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 honor firmly. Alb. A herald, ho! Edm. A herald, ho, a herald ! Alb. Trust to thy single virtue; 1 for thy soldiers, All levied in my name, have in my name Took their discharge. Reg. This sickness grows upon me Enter a Herald. Alb. She is not well; convey her to my tent. [Exit REGAN, led Come hither, herald.----Let the trumpet sound, And read out this. Off. Sound, trumpet. Herald reads. [A trumpet sounds. If any man of quality, or degree, within the lists of the army, will maintain upon Edmund, supposed earl of Gloster, that he is a manifold traitor, le. him appear at the third sound of the trumpet. He is bold in his Enter EDGAR, armed, preceded by a trumpet. Alb. Ask him his purposes, why he appears Upon this call o' the trumpet. Her. : What are you? Your name, your quality? And why you answer 1 i. e. valor; a Roman sense of the word. Edg. 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 withal. Which is that adversary? Edg. What's he that speaks for Edmund, earl of Gloster? Edm. Himself;---what say'st thou to him? Edg. Draw thy sword; That if my speech offend a noble heart, In wisdom, I should ask thy name; 1 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 forever. -Trumpets, speak. [Alarums. They fight; EDMUND falls. Alb. O, save him, save him! 1 Edm. 1 Because, if his adversary was not of equal rank, Edmund might have declined the combat. 2 Say, or assay, is a sample, a taste. 3 This seems to mean "What I might safely well delay, if I acted punctiliously." This line is omitted in the quartos. 4 To that place where they shall rest forever, i. e. thy heart. Gon. This is mere practice, Gloster By the law of arms, thou wast not bound to answer An unknown opposite; thou art not vanquished, But cozened and beguiled. Shut your mouth, dame, Or with this paper shall I stop it.-Hold, sir; — No tearing, lady; I perceive you know it. [Gives the letter to EDMUND Gon. Say, if I do; the laws are mine, not thine. Who shall arraign me for't? Know'st thou this paper? 2 Most monstrous! Ask me not what I know. [Exit GONERIL. Alb. Go after her; she's desperate; govern her. Edm. What you have [To an Officer, who goes out. charged me with, that have I done; The time will bring it out; And more, much more. 'Tis past, and so am I. That hast this fortune on me? If thou art noble, I do forgive thee. Edg. Let's exchange charity. I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund; If more, the more thou hast wronged me. My name is Edgar, and thy father's son. The dark and vicious place where thee he got, Cost him his eyes. Thou hast spoken right; 'tis true; Alb. Methought thy very gait did prophesy Edm. The wheel is come full circle: I am here. 1 Albany desires that Edmund's life may be spared at present, only to obtain his confession, and to convict him openly by his own letter. 2 "Knowest thou these letters?" says Leir to Regan, in the old anonymous play, when he shows her both her own and her sister's letters, which were written to procure his death; upon which she snatches the letters and tears them. 3 The folio reads "to plague us." A royal nobleness.---I must embrace thee; Let sorrow split my heart, if ever I Did hate thee, or thy father. Edg. Worthy prince, I know't Alb. Where have you hid yourself? Edg. By nursing them, my lord.-List a brief tale ; And, when 'tis told, O that my heart would burst ! That followed me so near, (O, our lives' sweetness! Edm. 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. Alb. If there be more, more woful, hold it in; For I am almost ready to dissolve, Hearing of this. 2 [Edg. This would have seemed a period To such as love not sorrow; but another, To amplify too much, would make much more, 1 The quartos read : "That with the pain of death would hourly die." 2 The lines within crotchets are not in the folio. And top extremity.1 Whilst I was big in clamor, came there a man, Alb. But who was this? Edg. Kent, sir, the banished Kent; who in disguise Followed his enemy king, and did him service Improper for a slave.] Enter a Gentleman, hastily, with a bloody knife. Gent. Help! help! O, help! Edg. Alb. What kind of help? Edg. What means that bloody knife? It came even from the heart of- 'Tis hot, it smokes; Who, man? speak. 1 Of this difficult passage, which is probably corrupt, Steevens gives the following explanation: "This would have seemed a period to such as love not sorrow, but-another, i. e. but I must add another, i. e. another period, another kind of conclusion to my story, such as will increase the horrors of what has been already told." It will be necessary, if we admit this interpretation, to point the passage thus :- (To amplify too much, would make much more, Whilst I was big," &c. Malone's explanation is :- " This would have seemed the utmost completion of woe, to such as do not delight in sorrow; but another, of a different disposition, to amplify misery 'would give more strength to that which hath too much;" referring to the bastard's desiring to hear more, and to Albany's thinking that enough had been said. 2 The quartos read, "threw me on my father." The reading in the text is certainly more likely to be correct. |