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Line 957 - 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.”

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

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

957 With windlesses, and with assaies of bias,	2.1.62

1625 Bacon

Bacon

957 bias] Bacon (1625, S4v), in the 1625 ed., adds a sentence to his 1612 essay “Of Wisedome for a Mans selfe” (16. L5-L6). See ed. Kiernan, 1985, (XXIII, S4-T1v, pp. 73-5) (on S4v, p. 74), that includes the phrase “a Bias upon their Bowle, ” something bad public servants do in working for themselves rather than for their masters.

1754 Grey

Grey

957 windlesses] Grey (1754, 2:288): “Windlass is a draw-beam, or instrument in small ships, placed upon the deck, just abaft the fore-mast. See Skinner.”

1755- mmal4

mmal4

957 assaies] Malone (ms. note in Johnson, 1755): “not from essaye, but from adsaie, old French means about same. See the Gloss in Les Poesies du Roy de Navarre, 1742.”

1771 han3

han3 = Grey without attribution

957 windlesses] Hawkins (ed. 1771, 6: Glossary): “a draw-beam or instrument in small ships, placed upon the deck, just abaft the foremast. See Skinner.]”

1773- mstv1

mstv1

957 windlesses] Steevens (1773-): “Windlass is a handle by which any thing is turned”

1819 cald1

cald1

957 assaies] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “By engines and artifice, by trials and tricks of circumvention. ‘Assaying, from essayer, Fr. A proving before. Prætentans.’ Baret’s Alvearic.”

ECN 4, p. 40:

1822 Nares

Nares

957 windlesses] Nares (1822, apud Furness, ed. 1877): “Metaphorically, art and contrivance, subtleties, e.g. ‘Which, by slie drifts, and windlaces aloof, They brought about.’—Mirror for Magistrates, p. 336. Windlaies is used by Fairfax, for sudden turns; whether he meant this word [windlaces] or another is not quite clear; perhaps, rather, windings:—‘The beauties faire of shepherd’s daughters bold, With wanton windlaies runne, turne, play, and passe.’—Tasso, xiv, 34.”

1826 sing1

sing1 ≈ cald1 without attribution

957 assaies of bias] Singer (ed. 1826): “i.e. by tortuous devices and side essays. ‘To assay, or rather essay, of the French word essayer, tentare,’ says Baret.”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1 +

957 assaies] Caldecott (ed. 1832): “The term is technical for a proof of metal.”

1845 Hunter

Hunter

957 windlesses] Hunter (1845, 2: 226-7): <p. 226>“Windlaces is used in a sense now forgotten. We find it </p. 226><p. 227> in Golding’s Ovid, the seventh book, the book in which Shakespeare was so well read: ‘ . . . like a wily fox he runs not forth directly out, Nor makes a windlasse over all the champion fields about, . . . .’ It is also used by Bishop Hacket. . . .” </p. 227>

1853 Clarke

Clarke

957 windlesses] Clarke (1853): Found only here.

1856 hud1

hud1 = sing1

957 assaies of bias]

1856 sing2

sing2 = sing1

957 assaies of bias]

1869 Edinburgh Review

Anon.: Todd [who, apud Anon., = Steevens], Richardson, Golding,

957 windlesses, and with assaies of bias] Anon. (1869, pp. 47-8): <p. 47> “In Shakespeare’s day, . . . windlace, literally a winding, was used to express taking a circuitous course, fetching a compass, making an indirect advance, or, more colloquially, beating about the bush instead of going directly to a place or object; and in this sense it exactly harmonizes with the other phrase used by Polonius to express the same thing,—‘assays of bias,’—attempts in which, instead of going straight to the object, we seek to reach it by a curved or winding course, the bias gradually bringing the ball round to the jack. . . . </p. 47><p. 48> Thus, in Golding’s Ovid [quotes at length]: ‘ . . . The winged God . . . Continued not directly forth, but gan me down to stoupe, And fetched a windlasse round about.’ . . . . ” </p. 48>

1869 Galaxy

White contra Anon. in ER

957 windlesses] White (1869, p. 549) criticizes Anon. for excessive illustration.

1872 cln1

cln1 ≈ cald2 gloss, Edinburgh Rev 1869+ Lyly analogues

957 windlesses] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “winding and circuitous ways. So Golding’s Ovid, quoted in the Edinburgh Review, July, 1869: ‘The winged God beholding them returning in a troupe, Continued not directly forth but gan me down to stoope, And fetched a windlasse round about.’ Compare also Lyly’s Euphues and his England (ed. Arber), p. 270: ‘I now fetching a windlasse, that I myght better haue a shoote, was preuented with ready game.’”

cln1

957 assaies of bias] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “a metaphor from the game of bowls, in which the player does not aim at the Jack (‘or mistress,’ as it was called in Shakespeare’s time) directly, but in a curve, so that the bias bring the ball round. ‘Assays of bias‘ are therefore indirect attempts.”

1872 hud2

hud2 ≈ Edin Rev. 1869

957 windlesses] Hudson (ed. 1872): “here used in the sense of taking a winding, circuitous, or round-about course to a thing, instead of going directly to it; or, as we sometimes say, ‘beating about the bush,’ instead of coming straight to the point. This is shown by a late writer in the Edinburgh Review, who quotes two passages in illustration of it from Golding’s translation of Ovid, which is known to have been one of the Poet’s books. Here is one of the quotations: [quotes the part extracted, above].”

hud2 seems to have used the ER independently of cln1 because he quotes more of it.

hud2

957 assaies of bias] Hudson (ed. 1872): “are trials of inclination. a bias is a weight in one side of a ball, which keeps it from rolling straight to the mark, as in ninepins.”

hud2 is diff from the others.

1877 v1877

v1877: Nares, cln1 (Edinburgh Rev.), Edinburgh Rev., cln1 on Lyly

957 windlesses]

v1877 = cln1

957 assaies of bias]

1881 hud3

hud3 = hud2

957 windlesses]

hud3 = hud2

957 assaies of bias]

1883 wh2

wh2: standard

957 windlesses]

1885 macd

macd: Johnson

957 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “The word windlaces is explained in the dictionaries as shifts, subtleties—but apparently on the sole authority of this passage. There must be a figure in windlesses, as well as in assaies of Bias, which is a phrase plain enough to bowlers: the trying of other directions than that of the jack, in the endeavour to come at one with the law of the bowl’s bias. I find wanlass a term in hunting: it has to do with driving game to a given point—whether in part of getting to windward of it, I cannot tell. The word may come of the verb wind, from its meaning ‘to manage by shifts or expedients’: Barclay. As he has spoken of fishing, could the windlesses refer to any little instrument such as now used upon a fishing-rod? I do not think it. And how do the word windlesses and indirections come together? Was a windless some contrivance for determining how the wind blew? I bethink me that a thin withered straw is in Scotland called a windlestrae: perhaps such straws were thrown up to find out ‘by indirection’ the direction of the wind.

“The press-reader sends me two valuable quotations, through Latham’s edition of Johnson’s Dictionary, from Dr. H. Hammond (1605-1660), in which windlass is used as a verb:— ‘A skilfull woodsman, by windlassing, presently gets a shoot, which, without taking a compass, and thereby a commodious stand, he could never have obtained.’ ‘She is not so much as leasure as to windlace, or use craft, to satisfy them.’

“To windlace seems then to mean ‘to steal along to leeward.’ Would it be absurd to suggest that, so-doing, the hunter laces the wind? Shakspere, with many another, I fancy, speaks of threading the night or the darkness.

“Johnson explains the word in the text as ‘A handle by which anything is turned.’”

1885 mull

mull

957 windlesses] Mull (ed. 1885): “winding ways.”

1904 ver

ver ≈ cald + derivation

957 windlesses] Verity (ed. 1904): “circuitous courses, literally ‘windings, turnings’; a figurative use of windlass = ‘a machine with a turning axis’; see G.”

ver = v1877 + // R2 3.4.3-5

957 assaies]

1926 Tilley

Tilley 223: Euphues 250

957-8 windlesses]Euphues: “I now fetching a windlass, that I might better have a shoot, was prevented with ready game; Petite Pallace 2, 122: They fetch many a windlass to drive him into the nets of naughtiness.”

1934 rid1

rid1g: standard +

957 windlesses] Ridley (ed. 1934): “met. from hunting”

rid1: standard

957 assaies of bias] Ridley (ed. 1934, Glossary): “trials of bias (met. from bowls)”

1938 parc

parc

957 windlesses] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “circuitous courses.”

parc

957 assaies of bias] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “indirect attempts.”

1939 kit2

kit2: standard gloss; analogue

957 windlesses] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "roundabout ways. Cf. Mabbe, Celestina (ed. Tudor Translations, p. 90: ’What a wind-lace hast thou fetcht, with what words hast thou come upon me?"

kit2: standard

957 assaies of bias] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "indirect attempts. A figure from bowling. The bias is the curve which the bowl makes in reaching its gioal—like a ’curve’ in baseball."

1947 cln2

cln2: standard

957 windlesses] Rylands (ed. 1947): "(windlaces): roundabout devices (lit. circuits to intercept game ."

cln2: standard

957 assaies of bias] Rylands (ed. 1947): "indirect course (a metaphor from bowls: bias is the weight in the bowl which makes it run in a curved line)."

1957 pel1

pel1: standard

957 windlesses] Farnham (ed. 1957): “roundabout courses.”

pel1: standard

957 assaies of bias] Farnham (ed. 1957): “devious attacks.”

1970 pel2

pel2 = pel1standard

957 windlesses] Farnham (ed. 1970): “roundabout courses”

pel2 = pel1

957 assaies of bias] Farnham (ed. 1970): “devious attacks”

1980 pen2

pen2

957 windlesses . . . bias] Spencer (ed. 1980): “roundabout methods and indirect attacks. A windlass in this sense was a circuit made by a portion of a hunting party to intercept and head back to the game. In the game of bowls, the bias is the curved course of a bowl which reaches its aim (the jack) by not going in a straight line.”

1982 ard2

ard2: analogue

957 windlesses] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “roundabout courses. So in Golding’ Ovid, 2: 891 (’The winged god . . . Continued not directly forth, but gan . . . to . . . fetch a windlass round about’), 7:1015, and not infrequently elsewhere ”

ard2: standard

957 assaies of bias] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “devious tests. In bowls the player does not aim directly at the jack but relies on the bias (the curving line on which it runs) to bring the bowl round to its object.”

1985 cam4

cam4: standard

957 assaies of bias] Edwards (ed. 1985): "indirect attempts. The ’bias’ in bowls is the weighing which makes the bowl take a curved course towards the jack."

1987 oxf4

oxf4: OED; analogues

957 windlesses] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "roundabout manœuvres – originally a windlass was ‘a circuit made to intercept the game in hunting’ (OED windlass sb.2). Compare The Mirror for Magistrates (1578) 29.316-7, ‘Which [the murder of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester] by sly drifts, and windlasses aloof, They brought about.’ "

oxf4 = Furness

957 assaies of bias] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "indirect tests. The metaphor derives ‘from the game of bowls, in which the player does not aim at the Jack . . . directly, but in a curve, so that the bias brings the ball round’ (Furness)."

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

957 windlesses] Bevington (ed. 1988): “i.e., circuitous paths. (Literally, circuits made to head off the game in hunting.)”

bev2: standard

957 assaies of bias] Bevington (ed. 1988): “attempts through indirection (like the curving path of the bowling ball which is biased or weighted to one side).”

1992 fol2

fol2: standard

957 windlesses . . . bias] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “indirect approaches, a windlass being an indirect course in hunting, the bias being the curve that brings the ball to the desired point in the game of bowls”

1998 OED 2nd edition on Internet

OED: Bacon; cln1 without attribution

957 bias] OED (bias, sb.): “Originally an adjective, as in Pr. via biayssa cross or oblique road; but early used as a sb. in French, so that the first quotable example in Eng. is of the subst. use. The latter became a technical term at the game of bowls, whence come all the later uses of the word. With pl. biases, cf. atlases, crocuses.]A. adj. (Sense 1 is original; 1 b and 2 appear to be derived from senses of the sb.) 1. a. Slanting, oblique.”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: macd; //

957 windlesses] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “Literally, a windlass is a winching mechanism; metaphorically, ’to windlass’ could mean to decoy or snare an animal by making a circuitous leeward approach. MacDonald asks ’Would it be absurd to suggest that, so-doing, the hunter "laces the wind"? Shakspere [sic] . . . speaks of "threading [[dark-eyed]] night" [Lr. 2.1.119 ].’ Golding uses ’windlass’ in a simile comparing a man’s movements with those of a fox (7.1015; he also uses it of Mercury at 2.891).”

ard3q2: standard

957 assaies of bias] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “indirect attempts; the metaphor is from lawn bowls, where the bias is a weight which causes the bowl to take a curved path towards its target.”