[125] On some of the points mentioned in this paragraph see [Note S].

[126]

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

Glos. 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 (Gloster goes on to say) their shares are exactly equal in value. And if the shares of the two elder daughters are fixed, obviously that of the third is so too.

[127]

I loved her most, and thought to set my rest
On her kind nursery.

[128] It is to Lear's altered plan that Kent applies these words.

[129] There is talk of a war between Goneril and Regan within a fortnight of the division of the kingdom (ii. i. 11 f.).

[130] I mean that no sufficiently clear reason is supplied for Edmund's delay in attempting to save Cordelia and Lear. The matter stands thus. Edmund, after the defeat of the opposing army, sends Lear and Cordelia to prison. Then, in accordance with a plan agreed on between himself and Goneril, he despatches a captain with secret orders to put them both to death instantly (v. iii. 26-37, 244, 252). He then has to fight with the disguised Edgar. He is mortally wounded, and, as he lies dying, he says to Edgar (at line 162, more than a hundred lines after he gave that commission to the captain):