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,

CORDELIA, and Attendants.

REGAN,

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. Sennet] F, coronet] Q, omitted F.

one . .

Glou. I shall, my liege.

35

[Exeunt Gloucester and Edmund.

Lear. Meantime, we shall express our darker purpose.

Give me the map there.

divided

Know that we have

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.

Cornwall,

Our son of

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. 40. Conferring] F, confirming Q; strengths] F, years Q. 40-45. while now] F, omitted Q. 45. The princes] F, the two great Princes Q. 49, 50. Since . . . state] F, omitted Q. intention. For "fast" in this sense, see Coriolanus, II. iii. 192:

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

"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.

Interest of territory, cares of state,

Which of you shall we say doth love us most?

.

50

That we our largest bounty may extend
Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril,
Our eldest-born, speak first.

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

matter;

Dearer than eye-sight, space and liberty;

Beyond what can be valued rich or rare;

55

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

honour;

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.

60

56. and] F, or Q. 59.

53. Where . . . challenge] F, Where merit doth most challenge it Q. 55. do] Q, omitted F; words] Q, word F. much as] F, much a Q; found] F, friend Q.

50. Interest] possession, the present legal sense, compare "interess'd," line 85. See also 2 Henry VI. III. i. 84:

"All your interest in those territories Is utterly bereft you."

53. Where... challenge] Steevens explains, "Where the claims of merit are superadded to that of nature, i.e. birth. Challenge, to make title to, to claim as one's right." So 3 Henry VI. III. ii. 86: "All her perfections challenge sovereignty."

55. Sir... matter] more than I can express in words. Compare the sense of "handle the theme," Titus Andronicus, III. ii. 29; see also Richard III. III. vii. 19. Capell conjectured "yield the matter," reading and arranging, "Sir, I do love you Far more than words can wield the matter love you."

Cor. [Aside.] What shall Cordelia do?

silent.

Love, and be

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, 65 We make thee lady: to thine and Albany's issue Be this perpetual. What says our second daughter, 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 70
I find she names my very deed of love;

62. Aside] Pope;

owy] F, shady Q. issue] Q, issues F.

omitted Q, F.

62. do] Q, speake F.

64. shad

66.

64, 65. and with rivers] F, omitted Q. 68. to] Q, of F; Speak] Q, omitted F. 69. I am] F, Sir I am Q; that self metal] F (hyphened), the selfe same mettall Q; as my sister] F, that my sister is Q. 70. worth... heart] F, worth in ... heart, (comma after heart) Q, worth in . . . heart. Theobald (Bishop, conject.).

62. do] so Q, speak F. It is rather curious to have these rival readings “do” and "speak" when the two same words come into the text later "I'll do 't before I speak," line 227 this scene, and again "leaves the history unspoke that it intends to do," lines 237, 238. Did Shakespeare first write "do," and then, seeing that doing was Cordelia's forte, speaking her difficulty, did he make her consider the more difficult point?

64. shadowy] shady. See "this shadowy desert," Two Gentlemen of Verona, v. iv. 2, and "shadow" substantive; As You Like It, IV. i. 222: "I'll go find a shadow, and sigh till he come"; also North's Plutarch's Lives (Life of Caius Marius), ed. 1595, p. 462: "A country shadowed altogether with woods and trees."

64. champains] plains, open country, not hilly or wooded. See Twelfth Night, II. v. 174; Lucrece, 1247. The forms champian and champion are rather more common. Furness quotes Florio's Italian Dictionary, Campagna,

a field or a champaine. See also
Cavendish, First Voyage, 1587:"which
river hath a very good and pleasant
ground about it, and it is low and cham-
paign soil." Payne, Voyages of Eliza-
bethan Seamen, 1880, 266.
p.
64. rich'd] enriched.

65. wide-skirted] extensive, far extended. Compare wide-stretched honours, Henry V. 11. iv. 82.

69. self] same, as in Iv. iii. 34, "self mate and make." See also the Comedy of Errors, v. i. 10, "that self chain about his neck," and North's Plutarch's Lives (Tiberius and Caius), ed. 1595, p. 865: "They had both authoritie in one selfe time."

70. And prize. . . worth] estimate myself her equal in the amount of my affection for you. So Troilus and Cressida, IV. iv. 136: "To her own worth She shall be priz'd"; or can it mean I estimate my love as equal to her's?

71. she names... love] she exactly, really, and truly describes my love. Delius explains deed of love as "the formal legal definition of love."

Only she comes too short: that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys

Which the most precious square of sense possesses,

And find I am alone felicitate

In your dear highness' love.

Cor. [Aside.]

75

Then poor Cordelia !

And yet not so; since I am sure my love's
More ponderous than 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 Goneril.

Now, our joy,

80

Although the last, not least; to whose young love

72. comes too short] F, came short Q. 74. possesses], professes F. 76. Aside] Pope; omitted Q, F. 78. ponderous] F, richer Q. 82. conferr'd] F, confirm'd Q; Now] F, but now Q. 83. the last, not] Q, our last and F, our last, not Pope; least . . . love] F, least in our deere love, Q.

72. that] in that.

74. square of sense] sense absolute, sense in its perfection. This meaning is well illustrated in a passage from a little poem found in Bodenham's Belvedere, 1600; Spenser Society Reprint, P. 73:

"Councell and good advise is wisdom's square

And most availling to the life of man. Wright explains the whole phrase, "the most delicately sensitive part of my nature"; Moberly, "the choicest estimate of sense," comparing Troilus and Cressida, v. ii. 133: "To square the general sex By Cressid's rule."

75. felicitate] made happy; compare suffocate for suffocated, Troilus and Cressida, 1. iii. 125.

78. ponderous] Perhaps this word is suggested by Regan's "self metal," gold, but only the gold of words. Cordelia cannot produce golden words,