EDMUND No, by mine honour, madam.
REGAN I never shall endure her: dear my lord,
Be not familiar with her.
EDMUND Fear me not:
She and the duke her husband!
Enter, with drum and colours, ALBANY, GONERIL, and Soldiers
GONERIL [Aside]
I had rather lose the battle than that sister
Should loosen him and me.
ALBANY Our very loving sister, well be-met.
Sir, this I hear; the king is come to his daughter,
With others whom the rigor of our state
Forced to cry out. Where I could not be honest,
I never yet was valiant: for this business,
It toucheth us, as France invades our land,
Not bolds the king, with others, whom, I fear,
Most just and heavy causes make oppose.
EDMUND Sir, you speak nobly.
REGAN Why is this reason’d?
GONERIL Combine together ‘gainst the enemy;
For these domestic and particular broils
Are not the question here.
ALBANY Let’s then determine
With the ancient of war on our proceedings.
EDMUND I shall attend you presently at your tent.
REGAN Sister, you’ll go with us?
GONERIL No.
REGAN ‘Tis most convenient; pray you, go with us.
GONERIL [Aside]
O, ho, I know the riddle.–I will go.
As they are going out, enter EDGAR disguised
EDGAR If e’er your grace had speech with man so poor,
Hear me one word.
ALBANY I’ll overtake you. Speak.
Exeunt all but ALBANY and EDGAR
EDGAR Before you fight the battle, ope this letter.
If you have victory, let the trumpet sound
For him that brought it: wretched though I seem,
I can produce a champion that will prove
What is avouched there. If you miscarry,
Your business of the world hath so an end,
And machination ceases. Fortune love you.
ALBANY Stay till I have read the letter.
EDGAR I was forbid it.
When time shall serve, let but the herald cry,
And I’ll appear again.
ALBANY Why, fare thee well: I will o’erlook thy paper.
Exit EDGAR
Re-enter EDMUND
EDMUND The enemy’s in view; draw up your powers.
Here is the guess of their true strength and forces
By diligent discovery; but your haste
Is now urged on you.
ALBANY We will greet the time.
Exit
EDMUND To both these sisters have I sworn my love;
Each jealous of the other, as the stung
Are of the adder. Which of them shall I take?
Both? one? or neither? Neither can be enjoy’d,
If both remain alive: to take the widow
Exasperates, makes mad her sister Goneril;
And hardly shall I carry out my side,
Her husband being alive. Now then we’ll use
His countenance for the battle; which being done,
Let her who would be rid of him devise
His speedy taking off. As for the mercy
Which he intends to Lear and to Cordelia,
The battle done, and they within our power,
Shall never see his pardon; for my state
Stands on me to defend, not to debate.
Exit
Scene 2
A field between the two camps.
Alarum within. Enter, with drum and colours, KING LEAR, CORDELIA, and Soldiers, over the stage; and exeunt
Enter EDGAR and GLOUCESTER
EDGAR Here, father, take the shadow of this tree
For your good host; pray that the right may thrive:
If ever I return to you again,
I’ll bring you comfort.
GLOUCESTER Grace go with you, sir!
Exit EDGAR
Alarum and retreat within. Re-enter EDGAR
EDGAR Away, old man; give me thy hand; away!
King Lear hath lost, he and his daughter ta’en:
Give me thy hand; come on.
GLOUCESTER No farther, sir; a man may rot even here.
EDGAR What, in ill thoughts again? Men must endure
Their going hence, even as their coming hither;
Ripeness is all: come on.
GLOUCESTER And that’s true too.
Exeunt
Scene 3
The British camp near Dover.
Enter, in conquest, with drum and colours, EDMUND, KING LEAR and CORDELIA, prisoners; Captain, Soldiers, &c
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 incurr’d the worst.
For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down;
Myself could else out-frown false fortune’s frown.
Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?
KING LEAR No, no, no, no! Come, let’s away to prison:
We two alone will sing like birds i’ the 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 God’s spies: and we’ll wear out,
In a wall’d prison, packs and sects of great ones,
That ebb and flow by the moon.
EDMUND Take them away.
KING 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 starve
first. Come.
Exeunt KING 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 thou 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, another Captain, and Soldiers
ALBANY Sir, you have shown to-day your valiant strain,
And fortune led you well: you have the captives
That were the opposites of this day’s strife:
We 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 has charms in it, whose title more,
To pluck the common bosom on his side,
An turn our impress’d lances in our eyes
Which do command them. With him I sent the queen;
My reason all the same; and they are ready
To-morrow, or at further space, to 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.
GONERIL That were the most, if he should husband you.
REGAN Jesters do oft prove prophets.
GONERIL Holla, holla!
That eye that told you so look’d but a-squint.
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 are 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 thine 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 bans.
If you will marry, make your loves to me,
My lady is bespoke.
GONERIL An interlude!
ALBANY Thou art arm’d, Gloucester: let the trumpet sound:
If none appear to prove upon thy head
Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,
There is my pledge;
Throwing down a glove
I’ll prove it on thy heart,
Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less
Than I have here proclaim’d thee.
REGAN Sick, O, sick!
GONERIL [Aside]
If not, I’ll ne’er trust medicine.
EDMUND There’s my exchange: