Alb. Even fo; cover their faces.

Edm. I pant for life; fome Good I mean to do, Defpight of mine own nature. Quickly fend, (Be brief) into the Caftle; for my Writ

Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia!

Nay, fend 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 fword,

Give it the Captain

Edg. Hafte thee for thy life.

[Exit Meffenger.

Edm. He hath Commiffion from thy wife and me

To hang Cordelia in the prison, and

To lay the blame upon her own despair.

Alb. The Gods defend her! bear him hence a while.

Lear.

SCENE

[Edmund is borne off.

X.

Enter Lear, with Cordelia dead in his arms.

OWL, howl, howl, howl, O, you are men of stone;

Hor

Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them fo,
That heaven's vault fhould crack: fhe's 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 mift or ftain the ftone,
Why then the lives.

Kent. Is this the promis'd End?

Lear. This feather ftirs, fhe lives; if it be so, It is a Chance which do's redeem all forrows, That ever I have felt.

Kent. O my good master!

Lear. Pr'ythee, away

Edg. 'Tis noble Kent, your friend.

[Kneeling.

Lear. A plague upon you, murd'rous traitors all! I might have fav'd her; now fhe's gone for ever!

Cordelia,

Cordelia, Cordelia, ftay a little. Ha!-
What is't thou fay'ft? her voice was ever soft,
Gentle, and low; an excellent thing in woman.
I kill'd the flave, that was a hanging thee.
Gent. 'Tis true, my lords, he did.

Lear. Did I not, fellow?

I've feen the day, with my good biting faulchion I would have made them skip: I am old now, And these fame croffes fpoil me. Who are you? Mine eyes are none o'th' beft.-I'll tell you ftrait. Kent. If fortune brag of two fhe lov'd and hated, One of them we behold.

Lear. Are you not Kent?

Kent. The fame; your fervant Kent; Where is your fervant Caius ?

Lear. 'Twas a good fellow, I can tell you that, He'd ftrike, and quickly too:-he's dead and rotten. Kent. No, my good lord, I am the very man,Lear. I'll fee that ftrait.

Kent. That, from your firft of difference and decay, Have follow'd your fad steps

Lear. You're welcome hither.

Kent. Nor no man elfe ;—all's cheerless, dark, and dead:

Your eldest daughters have fore-done themfelves, And defp'rately are dead.

Lear. Ay, fo I think.

Alb. He knows not what he fays; and vain is it That we present us to him.

Edg. Very bootlefs.

Enter a Meffenger.

Meff. Edmund is dead, my lord.
Alb. That's but a trifle.

You lords and noble friends, know our intent;
What Comfort to this great Decay may come,
Shall be apply'd. For us, we will resign,

During the life of this old Majesty,

To him our abfolute Power: to you, your Rights,

[To Edgar. With boot, and fuch addition as your honours Have more than merited. All friends fhall tafte The wages of their virtue, and all foes

The cup of their defervings: O see, see—

Lear. And my poor fool is hang'd: no, no, no life. Why fhould a dog, a horse, a rat have life,

And thou no breath at all? thou'lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never-

Pray you, undo this button. Thank you, Sir;
Do you fee this? look on her, look on her lips,
Look there, look there-

Edg. He faints, my lord,

Kent. Break heart, I pr'ythee break!

Edg. Look up, my lord.

[He dies.

Kent. Vex not his ghoft: O, let him pass! He hates

him,

That would upon the rack of this rough world

Stretch him out longer.

Edg. He is gone, indeed.

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

Alb. Bear them from hence, our present business Is general woe: friends of my foul, you twain Rule in this Realm, and the gor'd State fuftain. Kent. I have a journey, Sir, fhortly to go; My master calls me; I muft not fay, no.

[Dies.

Alb. The weight of this fad time we muft obey, Speak what we feel, not what we ought to fay. The oldeft hath borne moft: we, that are young, Shall never see so much, nor live fo long.

[Exeunt with a dead March.

ΤΙΜΟΝ

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