William Shakespeare: The Tragedy of King Lear

ACT V. 3. Scene III. The British Camp near Dover. (continued)

Kent.
I am come
To bid my king and master aye good night:
Is he not here?

Alb.
Great thing of us forgot!
Speak, Edmund, where's the king? and where's Cordelia?

[The bodies of Goneril and Regan are brought in.]

Seest thou this object, Kent?

Kent.
Alack, why thus?

Edm.
Yet Edmund was belov'd.
The one the other poisoned for my sake,
And after slew herself.

Alb.
Even so.--Cover their faces.

Edm.
I pant for life:--some good I mean to do,
Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send,--
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 who, 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 thy 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.]

[Re-enter Lear, with Cordelia dead in his arms; Edgar, Officer,
and others following.]

Lear.
Howl, howl, howl, howl!--O, you are men of stone.
Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld 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.