] omitted

KING LEAR.

ACT I.

SCENE I. A Room of State in King Lear's
Palace.

Enter KENT, GLOSTER, and EDMUND.

Kent.

I THOUGHT the king had more affected the duke of Albany, than Cornwall.

Glo. It did always seem so to us: but now, in the division of the kingdom1, it appears not which of the dukes he values most; for equalities are so weigh'd, that curiosity2 in neither can make choice. of either's moiety3.

Kent. Is not this your son, my lord?

Glo. His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I have so often blush'd to acknowledge him, that now I am brazed to it.

Kent. I cannot conceive you.

Glo. Sir, this young fellow's mother could:

There is something of obscurity or inaccuracy in this preparatory scene. The king has already divided his kingdom, and yet when he enters he examines his daughters to discover in what proportions he should divide it. Perhaps Kent and Gloster only were privy to his design, which he still kept in his own hands, to be changed or performed as subsequent reasons should determine him.-Johnson.

2 Curiosity is scrupulous exactness, finical precision. See vol. viii. p. 81, note 48.

3 Moiety is used by Shakspeare for part or portion. See King Henry IV. Part 1. p. 181, note 8.

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 propert.

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

Edm. No, my lord.

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

Edm. My services to your lordship.

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

better.

Edm. Sir, I shall study deserving.

Glo. He hath been out nine years, and away he shall again:-The king is coming.

[Trumpets sound within.

Enter LEAR, CORNWALL, ALBANY, Goneril, Regan, CORDELIA, and Attendants.

Lear. Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloster.

Glo. I shall, my liege.

[Exeunt GLOSTER, and EDMUND. Lear. Mean time we shall express our darker6

Proper is comely, handsome. See vol. i. p. 144.

6

5 i. e. about a year elder.'

6 We shall express our darker purpose; that is, we have already made known our desire of parting the kingdom; we will now discover what has not been told before, the reasons by which we shall regulate the partition.' This interpretation will justify or palliate the exordial dialogue.-Johnson.

In three, our kingdom; and 'tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age;
Conferring them on younger strengths, (while we
Unburden'd crawl toward death. Our son of
Cornwall,

And you, our no less loving son of Albany,
We have this hour a constant will9 to publish
Our daughters' several dowers, that future strife
May be prevented now.) The princes, France and
Burgundy,

Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love,
Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,
And here are to be answer'd.-Tell me, my daughters
((Since now we will divest us, both of rule,
Interest of territory, cares of state10),)
Which of you, shall we say, doth love us most?
That we our largest bounty may extend
Where merit doth most challenge it.-Goneril,
Our eldest-born, speak first.

Sir, I

навиче lit

with men't call

Gon.
Do love you more than words can wield the matter,
Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty;
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;

No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour:
As much as child e'er lov'd, or father found.
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable:
Beyond all manner of so much I love you11.
Cor. What shall Cordelia do? Love, and be
silent.
[Aside.

i. e. our determined resolution. The quartos read, "first intent.' 8 The quartos read, confirming.

9 Constant will, which is a confirmation of the reading 'fast intent,' means a firm, determined will: it is the certa voluntas of Virgil. The lines from while we to prevented now are omitted in the quartos.

10 The two lines in a parenthesis are omitted in the quartos. 11 Beyond all assignable quantity. love you beyond limits, and cannot say it is so much; for how much soever I should name, it would yet be more. Thus Rowe, in his Fair Penitent, Sc. 1:

6

I can only

Swear you reign here, but never tell how much!'

Lear. Of all these bounds, even from this line

to this,

With shadowy forests (and with champains rich'd12,
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 to Cornwall? Speak.

Reg. I am made of that self metal as my sister,
And prize me at her worth13. 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 possesses; And find, I am alone felicitate

In your dear highness' love.

Čor. 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, validity14, and pleasure, Than that conferr'd15 on Goneril.-Now, our joy, Although the last, not least; to whose young love The vines of France, and milk of Burgundy,

12 i. e. enriched. So Drant in his translation of Horace's Epistles, 1567:

To ritch his country, let his words lyke flowing

water fall.'

13 That is, estimate me at her value, my love has at least equal claim to your favour. Only she comes short of me in this, that I profess myself an enemy to all other joys which the most precious aggregation of sense can bestow.' Square is here used for the whole complement, as circle is now sometimes used.

14 Validity is several times used to signify worth, value, by Shakspeare. See vol. i. p. 280. It does not, however, appear to have been peculiar to him in this sense. The countenance of your friend is of less value than his council, yet both of very small validity. The Devil's Charter, 1607.

15 The folio reads, conferr'd; the quartos, confirm'd. So in a former passage we have in the quartos confirming for conferring. See note 8, p. 359. To confirm on a person is certainly not English now (says Mr. Boswell); but it does not follow that such was the case in Shakspeare's time. The original meaning of the word to establish would easily bear such a construction.'

Strive to be interess'd 16:) what can you say, to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.
Cor. Nothing, my lord.

Lear. Nothing?

(Cor. Nothing. )

Lear. Nothing can come of nothing: speak again. will
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 it 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 duty17:
Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters,

To love my father all.]

Lear. But goes this with thy heart?
Cor.

по

it this t

Ay, good my 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:

16 To interest and to interesse are not, perhaps, different spellings of the same verb, but two distinct words, though of the same import; the one being derived from the Latin, the other from the French interesser. We have interess'd in Ben Jonson's Sejanus :Our sacred laws and just authority Are interess'd therein."

Drayton also uses the word in the Preface to his Polyolbion. 17 So in The Mirror for Magistrates, 1587, Cordelia says:Nature so doth bind me, and compel

114

To love you as I ought, my father, well;

Yet shortly may I chance, if fortune will,

To find in heart to bear another more good will:

Thus much I said of nuptial loves that meant.'

VOL. IX.

16