Line 409 - Commentary Note (CN) 
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.
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Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
| 409 It lifted vp it head, and did addresse | 1.2.216 |
|---|
409 410 3410 1856 sing2
sing2
409 it head] Singer (ed. 1856): “The first and second folios, and some of the quartos, have ‘it head.’ The possessive neutral pronoun its not being then common. The quarto, 1603, has his head. The third folio its.”
1861 wh1
wh1 ≈ sing2 without attribution
409 it head] White (ed. 1861): “Thus both the 4to of 1604 and the folio; the 4to of 1603, ‘his head;’ and yet all modern editions hitherto have, ‘its head.’[*] See the Note on ‘it’s folly,’ &c., [WT 1.2.151 (230)]. ‘It’ in a possessive sense also occurs in [3410]—‘Fordo it own life,’ where hitherto the modern text has been, ‘Fordo its, &c.”
[* See TNM]
1868 c&mc
c&mc ≈ wh1 without attribution
409 it]
Clarke &
Clarke (ed. 1868): “One of the rare instances when ‘its’ occurs in Shakespeare’s writing. See [
WT 1.2.151 (230), n. 57]. The Folio prints the form of ‘it’ in the present passage. The use of the impersonal pronoun here, instead of the then more usual ‘his,’ aids greatly to impart spiritual effect to this passage.”
1869 strat
strat
409 it] Stratmann (ed. 1869): “‘it’ is not a mistake for ‘its’ (as the modern editors seem to think), but the older form. In Shakespeare’s time use had not yet decided for its. See [3410].”
1870 Abbott
Abbott § 228
409 it] Abbott (§ 228): “Its was not used originally in the Authorized Version of the Bible, and is said to have been rarely used in Shakespeare’s time. It is, however, very common in Florio’s [1553?-1625] Montaigne. His still represents the genitive of It as well as of He. Its is found, however, in MM, where it is emphatic [. . .]. But also of an unknown person [quotes 3410] . . . And of the ghost [quotes 409 folio].
“Perhaps the dislike of its, even in the eighteenth century, aided the adoption of the French idiom ‘lever la tête.’ ‘Where London’s column, pointing at the skies, Like a tall bully lifts the head and lies.’ Pope, Moral Essays, iii. 340.”
1872 cln1
cln1 ≈ sing without attribution + in magenta underlined
409 it] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “The earlier quartos and folios read ‘it,’ and so doubtless Shakespeare wrote. In the Cambridge and Globe editions we printed ‘its’ (the reading of the later quartos and folios) in deference to the universal practice of previous editors. The quarto of 1603, followed by Staunton, has ‘his.’ which was the usual form of the possessive case in Shakespeare’s time. ‘Its’ was however coming into use, and occurs ten times in the first folio. ‘It,” as the possessive, occurs thirteen times.”
1872 hud2
hud2 contra cln1; ≈ Craik without attribution (see above)
409 it] Hudson (ed. 1872): “The old copies have ‘it head.’ So, again, in [3410; quotes]. The point is rather curious as showing the Poet’s reluctance to use its, which was then a candidate for admission into the language. He has it used possessively in some fourteen other places. See page 488, note 3.”
hud2
409 it] Hudson (ed. 1872): “In the foregoing plays, I have repeatedly noted the Poet’s use of his for its. Mr. W. J. Rolfe, of Cambridge, has ascertained, by a very close inspection, that Shakespeare has its ten times, but in nine of these it is printed with an apostrophe, it’s; and that he has it, used as the possessive case, sixteen times; as in [Ham. 409, quotes]. As I have stated before, its does not occur in our English Bible; where we have, instead, such expressions as, ‘if the salt have lost his savour,’ and, ‘to every seed his own body.”
1878 rlf1
rlf1: Abbott § 228; Craik without attribution + in magenta underlined
409 it] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “This possessive it occurs fourteen times in the folio (not counting the doubtful case in [TGV 5.2.21 (2060)], it’s nine times, and its only once [MM 1.2.4 (100)]. Milton has its three times (P. L. i. 254, iv. 813, and Hymn on Nativ. 106). Its does not occur in the A.V. of 1611 [King James Bible], and the possessive it is found only in Lev. xxv.5 (‘its’ in modern eds).”
1880 meik
meik ≈ Craik in v1877 without attribution + in magenta underlined
409 it] Meikeljohn (ed. 1880): “The word its, which is a false possessive (the old neuter of he was hit; poss. his), like illudius for illius in Latin, was hardly naturalized in S.’s time. No instance is found in our version of the Bible, except in Leviticus, xxv.5: ‘That which groweth of its own accord’ (which was printed in the version of 1611, ‘it own accord’); in all other places we find the correct form his. In the folio editions of S., the poss. it is found fourteen times: it’s, nine times; and its, only once. Milton has its three times, as in Par. Lost, I.254: ‘The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.’”
1883 wh2
wh2 ≈ wh1
409 it] White (ed. 1883): “with possessive sense, as elsewhere.”
1899 ard1
ard1 = Rolfe; standard
409 it]
1938 parc
parc
409 it] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “its.”
1939 kit2
kit2: standard
409 it head] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "Three forms for the genitive cse of it were in use: his, the ancient form for both masculine and neuter; its or it’s, a form adopted under the influence of a feeling that his is exclusively masculine; it, a compromise form. Of these his is by far the commonest in Shakespeare. Cf. [5.1.222 (3410)]."
kit2: standard + xref
409-10 did addresse . . . speake] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "began to make such movements as indicated that it meant to speak." —addresse: apply.
1947 cln2
cln2: standard
409 it] Rylands (ed. 1947): "old genitive for ’its.’ "
1957 pel1
pel1: standard
409 It] Farnham (ed. 1957): “its.”
1958 fol1
fol1: standard
409 it head] Wright & LaMar (ed. 1958): “its head. It was one form of the genitive more often expressed as ’his.’”
1970 pel2
pel2 = pel1
409 it] Farnham (ed. 1970): “its”
1980 pen2
pen2: standard
409 it] Spencer (ed. 1980): “its.”
pen2: standard
409-10 addresse . . . would] Spencer (ed. 1980): “begin to move as if it were about to.”
1982 ard2
ard2: standard
409 it] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “A regular form for the neuter possessive, alternative to the original his before both were replaced by its. Cf. 5.1.214; Lr. 1.4.215. See 48 CN.”
1985 cam4
cam4
409 it head] Edwards (ed. 1985): "its head. The normal possessive form of ’it’ was ’his’ (see note to [127]) but ’it’ is occasionally used by Shakespeare, and less frequently ’its’."
1987 oxf4
oxf4= Abbott § 228
409 it head]
oxf4
409 addresse] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "prepare (OED v. 3). Compare [WT 4.4.53 (1858)], ‘Address yourself to entertain them.’ "
1988 bev2
bev2: standard
409-10 did . . . speake] Bevington (ed. 1988): “began to move as though it were about to speak.”
2002 Blake
Blake: on his changing to it
409 it head] Blake (3.2.3.3, p. 47): “ . . . his is sometimes replaced by it or less often its . . . . ”
2002 Blake
Blake
he discusses self separate and attached. I may try to find this. It’s bf p. 82.
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: //; Hope
409 it head] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “The more usual possessives would have been ’its’ or ’his’, but Shakespeare sometimes uses the older, uninflected genitive it as in ’The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long / That it’s had it head bit off by it young’ (Lr. 1.4.206-7 ); see Hope, 1.3.2c. The oscillation between it and he for the Ghost throughout this conversation is both understandable and unsettling.”
ard3q2: standard
409-10 addresse . . . speake] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “’begin to make motions as if it was about to speak’”