My blood shall render'd be:
And for your sake, my bleeding heart
Shall here be cut in twain
Ere that I see your reverend age
The smallest grief sustain.
And so wilt I the second said;
Dear father for your sake
The worst of all extremities
I'll gently undertake.
And serve your highness night and day
With diligence and love;
That sweet content and quietness
Discomforts may remove.
In doing so you glad my soul
The aged king replied:
But what sayst thou my youngest girl
How is thy love ally'd?
My love quoth young Cordelia then
Which to your grace I owe
Shall be the duty of a child
And that is all I'll show.


This honest pledge the King despised and banished Cordelia. The ballad
accords with the drama in the catastrophe. Both have the same moral and
the same characters. The ballad is doubtless the earlier form of the
story. Possibly the minstrel and dramatist may have borrowed from a
common source. Good thoughts, good tales and noble deeds, like well-worn
coins, sometimes lose their date and must be estimated by weight. Ballad
poetry is written in various measures and with diverse feet. The rhythm