Page 313 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

238 NOTES 4.2.
an echo of Luke vi. 29—upbraiding him for Christian
long-suffering.
52-3. discerning...suffering which can discriminate
between dishonour and forbearance, eye discerning
(Rowe) F 'eye-discerning'.
53-9. that...so?' From Q. F om.
54. Fools...punished i.e. it is only fools who pity the
villains that get punished, etc. [<Ver.].
56. noiseless Because no drum is beating.
57. thy...threat (Jennens + Camb.) Q uncorr. 'thy
slayer begin threats', Q corr. 'thy state begins thereat*
(cf. 1. 75, n.). Despite the 1949 ed. pp. 406-7, G.I.D.
now agrees with A.W. (p. 52) that 'Jennens's emenda-
tion...satisfies the textual conditions' and 'makes per-
fectly good sense'. The subj. of the sentence is of course
'France'.
58. moral sermonizing; cf. 1. 37, n.
60—1. Proper deformity ...woman. A fiend's own
moral and physical deformity does not appear so horrid
as a woman's does, for it is natural to the Devil, un-
natural in a woman. Cf. G. 'proper', shows (Q corr.)
F (<Q uncorr.) 'seemes'. See Greg, Variants,
pp. 174-5. 61. vain silly.
62-8. Thou...mew! From Q. F om.
62. chang/d sc. from woman to fiend or monster.
self-covered i.e. she has 'hid the woman under the
fiend' (J.)—bemonstered herself.
63. feature=appearance, ffere't my fitness=If it
were fitting for me.
64. Metrically defective, perh. through accidental
omission. Steev. conj. 'hands of mine', Theob. 'boiling
blood'. 65. dislocate (Q 3) Qq 1, 2 'dislecate'.
65-6. dislocate and tear Thy flesh and bones A chi-
asmus.
66. howe'er.. .fiend'=however much of a fiend you are.
68. your manhood! mewl (Camb. <Daniel 'your