Corn.
I will have my revenge, 'ere I depart this house.
Regan, see here, a plot upon our state;
'Tis Gloster's character, that has betray'd
His double trust, of subject and of host.

Reg.
Then double be our vengeance; this confirms
The intelligence that we now received,

That he has been this night to seek the king;
But who, sir, was the kind discoverer?

Corn.
Our Eagle, quick to spy, and fierce to seize;
Our trusty Edmund.

Reg.
'Twas a noble service.
O Cornwall, take him to thy deepest trust,
And wear him as a jewel at thy heart.

Edm.
Think, sir, how hard a fortune I sustain,
That makes me thus repent of serving you? [Weeps.
O that this treason had not been, or I
Not the discoverer.

Corn.
Edmund, thou shalt find
A father in our love; and from this minute
We call thee earl of Gloster. But there yet
Remains another justice to be done,
And that's to punish this discarded traitor;
But left thy tender nature should relent
At his just sufferings,
We wish thee to withdraw.

Reg.
The Grotto, sir, within the lower grove,
Has privacy to suit a mourner's thought. [To Edmund, aside.

Edm.
And there I may expect a comforter—
Ha, madam!

Reg.
What may happen, sir, I know not;
But 'twas a friend's advice. [Ex. Edmund.

Corn.
Bring in the traitor. Gloster brought in by Soldiers.
Bind fast his arms.

Glost.
What mean your graces?
You are my guests, pray do me, no foul play.

Corn.
Bind him, I say, hard; harder yet. [They bind him.

Reg.
Now, traitor, thou shalt find—

Corn.
Speak, rebel, where hast thou sent the king?
Whom, spight of our decree, thou saw'st last night.

Glost.
I'm ty'd to th' stake, and so must stand the course.

Reg.
Say where, and why thou hast conceal'd him?

Glost.
Because I wou'd not see thy cruel hands
Tear out his poor old eyes, nor thy fierce sister
Carve his anointed flesh;* ^note





but I shall see
The swift wing'd vengeance overtake such children.

Corn.
See't thou shalt never; slaves perform your work,
Out with those treacherous eyes. Dispatch, I say.
If thou seek vengeance— [They force Gloster off.

Glost. (Within.)
He that will think to live, 'till he be old—
Give me some help.—O cruel! oh! ye Gods. [They put out his Eyes.

Serv.
Hold, hold, my lord, I bar your cruelty;
I cannot love your safety, and give way
To such a barbarous practice.

Corn.
Ha! my villain!

Serv.
I have been your servant from my infancy;
But better service have I never done you,
Than with this boldness.—

Corn.
Take thy death, slave.

Serv.
Nay, then revenge whilst yet my blood is warm. [Fight.

Reg.
Help here—Are you not hurt, my lord? [Enter Gloster, blind.

Glost.
Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature
To quit this horrid act.

Reg.
Out, treacherous villain,
Thou call'st on him that hates thee. It was he
That broach'd thy treason, shew'd us thy dispatches:
There—read, and save the Cambrian prince a labour.
If thy eyes fail thee, call for spectacles.

Glost.
O my folly!
Then Edgar was abus'd. Kind Gods, forgive me that.

Reg.
How is't, my lord?

Corn.
Turn out that eyeless villain; let him smell
His way to Cambray.
Regan, I bleed apace; give me your arm.

Glost.
All dark, and comfortless!
Where are those various objects that, but now,
Employ'd my busy eyes?
O misery! What words can sound my grief?
Shut from the living, whilst among the living;
Dark as the grave, amidst the bustling world.
Yet still one way th'extremest fate affords,
And ev'n the blind can find the way to death.
Must I then tamely die, and unreveng'd?
So Lear may fall. No, with these bleeding rings
I will present me to the pitying crowd,
And with the rhetoric of these dropping veins,
Enflame 'em to revenge their king and me;
Then, when the glorious mischief's on the wing,
This lumber from some precipice I'll throw,
And dash it on the ragged flint below;
Whence my freed soul to her bright sphere shall fly,
Through boundless orbs, eternal regions spy,
And (like the sun) be all one glorious eye.* ^note [Ex. End of the Third Act.

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