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Line 3112, etc. - 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. 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.

Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand

For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.

3112+9 {And then this should is like a spend thirfts sigh,}	4.7.122

1726 theon

theon

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Theobald (1726, p. 118): <p. 118>“I look upon this to be a slight Error of the Press and Revisal: For how does a Spendsthrift’s Sigh hurt more than any other Body’s? All the Editions that I have seen, which insert this Passage, concur in reading it, as undoubtedly it ought to be; ‘And then this should is like a spend-thrift Sigh, That hurts by easing.’” </p. 118>

1729/30 theol

theol

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Theobald (21 March 1729/30, [fol. 63r] [Nichols 2: 577]): <fol. 63r> “This is the Editor’s [POPE’s] own blunder: all the best copies read, ‘—Like a spendthrift sigh.’ i.e. a sigh without occasion, an unnecessary one, and prodigally spent.” </fol. 63r>

[HLA: is THEO referring to Q5, which inaugurates the spendthrift sigh reading that he prefers? He doesn’t seem to have Q2-4.]

1747 warb

warb

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Warburton (ed. 1747): “spendthrift’s sign]]“i.e. tho’ a spendthrift’s entering into bonds or mortgages gives him a present relief from his straits, yet it ends in much greater distresses. The application is, if you neglect a fair opportunity now, when it may be done with ease and safety, time may throw so many difficulties in your way, that, in order to surmount them, you must put your whole fortune into hazard.”

1755 John

John

3112+9 spend thirfts] Johnson (1755, Spendthrift): “n.s. [spend and thrift.] A prodigal; a lavisher. ‘Bitter cold weather starved both the bird and the spendthrift .’L’Estrange. ‘Some fawning usurer does feed With present sums th’ unwary spendthrift’s need.’ Dryden. ‘Most men, like pendthift [sic] heirs, judge a little in hand better than a great deal to come.’ Locke. ‘The son, bred in sloth, becomes a spendthrift, a profligate, and goes out of the world a beggar.’ Swift.”

1765 Heath

Heath=theon

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] heath (1765, p. 546): <p. 546> “spendthrift’s sign]] This reading is a conjecture of Mr. Warburton’s . The common reading, which is supported by the authority of all the editions Mr. Theobald had seen when he published his Shakespear restored, (see p. 118) is, ‘And then this should is like a spendthrift sigh That hurts by easing .’

“It contains an allusion to a very idle opinion, which still prevails pretty generally among the common people, that every sigh draws drops of blood from the heart, and tends to shorten life. In this view, we readily understand how the sigh is called a spend-thrift , and how, at the same time that it eases the present oppression of the heart, it is hurtful at the long run. ‘Tis the same case with the reflection which frequently comes across us, that we should or ought to have done such or such a thing, which once was, but now longer is, in our power. At the same time that we are eased by the excuse arising from our present inability, we are hurt by the regret of having slipped the opportunity while it was in our hands. It is true the similitude between the illustration and the hurt always accompany one the other; but differ in this, that in the illustration, the same circumstance which gives the ease hurts, which is not so in the thing illustrated. In this respect, I own Mr. Warburton’s emendation hath greatly the advantage. The reader will determine on the whole, which ought to have the preference according to the laws of just criticism.”</p. 546>

1765 john1

john1=warb+

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Johnson (ed. 1765) admirably dismisses the reading: “This conjecture [Warburton’s sign] is so ingenious, that it can hardly be opposed, but with the same reluctance as the bow is drawn against a hero, whose virtues the archer holds in veneration. Here may be applied what Voltaire writes to the Empress: Le genereux François--/Te combat & t’ admire.” Yet this emendation, however specious, is mistaken. The original reading is, not a spend-thrift’s sigh, but a spendthrift sigh; a sigh that makes an unnecesary waste of the vital flame. It is a notion very prevalent, that sighs impair the strength, and wear out the animal powers.”

1773 v1773

v1773=john1

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1773 jen

jen=warb

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1774-79? capn

1779-83 capn

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Capell (1779-83 [1774] 1:1: 145) paraphrases: “A ‘sigh ‘ is the natural relief of a heart that is oppress’d any way; but that a ‘spend-thrift’ expends, hurts in the very time that it eases him, by recalling his mis-spent fortunes: In the same manner, the pourer-forth of this ‘ should’ finds a pleasure of short duration, by figuring to himself the situation he might have been in had he seiz’d opportunities; but a much greater compunction, for that he has not seiz’d them.”

-1778 mmal1

mmal1

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Malone (ms. notes, -1778, 55v-55r):< 55v>“The idea is enlarged uponin Fenton’s Tragical < /55v>< 55r>“ Discourses, 1579: ‘Why staye you not in tyme the source of your scorching sighes, that have already drayned your body of his wholesome humoures, appoynted by nature to gyve sucke to the entrals and inward partes of you?” < /55r> This folio’s note appears in v1778, minus an asterisk’s allusion to HVI, ‘Blood-consuming sighs”

1778 v1778

v1778=v1773+mmal1(blue underlined)

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Malone (apud ed. 1778) : “The idea is enlarged upon in Fenton’s Tragical Discourses, 1579: ‘Why staye you not in tyme the source of your scorching sighes, that have already drayned your body of his wholesome humoures, appoynted by nature to gyve sucke to the entrals and inward partes of you? MALONE”

1784 ays1

ays1 ≈ v1773 (JOHN1 only, from “a sigh . . . animal power.”) w/o attribution

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1785 v1785

v1785=v1778 ; mMAL1 + underlined (following john1)

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Steevens (ed. 1785) : “Hence Shakspere, in H6 [a.s.? (0000)], calls them ‘—blood-consuming sighs.’”

1787 ann

ann = v1785 ; mMAL1?

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

[HLA:ANN contains the parallel to H6, which v1778 did not have carry over from mMAL1. Does v1785 have it?]

1790 mal

mal=v1785 (minus Warburton; Johnson minus “This conjecture . . . but a spendthrift sigh”; Malone modified by mMAL1 ) + magenta underlined

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Johnson (apud Malone, ed. 1790):“A spendthrift sigh is a sigh that makes an unnecesary waste of the vital flame. It is a notion very prevalent, that sighs impair the strength, and wear out the animal powers. JOHNSON”

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Malone (ed. 1790): “Hence they are call’d, in HVI.’--- blood-consuming sighs .’

“Again, in Per , 1609: ‘Do not consume your blood with sorrowing ,’

The idea is enlarged upon in Fenton’s Tragical Discourses , 1579: “Why staye you not in tyme the source of your scorching sighes , that have already drayned your body of his wholesome humoures, appoynted by nature to gyve sucke to the entrals and inward parts of you?”

The original quarto, as well as the folio, reads-— a spendthrift’s sigh; but I have no doubt that it was a corruption, arising from the first letter of the following word sigh , being an s. I have therefore, with the other modern editors, printed— spendthrift sigh, following a late quarto, (which however is of no authority,) printed in 1611. That a sigh, if it consumes the blood, hurts us by easing , or is prejudicial to us on the whole, though it affords a temporary relief, is sufficiently clear: but the former part of the line, and then this should , may require a little explanation. I suppose the king means to say, that if we do not promptly execute what we are convinced we should or ought to do, we shall afterwards in vain repent our not having seized the fortunate moment for action: and this opportunity which we have let go by us, and the reflection that we should have done that, which, from supervening accidents, it is no longer in our power to do, is as prejudicial and painful to us as a blood-consuming sigh, that at once hurts and eases us.

I apprehend the poet meant to compare such a conduct, and the consequent reflection, only to the pernicious quality which he supposed to be annexed to sighing, and not to the temporary ease which it affords. His similes, as I have frequently had occasion to observe, seldom run on four feet. MALONE”

-1790 mWesley

mWesley

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Wesley (typescript of ms. notes in ed. 1785): “What could have so suddenly inspired this new and unusual veneration of the Dr. for Warburton? Perhaps he was minded to cure an hundred wounds by one plaister; or that, having so often called his brother ‘fool’ he began to remember ‘Hell-fire’ ‘Spendthrift’ is certainly right.

“This is true. We always suffer for neglect of duty.”

1791- rann

rann≈mal (only the definition & HVI paralle & paraphrasel)

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Rann (ed. 1791-):“——a sigh that wastes the vital flame, and exhausts our strength, at the same time that it affords a temporary relief. ‘-— blood-consuming sighs.’ 2H6 (3.2.61[1812]). Q Mar. “

3112+9 And . . . easing]Rann (ed. 1791-):“Just so, though this should , the thoughts of what we might have achieved, had we seized the golden hour of opportunity, may administer a momentary complacency; yet it is sure to be succeeded by the most poignant regret, when we reflect on the folly of the omission.”

3112+10 to the quick o’ the ulcer ] Rann (ed. 1791-): “to come to the main point.”

1793 v1793

v1793≈mal +

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Steevens (ed. 1793): “So, in the Gouernall of Helthe &c. printed by Wynkyn de Worde: ‘And for why whan a man casteth out that noble humour to moche, he is hugely dyscolored, and his body moche febled, more than he lete four sythes , soo moche blode oute of his body. STEEVENS”

[HLA: Steevens inserts this note between Johnson’s 1765 note and Malone’s 1790 note.

ed., p. 290; v1803, p. 311; v1813, p. 311; v1821, pp. 454-5; SING1, p. 311) captures the MALONE 1790 commentary almost verbatim, but modifies by inserting his own note between JOHNSON and MALONE’s note: “So, in the Gouernall of Helthe &c. printed by Wynkyn de Worde: ‘And for why whan a man casteth out that noble humour to moche, he is hugely dyscolored, and his body moche febled, more than he lete four sythes , soo moche blode oute of his body.” STEEVENS]

1803 v1803

v1803=v1793

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1813 v1813

v1813=v1803

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1819 cald1

cald1≈v1813 + magenta underlined parallels

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Caldecott (ed. 1819) gives a note on “spendthrift sigh”: “That is, the anxiety and anguish of mind it relieves, is counterbalanced by the waste and exhaustion that it causes of the vital spirits, and draining of the sources of life. Dr. Johnson says, it is a notion very prevalent, that sighs impair the strength, and wear out the animal powers; and this idea is much insisted upon by our author. In MND. (3.2.97 [1120]) we have; ‘Sighs of love, that cost the fresh blood dear.” Herm [Ed: Oberon]. “blood drinking hate,” 1H6 (2.4.108 [1139]). Plantag. II. 4 ‘blood consuming sighs ,’2H6 (3.2.61[1760]) Q. Mrg. ;. “blood sucking sighs ,”31H6 (4.4.22 [2327]]. Q. Eliz. V. 4. ‘dry sorrow drinks out blood,’ Rom. (3.5.59 [2092]) Romeo.

Care preying upon the mind, or the ‘self harming, or life harming heaviness,’ in R2 (2.2.3 [955] Bush. is a classical idea. We have “Luctus edax” in Sil. Ital. and in Homer. oios alato On qymon katedvn H Z 201.[Ed: Need to translate]

“The modern editors produce many instances in our early writers. Mr. Steevens quotes the governall of Helthe, &c. printed by Wynkyn de Worde: “And for why whan a man casteth out that noble humour too moche, he is hugely dyscolored, and his body moche febled, more than he lete four sythes , soo moche blode oute of his body.”

1821 v1821

v1821=v1813+

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Blakeway (apud, Boswell, ed. 1821) adds a new note to 1813: “ I cannot but prefer the reading of the original quarto, supported by the first folio. Sorrow for neglected opportunities and time abused seems to be most aptly compared to the sigh of a spendthrift , which will not avail to recover his money squandered in vice or folly. With regard to the latter member of the comparison,—I might excuse myself from the task of reconciling it with this explanation by the just remark of Mr. Malone that our author’s similes ‘seldom run on four feet.’ But, in fact, the words seem to comprise a most important and solemn precept; no less than that good resolutions not carried into effect are deeply injurious to the moral character. Like sighs, ‘they hurt by easing:’ they/ unburden the mind, and satisfy the conscience, without producing any effect upon the conduct. BLAKEWAY”

1826 sing1

sing1≈v1821(minus the struck out portion of Blakeway)+magenta underlined

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Singer (ed. 1826): “Johnson says it is a prevalant notion ‘that sighs impair the strength, and wear out the animal powers.’ Steevens makes a ludicrous mistake in the quotation from the ‘Governal of Helth,’ wherein he takes sythes (times) to signify sighs . Shakspeare in King Henry VI. has ‘blood-consuming sighs .’ And in Fenton’s Tragical Discourses: --’Your scorching sighes that have already drained your body of his wholesome humoures.’ The reading of the old copies, which I have restored, had been altered in the modern editions to ‘a spendthrift sigh ,’ without reason. Mr. Blakeway justly observes, “Sorrow for neglected opportunities and time abused seems to be most aptly compared to the sigh of a spendthrift , which will not avail to recover his money squandered in vice or folly. With regard to the latter member of the comparison,---I might excuse myself from the task of reconciling it with this explanation by the just remark of Mr. Malone that our author’s similes ‘seldom run on four feet.’ But, in fact, the words seem to comprise a most important and solemn precept; no less than that good resolutions not carried into effect are deeply injurious to the moral character. Like sighs, ‘they hurt by easing:’ they/ unburden the mind, and satisfy the conscience, without producing any effect upon the conduct.”

1832 cald2

cald2=cald1+magenta underlined

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Caldecott (ed. 1832) after the 1819 Greek citation from Homer, he adds: “Dr. Sherwen observed, that to have conceived, previous to the discovey of the circulation of the blood, that sighing sucked the blood , was an idea natural enough: for after, or rather during, a deep sigh, the blood flows more freely through the pulmonary artery and its ramifications in the different lobes of the lungs: and it might have appeared to the old physiologists, to be thus drawn away from the heart and the general mass into thelungs. How it got back again into the heart, they did not know.

“Steevens cites here the governall of Helthe; Wynkyn de Worde: ‘And for why whan a man casteth out that noble humour too moche, he is hugely dyscolored, and his body moche febled, more than he lete four sythes , soo moche blode oute of his body:’ giving to sithes , which signifies times , the sense of sighs : and Dr. Sherwen also observes, that the editor of Specimens of the British Poets has more than misconstrued the passage; he has substituted sighs for sithes .

“Steevens has not told what the humour was, of which his author speaks: and we hesitate not to add, that we have little/doubt, had we access to that author, that we should find he had without the least warrant placed a comma after sithes . ‘syth. times.’ Jamieson . ‘Sithan , post, deinde.’ Benson’s A.S. Vocab . i.e. sithence , by contraction since . It occurs in Chaucer and Spenser: ‘thanked you a hundred thousand sithe .’ Man of Lawe’s Tale . Tyrwh. v. 5153. and Ib . v. 5575. ‘thankd him a thousand sithe .’ F.Q. III.X. 33. ‘His land mortgag’d he: sea beat in his way Wishes for home a thousand sithes a day.’ Hall’s Satires “

1843 col1

col1

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Collier (ed. 1843): “spendthrift’s sigh]] So the quartos, 1604 [Q2: a misread of spend thirfts sigh], 1611[Q3], and the undated quarto [Q4], though Malone states that the quarto, 1611[Q3], has ‘spendthrift sigh:’ perhaps he meant the quarto, 1637[Q5], where it is so printed; but how carelessly he sometimes wrote upon these points may be judged from the fact, that he asserts that the folio, 1623, has ‘spendthrift’s sigh,’ when no word of the whole passage is there to be found, nor in any other folio. The meaning seems sufficiently obvious.”

1854 del2

del2≈sing1(paraphrase and 2H6 parallel)

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Delius (ed. 1854): “ spendthrift sigh ist besser als spendthrift’s sigh, wie die meisten Qs. lesen. Ein verschwenderischer, d.h. ohne Veranlassung ausgestossener, Seufzer schadet, indem er eine scheinbare Erleichterung gew‰hrt. Dass Seufzer die Lebenskraft verk¸mmern, ist eine meinung, die Sh. auch sonst ausspricht; so heisst es in 2H6 (3.2.61[1760]), blood-consuming sighs.” [“Spendthrift sigh is better than spendthrift’s sigh, as most quartos read. A profligate, that is one who expels without cause, damages sighs, in which he expects apparent relief. These sighs diminish life’s art, which is a meaning that Sh. often expresses, so it is called in 2. K. Henry VI. A.3, Sc. 2. blood-consuming sighs .”]

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1≈sing1 without attribution

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Hudson (ed. 1856): “Sorrow for neglected opportunities and time abused seems to be most aptly compared to the sigh of a spendthrift , which will not avail to recover his money squandered in vice or folly. With regard to the latter member of the comparison,---I might excuse myself from the task of reconciling it with this explanation by the just remark of Mr. Malone that our author’s similes ‘seldom run on four feet.’ But, in fact, the words seem to comprise a most important and solemn precept; no less than that good resolutions not carried into effect are deeply injurious to the moral character. Like sighs, ‘they hurt by easing:’ they/ unburden the mind, and satisfy the conscience, without producing any effect upon the conduct.”

1856b sing2

sing2=sing1(minus “Steevens . . . to signify sighs”)

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1857 dyce1

dyce1≈standard (referring to Knight and Collier)

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]Dyce (ed. 1857): “This passage (from ‘There lives within the very flame’ to ‘the quick o’ the ulcer’ inclusive) is only in the quartos, 1604, &c.;—all which, except that of 1637 (Q5]. have ‘a spend-thrifts sigh,’ —quite wrongly, I conceive, though Mr. Collier and Mr. Knight think otherwise.”

[HLA:Dyce seems wrong here in criticizing Knight and Collier; this passage is not in the Ff.]

1857 elze1

elze1 : warb : john1 ; Schlegel (? Source)

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Elze (ed. 1857): "spendthrift sigh]] so QG, während QB, QD und QF lesen: a spendthrift’s sigh. Warburton erklärt das wieder für Unsinn and schreibt: a spendthfift’s sign. ’A spendthrift sigh, sagt Johnson, is a sigh that makes an unnecessary waste of the vital flame. It is a notion very prevalent, that sighs impair the strength, and wear out the animal powers.’ Schlegel: Dann ist dies Soll ein prasserischer Seufzer, der lindernd schadet. K. Henry VI, 2 P., III, 2: blood-drinking sighs; 3 P., IV.4: And stop the rising of blood-sucking sighs." ["spendthrift sigh]] So Q5, while Q2, Q4, and Q3 read ’a spendthrift’s sigh.’ Warburton again accounts for the nonsense and writes: ’ a spendthfift’s sign.’ A spendthrift sigh,’ says Johnson, is a sigh that makes an unnecessary waste of the vital flame. It is a notion very prevalent, that sighs impair the strength, and wear out the animal powers.’ Schlegel: ’Then is the debt a squeezing/pressing sigh which soothes pain.’ [2H6 3.2 ; 3H6 4.4 . . .]]."

1858 col3

col3≈col1 (minus “but how carelessly . . . obvious)

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1861 wh1

whi=standard

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] 3112+9] White (ed. 1861): “The 4to. of 1604 has, a spend thrifts sigh,’ where the s is plainly a careless addition. For in what way could a spendthrift’s sigh hurt, more than a miser’s, by easing? But as, according to the old saying, every sigh takes away a pound of flesh, any sigh hurts by easing, and so is spendthrift.”

1864-68 c&mc

c&mc ≈ standard

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): “‘A prodigal sigh that injures the constitution while it seems to relieve the heart.’ That it was the belief, at the time Shakespeare wrote, that sighs were injurious to the blood and affected the health, we have more than one passage to prove. See Note 42, Act iii, [MND]; Note 60, Act iii, [2H6]; and Note 28, Act iv. [3H6].”

1865 hal

hal = mal

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1867 Ktly

Ktly : standard

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Keightley (1867, p. 296) : <p. 296> “All the original 4tos read ‘spendthrifts’ (the passage is not in the folio); but this reading must be wrong, for the allusion is evidently to the popular belief, not yet extinct, that every sign consumes a drop of the blood, and so is injurious to life; ‘spendthrift’ is therefore to be taken in the sense of wasting. ‘With sighs of love that cost the fresh blood dear’ [MND 3.2.? (0000)], ‘Look pale as primrose, with blood-drinking sighs’ [2H6 3.2.? (0000)], ‘Anmd stop the rising of blood-sucking sighs’ [3H6 4.4.? (0000)].” </p. 296>

1869 stratmann

stratmann : sing1 ; dyce1

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Stratmann (ed. 1869): “Singer prints ‘a spendthrift’s sigh’, and observes, ‘The reading of the old copies, which I have restored, had been altered in the modern editions to ‘a spendthrift sigh’, without reason.’ Dyce adopts ‘a spendthrift sigh’, with the observation, ‘This passage is only in the quartos, all which, except that of 1637, have ‘a spend-thrift sigh’,—quite rongly [sic], I conceive, though Capell, Collier and Knight think otherwise.’”

1872 del4

del4 = del2

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh

1872 cln1

cln1

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “spendthrift sigh]] This, which in all probability is the genuine reading, is an emendation found for the first time in the sixth quarto [Q5], the earlier ones reading with variable spelling ‘spendthrifts sigh.’ The meaning is that the mere recognition of a duty without the will to perform it, while it satisfies for a moment, enfeebles the moral nature. We have the same notion of sighs wasting the vital powers in [2H4 3.2.63 (0000)]: ‘blood-drinking sighs.’ See also[MND 3.2.97 (0000)]: ‘Pale of cheer With sighs of love that costs the fresh blood dear.’”

1872 hud2

hud2 : cln? ; ktly?

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Hudson (ed. 1872): “It was anciently believed that sighing consumed the blood. The Poet has several allusions to this; as in [MND 3.2.? (0000)]: ‘Sighs of love that cost the fresh blood dear.’ There is also a fine moral meaning in the figure. Jeremy Taylor speaks of certain people who take to a sentimental penitence, as ‘cozening themselves with their own tears,’ as if these would absolve them from ‘doing works meet for repetence.’ Such tears may fitly said to ‘hurt by easing,’ because they set the mind at rest, and yet are but tokens of a repentance that needs itself to be repented of.”

1877 v1877

v1877 : ≈ warb (t; Furness begins This nonsense should be read ; ≈ HEATH (only It contains an allusion to a very idle opinion, which still prevails pretty generally among the common people, that every sigh draws drops of blood from the heart, and tends to shorten life) ; ≈ CALD2 (SHERWEN analogue To have conceived . . . they did not know) ; ≈ cln1 (minus “This, which . . . ‘spendthrifts sigh.’”) ; MOBERLY

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Clark & Wright (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “The meaning is that the mere recognition of a duty without the will to perform it, while it satifies for a moment, enfeebles the moral nature. we have the same notion of sighs wasting the vital powers in [2H4 3.2.63 (0000)]; [MND 3.2.97 (0000)]. [See [Rom. 3.5.58 (0000)]}.

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Moberly (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “He who vainly acknowledges that he ‘should’ have done a thing is like a spendthrift sighing for his squandered estate.”

1881 hud3

hud3 ≈ hud2

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Hudson (ed. 1881): “It was anciently believed that sighing consumed the blood. The Poet has several allusions to this as in [MND 3.2.? (0000)]: ‘Sighs of love that cost the fresh blood dear.’ There is also a fine moral meaning in the figure. Jeremy Taylor speaks of certain people who take to a sentimental penitence, as ‘cozening themselves with their own tears,’ as if these would absolve them from ‘doing works meet for repetence.’ Such tears may fitly said to ‘hurt by easing.’ because they set the mind at rest, and yet are but tokens of a repentance that needs itself to be repented of.”

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Hudson (ed. 1881): “spendthrift sigh]] So the quarto of 1637. The earlier quartos have ‘a spend-thrifts sigh.’ The passage is not in the folio.”

1882 elze2

elze2

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Elze (ed. 1882): “spend thirfts, according to the Cambridge Ed., Mr. Timmins’ Devonshire Hamlets, and Furness, whereas Mr. Griggs’ photo-lithographed facsimile reads spend thrifts; QDE [Q3-4]: spend-thrifts; Qu. 1676 [Q7]: spend-thrift. —Compare Wordsworth, The Excursion (Works, in 6 vols, Moxon, 1850, Vol. VI,p. 62): spendthrift seats, excesses of his prime.”

1883 wh2

wh2 ≈ wh1

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] White (ed. 1883): “a sigh that wastes life, according to the old superstition.”

1885 macd

macd ≈ standard ; john

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Modern editors seem agreed to substitute the adjective spendthrift: our sole authority has spendthrifts, and by it I hold. The meaning seems this: ‘the would changes, the thing is not done, and then the should, the mere acknowledgement of duty, is like the sigh of a spendthrift, who regrets consequences but does not change his way: it eases his conscience for a moment, and so injures him.’ There would at the same time be allusion to what was believed concerning sighs: Dr. Johnson says, ‘It is a notion very prevalent, that sighs impair the strength, and wear out the animal powers.’”

1890 irv2

irv2 : standard

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “Spendthrift is the obvious and certain emendation of Q.6, the earlier QQ reading spendthrift’s. For the idea that sighing drew blood from the heart, see [MND , note 184; and compare [Rom. 3.5.59].”

1899 ard1

ard1=standard

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Alluding to the notion that sighs shorten life by drawing blood from the heart. See [MND 3.2.97 (0000)].”

1929 trav

trav:standard +

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Travers (ed. 1929): “Thus much homage to the conscience eases it temporarily, but hurts, (i.e. does harm), by wasting in wind what moral energy the man may have to spend.”

1931 crg1

crg1 ≈ standard

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1934 Wilson

Wilson

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1934 Wilson

Wilson

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]Wilson (1934, 2:236) sees this as a grammatical variant, a possible error of singular/plural forms.

1939 kit2

kit2≈ standard

3112+9-3112+10 Kittredge (ed. 1936): “when we have lost the will to do a thing, and yet say to ourselves ‘We should do it!’ this acknowledgement relieves our conscience somewhat, but weakens our moral fibre, since we rest content with merely confessing our duty instead of doing it. Similarly, a sigh is a relief, but (according to the old notion) it draws blood from the heart and thus weakens it. Cf. [MND 3.2.97 (0000)]: ‘With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear’; [3H6 4.4.22 (0000)]: ‘bloodsucking sighs.’”

1938 parc

parC : standard

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1942 n&h

n&h ≈ standard

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1947 cln2

cln2 ≈ standard

3112+9 spend thirfts] Rylands (ed. 1947): “spendthrift]] wasteful (N).”

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Rylands (ed. 1947, Notes)

1951 crg2

crg2=crg1

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1974 evns1

evns1 ≈ standard

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ kit2 w/o attribution

3112+9-3112+10

1982 ard2

ard2 : kit2? w/o attribution

3112+9-3112+10 this . . . easing] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Our awareness of duty (what we should), gratifying in itself, is, when unaccompanied by performance, harmful ((because by easing the conscience it weakens the moral perceptions)). The sigh which gives relief is at the same time spendthrift of the life-blood ((because sighs were thought to draw blood from the heart)). Cf. [2H6 3.2.61, 63 (0000); 3H6 4.4.22 (0000)] ((‘blood-sucking sighs’)); [MND 3.2.97 (0000)].”

1985 cam4

cam4

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh] Edwards (ed. 1985): “The quarto reading ((i.e. ‘spendthrift’s)) may possibly be right, but it is really the sigh itself that is a spendthrift—it does harm in the pleasure of indulging itself. Painful breathing is the mean feature of pleurisy. Claudius says that if we don’t act in due time, our duty becomes painful and difficult.”

1987 oxf4

oxf4 ≈ standard (ard2?)

3112+9-3112+10 this . . . easing]

1988 bev2

bev2 ≈ standard

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1992 fol2

fol2≈ standard

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1993 dent

dent ≈ standard

3112+9 spend thirfts sigh]

1998 OED

OED

3112+9 spend thirfts] 2. transf. One who employs or uses something lavishly or profusely; a prodigal consumer, user up, or waster, of something.1610 SHAKS. Temp. II. i. 23 Fie, what a spend-thrift is he of his tongue. [etc.]