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.

1671 Skinner

Skinner

56 horrowes] Skinner (1671): “harowed, by him that harowed Hell (i.e.) per Christum, ab AS Hergian, Vastare, verbatim per eum qui Vastavit (i.e.) Devicit Inferos.”

1723- mtby2

mtby2

56 horrowes] Thirlby (1723-) refers to 701.

1768-70 mwar2

mwar2 = mtby2 without attribution

56 horrowes] Warner (ms. notes, 1766-70, fol. ???): “vid. infra pge. 20” [701]

1778 v1778

v1778

56 horrowes] Steevens (ed. 1778): “To harrow is to conquer, to subdue. The word is of Saxon origin. So, in the old bl[ack] l[etter] romance of Syr Eglamoure of Artoys: ‘He swore by him that harowed hell.’”

1784 ays1

ays1 = v1778 minus (to conquer and ref. to Syr Eglamoure) without attribution

56 horrowes] Ayscough (ed. 1784): “To harrow is to subdue. The word is of Saxon origin.”

1785 v1785

v1785 = 1778

56 horrowes]

1787 ann

ann = v1785

56 horrowes]

1790 mal

mal = v1785

56 horrowes]

1791- rann

rann

56 horrowes] Rann (ed. 1791-) “it confounds, astonishes me; I am quite lost in the fear and wonder.”

1793 v1793

v1793 = mal +

56 horrowes] Steevens (ed. 1793): “Milton has adopted this phrase in his Comus: ‘Amaz’d I stood, harrow’d with grief and fear.’ ”

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

56 horrowes]

1805 Seymour

Seymour: Chedworth; Steevens

56 horrowes] Chedworth (apud Seymour, 1805, 2:139): “I do not think that ‘harrows’ here, signifies subdues. Does Mr. Steevens suppose that to be the meaning of it in the following passage, in the last scene of this act, on which there is no note? ‘I would [sic] a tale unfold, whose lightest word Would harrow up they soul.’ If he does, what is the force of the particle up, in this last quoted passage?’ Lord Chedworth.”

Seymour: Steevens [on Milton] without attribution

56 horrowes] Seymour (1805, 2:139): “This application of ‘to harrow’ is, I believe, in reference, however licentiously, to the agricultural implement, the harrow, and its rugged construction, although employed to compose the still more rugged operation of the plough. [quotes the line]

“Milton has a similar expression in Comus: ‘Amaz’d I stood, harrow’d with grief and fear.’”

Of course since Seymour’s note follows Chedworth, he means to answer Chedworth’s question indirectly and to supply a better gloss than Steevens had.

1807 ayl3

ayl3 = v1793 minus analogues

56 horrowes] Ayscough (ed. 1807): “To harrow is to conquer, to subdue.”

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1793

56 horrowes]

-1819 Coleridge

Coleridge

54-6 See 52.

1819 cald1

cald1: Steevens on Milton without attribution; Johnson, Tyrwhitt, +

56 horrowes] Caldecott (ed. 1819) says the line means <p.3> “Confounds and overwhelms, as by the most alarming apprehension of acts of inroad and violence. This line is almost copied by Milton in Comus: ‘Amaz’d I stood, harrow’d with grief and fear.’ v. 565. And it is observable, that Warton neither offers any interpretation, nor points out the etymon: and the lexicographers are either silent or not at all agreed upon the subject. Johnson [1755?] interprets it here ‘disturb, put into commotion:’ and thinks it should be written harry, from harer, Fr. Minshieu [1617] suggests aro, to plough, as the derivation of harrow; and derives harrie, which he interprets ‘to turmoile or vexe,’ from har, Sax. intorsio, tormentum; while Johnson derives the verb in the sense of beat or break up, and the noun harrow, from charroue, Fr. and harcke, Germ. a rake. It should seem that they are considered as one and the same word by Mr. Tyrwhitt, who interprets it elsewhere, as Mr. Steevens does here, ‘to conquer or subdue.’ He says, ‘by him that harwed helle,’ is harried. Sax. harassed, subdued, Ch[aucer’s] Mill[er’s] T[ale] v. 3512; and adds, ‘Our ancesters were very fond of a story of Christ’s exploits in his Descensus ad inferos, which they called the harrowing of helle. They took it, with several others of the same stamp, from the gospel of Nicodemus.’ Fabr. Cod. Apoc. N. T. There is a poem upon this subject in MS. Bodl. 1687. ‘How Jesu Crist herowed helle; of harde gestes, ich wille telle.’ Tyrwhitt’s Chaucer [2:430] 4to ed.

“It is somewhat singular, that we find the word harow in the same tale. ‘Let be, Nicholas, Or I wol crie out harow and alas’ v.3286, referred, by Mr. Tyrwhitt, to a different origin: he ‘rather believes haro to be derived from two Islandic words, once probably common to all the Scandinavian nations, har, altus, and op, clamor; and adds that haroep or harop, was used by some of the inhabitants of the Low Countries in the sense of harou by the Normans.’ Ibid. [vol. 2]. Warton says, ‘this was an exclamation of alarm and terror, and an outcry upon the name of Rou or Rollo, for help.’ Todd’s Spencer [3:413]. But as the three words harrow, harrie, and harow, are, under </p.3> <p.4> various spellings, confounded by glossographers, they may all not unreasonably be referred to the same source.

“The words appear, thus variously represented, in our different old writers: ‘Harro, harrow, Io, eheu; a Fr. haro, an outcry for help, much the same as the English hue and cry: vide Menage.’ Gloss. to Gaw. Douglas’s Virg. Fo. 1710. ‘Hery, hary, hubbilschow. These are words expressive of hurry and confusion. Hiry, hary, seem to be a corruption of the Fr. haro, or the cry of à l’aide, like huetium in our old laws, and hue in English. Hubbilschow* [p.4n] is used with us for uproar. Ancient Scottish Poems from MS. of G. Bannatyne, 1770. p. 173. ‘With bludy ene rolling full thrawynlie Oft and richt schrewitly wold sche clepe and crye, Out, Harro, matrouns, quharesoever ze be.’ G. Doug, Virg, p. 220. ‘torvumque repente Clamat, Io, matres, audite, ubi quæque.’ AEn VII.399. ‘They rent thare hare with harro and allake.” Ib. p. 432. ‘—manu crines laniata—turba furit.’ AEn. XII.605. ‘Wherefore I crye out harowe on them [the evyl shrewes] whiche so falsly have belyed me.’ Reynard, the Foxe, 12mo. 1550. Signat. L.1,b. ‘Advocates and attorneys in open audience at the barre looke as tho they would eat one another, crying Harrol for justice on their client’s side.’ R. C’s Hen. Steph. Apology for Herodotus, fo. 1608, p. 342.

“An instance in which the word occurs in Ascham’s Toxophilus has given occasion to a strange perversion of the text: one of the infinite number of instances in which the ignorance and presumption of Editors has gone a great way towards blotting from the page of history, together with all traces of the character of their author’s style, the evidence of our ancient usages. ‘One of the players shall have a payre of false dyse and cast them out upon the boarde, the honest man shall take them and cast them as he did the other, the thirde shall espye them to be false dyse and shall cry out, haroe with all the othes under God, that he hath falsely wonne their money, and then there is nothing but hould thy throte from my dagger.’ 4to. 1571, fo. 14,b.

“Such is the original: but a book published under the name of ‘James Bennet, Master of the Boarding School at Hoddendon, Herts,’ by Davies and Dodsley, 4to. without date, intitled the English Works and Life of Roger Ascham (in which the dedication and life at least are the work of Dr. Johnson), instead of ‘crye out, haroe,’ the editor has given ‘crye out harde,’ </p.4> <p.5> altering as well the punctuation as the word itself: and in this very ridiculous depravation he has been followed by Mr. Walters, a Glamorganshire clergyman, in an 8vo. edition, 1788 and in an edition of all his English Works, 8vo. 1815. White, Fleet-street.

“From this Norman usage, Mr. Ritson says the word ‘is erroneously supposed by some to be a corruption of Ha Rou,*[p.5n] i.e. Rollo, Duke of Normandy: Pharroh, however, was the old war cry of the Irish. Camd. Britann. 1695, p. 1047, and Spenser’s View of Ireland. The word too, or crie de guerre, of Joan of Arc, was Hara ha. Howell’s Letters, 8vo. 1726, p. 118.’ [for p. 113] Anc. Metrical Romances, [3:349], 8vo. 1802.

“But, whatever its real origin, the tradition of the country, and the form of the invocation of their revered chieftain (à l’aide, mon prince), demonstrates what must have been the opinion of the inhabitants of Normandy and its adjacent isles upon this subject: and in those islands this form of invocation is continued to the present day. The 53d chapter of the Grand Coustumier de Normandie treats De Haro, rendered in the Latin text or translation, ‘De clamore, qui dicitur Harou.’ It states, ‘that in his court of Haro the Duke of Normandy makes inquest, whether this cry is raised with just cause or otherwise, heavy penalties attending a false clamour: and directs, that it shall not be raised, unless in criminal cases or offences against the state.’ Rouen, Fo. 1539, fo. 10 & 74. But the practise is, and as far as appears, ever has been, directly opposite: and we are well informed, that in Jersey and Guernsey it is the constant usage, interjetter le clameur de haro, in civil cases, to prevent trespass or entry under colour of right; and if any such inroad is repeated after this cry has been raised, heavy penalties ensue. That it ever could have been confined to criminal cases will hardly be allowed, if any credit is due to the story recorded of the stoppage of the Conqueror’s funeral. He had violently dispossessed the owner of the ground, in which it was proposed to deposit his remains. The owner, conceiving this to be a new invasion of his property, and possibly that the death of the invader operated as a renewal of those rights, a suspension of the exercise of which he had hitherto been compelled to acquiesce under, threw in the clameur de haro. Falle, from Paulus Œniglius, states his challenge to have been made in these words: ‘Qui regna oppressit armis, me quoque metu mortis hactenus oppressit. Ego, injuriæ superstes, pacem mortuo non dabo. In quem infertis hunc hominem locum meus est. In alienum solum inferendi mortui jus nemini esse defendo. Si, extincto tandem indignitatis authore, vicit adhuc vis, Rollenem, conditorem parentemque gentis, appello; qui legibus a se datis quam </p.5> <p.6> cujusquam injuria plus unus potest polletque.’ Hist. of Jersey, 1734. P.16, 17.

“It appears too, that this exclamation is, down to the present times, used still more extensively: and that it is resorted to by those who meditate or make attack, as well as those who are assailed. In his private memoir of Louis XVI. Mr. Bertrand de Moleville says, speaking of himself, ‘There was a general shout of Haro sur l’Intendant, accompanied with the most furious imprecations:’ and it is added in a note, that ‘this cry is used by the populace of Brittany and Normandy, when they intend to insult*[p.6n] or attack any body.’ 8vo. 1797, [1:84]. It occurred at Rennes.” </p.6>

<n> <p. 4> *[p.4n] “Hubbub, or as they pronounce it, hoobhoob, is at this day an exclamation of a similar import in South Wales.” </p.4> </n>

<n> <p. 5> *[p.5n]“ Raoul is the real and proper name, Rou or Ro the abbreviation, Rollo the latinised name, and now universally adopted; in the same way as we say Thuanus for De Thou. From whatever other sources derived, this word may have been engrafted into our language, it seems clear, that it has been transmitted to us by our Norman ancestors.” </p.5> </n>

<n> <p.6> *[p.6n] “But it has been questioned, whether the Intendant was not here considered as a wrongful intruder and malfeasor, against whose tortuous entry the cry was raised.” </p. 6> </n>

Ed. note: cald with a copy of Q3 with line 55 missing, rationalizes and even makes a beauty out of the juxtaposition of 54 and 56. See 55n.

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

56 horrowes]

1822 Nares

Nares

56 horrowes] Nares (1822): “To Harrow. To vex or plunder; the same as to Harry, infra, and merely a corruption of it. The history of our Lord’s descent to hell was a favourite legend with our ancestors, and the phrase applied to it was, regularly, that he harrowed or harwed hell; that is, plundered or stripped it; as, by the virtue of his cross, he released Adam, and many of his sons: the authority for which was, the false gospel of Nicodemus. Spenser has twice used the expression that way: ‘And he that harrowed hell, with heavie stowre.’ [F.Q. 1.10.40] F.Q. 1.x.40. Also in his Sonnets, he says, addressing Christ, ‘And having harrow’d hell, didst bring away Captivity thence captive.’”

Ed. note: Nares goes on with a ref. to Chaucer and to Tyrwhitt’s notes, &c. But none to Shak.

1825-33 schl

schl

56 horrowes]Schlegel (ed. 1825-33): For the verb harrows he has: “es macht mich starr” which focuses on the physical effect: “it transfixes me.”

1826 sing1

sing1: Steevens in v1821 without attribution +

56 horrowes] Singer (ed. 1826): “To harrow is to distress, to vex, to disturb. To harry and to harass have the same origin, from the Gothic haer, an armed force. Milton has the word in Comus:—‘Amaz’d I stood, harrow’d with grief and fear.’ ”

1832 cald2

cald2 ≈ cald1 minus (struck out) + in magenta underlined

56 horrowes] Caldecott (ed. 1832, pp. 3-6) says the line means <p.3> “Confounds and overwhelms, as by the most alarming apprehension of acts of inroad and violence. This line is almost copied by Milton in Comus: ‘Amaz’d I stood, harrow’d with grief and fear.’ v. 565. And it is observable, that Warton neither offers any interpretation, nor points out the etymon: and the lexicographers are either silent or not at all agreed upon the subject. It harrows me with fear and wonder ] i.e. distracts, or tears to pieces like an harrow, a drag with iron teeth to break the clods of erth after ploughing, from Aro, Lat. to plough; which is elucidated by Dr. Johnson [1755?], ‘to practice aration.’ Interpreting harrow in this place ‘disturb, put into commotion,’ he derives the noun from charroue, Fr. and harcke, Germ. a rake; and thinks it should be written would read harry, from harer, Fr. But harrie, says Minshieu [1617], to ‘turmoile or vexe,’ is from har, Sax. intorsio, tormentum. suggests aro, to plough, as the derivation of harrow; and derives harrie, which he interprets ‘to turmoile or vexe,’ from har, Sax. intorsio, tormentum; while Johnson derives the verb in the sense of beat or break up, and the noun harrow, from charroue, Fr. and harcke, Germ. a rake. It should seem that they are considered as one and the same word by Mr. Tyrwhitt, who interprets it elsewhere, as Mr. Steevens does here, ‘to conquer or subdue.’ He says, ‘by him that harwed helle,’ is harried. Sax. harassed, subdued, Ch. Mill. T. v.3512 [Chaucer’s “Miller’s Tale”] ; and adds, ‘Our ancesters were very fond of a story of Christ’s exploits in his Descensus ad inferos, which they called the harrowing of helle. They took it, with several others of the same stamp, from the gospel of Nicodemus.’ Fabr. Cod. Apoc. N. T. There is a poem upon this subject in MS. Bodl. 1687. ‘How Jesu Crist herowed helle; of harde gestes, ich wille telle.’ Tyrwhitt’s Chaucer [2:430] 4to ed. and for this sense see ‘I repent me much that I so harried him.’ [Ant. 3.3.Cl]

“It is somewhat singular, that we find the word harow in the same tale. ‘Let be, Nicholas, Or I wol crie out harow and alas v.3286, referred, by Mr. Tyrwhitt, to a different origin: he ‘rather believes haro to be derived from two Islandic words, once probably common to all the Scandinavian nations, har, altus, and op, clamor; and adds that haroep or harop, was used by some of the inhabitants of the Low Countries in the sense of harou by the Normans.’ Ibid. [vol. 2]. Warton says, ‘this was an exclamation of alarm and terror, and an outcry upon the name of Rou or Rollo, for help.’ Todd’s Spencer [3:414}. But as </p.3> <p.4> the three words harrow, harrie, and harow, are, under various spellings, confounded by glossographers, they may all not unreasonably be referred to the same source.

“The words appear, thus variously represented, in our different old writers: ‘Harro, harrow, Io, eheu; a Fr. haro, an outcry for help, much the same as the English hue and cry: vide Menage.’ Gloss. to Gaw. Douglas’s Virg. Fo. 1710. ‘Hery, hary, hubbilschow. These are words expressive of hurry and confusion. Hiry, hary, seem to be a corruption of the Fr. haro, or the cry of à l’aide, like huetium in our old laws, and hue in English. Hubbilschow* [p.4n] is used with us for uproar. Ancient Scottish Poems from MS. of G. Bannatyne, 1770. p. 173. ‘With bludy ene rolling full thrawynlie Oft and richt schrewitly wold sche clepe and crye, Out, Harro, matrouns, quharesoever ze be.’ G. Doug, Virg, p. 220. ‘torvumque repente Clamat, Io, matres, audite, ubi quæque.’ Æn VII.399. ‘They rent thare hare with harro and allake.” Ib. p. 432. ‘—manu crines laniata—turba furit.’ Æn. XII.605. ‘Wherefore I crye out harowe on them [the evyl shrewes] whiche so falsly have belyed me.’ Reynard, the Foxe, 12mo. 1550. Signat. L.1,b. ‘Advocates and attorneys in open audience at the barre looke as tho they would eat one another, crying Harrol for justice on their client’s side.’ R. C’s Hen. Steph. Apology for Herodotus, fo. 1608, p. 342.

“An instance in which the word occurs in Ascham’s Toxophilus has given occasion to a strange perversion of the text: one of the infinite number of instances in which the ignorance and presumption of Editors has gone a great way towards blotting from the page of history, together with all traces of the character of their author’s style, the evidence of our ancient usages. ‘One of the players shall have a payre of false dyse and cast them out upon the boarde, the honest man shall take them and cast them as he did the other, the thirde shall espye them to be false dyse and shall cry out, haroe with all the othes under God, that he hath falsely wonne their money, and then there is nothing but hould thy throte from my dagger.’ 4to. 1571, fo. 14,b.

“Such is the original: but a book published under the name of ‘James Bennet, Master of the Boarding School at Hoddesdon, Herts,’ by Davies and Dodsley, 4to. without date, intitled </p.4> <p.5> the English Works and Life of Roger Ascham (in which the dedication and life at least are the work of Dr. Johnson), instead of ‘crye out, haroe,’ the editor has given ‘crye out harde,’ </p.4> <p.5> altering as well the punctuation as the word itself: and in this very ridiculous depravation he has been followed by Mr. Walters, a Glamorganshire clergyman, in an 8vo. edition, 1788 and in an edition of all his English Works, 8vo. 1815. White, Fleet-street.

“From this Norman usage, Mr. Ritson says the word ‘is erroneously supposed by some to be a corruption of Ha Rou,*[p.5n] i.e. Rollo, Duke of Normandy: Pharroh, however, was the old war cry of the Irish. Camd. Britann. 1695, p. 1047, and Spenser’s View of Ireland. The word too, or crie de guerre, of Joan of Arc, was Hara ha. Howell’s Letters, 8vo. 1726, p. 113.’ Anc. Metrical Romances, [3:349], 8vo. 1802.

“But, whatever its real origin, the tradition of the country, and the form of the invocation of their revered chieftain (à l’aide, mon prince), demonstrates what must have been the opinion of the inhabitants of Normandy and its adjacent isles upon this subject: and in those islands this form of invocation is continued to the present day. The 53d chapter of the Grand Coustumier de Normandie treats De Haro, rendered in the Latin text or translation, ‘De clamore, qui dicitur Harou.’ It states, ‘that in his court of Haro the Duke of Normandy makes inquest, whether this cry is raised with just cause or otherwise, heavy penalties attending a false clamour: and directs, that it shall not be raised, unless in criminal cases or offences against the state.’ Rouen, Fo. 1539, fo. 10 & 74. But the practise is, and as far as appears, ever has been, directly opposite: and we are well informed, that in Jersey and Guernsey it is the constant usage, interjetter le clameur de haro, in civil cases, to prevent trespass or entry under colour of right; and if any such inroad is repeated after this cry has been raised, heavy penalties ensue. That it ever could have been confined to criminal cases will hardly be allowed, if any credit is due to the story recorded of the stoppage of the Conqueror’s funeral. He had violently dispossessed the owner of the ground, in which it was proposed to deposit his remains. The owner, conceiving this to be a new invasion of his property, and possibly that the death of the invader operated as a renewal of those rights, a suspension of the exercise of which he had hitherto been compelled to acquiesce under, threw in the clameur de haro. Falle, from Paulus Æmilius, Œniglius, states his challenge to have been made in these words: ‘Qui regna oppressit armis, me quoque metu mortis hactenus oppressit. Ego, injuriæ superstes, pacem mortuo non dabo. In quem infertis hunc hominem locum meus est. In alienum </p.5> <p.6> solum inferendi mortui jus nemini esse defendo. Si, extincto tandem indignitatis authore, vivit adhuc vis, Rollenem, conditorem parentemque gentis, appello; qui legibus a se datis quam </p.5> <p.6> cujusquam injuria plus unus potest polletque.’ Hist. of Jersey, 1734. P.16, 17.

“It appears too, that this exclamation is, down to the present times, used still more extensively; and that it is resorted to by those who meditate or make attack, as well as those who are assailed. In his private memoir of Louis XVI. Mr. Bertrand de Moleville says, speaking of himself, ‘There was a general shout of Haro sur l’Intendant, accompanied with the most furious imprecations:’ and it is added in a note, that ‘this cry is used by the populace of Brittany and Normandy, when they intend to insult*[p.6n] or attack any body.’ 8vo. 1797, [1:84]. It occurred at Rennes. And in Pryce’s Antient Vocabulary of Cornwal (which lies opposite the coast of Normandy) 4to. 1790, we find the word; and in a corresponding sense making other modifications of it, as harow, harow! sad, sad. Har, slaughter. Hara, an arrow (i.e. the cause of slaughter) whence heir, a battle, and heirva, a place of battle.

“In the text, and in the familiar and vernacular language, the language of Shakespeare, the word is used in the metaphorical sense, which it takes, as before stated. from the operation of the harrow, in tearing asunder the clods of ploughed earth; and signifies “rend or tear to pieces.” </p.6>

<n> <p. 4> *[p.4n]“ Hubbub, or as they pronounce it, hoobhoob, is at this day an exclamation of a similar import in South Wales; and in “Warwickshire they have a proverbial distich, ‘Hoo roo the devil’s to do.’” </p.4> </n>

<n> <p. 5> *[p.5n]“ Raoul is the real and proper name, Rou or Ro the abbreviation, Rollo the latinised name, and now universally adopted; in the same way as we sat Thuanus for De Thou. From whatever other sources derived, this word may have been engrafted into our language, it seems clear, that it has been transmitted to us by our Norman ancestors.” </p.5> </n>

<n> <p. 6> *[p.6n] “But it has been questioned, whether the Intendant was not here considered as a wrongful intruder and malfeasor, against whose tortuous entry the cry was raised.” <n> </p. 6>

cald2

54-6 Caldecott (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “It is natural that the surprise and terror of the speaker should bear some proportion to the degree of his former confidence and incredulity.”

1839 knt1

knt1: cald2 +

56 horrowes] Knight (ed. 1839): “Mr. Caldecott states that the word harrow is here used in the metaphorical sense which it take from the operations of the harrow, in tearing asunder clods of earth. On the other hand some etymologists assert that to harrow and to harry (to vex, to disturb) are the same, and that the implement of husbandry derived its name from the verb. Mr. Caldecott has a curious note on the harou—the cry of help—of the Normans, with which harrow and harry seem to have some connexion. (See his ‘Specimen of an Edition of Shakespeare,’ 1832.)

1843 knt2

knt2 = knt1

56 horrowes]

1843 col1

col1: standard

56 horrowes] Collier (ed. 1843): “One of the senses of ‘to harrow’ is to overthrow or subdue, and some lexicographers have contended that it is more properly spelt harry. The verb occurs with a different meaning afterwards.”

1845 Hunter

Hunter: Steevens or cald + in magenta underlined

56 horrowes] Hunter (1845, 2: 213): “to tear to pieces, to distract. ‘And when that harrying it, and all to-tearing.’— Harrington’s Ariosto, Canto 37, St. 68. It seems to be formed on the action of the harrow upon the clods and furrows.”

1854 del2

del2

56 horrowes] Delius (ed. 1854): “to harrow zunächst ‘aufreissen,’ wie mit der Egge, dann ‘verwüsten’ und ‘durchwühlen,’ ‘gewaltsam durchfahren.’ Die Beduetung ‘underjochen,’ welche englische Commentatoren dem Worte beilegen, ist zweifelhaft, da an den betreffe Stellen die aus dem Gründbegriff such ergebenden Bedeutungen eben so gut passen. Dass es schon zu Sh.’s Zeit ein seltenes und leicht misszuverstehendes Wort war, zeigt die Lesart von Q. A.: it horrors me etc.” [first of all to tear open as with a harrow, then to lay waste, and root up, to go through with force. The meaning “to subject” that English commentators give the word is doubtful since in the passage in question the meanings coming from the basic concept fit so well. That already in Sh.’s time it was a rare word easy to misunderstand is shown by the version of Q1: it horrors me etc.]

1856 hud1

hud1 ≈ sing1 + Q1 VN

56 horrowes]

1856 sing2

sing2 = sing1

56 horrowes]

1857 fieb

fieb: cald gloss [break up] without attribution, Steevens gloss [conquer, subdue] without attribution; Nares; Steevens without attribution on Milton + in magenta underlined

56 horrowes] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “To harrow properly means: to break up with the harrow (Egge), to tear up; and figuratively, as it is employed in this place: to disturb, to subdue, to conquer. Nares, in his Glossary [and he paraphrases/quotes gloss, part of harrowed hell, and 1 ref to Spenser]. [then Steevens on Milton without attribution].

1858 col3

col3 ≈ col1 w/ slight variation in magenta

56 horrowes] Collier (ed. 1858): ““One of the senses of ‘to harrow’ is to overthrow or subdue, and some lexicographers have contended that it is more properly spelt harry. The verb occurs with a different meaning afterwards. The verb recurs, with an obvious meaning, in scene 5 of this Act.”

col3

56 horrowes] Collier (ed. 1858, Glossary 6:706): “to overthrow, to destroy, v. 475.”

1868 c&mc

c&mc ≈ cald1

56 Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “‘Harasses,’ ‘tears,’ ‘rends,’ as a harrow breaks up the clods.”

1872 Wedgwood

Wedgwood

56 horrowes] Wedgwood (1872): “Harrow! A cry of distress; OFr., hare! harau! Crier haro sur, to make hue and cry after. . . . Bohem. hr! hrr! interjection of excitement (frementis), hurrah! ohg, haren, to cry out. Sc. harro! an outcry for help, often used as a cheer or encouragement to pursuit.

“A harrowing sight is one which leads to the exclamation harrow!”

1872 cln1

cln1 : standard

56 horrowes] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “See 1.5.16 [701].”

1872 hud2

hud2 = hud1 minus Q1 VN

56 horrowes]

1870 rug1

rug1

56 horrowes] Moberly (ed. 1870): “Old writers seem sometimes to mingle the two different words, ‘harry” to ravage, and ‘harrow’ in the ordinary sense; as in [Cor. 5.23? (3383)], ‘plough Rome and harrow Italy.’ So the descent of Christ was called in legends the ‘harrowing (harrying) of hell.’ Some editions read “it horrors me.”

Ed. note: Q1 has horrors.

1877 v1877

v1877: Steevens on Comus, cald, Clarke

56 horrowes] Clarke (apud ed. 1877): “Horatio’s previous levity makes his subsequent awe, and trembling, and paleness seem like the effects of our own awe-stricken imaginations.”

1877 = Wedgwood (minus a bit)

56 horrowes] Wedgwood (apud ed. 1877): “Harrow! a cry of distress; Old French, hare! harau! Crier haro sur, to make hue and cry after. Bohem. hr! hrr! interjection of excitement (frementis), hurrah! Old High German, haren, to cry out. A harrowing sight is one which leads to the exclamation harrow!”

1880 Grosart

Grosart

56 horrowes] Grosart (1880, 13: ix), referring to Scoloker’s line “Ile haue reuenge, or harrow vp my will” (p. 36, st. 4, line 6) explains harrow <p. ix> as“tear to pieces, destroy—another Hamlet word [by Scoloker], e.g., ‘It harrows me with fear and wonder’ [56], and ‘lightest word would harrow up my soul’ [701].” </p. ix>

Grosart’s notes are in his intro, not on the page of Scoloker’s poem.

1881 hud3

hud3 = hud2

56 horrowes]

1885 mull

mull: standard gloss

56 horrowes] Mull (ed. 1885): “subdues.”

1890 irv2

irv2: standard

56 horrowes] Marshall (ed. 1890): “afflicts, tortures; or perhaps, figuratively = tears, lacerates.”

irv2: john; // Cor. ; standard gloss; Milton + Q1 conj.

56 horrowes] Marshall (ed. 1890): “Q.1 has a peculiar reading, horrors, which has not, I think, received the attention it deserves. There is no other instance, that I am aware of, of the use of horror as a verb; but it certainly is a most forcible expression, especially if we remember the original meaning of the Latin word horreo, from which horrow is derived. The substantive is frequently used of ‘that which causes horror,’ so that there is no reason why a verb coined from that word should not be used in a transitive sense. As to harrow, Shakespeare only uses the verb three times; twice in this play, figuratively in both cases, and in a quibbling sense in [Cor. 5.3.34 (3383) and quotes]. In the other passage of this play where it occurs [701], in the speech of the Ghost, it is used with up; and here I think it is used in a similar sense, and that there is no idea of referring to haro, a cry of distress. Johnson thought that the word should be written harry, and should have the same sense as in the well-known phrase, ‘the harrowing of hell’; but if harrow be the right reading, there can be little doubt, though it occurs here without the preposition, that it is used, as in the passage below, in a sense derived from its ordinary and agricultural meaning. It would be a bold measure, in the text of a play so familiar as this, to introduce any innovation; but certainly the reading of §Q1, if a misprint, is a singularly felicitous one; for it exactly describes that effect of fear which makes the skin ‘bristle’ as it were, that peculiar feeling which, in vulgar parlance, is called ‘goose flesh.’

“Nearly all the commentators quote Milton’s use of the word harrow, in a similar figurative sense, in Comus, line 565 [quotes].”

1891 dtn1

dtn1: Skeat Ety, Dict., Steevens on Comus + in magenta underlined

56 horrowes] Deighton (ed. 1891): “confounds, paralyzes; more usually spelt harry, the form harrow being ‘chiefly confined to the phrase ‘the Harrowing of Hell,’ i.e. the despoiling of hell by Christ[[ . . . ]] — A. S. hergian, to lay waste. Literally to over-run with an army’ [[ . . . Skeat, Ety. Dict.]]

1899 ard1

ard1: standard on xref to 701; Comus 565

56 horrowes]

1922 thur

thur: standard

56 horrowes] Thurber (ed. 1922): “a strong word, meaning to move greatly, to horrify. [. . . ]. Note the sudden change in the feelings of Horatio.”

1928 Greg

Greg

56 horrowes] Greg (1928, apud Munro, ed. 1958) “conjectures that Shakespeare wrote ‘harows’ with the peculiar ‘a’ that was liable to be mistaken for ‘or’ and hence appeared as ‘horrowes’ in Q2 and ‘horrows’ in the prompt-book; that this ‘horrows’ was mistaken for ‘horrors’ in the actor’s part (hence Q1), but correctly restored to “harrowes’ in F.”

1931 crg1

crg1 ≈ irv without attribution + in magenta

56 horrowes] Craig (ed. 1931): “harrows, lacerates the feelings.”

1934 rid1

rid1

56 horrowes] Ridley (ed. 1934, Glossary): “horrors, terrifies”

1938 parc

parc ≈ cam3 without attribution

56 horrowes] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938) insists that Q1 and Q2 have o for a in error, but since the sound of o and a were very similar, the Q1 variant “may be due to an auditory error by the reporter followed by a mis-correction.”

1952 har

har: standard

56 horrowes] Harrison (ed. 1952): “distresses; lit. plows up.”

1987 oxf4

oxf4 ≈ parc without attribution; Wilson

56 Hibbard (ed. 1987) says that Q1 horrors “looks like an auditory error by the reporter,” but that, as MSH says, Q2’s horrowes could be a variant spelling of harrowes, which the OED cites as the first use of the word in a figurative sense.

Ed. note: Hibbard’s claim about Q1 begs the question of memorial reconstruction. Wilson MSH does not say what Hibbard says but cites E. M. Cox, who does, in his ed. of Remedy for Sedition (1933, p. 47): “horrowe with spades.”

1992 fol2

fol2 : standard

56 horrowes] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “torments (A harrow is a farm implement used to break up the ground.)“

1993 dent

dent

56 horrowes] Andrews (ed. 1993) thinks the Q1 and Q2 variants, meaning horrifies, are more Shn than the F1 variant.

1996 OED on line

56 horrowes] OED “ v. 4. To lacerate or wound the feelings of; to vex, pain, or distress

greatly. (Rarely with up.) 1602 SHAKS Ham. I. i. 44 It harrowes me with fear and wonder. Ibid. I. v. 16, I could a Tale vnfold, whose lightest word Would harrow vp thy soule.

“horror 3. a. A painful emotion compounded of loathing and fear; a shuddering with terror and repugnance; strong aversion mingled with dread; the feeling excited by something shocking or frightful. Also in weaker sense, intense dislike or repugnance. (The prevalent use at all times.)

“c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Mathias 47 Gret horroure had flai alsa, For sic dremynge. 1382 WYCLIF Ezek. xxxii. 10 The kyngis..with ful myche orrour shulen be agast vpon thee. c 1386 CHAUCER Pars. T. 149 Ther shal horrour and grisly drede dwellen with-outen ende. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 371/1 Orrowre, horror. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de

W. 1531) 90 b, Affeccyon & loue to this present worlde, horrour & despeccyon of the worlde to come. 1602 MARSTON Ant. & Mel. IV. Wks. 1856 I. 54 A sodden horror doth invade my blood. 1632 J. HAYWARD tr. Biondi’s Eromena 30 Foure bodies..whereof (to their great horror) they knew at the first sight their Mistresse and the Prince.

“horre, v. Obs. [ad. L. horrere to stand on end (as hair), to bristle, to be rough; to shake, tremble, shiver, shudder, quake; to shudder at, dread, loathe: cf. ABHOR v.] trans. To abhor. c 1430 Life St. Kath. (1884) 31 fiay horre not fle foule ymage of eny myschape flyng. Ibid. 47 Had not oure lawe horred fle sect of cristen puple. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 120 When thou shuldest take vpon the mankynde for the delyueraunce of man; thow horydest not the vyrgyns wombe.”

2001 MED

56 horrowes] MED: harwe n. Also haru, har(r)ou, harewe, harow(e), harrowe

All pertain to the plough and ploughing. It is from OE hearwa and possibly akin to OE hyrwan to abuse: “borrowing from either ON or MLG is unlikely on phonological grounds.”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: OED; xref 701

56 horrowes] harrows Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “Q2’s ’horrowes’ is usually assumed to be an obsolete form of ’harrowes,’ a word which recurs in both texts at 1.5.16 [701]. The metaphor derives from the agricultural implement that breaks up the ground after ploughing, and OED records these as the earliest examples of the transferred use. OED also implies that there is no direct connection with the ’harrowing of Hell.’ where ’harrow’ derives from ’to harry’ (to raid or despoil), nut given the context of Shakespeare’s usages, there might have been a link in is mind.”