Page 324 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

4.6. NOTES 249

(A.Y.L. 4. T. 208). For 'the sign of bKnd Cupid' at the
door of a brothel, see Ado, 1. 1. 238-39.
138. challenge sc. Cupid's, wh. he has just re-
jected. His mind reverts to 11.89-90. of it (F) Q'oft'
£ 2 (+Camb.) 'onY.
140. this sc. this spectacle. Han.'s 'aside'.
143. the case of eyes i.e. empty eye-sockets. Cf.
1. 136, n.; 4. I. 10, n.
144. are...me?=is that what you mean?
145. heavy case—svA plight. Quibble on *case'=»
socket.
148. feelingly Another quibble—(a) by feel,
(J>) keenly.
156. cur? (Q2+Camb.) F'Cur:'. Sisson, taking
'And' as = 'if', reads 'An the creature run from the cur,
there thou mightst...'. 157. a dog's Emphatic.
159-62. Thou, rascal...zvhipp'st her see Introd.
p. xxxvi. beadle see G. Cf. .2 H. IF, 5. 4. 5, n.
160. thy (F) £> (+Camb.) 'thine'.
162. The...cozener, i.e. one kind of cheat hangs
another. The usurer i.e. a money-lender on the bench;
usury being a respectable way of defrauding others.
163. Through (Q) F 'Thorough', great (F,
J.C.M.) Q (+all edd.) 'small'. 'In Q, Lear makes the
commonplace remark that the rich can get away with
murder, etc., while the poor are punished for petty
offences. But in F the whole drift of the speech is that
we are all "in the same boat, all offenders".' Theft,
whoredom, cozenage, etc., are not "small" vices but
sin (cf. 11. 164-6). The Q/F relationship here is of the
same kind as "last but not least"/"last and least"—•
(1. 1. 82) and "hours"/"years" (2. 2. 58)' [J.C.M.].
164. Robes and furred gowns App. refers to judges
and magistrates. Cf. Meas. 3. 2.6-10, which voices the
same complaint, viz. that usurers, allowed by law (i.e.
the Act of 15 71), became wealthy citizens and sat on the