King Lear

Lear (or Leir as it appears in the Holinshed's Chronicle) was a son of Bladud, King of Britain, and succeeded him on the throne. He built on the river Sore a city, called in the British tongue Kaelier, and in the Saxon Leircestre (or Leicester). He died about 800 years B.C., without a male heir, but left three daughters, Gonorilla, Regan, and Cordeilla, of whom he was dotingly fond, especially the youngest. When he grew old, he determined to divide the kingdom among his children and marry them off. So he asked his daughters which of them loved him most. Gonorilla answered that she "called heaven to witness, she loved him more than her own soul;" Regan, seeing that this flattered the old man, answered in like manner that she "could not otherwise express her thoughts, but that she loved him above all creatures." Cordeilla, to test him, answered, "My father, is there any daughter who can love her father more than duty requires? In my opinion, whatever pretends to it must disguise her real sentiments under a veil of flattery. I have always loved you as a father, nor do I yet depart from my purposed duty; and if you insist to have something more extorted from me, hear now the greatness of my affection, which I always bear you, and take this for a short answer to all your questions; look how much you have, so much is your value, and so much do I love you." The father, presuming that she was as mercenary as her reply made her appear, grew very angry and cut her off with nothing, while he gave to each of her sisters one-half of the island and the Dukes of Cornwall and Albania for husbands. Nevertheless, the fame of Cordeilla's beauty was so great that Aganippus, King of the Franks, sought her hand in marriage in spite of her lack of dower. A long time after, Lear's two ducal sons-in-law fostered an insurrection against him, and deprived him of all his possessions and the insignia of his power. Then it was agreed that he should be given his maintenance and a small retinue of soldiers; but the greed of his daughters and of their husbands by degrees reduced his attendants to one, and Gonorilla reproached him even then for allowing his thoughts to dwell upon the pomp and vanities at his advanced age and in his poverty-stricken state. This almost broke the old man's heart; he betook himself at last, with some misgivings, to his despised daughter Cordeilla. She received him with open arms, and supplied him with royal apparel, a proper retinue and an abundance of money. Aganippus, her husband, then raised an army in Gaul, with which he swept Britain, and seated Lear once more on the throne. Lear died the third year after, and was buried by Cordeilla in a vault made for him under the Sore, in Leicester, on a site dedicated to the honor of the god Janus. It was here that all the workmen of the city, on the anniversary of that deity's special festival, began their yearly labors.

Shakespeare's Lear, written in his best years, published in 1608, is by many considered his sublimest work. This play compounded out of similar elements with others on the same theme stands preeminently first. His work has a few names, situations and incidents in common with others; but in everything else it is all his own. He discovered or created a new world and within its circle none walk but he.