Enter KENT, GLOSTER, and EDMUND. Kent. I 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 kingdom, it appears not which of the dukes he values most; for equalities are so weigh'd, that curiosity* in neither can make choice of either's moiety.t

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: whereupon she grew round-wombed; 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.‡

Glo. But I have, Sir, a son by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account: though this knave came somewhat 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.

Most scrupulous nicety. + Part or division. + Handsome.

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 Attendunts.
Lear. Attend the lords of France and Bur-
[gundy,

Gloster.

Glo. I shall, my liege.

[Exeunt GLOSTER and EDMUND. Lear. Meantime we shall express our dark

er* purpose. Give me the map there.-Know, that we have divided, [tentt In three, our kingdom: and 'tis our fast inTo shake all cares and business from our age; Conferring them on younger strengths, while we Unburden'd crawl toward death. Our son of Cornwall, 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

and Burgundy,

May be prevented now. The princes, France Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love, Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn, [daughters, And here are to be answer'd.-Tell me, my (Since now we will divest us, both of rule, Interest of territory, cares of state,)

Which of you, shall we say, doth love us most? That we our largest bounty may extend Where merit doth most challenge it.-Goneril, Our eldest-born, speak first.

Gon. Sir, I

[matter

Do love you more than words can wield the

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. Good my liege,-
Lear. Peace, Kent!

sight!

Who stirs?

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
[To CORDELIA.
So be my grave my peace, as here I give
Her father's heart from her!-Call France;-
Call Burgundy.-Cornwall, and Albany,
With my two daughters' dowers digest this
third:
[her.
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry
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 [retain
Make with you by due turns. Only we still
The name, and all the additions to a king;
The sway,

Revenue, execution of the rest, ||
Beloved sons, be yours: which to confirm,
This coronet part between you.

Kent. Royal Lear,

[Giving the Crown.

Whom I have ever honour'd as my king,
Lor'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, thou do, [speak,

old man? Think'st thou, that duty shall have dread to When power to flattery bows? To plainness [doom;

Lear. Nothing?

Cor. Nothing.

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.

speech a little,

honour's bound, When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy And, in thy best consideration, check This hideous rashness: answer my life, my

Lest it may mar your fortunes.

Lear. How, how, Cordelia? mend your

Cor. 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,

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. Ay, good my lord.

Lear. So 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,

judgement,

Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least; Nor are those empty-hearted, whose low sound Reverbs no hollowness.

Lear. Kent, on thy life, no more.

Kent. My life I never held but as a pawn

To wage against thine enemies; nor fear to

lose it,

Thy safety being the motive.

Lear. Out of my sight!

Kent. See better, Lear; and let me still re.

The true blank** of thine eye.

Lear. Now, by Apollo,

Kent. Now, by Apollo, king,

Thou swear'st thy gods in vain.

Lear. O, vassal! miscreant!

[main

[Laying his Hand on his Swora.

Alb. Corn. Dear Sir, forbear.

Kent. Do;

Lear. Hear me, recreant! On thine allegiance hear me!Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow, [pride, (Which we durst never yet,) and, with strain'd To come betwixt our sentence and our power; (Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,) Our potency make good, take thy reward. 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 follow

ing,

Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions, The moment is thy death: Away! By Jupiter, This shall not be revok'd.

Kent. Fare thee well, king: since thus thou wilt appear, Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here. The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid, [TO CORDELIA. That justly think'st, and has most rightly said!And your large speeches 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.

The argument of your praise, balm of your
age,
[time
Most best, most dearest, should in this trice of
Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle
So many folds of favour! Sure, her offence
Must be of such unnatural degree, [tion
That monsters it, or your fore-vouch'd* affec-
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, [intend,
To speak and purpose not; since what I well
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:
[richer;
But even for want of that, for which I am
A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue [it,
That I am glad I have not, though not to have
Hath lost me in your liking.

Lear. Better thou Hadst not been born, than not to have pleas'd me better.

France. Is it but this? a tardiness in nature, 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. Will you have She is herself a dowry. Bur. Royal Lear,

[Exit.

Re-enter GLOSTER; with FRANCE, BURGUNDY,

[her?

and Attendants.

Give but that portion which yourself propos'd,

Duchess of Burgundy.

lord.

Lear. My lord of Burgundy,

We first address towards you, who with this [least,

king

Hath rivall'd for our daughter; What, in the Will you require in present dower with her, Or cease your quest of love ?t

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 seeming 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,
Dower'd with our curse, and stranger'd with

our 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!

[ject,

That she, that even but now was your best ob

Lear. Nothing: I have sworn; I am firm. Bur. I am sorry then, you have so lost a

That you must lose a husband.

Cor. Peace be with Burgundy!

[father,

Since that respects of fortune are his love, I shall not be his wife.

being poor;

France. Fairest Cordelia, thou art most rich, [spis'd! Most choice, forsaken; and most lov'd, deThee 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.-
Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind:
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 benison.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 [are; Cordelia leaves you: I know you what you 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,

Glo. Think you so?

Edm. If your honour judge it meet, I will place you where you shall hear us confer of this, and by an auricular assurance have your satisfaction; and that without any further delay than this very evening.

Glo. He cannot be such a monster.

Edm. Nor is not, sure.

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 business after your own wisdom: I would unstate myself, to be in a due resolution.‡

Edm. I will seek him, Sir, presently; conveys the business as I shall find means, and acquaint you withal.

Glo. These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us: Though the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourged by the sequent|| effects: love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide: in cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond cracked between son and father. This villain of mine comes under the prediction; there's son against father: the king falls from bias of nature; there's father against child. We have seen the best of our time: Machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders, follow us disquietly to our graves! Find out this villain, Edmund, it shall lose thee nothing; do it carefully:-And the noble and true hearted Kent banished! his offence, honesty!-Strange! strange!

[Exit.

Edm. This is the excellent foppery of the world! that, when we are sick in fortune, (often the surfeit of our own behaviour,) we make guilty of our disasters, the sun, the moon, and the stars: as if we were villains by necessity; fools, by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers, by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers, by an enforced obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on: An admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition to the charge of a star! My father compounded with my mother under the dragon's tail; and my nativity was under ursa major;** so that it follows, I am rough and lecherous. -Tut, I should have been that I am, had the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my bastardizing. Edgar

Enter EDCAR.

and nobles; needless diffidences, banishmear of friends, dissipation of cohorts, naptra. breaches, and I know not what.

Edg. How long have you been a sectary as tronomical?

Edm. Come, come; when saw you my fathe last?

Edg. Why, the night gone by.
Edm. Spake you with him?

Edg. Ay, two hours together.

Edm. Parted you in good terms? Found you no displeasure in him, by word or countenance? Edg. None at all.

Edm. Bethink yourself, wherein you may have offended him and at my entreaty, forbear his presence, till some little time hath qualified the heat of his displeasure; which at this instant so rageth in him, that with the mischief of your person it would scarcely allay. Edg. Some villain hath done me wrong.

Edm. That's my fear. I pray you, have a continents forbearance, till the speed of his rage goes slower; and, as I say, retire with me to my lodging, from whence I will fitly bring you to hear iny lord speak: Pray you, go; there's my key :-If you do stir abroad, go armed.

Edg. Armed, brother?

Edm. Brother, I advise you to the best: go armed; I am no honest man, if there be any good meaning towards you: I have told you what I have seen and heard, but faintly; nothing like the image and horror of it: Pray you, away.

Edg. Shall I hear from you anon?
Edm. I do serve you in this business.-

[Exit EDGAR.

A credulous father, and a brother noble, Whose nature is so far from doing harms, That he suspects none; on whose foolish honesty

My practices ride easy!-I see the business.Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit: All with me's meet, that I can fashion fit.

[Exit. SCENE III.-A Room in the Duke of ALBANY'S

He flashes into one gross crime or other,
That sets us all at odds: I'll not endure it:
His knights grow riotous, and himself upbraids

us

[ing
On every trifle :- When he returns from hunt-
I will not speak with him; say, I am sick :-
If you come slack of former services,
You shall do well; the fault of it I'll answer.
Stew. He's coming, madam; I hear him.
[Horns within.
Gon. Put on what weary negligence you
please,
[question:
You and your fellows; I'd have it come to
If he dislike it, let him to my sister,
Whose mind and mine, I know, in that are one,
Not to be over-rul'd. Idle old man,
That still would manage those authorities,
That he hath given away!-Now, by my life,
Old fools are babes again; and must be us'd
With checks, as flatteries, when they are seen
Remember what I have said.
[abus'd

For cohorts some editors read courts. † Temperata
SH