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.

1773 v1773

v1773

1740 pitch] Steevens (ed. 1773): Thus the folio. The quartos read, of great pitch.

1773 jen

jen

1740 pitch] Jennens (ed. 1773): “So the qu’s. All the rest read pith. Pitch seems to be Shakespeare’s word; he intends to give us the idea of a man pitching a javelin at a mark, but which, being turned out of its course, misses doing execution.”

1783 ritson

ritson

1740 pitch] Ritson (1783, p. 201): “The quartos, it seems, have pitch, which is certainly the better reading. The allusion is to the pitching or throwing the bar; —a manly exercise, usual in country villages.

1791- rann

rann

1740 pitch] Rann (ed. 1791-): “—consequence, spirit, hazard—pitch—aim, cast.”

1793 v1793

v1793 ≈ ritson

1740 pitch] Ritson (ed. 1793): “Pitch seems a better reading. The allusion is to the pitching, or throwing the bar; — a manly exercise, usual in country villages.

1815 becket

becket

1740 pitch and moment] Becket (1815, p. 46): “‘Enterprises of great pith and moment,’ is, enterprises of great matter and moment. Pith is unquestionably the true reading.” </p. 46>

1819 cald1

cald1

1740 pitch] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Vigor. "We have "pith" of life, IV. 1. King. The quartos read pitch; which Mr. Ritson thinks preferable, as an allusion to throwing the bar, a manly exercise, usual in country villages.”

1832- Anon.

1740 pitch] Anonymous [possibly Thomas Carlyle ](ms. notes, ed. 1832): “pith in the glos. prepared by Ritson & St. referring according to the latter to the pitch or summit of the falcon’s flight.”

1843 col1

col1

1740 Collier (ed. 1843): “The quartos, 1604, &c. read, ‘of great pitch and moment,’ which Ritson prererred. His opinion will probably not be generally adopted. The line is wanting in the quarto, 1603.”

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1

1740 pitch] Hudson (ed. 1856): “The quartos have pitch instead of pith. The folio misprints away for-awry, in the next line. In the third line before, the words, ’of us all,’ are from the folio. H."

1872 cln1

cln1

1740 pitch] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): "The quartos read ’pitch,’ the folios ’pith.’ The former word occurs in Twelfth Night, i. 1. 12: ’Of what validity and pitch so e’er.’ Ritson supposes ’pitch’ to allude to pitching or throwing the bar, Staunton to the summit of the falcon’s flight. So we have, Richard II, i. 1. 109: ’How high a pitch his resolution soars!’ ’Pitch’ seems more appropraitely joined to ’moment’ than ’pith.’ We have had ’pith and marrow’ already, i. 4. 22. Whether we read ’pitch’ or ’pith,’ there is an equally sudden change of metaphor in ’current.’ See line 59."

1874 corson

corson

1740 Corson (1874, pp. 24-5): <p. 24>“And enterprises of great pith and moment, F. . . . of great pitch and moment C. Independently of the authority for ’pith,’ namely, all the Folios and the players’ Quartos of 1676, 1683, 1695, 1703, ’pitch’ and ’moment’ haven’t the congruity that ’pith’ and ’moment’ have, more especially, too, if ’moment’ be understood as retaining some of its original force of ’momentum.’ The greater congruity of ’pith’ and ’moment’ than of ’pitch’ and ’moment’ will be seen by Shakespeare’s uses of these words in the following passages: ’that’s my pith of business ’Twixt you and your poor brother.’ Meas. For Meas. I. IV. 70; ’Perhaps you mark’d not what’s the pith of all.’ T. of the S., I. I. 161; ’grandsires, babies, and old women, Either past or not arrived to pith and puissance; Hen. V. III. I. Chorus, 21; ’The pith and marrow of our attribute.’ Ham. I. IV. 22; ’For since these arms of mine had seven </p. 24><p. 25> years’ pith,’ Othel. I. III. 83; ’pithy and effectual,’ T. of the S., I. I. 66; ’An oath is of no moment, being not took Before a true and lawful magistrate,’ III Hen. VI, I. II. 22; ’I have seen her die twenty times upon far poorer moment:’ A. and C., I. II. 137. And does not ’pith’ suit the idea of ’currents’ better, in the next line? The editors of the C. remark, Note XVI., "In this doubtful passage we have retained the reading of the Quartos, although the players’ Quartos of 1676, 1683, 1695, 1703, have, contrary to their custom, followed the Folios, which may possibly indicate that ’pith’ was the reading according to the stage tradition."

1885 macd

macd

1740 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “How could suicide be styled an enterprise of great pith? Yet less could it be called of great pitch.”

1899 ard1

ard1

1740 pitch] Dowden (ed. 1899): “height, as in King Richard III. III. vii. 188; used of a falcon’s soaring, 1 King Henry VI. II. iv. II. The Folio pith is preferred by many editors, and appears in late Quartos from 1676 onwards.”

1934a cam3

cam3

1740 Wilson (ed. 1934): CAM3=MSH+ “Cf. Rich. II, 1.1.109 [(159)] ‘How high a pitch his resolution soars.’”