The British Camp near Dover.
 Enter, in conquest, with DRUM and COLOURS,
 EDMUND, with LEAR and CORDELIA as prisoners, a CAPTAIN and SOLDIERS.

Edmund	Some officers take them away. Good guard,
	Until their greater pleasures first be known
	That are to censure them.

Cordelia								We are not the first
	Who with best meaning have incurred the worst.
	For thee, oppressd king, I am cast down;
	Myself could else outfrown false fortune's frown.
	Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?

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
	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-
	Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out-
	And take upon's the mystery of things
	As if we were gods' spies; and we'll wear out
	In a walled prison packs and sects of great ones
	That ebb and flow by th'moon.

Edmund								Take them away.

Lear	Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia,
	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 good years shall devour them, flesh and fell,
	Ere they shall make us weep. We'll see 'em starved first.
	Come.
							  [Exeunt LEAR and CORDELIA, guarded.

Edmund	Come hither, captain; hark.
	Take thou this note.
												[Giving a paper.
							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
	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.

Captain									I'll do't, my lord.

Edmund	About it; and write happy when th'hast done.
	Mark-I say 'instantly'; and carry it so
	As I have set it down.

Captain	I cannot draw a cart nor eat dried oats;
	If it be man's work I'll do't.
												[Exit.

                                Flourish.
           Enter ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN, OFFICERS and SOLDIERS.

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;
	I do require them of you, so to use them
	As we shall find their merits and our safety
	May equally determine.

Edmund								Sir, I thought it fit
	To send the old and miserable king
	To some retention and appointed guard;
	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
	Tomorrow, or at further space, t'appear
	Where you shall hold your session. At this time
	We sweat and bleed; the friend hath lost his friend,
	And the best quarrels in the heat are cursed
	By those that feel their sharpness.
	The question of Cordelia and her father
	Requires a fitter place.

Albany								Sir, by your patience,
	I hold you but a subject of this war,
	Not as a brother.

Regan						That's as we list to grace him.
	Methinks our pleasure might have been demanded
	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.

Goneril									Not so hot.
	In his own grace he doth exalt himself
	More than in your addition.

Regan								In my rights
	By me invested, he compeers the best.

Albany	That were the most if he should husband you.

Regan	Jesters do oft prove prophets.

Goneril									Holla, holla!
	That eye that told you so looked but asquint.

Regan	Lady, I am not well; else I should answer
	From a full-flowing stomach.-General,
	Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony.
	Dispose of them, of me; the walls is thine.
	Witness the world that I create thee here
	My lord and master.

Goneril							Mean you to enjoy him?

Albany	The let-alone lies not in your good will.

Edmund	Nor in thine, lord.

Albany						Half-blooded fellow, yes.

Regan	[To EDMUND.] Let the drum strike, and prove my title thine.

Albany	Stay yet; hear reason. Edmund, I arrest thee
	On capital treason; and, in thy attaint,
	This gilded serpent.
												[Pointing to GONERIL.
							For your claim, fair sister,
	I bar it in the interest of my wife;
	'Tis she is sub-contracted to this lord,
	And I her husband contradict your banns.
	If you will marry, make your loves to me;
	My lady is bespoke.

Goneril						An interlude!

Albany	Thou art armed, Gloucester; let the trumpet sound;
	If none appear to prove upon thy person
	Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,
	There is my pledge.
												[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.

Regan										Sick, O sick!

Goneril	[Aside.] If not, I'll ne'er trust medicine.

Edmund	There's my exchange.
												[Throws down a glove.
							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, who not, I will maintain
	My truth and honour firmly.

Albany								A herald, ho!
	Trust to thy single virtue; for thy soldiers,
	All levied in my name, have in my name
	Took their discharge.

Regan						My sickness grows upon me.

Albany	She is not well; convey her to my tent.
								 [Exit REGAN, led by one or more.

                             Enter a HERALD.

	Come hither, herald-Let the trumpet sound!-
	And read out this.
												[A trumpet sounds.

Herald	[Reads.]	If any man of quality or degree within the lists 
	of the army will maintain upon Edmund, supposed Earl of 
	Gloucester, that he is a manifold traitor, let him appear 
	by the third sound of the trumpet. He is bold in his 
	defence.
	Sound!
												[First trumpet.
	Again!
												[Second trumpet.
	Again!
												[Third trumpet.
												[Trumpet answers within.

              Enter EDGAR armed, with a TRUMPET before him.

Albany	Ask him his purposes, why he appears
	Upon this call o'th'trumpet.

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

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.

Albany					Which is that adversary?

Edgar	What's he that speaks for Edmund Earl of Gloucester?

Edmund	Himself. What sayst thou to him?

Edgar										Draw thy sword,
	That if my speech offend a noble heart
	Thy arm may do thee justice.
												[Drawing his sword.
								Here is mine.
	Behold, it is the privilege of mine honours,
	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,
	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
	To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak,
	Thou liest.

Edmund					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 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
	Where they shall rest for ever. Trumpets, speak.
							  [Alarums. They fight. EDMUND falls.

Albany	Save him, save him!

Goneril						This is practice, Gloucester.
	By th'law of war thou wast not bound to answer
	An unknown opposite. Thou art not vanquished,
	But cozened and beguiled.

Albany							Shut your mouth, dame,
	Or with this paper shall I stop it.
								[To EDMUND.] Hold, sir,
	Thou worse than any name, read thine own evil.
	[To GONERIL.] No tearing, lady; I perceive you know it.

Goneril	Say if I do?-the laws are mine, not thine;
	Who can arraign me for't?

Albany							Most monstrous! O!
	Know'st thou this paper?

Goneril								Ask me not what I know.
												[Exit.
Albany	Go after her. She's desperate; govern her.
												[Exit an OFFICER.

Edmund	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. But what art thou
	That hast this fortune on me? If thou'rt noble,
	I do forgive thee.

Edgar						Let's exchange charity.
	I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund;
	If more, the more th'hast wronged me.
	My name is Edgar, and thy father's son.
	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.

Edmund							Th'hast spoken right, 'tis true.
	The wheel is come full circle; I am here.

Albany	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.

Edgar							Worthy prince, I know't.

Albany	Where have you hid yourself?
	How have you known the miseries of your father?

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
	That followed me so near-O, our lives' sweetness,
	That we the pain of death would hourly die
	Rather than die at once!-taught me to shift
	Into a madman's rags, t'assume a semblance
	That very dogs disdained; and in this habit
	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-O fault!-revealed myself unto him
	Until some half-hour past, when I was armed;
	Not sure, though hoping, of this good success,
	I asked his blessing, and from first to last
	Told him my pilgrimage; but his flawed heart,
	Alack, too weak the conflict to support,
	'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,
	Burst smilingly.

Edmund					This speech of yours hath moved me,
	And shall perchance do good. But speak you on;
	You look as you had something more to say.

Albany	If there be more, more woeful, hold it in;
	For I am almost ready to dissolve,
	Hearing of this.

Edgar						This would have seemed 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 in a man
	Who, having seen me in my worst estate,
	Shunned my abhorred society; but then finding
	Who 'twas that so endured, with his strong arms
	He fastened on my neck and bellowed out
	As he'd burst heaven, threw him on my father,
	Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him
	That ever ear received; which in recounting
	His grief grew puissant, and the strings of life
	Began to crack. Twice then the trumpets sounded,
	And there I left him tranced.

Albany									But who was this?

Edgar	Kent, sir, the banished Kent, who in disguise
	Followed his enemy king, and did him service
	Improper for a slave.

                 Enter 1st GENTLEMAN with a bloody knife.

1st Gentleman	Help, help! O, help!

Edgar						What kind of help?

Albany									Speak, man.

Edgar	What means this bloody knife?

1st Gentleman										'Tis hot, it smokes;
	It came even from the heart of-O, she's dead!

Albany	Who dead? Speak, man.

1st Gentleman	Your lady, sir, your lady! And her sister
	By her is poisoned; she confesses it.

Edmund	I was contracted to them both. All three
	Now marry in an instant.

                               Enter KENT.

Edgar									Here comes Kent

Albany	Produce the bodies, be they alive or dead.
												[Exit 1st GENTLEMAN.
	This judgment of the heavens, that makes us tremble,
	Touches us not with pity.-O, is this he?
	The time will not allow the compliment
	Which very manners urges.

Kent									I am come
	To bid my king and master aye good night.
	Is he not here?

Albany						Great thing of us forgot!
	Speak, Edmund, where's the king, and where's Cordelia?

	The bodies of GONERIL and REGAN are brought in.

	Seest thou this object, Kent?

Kent	Alack-why thus?

Edmund							Yet Edmund was beloved:
	The one the other poisoned for my sake,
	And after slew herself.

Albany	Even so. Cover their faces.

Edmund	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
	Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia.
	Nay, send in time.

Albany						Run, run! O run!

Edgar	To who, my lord? Who has the office? Send
	Thy token of reprieve.

Edmund	Well thought on. Take my sword,
	Give it the captain.

Edgar							Haste thee, for thy life.
												[Exit OFFICER.
Edmund	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.

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

   Enter LEAR with CORDELIA dead in his arms, followed by the OFFICER.

Lear	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;
	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 promised end?

Edgar	Or image of that horror?

Albany							Fall and cease.

Lear	This feather stirs; she lives! If it be so,
	It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows
	That ever I have felt.

Kent								O my good master!

Lear	Prithee away.

Edgar					'Tis noble Kent, your friend.

Lear	A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all!
	I might have saved her; now she's gone for ever.
	Cordelia, Cordelia, stay a little. Ha!
	What is't thou sayst? Her voice was ever soft,
	Gentle, and low-an excellent thing in woman.
	I killed the slave that was a-hanging thee.

Officer	'Tis true, my lords, he did.

Lear									Did I not, fellow?
	I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion
	I would have made him skip. I am old now,
	And these same crosses spoil me. [To KENT.] Who are you?
	Mine eyes are not o'th'best, I'll tell you straight.

Kent	If fortune brag of two she loved 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 followed your sad steps-

Lear										You are welcome hither.

Kent	Nor no man else. All's cheerless, dark, and deadly.
	Your eldest daughters have fordone themselves,
	And desperately are dead.

Lear								Ay, so I think.

Albany	He knows not what he says, and vain is it
	That we present us to him.

Edgar									Very bootless.

                            Enter a MESSENGER.

Messenger	Edmund is dead, my lord.

Albany							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,
	To him our absolute power.
		[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. O, see, see!

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!
	[To KENT.] Pray you, undo this button. Thank you, sir.
	Do you see this? Look on her. Look, her lips.
	Look there, look there!
												[Dies.
Edgar							He faints. My lord, my lord!

Kent	Break, heart; I prithee break!

Edgar									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.

Edgar							He is gone indeed.

Kent	The wonder is he hath endured so long;
	He but usurped his life.

Albany	Bear them from hence. Our present business
	Is general woe.
		[To KENT and EDGAR.]	Friends of my soul, you twain
	Rule in this realm, and the gored state sustain.

Kent	I have a journey, sir, shortly to go;
	My master calls me, I must not say no.

Edgar	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.
