Line 2863 - 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
| 2863 Euen heere betweene the chast vnsmirched browe | 4.5.120 |
|---|
1755 Johnson Dict.
Johnson Dict.
2863 vnsmirched ] Johnson (1755): “Unpolluted; not stained.”
1733- mtby3
mtby3
2863 chast vnsmirched] Thirlby (1733-): “why added.”
Thirlby questions addition by Pope and Theobald (ed. 1733) of the conjunction “and” after “chaste.”
1773 v1773
v1773
2863 vnsmirched] Steevens (ed. 1773): “i.e. clean, not defiled. To besmirch, our author uses 1. 5. Steevens.”
1774 capn
capn
2863 vnsmirched] Capell (1774, 1:1: glossary, smitch): “to smear or bedawb, to make filthy”
capn
2863 vnsmirched] Capell (1774, 1:1: glossary, unsmirched): “unsmeared, unsoiled.”
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773 +
2863 vnsmirched browe] Steevens (ed. 1778): “This seems to be an allusion to a proverb often introduced in the old comedies. Thus, in the London Prodigal, 1605: ‘—as true as the skin between any man’s brows.’ Steevens.”
1791- rann
rann
2863 vnsmirched] Rann (ed. 1791-): “unsullied.”
1793 v1793
v1793 = v1785 +
2863 vnsmirched] Steevens (ed. 1793): “The same phrase is also found in Ado [3.3.136 (1461)]. Steevens.”
1819 cald1
cald1: xref.
2863 vnsmirched] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Unsmirched is unstained. See [1.3.15 (478)]. Laert.”
1822 Nares
Nares: AYL, H5, //s; xref.
2863 vnsmirched] Nares (1822, glossary, smirch): “To darken, or make obscure. Johnson says murky. I doubt. It may be only a corruption of Smutch. ‘And with a kind of umber smirch my face.’ AYL [1.3.112 (576)]. ‘Array’d in flames, like to the prince of fiends, Do with his smircht complexion all fell feats.’ H5 [3.3.16-17 (1275-76)] Hitherto it has only been found in Shakespeare, who has also besmircht, and unsmirch’d, H5 [4.3.110 (2357)] and Ham. [4.5.120 (2863)].”
1826 sing1
sing1≈ v1773 without attribution
2863 vnsmirched] Singer (ed. 1826): “Unsmirched is unsullied, spotless. See [1.3.15 (478)], p. 180, note 4.”
1843 col1
col1
2863 vnsmirched] Collier (ed. 1843): “To smirch is to make dirty or defile; and it is found used in Vol. ii. pp. 235, 246 [0000], and Vol. iii. p. 26 [0000].”
1856 hud1 (1851-6)
hud1 = sing1 minus xref.
1856b sing2
sing2 = sing1
Reference is adjusted: Act I. Sc. 3, p.164, note 4.
1858 col3
col3: xref.
2863 vnsmirched] Collier (ed. 1858): “This seems the only place where Shakespeare uses ‘unsmirched’ meaning unsullied. In H5 [3.3.17 (1276)], Vol. iii. p. 581,we have the ‘smirched complexion’ of war, and in the same play, p. 612, we meet with ‘besmirched’ for dirtied. ‘Smirched’ is in frequent use.”
1861 wh1
wh1
2863 browe] White (ed. 1861): “Ancient and modern copies, hitherto, have ‘unsmirched brow;’ but ‘between’ showes that the s is manifestly needed.”
1866 ktlyn
ktlyn: standard
2863 vnsmirched] Keightley (ed. 1866, glossary): “smirched] soiled, obscured.”
1877 v1877
v1877 ≈ wh1
2863 brow]
Furness (ed. 1877): “brows]
White: ‘Between’ shows that the
s is manifestly needed.”
v1877 ≈ del2
2864 true]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Delius: That is, faithful.”
1877 col4
col4 ≈ col1 minus xrefs.; Nares (AYL // only)
2863 vnsmirched] Collier (ed. 1877): “To smirch is to make dirty or defile. It occurs in this sense in AYL [1.3.112 (576)], p. 23.”
1878 rlf1
rlf1: Nares (xref.; one H5 //)
2863 vnsmirched] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Unstained, unsullied. Cf. besmirch, [1.3.15 (478)] above; and smirched in H5 [3.3.17 (1276)], etc.”
1899 ard1
ard1: wh1, cam1, v1877
2863 browe]
Dowden (ed. 1899): “brows] Grant White (followed by Cambridge and
Furness), as required by
between.”
1929 trav
trav: xref.
2863 Euen heere]
Travers (ed. 1929): “pointing to his own forehead; cp. n. [4.5.146-8 (2895-7)].”
trav
2863 browe]
Travers (ed. 1929): “strictly the prominences above the eyes.”
1934 rid
rid
2863 here] Ridley (ed. 1934): “at this moment.”
1934 Wilson
Wilson
2863 browe] Wilson (1934, rpt. 1963, 2:300): “it is evident that Shakespeare intended to write the plural instead of the singular.”
1934 cam3
cam3: WH1; MSH
2863 browe] Wilson (ed. 1934): brows] “(Grant White) Q2, F1 ‘browe.’ MSH. pp. 299-300.”
1980 pen2
pen2
2863 the chast . . . browe] Spencer (ed. 1980): “See the note to [3.4.43-4 (2425-6)].”
1982 ard2
ard2
2863 Euen here] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “i.e. in this of all places.”
ard2: Ado. //; Roaring Girl analogue
2863 between the . . . brow] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Comparison with Ado [3.5.12 (1607)], ‘between the brows’, suggests that a final s may have been lost, and some eds. accordingly emend. But ambiguity as to semantics of the word, ‘between the brows’ and ‘upon the brow’ being synonymous. Hence a grammatical mix-up is neither unnatural nor necessarily unShakespearean. Cf. Roaring Girl, 1.1.76-8, ‘storms . . . upon my . . . father’s brow . . . fell from them’.”
1984 chal
chal
2863 browe] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “harlots were branded on the forehead.”
1988 bev2
bev2
2863 betweene] Bevington (ed. 1988): “in the middle of.”
1998 OED
OED
2863 vnsmirched] OED (Sept. 21, 1998): “unsmirched, ppl. a. (UN-1 8.). 1602 SHAKS. Ham. IV. v. 119 The chaste vnsmirched brow Of my true Mother. 1784 COWPER Task III. 73 Matrons..of character unsmirch’d, And chaste themselves. 1813 Examiner 1 Feb. 73/2 He courts the applause of unsmirched artificers. 1884 Fortn. Rev. Mar. 321 [His] innocence is unsmirched by any electioneering experience.
“smirch (smt), v. Also 5-6 smorch, 7 smerch, smyrch. [app. ad. OF. esmorcher to torment, torture (as by the application of hot metal), with slight transference of sense.]1. trans. Of things: To make dirty, soil, sully, or discolour (something) by contact or touch.
“1495 Trevisa’s Barth. De P.R. XVI. lxxx. 579 Leed hathe a manere nesshnes, and smorcheth his honde that towchyth it. 1572 BOSSEWELL Armorie II. 77 The stalke therof broken, smorcheth them that touche it all with yealow. 1615 G. SANDYS Trav. 268 Chaos and ragg’d stone Smircht with blacke Pumice, there reioyce, ore-growne with mournfull Cypresse. 1791 COWPER Odyss. XIX. 12 [Weapons] smirch’d and sullied by the breath of fire. 1791 –– Iliad XXIII. 338 A cauldron of four measures, never smirch’d By smoke or flame. 1805-6 CARY Dante, Inf. xv. 26 His parch’d looks..smirch’d with fire. 1834 TAYLOR Philip van Artevelde I. v, Twinkles the re-illuminated star, And all is out of sight that smirched the ray. 1844 HOOD Workho. Clock 28 Dingy with smoke..And smirch’d besides with vicious soil. 1894 SALA London up to date I. vii, The rain beats down on the smoke, and the smoke on the fog; and all three..smirch your face and hands.”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2
2863 between] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “in the middle of.”
ard3q2: OED
2863 unsmirched] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “unsmirchèd; unstained (OED’s first use: see also besmirch at 1.3.15).”
2863