HW HomePrevious CNView CNView TNMView TNINext CN

Line 471 - Commentary Note (CN) More Information

Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.
471 The {perfume and} suppliance of a minute 1.3.10
471 No more.1.3.10
1765 john1
john1
471 perfume and suppliance of a minute] Johnson (ed. 1765): “Thus, the quarto: the folio has it, ‘—Sweet, not lasting, The suppliance of a minute.’ It is plain that perfume is necessary to exemplify the idea of sweet, not lasting. With the word suppliance I am not satisfied, and yet dare hardly offer what I imagine to be right. I suspect that soffiance, or some such word, formed from the Italian, was then used for the act of fumigating with sweet scents.”
1773 v1773
v1773 = john +
471 perfume and suppliance of a minute] Steevens (ed. 1773): “i.e., what is supplied to us for a minute. The idea seems to be taken from the short duration of vegetable perfumes.”
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773
471 perfume and suppliance of a minute]
1780 mals1
mals1: see also 470
471 perfume and suppliance of a minute] Malone (1780, 1:475 n. 6) re Luc. line 49: “Thy hasty spring still blasts, and ne’er grows old!”: “Like a too early spring, which is frequently checked by blights, and never produces any ripened or wholsome fruit, the irregular forwardness of an unlawful passion never gives any solid or permanent satisfaction. So, in a subsequent stanza [line 869]: ‘Unruly blasts wait on the tender spring.’ Again, in Hamlet: [quotes 467-71]. Again, in [R3 3.1.94 (1673)] ‘Short summers lightly have a forward spring.’
Blasts is here a neutral verb [i.e. in Luc., line 49 and see Ham. 505, blastments.]
“In [Ven. lines 801-2], we meet nearly the same sentiment; ‘Love’s gentle spring doth always fresh remain; Lust’s winter comes were summer half be done.’ Malone.”
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778
471 perfume and suppliance of a minute]
1785 Mason
Mason
471 perfume and suppliance of a minute] Mason (1785, p. 375): “I should suppose that this means, an amusement to fill up a vacant moment, and to render it agreeable.”
1787 ann
ann = v1785
471 perfume and suppliance of a minute]
1790 mal
mal: john VN without attribution (minus reason for Q2); = Steevens
471 perfume and suppliance of a minute]
1791- Wesley
Wesley: john; steevens
471 suppliance] Wesley (1790-, p. 44): “This [Steeven’s note] is well done. We will own that Johnson was ‘Homo emunctae naris’, but ‘suppliance’ is sufficient to satisfy the nicest-nosed critick.”
Ed. note: The Latin refers to the 2d sense of naris, nostrils, = sagacity.
1791- rann
rann ≈ Mason
471 perfume and suppliance of a minute] Rann (ed. 1791-): “The agreeable amusement of an idle hour.”
1793 v1793
v1793 = v1785, mal without attribution: Mason
471 perfume and suppliance of a minute] Steevens (ed. 1793): “or, as Mr. M. Mason supposes, ‘an amusement to fill up a vacant moment, and render it agreeable.’ ”
1793- mSteevens
mSteevens as in v1803
471 The perfume and suppliance of a minute] Steevens (ms. notes in Steevens, ed. 1793): “This word occurs in Chapman’s version of the ninth Iliad of Homer: ‘—by my suppliance given.’”
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793 +
471 suppliance] Steevens (ed. 1803): “This word occurs in Chapman’s version of the nineth Iliad, of Homer: ‘—by my suppliance given.’ Steevens.”
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
471 suppliance]
1819 cald1
cald1 ≈ Mason without attribution; = Steevens
471 suppliance of a minute] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “The means of filling up the vacancy. Mr. Steevens finds the word in Chapman’s Iliad, IX. ‘By my suppliance given.”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813 minus mal’s VN
471 suppliance of a minute]
1826 sing1
sing1john; Steevens + in magenta underlined
471 perfume and suppliance of a minute] Singer (ed. 1826): “It is plain that perfume is necessary to exemplify the idea of sweet not lasting. ‘The suppliance of a minute’ should seem to mean supplying or enduring only that short space of time as transitory and evanescent. The simile is eminently beautiful: it is to be regretted that it should be obscured by an unusual word.”
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1
471 perfume and suppliance]
1843 col1
col1 john1 without attribution (see VN, above)
471 perfume and suppliance]
1853 Clarke
Clarke
471 suppliance] Clarke (1853) has Ham. 471 only.
1854 del2
del2
471 perfume and suppliance of a minute] Delius (ed. 1854): “perfume and ist zufällig in der Fol. ausgefallen, die auch froward für forward liest. Suppliance, ein sonst kaum vorkommendes Wort, ist entweder was die Minute gewährt, oder was eine Minute ausfüllt.” [perfume and accidentally dropped out of the folio, which also reads froward for forward. Suppliance, a rarely occurring word, is either what the minute imparts or what the minute fills.]
1856 hud1
hud1 = sing2
471 perfume and suppliance of a minute]
1856 sing2
sing2 = sing1 minus last clause: “it is to be regretted that it should be obscured by an unusual word.”
471 perfume and suppliance of a minute]
1868 c&mc
c&mc: standard
471 suppliance] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “A word framed by Shakespeare to express succinctly that which is supplied.”
1872 cln1
cln1 = Mason + in magenta underlined
471 suppliance of a minute] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “means probably, as Mason says, ‘an amusement to fill up a vacant minute;’ what supplies, or fills up, a minute.”
1875 Schmidt
471 suppliance] Schmidt (1875): “satisfaction, gratification, pastime, diversion (cf. Supply).”
1877 v1877
v1877= john, Mason, Steevens
471 suppliance of a minute]
1879 clarke & clarke
clarke & clarke: ≈ c&mc
471 suppliance]
1880 Tanger
Tanger
471 perfume and] Tanger (1880, p. 123): F1 om. “seems to be a simple accidental omission. . . . (Perhaps due to H.C. [Heminge & Condell] inattention.”
1880 meik
meik
471 suppliance] Meikeljohn (ed. 1880): “(with the accent on the second syllable), that which supplies or fills up for the time being. The only instance of this word. (It is plain that suppliance comes from supply; Lat. supplère, to fill up; suppliant, from supplic re, to bend the knee to.)”
1881 hud3
hud3 meik
471 suppliance of a minute] Hudson (ed. 1881): “A mere pastime, to supply or fill up the passing hour; a sweet play, to beguile the present idle time. Instead of supplyance, the Poet elsewhere has supplyment in much the same sense.”
1883 wh2
wh2cln1 without attribution
471 suppliance of a minute] White (ed. 1883): “that which fills up” a minute.
1888 Mull
Mull = cln1 w variation in magenta underlined
471 suppliance of a minute] Mull (1888, p.4): “i.e. ‘the . . . attentions (of love) which are fleeting,’ not permanent, of the briefest. The Clarendon editors hesitate as to the rendering: [quotes].”
1899 ard1
ard1 = Mason
471 suppliance]
1904 ver
ver ≈ Mason without attribution
471 suppliance] Verity (ed. 1904): “entertainment, amusement for.”
1938 parc
parc
471 suppliance] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “diversion.”
1939 kit2
kit2: standard
471 The perfume ... minute] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "something that makes a passing minute sweet and fills it up; the pleasant pastime of a minute."
1957 pel1
pel1: standard
471 perfume and suppliance] Farnham (ed. 1957): “filling sweetness.”
1957 pen1b
pen1b
471 suppliance of a minute] Harrison (ed. 1957): “momentary.”
1970 pel2
pel2 = pel1
471 perfume and suppliance] Farnham (ed. 1970): “filling sweetness”
1980 pen2
pen2
471 suppliance] Spencer (ed. 1980): “pastime.”
1981 Wright
Wright
471 perfume and suppliance of a minute] Wright (1981, p. 176): “a phrase that identifies the minute’s nature (aromatic, hence insubstantial) and its evanescence (its being in short supply).”
1982 ard2
ard2:
471 suppliance] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “something which supplies or fills up (a vacancy); pastime.”
1985 cam4
cam4
471 suppliance] Edwards (ed. 1985): "supply (i.e. the violet serves for a minute only)."
1987 oxf4
oxf4
471 perfume . . . minute] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "perfume that serves as a momentary diversion. Shakespeare does not use suppliance elsewhere."
1988 bev2
bev2: standard
471 suppliance] Bevington (ed. 1988): “supply, filler.”
1989 OED
OED
471 suppliance] OED says = supply. Also ≈ a.2 supplying deficiencies; supplementary.”
Both forms are archaic, but suppliance was used before and after Sh. through the 19thc.
1992 fol2
fol2: standard
471 perfume . . . minute] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “that which makes the moment sweet and fills it with pleasure”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: //; Wright
471 Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “’that which supplies the volatile sensory pleasure of a moment’. Shakespeare uses perfume to stand in for the fleeting pleasures of spring in Son. 104.7: ’Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned’. Perfume and suppliance is another example of hendiadys: Wright points out that Laertes uses the figure seven times in this speech, which he sees as revealing ’his own uncertain and divided sensibility’ which perceives ’doubleness in everything’ (Wright, 176-7).”

ard3q2: ard2; pen2
471 suppliance] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “Jenkins glosses ’something which fills up (a vacancy); pastime’; Spencer glosses simply ’pastime’.”
471