Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
| 829 Ham. Yes by Saint Patrick but there is {Horatio} <my Lord>, | 1.5.136 |
|---|
1747 warb
warb
829 by Saint Patrick]
Warburton (ed. 1747): “How the Poet comes to make Hamlet swear by
St. Patrick, I know not. However at this time all the whole northern world had their learning from
Ireland; to which place it had retired, and there flourished under the auspices of this Saint. But it was, I suppose, only said at random; for he makes
Hamlet a
student of
Wittenberg.”
1765 john1
john1 = warb
829 by Saint Patrick]
1773 v1773
v1773 = john
829 by Saint Patrick]
1774 capn
capn
829, 827 Horatio/Yes] Capell (1774, 1:1:128): “Instead of the quarto reading—“Horatio,” . . . the moderns have chosen that of the folio,—“my lord;” words put in by a printer, who fetch’d them from the line just above; and a similar mistake of the same set “Yes” at the head of [827], from whence it is now taken.”
Ed. note: Capell begins his note with 830, continues with 829, and then on to 827, all without much guidance
1778 v1778
v1778 = warb +
829 by Saint Patrick] Nichols (apud ed. 1778): “Dean Swift’s ‘Verses on the sudden drying-up of St. Patrick’s Well. 1726,’ contain many learned allusions to the early cultivation of literature in Ireland. Nichols.”
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778
829 by Saint Patrick]
1787 ann
ann = v1785 minus Nichols
829 by Saint Patrick]
1790 mal
mal = v1785
829 by Saint Patrick]
1793 v1793
v1793 = mal
829 by Saint Patrick]
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
829 by Saint Patrick]
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
829 by Saint Patrick]
1819 cald1
cald1 ≈ warb without attribution +
829 by Saint Patrick] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “That the whole northern world in early times drew their learning, as it is said, from Ireland, may account, indeed, for St. Patrick being known in Denmark; but this will not very satisfactorily account for his name having become a familiar oath with a prince of Denmark. As Shakespeare gave the living manners, customs, and habits of thinking of his own country, to those of all ages and countries that he introduced upon the stage, he would little hesitate to make any stranger invoke the name of a saint familiar and popular in his own.”
1818 oxb
oxb: standard
829 by Saint Patrick] Oxberry (ed. 1818): “This oath is rather improper in the mouth of Hamlet, the Dane; but Shakspeare, as well as his contemporaries, is seldom nice on these points.”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
829 by Saint Patrick]
1826 sing1
sing1: warb (partly without attribution); ≈ cald1 without attribution
829 by Saint Patrick] Singer (ed. 1826): “Warburton has ingeniously defended Shakspeare for making the Danish prince swear by St. Patrick, by observing that the whole northern world had their learning from Ireland. It is, however, more probable that the poet seized the first popular imprecation that came to his mind, without regarding whether it suited the country or character of the person to whom he gave it.”
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1
829 by Saint Patrick]
1856 hud1
hud1 = sing1 minus cald1 [i.e. warb only, with attribution]
829 by Saint Patrick]
1856 sing2
sing2 = sing1
829 by Saint Patrick]
1861 wh1
wh1
829 Horatio] White (ed. 1861): “The folio, for ‘Horatio,’ has, ‘my lord,’ caught from the end of the previous line.”
1868 c&mc
c&mc ≈ sing2 without attribution, = Nichols in 1821 without attribution
829 by Saint Patrick]
Clarke &
Clarke (ed. 1868): “There is propriety in making the studious prince, Hamlet, use this adjuration, since ‘Saint Patrick’ is the patron saint of Ireland, and Ireland was in ancient times a famed seat of learning whence the whole northern world derive their erudition. Dean Swift’s ‘Verses on the Sudden Drying Up of St. Patrick’s Well, 1726,’ contain many allusions to the cultivation of literature in Ireland.”
1869 tsch
tsch
829 by Saint Patrick]
Tschischwitz (ed. 1869,
apud Furness, ed. 1877): “If Sh. had wished to be historically correct, he would have made a Dane swear by St. Ansgarius. But since the subject concerned an inexpiated crime, he naturally thought of St. Patrick, who kept a Purgatory of his own. See
The Honest Whore.”
1870 rug1
rug1
829 by Saint Patrick] Moberly (ed. 1870): “Saint Patrick, the patron saint of all blunders and confusions.”
1872 cln1
cln1 contra tsch without attribution
829 by Saint Patrick] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “Some have supposed that there is a reference to St. Patrick’s Purgatory, but this does not seem probable.”
1872 hud2
hud2 = hud1
829 by Saint Patrick]
1873 rug2
rug2 = rug1
829 by Saint Patrick]
1874 Corson
Corson: F1, cam1 +
829 is Horatio]
Corson (1874, pp. 15-16): <p. 15>“The ‘my </p. 15><p. 16> Lord’ in Hamlet’s speech is a retort to the ‘my Lord’ in Horatio’s speech, and it has an effect which is lost in the [
cam1] reading; ‘is’ should reveive a strong accent, ‘my Lord’ being uttered enclitically.” </p.16>
1877 v1877
v1877 ≈ warb; ≈ cald; ≈ tsch; ≈ rug2
829 by Saint Patrick]
Furness (ed. 1877):
Warburton: “At this time all the whole northern world had their learning from Ireland; to which place it had retired, and there flourished.
Caldecott: As Sh. gave the living manners, customs, and habits of thinking of his own country, to those of all ages and countries that he introduced upon the stage, he would little hesitate to make any stranger invoke the name of a saint familiar and popular in his own.
Tschischwitz: If Sh. had wished to be historically correct, he would have made a Dane swear by St. Ansgarius. But since the subject concerned an inexpiated crime, he naturally thought of St. Patrick, who kept a Purgatory of his own. See
The Honest Whore [pt. 2, 1.1.p. 330, Dodsley ed. 1825, where the text reads ‘keeps Purgatory,’ and not as the learned German quotes: ‘keeps
his Purgatory.
Ed.]
Moberly: “Saint Patrick, the patron saint of all blunders and confusion.”
v1877 ≈ Corson (minus comment on accent)
829 is Horatio]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Corson: “The ‘my lord’ (of the Ff) in Hamlet’s speech is a retort to the ‘my lord’ in Horatio’s speech, and has an effect which is lost in the Qq text.”
1880 Tanger
Tanger
829 Horatio] Tanger (1880, p. 126): “The [F1] compositor’s eye caught the preceding line, which ends with my Lord.”
1881 hud3
hud3 = hud2
829 by Saint Patrick]
1885 macd
macd ≈ Corson without attribution
829 Horatio] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “I take the change from the Quarto here to be no blunder.”
1899 ard1
ard1
829 Saint Patrick] Dowden (apud Crawford, ed. 1917): St. Patrick “banished serpents from Ireland, hence he was the proper saint” to take notice of a killing by serpent, as King Hamlet is alleged to have suffered.
1929 trav
trav: Dowden on serpents + analogue in Dekker
829 by Saint Patrick]
Travers (ed. 1929) alludes to a character in Dekker who says that Saint Patrick “keeps Purgatory.”
1930 TLS
Anon.
829 by Saint Patrick] anon. “The Shakespearian Ghost,” rev. of a rpt of the 1572 trans. of Lavater, ed. J. D. Wilson (intro) and May Yardley (appendix), 1930, TLS 1930: 24): Wilson has not noticed that stories of the Purgatory of Saint Patrick could be a Catholic source for legends of devils inhabiting bodies of the dead and walking the earth. Yardley summarizes the work of Le Loyer, who presents the Catholic position, which is to be wary of spirits that purport to be returnees from Purgatory.
1930 TLS
Synge, E. H. contra rev. of Lavater, TLS 1930: 24
829 by Saint Patrick] Synge (“’Yes, by Saint Patrick,’” TLS1930: 44) objects to the reviewer’s commonplace idea that Hamlet refers to Saint Patrick’s Purgatory. Rather, Hamlet expresses his irritation, signaled by invoking the patron saint of the Irish. Sh., in MacMorris, in H5 stereotypes the Irish as irritable. Hamlet is signaling a shift in mood.
1934 Wilson
Wilson MSH
829 Horatio] Wilson (1934, p. 52) lists my Lord as one of the 15 instances in F1 when the compositor misremembered a word, picking it up from an earlier line.
1934 rid1
rid1 ≈ ard1 without attribution
829 Patrick] Ridley (ed. 1934) thinks the connection may be St. Patrick’s killing of all snakes in Ireland.
1935 Wilson
Wilson WHH
829 Saint Patrick] Wilson (1935, pp. 79, 337):< p. 79> “‘the keeper of Purgatory.’” </ p. 79> < p. 337> In an added note, Wilson (1935, p. 337) mentions that the playhouse’s cellarage was called “hell.” a naming he thinks might be significant. </ p. 337>
1938 parc
parc
829 Saint Patrick] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “St Patrick’s Purgatory in Ireland was a famous resort for pilgrims. There is peculiar fitness in Hamlet’s swearing by St. Patrick after he had seen a ghost from Purgatory.”
1939 kit2
kit2 contra idea of relevance; contra rug2 without attribution
829 by Saint Patrick] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "Hamlet still speaks rather wildly, swearing by a saint whom a Dane would not be expected to adjure. There is no allusion (as some have thought) to ’blunders and confusion’ [see rug1; nor is it likely that Hamlet is thinking of St. Patrick’s Purgatory—a cave in Ireland supposed to afford an entrance to the world beyond the grave."
1946 TLS
Brownfield, Clarence
829 Yes by Saint Patrick] Brownfield (25 May, 1946, apud Semper, p. 367) suggests Holinshed’s Chronicles as the source of Hamlet’s
invocation.
1946 TLS
Semper, I. J.
829 Yes by Saint Patrick] Semper (3 August 1946, p. 367) agrees that a possible source for the invocation may be “The Golden Legend,” by Jacobus de Voragine, as suggested by a review in the TLS 9 Jan. 1930. Semper adds support for the The Golden Legend as a source. “In Hamlet the Ghost comes not on a personal mission, but as sent by a higher power to sanction the punishment of a villain who could not be brought to judgment by a legal and public process . . . . [A] precedent is furnished by ’The Golden Legend,’ ” where a ghost appears to enact justice. The idea of the Ghost as demon also appears in Voragine. “In a word, Shakespeare could have gleaned most of the theology in Hamlet from ’The Golden Legend’ . . . . ”
Ed. note: The ghosts’ purpose for returning, whether personal vengeance or to right a wrong is not clear.
1980 pen2
pen2: //; xref in magenta underlined
829 Saint Patrick] Spencer (ed. 1980): “Hamlet swears by him because Saint Patrick was a keeper of purgatory (whence the Ghost comes), having found an entrance to it in Donegal; or perhaps because he banished serpents from Ireland (see [R2, 2.1.157-8]), and Hamlet’s task is to get rid of a serpent (line 39).”
1982 ard2
ard2: standard gloss; analogues
829 Saint Patrick] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “An apt oath. For ’St. Patrick, you know, keeps purgatory’ (Dekker, 2 Honest Whore, 1.1.42). To seek a particular source for this belief is to ignore the very great fame of St Patrick’s Purgatory, in an Irish cave, much visited by pilgrims. The story was that all who spent a day and night there would both be purged of their sins and have visions of the damned and the blest. See Holinshed, Chronicles, 1587, 2: 28; D.P. Barton, Ireland and Shakespeare, 1919, pp. 30ff.”
1985 cam4
cam4
829 Saint Patrick] Edwards (ed. 1985): "It is not clear why Hamlet should pick on this saint. Some say it is because he was the patron saint of Purgatory."
1987 oxf4
oxf4
829 Saint Patrick] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "Compare Dekker, 2 The Honest Whore 1.1.42-3, ‘Saint Patrick, you know, keeps purgatory.’ "
1988 bev2
bev2: standard
829 Saint Patrick] Bevington (ed. 1988): “(The keeper of Purgatory and the patron saint of all blunders and confusion.)”
2001 Greenblatt
Greenblatt ≈ tsch without attribution +
829 by Saint Patrick] Greenblatt (2001, p.75) believes that there is good reason for Hamlet to name Saint Patrick; “the Latin Saint Patrick’s Purgatory and its many translations are closely linked to an institutional program, and they seem to be addressed to . . . those who doubt the very existence of the place described.”
Greenblatt ≈ tsch without attribution
829 by Saint Patrick] Greenblatt (2001, p. 234): Allusions to Saint Patrick in the Middle Ages and Renaissance connect the saint with purgatory, and to fictions about purgatory.
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: Greenblatt; xref
829 Saint Patrick] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “Editors suggest he is appropriate, either as a saint associated with purgatory (see also Greenblatt, Purgatory, 233-4), or because he is supposed to have banished snakes from Ireland (see serpent in [726]). This line (present in all three texts) is Shakespeare’s only reference to the saint or the name apart from references to Friar Patrick in TGV.”
829
