or degree within the lists of the army will maintain upon Edmund, supposed Earl of Gloucester, that he is a manifold traitor, let him appear by the third sound of the trumpet: he is bold in his defence.' Edm. Sound! Her. Again! Her. Again

[First trumpet. ¦ [Second trumpet. [Third trumpet.

[Trumpet answers within.

Enter EDGAR, at the third sound, armed, with

a trumpet before him.
Alb. Ask him his purposes, why he appears
Upon this call o' the trumpet.
Her.
What are you? 119
Your name, your quality? and why you answer
This present summons?
Edg.
Know, my name is lost;
By treason's tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit:
Yet am I noble as the adversary

I come to cope..
Alb.

Which is that adversary?
Edg. What's he that speaks for Edmund Earl
of Gloucester?

Edm. Himself: what say'st thou to him?
Edg
Draw thy sword,

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: I protest,
Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence,
Despite thy victor sword and fire-new fortune,

This gilded serpent [pointing to Gon.]. For your Thy valour and thy heart, thou art a traitor;

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 loves to me, My lady is bespoke.

Gon.

An interlude!

Alb. Thou art arm'd, Gloucester: let the trumpet sound:

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If none appear to prove upon thy head
Thy heinous, manifest; and many treasons,
There is my pledge [throwing down a glove];
I'll prove it on thy heart,

Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less
Than I have here proclaim'd thee.
Reg.
Sick, O, sick!
Gon. [Aside] If not, I'll ne'er trust medicine.

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Where they shall rest for ever.
[Alarums. They fight.
Alb. Save him, save him!
Gon.

Trumpets, speak!
Edmund falls.
This is practice, Gloucester: 151
By the law of arms thou wast not bound to answer
An unknown opposite; thou art not vanquish'd,
But cozen'd and beguiled.
Alb.
Shut your mouth, dame,
Or with this paper shall I stop it: Hold, sir:
Thou worse than any name, read thine own evil:
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 can arraign me for't?
Alb.
Most monstrous! oh! 159
Know'st thou this paper?
Gon.
Ask me not what I know. [Exit.
Alb. Goafter her: she's desperate; govern her.
Edm. What you have charged 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.

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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't. Alb. Where have you hid yourself? 179 How have you known the miseries of your father? Edg. By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale;

189

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 we the pain of death would hourly die
Rather than die at once!-taught me to shift
Into a madman'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, saved 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 moved me,
And shall perchance do good: but speak you on;
You look as you had something more to say. 201
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.

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Whilst I was big in clamour came there in a man,
Who, having seen me in my worst estate,
Shunn'd my abhorr'd society; but then, finding
Who 'twas that so endured, with his strong arms
He fasten'd on my neck, and bellow'd out
As he'ld burst heaven; threw him on my father;
Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him
That ever ear received: 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 tranced.
Alb.
But who was this?
Edg. Kent, sir, the banish'd Kent; who in
disguise

Follow'd his enemy king, and did him service 220
Improper for a slave.

Enter a Gentleman, with a bloody knife.

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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?
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 That ever I have felt.

Kent. [Kneeling] O my good master!
Lear. Prithee, away.

Edg.

'Tis noble Kent, your friend. A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all!

Lear.

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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!
Lear. And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no,
no life!

Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou 'lt 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, 310
Look there, look there!
[Dies
Edg.
He faints! My lord, my lord!
Kent. Break, heart; I prithee, break!
Edg.
Look up, my lord.
Kent. Vex not his ghost: O, let him pass! he
hates him much

That would upon the rack of this tough world
Stretch him out longer.
Edg.
He is gone, indeed.
Kent. The wonder is, he hath endured so long:
He but usurp'd his life.

Alb. Bear them from hence. Our present business

Is general woe. [To Kent and Edgar] Friends of my soul, you twain

Rule in this realm, and the gored state sustain. Kent. I have a journey, sir, shortly to go; 321 My master calls me, I must not say no.

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

[Exeunt, with a dead march

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Rod.

ACT I.

SCENE I. Venice. A street.

Enter RODERIGO and IAGO.

Clown, servant to Othello.

DESDEMONA, daughter to Brabantio and wife to Othello.

EMILIA, wife to Iago.

BIANCA, mistress to Cassio.

Sailor, Messenger, Herald, Officers, Gentlemen, Musicians, and Attendants.

SCENE: Venice: a Sea-port in Cyprus.

Rod. By heaven, I rather would have been his hangman.

Iago. Why, there's no remedy; 'tis the curse of service,

Preferment goes by letter and affection,

Tush! never tell me; I take it much And not by old gradation, where each second unkindly

That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse

As if the strings were thine, shouldst know of this.
Iago. 'Sblood, but you will not hear me:
If ever I did dream of such a matter,
Abhor me.

Rod. Thou told'st me thou didst hold him in thy hate.

Iago. Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the city,

In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,
Off-capp'd to him: and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:
But he, as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance
Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;
And, in conclusion,

Nonsuits my mediators; for, 'Certes,' says he,
'I have already chose my officer.'
And what was he?

Forsooth, a great arithmetician,
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,

10

20

A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife;
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric,
Wherein the toged consuls can propose
As masterly as he: mere prattle, without practice,
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the election:
And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof
At Rhodes, at Cyprus and on other grounds
Christian and heathen, must be be-lee'd and
calm'd

By debitor and creditor: this counter-caster,
He, in good time, must his lieutenant be,

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And I God bless the mark!-his Moorship's

ancient.

Stood heir to the first. Now, sir, be judge your

self,

Whether I in any just term am affined
To love the Moor.

Rod.
I would not follow him then. 40
Iago. O, sir, content you;

I follow him to serve my turn upon him:
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly follow'd. You shall mark
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave,
That, doting on his own obsequious bondage,
Wears out his time, much like his master's ass,
For nought but provender, and when he's old,
cashier'd:

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And such a one do I profess myself. For, sir,
It is as sure as you are Roderigo,
Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago:
In following him, I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end:
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, 'tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.
Rod. What a full fortune does the thick-lips

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