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And find, I am alone felicitate

In your dear highness' love.

Cor.

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,
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom;
No less in space, validity, and pleasure,
Than that conferr'd on Goneril.-Now, our joy,
Although our last, and 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.

Lear. Nothing?

Cor. Nothing'.

Lear. Nothing will 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 you may mar your fortunes.

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

cious" applies properly to " sense and not to "sphere." We, of course, adopt only the emendation in the corr. fo. 1632.

3 More RICHER than my tongue.] For "richer" of the 4tos, the folio, 1623, has ponderous. In the corr. fo. 1632, the word is plenteous.

4 Although our last, and least ;] In this l'ne, and to the end of the speech, we follow the folio: the 4tos. read thus:

"Although the last, not least in our dear love,

What can you say to win a third, more opulent
Than your sisters?"

In the corr. fo. 1632, we are told to read "Although our last, not least," &c., but we make no change.

5 Nothing.] Not in the 4tos; which give the next line, "How nothing can come of nothing. Speak again." Lower down the folio has, "no more nor less," a letter having dropped out.

How? how, Cordelia?] The 4tos, "Go to, go to;" and in the next line, "Lest it may," &c.

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.

Lear. So young, and so untender?

Cor. So young, my lord, and true.

Ay, my good lord.

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 operation 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. The barbarous Scythian,
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!

Good my liege,

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!—

So be my grave my peace, as here I give

[TO CORDELIA.

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

Call Burgundy.-Cornwall, and Albany,

With my two daughters' dowers digest the 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 an hundred knights

By you to be sustained, shall our abode

Make with you by due turns. Only, we still retain

7 To love my father all.] This necessary hemistich of the 4tos. is not to be found in the folio, 1623, but it is added in the margin of the corr. fo. 1632. In the next line the folio, 1623, reads, "But goes thy heart with this?"

The MYSTERIES of Hecate, and the NIGHT,] The folio, 1623, has miseries for "mysteries," (corrected in the folio, 1632) which the 4tos. read, mistresse, and might for "

night."

The name, and all th' additions to a king;
The sway, revenue, execution of the rest,
Beloved sons, be your's: 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 wouldst thou do, old man?
Think'st thou, that duty shall have dread to speak,

When power to flattery bows? To plainness honour's bound,
When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy doom';

And in thy best consideration check

This hideous rashness: answer my life my judgment,
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 remain

The true blank of thine eye".

Lear. Now, by Apollo,-
Kent.

Thou swear'st thy gods in vain.
Lear.

Now, by Apollo, king,

Oh, vassal! recreant'! [Laying his hand upon his sword.

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

9 As my great patron] The corr. fo. 1632, has "And as my patron," leaving out "great," but the change seems inexpedient. Lear interrupts Kent before he has finished his sentence.

1 When majesty STOOPS to folly. REVERSE thy DOOM;] The folio, "falls to folly," and "reserve thy state" for "reverse thy doom." There can be no doubt that "reverse thy doom" of the 4tos. is the true text.

2 The true BLANK of thine eye.] The blank means here the white mark at which the arrow is shot.

3 Oh, vassal! RECREANT!] The interjection is from the folio; and "recreant" is from the 4tos. instead of miscreant of the folio.

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.

On thine allegiance hear me.

Hear me, recreant!

Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow,
(Which we durst never yet) and, with strain'd pride,
To come betwixt our sentence and our power,
(Which nor our nature nor our place can bear)
Our potency made 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 seventh day following,
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 hast 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, Oh princes! bids you all adieu;

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

[Exit.

Flourish. Re-enter GLOSTER; with FRANCE, BURGUNDY, and Attendants.

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

4 Our SENTENCE and our power,] The folio, to the injury of sense and metre, reads sentences; but it is probably right in the preceding line, where it substitutes "strain'd" for straied of the 4tos.

• Five days we do allot thee] In the 4tos. it is Four days, and afterwards, consistently, "on the fifth." In the next line, "diseases" (which in the folio is misprinted disasters) is to be taken in the etymological sense of inconveniences.

6 if on the SEVENTH day following,] So the corr. fo. 1632, and it is evidently right, since Kent was to turn his "hated back" on the kingdom on the sixth day, and to embark on the seventh. The old copies read tenth, but they all vary as to the numbers of days, which are consistently given by the old annotator: the whole forms a week.

7 FREEDOM lives hence,] In the 4tos. Friendship, and in the next line protection for " dear shelter."

Lear. My lord of Burgundy,

We first address toward 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 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 your's.

Bur.

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?

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
T'avert your liking a more worthier way

Than on a wretch, whom nature is asham'd

Almost t' acknowledge her's.

France.

This is most strange,

That she, that even but now was your blest 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.

8 DOWER'D with our curse,] have "Cover'd with our curse." former instances, owns.

corr. fo. 1632, makes it appear) word in the old editions: that

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Sure, her offence

This is the better reading of the folio: the 4tos.
Two lines above "owes" means, as in many

9 That she, that even but now was your BLEST object,] The letter (as the having dropped out in "blest" it became best, the blest "here is indubitably right we see below, where Cordelia is called "most best, most dearest" in the 4tos, and "the best and dearest" in the folios. She was the "blest object" of her father's praise.

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