Line 1608 - Commentary Note (CN) 
Commentary notes (CN):
1. SMALL CAPS Indicate editions. Notes for each commentator are divided into three parts:
In the 1st two lines of a record, when the name of the source text (the siglum) is printed in SMALL CAPS, the comment comes from an EDITION; when it is in normal font, it is derived from a book, article, ms. record or other source. We occasionally use small caps for ms. sources and for works related to editions. See bibliographies for complete information (in process).
2. How comments are related to predecessors' comments. In the second line of a record, a label "without attribution" indicates that a prior writer made the same or a similar point; such similarities do not usually indicate plagiarism because many writers do not, as a practice, indicate the sources of their glosses. We provide the designation ("standard") to indicate a gloss in common use. We use ≈ for "equivalent to" and = for "exactly alike."
3. Original comment. When the second line is blank after the writer's siglum, we are signaling that we have not seen that writer's gloss prior to that date. We welcome correction on this point.
4. Words from the play under discussion (lemmata). In the third line or lines of a record, the lemmata after the TLN (Through Line Number] are from Q2. When the difference between Q2 and the authors' lemma(ta) is significant, we include the writer's lemma(ta). When the gloss is for a whole line or lines, only the line number(s) appear. Through Line Numbers are numbers straight through a play and include stage directions. Most modern editions still use the system of starting line numbers afresh for every scene and do not assign line numbers to stage directions.
5. Bibliographic information. In the third line of the record, where we record the gloss, we provide concise bibliographic information, expanded in the bibliographies, several of which are in process.
6. References to other lines or other works. For a writer's reference to a passage elsewhere in Ham. we provide, in brackets, Through Line Numbers (TLN) from the Norton F1 (used by permission); we call these xref, i.e., cross references. We call references to Shakespearean plays other than Ham. “parallels” (//) and indicate Riverside act, scene and line number as well as TLN. We call references to non-Shakespearean works “analogues.”
7. Further information: See the Introduction for explanations of other abbreviations.
Click
here for more information about browsing the entries
and
here for more information about the special symbols
used in Hamletworks. Click the question mark icon above to remove this help message.
Notes for lines 1018-2022 ed. Eric Rasmussen
| 1608 Like Iohn-a-dreames, vnpregnant of my cause, | 2.2.568 |
|---|
1747 warb
warb
1608 vnpregnant] Warburton (ed. 1747): “Unpregnant, for having no due sense of.”
1765 john1
john1 = warb +
1608 vnpregnant]
Johnson (ed. 1765): “Rather, not quickened with a new desire of vengeance; not teeming with revenge.”
1778 v1778
v1778
1608 Iohn-a-dreames] Steevens (ed. 1778): “Perhaps this name is corrupted. John-a-droynes seems to have been some well known character, as I have met with more than one allusion to him. So, in Have with you Saffron Walden, or Gabriel Harvey’s Hunt is up, by Nashe, 1596: ‘The description of that poor John-a-droynes his man, whom he had hired &c.’ John-a-droynes is likewise a foolish character in Whetstone’s Pramos and Cassandra, 1578, who is seized by informers, has not much to say in his defence, and is cheated out of his money.”
1784 ays
ays
1608 Like...cause] Ayscough (ed. 1784): “i.e. not quickened with a new desire of vengeance; not teeming with revenge.”
1785 v1785
v1785=v1773+
1608 Iohn-a-dreames] Steevens (ed. 1785): “John-a-dreams, i.e. of dreams, means only John the dreamer; as nick-name, I suppose, for any ignorant silly fellow. Thus the puppet formerly thrown at during the season of lent was called Jack-a-lent, and the ignis fatuus Jack-a-lanthorn. John-a-droynes however, if not a corruption of this nick-name seems to have been some well known character, as I have met with more than one allusion to him. So, in Have with you Saffron Walden, or Gabriel Harvey’s Hunt is up, by Nashe, 1596: ‘The description of that poor John a droynes his man, whom he had hired, &c.’ John a Droynes is likewise a foolish character in Whetstone’s Promos and Cassandra, 1578, who is seized by informers, has not much to say in his defence, and is cheated out of his money.”
1790- mtooke
1608 vnpregnant] Tooke (ms. notes, ed. 1790): “not having conceived. having no conception of. i.e. not having that showing that in me which my cause ought to have begot upon me.”
1791- rann
rann
1608 vnpregnant of my cause] Rann (ed. 1791-): “—not teeming with revenge.”
1793- v1793
1608 Iohn-a-dreames] Steevens (ms. notes, ed. 1793) inserts after “Ignis satuus jack-a-lanthorn.”: “At the beginning of Arthur Hall’s translation of the second book of Homer’s Iliad, 1581, we are told of Jupiter that ‘John dreaming God he callde to him, that God, chiefe God of it, common cole carrier of every lyfe, &’”
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793+Steevens’ MS note
1815 becket
becket
1608 Iohn-a-dreames] Becket (1815, p. 39): “‘John-a-droynes’— Droyne is in all probability drone, i.e. dull, slothful, sluggish. Dreams is apparently wrong.” </p. 39>
1819 cald1
cald1
1608 Iohn-a-dreames] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “A John a-dreams is any one, heavy, lethargic, stupid. The word is formed, as Jack a Lent, Jack a Lanthorn, John a Nokes, John a Drones, or a Droynes; and is found, as Steevens says, in Whetstone’s Promos & Cassandra, 1578, and in Nashe’s Gabriel Harvey’s Hunt is up, 1596. He adds from the beginning of Arth. Hall’s Iliad. B. II. 1581. ‘John dreaming God he calde to him, that God, chiefe God of il, Common cole carriet of every lye.’
1608 vnpregnant] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Unpregnant of, is not quickened with or having a lively sense of. See M. for M. IV. 4. Ang; and Polon. supra.”
1826 sing1
sing1
1608 Iohn-a-dreames] Singer (ed. 1826): “John a dreams, or John a droynes, was a common term for any dreaming or droning simpleton. There is a story told of one John a droynes, a Suffolk simpleton, who played the Devil in a stage play, in the Hundred Merry Tales. And there is another foolish character of that name in Whetstone’s Promos and Cassandra. Unpregnant is not quickened or properly impressed with.”
1839 knt1
knt1
1608 Iohn-a-dreames] Knight (ed. 1839): “John--a--dreams, a soubriquet for a heavy, lethargic fellow.”
1843 col1
col1: v1778
1608 Iohn-a-dreames] Collier (ed. 1843): “‘A nickname, I suppose, (says Steevens) for any ignorant, silly fellow:’ rather for a sleepy, apathetic fellow. The only mention yet met with of John a-dreams, is in Armin’s ‘Nest of Ninnies,’ 1608, recently reprinted by the Shakespeare Society, where at p. 49 the following passage occurs: ‘His name is John, indeed, says the cinnick; but neither John a-nods, nor John a-dreames, yet either, as you take it.’ John a-droynes, mentioned by Whetstone and Nash, and referred to by Steevens, was in all probability a diferent person. “
1856 hud1 (1851-6)
hud1
1608 Iohn-a-dreames] Hudson (ed. 1856): “This John was probably distinguished as a sleepy, apathetic fellow, a sort of dreaming of droning simpleton or flunkey. The only other mention of him that has reached us, is in Armin’s Nest of Ninnies, 1608: ‘His name is John, indeed, says the cinnick, but neither John a-nods nor John a-dreams, yet either, as you take it,’ H.”
1856b sing2
sing2 = sing1+
1608 Iohn-a-dreames] Singer (ed. 1856): “A corresponding term John a nods is used by Harsnet in his Declaration of Popish Impostures, p. 160.
1869 romdahl
romdahl
1608 vnpregnant] Romdahl (1869, p. 30): “Compare pregnant above [1248].”
1872 cln1
cln1
1608 Iohn-a-dreames] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “John the Dreamer, a name formed like Jack-a-hent, Jack-a-Lanthorn, John-a-droynes, which Steevens guesses to be a corruption of John-a-Dreams. "It occurs in Armin’s Nest of Ninnies (Shakespeare Society), p. 49: ’His name is John, indeede, saies the cinnick; but neither John a nods, nor John a dreames.’ "
1608 vnpregnant of my cause] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “having no living thoughts within relating to my cause. See Measure for Measure, iv. 4. 23: ’This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpregnant And dull to all proceedings.’ In the same play, i. 1. 12, ’pregnant in’ is used for ’filled with knowledge of.’ "
1877 clns
clns
1608 Iohn-a-dreames] Neil (ed. 1877): “Like Jack-a-lantern — John o’ the Dreams, a dreamy impracticable fellow.”
1885 macd
macd
1608 vnpregnant] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “ ‘unpossessed by my cause.’
1899 ard1
ard1
Iohn-a-dreames] Dowden (ed. 1899): “found also in Armin, Nest of Ninnies, 1608. ‘John-a-droynes’ is found in Nash, Have with you to Saffron Walden, 1596.
vnpregnant] Dowden (ed. 1899): “unimpregnated, unquickened by my cause. See Measure for Measure, IV. iv. 23.”
1608