Edm.
What you have charg'd me with, that I have done,
And more, much more; the time will bring it out.
'Tis past, and so am I. But what art thou,
That hast this fortune on me? If thou'rt noble,
I do forgive thee.

Edg.
^{3 note}
Let's exchange charity.
I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund;
If more, the more thou'st wrong'd me.
My name is Edgar, and thy father's son.
The Gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to scourge us;
The dark and vicious place, where thee he got,
Cost him his eyes.

Edm.
Thou'st spoken right, 'tis true,
The wheel is come ^{4 note}full circle; I am here.

Alb.
Methought, thy very gait did prophesy
A royal Nobleness. I must embrace thee.

Let Sorrow split my heart, if ever I
Did hate thee, or thy father!

Edg.
Worthy Prince, I know't.

Alb.
Where have you hid yourself?
How have you known the miseries of your father?

Edg.
By nursing them, my Lord. List a brief tale,
And, when 'tis told, O, that my heart would burst!
The bloody Proclamation to escape
That follow'd me so near, O our lives' sweetness!
That we the pain of death would hourly bear,
Rather than die at once, taught me to shift
Into a mad-man's rags, t'assume a Semblance,
The very Dogs disdain'd; and in this habit
Met I my father with his bleeding rings,
Their precious gems new lost; became his guide,
Led him, begg'd for him, sav'd him from despair;
Never (O fault!) reveal'd myself unto him,
Until some half hour past, when I was arm'd,
Not sure, though hoping, of this good success,
I ask'd his blessing, and from first to last
Told him my pilgrimage. But his flaw'd heart,
Alack, too weak the Conflict to support,
'Twixt two extreams of passion, joy and grief,
Burst smilingly.

Edm.
This speech of yours hath mov'd me,
And shall, perchance, do good; but speak you on,
You look, as you had something more to say.

Alb.
If there be more, more woful, hold it in,
For I am almost ready to dissolve,
Hearing of this. ^{5 note}Edg.
^{6 note}

To such as love not sorrow: but Another,
To amplify too much, would make much, more,
And top Extremity!
Whilst I was big in Clamour, came there a Man,
Who having seen me in my worser State,
Shun'd my abhorr'd Society; but now finding
Who 'twas, had so endur'd, with his strong Arms
He fasten'd on my Neck; and bellow'd out,
As he'd burst Heaven; threw him on my Father;
Told the most piteous Tale of Lear and him,
That ever Ear receiv'd; which in recounting
His grief grew puissant, and the Strings of Life
Began to crack. Twice then the Trumpet sounded,
And there I left him tranc'd.

Alb.
But who was this? Edg.
Kent, Sir, the banish'd Kent, who in disguise
Follow'd his enemy King, and did him Service
Improper for a Slave.

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