"If any man of quality, or degree, within the "lists of the army, will maintain upon Edmund, "supposed earl of Gloster, 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.

That eye, that told you so, look'd but a-squint.
Reg. Lady, I am not well; else I should answer 15"
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.

20

Reg. Let the drum strike, and prove my title 25

thine.

[thee

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

[Pointing to Goneril. This gilded serpent:-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 banns. If you will marry, make your love to me, My lady is bespoke.

Gon. An interlude!

Alb. Thou art arm'd, Gloster :-Let the trum-
pet sound :-
:-

If none appear to prove upon thy person
Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,
There is my pledge; 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!

[Aside.

Gon. If not, I'll ne'er trust poison.
Edm.There's my exchange: what in the world
he is

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 !

30

[1 trumpet.

[2 trumpet.

[3 trumpet.

[Trumpet answers, within.

Enter Edgar, armed.

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

Her. What are you?

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 withal.

Alb. Which is that adversary? [of Gloster?
Edg. What's he, that speaks for Edmund earl
Edm. Himself;-What say'st thou to him?
Edg. Draw thy sword;

35 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,-
Maugrethy 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,
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.

1 Commission, for authority. 2 Immediacy implies supremacy, in opposition to subordination. Grace here means accomplishments, or honours. A netaphorical 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. 1'Say, for essay, some shew or probability.

5

caught thee?

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
To noble fortunes: Know thou this, that men
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 'It do't,
Or thrive by other means.

15

[Exit Edgar.
[Alarum, and retreat within. 20
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.

Glo. No further, sir; a man may rot even here. 25
Edg. What, in ill thoughts again? Men must
endure

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

2

Glo. And that's true too.

SCENE III.

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 dry'd oats;
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,

[Exeunt. 30 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.

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

[guard; Edm. Some officers take them away: good 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:

35

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;

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,--50
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.

155

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.

'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. Morber Gallicus.-Gouge, Fr. signifies one of the common women attending a camp: and as that diseas first dispersed over Europe by the French army, and the women who followed the fir 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 into

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

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 in 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
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 there I left him tranc'd.

And more, much more: the time will bring it out; 25
'Tis past, and so am I: But what art thou,
That hast this fortune on me? If thou art noble,
I do forgive thee.

30

Edg. Let us exchange charity.

I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund;

35

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!

40

Edg. Worthy prince, I know it.
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!

tale;-
And, when 'tis told, O, that my heart would
The bloody proclamation to escape,
That follow'd me so near, (O our lives' sweetness! 50
That we the pain of death would hourly bear,
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

55

Alb. But who was this?

[guise Edg. Kent, sir, the banish'd Kent; who in disFollow'd his enemy king, and did him service Improper for a slave.

Enter a Gentleman hastily, with a bloody knife.
Gent. Help! help! Oh! help!

Edg. What kind of help?

Alb. Speak, man.

Edg. What means this bloody knife?

Gent. 'Tis hot, it smoaks;

It came even from the heart of -O! she's dead!
Alb. Who, man? speak.

Gent. Your lady, sir, your lady: and her sister
By her is poison'd; she hath confess'd it.

Edm. I was contracted to them both; all three
Now marry in an instant.
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
The compliment which very manners urge.
Kent. I am come

To bid my king and master aye good night;
Is he not here?

Alb. Great thing of us forgot!

Speak, Edmund, where's the king? and where's
Cordelia?

See'st thou this object, Kent?

Kent. Alack, why thus?

Edm. Yet Edmund was belov'd:

60 The one the other poison'd for my sake,
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.

Alb. The gods defend her! Bear him hence [Edmund is borne off

awhile.

5

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.
[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 them-
And desperately are dead.
[selves,

15

Enter Lear, with Cordelia dead in his arms.
Lear. Howl, howl, howl, howl!-O, you are 20
men of stones;

Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so
That heaven's vault should crack:-0, 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. Pr'ythee, away.

Lear. Ay, so I think.

Alb. He knows not what he says; and yain it is That we present us to him.

Edg. Very bootless.

Enter a Messenger.

Mes. Edmund is dead, my lord,

Alb. That's but a trifle here.

5

You lords, and noble friends, know our intent. What comfort to this great decay may come, Shall be apply'd: For us, we will resign, During the life of this old majesty, To him our absolute power :-You, to your rights; [To Edgar. 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, [inore, And thou no breath at all? O, thou wilt come no Never, never, never, never, never!

[Kneeling. 35 Look there, look there!

Edg. 'Tis noble Kent, your friend.
Lear. A plague upon you, murderers, traitors
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.
Gent. 'Tis true, my lords, he did.
Lear. Did I not, fellow?

40

[chion 45

I have seen the day, with my good biting faul-
I would have made them skip: I am old now,
And these same crosses spoil ine.-Who are you?
Mine eyes are none o' the best:-I'll tell you

straight.

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 your servant Caius?

1

50

55

Pray you, undo this button: Thank you, sir.—
Do you see this? Look on her, look on her lips,
[He dies.
Edg. He faints;-My lord, my lord,-
Kent. Break, heart; I pr'ythee, break!
Edg. Look up, my lord."

[hates him,

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

Edg. O, he is gone, indeed.

Kent. The wonder is, he hath endur'd so long: He but usurp'd his life.

[siness

Alb. Bear them from hence. Our present buIs general woe. Friends of my soul, you twain [To Kent and Edgar.

Rule in this realm, and the gor'd state sustain.
Kent. I have a journey, sir, shortly to go;
My master calls, and 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.

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. 4 That is, have anticipated their own doom. i. e. to this piece of decay'd royalty, this ruin'd majesty. "With advantage, with increase.

3

'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. 3Q3

ROMEO