Page 257 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

182 N O T E S 2.2 k
prompt-book, miscorrects Q. oil to fire Cf.Tilley,O3o;
All's, 5. 3. 61.
76. Renege Q 'Reneag', F 'Reuenge' (the collator
misreads the prompt-book and. miscorrects Q). Cf.
Ant. 1. 1. 8. Renege, affirm, Cf. 4. 6. 96-100.
J
halcyon Cf. G. and Marlowe, « p of Malta, 1.1.
38-9, 'But now how stands the wind? | Into what
corner peeres my Halcions bill?'
77. gale and vary Q 'gale and varie', F 'gall, and
varry'. Hendiadys: =varying gale, changing breeze.
78. {like dogs) F's brackets. but=except.
79. epfleptic Osw.'s smiling makes him look as if he
were having a fit. Cf. the description of Malvolio
smiling, Tzo.N. 3. 2. 76.
80. Smile (F4)=smile at. Q 'smoyle', F i
'Smoile'. Prob. a common error. The disguised Kent
resolves to speak in dialect (1. 4. 1-2), and presumably
does so; but why, in this scene, shd dialect pronun-
ciation be indicated in this word only? Moreover, the
two words were prob. normally pronounced alike; cf.
'boil' at 2. 4. 21, n. and Kokeritz, p. 217. as=as if.
a Fool—whose speeches one assumes must be funny.
81-2. Goose...Camelot Not satisfactorily explained.
Some, taking Camelot to be Winchester (cf. Malory,
Morte d'Arthur, 11, xix) see an allusion to 'Winchester
goose', i.e. syphilis (cf. 1 H. VI, 1. 3. 53; Trail. 5. 10,
5 3), but this seems pointless. Others take Camelot to be
Camelford or Tintagel in Cornwall, which Sh. might
well think of as the Duke's capital in the time of King
Lear. If so, Kent threatens to chase Oswald from
Salisbury plain, where no doubt geese abounded, to
Reg.'s castle; a long drive. This would be clearer to an
audience if Sh. sent Osw. with a letter to Cornwall (i.e.
Reg.) in 1. 5. 1 (seen,). 95. saucy see G.
95-6. constrains...nature ('his'=its) i.e. 'distorts
the style of straightforward speaking quite from its