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Knights attending on the King, Officers, Messengers,

Soldiers, and Attendants.

SCENE lies in BRITAIN.

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I

ACT I. SCENE I.

The king's palace.

Enter Kent, Glofter, and Edmund the baftard.

KENT.

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

Glo. It did always feem fo to us: but now, 2 in the divifion of the kingdom, it appears not which of the dukes he values moft; for 3 equalities are fo

The ftory of this tragedy had found its way into many. ballads and other metrical pieces; yet Shakespeare feems to have been more indebted to the True Chronicle History of King Leir and his Three Daughters, Gonorill, Ragan, and Cordella, 1605, (which I have already published at the end of my collection of

quarto copies) than to all the other performances together. From The Mirror of Magiftrates, 1586, he has however taken the hint for the behaviour of the Steward, and the reply of Cordelia to her father concerning her future marriage. The epifode of Glo'fter and his fons must have been borrowed from Sidney's Arcadia, as I have not found the leaft trace of it in any other work. I have referred to thefe pieces, whenever Shakespeare feems more immediately to have followed them, in the course of my notes on the play. STEEVENS.

2

in the divifion of the kingdom,-] There is fomething of obfcurity or inaccuracy in this preparatory fcene. The king has already divided his kingdom, and yet when he enters he examines his daughters, to difcover in what proportions he fhould divide it. Perhaps Kent and Gloucefter only were privy to his defign, which he ftill kept in his own hands, to be changed or performed as fubfequent reafons fhould determine him. JOHNSON.

* 3 3- equalities,] So the first quarto's: the folio readsQualities. JOHNSON.

U 4

weigh'd,

weigh'd, 4 that curiofity in neither can 5 make choice of either's moiety.

Kent. Is not this your fon, my lord?

Glo. His breeding, Sir, has been at my charge. I have so often blufh'd to acknowledge him, that now I am braz'd to't.

Kent. I cannot conceive you.

Glo. Sir, this young fellow's mother could: whereupon fhe grew round-womb'd; and had, indeed, Sir, a fon for her cradle, ere fhe had a husband for her bed. you fmell a fault?

Do you

Kent. I cannot with the fault undone, the iffue of it being fo proper.

Gle. But I have a fon, Sir, by order of law, 6 fome year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account. Though this knave came fomewhat faucily into the world before he was fent for, yet was his mother fair; there was good fport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged. Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund?

↑ that curiofity in neither-] Curiofity, for exacteft fcrutiny. The fenfe of the whole fentence is, The qualities and properties of the feveral divificas are fo weighed and balanced against one another, that the exacteft fcrutiny could not determine in preferring one fhare to the other. WARBURTON.

5

make choice of either's moiety.] The ftri&t fenfe of the word moiety is half, one of two equal parts; but Shakespeare commonly ufes it for any part or divifion.

Methinks my moiety north from Burton here

In quantity equals not one of

yours:

and here the divifion was into three parts. Had Shakespeare been aware of the precife meaning, he probably would not have anticipated the determination of the king, who in the next fcene divides the kingdom in this manner. STEEVENS.

6

Some year elder than this,] The Oxford Editor, not understanding the common phrafe, alters year to years. He did not confider, the Baftard fays,

For that I am fome twelve or fourteen moon-fhines
Lag of a brother.-

WARBURTON.

Some year, is an expreffion ufed when we fpeak indefinitely.

STEEVENS.

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Edm. No, my lord.

Glo. My lord of Kent:

Remember him hereafter as my honourable friend.
Edm. My fervices to your lordship.

Kent. I must love you, and fue to know you better,
Edm. Sir, I fhall ftudy deferving.

Glo. He hath been out nine years, and away he fhall again : [Trumpets found within.

The king is coming.

Enter king Lear, Cornwall, Albany, Gonerill, Regan, Cordelia, and attendants.

Lear. Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Glo'fter.

Glo. I fhall, my liege. [Exeunt Glofter and Edmund. Lear. Mean time we fhall 7 express our darker purpose.

The map there. Know, that we have divided,
In three, our kingdom: 8 and 'tis our fast intent,

7

express our darker purpose.] Darker, for more secret ; not for indirect, oblique. WARBURTON.

This word may admit a further explication. We shall exprefs our darker purpofe: that is, we have already made known in fome measure our defign of parting the kingdom; we will now difcover what has not been told before, the reafons by which we fhall regulate the partition. This interpretation will justify or palliate the exordial dialogue. JOHNSON.

8 and 'tis our FAST intent,] This is an interpolation of Mr. Lewis Theobald, for want of knowing the meaning of the old reading in the quarto of 1603, and first folio of 1623; where we find it,

and 'tis our first intent;

which is as Shakespeare wrote it; who makes Lear declare his purpose with a dignity becoming his character: that the firft reafon of his abdication was the love of his people, that they might be protected by fuch as were better able to discharge the truft; and his natural affection for his daughters, only the fecond. WARBURTON.

Faft is the reading of the first folio, and, I think, the true reading. JOHNSON,

Τα

To shake all cares and bufinefs from our age;

Conferring them on younger ftrengths, while we Unburden'd crawl toward death. Our fon of Cornwall,

And you, our no lefs loving fon of Albany,
We have this hour a 9 conftant will to publish
Our daughters feveral dowers, that future ftrife
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 fojourn,
And here are to be anfwer'd.-Tell me, my daughters,
(Since now we will divest us, both of rule,
Intereft of territory, cares of ftate)

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

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

Gon. Sir, I

Do love you more than words can wield the matter, 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 fpeech unable;
2 Beyond all manner of fo much I love you.

Cor. What fhall Cordelia 3 do? Love and be filent.

[Afide. Lear. Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,

9-conftant will feems a confirmation of fat intent. JOHNS. Where nature doth with merit challenge.- -] Where the claim of merit is fuperadded to that of nature. STEEVENS. 2 Beyond all manner, &c.] i. e. beyond all expreffion. WARB. Beyond all manner of fo much Beyond all affignable quantity. I love you beyond limits, and cannot fay it is fo much, for how much foever I fhould name, it would yet be JOHNSON.

more.

3

do? So the quarto; the folio has speak. JOHNS.

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