Yet Edmund was belov'd: Kent. Alack, why thus? Edm. The one the other poison'd for my sake, And after slew herself. Alb. Even so.-Cover their faces. Edm. I pant for life:-Some good I mean to do, Alb. Run, run, O, run— Edg. To who, 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. Alb. The gods defend her! Bear him hence awhile. [Edmund is borne off. Enter LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms; Lear. Howl, howl, howl, howl!-O, you are men of stones; Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so 1 'That heaven's vault should crack:-O, she is gone for ever! I know when one is dead, and when one lives; Kent. 97 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 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, 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 spcil 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. 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, Have follow'd your sad steps. Lear. You are welcome hither. Kent. Nor no man else; all's cheerless, dark, and deadly. Your eldest daughters have fore-doom'd themselves, And desperately are dead. Lear. Ay, so I think. Alb. He knows not what he says; and vain it is That we present us to him. You lords, and noble friends, know our intent. During the life of this old majesty, To him our absolute power:-You, to your rights; [To Edgar and Kent. 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 98! 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 99: Thank you, sir. Do you see this? Look on her,-look,-her lips,— Look there, look there! Edg. [He dies. 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 him, That would upon the rack of this tough world Stretch him out longer. O, he is gone, indeed. Edg. 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 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. |