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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

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

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!

[Lays his hand on his sword.]

Alb., Corn. Dear sir, forbear!

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!

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

To come between 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,

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.

Kent. Fare thee well, King. Since thus thou wilt appear,

Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.

[To Cordelia] The gods to their dear shelter take thee,

maid,

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.

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.

Glou. Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord.

Lear. My Lord of Burgundy,

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,

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.

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.

Lear. Will you, with those infirmities she owes,

Unfriended, new adopted to our hate,

Dow'r'd with our curse, and stranger'd with our oath,

Take her, or leave her?

Bur. Pardon me, royal sir.

Election makes not up on such conditions.

Lear. Then leave her, sir; for, by the pow'r 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

T' avert your liking a more worthier way

Than on a wretch whom nature is asham'd

Almost t' acknowledge hers.

France. This is most strange,

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. Sure her offence

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.

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,

I'll do't before I speak- that you make known

It is no vicious blot, murther, or foulness,

No unchaste action or dishonoured 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

As I am glad I have not, though not