4I thought the King had more affected the 5Duke of Albany than Cornwall.

It did always seem so to us, but 7now in the division of the kingdom it 8appears not which of the dukes he values 9most, for qualities are so weighed that curiosity in 10neither can make choice of either's moiety.

Is not this your son, my lord?

His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge. I have 13so often blushed to acknowledge him that now I am 14brazed to't.

I cannot conceive you.

Sir, this young fellow's mother could, 17whereupon she grew round-wombed, and had indeed, sir, a 18son for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed. 19Do you smell a fault?

I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it 21being so proper.

But I have a son, sir, by order of law, some 23year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my 24account, though this knave came something saucily to the 25world before he was sent for. Yet was his mother fair, 26there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must 27be acknowledged.--Do you know this noble 28gentleman, Edmund?

No, my lord.

My Lord of Kent. 31Remember him hereafter as my honorable friend.

My services to your lordship.

I must love you, and sue to know you better.

Sir, I shall study deserving.

He hath been out nine years, and away he shall 36again. The King is coming.

Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester.

I shall, my lord.

Meantime we shall express our darker purpose.

42Give me the map there. Know that we have divided

43In three our kingdom, and 'tis our fast intent

44To shake all cares and business from our age,

45Conferring them on younger strengths2, while we2.1

46Unburdened crawl toward death. Our son of Cornwall,

47And you, our no less loving son of Albany,

48We have this hour a constant will to publish

49Our daughters' several dowers, that future strife

50May be prevented now. 3The princes France and Burgundy,

51Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love,

52Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,

53And here are to be answered. Tell me, my daughters--

54Since now we will divest us both of rule,

55Interest of territory, cares of state--

56Which of you shall we say doth love us most,

57That we our largest bounty may extend

58Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril,

59Our eldest born, speak first.

Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter;

61Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty,

62Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare,

63No less than life; with grace, health, beauty, honor,

64As much as child e'er loved or father found;

65A love that makes breath poor and speech unable.

66Beyond all manner of so much I love you.

[Aside] What shall Cordelia speak? Love and be silent.

Of all these bounds even from this line to this,

69With shadowy forests and 6with champaigns riched6.1

70With plenteous rivers and 7wide-skirted meads,7.1

71We make thee lady. To thine and Albany's issues

72Be this perpetual. What says our second daughter,

73Our dearest Regan, wife of Cornwall?

I am made of that self-mettle as my sister,

75And prize me at her worth. In my true heart

76I find she names my very deed of love--

77Only she comes too short--that I profess

78Myself an enemy to all other joys

79Which the most precious square of sense professes,

80And find I am alone felicitate

81In your dear highness' love.

In your dear highness' love. [Aside] Then poor Cordelia--

83And yet not so, since I am sure my love's

84More ponderous than my tongue.

To thee and thine hereditary ever

86Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom,

87No less in space, validity, and pleasure

88Than that conferred on Goneril. Now our joy,

89Although our last and least, to 8whose young love8.1

90The vines of France and milk of Burgundy

91Strive to be interessed,9 what can you say to draw

92A third, more opulent than your sisters'? Speak.

Nothing my lord.

Nothing?

Nothing.

Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again.

Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

98My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty

99According to my bond, no more nor less.

How, how, Cordelia? Mend your speech a little,

101Lest you may mar your fortunes.

Lest you may mar your fortunes. Good my lord,

103You have begot me, bred me, loved me.

104I return those duties back as are right fit;

105Obey you, love you, and most honor you.

106Why have my sisters husbands if they say

107They love you all? Haply when I shall wed,

108That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry

109Half my love with him, half my care and duty.

110Sure I shall never marry like my sisters

But goes thy heart with this?

But goes thy heart with this? Ay, my good lord.

So young and so untender?

So young, my lord, and true.

Let it be so. Thy truth then be thy dower;

116For by the sacred radiance of the sun,

117The mysteries of Hecate and the night,

118By all the operation of the orbs

119From whom we do exist and cease to be,

120Here I disclaim all my paternal care,

121Propinquity and property of blood,

122And as a stranger to my heart and me

123Hold thee from this for ever. The barbarous Scythian,

124Or he that makes his generation messes

125To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom

126Be as well neighbored, pitied, and relieved

127As thou my sometime daughter.

As thou my sometime daughter. Good my liege--

Peace, Kent!

130Come not between the dragon and his wrath.

131I loved her most, and thought to set my rest

132On her kind nursery. [To Cordelia] Hence and avoid my sight--

133So be my grave my peace, as here I give

134Her father's heart from her. Call France. Who stirs?

135Call Burgundy.

Call Burgundy. Cornwall and Albany,

136With my two daughters' dowers digest the third.

137Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.

138I do invest you jointly with my power,

139Preeminence, and all the large effects

140That troop with majesty. Ourself by monthly course,

141With reservation of an hundred knights

142By you to be sustained, shall our abode

143Make with you by due turn; only we shall retain

144The name and all th'addition to a king. The sway,

145Revenue, execution of the rest,

146Beloved sons, be yours; which to confirm,

147This coronet part between you.

This coronet part between you. Royal Lear,

149Whom I have ever honored as my king,

150Loved as my father, as my master followed,

151As my great patron thought on in my prayers--

The bow is bent and drawn. Make from the shaft.

Let it fall rather, 136though the fork invade

154The region of my heart. 137Be Kent unmannerly

155When Lear is mad. 138What wouldst thou do, old man?

156Think'st thou that duty 139shall have dread to speak

157When power to flattery bows? 158140To plainness honor's bound

159When majesty falls to folly. 141Reserve thy state,

160And in thy best consideration 142check

161This hideous rashness. Answer my life 143my judgment;

162Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least;

163144Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sounds

164Reverb no hollowness.

Reverb no hollowness. Kent, on thy life no more.

My life I never held but as pawn

167To wage against thine enemies, ne'er feared to lose it,

168Thy safety being motive.

Thy safety being motive. Out of my sight!

See better Lear, and let me still remain

171The true blank of thine eye.

The true blank of thine eye. Now by Apollo--

Now, by Apollo, King, 174thou swear'st thy gods in vain.

[Threatening Kent] O vassal! Miscreant!

[Threatening Kent] O vassal! Miscreant! Dear sir, forbear!

Kill thy physician, 157and thy fee bestow

178Upon the foul disease. 158Revoke thy gift,

179Or whilst I can vent clamor 159from my throat

180I'll tell thee thou dost evil.

Hear me, recreant, on thine allegiance hear me.

182That thou hast sought to make us break our vows,

183Which we durst never yet, and with strained pride

184To come betwixt our sentences and our power,

185Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,

186Our potency made good, take thy reward.

187Five days we do allot thee for provision

188To shield thee from disasters of the world,

189And on the sixth to turn thy hated back

190Upon our kingdom. If on the next day following

191Thy banished trunk be found in our dominions,

192The moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter,

193This shall not be revoked.

Fare thee well, King, sith thus thou wilt appear,

195Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.

196[To Cordelia] The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid,

197That justly think'st, and hast most rightly said.

198[To Goneril and Regan] And your large speeches may your deeds approve,

199That good effects may spring from words of love.

200Thus Kent, O princes, bids you all adieu;

201He'll shape his old course in a country new.

Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord.

My lord of Burgundy,

206We first address toward you, 184who with this king

207Hath rivaled for our daughter. 185What in the least

208Will you require in present 186dower with her,

209Or cease your quest of love?

Or cease your quest of love? Most royal majesty,

211I crave no more than hath 188your highness offered,

212Nor will you tender less.

Nor will you tender less. Right noble Burgundy,

214When she was dear to us 190we did hold her so,

215But now her price is fallen. 191Sir, there she stands.

216If aught within that little-192seeming substance,

217Or all of it with our displeasure pieced

218193And nothing more, may fitly like your grace,

219She's there, and she is yours.

She's there, and she is yours. I know no answer.

Will you with those infirmities she owes,

222Unfriended, new adopted to our hate,

223Dowered with our curse and strangered with our oath,

224Take her or leave her?

Take her or leave her? Pardon me royal sir,

226Election makes not up in such conditions.

Then leave her sir, for by the power that made me

228I tell you all her wealth. [To France] For you, great king,

229I would not from your love make such a stray

230To match you where I hate. Therefore, beseech you

231T'avert your liking a more worthier way

232Than on a wretch whom nature is ashamed

233Almost t'acknowledge hers.

Almost t'acknowledge hers. This is most strange,

235That she whom even but now 210was your object,

236The argument of your praise, 211balm of your age,

237The best, the dearest, 212should in this trice of time

238Commit a thing 213so monstrous to dismantle

239So many folds of favor. 214Sure her offence

240Must be of such unnatural degree

241215That monsters it, or your fore-vouched affection

242Fall into taint; which to believe of her

243Must be a faith that reason without miracle

244Should never plant in me.

I yet beseech your majesty,

246If for I want that glib and oily art,

247To speak and purpose not--since what I will intend

248I'll do't before I speak--that you make known

249It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,

250No unchaste action or dishonored step

251That hath deprived me of your grace and favor,

252But even for want of that for which I am richer--

253A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue

254That I am glad I have not, though not to have it

255Hath lost me in your liking.

Hath lost me in your liking. Better thou hadst

257Not been born than not t'have pleased me better.

Is it but this? A tardiness in nature

259Which often leaves the history unspoke

260That it intends to do? My lord of Burgundy,

261What say you to the lady? Love's not love

262When it is mingled with regards that stands

263Aloof from th'entire point. Will you have her?

264She is herself a dowry.

She is herself a dowry. Royal King,

266Give but that portion 239which yourself proposed,

267And here I take Cordelia 240by the hand,

268Duchess of Burgundy.

Nothing. I have sworn. I am firm.

[To Cordelia] I am sorry then you have so lost a father

271That you must lose a husband.

Peace be with Burgundy;

273Since that respect 245and fortunes are his love,

274I shall not be his wife.

Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich, being poor,

276Most choice, forsaken, and most loved, despised,

277Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon.

278Be it lawful I take up what's cast away.

279Gods, gods! 'Tis strange, that from their cold'st neglect

280My love should kindle to inflamed respect.

281Thy dowerless daughter, King, thrown to my chance,

282Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France.

283Not all the dukes of waterish Burgundy,

284Can buy this unprized precious maid of me.

285Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind.

286Thou losest here a better where to find.

Thou hast her, France. Let her be thine, 259for we

288Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see

289260That face of hers again. Therefore be gone,

290Without our grace, our love, our benison.

291Come, noble Burgundy.

Bid farewell to your sisters.

The jewels of our father, 265with washed eyes

294Cordelia leaves you. I know you what you are,

295266And like a sister am most loath to call

296Your faults as they are named. Love well our father.

297To your professèd bosoms I commit him;

298But yet, alas, stood I within his grace,

299I would prefer him to a better place.

300So farewell to you both.

Prescribe not us our duty.

Prescribe not us our duty. Let your study

303Be to content your lord, 274who hath received you

304At fortune's alms. 275You have obedience scanted,

305276And well are worth the want that you have wanted.

Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides;

307Who covers faults at last with shame derides.

308Well may you prosper.

Well may you prosper. Come my fair Cordelia.

Sister, it is not little I have to say 311282of what most nearly appertains to us both. 312283I think our father will hence tonight, next month with us.

That's most certain, and with you.

You see how full of changes his age is. The 315observation we have made of it hath been little. He always 316loved our sister most, and with what poor judgment he 317hath now cast her off appears too grossly.

'Tis the infirmity of his age. Yet he hath ever but 319slenderly known himself.

The best and soundest of his time hath been but 321rash. Then must we look from his age to receive not 322alone the imperfections of long-engrafted condition, but 323therewithal the unruly waywardness that infirm and 324choleric years bring with them.

Such unconstant starts are we like to have from 326him as this of Kent's banishment.

There is further compliment of leave-taking 328between France and him. Pray you let us sit together. If our 329father carry authority with such disposition as he bears, 330this last surrender of his will but offend us.

We shall further think of it.

We must do something, and i'th'heat.