Exit ALBANY Go after her:she's desperate;govern her.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 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 plague us:
The dark and vicious place where thee he got Cost him his eyes.EDMUND Thou 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 follow'd 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;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,saved 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.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 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 in a man,Who,having seen me in my worst estate,Shunn'd my abhorr'd society;but then,finding Who 'twas that so endured,with his strong arms He fastened on my neck,and bellow'd out As he'ld 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 banish'd Kent;who in disguise Follow'd his enemy king,and did him service Improper for a slave.
Enter a Gentleman,with a bloody knife Gentleman Help,help,O,help!EDGAR What kind of help?ALBANY Speak,man.EDGAR What means that bloody knife?Gentleman 'Tis hot,it smokes;It came even from the heart of--O,she's dead!ALBANY Who dead?speak,man.Gentleman Your lady,sir,your lady:and her sister By her is poisoned;she hath confess'd it.EDMUND I was contracted to them both:all three Now marry in an instant.EDGAR Here comes Kent.ALBANY Produce their bodies,be they alive or dead:
This judgment of the heavens,that makes us tremble,Touches us not with pity.
Exit Gentleman Enter KENT
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?
See'st thou this object,Kent?