Line 38 - 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.
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Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
| 38 He may approoue our eyes and speake to it. | 1.1.29 |
|---|
1755
Johnson Dict.
Johnson 38 approue our eyes]
Johnson (1755): def. 3: “To prove; to show; to justify”
1765 john1
john1
38 approue our eyes]
Johnson (ed. 1765): “Add a new testimony to that of our eyes.”
c1770 mwar2
mwar2
38 approue our eyes] Warner (ms. notes, c. 1770): “Approve i.e. Prove that our Eyes have not been deceiv’d.”
1773 v1773
v1773 = john1
38 approue our eyes]
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773 +
38 approue our eyes] Steevens (ed. 1778): “So, in Heywood’s Iron Age, 1632: ‘I can by grounded arguments approve Your power and potency,’ Again, in [ Ant. 1.1.59 (74)]: ‘—I am full sorry That he approves the common lyar, who Thus speaks of him at Rome.—’ Steevens.”
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778 minus Ant. ref. + vol.page 7:456
38 approue our eyes]
1790 mal
mal ≈ john1 without attribution +
38 approue our eyes] Malone (ed. 1790): “He may make good the testimony of our eyes; be assured by his own experience of the truth of that which we have related, in consequence of having been eye-witnesses to it. To approve in Shakspeare’s age signified to make good, or establish, and is so defined in Cawdry’s Alphabetical Tables of hard English words, 8vo. 1604. So, in King Lear : ‘Good king, that must approve the common saw! Thou our of heaven’s benediction com’st To the warm sun.’ Malone.”
1791- rann
rann ≈ mal without attribution
38 approue our eyes] Rann (ed. 1791-): “confirm their testimony; be convinced that we were not deceived, or fanciful.”
1793 v1793
v1793 = john1 + , mal
38 approue our eyes] Steevens (ed. 1793): “So, in [Lr. 2.4.183 (1470)]: ‘This approves her letter, That she would soon be here.’ See [12:413 n.7] Steevens.”
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
38 approue our eyes]
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803 [see 17.12 n. 4]
38 approue our eyes]
1819 cald1
cald1: Steevens v1778 + in magenta underlined
38 approue our eyes] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “To approve or confirme. Ratum habere aliquid. Baret’s Alvearie, Fo. 1580, ‘Approves the common liar.’ [Ant. 1.1.59 (74)] Dem. See [TGV 5.4.53 (2162] Prot.”
1819 mcald (BL 11766.k.20)
m
cald = Steevens’s Lr. // without attribution
38 approue our eyes]
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
38 approue our eyes]
1824 Neele
Neele: TGV Malone +
38 approue our eyes] Neele (ed. 1824 TGV 5.4.53 [2162]: “And still approv’d. [quotes Malone’s gloss “felt experienced”]. Or rather it means proved. Our old Poets used a licence, still indulged in by the Italians, of adding or subtracting a syllable to accommodate the metre. editor.”
1826 sing1
sing1 = cald1 minus Ant. //
38 approue our eyes]
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1
38 approue our eyes]
1833 valpy
valpy: standard
38 approue our eyes] Valpy (ed. 1833): “Have proof that we were no way mistaken.”
1839 knt1
knt1 ≈ sing1
38 approue our eyes] Knight (ed. 1839): “Confirm what we have seen.”
1844 verp
verp: standard w Lr. // without attribution
38 approue our eyes]
1854 del2
del2 contra Schlegel +
38 approue] Delius (ed. 1854): “to approve ist bei Sh. sowohl ‘bestätigen’ als ‘erproben.’ Schlegel fasst es hier in ersterem Sinne, obwohl der letztere hier veilleicht mehr sagt. Horatio soll die Wahrheit dessne, was sie gesehen, erproben, indem er die Erscheinung anredet. ” [To approve in Sh. means either to corroborate or to test (try, prove). Schlegel chose the first sense, but the latter may be more telling. Horatio should now test the truth of their vision by addressing the apparition.]
1856 hud1
hud1: standard; Coleridge
38-50 approue . . . one] Hudson (ed. 1856): “That is, make good our vision, or prove our eyes to be true. Approve was often thus used in the sense of confirm.—Coleridge continues his comments on the scene thus: ‘Then comes the confirmation of Horatio’s disbelief, —‘Tush, tush! ’twill not appear;’ —and the silence with which the scene opened is again restored in the shivering feeling of Horatio sitting down, at such a time, and with the two eye-witnesses, to hear a story of a ghost, and that, too, of a ghost which had appeared twice before at the very same hour. In the deep feeling which Bernardo has of the solemn nature of what he is about to relate, he makes an effort to master his own imaginative terrors by an elevation of style,—itself a continuation of the effort,—and by turning off from the apparition, as from something which would force him too deeply into himself, to the outward objects, the realities of nature, which had accompanied it.’ H.”
1856 sing2
sing2 = sing1
38 approue our eyes]
1860 stau
stau: standard
38 approue] Staunton (ed. 1860): “Corroborate, confirm, make good.”
1865 hal
hal = mal
38 approue our eyes]
1868 c&mc
c&mc: standard without attribution
38 approue our eyes]
1869 tsch
tsch
38 approue] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869, apud ed. 1877): “Exactly corresponding to the Ital. approvare.”
1872 cln1
cln1; standard + in magenta underlined
38 approue] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “prove, attest, corroborate. See [MV 3.2.79 (1425)]: ‘What damned error, but some other brow Will bless it and approve it with a text?’”
1872 hud2
hud2 = hud1 minus Coleridge
38 approue our eyes]
1877 v1877
v1877: john; cald; tsch
38 approue our eyes]
1881 hud3
hud3 = hud2
38 approue our eyes]
1883 wh2
wh2: standard
38 approue our eyes] White (ed. 1883): “confirm, prove that our eyes are right.”
1885 macd
macd
38 speake to it] MacDonald (ed. 1883): “—Being a scholar, and able to address it as an apparition ought to be addressed—Marcellus thinking, perhaps, with others, that a ghost required Latin.”
Ed. note: See n. 54
1885 mull
mull: standard
38 approue our eyes] Mull (ed. 1885): “corroborate what we have seen.”
1899 ard1
ard1: standard
38 approue our eyes]
1913 tut2
tut2
38 speake to it] Goggin (ed. 1913): “the reason why Horatio is brought for this purpose is found in [54].”
1931 crg1
crg1: standard
38 approue our eyes]
1937 pen1
pen1: standard
38 approoue our eyes]
1939 kit2
kit2: standard
38 approue our eyes] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "prove the trustworthiness of our eyes."
kit2
38 speake to it] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "They have not ventured to speak to the Ghost, for it was thought dangerous to address an apparition, except in due form. Cf. [Wiv. 5.5.51 (2529)]. ’They are fairies. He that speaks to them shall die]’; [Mac. 4.1.89 (1632)]: ’Listen, but speak not to’t.’ "
1947 cln2
cln2: standard
38 approoue our eyes]
1957 pel2: standard
pel2: standard
38 approoue] Farnham (ed. 1957): “confirm.”
1970 pel2
pel2 = pel1 standard
38 approoue] Farnham (ed. 1970): “confirm”
1982 ard2
ard2: standard + ref. to Grose, A Provincial Glossary; Brand, Popular Antiguities, ed. Hazlitt; Tom Jones xi, ch. 2 and quotes; Boswell
38 speake to it]:
Jenkins (ed. 1982) quotes Boswell’s biography, which says
Johnson is like the ghost in
Ham.,
who in [1.4, 1.5] and in [3.4] will not speak until addressed. Since to address a ghost improperly “would be to risk offence and consequent danger to oneself,” Horatio is needed on the platform.
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: standard
38 approue our eyes] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006):
38 54