Page 314 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

4.2. NOTES 239
manhood—Mew!* < Q corr. 'your manhood mew')
Cf, Greg, Variants, p. 175. Mew! 'A derisive exclama-
tion' (O.E.D.)—very apt to Gon. because suggesting a
cat. £) uncorr. 'your manhood now—' (adopted by
Theob., and others) 'seems to be a sarcastic withdrawal
of her former charge of want of courage' (Ver.). Some
explain 'mew' 'shut up', as hawks were shut up in their
'mews' or cages. S.D. (F).
72. eyes! (Camb. <Q 'eyes?') F'eyes.'.
75. To=against, thereat enraged (Camb. <Q) F
'threat-enrag'd'.
76. felled=they felled. Cf. Abbott, § 399.
79. You justicers (Steev. <Q corr. 'you Iustisers')
Q uncorr. 'your Iustices', F 'You Iustices'. The F
collator has made only a partial correction of Q uncorr.
See Greg, Variants, p. 175. nether=h.txe below.
80. 0...Gloucester! Bracketed in F.
83. S.D. (Coll. MS. subs.) Q, F om. Gon.'s
'aside' (].).
83-6. One...life. 'Gon.'s plan was to poison her
sister,—to marry Edm.,—to murder Alb.,—and to get
possession of the whole kingdom. As the death of Corn,
facilitated the last part of her scheme, she was pleased at
it; but disliked it, as it put it in the power of her sister to
marry Edm.' (Mason, ap. Furn.).
84. being i.e. she being. 84-5. May...life=may
pull down all my castles in the air (on top of me),
leaving me a hateful life.
87. S.D. Q 'Exit.', F om. 90. 6ack=onhisway
back. Cf. 1. 15. 97. S.D. F'Exeunt.'.

4-3
From Q; F om. whole sc. We correct Q's erroneous
punct. without comment. G.-B. (pp. 148-9, n., 228)
considers this' a carpentered scene if ever there was one',