Cor. We are not the first, Who, with best meaning, have incurr'd the worst. Lear. No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison: We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage: As if we were Heaven's spies: And we'll wear out, That ebb and flow by the moon. Edm. Take them away. Lear. Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia, The gods themselves throw incense. Have I caught thee? And fire us hence, like foxes. Wipe thine eyes; They shall not make us weep: we'll see them starve first. Come. [Exeunt LEAR, and CORDELIA, guarded. Lear and his daughter are conveyed to Prison, and orders are given by Albany to hang Cordelia. Punishment now overtakes the guilty Regan and Goneril. In pursuing thei. unlaw ful love towards Edmund, Regan, through jealousy, poisons her sister, and then dies by her own hand. Edmund receives the reward of his crimes from Edgar, who challenges him to single combat and slays him. Gloster is reconciled to his son, and the Play ends with the death of Lear. SCENE.-A Prison. Enter LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms; EDGAR, Officer, and others. Lear. Howl, howl, howl, howl !-O, you are men of stones; Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so That heaven's vault should crack :-0, she is gone for ever!一 I know when one is dead, and when one lives; If that her breath will mist or stain the stone, Why, then she lives. Kent. Is this the promis'd end? Edg. Or image of that horror? Lear. This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so, It is a chance that does redeem all sorrows That ever I have felt. Kent. O my good master! [Kneeling. Lear. Pr'ythee, away. Edg. 'Tis noble Kent, your friend Lear. A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all ! What is't thou say'st?-Her voice was ever soft, I kill'd the slave that was a hanging thee. Off. 'Tis true, my lords, he did. Lear. Did I not, fellow ? I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion And these same crosses spoil me.--Who are you? Kent. If fortune brag of two she lov'd and hated, Lear. This is a dull sight: Are you not Kent? Kent. The same. Your servant Kent: Where is your servant Caius ? Lear. He's a good fellow, I can tell you that; He'll strike, and quickly too: He's dead and rotten. Kent. No, my good lord; I am the very man ;Lear. I'll see that straight. Kent. That, from your first of difference and decay, Have follow'd your sad steps. Lear. You are welcome hither. Kent. Nor no man else; all's cheerless, dark, and dead.y.- Your eldest daughters have fore-doom'd themselves, And desperately are dead. Lear. And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life : Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life, Never, never, never, never, never ! Pray you, undo this button: Thank you, sir. Do you see this? Look on her, -look, -her lips, Look there, look there! [He dies. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. This Play is considered by the critics to have "all the merit of entire originality of ot and incident." The traditions of all Europe and the East, furnished the leading 'dea of fairy character, while classical and mythological history has been drawn upon for he heroical personages. Our selections from this brilliant poetical composition, are confined to the action of the Drama, as connected with the "princely loves" of Theseus and Hippolyta, and the Athenian Lovers. The humorous under-plots we are unwillingly compelled to omit from want of space. HIPPOLYTA, Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus. HERMIA, daughter to Egeus, in love with Lysander. HELENA, in love with Demetrius. OBERON, king of the fairies. TITANIA, queen of the fairies. PUCK, or Robin-goodfellow, a fairy. PEAS-BLOSSOM, COBWEB, МОTH, MUSTARD-SEED, fairies. terlude performed by the Clowns. Other Fairies attending their King and Queen. SCENE, ATHENS, and a Wood not far from it. ACT I. SCENE I.-Athens. A Room in the Palace of Theseus. Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, and Attendants. The. Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour Draws on apace; four happy days bring in Long withering out a young man's revenue. Hip. Four days will quickly steep themselves in nights; Four nights will quickly dream away the time; Now bent in heaven, shall behold the night Of our solemnities. Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments; Turn melancholy forth to funerals, The pale companion is not for our pomp. Hippolyta, I woo'd t I woo'd thee with my sword, And won thy love, doing thee injuries; But I will wed thee in another key, With pomp, with triumph, and with revelling. | Exit PHILOSTRATE Enter EGEUS, HERMIA, LYSANDER, and DEMETRIUS. Ege. Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke ! Against my child, my daughter Hermia.- Consent to marry with Demetrius, The. What say you, Hermia? be advis'd, fair maid: To you your father should be as a god; One that compos'd your beauties; yea, and one To whom you are but as a form in wax, To leave the figure, or disfigure it. Demetrius is a worthy gentleman. Her. So is Lysander. In himself he is: But, in this kind, wanting your father's voice, Her. I would, my father look'd but with my eyes. The. Rather your eyes must with his judgment look. Her. I do entreat your grace to pardon me. I know not by what power I am made bold; The. Either to die the death, or to abjure Her. So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord. (The sealing-day betwixt my love and me, For aye, austerity and single life. |