Per.

May we see them?

Where shall be shown you all was found with her;
How she came placed here within the temple;
No needful thing omitted.

Per.

I bless thee for thy vision, and will offer

Cer. Great sir, they shall be brought you to my My night oblations to thee. Thaisa,

house,

Whither I invite you. Look! Thaisa is

Recover'd.

Thai. O, let me look!

If he be none of mine, my sanctity

Will to my sense' bend no licentious ear,
But curb it, spite of seeing. O, my lord,
Are you not Pericles? Like him you speak,
Like him you are: Did you not name a tempest,
A birth, and death?
Per.
The voice of dead Thaisa!
Thai. That Thaisa am I, supposed dead,
And drown'd.

Per. Immortal Dian!
Thai.

This prince, the fair-betrothed of your daughter,
Shall marry her at Pentapolis. And now,
This ornament2 that makes me look so dismal,
Will I, my lov'd Marina, clip to form;

And what this fourteen years no razor touch'd,
To grace thy marriage day, I'll beautify.

Thai. Lord Cerimon hath letters of good credit,
Sir, that my father's dead.

Per. Heavens make a star of him! Yet there,
my queen,

We'll celebrate their nuptials, and ourselves
Will in that kingdom spend our following days;
Our son and daughter shall in Tyrus reign.
Lord Cerimon, we do our longing stay.

Now I know you better.-To hear the rest untold.-Sir, lead the way. [Exe.

When we with tears parted Pentapolis,
The king, my father, gave you such a ring.
[Shows a ring.
Per. This, this: no more, you gods! your pre-
sent kindness

Makes my past miseries sport: You shall do well,
That on the touching of her lips I may
Melt, and no more be seen. O come, be buried
A second time within these arms.

Mar.

My heart

Leaps to be gone into my mother's bosom.

[Kneels to Thaisa. Per. Look, who kneels here! Flesh of thy flesh, Thaisa;

Thy burden at the sea, and call'd Marina,
For she was yielded there.
Thai.
Bless'd and mine own!
Hel. Hail, madam, and my queen!
Thai.
I know you not.
Per. You have heard me say, when I did fly
from Tyre,

I left behind an ancient substitute.

Can you remember what I call'd the man?

I have nam'd him oft.

Thai.

'Twas Helicanus then.

Per. Still confirmation:
Embrace him, dear Thaisa; this is he.
Now do I long to hear how you were found;
How possibly preserv'd; and whom to thank,
Besides the gods, for this great miracle.

Thai. Lord Cerimon, my lord; this man
Through whom the gods have shown their power;

that can

From first to last resolve you.

Per.

Reverend sir,

The gods can have no mortal officer
More like a god than you. Will you deliver
How this dead queen re-lives?

Cer.

Beseech you, first go with me to my house,

(1) Sensual passion.

Enter Gower.

Gow. In Antioch, and his daughter, you have
heard

Of monstrous lust the due and just reward:
In Pericles, his queen and daughter, seen
(Although assail'd with fortune fierce and keen,),
Virtue preserv'd from fell destruction's blast,
Led on by heaven, and crown'd with joy at last.
In Helicanus may you well descry
A figure of truth, of faith, of loyalty:
In reverend Cerimon there well appears,
The worth that learned charity aye wears.
For wicked Cleon and his wife, when fame
Had spread their cursed deed, and honour'd name
Of Pericles, to rage the city turn;
That him and his they in his palace burn.
The gods for murder seemed so content
To punish them; although not done, but meant.
So on your patience evermore attending,
New joy wait on you! Here our play has ending.
[Exit Gower.

That this tragedy has some merit, it were rain to deny; but that it is the entire composition of Shakspeare, is more than can be hastily granted. I shall not venture, with Dr. Farmer, to determine that the hand of our great poet is only visible in the last act, for I think it appears in several passages dispersed over each of these divisions. I find it difficult, however, to persuade myself that he was the original fabricator of the plot, or the author of every dialogue, chorus, &c.

STEEVENS.

The story is of great antiquity; and is related by various ancient authors in Latin, French, and English.

I will, my lord.

(2) i. e. His beard.

(3) i. e. The king of Antioch.

(4) Ever.

I THOUGHT, the king had more affected the duke of Albany, than Cornwall.

An Officer, employed by Edmund.
Gentleman, attendant on Cordelia.
A Herald.

Servants to Cornwall.

Goneril,

Regan,

daughters to Lear.

Cordelia,

Knights attending on the King, Officers, Messengers, Soldiers, and Attendants.

Scene, Britain.

Enter Lear, Cornwall, Albany, Goneril, Régan,
Cordelia, and Attendants.

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

Glo. I shall, my liege. [Exe. Glo. and Edm.
Lear. Mean-time we shall express our darker

purpose.

Give me the map there.-Know, that we have di vided,

Glo. It did always seem so to us: but now, in the division of the kingdom, it appears not which In three, our kingdom and 'tis our fast intent of the dukes he values most; for equalities are so To shake all cares and business from our age; weigh'd, that curiosity' in neither can make choice Conferring them on younger strengths, while we of either's moiety." Unburden'd crawl toward death.-Qur son of Corn

Kent. Is not this your son, my lord?

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

Kent. I cannot conceive you.

wall,

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

Glo. Sir, this young fellow's mother could: whereupon she grew round-wombed; and had, in- Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love, deed, sir, a son for her cradle, ere she had a hus-Long in our court have made their amorous soband for her bed. Do you smell a fault?

journ,

Kent. I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue And here are to be answer'd.-Tell me, my daughof it being so proper. ters,

Glo. But I have, sir, a son by order of law, some (Since now we will divest us, both of rule, year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my ac- Interest of territory, cares of state,)

count: though this knave came somewhat saucily Which of you, shall we say, doth love us most? into the world before he was sent for, yet was his That we our largest bounty may extend mother fair; there was good sport rt his making, Where merit doth most challenge it.-Goneril, and the whoreson must be acknowledged.-Do you Our eldest-born, speak first. know this noble gentleman, Edmund?

Gon.

Edm. No, my lord.

Sir, I

Do love you more than words can wield the matter, Glo. My lord of Kent: remember him hereafter Dearer than eye-sight, space and liberty;

as my honourable friend.

Edm. My services to your lordship.

Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare; No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour: Kent. I must love you, and sue to know you As much as child e'er lov'd, or father found. better.

stirs ?

With shadowy forests and with champains' rich'd, | Her father's heart from her!-Call France ;-Who
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. 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 precious square of sense possesses;
And find, I am alone felicitate3
In your dear highness' love.

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

Lear. To thee, and thine, hereditary ever,
Bemain this ample third of our fair kingdom;
No less in space, validity, and pleasure,
Than that confirm'd on Goneril.-Now, our joy,
Although the last, not least; to whose young love
The vines of France, and milk of Burgundy,
Strive to be interess'd: what can you say, to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.
Cor. Nothing, my lord.

Nothing?

Nothing.

Lear.
Cor.
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; nor more, nor less.

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

Lest it may mar your fortunes.
Cor.
Good my lord,
You have begot me, bred me, lov'd me: Ί
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,
That lord, whose hand must take my plight, shall

carry

Half my love with him, half my care, and duty:
Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters,
To love my father all.

Lear. But goes this with thy heart?
Cor.

Call Burgundy.-Cornwall, and Albany,
With my two daughters' dowers digest this third:
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.
I do invest you jointly with my power,
Pre-eminence, and all the large effects
That troop with majesty.-Ourself, by monthly

course,

With reservation of a hundred knights,
By you to be sustain'd, shall our abode
Make with you by due turns. Only we still retain
The name, and all the additions to a king;
The sway,

10

Revenue, execution of the rest,"
Beloved sons, be yours: which to confirm,
This coronet part between you. [Giving the crown.
Kent.
Royal Lear,
Whom I have ever honour'd as my king,
Lov'd as my father, as my master follow'd,
As my great patron thought on in my prayers,—-
Lear. The bow is bent and drawn, make from
the shaft.

Kent. Let it fall rather, though the fork invade
The region of my heart: be Kent unmannerly,
When Lear is mad. What would'st thou do, old
man ?

Think'st thou, that duty shall have dread to speak,
When power to flattery bows? To plainness hon-
our's bound,

When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy doom;
And, in thy best consideration, check

This hideous rashness: answer my life my judg

Ay, good my lord. Thou swear'st thy gods in vain.
Lear.

Lear. Se young, and so untender?
Cor. So young, my lord, and true.
Lear. Let it be so.-Thy truth then be thy dower:
For, by the sacred radiance of the sun;
The mysteries of Hecate, and the night;
By all the operations of the orbs,

From whom we do exist, and cease to be
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee, from this, for ever.

Seythian,

The barbarous

Or he that makes his generation® messes
To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and reliev'd,
As thou my sometime daughter.
Kent.

Lear. Peace, Kent!

O, vassal! miscreant! [Laying his hand on his sword.

Alb. Corn. Dear sir, forbear.
Kent. Do;

Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow
Upon the foul disease. Revoke thy gift;
Or, whilst I can vent clamour from my throat,
I'll tell thee, thou dost evil.

Lear.

Hear me, recreant!

To come betwixt our sentence and our power
(Which nor our nature nor our place can bear ;)
Our potency make good, take thy reward.

Good my liege,-Five days we do allot thee, for provision
To shield thee from diseases of the world;
And, on the sixth, to turn thy hated back
Upon our kingdom: if, on the tenth day following,

Come not between the dragon and his wrath:
I lov'd her most, and thought to set my rest

On her kind nursery.-Hence, and avoid my sight!-Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions,

appear,

Kent. Fare thee well, king: since thus thou wilt A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue
That I am glad I have not, though not to have it,
Hath lost me in your liking.
Better thou
Hadst not been born, than not to have pleas'd me
better.

Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.-
The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid,
[To Cordelia.
That justly think'st, and hast most rightly said!-
And your large specches may your deeds approve,
[To Regan and Goneril.
That good effects may spring from words of love.
Thus Kent, O princes, bids you all adieu;
He'll shape his old course' in a country new. [Ex.
with France, Burgundy,

Re-enter Gloster;

Attendants.

and

Glo. Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord.

Lear. My lord of Burgundy,

We first address towards you, who with this king
Hath rivall'd for our daughter; What, in the least
Will you require in present dower with her,
Or cease your quest of love??
Bur.

Most royal majesty,
I crave no more than hath your highness offer'd,
Nor will you tender less.

Lear.
Right noble Burgundy,
When she was dear to us, we did hold her so;
But now her price is fall'n: Sir, there she stands;
If aught within that little, seeming3 substance,
Or all of it, with our displeasure piec'd,
And nothing more, may fitly like your grace,
She's there, and she is yours.

Bur.

I know no answer.

Lear. Sir,

Will you, with those infirmities she owes,"
Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,

Lear.

France. Is it but this? a tardiness in náture,
Which often leaves the history unspoke,
That it intends to do?-My lord of Burgundy,
What say you to the lady? Love is not love,
When it is mingled with respects, that stand
Aloof from the entire point. 10
She is herself a dowry.
Will you have her?

Bur.

Royal Lear,
Give but that portion which yourself propos'd,
And here I take Cordelia by the hand,
Duchess of Burgundy.

Lear. Nothing: I have sworn; I am firm.
Bur. I am sorry then you have so lost a father,
That you must lose a husband.

Cor.
Peace be with Burgundy!
Since that respects of fortune are his love,
I shall not be his wife.

France. Fairest Cordelia, thou art most rich,
being poor;

Most choice, forsaken; and most lov'd, despis'd!
Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon :
Be it lawful, I take up what's cast away.
Gods, gods! 'tis strange, that from their cold'st
neglect

My love should kindle to inflam'd respect.-
Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my chance,
Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France:
Not all the dukes of wat'rish Burgundy
Shall buy this unpriz'd precious maid of me.-

Dower'd with our curse, and stranger'd with our Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind:

oath,

Take her, or leave her?

Bur.

Pardon me, royal sir;
Election makes not up on such conditions.
Lear. Then leave her, sir; for by the power that
made me,

I tell you all her wealth.-For you, great king,
[To France.
I would not from your love make such a stray,
To match you where I hate; therefore beseech you
To avert your liking a more worthier way,
Than on a wretch whom nature is asham'd
Almost to acknowledge hers.
France.
This is most strange!
That she, that even but now was your best object,
The argument of your praise, balm of your age,
Most best, most dearest, should in this trice of time
Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle
So many folds of favour! Sure, her offence
Must be of such unnatural degree,

That monsters it, or your fore-vouch'd' affection
Fall into taint: which to believe of her,
Must be a faith, that reason without miracle
Could never plant in me.

Cor.
I yet beseech your majesty
(If for I want that glib and oily art,
To speak and purpose not; since what I well
intend,

I'll do't before I speak,) that you make known
It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,
No unchaste action, or dishonour'd step,
That hath depriv'd me of your grace and favour:
But even for want of that, for which I am richer;

(1) Follow his old mode of life.

(2) Amorous expedition. (3) 'Specious.
(4) Owns, is possessed of. (5) Concludes not.
Turn. (7) Former declaration of.

Thou losest here, a better where to find.

Lear. Thou hast her, France: let her be thine;
for we

Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see
That face of hers again :-Therefore be gone,
Without our grace, our love, our benizon. 12
Come, noble Burgundy.

[Flourish. Exeunt Lear, Burgundy, Cornwall,
Albany, Gloster, and Attendants.

France. Bid farewell to your sisters.

Cor. The jewels of our father, with wash'd eyes
Cordelia leaves you: I know you what you are;
And, like a sister, am most loath to call
Your faults, as they are nam'd. Use well our father:
To your professed bosoms I commit him:
But yet, alas! stood I within his grace,
I would prefer him to a better place.
So farewell to you both.

Gon. Prescribe not us our duties.
Reg.

Let your study

Be, to content your lord; who hath receiv'd you
At fortune's alms. You have obedience scanted,
And well are worth the want that you have wanted.
Cor. Time shall unfold what plaited" cunning
hides;

Who cover faults, at last shame them derides.
Well may you prosper!
France.

Come, my fair Cordelia. [Exeunt France and Cordelia. Gon. Sister, it is not a little I have to say, of what most nearly appertains to us both. I think, our father will hence to-night.

Reg. That's most certain, and with you; next month with us.

Gon. The best and soundest of his time hath Edm. I hope, for my brother's justification, he been but rash; then must we look to receive from wrote this but as an essays or taste of my virtue. his age, not alone the imperfections of long-engraft- Glo. [Reads.] This policy and reverence of age, ed condition, but therewithal, the unruly way-makes the world bitter to the best of our times; wardness that infirm and choleric years bring with keeps our fortunes from us, till our oldness cannot relish them. I begin to find an idle and fond

Reg. Such unconstant starts are we like to have bondage in the oppression of aged tyrrany; who from him, as this of Kent's banishment.

Glo. To his father, that so tenderly and entirely loves him.-Heaven and earth!-Edmund, seek him out; wind me into him, I pray you: frame the Edm. I beseech you, sir, pardon me: it is a let-business after your own wisdom: I would unstate ter from my brother, that I have not all o'er-read;