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Which the most precious square of sense possesses;
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 the 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, 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 all.

Lear. But goes thy heart with this?
Cor.

Lear. So young and so untender?

Cor. So young, my lord, and true.

Ay, good my 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 sustain'd, shall our abode

Make with you by due turns. Only we still retain

The name, and all the 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. 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 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.

Now, by Apollo, king,

Thou swear'st thy gods in vain.
Lear.

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

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

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.

Hear me, recreant!
On thine allegiance, hear me!-

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 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 revok'd.

[TO COR.

Kent. Fare thee well, king: sith thus thou wilt appear, Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.— The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid, 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.

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 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 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 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 To avert your liking a more worthier way Than on a wretch whom nature is asham'd Almost to acknowledge hers.

This is most strange,

France.
That she, who even but now was your best 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. Sure her offence

Must be of such unnatural degree

That monsters it, or your fore-vouch'd affection

Fall into taint: which to believe of her

Must be a faith that reason without miracle

Could never plant in me.

Cor.

I yet beseech your majesty,

If for I want that glib and oily art

To speak and purpose not; since what I well intend,
I'll do't before I speak,-that you make known

It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,

No unchaste action or dishonour'd step,

That hath depriv'd me of your grace and favour;
But even for want of that for which I am richer,—
A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue

That I am glad I have not, though not to have it
Hath lost me in your liking.

Lear.

Better thou

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

Bur.

Royal king,

Give but that portion which yourself propos'd,
And here I take Cordelia by the hand,

Duchess of Burgundy.

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

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

Cor.

Peace be with Burgundy!

Since that respects of fortune are his love

I shall not be his wife.

France. Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich, being poor; Most choice, forsaken; and most lov'd, despis'd!

Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon :

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

Gods, gods! 'tis strange that from their cold'st neglect
My love should kindle to inflam'd respect.

Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my chance,
Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France:

Not all the dukes of waterish Burgundy

Can buy this unpriz'd precious maid of me.-
Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind:

Thou 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

That face of hers again.-Therefore be gone

Without our grace, our love, our benison.

Come, noble Burgundy.

[Flourish. Exeunt LEAR, BURGUNDY, CORNWALL, ALBANY, GLOSTER, and Attendants.

France. Bid farewell to your sisters.

Cor. Ye jewels of our father, with wash'd eyes

Cordelia leaves you: I know you what you are;

And, like a sister, am most loth to call

Your faults as they are nam'd. Love well our father:
To your professed bosoms I commit him :

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