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This sword of mine shall give them instant way,
Where they shall rest for ever.-22) Trumpets, speak.
[Alarums. They fight. EDMUND falls.
Alb. O save him, save him!
Gon.
This is mere practice, Gloster:
By the law of arms, thou wast not bound to answer
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:
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.
Know'st thou this paper?
Gon.

Most monstrous!

Ask me not what I know.
[Exit GONERIL.

Alb. Go after her: she's desperate; govern her.
[To an Officer, who goes out.
Edm. What you have charg'd 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 art 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 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 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 it well. 23)
Alb.
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 '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 woful, 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. 24)

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: 25)
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!
What kind of help?

Edg.

Alb.
Edg. What means that bloody knife?
Gent.

Speak, man.

"Tis hot, it smokes;

-

It came even from the heart of
Alb.
Who, man? speak.
Gent. Your lady, sir, your lady: and her sister
By her is poison'd; she confesses it. 26)

Edm. I was contracted to them both; all three Now marry in an instant.

Alb. Produce their bodies, be they alive or dead! -
This judgment 27) of the heavens, that makes us tremble,
Touches us not with pity.
[Exit Gentleman.

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See'st thou this object, Kent?

[The Bodies of GONERIL and REGAN are brought in. Kent. Alack, why thus?

Edm. Yet Edmund was belov'd: The one the other poison'd for my sake, And after slew herself.

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Alb. Even so. Cover their faces. Edm. I pant for life: Some good I mean to do, Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send, Be brief in it, to the castle; for my writ Is on the life of Lear, and on Cordelia: Nay, send in time.

Alb. Run, run, O, run — Edg. To whom, my lord? - Who has the office? send Thy token of reprieve.

Edm. Well thought on; take my sword, 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, That she fordid herself. 28)

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

Enter LBAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms; EDGAR, Officer, and others.

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Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so That heaven's vault should crack: O, 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? 29)
Alb.

Fall, and cease! 30)
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! [Kneeling.
Lear. 'Pr'ythee, away.
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.
Off. 'Tis true, my lords, he did.
Lear.

Did I not, fellow? 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 lov'd and hated, One of them we behold. 31)

Lear. This is a dull sight: Are you not Kent? Kent. The same; Your servant Kent: Where is your servant Caius? 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. Kent. That, from your first of difference and decay, 32) Have follow'd your sad steps. Lear. You are welcome hither. Kent. Nor no man else; 33) all's cheerless, dark, and deadly.

Your eldest daughters have fore-doom'd themselves, And desperately are dead.

Lear.

Ay, so I think.

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Enter an Officer.

Off. Edmund is dead, my lord.
Alb.

That's but a trifle here.—
You lords, and noble friends, know our intent.
What comfort to this great decay may come, 34)
Shall be applied: For us, we will resign,
During the life of this old majesty,

To him our absolute power: You, to your rights; |
[TO EDGAR and KENT.
With boot, 35) 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! 36) No, no, no life:
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,
And thou no breath at all? O, thou wilt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never!

Pray you, undo this button: 37) Thank you, sir.—
Do you see this?-Look on her, - look,―her lips,—
Look there, look there!
[He dies.
Edg.
He faints! - my lord, my lord,
Kent. Break, heart; I pr'ythee, break!

Edg.

Look up, my lord. Kent. Vex not his ghost: O, let him pass! he hates

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

Alb. Bear them from bence.

Our present business Is 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.

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TYBALT, Nephew to Lady Capulet.

Friar LAWRENCE, a Franciscan.
Friar JoHN, of the same Order.

BALTHAZAR, Servant to Romeo.

SAMPSON, GREGORY,

Servants to Capulet.

ABRAM, Servant to Montague.
An Apothecary.
Three Musicians.

Chorus.

Boy; Page to Paris; PETER; an Officer. Lady MONTAGUE, Wife to Montague.

Lady CAPULET, Wife to Capulet.

JULIET, Daughter to Capulet.

Nurse to Juliet.

Citizens of Verona; several Men and Women, Relations to both Houses; Maskers, Guards, Watchmen, and Attendants.

SCENE during the greater part of the play, in Verona; once in the fifth Act, at Mantua.

PROLOGUE.

Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows

Do, with their death, bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffick of our stage;
The which, if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. 1)

ACT I.

SCENE I. A public Place.

Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, armed with Swords and Bucklers.

Sam. Gregory, o'my word, we'll not carry coals. 2) Gre. No, for then we should be colliers. Sam. I mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw. Gre. Ay, while you live, draw your neck out of the collar.

Sam. I strike quickly, being moved.

Gre. But thou art not quickly moved to strike. Sam. A dog of the house of Montague moves me. Gre. To move, is to stir; and to be valiant, is to stand to it: therefore, if thou art moved, thou run'st away.

Sam. A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's.

Gre. That shows thee a weak slave: for the weakest goes to the wall.

Sam. True; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will push Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall.

Gre. The quarrel is between our masters, and us their men.

Sam. 'Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant: when I have fought with the men, I will be cruel with the maids; I will cut off their heads. Gre. The heads of the maids?

Sam. Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads; take it in what sense thou wilt.

Gre. They must take it in sense, that feel it. Sam. Me they shall feel, while I am able to stand: and, 'tis known, I am a pretty piece of flesh. Gre. 'Tis well, thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou hadst been poor John. 3) Draw thy tool; here comes two of the house of the Montagues. 4)

Enter ABRAM and BALTHAZAR.

Sam. My naked weapon is out; quarrel, I will back thee.

Gre. How? turn thy back, and run?
Sam. Fear me not.

Gre. No, marry: I fear thee!

Sam. Let us take the law of our sides; let them begin.

Gre. I will frown, as I pass by; and let them take it as they list.

Sam. Nay as they dare. I will bite my thumb at
them; which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it.
Abr. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
Sam. I do bite my thumb, sir.

Abr. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
Sam. Is the law on our side, if I say
Gre. No.

ay?

Sam. No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir; || To old Free-town, our common judgment-place. but I bite my thumb, sir.

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Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death.
Ben. I do but keep the peace; put up thy sword,
Or manage it to part these men with me.

Tyb. What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word,

As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:
Have at thee, coward.

[They fight. Enter several Partizans of both Houses, who join the fray: then enter Citizens, with Clubs. 1 Cit. Clubs, bills, 5) and partizans! strike! beat

them down!

Down with the Capulets! down with the Montagues! Enter CAPULET, in his Gown; and Lady CAPULET. Cap. What noise is this?

sword, ho!

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Give me my long

Why call you for

Cap. My sword, I say! Old Montague is come, And flourishes his blade in spite of me.

Enter MONTAGUE and Lady Montagub. Mon. Thou villain Capulet, — Hold me not, let me go.

La. Mon. Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.

Enter PRINCE, with Attendants.

Prin. Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace, Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel, Will they not hear?-what ho! you men, you beasts,— That quench the fire of your pernicious rage With purple fountains issuing from your veins, On pain of torture, from those bloody hands Throw your mis-temper'd weapons 6) to the ground, And hear the sentence of your moved prince. Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word, By thee, old Capulet, and Montague, Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets; And made Verona's ancient citizens Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments, To wield old partizans, in hands as old, Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate: If ever you disturb our streets again, Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace. For this time, all the rest depart away: You, Capulet, shall go along with me; And, Montague, come you this afternoon, To know our further pleasure in this case,

Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
[Exeunt PRINCE, and Attendants; CAPULET,
Lady CAPULET, TYBALT, Citizens, and
Servants.

Mon. Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach? -
Speak, nephew, were you by, when it began?
Ben. Here were the servants of your adversary,
And yours, close fighting ere I did approach:
I drew to part them; in the instant came
The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepar'd;
Which, as he breath'd defiance to my ears,
He swung about his head, and cut the winds,
Who, nothing hurt withal, hiss'd him in scorn:
While we were interchanging thrusts and blows,
Came more and more, and fought on part and part,
Till the prince came, who parted either part.
La. Mon. O, where is Romeo! — saw you him to-day?
Right glad I am, he was not at this fray.
Ben. Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun
Peer'd forth the golden window of the east,
A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad;
Where, underneath the grove of sycamore,
That westward rooteth from the city's side,
So early walking did I see your son:
Towards him I made; but he was 'ware of me,
And stole into the covert of the wood:
I, measuring his affections by my own,
That most are busied when they are most alone, -
Pursu'd my humour, not pursuing his,
And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me.

Mon. Many a morning hath he there been seen, With tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew, Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs: But all so soon as the all-cheering sun The shady curtains from Aurora's bed, Should in the further east begin to draw Away from light steals home my heavy son, And private in his chamber pins himself; Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out, And makes himself an artificial night: Black and portentous must this humour prove, Unless good counsel may the cause remove, Ben. My noble uncle, do you know the cause? Mon. I neither know it, nor can learn of him. Ben. Have you impórtun'd him by any means? Mon. Both by myself, and many other friends: Is to himself But he, his own affections' counsellor, I will not say, how true But to himself so secret and so close, So far from sounding and discovery, As is the bud bit with an envious worm, Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air, Or dedicate his beauty to the sun. 7) Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow, We would as willingly give cure, as know.

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Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all.

Here's much to do with hate, but more with love:
Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O any thing, of nothing first create!

O heavy lightness! serious vanity!
Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!

Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?
Ben.

No, coz, I rather weep.
Rom. Good heart, at what?
Ben.

At thy good heart's oppression.
Rom. Why, such is love's transgression. — 9)
Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast;
Which thou wilt propagate, to have it prest
With more of thine: this love, that thou hast shown,
Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.
Love is a smoke rais'd with the fume of sighs;
Being purg'd, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;
Being vex'd, a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears:
What is it else? a madness most discreet,
A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.
Farewell, my coz.
Ben.
Soft, I will go along;
An if you leave me so, you do me wrong.
Rom. Tut, I have lost myself; I am not here;
This is not Romeo, he's some other where.
Ben. Tell me in sadness, 19) who she is you
Rom. What, shall I groan, and tell thee?
Ben.

But sadly tell me, who.

Being black, put us in mind they hide the fair;
He, that is strucken blind, cannot forget
The precious treasure of his eyesight lost:
Show me a mistress that is passing fair,
What doth her beauty serve, 15) but as a note
Where I may read, who pass'd that passing fair?
Farewell; thou canst not teach me to forget.
Ben. I'll pay that doctrine, or else die in debt.
[Exeunt.

SCENE II.
A Street.

Enter CAPULET, PARIS, and Servant.
Cap. And Montague is bound as well as I,
In penalty alike; and 'tis not hard, I think,
For men so old as we to keep the peace.

Par. Of honourable reckoning are you both;
And pity 'tis, you liv'd at odds so long.
But now, my lord, what say you to my suit?
Cap. But saying o'er what I have said before:
My child is yet a stranger in the world,
She hath not seen the change of fourteen years;
Let two more summers wither in their pride,
Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.
Par. Younger than she are happy mothers made.
Cap. And too soon marr'd are those so early made.
The earth hath swallow'd all my hopes but she,
She is the hopeful lady of my earth: 16)
But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart,
My will to her consent is but a part; 17)
An she agree, within her scope of choice
Lies my consent and fair according voice.
This night I hold an old accustom'd feast,
Whereto I have invited many a guest,
Such as I love; and you, among the store,
One more, most welcome, makes my number more.
At my poor house, look to behold this night
Earth-treading stars, that make dark heaven light:
Groan? why, no; Such comfort, as do lusty young men feel
When well apparell'd April on the heel
Of limping winter treads, even such delight
Among fresh female buds shall you this night

[Going

love.

Rom. Bid a sick man in sadness make his will: Ah, word ill urg'd to one that is so ill!

In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman.

Ben. I aim'd so near, when I suppos'd you lov'd. Inherit at my house; 18) hear all, all see,

Rom. A right good marks-man!

I love.

And she's fair

Ben. A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.
Rom. Well, in that hit, you miss: she'll not be hit
With Cupid's arrow, she hath Dian's wit;
And, in strong proof of chastity well arm'd, '')

And like her most, whose merit most shall be:
Such, amongst view of many, mine, being one,
May stand in number, though in reckoning none.
go, sirrah, trudge about
Come, go with me;
Through fair Verona; find those persons out,
Whose names are written there, [gives a Paper] and
to them say,

From love's weak childish bow she lives unharm'd. My house and welcome on their pleasures stay.

She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes,
Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold:
O, she is rich in beauty; only poor,
That, when she dies, with beauty dies her store.
Ben. Then she hath sworn, that she will still live

chaste?

Rom. She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste;
For beauty, starv'd with her severity,
Cuts beauty off from all posterity.

She is too fair, too wise; wisely too fair, 2)
To merit bliss by making me despair:
She hath forsworn to love; and, in that vow,
Do I live dead, that live to tell it now.
Ben. Be rul'd by me, forget to think of her.
Rom. O, teach me how I should forget to think.
Ben. By giving liberty unto thine eyes;
Examine other beauties.

Rom.

"Tis the way To call hers, exquisite, in question more: 13) These happy masks, 14) that kiss fair ladies' brows,

[Exeunt CAPULET and PARIS. Serv. Find them out, whose names are written here? It is written that the shoemaker should meddle with his yard, and the taylor with his last, the fisher with his pencil, and the painter with his nets; but I am sent to find those persons, whose names are here writ, and can never find what names the writing person hath here writ. I must to the learned: :- In good time.

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