Page 306 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

4.i. NOTES 231
2. still...flattered sc. as at court, flattered. To be
worst, (Pope) Q 'flattered to be worst,', F 'flatter'd, to
be worst:'. The Q and F punct. amount to the same
thing; defended by Muir, who reads 'flatter'd to be
worst.'. But 'the worst' here must tally with 'the
worst' (1. 6) and contrast with 'the best' (1. 5). Cf.
Sisson.
2-4. To be worst...lives not in fear=cL Bunyan's
'He that is down needs fear no fall'. 4. still=always.
6. returns...laughter, i.e. is bound to change for the
better. 6-9. Welcome...blasts. From F. Q om.
9. Owes...blasts, sc. therefore need fear nothing
further from you, since he has paid to the uttermost.
S.D. (Q—at 1.12) F 'Enter Gloster and an Oldman.'.
10. poorly eyed! (G.I.D.)=with something wrong
with his sight! Cf. Spenser, F.Q. iv. iii. 7, 'watchfull and
well eyde'. The modern coll. 'poorly' = 'in a poor state
of health' is post-Sh. (see O.E.D. 'poorly'). The texts
are: F 'poorely led?'; Q uncorr. 'poorlie, leed,'; Q
corr. 'parti,eyd,\ As F here derives from Q uncorr.
wh. Greg notes is not only 'exceedingly feeble' but
can hardly have been even 'approximately the reading of
the Quarto copy', since 'if it was, there is no apparent
reason why the corrector should have altered it', we
must look to Q corr. for a solution, though of course it
will be what the reporter wrote and only poss. Sh.'s.
The 'eyd' seems convincing and the mis-correction.of
'poorlie' to 'parti' may be explained if the Q copy read
'porli'. Cf. Greg, Variants, pp. 169-70. J.D.W. first
conj. 'pearly' (<sp. 'parli')=with cataracts, cf. Gent.
5. 2. 13. But he now feels it too definite for the con-
text, though the white plasters provided at 3. 7. 105-6
(see n.) might suggest cataracts. N.B. The eyes were
not bandaged, as on the mod. stage; see 4. 6. 136, 143;
5. 3. 188.
11-12. But...age. 'We are only reconciled to