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. Click here for more information about browsing the entries and here for more information about the special symbols used in Hamletworks. Click the question mark icon above to remove this help message.

1773 v1773

v1773

1207 Ile bord him] Steevens (ed. 1773): “make the first attack, address him first.”

1774-79? capn

capn

1208 oh giue me leaue,] Capell(1774-79?, p. 130): “The words ‘O, by your leave,’ in that page, l. 20, are spoken hurrying out the remaining attendants, as their majesties were serv’d just before.”

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773 minus steevens

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778 +

1207 Ile bord him] [Reed] (ed.1785): “i.e. address him. See vol. iv. p. 169.”

1207 Ile bord him] TN 1.3.? (000): Malone ( apud ed. 1785): “To accost had a signification in our author’s time that the word now seems to have lost. In the second part of The English Dictionary, by H. C. 1655, in which the reader ‘who is desirous of a more refined and elegant speech,’ is furnished with bord words, ‘to draw near,’ is an explained thus: ‘to accost, appropriate, appropinquate.’ See also Cotgrave’s Dict. in verb. accoster.’ Malone.”

Accost, is, front her, board her—] Whalley (apud ed. 1785): “I hinted that board was the better reading. Mr. Steevens supposed it should then be bourd with her; but to the authorities which I have quoted for that reading in Jonson, Catiline, act. I. sc. iv. we may add the following; ‘I’ll bourd him straight; how now Cornelio?’ All Fools, act V., sc. i. ‘He brings in a parasite, that flowteth, and bourdeth them thus.’ Nash’s Lenten Stuff. 1599. ‘I can board when I see occasion.’ ‘Tis pity She’s a Whore, p. 38. Whalley.”

Accost, is, front her, board her—] Steevens (apud ed. 1785): “I am still unconvinced that board (the naval term) is not the proper reading. It is sufficiently familiar to our author in other places. So, in [MWW 2.1.? (000)] ‘ —Unless he knew some strain in me, that I know not myself, he would never have boarded me in this fury. Mrs. Ford. Boarding, call you it? I’ll be sure to keep him above deck,’ &c. &c. Steevens.”

Accost, is, front her, board her—] Reed (ed. 1785): “Probably board her may mean no more than salute her, speak to her, &c. Sir Kenelm Digby, in his Treatise of Bodies, 1643. fo, Paris, p. 253, speaking of a blind man says, ‘He would at the first abord of a stranger as soone as he spoke to him frame a right apprehension of his stature, bulke, and manner of making.’ Editor.”

1787 ann

ann ≈ malone

1207 bord] Henley (1787, p. 56): <p. 56> “That is, accost him.” </p. 56>

1791- rann

rann

1207 bord] Rann (ed. 1791-): “—‘address, accost.’ TWELFTH NIGHT, A.I.S.3. Sir Tob.”

1793 v1793

v1793 = v1785

1207 Ile bord him] Reed (ed. 1793): “i.e. accost, address him. See vol. iv. p. 169.”

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793 (Subst; reed’s note “See Vol. V.p.250.n.5.”)

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813 (subst; reed “See” note changes to “See Twelfth Night , Act I. Sc. III.”)

1826 sing1

sing1 = v1821

1207-8 Ile bord him] Singer (ed. 1826): “i.e. accost, address him. See Twelfth Night, Act I. Sc.3.

1839 knt1

knt1 : Gifford

1207-8 Ile bord him] Knight (ed. 1839): “Board. This is ordinarily printed board, but is spelt boord in the folio. Boord, bourd, or board, is to accost; it is also to jeer. Gifford says that to board is to accost; (as explained by Sir Toby in Twelfth Night [1.3.57 (171)]) to bourd is to jest; and to boud, to pout, or appear sullen. These distinctions of orthography are, however, very seldom preserved. (See Note on Catiline, Jonson’s Works, Vol. iv. p.221.)”

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1 = sing1

1207 Ile bord him] Hudson (ed. 1851-6): "That is, accost, address him. So in Twelfth Night, Act i. sc. 3: ’Accost is, front her, board her, woo her, assail her.’"

1856b sing2

sing2=sing1

1869 romdahl

romdahl ≈ sing2

1207 bord] Romdahl (1869, p. 24): “Board = accost, address; Fr. aborder. The word often occurs in Sh.”

1872 hud2

hud2 = hud1 minus Twelfth Night note

1207 bord]Hudson (ed. 1872): "To board him is to accost or address him. See page 180, note 10."

1872 cln1

cln1 = sing2

1207 bord] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “accost, as in Twelfth Night, i. 3. 60."

1207 presently] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “immediately. See Merchant of Venice, i. 1. 183.

1885 macd

macd : standard

1207 bord] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “The same as accost, both meaning originally go to the side of .”

1207-8 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “A line back in the Quarto.”

1207-8 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “ ‘Please go away.’ 89, 203. Here should come the preceding stage-direction.”

1889-90 mbooth

mbooth

1207 presently] E. Booth (ms. notes in PB 82, HTC, Shattuck 108): “Now: at once: not bye & bye. Emphasize accordingly. E.B.”

1899 ard1

ard1 : standard + capell

1207 bord] Dowden (ed. 1899): “accost, as in Twelfth Night, I. iii. 60.

1207 presently] Dowden (ed. 1899): “immediately, as in Romeo and Juliet, IV. I. 95.”

1208 oh, giue me leaue] Dowden (ed. 1899): “addressed to Hamlet. The Exeunt of King and Queen is indicated in Q after line 169; in F as here. Capell, supposing the words to be addressed to the King and Queen, placed Exeunt after ‘leave.’”

1934a cam3

cam3

1207-8 giue me leaue] Wilson (ed. 1934): “The regular formula for politely saying good--bye esp. to social superiors, or requesting them to go away; cf.[(1256-7)] below and K. John, [1.1.230. (241)]. Led astray by F1, in which the lines bave become disarranged, all mod. edd. make Pol. speak them tho Ham. Cf. MSH. pp. 218-9.”