AFTER resigning his throne to his daughters, Leir stayed with Goneril, but she begrudged the expense, so he went to Regan, to whom he seemed an even greater nuisance. At last, he swallowed his pride and took a ship (in which two upstart princes pulled rank for better cabins!) for France, and Cordelia.

Cordelia had been right. Goneril and Regan loved him for what was worth to them: for his wealth and his kingdom. But Cordelia had loved him as her father; when he stepped ashore in Calais, she met him with tears in her eyes, and took him into her home. Her husband raised an army and recaptured Leicester, where Leir reigned three years before he died, and Cordelia succeeded him.

However, Regan’s son Cunedagius led a revolt and took Cordelia prisoner, and so unbearable was her captivity that she hanged herself. Thereafter Cunedagius ruled for thirty years, in which time Isaiah and Hosea prophesied in Israel, and the city of Rome was founded.*