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Which of you, fhall we fay, doth love us moft?
That we our largest bounty may extend,

Where nature doth with merit challenge. Gonerill,
Our eldest born, speak first.

Gon. I love you, Sir,

Dearer than eye-fight, fpace and liberty;

Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;

No lefs 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 fo much I love you.

Cor. What fhall Cordelia do? love and be filent.

[Afide.
Lear. Of all these Bounds, ev'n from this line to this,
With fhadowy forefts and with champions rich'd,
With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,
We make thee lady. To thine and Albany's iffue
Be this perpetual. What fays our fecond daughter,
Our dearest Regan, wife of Cornwall? fpeak.
Reg. I'm made of that felf-metal as my fifter,
And prize me at her worth, in my true Heart. (1)
I find, the names my very deed of love;

Only the comes too fhort: that I profess
My felf an enemy to all other joys,

Which the most precious fquare of sense poffeffes}
And find, I am alone felicitate

In your dear Highness' love.
Cor. Then poor Cordelia!

And yet not fo, fince, I am fure, my love's
More pond'rous than my tongue.

[Afide.

Lear. To thee, and thine, hereditary ever,
Remain this ample third of our fair Kingdom;
No lefs in space, validity, and pleasure,
Than that confer'd on Gonerill. Now our joy,

(1) And prize me at her Worth. In my true Heart,] Mr. Bifhop prefcrib'd the Pointing of this Paffage, as I have regulated it in the Text. Regan would fay, that in the Truth of her Heart and Affection, the equals the worth of her Sifter. Without this Change in the Pointing, the makes a Boast of her felf without any Caufe affign'd,

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Although our laft, not leaft; to whofe young love,
The vines of France, and milk of Burgundy,
Strive to be int'refs'd: what fay you, to draw
A third, more opulent than your fifters ? fpeak.
Cor. Nothing, my lord.

Lear. Nothing?

Cor. Nothing.

Lear. Nothing can come of nothing; fpeak again.
Cor. Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

My heart into my mouth: I love your Majefty
According to my bond, no more nor less.

Lear. How, how, Cordelia? mend your speech a little, Left you may mar your fortunes.

Cor. Good my lord,

You have begot me, bred me, lov'd me. I
Return thofe duties back, as are right fit;
Obey you, love you, and most honour you.
Why have my fifters husbands, if they fay,
They love you, all? hap'ly, when I fhall wed,

That lord, whofe hand must take my plight, shall carry
Half my love with him, half my care and duty.
Sure, I fhall never marry like my fisters,

To love my father all.

Lear. But goes thy heart with this?

Cor. Ay, my good lord.

Lear. So young, and fo untender?

Cor. So young, my lord, and true.

Lear. Let it be fo, thy truth then be thy dower:
For by the facred radiance of the fun,

The mysteries of Hecate, and the night,
By all the operations 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 barb'rous Scythian,
Or he that makes his generation, meffes
To gorge his appetite; fhall to my bosom
Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and reliev'd,
As thou, my fometime daughter.

Kent.

Kent. Good my Liege-
Lear. Peace, Kent!

Come not between the dragon and his wrath.
I lov'd her most, and thought to fet my Rest
On her kind nurs'ry. Hence, avoid my fight!

[To Cor. Her father's heart from her; Call France; who ftirs? Burgundy.Cornwall and Albany,

So be my grave my peace, as here I give

Call

With my two daughters' dowers digeft the third.
Let pride, which the calls plainnefs, marry her.
I do invest you jointly with my Power,
Preheminence, and all the large effects

That troop with Majefty. Our felf by monthly courfe,
With refervation of an hundred Knights,
By you to be fuftain'd, fhall our abode
Make with you by due turns: only retain
The name and all th' addition to a King:
The fway, revenue, execution,

[Giving the Crown.

Beloved fons, be yours; which to confirm,
This Cor'onet part between you.
Kent. Royal Lear,

Whom I have ever honour'd as my King,

Lov'd as my father, as my mafter follow'd,
And as my patron thought on in my pray'rs

Lear. The bow is bent and drawn, make from the fhaft.

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't thou, that duty fhall have dread to speak,
When pow'r to flatt'ry bows? to plainness Honour
Is bound, when Majefty to folly falls.

Referve thy State; with better judgment check
This hideous rafhnefs; with my life I answer,
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee leaft;
Nor are those empty-hearted, whofe low found
Reverbs no hollowness.

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

To wage against thy foes; nor fear to lose it,
Thy fafety being the motive.

Lear. Out of my fight!

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

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[Laying his hand on his fword.

Alb. Corn. Dear Sir, forbear.

Kent. Kill thy phyfician, and thy fee bestow
Upon the foul difeafe; revoke thy doom,
Or whilft I can vent clamour from my throat,
I'll tell thee, thou dost evil.

Lear. Hear me, recreant!

Since thou haft fought to make us break our vow,
Which we durft never yet; and with strain'd pride,
To come betwixt our fentence 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 provifion,
To fhield thee from difafters of the world;
And, on the fixth, to turn thy hated back
Upon our Kingdom; if, the tenth day following,
Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death: away! By Jupiter,
This fhall not be revok'd.

Kent. Fare thee well, King; fith thus thou wilt appear,
Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here;
The gods to their dear fhelter take thee, maid,
That juftly think'st, and hast most rightly faid;
And your large fpeeches may your deeds approve,
That good effects may fpring from words of love:
Thus Kent, O Princes, bids you all adieu,
He'll shape his old courfe in a country new.

[Exit.

Enter Glo'fter, with France and Burgundy, and

Attendants.

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

Lear.

Lear. My lord of Burgundy,

We first address tow'rd you, who with this King
Have rivall'd for our daughter; what at least
Will you require in prefent dower with her,
Or ceafe your queft of love?

Bur. Moft royal Majefty,

I crave no more than what your Highness offer'd,
Nor will you tender lefs.

Lear. Right noble Burgundy,

When she was dear to us, we held her fo;
But now her price is fall'n Sir, there she stands,
If aught within that little feeming fubftance,
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 thofe infirmities fhe owes, Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,

Dower'd with our curfe, and ftranger'd with our oath, Take her, or leave her?

Bur. Pardon, royal Sir;

Election makes not up on fuch conditions.

Lear. Then leave her, Sir; for by the pow'r that

made me,

I tell you all her wealth.

For you, great King,

[To France.

I would not from your love make fuch a ftray,

To match you where I hate; therefore beseech you,
T'avert your liking a more worthy way

Than on a wretch, whom nature is afham'd
Almost t' acknowledge hers.

France. This is most strange!

That she, who ev'n but now was your best object,
Your Praife's argument, balm of your age,
Dearest and beft; fhould in this trice of time
Commit a thing fo monftrous, to dismantle
So many folds of favour! fure, her offence
Must be of fuch unnatural degree,

That monsters it; or your fore-vouch'd affection
Fall'n into taint: which to believe of her,

Mut

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