whether that is not his son. Gloucester says
that he has often blushed to acknowledge the young man as his son, but
has now ceased doing so. Kent says he "can not conceive him." Then
Gloucester in the presence of this son of his says: "The fellow's mother
could, and grew round-wombed, and had a son for her cradle ere she had a
husband for her bed." "I have another, a legitimate son," continues
Gloucester, "but altho this one came into the world before he was sent
for, his mother was fair and there was good sport at his making, and
therefore I acknowledge this one also."

Such is the introduction. Not to mention the coarseness of these words
of Gloucester, they are, farther, out of place in the mouth of a person
intended to represent a noble character. One can not agree with the
opinion of some critics that these words are given to Gloucester in
order to show the contempt for his illegitimacy from which Edmund
suffers. Were this so, it would first have been unnecessary to make the
father express the contempt felt by men in general, and, secondly,
Edmund, in his monolog about the injustice of those who despise him for
his birth, would have mentioned such words from his father. But this is
not so, and therefore these words of Gloucester at the very beginning of
the piece, were merely intended as a communication to the public--in a
humorous form--of the fact that Gloucester has a legitimate son and an
illegitimate one.

After this, trumpets are blown, and King Lear enters with his daughters
and sons-in-law, and utters a speech to the effect that, owing to old
age, he wishes to retire from the cares of business and divide his
kingdom between his daughters. In order to know how much he should give
to each daughter, he announces that to the one who says she loves him
most he will give most. The eldest daughter, Goneril, says that words
can not express the extent of her love, that she loves her father more
than eyesight, space, and liberty, loves him so much that it "makes her
breath poor." King Lear immediately allots his daughter on the map, her
portion of fields, woods, rivers, and meadows, and asks the same
question of the second daughter. The second daughter, Regan, says that
her sister has correctly expressed her own feelings, only not strongly
enough. She, Regan, loves her father so much that everything is
abhorrent to her except his love. The king rewards this daughter, also,
and then asks his youngest, the favorite,