A third, more opulent than your fifters? speak.
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 Majesty
According to my bond, no more nor lefs.

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, fhall carry
Half my love with him, half my care and duty.
Sure, I shall never marry like my fifters,

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,

The barb'rous Scythian,

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.
Or he that makes his generation, meffes
Το gorge his appetite; fhall to my bofom
Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and reliev'd,
As thou, my fometime daughter.

Kent. Good my Liege

Lear. Peace, Kent!

Come not between the dragon and his wrath.

I

I lov'd her most, and thought to fet my Reft
On her kind nurs'ry. Hence, avoid my fight!

So be my grave my peace, as here I give

[To Cor.

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

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

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

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

Kent. Royal Lear,

[Giving the Crown.

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'ft thou do, old man?
Think'st thou, that duty shall have dread to speak,
When pow'r to flatt'ry bows? to plainnefs Honour
Is bound, when Majefty to folly falls.

Reserve thy State; with better judgment check
This hideous rafhnefs; with my life I answer,
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee leaft;
Nor are thofe 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 againft 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

The true blank of thine eye.
Lear. Now by Apollo
Kent. Now by Apollo, King,
Thou fwear'ft thy gods in vain.

Lear. O vaffal! mifcreant !

[Laying his band 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 disasters 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 haft 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 course in a country new.

[Exit.

Enter Glo'fter, with France and Burgundy, and Atten

dants.

Glo. Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord. (2)

(2) Cor. Here's France, and Burgundy, my noble Lord.] The Generality of the Editions, antient and modern, ftupidly place this Verfe to Cordelia. But I have, upon the Authority of the old 4to, reftor'd it to the right Owner, Glofter; who was, but a little before, fent by the King to conduct France and Burgundy to him.

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 dowre with her,
Or cease your quest of love?

Bur. Moft royal Majefty,

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

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 substance,
Or all of it with our displeasure piec'd,

And nothing more, may fitly like your Grace,
She's there, and fhe is yours.

Bur. I know no answer.

Lear. Will you with those infirmities she owes,
Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,

Dowr'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.

[me,

Lear. Then leave her, Sir; for by the pow'r that made
-For you, great King,

I tell you all her wealth.

[To France.

I would not from your love make fuch a ftray,

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

Than on a wretch, whom nature is afham'd
Almoft 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,
Deareft 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; (3) or your fore-voucht affection'

Fal'n

(3) As monftrous is,] This bald Reading is a modern Sophistication: the eldest and best Copies read;

That

Fal'n into taint: which to believe of her,

Must be a faith, that reason without miracle
Should never plant in me.

Cor. I yet befeech your Majefty,

(If, for I want that glib and oily art,

To speak and purpofe not; fince what I well intend,
I'll do't before I fspeak.) that you make known
It is no vicious blot, murther, or foulness,
No unchafte action, or dishonour'd step,

That hath depriv'd me of your grace and favour:
But ev'n for want of that, for which I'm richer,
A ftill folliciting eye, and such a tongue,
That I am glad I've not; though, not to have it,
Hath loft me in your liking.

Lear. Better thou

Hadft not been born, than not 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 th'intire point. Say, will you have her?
She is her felf a dowry.

Bur. Royal King,

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

Dutchefs of Burgundy.

Lear. Nothing:

I've fworn.

Bur. I'm forry then, you have fo lost a father,

That you must lofe a husband.

That monfters it

i. e. that makes a Monster, a Prodigy, of it: And our Poet afes this Verb elsewhere in fuch a Senfe. So Albany, afterwards in this Play, fays to Goneril, his Wife ;

Thou chang'd, and felf-converted Thing! for Shame,
Be-monfter not thy Features.

And fo, in Coriolanus;

I'd rather have One fcratch my Head i'th' Sun,
When the Alarum were ftruck, than idly fit

To hear my Nothings monster'd.