Line 760 - Commentary Note (CN)

Commentary notes (CN):

1. SMALL CAPS Indicate editions. Notes for each commentator are divided into three parts:

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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.”

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Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman

For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.

760 Of life, of Crowne, {of} <and> Queene at once dispatcht,

1747 warb

warb

760 dispatcht] Warburton (ed. 1747): “Dispatcht, for bereft.”

Ed. note: Warburton perhaps had seen wilk2 (see TNM) since Theobald admired the edition.

1765 john1

john1 = warb

760 dispatcht]

1773 v1773

v1773 = warb

760 dispatcht]

-1778 mtol3

mtol3

760 Tollet (-1778) cites an analogue for the line in Holinshed Vol.3. p. 545 (ed. 15??), “He of his kingdom, his life, his love, made a sorrowfull end.”

Ed. note: I have not found the precise Holinshed reference yet. Note in check in library doc.

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773

760 dispatcht]

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778

760 dispatcht]

1790 mal

mal = v1785

760 dispatcht]

1791- rann

rann ≈ mal

760 dispatcht] Rann(ed. 1791-): “deprived , bereft.”

1793 v1793

v1793 = mal

760 dispatcht]

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

760 dispatcht]

1805 Seymour

Seymour: warb +

760 Seymour (1805, 2:160): “ ‘Despatch’d’ for bereft, says Dr. Warburton. This certainly is sense; but can either of these words take place of the other? or does not the difficulty of explanation lie in the wrong use of the preposition ‘of’ instead of ‘from?’ a licence not uncommon with the writers of the age of Shakspeare.”

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

760 dispatcht]

1815 Becket

Becket: warb +

760 dispatcht] Becket (1815, 1: 29-30): <p. 29>“Dispatch’d can scarcely be </p. 29><p. 30> right. Yet the proper word is not very easily found. Perhaps we may read dismatch’d in the sense of disunited. Words of privation were by the earlier writers formed by taking the particle dis at pleasure; but which at present day are not in use. Thus dis-eased with our author. Dis-ware and dis-ruly, Chaucer. dis-loined, Spenser, &c. B.” </p. 30>

1819 cald1

cald1

760 dispatcht] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Despoiled”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

760 dispatcht]

1826 sing1

sing1

760 dispatcht] Singer (ed. 1826): “I have elsewhere remarked that to dispatch and to rid were synonymous in Shakspeare’s time.”

See OED, below

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1 +

760 dispatcht] Caldecott (ed. 1832): “i.e. ‘quickly bereaved, despoiled.’ ”

1843 col1

col1: rann

760 dispatcht] Collier (ed. 1843): “The word deprived, in the quarto, 1603, seems on some accounts preferable, but it is supported by no other authority.”

-1853 mcol1

mcol1 “corrects” dispatcht to despoiled

760 dispatcht]

1853 Collier

Collier: cald without attribution

760 dispatcht] Collier (1853, p. 422): “Regarding the subsequent lines, as invariably printed, an advantageous proposal is made in the corrected folio, 1632:— ‘There was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand, Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch’d.’ ‘Dispatch’d’ cannot be right, and why should Shakespeare employ a wrong word when another, that is unobjectionable, at once presented itself, viz.— ‘Of life, of crown, of queen, at once despoil’d?’ Misreading was, most likely, the cause of this blunder; the earliest quarto, 1603, has depriv’d for ‘dispatch’d,’ of the other quartos and folios; but we may feel confident that the poet’s misprinted word was despoil’d. It is written upon an erasure, and possibly the old corrector first inserted depriv’d, and afterwards saw reason to change it to despoil’d, as the true language of the poet.”

1853 Dyce

Dyce = Collier +

760 dispatcht] Dyce (1853, p. 139): “Why ‘despatch’d,’ the reading of all the old editions (for the quarto of 1603 is not of any authority), should be condemned by Mr. Collier as a decided error of the press, I am at a loss to conceive. The ‘proposal’ of the Manuscript-corrector is so far from being ‘advantageous,’ that, strictly speaking, we lose something by it,—‘despoil’d’ conveying merely the idea of deprivation, while ‘despatch’d’ expresses the suddeness of the bereavement.”

Singer 1853 Vindication

Singer: Collier, p. 422 +

760 dispatcht] Singer (1853, p. 263): “This [Collier, p. 422] is another unnecessary interference with the old authentic reading, and there is not much probability that dispatch’d could have been misprinted for despoil’d. The reading of the quartos [Q1] deprived is however perhaps to be preferred as being of more undoubted authority. There is not the slightest reason to ‘feel confident that the poet’s word was despoil’d.’ ”

1853 Blackwood’s

Anon: contra Collier; Dyce

760 dispatcht] Anon. (1853, p. 463): The Perkins correction despoiled “may be more strictly grammatical than the other. But ‘despatched’ is more forcible, and indicates a more summary mode of procedure. ‘Despatched,’ says Dyce, ‘expresses the suddenness of the bereavement.’ The quartos read ‘deprived,’ which is quite as good as despoiled.”

1854 del2

del2

760 dispatcht] Delius (ed. 1854): “to despatch liesse sich genau nur auf of life anwenden, wie in [Lr. 4.5.13 (2398)] es heisst: to despatch his nighted life; in weiterem Sinne bezieht es sich dann aber auch crown and queen.” [to despatch applies only to of life as in [Lr. 4.5.? (2398)] that is: to despatch his nighted life; but in a wider sense it refers also to crown and queen.]

1856 hud1

hud1 ≈ Dyce + R2 //

760 dispatcht] Hudson (ed. 1856): “The first quarto has depriv’d, and Mr. Collier’s second folio, despoil’d. Dispatch is better than either, because to the sense of deprivation it adds that of suddenness. See [R2 3.1.35 (1347)], note 2. H.”

1856 sing2

sing2 = sing1

760 dispatcht]

1858 col3

col3 ≈ col1 +

760 dispatcht] Collier (ed. 1858): “Depriv’d is the word in the 4to, 1603; but in the other 4tos. and folios ‘dispatch’d.’ The corr. fo. 1632 substitutes despoil’d, which on some accounts may seem preferable; but as ‘dispatch’d’ is so warranted, and, as far as intelligibility is concerned, so unobjectionable, we retain it.”

1860 stau

stau ≈ hud1 last sentence without attribution, = warb via v1821? without attribution

760 dispatcht] Staunton (ed. 1860): “Bereft. The quarto of 1603 has ‘deprived;’ but that hardly expresses the instantaneity of the severance as aptly as ‘despatch’d’.”

1867 Keightley

Keightley: contra stau without attribution; ≈ Seymour on preposition, without attribution

760 dispatcht] Keightley (1867, p. 288): “So the originals read, except 4to 1603, which has depriv’d, perhaps a better reading. ‘Despatch’d,’ which seems to be more forceable, is to be taken in the sense of dépéché, Fr., hurried away, and ‘of’ in its original sense of from.”

1868 c&mc

c&mc: standard

760 dispatcht] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “To ‘rid’ and to ‘dispatch’ were formerly used the one word for the other. See [R2 5.4.l (2653), n. 47]. Here ‘despatch’d signifies ‘summarily sent from and bereft of.’”

1874 Schmidt

Schmidt

760 dispatcht] Schmidt (1874): “Followed by of, = to deprive of by death, to tear away from by death [quotes 759-60], [where] of = from. Cf. Of.”

1872 cln1

cln1 ≈ del2 without attribution

760 dispatcht] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “deprived, as the quarto of 1603 reads. The author would scarcely have used it with ‘crown’ and ‘queen’ if he had not first used it with ‘life.’ The phrase ‘dispatch of life’ does not occur again; we have however ‘dispatch his nighted life’ in [Lr. 4.5.12 (2398)].”

1874 Corson

Corson: F1, cam1

760 of Queene] Corson (1874, p. 14) prefers F1

no explanation, of course, but why would anyone prefer F1? Surprisingly, though, Tanger does too!

1877 v1877

v1877 warb, dyce on mcol1, cln1 (≈ del2 without attribution)

760 dispatcht]

1880 Tanger

Tanger

760 of Queene] Tanger (1880, p. 125) Q2 “what is probably a foul case.” The Q1 reading “confirms, or at least countenances, [the Q2] reading.”

1885 mull

mull : standard

760 dispatcht] Mull (ed. 1885): “bereft.”

1929 trav

trav: standard gloss deprived +

760 dispatcht] Travers (ed. 1929): “a deviation from the more usual meaning for which Shakespeare’s contemporaries were prepared.”

1938 parc

parc

760 dispatcht] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “bereft.”

1939 kit2

kit2: xref 2331

760 Queene] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "Queen is the acme of the climax, as in the King’s soliloquy [2331]."

kit2

760 at once] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "all at the same time."

kit2: standard

760 dispatcht] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "instantly deprived."

1947 cln2

cln2: standard

760 dispatcht] Rylands (ed. 1947): "deprived."

1973 ShSur

Brown

770 dispatcht] Brown (1973, p. 12), using the definition of dispatch found in TLN 212, notes that “Claudius dispatches both Hamlets: Old Hamlet to Purgatory, Young Hamlet to an intended death in England [2274]--naturally not expecting either to be able later to tell the story of their journeys.”

1980 pen2

pen2: standard

760 dispatcht] Spencer (ed. 1980): “deprived.”

1982 ard2

ard2: standard

760 dispatcht] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “deprived (by death).”

1985 cam4

cam4

760 dispatcht] Edwards (ed. 1985): "bereft by being put to death."

1987 oxf4

oxf4

760 at once] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "at one and the same time."

oxf4: OED

760 dispatcht] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "deprived (OED v. 7b, citing no earlier instance)."

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

760 dispatcht] Bevington (ed. 1988): “suddenly deprived.”

1992 fol2

fol2 ≈ standard

760 dispatcht] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “dispossessed”

1994 OED

OED

760 dispatcht] dispach: v. to hasten, to speed, to rid away any worke’ (Florio), or Sp. despachar to expedite, `to dispatch, to rid out of the way’ (Minsheu).

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: standard

760 dispatcht] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “deprived”

760 2331

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