Notes for lines 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary
| 2836-7 King. {Attend,} where {is} <are> my Swissers, | let them guard the doore, | |
|---|
2837 What is the matter?
-1528 Machiavelli
Machiavelli
2836 where . . . Swissers] Machiavelli (1469-1527): The Prince, published after Machiavelli’s death and reprinted often, advises against using mercenaries, who will stay around as long as they are paid and fed, but just when they are needed will disappear. While the king had Danish guards such as Francisco, Marcellus and Bernardo, he does not call upon them but upon his Swizzers when Laertes threatens. Abandoned, it seems, by them, the king has to win Laertes over by guile because he cannot beat him by force.
1785 v1785
v1785: B&F analogue
2836 Swissers] [Reed] (ed. 1785): “I have observed in many of our old Plays, that the guards attendant on Kings are called Switzers, and that without any regard to the country where the scene lies. Thus in Beaumont and Fletcher’s Noble Gentleman 3.1: ‘—was it not Some place of gain, as clerk to the great band Of marrow-bones, that people call the Switzers? Men made of beef and sarcenet?’ Editor.”
See 1790 for identification of REED as Editor responsible for this note.
1790 mal
mal = v1785 minus B&F analogue +
2836 Swissers] Malone (ed. 1790): “The reason is, because the Swiss in the time of our poet, as at present, were hired to fight the battles of other nations. So, in Nashe’s Christ’s Teares over Jerusalem, 4to, 1594: ‘Law, logicke, and the Switzers, may be hired to fight for any body. Malone.”
Malone identifies v1785 EDITOR’s note as REED’s.
1793 v1793
v1793 = mal + B&F analogue
1822 Nares
Nares ≈ v1785 (B&F analogue)
2836 Swissers] Nares (1822, glossary, Switzers): “Hired guards, attendant upon kings. How soon the brave Swiss began to hire themselves out to such service is uncertain; but it is plain that it was common in Shakespeare’s time, since he gives such a guard to the King of Denmark: [Hamlet line cited]. ‘Some place of gain, as clerk to the great band Of marrow-bones that people call the Switzers.’ Fletch. Nob. Gent. iii.1. Why called ‘band of marrow bones,’ I know not. Is it false print? and for what?”
1826 sing1
sing1 ≈ v1785 minus B&F analogue
2836 Swissers] Singer (1826): “Switzers, for royal guards. The Swiss were then, as since, mercenary soldiers of any nation that could afford to pay them.”
1856 hud1 (1851-6)
hud1 = sing1 without attribution
1857 fieb
fieb ≈ mal (incl. Nashe analogue)
2836 Swissers] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “The guards attendant on Kings are called Switzers, and that without any regard to the country where the scene lies. The reason is, adds Malone, because the Swiss in the time of our poet, as at present, were hired to fight the battles of other nations. So, in Nashe’s Christ’s Teares over Jerusalem, 1594: ‘Law, logicke, and the Switzers may be hired to fight for any body.’”
1869 tsch
tsch: elze, glo
2836 Attend] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Ich nehme das Attend der Qs. mit Elze in den Text auf, weil ich überzeugt bin, die Königin, von dem Lärm erschreckt, eile nach der Thür, um sich von der Ursache selbst zu überzeugen. Der vorsichtige Claudius hält sie aber zurück und ruft nach seinen Schweizern. Ich lasse deshalb mit Globe-Edit. auch den Gentleman nach v. 97 eintreten.” [I take the Attend of the Qs. into the text in agreement with Elze because I am convinced that the queen, alarmed by the noise, hurries to the door to convince herself of the cause. The careful Claudius holds her back, however, and calls for his Swiss guards. Hence, with the Globe-Ed., I have the Gentleman enter after line 97.]
1870 rug1
rug1
2836 my Swissers] Moberly (ed. 1870): “Swiss guards such as served in France, Spain, and Naples—the men whose fidelity is commemorated by the Lucerne lion. The commissions in these regiments were the property of great families, such as the Redings of Schwytz.”
1872 cln1
cln1 ≈ mal (Nashe analogue) + magenta underlined
2836 Swissers] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “In Shakespeare’s time Switzers, or Swiss, were employed to guard the person of the King of France, as Scotchmen had formerly been. Probably the same usage extended to other continental courts. To this day the Pope’s body-guard consists of Swiss. Being foreigners, and therefore unconnected with any local faction, they could be better treated. Malone quotes from Nashe’s Christ’s Teares over Jerusalem, 1594: ‘Law, logicke, and the Switzers, may be hired to fight for anybody.’”
1873 rug2
rug2 = rug1 + magenta underlined
2836 my Swissers] Moberley (ed. 1873): “Swiss guards such as served in France, Spain, and Naples—the men whose fidelity to Louis XVI. on the terrible 10th of August is commemorated by the Lucerne lion. The commissions in these regiments were the property of great families, such as the Redings of Schwytz.”
1877 v1877
v1877 ≈ v1785, mal
2836 Swissers]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Reed: In many of our old plays the guards attendant on kings are called ‘Switzers,’ and that without any regard to the country where the scene lies.
Malone: ‘Law, logicke and the Switzers, may be hired to fight for any body.’ —Nash,
Christ’s Teares over Jerusalem, 1594.”
1877 neil
neil ≈ cln1 (including Nashe analogue) on Swissers
1878 rlf1
rlf1 ≈ rug, v1785, mal
2836 Swissers] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “’Swiss guards such as served in France, Spain, and Naples—the men whose fidelity to Louis XVI. on the terrible 10th of August is commemorated by the Lucerne lion’ (M.). Reed says: ‘In many of our old plays the guards attendant on kings are called Switzers, and that without any regard to the country where the scene lies.’ Malone quotes Nashe, Christ’s Teares over Jerusalem, 1594:’Law, logicke, and the Switzers, may be hired to fight for any body.’”
1882 elze2
elze2: Marston, Webster analogues
2836 Swissers] Elze (ed. 1882): “Compare Marston, The Malcontent, I, 7 (Works, ed. Hallimell, II, 225): hele be like to your Switzer, or lawyer: heele be of any side for most mony. Webster, The White Devil (Words, ed. Dyce, in I vol., p.12a): All thy loud cannons, and thy borrow’d Switzers.”
1883 wh2
wh2: standard
2836 Swissers] White (ed. 1883): “the Swiss for hundreds of years served as mercenary soldiers in various countries of Europe.”
1885 macd
macd
2836 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Note that the king is well guarded, and Hamlet had to lay his account with great risk in the act of killing him.”
1890 irv2
irv2 ≈ cln1
2836 Swissers] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “In Shakespeare’s time the Swiss formed the body-guard of the king of France, as they still do of the pope. The name Switzers came to be indiscriminately used for a king’s body-guard. Compare the current French usage of the word swisse. Malone quotes Nash, Christ’s Tears over Jerusalem, 1594: ‘Law, logicke and the Switzers, may be hired to fight for anybody.’”
1891 dtn
dtn: standard
2836 my Swissers] Deighton (ed. 1891): “Swiss mercenaries were frequently employed as personal guards of the king in continental countries and even now for the Pope’s body-guard.”
1899 ard1
ard1 ≈ mal (Nashe analogue only)
2836 Swissers] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Malone quotes Nash, Christ’s Tears over Jerusalem, 1594: ‘Law, logicke, and the Switzers may be hired to fight for any body.’”
1903 p&c
p&c ≈ ard1 minus attribution of Nashe analogue to mal
2836 Swissers] Porter & clarke (ed. 1903): “So a king’s guards were called: ‘Law logicke and the Switzers may be hired to fight for anybody’ (Nash, ‘Christ’s Teares over Jerusalem,’ 1594).”
1903 rlf3
rlf3 = rlf1 minus rug attribution, v1785
1904 ver
ver: Nashe, Brewer, Evelyn, Stanford Dict., Burke, Carlyle analogues
2836 Swissers] Verity (ed. 1904): “the royal guards; literally ‘Swiss mercenary soldiers.’
“In many of our old plays the guards attendant on kings are called lies. Editors quote: ‘Law, logicke and the Switzers, may be hired to fight for any body’ – Nashe, Christ’s Teares over Jerusalem, 1594. (F.)
“In fact, ‘the Swiss have ever been the mercenaries of Europe – willing to serve any one for pay’ – Brewer. Evelyn in his Diary (1646) describes the nation as ‘wholly mercenarie and auxilarie.’ The Stanford Dict. quotes Marvell: ‘Tulips, in several colours barr’d, Were then the Switzers of our Guard’ – Appleton House.
“Burke stigmatised the hireling court-politicians (‘King’s men’) as ‘the old mercenary Swiss of state’ (American Taxation, Payne’s ed. p. 133). The Popes have long had a ‘Swiss Guard’ of Louis XVI. on the terrible August 10, 1792, is immortalised in one of Carlyle’s grandest passages (French Revolution, Bk. VI. chap. VII.), and in Thorwaldsen’s sculpture (the ‘Lion’ at Lucerne).”
1906 nlsn
nlsn: standard
2836 Swissers] Neilson (ed. 1906, glossary): “Body-guard of Swiss.”
1931 crg1
crg1: standard
2836 Swissers] Craig (ed. 1931): “Swiss guards, mercenaries.”
1934 cam3
cam3: MSH
2836 Attend,] Wilson (ed. 1934): Attend!] “F1 and mod. edd. omit. MSH. p. 261.”
1937 pen1
pen1 ≈ crg1
2836-7 Swissers] Harrison (ed. 1937): “Swiss body-guard.”
1939 kit2
kit2 ≈ rlf
2836 my Swissers] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “Switzers] In Shakespeare’s time the furnished bodyguards to many foreign princes. The Pope has still such a guard in the Vatican. Probably the most famous Swiss bodyguard known to history was that butchered by the populace on the outbreak of the French Revolution while defending Louis XVI. In honour of their heroic death the Lion of Lucerne has been erected. In Fletcher, The Double Marriage, iv, 1, the Duke of Sesse, disguised as a Swiss, declares: ‘ ’Tis the profession Of all our nation to serve faithfully Where th’are best paid.’”
1942 n&h
n&h ≈ crg1
2836 Swissers] Neilson & Hill (ed. 1942): “Swiss Guards.”
1974 evns1
evns1 = n&h
2836 Swissers] Evans (ed. 1974): “Swiss guards.”
1957 pel1
pel1 ≈ n&h
2836 Swissers Farnham (ed. 1957): “hired Swiss guards.”
1980 pen2
pen2
2836 Attend] Spencer (ed. 1980): “(a call to his guards, imagined as just off stage).”
pen2 ≈ dtn + magenta underlined
2836 Swissers] Spencer (ed. 1980): “Swiss mercenary soldiers were employed in many European courts to form a royal bodyguard (they survive in the Vatican). Their mention here implies that Claudius is usually well guarded; so Hamlet’s task is not easy.”
1982 ard2
ard2: SB
2836 Attend] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “i.e. Listen! F substitutes an exclamation from the Queen. Most modern eds. illogically include both. (See SB, xiii, 36).”
ard2: xref.
2836 is] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “For the singular, see n. [3.3.14 (2287)].”
ard2 ≈ sing1 + magenta underlined
2836 Swissers] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “The Swiss were well known as mercenaries, esp. for royal guards. The bodyguard of the Danish kings were in fact not Swiss though sometimes thought to be so, probably because their red and yellow uniform resembled that of the Pope’s Swiss guard. See SQ, xvi, 157-8; Dollerup, pp. 193-4.”
1984 chal
chal ≈ ard2 minus Dollerup
2836-7 Swissers] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “employed as royal guards.”
1988 bev2
bev2
2836 Attend] Bevington (ed. 1988): “i.e., guard me.”
2000 Edelman
Edelman
2836 Swissers] Edelman (2000): “The most formidable and frequently called-upon mercenaries throughout the wars of the Renaissance; the sale of military aid was the chief export industry of the Swiss federation during this time. Edelman’s explanation of the Switzers loyalty only to money and their own self-interest (including being needed at home) might explain why the king wonders where his Switzers are. They performed the service of a personal bodyguard.
“Swiss guards were indeed employed in Shakespeare’s time; they served the King of France, and as they do today, the Pope, recognizable by their red, yellow, and blue uniforms. The Danish royal guard was in fact Danish, but Claudius is partly right in called them Switzers: in 1593 Moryson visited Denmark, and noticed that ‘the Kings Guard wore huge breeches puffed, and of divers colours, like the Switzers hose.’”
Transcribed by BWK, who adds: “See Moryson (1617), pt. 3, 170, 264.”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: Jenkins
2836 Attend!] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “not in F, which gives the Queen a line here: ’most modern editors illogically include both’ (Jenkins). More courtiers may enter in response to the King’s command.”
ard3q2: Malone, Nashe
2836 Switzers] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “Swiss guards, often used as mercenary soldiers by European royalty, a custom which survives today in ceremonial form at the Vatican State in Rome. Malone quotes Nashe, Christ’s Tears over Jerusalem, ’Law, Logicke, and the Switzers may be hir’d to fight for any body’ (2.99).”
2836 2837 