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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 11.

[Exit.

SCENE II. A Field between the two Camps.

Alarum within.

Enter, with Drum, and Colours, LEAR, CORDELIA, and their Forces; and exeunt,

Enter EDGAR and GLOSTER1.

Edg. 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.

Glo.

Grace go with you, sir!
[Exit EDGAR,

Alarums; afterwards a Retreat. Re-enter EDGAR,

Edg. Away, old man, give me thy hand, away; King Lear hath lost, he and his daughter ta'en: Give me thy hand, come on.

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Glo. No further, sir; a man may rot even here. Edg. What, in ill thoughts again? Men must endure

Such is my determination concerning Lear; as for my state, it requires now not deliberation, but defence and support.' 1 Those who are curious to know how far Shakspeare was in debted to the Arcadia, will find a chapter entitled The Pitifull State and Storie of the Paphlagonian unkinde King, and his kinde Sonne; first related by the Sonne, then by the blinde Father,' at p. 141 of the edition of 1599, 4to.

Their going hence, even as their coming hither:
Ripeness is all 2: Come on.

Glo.

And that's true too.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III. The British Camp near Dover.

Enter, in Conquest, with Drum and Colours, EDMUND; LEAR and CORDELIA, as Prisoners; Officers, Soldiers, &c.

Edm. Some officers take them away; good guard; Until their greater pleasures first be known That are to censure1 them.

Cor. 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 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'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 us the mystery of things,

As if we were God's spies 3: And we'll wear out,

2 i. e. to be ready, prepared, is all. So in Hamlet:-' If it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.'

1 i. e. to pass sentence or judgment on them. So in Othello: -Remains the censure of this hellish villain.'

2 That is the worst that fortune can inflict.'

3 As if we were angels, endowed with the power of prying into the original motives of action and the mysteries of conduct.'

In a wall'd prison, packs and sects* of great ones, That ebb and flow by the moon.

Edm.

Take them away.

Lear. Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia, The gods themselves throw incense3. Have I caught thee?

He, that parts us, shall bring a brand from heaven,
And fire us hence, like foxes. Wipe thine eyes;
The goujeers shall devour them, flesh and fell7,
Ere they shall make us weep: we'll see them starve
first.

Come. [Exeunt LEAR and CORDELIA, guarded.
Edm. Come hither, captain; hark.

4 Packs and sects are combinations and parties.

5 The thought is extremely noble, and expressed in a sublime of imagery that Seneca fell short of on a similar occasion :Ecce spectaculum dignum ad quod respiciat intenti operi suo deus: ecce par deo dignum vir fortis cum mala fortuna compositus.'-Warburton.

6 Alluding to the old practice of smoking foxes out of their holes. So in Harington's translation of Ariosto, b. xxvii. stan. 17:

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'E'en as a foxe whom smoke and fire doth fright,

So as he dare not in the ground remaine,

Bolts out and through the smoke and fire he flieth
Into the tarriers mouth, and there he dieth.'

The goujeers shall devour them flesh and fell.' The goujeers, i. e. morbus Gallicus. Gouge, Fr. is a soldier's trull; and as the disease was first dispersed over Europe by the French army, and the women who followed it, the first name it obtained among us was the goujeries, i. e. the disease of the gouges.-Hanmer. The expression, however, soon became obscure, its origin not being generally known, and it was at length corrupted to the good year; a very opposite form of expression. In the present instance the quartos, following the common corruption, have the good yeares. Flesh and fell is flesh and skin. Thus in The Speculum Vitæ, MS. :

'That alle men sal a domesday rise

Oute of their graves in fleshe and felle.'

So in The Dyar's Playe, Chester Mysteries, MS. in the
Museum:-

'I made thee man of flesh and fell.'

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Take thou this note; [Giving a Paper.] go, follow them to prison:

One step I have advanc'd 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 question9: either say, thou'lt do't,
Or thrive by other means.

Off.

I'll do't, my lord.

Edm. About it; and write happy, when thou hast done.

Mark, I say instantly; and carry it so,
As I have set it down.

Off. I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats;
If it be man's work, I will do it. [Exit Officer.

Flourish.

Enter ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN,
Officers, and Attendants.

Alb. Sir,you have shown to-day your valiant strain,
And fortune led you well: You have the captives
Who 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.

Edm.

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,

10

And turn our impress'd lances 1o in our eyes

s This was a warrant signed by the Bastard and Goneril, for the execution of Lear and Cordelia, referred to in a subsequent scene by Edmund.

9 i. e. admit of debate.

10 That is the lancemen we have hired by giving them pressmoney. See Act iv. Sc. 6, note 14.

With him I sent the

Which do command them.

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 curs'd
By those that feel their sharpness:-
The question of Cordelia, and her father,
Requires a fitter place 11.]

Alb.

Sir, by your patience,

I hold you but a subject of this war,
Not as a brother.

him.

Reg. That's as we list to grace Methinks, our pleasure might have been demanded, Ere you had spoke so far. He led our powers; Bore the commission 12 of my place and person; The which immediacy 13 may well stand up, And call itself your brother.

Gon.

Not so hot:

In his own grace 14 he doth exalt himself,
More than in your advancement.

Reg.

In my rights,

By me invested, he compeers the best.

Gon. That were the most, if he should husband

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Reg. Jesters do oft prove prophets.

11 i. e. the determination of what shall be done with Cordelia and her father, should be reserved for greater privacy.

12 Commission for authority.

13 Immediacy is, I think, close and immediate connexion with me, and direct authority from me. Immediate is the reading of the quartos.

14 Grace here means noble deportment. The folio has addition instead of advancement in the next line.

15 If he were married to you, you could not say more than this, nor could he enjoy greater power.' In the folio this line is given to Albany.

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