Page 246 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

i.4. NOTES 171
291. gods An oath, not vocative.
292. more of it (F) Q (+Camb.) 'the cause'.
294. As (F)=which. Q (+Camb.) 'that'. S.D.
(J.D.W.) F 'Enter Lear.', Q om.
295. fifty The dismissal he has just discovered must
have taken place before her demand at 11. 247—9 that he
reduce his retinue 'a little'. Yet doubtful whether Sh.
intended the audience to be aware of this.
297. S.D. (Theob.).
300. Blasts see G. fogs sc. plague-bearing. Cf.
Caliban's curse, Temp. 1.2. 322—5.
301. untented see G. Cf. 'detested', 1. 2. 78, n.
303. Beweep Conditional.
304. loose (F + Staunton) Q (+many) 'make',
prob. recollected from 1. 300. 'Loose' is a freq. sp. of
'lose', which Camb. reads and K. interprets 'waste—
since these tears are of no avail'. But 'loose' (=shed
involuntarily, see G.) seems best in the context.
[<Muir.]
305. To...clay see G. 'temper'. Since their tears
cannot 'temper' her hard heart.
.305-6. Yea...this? (<Q) Fora. Ha!...so (<F) Q
om. Prob. F comp. thought collator's 'Ha!...so' was
meant as a substitute for 'Yea...this?'. Cf. 1949 ed.
p. 172.
307. comfortable see G.
311. S.D. F 'Exit', Q om. Most edd. 'Exeunt
Lear, Kent, and Attendants'. But Lear tells his
'people' to go at 1. 273.
313. you— (Theob.) F 'you.'.
314. Oswald First mention of the name in the text.
Cf. p. 144.
315. S.D. (J.) more...fool Cf. Tilley, K 129.
master! (<Q 'master?') F (+Camb.)'Master.'.
316. take...thee. He quibbles. 'The literal sense is
obvious; but the phrase was a regular farewell gibe: