Page 321 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

246 N O T E S 4.6.
76-7. //// it do...die. 'till Affliction has had enough
of it, i.e. Affliction will tire before Glo. does' (J.C.M.).
80. S.D. (G.I.D.+J.D.W. See 'Crowned', etc.,
4. 4. 3-6). F 'Enter Lear.', Q 'Enter Lear mad.',
Cap. ( + Camb.) 'Enter Lear, fantastically dressed with
wild flowers.'. Sisson(n, p. 241) insists upon a hat. But
see 1.182, n. below. And is not Sh. thinking of Christ's
crown of thorns, wh. wd necessitate a bare head?
Cf. Introd. § VI.
81-2. The safer...thus. 'A sound mind wd never
let its possessor dress himself up in this fashion' (K.).
83 ff. No, they... He first imagines himself being
chased by officers anxious to arrest him as a counter-
feiter; then 'coin' suggests 'press-money', and that
suggests recruits shooting at the butts; at this point he
catches sight of a mouse, commands silence while he
tries to catch it with a piece of cheese, etc.—ideas
following each other with little more than verbal
connexion. 83. coining (<Q'coyning') F 'crying'.
85. Cap.'s 'aside', side-piercing Another Gospel
echo (cf. St John xix. 34).
86. Nature's...respect. A mad reference to a stock
theme of the period; the relation between Art and
Nature—a king who coins by divine right standing for
Nature & a forger for Art.
87—8. crow-keeper seeG.
88. drazo...yard=draw the bow to the full length of
the arrow. A difficult feat; yet the imaginary recruit in
1. 91 is supposed to bring it off. Steev. compares Chevy
Chase—'An arrow of a cloth-yard long | Up to the
head drew he'.
90. do't i.e. help me catch it. There's...giant. He
now imagines himself a champion throwing down his
gage, it i.e. my cause.
91. brown bills see G. His mind reverts to the army
and his archers.