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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 pos

sesses;

And find, I am alone felicitate

In your dear highness' love.

Cor. [aside.] Then poor Cordelia ! And yet not so; since, I am sure, my love's More ponderous 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, not 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, loved 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 all.

Lear. But goes thy heart with this?
Cor.

Ay, my good lord. Lear. So young, and so untender?

Cor. So young, my lord, and true.

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 relieved,
As thou, my sometime daughter.

Kent.

Good my liege,—

Lear. Peace, Kent!
Come not between the dragon and his wrath :
I loved her most, and thought to set my rest
On her kind nursery.-[To CORDELIA.] Hence,
and avoid my sight!—

So be my grave my peace, as here I give
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 turn. Only we shall retain
The name, and all the addition 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,
Loved 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 falls to folly. Reserve thy state; And, in thy best consideration, check

This hdieous rashness: answer my life my judg

ment,

Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least; Nor are those empty-hearted, whose low sounds Reverb no hollowness.

Lear.

Kent, on thy life, no more! Kent. My life I never held but as a pawn

To wage against thine enemies; ne'er fear to lose

it,

Thy safety being 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.

Now, by Apollo, king,

[Laying his hand on his sword.

Thou swear'st thy gods in vain.
Lear.

O, vassal! miscreant !

Alb., Corn. Dear sir, forbear.
Kent. Kill thy physician, and thy fee bestow
Revoke thy gift;

Upon the foul disease.

Or, whilst I can vent clamour from my throat, I'll tell thee, thou dost evil.

Lear. Hear me, recreant! On thine allegiance, hear me !

That thou hast sought to make us break our vows, (Which we durst never yet,) and, with strain'd

pride,

To come betwixt our sentences 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 disasters 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 revoked.

Kent. Fare thee well, king: sith thus thou wilt appear,

Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.— [TO CORDELIA.] The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid,

That justly think'st, and hast most rightly said![To REGAN and GONERIL.] And your large speeches may your deeds approve,

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.

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

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

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 fallen. Sir, there she stands; If aught within that little seeming substance, Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced, And nothing more, may fitly like your grace, She's there, and she is yours.

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 in such conditions.

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