nence,

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 beneath thy feet,
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.

Edm. In wisdom, I should ask thy name;+ But, since thy outside looks so fair and warlike, [breathes, And that thy tongue some 'say of breeding 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,) [way, This sword of mine shall give them instant Where they shall rest for ever.-Trumpets, speak.

JAlarums. They fight

[Alarums.-They fight.-EDMUND falls.

Alb. Gon. This is mere practice,§ Gloster: By the law of arms, thou wast not bound to

answer

An unknown opposite; thou art not vanBut cozen'd and beguil'd. [quish'd,

Alb. 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. Gon. Say, if I do; the laws are mine, not Who shall arraign me for't? [thine:

Alb. Most monstrous! Know'st thou this paper?

Gon. Ask me not what I know.

[Exit GONERIL. Alb. Go after her: she's desperate; govern her. [To an OFFICER, who goes out. Edm. What you have charg'd me with, that have I done; [out; And more, much more: the time will bring it 'Tis past, and so am I: But what art thou, 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 wrong'd mc.
My name is Edgar, and thy father's son.
The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to scourge us:

The dark and vicious place where thee he got,

Cost him his eyes.

Edm. Thou hast spoken right, 'tis true; The wheel is come full circle; I am here.

Alb. 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!

Edg. Worthy prince,

I know it well.

Alb. Where have you hid yourself? [ther? How have you known the miseries of your faEdg. By nursing them, my lord.-List|| a brief tale ;

That with the pain of death we'd hourly die,
Rather than die at once!) taught me to shift
Into a madman's rags; to assume a sem-
blance

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,
[despair;
Led him, begg'd for him, sav'd him from
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.

Edm. This speech of yours hath mov'd me, And shall, perchance, do good: but speak

He fasten'd on my neck, and bellow'd out As he'd burst heaven; threw him on my father;

Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him, That ever ear receiv'd: which in recounting His grief grew puissant, and the strings of life Began to crack: Twice then the trumpet sounded,

And there I left him tranc'd.

Alb. But who was this?

Edg. 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 hastily, with a bloody Knife.

Gent. Help! help! O help!

Edg. What kind of help?"

Alb. Speak, man.

Edg. What means that bloody knife? It came even from the heart of Gent. 'Tis hot, it smokes ;

Alh. Who, man? speak.

Gent. Your lady, Sir, your lady: and her

By her is poison'd; she confesses it.

[sister

Edm. I was contracted to them both; all

Now marry in an instant.

[three

Alb. Produce their bodies, be they alive or

dead!

This judgement of the heavens, that makes us tremble,

Touches us not with pity. [Exit GENTLEMAN.

Enter KENT.

Edg. Here comes Kent, Sir.

Alb. O! it is he.

The time will not allow the compliment, Which very manners urges.

Gre. But thou art not quickly moved to

strike.

Sam. A dog of the house of Montague moves

me.

Gre. To move, is-to stir; and to be valiant, is-to stand to it: therefore, if thou art mov'd, thou run'st away.

stand: I will take the wall of any man or maid Sam. A dog of that house shall move me to of Montague's.

Gre. That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes to the wall.

Sam. True; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall:therefore I will push Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall.

Gre. The quarrel is between our masters, and us their men.

Sam. 'Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant: when I have fought with the men, I will be cruel with the maids; I will cut off their heads.

Gre. The heads of the maids?

Sam. Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads; take it in what sense thou wilt. Gre. They must take it in sense, that feel

it.

Sam. Me they shall feel, while I am able to stand: and, 'tis known, I am a pretty piece of flesh.

Gre. 'Tis well, thou art not fish: if thou hadst, thou hadst been poor John.* Draw thy tool; here comes two of the house of the Montagues.+

Poor John is hake, dried and salted.
+ The disregard of concord is in character.

Ben. Have you importun'd him by any means? Mon. Both by myself, and many other friends:

But he, his own affections' counsellor,
Is to himself-I will not say, how true-
But to himself so secret and so close,
So far from sounding and discovery,
As is the bud bit with an envious worm,
Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air,
Or dedicate his beauty to the sun. [grow,
Could we but learn from whence his sorrows
We would as willingly give cure, as know.

Enter ROMEO, at a distance.

Ben. See, where he comes: So please you, step aside;

I'll know his grievance, or be much denied. Mon. I would, thou wert so happy by thy

stay,

To hear true shrift,-Come, madam, let's away. [Exeunt MONTAGUE, and LADY.

Ben. Good morrow, cousin. Rom. Is the day so young? Ben. But new struck nine. Rom. Ah me! sad hours seem long. Was that my father that went hence so fast? Ben. It was:-What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours?

Rom. Not having that, which having, makes

them short.

Ben. In love?
Rom. Out-

Ben. Of love?

Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O any thing, of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness! serious vanity!
Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick
health!

Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!-
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?

Ben. No, coz, I rather weep.

Rom. Good heart, at what?

Ben. At thy good heart's oppression.
Rom. Why, such is love's transgression.-
Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast;
Which thou wilt propagate, to have it press'd
With more of thine: this love, that thou hast
shown,

Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.
Love is a smoke rais'd with the fume of sighs;
Being purg'd, a fire sparkling in a lover's eyes;
Being vex'd, a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears:
What is it else? a madness most discreet,
A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.
Farewell, my_coz.

[Going.

Ben. Soft, I will go along ; And if you leave me so, you do me wrong. Rom. Tut, I have lost myself; I am not here;

This is not Romeo, he's some other where. Ben. Tell me in sadness, who she is you love.

In seriousness

Rom. What, shall I groan, and tell thee?
Ben. Groan? why, no;

But sadly tell me, who.

Rom. Bid a sick man in sadness make his will:

Ah, word ill urg'd to one that is so ill!—
In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman.
Ben. I aim'd so near, when I suppos'd you
lov'd.

Rom. A right good marksman!—And she's fair I love.

Ben. A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.

Rom. Well, in that hit, you miss: she'll not be hit

With Cupid's arrow, she hath Dian's wit;
And, in strong proof of chastity well arm'd,

harm'd.

From love's weak childish bow she lives un-
Nor bide th' encounter of assailing eyes,
She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold:
O, she is rich in beauty; only poor, [store.
That, when she dies, with beauty dies her
Ben. Then she hath sworn, that she will still
live chaste?

Rom. She hath, and in that sparing makes
huge waste;

Cuts beauty off from all posterity.
For beauty, starv'd with her severity,

She is too fair, too wise; wisely too fair,
To merit bliss by making me despair:
She hath forsworn to love; and, in that vow,
Do I live dead, that live to tell it now.

Ben. Be rul'd by me, forget to think of her.
Rom. O, teach me how I should forget to
think.

Ben. By giving liberty unto thine eyes;
Examine other beauties.

To call hers, exquisite, in question more:
Rom. 'Tis the way
These happy masks, that kiss fair ladies'
brows,

Being black, put us in mind they hide the fair

He, that is strucken blind, cannot forget
The precious treasure of his eyesight lost:
Show me a mistress that is passing fair,
What doth her beauty serve, but as a note
Where I may read, who pass'd that passing
fair?

Farewell; thou canst not teach me to forget.
Ben. I'll pay that doctrine, or else die in
debt.
[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-A Street.

Enter CAPULET, PARIS, and SERVANT. Cap. And Montague is bound as well as I, In penalty alike; and 'tis not hard, I think, For men so old as we to keep the peace.

Par. Of honourable reckoningt are you both; And pity 'tis, you liv'd at odds so long. But now, my lord, what say you to my suit? Cap. But saying o'er what I have said be

fore:

My child is yet a stranger in the world,
She hath not seen the change of fourteen years;
Let two more summers wither in their pride,
Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.

Par. Younger than she are happy mothers

made.

Cap. And too soon marr'd are those so early made.

The earth hath swallow'd all my hopes but she,
She is the hopeful lady of my earth:

* I. e. What end does it answer?
† Account, estimation,