Burgundy. I know no answer. Lear. 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? Burgundy. Pardon me, royal sir; Election makes not up in such conditions. Lear. Then leave her, sir; for, by the power that made me, I tell you all her wealth. For you, great king, I would not from your love make such a stray, To match you where I hate; therefore beseech you T'avert your liking a more worthier way Than on a wretch whom nature is ashamed Almost t' acknowledge hers. 204. owes: possesses. 206. stranger'd: disowned. 208. Election: choice. makes not up: comes to no decision. in such conditions: under such circumstances. 211. make... 212. a stray: go so astray, make such a mistake. To: as to. 213. more worthier: double comparatives are common in Shake speare. 205 210 curse. Cordelia not only lacks a worthy dower; she also bears a father's Whoever marries her must expect to incur the hatred of the angry king. In such circumstances Burgundy cannot make up his mind to marry her. This is as Lear desires; and, as he turns to the King of France, he assumes that the royal suitor also will not consider ach an alliance. He wishes to retain the friendship of France, but, misjudging his character, all-unknowingly plants the seeds of future hostility. France. This is most strange, That sne, who even but now was your object, The argument of your praise, balm of your age, 215 So many folds of favour. Sure, her offence 220 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, Should never plant in me. 216. object: Shakespeare uses this word, without an adjective, in an expanded sense, equivalent to that which one has always in his eye, or seeks out with his eye, the delight of his eye. (Schmidt.) This, as noted by Furness, throws the accent upon the second syllabie of object. To obviate this unusual accent, the insertion of best before object has become somewhat general. 222. That monsters it: as to make it, her offence, monstrous. or ere, before. The words of France show something of what Cordelia has been in her father's affection. Many folds of her father's favour have clothed her as with a mantle. Surely her offence must be some unnatural, monstrous crime or (ere) the doting father's affection turns to such bitter hate. Such a thing France cannot believe concerning Cordelia; and so, by implication, he demands an explana. tion of the hideous jest or the miracle which shall make him believe. Cordelia. 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, But even the want of that for which I am richer That I am glad I have it not, though not to have it Lear Better thou Hadst not been born than not t' have pleas'd me better. 225. majesty: read' in two syllables, and note that the half because of Cordelia's haste laps over the first half. 226. If for: if it is because. (Abbott) 232. the: Hanmer's reading in place of for of the Folio. which which want. 233. still-soliciting: constantly seeking. 234. That: as. I have: read I've. 235. in: to the extent of: she has lost her father's love. 225 230 235 |