Page 329 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

254 NOTE S 4.6.
239. Ice (F) Q 'ile'. J. (+Camb.) 'Ise\ whither
(F) = 'whether' (the Q form), hallow (F) see G. See
Greg, Variants, pp. 176-7, for Q readings.
241. S.D. (Q) F om.
242-3. no matter...Joins The foppish Osw. follows
the fashionable thrusting style of fighting; Edg., the
good old English downstroke, albeit with a cudgel; cf.
Rom. 2. 4. 20-6, and G. Silver's Paradoxes of Defence,
1599 (Sh. Assoc. Facs. no. 6, 1933).
243. S.D. (Camb.) Q, F om.
246. letters One missive.
248. British (Camb. <Q) F 'English'. 'The folio
no doubt preserves the original reading, the quarto an
actor's avoidance of Sh.'s anachronism' (Greg, Variants,
p. 177). But if Sh. wrote 'English' it must have been
inadvertently; cf. 3. 4. 184, n.; 4. 4. 21. [J.D.W.]
Death! (Camb.) Q, F 'death.' This rather odd, extras-
metrical, exclamation may be an actor's addition.
252. father see 1. 72, n.
255. no other deathsman e.g. a hangman.
256. Leave...wax Cf. Malvolio's 'By your leave,
wax' (Tw.N. 2. 5. 96); Tilley, B 637, 'The breaking
open of letters is the basest kind of burglary'. Leave...
not: (punct. Camb.) F 'Leaue gentle waxe, and
manners: blame vs not'.
257. we(F) Q'wee'd'. Camb.'we'ld'.
258. S.D. (F). 260. him i.e. Alb.
262. done if (Al.) Q 'done, If. F 'done. If.
conqueror: (Camb.) Q, F have a comma.
266. (wife...say) F's brackets. servant=lover. Q
continues 'and for you her owne for Venter', for wh.
G.I.D. now conj. 'and your own for venture'=and
your own lady if you are willing to 'venture in your own
behalf' (cf. 4. 2. 19). He suggests that the first 'for' in
Q is compositor's anticipation of the second and that
'you her' may be a mishearing of'your'. Another poss.