Hold thee, from this, for ever. The barbarous Scythian.
Or he that makes his generation messes

To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and reliev'd,
As thou my sometime daughter.

Kent.

Lear. Peace, Kent!

Good my liege,

Come not between the dragon and his wrath.

I lov'd her most, and thought to set my rest

On her kind nursery.-Hence, and avoid my sight!—(10) 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,

With my two daughters' dowers digest this third:

Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.
I do invest you jointly with my power,
Pre-eminence, and all the large effects

That troop with majesty.-Ourself, by monthly course,
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
The name, and all th' additions to a king;

The sway,

Revenue, execution of the rest,

Beloved sons, be yours: which to confirm,

This coronet part between you.

Whom I have ever honour'd as my king,

Lov'd as my father, as my master follow'd,

[Giving the crown.

As my great patron thought on in my prayers,—

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

(10) Hence, and avoid my sight!-] "These words are in all the [modern] editions directed to Cordelia, which undoubtedly are addressed to Kent. For in the next words Lear sends for France and Burgundy, in order to tender them his youngest daughter," &c. HEATH.-And compare what Lear afterwards says to Kent, "Out of my sight!" p. 11. Malone, however, has no doubt that the direction "To Cordelia" is right; and he remarks truly enough, that "Kent has hitherto said nothing that could extort even from the choleric king so harsh a sentence," &c.

Kent. Let it fall rather, though the fork invade
The region of my heart: be Kent unmannerly,
When Lear is mad. What wouldst thou do, old man?
Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak,
When power to flattery bows ?

bound,

To plainness honour's

When majesty falls to folly. Reverse thy doom;(11)
And, in thy best consideration, check

This hideous rashness: answer my life my judgment,
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least;
Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound
Reverbs no hollowness.

Lear.

Kent, on thy life, no more.

Kent. My life I never held but as a pawn
To wage against thine enemies; nor fear to lose it,
Thy safety being the motive.

Lear.

Out of my sight!

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

Lear. Now, by Apollo,-
Kent.

Now, by Apollo, king,

Thou swear'st thy gods in vain.

Lear.

O, vassal miscreant !

[Laying his hand on his sword.

Alb., Corn. Dear sir, forbear.
Kent. Do;

Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow
Upon the foul disease. Revoke thy gift;

Or, whilst I can vent clamour from my throat,
I'll tell thee thou dost evil.

Lear.

Hear me, recreant!

On thine allegiance, hear me !—

Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow,-
Which we durst never yet,-and with strain'd pride

(11) Reverse thy doom;] So the quartos.-The folio has "reserue thy state."-"I am inclined to think that 'reverse thy doom' was Shakespeare's first reading, as more apposite to the present occasion, and that he changed it afterwards to reserve thy state,' which conduces more to the progress of the action." JOHNSON.

To come between our sentence 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 provision
To shield thee from diseases of the world; (18)
And, on the sixth, to turn thy hated back

(12)

Upon our kingdom: if, on the tenth day following,
Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions,
Away! by Jupiter,

The moment is thy death.

This shall not be revok'd.

Kent. Fare thee well, king: sith thus thou wilt appear, Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.

[To Cordelia] The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid, That justly think'st, and hast most rightly said !—

[To Regan and Goneril] And your large speeches may your

deeds approve,

That good effects may spring from words of love.—

Thus Kent, O princes, bids you all adieu;

He'll shape his old course in a country new.

[Exit.

Flourish. Re-enter GLOSTER, with FRANCE, BURGUNDY, and

Attendants.

Glo. Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord.
Lear. My Lord of Burgundy,

We first address towards you, who with this king
Hath rivall'd for our daughter: what, in the least,
Will you require in present dower with her,

Or cease your quest of love?

Bur.

Most royal majesty,

(12) To come between our sentence and our power,-] In this line the folio has "sentences;" as, by the same sort of error, it has, p. 7, "To thine and Albanies issues," &c.; and Mr. Knight adheres to it in both places! Delius also retains and defends "sentences"!

(13) diseases of the world, "Thus the quartos. The folio has 'disasters of the world.' The alteration, I believe, was made by the editor in consequence of his not knowing the meaning of the original word. Diseases, in old language, meant the slighter inconveniences, troubles, or distresses of the world. The provision that Kent could make in five days might in some measure guard him against the diseases of the world, but could not shield him from its disasters." MALONE.

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

Lear.

Right noble Burgundy,

When she was dear to us, we did hold her so;
But now her price is fall'n. Sir, there she stands:
If aught within that little seeming (14) substance,
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 those infirmities she owes,
Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,

Dower'd with our curse, and stranger'd with our oath,
Take her, or leave her?

Bur.

Pardon me, royal sir;

Election makes not up on such conditions.

Lear. Then leave her, sir; for, by the power that made

me,

I tell you all her wealth.-[To France] For you, great

king,

I would not from your love make such a stray,

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

Than on a wretch whom nature is asham'd

Almost t' acknowledge hers.

France.

This is most strange,

That she, who even but now was your best object,(15)
The argument of your praise, balm of your age,
Most best, most dear'st,(16) should in this trice of time

(14) little seeming] "Read 'little-seeming.'" Walker's Crit. Exam., &c., vol. iii. p. 275

(15) That she, who even but now was your best object,] The quartos have "that she that euen but now

Was your best obiect."

The folio has "That she whom euen but now, was your obiect," &c.-(Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector reads ". your blest object.")

(16) Most best, most dear'st,] So the quartos.-The folio has "The best, the deerest." (Compare, at p. 47, "To take the basest and most poorest shape:" and in the speech preceding the present one we have "T avert your liking a more worthier way.")

Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle
So many folds of favour. Sure, her offence
Must be of such unnatural degree,

That monsters it, or your fore-vouch'd affection
Fall'n into taint: which to believe of her,
Must be a faith that reason without miracle

Should never plant in me.

Cor.

I yet beseech your majesty.—

If for I want that glib and oily art,

To speak and purpose not; since what I well intend,(17)
I'll do't before I speak,—that you make known
It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,(18)
No unchaste action, or dishonour'd step,

That hath depriv'd me of your grace and favour;
But even for want of that for which I'm richer,-
A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue
As I am glad I have not, though not to have it
Hath lost me in your liking.

Hadst not been born than not t' have pleas'd me better.

"

(17) since what I well intend,] So the quartos.-The folio has "since what I will intend; as afterwards, p. 24, it has, by the same mistake, "If but as will I other accents borrow: " yet here Mr. Knight adheres to the folio; and so does Delius.

(18) It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,] In this line the spelling of the quartos is "murder," that of the folio "murther."-Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes

"It is no vicious blot, nor other foulness :"

and undoubtedly the original reading is a very suspicious one, though a critic in Blackwood's Magazine for Oct. 1853, p. 464, defends it as follows; "The King of France has just before said,

'Sure her offence

Must be of such unnatural degree

That monsters it;'

that is; that makes a monster of it-it can be nothing short of some crime of the deepest dye; and therefore 'murder' does not seem to be so much out of place in the mouth of Cordelia: "-who had been described by Lear as

"a wretch whom nature is asham'd Almost t' acknowledge hers."

1865. "What has 'murder' to do here? Read 'umber.'" Walker's Crit. Exam., &c., vol. iii. p. 275.