Cor.
O thou good Kent, how shall I live, and work,
To match thy goodness? My life will be too short,
And ^{4 note}every measure fail me.

Kent.
To be acknowledg'd, madam, is o'erpay'd.
All my reports go with the modest truth;
Nor more, nor clipt, but so.

Cor.
^{5 note}Be better suited:
^{6 note}

Kent.
Pardon me, dear madam;
Yet to be known, ^{7 note}

Cor.
Then be it so, my good lord.—
How does the king? [To the Physician.

Phys.
Madam, sleeps still.

Cor.
O you kind gods,
Cure this great breach in his abused nature!
The untun'd and jarring senses, O, wind up
^{8 note}Of this child-changed father!

Phys.
So please your majesty,
That we may wake the king? he hath slept long.

Cor.
Be govern'd by your knowledge, and proceed
I' the sway of your own will. Is he array'd? Lear is brought in in a chair.

Gent.
^{9 note}Ay, madam; in the heaviness of his sleep,
We put fresh garments on him.

Phys.
Be by, good madam, when we do awake him;
I doubt not of his temperance.

Cor.
^{1 note}Very well.

Phys.
Please you, draw near.—Louder the music there!

Cor.
O my dear father! ^{2 note}

Thy medicine on my lips; and let this kiss
Repair those violent harms, that my two sisters
Have in thy reverence made!

Kent.
Kind and dear princess!

Cor.
Had you not been their father, these white flakes
Had challeng'd pity of them. Was this a face
To be expos'd against the warring winds?
*^{3 note}To stand against the deep dread-bolted thunder?
In the most terrible and nimble stroke
Of quick, cross lightning? ^{4 note}

Though he had bit me, should have stood that night
Against my fire; And wast thou fain, poor father,
To hovel thee with swine, and rogues forlorn,
In short and musty straw? Alack, alack!
'Tis wonder, that thy life and wits at once
^{6 note}

Phys.
Madam, do you; 'tis fittest.

Cor.
How does my royal lord? How fares your majesty?

Lear.
You do me wrong, to take me out o' the grave:—
Thou art a soul in bliss; but I am bound
Upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears
Do scald like molten lead.

Cor.
Sir, do you know me?

Lear.
You are a spirit, I know: When did you die?

Cor.
Still, still, far wide!

Phys.
He's scarce awake; let him alone awhile.

Lear.
Where have I been? Where am I?—Fair day-light?—
^{7 note}I am mightily abus'd.—I should even die with pity,
To see another thus.—I know not what to say.—
I will not swear, these are my hands:—let's see;
I feel this pin prick. 'Would I were assur'd
Of my condition.

Cor.
O, look upon me, sir,
And hold your hands in benediction o'er me:—

^{8 note}No, sir, you must not kneel.

Lear.
Pray, do not mock me^{9 note}

:
I am a very foolish fond old man,
Fourscore and upward;
Not an hour more, nor less: and, to deal plainly,
^{1 note}

Cor.
And so I am, I am.

Lear.
Be your tears wet? Yes, 'faith. I pray, weep not:
If you have poison for me, I will drink it.
I know, you do not love me; for your sisters
Have, as I do remember, done me wrong:
You have some cause, they have not.

Cor.
No cause, no cause.

Lear.
Am I in France?

Kent.
In your own kingdom, sir.

Lear.
Do not abuse me.

Phys.
Be comforted, good madam: the great rage,

You see, ^{2 note}
is cur'd in him: [^{3 note}and yet it is danger
^{4 note}To make him even o'er the time he has lost.]
Desire him to go in; trouble him no more,
'Till further settling.

Cor.
Will't please your highness walk?

Lear.
You must bear with me:
Pray you now, forget and forgive: I am old, and foolish. [Exeunt Lear, Cordelia, Physician, and Attendants.

[Gent.
^{5 note}Holds it true, sir,
That the duke of Cornwall was so slain?

Kent.
Most certain, sir.

Gent.
Who is conductor of his people?

Kent.
As it is said, the bastard son of Gloster.

Gent.
They say, Edgar,
His banish'd son, is with the earl of Kent
In Germany.

Kent.
Report is changeable.
'Tis time to look about; the powers o' the kingdom
Approach apace.

Gent.
The arbitrement is like to be bloody.
Fare you well, sir. [Exit.

Kent.
My point and period will be throughly wrought,
Or well, or ill, as this day's battle's fought.] Exit.

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