Line 2763 - 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 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary
| 2763 ‘Each toy seemes prologue to some great amisse, | 4.5.18 |
|---|
1778 v1778
v1778: Arraigment of Paris, Lyly, Greene analogues
2763 amisse] Steevens (ed. 1778): “Shakespeare is not singular in his use of this word as a substantive. So, in the Arraignment of Paris, 1584: ‘Gracious forbearers of this world’s amiss.’ Again, in Lylly’s Woman in the Moon, 1597: ‘Pale be my looks to witness my amiss.’ Again, in Greene’s Disputation between a He Coneycatcher, &c. 1592: ‘—revive in them the memory of my great amiss.’ Steevens.”
1790 mal
mal = v1785 +
2763 toy] Malone (ed. 1790): “See Vol. X. p. 315. Each toy is, each trifle.” Malone.”
mal = v1785 minus Greene analogue for amisse
1819 cald1
cald1
2763 toy] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Toy is trifle
cald1
2763 amisse] Caldecott (ed. 1819) “amiss, in common use at that time for offence or abuse, her imports ‘evil impending or catastrophe.’”
1826 sing1
sing1 ≈ cald1 without attribution
2763 toy] Singer (ed. 1826): “Each toy is each trifle.”
sing1: v1778; Nares
2763 amisse] Singer (ed. 1826): “Shakspeare is not singular in his use of amiss as a substantive. Several instances are adduced by Steevens, and more by Mr. Nares in his Glossary.”
1854 del2
del2
2763 toy] Delius (ed. 1854): “toy = Kleinigkeit, Grille. Jeder Tand erscheint als Ankündigung eines grossen Missgeschickes.” [toy is triviality, whim. Every trifle appears as the foreshadowing of a great misfortune.]
del2
2763 amisse] Delius (ed. 1854): “Amiss, als Substantiv, kommt auch bei Sh.’s Zeitgenossen vor.” [Amiss as noun appears also with Shakespeare’s contemporaries.]
1856 hud1 (1851-6)
hud1 = sing1 for toy
hud1 = sing1 for amisse
1857 fieb
fieb: xref.
2763 toy . . . amisse] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “The word toy, trifle, has already been explained, [1.3.6 (468)]. – We know the use of the word prologue (preface, introduction, i.e. foreboding, foretelling,) from Horatio’s speech, before the Ghost’s second appearance; see [1.1.123 (124+16)]—Amiss is used as a substantive, a fault, or misfortune.”
1868 c&mc
c&mc
2763 amisse]
Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868, rpt. 1878): “Shakespeare here, as did some of his contemporaries, uses this word as a substantive; but while they employed it in the sense of ‘misdeed,’ he employs it rather in that of ‘mishap.’”
1869 Romdahl
Romdahl: v1778 (Lyly analogue)+ magenta underlined
2763 amisse] Romdahl (1869, p. 37): “as a substantive (fault, misfortune), sometimes so used by Sh. and his contemporaries, is now obsolete. Compare below [5.2.402 (3903)] and Sonnet XXXV. ‘Pale my looks, to witness my amiss.’ Lyly. Woman in the Moon.”
1870 rug1
rug1
2763 great amisse] Moberly (ed. 1870): “So we have ‘the ups and downs of life,’ ‘the why and wherefore,’ ‘Das Marum, il mio pro, &c.’”
1872 hud2
hud2 = hud1 minus Nares for amisse
1872 cln1
cln1 ≈ v1778 (Lyly analogue)
2763 Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “Each trifle seems prelude to some great disaster. For ‘amiss’ as a substantive, see Sonnet xxxv. 7: ‘Myself corrupting, salving thy amiss.’ And Sonnet cli. 3. Steevens quotes from Lyly’s Woman in the Moon, 1597: ‘Pale be my looks, to witness my amiss.’”
1877 v1877
v1877 ≈ nares, v1778, Concordance
2763 amisse]
Furness (ed. 1877): “Misfortune, disaster. For instances of its use as a substantive, see Nares, Steevens, and
Concordance to Shakespeare’s Poems.”
1878 rlf1
rlf1: 1H6 //
2763 toy] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Trifle. Cf. 1H6 [4.1.145 (1896)]: ‘a toy, a thing of no regard,’ etc.”
rlf1: v1778 (for Arraignment, Lyly analogues) without attribution; cln1 (Son. //s) without attribution
2763 amisse] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Misfortune, disaster. Also used as a noun in Son. 35. 7 and 151. 3. Steevens quotes The Arraignment of Paris, 1584: ‘Gracious forbearers of this world’s amiss’; and Lyly, Woman in the Moon: ’to witness my amiss.’”
1881 hud3
hud3 = hud2 on amisse
1884 Gould
Gould
2763 Each toy] Gould (1884, p. 40): “‘Toy’ seems a misprint for ‘joy’.”
1885 mull
mull
2763 great amisse] Mull (ed. 1885): “dire event.”
1889 Barnett
Barnett
2763 Barnett (1889, p. 56): “Each trifle seems to forestall some great disaster.”
1890 irv2
irv2 ≈ cln1
2763 amisse] Symons (Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “misfortune.”
irv2 ≈ cln1 (incl. Son. //s)
2763 amisse] Symons (Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “The substantive amiss is used elsewhere by Shakespaeare only in two of the Sonnets, xxxv, 7: ‘Myself corrupting, salving thy amiss:’ and cli. 3: ‘Then, gentle cheater, urge not my amiss.’ In both these places amiss means rather wrong than misfortune, the meaning of the word in the text.”
1891 dtn
dtn = sing1 for toy
dtn: irv2 (Son. //s)
2763 amisse] Deighton (ed. 1891): “disaster; for the word used as a substantive, cp. Son. xxxv. 7, ‘Myself corrupting, salving thy amiss’; and cli. 3.”
1903 rlf3
rlf3 = rlf1 for toy
rlf3 = rlf1 minus Arraignment, Lyly anals. for amisse
1931 crg1
crg1 = dtn for toy
crg1
2763 great amisse] Craig (ed. 1931): “calamity, disaster.”
1934 cam3 Glossary
cam3: xrefs.
2763 toy] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “(sb.), idle fancy, impulse, freak, trifle; [1.3.6 (468)] (for ‘toy in blood’ v. blood); [1.4.74 (663+1)].”
1935 ev2
ev2
2763 Boas (ed. 1935): “Every trifle seems to be the prologue of some disaster.”
1939 kit2
kit2 = crg1 for toy
kit2 = irv2 for amisse
1947 cln2
cln2
2763 Rylands (ed. 1947): “i.e. every trifle seems to herald a disaster.”
1947 yal2
yal2
2763 great amisse] Cross & Brooke (ed. 1947): “calamity.”
1957 pel1
pel1 = kit2 for toy
pel1 = yal2 for amisse
1974 evns1
evns1 = pel1 for toy and amisse
1980 pen2
pen2
2763 toy] Spencer (ed. 1980): “trifling event. Apparently she does not yet take Ophelia’s madness as a serious thing.”
pen2
2763 amisse] Spencer (ed. 1980): “misfortune.”
1982 ard2
ard2 = evns; xref.
2763 toy] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “trifle. Cf. [1.3.6 (468)] and LN.”
1984 chal
chal ≈ evns1
2763 toy] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “trifling thing.”
chal ≈ ard2
2763 amisse] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “disaster.”
1988 bev2
bev2 = evns1 for toy and amisse
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2
2763 toy] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “trivial thing. The word may indicate that the Queen does not yet take Ophelia’s madness seriously, or that she sees it as merely a private matter, insignificant in a political context.”
ard3q2
2763 amiss] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “disaster.”
2763