Act 1 — Scene I. King Lear's palace.

Kent. I thought the king had more affected the Duke[2425][2426] of Albany than Cornwall.[2425][2426] Glou. It did always seem so to us: but now, in the[2425][2426][2427] division of the kingdom, it appears not which of the dukes[2425][2426][2428] he values most; for equalities are so weighed that curiosity[2425][2426][2429] 5 in neither can make choice of either's moiety.[2425][2426] Kent. Is not this your son, my lord?[2425] Glou. His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I[2425] have so often blushed to acknowledge him that now I am[2425] brazed to it.[2425][2430] 10 Kent. I cannot conceive you.[2425] Glou. Sir, this young fellow's mother could: whereupon[2425] she grew round-wombed, and had indeed, sir, a son for her[2425] cradle ere she had a husband for her bed. Do you smell a[2425] fault?[2425] 15 Kent. I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it[2425] being so proper.[2425] Glou. But I have, sir, a son by order of law, some year[2425][2431] elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account: though[2425][2432] this knave came something saucily into the world before he[2425][2433] 20 was sent for, yet was his mother fair; there was good sport[2425] at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged.[2425][2434] Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund?[2425][2435] Edm. No, my lord.[2425][2436] Glou. My lord of Kent: remember him hereafter as my[2425][2437] 25 honourable friend.[2425][2437] Edm. My services to your lordship.[2425] Kent. I must love you, and sue to know you better.[2425] Edm. Sir, I shall study deserving.[2425][2438] Glou. He hath been out nine years, and away he shall[2425] 30 again. The king is coming.[2425][2439]

Lear. Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester.[2441] Glou. I shall, my liege. [Exeunt Gloucester and Edmund.[2442] Lear. Meantime we shall express our darker purpose.[2443] Give me the map there. Know we have divided[2444] 35 In three our kingdom: and 'tis our fast intent[2445] To shake all cares and business from our age,[2446] Conferring them on younger strengths, while we[2447][2448] Unburthen'd crawl toward death. Our son of Cornwall,[2448] And you, our no less loving son of Albany,[2448][2449] 40 We have this hour a constant will to publish[2448] Our daughters' several dowers, that future strife[2448][2450] May be prevented now. The princes, France and Burgundy,[2448][2451] Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love,[2452] Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn, 45 And here are to be answer'd. Tell me, my daughters,[2453] Since now we will divest us both of rule,[2454] Interest of territory, cares of state,[2454][2455] Which of you shall we say doth love us most? That we our largest bounty may extend 50 Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril,[2456] Our eldest-born, speak first.[2457] Gon. Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter,[2457][2458] Dearer than eye-sight, space and liberty,[2459] Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare, 55 No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour, As much as child e'er loved or father found;[2460] A love that makes breath poor and speech unable; Beyond all manner of so much I love you.[2461] Cor. [Aside] What shall Cordelia do? Love, and be silent.[2462]60 Lear. Of all these bounds, even from this line to this, With shadowy forests and with champains rich'd,[2463][2464][2465] With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,[2464] We make thee lady. To thine and Albany's issue[2466] Be this perpetual. What says our second daughter,[2467] 65 Our dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall? Speak.[2468] Reg. I am made of that self metal as my sister,[2469] And prize me at her worth. In my true heart[2470] I find she names my very deed of love;[2471] Only she comes too short: that I profess[2471][2472] 70 Myself an enemy to all other joys[2471] Which the most precious square of sense possesses,[2473] And find I am alone felicitate[2474][2475] In your dear highness' love.[2474] Cor. [Aside] Then poor Cordelia![2476][2477][2478] And yet not so, since I am sure my love's[2479][2480] 75 More ponderous than my tongue.[2477][2480][2481] 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,[2482][2483][2484] 80 Although the last, not least, to whose young love[2483][2485] The vines of France and milk of Burgundy[2483] Strive to be interess'd, what can you say to draw[2483][2486] A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.[2483][2487] Cor. Nothing, my lord. 85 Lear. Nothing![2488] Cor. Nothing.[2488] Lear. Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.[2489] Cor. Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave[2490][2491] My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty[2490] 90 According to my bond; nor more nor less.[2490][2492] Lear. How, how, Cordelia! mend your speech a little,[2493] Lest it may mar your fortunes.[2494] Cor. Good my lord, You have begot me, bred me, loved me: I[2495][2496] Return those duties back as are right fit,[2496][2497] 95 Obey you, love you, and most honour you. Why have my sisters husbands, if they say[2498] They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,[2498][2499][2500] That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry[2500] Half my love with him, half my care and duty:[2500] 100 Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters,[2500][2501][2502] To love my father all.[2502][2503] Lear. But goes thy heart with this? Cor. Ay, good my lord.[2504] Lear. So young, and so untender? Cor. So young, my lord, and true. 105 Lear. Let it be so; thy truth then be thy dower:[2505] For, by the sacred radiance of the sun, The mysteries of Hecate, and the night;[2506] By all the operation of the orbs[2507] From whom we do exist and cease to be; 110 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,[2508] Or he that makes his generation messes[2509] 115 To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom[2509][2510] Be as well neighbour'd, pitied and relieved,[2510] As thou my sometime daughter. Kent. Good my liege,—[2511] Lear. Peace, Kent![2512] Come not between the dragon and his wrath.[2512] 120 I loved her most, and thought to set my rest On her kind nursery. Hence, and avoid my sight![2513] So be my grave my peace, as here I give Her father's heart from her! Call France. Who stirs? Call Burgundy. Cornwall and Albany,[2514] 125 With my two daughters' dowers digest this third:[2515] Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her. I do invest you jointly with my power,[2516] Pre-eminence and all the large effects[2517] That troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly course,[2518] 130 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[2519] The name and all the additions to a king;[2520][2521] The sway, revenue, execution of the rest,[2520][2522] 135 Beloved sons, be yours: which to confirm, This coronet part betwixt you.[2523] Kent. Royal Lear, Whom I have ever honour'd as my king,[2524] Loved as my father, as my master follow'd,[2525] As my great patron thought on in my prayers,—[2526] 140 Lear. The bow is bent and drawn; make from the shaft. Kent. Let it fall rather, though the fork invade[2527] The region of my heart: be Kent unmannerly, When Lear is mad. What wouldst thou do, old man?[2528] Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak, 145 When power to flattery bows? To plainness honour's bound,[2529] When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy doom,[2530] And in thy best consideration check[2531] This hideous rashness: answer my life my judgement,[2532] Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least; 150 Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound[2533] Reverbs no hollowness.[2533] Lear. Kent, on thy life, no more.[2534] Kent. My life I never held but as a pawn[2535] To wage against thy enemies, nor fear to lose it,[2536] Thy safety being the motive.[2537] Lear. Out of my sight! 155 Kent. See better, Lear, and let me still remain The true blank of thine eye. Lear. Now, by Apollo,— Kent. Now, by Apollo, king,[2538][2539] Thou swear'st thy gods in vain.[2538] Lear. O, vassal! miscreant!

Alb. } Dear sir, forbear.[2541] 160 Corn.} Kent. Do;[2542] Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow[2543][2544] Upon the foul disease. Revoke thy doom;[2543][2545] Or, whilst I can vent clamour from my throat,[2543] I'll tell thee them dost evil.[2543] Lear. Hear me, recreant![2546][2547] 165 On thy allegiance, hear me![2546][2548] Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow,[2549] Which we durst never yet, and with strain'd pride[2550] To come between our sentence and our power,[2551] Which nor our nature nor our place can bear, 170 Our potency made good, take thy reward.[2552] Five days we do allot thee, for provision[2553] To shield thee from diseases of the world,[2554] And on the sixth to turn thy hated back[2555] Upon our kingdom: if on the tenth day following[2556] 175 Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions, The moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter,[2557] This shall not be revoked. Kent. Fare thee well, king: sith thus thou wilt appear,[2558] Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.[2559] 180 [To Cordelia] The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid,[2560] That justly think'st and hast most rightly said![2561] [To Regan and Goneril] And your large speeches may your deeds approve,[2562] That good effects may spring from words of love. Thus Kent, O princes, bids you all adieu; 185 He'll shape his old course in a country new. [Exit.[2563]

Glou. Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord.[2565] Lear. My lord of Burgundy,[2566][2567] We first address towards you, who with this king[2566][2568] Hath rivall'd for our daughter: what, in the least,[2566][2569] 190 Will you require in present dower with her,[2566] Or cease your quest of love?[2566][2570] Bur. Most royal majesty,[2571] I crave no more than what your highness offer'd,[2571][2572] Nor will you tender less.[2571][2573] Lear. Right noble Burgundy,[2574] When she was dear to us, we did hold her so;[2574][2575] 195 But now her price is fall'n. Sir, there she stands:[2574][2576] If aught within that little seeming substance,[2574][2577] Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced,[2574][2578] And nothing more, may fitly like your grace,[2579] She's there, and she is yours. Bur. I know no answer. 200 Lear. Will you, with those infirmities she owes,[2580] Unfriended, new adopted to our hate, Dower'd with our curse and stranger'd with our oath,[2581] Take her, or leave her?[2582] Bur. Pardon me, royal sir;[2583][2584] Election makes not up on such conditions.[2584][2585] 205 Lear. Then leave her, sir; for, by the power that made me, I tell you all her wealth. [To France] For you, great king,[2586] 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[2587] 210 Than on a wretch whom nature is ashamed Almost to acknowledge hers. France. This is most strange,[2588] That she, that even but now was your best object,[2588][2589] The argument of your praise, balm of your age,[2588][2590] Most best, most dearest, should in this trice of time[2588][2591] 215 Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle[2588] So many folds of favour. Sure, her offence[2588][2592] Must be of such unnatural degree[2588] That monsters it, or your fore-vouch'd affection[2593][2594] Fall'n into taint: which to believe of her,[2594][2595] 220 Must be a faith that reason without miracle[2596] Could never plant in me.[2596] Cor. I yet beseech your majesty,—[2597][2598] If for I want that glib and oily art,[2598][2599] To speak and purpose not, since what I well intend,[2600] I'll do't before I speak,—that you make known[2601] 225 It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,[2602] No unchaste action, or dishonour'd step,[2603] That hath deprived me of your grace and favour;[2604] But even for want of that for which I am richer,[2605] A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue[2606] 230 As I am glad I have not, though not to have it[2607] Hath lost me in your liking. Lear. Better thou[2608][2609] Hadst not been born than not to have pleased me better.[2609][2610] France. Is it but this, a tardiness in nature[2611] Which often leaves the history unspoke[2612][2613] 235 That it intends to do? My lord of Burgundy,[2613][2614] What say you to the lady? Love's not love[2613][2615] When it is mingled with regards that stand[2613][2616] Aloof from the entire point. Will you have her?[2617] She is herself a dowry.[2618] Bur. Royal Lear,[2619][2620] 240 Give but that portion which yourself proposed,[2620] And here I take Cordelia by the hand,[2620] Duchess of Burgundy.[2620] Lear. Nothing: I have sworn; I am firm.[2621] Bur. I am sorry then you have so lost a father[2622] 245 That you must lose a husband. Cor. Peace be with Burgundy![2623][2624] Since that respects of fortune are his love,[2623][2625] I shall not be his wife.[2623] France. Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich being poor,[2626] Most choice forsaken, and most loved despised, 250 Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon:[2627] Be it lawful I take up what's cast away.[2628] Gods, gods! 'tis strange that from their cold'st neglect[2629] My love should kindle to inflamed respect. Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my chance,[2630] 255 Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France: Not all the dukes of waterish Burgundy[2631] Can buy this unprized precious maid of me.[2632] Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind:[2633][2634] Thou losest here, a better where to find.[2634] 260 Lear. Thou hast her, France: let her be thine, for we[2635] Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see[2635] That face of hers again. Therefore be gone[2636] Without our grace, our love, our benison.[2637][2638] Come, noble Burgundy.[2637] 265

France. Bid farewell to your sisters.[2640] Cor. The jewels of our father, with wash'd eyes[2641][2642] Cordelia leaves you: I know you what you are;[2642][2643] And, like a sister, am most loath to call[2642] Your faults as they are named. Use well our father:[2642][2644] 270 To your professed bosoms I commit him:[2645] But yet, alas, stood I within his grace, I would prefer him to a better place.[2646] So farewell to you both. Reg. Prescribe not us our duties.[2647] Gon. Let your study[2648] 275 Be to content your lord, who hath received you[2648] At fortune's alms. You have obedience scanted,[2648][2649] And well are worth the want that you have wanted.[2650] Cor. Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides:[2651] Who cover faults, at last shame them derides.[2652] 280 Well may you prosper! France. Come, my fair Cordelia.

Gon. Sister, it is not a little I have to say of what most[2654][2655][2656] nearly appertains to us both. I think our father will hence[2655][2657] to-night.[2655] Reg. That's most certain, and with you; next month[2658] 285 with us. Gon. You see how full of changes his age is; the observation[2659] we have made of it hath not been little: he always[2660] loved our sister most; and with what poor judgement he hath now cast her off appears too grossly.[2661] 290 Reg. 'Tis the infirmity of his age: yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself. Gon. The best and soundest of his time hath been but rash; then must we look to receive from his age, not alone[2662] the imperfections of long ingrafted condition, but therewithal[2663] 295 the unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric[2664] years bring with them. Reg. Such unconstant starts are we like to have from[2665] him as this of Kent's banishment. Gon. There is further compliment of leave-taking between[2666] 300 France and him. Pray you, let's hit together: if our[2667] father carry authority with such dispositions as he bears,[2668] this last surrender of his will but offend us. Reg. We shall further think on 't.[2669] Gon. We must do something, and i' the heat. [Exeunt.305