And find, I am alone felicite

In your dear Highness' love.

Cor. Then poor Cordelia!

And yet not fo, fince, I am fure, my love's 7 More pond'rous than their tongue.

[Afide.

Lear. To thee, and thine, hereditary ever,
Remain this ample third of our fair Kingdom;
s No lefs in fpace, validity, and pleasure,
Than that conferr'd on Gonerill- -Now our joy,
Although our last, not least; to whofe young love,
'The vines of France, and milk of Burgundy,
Strive to be int'refs'd: what say you, to draw
A third, more opulent than your fifters ? fpeak.
Cor: Nothing, my lord.

Lear. Nothing?

Cor. Nothing.

Lear. Nothing can come of nothing; fpeak again.
Cor. 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,

Left you may mar your fortunes.

Cor. Good my lord,

You have begot me, bred me, lov'd me. I
Return thofe duties back, as are right fit;
Obey you, love you, and moft honour you.
Why have my fifters hufbands, if they fay,
They love you all? hap'ly, when I fhall wed,
That lord, whofe hand must take my plight, shall
carry

Half my love with him, half my care and duty.

of fenfe, we are, here, to understand the four nobler fenfes, viz. the fight, bearing, tafie, and fmell. For a young lady could not, with decency, infinuate that the knew of any pleasure which the fifth afforded. This is imagined and expreffed with great propriety and delicacy. But the Oxford Editor, for Square, reads Spirit.

7 More pond'rous than my tongue.] We fhould read THEIR tongue, meaning her fifters.

8 No lefs in space, validity,] Validity, for worth, value; not for integrity, or good title.

Sure,

Sure, I fhall never marry like my fifters,
9 To love my father all.

Lear. But goes thy heart with this?
Cor. Ay, my good lord.

Lear. So young, and fo untender?
Cor. So young my lord, and true.

Lear. Let it be fo, thy truth then be thy dower:
For by the facred radiance of the fun,

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 ftranger to my heart and me

Hold thee, from this, for ever. The barb'rous Scythian,

Or he that makes his generation messes,

To gorge his appetite; fhall to my bofom
Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and reliev'd,
As thou, my fometime daughter.

Kent. Good my Liege

Lear. Peace, Kent!

Come not between the dragon and his wrath,
I lov'd her moft, and thought to fet my Rest
On her kind nurs'ry. Hence, avoid my fight;
[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 digeft the third.
Let pride, which the calls plainness, marry her.
I do invest you jointly with my Power,
Preheminence, and all the large effects

That troop with Majefty. Our felf by monthly course,
With refervation of an hundred Knights,
By you to be fuftain'd, shall our abode
Make with you by due turns: I only retain

The

9 To love my father all.-] These words restored from the first edition, without which the fenfe was not compleat. Mr. Pope.

I

only retain
B 4

The

The name and all th' addition to a King:
The fway, revenue, execution of th' Heft,
Beloved fons, be yours; which to confirm,
This Coronet part between you. [Giving the Crowz.
Kent. Royal Lear,

Whom I have ever honour'd as my King,
Lov'd as my father, as my mafter follow'd,
And as my patron thought on in my pray'rs -

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

Kent. Let it fall rather, though the fork invade
The region of my heart; be Kent unmannerly,
When Lear is mad: what would't thou do, old man?
Think'st thou, that duty shall have dread to speak,
When pow'r to flatt'ry bows? to plainnefs Honour
Is bound, when Majefty to folly falls.

Referve thy State; with better judgment check
This hideous raíhnefs; with my life I answer,
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least ;
Nor are thofe empty-hearted, whose low found
Reverbs no hollowness.

Το

Lear. Kent, on thy life no more.

Kent. My life I never held but as a pawn wage against thy foes; nor fear to lose it, Thy fafety being the motive.

Lear. Out of my fight!

Kent. See better, Lear, and let me ftill remain

The true blank of thine eye.

The name, and all th' addition to a King:

The fway, revenue, execution,

Beloved fons, be yours ;] The old books read the lines thus,

The fway, revenue, execution oF THE REST,
Beloved fons, be yours.

This is evidently corrupt, and the editors not knowing what to make of―of the reft, left it out. The true reading without doubt, was,

The fway, revenue, execution oF TH' HEST,
Beloved fons, be yours.-

Heft, is an old word for regal command: fo that the feufe of the whole is, I will only retain the name and all the ceremonious obfervances that belong to a King; the effentials, as fway, reve-, nue, adminiftration of the laws, be

yours.

Lear

[Laying his hand on his fword.

Alb. Corn. Dear Sir, forbear.

Kent. Kill thy phyfician, and thy fee bestow
Upon the foul difeafe; revoke thy doom,

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

Lear. Hear me, recreant !

Since thou haft fought to make us break our vow,
Which we durft never yet; and with strain'd pride,
To come betwixt our fentence and our power;
3 Which nor our nature, nor our place, can bear,
Our potency make good; take thy reward.
Five days we do allot thee for provifion,
To fhield thee from difafters of the world;
And, on the fixth, to turn thy hated back
Upon our Kingdom; if, the tenth day following,
Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death away! By Jupiter,
This fhall not be revok'd.

Kent. Fare thee well, King; fith thus thou wilt
appear,

Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here;
The gods to their dear fhelter take thee, maid,
That juftly think'ft, and haft moft rightly faid:

2 To come betwixt our fentence and our power ;] Power, for execution of the fentence.

3 Which nor our nature, nor our place, can bear,

Our potency make good;] Mr. Theobald, by putting the firft line into a parenthefis, and altering make to made in the fecond line, hath deftroyed the fenfe of the whole; which, as it flood be fore he corrupted the words, was this: "You have endeavour'd, " fays Lear, to make me break my oath, you have prefumed to "ftop the execution of my sentence: the latter of these attempts "neither my temper nor high ftation will fuffer me to bear, and "the other, had I yielded to it, my power could not make good, or excufe.". -Which, in the first line, referring to both attempts: But the ambiguity of it, as it might refer only to the lat tex, has occafioned all the obscurity of the paffage.

B 5

And

deeds approve,

And your large fpeeches may your
That good effects may fpring from words of love:
Thus Kent, O Princes, bids you all adieu,

He'll shape his old courfe in a country new,

[Exit. Enter Glo'fter, with France and Burgundy, and Attendants.

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

We first address tow'rd you, who with this King
Have rivall'd for our daughter; what at least
Will you require in prefent dower with her,
Or ceafe your quest of love?

Bur. Moft royal Majefty,

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

Lear. Right noble Burgundy,

When fhe was dear to us, we held her fo;
But now her price is fall'n: Sir, there she stands,
If aught within that little feeming fubftance,
Or all of it with our difpleasure 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 fhe owes, Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,

Dower'd with our curfe, and ftranger'd with our oath, Take her, or leave her?

Bur. Pardon, royal Sir;

Election makes not up on fuch conditions:

Lear. Then leave her, Sir; for by the pow'r that

made me,

I tell you all her wealth.

For you, great King,

[To France.

I would not from your love make such a stray,

To match you where I hate; therefore beseech you,
4 T' avert your liking a more worthy way
Than on a wretch, whom nature is afham'd
Almoft t' acknowledge hers.

France. This is most strange!

4 Tavert your liking.] To avert, for to turn, fimply.

That