Page 243 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

x68 NOTES 1.4.

pp. 633-4), cited Pliny's Nat. Hist. Bk. x, ch. ix (sic,
Holland's tr., Leob tr. xi) as the source. But that the
murderous cuckoo, with the wood-pigeon (palumbd) as
its victim, is found in Pliny only proves the fable to be
ancient and widespread.
217. ithad(Q) F 'it'shad'. Q is better for a traditional
jingle, it head...it young Here 'it' is the old genitive.
218. out...darkling Ver. cites F.Q. n. x. 30 [the
story of King Leyr]:
But true it is, that when the oyle is spent,
The light goes out, and weeke is throwne away;
So when he had resignd his regiment,
His daughter gan despise his drouping day.

220. / (F) Q (+Camb.) 'Come sir, I', your (F)
Q (+Camb.) 'that'. 221. F's brackets.
222. which (F) Q (+Camb.) 'that', transport (F)
see G.; cf. Cor. 1. 1. 77. Q 'transforme'.
224. an ass...horses i.e. even an ass like me can see
how preposterous this is. Cf. Heywood 'To set the cart
before the horse' (Tilley, C 103).
225. Whoop...thee Prob. refrain of an old song,
used as an ironical cry of admiration for Gon. N.B.
'Jug'=contemptuous for 'Joan', and 'Joan' often==
whore. Cf. Gambys'es, 11. 2 51-2 (J. Q. Adams, Pre-Sh.
Dramas): 'Rufe. I wil give thee sixpence to lye one
night with me. Meretrix. Gogs hart, slave, doost thinke
I am a sixpenny jug?'
226-7. Does...Does (<F) Q (+Camb.) 'Doth...
Doth'.
226-32. On the text here see pp. 137-9, and 1949
ed.pp. 32-4, 375-6.
229. lethargied— Rowe'sdash. Ha! Waking? Am
I awake?
231. Lear's shadow! (G.I.D.) F 'Lears shadow.'
Q 'Lears shadow?' (cont. to Lear).