Page:King Lear (1917) Yale.djvu/143

King Lear, V. iii

Be brief in it, to the castle; for my writ

Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia.

Nay, send in time.

Alb. Run, run! O run!

Edg. To whom, my lord? Who has the office? send

Thy token of reprieve.

Edm. Well thought on: take my sword,

Give it the captain.

Alb. Haste thee, for thy life.

[Exit Edgar.]

Edm. He hath commission from my wife and me

To hang Cordelia in the prison, and

To lay the blame upon her own despair,

That she fordid herself.

Alb. The gods defend her! Bear him hence awhile.

[Edmund is borne off.]

Lear. Howl, howl, howl, howl! O! you are men of stones:

Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so

That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever.

I know when one is dead, and when one lives;

She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;

If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,

Why, then she lives.

Kent. Is this the promis'd end?

Edg. Or image of that horror?

Alb. Fall and cease?

Lear. This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so,

 257 fordid: slew

265 end: judgment day

