Page 326 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

4.6. NOTES 251
182. this great stage etc. Cf. J.T.L. 2. 7. 139;
Tilley, W 882, 'This world is a stage', etc.
This\..block Much debated. All agree that'block' =
hat, which ace. to eccles. practice Lear removes (or
imagines he removes) before beginning his sermon (cf.
I Cor. xi. 4). Some actors make him wear a felt hat (cf.
1.184) and Sisson gives a S.D. at 4. 6.80, 'Enter Lear,
his hat bedecked with weeds & flowers'. But Lear is' un-
bonneted' at 3.1. 14, 'bare-headed' at 3. 2. 60; and if
Cord, is to be believed (4. 7. 36) in the present sc. also,
while if, as Sisson notes, such exposure wd seem 'almost
indecent' to Sh.'s audience, that only emphasizes Lear's
pitiable plight. Besides, where has the hat come from
meanwhile ? Has Lear been shopping in Dover ? Irving
got over the difficulty by taking Edg.'s hat; other actors
have taken Glo.'s (Sprague, p. 294). Yet the mad king
has a hat—a royal one, the crown of flowers, as Cord,
tells us at 4.4. 3, and wh. gives point to 4.6.107. This
he takes off, and before putting it down to begin his
sermon, turns it round in his fingers admiringly—had he
not made it himself?—and says 'This is a good block!',
a remark that inevitably calls up the 'felt' in 1. 184.
This' (Singer) =This is. F'This'. S.D. (J.D.W.)
184. FII...proof, FromF. Q om.
185. son-in-laws Hyphens <F4.
186. kill...kill! 'Formerly the word given in the
English army, when an onset was made on the enemy'
(Mai., citing Fen. 652). S.D. (F) +'with attendants'
(<Rowe).
187. him. Sir, (J.+Camb.) F'him, Sir.'.
189-96. No rescue?...die bravely He imagines the
attack he led at 1.186, shouting 'kill', etc., has ended in
his capture.
190. The...Fortune='One born to be the sport of
fortune' (S. Walker).
191. ransom A royal prisoner was worth a great