Page 294 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

3-4- N O T E S aigr
1
Fletcher's Woman s Prize, 2. . (ed. Waller, VIII, 24).
i
Browning expands the line into one of his best known
poems. Childe Roland F 'Childe Rowland'—the most
famous figure in the retinue of Charlemagne, and hero of
the 12th cent. Chanson de Roland. See G. 'Childe'.
183-4. His...man. 7 These lines are Edg.'s addition.
His word=his watchword or password as he enters.
See G. Prob. intended as a reply to Glo.'s 'no words',
etc.
l
Fie...man.' Inverted commas (edd.). The words,
spoken by the Giant in the tale of Jack the Giant-Killer,
are 'given by an intentional incongruity to the heroic
Child Roland' (Muir). The meaning, we think, is rather
that British Roland is entering the Giant's Castle, where
his blood (kinship) is in danger of being smelt (detected).
184. a British man Shd be 'an Englishman' ace. to
the trad, tale (cf. Have with you to Saffron-Walden in
Nashe, ed. McKerrow, HI, 37). Sh. makes the change,
there being no English in Lear's Britain. See 4. 6.
248, n. S.D. F 'Exeunt', Q om.

3-5
S.D. Loc. (Cap.) Entry (F).
1-2. his house Cf. 3. 7. 30-1, 39.
3. sp.-hdg. Q, F'Bast.'. So throughout sc. How...
censured i.e. What people may think of me.
4. nature i.e. natural affection, loyalty to the crown,
viz. you. something fears me=frightens me somewhat.
6-9. / now perceive...in himself. Puzzles many;
'merit' being variously interpreted 'excellence' (Edg.'s)
or 'deserts' (Glo.'s), and 'in himself as 'in Edg.' or
'in Glo.\ Corn.'s main concern is not to find excuses for
Edg., but to emphasize Glo.'s iniquity, which, he
implies, is so black as to justify even patricide. Thus
'reprovable badness' (=blameworthy depravity) is too