Page:King Lear (1917) Yale.djvu/145

King Lear, V. iii

Kent. Nor no man else; all's cheerless, dark, and deadly:

Your eldest daughters have fordone themselves,

And desperately are dead.

Lear. Ay, so I think.

Alb. He knows not what he says, and vain it is

That we present us to him.

Edg. Very bootless.

Mess. Edmund is dead, my lord.

Alb. That's but a trifle here.

You lords and noble friends, know our intent;

What comfort to this great decay may come

Shall be applied: for us, we will resign,

During the life of this old majesty,

To him our absolute power:—[To Edgar and Kent.] You, to your rights;

With boot and such addition as your honours

Have more than merited. All friends shall taste

The wages of their virtue, and all foes

The cup of their deservings. O! see, see!

Lear. And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life!

Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,

And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,

Never, never, never, never, never!

Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.

Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,

Look there, look there!

Edg. He faints!—my lord, my lord!

Kent. Break, heart; I prithee, break.

Edg. Look up, my lord.

 307 fool: referring, with intimate tenderness, to Cordelia

