Page 227 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

IS 2 NOTES I.I.
that...substance=that little piece of pretence sincerity.
(<Ver. and K.). See G. 'substance', seeming-sub-
stance K. conj. hyphen. 'A kind of antithetic com-
pound' (Ver.).
203. strangered with=ma&e a stranger by. Cf.
1. 114.
204. Take...her? Cf. Tilley, T 25, 'Take it or
leave it'.
205. Election...up 'No one can choose' (Muir).
on Q (+Camb.) F 'in'.
207. S.D. (Pope) For=As for.
213. whom (F)—conversational grammar. Q
(+Camb.)'that'. best(Q) Fom. object see G.
215. The best, the (F) Q (+Camb.) 'most best,
most', prob. memorial echo of 11. 249-50.
217. fo/ds of favour i.e. fig. like clothing that
protected Cord.
220. Fa//(F) Q (+Camb.) 'Falne'. J. noted that
if'or'='ere' (as often in Sh.), F makes excellent sense
Q.D.W.]. But see 1949 ed. p. 169.
221-2. that...in me i.e. wh. I could not believe
unless it was vouched for by divine revelation. Cf.
Introd. p. xxii.
222. Should(F) Q (+Camb.) 'Could'=the mod.
meaning of F. majesty—(<Q) F 'Maiesty.'
223. ,/or=because.
224. we//Q (+Camb.) F'will'.
226. murder 'Blot' is a weak word for 'murder',
and is more apt to some form of'unchastity' with which
the rest of the context deals. What is wanted here is not
any specific crime but some general term like 'stain', as
a link between 'blot' and 'foulness'. S. Walker's
'umber' (=smirch; cf. A.T.L. 1. 3. 112), though not
fig. elsewh. in Sh., is often so in 15th and 16th cent, (see
O.E.D. 2), and is graphically similar to 'murder'
[J.D.W.J, But see the 1949 ed. pp. 363-4.