Internet Shakespeare Editions

Author: William Shakespeare
Editor: Michael Best
Not Peer Reviewed

King Lear (Modern, Folio)

1970Enter Cornwall and Edmund [the Bastard].
Cornwall
I will have my revenge ere I depart his house.
Bastard
How, my lord, I may be censured, that nature thus gives way to loyalty, something fears me to think of.
1975Cornwall
I now perceive it was not altogether your brother's evil disposition made him seek his death, but a provoking merit set a-work by a reprovable badness in himself.
Bastard
How malicious is my fortune that I must 1980repent to be just! This is the letter which he spoke of, which approves him an intelligent party to the advantages of France. O heavens, that this treason were not, or not I the detector!
Cornwall
Go with me to the duchess.
1985Bastard
If the matter of this paper be certain, you have mighty business in hand.
Cornwall
True or false, it hath made thee Earl of Gloucester. Seek out where thy father is, that he may be ready for our apprehension.
1990Bastard
[Aside] If I find him comforting the King, it will stuff his suspicion more fully. [Aloud] I will persevere in my course of loyalty, though the conflict be sore between that and my blood.
Cornwall
I will lay trust upon thee, and thou shalt find 1995a dear father in my love.