Page 323 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

348 NOTES 4.6.

108. the subject Collective=my people. Cf.Per.z.
X. 48, n.
109. cause see G.; cf. Oth. 5.2.1, 'It is the cause*,
etc. and Lev. xx. 10.
117. pell-mell see G.—suggests 'soldiers'.
118-31. Behold.. .thee. F prints as prose.
118-21. Beholdyond simp'ring dame etc. Cf. Hall,
Virgidemiarum (1598), iv. i. 156-7, 'sits shee simpring
in her pew | Like some chast dame, a shriued saynt—in.
shew' [J.C.M.].
119. Whose...snow i.e. 'Whose face presages snow
between her forks' (=legs). T. Edwards (1748) cites
Tint- 4. 3. 387 (the same image used conversely).
120. minces virtue—behaves in an affected way so as
to suggest chastity.
121. name Emphatic. 'It shocks her even to Hear
the word mentioned' (K.).
122. soilid see G. In mod. slang 'full of beans'.
Sh. seems to be echoing here Florio's Montaigne, n, xv,
'I have heretofore put forth an old stallion tosoile' (wh.
2
O.E.D. misunderstands, see 'soiled' ppl. a ).
124-7. Down...fiend's. Cf. Tilley, W 520, 'There
is no wisdom (law) below the girdle'. Cf. Introd. § IX
128. there is the (F) Q (+Camb.) 'ther's the'.
130-1. Give...for thee. As prose in Q and F, prob.
correctly. Punct. and text as in F (subs.). Most'edd.
follow Q—'Giuc.Ciuet, good Apottfocarie, to
sweeten...', civet see G. Prob. ironical, since the
perfume was made from 'the very uncleanly flux of a
cat' (A.Y.L. 3. 2. 64-5).
134. piece of Nature=Nature's masterpiece. This
great world'= the universe; cf. 3. 1. 10, n.
136. / remember...eyes Clearly Glo.'s were not
bandaged; cf. 4.1.10, n., ad fin.
137. blind Cupid Sometimes in Sh. 'hoodwinked
with a scarf {Rom. 1, 4. 4), sometimes without eyes