King Lear (1917) Yale/Text/Act I
ACT FIRST
Scene One
[King Lear's Palace]
Enter Kent, Gloucester, and Edmund.
Kent. I thought the king had more affected
the Duke of Albany than Cornwall.
Glo. 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 equali-
ties are so weighed that curiosity in neither can
make choice of either's moiety.
Kent. Is not this your son, my lord? 8
Glo. His breeding, sir, hath been at my
charge: I have so often blushed to acknowledge
him, that now I am so brazed to it.
Kent. I cannot conceive you. 12
Glo. 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? 16
Kent. I cannot wish the fault undone, the
issue of it being so proper.
Glo. 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 some-
what saucily into 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 gentle-
man, Edmund? 26
Edm. No, my lord.
Glo. My Lord of Kent: remember him here-
after as my honourable friend.
Edm. My services to your lordship.
Kent. I must love you, and sue to know you
better. 32
Edm. Sir, I shall study deserving.
Glo. He hath been out nine years, and away
he shall again. The king is coming.
Sennet. Enter King Lear, Cornwall, Albany, Goneril, Regan, Cordelia, and Attendants.
Lear. Attend the Lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester. 36
Glo. I shall, my liege. Exit [with 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, 41
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburden'd crawl toward death. Our son of Cornwall,
And you, our no less loving son of Albany, 44
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, 48
Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,
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,— 52
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. 56
Gon. Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter;
Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty;
Beyond what can be valu'd, rich or rare;
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour; 60
As much as child e'er lov'd, or father found;
A love that makes breath poor and speech unable;
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.
Cor. [Aside.] What shall Cordelia do? Love, and be silent. 64
Lear. Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,
With shadowy forests 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 second daughter, 69
Our dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall? Speak.
Reg. I am made of that self metal as my sister,
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
I find she names my very deed of love; 73
Only she comes too short: that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys
Which the most precious square of sense possesses 76
And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear highness' love.
Cor. [Aside.] Then, poor Cordelia!
And yet not so; since, I am sure, my love 's
More richer than my tongue. 80
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 Goneril. Now, our joy, 84
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 draw
A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.
Cor. Nothing, my lord. 89
Lear. Nothing?
Cor. Nothing.
Lear. Nothing will come of nothing: speak again. 92
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, 96
Lest you 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. 100
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, 105
To love my father all.
Lear. But goes thy heart with this?
Cor. Ay, good my lord.
Lear. So young, and so untender? 108
Cor. 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, 112
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, 116
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 120
Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and reliev'd,
As thou my sometime daughter.
Kent. Good my liege,—
Lear. Peace, Kent!
Come not between the dragon and his wrath. 124
I lov'd her most, and thought to set my rest
On her kind nursery. 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? 128
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, 132
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 sustain'd, shall our abode 136
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, 140
This coronet part between you.
Kent. Royal Lear,
Whom I have ever honour'd as my king,
Lov'd as my father, as my master follow'd,
As my great patron thought on in my prayers,—
Lear. The bow is bent and drawn; make from the shaft. 145
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? 148
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 152
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.
Lear. Kent, on thy life, no more.
Kent. My life I never held but as a pawn 157
To wage against thine enemies; nor fear to lose it,
Thy safety being the motive.
Lear. Out of my sight!
Kent. See better, Lear; and let me still remain 160
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!
Alb.Corn. Dear sir, forbear. 164
Kent. Do;
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! 169
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 172
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 176
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 revok'd. 182
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, 185
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. 188
Thus Kent, O princes! bids you all adieu;
He'll shape his old course in a country new. Exit.
Flourish. Enter Gloucester with France, and Burgundy, Attendants.
Glo. Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord.
Lear. My Lord of Burgundy, 192
We first address toward 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?
Bur. Most royal majesty, 196
I crave no more than hath your highness offer'd,
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 fall'n. Sir, there she stands: 200
If aught within that little-seeming substance,
Or all of it, with our displeasure piec'd,
And nothing more, may fitly like your Grace,
She's there, and she is yours.
Bur. I know no answer. 204
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?
Bur. Pardon me, royal sir; 208
Election makes not up on 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 213
To avert your liking a more worthier way
Than on a wretch whom nature is asham'd
Almost to acknowledge hers.
France. This is most strange, 216
That she, who 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 220
So many folds of favour. Sure, her offence
Must be of such unnatural degree
That monsters it, or your fore-vouch'd affection
Fall into taint; which to believe of her, 224
Must be a faith that reason without miracle
Could never plant in me.
Cor. I yet beseech your majesty—
If for I want that glib and oily art
To speak and purpose not; since what I well intend, 228
I'll do 't before I speak—that you make known
It is no vicious blot nor other foulness,
No unchaste action, or dishonour'd step,
That hath depriv'd 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 236
Hadst not been born than not to have pleas'd 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 is not love 241
When it is mingled with regards that stand
Aloof from the entire point. Will you have her?
She is herself a dowry.
Bur. Royal Lear, 244
Give but that portion which yourself propos'd,
And here I take Cordelia by the hand,
Duchess of Burgundy.
Lear. Nothing: I have sworn; I am firm. 248
Bur. I am sorry, then, you have so lost a father
That you must lose a husband.
Cor. Peace be with Burgundy!
Since that respects of fortune are his love,
I shall not be his wife. 252
France. Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich, being poor;
Most choice, forsaken; and most lov'd, despis'd!
Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon:
Be it lawful I take up what's cast away. 256
Gods, gods! 'tis strange that from their cold'st neglect
My love should kindle to inflam'd respect.
Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my chance,
Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France: 260
Not all the dukes of waterish Burgundy
Shall buy this unpriz'd precious maid of me.
Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind:
Thou losest here, a better where to find. 264
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. 268
Come, noble Burgundy.
Flourish. Exeunt [Lear, Burgundy, Cornwall, Albany, Gloucester, and Attendants.]
France. Bid farewell to your sisters.
Cor. The jewels of our father, with wash'd eyes
Cordelia leaves you: I know you what you are; 272
And like a sister am most loath to call
Your faults as they are nam'd. Use well our father:
To your professed bosoms I commit him:
But yet, alas! stood I within his grace, 276
I would prefer him to a better place.
So farewell to you both.
Reg. Prescribe not us our duties.
Gon. Let your study
Be to content your lord, who hath receiv'd you
At fortune's alms; you have obedience scanted,
And well are worth the want that you have wanted. 282
Cor. Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides;
Who covers faults, at last shame them derides.
Well may you prosper!
France. Come, my fair Cordelia.
Gon. Sister, it is not little I have to say of
what most nearly appertains to us both. I think
our father will hence to-night. 288
Reg. That's most certain, and with you;
next month with us.
Gon. 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.
Reg. 'Tis the infirmity of his age; yet he
hath ever but slenderly known himself. 297
Gon. The best and soundest of his time hath
been but rash; then, must we look to receive
from his age, not alone the imperfections of
long-engraffed condition, but, therewithal the
unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric
years bring with them. 303
Reg. Such unconstant starts are we like to
have from him as this of Kent's banishment.
Gon. There is further compliment of leave-
taking between France and him. Pray you, let
us hit together: if our father carry authority
with such dispositions as he bears, this last
surrender of his will but offend us. 310
Reg. We shall further think on 't.
Gon. We must do something, and i' the heat.
Scene Two
[Earl of Gloucester's Castle]
Enter Bastard [Edmund, with a letter.]
Edm. Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me, 4
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true, 8
As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?
Who in the lusty stealth of nature take
More composition and fierce quality 12
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops,
Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land: 16
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate. Fine word, 'legitimate!'
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base 20
Shall top the legitimate:—I grow, I prosper;
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!
Enter Gloucester.
Glo. Kent banished thus! And France in choler parted!
And the king gone to-night! subscrib'd his power! 24
Confin'd to exhibition! All this done
Upon the gad! Edmund, how now! what news?
Edm. So please your lordship, none.
Glo. Why so earnestly seek you to put up
that letter? 29
Edm. I know no news, my lord.
Glo. What paper were you reading?
Edm. Nothing, my lord. 32
Glo. No? What needed then that terrible
dispatch of it into your pocket? the quality of
nothing hath not such need to hide itself. Let's
see; come; if it be nothing, I shall not need
spectacles. 37
Edm. I beseech you, sir, pardon me; it is a
letter from my brother that I have not all o'er-
read, and for so much as I have perused, I find
it not fit for your o'er-looking. 41
Glo. Give me the letter, sir.
Edm. I shall offend, either to detain or give
it. The contents, as in part I understand them,
are to blame. 45
Glo. Let's see, let's see.
Edm. I hope, for my brother's justification,
he wrote this but as an essay or taste of my
virtue. 49
Glo. "This policy and reverence of age makes
the world bitter to the best of our times; keeps
our fortunes from us till our oldness cannot
relish them. I begin to find an idle and fond
bondage in the oppression of aged tyranny, who
sways, not as it hath power, but as it is suffered.
Come to me, that of this I may speak more. If
our father would sleep till I waked him, you
should enjoy half his revenue for ever, and live
the beloved of your brother, Edgar."—Hum!
Conspiracy! 'Sleep till I waked him, you should
enjoy half his revenue.'—My son Edgar! Had
he a hand to write this? a heart and brain to
breed it in? When came this to you? Who
brought it? 64
Edm. It was not brought me, my lord;
there's the cunning of it; I found it thrown in
at the casement of my closet.
Glo. You know the character to be your
brother's? 69
Edm. If the matter were good, my lord, I
durst swear it were his; but, in respect of that,
I would fain think it were not. 72
Glo. It is his.
Edm. It is his hand, my lord; but I hope his
heart is not in the contents.
Glo. Hath he never heretofore sounded you
in this business? 77
Edm. Never, my lord: but I have often heard
him maintain it to be fit that, sons at perfect
age, and fathers declined, the father should be
as ward to the son, and the son manage his
revenue. 82
Glo. O villain, villain! His very opinion in
the letter! Abhorred villain! Unnatural, de-
tested, brutish villain! worse than brutish! Go,
sirrah, seek him; I'll apprehend him. Abomin-
able villain! Where is he? 87
Edm. I do not well know, my lord. If it
shall please you to suspend your indignation
against my brother till you can derive from him
better testimony of his intent, you shall run a
certain course; where, if you violently proceed
against him, mistaking his purpose, it would
make a great gap in your own honour, and shake
in pieces the heart of his obedience. I dare
pawn down my life for him, that he hath writ
this to feel my affection to your honour, and to
no other pretence of danger. 98
Glo. Think you so?
Edm. If your honour judge it meet, I will
place you where you shall hear us confer of this,
and by an auricular assurance have your satis-
faction; and that without any further delay
than this very evening. 104
Glo. He cannot be such a monster—
[Edm. Nor is not, sure.
Glo.—to his father, that so tenderly and en-
tirely loves him. Heaven and earth!] Edmund,
seek him out; wind me into him, I pray you:
frame the business after your own wisdom. I
would unstate myself to be in a due resolution.
Edm. I will seek him, sir, presently; convey
the business as I shall find means, and acquaint
you withal. 114
Glo. These late eclipses in the sun and moon
portend no good to us: though the wisdom of
nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature
finds itself scourged by the sequent effects. Love
cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide: in
cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in palaces,
treason; and the bond cracked between son and
father. This villain of mine comes under the
prediction; there's son against father: the king
falls from bias of nature; there's father against
child. We have seen the best of our time:
machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all
ruinous disorders, follow us disquietly to our
graves. Find out this villain, Edmund; it shall
lose thee nothing: do it carefully. And the
noble and true-hearted Kent banished! his
offence, honesty! 'Tis strange! Exit.
Edm. This is the excellent foppery of the
world, that, when we are sick in fortune,—often
the surfeit of our own behaviour,—we make
guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and
the stars; as if we were villains by necessity,
fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves,
and treachers by spherical predominance,
drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced
obedience of planetary influence; and all that
we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on: an
admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay
his goatish disposition to the charge of a star!
My father compounded with my mother under
the dragon's tail, and my nativity was under
ursa major; so that it follows I am rough
and lecherous. 'Sfoot! I should have been that
I am had the maidenliest star in the firmament
twinkled on my bastardizing. Edgar— 149
Enter Edgar.
and pat he comes, like the catastrophe of the
old comedy: my cue is villainous melancholy,
with a sigh like Tom o' Bedlam. O, these
eclipses do portend these divisions! Fa, sol,
la, mi.
Edg. How now, brother Edmund! What
serious contemplation are you in? 156
Edm. I am thinking, brother, of a prediction
I read this other day, what should follow these
eclipses.
Edg. Do you busy yourself with that? 160
Edm. I promise you the effects he writes of
succeed unhappily; [as of unnaturalness between
the child and the parent; death, dearth, dissolu-
tions of ancient amities; divisions in state;
menaces and maledictions against king and
nobles; needless diffidences, banishment of
friends, dissipation of cohorts, nuptial breaches,
and I know not what. 168
Edg. How long have you been a sectary
astronomical?
Edm. Come, come;] when saw you my father
last? 172
Edg. The night gone by.
Edm. Spake you with him?
Edg. Ay, two hours together.
Edm. Parted you in good terms? Found
you no displeasure in him by word or counte-
nance?
Edg. None at all. 179
Edm. Bethink yourself wherein you may
have offended him; and at my entreaty forbear
his presence till some little time hath qualified
the heat of his displeasure, which at this instant
so rageth in him that with the mischief of your
person it would scarcely allay. 185
Edg. Some villain hath done me wrong.
Edm. That's my fear. I pray you have a
continent forbearance till the speed of his rage
goes slower, and, as I say, retire with me to my
lodging, from whence I will fitly bring you to
hear my lord speak. Pray you, go; there's my
key. If you do stir abroad, go armed. 192
Edg. Armed, brother!
Edm. Brother, I advise you to the best; go
armed; I am no honest man if there be any good
meaning toward you; I have told you what I
have seen and heard; but faintly, nothing like
the image and horror of it; pray you, away.
Edg. Shall I hear from you anon?
Edm. I do serve you in this business.200
A credulous father, and a brother noble,
Whose nature is so far from doing harms
That he suspects none; on whose foolish honesty
My practices ride easy! I see the business. 204
Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit:
All with me 's meet that I can fashion fit. Exit.
Scene Three
[Duke of Albany's Palace]
Enter Goneril, and [Oswald her] Steward.
Gon. Did my father strike my gentleman for
chiding of his fool?
Osw. Ay, madam.
Gon. By day and night he wrongs me; every hour 4
He flashes into one gross crime or other,
That sets us all at odds: I'll not endure it:
His knights grow riotous, and himself upbraids us
On every trifle. When he returns from hunting
I will not speak with him; say I am sick: 9
If you come slack of former services,
You shall do well; the fault of it I'll answer.
Osw. He's coming, madam; I hear him. 12
Gon. Put on what weary negligence you please,
You and your fellows; I'd have it come to question:
If he distaste it, let him to my sister,
Whose mind and mine, I know, in that are one, 16
[Not to be over-rul'd. Idle old man,
That still would manage those authorities
That he hath given away! Now, by my life,
Old fools are babes again, and must be us'd 20
With checks as flatteries, when they are seen abus'd.]
Remember what I have said.
Osw. Well, madam.
Gon. And let his knights have colder looks among you;
What grows of it, no matter; advise your fellows so: 24
I would breed from hence occasions, and I shall,
That I may speak: I'll write straight to my sister
To hold my very course. Prepare for dinner.
Scene Four
[The same]
Enter Kent [disguised.]
Kent. If but as well I other accents borrow,
That can my speech diffuse, my good intent
May carry through itself to that full issue
For which I raz'd my likeness. Now, banish'd Kent, 4
If thou canst serve where thou dost stand condemn'd,
So may it come, thy master, whom thou lov'st,
Shall find thee full of labours.
Horns within. Enter Lear, [Knights,] and Attendants.
Lear. Let me not stay a jot for dinner: go,
get it ready. [Exit an Attendant.] How now!
what art thou? 10
Kent. A man, sir.
Lear. What dost thou profess? What wouldst
thou with us?
Kent. I do profess to be no less than I seem;
to serve him truly that will put me in trust; to
love him that is honest; to converse with him
that is wise, and says little; to fear judgment; to
fight when I cannot choose; and to eat no fish.
Lear. What art thou? 19
Kent. A very honest-hearted fellow, and as
poor as the king.
Lear. If thou be as poor for a subject as he
is for a king, thou art poor enough. What
wouldst thou? 24
Kent. Service.
Lear. Whom wouldst thou serve?
Kent. You.
Lear. Dost thou know me, fellow? 28
Kent. No, sir; but you have that in your
countenance which I would fain call master.
Lear. What's that?
Kent. Authority. 32
Lear. What services canst thou do?
Kent. I can keep honest counsel, ride, run,
mar a curious tale in telling it, and deliver a
plain message bluntly; that which ordinary men
are fit for, I am qualified in, and the best of me
is diligence. 38
Lear. How old art thou?
Kent. Not so young, sir, to love a woman for
singing, nor so old to dote on her for any thing;
I have years on my back forty-eight. 42
Lear. Follow me; thou shalt serve me: if I
like thee no worse after dinner I will not part
from thee yet. Dinner, ho! dinner! Where's
my knave? my fool? Go you and call my fool
hither. [Exit an Attendant.]
Enter Steward [Oswald.]
You, you, sirrah, where's my daughter? 48
Osw. So please you,— [Exit.]
Lear. What says the fellow there? Call the
clotpoll back. [Exit a Knight.] Where's my
fool, ho? I think the world's asleep. How now!
where's that mongrel? 53
[Re-enter Knight.]
Knight. He says, my lord, your daughter is
not well.
Lear. Why came not the slave back to me
when I called him? 57
Knight. Sir, he answered me in the roundest
manner, he would not.
Lear. He would not! 60
Knight. My lord, I know not what the matter
is; but, to my judgment, your highness is not
entertained with that ceremonious affection as
you were wont; there's a great abatement of
kindness appears as well in the general de-
pendants as in the duke himself also and your
daughter.
Lear. Ha! sayest thou so? 68
Knight. I beseech you, pardon me, my lord,
if I be mistaken; for my duty cannot be silent
when I think your highness wronged. 71
Lear. Thou but rememberest me of mine
own conception: I have perceived a most faint
neglect of late; which I have rather blamed as
mine own jealous curiosity than as a very pre-
tence and purpose of unkindness: I will look
further into 't. But where's my fool? I have
not seen him this two days. 78
Knight. Since my young lady's going into
France, sir, the fool hath much pined him away.
Lear. No more of that; I have noted it well.
Go you and tell my daughter I would speak with
her. [Exit an Attendant.]
Go you, call hither my fool. [Exit an Attendant.]
Enter Steward [Oswald.]
O! you sir, you, come you hither, sir. Who am
I, sir? 86
Osw. My lady's father.
Lear. 'My lady's father!' my lord's knave:
you whoreson dog! you slave! you cur! 89
Osw. I am none of these, my lord; I beseech
your pardon.
Lear. Do you bandy looks with me, you
rascal? [Striking him.]
Osw. I'll not be struck, my lord. 94
Kent. Nor tripped neither, you base football
player. [Tripping up his heels.]
Lear. I thank thee, fellow; thou servest me,
and I'll love thee. 98
Kent. Come, sir, arise, away! I'll teach you
differences: away, away! If you will measure
your lubber's length again, tarry; but away!
Go to! have you wisdom? so.
Lear. Now, my friendly knave, I thank thee:
there's earnest of thy service. 104
Enter Fool.
Fool. Let me hire him too: here's my cox-
comb.
Lear. How now, my pretty knave! how dost
thou? 108
Fool. Sirrah, you were best take my coxcomb.
Kent. Why, fool?
Fool. Why? for taking one's part that's out
of favour. Nay, an thou canst not smile as the
winds sits, thou'lt catch cold shortly: there, take
my coxcomb. Why, this fellow has banished
two on 's daughters, and did the third a blessing
against his will: if thou follow him thou must
needs wear my coxcomb. How now, nuncle!
Would I had two coxcombs and two daughters!
Lear. Why, my boy? 119
Fool. If I gave them all my living, I'd keep
my coxcombs myself. There's mine; beg an-
other of thy daughters.
Lear. Take heed, sirrah; the whip. 123
Fool. Truth's a dog must to kennel; he must
be whipped out when Lady the brach may stand
by the fire and stink.
Lear. A pestilent gall to me!
Fool. Sirrah, I'll teach thee a speech. 128
Lear. Do.
Fool. Mark it, nuncle:—
Have more than thou showest, 132
Speak less than thou knowest,
Lend less than thou owest,
Ride more than thou goest,
Learn more than thou trowest, 136
Set less than thou throwest;
Leave thy drink and thy whore,
And keep in-a-door,
And thou shalt have more 140
Than two tens to a score.
Kent. This is nothing, fool.
Fool. Then 'tis like the breath of an unfee'd
lawyer, you gave me nothing for 't. Can you
make no use of nothing, nuncle? 145
Lear. Why, no, boy; nothing can be made
out of nothing.
Fool. [To Kent.] Prithee, tell him, so much
the rent of his land comes to: he will not be-
lieve a fool. 150
Lear. A bitter fool!
Fool. Dost thou know the difference, my boy,
between a bitter fool and a sweet fool? 153
Lear. No, lad; teach me.
Fool. [That lord that counsell'd thee
To give away thy land, 156
Come place him here by me,
Do thou for him stand:
The sweet and bitter fool
Will presently appear; 160
The one in motley here,
The other found out there.
Lear. Dost thou call me fool, boy?
Fool. All thy other titles thou hast given
away; that thou wast born with. 165
Kent. This is not altogether fool, my lord.
Fool. No, faith, lords and great men will not
let me; if I had a monopoly out, they would
have part on 't, and ladies too: they will not let
me have all fool to myself; they'll be snatching.]
Nuncle, give me an egg, and I'll give thee two
crowns. 172
Lear. What two crowns shall they be?
Fool. Why, after I have cut the egg i' the
middle and eat up the meat, the two crowns of
the egg. When thou clovest thy crown i' the
middle, and gavest away both parts, thou borest
thine ass on thy back o'er the dirt: thou hadst
little wit in thy bald crown when thou gavest
thy golden one away. If I speak like myself in
this, let him be whipped that first finds it so. 181
Fools had ne'er less grace in a year;
For wise men are grown foppish,
And know not how their wits to wear, 184
Their manners are so apish.
Lear. When were you wont to be so full of
songs, sirrah? 187
Fool. I have used it, nuncle, ever since thou
madest thy daughters thy mothers; for when
thou gavest them the rod and puttest down
thine own breeches,
Then they for sudden joy did weep, 192
And I for sorrow sung,
That such a king should play bo-peep,
And go the fools among. 195
Prithee, nuncle, keep a schoolmaster that can
teach thy fool to lie: I would fain learn to lie.
Lear. An you lie, sirrah, we'll have you
whipped. 199
Fool. I marvel what kin thou and thy
daughters are: they'll have me whipped for
speaking true, thou'lt have me whipped for
lying; and sometimes I am whipped for holding
my peace. I had rather be any kind o' thing
than a fool; and yet I would not be thee,
nuncle; thou hast pared thy wit o' both sides,
and left nothing i' the middle: here comes one o'
the parings. 208
Enter Goneril.
Lear. How now, daughter! what makes that
frontlet on? Methinks you are too much of
late i' the frown. 211
Fool. Thou wast a pretty fellow when thou
hadst no need to care for her frowning; now
thou art an O without a figure. I am better
than thou art now; I am a fool, thou art
nothing. [To Goneril.] Yes, forsooth, I will
hold my tongue; so your face bids me, though
you say nothing.
Mum, mum;
He that keeps nor crust nor crumb, 220
Weary of all, shall want some.
That's a shealed peascod. [Pointing to Lear.]
Gon. Not only, sir, this your all-licens'd fool,
But other of your insolent retinue 224
Do hourly carp and quarrel, breaking forth
In rank and not-to-be-endured riots. Sir,
I had thought, by making this well known unto you,
To have found a safe redress; but now grow fearful, 228
By what yourself too late have spoke and done,
That you protect this course, and put it on
By your allowance; which if you should, the fault
Would not 'scape censure, nor the redresses sleep, 232
Which, in the tender of a wholesome weal,
Might in their working do you that offence,
Which else were shame, that then necessity
Will call discreet proceeding. 236
Fool. For you trow, nuncle,
The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long,
That it had it head bit off by it young.
So out went the candle, and we were left darkling. 240
Lear. Are you our daughter?
Gon. I would you would make use of your good wisdom,
Whereof I know you are fraught; and put away
These dispositions which of late transform you
From what you rightly are. 245
Fool. May not an ass know when the cart
draws the horse? Whoop, Jug! I love thee.
Lear. Does any here know me? This is not Lear: 248
Does Lear walk thus? speak thus? Where are his eyes?
Either his notion weakens, his discernings
Are lethargied. Ha! waking? 'tis not so.
Who is it that can tell me who I am? 252
Fool. Lear's shadow.
[Lear. I would learn that; for, by the marks
of sovereignty, knowledge and reason, I should
be false persuaded I had daughters. 256
Fool. Which they will make an obedient
father.]
Lear. Your name, fair gentlewoman?
Gon. This admiration, sir, is much o' the favour 260
Of other your new pranks. I do beseech you
To understand my purposes aright:
As you are old and reverend, should be wise.
Here do you keep a hundred knights and squires; 264
Men so disorder'd, so debosh'd, and bold,
That this our court, infected with their manners,
Shows like a riotous inn: epicurism and lust
Make it more like a tavern or a brothel 268
Than a grac'd palace. The shame itself doth speak
For instant remedy; be then desir'd,
By her that else will take the thing she begs,
A little to disquantity your train; 272
And the remainder, that shall still depend,
To be such men as may besort your age,
Which know themselves and you.
Lear. Darkness and devils!
Saddle my horses; call my train together. 276
Degenerate bastard! I'll not trouble thee:
Yet have I left a daughter.
Gon. You strike my people, and your disorder'd rabble
Make servants of their betters. 280
Enter Albany.
Lear. Woe, that too late repents;
[To Albany.] O! sir, are you come?
Is it your will? Speak, sir. Prepare my horses.
Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend,
More hideous, when thou show'st thee in a child,
Than the sea-monster.
Alb. Pray, sir, be patient. 285
Lear. [To Goneril.] Detested kite! thou liest:
My train are men of choice and rarest parts,
That all particulars of duty know, 288
And in the most exact regard support
The worships of their name. O most small fault,
How ugly didst thou in Cordelia show!
Which, like an engine, wrench'd my frame of nature 292
From the fix'd place, drew from my heart all love,
And added to the gall. O Lear, Lear, Lear!
Beat at this gate, that let thy folly in, 295
[Striking his head.]
And thy dear judgment out! Go, go, my people.
Alb. My lord, I am guiltless, as I am ignorant
Of what hath mov'd you.
Lear. It may be so, my lord.
Hear, Nature, hear! dear goddess, hear!
Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend 300
To make this creature fruitful!
Into her womb convey sterility!
Dry up in her the organs of increase,
And from her derogate body never spring 304
A babe to honour her! If she must teem,
Create her child of spleen, that it may live
And be a thwart disnatur'd torment to her!
Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth, 308
With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks,
Turn all her mother's pains and benefits
To laughter and contempt, that she may feel
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is 312
To have a thankless child! Away, away! Exit.
Alb. Now, gods that we adore, whereof comes this?
Gon. Never afflict yourself to know the cause;
But let his disposition have that scope 316
That dotage gives it.
Enter Lear.
Lear. What! fifty of my followers at a clap,
Within a fortnight?
Alb. What's the matter, sir?
Lear. I'll tell thee. [To Goneril.] Life and death! I am asham'd 320
That thou hast power to shake my manhood thus,
That these hot tears, which break from me perforce,
Should make thee worth them. Blasts and fogs upon thee!
Th' untented woundings of a father's curse 324
Pierce every sense about thee! Old fond eyes,
Beweep this cause again, I'll pluck ye out,
And cast you, with the waters that you lose,
To temper clay. Yea, is it come to this? 328
Let it be so: I have another daughter,
Who, I am sure, is kind and comfortable:
When she shall hear this of thee, with her nails
She'll flay thy wolvish visage. Thou shalt find
That I'll resume the shape which thou dost think 333
I have cast off for ever; thou shalt, I warrant thee.
Gon. Do you mark that?
Alb. I cannot be so partial, Goneril, 336
To the great love I bear you,—
Gon. Pray you, content. What, Oswald, ho!
[To the Fool.] You, sir, more knave than fool, after your master.
Fool. Nuncle Lear, nuncle Lear! tarry, and
take the fool with thee. 341
A fox, when one has caught her,
And such a daughter,
Should sure to the slaughter, 344
If my cap would buy a halter;
So the fool follows after. Exit.
Gon. This man hath had good counsel. A hundred knights!
'Tis politic and safe to let him keep 348
At point a hundred knights; yes, that on every dream,
Each buzz, each fancy, each complaint, dislike,
He may enguard his dotage with their powers,
And hold our lives in mercy. Oswald, I say! 352
Alb. Well, you may fear too far.
Gon. Safer than trust too far.
Let me still take away the harms I fear,
Not fear still to be taken: I know his heart.
What he hath utter'd I have writ my sister; 356
If she sustain him and his hundred knights,
When I have show'd the unfitness,—
Enter Oswald.
How now, Oswald!
What! have you writ that letter to my sister?
Osw. Ay, madam. 360
Gon. Take you some company, and away to horse;
Inform her full of my particular fear;
And thereto add such reasons of your own
As may compact it more. Get you gone, 364
And hasten your return. [Exit Oswald.] No, no, my lord,
This milky gentleness and course of yours
Though I condemn not, yet, under pardon,
You are much more attask'd for want of wisdom 368
Than prais'd for harmful mildness.
Alb. How far your eyes may pierce I cannot tell:
Striving to better, oft we mar what's well.
Gon. Nay, then— 372
Alb. Well, well; the event. Exeunt.
Scene Five
[Near Albany's Palace]
Enter Lear, Kent, and Fool.
Lear. Go you before to Gloucester with these
letters. Acquaint my daughter no further with
any thing you know than comes from her
demand out of the letter. If your diligence be
not speedy I shall be there before you. 5
Kent. I will not sleep, my lord, till I have
delivered your letter. Exit.
Fool. If a man's brains were in 's heels, were 't
not in danger of kibes? 9
Lear. Ay, boy.
Fool. Then, I prithee, be merry; thy wit shall
not go slip-shod. 12
Lear. Ha, ha, ha!
Fool. Shalt see thy other daughter will use
thee kindly; for though she's as like this as a
crab is like an apple, yet I can tell what I can
tell. 17
Lear. What canst tell, boy?
Fool. She will taste as like this as a crab does
to a crab. Thou canst tell why one's nose
stands i' the middle on's face? 21
Lear. No.
Fool. Why, to keep one's eyes of either side's
nose, that what a man cannot smell out, he
may spy into. 25
Lear. I did her wrong,—
Fool. Canst tell how an oyster makes his
shell? 28
Lear. No.
Fool. Nor I neither; but I can tell why a
snail has a house.
Lear. Why? 32
Fool. Why, to put his head in; not to give
it away to his daughters, and leave his horns
without a case.
Lear. I will forget my nature. So kind a
father! Be my horses ready? 37
Fool. Thy asses are gone about 'em. The
reason why the seven stars are no more than
seven is a pretty reason. 40
Lear. Because they are not eight?
Fool. Yes, indeed: thou wouldst make a good
fool.
Lear. To take it again perforce! Monster in-
gratitude! 45
Fool. If thou wert my fool, nuncle, I'd have
thee beaten for being old before thy time.
Lear. How's that? 48
Fool. Thou shouldst not have been old before
thou hadst been wise.
Lear. O! let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven;
Keep me in temper; I would not be mad! 52
[Enter Gentleman.]
How now! Are the horses ready?
Gent. Ready, my lord.
Lear. Come, boy.
Fool. She that's a maid now, and laughs at my departure, 56
Shall not be a maid long, unless things be cut shorter.
Footnotes to Act I
Scene One
1 affected: loved
6 curiosity: scrupulous examination
7 moiety: share
11 brazed: hardened
18 proper: handsome
20 some year: about a year
31 sue: beg
33 study deserving: try to be worthy
34 out: out of the kingdom
35 S. d. Sennet: notes on a trumpet
38 darker: more secret
40 fast intent: fixed purpose
47 prevented: forestalled
52 Interest: legal title
55 nature; cf. n.
58 space: the external world
62 unable: impotent
71 self: same
76 square; cf. n.
77 felicitate: made happy
83 validity: value
86 milk: pasture land
87 interess'd: given a share
95 bond: obligation of duty
103 plight: pledge
112 Hecate: goddess of witchcraft
113 operation: planetary influence
116 property of blood: kinship
119 generation: children
125 set my rest: stake my all (figure from a game)
126 nursery: nursing
130 digest: assimilate
131 marry: find a husband
133 effects: outward marks of royalty
134 troop with: follow in the train of
138 addition: title, marks of distinction
151 state; cf. n.
156 Reverbs: re-echoes
158 wage: stake
160 still: always
161 blank: white spot in centre of target
175 made good: proved by this decree
177 diseases: slight vexations, dis-eases
183 sith: since
187 approve: make good
190 course; cf. n.
S. d. Flourish: music of horns
194 in the least: at least
198 tender: offer
205 owes: owns
209 Election, etc.: I cannot choose
218 argument: subject
219 trice: moment
223 monsters: makes monstrous
228 speak and purpose not: speak deceitfully
251 respects: considerations
262 unpriz'd: invaluable (?)
263 unkind: unnatural
264 a better where: a better place
268 benison: blessing
271 wash'd; cf. n.
275 bosoms: affections
282 want; cf. n.
283 plighted: folded
295 grossly: obviously
298 time: years
301 engrafted condition: implanted temperament
304 starts: fits of temper
306 compliment of: ceremonious
308 hit: agree
310 offend: harm
Scene Two
3 plague: snare
4 curiosity: pedantry
6 Lag of: behind
14 fops: fools
19 speed: succeed
24 subscrib'd: transferred
25 exhibition: allowance, maintenance
26 gad: spur
48 essay: trial
50 policy and reverence of: policy of revering
53 fond: foolish
67 closet: room
68 character: handwriting
72 fain: gladly
84 detested: detestable
98 pretence: intention
109 wind me into him; cf. n.
111 unstate myself: give all I am and have
due resolution: proper certainty
145 dragon's tail; cf. n.
147 'Sfoot: God's foot!
153 Fa; cf. n.
166 diffidences: suspicions
169 sectary astronomical: member of the astronomical sect
184 mischief: harm
188 continent: temperate
198 image and horror: horrible image
204 practices: treacherous plots
Scene Three
14 question: discussion
17 Idle: foolish
21 abus'd; cf. n.
22 Well: like French 'bien'
Scene Four
2 diffuse: disguise
3 carry through: accomplish
issue: conclusion
4 raz'd: erased
12 dost . . . profess: is thy profession
18 fish; cf. n.
51 clotpoll: blockhead
75 jealous curiosity: suspicious punctiliousness
92 bandy: an expression from the game of tennis
95 football; cf. n.
100 differences: disagreements, quibbles
104 earnest: advance wages
105 coxcomb: fool's cap
112 an: if
115 on 's: of his
117 nuncle: mine uncle
125 brach: hunting-bitch
127 gall; cf. n.
135 goest: walkest
136 trowest: knowest; cf. n.
137 Set . . . throwest: stake less than you throw to win
168 monopoly out; cf. n.
210 frontlet: forehead-band, i.e., frown
214 an O without a figure: a mere cipher
222 shealed peascod: empty peapod
230 protect: authorize
put . . . on: encourage
231 allowance: approval
233 tender: care
weal: commonwealth
239 it: its
240 darkling: in the dark
243 fraught: stored
247 Jug; cf. n.
250 notion: understanding
257 Which they: who
260 admiration: sign of wonder
265 disorder'd: disorderly
debosh'd: debauched
272 disquantity: reduce
273 depend: remain dependants
274 besort: befit
290 worships: dignity
292 engine: the rack
304 derogate: degraded
307 thwart: perverted
disnatur'd: unnatural
309 cadent: falling
324 untented: unsearchable
326 Beweep: if you weep for
328 temper: soften
330 comfortable: comforting
349 At point: in readiness
364 compact: strengthen
366 gentleness and course: gentleness of your course
368 attask'd: blamed
373 the event: the outcome (will show)
Scene Five
9 kibes: chilblains
15 kindly: pun, with double meaning of 'gently' and 'naturally'
16 crab: crabapple
52 temper: mental sanity