When Denethor finally descends into madness and attempts to burn himself and Faramir alive, he orders his servants (hitherto blocked by Beregond at the door of the tombs) to bring him a torch: "'Come hither!' he cried to his servants. 'Come, if you are not all recreant!'" (RK, V, vii, 130). Similarly Lear calls Kent "recreant" after Kent has criticized Lear's treatment of Cordelia (I, i,170). "Recreant" is an unusual word even in such similar contexts. While it appears in Chaucer, Malory, and also in Shakespeare's Henry VI part II, the OED lists no uses after 1897. I have been unable to find it anywhere else in Tolkien's corpus of writings, suggesting that, although it is an anachronistic word, it is not a diagnostically Tolkienian anachronism (such as "pale" used as to describe a jewel or light, "fell" used both as an adjective and a noun, or, perhaps the infamous "eyot"). Thus its use bespeaks a connection with (although it does not prove a definite source in) Lear that is not contradicted by further parallels.