Line 1408 - 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 1018-2022 ed. Eric Rasmussen
| 1408 < Rosin. I that they do my Lord, Hercules & his load too.> | 2.2.362 |
|---|
1747 warb
warb
1408 Hercules & his load too] Warburton (ed. 1747): “i.e. They not only carry away the world, but the world-bearer too: Alluding to the story of Hercules’s relieving Atlas. This is humorous.”
1773 v1773
v1773 = warb
1408 Hercules & his load too] WARBURTON (ed. 1773): “i.e. they not only carry away the world, but the world bearer too: alluding to the story of Hercules’s relieving Atlas. This is humorous.”
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773 + steevens
1408 Hercules & his load too] Steevens (ed. 1778): “The allusion may be to the Globe playhouse, on the Bankside, the sign of which was Hercules carrying the Globe.”
1784 Davies
Davies ≈ v1778
1408 Hercules & his load too] Davies (1784, p.48): “I understand, by this, that the children-actors did not only get the better of all the other established companies, but also of the comedians of the Globe, on the Bank-side, which was esteemed the most perfect of any. The figure of Hercules supporting a globe was fixed on the outside of the playhouse.”
1784 ays1
ays1=warb+v1778
1408 Hercules...too] Ayscough (ed. 1784): “i.e. They not only carry away the world, but the world-bearer too: alluding to the story of Hercules’s relieving Atlas; or the allusion may be to the Globe playhouse, on the Bankside, the sign of which was Hercules carrying the Globe.”
1790 mal
mal
1408 Hercules & his load too.] Malone (ed. 1790): “I suppose Shakspeare meant, that the boys drew greater audiences than the elder players of the Globe theatre.”
1791- Rann
rann ≈ ays1
1408 Hercules and his load too.] Rann (ed. 1791-): “—the world and it’s bearer also; alluding to Hercules relieving Atlas, or perhaps to the Globe theatre on the Bankside, the sign whereof Hercules carrying the Globe.”
1793 v1793
v1793=mal
1408 Hercules & his load too] MALONE (ed, 1793): “I suppose Shakspeare meant, that the boys drew greater audiences than the other players of the Globe theater.”
1826 sing1
sing1
1408 Hercules & his load too] Singer (ed. 1826): “i.e. carry all the world before them : there is perhaps an allusion to the Globe theatre, the sign of which is said to have been Hercules carrying the globe.”
1843 col1
col1
1408 Hercules & his load too] Collier (ed. 1843): “From Hamlet’s speech, ‘How comes it? Do they grow rusty?” down to ‘Hercules, and his load too, ‘ is not in the quarto, 1604, nor in any subsequent edition in that form. In the quarto, 1603, there are sufficient traces of this part of the scene to enable us to be certain that it was acted when the play was orivinally produced.”
1847 verp
verp : Steevens
1408 Hercules & his load too]
Verplanck (ed. 1847): “‘
Hercules and his globe too.’ — The allusion seems to be to the Globe playhouse; the sign of which was, says Steevens, Hercules carrying the Globe.”
1856 hud1 (1851-6)
hud1 = sing1 without attrubution
1408 Hercules & his load too] Hudson (ed. 1851-6): "That is, carry all the world before them: there is perhaps an allusion to the Globe theatre, the sign of which is said to have been Hercules carrying the globe.--This speech and what precedes, beginning at. ’Nay, their endeavour keeps.’ & c., are found only in the folio. H."
1859 stau
stau : Steevens
1408 Hercules & his load too] Staunton (ed. 1859): “The allusion is doubtless, as Steevens surmised, to the Globe Theatre on the Bankside, the sign of which ways, Hercules carrying the Globe; and the ‘aiery of children,’ against whom this satire was levelled, were, as he observes, ‘the young singing men of the Chapel Royal of St. Paul’s;’ of the former of whom, perhaps, the earliest mention occurs in an anonymous puritanical pamphlet, 1569, entitled, ‘The Children of the Chapel stript maiesties unfledged minions flaunt it in silkes and sattens; They had as well be at their popish service in the devil’s garments,’ &c. Again, ibid.: ’Even in her maiesties chapel do these pretty upstart youthes profane the Lordes day by the lascivious writhing of their tender limbes, and gorgeous decking of their apparell, in feigning bawdie fables gathering from the idolatrous heathen poets,’ &c. Concerning the performances and success of the latter in attracting the best company, I also find the following passage in ’Jack Drum’s Entertainment, or Pasquil and Katherine,’ 1601:--Quotation.”
1856 hud2
hud2 = hud1 minus Folio note
1408 Hercules & his load too] Hudson (ed. 1851-6): "That is, carry all the world before them: there is perhaps an allusion to the Globe theatre, the sign of which is said to have been Hercules carrying the globe.”
1877 clns
clns : standard
1408 Hercules & his load too] Neil (ed. 1877): “A good-humoured phrase of praise; for the sign of ‘the Globe on the Bankside, Southwark’ (Shakespeare’s theatre) was ‘Hercules carrying the world on his shoulder.’”
1885 macd
macd : Steevens
1408 Hercules & his load too] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “ ‘That they have, out and away.’ Steevens suggests that allusion is here made to the sign of the Globe Theatre—Hercules bearing the world for Atlas.”
1890 irv
irv : warb, standard
1408 Hercules & his load too] Symons (in Irving & Marshall ed. 1890): “Hamlet, in asking the question, uses the words carry it away in the sense, common then, of ‘carrying off the prize.’ Rosencrantz takes it literally, and perhaps alludes, as Steevens suggests, to the Globe playhouse, the sign of which was Hercules carrying of the globe. ‘This is humorous,’ says Warburton solemnly.”
1899 ard1
ard1: standard
1408 Hercules & his load too] Dowden (ed. 1899): “An allusion to the Globe Theatre, the sign of which was Hercules carrying the globe.”
1934a cam3
cam3
1408 Hercules & his load too] Wilson (ed. 1934): “This could not have been penned before late 1599 when the Globe Theatre, with its sign of Hercules carrying the globe, was first opened. The ‘too’ is noteworthy, implying that the tragedians of the city’ were not identical with Sh.’s company.”
1982 ard2
ard2
1408 Hercules and his load] Jenkins (ed. 1982): "Hercules was represented bearing s globe because he relieved Atlas of his burden while Atlas fetched the apples of the Hesperides. It is generally believed, on authority which goes back to Steevens2 (X. 256) and Malone (i (20. 54 ; Boswell, iii. 67) that ’Hercules carrying the Globe’ was depicted on the sign of the Globe theatre. Although corroboration is lacking, I find it hard to believe that Steevens only conjectured this in an attempt to explain the present passage (see RES, n.s. XIX, 51-3). If we may accept it, Shakespeare’s word-play not only represents the boys carrying the whole world with them but wittily allows them a complete triumph over his own fellow-actors at the Globe."