Duke.
I will have my Revenge e're I depart his house.
Regan, see here, a Plot upon our State,
'Tis Gloster's Character, that has betray'd
His double Trust of Subject, and of Ost.

Reg.
Then double be our Vengeance, this confirms
Th'Intelligence that we now now receiv'd,
That he has been this Night to seek the King;
But who, Sir, was the kind Discoverer?

Duke.
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.

Bast.
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.

Duke.
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 Traytor;
But least thy tender Nature shou'd relent
At his just Sufferings, nor brooke the Sight,
We wish thee to withdraw.

Reg.
The Grotto, Sir, within the lower Grove, To Edmund Aside.
Has Privacy to suit a Mourner's Thought.

Bast.
And there I may expect a Comforter,
Ha, Madam?

Reg.
What may happen, Sir, I know not,
But 'twas a Friends Advice. [Ex. Bastard.

Duke.
Bring in the Traytour.

Gloster brought in.
Bind fast his Arms.

Glost.
What mean your Graces?
You are my Guests, pray do me no foul Play.

Duke.
Bind him, I say, hard, harder yet.

Reg.
Now, Traytor, thou shalt find—

Duke.
Speak, Rebel, where hast thou sent the King?
Whom spight of our Decree thou saw'st last Night.

Glost.
I'm tide to th'Stake, and I 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; but I shall see
The swift wing'd Vengeance overtake such Children.

Duke.
See't shalt thou never, Slaves perform your Work,
Out with those treacherous Eyes, dispatch, I say,
If thou seest Vengeance—

Glost.
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 Practise.

Duke.
Ha, my Villain.

Serv.
I have been your Servant from my Infancy,
But better Service have I never done you
Then with this Boldness—

Duke.
Take thy Death, Slave.

Serv.
Nay, then Revenge whilst yet my Bloud is Warm. [Fight.

Reg.
Help here—are you not hurt, my Lord?

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 broacht 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!
Than Edgar was abus'd, kind Gods forgive me that.

Reg.
How is't, my Lord?

Duke.
Turn out that Eye-less Villain, let him smell
His way to Cambray, throw this Slave upon a Dunghill.

Regan,
I Bleed apace, give me your Arm. [Exeunt.

Glost.
All Dark and Comfortless!
Where are those various Objects that but now
Employ'd my busie Eyes? where those Eyes?
Dead are their piercing Rays that lately shot
O're flowry Vales to distant Sunny Hills,
And drew with Joy the vast Horizon in.
These groping Hands are now my only Guids,
And Feeling all my Sight.
  O Misery! what words can sound my Grief?
Shut from the Living whilst among the Living;
Dark as the Grave amidst the bustling World.
At once from Business and from Pleasure bar'd;
No more to view the Beauty of the Spring,
Nor see the Face of Kindred, or of Friend.
Yet still one way th' extreamest 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 pittying Crowd,
And with the Rhetorick of these dropping Veins
Enflame 'em to Revenge their King and me;
Then when the Glorious Mischief is on Wing,
This Lumber from some Precipice I'll throw,
And dash it on the ragged Flint below;
Whence my freed Soul to her bright Sphear shall fly,
Through boundless Orbs, eternal Regions spy,
And like the Sun, be All one glorious Eye. [Ex. End of the Third Act.

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