Edmund.
Glo.
Alack, alack, Edmund, I like not this unnatural
dealing; when I desired their leave that I
-- 36 --
might pity him, they took from me the use of mine
own house; charg'd me on pain of perpetual displeasure,
neither to speak of him, entreat for him,
or any way sustain him.
Edm.
Most savage and unnatural!
Glo.
Go to; say you nothing. There is division
between the Dukes, and a worse matter than that:
I have receiv'd a letter this night, 'tis dangerous to
be spoken; (I have lock'd the letter in my closet:)
these injuries, the king now bears, will be revenged
home; there is part of a power already footed; we
must incline to the king: I will look for him, and
privily relieve him; go you, and maintain talk with
the Duke, that my charity be not of him perceiv'd.
If he ask for me, I am ill, and gone to bed; if I
die for it, as no less is threaten'd me, the king my
old master must be relieved. There are strange
things toward, Edmund; pray you be careful.
[Exit.
Edm.
This courtesy, forbid thee, shall the duke
Instantly know, and of that letter too.
This seems a fair deserving, and must draw me
That which my father loses; no less than all.
The younger rises when the old doth fall.
[Exit.
George Colman [1768], The history of King Lear. As it is performed at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden (Printed for R. Baldwin... and T. Becket, and Co. [etc.], London) [word count] [S34900].
