Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand
| 3252 In youth when I did loue did loue, {Song.} | 5.1.61 |
|---|
| 3253 Me thought it was very sweet | 5.1.62 |
|---|
| 3254 To contract ô the time for a my behoue, | 5.1.63 |
|---|
| 3255 O me thought there {a} was nothing {a} meet. | 5.1.64 |
|---|
1728- Walpole
Walpole
3252-55 In . . . meet] See n. 3284-8.
1730 mtheo2
mtheo2
3252-55 In . . . meet] Theobald (26 Mar. 1730, [fol. 122r] [Nichols 2:576-7]): <fol. 122r> “I have found that the stanzas sung by the Grave-digger are not of Shakespeare’s composition, but owe their original to the old Earl of Surrey’s Poems. Many others of his occasional little Songs I doubt not but he purposely copied from his contemporary Writers, either as they happened to be ridculous to those times, or as he had a mind to do them honour.
“Apropos, while I remember it: in [AYL a.s.? (1295-96)], p. 343. 4,5, you know, there are several little copies of verses on Roslaind, which are said to be the right Butter-woman’s rank to market, and the uery <fol. 122r></fol. 122v> false gallop of uerses. Dr. Thomas Lodge, a Physician who flourished early in QueenElizabeth’s reign, and was a great Writer of the Pastoral Songs and Madrigals which were so much the strain of those times, composed a whole volume of Poems in praise of his mistress, whom he calls Rosalind.
“If I can meet with this book, it is forty to one but we find our Author’s Canzonets on this subject to be scraps of the Doctor’s Muse: and perhaps those of Biron too, and the other Lovers, in LLL.” </fol. 122v>
1733 theo1
theo1 : mtheo2
3252-55 In . . . meet] Theobald (ed. 1733) : ““The Three Stanza’s, sung here [3264-6; 3284-8] by the Graue-digger, are extracted, with a slight Variation, from a little Poem, call’d, The Aged Louer renounceth Loue: written by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, who flourish’d in the Reign of King Henry VIII. and who was beheaded in 1547, on a strain’d Accusation of Treason.”
1740 theo2
theo2 = theo1
3252-55 In . . . meet]
1757 theo4
theo4 = theo2
3252-55 In . . . meet]
1765 john1
john1 = theo4 + magenta underlined
3252-55 In . . . meet] Percy (apud Johnson, ed. 1765) : “The song was written by Lord Vaux.”
1773 v1773
v1773 ≈ john1 + magenta underlined
3252-55 In . . . meet] Steevens (ed. 1773) : “The original poem from which this stanza, like the other succeeding ones [3264-6; 3284-8], is taken, is preserved among lord Surrey’s poems, though, as Dr. Percy has observed, it is attributed to lord Vaux by George Gascoigne. See an epistle prefixed to one of his poems, printed with the rest of his works, 1575.‘I lothe that I did loue; In youth that I thought sweet: As time requires for my behoue, Methinks they are not meet.”
1773 jen
jen
3255 a . . .
meet]
Jennens (ed. 1773) : “All but the qu’s [Qq] omit these
a’s; which are no part of the song, but only the breath forced out by the strokes of the mattock.”
1774-79? capn
capn :
3252-5 In . . . meet] Capell (1779-83 [1774]:1:1: 146) : “What this gentleman sings by and by [3264-6; 3284-8], is a piece of patchwork (disjecti membra) taken from a song of lord Surrey’s, which the reader may see in the ‘School’ among the extracts from that nobleman.”
3252-5 In . . . meet] Capell (1779-83 [1783]:3:283) : “‘The aged lover renounceth love. ‘I loth that I did love, In youthat that I thought sweete: As time requires for my behove, Methinkes they are not mete. ‘My lustes they do me leave My fansies all are fled: And tract of time begins to weave, Grave heares upon my head. ‘For age with steling steps, Hath clawde me with his crowth: And lusty life away she leapes, As thee had bene none such. ‘My muse doth not delight Me as she did before: My hand and pen are not in plight, As they have bene of yore. ‘For reason me denies, This youthly idle rime: And day be day to me she cries, Leave of these toyes in time. ‘The wrinkles in my brown, The furrowes in my face: Say limping age wyll hedge me now, Where youth must geve him place. ‘The harbenger of death, To me I se him ride: The cough, the cold, the gaping breath, Doth bid me to provide. ‘A pikeax and a spade, And eke a shrowding shete, A house of clay for to be made, For such a gest most mete. ‘Methinkes I heare the clarke, That knoles the carefull knell: And bids me leave my wofull warke, Ere nature me compell. ‘My kepers knit the knot, That youth bid laugh to scorne: Of me that clene shalbe forgot, As I had not bene borne. ‘Thus must I youth geve up, Whose badge I long did weare: To them I yeld the wanton cup, That better may it beare. ‘Lo here the bared scull By whose balde signe I know: That stouping age away shall pull, What youthfull yeres did sow. ‘For beautie with her band These croked cares hath wrought: And shipped me into the land, From whence I first was brought. ‘And ye that bide behinde, Have ye none other trust: As ye of claye were cast by kinde, So shall ye wast to dust.’”
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773 + magenta underlined
3252-55 In . . . meet] Steevens (ed. 1773) “The original poem from which this stanza, like the other succeeding ones [3264-6; 3284-8], is taken, is preserved among lord Surrey’s poems, though, as Dr. Percy has observed, it is attributed to lord Vaux by George Gascoigne. See an epistle prefixed to one of his poems, printed with the rest of his works, 1575. By others it is supposed to have been written by Sir Thomas Wyatt. ‘I lothe that I did loue; In youth that I thought sweet: As time requires for my behoue, Methinks they are not meet.’ The entire song is published by Dr. Percy, in the first volume of his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.’ STEEVENS”
1784 ays1
ays1 ≈ v1778 (only THEO1 note) w/o attribution
3252-55 In . . . meet]
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778 + magenta underlined
3252-55 In . . . meet] Steevens (ed. 1785) : “All these difficulties however (says the Rev. Thomas Warton, Hist. of English Poetry , vol III. 45.) are at once adjusted by MS. Harl. 1703, 25. in the British Museum, in which we have a copy of Vaux’s poem, beginning I lothe that I did loue , with the title ‘A dyttye or sonnet made by the lord Vaus, in the time of the noble quene Marye, representing the image of death.’”
1785 Mason
Mason :
3254 To . . .
behoue]
Mason (1785, p. 396) : <p. 396>
“This passage, as it stands, is absolute nonsense; but if we read
for aye , instead of
for ah it will have some kind of sense, as he may mean, ‘That it was not meet, though he was in love, to contract himself
foreuer .”</p. 396>
1787 ann
ann = v1785
3254 To . . . behoue]
1790 mal
mal = v1785 ; Mason (following Theobald and preceding Steevens)
3254 To . . . behoue]
1793 v1793
v1793 ≈ Mason ; mal (modified) + magenta underlined
3252-55 In . . . meet] Steevens (ed. 1793) : “Dr. Percy is of opinion that the different corruptions in these stanzas, might have been ‘designed by the poet himself, the better to paint the character of an illiterate clown.’
“Behove is interest, convenience. So, in the 4th Book of Phaer’s version of the Æneid: ‘—wilt for thyne own behove.’ Steevens”
Steevens’s new note here follows MASON and precedes his original v1778 note.
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
3252-55 In . . . meet]
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
3252-55 In . . . meet]
1819 cald1
cald1 ≈ v1813 + magenta underlined
3252-55 In . . . meet] Caldecott (ed. 1819) : “This is part of Lord Vaux’s ‘Sonnet’ of ‘The aged Lover renounceth Love,’ published in Lord Surrey’s Poems; or rather scraps of it, ill strung together, and put into the mouth of a clown, and purposely, as Dr. Percy has observed, in this mangled state, the better to sustain the character: neither was it very likely or fitting that he should be found more at home in the department of elegant poetry, than he was in crowner’s-quest law. Upon this subject see Warton’s Hist. of Engl. Poetry, III. p. 45, and for the entire Sonnet, Percy’s Reliques, I.186, 1794.
“Injudicious reforms and amendments of such incoherencies have been offered by the modern editors in the beginning and end of the Clown’s song in (TN 4.2. [2105-2112])., and are given too under the authority of Dr. Farmer. Behoue is behoof .”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813 ; jen
3252-55 In . . . meet]
Boswell inserts jen’s note after Steeven’s v1793 note and before his v1778 note.
1826 sing1 (see also n. 3263-6)
sing1 ≈ v1821 (without attribution) + magenta underlined
3252-55 In . . . meet] Singer (ed. 1826) : “The original ballad from whence these stanzas are taken is printed in Tottel’s Miscellarny, or ‘Songs and Sonnettes’ by Lord Surey and others, 1575. The ballad is attributed to Lord Vaux, and is printed by Dr. Percy in the first volume of his Reliques of Antient Poetry. The ohs and the ahs were most probably meant to express the interruption of the song by the forcible emission of the grave digger’s breath at each stroke of the mattock. The original runs thus: I lothe that I did loue; In youth that I thought sweet: As time requires for my behoue, Methinks they are not meet. ‘For age with stealing steps Hath claude me with his crowch; And lusty youthe away he leaps, As there had bene none such.’”
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1 + magenta underlined
3252-55 In . . .
meet]
Caldecott (ed. 1832) : “This is part of Lord Vaux’s ‘Sonnet’ of ‘The aged Lover renounceth Love,’ published in Lord Surrey’s Poems; or rather scraps of it, ill strung together, and put into the mouth of a clown, and purposely, as Dr.
Percy has observed, in this mangled state, the better to sustain the character: neither was it very likely or fitting that he should be found more at home in the department of elegant poetry, than he was in crowner’s-quest law. Upon this subject see Warton’s Hist. of Engl. Poetry, III. p. 45, and for the entire Sonnet, Percy’s Reliques, I.186, 1794.
“Injudicious reforms and amendments of such incoherencies have been offered by the modern editors, as masters for his servant (TGV 4.4. [1846-47]. Launce). and ‘confusion’ (MV 2.2. [601] Launcel. and in the beginning and end of the Clown’s song in (TN 4.2. [2105-2112])., and are given too under the authority of Dr. Farmer. Behoue is behoof .”
1833 valpy
valpy ≈ standard
3252-55 In . . . meet]
1841 knt1 (nd) (see n. 3263-6)
knt1 ≈ sing1 + magenta underlined
3252-55 In . . . meet] Knight (ed. 1841) : “The three stanzas which the grave-digger sings are to be found, making allowance for the blunders of the singer, in ‘The Songs of the Earl of Surrey and other,’ 1557. The poem is reprinted in Percy’s Reliques. It is ascribed to Lord Vaux. We give the stanzas out of wwhich the clown’s readings may be made:— ‘I lothe that I did loue; In youth that I thought sweet: As time requires for my behoue, Methinks they are not meet. ‘For age with stealing steps Hath claude me with his crowch; And lusty youthe away he leaps, As there had bene none such. ‘A pikeax and a spade,And eke a shrowding shete, A house of clay for to be made For such a guest most mete. ‘For Beautie with her hand, These croked eares had wrought, And shipped me into the land, From whence I first was brought.’”
1843 col1
col1≈ v1821 + magenta underline
3252-55 In . . . meet] Collier (ed. 1843) : “Mr. Rimbault was good enough to point out to me the original words and music to this song in MS. Sloane, No. 4900, (of the time of Edward VI., or Mary) where nobody would have dreamed of looking for it, as the rest of the volume is of an entirely different character. The words there given with the music (neither of them has the author’s name) are these: ‘I lothe that I did love In youth that I thoughte swete, As tyme requyred for my behoofe, Me thincke thei are not meete.’ The other verses, sung by the 1 Clown, are taken from the same poem by Lord Vaux, but, like the above, they are much corrupted. The whole will be found in ‘Percy’s Reliques,’ I.190, edit. 1812. Another MS. copy, without the music, (MS Harl. No. 1703) states that it was made by Lord Vaux ‘in the time of noble queen Mary.’”
3254 To . . . behoue] Collier (ed. 1843) : “The Oh and the Ah in this line are, of course, only the interjections of the Clown, in the double exertion of singing and digging.”
[Ed. 1843 COLLIER (1843 ed., pp. 323-4) seems to paraphrase the earlier variorum edition with references to same sources as cited there. He does begin by observing, “Mr. Rimbault was good enough to point out to me the original words and music to this song in MS. Sloane, No. 4900, (of the time of Edward VI., or Mary) where nobody would have dreamed of looking for it, as the rest of the volume is of an entirely different character.” Collier then repeats the lyrics from v1773. He cites Percy’s Reliques as in v1778 and gives the Harleian number 1703 for the MS. of Lord Vaux from the 1785 edition. Collier fails to cite these earlier editions for their references, especially if the v1821 is the one he’s using. Collier also repeats singer’s 1826 note on the “O” and “ahs” as “interjections of the Clown in the double exertion of singing and digging].”
1845 Hunter
Hunter : standard
3252-55 In . . .
meet]
Hunter (1845, 2:262): <p. 262>“The grave-digger’s song is evidently that attributed to Lord Vaux, printed in the Earl of Surrey’s poems. The deviations which he makes from the original may be set down to his own ignorance; but they may also be variations which he had found in some copy of the ballad, for we know that in one instance these simple and affecting stanzas were made the basis of a longer ballad by a versifier of inferior powers to the original author.
This was Henry Parker, yeoman of the wardrobe to Henry Earl of Derby, in the reign of Elizabeth, who wrought much of Lord Vaux’s ballad into a ballad of his own of twenty-seven stanzas, to which he has prefixed this epigraph:—’Henry Parker old age in paper pale doth tell, To world, to wealth, to woe, to want and wrack farewell.’
“Two stanzas of it will be sufficient. ‘Time hath me overflow’n Old age hath me in snare; Grey hairs are rife and overgrown And will me to prepare, A pick-axe and a spade, a plat to make my grave, So tract of time hath turned young trade Which age no more must have.’
“The whole ballad may be seen in Harl. MS. 1927.”</p. 262>
1854 del2
del2 : standard
3252-55 In . . . meet] Delius (ed. 1854) : “Das Gedicht, freilich im munde des Todtengräbers arg un unsinnig entstellt, ist von Lord Vaux und stammt aus der Königin Maria. Es ist u. A. abgedruckt in Percy’s Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.” [“The poem, perhaps placed in the mouth of the bad and senseless gravedigger, is from Lord Vaux and comes from the time of Queen Mary. It is a publication in Percy’s Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.” ]
1856 hud1 (1851-6)
hud1 = sing1 without attribution
3252-55 In . . . meet]
1856b sing2
sing2 = sing1
3252-55 In . . . meet]
1857 elze1
elze1
3252-55 In . . . meet] Elze (ed. 1857): "Die drei vom Todtengräber gesungenen Strophen sind einem Liede von Lord Vaux ((’in the time of noble queen Mary’)): ’The aged Lover renounceth Love’ entnommen, das in The songs and Sonets of the Earl of Surrey and others ((1557)) steht und in Percy’s Reliques 47 abgedruckt ist. Sie sind jedoch, vermuthlich in der Absicht, um sie dem Clown mundrecht zu machen, dermassen entstellt und verstümmelt, dass sie allen Erklärungsversuchen Trotz bieten. Man kann sie eben nur in der durch die Drucke überlieferten Gestalt beibehalten und muss sich damit trösten, dass die gemeinen Leute in allen Landen von jeher oft Unsinn gesungen haben. Warton H.E.P. III, 53 folg.—Die drei betreffenden Strophen lauten bei Percy: [repeats stanzas]." [The three strophes sung by the gravedigger are taken from a song from Lord Vaux ((’in the time of noble queen Mary’)): ’The aged Lover renounceth Love’ which stands in The songs and Sonets of the Earl of Surrey and others ((1557)) and printed in Percy’s Reliques 47. They are, however, presumably by design, distorted and mutilated so much in order to make them suitable for the clown that they offer defiance of all explanations. One can preserve them even still in the text through a transmitted form and so must trust that the common people of all lands have sung the absurdity ever since . Warton H.E.P. III, 53ff.—The three respective stanzas read in Percy: [cites stanzas]]
1858 col3
col3 = col1 + magenta underlined
3252-55 In . . . meet] Collier (ed. 1858) : “Mr. Singer truly says, that the whole poem is to be found in Tottel’s Miscellany, the date of which he takes from Steevens, not knowing, perhaps, that although reprinted in 1575, the work had appeared originally as early as 1557—apud Richardum Tottell .”
1859 stau
stau : knt1 ; col1 + magenta underlined
3252-55 In . . . meet] Staunton (ed. 1859) : “ The three stanzas sung by the grave-digger are a barbarous version of a sonnet said to have been written by Lord Vaux, one copy of which, with music, has been discovered by Dr. Rimbault, in MS. Sloane, No. 4909; another, unaccompanied by music, is in the Harleian MSS. No. 1703. The whole poem, too, may be seen in Tottel’s Miscellany, 1557, and has been reprinted in Percy’s Reliques, Vol. I. p. 190, Edition 1812, and in Bell’s Edition, 1854, where the words are thus given:—[repeats all lyrics as reported in CAPN above] “
1861 wh1
wh1 : standard
3252-55 In . . . meet] White (ed. 1861) : “The three staves sung by the grave-digger are from a ballad by Lord Vaux, called ‘The Aged Lover renounceth Love,’ which will be found in Book II. of Vol. I. of Percy’s Reliques. The clown’s text, however, is most corrupt.”
1865 hal
hal : standard [consults with Percy? or Staunton? to repeat all lyrics?)
3252-55 In . . . meet] Halliwell (ed. 1865) : “The clown here and afterwards sings disjointed scraps from a poem called, ‘the aged Lover renounceth Love,’ written by the Earl of Surrey about the year 1540. The whole poem is here given,—[repeats lyrics as found in CAPN]”
1866a dyce2
dyce2 ≈ stau?
3252-55 In . . . meet] Dyce (ed. 1866) : “This stanza and the other two stanzas stung by the First Clown are ruthlessly-altered quotations from a poem attributed to Lord Vaux; one copy of which, with the music, is extant in Ms. Sloane, No. 4900, and another ocpy, without the music, in Ms. Harl., No. 1703. The whole poem appeared in Tottel’s Miscellany. 1557; and may be found in Percy’s Rel. of A.E. Poetry, vol. I. p. 186, ed. 1794.”
1868 c&mc
c&mc ≈ standard (stau?)
3252-55 In . . . meet]
1869 stratmann
stratmann = col1
3254 To . . . behoue]
1869 Romdahl
Romdahl
3254 behoue]
Romdahl (1869, p. 41): <p. 41>“behoof” </p. 41>
1869 tsch
tsch
3252-55 In . . . meet] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Vergleicht man das vom Todtengräber gesungene Lied mit dem in Percy’s Reliques 47 überlieferten Texte, so fällt zunächst der geänderte Rhythmus auf: I loth that I did love In youth that I thought swete, As time requires for my behove Me thinkes they are not mete. Offenfar ist im Volksmunde das Lied der Melodie eines andern mit vier Hebungen in der ersten zeile angepasst worden, so dass man die Flickwörter um der rhythmischen Bewegung willen einschob. Ich bringe übrigens, nachdem ich for ah! my behove in for all my behove geändert, folgenden Sinn in das Ganze: In der Jugend, als ich noch liebte, ja liebte, dünkete mich, es wäre recht lieblich die Zeit, ja die Zeit zu kürzen als meine ganze Beschäftigung; oh, mich dünkte, es gab Nichts dem Gleiches (meet im Sinne von even). Aber das Alter mit schleichendem Schritt hat gepackt mich in seine Faust, hat mich aufgenommen ins Schiff (to ship zu Schiffe bringen) nach jenem Landa (the in der alten demonstrativen Bedeutung) als wäre ich nie ein solcer (scil. lustiger Bursche) gewesen. Eine Hacke und ein Spaten, ja Spaten, drum auch ein Leichentuch und o, eine Grube von Lehm ziemt sich zu bereiten für solch einen Gast (scil. der nun alt geworden.” [One can compare that song sung by the gravedigger with the transmitted text of Percy’s Reliques 47, so the altered rhythm is apparent above all: I loth that I did love In youth that I thought swete, As time requires for my behove Me thinkes they are not mete. It is clear in the vernacular the song became adjusted with the melody of another with four accents in the first measure, so that the expletives were inserted into the rhythmic movement. After I have changed for ah! my behove into for all my behove, I introduce the following meaning for the whole: “In youth, when I still loved, yes I loved, I thought the time might be rather lovely, yes the time I thought too brief for my entire business; it gave nothing to equal (meet im the sense of even). But Age with its creeping/stealing steps has seized me with a clenched fist, has taken me in a ship (to ship is to bring in a ship) to the other land (the in the old, demonstrative meaning) as if I were nothing such (scil. a lusty lad). An axe and a spade, yes, a spade, also a shrowding sheet with everything and o, a grave of clay becomes prepared for such a guest (scil. who became old now).]
1872 del4
del4 = del2
3252-55 In . . . meet]
1872 cln1
cln1 : standard (cap’s lyrics; Tottell’s Miscellany; Lord Vaux mss.] + magenta underlined
3252-55 In . . . meet] Clark & Wright (ed. 1874): “Chappell, in his Popular Music of the Olden Time, pp. 200, 216, says that these stanzas are by stage tradition sung to the tune of ‘The Children in the Wood.’”
cln1
3254 To . . . behoue] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “This line has no sense, and doubtless Shakespeare made it untintelligible, in order to suit the character of the singer. So ‘for-a,’ ‘there-a,’ ‘nothing-a,’ represent the drawling notes in which he sings. Compare [WT 4.2.133 (1791-94)]: ‘Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way, And merrily hent the stile-a: A merry heart goes all the day, Your sad heart tires in a mile-a.’”
1872 hud2
hud2 ≈ hud1
3252-55 In . . . meet] Hudson (ed. 1872): “The original ballad from whence these stanzas are taken is printed in Tottel’s Miscellarny, or ‘Songs and Sonnettes’ by Lord Surey and others, 1575. The ballad is attributed to Lord Vaux, and is printed by Dr. Percy in the first volume of his Reliques of Antient Poetry. The O’s and the ahs are meant to express the Clown’s gruntings as he digs.”
1873 rug2
rug2 ≈ standard
3252-55 In . . . meet] Moberly (ed. 1873): “The clown sings nonsensically disjoined lines of a sonnet by Lord Vaux, called ‘The Aged Lover Renouncing Love,’ [cites lyrics].”
1877 col4
col4 ≈ col1
3252-55 In . . . meet] Collier (ed. 1877): “The original words and music to this song are in MS. Sloane, No. 4900 (of the time of Edward VI. or Mary). The other verses, sung by the first clown, are taken from the same poem by Lord Vaux. The whole, with some variations, will be found in Percy’s Reliques, I., 161; edit. 1765.”
col4 = col1
3254 To . . . behoue]
1877 v1877
v1877 : ≈ v1821 (
Steevens, Mason) ;
cap (
full lyrics) ; Elze
(summarized by Furness) ;
jen ;
cln1 (summarized by Furness) ; CHAPPELL
3252-55 In . . .
meet]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Of course there have not been wanting critics who would fain ‘offer these lines cur’d and perect of their limbes, but the task is hopeless, and we must be consoled, as ELZE says, by the reflection that the common people in all times and in all climes have sung nonsense.”
3252-55 In . . .
meet]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Clarendon thinks that ‘
for-a,’
there-a,
nothing-a (see Text. Notes), represent the drawling notes in which the Clown sings, like ‘stile-a’ and ‘mile-a,’ in [
WT 4.2.133 (1791-94)].
The first two lines of each of the stanzas sung by the Clown are used by Goethe in the Second Part of Faust, for a part of the song changed by the Lemures while digging Faust’s grave. It is noteworthy that Goethe adopted the ‘crutch’ of the original instead of ‘clutch.’ See the note on that passage in Bayard Taylor’s most admirable translation of Faust, vol. ii, p. 528.”
3252-55 In . . .
meet]
Chappell (
apud Furness, ed. 1877): “On the margin of a copy of the Earl of Surrey’s poems, some of the little airs to which his favorite songs were sung are written in characters of the times. From this copy the following tune for ‘I lothe that I did love’ is taken. On the stage the Grave-digger in
Hamlet now sings them to the tune of
The Children in the Wood. [[See line 89 of this scene.]] [musical bars illustrated]
1877 neil
neil ≈ standard +
3252-55 In . . . meet] Neil (ed. 1877, Notes): “It also appears in Rev. Dr A.B. Grosart’s Miscellanies, as copied from the Harleian MSS., No. 1703, fol. 100, as a Dyttye representinge the Image of Deathe. [repeats lyrics]”
1880 Meikeljohn
Meikeljohn
3254 Meikeljohn (1880, p181): "a line without a sense—due to the muddle-headedness or to the imperfect memory of the singer.
1881 hud3
hud3 = hud2
3252-55 In . . . meet]
1882 elze2
elze2 : standard ; ≈ v1877 (Goethe //)
3252-55 In . . . meet] Elze(ed. 1882): “Compare Tottel’s Miscellany, ed. Arber, p. 173 seq. and the song of the Lemures in Gœthe’s Faust, Part II, AV, which is a translation of this grave-digger’s song.”
elze2
3252 Song] Elze (ed. 1882): “To the second and third stanzas [Q2] adds the same stage-direction; [F1: Clowne sings. In [Q1] the first and second stanzas are omitted, whereas the third is repeated twice over.”
1883 wh2
wh2 : dyce2?
3252-55 In . . . meet] White (ed. 1883): “The three stanzas sung by the clown are from a song in Tottel’s Miscellany, published in 1557. But he garbles the text grievously.”
1884 Feis
Feis
3252-5 Feis (1884, rpt. 1970, p. 124) identifies the original song, written he says about 1557, from which Sh. adapted the gravedigger’s version:
I lothe that I did love,
In youth that I thought swete,
As time requires for my behove,
Methinks they are not mete.
The gravedigger’s version “looks back with pleasure upon the time of his dissolute youth [sic], whilst the author of the original text shrinks back from it.”
1885 macd
macd ≈ standard
3252-55 In . . . meet]
1889 Barnett
Barnett : ≈ capn (without attribution; minus “ And yet that . . . wast to dust”) ; ≈ v1778 (without attribution)
3252-55 In . . .
meet]
Barnett (1889, p. 59): <p. 59> “The three stanzas sung by the clown are slightly altered from the words of a song attributed to Lord Vaux. They may be found in Percy’s Reliques. It appeared originally in ‘The Songs of Lord Surrey and Others,’ 1557. Line 62 [3253] has no meaning. Doubtless Shakespeare meant this in accordance with the character of the clown. The following are four stanzas of the original ballad misquoted by the clown: [cites lyrics from CAPN].”
3252-55 In . . .
meet]
Barnett (1889, p. 68): <p. 68> “The clown’s song in [4.1.? (1791-94)] is very irregular; the original song is in 6, 6, 8 and 6.” </p. 68>
1890 irv2
irv2 ≈ v1877
3252-55 In . . .
meet]
Symons (
in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “The song from which three stanzas sung by the clown are taken is one of the poems contained in Tottel’s Miscellany, 1557 (Arber’s Reprint, pp. 173-5). It is retitled, ‘The aged louer renounceth loue.’ Its author’s name is not given; but in a manuscript in the British Museum (Harleian Ms. 1703),
written by William Forrest, the poem is copied (fol. 100) with the heading: ‘A dyttye or sonet made by the lorde vaux in time of the noble quene Marye representing the Image of dath.’ It is also attributed to Lord Vaux by George Gascoigne in the Epistle to a Young Gentleman, prefixed to his Posies. The three verses selected for maltreatment by the clown are the following (the first, third, and eighth of the song): [cites stanzas as represented in v1877] The music sung to the clown’s verses on the stage is that of The Children in the Wood (Chappell’s Popular music, I.200, and
Furness, p. 385). The fourth line of the first stanza is printed in Qq.:
O, methought, thee a was nothing a meet, which the Cambridge editors print:
there-a was nothing-a meet, taking the ‘a’ to represent the drawling notes in which the grave-digger sings (compare [
WT 4.3.133 (1791-94)
1899 ard1
ard1 : standard (v1877) (esp. cln1’s reference to Oh and Ah as “drawling notes” and WT //; Children in the Wood) +
3252-55 In . . . meet] Dowden (ed. 1899): “The Oh and Ah are perhaps grunts of the digger at work; Clar. Press [CLN1], however, takes them to represent drawling notes, like the stile-a and mile-a of Autolycus in [WT 4.3.?], which may be right, and finds support from a similar example in the tragedy of Hoffman, ‘To contract the time’ seems to be caught up from a later stanza of the poem ‘And tract of time,’ as ‘And shipp’d me intil the land’ certainly is; the resulting nonsense beign designed by Shakespeare.”
1931 crg1
crg1 ≈ standard
3252-55 In . . . meet]
3254 behoue]
1934 Wilson
Wilson
3253 Me thought] see n. 3085.
3254 To contract ô the time]
Wilson (1934, 2:304-05): <p. 304> “Mistakes might, of course, arise from Shakespeare’s use of ambiguous forms which were in no way peculiar to himself. Thus ‘o’ in manuscripts of the time stood for the exclamation ‘O’ as well as for ‘o’ the abbreviated ‘of’, and there is one passage where I think the wrong interpretation has been placed upon such an ‘o’ not only in both Q2 and F1 but also by all editors since. It occurs in the sexton’s song and is printed in Q2: [cites 3254] where the ‘ô’, as elsewhere, denotes the exclamation, given as ‘O’ in F1 and modern editions. It does not matter much what the words of the sexton’s song are, so long </p. 304> <p. 305> as he makes the appropriate noise. Still, it is just as well to be sure of Shakespeare’s intention. The ‘a’ after ‘for’ which recurs twice in the following line [3255] is well explained by Aldis Wright (Clar. ed.) as representing ‘the drawling notes in which the Clown sings, like stile-a and mile-a in [
WT 4.3.133 (1791-94)]’. The ‘O’, on the other hand, has generally been taken to signify a deep grunt as he digs. Yet the song is recognised as an illiterate perversion of a poem in Tottel’s
Miscellany, ‘To contract o the time’ being the sexton’s shot at ‘And tract of time’. Surely, then, what Shakespeare meant him to sing was ‘To contract o’ the time’.”</p. 305>
1934 cam3
cam3 ≈ standard
3252-55 In . . . meet] Wilson (ed. 1934): “. . . Tottel’s Miscellany, a volume which Slender in [MW] possessed.”
cam3 : ≈ cln1
3254 To contract ô the time] Wilson (ed. 1934): “An echo of ‘And tract of time.’”
1939 kit2
kit2 ≈ standard
3252-55 In . . . meet]
3254 contract] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary):
kit2 ≈ cam1
3254 To . . . behoue]
kit2
3254 contract] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “shorten; make it pass pleasantly.”
3254 behoue] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “behoof, advantage.”
3255 meet] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary): “fit, proper.”
1937 pen1a
pen1a : standard
3252-55 In . . . meet]
1938 parc
parc
3254 behoue] Parrott (ed. 1938): “advantage.”
1942 n&h
n&h ≈ Kit1 w/o attribution
3254 behoue]
1947 cln2
cln2 ≈ standard
3252-55 In . . . meet]
cln2
3254 contract] Rylands (ed. 1947): “marry.”
1951 crg2
crg2=crg1
3252-55 In . . . meet]
3254 behoue]
1957 pel1
pel1 : standard
3254 behoue]
1970 pel2
pel2=pel1
3254 behoue]
1974 evns1
evns1 ≈ standard
3252-55 In . . . meet]
evns1
3254 contract . . . behoue] Evans (ed. 1974): “shorten, i.e. spend agreeably . . . advantage.”
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ standard
3252-55 In . . . meet]
pen2
3255 O . . . a . . . a] Spencer (ed. 1980): “(presumably grunts made by the digger at his labours rather than interpolated vowels in the song).”
1982 ard2
ard2 ≈ standard (v1877) ; Noble Shakespeare’s Use of Song +
3252-55 In . . .
meet]
Jenkins (ed. 1982, Longer Notes, 548-9): <p. 548>“The
verses sung by the grave-digger continue motifs from Ophelia’s songs in IV.v. Apt to the singer’s occupation and, with their variation on the theme of the death of love, to the grave he is now digging, they have also a poignant irony in that sentiments appropriate to age are here offered to the grave of youth. [cites Vaux’s
Tottel’s Miscellany; Percy’s
Reliques, cites stanzas as found in v1877 ] </p. 548> <p. 549> Some of the grave-digger’s corruptions show a memory anticipating later passages of the poem. The opening words
In youth are brought forward from the second line, where the resultant gap is supplied from the fourth. In the third line,
To contract the time appears to be a garbling of a phrase from the third line of Vaux’s second stanza, ‘And tract of time begins to weave’. . . . The third line of the grave-digger’s second stanza [see 3265],
And hath shipp’d me intil the land(with the failure to rhyme remarked on by Dr.
Johnson [see n. 3263-6])), is imported from Vaux’s thirteenth stanza, which reads: ‘13. For beauty with her bande These croked cares hath wrought: And shipped me into the lande, From whence I first was brought.’ These and other perversions of the original may, but of course need not, have been designed by Shakespeare in fitting the song to the dramatic occasion and singer. A
pit [3287] instead of a
house of clay suggests the mind of the grave-digger, as Noble points out; but his idea that the repetition in the first line of the stanza is occasioned by faltering memory (rather than musical exigencies) obviously will not stand.“ </p. 549>
<p. 550>“The seemingly casual shifts of phrase, for all the vagueness they leave us with, make for what it is possible to see as significant changes in meaning. The first stanza, instead of a philosophic acceptance of time’s passing, has become expressive of regret. The transposition of In youth to the beginning puts the emphasis firmly on youthful love, while suppressing the idea of its being a thing for age to loathe. When the song in its new third line shows a wish to contract the time, whether or not this is an instance of the gravedigger’s saying the opposite of what he means [n. 3254], it goes against the original, which, seeking neither to contract nor prolong, seems to recognize that what is appropriate to youth is now unmeet. The line which is incorporated into the second stanza, And hath shipp’d me intil the land, is feeble enough; but at least it fits in with the irony of applying the song to Ophelia’s death, to which the original lusty life that leaps away is merely inappropriate.
“Vaux’s poem appears to have been well known in its own time. That a tune for it was also well known is evident from
A Gorgeous Gallery of Gallant Inventions ((1578)), which includes a song to be sung ‘to the Tune of I lothe that I did love’ ((ed. Rollings, p. 35)). In fact two contemporary or near-contemporary settings are known. One is among the airs said to have been written in the margins of a 1557 copy of
Tottel’s Miscellany which has now disappeared and to have been transcribed by the composer Wm. Crotch for the editon of the
Miscellany prepared c. 1814 by G.F. Nott. The only surviving copy of this ill-fated and apparently unpublished edition which is known to contain the music is one at Arundel Castle ((described by Ruth Hughey in
The Library, 4th series, xv, 394-7)). The second tune is preserved in a manuscript in the British Museum ((Addit. MSS 4900, fols. 62v-63; facsimile in Sternfeld, see below)). Both were printed by Chappell (I. 216-17)), from which
Furness ((I. 382)) gives the first only.
Various musicial historians since have printed one or other; both may be found together in Sternfeld, Music in Shakespearean Tragedy, 1963, pp. 162-5, in his Songs from Shakespeare’s Tragedies, 1964, pp. 14-16, and in Simpson, The British Broadside Ballad and its Music, 1966, pp. 340-1. For fuller bibliography, see Seng, pp. 158-9. Whether either of these was actually sung by the grave-digger on Shakespeare’s stage we cannot know. Chappell records that the tune which had become traditional in performance was that of the popular old ballad ‘The Children in the Wood’, which, following Chappell ((I. 200-1)), is accordingly printed by
Furness ((i. 385)).”</p. 550>
ard2 ≈ contra ard1 (cln1)
3252-55 In . . . meet] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “But the -a sung by Autolycus, like that of Lucibella in Hoffman ((MSR, ll. 1478, 2052)), which Dowden compares, occurs only at the end of a line, to prolong the singing when the words are done: what we have here are interjections in the middle. For O in [3255], cf. [3287],:
ard2 : contra kit2
3254 contract] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “shorten. Kittredge takes this to mean ‘make ((the time)) pass pleasantly’; but although pleasant times are known to seem short, the converse does not follow. I suspect, rather, that in garbling the verse ((see 3252-5)) LN [Longer Notes above] the Clown gives another instance of his penchant for replacing the required sense with its opposite. The point is not to contract the happy time of youthful love but to prolong it.”
ard2 = kit2 w/o attribution
3254 behoue]
ard2 : Wilson (1934)
3254 ô]
Jenkins (ed. 1982, Longer Notes, 549): <p. 549> “The O which follows
contract (Q2, ô), if it is not a grunt of the grave-digger at work ((see [3254-5])), should perhaps, as
Dover Wilson mantains ((
MSH,pp. 304-5)), be
o’ for
of.” </p. 549>
1984 chal
chal : standard
3252-55 In . . . meet]
3254 ô]
3254 behoue]
3254 contract]
1985 cam4
cam4 : ard2 Longer Note [Sternfield ; Tottel]
3252-55 In . . . meet]
cam4 : Sternfeld
3254-5 contract ô . . . for a . . . there a . . . nothing a] Edwards (ed. 1985): “The Clown is decorating his lyric. For an accommodation to the music, see Sternfeld, p. 155.”
cam4 ≈ evns1 w/o attribution
3254 contract . . . behoue]
1987 oxf4
oxf4 ≈ standard
3252-55 In . . . meet]
3254 ô]
3254 behoue]
oxf4 : ard2
3254 contract]
1992 fol2
fol2≈ standard
3252-55 In . . . meet]
1993 dent
dent ≈ standard
3252-55 In . . . meet]
3254 To . . . behoue]
3252 3253 3254 3255
