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 the additions to a king;The sway,revenue,execution of the rest,Beloved sons,be yours:which to confirm,This coronet part betwixt you.
Giving the crown KENT Royal Lear,Whom I have ever honour'd as my king,Loved as my father,as my master follow'd,As my great patron thought on in my prayers,--KING 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 wilt 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 stoops to folly.Reverse thy doom;And,in thy best consideration,cheque 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.KING LEAR Kent,on thy life,no more.KENT My life I never held but as a pawn To wage against thy enemies;nor fear to lose it,Thy safety being the motive.KING LEAR Out of my sight!KENT See better,Lear;and let me still remain The true blank of thine eye.KING LEAR Now,by Apollo,--KENT Now,by Apollo,king,Thou swear'st thy gods in vain.KING LEAR O,vassal!miscreant!
Laying his hand on his sword ALBANY CORNWALL Dear sir,forbear.KENT Do:
Kill thy physician,and the fee bestow Upon thy foul disease.Revoke thy doom;Or,whilst I can vent clamour from my throat,I'll tell thee thou dost evil.KING 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 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;And on the sixth to turn thy hated back Upon our kingdom:if,on the tenth day following,Thy banish'd 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 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.
Flourish.Re-enter GLOUCESTER,with KING OF FRANCE,BURGUNDY,and Attendants GLOUCESTER Here's France and Burgundy,my noble lord.KING 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?BURGUNDY Most royal majesty,I crave no more than what your highness offer'd,Nor will you tender less.KING 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 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.KING 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?BURGUNDY Pardon me,royal sir;Election makes not up on such conditions.KING LEAR Then leave her,sir;for,by the power that made me,I tell you all her wealth.
To KING OF FRANCE
For you,great king,I would not from your love make such a stray,To match you where I hate;therefore beseech you To avert your liking a more worthier way Than on a wretch whom nature is ashamed Almost to acknowledge hers.KING OF FRANCE This is most strange,That she,that even but now was your best object,The argument of your praise,balm of your age,Most best,most 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-vouch'd affection Fall'n into taint:which to believe of her,Must be a faith that reason without miracle Could 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 dishonour'd 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 As I am glad I have not,though not to have it Hath lost me in your liking.KING LEAR Better thou Hadst not been born than not to have pleased me better.KING OF 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 stand Aloof from the entire point.Will you have her?
She is herself a dowry.BURGUNDY Royal Lear,Give but that portion which yourself proposed,And here I take Cordelia by the hand,Duchess of Burgundy.KING 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 respects of fortune are his love,I shall not be his wife.KING OF 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.