A State Room in King Lear's Palace.
 Enter KENT, GLOUCESTER, and EDMUND.

Kent	I thought the king had more affected the Duke of Albany 
	than Cornwall.

Gloucester	It did always seem so to us; but now, in the division of 
	the kingdom, it appears not which of the dukes he values 
	most, for qualities are so weighed that curiosity in 
	neither can make choice of either's moiety.

Kent	Is not this your son, my lord?

Gloucester	His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge. I have so often 
	blushed to acknowledge him that now I am brazed to't.

Kent	I cannot conceive you.

Gloucester	Sir, this young fellow's mother could; whereupon she grew 
	round-wombed and had indeed, sir, a son for her cradle ere 
	she had a husband for her bed. Do you smell a fault?

Kent	I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it being so 
	proper.

Gloucester	But I have a son, sir, by order of law, some year elder 
	than this, who yet is no dearer in my account. Though this 
	knave came something saucily to the world before he was 
	sent for, yet was his mother fair; there was good sport at 
	his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged. Do you 
	know this noble gentleman, Edmund?

Edmund	No, my lord.

Gloucester	My Lord of Kent. Remember him hereafter as my honourable 
	friend.

Edmund	My services to your lordship.

Kent	I must love you, and sue to know you better.

Edmund	Sir, I shall study deserving.

Gloucester	He hath been out nine years, and away he shall again. The 
	king is coming.

                             Sound a Sennet.
            Enter One bearing a coronet, then enter KING LEAR,
               CORNWALL, ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN, CORDELIA,
                             and ATTENDANTS.

Lear	Attend the Lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester.

Gloucester	I shall, my liege.
									[Exeunt GLOUCESTER and EDMUND.

Lear	Meantime we shall express our darker purpose.
	Give me the map there. Know that we have divided
	In three our kingdom; and 'tis our fast intent
	To shake all cares and business from our age,
	Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
	Unburdened crawl toward death. Our son of Cornwall,
	And you, our no less loving son of Albany,
	We have this hour a constant will to publish
	Our daughters' several dowers, that future strife
	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 sojourn,
	And here are to be answered. Tell me, my daughters-
	Since now we will divest us both of rule,
	Interest of territory, cares of state-
	Which of you shall we say doth love us most,
	That we our largest bounty may extend
	Where nature doth with merit challenge? Goneril,
	Our eldest born, speak first.

Goneril	Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter;
	Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty;
	Beyond what can be valued rich or rare;
	No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
	As much as child e'er loved, or father found;
	A love that makes breath poor and speech unable.
	Beyond all manner of so much I love you.

Cordelia	[Aside.] What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent.

Lear	Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,
	With shadowy forests and with champains riched,
	With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,
	We make thee lady. To thine and Albany's issues
	Be this perpetual. What says our second daughter,
	Our dearest Regan, wife of Cornwall?

Regan	I am made of that self mettle as my sister,
	And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
	I find she names my very deed of love;
	Only she comes too short, that I profess
	Myself an enemy to all other joys
	Which the most precious square of sense possesses,
	And find I am alone felicitate
	In your dear highness' love.

Cordelia	[Aside.]					Then poor Cordelia!
	And yet not so; since I am sure my love's
	More ponderous than my tongue.

Lear	To thee and thine hereditary ever
	Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom,
	No less in space, validity, and pleasure,
	Than that conferred on Goneril.
			[To CORDELIA.]			Now, our joy,
	Although our last and least, to whose young love
	The vines of France and milk of Burgundy
	Strive to be interessed; what can you say to draw
	A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.

Cordelia	Nothing, my lord.

Lear	Nothing?

Cordelia	Nothing.

Lear	Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again.

Cordelia	Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
	My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty
	According to my bond; no more nor less.

Lear	How, how, Cordelia! Mend your speech a little,
	Lest you may mar your fortunes.

Cordelia										Good my lord,
	You have begot me, bred me, loved me;
	I return those duties back as are right fit,
	Obey you, love you, and most honour you.
	Why have my sisters husbands, if they say
	They love you all? Haply when I shall wed,
	That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry
	Half my love with him, half my care and duty.
	Sure I shall never marry like my sisters,
	To love my father all.

Lear	But goes thy heart with this?

Cordelia									Ay, my good lord.

Lear	So young, and so untender?

Cordelia	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 Hecat and the night,
	By all the operation 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 messes
	To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
	Be as well neighboured, 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.
		[To CORDELIA.]	Hence, and avoid my sight!
	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,
	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 sustained, shall our abode
	Make with you by due turn. Only we shall retain
	The name and all th'addition to a king; the sway,
	Revenue, execution of the rest,
	Belovd sons, be yours; which to confirm,
	This coronet part between you.

Kent									Royal Lear,
	Whom I have ever honoured as my king,
	Loved as my father, as my master followed,
	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 honour's bound
	When majesty falls to folly. Reserve thy state,
	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 sounds
	Reverb 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 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 upon his sword.
Albany &
Cornwall	Dear sir, forbear.

Kent	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!
	That thou hast sought to make us break our vow,
	Which we durst never yet, and with strained pride
	To come betwixt 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 disasters of the world,
	And on the sixth to turn thy hated back
	Upon our kingdom. If on the tenth day following
	Thy banished trunk be found in our dominions,
	The moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter,
	This shall not be revoked.

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 GONERIL & REGAN.]
	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 GLOUCESTER, with FRANCE, BURGUNDY, and ATTENDANTS.

Gloucester	Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord.

Lear	My Lord of Burgundy,
	We first address toward you, who with this king
	Hath rivalled for our daughter: what in the least
	Will you require in present dower with her
	Or cease your quest of love?

Burgundy								Most royal majesty,
	I crave no more than hath your highness offered,
	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 fallen. Sir, there she stands.
	If aught within that little-seeming substance,
	Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced,
	And nothing more, may fitly like your grace,
	She's there, and she is yours.

Burgundy								I know no answer.

Lear	Will you with those infirmities she owes,
	Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,
	Dowered with our curse and strangered with our oath,
	Take her or leave her?

Burgundy							Pardon me, royal sir,
	Election makes not up in 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 ashamed
	Almost t'acknowledge hers.

France									This is most strange:
	That she, whom even but now was your best object,
	The argument of your praise, balm of your age,
	The best, the dearest, should in this trice of time
	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-vouched affection
	Fall into taint; which to believe of her
	Must be a faith that reason without miracle
	Should never plant in me.

Cordelia							I yet beseech your majesty-
	If for I want that glib and oily art
	To speak and purpose not, since what I well intend
	I'll do't before I speak-that you make known
	It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,
	No unchaste action or dishonoured step
	That hath deprived me of your grace and favour,
	But even for want of that for which I am richer:
	A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue
	That I am glad I have not, though not to have it
	Hath lost me in your liking.

Lear										Better thou
	Hadst not been born than not t'have pleased 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 stands
	Aloof from th'entire point. Will you have her?
	She is herself a dowry.

Burgundy								Royal king,
	Give but that portion which yourself proposed,
	And here I take Cordelia by the hand,
	Duchess of Burgundy.

Lear	Nothing! I have sworn; I am firm.

Burgundy	I am sorry, then, you have so lost a father
	That you must lose a husband.

Cordelia								Peace be with Burgundy.
	Since that respect and fortunes are his love,
	I shall not be his wife.

France	Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich being poor;
	Most choice, forsaken; and most loved, despised;
	Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon;
	Be it lawful I take up what's cast away.
	Gods, gods! 'Tis strange that from their cold'st neglect
	My love should kindle to inflamed respect.
	Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my chance,
	Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France.
	Not all the dukes of wat'rish Burgundy
	Can buy this unprized precious maid of me.
	Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind.
	Thou losest here, a better where to find.

Lear	Thou hast her, France. Let her be thine; for we
	Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see
	That face of hers again. Therefore be gone
	Without our grace, our love, our benison.
	Come, noble Burgundy.
												[Flourish.
								[Exeunt LEAR, BURGUNDY, CORNWALL,
							  ALBANY, GLOUCESTER, and ATTENDANTS.

France	Bid farewell to your sisters.

Cordelia	The jewels of our father, with washed eyes
	Cordelia leaves you. I know you what you are;
	And like a sister am most loath to call
	Your faults as they are named. Love well our father:
	To your professd bosoms I commit him.
	But yet, alas, stood I within his grace
	I would prefer him to a better place.
	So farewell to you both.

Regan	Prescribe not us our duty.

Goneril								Let your study
	Be to content your lord, who hath received you
	At fortune's alms. You have obedience scanted,
	And well are worth the want that you have wanted.

Cordelia	Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides,
	Who covers faults, at last with shame derides.
	Well may you prosper!

France							Come, my fair Cordelia.
										[Exeunt FRANCE and CORDELIA.

Goneril	Sister, it is not little I have to say of what most nearly 
	appertains to us both. I think our father will hence 
	tonight.

Regan	That's most certain, and with you; next month with us.

Goneril	You see how full of changes his age is; the observation we 
	have made of it hath not been little. He always loved our 
	sister most; and with what poor judgment he hath now cast 
	her off appears too grossly.

Regan	'Tis the infirmity of his age; yet he hath ever but 
	slenderly known himself.

Goneril	The best and soundest of his time hath been but rash; then 
	must we look from his age to receive not alone the 
	imperfections of long-engraffed condition, but therewithal 
	the unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric years bring 
	with them.

Regan	Such unconstant starts are we like to have from him as this 
	of Kent's banishment.

Goneril	There is further compliment of leave-taking between France 
	and him. Pray you, let us hit together; if our father carry 
	authority with such disposition as he bears, this last 
	surrender of his will but offend us.

Regan	We shall further think of it.

Goneril	We must do something, and i'th'heat.
												[Exeunt.
