Page 270 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

2.4. NOTES 195
280. S.D. (<Cap.) F 'Storme and Tempest.'
'The Heavens answer' (Muir). 'Storm' in Sh. gen.
means 'a violent wind attended with rain' (Schmidt),
and 'tempest' a storm with thunder and lightning
—as in Caes. 1. 3. and Temp. 1. 1. Cf. O.E.D.
'tempest'.
282. Or ere A common reduplication, both words
meaning'before'. S.D. <Q 2+Camb. 'Exeunt Lear,
Gloucester, Kent, and Foole.'. F 'Exeunt.'.
283. Let...storm N.B. the complete indifference to
what has just happened.
284. W ; ( F 2 ) Fi'an'ds'.
285. well=either (a) fittingly, comfortably (to
them), or {£) easily, conveniently (to us).
286. blame; hath (Boswell + Camb.) Q, F 'blame
hath'. A common error; see Greg in Aspects, p. 165.
hath 'he' understood.
289. So am I etc. sp.-hdg. (<F) Q 'Duke.'.
291. Followed tic. sp.-hdg. (<F)Q'Reg.', S.D.F
'Enter Gloster.' (at 1. 290). We place as K., and R.C.B.
292-3. Cornwall. Whither...horse, (<F) Q om.
294. he leads himself i.e. he accepts no guidance but
his own. 295. My lord Addressed to Glo.
296. bleak (Q) see G. F 'high', which may be an
echo from 1. 292, or perh. a deliberate sophistication;
'bleak' wd be a curious substitution for a reporter
(G.I.D. 1949 ed. p. 177).
298. scarce (F) Q 'not'. Readings about equally
balanced (see Note on the Copy, p. 139).
301. attended.. .train She assumes Lear's knights are
still in attendance. Cf. 1. 65, n. See G. 'desperate'.
302—3. apt...abused'— easily taken in—as he had
been by Reg. and Gon. in 1. 1. wisdom bids—common
prudence bids us.
305. S.D. F 'Exeunt.'.