King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

176 N O T E S a.i.
43. S.D. (Dyce, subs.) Q, F om.
44. lordship. Comma in Q, F.
45. that—when that; 'when' being understood
from 1. 42 [Muir]. Cf. Abbott, §285, Franz, § 548.
46. *// the thunder (F) £> ( + Camb.) 'all their
thunders'. F's is the 'stronger and more comprehensive
expression' (Furn.).
48. to...fine, (G.I.D.) F 'to th'Father; Sir in fine,'.
52. unprovided see G. latched (F)= caught (with
his 'sharp sword'). Camb. (<Q 'lancht') lanced,
pierced. Q (as so often) prob. gives a quasi-synonym
substitute.
53. Jndwhen(F) Q (+Camb.) 'but when', my...
spirits='all my best powers (energies) called to arms
(all'arme)'(K.).
54. in., .right=because I knew I had right on my side.
56. far: (F) Glo. means 'Even if he flies far, he
will be caught'. 'The construction is paratactic'
(J.C.M.).
57-8. uncaught;...found—dispatch. (Steev.) F'vn-
caught I And found; dispatch,'. Q 'vncaught and
found, dispatch,'. F, Q 'dispatch,' is a common error.
dispatch Either an imperative, 'kill him'; or a noun,
'death (shall be his lot)'.
62. coward (F) Q (+Camb.) 'caytife'. stake i.e.
any place of execution. But perh. Glo. wishes him to
be burnt for witchcraft; cf. 11. 38-9.
68. would the reposal (F) Q (+Camb.) 'could the
reposure'.
70. I should (Q) F 'should I \
71-2. F's brackets. 71. ay, (<Q) F om.
72. character handwriting.
74. make...world= suppose all men to be stupid.
75. not thought=did not think.
76. spurs (Q'spurres') F'spirits'. Most e'dd. read
'spurs', since it is odd to call 'profits' 'spirits' even

s.n NOTES 177
'evil spirits', while the collator may well have misread
'spurres' as 'spirits' in the playhouse copy and so mis-
corrected the Q (see G.I.D.'s 1949 ed. p. 173). Muir
follows F on the ground that Sh. often links 'potent'
with 'spirit' elsewh., and Sisson (11, 232) agrees.
Furn. compares 'pregnant spurs' with 'pregnant
hinges' (Ham. 3. 2. 59).
77. 0strange (F) Q(+Camb.) 'Strong', strange^
unnatural, monstrous; with quibble on sense 'not be-
longing to me'. Cf. 'I never got [=begot] him' in 1.78
[1949 ed. pp. 138-9].
78. said'he? (F) Qom. I..Mm.(Q) Fom. Prob.
F comp. took collator's addition as a substitution. S.D.
F 'Tucket within.', after 'seek it' (1. 77). We place as
MaL 79. toiy(Q) F'wher'.
80. /0rAr=seaports. 85. S.D. (F).
87. strange news (Q) F 'strangenesse' (prob; mis-
reading).
90. it's (F) £> (+Camb.) 'is'.
95. tended (F) Q 'tends'. The '-ed' is elided after
2
the first'd'. Cf. Abbott §47 -
100. th'expense and waste (<F)=the power of
wastefully spending; Hendiadys; Qcorr. (+Camb.) 'the
wast and spoyle'; uncorr. 'these—and wast'. Cf. Greg,
Variants, pp. 15 5-6. revenue Accented'revenues'.
106. It was (F) Q (+Camb.) 'twas'.
111-12. Make...please, i.e. Plan his capture in your
own way, and 'make what use you like of my authority
and resources for that purpose' (Muir).
114. ours i.e. one of our retinue.
116. seize on Cf. 1. 1. 251, and G.
118. you? (Q,F) Most edd. (<Rowe) read 'you—'.
Adding her elaborate rhetoric to Corn.'s simple query,
Reg. indicates that he is second fiddle; but we need not
suppose that she interrupts him.
119. dark-eyed Quibble on the eye of a needle.

lyZ NOTES «.x.
120. prize (F, Q uncorr. 'prise') see G. Q corr.
(+Camb.) 'poise'•= weight, importance. The two
readings mean much the same. See Greg, Variants^
pp. 156-7.
123. differences sc. between them, which i.e.
•which letters, best (F, Q uncorr.) Q corr. 'lest'>
'least' Camb. See Greg, Variants, p. 157. thought (Q)
F 'though'.
124. home (F, Qcorr.) Q uncorr. 'hand', several^*
respective.
127. businesses (F) Q (+Camb.) 'busines'.
128. craves Plural, craves...use=require 'to be
carried out without delay' (K.).
129. S.D. F 'Exeunt. Flourish.'.


2. 2

S.D. toe. (Cap.) Entry <F 'Enter Kent, aad
Steward seuerally.'. Cf. 1. 5. i,n. (adfin).
1. sp.-hdg. Q 'Steward.', F 'Stew.'. And so (subs.)
for the rest of the sc.
dawning (F) Q uncorr.^ 'deuen' (corr. 'euen')
Greg (Variants, p. 158) accepts F as prob. correct and
conj. the Q copy read 'dauen', a poss. 17th cent. sp. of
'dawn'. This was read in 1949 ed«; but J.C.M. has
pointed out that 'Good deuen' is a coll. form of 'Good
even'. Cf. 'godden' and 'god deuen' (Gammer
Gurton's Needle, 4. 3. 5) cited O.E.D. under 'Good
even'. The Q reporter has forgotten the time of day.
4. I'th'mire. Cf. Tilley, D 643 'Dun in the mire'
and Rom. 1. 4. 41.
7, 9. care for A quibble—(a) like, (b) heed.
9. Lipsbury Pinfold see G. 'pinfold'. 'Lipsbury' is
gen. explained (<Nares) as a fictitious name, i.e. 'Lip-
town', the town lying between or behind the lips. K.
cites Lucr, 679 'Entombs her outer/ in her lips 1 sweet

2.2. NOTES 179
1
fold; but here 'pinfold'=the teeth imaged as a palisade.
Thus Kent means 'if I had you between my teeth',or
'in my clutches'. There is no record of a place called
Lipsbury.
13-18. an eater...bawd... An outline of Osw.'s
career from a menial in the kitchen to Gon.'s intimate.
14-15. three-suited', hundred-found (F 2 'three-
suited, hundred pound'), F 1 'three-suited-hundred
pound'. No hyphens in Q. three-suited W.A.W. notes
that 'three suits of clothes a year were prob. part of a
servant's allowance'; and cites Jonson, Silent Woman,
3.1,39—42.where Mrs Otter, 'treating her husband like
a dependent', asks him 'Who allows you...your three
suits of apparel a year? your four pairs of stockings, one
silk, three worsted?'. Cf. Edg.'s words at 3. 4. 84ff.
Osw. is nothing more than a menial, though he aspires to
be a gentleman; cf. G. 'hundred-pound'. A rich, if
somewhat frayed, doublet-and-hose wd lend point to
these references. Cf. 1. 3. S.D. (head) and below
11. 54-5, n.
15-16. worsted-stocking F 'woosted-stocking', Q
uncorr. 'wosted stocken', corr. .'worsted-stocken'; i.e.
who usuallywears coarse stockings. Seell. 14-15,n. lily-
7
livered Cf. Macb. 5.3.15; 2 jfif Z/", 4.3.113. The liver,
seat of courage in the old physiology, shd be red, and,
in a courageous man, wd be. action-taking see G.
17. finical seeG. one-trunk-inheriting (<F 3) F I
'one Trunke-inheriting'. I.e. having so few possessions
that they can all be contained in a single trunk. See G.
'inherit'.
18. that...service i.e. ready to act pandar to master
or mistress.
21. clamorous (Qcorr.) Q uncorr. 'clamarous', F
'clamours'.
22. thy addition=the honourable titles I have con-
ferred upon you. See G.

i8o NOTES 3.3.
27. since (F) Q (+Camb.) 'agoe since*.
29—30. make...moonshine o/Wmake mincemeat of.
Lit.=make into a dish of poached eggs, .see G. 'sop'.
Cf. Oth. 4. 1. 199, 'chop her into messes'.
31. S.D. (Rowe) Q, F om.
34. Vanity the puppet i.e. Gon.'Vanity'=a char, in
the old morality plays, often given as puppet-shows.
puppet 'a contemptuous term for a person (usually a
woman)', O.E.D. s.v. i. It can also=poppet or darling;
and poss. 'the puppet' shd read 'thy puppet'j cf. 'lady's
brach' (1. 4. 113).
40. S.D. (Rowe) £>,Fom. 41. S.D. (<£>).
42. Part(F) Dyce (+Camb.) takes this as a S.D.
43. With you Usually explained as=The matter
(i.e. my quarrel) is with you. But Kent prob. means
'I'll be with you' threateningly, which almost =*'I'll
trounce you, I'll give you "whatfor"' (see On. 'with' 5)
goodman boy=Master Malapert, cf. Rom. I. 5. 77, n.
//(F) Camb. 'an' (<Q 'and').
44. Jleshse&G.ImpHesOsw.hadneverfoughtbefore.
S.D. (Staunton). A single S.D. at 1. 41 in F ('Enter
Bastard, Cornewall, Regan, Gloster, Seruants.') and in
Q ('Enter Edmund, with his rapier drawne, Gloster the
Duke and Dutchesse.') separated by Furn. Edm. wd
not take it upon himself to speak peremptorily to the
brawlers if his seniors were present.
45. What'is (F) Q (+Camb.)'whats*.
47. What is (F+Czmb.) Q 'What's'.
48. The messengers etc. i.e. they had both been to
Reg.'s palace and returned.
52-3. a tailor.. .thee Proverbial; cf. Cymb. 4.2.81,
and Tilley, T 17. A ref. to his foppishness.
56. A tailor, sir. (<F) J. (+Camb.) 'Ay, a tailor,
sir' (<Q'I, a Taylor, sir').
57. they (F) Q (+Camb.) 'he'. 58. years (F) Q
(+Camb.) 'houres'. 'One form of vulgarization is

s.a. N O T E S 181
exaggeration...'; F gives' sober sense: Sh. knows that art
is long. But to the actor and to the groundling two years
seems an age; so the quarto substitutes "two hours",
which is absurd' (Greg, Edit. Prob. p. 91).
58. o'th' (=belonging to the) F * oth", Q (+Camb.)
•at the'.
61. grey beard— (Rowe, subs.) Q, F 'gray-beard.'.
62. unnecessary letter Cf. Mulcaster, Elementarie
(1582; ed. Campagnae, 1925, p. 136): Z is a letter
'
often heard amongst us, but seldom seen' since S gen.
took its place; and Muir notes that z 'was generally
ignored in the dictionaries of the time.'
63-4. unbolted see G.
65. grey beard (Q subs.) F 'gray-beard', wag-tail
see G. for On.'s gloss, app. deduced from context and
reflecting 1. 101, without support in O.E.D., which
gives' wanton man or woman' as the common 17 th cent,
meaning. Cf. 1. 4. 113, n.
68. anger...privilege Tilley, L 458, cites K.J. 4. 3.
32, 'Impatience hath his privilege'.
71. smiling Often associated with villainy in Sh.
Cf. M.F. 1. 3.97; Ham. 1.5.106-8, etc., and Chaucer,
Knt.'s Tale, 1141 'The smyler with the Knyfe under
the cloke'.
72. rats...bite...cords Cf. Tilley, M 1235, 'A
mouse in time may bite in two a cable', the holy cords
i.e. the'holy wedlock bonds' (3H.FI,^. 3.243). Kent
hints that Osw. is 'duteous to the vices' of his mistress
(4. 6. 249-50). Cf. 1. 4. 113, n.
73. too intrince (Cap.+Camb.) F 't'intrince,'.
{unloose: (F).
74. rebel sc. against Reason, which shd rule the
passions. Often refers to lust; cf. M.F. 3. 1. 33;
2 H. IF, 2. 4. 347-8; All's G. 'rebellion'.
75. Bring (Q) F 'Being'. Withdrawing the 1949
note G.I.D. now assumes the collator, misreading the

182 N O T E S 2.2 k
prompt-book, miscorrects Q. oil to fire Cf.Tilley,O3o;
All's, 5. 3. 61.
76. Renege Q 'Reneag', F 'Reuenge' (the collator
misreads the prompt-book and. miscorrects Q). Cf.
Ant. 1. 1. 8. Renege, affirm, Cf. 4. 6. 96-100.
J
halcyon Cf. G. and Marlowe, « p of Malta, 1.1.
38-9, 'But now how stands the wind? | Into what
corner peeres my Halcions bill?'
77. gale and vary Q 'gale and varie', F 'gall, and
varry'. Hendiadys: =varying gale, changing breeze.
78. {like dogs) F's brackets. but=except.
79. epfleptic Osw.'s smiling makes him look as if he
were having a fit. Cf. the description of Malvolio
smiling, Tzo.N. 3. 2. 76.
80. Smile (F4)=smile at. Q 'smoyle', F i
'Smoile'. Prob. a common error. The disguised Kent
resolves to speak in dialect (1. 4. 1-2), and presumably
does so; but why, in this scene, shd dialect pronun-
ciation be indicated in this word only? Moreover, the
two words were prob. normally pronounced alike; cf.
'boil' at 2. 4. 21, n. and Kokeritz, p. 217. as=as if.
a Fool—whose speeches one assumes must be funny.
81-2. Goose...Camelot Not satisfactorily explained.
Some, taking Camelot to be Winchester (cf. Malory,
Morte d'Arthur, 11, xix) see an allusion to 'Winchester
goose', i.e. syphilis (cf. 1 H. VI, 1. 3. 53; Trail. 5. 10,
5 3), but this seems pointless. Others take Camelot to be
Camelford or Tintagel in Cornwall, which Sh. might
well think of as the Duke's capital in the time of King
Lear. If so, Kent threatens to chase Oswald from
Salisbury plain, where no doubt geese abounded, to
Reg.'s castle; a long drive. This would be clearer to an
audience if Sh. sent Osw. with a letter to Cornwall (i.e.
Reg.) in 1. 5. 1 (seen,). 95. saucy see G.
95-6. constrains...nature ('his'=its) i.e. 'distorts
the style of straightforward speaking quite from its

2.2. NOTES 183
nature, which is sincerity; whereas he mates it a cloak
for craft' (Cowden Clark <Staunton). See G. 'garb'.
98. take it, so (Rowe) F 'take it so' Q 'tak't so'.
102. stretch...nicely i.e. 'are particular to carry out
their courtly duties punctiliously' (Muir).
104-6. Under...front Parodies the deferential
language Corn, expects, aspect=(a) countenance (cf.
11. 91-3); (£>) the position and influence of a planet ace.
to astrology. Accent on second syllable.
106. flickering (Pope, 'flickering') Q 'flitkering',
F 'flicking'. Alludes to the uncertainty of royal favour.
front— (Rowe) = forehead. Q, F 'front.'.
107. dialect see G.
108—9. He...accent Alludes to the plain-spoken
persons of whom Corn, complains (11. 93 ff.).
110-11. though.. .to't. May=' even though I should
so displease you by my bluntness as to entreat me to be a
knave, i.e. a flatterer' (Ver.). But Schmidt took 'your
displeasure' as 'scornfully opposite to the title "your
Grace"',—we think rightly and ace. insert inverted
commas.
116. compact (F) Q 'coniunct*. Both=in league
with the king.
117. being down, insulted=1 being down he
triumphed scornfully over me.
118-19. put. ..worthied him—claimed for himself so
much courage, that he seemed quite the hero. Cf. 2. 4.
40 and G. 'worthy'.
120. For...subdued For attacking a man who offered
no resistance.
121. in...exploit excited by this first awe-inspiring
success. See G. 'fleshment'.
122-3. None...fool. i.e. Any rogue or coward can
make a fool of (i.e. deceive) Ajax—e.g. as the Gk. generals
do in Trot/, The suggestion that Corn, was as stupid as
'blockish Ajax', the more insulting that Ajax was

N.S.K.L.-14

184 NOTES 2.2.
commonly taken as a pun on 'a Jakes', accounts for the
suddenness of Corn.'s outburst of anger, otherwise odd
(<O. Jespersen in S.P.E. Tract, xxxm, 424). Neither
K.'s interpretation: 'the great hero Ajax is (by their own
account) a fool in comparison with them\ nor Cap.'s
'Ajax in bragging is a fool to them' seems to fit the
context. And where else does Sh. see Ajax as a 'hero' ?
123. the stocks 'Formerly in great houses, as still in
some colleges, there were moveable stocks for the
correction of servants' (R. Farmer, 1767 ap. Furn.). In
T.L.S. 30 Sept. 1949, G. M. Young cites 'briefe
notes of orders to be observed in the household of the
fifth Earl of Huntingdon' from MSS. c. 1604, which
show that Kent's 'stocking' was 'strictly in accordance
with the discipline observed in a great house of the time'
[Muir].
124. ancient (F) Q uncorr. 'ausrent' (<copy-sp.
'ansient'). Q corr. 'miscreant' is a good ex. of" con-
jecture by the Q press-reader, reverend (Pope, subs.)
Q, F 'reuerent'. Sarcastic. Sh. uses the two forms
indiscriminately.
130. Stocking (F) Q uncorr.'Stobing'(misreading
of 'Stoking'), Q corr. 'Stopping'—another con-
jectural correction. Cf. Greg, Variants, p. 159.
134. should=would.
136. speaks of (F) sc. in her letter (cf. 1. 3.. 26;
1.4.3 3 5), i.e. Kent is behaving like the allegedly unruly
knights, bring away=bring along. S.D.. (F) Placed as
by Dyce; at 1. 134 in F.
138-42. His fault...ill (Q) F om. 'His fault...
punished with', and for *The...ill' (1. 142) reads 'The
King his Master, els must take it ill'—a clear case of
deliberate abridgement.
140. basest and contemned'st (Cap.) Q uncorr.
'belest and contaned', corr. 'basest and temnest'. See
Greg. Variants, p. 159.

a.2. NOTES 185
147. For following...legs. (Q) F om. S.D. (Pope),
Q, F om.
148. Come...away Cont. to Reg. in Q, assigned to
Corn, in F. Q is clearly correct since if Cora, speaks,
the 'lord' he addresses must be Glo.—but he remains
behind. Poss. the copy for F had 'to Corn.' as a S.D.
my lord (<F) g (+Camb.) 'my good Lord' S.D.
(Dyce, subs.) F 'Exit.', Q om.
149. duke's (<Q) F'Duke'.
152. watched...hard i.e. travelled night and day.
154. out at heels Cf. Tilley, H 389.
155. Give i.e. may God give.
156. S.D. F 'Exit.', Qom.
157. Good king, etc. Reg.'s attitude has shown Kent
what treatment his master will receive at her hands.
approve see G.
158-9. out of...sun Prov. (cf. James Howell's
Proverbs (1660); and Tilley, G 272) = 'from good to
worse'. Han. noted that the saying was 'applied to
those who are turned out of house and home to the open
weather' (cf. Ham. 1. 2. 67 'too much i' th' sun', n.).
See P. L. Carver in, M.L.R. xxv, 478-81; xxix,
173-6 for orig. of the phrase.
161. comfortable see G.
162-3. Nothing...misery There's nothing like being
poor and wretched for miracles to happen to one.
165—7. and shall...remedies All edd. admit corrup-
tion. G.I.D. conj. that Q omitted a line, and the F
collator neglected to insert it. The sense prob. was
'...shall find time to rescue the king and me from...'..
See G. 'enormous', 'state'.
167. overwatched see G. 'watch'.
168. take vantage sc. of the opportunities.
169. lodging see G.
170. S.D. (Q) Fom. See next note.

186 NOTES 2.3.

2-3
S.D. Loc. (Dyce) Schmidt's 'The same' was meant
to accord with the orig. production at wh. the stocked
Kent prob. remained visible quietly slumbering in the
background while Edg. came on and said his lines at
the front of the stage, there being, as Greg shows, prob.
no inner stage then available. But a fresh loc. is better in
a text for mod. readers, who might otherwise be conscious
of the absurdity of the fugitive Edg. appearing at his
father's front door to discuss what disguise he shall
adopt. See Greg, R.E.S. (1940), pp. 301-2.
2. happy see G.
4-5. That...takingThat is not guarded most strictly
in hope of capturing me.
10. Blanket Cf. 3.4.64. elf Cf. G. and Rom. 1.4.
90 'elf-locks'.
14. Bedlam Beggars or 'Abram men', vagabonds
who 'feign themselves to have been mad and have been
kept either in Bethlehem (=Bedlam) or in some other
prison a.good time....These beg money. Either when
they come at farmers' houses, they will demand bacon...
or anything that is worth money. And if they espy small
company within, they will with fierce countenence
demand somewhat' (Harman, Caveat for Common
Cursetors (1567); see J.D.W., life in Sh.'s £ng.,
Penguin, p. 303). Mai. cites Dekker, The Bellman
of London: 'You see pins stuck in sundry places of his
flesh, especially in his arms, which pain he gladly
puts himself to only to make you believe he is out of
his wits. He calls himself Poor Tom, and coming near
any body cries out Poor Tom is a-cold.' Cf. Rom. 2. 1.

15. numbed Because exposed to the cold, mortified
see G. bare (Q) F om. 17. object see G.
18. sheep-cotes (Q subs.) F 'Sheeps-Coates'.

2.3. N O T E S 187
19. Sometimes...sometime^} Q'Sometime...some-
time'. Sh. need not have been exact.
20. 'Poor Torn!' 'Edg. practises the Bedlam
beggar's whine' (K.) Turlygod Unexplained. Not
found elsewh.
21. That's...am=As that, I can still be something;
as Edgar I am nothing. S.D. Q, F'Exit'.




2.4
S.D. Loc. 'Beforc.castle.' (Mai.) 'Kent...stocks'
(Dyce) Entry F'Enter Lear, Foole, and Gentleman.',
Q 'Enter King.'. Cf. 1. 5.1-2; finding Reg. and Corn,
absent from their castle Lear has followed them to the
Earl of Glo.'s. Sh. does not tell us what has happened
to the knights, but when Kent asks at 1. 61, the Fool
hints that they have thought it better to leave the king.
2. messenger (Q) F 'Messengers'.
7. cruel garters i.e. the stocks; with pun on'crewel',
worsted (worn by menials). Cf. 'worsted-stocking
knave' (2. 2. 15).
9. man's Q 'mans', F 'man', over-lusty at legs e.g.
vagabonds, runaway prentices, at=in his.
11. place Quibble: (a) renk, occupation, (&) literal
position. 12. To=as to.
18-19. No, no...have (Q) F om. 'Observe the
climax effect in 11. 14-20; first a simple "No—Yes"
(11. 14-15), then a longer statement and counterstate-
ment, then a still longer one, and then oaths. The whole
sequence bears the stamp of Sh. calculation' (G.I.D.,
1949 ed.). 19. Yes, yes (J.C.M. conj.) Q 'Yes'.
The counter-duplication completes the pattern.
23. upon respect=either 'to the respect due to your
o r o n
royal master' (cf. 2. 2. 133-4), 'up consideration,
deliberately' (cf. K. John, 4. 2. 214).

i8S NOTES a. 4.
30. in his haste sc. in his sweat, panf fog (Q+Camb.)
F 'painting'—misreading or misprint.
32, spite ofintermission=in spite of the Fact that he
was interrupting me.
33. on whose contents i.e. upon reading which.
whose (Q) F 'those',
39. which (F) Q (+Camb.) 'that'.
40. Displayed so 'made such an impudent exhibition
of himself (K.). 41. man see 2. 2. 118-19, n.
45-53. From F. Q om.
45. Winter's...way Wild geese fly south in autumn
and north in spring. The 'geese'=Reg. and Gon.;
'winter'=Lear's troubles; and 'fly that way'=behave
(revolt) like that; see G. 'fly', wild (F 2) F 1 'wil'd'.
47. blind sc. to the 'rags', i.e. their troubles.
48. bear bags=\ave the cash.
51. turns the key to=admits to her favours.
52. dolours Quibble on 'dollars'. 52-3, from thy
daughters (J.D.W. <Theob.; Sing. ii). F 'for thy
daughters'. This 'for' is gen. explained 'on account of;
but 'from' is so much more pointed that it surely must
be Sh.'s. The collator or F comp. may well have caught
up the 'for' from earlier in the line.
53. tell Quibbling on 'tell'=count over, to suit
•dollars'.
54. mother=hysteria. Lear begins to feel his mind
giving. 'Mother' lit.=womb (see G.) and 'hysterica
passio' lit.=suffering in the womb; the old medical
theory being that what we still call 'hysteria' was caused
by 'vapours'—the 18th cent. name. Harsnett, who
mentions 'hysterica passio' several times, writes that the
disease 'riseth...of a wind in the bottome of the belly,
and proceeding with a great swelling, causeth a very
painfull colicke in the stomack, and an extraordinary
giddines in the head' [p. 263, cited by Muir, R.E.S.
(1951), p. 14]. LI. 54-5 and 117 show us its progress.

2.4. NOTES 189
In 1. 54 the pain is climbing from below towards the
heart; in 1. 117 it is rising from the heart upward. At
both points Lear tries by force of will to suppress the
symptoms. Hysterica (F 4) Q, F I 'Historica'—a
common error.
56. element see G. 57. S.D. F 'Exit.', Q ora.
61. number (F) Q (+Camb.) 'traine'.
63. thou'dst (Fsubs.) Q (+Camb.) 'thou ha'dst'.
65. an ant... Type of wordly wisdom; see Aesop's
6
fable of the hungry Cicada and the Ants; Prov. vi. ' Go
to the ant...consider her ways and be wise, which...
provideth her meat in the summer', and Prov. xxx. 25.
He means that the retinue, smelling that Lear's fortunes
are in decay ('stinking'), have wisely left him, to make
provision for the future. For 'stinking' Mai. cites All's,
5. 2. 4-5 'I am now, sir, muddied in Fortune's mood
and smell somewhat strong of her strong displeasure'.
The knights, referred to at 2. 4. 301, reappear at
3. 7. 16 (see n.), so the Fool may be mistaken.
66. winter Cf. 2. 4. 45, n.
66-7. follow their noses Cf. Tilley, N 230.
68. twenty see G.
69-70. when...following Cf. Ham. 3. 3. 17-22
'a massy wheel', etc.
70. following (F) Q (+Camb.) 'following it'.
71. upward (F) Q (+Camb.) 'vp the hill'.
'
73. I would ha' none but knaves use it, (J.C.M.) Q I
would haue none but knaues follow it,', F I would
'
hause none but knaues follow it,'. J.C.M. explains Q's
'follow' as a memorial error (cf. 11. 66, 70) and conj.
that the F collator, wishing to alter Q's 'haue' to 'ha"
and 'follow' to 'use', stroked out 'haue' and, writing
'ha" and 'use' close together in the margin, forgot to
delete 'follow'. Thus the F compositor set up 'follow'
and thought that 'hause' was to be substituted for 'haue'.
75-82. That sir...perdy. The Fool has been ironic-

190 NOTES an-

ally recommending worldly-wise • prudence devoid of
loyalty. But now he shows his true opinion—' the man
who deserts a fallen master is a knave, and a fool to boot;
I, the Fool, am certainly no knave.'
74, 79. 8r, 82. He uses the word 'fool' alternately
in the pejorative sense (74, 82) and in the sense of the
wise and loyal Fool (79, 81). The two senses seem to be
fused in 1. 84.
75. sir man. 76. follows...form gives but formal
service. Cf. Oth. 1. 1. 50: 'trimmed in forms and
visages of duty'.
84. Not.. fool i.e. had you been worldly wise instead
of foolishly loyal you would not be where you are now.
S.D. (<F).
86-7. ay, £>T (prefixedto 1. 87). Om.inFandin.
1949 ed. but needed by the metre and as an aid to the
sense, since it emphasises 'images', etc. The images^
very like; cf. G. 'image'.
94-5. Well...man? (F) Q om.
98. commands her service (Qcorr.) Q uncorr. 'come
and tends seruise'; F 'commands, tends, seruice'.
Greg, Variants (p. 162) and Sisson (11, 235) propose
'commands—tends—service'. But A.W. (p. 59) finds
Q corr. 'more fitting to the context'. We agree and
suggest that' tends' (Q uncorr.) may well be a memorial
anticipation of 1. 259, where 'command' and 'tend' are
juxtaposed, 'come and' being simply due to careless
word-division, while F is a case of imperfect correction of
Q uncorr. The Q corr. 'her' can, of course, rank as no
more than a conj. emendation, but it is a good one—
though some may prefer Alexander's (<Gould conj.)
equally good emendation, 'commands their service'—
in which 'their', if badly written by the reporter, might
conceivably be misprinted 'tends' [G.I.D. withdrawing
1949 note].
99. Are...blood! FromF. gom.

a.4. N O T E S 191
100. that— (F) Q 'that Lear*.
106. more headier will 'too impetuous inclination'
CVer.).
108. S.D. (after J.) Q, F om. Death...state/ Sh.
irony. Lear's kingly power is already dead.
112. them (Q) F'them:'.
113. presently at once.
115. Till...death i.e. till it makes sleep impossible
for them. 116. S.D. F 'Exit.', Q om.
117. my heart! My rising heart! seel. 54, n.
118—22. Cry to it...hay. Hitherto unexplained,
because the point of the speech, the folly of Lear's heart,
has been missed. The cockney (see G.) and her brother
are examples of a like foolish tender-heartedness; he
goes so far as to butter his horse's hay: she cannot bring
herself to kill the eels before putting them into the
pastry, and when they wriggle only raps them on the
head crying 'Down, naughty, skittish creatures!' Lear's
heart has been as foolishly tender towards his daughters,
but it is too late now to cry 'down' to it and play the
stern father. The mischief is done.
122. S.D. (Cap.) F 'Enter Cornewall, Regan,
Gloster, Seruants.'
123. SJ). (F). 125. jw«(Q) F'your'.
127. mother's (<Q) F 'Mother'.
128. S.D. (Rowe) Q, F om.
131. like a vulture Alluding to the torture of
Prometheus. Cf. Harsnett, p. 73, 'Prometheus with his
vulture'. S.D. (Pope) Q, F om.
133. quality—(Rowe) Q 'qualitie,', F 'quality.'.
135-6. You...duty. 'The construction is, "You less
know how to value her desert than she {little knows
how) to scant her duty".' (Sisson.)
136-41. Say...blame. From F. Q om.
144. his(F)=hs. Q(+Camb.)'her'.
145. state sc. of mind.

19a NOTES a.4.

148. her.(F) Q(+Camb.)'herSir?\
149. the house Either=our family, or the royal
house of Britain. 150. S.D: (J.). QFom.
154. S.D. (Coll.) Q,Fom.
159. young bones=xmbom child. Muir cites Leir 844
'poore soul she breeds yong bones'; Tourneur, Atheist's
Tragedy, iv, iii, 172; and Ford, Broken Heart 11, 1.
160. takingsblasting.
164. blister her! (Muir; Sisson) F 'blister.'. Q
(+Camb.)'blast her pride.'. Coll.'blast her'. G.I.D.
(1949 ed.) 'blister her pride' now withdrawn in favour
of Schmidt's conj. 'blister pride'. J.C.M. conj.
'blister—' (with Reg. interrupting), J.D.W. feels
'blister her' is the most likely: it completes the verse line,
while in correcting Q the collator may well have written
'blister' for 'blast' and inadvertently deleted 'her' as
well as'pride*. After 'beauty' (1.162) 'pride' (=beaury)
is unnecessary. Cf. Temp. 1. 2. 324, 'A south west
blow on ye And blister you all over' and 2. 2.1-2.
165. the rash mood Cf. 1.1. 292-3. mood— (<Q)
'Lear is plainly impetuous and breaks in upon Regan'
(Sisson). Camb. 'mood is on* <F 'moods is on.',
corruption induced by 'on me' earlier in the line.
167. tender-hefted (F) =complaisant; lit. easily
handled (heft=haft). A Sh. coinage, because 'haft'
suggests 'knife', symbol of Reg.'s true nature.
178. S.D. <F'Tucket within.'(1.177). We place
as Coll.
180. S.D. g, F 'Enter Steward.' (1.178). We place
as Dyce.
181. easy-borrowed (Theob.'s hyphen) ='borrowed
without the .trouble of doing anything to justify it'
(Moberly, ap. Furn.). J.D.W. takes as particularly a
ref. to Osw.'s clothes. Cf. 1. 3. S.D. (head); 2. 2.
14-15, n.
<
182. sickly (G.I.D. F 3;withdrawingn.in 1949

2.4. NOTES 193
ed.) F 1 'fickly'. Q (+Camb.) 'fickle'. The context
suggests, not that Osw. will one day find himself aban-
doned by Gon., but rather that her favour is a diseased,
repulsive thing. Cf. 'the Lady's brach', 1. 4. 113 and
'detested groom' (below, 1. 213). In con temp, script
'
'
and type P and s' being very similar, the collator
'
'
may have merely altered the Q e' to y\
184. Who...servant Q assigns to 'Go».' on entry,
reading 'Who struck my servant', etc.
185. S.D. (Fat I.183) J. placed after'here?'.
187. you yourselves (F) Q (+Camb.) 'your selues'.
189. S.D. (<J) Q, Fom.
190. will you (F) Q (+Camb.) 'wilt thou'.
193-4. O sides...hold? Cf. Tzo.N. 2. 4. 93-4, 'no
woman's sides Can bide the beating of so strong a
passion', and Ant. 4. 14. 39.
195. disorders This rubs in Gon.'s case (1.4.241-6)
against Lear's retainers.
196. much less advancement i.e. a far worse punish-
ment.
205. o'th' F 'oth", Q 'of the'. <wV=open air.
Fresh air was considered unhealthy in Sh.'s day.
206. wolf and owl Creatures of night.
207. Necessity's sharp pinch Cf. Florio's Montaigne
(Temple ed. 11,143): 'Necessitie must first pinch you by
the throat' [Muir].
208. hot-blooded(Pope) F'hot-bloodied'. Cf. 1.2.
23, n. 213. S.D. (J., subs.) Q, F om.
219. boil (Mai.) Q 'bile', F 'Byle'—correct
phonetic spelling of the period. Cf. 2. 2. 80, n.
220. plague-sore Hyphen <F 3. or(F)Q(+Camb.)
'an'. The words are graphically alike.
222. come sc. upon you. / Emphatic, call it=*
summon it.
230. mingle...passion dew your outbursts in the
light of reason..

194 NOTES 2.4.
231. oldi.e. senile, so— (Rowe+Camb.) Q, F'so,'.
233. What! fifty F 'what fifty', Rowe (+Camb.)
•What, fifty'.
241. ye (F) Q (+Camb.) 'you'.
243. Brackets in F.
246. all— (Rowe +Camb.) Q, F 'all.'.
247. guardians...depositaries see G.—of the coun-
try, not of course, of his person. Muir cites 'depositary
and guardian' from Florio's Montaigne (vi, 40).
248. reservation Cf. 1. 1. 132.
254. S.D. (Han.) Q, F om.
256. thou art twice her love. Love is still something
to be gauged materially.
260-1. Our...superfluous.—T\A lowest of the low
possess some wretched things they might do without.
264. gorgeous Trisyllabic.
266. need— (Camb. <Steev.) F 'need:'.
267. give me patience—patience I (J.D.W. < Mason,
conj.) Q, F 'giue me that patience, patience I'. The
intrusive 'that' distorts the metre and sadly weakens the
force of the line. Hudson also followed Mason, and
W.A.W. called the line 'redundant' and after noting
various emendations proposed, added 'If any change be
made Mason's seems best'.
'Lear is about to explain the difference between true
need and the perverted needs of fashionable women,
when he breaks off to pray for...Patience or Fortitude'
(Muir)—and then suddenly realizes that this is his
true need.
c
268. yougodsBracketedinQ,F. man(¥) Q fellow'
—unthinkable!
271-2. fool..Jear=do not let me be such a fool that
I endure.
276. shall— (F). things— (Han.) Q, F 'things,'.
277. *r^//(J.D.W.<£>) F'are yet, I'. Camb.
(<Q 3) 'are, yet I'—an unnecessary comma.

2.4. NOTES 195
280. S.D. (<Cap.) F 'Storme and Tempest.'
'The Heavens answer' (Muir). 'Storm' in Sh. gen.
means 'a violent wind attended with rain' (Schmidt),
and 'tempest' a storm with thunder and lightning
—as in Caes. 1. 3. and Temp. 1. 1. Cf. O.E.D.
'tempest'.
282. Or ere A common reduplication, both words
meaning'before'. S.D. <Q 2+Camb. 'Exeunt Lear,
Gloucester, Kent, and Foole.'. F 'Exeunt.'.
283. Let...storm N.B. the complete indifference to
what has just happened.
284. W ; ( F 2 ) Fi'an'ds'.
285. well=either (a) fittingly, comfortably (to
them), or {£) easily, conveniently (to us).
286. blame; hath (Boswell + Camb.) Q, F 'blame
hath'. A common error; see Greg in Aspects, p. 165.
hath 'he' understood.
289. So am I etc. sp.-hdg. (<F) Q 'Duke.'.
291. Followed tic. sp.-hdg. (<F)Q'Reg.', S.D.F
'Enter Gloster.' (at 1. 290). We place as K., and R.C.B.
292-3. Cornwall. Whither...horse, (<F) Q om.
294. he leads himself i.e. he accepts no guidance but
his own. 295. My lord Addressed to Glo.
296. bleak (Q) see G. F 'high', which may be an
echo from 1. 292, or perh. a deliberate sophistication;
'bleak' wd be a curious substitution for a reporter
(G.I.D. 1949 ed. p. 177).
298. scarce (F) Q 'not'. Readings about equally
balanced (see Note on the Copy, p. 139).
301. attended.. .train She assumes Lear's knights are
still in attendance. Cf. 1. 65, n. See G. 'desperate'.
302—3. apt...abused'— easily taken in—as he had
been by Reg. and Gon. in 1. 1. wisdom bids—common
prudence bids us.
305. S.D. F 'Exeunt.'.

196 NOTES 3.1.




S.D. Loc. (Rowe) 'Storm...lightning' (Rowe).
Cf. 2. 4. 280, n. F 'Storme still.'. Entry (Cap.) Q
'Enter Kent and a Gentleman at seuerall doores.', F
'Enter Kent, and a Gentleman, seuerally.'.
6-7. Or swell...cease Cf. Troil. 1. 3.109-13, 'Take
but degree away...the bounded waters Should lift their
bosoms higher than the shores, And make a sop of all
this solid globe'. See G. 'main'.
7. things=all created things, 'the whole order of
nature' (K.).
7-15. tears...all. From Q. F om. (perhaps
abridgement). J. remarks 'the whole speech is forcible
but too long for the occasion, and properly retrenched\
Few will now agree.
8. eyeless rage—blind (indiscriminate) rage; or poss.
implies they might spare Lear cd they see he is old.
9. make nothing of= treat with irreverence [Delius];
the opposite of'make much of [Schmidt]; or 'disperse
to nothing as fast as he tears it off' (Heath). All <Furn.
I o. little., .man In the thought of the time, man was
frequently thought of as a microcosm. Cf. Cor. 2.1, 61,
'the map of my microcosm'.
out-storm (Muir <Steev. conj.) Q 'outscorne'—an
easy misreading. Steev. points out as close parallel
Comp. 7, 'storming her world with sorrow's, wind and
rain', and the same misprint in Troil. 1. 1. 37 (F) 'as
when the sunne doth light a-scome'. Further, Muir
notes that the Q compositor prints 'terrer' (terror) as
'curre' at 4. 2. 12, and 'home' as 'hand' at 2. 1. 124,
though m/n, t/c misreadings are commonplace errors
(e.g. F 'scale' for 'stale', Cor. 1. 1. 91).
11. to-and-fro-confiicting Cap.'s hyphens.
12. cub-drawn see G. And so ravenous for prey.
13. belly-pinche'd Pope's hyphen.

3.i. NOTES

14. unbonneted To go hatless out of doors was con-
sidered 'almost indecent' (Sisson). Cf. 4. 6. 181, n.
15. what will=anyone or anything that will, take
all Gen. explained as' the cry of the gambler who stakes
all on a last, desperate throw' but by 'all' Lear means
the whole world. Cf. 3. 2.1-9.
18. upon., .my note on the strength of that knowledge.
20-1. Although...cunning Bracketed in F.
20. is (F) Q (+Camb.) 'be'.
22-9. FromF. Qom. 22. have—as F'haue,as*.
23. Throned (<F) Q om. Theob.'s 'Throne' (e:d
misp.) is attractive [J.C.M.]. high? (Rowe) F'high;'.
no less sc. than servants pure and simple.
2 5. seen sc. by all and sundry. The invasion may be
due to this, or to 'something deeper'.
26. snuffs and packings' i.e. their readiness to take
offence and their secret plotting against each other.
27-8. the hard...King 'A metaphor from riding;
cf. Caes. 1. 2. 35' (Ver.).
29. perchance Bracketed in F.
30-42. From Q. F om. We conj. that the collator
for F added 11. 22-9 to Q, which the F compositor took
to be substitutes for 11. 30-42. We also think that
between 11. 29 and 30 'there were other lines which
have been omitted in both texts' (Schmidt, apudTurn,
pp. 367-70)—or at least one other line. If Sh. intended
1. 30 to follow 1. 29 directly, then he has given us an
extremely awkward (though perhaps not impossible)
construction. [G.I.D.]
32. Wise in—taking advantage of. have secret feet
have secretly set foot.
34. To...banner=\o march against us openly.
35. If...build If you dare credit my words.
37. making=&s you make.
47. As...shall Brackets <F.
48. your (Q+Camb.) F 'that'—which G.I.D.

198 NOTES 3.1.
read in 1949, though agreeing that 'your* makes
clearer sense. J.D.W. finds 'that fellow' obscure and
harsh before 'That' (1.49) which he conj. the F comp.'s
eye caught.
52. to effect see G. yet— (G.I.D.) £> 'yet:', F
'yet;'.
53-4. in...pain in which business your path lies.
55. S.D.. (G.I.D.) £>, F 'Exeunt.' Theob. 'Exeunt
severally.'


S.D. Loc. (Cap.) 'Storm still' (F) Entry (J.D.W.
<F 'Enter Lear and Foole'). For 'bare-headed' see
3- 1. 14-
1 ff. For this see 'The Poetry of the Storm in King
Lear* by G. W. Williams in £.£>. 11 (1951), 57-71.
And see Introd. p. xxxvi for the germ of the storm in
Leir.
r. blow! (Pope) Q, F 'blow'—read in 1949 ed.,
now withdrawn. G. W. Williams defends Pope in
Stud. Bib. 11 (1949-50), 175-82.
2. cataracts and hurricanoes G. W. Williams (Stud.
Sib. 11,177) claims that Sh. in this passage had in mind
the distinction in Genesis vii. 11 between 'the flood-
gates of heaven' (Douay version <Vulgate 'cataractae')
and 'the fountains of the great deep broken up' =
waterspouts (cf. Troil.$. 2. 171, 'The dreadful spout|
Which shipmen do the hurricano call')—in a word Lear
calls for a second Deluge to overwhelm the Earth.
Cf. 3. 1. 6-7 n., 14, and further in the article noted
on 1 ff.
3. drowned (<Q) F'drown'.
4. thought-executing acting (?killing) as quick as
thought. Cf. Temp. 1. 2. 201-3, 'lightning...sight-
outrunning'; Ham. 1. 5. 29-30, 'swift as meditation';
2 H. IF, 4. 3. 34, 'the expedition of thought'.

3.2. NOTES 199

5. Vaunt-couriers of F 'Vaunt-curriors of, Q
'vaunt-currers to'. A.W. (p. 63) favours Q's 'to', but
cf. the parallel 'Jove's lightning, the precursors O' th'
dreadful thunder-claps' (Temp. 1. 2. 201-2). 'vaunt-
courier' occurs in Harsnett, p. 12; not elsewh. in Sh.
7. Strike (F) Q(+Camb.) 'Smite'.
8. germens (Cap.) cf. Macb. 4. i. 59. Q, F 'Ger-
maines'. spill destroy. Cf. Ham. 4. 5. 20.
9. make (Q+most edd.) F 'makes'.
10. court holy water see G. 'flattering speeches'
(Cotgrave 'Eau beniste de Cour'); e.g. 'thy daughters'
blessing'. Cf. Tilley, H 532.
12. in; ask (F 'in, ask') Q (+Camb.) 'in, and
aske'. daughters (F) = from your daughters. Camb.+
most edd. 'daughters".
13. wise men nor fools (<?*) Q(+Camb.) 'wise man
nor foole'.
14. bellyful (Md.) Q, F'belly full'.
22. will...join (<F) Q (+Camb.) 'haue...ioin'd'.
23. battles see G.
24. 0,ho!(F) Q'O\ Camb. 'O!O!\
2 5-36. He that...glass. As usual the Fool comments
upon Lear's last words ('a head', etc.). Your head, he
says in effect, deserves to go houseless ('unbonneted'),
since it was foolish to prefer Gon. and Reg. who despise
you to Cord, who loves you.
25-6. a good head-piece=(a) a good helmet (or
'bonnet') to protect his head, (b) a good head, i.e.
wisdom or prudence.
27-30. The codpiece...many Cf. Tilley, H 749,
'Before thou marry be sure of a house wherein to tarry'.
'Head-piece' suggests 'codpiece', and 'codpiece' (see
G.) stands for (a) penis, (b) 'a Fool like me' (cf. 1. 40).
The bauble of Sh.'s Fools prob. suggested a penis. Cf.
'
jllPs, 4. 5. 29—30, I would give his wife my bauble,
sir, to do her service'; Rom. 2.4.89-90, 'This drivelling

2oo NOTES 3.2.
love is like a great natural (=fool) that runs lolling up
and down to hide his bauble in a hole' and (for the
traditional fool) Douce, Illustrations (1839 ed.), p. 509,
'The form of it...in some instances was obscene in
the highest degree', and Chambers Med. Stage, 1,
196-7 (footnote), .388. Thus paraphrased the lines
mean 'Even a poor fool like me is not so foolish as
to rush into marriage before he has a house to take a
wife to: that way lies lousy beggary.' house Equivocal.
so beggars...many—many beggars marry after this
fashion.
31-4. The man...wake The first quatrain speaks of
the foolish improvidence which even fools avoid: the
second of that which Lear has committed. An adaptation
of the proverb 'set not at thy heart what should be at thy
'
heel' (see Tilley, H 317), it may be paraphrased The
man who takes to his heart base creatures like Gon. and
Reg. who scorn him, and spurns those who love him like
Cord., will suffer such heartache (as if his heart had
grown the corn that belongs to his toe) that he cannot
sleep at night'.
3 5-6. For there.-..glass. And no marvel if Gon. and
Reg. despise him, for all pretty women practise grimaces
in their glass. He uses 'make mouths' in both literal and
fig. senses; see G. 'make'. Perhaps the idea of a
looking-glass came to Sh. here because (as Steev.
noted), in 1.37, he had in mind Leir, 755-6: see next n.
S.D. (F).
37-8. No...no thing Cf. Leir, 755, 'But he the
mirror of mild patience, | Puts up all wrongs, and never
gives reply'—noted by Greg, Lib. p. 388.
40-1. here's...fool 'grace' is of course Lear and 'a
codpiece' the Fool himself, who then with a motion of the
hand reverses the roles by pointing to himself as the 'wise
man' and to Lear as the fool.
41. S.D.(J.D.W.).

3.8. NOTES 201
44. wanderers.,.dark=t.%. wild beasts.
50. pudder(F) Q (+Camb.) 'Powther'. As Muir
notes, Lamb preferred 'pudder'. (See Misc. Prose, ed.
E.V.Lucas, p. 125).
51. their enemies i.e. secret criminals.
53. Unwhippedof Unpunished by. Cf. Ham. 2.2.
533 'use every man after his desert, and who shall scape
whipping?'
54. simular tif(F) see G. Q (+Camb.) 'simular
man of—prob. memorial anticipation: Q here reflects
the verbal pattern of 3. 6. 36, 'Thou robed man of
justice'; 'justice' (1. 53), is the prob. memorial link.
57. Hast(Q) F'Ha's'. Close (adj.) = secret.
58-9. cry...grace, beg mercy from these dreadful
officers of God's justice. See G. 'grace'. summoners=*
ecclesiastical officers—to serve God's summons upon
sinners.
59-60. I am...sinning i.e. Unlike these sinners I do
not merit the wrath of the 'great gods'. Lear is not yet
radically changed.
64-6. Brackets <F; Q om.
67. My wits...turn. From this point he becomes
aware of the sufferings of others; cf. 11. 72-3.
70-1. The...precious, i.e. Poverty is $ strange
alchemist. See G. 'art', 'necessity'.
r
71. Jnd(F) Q(+Camb.)'that . vile (Pope) F
'vilde'—the usual Sh. form.
71-2. precious...I An excellent example of Q's
defective comma punctuation. F 'precious. Come,
your Houel; | Poore Foole, and Knaue, '; Q 'precious,
I
Come you houell poore, | Foole and knaue, '.
I
72-3. Poor fool...for thee. First utterance of 'the
blessed spirit of kindness' (Bradley, p. 287).
74-7. He that...day Clearly connected with Feste's
song at the end of T10.N., thought by some to be non-
Sh. This, even if traditional, must be Sh.'s by adoption,

zoz NOTES z.2.
being the Fool's comment upon Lear's 'my wits begin
to turn', and on jthe fact that he yet has 'a little tiny wit'
left to pity him.
74. S.D. (Cap.) Q, F om. and a A ballad con-
vention, and 'mere expletive' (Schmidt). Cf. Franz,
p. 472. But Abbott (§ 96) explains 'and a little' as =
'a little and that a very little'. Cf. Oth. 2. 3. 88,
'King Stephen was and-a worthy peer', little tiny
(Pope, subs.) Q 'little tine', F 'little-tyne'. Cf. F
Tw.N. 'tine' at 5. 1.388.
76. content noun, fit verb (infin.) He 'must make
his happiness fit his fortunes; must be contented and
happy, even when his fortunes are bad'. (K.).
77. Though (F) Q(+Camb.) 'For'—which misses
the point. N.B. The Tw.N. refrain begins 'For the
rain' throughout.
78. boy (<F) Q (+Camb.) 'my good boy'.
Come...hovel. Addressed to Kent. Cf. 11.61-3. wxMay
include the Fool (cf. 3.4. 26); but attractive to suppose
it the royal plural, the sovereign formally commanding
to be conducted to the straw-carpeted hut. S.D.
(<Cap.), F 'Exit.'.
79-80. Prose in Mai. Two lines in F, div. 'Curti-
zan: j He'. Pope read it as verse thus:
'Tis a brave night to cool a courtesan!
I'll speak a prophecy or ere I go
perhaps rightly, since 'or' may have been om. in F.
79-96. From F. Q om. 'Generally, and I think
rightly, taken as an incongruous theatrical interpolation'
(Chambers, 1, 466). But see note on 11. 81-94.
81-94. When priests...feet (arr. G.I.D. after
Warb.). Q om. F prints as follows:
When Priests are more in word, then matter;
When Brewers marre their Malt with water j
When Nobles are their Taylors Tutors,
No Heretiques burn'd, but wenches Sutorsj

3.a. NOTES 203

When euery Case in Law, is right;
No Squire in debt, nor no poore Knightj
When Slanders do not Hue in Tongues j
Nor Cut-purses come not to throngs j
When Vsurers tell their Gold i'th'Field,
And Baudes, and whores, do Churches build,
Then shal the Realme of 4lbion, come to great
confusion:
Then comes the time, who liues to see't*
That going shalbe vs'd with feet.
This prophecie Merlin shall make, for I liue before
his time.

upon which Warb.'s. comment (as cited in J.'s ed.
1765) ran:

The judicious reader will observe...that this is not one but
two prophecies. The first, a satyrical description of the
present manners as future: And the second, a satyrical
description of future manners, which the corruption of the
present njoouldprevent from ever happening. Each of these
prophecies has its proper inference or deduction: yet, by an
unaccountable stupidity, the first editors took the whole to
be all one prophecy, and so jumbled the two contrary
inferences together.
He then rearranged, as we do, but placed the two
'inferences' (11.85-6,93-4) in the reverse position. We
prefer our order, since it gives a couple of stanzas
meaning: 'When things shall be as in fact they are,
Britain will be in a state of ruin, as in fact she is; when
things shall be as they should be, then walking will
customarily be done with feet, i.e. the proper order will
prevail, and men will walk uprightly—but no one will
ever live to see this.' Note that 11. 8 5-6 are set as a single
line in F, which suggests a marginal insertion. Perhaps
the F collator was bothered to have to copy out so long a
passage from the playhouse MS. on to a separate slip or
at right angles into the margin of Qi and, working
N.S.K.L.-15

204 NOTES 3.2.
hurriedly, at first overlooked these lines. It may be
noted that J. followed Warb. and praised the 'sagacity
and acutehess' of his restoration; and Han. also accepted
it. But Mai. calling it 'as unnecessary as it is un-
warrantable', restored the F order, since when all edd.
have followed suit. Yet J.D.W. hopes that the Warb. +
G.I.D. rearrangement will be accepted as not only an
addition to the Fool's philosophy, but {pace Chambers)
genuine Shakespeare.
Another reason for our departure from Warb.'s order
is that our first stanza is clearly a rewriting or parody, as
Steev. first observed, of a pseudo-Chaucerian 'Merlin's
Prophecy' quoted by Puttenham (see Arte of English
Poesie, 1589, ed. 1936 by G. D. Willcock and A.
Walker, p. 224), though Sh. prob. found it in Thynne's
Chaucer (1532), where it runs:
Whan faithe fayleth in preestes sawes
And lordes hestes are holden for lawes
And robbery is holden purchase
And lechery is holden solace
Than shal the londe of albyon
Be brought to great confusyon.

81. more...matter Cf. Ham. 2. 2. 95, 'More matter
with less art', burned A quibble; see G.
83. their...tutors 'greater experts in clothing than
the tailors they employ' (K.) or 'invent fashions for
them' (Warb.). A glance at the fantastic developments
in male dress.
87. right='genuine' or 'just'. See Sh. Eng. 1, 389
for the extraordinary condition of legal procedure in
Sh.'s day.
90. cutpurses...throngs Cf. Autolycus in Wint. 4. 4.
679 'every shop, church, session, hanging, yields a care-
ful man work'.
91. i'th'field sc. openly.

3.3. NOTES 205
92. lavicls...build e.g. as an act of repentance.
94. going...feet men shall walk uprightly.
95. Merlin Cf. I H. IF, 3. 1. 150, 'the dreamer
Merlin and his prophecies'. He belongs to the
Arthurian period; the Lear story takes place long before
that. S.D. F 'Exit.'.-


3-3
S.D. Loc. (Cap. <Rowe) Entry (<£)) 'Enter
Gloster and the Bastard with lights.' F 'Enter Gloster,
and Edmund.'.
4. perpetual (F) Q 'their'. Jennens (+Camb.)
'their perpetual'—poss. correct. Yet F is strong and
good, and Q may be a mere make-shift.
5. or (F) Q ( + Camb.) 'nor'.
7. sp.-hdg. Q, F 'Bast.' Also at 1. 20.
8. Goto 'Enough'(K.). There is {Y) Q(+Camb.)
'ther's a',—the 'a' prob. anticipates that in 1. 9.
between (F) Q (+Camb.) 'betwixt'.
10-11. Dashes stand for commas in Q, F.
13-14. footed (F) Q 'landed'. See the 1949 ed.
p. 68. look (F) Q 'seeke', prob. a recoil, of 3. 1. 50.
See G. 'look'. 16. o/=by.
16-17. I...bed. Perh. ironical echo of 2. 4. 85,
I o 1—the same artifice used for benignant and malignant
purposes. If I (F) Q (+Camb.) 'though I'. The
variant is an 'indifferent' one. (Cf. p. 139.)
17-18. Brackets <F.
19. strange things (F) Q (+Camb.) 'Some strage
thing'. The F construction is good 16-17th cent,
idiom, toward, Edmund; pray (Camb. <F 'toward
Edmund, pray') £) 'toward, Edmund pray'. S.D. Q,
F 'Exit.'.
20. This courtesy i.e. the 'relieving' of Lear, forbid
thee Cf. 11. 2-6.

206 NOTES 3.3.

22. This...deserving I look like deserving a hand-
some reward for this information.
23. all sc. his possessions.
24. The younger., .fall Cf. Tilley, R 136. S.D. Q,
F 'Exit.'.



3-4
S.D. Zw. 'The...hovel.' (Camb. <Rowe).'Storme
still' (F after 'endure.' 1. 3). Entry (F).
2. open night sc. night out of doors.
4. Wilt...heart? If he stays outside, his physical
discomforts will distract him from reflecting on his
daughter's ingratitude. Cf. 11. 24-5 ('this...more.'). In
11. 12-14 ('this...there.') he takes a different view.
7. skin: so'tis (Rowe, ed. 11, subs.) F'skinso:'tis'.
8-9. where...scarce felt Cf. Tilley, G 446, 'The
greater grief drives out the less', fixed i.e. chronic,
incurable.
10. thy (£>) F 'they'.
11. i'th'mouth face to face, free at ease.
12. delicate sensitive, this (Q corr.) F <Q un-
corr. (+Camb.) 'the'—which gives 'the fifth "the" in
•z\ lines' (Greg, Variants, p. 164).
14. beats see G. there Emphatic, there—filial
ingratitude! (Singer) Q 'their filiall ingratitude,', F
'there, Filliall ingratitude,'.
filial ingratitude In apposition to 'what beats there'
[Delius, ap. Muir].
15. <z.r=as if. 17-18. In...endure. (F) Q om.
20. frank seeG. gave all (F) Q(+Camb.) 'gaue
you all'—perh. recoil, of 2. 4. 246.
26-7. From F, Q om.
26. S.D. (J.) F om. poverty— (Rowe + Camb.)
F 'pouertie,'. He begins apostrophizing the 'Poor
wretches' of 1. 28.

3-4- NOTE S 207

27. pray A prayer of repentance; cf. 3. 2. 72-3,
n. S.D. (<J.) F 'Exit.' at 1. 26.
28-36. Poor naked wretches ttc. See Bradley, p. 287,
on this. We are pointed forward to 11.101 ff. Cf. Glo.'s
words at 4. 1. 63—9. Both, learn the same lesson from
suffering.
31. looped see G. 33. pomp The 'great and
mighty ones of the earth' (K.), including—especially—
himself.
35. shake...them Cf. Harsnett, Declaration, etc.
[see sig. A 3]. 'These lighter superfluities, whom they
disgorge amongst you...in the fashion of great Poten-
tates' [Muir, R.E.S. (1951), p. 16].
37-8. Fathom...Tom/ From F. Q om. S.D.S
(<Theob.) F gives'Enter Edgar and Foole'. Fathom
and half! Cry of a sailor taking soundings (K.). Edg.
pretends to be one of the fresh-water mariners or whip-
jacks who 'run about the country with a counterfeit
licence [from the Admiralty], feigning either shipwreck
or spoiled by pirates' (A Caveat for Common Cursitors,
1567. Judges, Eliz. Under-World, p. 84).
Poor Tom! Cf. 2. 3.14,n., and Awdeley's Fraternity
of Vagabonds (1561): 'An abram man is he that walketh
bare-armed and bare-legged, and feigneth himself mad,
and carryeth a pack of wool or a stick with bacon on it,
or such like toy, and nameth himself Poor Tom' (Judges,
op. cit.-p. 53).
44. S.D. <Theob., 'Enter Edgar disguised as a
madman.'. None in Q. For F see 11. 37-8, n.
45. Jway!—Keep away from me! Cf.l. 140. The...
follows me! Madmen were supposed possessed or
attended by devils.
46. Through,..winds. Asong-snatch. Cf.'The Friar
of Orders Grey' (Percy's Reliqaes, 1.87): 'See, through
the hawthorn blows the cold wind.' sharp Perh. alludes
•to the pins or thorns of his make-up j see 2. 3. 14, n.

208 N O T E S 3.4.
blow the cold winds (J.D.W.) F 'blow the windes'
Q (+Camb.) 'blowes the cold wind'. The F. comp.
prob. omitted 'cold' (cf. 1. 98 below) or perh. the
collator deleted 'cold in Q here and before' bed' (1.47).
The reporter would preserve the ballad metre.
47. Humh <F) He shivers (K.). Go to thy bed (Y)
(
Q ( + Camb.) 'Goe to thy cold bed'. Cf. Shrew Ind. 1,
8-9, 'go by, S. Jeronimy, go to thy cold bed and warm
thee'—which Mai. claimed proved Q the correct text;
but Sh. had no metrical inducement to quote himself.
Enough to recall the lines of mad Hieronimo in The
Spanish Tragedy (apt for a pretended madman); viz.
2. 5. 1, 'What outcries pluck me from my naked bed?'
and 3.12. 31 'Hieronimo beware; go by, go by*. On
the other hand the Q actor-reporter might well have
recollected Shrew.
48. Didst thou give ( <F) Q (+Camb.) 'Hast thou
giuen'. thy (F) Q ( + Camb.) 'thy two'. Cf. 1. 63
(
'Wouldst' <F) Q 'didst'. Q is a tissue of memorial
confusion hereabouts.
50 ff. Who gives etc. 'Edg., taking his cue from
Lear's word "give", repeats the kind of petition
expected of Bedlam beggars' (K.).
51. through fire (Q) F 'though Fire', through flame
(<F) Qom.
52. ford (<£) 'foord') F 'Sword'—literal mis-
reading.
53. laid knives etc. The quickest way for the Devil
to catch a soul was to tempt him to the sin of suicide.
Cf. Doctor Faustus (ed. Greg, 1950), 2. 2. 20-2—
'Then guns and knives, | Swords, poison, halters, and
envenomed steel | Are laid before me to dispatch myself;
and Harsnett relates how 'a new halter, and two blades
of knives' were said to have been left 'upon the gallerie
floare' of a certain house [Muir, p. 256].
pew —'a gallery in a house or outside a chamber

3.4. NOTES 209
window* (K.)—cf. O.Fr. *puye'=balcony. But
O.E.D. gives no support. The ord. meaning 'seat in
church' wd make the temptation more sinister.
55-6. ride four-inched bridges Cf. the half-witted
tailor in The Magnetic Lady, v, i, 8 (Jonson, vi, 589),
who speaks of running 'over two-inch bridges'. Perh.
proverbial; in any case <Lat. prov. 'ire per extentum
funem', to walk the tight-rope, to perform a very
difficult feat. Cf. 1. 144, n.
course...traitor i.e. like a cat chasing its tail. Cf.
'
Tilley, S 281, To be afraid of one's own shadow'.
Bless <Q)=(May God) protect or save. F 'blisse'—
(
also in 1. 58.
57. Jive wits the mental powers enumerated by
Hawes (Pastime of Pleasure, xxiv, 2) as common wit,
imagination, fantasy, estimation, memory [Mai.] Cf.
Son. 141. 0, dode, do de t do de. (<F) Q om. His
teeth chatter.
60-1. There...there! He snatches 'at different parts
of his body as if to catch vermin—or devils' (K.). Cf.
3.6.17'bites my back', and there! <F) Qom. S.D.
(
(F) Qom.
62. What, has his (G.I.D.) Q, 'What, his', F 'Ha's
his'. Prob. F comp. took collator's 'has' as substitute
not supplement. Cf. 1949 ed. pp. 15-16. Camb.
(<Theob.) 'What, have his'.
64. reserved He recalls the 'reservation' at 1.1.132;
2. 4. 248. The hundred knights had barely concealed
Lear's beggary.
67. Hang...faults Cf, R. II, I. 3. 284, 'Devouring
pestilence hangs in our air', and Harsnett, p. 159, 'that
all the sensible accidents should be made pendulous in
the air'.
69. subdued nature=brought down a human being.
72. thus...flesh Refers to the pins or thorns Edg. has
stuck in his arms. Cf. 2. 3. 15-16. At this Edwin

2io NOTES 3.4.
Booth's Lear drew 'a thorn or wooden spike from
Edgar's arm and thrust it into his own' (Sprague,
p. 291).
74. pelican daughters Cf. Ham. 4. 5.146-7; Leir,
512-13, I am as kind as the Pellican | That kils it selfe,
'
to saue her young ones liues', and Batman upon Bartho-
lome (ed. 1582, XII, 295 fol. 186 b):

The Pellican Ioueth too much her children. For when the
children bee haught and begin to waxe hoare they smite the
father and mother in the face [W.A.W.].

The legend of the pelican feeding its young on blood
drawn from its breast is familiar as symbolizing Christ's
sacrifice in eccles. art.
75. Pillicock see G. Edg. distorts 'pelican' and
delivers 'part of a nursery rhyme' (K.), with indecent
quibble alluding to 'this flesh begot', etc. [Muir].
75-6. Hill...loo! ( < F 'hill, alow: alow, loo, loo.')
Q 'hill, a lo lo lo.\
76. Alow!...loo! Theob. (ed. 11) 'Halloo, halloo,
loo,loo!' Various explanations. 'Perh. a wild "halloo"
as if he were calling a hawk*, cf. Ham. 1. 5. 116 (K.);
'a cry to excite dogs' (Craig), cf. Trot/. 5. 7.10.
79. th'foul fiend Suggested by the similarity between
'fool' and 'foul'; see Kokeritz, p. 75, citing a like word-
play at 5 H. VI, 5. 6. 18-20.
79-82. Obey...array A number of biblical injunc-
tions by keeping which the 'foul fiend' may be held at
bay. Obey thy parents Eph. vi. 1 and Exod.xx. 12 (5th
Commandment); keep thy word justly Deut. xxiii, 23
f
and Catechism, Be true and just in all thy dealings'.
swear not Matt. v. 34; cf. Exod. xx. 7 (3rd Command-
ment); commit...spouse Exod. xx. 14 (7th Command-
ment), see G. 'commit'; set...array Cf. I Tim. ii. 9
[Noble, p. 230].
80. word justly (Pope+Camb.) Q 'words iustly'

3-4. NOTES 2it
F 'words Iustice'. G.I.D. withdraws the defence of F
in the 1949 ed. F 'Iustice' prob. = 'iustle' misread.
commit not Cf. Oth. 4. 2. 72-4. man's i.e. another
man's.
80-1. set.. .array—don't set your dear little heart on
fine clothes, sweetheart (<Q) F'Sweet-heart' Edg.
does not mean 'sweetheart'.
84. servingman! F 'Servingman?' Rowe+Camb.
'servingman,'. Cf. 11.135-7. Abram-men often claimed
to have been such; Harman writes of one Stradling who
'saith he was the Lord Stourton's man' (Judges, p. 83).
Cf. W. Stafford, Examination of Complaints (1581),
p. 64, 'Now a dayes Seruingmen goe more costely in
apparell...then their maisters were wont to doe in times
past'.
85. curled my hair Like a young gentleman. Cf.
Oth. 1. 2. 68, 'The wealthy, curled darlings of our
nation'.
wore...cap Like a courtly lover. For contemp.
references see Linthicum, p. 267. gloves The pi.
suggests more than one mistress. Cf. 'out-paramoured'
(11. 90-1).
90. deeply (Q)—with obvious quibble. F 'deerely'—
comp.'s anticipation.
91. the Turk=the Sultan of Turkey; prov. type of
promiscuity, light of ear J. explains 'credulous of evil,
ready to receive malicious reports'; and K. cites con-
temp, support.
92-3. hog...prey. The Seven Deadly Sins were
commonly represented by animals. Cf. Spenser F.Q. 1.
iv. 18-35, a n d Harsnett, p. 141 [see Muir, p. 256].
94. creaking 'Shoes that creaked were fashionable'

96. from lenders' booh i.e. from signing your name
in moneylenders' books in acknowledgement of debts.
99. Says...nonny (J.D.W.) F 'sayes suum mun

aia NOTES 3.4.

nonny'. Q 'hay no on ny\ Steev. (+Camb.) 'says
suum mun ha no nonny'. The traditional refrain 'hey
nonny nonny' seems required by the context (see G.
7
'nonny nonny'); cf. Ham. 4. 5. 165; Ado, 2. 3. 1;
A.T.L. 5.3.16, 22, etc. And the omission in F may well
be due to careless correction of Q by a puzzled collator.
suum, mun seems to represent the sound of the wind,
though perh. 'suum' should be 'summ'.
100. Dolphin Unexplained. Poss. the name of a
'
devil. Muir owes to J. Crow: I pray to Dolphin, |
prince of dead [ Scald you all in | his lead' from the
Newcastle Play of Noah (The Non-Cycle Mystery P/ays,
ed. Waterhouse, 1909,p. 25). sessa! (Mai.) F 'Sesey',
Q 'caese'. Also unexplained, but prob. a variant of
'sa sa' (see 4. 6. 201, n.). Cf. Shrew Ind. 1, 5, and post
3. 6. 73. F reads 'Dolphin my Boy, Boy Sesey\
101. Thou(¥) Q'Whythou'. a (F) Q 'thy'.
103-8. Is man.../endings/ Taylor (pp. 9-10) cites
(with his italics) the following parallels from Florio
[Tudor Trans.]:
(i) Miserable man; whom if you consider well what is
he? (11, 172).
(ii) Truely, when I consider man all naked... I finde we
have had much more reason to hide and cover our naked-
nesse than any creature else. We may be excused for
borrowing those which nature had therein favored more
than us...and under their spoiles of 1000H, of haire, of
feathers, and of silks to shroud us (n, 184).
(iii) And that our wisdome should learne of beasts the
most profitable documents, belonging to our chiefest and
most necessary parts of life....Where with., .men have done,
as perfumers doe with oyle, they have adulterated her with
so many augmentations and sophisticated'her' (in, 310).

105. the cat see G. 'civet'. Ha! (F'Ha?'). on's=
of us.
106. sophisticated: thou...itself, (punc. J.D.W.) F

3.4. N O T E S 213
'sophisticated. Thou...itselfe'. sophisticated Not found
elsewh. in Sh. See 11. 103-8, n.
108. lendings i.e. what he has borrowed from the
worm, beast, etc. Cf.FlorioV borrowing' (11.103-8,n.).
109. unbutton A command to an imaginery groom
of his bedchamber. S.D. (<Rowe 'tearing off his
clothes). Q, F om. And Cap. aptly adds 'Kent and the
Fool strive to hinder him'.
n o . naughty wicked, very bad. swim As Lear's
action suggests.
i n . S.D. (J.D.W.) F'Enter Gloucester, with a
n
Torch'—at 1. o . Most edd. give the entry at 1. 114.
But clearly the Fool sees the torch after 'swim in', since
the 'old lecher' is undoubtedly, and aptly, intended for
Glo.
112. wild=uncultivated, not bearing crops—fig. of
an old man's body. [Muir.]
115. This i.e. Glo. with the flickering torch. As
Kent first begins £0 question Glo. at 1. 127, Edg. prob.
does not at once recognize him, though the Fool seems
to. Cf. 1.125, n. Flibbertigibbet A dancing devil ace.
toHarsnett. [Muir, R.E.S. (1951), p. 19.] From this
point Edg. often borrows from Harsnett's Declaration,
wh. went into 3 editions in 3 years and was prob. known
to many in Sh.'s audience, including King James, who
was curious in such matters. Cf. 4. 1. 57-61, n.
116. curfew i.e. 9 p.m. Cf. Temp. 5. 1. 39-40
[spirits] 'that rejoice | To hear the solemn curfew', and
Comus, 434-35 'unlaid ghost | That breaks his magic
chains at curfew time'. //// (J.D.W. <Q 'till the') F
'at'—careless repetition from 'begins at', first cock
Gen. interpreted'midnight'. But see notes on Ham. 1.1.
153-5, 158-60. King Hamlet is 'walking' at 1 a.m.
(1. 1. 39).
116-17. the web...pin see G.'web'. Is Sh. already
thinking of 4. 1. I? squinies (Anon. ap. Carnb.; see

214 NOTES 3.4.
Greg, Variants, pp. 165-7) = causes to squint. Cf. 4.6.
135. <Q (uncorr.) 'squeues' (corr.) 'squemes'. F
(+Camb.) 'squints'—prob. sophistication.
118. white see G. creature Collective=creatures.
120-4. S'Withold...thee! Ace. to Warb. 'A
popular charm against the Ephialtes', i.e. demons of the
nightmare. He adds that Bedlam beggars sold such
charms at 'wakes and fairs and market-towns' (3. 6.
73-4)-
120. S'Withold(R.C.B.) Q 'swithald' F ' Swithold'.
Various edd. read S. Withold', 'St. Withold', and
'
'Saint Withold', but the popular corruption should be
preserved. Tyrwhitt thought St Vitalis is meant. Here
the protector from nightmare; he is invoked in T.R.
Sc. xi, 6 (' Sweet S. Withold of thy lenitie defend us from
extremitie'), as a protector from calamity in general.
thrice Magical number. W</(Camb.)=woldQ,F'old'.
121. Nightmare Formerly supposed an incubus;
'mare' meaning orig. a kind of demon which caused bad
dreams by sitting upon a sleeper's chest, but often (as
perh. here) taken to be a demon female horse.
nine fold (Q, F) Poss.='nine imps or familiars*
(Cap.) see G. But Q is full of literal misprints at this
point, so that it may be a common error for 'nine foles',
i.e. nine foals (conj. Farmer)—viz. familiars of a spectral
horsey species.
122. Bid her alight S'Withold commands her to get
down off the unhappy sleeper's chest.
123. troth plight (Q+Camb.) F 'troth-plight,'
i.e. makes her promise 'to do no more mischief < Warb.,
who cites from the chapter on the Incubus or Mare
(Bk. iv, ch. xi) in Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584),
the following 'magical cure' for Nightmare, a close
parallel to Edg.'s:
S. George, S. George, our ladies knight
He walkt by daie, so did he by night:

3-4. N O T E S
Untill such time as he hir found,
He hir beat and he hir bound,
Untill hir troth she to him plight
She would not come to hir that night.
The 'hir' in 1. 3 we take to be the woman suffering
from indigestion and 'our ladies' in 1. 1 to be 'our
Lady's'. See Montague Summers' ed. of Scot (1930),
p. 49. flight- (J.D.W.) Q, F 'plight,'
124. And aroint...thee! Addressed to the witch at
whose orders the Incubus had visited its victim.
125. How...grace? (Q, F) Sisson gives to Glo. But
the words are in keeping with Kent's tender solicitude
throughout (e.g. 3. 6. 33—4, 'How do you, Sir?...Will
you lie down', etc.). Glo. is still coming up and first
addresses them in 1. 128. Cf. 1. 115, n.
130. tadpole (J.) F 'Tod-pole'. Cf. Tit. (Q) 4.2.85
'tadpole', the wall-newt...water The term 'wall-
newt' (= ?lizard) is app. not known elsewh. and may
be Sh.'s coinage to distinguish it from the water-newt
(=newt or triton). Poss. he wrote 'water-newt',
which Rowe read, and Q, F omitted 'newt'.
131. the fury.. .rages Refers to the Abram-man's fits
of pretended madness, put on to terrify people. Cf. .3.
2
14, n.
134-5. whipped...imprisoned Ace. to the Statute of
1572 'For the punishment of Vacabondes' [see
Chambers, Eliz. Stage, iv, 269]. See also extract from
Harrison, Description of England (1587), in JJD.W.'s
Life in Sh.'s England (Penguin), pp. 296-300.
stock-punished (<Q) F 'stockt, punish'd'.
135. hathhad (Q + Camb.) F'hath'. Seei949ed.
p. 179. three suits...six shirts The allowance for a
gentleman's servant (cf. 1. 84, n. and 2. 2. 14-15, n.).
137. Verse in F, prose in Q (+Camb.).
138-9. But mice...year. Adapted from lines in the
Middle English romance Bevis of Hampton.

216 NOTES 3.4.
140. Beware... Cf. 1. 45, n. Smulkin Prob.
suggested by 'mice' (1. 138) since 'Smolkin' is one of
Harsnett's devils, reported as seen creeping out of a man's
ear in the form of a mouse. Cf. Muir, pp. 254, 256.
143. The...Darkness sc. who is my attendant! Edg.
pretends that Glo.'s question is addressed to him. For
'the Prince of Darkness', see Harsnett, pp. 147, 168.
144. Modo..Mahu More devils in Harsnett (p. 46).
Question and answer reflect a passage on p. 47 about
another devil who, though described as a 'Prince &
Monarch of the world', had 'no follower but two men
and an urchin boy'; upon which Harsnett comments:
'It was little becoming his state (I wis) being so mighty
a Monarch to come into our coasts so skurvily attended,
except he come to see fashions in England' [Muir,
2?.£.S. (1951), p. 15].
Blunden (ap. Bradby, p. 331) observes that 'Modo%
together with 'Theban' (1. 157) and Edg.'s boast of
riding 'over four-inch bridges' (11. 55-6), an English
version of the Lat. prov. 'Ire per extentum funem',
somehow reflect four lines in Horace (Ep. 11, i, 210-13):
Ille per extentum funem mihi posse videtur
Ire poeta; meum qui pectus inaniter angit,
Inritat, mulcet, falsis terroribus implet,
Ut magus 5 et modo me Thebis, modo ponit Athenis.

This in J.D.W.'s rough trans, runs:

The poet for me is one capable of the greatest of poetic
feats, that is to say one who by the illusion of art can
agonize, enrage and comfort my spirit in turn, who like a
magician can fill me with terror or transport me now to
Thebes, now to Athens.

It is not odd that a devil called Modo should recall this
passage to Sh.'s mind, since it is Horace's description of
the tragic poet, a finer one than anything in Aristotle.

3.4. N O T E S 217
It is in fact the passage above all others in Horace we
might expect Sh. to know, probably by heart, certainly
to have in mind as he walked his own tragic tight-rope
of King Lear.
145. Our fie sh and blood i.e. our children. No
wonder Edg. shudders at this.
154. philosopher=ma.T\ of science. Suggested by
Edg.'s 'unaccommodated' condition. Cf. the life
'philosophers commend' in Lyly's Campaspe (1. 2. 3):
'a crumme for thy supper, an hande for thy cup and thy
clothes for thy sheetes.—For Natura paucis contenta?
And Edg.'s hovel and blanket might have recalled
Diogenes' entry from his tub in the same play, in which
too (1. 3) Plato, Aristotle and Cleanthes discuss the
'natural causes' of phenomena like 'the ebbing and
flowing of the Sea'. Aristotle is of course represented as
Alexander's court philosopher; and as Gordon notes
(Sh. Comedy, 1944, pp. 126-8):
all kings formerly kept such a philosopher, who was
technically so called, just as they kept a Fool and other
court officers. Lear, we are to suppose, had a philosopher
when he was king, and is now adding him to his mock
court....In the Middle Ages one of the most popular forms
of instructive reading was the dialogue or catechism, in
which one of these celebrated philosophers instructed his
royal pupil. The pupil asks questions about every sort of
thing—including, of course, 'the cause of thunder'—that
was a stock question.
Gordon refers also to 1. 5. 19 ff. (see n.), where the
Fool questions Lear—'reversing things' (inver-
sion being an important motif in this play) and putting
'the "reasons of nature" to his master'. Cf. Muir'sn.
ad loc.
155. What...thunder? Cf. 1. 154, n. adfin. But an
apt question with the storm raging.
157. Theban Cf. 'Athenian' (1. 180). Prob.

ai8 NOTES 3.4.

reflecting Horace, cited 1. 144, n., and here meaning
members of ancient Greek universities, perh. hinting at
Cambridge and Oxford. Cf. Dryden, Prologue to the
Univ. of Oxford(Kinsley, 1, 375):
Thebes did His Green, unknowing Youth ingagej
He chuses Athens in His Riper Age—
Thebans being considered less cultivated than Athenians.
Note that Lear comes to think more highly of his
philosopher as time goes on.
158. study = special branch of 'philosophy'. See
also G.
'
159-60. How...in private. We can guess what the
question wd have been.—How did he kill his daughters ?'
Blunden, op. cit. p. 332.
162. His...unsettle. 'Very significant as to the
history of Lear's madness. Cf. 3.2.67...and enough to
disprove the theory...that Lear is a sufferer from "senile
dementia", at the very beginning of the play' (K.).
S.D. (F).
171. Grace—(Cap.) Q, F 'grace.' cry.,.sir i.e. by
your leave, sir. Glo. takes his arm, trying to separate
him from his 'philosopher'; Lear refuses.
175. all Emphatic. This way i.e. away from the
hovel and towards the house (cf. 1. 153). him! Em-
phatic. If Edg. stays in the hovel, so will Lear.
177. soothe humour.
181. hush! A sign (to the audience) that they will
be sheltering in a house near the castle.
182-4. Childe...man. Edg., warned by GIo.'s
'hush!', is himself the Childe venturing into a dark
house where the unknown awaits him. He is also Jack
invisible, of noble British blood, though outlawed from
it (1. 167).
182. Childe...came. Prob. from a lost ballad,
alluded to again (J.C.M. notes) in Beaumont and

3-4- N O T E S aigr
1
Fletcher's Woman s Prize, 2. . (ed. Waller, VIII, 24).
i
Browning expands the line into one of his best known
poems. Childe Roland F 'Childe Rowland'—the most
famous figure in the retinue of Charlemagne, and hero of
the 12th cent. Chanson de Roland. See G. 'Childe'.
183-4. His...man. 7 These lines are Edg.'s addition.
His word=his watchword or password as he enters.
See G. Prob. intended as a reply to Glo.'s 'no words',
etc.
l
Fie...man.' Inverted commas (edd.). The words,
spoken by the Giant in the tale of Jack the Giant-Killer,
are 'given by an intentional incongruity to the heroic
Child Roland' (Muir). The meaning, we think, is rather
that British Roland is entering the Giant's Castle, where
his blood (kinship) is in danger of being smelt (detected).
184. a British man Shd be 'an Englishman' ace. to
the trad, tale (cf. Have with you to Saffron-Walden in
Nashe, ed. McKerrow, HI, 37). Sh. makes the change,
there being no English in Lear's Britain. See 4. 6.
248, n. S.D. F 'Exeunt', Q om.


3-5
S.D. Loc. (Cap.) Entry (F).
1-2. his house Cf. 3. 7. 30-1, 39.
3. sp.-hdg. Q, F'Bast.'. So throughout sc. How...
censured i.e. What people may think of me.
4. nature i.e. natural affection, loyalty to the crown,
viz. you. something fears me=frightens me somewhat.
6-9. / now perceive...in himself. Puzzles many;
'merit' being variously interpreted 'excellence' (Edg.'s)
or 'deserts' (Glo.'s), and 'in himself as 'in Edg.' or
'in Glo.\ Corn.'s main concern is not to find excuses for
Edg., but to emphasize Glo.'s iniquity, which, he
implies, is so black as to justify even patricide. Thus
'reprovable badness' (=blameworthy depravity) is too

220 NOTES 3.5.
mild a term for such iniquity and must refer to patricide,
or rather to the wicked ambitions or designs which
prompted ('set awork') the idea of patricide. We para-
phrase: I can see now that Edg. was provoked to seek
Glo.'s death not merely by his own evil character but by
a good impulse prompted by viciousness, in itself (>'in
himself) blameworthy.
I O - I I . must...just=must feel remorse at doing
right.
letter he (Q+Camb.) F 'Letter which hee', prob.
antic, 'which' three words ahead.
13. not— (G.I.D.) F'not;' Most edd. 'not,'.
19-20. that he may...apprehension i.e. that we may
be able to lay hands on him when we want to.
21. Theob's aside, comforting see G.
22. stuff...fully =make him more likely to be sus-
pected (of being a French agent). S.D. (G.I.D.) Q,
F om.
26. dearer (Q+) F 'deere'. S.D. F 'Exeunt.',
Q 'Exit.'.
3.6

S.D. Loc. (Mai., subs.) Cap. 'A room in some of the
out-buildings of the Castle'. Entry <F 'Enter Kent,
and Gloucester.'. Q has 'Enter Gloster and Lear,
Kent, Foole, and Tom.'; and most edd. follow. Cf. 1. 5,
S.D., n.
4. have Plur. by attraction of'wits'.
5. impatience see G. S.D. (i) <F 'Exit' at 1. 3);
(
Cap. placed here, (ii) (F) Cf. head-note.
6-j. Frateretto...darkness Just after the first mention
of Frateretto in Harsnett, a fiddler comes in to provide
music in hell (and the phrases 'Stygian lake' and
'Caesar's humour' occur in the same context). Thus
was Nero suggested to Sh.; but Budd shows [R.E.S.
xi (1935), 421-9] that the idea of Nero fishing he

3.6. NOTES 221
took from Chaucer, Monk's Tale, 11. 485-6. Cf. 4. 2.
18, n.
7. innocent see G. Addressed to Fool.
12-14. No...before him. From F. Q om.
12. /o=as.
13-14. /or he's., .before him. In that age of a rigid
hierarchy of rank, it wd be exceedingly awkward, even
disagreeable, for a son to become a gentleman first.
Through the grant in 1596 of a coat of arms to John
Shakespeare, yeoman, both he and his son William
became gentlemen together. The Fool is as usual
glancing at Lear who should be superior in rank and
power to his daughters, but has become inferior to them
as a result of his own mad folly.
15-16. To have...'em Prompted by Edg.'s ref. to
'the lake of darkness', Lear sees Gon. and Reg. given
over to the torments of Hell. Muir cites from Harsnett,
pp. 93-4, a similar account of the Furies in Hell.
[£.£.£. (1951), p. 19.]
17-55. The foul Jiend...let her scape? From Q.
F om.
17. bites tny back. Cf. 3. 4. 159 'to kill vermin'
[K.].
19. a horse's health 'A horse is above all other
animals subject to diseases' (J.). Cf. Shr. 1. 2. 79-80;
3. 2. 49-55. Muir suggests: what a horse-dealer says
about it when trying to sell you the animal. Warb. read
'a horse's heels' and Ritson cited Ray's 'Trust not a
horse's heel nor a dog's tooth'. Cf. Tilley, H 7.
21. S.D. (Cap.) Q, F om. justicer (Theob.) Q
'Iustice'. Emendation metrically desirable. Cf. 1. 55;
4. 2. 79, and Greg, Variants, p. 175.
22. S.D. (Cap.) Q,Fom. Nozo(<Q2) Q 1 'no'.
23. he an imaginary fiend. Want'st (<Q 2) Q 1
*wanst\ trial (<Q,2) Q l 'tral\ Want'St...trials
'Do you wish for spectators at your trial ? If so, there's a

222 NOTES 3.6.

fiend to glare at you' (K., after Cowden Clarke). S.D.
(Staunton) Q om.
2 5. Come o'er the burn.. .me From a song also qu oted,
K. notes, in Wager's The Longer thou Livest, the More
Fool Thou Art (c. 1559). burn (J.C.M. <Cap.
+Camb. 'bourn') Q 'broome*. Bessy App. poor
Tom's doxy.
26-8. S.D. (Camb.) £> om. Her boat...thee The
Fool invents indelicately: cf. Temp. 1. 1. 47.
29. The'foul'fiend'etc. 'Edg. pretends that the Fool's
singing is that of a fiend disguised as a nightingale'
(Muir). Harsnett, p. 225, mentions 'a nightingale'.
30. Hoppedance (Q) Harsnett's form is 'Hoberdi-
dance', or 'Haberdidance'. Q perh. corrupts Sh.'s
spelling, cries...croak nat ReflectsHarsnett, pp. 194-5,
'If they heard any croaking in her belly (a thing where-
unto many women are subject, especially when they are
fasting).. ;they said it was the deuill...that spake with
the voyce of a Toade.' [Muir, R.E.S. (1951), p. 19.]
31. Croak see G.
35. their evidence=th.e witnesses against them.
36. S.D. (Cap.) Qom. rabid (Pope) Q 'robbed*.
36-7. rob/d man of justice...equity Except here'Sh.
gives no hint that he knew of the existence of Courts of
Equity as distinguished from Courts of Law' (Sh. Eng. 1,
395). The Lord Chancellor presided at the one, the
Lord Chief Justice at the other. As this was a trial of
supreme importance in the mad King's eyes, he seems
to suppose the blanketed Bedlam as L.C.J. and his yoke-
fellow the Fool as L.C. 37. S.D. (Cap.) Qom.
38. Bench=take your seat as in the Court of King's
Bench. S.D. (Cap.) Q om. o'th'commission i.e. ap-
pointed under the Great Seal.
41-4. Steepest or zoakest etc. J. explains:
This seems to be a stanza of some pastoral song. A
shepherd is desired to pipe, and the request is enforced by

3.6. N O T E S 223
a promise that though his sheep be in the corn, i.e. com-
mitting trespass by his negligence, yet a single tune upon his
pipe shall secure them from the pound.
43. minikin see G. Doubtful whether this refers to
the pipe or to the shepherd's (? shepherdess's) voice.
45. Purr the (Qsubs.) Most edd. read'Purr! the'.
But 'Purre' is the name of a 'fat devil' in Harsnett
(p. 50). Sh. may be identifying it with' Graymalkin' in
Macb. 1. 1. 8. 47. she (Q 2) Q 1 om.
51. /.. .joined-stool A contemptuous form of apology
for not observing another person's presence (cf. Tilley,
M 897). But, as usual, the Fool is aware of the true facts
when Lear is not. It is a stool, joined-stool Q 'ioyne
stoole' Q 2 (+Camb.) 'ioynt stoole'.
53. stone (J.D.W. <Coll. <Theob. conj.) Q
(+most) 'store' (=treasure, valuable material or
stock)—which goes ill with 'made on' (=composed of),
even supposing an allusion to Matt. vi. 21, as Muir
suggests. Some sort of substance seems required. The
graphical difference between 'stone' and 'store' is v.
slight, and 'stony hearts' is almost a Sh. cliche" (e.g.
Tw.N. 3. 4. 204; R. Ill, 4. 4. 228; M.V. 4. 1. 4;
2 H. IF, 4. 5. 107). Both Schmidt and On. suspect
corruption.
54. Corruption...place! Bribery in the court of
justice itself!
57-8. Sir, where'...retain? See Introd. pp. xxxiii-
xxxiv.
57. patience see G. 59-60. Rowe's 'aside*.
60. They (F) Q (+Camb.) 'Theile'.
61-2. The little dogs...bark at me. i.e. he is utterly
outcast—and they are his dogs! Cf. 4. 6. 154 and the
old nursery rhyme: 'Hark, hark, hark! | The dogs do
bark | The beggars are coming to town.'
63. throw his head Unexplained. Cf.l. 71. Prob.=
'turn and face'—the approved method with wild
N.S.K.L.-I6

224 NOTES 3.6.
'
beasts. To throw one's eyes', is common in Sh. Cf.
3S9
g Mastiff etc. Cf. the list of dogs in Macb. .1.
3
92 ff. This touch wd appeal to King James.
67-8. mongrel grim, \ Hound (Rowe, subs.) F
'Mongrill, Grim, | Hound' Q 'mungril, grim-houd'.
The Q/F comma is a common error. The Q reporter
seems to have taken 'greyhound' and 'grim-hoQd' as
a pair.
68. lym (Han.) Q 'him', F 'Hym'—another com-
mon error. The form 'lym' was app. so rare that the F
corrector prob. took the T for a slip. Every word in
11. 67-8 except 'or' is given a capital by F comp.
(
69. Or(F) Qom. /y/k <Q'tike') F'tight'. Cf.
the treatment of 'lym' (1. 68). trundle-tail (<£) 2)
Q 1 'trudletaile', F 'Troudle taile'.
70. him (F) Q (+Camb.) 'them'.
72. leaped F 'leapt', Q (+Camb.) 'leape\
73. Do,...de. See 3. 4. 57, n. Sessa! (Mai.) F
'sese:'. Cf. G. and 4. 6. 201, n.
73—4. Come...towns A beggar will do best in places
of public resort. Cf. Wint. 4. 3. 99, 'he haunts wakes,,
fairs, and bear-baitings'.
74. thy...dry = (a) he has had as little to drink as to
'
eat. Cf. 11. 30-1 and next note. (J>) I cannot daub it
further' (4. 1. 51).
horn K. notes that Aubrey, Natural Hist. Wiltshire
[ante 1691] (11, 4 ed. Britten, p. 93), records Tom 0'
Bedlams 'wore about their necks a great horn of an ox
on a string' which 'they did wind' for alms and into
which they 'putt the drink' given to them.
75-8. Then...hundred A response to Edg.'s 'dry';
'her' (1. 76) being emphatic. Is Reg.'s heart as dry
and bloodless as Gon.'s? is what the anatomists must
discover. But that and the 'cause in nature' for such
'hard hearts' are 'philosophical' problems. Best, then,

3.6. NOTES 225
'entertain* this interesting 'philosopher' as a member of
die royal household.
77. make (F) subjunctive (Schmidt); see Abbott,
p. 367. Q (+Camb.) 'makes'. S.D. (Cap.) Q om,
78. hundred sc. knights. Promotion indeed!
78-80. I do not like...Persian see'This witty stroke
is fully appreciated if we see that it plays on the last ode of
Horace, Book First: "Persicos odi, puer, apparatus"—
I dislike Persian pomp' (Blunden, op. cit. p. 322). It
was a short ode, prob. well-known to schoolboys then
as now. Cf. 3. 4. 144, n. Sh. gives us the inversion
theme again, leading up to 11. 82-4.
82-4. Make no noise...at noon see Introd. p. xxxii.
8 2-3. curtains i.e. of an imaginary bed. So, so; ( < F)
The word is given three times in Q (+Camb), which
adds it three times again at the end of the speech.
84. And...noon—hxA I'll play the fool. Proverbial;
cf. Tilley, B 197, 'You would make me go to bed at
noon'. The Fool's last words in the play; and all sorts of
meanings have been discovered in them; Blunden, op.
cit. p. 336, finds seven. But critics have been mostly
unaware of the proverbial relevance, which as a reply to
Lear gives all the point required. S.D. (F)—at 1. 80.
87 ff. F concludes the sc. with Glo.'s speech,' Good
friend...quick conduct. Come, come, away', and om.
both Kent's 'Oppressed...behind' and Edg.'s 'When
we...lurk, lurk' which Q supplies.
88. a...death Cf. 3.4.163. upon—against.
95. provision sc. of things needful for your journey.
97. broken sinews shattered nerves.
99. Stand...cure=will be difficult to heal. Cf.
Oth. 2. 1. 50 'my hopes...stand in bold cure'. S.D.
(Theob.)
100. S.D. (Cap. subs.) F 'Exeunt*.
103. Who alone...mind Cf. Tilley, C571; Lucr.
I.790, 'Fellowship in woe doth woe assuage'; Marlowe's