strengths, while we
Our fon of Cornwall,

Conferring them on younger
Unburden'd crawl tow'rd death.
And you, our no less loving fon of Albany,
We have this hour a constant will to publish

Our daughters' feveral dow'rs, 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,

0

And here are to be answer'd. 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. Gonerill,

Our eldest born, speak first.

Gon. Sir, I do love you more than words can * wield

the matter,

Dearer than eye-fight, space, and liberty;

Beyond what can be valued rich or rare;

No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;

i The qu's read confirming.

* The qu's read years for strengths.

I What is in italic is omitted in the qu's.

m The qu's read The two great princes, &c. The 3d and 4th fo's read

prince for princes.

So the qu's; all the rest younger.

• The 3d and 4th fo's omit me.

PP. omits my, followed by the after-editors.

4 These two lines are omitted in the qu's.

The qu's read, Where merit doth most challenge it, Gonerill, &c.

$ This line is omitted by P. and all after but J. in the room of which

→ they put I love you, fir.

The fo's, R. and J. omit do.

u The fo's, and R. read word.

The zd q. reads weild.

As

As much was child e'er lov'd, or father found; A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable, y Beyond all manner of so much I love you.

Cor. What shall Cordelia do? love and be filent. [Afide.
Lear. Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,

With shadowy forests, b and with champains rich'd,
With plenteous rivers, and wide-skirted meads,
We make thee lady. To thine and Albany's issue
Be this perpetual.
What says our fecond daughter?

Our dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall, speak.

Reg. f Sir, I am made of the self-fame metal that my sister is;

And prize me at her worth. In my true heart

I find, she names my very deed of love;

h Only she comes too short; that I profess

Myself an enemy to all other joys,

Which the most precious i square of sense k possesses,

The qu's read a for as; and

* Friend for found.

And

Beyond, &c. i.e. Beyond all imaginable extent of whatever I have yet

expressed. Heath.

The fo's and R. read speak for do.

* The qu's read shady.

b The words in italic omitted in the qu's.

So the ist f. the ad and all after champions.

d So the qu's; the rest of for to.

• The fo's and R. omit fpeak.

f So the qu's; the rest read, I am made of that felf mettle as my fifter, and prize, &c.

& There is no stop in the qu's after worth; but in the fo's a period, which feems to give the better sense. Upon examining her own fincere heart, she finds her love equal to her sisters, nay greater.

The qu's read, Only she came short, &c.

i By the square of fenfe, we are here to understand the four nobler senses, wiz. the fight, hearing, tafte, and smell: for a young lady could not, with decency,

A 3

And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear highness' love.

Cor. Then poor Cordelia!

And yet not so, since I am fure, my love's
More pond'rous than m 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 conferr'd on Gonerill. Now our joy,
Although our last, not least; to whose young love,
The vines of France, and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interess'd. What can you say to win
A third, more opulent than your sisters? Speak.
Cor. Nothing, my lord.
"Lear. Nothing!
u Cor. Nothing.

[Afide.

decency, infinuate she knew of any pleasures which the fifth afforded. This is imagined and expressed with great propriety and delicacy. W.

But by square of fenfe, Shakespear seems rather to understand the whole compass or extent of sense, without regard to any particular number, as W. supposes. Besides, by an exclusion of the fifth from the number of the senses he makes the lady infinuate the idea of that very pleasure which he represents her as affecting to feem totally ignorant of.

H. reads fpirit for square.

* The fo's and R. read profefsses.

1 The qu's read, More richer.

ra W. fays we should read their tongue. See Heath in loc.

The qu's road confirm'd.

• Before now the qu's read but.

The qu's read, not least in our dear love, what can you fay, &c.

The fo's, R. and P. read intereft.

P. and all after him read, What fay you, &c.

• So the qu's; all the rest read draw for win.

The qu's omit fpeak.

These two freeches are not in the qu's.

Lear.

Lear. w Nothing can come of nothing; speak again.

Cor. Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty

According to my bond, nor more nor less.

Lear. How, how, Cordelia? mend your speech a little,

Left it may mar your fortunes.

Cor. Good my lord,

You have begot me, bred me, lov'd 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 e marry like my sisters,

To love my father, all.

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

Lear. So young, and so untender?

Cor. So young, my lord, and true.

Lear. Well, let it be so; & thy truth then be thy dower:

For by the facred radiance of the fun,

1

The

The mysteries of Hecate, and the i night,
By all the k operations of the orbs,

From whom we do exist, and cease to be,

Here I difclaim 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-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 most, and thought to fet my rest

On her kind nursery. Hence, mand avoid my fight! [To Cor. So be my grave my peace, as here I give

Her father's heart from her. Call France-who stirs?

h The qu's read mistreffe; the ist f. miferies.

i The qu's read might.

* The qu's and ist f. operation.

Call

1 The qu's omit to my bosom.

m So all before P. who, with the after-editors, omits and.

All the modern editions direct the words, Hence, and avoid my fight, to be spoken to Cordelia; but they are undoubtedly addressed to Kent. For in the next words Lear. fends for France and Burgundy, in order to tender them his youngest daughter, if either of them would accept her without a dowry. At fuch a time therefore to drive her out of his prefence would be a contradiction to his declared intention. Heath.

And for that very reafon I think, with fubmiffion, the words arè spoken to Cordelia, and not to Kent. It is plain, Cordelia had raised his fury to the highest pitch; Kent was not yet so far advanced; he had but just begun to speak, and that in the most refpectful terms, Good my liege.-Lear, with all hiş rage, still retained so much love and respect for him, and fo much hope

of