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SCENE I. A Room of State in King Lear's Palace.

Enter KENT, GLOSTER, and EDMUND.

Kent.

THOUGHT the king had more affected
the duke of Albany, than Cornwall.
Glo. It did always seem so to us: but

now, in the division of the kingdom1, it appears not which of the dukes he values most; for equalities are so weigh'd, that curiosity3 in neither can make choice of either's moiety *.

Kent. Is not this your son, my lord?

Glo. His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I have so often blush'd to acknowledge him, that now I am brazed to it.

Kent. I cannot conceive you.

Glo. Sir, this young fellow's mother could: where

Johnson is wrong in his view of this passage; what can be plainer than that Lear has predetermined the division of his kingdom, and only alters it when Cordelia disappoints and vexes him?

2 The folio has qualities.

3 Curiosity is scrupulous exactness, finical precision. See vol. viii. p. 331, note 43.

4 Moiety is used by Shakespeare for part or portion. See King Henry IV. Part I. p. 75, note 7.

upon she grew round-womb'd; and had, indeed, sir, a son for her cradle, ere she had a husband for her bed. Do you smell a fault?

Kent. I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it being so proper 5.

Glo. But I have a son, sir, by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account: though this knave came something saucily into the world before he was sent for, yet was his mother fair; there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged.-Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund ?

Edm. No, my lord.

Glo. My lord of Kent: remember him hereafter as my honourable friend.

Edm. My services to your lordship.

Kent. I must love you, and sue to know you better. Edm. Sir, I shall study deserving.

Glo. He hath been out nine years, and away he shall again. The king is coming.

[Trumpets sound within.

Enter LEAR, CORNWALL, ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN, CORDELIA, and Attendants.

Lear. Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloster.

Glo. I shall, my liege.

[Exeunt GLOSTER and EDMUND.

Lear. Mean time we shall

pose.

express our darker7 pur

5 Proper is comely, handsome. See Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act iv. Sc. 1, note 1.

6 The folio has lord.

We shall express our darker purpose; that is "we have already made known our desire of parting the kingdom; we will now discover what has not been told before, the reasons by which we shall regulate the partition.' This interpretation will justify or palliate the exordial dialogue."-Johnson.

Give me the map there.-Know, that we have divided,
In three, our kingdom; and 'tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age;
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburden'd crawl toward death.-Our son of Corn-
wall,

And you, our no less loving son of Albany,
We have this hour a constant will 10 to publish
Our daughters' several dowers, that future strife
May be prevented now. The princes, France and
Burgundy,

Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love,

Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,
And here are to be answer'd.-Tell me, my daughters
(Since now we will divest us, both of rule,
Interest of territory, cares of state11),

Which of you, shall we say, doth love us most?
That we our largest bounty may extend

Where nature doth with merit challenge.-Goneril,
Our eldest-born, speak first.

Gon. Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter;

Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty;

Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;

No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour :
As much as child e'er loved, or father found.
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable :
Beyond all manner of so much I love you 1o.

8 i. e. our determined resolution. The quartos read, “first intent."

9 The quartos read, confirming.

10 Constant will, which is a confirmation of the reading "fust intent," means a firm, determined will: it is the certa voluntas of Virgil. The lines from while we to prevented now are omitted in the quartos.

12 66

11 The two lines in a parenthesis are omitted in the quartos. Beyond all assignable quantity. I love you beyond limits, and cannot say it is so much; for how much soever I should name,

Cor. What shall Cordelia do? 13 Love, and be silent. [Aside.

Lear. Of all these bounds, even from this line to this, With shadowy forests and with champains rich'd1, With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads, We make thee lady: To thine and Albany's issue Be this perpetual.-What says our second daughter, Our dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall? Speak.

Reg. I am made of that self metal as my sister, And prize me at her worth 15. In my true heart I find, she names my very deed of love;

Only she comes too short,-that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys,

Which the most spacious sphere 16 of sense possesses;
And find, I am alone felicitate

In

your dear highness' love.

Cor.

Then poor Cordelia! [Aside. And yet not so; since, I am sure, my love's More richer 17 than my tongue.

Lear. To thee, and thine, hereditary ever, Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom; No less in space, validity 18, and pleasure,

it would yet be more." Thus Rowe, in his Fair Penitent, Sc. 1:"I can only

Swear you reign here, but never tell how much."

13 The folio has, speak.

14 i.e. enriched. So Drant in his translation of Horace's Epistles, 1567:

"To ritch his country, let his words lyke flowing water fall." 15 That is, estimate me at her value, my love has at least equal claim to your favour. Only she comes short of me in this, that I profess myself an enemy to all other joys which sense can bestow."

16 The quartos have, "Which the most precious square of sense possesses." The folio misprints professes for possesses. The correction was made by me before I had seen the notes from Mr. Collier's corrected folio, which suggest sphere for square, but leave the corruption of precious for spacious untouched.

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18 Validity is several times used to signify worth, value, by Shakespeare. It does not, however, appear to have been peculiar

Than that conferr'd 19 on Goneril.-Now, our joy,
Although our last, and least 20; to whose young love
The vines of France, and milk of Burgundy,

Strive to be interess'd 21: what can you say, to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.
Cor. Nothing, my lord.

Lear. Nothing?

Cor. Nothing.

Lear. Nothing can come of nothing: speak again.
Cor. Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty
According to my bond; no more, nor less.

Lear. How, how, Cordelia? mend your speech a little,

Lest it 22

Cor.

may mar your fortunes.

Good my lord,
You have begot me, bred me, lov'd me: I
Return those duties back as are right fit,
Obey you, love you, and most honour you.
Why have my sisters husbands, if they say,
They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,

The

to him in this sense. "The countenance of your friend is of less value than his council, yet both of very small validity."Devil's Charter, 1607.

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19 The folio reads, conferr'd; the quartos, confirm'd. So in a former passage we have in the quartos confirming for conferring. See note 9, p. 325.

20 Thus the folio. The quartos have:

66

Although the last not least in our dear love,

What can you say to win a third more opulent
Than your sisters?"

21 To interest and to interesse are not, perhaps, different spellings of the same verb, but two distinct words, though of the same import; the one being derived from the Latin, the other from the French interesser. We have interess'd in Ben Jonson's Sejanus:

"Our sacred laws and just authority

Are interess'd therein."

Drayton also uses the word in the Preface to his Polyolbion.

22 Thus the quartos. The folios read, "Lest you may;" and in Lear's former speech, "Nothing will come of nothing."

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