[Exit. Alb. We will greet the time. 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 enjoyed, 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 Which he intends to Lear and to Cordelia,— [Exit. SCENE II-A Field between the two Camps. Alarum within. Enter, with drum and colours, LEAR, CORDELIA, and their Forces; and exeunt. Enter EDGAR and GLOSTER. Edg. Here, father, take the shadow of this tree For your good host: pray that the right may thrive. If ever I return to you again, I'll bring you comfort. Glo. Alarums; afterwards a Retreat. Re-enter EDGAR. Grace go with you, sir. [Exit 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. Edg. What, in ill thoughts again? Men must 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 cage: Who loses, and who wins; who's in, who 's out; Edm. Take them away. Lear. Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia, 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 gougeres shall devour them, flesh and fell, Ere they shall make us weep: we'll see them 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. One step I have advanced thee: if thou dost Are as the time is to be tender-minded Edm. About it; and write happy when thou hast done. Mark,—I say, instantly: and carry it so Off. I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats: If it be man's work, I will do it. [Exit Officer. Flourish. Enter ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN, Officers, and Attendants. Alb. Sir, you have shewn to-day your valiant strain, And fortune led you well. You have the captives Whose age has charms in it, whose title more, My reason all the same: and they are ready The question of Cordelia and her father Alb. Half-blooded fellow, yes. Reg. Let the drum strike, and prove my title thine. [TO EDMUND. Alb. Stay yet; hear reason :-Edmund, I arrest thee On capital treason; and, in thy arrest, I bar it in the interest of my wife: Gon. An interlude! Alb. Thou art armed, Gloster :-let the trum pet sound: If none appear to prove upon thy person Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less Reg. 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. My oath, and my profession; I protest, A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou, "No," 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 breathes, What safe and nicely I might well delay Alb. Methought thy very gait did prophecy Edg. Worthy prince, I know it. Where have you hid yourself? How have you known the miseries of your father? Edg. By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale: And when 't is told, O that my heart would burst!— The bloody proclamation t' escape That followed me so near, (O our lives' sweetness! That with the pain of death we'd hourly die, Edm. This speech of yours hath moved me, Edg. This would have seemed a period Whilst I was big in clamour, came there a man 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, Alb. The gods defend her! Bear him hence Enter LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms: EDGAR, Officers, and others. Lear. Howl, howl, howl, howl!-O, you are men of stone! Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so I have seen the day, with my good biting faulchion I would have made them skip: I am old now, And these same crosses spoil me.-Who are you? 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? Your servant Kent. Where is your servant Caius? I am very man; What comfort to this great decay may come, To him our absolute power:-You, to your rights; Lear. And my poor fool is hanged! No, no, no life: Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life, more: Never, never, never, never, never! Pray you, undo this button. Thank you, sir.-- 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. O, he is gone, indeed. Kent. The wonder is he hath endured so long: He but usurped his life. Alb. Bear them from hence.-Our present business Is general woe.-Friends of my soul, you twain [To KENT and EDGAR. Rule in this realm, and the gored 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. |