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 diseases of the world;

175

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.

180

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,

F.

maid,

171. betwixt] F, between Q; sentence] Q, sentences F. 173. made] QI, F; make Q 2, Q 3. 174. Five] F, Foure Q. 175. diseases] Q, disasters 176. sixth] (sixt) F, fift Q. 181. Fare] F, Why fare Q; sith thus] F, since thus Q1, since (thus omitted) Q 2, Q 3. 182. Freedom] F, Friendship Q. 183. To Cordelia] Hanmer, omitted Q, F; dear shelter] F, protection Q; thee, maid] F (without comma) the maid Q.

"

173. Our potency reward] Malone explains 'as a proof that Ĩ am not a mere threatener, that I have power as well as will to punish, take the due reward of thy demerits ; could it mean "you want me to take back my power. Well I do, and you must take the consequences"? Pope followed "make good" of Quarto 2, which Boswell, who also reads it, explains thus: "As thou hast come with unreasonable pride between the sentence which I had passed and the power by which I shall execute it, take thy reward in another sentence which shall make good, shall establish, that power."

175. diseases] inconveniences. Compare to disease, to trouble, Coriolanus, 1. iii. 117: as she now is, she will

That justly think'st and hast most rightly said! [To Goneril and Regan.] And your large speeches may your deeds approve,

185

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. Re-enter GLOUCESTER, with FRANCE,
BURGUNDY, and Attendants.

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

Bur.

Lear.

190

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?

Most royal majesty,

I crave no more than what your highness offer'd, 195
Nor will you tender less.

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:

184. justly] F, rightly Q; think'st] F, thinks Q; hast] Q 1, F, hath Q 2; rightly] F, justly Q. 185. To Goneril and Regan] Hanmer, omitted Q, F; And. speeches] Q, F, And you, large speechers, Capell. 188. Exit] F, omitted Q. 190. of]Q 1, F, or Q 2. 191. toward] F, towards Q; this] F, a Q. 194. Most] F, omitted Q. 195. what] Q, hath F.

...

188. shape new] to shape the course, to proceed, advance, like "make thy way," v. iii. 29. So Marlow, Edward II. IV. v. 3: "Shape we our course to Ireland." Kent means that he will, in a foreign land, pursue his old way of speaking the plain truth, fearless of consequences.

188. Flourish] a blast of trumpets

or horns, to herald the approach of great persons. So Richard ÏII. IV. iv. 148: "A flourish, trumpets! strike alarum, drums!" See note to Sennet, line 33 of this scene.

192. rivall'd] been a rival, a competitor.

197. hold her so] hold her on the terms you mention.

Bur.

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.

200

I know no answer.

Lear. Will you, with those infirmities she owes,

Bur.

204

Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,
Dower'd with our curse and stranger'd with our oath,
Take her, or leave her?

Pardon me, royal sir;

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.

great king,

[To France.] For you,

199. little-seeming] Collier ed. 2 (S. Walker conject.); unhyphened Q, F. 201. more] F, else Q. 203. Will F, Sir, will Q.

205. Dower'd] F, Covered Q. 207. up on] Q, up in F. 209. To France] Pope; omitted Q, F.

199. that substance] Some see in this expression a reference to the size of Cordelia, "that substance which is but little in appearance" (Wright). Johnson explains "seeming" as beautiful, Steevens as "specious." Moberly explains "her nature, which seems so slight and shallow"; but can it be that Lear refers ironically to Cordelia's blunt professions of sincerity which she had just contrasted with her sister's alleged insincerity? "If aught within this daughter," he may mean, "who is substance with small speciousness. Cordelia professes to be all reality and no pretence. "If you like this, take it, and nothing else except my displeasure attached to it.

203. owes] owns. See 1. iv. 120. 207. Election up] I will not select her, choose her for my wife. See Cymbeline, 1. ii. 30: "if it be a sin to make a true election (i.e. to choose a good husband) she is damned." Makes not up" is explained by Johnson as comes not forward,

makes not advances."

Malone explains, comes not to a decision."

207. on such conditions] "with such qualities," Schmidt, Zur Textkritik, p. 14. See Henry V. IV. i. 108: "all his senses have but human conditions." In his Shakespeare Lexicon, Schmidt had perhaps rightly explained it "on such terms. Palsgrave in his Lesclarcissement defines 66 'condyciouns, grace] may please maners," by the Old French "meurs."

200. pieced] attached to it, in addition to it. See Coriolanus, II. iii. 220, and compare 66 piece out, III. vi. 2 of this play.

دو

I would not from your love make such a stray 210
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.

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.

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

Should never plant in me.

215. she, that] Q, she whom F, she who F 2; best] Q, omitted F. Most best, most] Q, The best, the F. affection] F, for voucht affections Q. Should] F, Could Q.

Cor.

Lear.

I yet beseech your majesty,

(If for I want that glib and oily art

225

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, 230
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.

Better thou

Hadst not been born than not to have pleased 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,

Love's not love

What say you to the lady?

235

228.

226. well] Q, will F. 227. make known] F, may know Q. murder or,]Q, F; nor other Singer (Collier MS.). 229. unchaste] F, uncleane Q. 231. richer] F, rich Q. 232. still-soliciting] hyphened Theobald. 233. That] F, As Q. 234. Better] F, Go to, go to, better Q. this?] F, no more but this, Q. 237. Which] F, That Q. 239. Love's] F, Love is, Q.

225. If for] if it (my fault) is for, i.e. because; or if (you are enraged at me) because I am without, have none of it.

228. murder or] It is quite unnecessary to follow Collier's "nor other foulness." Cordelia, with a touch of scorn, mentions the most extreme vices she can think of. With the plain speaking so characteristic of her, she says, "I have not been discarded and so upbraided because I am a murderess, or a wanton."

236. but

237. history] Schmidt explains as "communication of what is in the heart or inner life of man," comparing Measure for Measure, I. i. 29; Richard III. III. v. 28; Sonnet xciii. 8.

239. What say you to] how like you; will you take, see line 241. A phrase of invitation, as in Taming of the Shrew, IV. iii. 17, Grumio asks Katharina, "What say you to a neat's foot"; see also lines 20 and 23 of the same scene.