Page 1796 - Shakespeare - Vol. 3

If thou canst serve where thou dost stand condemn’d, [5]
So may it come, thy master, whom thou lov’st,
Shall find thee full of labours.

(Horns within.) Enter Lear, Knights, and Attendants.

LEAR
Let me not stay a jot for dinner: go, get it ready.

(Exit an Attendant.)
How now! what art thou?

KENT
A man, Sir. [10]

LEAR
What dost thou profess? What would’st thou with us?

KENT
I do profess to be no less than I seem; to serve him truly that will put me in
trust; to love him that is honest; to converse with him that is wise, and says

little; to fear [15] judgment; to fight when I cannot choose; and to eat no
fish.

LEAR
What art thou?

KENT
A very honest-hearted fellow, and as poor as the King. [20]

LEAR
If thou be’st as poor for a subject as he is for a King, thou art poor enough.

What would’st thou?

KENT
Service.

LEAR