Cor. So young, my lord, and true.

Lear. Let it be so: thy truth then be thy dower :
For, by the sacred radiance of the sun;
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 barbarous

Scythian,
Or he that makes his generation 1 messes
To
gorge

his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well neighbor'd, pitied, and relieved,
As thou my sometime daughter.
Kent.

Good my liege,
Lear. Peace, Kent!
Come not between the dragon and his wrath.
I loved her most, and thought to set my rest
On her kind nursery. Hence, and avoid my
sight!

[to Cordelia. 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 the third :
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.
I do invest you jointly with my power,

I His children.

Pre-eminence, and all the large effects
That troop with majesty: ourself, by monthly

course,
With reservation of a 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 the additions to a king;

The sway,

Revenue, execution of the rest,
Beloved sons, be yours; which to confirm,
This coronet part between you. [giving the crown.
Kent.

Royal Lear,
Whom I have ever honor'd as my king,
Loved as my father, as my master follow'd,
As my great patron thought on in my prayers ;-
Lear. The bow is bent and drawn; make from

the shaft. 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? To plainness honor's

bound, When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy doom ; And, in thy best consideration, check This hideous rashness : answer my life my judg

Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least;
Nor are those empty-hearted, whose low sound
Reverbs 1 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!

[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 clamor 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, To come betwixt our sentence and our power ;