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King Lear (Modern, Extended Folio)
29375.3
2938Enter, in conquest with drum and colors, Edmund [the Bastard]; Lear, 2939and Cordelia, as prisoners; soldiers, Captain.
2940Bastard
Some officers take them away. Good guard,
2941Until their greater pleasures first be known
2942That are to censure them.
2943Cordelia
We are not the first
2944Who, with best meaning, have incurred the worst.
2945For thee, oppressèd king I am cast down;
2946Myself could else out-frown false fortune's frown.
2947Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?
2948Lear
No, no, no, no. Come, let's away to prison.
2949We two alone will sing like birds i'th'cage.
2950When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down
2951And ask of thee forgiveness; so we'll live,
2952And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
2953At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
2954Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too--
2955Who loses and who wins, who's in, who's out,
2956And take upon's the mystery of things
2957As if we were gods' spies; and we'll wear out,
2958In a walled prison, packs and sects of great ones
2959That ebb and flow by th'moon.
2960Bastard
[To soldiers] Take them away.
2961Lear
Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia,
2962The gods themselves throw incense.
[Embracing Cordelia]
2963Have I caught thee?
2964He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven
2965And fire us hence, like foxes. Wipe thine eyes.
2966The goodyears shall devour them, flesh and fell,
Come.
Exeunt [Lear and Cordelia, guarded].
Come hither captain, hark. [Handing him a paper]
2970Take thou this note. Go follow them to prison.
2971One step I have advanced thee; if thou dost
2972As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way
2973To noble fortunes. Know thou this, that men
2974Are as the time is. To be tender-minded
2975Does not become a sword. Thy great employment
2976Will not bear question. Either say thou'lt do't,
2977Or thrive by other means.
2978Captain
I'll do't, my lord.
2979Bastard
About it, and write "happy" when th'hast done.
2980Mark--I say instantly, and carry it so
I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats.
Exit Captain.
2983Albany
[To the Bastard] Sir, you have showed today your valiant strain
2984And fortune led you well. You have the captives
2985Who were the opposites of this day's strife.
2986I do require them of you, so to use them
2987As we shall find their merits and our safety
2988May equally determine.
2989Bastard
Sir, I thought it fit
2990To send the old and miserable King to some retention,
And appointed guard;
2991Whose age had charms in it, whose title more,
2992To pluck the common bosom on his side
2993And turn our impressèd lances in our eyes
2994Which do command them. With him I sent the queen--
2995My reason all the same--and they are ready
2996Tomorrow, or at further space, t'appear
2997Where you shall hold your session.
2997.1At this time we sweat and bleed.
2715The friend hath lost his friend, and the best quarrels
2998Albany
Sir, by your patience,
2999I hold you but a subject of this war,
3000Not as a brother.
3001Regan
That's as we list to grace him.
3002Methinks our pleasure might have been demanded
3003Ere you had spoke so far. He led our powers,
3004Bore the commission of my place and person,
3005The which immediacy may well stand up
3006And call itself your brother.
3007Goneril
Not so hot.
3008In his own grace he doth exalt himself
3009More than in your addition.
3010Regan
In my rights,
3011By me invested, he compeers the best.
3012Albany
That were the most, if he should husband you.
3013Regan
Jesters do oft prove prophets.
3014Goneril
Hola, hola!
3015That eye that told you so looked but asquint.
3016Regan
Lady, I am not well, else I should answer
3017From a full-flowing stomach. [To the Bastard] General,
3018Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony;
3019Dispose of them, of me. The walls are thine.
3020Witness the world that I create thee here
3021My lord and master.
3022Goneril
Mean you to enjoy him?
3023Albany
The let-alone lies not in your good will.
3024Bastard
Nor in thine, lord.
3025Albany
Half-blooded fellow, yes.
3026Regan
[To Edmund] Let the drum strike, and prove my title thine.
3027Albany
Stay yet, hear reason. Edmund, I arrest thee
3028On capital treason, and in thy arrest
3030I bar it in the interest of my wife.
3031'Tis she is subcontracted to this lord,
3032And I, her husband, contradict your banns.
3033If you will marry, make your loves to me--
3034My lady is bespoke.
3035Goneril
An interlude!
3036Albany
Thou art armed, Gloucester. 3037Let the trumpet sound.
3038If none appear to prove upon thy person
3039Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,
[Throwing down a glove]
3040There is my pledge. I'll make it on thy heart,
3041Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less
3042Than I have here proclaimed thee.
3043Regan
Sick, oh sick.
3044Goneril
[Aside] If not, I'll ne'er trust medicine.
3045Bastard
[Throwing down a glove] There's my exchange. What in the world he is
3046That names me traitor, villain-like he lies.
3047Call by the trumpet. He that dares approach,
3048On him, on you--who not?--I will maintain
3049My truth and honor firmly.
3051Albany
A herald, ho!
3050Enter a Herald.
Albany
3052[To the Bastard] Trust to thy single virtue, for thy soldiers,
3053All levied in my name, have in my name
3054Took their discharge.
3055Regan
My sickness grows upon me.
3056Albany
She is not well. Convey her to my tent.
[Exit Regan, supported.]
3057Come hither herald. Let the trumpet sound,
3058And read out this.
3058.12 Captain
Sound trumpet!
64A Trumpet sounds.
3064Herald
Again!
Second trumpet
3065Herald
Again!
Third trumpet
3066Trumpet answers within.
Ask him his purposes; why he appears
3069Upon this call o'th'trumpet.
What are you?
3072This present summons.
Know my name is lost,
3075Yet am I noble as the adversary
3076I come to cope.
3077Albany
Which is that adversary?
3078Edgar
What's he that speaks for Edmund, Earl of Gloucester?
3079Bastard
Himself. What sayest thou to him?
3080Edgar
Draw thy sword
3081That if my speech offend a noble heart
3082Thy arm may do thee justice. Here is mine.
[Draws his sword.]
3083Behold. It is my privilege,
3084The privilege of mine honors,
3085My oath, and my profession. I protest,
3086Maugre thy strength, place, youth, and eminence,
3087Despite thy victor-sword and fire-new fortune,
3088Thy valor and thy heart--thou art a traitor,
3089False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father;
3090Conspirant 'gainst this high, illustrious prince,
3091And from th'extremest upward of thy head,
3092To the descent and dust below thy foot
3093A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou no,
3094This sword, this arm, and my best spirits are bent
3095To prove upon thy heart whereto I speak
3096Thou liest.
3097Bastard
In wisdom I should ask thy name,
3098But since thy outside looks so fair and warlike,
3099And that thy tongue some say of breeding breathes,
3100What safe and nicely I might well delay
3102Back do I toss these treasons to thy head,
3103With the hell-hated lie o'erwhelm thy heart,
3104Which, for they yet glance by and scarcely bruise,
3105This sword of mine shall give them instant way
3106Where they shall rest for ever. Trumpets, speak!
Alarums. Fights. [The Bastard is wounded.]
3107Albany
[To Edgar] Save him, save him.
This is practice, Gloucester.
3111But cozened and beguiled.
Shut your mouth, dame,
3113Or with this paper shall I stop it.--Hold, sir--
3114[To Goneril, giving her the letter] Thou, worse than any name, read thine own evil.
3115No tearing, lady, I perceive you know it.
3116Goneril
Say if I do, the laws are mine not thine.
3117Who can arraign me for't?
Exit [Goneril].
3118Albany
Most monstrous!
[To Edmund] Oh, know'st thou this paper?
3119Bastard
Ask me not what I know.
3120Albany
[To an attendant] Go after her. She's desperate--govern her.
[Exit an attendant.]
What you have charged me with, 3122that have I done,
3124'Tis past, and so am I. [To Edgar] But what art thou
3125That hast this fortune on me? If thou'rt noble,
3126I do forgive thee.
3127Edgar
Let's exchange charity.
3128I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund;
3129If more, the more th'hast wronged me.
3130My name is Edgar, and thy father's son.
3131The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
3134Cost him his eyes.
Th'hast spoken right, 'tis true.
[To Edgar] Methought thy very gait did prophesy
3138A royal nobleness. I must embrace thee.
3139Let sorrow split my heart if ever I
3140Did hate thee or thy father.
3141Edgar
Worthy prince, I know't.
3142Albany
Where have you hid yourself?
3143How have you known the miseries of your father?
3144Edgar
By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale,
3145And when 'tis told, oh, that my heart would burst.
3146The bloody proclamation to escape,
3147That followed me so near--oh, our life's sweetness,
3148That we the pain of death would hourly die
3149Rather than die at once--taught me to shift
3150Into a madman's rags, t'assume a semblance
3151That very dogs disdained; and in this habit
3152Met I my father with his bleeding rings,
3153Their precious stones new lost, became his guide,
3154Led him, begged for him, saved him from despair.
3155Never--oh, fault!--revealed myself unto him
3156Until some half hour past when I was armed;
3157Not sure, though hoping of this good success,
3158I asked his blessing, and from first to last
3159Told him our pilgrimage. But his flawed heart,
3160Alack, too weak the conflict to support,
3161'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,
3162Burst smilingly.
3163Bastard
This speech of yours hath moved me,
3164And shall perchance do good; but speak you on,
3165You look as you had something more to say.
3166Albany
If there be more, more woeful, hold it in,
3167For I am almost ready to dissolve,
3168Hearing of this.
This would have seemed a period to such
But who was this?
Kent sir, the banished Kent, who in disguise,
3169Enter a Gentleman [with a bloody knife].
3170Gentleman
Help, help, oh help!
3171Edgar
What kind of help?
3172Albany
Speak, man.
3173Edgar
What means this bloody knife?
3174Gentleman
'Tis hot, it smokes.
It came even from the heart 3175of--oh she's dead.
3176Albany
Who dead? Speak, man.
3177Gentleman
Your lady, sir, your lady; and her sister
3178By her is poisoned. She confesses it.
3179Bastard
I was contracted to them both. All three
3180Now marry in an instant.
3181Edgar
Here comes Kent.
3182Enter Kent [as himself].
3183Albany
Produce the bodies, be they alive or dead.
3184Goneril and Regan's bodies brought out.
3185This judgment of the heavens that makes us tremble
3188Which very manners urges.
I am come
3190To bid my king and master aye good night.
3191Is he not here?
3192Albany
Great thing of us forgot.
3193Speak, Edmund, where's the King, and where's Cordelia?
3194Seest thou this object, Kent?
3195Kent
Alack, why thus?
3196Bastard
Yet Edmund was beloved.
3197The one the other poisoned for my sake,
3198And after slew herself.
3199Albany
Even so. Cover their faces.
3200Bastard
I pant for life. Some good I mean to do
3201Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send--
3202Be brief in it--to th'castle, for my writ
3203Is on the life of Lear, and on Cordelia.
3204Nay, send in time.
3205Albany
Run, run, Oh, run!
To who my lord? Who has the office?
Well thought on. Take my sword. 3209Give it the captain.
3210Edgar
Haste thee for thy life.
[Exit a Gentleman.]
3211Bastard
He hath commission from thy wife and me
3212To hang Cordelia in the prison, and
3213To lay the blame upon her own despair
3214That she fordid herself.
3215Albany
The gods defend her. Bear him hence awhile.
[The Bastard is carried off.]
3216Enter Lear with Cordelia in his arms [followed by the Gentleman].
3217Lear
Howl, howl, howl. Oh, you are men of stones.
3218Had I your tongues and eyes I'd use them so
3219That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever.
3220I know when one is dead and when one lives;
3221She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass.
3222If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
3223Why then she lives.
3224Kent
Is this the promised end?
3225Edgar
Or image of that horror?
3226Albany
Fall and cease.
3227Lear
This feather stirs--she lives. If it be so,
3228It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows
3229That ever I have felt.
3230Kent
O my good master.
3231Lear
Prithee, away.
3232Edgar
'Tis noble Kent, your friend.
3233Lear
A plague upon you murderers, traitors all.
3234I might have saved her. Now she's gone for ever.
3235Cordelia, Cordelia, stay a little. Ha?
3236What is't thou sayest? Her voice was ever soft,
3237Gentle and low, an excellent thing in woman.
3238I killed the slave that was a-hanging thee.
3239Gentleman
'Tis true, my lords, he did.
3240Lear
Did I not, fellow?
3241I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion
3242I would have made him skip. I am old now,
3243And these same crosses spoil me. [To Kent] Who are you?
3244Mine eyes are not o'th'best, I'll tell you straight.
3245Kent
If fortune brag of two she loved and hated,
3246One of them we behold.
3247Lear
This is a dull sight. Are you not Kent?
The same; your servant Kent. 3249Where is your servant Caius?
He's a good fellow, I can tell you that.
3251He'll strike, and quickly too. He's dead and rotten.
3252Kent
No, my good lord, I am the very man--
3253Lear
I'll see that straight.
3254Kent
That from your first of difference and decay
3255Have followed your sad steps.
3256Lear
You are welcome hither.
Nor no man else. 3258All's cheerless, dark, and deadly.
3260And desperately are dead.
3261Lear
Ay, so I think.
3262Albany
He knows not what he says, and vain is it
3263That we present us to him.
3264Enter a Messenger.
3265Edgar
Very bootless.
3266Messenger
Edmund is dead, my lord.
3267Albany
That's but a trifle here.
3268You lords and noble friends, know our intent.
3269What comfort to this great decay may come
3270Shall be applied. For us we will resign
3271During the life of this old majesty
3272To him our absolute power. [To Edgar and Kent] You to your rights
3273With boot, and such addition as your honors
3274Have more than merited. All friends shall
3275Taste the wages of their virtue, and all foes
3276The cup of their deservings. Oh, see, see!
3277Lear
And my poor fool is hanged. No, no, no life?
3278Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life,
3279And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,
3280Never, never, never, never, never.
3281Pray you, undo this button. Thank you sir.
3282Do you see this? Look on her. Look, her lips--
3283Look there, look there.
He dies.
3284Edgar
He faints. My lord, my lord!
3285Kent
Break heart, I prithee break.
3286Edgar
Look up, my lord.
3287Kent
Vex not his ghost. O let him pass. He hates him
3288That would upon the rack of this tough world
3289Stretch him out longer.
3290Edgar
He is gone indeed.
3291Kent
The wonder is he hath endured so long;
3292He but usurped his life.
3293Albany
Bear them from hence. Our present business
3294Is general woe. [To Kent and Edgar] Friends of my soul, you twain
3295Rule in this realm, and the gored state sustain.
3296Kent
I have a journey, sir, shortly to go.
3297My master calls me; I must not say no.
3298Edgar
The weight of this sad time we must obey,
3299Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
3300The oldest hath borne most; we that are young
3301Shall never see so much, nor live so long.
3302Exeunt with a dead march, [bearing the bodies].