Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
124+16 {And prologue to the Omen comming on}
1729 Warburton
Warburton letter to Theobald
124+16 the Omen] Warburton (22 March 1729, apud Lounsbury, p. 360) proposed to Theobald the ominous, which neither he nor Theobald used.
124+14 124+16 1496
1733 theo1
theo1
124+16 Omen] Theobald (ed. 1733): “But Prologue and Omen are merely synonymous here, and must signify one and the same thing. But the poet means, that these strange Phœnomena are Prologues, and forerunners, of the events prolog’d by them: And such sense the slight alteration, which I have ventur’d to make by a single Letter added, very aptly gives.”
1740 theo2
theo2 = theo1
124+16 Omen]
1744 han1
han1 = theo1
124+16 Omen]
1745 han2
han2 = han1
124+16 Omen]
1746 Upton
Upton: Virgil
124+16 Omen]
Upton (1746, pp. 289-90) says, <p.289> “
Rule II. He makes Latin words English, and uses them according to their original idiom and latitude.
“In Hamlet, Act I. Horatio is speaking of the prodigies, which happened before Caesar’s death, ‘As harbingers preceding still the fates And prologue to the 1omen coming on.’ The omen coming on, i.e. the event, which happened in consequence of the omens. In the very same manner Virgil, Aen. I, 349.
‘
Dna,
di maravigliosa bellezza Disdemona chiamata, &c. He calls her afterward, in allusion to her name,
la infelice Disdemona. And I make no question but Othello in his rapturous admiration, with some allusion to her name, exclaims in Act. III. ‘Excellent
wretch! perdition catch my soul But I do love thee —” The ancient tragedians are full of these allusions; some instances I have mention’d above, p. 247. </p.289> <p. 290> ‘Cui pater intactam dederat, primisque jugarat
Ominibus.’
Ominibus, i.e.
nuptiis: viz. the event which was the consequence of the omens.” </p.290>
<n1> <p. 289> 1. They read, the omen’d </p. 289> </n1>
1747 warb
warb
124+16 Omen] Warburton (ed. 1747): “for fate”
1753 blair
blair = warb
124+16 Omen]
1757 theo4
theo4 = theo1
124+16 Omen]
1765 Heath
Heath: Upton
124+16 Omen] Heath (1765, p. 521) : “Omen, by a metonymy of the antecedent for the consequent, is put here for the event predicted by the omen. See Upton’s Critic. Obser. p. 289.”
1765 john1
john1 = warb
124+16 Omen]
1773 v1773
v1773 ≈ theo1; warb; says han follows theo
124+16 Omen] “But prologue and omen are merely synonimous here The poet means, that these strange phaenomena are prologues and forerunners of the events presag’d: and such sense the slight alteration, which I have ventur’d to make by changing omen to omen’d, very aptly gives. Theobald.”
“Omen, for fate. Warburton.
“Hanmer follows Theobald.”
v1773
124+16 Omen] Farmer (in Steevens, ed. 1773, 10: Oo6r): “A distich from The Life Of Merlin by Heywood will shew that there is no occasion for correction, ‘Merlin, well versed in many an hidden spell, His countries omen did long since foretell.’”
1773- mstv1
mstv1 = Farmer from appendix
124+16 Omen]
1774 capn
capn = Heath minus ref. to Upton
124+16 Omen] Capell (1774, 1:1:123): Omen “(as the “Revisal” observes very justly) [and he quotes].
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773, with Farmer +
124+16 Omen] Steevens (ed. 1778): “Again, in Vowbreaker: ‘And much I fear the weakness of her braine Should draw her to some ominous exigent.’ ”
1780 mals1
malsi
124+16 Omen] Malone (1780, 1: 733 n. 8)
See n. 124+14
1783 mals2
mals2
124+16 Omen] malone (1783, p. 55): [quoting124+14-124+16], “So, in one of our author’s poems, Supplement to the last edition of Shakspeare, [1:733]: ‘But thou shrieking harbinger, Foul precurser of the field, Augur of the fever’s end, &c.’”
See n. 124+14
1784 ays1
ays1 = warb
124+16 Omen]
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778
124+16 Omen]
1787 ann
ann = v1785
124+16 Omen]
1790 mal
mal = mals1 + in magenta underlined
124+16 Omen] Malone (ed. 1790): “So, in one of our authour’s poems, [10:341] ‘But thou shrieking harbinger, Foul precurrer of the fiend, Auger of the fever’s end,’ &c.
“The omen coming on is, the approaching dreadful and portentous event. So, in [R3 4.1.40 (2520)]. ‘Thy name is ominous to children.” i.e. (not boding ill fortune, but ) destructive to children. Again, ibidem [3.3.10 (1944)] : ‘O Pomfret, Pomfret, O, thou bloody prison, Fatal and ominous to noble peers.’ ”
“Theobald reads—the omen’d coming-on. Malone.”
1793 v1793
v1793 = v1785; mal +
124+16 Omen] Steevens (ed. 1793): “Omen, I believe, is danger.”
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
124+16 Omen]
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
124+16 Omen]
1819 cald1
cald1 = Farmer; Steevens; standard gloss
124+16 Omen] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Portentous event at hand.”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
124+16 Omen]
1822 Nares
Nares
124+16 prologue] Nares (1822), in a def. not rel. to Ham, says that in the theater, the prologue wore a black dress and has supporting quotations.
1826 sing1
sing1 ≈ Heath without attribution
124+16 Omen] Singer (ed. 1826): “Omen is here put by a figure of speech for predicted event.”
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1, mal [on R3 3.3.] adding only the speaker, “Riv.”
124+16 Omen]
1833 valpy
valpy = v1821 minus all except gloss
124+16 Omen] Valpy (ed. 1833): “Portentous event.”
1839 knt1
knt1 ≈ Farmer without attribution, Upton
124+16 Omen] Knight (ed. 1839): “Omen is here put for ‘portentous event.’ The word is used in the sense of fate by Heywood:— ‘Merlin, well vers’d in many an hidden spell His countries omen did long since foretell.’
“Upton points out that Shakspere uses ‘omen’ here in the very same manner as Virgil does, AEn. i.349.”
1853- mEliot
mEliot = Upton minus all but ref. to Virgil
124+15-124+16 harbindgers. . . Omen] Eliot (1853 -) “used here as by Virgil Aen. 1.349 (Upton).”
1854 del2
del2 ≈ Heath
124+16 Omen] Delius (ed. 1854): “omen ist nicht bloss die Verbedeutung, sondern auch das verbedeutet Ereigniss selbt, dem in seinem Nahen (coming on) solche Phänomene, wie die geschilderten, zum Prolog dienen müssen.” [omen is not only the omen but also the omen’d occurrence itself, which in its coming on must serve as prologue like those depicted.]
1856 hud1
hud1 ≈ knt1 without attribution
124+16 Omen] Hudson (ed. 1856): “Omen is here put for portentious event. The use of the word is classical. H.”
1856 sing2
sing2 = sing1
124+16 Omen]
1861 wh1
wh1 ≈ Malone without //s
124+16 Omen]
1862 cham
cham ≈ cald1
124+16 Carruthers & Chambers (ed. 1862): “that is, prologue to the event, which was ominous or portentous.”
1865 hal
hal = Malone in Mal
124+16 Omen]
1868 c&mc
c&mc: standard
124+16 Omen]
Clarke &
Clarke (ed. 1868): “Here used for ‘ominous event.’”
1870 rug1
rug1: standard; Farmer + Virgil
124+16 Omen] Moberly (ed. 1870): “The approaching fate. So Farmer quotes from Heywood: ‘Merlin well versed in many a hidden spell, His countrie’s omen did long since foretell.’ And somewhat similar is Virgil ’s ‘Hic primos attollere fasces Regibus omen erat.’”
1872 cln1
cln1: Farmer, xref
124+16 Omen] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “here used for the calamity which the omen indicated. Dr. Farmer quotes from Heywood’s Life of Merlin: ‘Merlin well vers’d in many a hidden spell, His countries omen did long since foretell.’ Compare ‘ominous,’ [1496].”
1872 hud2
hud2 = hud1
124+16 Omen]
1873 rug2
rug2 = rug1 minus Virgil
124+16 Omen]
1877 v1877
v1877:
theo (
Furness doesn’t distinguish between
theon and
theo1); Upton (more fully than Heath’s quotation); Heath “
in the phraseology of a grammarian,” Farmer.
124+16 Omen]
1878 rlf1
rlf1: standard gloss; Upton (Virgil); Farmer (Heywood) + in magenta underlined
124+16 Omen] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “The event portended by the omen. S. uses the word nowhere else. Upton cites Virgil, AEn. 1.346, where ominibus, literally = the omens of the marriage rite, is put for the rite itself; and Farmer quotes Heywood [. . . ].”
1880 meik
meik ≈ dtn without attribution
124+16 prologue] Meikeljohn (ed. 1880): “a theatrical term. S. is rather fond of these technical terms of the theatre. Thus we have the phrases: Speak, ‘tis your cue; get us properties (= dresses).”
meik ≈ cln1 without attribution
124+16 Omen] Meikeljohn (ed. 1880): “the calamity portended by the omen. In [1496] the wooden horse that was fatal to the Trojans is called the ominous horse.”
1881 hud3
hud3 = hud2 minus classical ref.
124+16 Omen]
1883 wh2
wh2 : standard
124+16 Omen]
1885 mull
mull ≈ cln1 without attribution
124+16 Omen] Mull (ed. 1885): “used for calamity.”
1891 dtn3
dtn3: to be completed from text: checkers?
124+16 Deighton (ed. 1912): “prologue to the disastrous events to be enacted here.”
dtn3: Farmer on Life of Merlin; + // Mac. 2.4.5 (930)
124+16 Omen]
1899 ard1
ard1: Farmer on Heywood
124+16 Omen]
1903 rlf3
rlf3 = rlf1 (minus all but gloss and statement on Sh.’s use of the word nowhere else)
124+16 Omen]
1909 subb
subb ≈ cln1 without attribution
124+16 the Omen comming on] Subbarau (ed. 1909): “The approaching calamity.”
1922 thur
thur ≈ meik without attribution
124+16 prologue] Thurber (ed. 1922): “The Prologue was an actor who appeared on the stage to announce the general meaning of the play.”
1931 crg1
crg1
124+16 prologue] Craig (ed. 1931): “introduction.”
1939 kit2
kit2
124+16 Omen] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "dire event."
1947 cln2
cln2 ≈ meik without attribution
124+16 Omen]
1957 pel1
pel1: standard
124+16 Omen] Farnham (ed. 1957): “calamity.”
1970 pel2
pel2 = pel1: standard
124+16 Omen] Farnham (ed. 1970): “calamity”
1980 pen2
pen2
124+16 prologue] Spencer (ed. 1980): the first of the theatrical images so prevalent int he play.
1982 ard2
ard2 ≈ Farmer without attribution
124+16 Omen]
1992 fol2
fol2: standard
124+16 Omen] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “i.e., ominous event“
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2
124+16 Omen] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “strictly, ’sign of a terrible event’, but it must mean the terrible event itself here”
