NeXTSTEP 3.2 for Intel/NeXTSTEP 3.2 for Intel.iso/NextLibrary/Literature/Shakespeare/Plays/The_Tragedy_of_King_Lear/5.3

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{\pard\f0\fs28{\fs48 The Tragedy of King Lear
}\
\
{\b\fs36 5.3}
\
{\i         Enter in conquest with a drummer and colours\
        Edmond; King Lear and Queen Cordelia as\
        prisoners; soldiers; a Captain\
}{\b \fs24 EDMOND\
}       Some officers take them away. Good guard\
       Until their greater pleasures first be known\
       That are to censure them.\
{\b \fs24 CORDELIA}{\i   (to Lear)}    We are not the first\
       Who with best meaning have incurred the worst.\
       For thee, oppresse\'c1d King, I am cast down,        {\fs20   5}\
       Myself could else outfrown false fortune's frown.\
       Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?\
{\b \fs24 LEAR\
}       No, no, no, no. Come, let's away to prison.\
       We two alone will sing like birds i'th' cage.\
       When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down        {\fs20  10}\
       And ask of thee forgiveness; so we'll live,\
       And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh\
       At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues\
       Talk of court news, and we'll talk with them too\'b1\'b1\
       Who loses and who wins, who's in, who's out,        {\fs20  15}\
       And take upon 's the mystery of things\
       As if we were God's spies; and we'll wear out\
       In a walled prison packs and sects of great ones\
       That ebb and flow by th' moon.\
{\b \fs24 EDMOND}{\i   (to soldiers)}    Take them away.\
{\b \fs24 LEAR\
}       Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia,            {\fs20  20}\
       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 goodyear shall devour them, flesh and fell,\
       Ere they shall make us weep. We'll see 'em starved\
            first. Come.                    {\fs20  25}\
{\i         Exeunt all but Edmond and the Captain\
}{\b \fs24 EDMOND}    Come hither, captain. Hark.\
       Take thou this note. Go follow them to prison.\
       One step I have advanced thee; if thou dost\
       As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way\
       To noble fortunes. Know thou this: that men        {\fs20  30}\
       Are as the time is. To be tender-minded\
       Does not become a sword. Thy great employment\
       Will not bear question. Either say thou'lt do't,\
       Or thrive by other means.\
{\b \fs24 CAPTAIN}                        I'll do't, my lord.\
{\b \fs24 EDMOND\
}       About it, and write `happy' when thou'st done.        {\fs20  35}\
       Mark, I say, instantly, and carry it so\
       As I have set it down.\
{\i         Exit the Captain\
        Flourish. Enter the Duke of Albany, Goneril, Regan,\
        [drummer, trumpeter] and soldiers\
}{\b \fs24 ALBANY\
}       Sir, you have showed today your valiant strain,\
       And fortune led you well. You have the captives\
       Who were the opposites of this day's strife.        {\fs20  40}\
       I do require them of you, so to use them\
       As we shall find their merits and our safety\
       May equally determine.\
{\b \fs24 EDMOND}                    Sir, I thought it fit\
       To send the old and miserable King\
       To some retention and appointed guard,            {\fs20  45}\
       Whose age had charms in it, whose title more,\
       To pluck the common bosom on his side\
       And turn our impressed lances in our eyes\
       Which do command them. With him I sent the Queen,\
       My reason all the same, and they are ready        {\fs20  50}\
       Tomorrow, or at further space, t'appear\
       Where you shall hold your session.\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY}                                            Sir, by your patience,\
       I hold you but a subject of this war,\
       Not as a brother.\
{\b \fs24 REGAN}            That's as we list to grace him.\
       Methinks our pleasure might have been demanded        {\fs20  55}\
       Ere you had spoke so far. He led our powers,\
       Bore the commission of my place and person,\
       The which immediacy may well stand up\
       And call itself your brother.\
{\b \fs24 GONERIL}                                Not so hot.\
       In his own grace he doth exalt himself            {\fs20  60}\
       More than in your addition.\
{\b \fs24 REGAN}                                In my rights\
       By me invested, he compeers the best.\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY\
}       That were the most if he should husband you.\
{\b \fs24 REGAN\
}       Jesters do oft prove prophets.\
{\b \fs24 GONERIL}                                  Holla, holla\'b1\'b1\
       That eye that told you so looked but asquint.        {\fs20  65}\
{\b \fs24 REGAN\
}       Lady, I am not well, else I should answer\
       From a full-flowing stomach.{\i   (To Edmond)}    General,\
       Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony.\
       Dispose of them, of me. The walls is thine.\
       Witness the world that I create thee here        {\fs20  70}\
       My lord and master.\
{\b \fs24 GONERIL}            Mean you to enjoy him?\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY\
}       The let-alone lies not in your good will.\
{\b \fs24 EDMOND\
}       Nor in thine, lord.\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY}              Half-blooded fellow, yes.\
{\b \fs24 REGAN}{\i   (to Edmond)\
}       Let the drum strike and prove my title thine.\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY\
}       Stay yet, hear reason. Edmond, I arrest thee        {\fs20  75}\
       On capital treason, and in thy attaint\
       This gilded serpent.{\i   (To Regan)}    For your claim, fair\
            sister,\
       I bar it in the interest of my wife.\
       'Tis she is subcontracted to this lord,\
       And I, her husband, contradict your banns.        {\fs20  80}\
       If you will marry, make your loves to me.\
       My lady is bespoke.\
{\b \fs24 GONERIL}            An interlude!\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY\
}       Thou art armed, Gloucester. Let the trumpet sound.\
       If none appear to prove upon thy person\
       Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,        {\fs20  85}\
       There is my pledge.\
{\i         [He throws down a glove]\
}                                             I'll make it on thy heart,\
       Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less\
       Than I have here proclaimed thee.\
{\b \fs24 REGAN}    Sick, O sick!\
{\b \fs24 GONERIL}{\i   (aside)}    If not, I'll ne'er trust medicine. {\fs20  90}\
{\b \fs24 EDMOND}{\i   (to Albany, [throwing down a glove])\
}       There's my exchange. What in the world he is\
       That names me traitor, villain-like he lies.\
       Call by the trumpet. He that dares, approach;\
       On him, on you,\'b1\'b1who not?\'b1\'b1I will maintain\
       My truth and honour firmly.\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY}                              A herald, ho!        {\fs20  95}\
{\i         Enter a Herald\
         (To Edmond)}    Trust to thy single virtue, for thy soldiers,\
       All levied in my name, have in my name\
       Took their discharge.\
{\b \fs24 REGAN}                    My sickness grows upon me.\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY\
}       She is not well. Convey her to my tent.\
{\i         Exit one or more with Regan\
}       Come hither, herald. Let the trumpet sound,        {\fs20 100}\
       And read out this.\
{\i         A trumpet sounds\
}{\b \fs24 HERALD}{\i   (reads)}    `If any man of quality or degree within\
       the lists of the army will maintain upon Edmond,\
       supposed Earl of Gloucester, that he is a manifold\
       traitor, let him appear by the third sound of the trumpet. {\fs20 105}\
       He is bold in his defence.'\
{\i         First trumpet\
}       Again.\
{\i         Second trumpet\
}       Again.\
{\i         Third trumpet.\
        Trumpet answers within. Enter Edgar, armed\
}{\b \fs24 ALBANY}{\i   (to the Herald)\
}       Ask him his purposes, why he appears\
       Upon this call o'th' trumpet.\
{\b \fs24 HERALD}{\i   (to Edgar)}    What are you?        {\fs20 110}\
       Your name, your quality, and why you answer\
       This present summons?\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR}                    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.\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY}      Which is that adversary?            {\fs20 115}\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR\
}       What's he that speaks for Edmond, Earl of Gloucester?\
{\b \fs24 EDMOND\
}       Himself. What sayst thou to him?\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR}                                          Draw thy sword,\
       That if my speech offend a noble heart\
       Thy arm may do thee justice. Here is mine.\
{\i         He draws his sword\
}       Behold, it is the privilege of mine honour,        {\fs20 120}\
       My oath, and my profession. I protest,\
       Maugre thy strength, place, youth, 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,        {\fs20 125}\
       Conspirant 'gainst this high illustrious prince,\
       And from th'extremest upward of thy head\
       To the descent and dust below thy foot\
       A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou no,\
       This sword, this arm, and my best spirits are bent    {\fs20 130}\
       To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak,\
       Thou liest.\
{\b \fs24 EDMOND}    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 demand        {\fs20 135}\
       By rule of knighthood I disdain and spurn.\
       Back do I toss those treasons to 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        {\fs20 140}\
       Where they shall rest for ever. Trumpets, speak!\
{\i         Alarums. They fight. Edmond is vanquished\
}{\b \fs24 [ALL]\
}       Save him, save him!\
{\b \fs24 GONERIL}            This is practice, Gloucester.\
       By th' law of arms thou wast not bound to answer\
       An unknown opposite. Thou art not vanquished,\
       But cozened and beguiled.\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY}                          Shut your mouth, dame,        {\fs20 145}\
       Or with this paper shall I stopple it.\
{\i      [To Edmond]}    Hold, sir, thou worse than any name:\
            read thine own evil.\
{\i      (To Goneril)}    No tearing, lady. I perceive you know it.\
{\b \fs24 GONERIL\
}       Say if I do, the laws are mine, not thine.\
       Who can arraign me for't?\
{\i         Exit\
}{\b \fs24 ALBANY}                        Most monstrous!\'b1\'b1    {\fs20 150}\
       O, know'st thou this paper?\
{\b \fs24 EDMOND}                              Ask me not what I know.\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY\
}       Go after her. She's desperate. Govern her.\
{\i         Exit one or more\
}{\b \fs24 EDMOND\
}       What you have charged me with, that have I done,\
       And more, much more. The time will bring it out.\
       'Tis past, and so am I.{\i   (To Edgar)}    But what art thou, {\fs20 155}\
       That hast this fortune on me? If thou'rt noble,\
       I do forgive thee.\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR}              Let's exchange charity.\
       I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmond.\
       If more, the more thou'st wronged me.\
{\i         [He takes off his helmet]\
}       My name is Edgar, and thy father's son.            {\fs20 160}\
       The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices\
       Make instruments to plague us.\
       The dark and vicious place where thee he got\
       Cost him his eyes.\
{\b \fs24 EDMOND}            Thou'st spoken right. 'Tis true.\
       The wheel is come full circle. I am here.        {\fs20 165}\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY}{\i   (to Edgar)\
}       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.\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR}    Worthy prince, I know't.            {\fs20 170}\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY}    Where have you hid yourself?\
       How have you known the miseries of your father?\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR\
}       By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale,\
       And when 'tis told, O that my heart would burst!\
       The bloody proclamation to escape            {\fs20 175}\
       That followed me so near\'b1\'b1O, our lives' sweetness,\
       That we the pain of death would hourly die\
       Rather than die at once!\'b1\'b1taught me to shift\
       Into a madman's rags, t'assume a semblance\
       That very dogs disdained; and in this habit        {\fs20 180}\
       Met I my father with his bleeding rings,\
       Their precious stones new-lost; became his guide,\
       Led him, begged for him, saved him from despair;\
       Never\'b1\'b1O fault!\'b1\'b1revealed myself unto him\
       Until some half hour past, when I was armed.        {\fs20 185}\
       Not sure, though hoping, of this good success,\
       I asked his blessing, and from first to last\
       Told him our pilgrimage; but his flawed heart\'b1\'b1\
       Alack, too weak the conflict to support\'b1\'b1\
       'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,        {\fs20 190}\
       Burst smilingly.\
{\b \fs24 EDMOND}        This speech of yours hath moved me,\
       And shall perchance do good. But speak you on\'b1\'b1\
       You look as you had something more to say.\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY\
}       If there be more, more woeful, hold it in,\
       For I am almost ready to dissolve,            {\fs20 195}\
       Hearing of this.\
{\i         Enter a Gentleman with a bloody knife\
}{\b \fs24 GENTLEMAN\
}       Help, help, O help!\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR}                What kind of help?\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY}                                                  Speak, man.\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR\
}       What means this bloody knife?\
{\b \fs24 GENTLEMAN}                            'Tis hot, it smokes.\
       It came even from the heart of\'b1\'b1O, she's dead!\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY}    Who dead? Speak, man.            {\fs20 200}\
{\b \fs24 GENTLEMAN\
}       Your lady, sir, your lady; and her sister\
       By her is poisoned. She confesses it.\
{\b \fs24 EDMOND\
}       I was contracted to them both; all three\
       Now marry in an instant.\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR}                          Here comes Kent.\
{\i         Enter the Earl of Kent as himself\
}{\b \fs24 ALBANY\
}       Produce the bodies, be they alive or dead.        {\fs20 205}\
{\i         Goneril's and Regan's bodies brought out\
}       This judgement of the heavens, that makes us tremble,\
       Touches us not with pity.\'b1\'b1O, is this he?\
{\i      (To Kent)}    The time will not allow the compliment\
       Which very manners urges.\
{\b \fs24 KENT}                              I am come\
       To bid my king and master aye good night.        {\fs20 210}\
       Is he not here?\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY}      Great thing of us forgot!\'b1\'b1\
       Speak, Edmond; where's the King, and where's\
            Cordelia?\'b1\'b1\
       Seest thou this object, Kent?\
{\b \fs24 KENT}    Alack, why thus?\
{\b \fs24 EDMOND}    Yet Edmond was beloved.            {\fs20 215}\
       The one the other poisoned for my sake,\
       And after slew herself.\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY}                      Even so.\'b1\'b1Cover their faces.\
{\b \fs24 EDMOND\
}       I pant for life. Some good I mean to do,\
       Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send,\
       Be brief in it, to th' castle; for my writ        {\fs20 220}\
       Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia.\
       Nay, send in time.\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY}            Run, run, O run!\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR\
}       To who, my lord?\'b1\'b1Who has the office? Send\
       Thy token of reprieve.\
{\b \fs24 EDMOND\
}       Well thought on! Take my sword. The captain,        {\fs20 225}\
       Give it the captain.\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR}                  Haste thee for thy life.\
{\i         Exit [the Gentleman]\
}{\b \fs24 EDMOND}{\i   (to Albany)\
}       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.                {\fs20 230}\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY\
}       The gods defend her!\'b1\'b1Bear him hence a while.\
{\i         Exeunt some with Edmond\
        Enter King Lear with Queen Cordelia in his arms,\
        [followed by the Gentleman]\
}{\b \fs24 LEAR\
}       Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones.\
       Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so\
       That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever.\
       I know when one is dead and when one lives.        {\fs20 235}\
       She's dead as earth.\
{\i         [He lays her down]\
}                                               Lend me a looking-glass.\
       If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,\
       Why, then she lives.\
{\b \fs24 KENT}                    Is this the promised end?\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR\
}       Or image of that horror?\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY}                        Fall and cease.\
{\b \fs24 LEAR\
}       This feather stirs. She lives. If it be so,        {\fs20 240}\
       It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows\
       That ever I have felt.\
{\b \fs24 KENT}{\i   [kneeling]}    O, my good master!\
{\b \fs24 LEAR\
}       Prithee, away.\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR}      'Tis noble Kent, your friend.\
{\b \fs24 LEAR\
}       A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all.\
       I might have saved her; now she's gone for ever.\'b1\'b1 {\fs20 245}\
       Cordelia, Cordelia: stay a little. Ha?\
       What is't thou sayst?\'b1\'b1Her voice was ever soft,\
       Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman.\'b1\'b1\
       I killed the slave that was a-hanging thee.\
{\b \fs24 GENTLEMAN\
}       'Tis true, my lords, he did.\
{\b \fs24 LEAR}                                    Did I not, fellow?        {\fs20 250}\
       I have seen the day with my good biting falchion\
       I would have made them skip. I am old now,\
       And these same crosses spoil me.{\i   (To Kent)}    Who are\
            you?\
       Mine eyes are not o'th' best, I'll tell you straight.\
{\b \fs24 KENT\
}       If fortune brag of two she loved and hated,        {\fs20 255}\
       One of them we behold.\
{\b \fs24 LEAR}                        This' a dull sight.\
       Are you not Kent?\
{\b \fs24 KENT}    The same, your servant Kent.\
       Where is your servant Caius?\
{\b \fs24 LEAR\
}       He's a good fellow, I can tell you that.        {\fs20 260}\
       He'll strike, and quickly too. He's dead and rotten.\
{\b \fs24 KENT\
}       No, my good lord, I am the very man\'b1\'b1\
{\b \fs24 LEAR}    I'll see that straight.\
{\b \fs24 KENT\
}       That from your first of difference and decay\
       Have followed your sad steps.\
{\b \fs24 LEAR}                                      You're welcome hither.    {\fs20 265}\
{\b \fs24 KENT\
}       Nor no man else. All's cheerless, dark, and deadly.\
       Your eldest daughters have fordone themselves,\
       And desperately are dead.\
{\b \fs24 LEAR}                              Ay, so think I.\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY\
}       He knows not what he says; and vain is it\
       That we present us to him.\
{\i         Enter a Messenger\
}{\b \fs24 EDGAR}                            Very bootless.        {\fs20 270}\
{\b \fs24 MESSENGER}{\i   (to Albany)\
}       Edmond is dead, my lord.\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY}                        That's but a trifle here.\'b1\'b1\
       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            {\fs20 275}\
       To him our absolute power;\
{\i      (To Edgar and Kent)}        you to your rights,\
       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.\'b1\'b1O see, see!        {\fs20 280}\
{\b \fs24 LEAR\
}       And my poor fool is hanged. No, no, no life?\
       Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life,\
       And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more.\
       Never, never, never, never, never.\
{\i      [To Kent]}    Pray you, undo this button. Thank you, sir. {\fs20 285}\
       Do you see this? Look on her. Look, her lips.\
       Look there, look there.\
{\i         He dies\
}{\b \fs24 EDGAR}                      He faints.{\i   (To Lear)}    My lord, my lord!\
{\b \fs24 KENT}{\i   [to Lear]\
}       Break, heart, I prithee break.\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR}{\i   (to Lear)}      Look up, my lord.\
{\b \fs24 KENT\
}       Vex not his ghost. O, let him pass. He hates him\
       That would upon the rack of this tough world        {\fs20 290}\
       Stretch him out longer.\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR}                        He is gone indeed.\
{\b \fs24 KENT\
}       The wonder is he hath endured so long.\
       He but usurped his life.\
{\b \fs24 ALBANY\
}       Bear them from hence. Our present business\
       Is general woe.{\i   (To Edgar and Kent)}    Friends of my\
            soul, you twain                    {\fs20 295}\
       Rule in this realm, and the gored state sustain.\
{\b \fs24 KENT\
}       I have a journey, sir, shortly to go:\
       My master calls me; I must not say no.\
{\b \fs24 EDGAR\
}       The weight of this sad time we must obey,\
       Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.        {\fs20 300}\
       The oldest hath borne most. We that are young\
       Shall never see so much, nor live so long.\
{\i         Exeunt with a dead march, carrying the bodies\
\