Glove.] 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! Alb. Trust to thy single virtues; for thy soldiers, All levied in my name, have in my name

Took their discharge.

Despite 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,
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.

Edm. In wisdom, I should ask thy name: But, since thy outside looks so fair and warlike, And that thy tongue some 'say 5 of breeding breathes,

What safe and nicely I might well delay

By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn:
Back do I toss these treasons to thy head;
With the hell-hated lie o'erwhelm thy heart;
4 Notwithstanding.

3 i. e. Valour.

Sample.

This sword of mine shall give them instant way, Where they shall rest for ever.— 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. [Erit 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 has come full circle; I am here.
Alb. Methought, thy very gait did prophesy
A royal nobleness: :- - I must einbrace thee;
Let sorrow split my heart, if ever I

Did hate thee, or thy father!

Edg.

I know it well.

Alb.

Worthy prince,

Where have you hid yourself? How have you known the miseries of your father? Edg. By nursing them, my lord.— List 7 a brief tale ;

And, when 'tis told, O, that my heart would burst!—
The bloody proclamation to escape,
That follow'd me so near, (0, 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.
6 Stratagem.

7 Hear.

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.

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 't was 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;
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.

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 9 herself.

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

Enter LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his Arms; EDGAR, Officer, and others.

Lear. Howl, howl, howl, howl!- O, ye are men of stones:

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?

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! [Kneeling. Lear. Pry'thee, 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.

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

You lords and noble friends, know our intent. What comfort to this great decay may come,

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 endur'd so long:
He but usurp'd 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 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

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

Boy, Page to Paris.
PETER, an Officer.

LADY MONTAGUE, Wife to Montague.

JULIET, Daughter to Capulet.

Nurse to Juliet.

Citizens of Verona; several Men and Women, rela

tions to both Houses; Maskers, Guards, Watchmen, and Attendants.

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 re

move,

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.

SCENE I. - A Publick Place.

Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, armed with Swords and Bucklers.

Sam. Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry coals. ' 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 1 A phrase formerly in use, to signify the bearing injuries.

-to stand to it: therefore, if thou art mov'd, thou runn'st away.

Sam. A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will take the wall of any man of Montague's. Gre. That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes to the wall. The quarrel is between our masters, and us their men.

Sam. 'Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant. Gre. Draw thy sword: here comes two of the house of the Montagues.

Enter ABRAM and BALTHAZAR.

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