Kent.

I thought the king had more affected the Duke of Albany than Cornwall.

Glou.

It did always seem so ^note to us: but now, in the division of the kingdom ^note, it appears not which of the ^note dukes he values most; for equalities ^note are so weighed ^note that curiosity in neither can make choice of either's moiety. ^note

Kent.

Is not this your son, my lord?

Glou.

His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I have so often blushed to acknowledge him that now I am brazed to it ^note

Kent.

I cannot conceive you.

Glou.

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

Kent.

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

Glou.

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

Edm. ^note

No, my lord.

Glou.

My lord of Kent: remember him hereafter as my honourable friend. ^note

Edm.

My services to your lordship.

Kent.

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

Edm.

Sir, I shall study deserving ^note.

Glou.

He hath been out nine years, and away he shall again. ^note The king is coming. ^note

Sennet. ^note Enter one bearing a coronet, King Lear, Cornwall, Albany, Goneril, Regan, Cordelia, and Attendants. ^{note note}

Lear.
Attend the lords ^note of France and Burgundy, Gloucester ^note.

Glou.
I shall, my liege ^note. [Exeunt ^note Gloucester and Edmund.

Lear.
Meantime we shall ^note express our darker ^note purpose ^note.
Give me the map there. ^note Know ^note we have divided
In ^note three our ^note kingdom: and 'tis our fast ^note intent
To shake all cares and business from our age ^note,
Conferring ^note them on younger strengths, ^note while we
Unburthen'd crawl toward death. Our son of Cornwall,
And you, our no less loving son ^note of Albany,
We have this hour a constant will to publish
Our daughters' ^note several dowers, that future strife
May be prevented now ^note. ^note The princes ^note, France and Burgundy,
Great rivals in our youngest ^note daughter's love,
Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,

And here are to be answer'd. Tell me, my ^note daughters,
Since now we will divest us both of rule,
Interest of territory, cares ^note of state, ^note
Which of you shall we say doth love us most?
That we our largest bounty may extend
Where nature doth with merit challenge. ^note Goneril,
Our eldest-born, speak first.

Gon.
Sir, ^note I love ^{note note} you more ^note than words ^note can wield ^note the matter, ^note
Dearer than eye-sight, space and ^note liberty,
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare,
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour,
As much as ^note child e'er ^note loved or father found ^note;
A love that makes breath poor and speech unable;
Beyond all manner of ^note so much I love you.

Cor. [Aside ^note]
What shall Cordelia do? ^note Love, and be silent.

Lear.
Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,
With shadowy ^note forests and with champains ^note rich'd,
With plenteous rivers ^note and wide-skirted meads,
We make thee lady. To thine and Albany's ^note issue ^note

Be this perpetual. What says ^note our second daughter,
Our dearest Regan, wife to ^note Cornwall? Speak. ^note

Reg.
I am ^note made of that self metal ^note as my sister ^note,
And prize me ^note at her worth. In my true heart ^note
I find she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short ^note: ^note that ^note I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys ^note
Which the most precious square ^note of sense ^note possesses ^note,
And find I am alone ^note felicitate
In your dear highness' love. ^note

Cor. [Aside ^note]
Then poor Cordelia ^note!
And yet not so, since I am sure my love's ^note
More ponderous ^note than my tongue ^note. ^{note note}

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 ^note on Goneril. Now ^note, our joy,
Although the last, not ^note least, to whose young love ^note
The vines of France and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interess'd ^note, what can you say ^note to draw ^note
A third more opulent ^note than your sisters? Speak. ^note

Cor.
Nothing, my lord.

Lear.
Nothing!

Cor.
Nothing. ^note

Lear.
Nothing will come ^note of nothing: speak again.

Cor.
Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave ^note
My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty
According to my bond; nor more ^note nor less. ^note

Lear.
How, how, Cordelia! ^note mend ^note your speech a little,
Lest it ^note may mar your fortunes.

Cor.
Good my lord,
You have begot ^note me, bred me, loved me: I
Return those duties back as are ^note right fit, ^note
Obey you, love you, and most honour you.
Why have my sisters husbands, if they say
They love you all? ^note Haply ^note, 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 ^note marry ^note like my sisters,
To love my father all. ^{note note}

Lear.
But goes thy heart with this? ^note

Cor.
Ay, good my ^note lord.

Lear.
So young, and so untender?

Cor.
So young, my lord, and true.

Lear.
Let ^note it be so; thy truth ^note then be thy dower:
For, by the sacred radiance of the sun,
The mysteries ^note of Hecate ^note, and the night ^note;
By all the operation ^note 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 ^note for ever. ^note The barbarous ^note Scythian,
Or he that makes his generation messes
To gorge his appetite, ^note shall to my bosom
Be ^note as well neighbour'd, pitied and relieved,
As thou my sometime daughter.

Kent.
Good my liege,— ^note

Lear.
Peace, Kent!
Come not between ^note the dragon and his wrath. ^note
I loved her most, and thought to set my rest

^note
On her kind nursery. Hence, and ^note avoid my sight!
So be my grave my peace, as here I give
Her father's heart from her! Call France. Who stirs? ^note
Call Burgundy. ^note Cornwall and Albany,
With my two daughters' dowers ^note digest this ^note third:
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.
I do invest you jointly with ^note my power,
Pre-eminence ^note and all the large effects
That troop with majesty. Ourself ^note, by monthly course,
With reservation of an hundred knights
By you to be sustain'd, shall our abode
Make with you by due turns ^note. Only we still ^note retain
The name and all ^note the additions ^note to a king; ^note
The sway, revenue, execution of the rest ^note, ^note
Beloved sons, be yours: which to confirm, ^{note note}
This coronet part betwixt ^note you.

Kent.
Royal Lear,
Whom I have ever honour'd as my king ^note,
Loved as my father, as my master follow'd ^note,

As my great ^note patron thought on in my prayers,— ^note

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 ^note. What wouldst ^note thou do, old man?
Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak,
When power to flattery bows? To plainness honour's ^note bound, ^note
When majesty stoops to folly ^note. ^note Reverse thy doom ^note,
And in thy best consideration ^note check
This hideous rashness: answer my life my judgement ^note,
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least;
Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound
Reverbs ^note no hollowness ^note.

Lear.
Kent, ^note on thy life ^note, no more.

Kent.
My life I never held but as a ^note pawn
To wage against thy ^note enemies ^note, nor ^note fear to lose it,
Thy safety being the motive ^note.

Lear.
Out of my sight!

Kent.
See better, Lear, and let me still remain
The true blank of thine eye.

Lear.
Now, by Apollo,— ^note

Kent.
Now, by Apollo, king,
Thou swear'st ^note thy gods in vain. ^note

Lear.
O, vassal! miscreant! ^note [Laying ^note his hand on his sword.

Alb. Corn.
Dear sir, forbear. ^note

Kent.
Do ^note;
Kill thy physician, and the fee ^note bestow
Upon the ^note foul disease. Revoke thy doom ^note;
Or, whilst I can vent clamour from my throat,
I'll tell thee thou dost evil. ^note

Lear.
Hear me, recreant ^note!
On thy ^note allegiance, hear me! ^{note note}
Since ^note thou hast sought to make us break our vow ^note,
Which we durst never yet, and with strain'd ^note pride
To come between ^note our sentence ^note and our power,
Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,
Our potency made ^{note note} good, take thy reward.
Five ^note days we do allot thee, for provision

To shield thee from diseases ^note of the world,
And on the sixth ^note to turn thy hated back
Upon our kingdom: if on ^note the tenth ^note day following
Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death. Away! ^note By ^note Jupiter,
This shall not be revoked.

Kent.
Fare ^note thee well, king: sith thus ^note thou wilt appear,
Freedom ^note lives hence, and banishment is here. [To Cordelia ^note]
The gods to their dear shelter ^note take thee, maid ^note,
That justly ^note think'st ^note and hast ^note most rightly ^note said! [To Regan ^note and Goneril]
And your large speeches ^note 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 ^note in a country new. [Exit.

Flourish. ^note Re-enter ^note Gloucester, with France, Burgundy, and Attendants. ^note

Glou. ^note
Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord.

Lear.
My ^note lord ^note of Burgundy,
We first address towards ^note you, who with this ^note king
Hath ^note rivall'd for our daughter: what, in the least ^note,
Will you require in present dower with her,
Or cease your quest of love? ^note

Bur.
Most ^note royal majesty,
I crave no more than what ^note your highness offer'd ^note,
Nor will you tender less. ^{note note}

Lear.
Right noble Burgundy,
When she was dear to us, we did hold ^note her so;
But now her price ^note is fall'n ^note. Sir, there she stands:
If aught within that little seeming ^note substance,
Or all of it, with our ^note displeasure pieced ^note, ^note
And nothing more ^note, may fitly like your grace,
She's there, and she is yours.

Bur.
I know no answer.

Lear.
Will ^note you, with those infirmities she owes,
Unfriended, new adopted to our hate,
Dower'd ^note with our curse and stranger'd with our oath,
Take her, or leave her? ^note

Bur.
Pardon me ^note, royal sir;
Election makes not up on ^{note note} such conditions. ^note

Lear.
Then leave her, sir; for, by the power that made me,
I tell you all her wealth. [To France ^note] For you, great king,
I would not from your love make such a stray,
To match you where I hate; therefore beseech you
To avert your liking a more worthier ^note way
Than on a wretch whom nature is ashamed
Almost to acknowledge hers.

France.
This is most strange,
That she, that ^note even but now was your best ^note object,
The argument of your praise ^note, balm of your age,
Most best, most ^note dearest ^note, should in this trice of time
Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle
So many folds of favour. Sure, her offence ^note
Must be of such unnatural degree ^note
That monsters it ^note, or ^note your ^note fore-vouch'd ^note affection ^note

Fall'n ^{note note} into taint: which to believe of her,
Must be a faith that reason without miracle
Could ^{note note} never plant ^note in me.

Cor.
I yet beseech your majesty,— ^note
If for ^{note note} I want that glib and oily art,
To speak and purpose not, since what I well ^note intend,
I'll do't before I speak,—that you make known ^note
It is no vicious blot, murder, or ^note foulness,
No unchaste ^note action, or dishonour'd ^note step ^note,
That hath deprived me of your grace and ^note favour;
But even for want ^note of that for which I am ^note richer ^note,
A still-soliciting ^note eye, and such a tongue
As ^note I am glad I have not ^note, though not to have it
Hath lost me in your liking.

Lear.
Better ^note thou
Hadst not been born than not to have ^note pleased me better. ^note

France.
Is it but this ^note, a tardiness in nature
Which ^note often leaves the history unspoke
That it intends to do ^note? My lord of Burgundy,
What say you to the lady? Love's ^note not love
When it is mingled with regards that stand ^{note note}
Aloof from the ^note entire point. Will ^note you have her?
She is herself a dowry ^note.

Bur.
Royal Lear ^note,
Give but that portion which yourself proposed,
And here I take Cordelia by the hand,
Duchess of Burgundy. ^note

Lear.
Nothing: I have sworn; I am firm. ^note

Bur.
I am ^note sorry then you have so lost a father
That you must lose a husband.

Cor.
Peace be with Burgundy ^note!
Since that respects of fortune ^note are his love,
I shall not be his wife. ^note

France.
Fairest Cordelia, that ^note art most rich being poor,
Most choice forsaken, and most loved despised,
Thee and thy virtues here I seize ^note upon:
Be it ^note lawful I take up what's cast away.

Gods, gods! 'tis strange that from their cold'st ^note neglect
My love should kindle to inflamed respect.
Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my chance ^note,
Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France:
Not all the dukes of ^note waterish Burgundy
Can ^note buy this unprized precious maid of me.
Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind ^note:
Thou ^note losest here, a better where to find.

Lear.
Thou hast her, France: let her be thine, for we
Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see ^{note note}
That face of hers again. Therefore be gone
Without our grace, our love ^note, our benison.
Come, noble Burgundy. ^note [Flourish. ^note Exeunt ^note all but France, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. ^note

France.
Bid farewell to your sisters. ^note

Cor.
The jewels ^note of our father, with wash'd eyes
Cordelia leaves you: I know you what ^note you are;
And, like a sister, am most loath to call
Your faults as they are named. Use ^note well our father: ^note
To your professed ^note bosoms I commit him:
But yet, alas, stood I within his grace,
I would prefer ^note him to a better place.
So farewell to you both.

Reg.
Prescribe not us our duties ^note.

Gon. ^note
Let your study
Be to content your lord, who hath received you
At ^note fortune's alms. You have obedience scanted, ^note
And well are worth the want that you have wanted ^note.

Cor.
Time shall unfold what plaited ^note cunning hides:
Who cover ^note faults, at ^note last shame them derides ^note.
Well may you prosper!

France.
Come, my ^note fair Cordelia. [Exeunt ^note France and Cordelia. ^note

Gon.

Sister, it is not a little I have ^note to say of what most ^note nearly appertains to us both. I think our father will hence ^note to-night. ^note

Reg.

That's most ^note certain, and with you; next month with us.

Gon.

You see how full of changes his age is; the ^note observation we have made of it hath not been ^note little: he always

loved our sister most; and with what poor judgement he hath now cast her off appears too ^note grossly ^note.

Reg.

'Tis the infirmity of his age: yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself.

Gon.

The best and soundest of his time hath been but rash; then must we look to receive ^note from his age, not alone the imperfections ^note of long ingrafted ^note condition, but therewithal the ^note unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric years bring with them.

Reg.

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

Gon.

There is ^note further compliment ^note of leave-taking between France ^note and him. Pray you ^note, let's hit ^note together: if our father carry authority with ^note such dispositions ^note as he bears, this last surrender of his will but offend us.

Reg.

We shall further think on 't ^note.

Gon.

We must do something, and i' the heat.