Page 248 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

i.5. NOTES 173

1-5
S.D. loc. (Cap.) Entry (Q 2) Q 1 'Enter Lear.%
F 'Enter Lear, Kent, Gentleman, and Foole.'.
I. Cornwall (G.-B.; Greg conj.) Q, F (+edd.)
'Gloster'—wh. cannot=the Duke, so gen. taken as the
place, but both G.-B. (p. 229) and Greg (M.L.R. 1940,
p. 434, n ) suggest it may be Sh.'s slip for Cornwall (the
place), since the letter is for Corn.'s wife Reg. J.D.W.
conj. that the slip was the Q reporter's, uncorrected in F.
Kent and Osw. are both sent with letters to Reg. which
they deliver (cf. 2.2.48) and meet outside Glou.'s castle
on their return. For Kent's account see 2. 4. 26 ff.
these letters=this letter (Lat. Htterae).
3. demand out of= questions arising from.
7. S.D. £>, F'Exit.'.
8. were't (Rowe+most) Q,F'wert\ V=his brains
(sing.).
II. thy wit sc. in posting off so foolishly to Reg.
not (F) Q (+Camb.) 'nere'—wh. misses the point.
12. slip-shod see G.
15. kindly see G. this i.e. Gon.
16. I can...can tell. Cf.Tilley,K 173'I know what
I know'.
17. <F Q(+Camb.) 'Why what canst thou tell
my boy?' (actor's textual expansion).
19-20. Thou...face? The Fool now tries to stop
Lear brooding by asking some stock 'philosophical'
questions, but gives the answers a turn apt to his plight.
Cf. 3. 4. 154, n. on's=of his.
22. of =on. side's^side of his.
23. smell out Cf. Tilley, S 558.
25. I...wrong. Brooding on Cordelia.
28-9. why a snail...house. Cf. Tilley, S 580, 'Like
a snail he keeps his house on his head' =he is a stay-at-
home.