Page 308 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

4 .i. NOTES 233

41. Then prithee (<Q+Camb.) F om. 'Then'is
needed for the sequence. See G.I.D. 1949 ed. p. 180.
away (F) Q (+Camb.) 'gone'.
45. Which (F) Q(+Camb.)'Who\
46. time's (Rowe) £), F 'times'. Cap. (+Camb.)
'times''; see G. It is the world's calamity that rulers are
mad and their subjects blind. 'Time' (=the world) is
generally sing, elsewh. in Sh.
48. Above the rest=Above all.
50. S.D. F 'Exit', Q om.
51. a-cold (Rowe). Q, F' a cold', dauh it='carry
on this miserable counterfeiting' (K.).
51, 53. 'Asides' (all edd.) Q, F om.
5 3. Bless.. .bleed! He now sees the full horror of it.
Cf. 4. 1. 10, n.
57. good man's son Poss. 'goodman's son', i.e. sou
of the old 'tenant' (1. 13) who has just left him.
'Good-man'='a man of substance, not of gentle birth.*
(O.E.D.).
57-62. Five fiends...master! (Q) Fom.—'because,
I suppose, as the story [Harsnett's revelation of the
Jesuits' dealing with demoniacs] was forgotten, the jest
was lost'(J.). Cf. 3.4. 115,11. Five fiends...Tom Cf.
Harsnett, p. 136, 'the devil in Ma. Mainy confessed
his name to be Modu, and that he had besides himself
seaven other Spirits' [Mai.].
58. as Obidicut, of lust/(M.\nT<S.Walker). Q'Of
lust, as Obidicut,'. This parallels 'Mahu, of stealing',
etc. The reporter is more likely to have written disorderly
than Sh. [J.D.W.]. G.I.D. feels it safer to follow Q.
<7J=namely. Obidicut...Hobbididence. Since the re-
porter wd find it difficult to remember these names it
may be that Sh. wrote 'Hoberdicut' and 'Hoberdi-
dance', Harsnett's forms.
darkness (J.D.W.) Q 'dumbness'—literal mis-
reading; cf. Q 'bitt' for 'kill' (F) in 1. 37. In Harsnett