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Line 621+8 - 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+8 {That for some vicious mole of nature in them}	1.4.24

1723- mtby2

mtby2

621+8 mole] Thirlby (1723-) notes the // in MND 5.1.409 (2193), and he quotes: “And the blots . . .children be.”

mtby2

621+8 of nature] Thirlby(1723-): “fsql [weak conjecture] or other.”

1726 theon

theon

621+8 mole] Theobald (1726. pp. 33-4): <p. 33> “What Relation is there betwixt a vicious Mole of Nature, and the Over-growth of a Complexion? Or how can a Vicious Mole be said, or suppos’d, in any Degree to break down the Fences of Reason, or blemish the Understanding? A Mole is an exterior Defect, appearing upon the Surface of the Skin. and the Overgrowth of a Complexion is, as I take it, an unequal Admixture of the Temperaments in the Frame and Composition of our Nature; thro’ which we become faulty by the Defect of some good, or the Redundance of some ill, Quality. I am unwilling to be too positive in my Correction in this Place; but, I think from the Tenour of the Context, there is great Room to conjecture that our Author wrote; ‘So, oft it chances in particular Men, That for some vicious mould of Nature in them, &c.’ When Nature is unequally and viciously moulded, when any Complexion is too predominant, these Accidents may have an </p. 33> <p. 34> Effect both on Constitution, and the Intellectual Faculties too; and then Reason, and the other Powers of the Mind, are impair’d and prejudic’d: And this I conceive to have been the Poet’s Sentiments. To make Amends for my Doubt and Diffidence in this last Conjecture, I’ll venture to be more positive in the Next I attempt. </p.34>

1765 Heath

Heath: theon +

621+8 mole] Heath (1765, p. 529): “Mole, is metaphorically used in this place to signify a blemish of any kind. The poet himself explains it a few lines lower, by an expression which exactly corresponds to this, ‘Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect.’ There is no occasion therefore for Mr. Theobald’s conjecture, who supposes the poet might have written, ‘—vicious mould of nature.”

1773 jen

jen: theon

621+8 mole] Jennens (ed. 1773): “T[heobald] would have it mould. Shakespeare restored, p. 33.”

Like Heath, ignores theo1.

1780 mals1

mals1: Luc.

621+8 mole] Steevens (apud Malone, 1780, 1:505 n.9), re Luc. 538-9: “For marks descried in men’s nativity Are nature’s faults, not their own infamy.]] So, in Hamlet [and quotes 621+8-621+9]

1783 mals2

mals2: theon

621+8 mole] Malone (1783, p. 56), “Theobald, without any necessity, altered mole to mould. The reading of the old copies is fully supported by a passage in [Jn. 3.1.47 (968)]: ‘Patch’d with foul moles and eye-offending marks.’”

Ed. note: Theobald did not use his conjecture in his editions; Malone may be relying on Heath.

1790 mal

mal = mals1(Steevens’s Luc. without attribution); mals2

621+8 mole]

1793 v1793

v1793 = mal

621+8 mole]

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

621+8 mole]

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

621+8 mole]

1819 cald1

cald1: Luc. as in mal +

621+8 mole] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Natural blemish.”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1803

621+8 mole]

1826 sing1

sing1: cald1 without attribution

621+8 mole] Singer (ed. 1726): “i.e. spot, blemish.”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

621+8 mole]

1832 cald2

cald2 = warb Lr.

621+8 - 621+10 Caldecott (ed. 1832): “Warburton has in [Lr. 1.2.118ff (447ff)] Edm. . . . observed that it was a fundamental law in judicial astrology, that whatever seeds of good dispositions the infant unborn might be endowed with, either from nature, or traductively from its parents, yet if at the time of its birth, the delivery was by any casualty so accelerated or retarded, as to fall in with predominantly of a malignant constellation, that momentary influence would entirely change nature, and bias it to all the contrary ill qualities.”

1860 Silberschlag

Silberschlag

621+8 mole] Silberschlag (Morgenblatt, No. 47, 1860, p. 1109, apud Furness, ed. 1877) “adduces this passage as one of the proofs that King James is designated under the character of Hamlet, and that the ‘vicious mole of nature’ referred to James’s aversion to the sight of a drawn dagger, which was supposed to be derived from the shock his mother experienced, before his birth, at seeing Rizzio assassinated.”

1871 Rushton

Rushton: Lyly’s Euphues, summary of conj.

621+8-621+22 vicious mole . . . his owne scandle] Rushton (1871, pp. 92-3): <p.92> “‘Alas Euphues by how much the more I see the high clymbing of thy capacitie, by so much the more I feare thy fall. The fine Christall is sooner crased then the hard Marble: the greenest Beech, burneth faster then the dryest Oke: the fairest silke is soonest soyled: and the sweetest Wine, tourneth to the sharpest Vinegar. The Pestilence doth most rifest infect the clearest complection, and the Caterpiller cleaueth vnto the ripest fruite: the most delycate witte is allured with small enticement vnto vice, and most subiect to yeelde vnto vanitie. If therefore thou doe but hearken to the Syrenes, thou wilt be enmoured: if thou haunt their houses and places, thou shalt be enchanted. One droppe of poyson infecteth the whole tunne of Wine: one leave of Colloquintida, marreth and spoyleth the whole pot of porredge: one yron Mole, defaceth the whole peece of Lawne.’ </p.92> [Horace]

<p.93>“Shakespeare says, that particular men, owing to some vicious mole of nature in them, or the stamp of one defect, shall in the general censure take corruption from the particular fault,— ‘The dram of eale Doth all the noble substance of a doubt To his own scandal.’

“And Lyly says, one drop of poison infecteth the whole tun of wine, one iron mole defaceth the whole piece of Lawne.

“‘Dram of eale’ may be a misprint or abbreviation of ‘dram of hellebore,’ or ‘ele-bore,’ which old authors speak of as being very poisonous; for example, Stephen Gosson, in his ‘Schoole of Abuse,’ published in 1579, thus speaks of it:— ‘One dramme of Eleborus ransackes every vein.’

“The commentators have given many drams to this passage, including, ‘dram of ease,’ ‘dram of base,’ ‘dram of ill,’ ‘dram of ale,’ ‘dram of lead,’ ‘dram of ail,’ ‘dram of evil,’ ‘drams of vile,’ ‘dram of calce,’ ‘dram of earth.’” </p.93>

1872 cln1

cln1 : standard gloss; Luc.// 538-9 = mal

621+8 mole of nature] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): "natural imperfection.”

1877 v1887

v1877 ≈ Heath; ≈ mal w. Luc. 538; ≈ theon conj. ≈ theo, ≈ Silberschlag (above)

621+8 mole] Furness (ed. 1877): “Heath. A blemish of any kind, exactly corresponding to ‘stamp of one defect,’ in [621+15]. Malone: Compare: For marks descried in men’s nativity Are nature’s faults, not their own infamy—[Luc.] 538. ’Theobald (Sh. Rest. p. 33 suggested mould, i.e. ‘when nature is unequally and viciously moulded, when any complexion is too predominant.’ But he did not repeat it in his edition. . . . ”

1885 macd

macd

621+8 vicious mole] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “A mole on the body, according to the place where it appeared, was regarded as significant of character: In that relation, a vicious mole would be one that indicated some special vice; but here the allusion is to a live mole of constitutional fault, burrowing within, whose presence the mole-heap on the skin indicates.”

1885 macd

macd

621+8-621+11 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “The order here would be: ‘for some vicious mole of nature in them, as by their o’ergrowth, in their birth, wherein they are not guilty, since nature cannot choose his origin (or parentage}—their o’ergrowth of (their being overgrown or possessed by) some complexion, &c.”

1885 macd

macd

621+8-621+13 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “The connection is: ‘That for some vicious mole—As by their o’ergrowth—Or by some habit, &c.’”

1899 ard1

ard1= cald gloss without attribution; theon; + analogue

621+8 mole of nature] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Prof. Hales notes in Greene’s Pandosta: ‘One mole staineth the whole face.’ ”

1939 kit2

kit2: standard

621+8 Kittredge (ed. 1939): "some natural fault which is a blemish."

Ed. note: Kittredge lists the three kinds of blemishes found in the next lines.

1947 cln2

cln2: standard

621+8 vicious mole] Rylands (ed. 1947): "natural blemish."

1953 Joseph

Joseph

621+8 vicious mole] Joseph (1953, p. 15): “In an age which believed in physiognomy, a ’vicious mole of nature’—a mole on the cheek—could be taken as a sign that its possessor lacked the ultimate perfection, despite whatever else his appearance might testify of his good qualities. . . . For Shakespeare’s age . . . the reputation of the man concerned would be destroyed by the mole betokening an inner defect.”

1957 pel1

pel1: standard

621+8 mole] Farnham (ed. 1957): “blemish, flaw.”

1970 pel2

pel2: standard

621+8 mole] Farnham (ed. 1970): “blemish, flaw”

1980 pen2

pen2: standard

621+8 vicious . . . nature] Spencer (ed. 1980): “natural blemish.”

1982 ard2

ard2: standard

621+8 for] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “on account of.”

ard2: //

621+8 some . . . mole] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Corresponding to ’the stamp of one defect’ (621+15). The figure has its literal counterpart in Cym. 5.5.364-6, ’Upon his neck a mole . . . that natural stamp.’ ”

1985 cam4

cam4

621+8 mole of nature] Edwards (ed. 1985): "natural mark."

1987 oxf4

oxf4

621+8 for] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "because of."

oxf4 ≈ cln2 gloss without attribution; ≈ mtby without attribution

621+8 vicious . . . nature] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "i.e. natural blemish constituting a defect of the kind described by Oberon as ‘the blots of nature’s hand’ [MND 5.1.409 (2193)]."

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

621+8 for] Bevington (ed. 1988): “on account of.”

bev2: standard

621+8 mole of nature] Bevington (ed. 1988): “natural blemish in one’s constitution.”

1992 fol2

fol2: standard

621+8 mole of nature] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “natural fault”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: standard; xref

621+8 mole of nature] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “(1) natural mark (birthmark) or blemish, (2) hidden undermining presence (as literally at [859])”