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Line 621+3 - 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. 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.

Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman

For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.

621+3 {They clip vs drunkards, and with Swinish phrase}	1.4.19

1603 Segar

Segar in Stow’s Annals

621+3-621+4 Segar (1603, apud Wilson, ed. 1936, rpt. 1954, additional notes): “It were superfluous to tell you of all superfluities that were vsed; and it would make a man sicke to heare of their drunken healths: vse hath brought it into fashion, and fashion made it a habit, which ill bessenes our nation to imitate.”

Wilson (ed. 1936, rpt. 1954, additional notes) comments: “These last words come very close to Hamlet’s in [621+3-621+4]. The passage was first noted by Furnivall in New Shak. Soc. Trans. 1874, p. 512.

1632 Howell

Howell

621+3 Howell (Letters, 8vo. 1726, p. 236): See Mason, below.

1710 Gildon

Gildon

621+3 clip] Gildon (ed. 1710, Glossary, pp. lxviii; lxxii) defines cleeps as “calls, names, &c.”

Gildon

621+3 clip] Gildon (ed. 1710, Glossary, p. lxxii) defines yclyped as call’d,

1723- mtby2

mtby2

621+3 clip] Thirlby (1723-) : “nb we pronounc’d clepe & call.”

mtby2

621+3 drunkards] Thirlby (1723-): “nb. as drunk as David’s sow.”

Ed. note: “nb” I believe signals his intent to write a discursive note.”

1724 Sewell

Sewell = Gildon

621+3 clip]

1726 theon

theon

621+3 clip] Theobald (1726, pp. 30-3): <p. 30> “The Sense and Signification are very different betwixt the Words Clip and Clepe; and the latter is manifestly intended here, viz. They call us Drunkards. The same Error has slipt the Editor’s Diligence in another of our Author’s Plays, where this Word occurs again in the Sense of calling: </p. 30> <p. 31> [Mac. 3.1.93 (1094)] ‘—Water-rugs, and demy-wolves are clipt All by the Name of Dogs.’ In which Place it must be corrected, ‘—Water-rugs, and demy-wolves are clep’t All by &c.” And so yclep’d and yclep’t, are to be met an hundred Times in Chaucer, Spenser, and Hudibras. But, in another Place of our Poet, I observe, the Editor [pope] has taken Care to spell the Word as it ought to be.

“[WT 1.2.103 (175)]. ‘Three crabbed Months had sow’d themselevs to Death E’re I could make thee open thy white Hand, And Clepe thy self my Love: Then dist Thou utter, I’m yours for ever.” Now, to Clip, is illegally to cut or maim the Coin; and likewise to gripe or embrace: in both senses Shakespeare has more than once used the Word. [examples] </p. 31> <p. 32> [further examples] </p. 32> <p. 33> [further examples] </p. 33>

1744 han1

han1 = Gildon without attribution

621+3 clip]

1765- mDavies

mDavies

621+3 drunkards] Davies (1765-): “In Othello, the Dane German & swaybellied Hollander are celebrated for excess in drinking.”

1785 Mason

Mason

621+3 clip vs drunkards] Mason (1785, p. 377) notes: “It appears from one of Howell’s letters, dated at Hamburgh in the year 1632, that the then King of Denmark, had not degenerated from his jovial predecessor.—In his account of an entertainment given by his Majesty to the Earl of Leicester, he tells us, that the King, after beginning thirty five toasts, was carried away in his chair, and that all the officers of the court were drunk.”

1791- rann

rann

621+3 clip] Rann (ed. 1791-): “style us.”

1793 v1793

v1793 = Mason +

621+3 clip vs drunkards] Steevens (ed. 1793): “And wel our Englishmen might; for in Q. Elizabeth’s time there was a Dane in London, of whom the following mention is made in a collection of characters entitled Looke to it, for Ile stab ye, no date: ‘You that will drink Keynaldo unto deth, The Dane that would carowse out of his boote.’ Mr. M. Mason adds that ‘it appears from one of Howell’s letters, dated at Hamburgh in the year 1632, that the then King of Denmark had not degenerated from his jovial predecessor.—In his account of an entertainment given by his majesty to the Earl of Leicester, he tells us, that the king, after beginning thirty-five toasts, was carried away in his chair, and that all the officers of the court were drunk.’ Steevens.”

v1793: Reed

621+3 clip vs drunkards] Reed (apud ed. 1793): “See also the Nugae Antiquae [2:133], for the scene of drunkennesss introduced into the court of James I. by the King of Denmark, in 1606. Reed.”

1793- mSteevens

mSteevens as in v1803

621+3 They clepe us, drunkards] Reed (ms. note in Steevens, ed. 1793): “Roger Ascham in one of his letters mentions being present at an entertainment where the Emperor of Germany seemed in drinking to rival the King of Denmark’ The Emperor says he “drank the best that ever I saw; he had his head in the glass five times as long as any of us & never drank less than a good quart at once of Rhenish Wine.’”

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793 + mSteevens

621+3 clip vs drunkards] Reed (ed. 1803): “Roger Ascham in one of his Letters, mentions being present at an entertainment where the Emperor of Germany seemed in drinking to rival the King of Denmark: ‘The Emperor, {says he) drank the best that ever I saw; he had his head in the glass five times as long as any of us, and never drank less than a good quart at once of Rhenish wine.’”

1807 Pye

Pye: Steevens in v1793 +

621+3 clip vs drunkards] Pye (1807, p. 312): “Though [Steevens’] observation is confirmed by Reed and M. Mason. Iago tells us another story; according to him, ‘your Englishmen will with facility drink your Dane dead drunk;’ therefore there is no great wonder in the triumph over poor Reynaldo and his boot.”

He refers to Oth. 2.3.82 (1194), which he misquotes slightly.

1807 Douce

Douce: john1 +

621+3 clip vs drunkards] Douce (1807, 2:219-20): <p.219> “Dr. Johnson has noticed the frequent allusions in this play to the king’s intemperance, a failing that seems to have been too common among the Danish sovereigns as well as their subjects. A lively French traveller being asked what he had seen in Denmark, replied; ‘rien de singulier, sinon qu’on y chante tous les jours, le roy boit;’ alluding to the French mode of celebrating Twelfth-day. See De Brieux, origines de quelques coutûmes, p. 56. Heywood in his Philocothonista, or The drunkard opened, dissected, and anatomized, 1635, 4to, speaking of what he calls the vinosity of nations, says of </p.219> <p.220> the Danes, that ‘they have made a profession thereof from antiquity, and are the first upon record that brought their wassel-bowls and elbowe-deep healthes into this land.’ ” </p.220>

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

621+3 clip vs drunkards]

1819 cald1

cald1: standard

621+3-621+4 Swinish phrase . . . addition] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Disparage us by using as characteristic of us, terms that imply or impute swinish properties, that fix a swinish ‘addition’ or title to our names.”

cald1: standard

621+3 clip vs drunkards] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Clepe, clypian. Sax. to call.”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

621+3 clip vs drunkards]

1826 sing1

sing1: clip ≈ Douce without attribution; drunkards =Douce [attributed and quoted], reed on Ascham without attribution; Mason without attribution, + in magenta underlined

621+3 clip vs drunkards] Singer (ed. 1726): “The Danes were indeed proverbial as drunkards, and well they might be, according to the accounts of the time.

[[then quotes Douce, from “A lively French traveller” to “elbow deepe healthes into this land.”]

[Then Reed on Ascham without attribution, Then ref. to Howell’s Letters, from MASON, but provides a page ref.:]

8vo. 1726, p. 236. Muffet’s Health’s Improvement, 4to. 1635, p. 294. Harington’s Nugæ Antiquæ, 8vo. 1804, vol. I. p. 349.”

sing: swinish phrase cald without attribution

621+3 Swinish phrase] Singer (ed. 1826): “i.e. characterize us by a swinish epithet.”

1832 cald2

cald2 swinish phrase = cald1 + ; clip = cald1

621+3- 621+4 Swinish phrase . . . adition] Caldecott (ed. 1832): “Addition earned,’ &c. [Tro. 4.5.141 (2706)]. Ajax.”

1833 valpy

valpy : standard

621+3 clip] Valpy (ed. 1833): “Call.”

1843 col1

col1 ≈ cald2 without attribution

621+3 clip vs drunkards] Collier (ed. 1843): “i.e. ‘they call us drunkards;’ from the Sax. clypian. See [2:291].”

He also has a glossary note. Nothing different except a xref to “Ycleped.”

-1845 mHunter

mHunter 24,495 has Camden, Peacham + Higden and perhaps others.

621+3 clip vs drunkards] Hunter (-1845, fol. 223v-224r): <223v>“. . . ” </223v> <224r> </224r>.

Ed. note: illegible.

1845 Hunter

Hunter: standard + a few added analogues/allusions

621+3 clip vs drunkards] Hunter (1845, 2:220-1 ): <p. 220> “Shakespeare has an allusion to the propensity of the Danes to this vice in [Oth. 2.3.77 (1189)], and he there also reprehends his own countrymen for it. . . . ” Hunter refers to Lloyd’s State Worthies [not germane], Camden’s Remains, p. 14, probably from Polychronicon </p. 220> <p. 221> about Danes bequeathing Drunkenness to English. “The English, in the Tudor reigns, appear to have been a remarkably sober people, and the introduction of the vice” is from the Netherlands, says Peacham in The Complete Gentleman, p. 202. Sir Richard Barckley, Discourses on the Felicities of Man, 1598, p, 24, writes of the vice then “beginning to grow amongst his countrymen.” </p. 221>

1845 Hunter

Hunter

621+3- 621+4 with Swinish . . . addition] Hunter (1845, 2:221): This expression “seems to allude to some parody on the style of the Kings of Denmark, which bore allusion to this habit.”

1854 del2

del2

621+3 clip vs drunkards] Delius (ed. 1854): “to clepe = to call. Anspielungen die Trinklust der Diener sind bei Sh.’s Zeitgenossen sehr häufig; auch in [Oth. 2.3.82 (1194)] figurirt, wo die trinklustigen Nationen aufgeführt werden, der Däne in erste Reihe.” [to clepe means to call. Allusions to the drunkenness of the Nations were very frequent by Sh.’s day; in [Oth. 2.3.82 (1194)], where the most drunken nations are discussed, the Danes appear in the first rank.]

Ed. note: See also 621+4 where del2 mentions swinish phrase

1856 hud1

hud1 = sing1 (who included Douce and reed [hud1 omissions struck out]) minus (French traveler, Howell’s letters)

621+3 clip vs drunkards] Hudson (ed. 1856): “Clepe is call: from the Saxon clypian. The Danes were indeed proverbial as drunkards, and well they might be, according to the accounts of the time. Heywood, in his Philocothonista, or The Drunkard Opened, dissected, and anatomized, 1635, 4to, speaking of what he calls the vinosity of nations, says of the Danes, that they have made a profession thereof from antiquity, and are the first upon record ‘that brought their wassel-bowls and elbowe-deep healthes into this land.’ Roger Ascham, in one of his letters, mentions being present at an entertainment where says, ‘the Emperor of Germany seemed in drinking to rival the King of Denmark’ The Emperor says he “drank the best that ever I saw; he, who had his head in the glass five times as long as any of us &, never drank less than a good quart at once of Rhenish Wine.’ ”

hud1 = sing1 (subst.)

621+3-4 Swinish phrase . . . adition]

1856 sing2

sing2 = sing1

621+3 clip vs drunkards]

sing2 = sing1

621+3 Swinish phrase]

1858 col3

col3 = col1 (subst.) still without attribution + another //

621+3 clip vs drunkards] Collier (ed. 1858): “See [2:100] and this Vol. p. 419.

1861 wh1

wh1 standard

621+3 clip] White (ed. 1861): “they call us drunkards.”

1868 c&mc

c&mc: standard

621+3 clip] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “Call.”

and Mac. //

c&mc: standard

621+3-621+4 with Swinish phrase . . . addition] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “Disgrace our title by a swinish epithet. See [Mac. 3.1.91. (1092), n. 28]. The intemperance of the Danes was matter of special notoriety at the time when Shakespeare wrote; and marvellous anecdotes are extant of enormous measures drained at a draught by them.”

1870 rug1

rug1: standard

621+3 clip vs drunkards] Moberly (ed. 1870): “See the notes on [308], and on [Mac. 3.1.93 (1094)].”

1872 cln1

cln1: standard gloss; = theo1 Mac. //; ≈ hud1 on Saxon derivation; + // LLL

621+3 clip] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “ . . . See [LLL 5.1.23]. . . .”

cln1

632+3 Swinish phrase] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “Could Shakespeare have had in his mind any pun upon ‘Sweyn,’ which was a common name of the Kings of Denmark?”

1872 hud2

hud2= hud1

621+3 clip]

hud2 = hud1 (minus Ascham)+ swine . . . addition: standard

621+3-621+4 Swinish . . . addition] Hudson (ed. 1872): “they sully our title by likening us to swine. . . .”

1873 rug2

rug2 = rug1

621+3 clip vs drunkards]

1877 v1887

v1877: standard; hud1 on Saxon

621+3 clip] Furness (ed. 1887): “From the Anglo-Saxon, cleopian, to call. See Mac. [3.1.93 (1094)].”

v1877: Steevens v1793

621+3 drunkards]

v1877: Hunter, cln1

621+3 Swinish]

1878 col4

col4 gloss, Mac. // ≈ cln1 without attribution

1878 rlf1

rlf1: Hunter, cln1

621+3- 621+4 Swinish phrase . . . addition] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Stain our name by calling us swine.”

1881 hud3

hud3 = hud2

621+3 clip]

hud3 = hud2

621+3-621+4 Swinish . . . addition]

1883 wh2

wh2: standard

621+3 clip]

1885 macd

macd: standard gloss

621+3 clip]

1885 mull

mull : standard

621+3 clip]

1938 parc

parc

621+3 clip] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “call.”

1939 kit2

kit2: standard

621+3 clip] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "call."

kit2: standard

621+3 with Swinish phrase] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "by calling us pigs."

1947 cln2

cln2: standard

621+3 clip] Rylands (ed. 1947): "call."

cln2: standard

621+3-621+4 Rylands (ed. 1947): "i.e. they dishonour us with the name of drunken swine."

1957 pel1

pel1: standard

621+3 clip] Farnham (ed. 1957): “call.”

196- MED

MED: Shoreham

621+3 clip] MED has clipian for one of the forms under clepen v. Under def. 2a: “To apply (a name, epithet, title...” &c., it has clype from Shoreham.

1970 pel2

pel2 = pel1

621+3 clip] clepe Farnham (ed. 1970): “call”

1980 pen2

pen2: standard

621+3 clip vs] Spencer (ed. 1980): “describe us as.”

pen2: standard

621+3 with . . . phrase] Spencer (ed. 1980): “in comparing us to pigs.”

1982 ard2

ard2: standard

621+3 clip] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “call.”

1985 cam4

cam4

621+3 clip] clepe Edwards (ed. 1985): "call."

1987 oxf4

oxf4: standard

621+3 clip] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "call."

oxf4: Tilley

621+3 Swinish phrase] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "i.e. the epithet ‘swinish’. ‘As drunk as a swine’ was proverbial (Tilley S1042)."

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

621+3 clip] Bevington (ed. 1988): “call.”

bev2: standard

621+3 with . . . phrase] Bevington (ed. 1988): “i.e., by calling us swine.”

1992 fol2

fol2: standard

621+3 clip] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “call”

1995 OED

OED

621+3 clip] OED also has clip and clyp variants.The source words have clip rather than clep roots.

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: standard

621+3 clip] clepe Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “call”

ard3q2: standard

621+3-621+4 with . . . addition] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “tarnish our reputation by calling us pigs. ’As drunk as a swine’ was proverbial (Dent, S1042).”