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.

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 Hecate 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.

⌈Exit one or more⌉

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 an 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,

Beloved sons, be yours; which to confirm,

This crownet 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 judgement,

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, ne’er feared 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 ⌈making to strike him⌉

O vassal! Miscreant!

ALBANY and ⌈CORDELIA⌉ Dear sir, forbear.

KENT (to Lear)

Kill thy physician, and thy 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 vows,

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 seventh 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 and 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. Enter the Duke of Gloucester with the

King of France, the Duke of Burgundy, and attendants

⌈CORDELIA⌉

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,