Page 256 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

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