With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,
We make thee lady: to thine and Albany's issue
Be this perpetual.-What says our second daughter,
Our dearest Regan, wife of Cornwall? Speak3.

Reg. I am made of that self metal as my sister,
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
I find, she names my very deed of love;

Only she comes too short, that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys,

Which the most precious square of sense possesses1,
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

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2

Cor. Nothing, my lord.

Lear. Nothing?

your sisters?

and with champains rich'd,

Speak.

With plenteous rivers-] These words are not in the quartos, which, for shadowy forests," read "shady forests."

3 Speak.] This word, clearly necessary to the measure, probably dropped out in the folio at the end of the line. It is in all the quartos. The next line is from the folio, as the quartos read, prosaically, "Sir, I am made of the selfsame metal that my sister is." Lower down, for " she comes too short," the quartos have," she came short."

square of sense POSSESSES ;] 5 More RICHER than my tongue.] ponderous.

So the quartos, rightly: the folio, professes.
For "richer" of the quartos, the folio has

In this line, and to the end of the speech,

6 Although our last, and least ;]
we follow the folio: the quartos read thus:-

"Although the last, not least in our dear love,
What can you say to win a third, more opulent
Than your sisters?"

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.

Good my lord,

Cor.
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 all9.

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,

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7 Nothing.] Not in the quartos ; 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 perhaps dropped out.

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

To love my father all.] This necessary hemistich is not to be found in the folio. In the next line it reads, " But goes thy heart with this?”

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

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 bosom2
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 sustain'd, shall our abode

Make with you by due turns. Only, we still retain3
The name, and all th' additions to a king;
The sway, revenue, execution of the rest,
Beloved sons, be yours: 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.

2

to my bosom] These words are only in the folio.

* Only we STILL retain] The folio has turn for "turns," in this line, and shall for "still" in the next line it has addition for “additions."

Kent. Let it fall rather, though the fork invade The region of my heart: be Kent unmannerly, When Lear is mad+.-What would'st 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 doom5;
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,

O, vassal! recreants!

[Laying his hand upon his Sword.

Alb. Corn. Dear sir, forbear.

Kent. Do;

Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow

Upon the foul disease. Revoke thy gift;

4 When Lear is MAD.] The quarto with the bookseller's address has man.

5 When majesty STOOPS to folly. REVERSE thy DOOM ;] The folio, “falls to folly," and reserve thy state" for "reverse thy doom."

NOR fear to lose it,] The folio has, " ne'er fear to lose it."

7 The true BLANK of thine eye.] The blank means probably the white at which the arrow is shot.

8 O, vassal! RECREANT!] The interjection is from the folio; and "recreant" is from the quartos instead of miscreant, which the compositor of the folio probably mistook for the right word, which occurs again afterwards. The quartos have not the words "Dear sir, forbear." Below the folio has "Revoke thy gift” for “Revoke thy doom" of the quartos: Kent, perhaps, refers to the "gift" made to Goneril and Regan.

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 tenth 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, O princes! bids you all adieu; He'll shape his old course in a country new.

[Exit.

9 — 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 quartos.

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10 FIVE days we do allot thee,] In the quartos 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 inconteniences, which at the time was not unusual.

1 FREEDOM lives hence,] In the quartos Friendship, and in the next line protection, for "dear shelter."

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2 — and hast MOST rightly said!] Malone printed more rightly," contrary to all the early authorities.