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.

1790 mal

mal

1958 I did enact Iulius Cæsar] Malone (ed. 1790): “A Latin play on the subject of Cæsar’s death was performed at Christ-Church in Oxford, in 1582; and several years before a Latin play on the same subject, written by Jaques Grevin, was acted in the college of Beauvais, at Paris. I suspect that there was likewise an English play on the story of Cæsar before the time of Shakspeare. See Vol. VII. p. 307, n. I. and the Essay on the order of Shakspeare’s plays, Vol. I.”

1958 Capitall] Malone (ed. 1790, 10:685): “This, it is well known, was not the case; for Caesar, we are expressly told by Plutarch, was killed in Pompey’s portico. But our poet followed the received opinion, and probably the representation of his own time, in a play on the subject of Caesar’s death, previous to that which he wrote. The notion that Julius Caesar was killed in the capitol is as old as the time of Chaucer:‘The Julius to the capitolie wente Upon a day, as he was wont to gon, And in the capitolie anon him hente This false Brutus and his other soon, And sticked him with bodekins anon With many a wound,’ &c. The Monk’s Tale. Trywhitt’s edit. Vol. II. p. 31.”

1793 v1793

v1793 = mal

1826 sing1

sing1

1958 Singer (ed. 1826): “A Latin play os the subject of Ceaser’s death was perfomed at Christ Church, in Oxford, in 1582. Malone thinks that there was an English play on the same subjesct previous to Shakspeare’s. Ceaser was killed in Pompey’s portico, and not in the Captiol: but the error is at leaast as old as Chaucer’s time. This Julius to the Capotolie went Upon a day, that he was wont to gon, And in the Capitolie anon him hente This false Brutus and his other soon, And sticked him with bodkins anon With many a wound.’ &c. Chaucer’s Monkes Tale, v. 14621. I have cited this passage to show that Chaucer uses bodkin for dagger, like Shakespeare. See p. 240.”

1843 col1

col1

1958 Collier (ed. 1843): “A Latin play on Cæsar’s death, by Dr. Edes, was performed in Oxford, in 1582. See the introduction to ‘Julius Cæsar.’”

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1

1958 Hudson (ed. 1856): "A Latin play on Caesar’s death was performed as Christ Church, Oxford, in 1582. Malone thinks that there was an English play on the same subject previous to Shakespeare’s. Caesar was killed in Pompey’s portico, and not in the Capitol: but the error is at least as old as Chaucer’s time."

1856b sing2

sing2 = sing1

1899 ard1

ard1

1958 Capitall] Dowden (ed. 1899): “The error as to the place of Caesar’s death appears in Chaucer, Monkes Tale, and in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. So Fletcher, The Noble Gentlemen, V. i.”

1934 cam3

cam3

1958 Wilson (ed. 1934): “The error (repeated in Jul. Caes.) as to the place of Caesar’s death is as old as Chaucer; v. Monks Tale, l. 713.”