Your name, your quality? and why you answer This present summons?

Edg. Know, my name is lost;

By treason's tooth bare-gnawn, and canker-bit >
Yet am I noble as the adversary
I come to cope withal.

Alb. Which is that adversary?

Edg. What's he, that speaks for Edmund earl of Gloster?

Edm. Himself:-What say'st thou to him?
Edg. Draw thy sword;

That, if my speech offend a noble heart,
Thy arm may do thee justice: here is mine.
Behold, it is the privilege of mine honours,
My oath, and my profession: I protest,-
Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence,
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 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 on thy head;
With the hell-hated lie o'erwhelm thy heart;
Which (for they yet glance by, and scarcely bruise,)
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: Nc 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 arraigu me for't?

Alb. Most monstrous! Know'st thou this paper?

Gon. Ask me not what I know. [exit Gon. Alb. Go after her: she's desperate; govern her. [to an Officer, who goes out. [out;

Edm. What you have charg'd me with, that have I done;

And more, much more: the time will bring it
'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.

Alb. Where have you hid yourself? [ther? How have you known the miseries of your fa Edg. By nursing them, my lord.-List a brief

tale ;[burst!And, when 'tis told, O, that my heart would 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 madman'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.

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:
Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him,

That ever car 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!

Edg. What kind of help?

Alb. Speak, man.

Edg. What means that bloody knife?

Gent. 'Tis hot, it smokes ;

It came even from the heart of

Alb. Who, man? speak.

Gent. Your lady, sir, your lady: and her sisBy her is poison'd; she confesses it. [ter 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 of the heavens, that makes us tremble, Touches us not with pity.

[exit Gentleman.

Alb. Great thing of us forgot!

That heaven's vault should crack:-O, she is gone for ever!

I know when one is dead, and when one iives;
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

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

Cordelia?

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.

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 who, my lord?-Who has the office?

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, Shall be applied: For us, we will resign, During the life of this old majesty,

[is,

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 tasta
The wages of their virtue, and all foes
The cup of their deservings.-O, sce, see!

Lear. And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no,

life:

Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,

Kent. The wonder is, he hath endur'd so long:

Alb. Bear them from hence.

ness

-Our present busiIs general woe. Friends of my soul, you tw ain [to Kent and Edg ar. 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.

[ereunt, with a dead march.

Aud I have played the sheep, in losing him.

Pro. Indeed a sheep doth very often stray, An if the shepherd be awhile away.

Speed. You conclude that my master is a shepherd then, and I a sheep?

Pro. I do.

Speed. Why then my horns are his horns, whether I wake or sleep.

Pro. A silly answer; and fitting well a sheep.
Speed. This proves me still a sheep.
Pro. True; and thy master a shepherd.
Speed. Nay, that I can deny by a circumstance.
Pro. It shall go hard, but I'll prove it by an-

other.

Speed. The shepherd seeks the sheep, and not the sheep the shepherd; but I seek my master, and my master seeks not me: therefore, I am no sheep.

Pro. The sheep for fodder follow the shepherd, the shepherd for food follows not the sheep; thou for wages followest thy master, thy master for wages follows not thee: therefore, thou art a sheep. Speed. Such another proof will make me cry baa. Pro. But dost thou hear? gav'st thou my letter to Julia?

Speed. Ay, sir: I, a lost mutton, gave your letter to her, a laced mutton; and she, a laced mutton, gave me, a lost mutton, nothing for my labour.

Pro. Here's too small a pasture for such a store of muttons.

Speed. If the ground be overcharged, you were

Speed. I.

[Speed nods.

Pro. Nod, I? why that's noddy. Speed. You mistook, sir; I say, she did nod: and you ask me, if she did nod; and I say, I. Pro. And that set together, is-noddy. Speed. Now you have taken the pains to set it together, take it for your pains.

Pro. No, no, you shall have it for bearing the letter.

Speed. Well, I perceive, I must be fain to bear with you.

Pro. Why, sir, how do you bear with me? Speed. Marry, sir, the letter very orderly; having nothing but the word, noddy, for my pains. Pro. Beshrew me, but you have a quick wit. Speed. And yet it cannot overtake your slow

purse.

Pro. Come, come, open the matter in brief: what said she?

Speed. Open your purse, that the money, and the matter, may be both at once delivered.

Pro. Well, sir, here is for your pains: what

said she [her. Speed. Truly, sir, I think you'll hardly win Pro. Why? could'st thou perceive so much from her?

Speed. Sir, I could perceive nothing at all from her: no, not so much as a ducat for delivering your letter; and being so hard to me that brought your mind, I fear, she'll prove as hard to you in telling her mind. Give her no token but stones,

for she's as hard as steel.

Pro. What, said she nothing

Speed. No, not so much as-take this for thy pains. To testify your bounty, I thank you, you have testern'd me; in requital whereof, henceforth carry your letters yourself: and so, sir, I'll commend you to my master.

Pro. Go, go, be gone, to save your ship from Which cannot perish, having thee aboard, [wreck; Being destin'd to a drier death on shore:I must go send some better messenger ; I fear, my Julia would not deign my lines, Receiving them from such a worthless post.

[exeunt.

SCENE II. THE SAME. GARDEN OF JULIA'S HOUSE Enter Julia and Lucetta.

Jul. But say, Lucetta, now we are alone, Would'st thou then counsel me to fall in love? Luc. Ay, madam; so you stumble not unheedJul. Of all the fair resort of gentlemen, [fully. That every day with parle encounter me, In thy opinion, which is worthiest love?

Luc. Please you, repeat their names, I'll show According to my shallow simple skill. [my mind, Jul. What think'st thou of the fair Sir Eglamour?

Luc. As of a knight well-spoken, neat and fine, But, were I you, he never should be mine.

Jul. What think'st thou of the rich Mercatio? Luc. Well, of his wealth; but of himself, so, so. Jul. What think'st thou of the gentle Proteus? Luc. Lord, lord! to see what folly reigns in us! Jul. How now! what means this passion at his name?

Luc. Pardon, dear madam ; 'tis a passing shame, That I, unworthy body as I am, Should censure thus on lovely gentlemen. •Jul. Why not on Proteus, as of all the rest? Luc. Then thus,—of many good I think him Jul. Your reason?

[best.

Jul. They do not love, that do not show their
Luc. O, they love least, that let men know their
Jul. I would, I knew his mind. [love.
Luc. Peruse this paper, madam.
Jul. To Julia,-Say, from whom?