Page 312 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

4.2. NOTES 237
For the quibble see G. 'whistle', Heywood's Proverbsi
'A poore dogge that is not woorth the whystlyng'
[Steev.]. Breton, Packet of Mad Lett, 1603 [cited
O.D.E.P. 'Poor', p. 510], 'There are more maids than.
Maulkin, and I count myself worth the whistling after',
and Tilley, W 311, 'Not worth a whistle'.
whistling (G.I.D. <Q corr.) Q uncorr. and F
*whistle\ A case can be made for either (cf. Greg,
Variants, p. 172, with A.W. p. 57) and both are pro-
verbial. But the vbl sb. suits the context best, and the
sense of 'waiting for'.
31-50. I..Jeep. FromQ. F om. Cf. Introd. § IX.
31. I...disposition Your character frightens me.
32. it (=its) origin i.e. Lear, it (Q uncorr.) Qcorr.
*ith'; see Greg, Variants, pp. 172-3.
3 3. Cannot...itself = cannot be trusted to keep withia
the bounds of the moral code.
36. to deadly use=to destruction; e.g. to be burnt
like a dead piece of wood. Perh. a hint of Hell-fire.
37. no more etc. You can spare me the sermon on so
foolish a text.
46. visible spirits i.e. lightning and thunderbolt (as
opposed to the invisible spirits).
47. quickly Cf. 4. i.68,n. these (Jennens+Camb.
<Heath conj.) Q uncorr. 'the', corr. 'this'.
48. // will come sc. come about that. Possibly
something has been lost or the words may be an actor's
addition; Pope om.
49-50. Humanity ...deep. Greg (Variants, p. 173)
compares the Sh. addition to Sir Thomas More, 11. 86-7
(see Sh.'s Hand, pp. 230-end)—'men lyke ravenous
fishes I woold feed on on [=one] another'. See also
Trot 1.1.3.121-4, Per. 2.1.2 8-9, n., and for Sh.'s vision
of cannibalism as the culmination of disorder, R. W.
Chambers, Man's Unconquerable Mind, pp. 226-8.
51. iear'st (F),Q'bearest\ SeeG. Poss.'bar'st'-—