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:
Throwing down a glove what in the world he is That names me traitor,villain-like he lies:
Call by thy trumpet:he that dares approach,On him,on you,who not?I will maintain My truth and honour firmly.ALBANY A herald,ho!EDMUND A herald,ho,a herald!ALBANY 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 Enter a Herald Come hither,herald,--Let the trumpet sound,And read out this.Captain Sound,trumpet!
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.'EDMUND Sound!
First trumpet Herald Again!
Second trumpet Herald Again!
Third trumpet Trumpet answers within Enter EDGAR,at the third sound,armed,with a trumpet before him ALBANY Ask him his purposes,why he appears Upon this call o'the 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 say'st thou to him?EDGAR Draw thy sword,That,if my speech offend a noble heart,Thy arm may do thee justice:here is mine.
Behold,it is the privilege of mine honours,My oath,and my profession:I protest,Maugre thy strength,youth,place,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 the 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 practise,Gloucester:
By the law of arms thou wast not bound to answer An unknown opposite;thou art not vanquish'd,But cozen'd and beguiled.ALBANY Shut your mouth,dame,Or with this paper shall I stop it:Hold,sir:
Thou worse than any name,read thine own evil:
No tearing,lady:I perceive you know it.
Gives the letter to EDMUND GONERIL Say,if I do,the laws are mine,not thine:
Who can arraign me for't.ALBANY Most monstrous!oh!
Know'st thou this paper?GONERIL Ask me not what I know.