Page 347 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

272 NOTES 5.3.
264. Or.. .horror.—If this is not the end of the world,
it is a picture of what it will be. horror. (Q 1, F) Edd.
generally prefer Q 2 'horror?'. Fall and cease I Let the
skies fall, and the end come!
267. S.D. (Theob.+Camb.)
271. Ha? (J.D.W.)=eh? F 'Ha:' Q 'ha,'.
Camb. 'Ha!' He thinks he hears her speak and bends
down to listen.
272-3. Her voice...worn an. He explains to himself
why he cannot hear her now. Cf. Introd. p. xxv.
274. a-hanging Hyphen Dyce's; Q, F om.
275. sp.-hdg. (Cap.) Q 'Cap.', F 'Gent.'.
276-7. / have seen...skip Cf. Justice Shallow in
M.W.W.2. 1. 2 o 3,' I have seen the time, with my long
sword I would have made you...skip like rats.' [Steev.],
and Oth. 5. 2. 264-7.
277. them (Q+Camb.)—his enemies in general.
F 'him'—prob. sophistication.
278. spoil me 'i.e. as a swordsman' (Muir).
279. TII...straight=1*11 tell you in a moment who
you are.
280-1. If Fortune...behold Meaning debated, yet
one of the most poignant incidents in the play. The
utterly devoted and humble servant awaits recognition
from 'his enemy king' (1. 219), in eyes that blazed in
anger when they were last aware of his identity, viz. at
the moment of his banishment. And that Sh. wishes us
to have those eyes specially in mind is clear from Lear's
double reference to his sight, elsewhere not mentioned.
Engrossed by the fancied stirring of the feather (1. 265)
Lear finds the figure who suddenly kneels at his side an
intrusion, and does not even hear Kent's name, when
Edgar pleads for him. But the memory of the blow that
killed 'the slave' who hanged his beloved child recalls
for a moment former sword-play in battle, and that in
turn seems to awake memories of his old comrade in