King Lear
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
1 affected: loved
6 curiosity: scrupulous examination
7 moiety: share
11 brazed: hardened
18 proper: handsome
20 some year: about a year
