King Lear by William Shakespeare
Act 4 - Scene 7
A tent in the French camp.
Cordelia : O thou good Kent, how shall I live and work
[p]To match thy goodness?
My life will be too short
[p]And every measure fail me.
Earl of Kent : To be acknowledg'd, madam, is o'erpaid.
[p]All my reports go with the
modest truth;
[p]Nor more nor clipp'd, but so.
Cordelia : Be better suited.
[p]These weeds are memories of those worser
hours.
[p]I prithee put them off.
Earl of Kent : Pardon, dear madam.
[p]Yet to be known shortens my made intent.
[p]My
boon I make it that you know me not
[p]Till time and I think meet.
Cordelia : Then be't so, my good lord. [To the Doctor] How, does the King?
Doctor : Madam, sleeps still.
Cordelia : O you kind gods,
[p]Cure this great breach in his abused
nature!
[p]Th' untun'd and jarring senses, O, wind up
[p]Of this
child-changed father!
Doctor : So please your Majesty
[p]That we may wake the King? He hath slept
long.
Cordelia : Be govern'd by your knowledge, and proceed
[p]I' th' sway of your own
will. Is he array'd?
Gentleman : Ay, madam. In the heaviness of sleep
[p]We put fresh garments on him.
Doctor : Be by, good madam, when we do awake him.
[p]I doubt not of his
temperance.
Cordelia : Very well.
Doctor : Please you draw near. Louder the music there!
Cordelia : O my dear father, restoration hang
[p]Thy medicine on my lips, and let
this kiss
[p]Repair those violent harms that my two sisters
[p]Have in
thy reverence made!
Earl of Kent : Kind and dear princess!
Cordelia : Had you not been their father, these white flakes
[p]Had challeng'd
pity of them. Was this a face
[p]To be oppos'd against the warring
winds?
[p]To stand against the deep dread-bolted thunder?
[p]In the
most terrible and nimble stroke
[p]Of quick cross lightning? to watch-
poor perdu!-
[p]With this thin helm? Mine enemy's dog,
[p]Though he
had bit me, should have stood that night
[p]Against my fire; and wast
thou fain, poor father,
[p]To hovel thee with swine and rogues
forlorn,
[p]In short and musty straw? Alack, alack!
[p]'Tis wonder
that thy life and wits at once
[p]Had not concluded all.- He wakes.
Speak to him.
Doctor : Madam, do you; 'tis fittest.
Cordelia : How does my royal lord? How fares your Majesty?
Lear : You do me wrong to take me out o' th' grave.
[p]Thou art a soul in
bliss; but I am bound
[p]Upon a wheel of fire, that mine own
tears
[p]Do scald like molten lead.
Cordelia : Sir, do you know me?
Lear : You are a spirit, I know. When did you die?
Cordelia : Still, still, far wide!
Doctor : He's scarce awake. Let him alone awhile.
Lear : Where have I been? Where am I? Fair daylight,
[p]I am mightily abus'd.
I should e'en die with pity,
[p]To see another thus. I know not what
to say.
[p]I will not swear these are my hands. Let's see.
[p]I feel
this pin prick. Would I were assur'd
[p]Of my condition!
Cordelia : O, look upon me, sir,
[p]And hold your hands in benediction o'er
me.
[p]No, sir, you must not kneel.
Lear : Pray, do not mock me.
[p]I am a very foolish fond old
man,
[p]Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less;
[p]And, to
deal plainly,
[p]I fear I am not in my perfect mind.
[p]Methinks I
should know you, and know this man;
[p]Yet I am doubtful; for I am
mainly ignorant
[p]What place this is; and all the skill I
have
[p]Remembers not these garments; nor I know not
[p]Where I did
lodge last night. Do not laugh at me;
[p]For (as I am a man) I think
this lady
[p]To be my child Cordelia.
Cordelia : And so I am! I am!
Lear : Be your tears wet? Yes, faith. I pray weep not.
[p]If you have poison
for me, I will drink it.
[p]I know you do not love me; for your
sisters
[p]Have, as I do remember, done me wrong.
[p]You have some
cause, they have not.
Cordelia : No cause, no cause.
Lear : Am I in France?
Earl of Kent : In your own kingdom, sir.
Lear : Do not abuse me.
Doctor : Be comforted, good madam. The great rage
[p]You see is kill'd in him;
and yet it is danger
[p]To make him even o'er the time he has
lost.
[p]Desire him to go in. Trouble him no more
[p]Till further
settling.
Cordelia : Will't please your Highness walk?
Lear : You must bear with me.
[p]Pray you now, forget and forgive. I am old
and foolish.
Gentleman : Holds it true, sir, that the Duke of Cornwall was so slain?
Earl of Kent : Most certain, sir.
Gentleman : Who is conductor of his people?
Earl of Kent : As 'tis said, the bastard son of Gloucester.
Gentleman : They say Edgar, his banish'd son, is with the Earl of Kent
[p]in
Germany.
Earl of Kent : Report is changeable. 'Tis time to look about; the powers of
[p]the
kingdom approach apace.
Gentleman : The arbitrement is like to be bloody.
[p]Fare you well, sir.
[Exit.]
Earl of Kent : My point and period will be throughly wrought,
[p]Or well or ill, as
this day's battle's fought. Exit.
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Next: Act 5 - Scene 1
