Knights of Lear's train, Officers, Messengers, Soldiers, and

Attendants.

SCENE: Britain.

2

THE TRAGEDY

OF

KING LEAR

ACT I

SCENE I.-A State Room in King Lear's Palace.

Enter KENT, GLOUCESTER, and EDMUND.

Kent. I thought the king had more affected the
Duke of Albany than Cornwall.

Glou. 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 equalities are
A... Palace] Capell; omitted Q, F. Edmund] F, Bastara Q. 4.
kingdom] F, kingdomes Q. 5. equalities] Q, qualities F.

1. had... affected] had more liking, more regard for. See 1 Henry VI. V. v. 57.

2. Albany] Holinshed tells us that Albany extended "from the river Humber to the point of Caithness. Albanacte, the youngest son of Brutus, who owned it, gave his name to it. Holinshed also says that in his time only "a small portion of the region, under the regiment of a duke, reteyneth the sayd denomination, the rest being called Scotland."

5

so weighed that curiosity in neither can make

choice of either's moiety.

Kent. Is not this your son, my lord?

Glou. His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I
have so often blushed to acknowledge him,

that now I am brazed to it.

Kent. I cannot conceive you.

Glou. Sir, this young fellow's mother could; where-
upon 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?

Kent. I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of
it being so proper.

Glou. But I have a son, sir, by order of law, some
year older than this, who yet is no dearer in my

II. to it] Q, too't F. son, sir] F, sir a son Q.

14. round-wombed] unhyphened Q, F.

6,7. that... moiety] That the most careful scrutiny of either share could not induce either of the dukes to prefer his fellow's portion to his

own.

6. curiosity] the most minute and
scrupulous attention or examination.
See scene ii. line 4, also scene iv.
line 76 of this Act; also Timon of
Athens, iv. iii. 303, and Ascham,
Toxophilus, Arber, p. 147:
"A man
must not go too hastily to it (shooting
with the bow), for that is rashness,
nor yet make too much to do about
it, for that is curiositie." See Baret,
Alvearie, 1580: "Curiositie, piked (i.e.
picked) diligence"; also see Webster,
The Devil's Law Case, iii. 3: "A pre-
cise curiosity has undone me."

7. moiety] Here, as elsewhere in
Shakespeare, any portion, though the
literal meaning is the exact half, in
which sense he also uses it. See All's
Well, III. ii. 69, and elsewhere. For

ΙΟ

15

20

19. a

account: though this knave came something 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 gentleman, Edmund ? 25 Edm. No, my lord.

Glou. My Lord of Kent: remember him hereafter as my honourable friend.

Edm. My services to your lordship.

Kent. I must love you, and sue to know you better.
Edm. Sir, I shall study deserving.

Glou. He hath been out nine years, and away he shall again. The king is coming.

Sennet.

Enter one bearing a coronet, KING LEAR, CORNWALL, ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN, CORDELIA, and Attendants.

30

Lear. Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester.

22. into] Q, to F. Sound a Sennet Q.

26 Edm.] F, Bast Q and throughout. Semnet] F, one ... coronet] Q, omitted F.

Put forth their sons to seek preferment out:

Some to the wars, to try their fortune there."

33. Sennet] a particular set of notes on the trumpet or cornet, sounded at the entrance or exit of a company or procession. It is distinct from a flourish. See Marston, Antonio and Mellida, i. I: "The Cornets sound a sennet, Enter below Galeatzo. Piero meeteth him, they embrace, at which the cornets sound a flourish."

34. Attend] wait on them, usher into our presence.

Glou. I shall, my liege.

35

[Exeunt Gloucester and 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,
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we 40
Unburden'd crawl toward death. Our son of

Cornwall,

And you, our no less loving son of Albany,
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,

45

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,

35. liege] Q, lord F. Exeunt . . . Edmund] Capell, Exit F, omitted Q. 36. we shall] F, we will Q; purpose] F, purposes Q. 37. Give... there] F, the map there Q; Know that] F, Know Q. 38. fast] F, first Q. 39. from our age] F, of our state Q. F, years Q. 40-45. while F, the two great Princes Q.

40. Conferring] F, confirming Q; strengths] now] F, omitted Q. 45. The princes] 49, 50. Since . . . state] F, omitted Q.

36. our darker purpose] our more secret intention, design. Johnson thus paraphrases: "We have already made known in some measure our design of parting the kingdom, we will now discover what has not been told before, the reasons by which we shall regulate the partition."

38. fast intent] fixed, unalterable

intention. For "fast" in this sense, see Coriolanus, II. iii. 192:

"If he should still malignantly remain

Fast foe to the plebeii. 43. constant will] fixed, determined purpose, resolve, or wish, pleasure. Cp. the Latin phrase, certa voluntas. See also v. i.4,"constant pleasure," and the sense of constant in Hamlet, v. ii. 208.