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Line 3328-29 - 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.”

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

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

3328-9 Ham. How absolute the knaue is, we must speake \| by the card, or

1617 Minsheu

Minsheu

3329 card] Minsheu (1617; rpt. 1978, A Sea Carde): “or Map. , G. carte maríne, ou mappemónde, est enim instar mappe in qua delineatur totus orbis. I.H. Carta marína. B. kaerte. L. Charta marina, mappa maritima. T. eine s æmappen.”

-1639 mWright

mWright

3329 card] Wright (ms notes, -1639, sig. 85v): “ (speaking by ye card is meant speaking precisely, distinctly.)”

1656 Blount

Blount

3329 card] Blount (1656; rpt. 1969, sea card): “A Sea Card] (charta marina) is a kinde of Map, wherin the whole world is described, which Seamen use, to instruct them in Navigations.”

1668 Skinner

Skinner : standard

3329 card] Skinner (1668, card): “a mariner Card, vox Nautica, sic autem dicitur Tabula Chorographica littorum q.d. Charta Chorographica.”

1755 Johnson

Johnson

3329 card] Johnson (1755, card, 2):”n.s. [carte, Fr. Charta, Lat.] 2. The paper on which the winds are marked under the mariner’s needle. ‘Upon his cards and compass firms his eye, The masters of his long experiment.’ FQ. ii.

“The very points they blow; All the quarters that they know, I’ th’ shipmans’s card.’ [Mac.1.3.17(115)]

[cites Hamlet]

“‘On life’s vast ocean diversely we sail, Reason the card, but passion is the gale.’ Pope.”

1765 john1

john1

3329 by the card] Johnson (ed. 1765) : “The card is the paper on which the different points of the compass were described. To do anything by the card, is, to do it with nice observation. ”

1773 v1773

v1773 = john1

3329 by the card]

1778 v1778

v1778 = john1 + (from John?)

3329 by the card] Steevens (ed. 1778): “So, in Macbeth : ‘And the very ports they blow, &c. On the shipman’s card .’ ”

1784 ays1

ays1 = v1773 w/o attribution

3329 by the card]

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778 +

3329 by the card] Ritson (apud Steevens, ed. 1785) : “The card is a sea-chart , still so termed by mariners: and the word is afterwards used by Osrick in the same sense. Hamlet’s meaning will therefore be, we must speak directly forward, , in a straight line , plainly to the point.”

1787 ann

ann = v1785 (minus john1)

3329 by the card]

1790 mal

mal ≈ v1785 + magenta

3329 by the card] Malone (ed. 1790) : “i.e. we must speak with the same precision and accuracy as is observed in marking the true distances of coasts, the heights, courses, &c. in a sea-chart , which in our poet’s time was called a card . So in The Commonwealth and Gouernment of Venice, 4to, 1599, p. 177: ‘Sebastian Munster in his carde of Venice—.’ Again, in Bacon’s Essays , p. 326, edit. 1740: ‘Let him carry with him also some card , or book, describing the country where he travelleth.’ In 1589 was published in 4to, A briefe Discourse of Mappes and Cardes, and of their Uses .—The ‘shipman’s card ‘ in Macbeth , is the paper on which the different points of the compass are described. ”

-1790 mWesley

mWesley

3329 by the card] Wesley (typescript of ms. notes in ed. 1785): “Not a bit of any such meaning. The card is the paper or paste-here or in the passage alluded to in Osrick’s speech [3610+3] Steevens’s note confirms Johnson’s, not that of the Authour of Remarks [Ritson], and therefore is clumsily placed.”

1791- rann

rann

3328 absolute] Rann (ed. 1791) : “precise.”

rann

3329 by the card]Rann (ed. 1791) : “directly, to the point.”

1793 v1793

v1793 = v1785 ; mal + magenta underlined

3329 by the card] Steevens (ed. 1793) : “In every ancient sea chart that I have seen, the compass, &c. was likewise introduced. ”

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

3329 by the card]

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

3329 by the card]

1818 Todd

Todd = Johnson +magenta

3329 card] Todd (1818, card): “ n.s. [carte, Fr. Charta, Lat. Cards are mentioned in a statute of Henry the 7th, viz. in 1496. Formerly written cartis or carts.]

2. The paper on which the winds are marked under the mariner’s [for the mariner’s compass] needle. “Upon his ccards and compass firms his eye, The mastrs of his long experiment.” FQ. ii.

“The very points they blow; All the quarters that they know, I’ th’ shipmans’s card.” Mac.

[cites Hamlet]

“On life’s vast ocean diversely we sail, Reason the card, but passion is the gale.” Pope.

1819 cald1

cald1

3329 absolute] Caldecott (ed. 1819) : “Peremptory, strictly and tyrannously precise.”

cald1

cald1 : mal

3329 by the card] Caldecott (ed. 1819) : “i.e. we must speak with the same precision and accuracy as is observed in marking the true distances of coasts, the heights, courses, &c. in a sea-chart , which in our poet’s time was called a card . So in The Commonwealth and Gouernment of Venice, 4to, 1599, p. 177: “”Sebastian Munster in his carde of Venice---.” Again, in Bacon’s Essays , p. 326, edit. 1740: “Let him carry with him also some card , or book, describing the country where he travelleth.” In 1589 was published in 4to, A briefe Discourse of Mappes and Cardes, and of their Uses . Malone

“‘In the shipman’s card .’ [Mac 1.3.17 (115)] 1 Witch.”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

3329 by the card]

v1821

3329 absolute] Boswell (ed. 1821, 21:Glossary): “complete.”

1822 Nares

Nares : standard

3329 card] Nares (1822; 1905): “ The mariner’s compass. Properly the paper on which the points of the wind are marked. ‘All the quarters that they know I’ the shipman’s card [Mac. 1.3.17(115)] ‘We’re all like sea cards, All endeavours and our motions, As they do to the north, still point at beauty.’ B&F Chances, I.2.(0000)

“Hence to speak by the card, meant to speak with great exactness, true to a point. [cites Ham. 5.1.1137(3329)].”

1826 sing1

sing1 : standard

3329 by the card] Singer (ed. 1826) : “‘To speak by the card,’ is to speak precisely, by rule, or according to a prescribed course. It is a metaphor from the seaman’s card or chart by which he guides his course.”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

3329 by the card]

1833 valpy

valpy ≈ standard

3329 by the card] Valpy (ed. 1833): “i.e. we must speak with the same precision as is observed in marking the true distances of coasts, &c., in a sea chart, which in our poet’s time was called a card.”

1841 knt1 (nd)

knt1 : v1821

3329 by the card] Knight (ed. [1839]) : “‘the seaman’s card’ of Macbeth. A sea-chart in Shakspere’s time was called a card . But the drawing of the points of the compass is also called the card. Steevens and Malone differ as to whether a compass-card or a chart is here meant.”

1844 verp

verp ≈ knt1 w/o attribution (from “the seaman’s card. . . sea-chart”)

3329 by the card]

1854 del2

del2

3328 absolute] Delius (ed. 1854) : “absolute = bestimmt, jeder Einrede unzugänglich.” [absolute is certainty, of any persuasion, inaccessible.]

del2

3329 by the card] Delius (ed. 1854) : “by the card eigentlich=nach der Karte, auf der mit mathematischer Genauigkeit Länder und Meere verzeichnet stehen. —equivocation ist ein Spiel mit Worten in ihren doppelten Bedeutungen, wie es der Clown eben geübt hatte. “ [specifically, by the card is after the map, through which with mathematical certainty one represents lands and seas.]

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1 : sing1 without attribution

3329 by the card]

1856b sing2

sing2 = sing1

3329 by the card]

1857 elze1

elze1

3328 absolute] Elze (ed. 1857): "Vergl. Walter Scott The Atiquary 15 ((Tauchn. Ed.)): ’D’ye hear how absolute the knave is?’"

1859 stau

stau : standard

3329 by the card] Staunton (ed. 1859) : “To speak by the card is explained to be a metaphor from the seaman’s card or chart; it is rather an allusion to the card and calendar of etiquette, or book of manners , of which more than one were published during Shakespeare’s age.”

1862 n&q

Easy : Nares

3329 by the card] Easy (1862, 503): “To ‘SPEAK BY THE CARD’ is said by Nares to be an allusion to the card of the mariner’s compass, but this seems doubtful. In Hakluyt there is a letter from Davis on his return home, to Sanderson, one of the chief merchant adventurers, and in it he says:—’I hope I shall find favour with you to see your Card. I pray God it be so true as the Card shall be which I will bring you.’

“Here the reference to Sanderson’s Card evidently shows that Sanderson had previously communicated with Davis, and probably on matters touching the voyage and venture. Hence the cards alluded to may have been ‘Cardes’ or charts of the regions visited, or more probably the cartæ or charters, or bonds of agreement as to the vessel and her voyage and cargoes. Carta, in Italian, whence so many mercantile terms were borrowed, is ‘Any indenture, bill, bond, evidence, record, or contract written’ (Florio’s Q. An. N. World of Words) and Carta di partita is what these cards may have been; a charterparty, and far la carta, is to write a bond, and dare carta biana, to give a blank bond or free licence. Possibly some of the readers of ‘N.&Q.’ may be able to adduce quotations in which card is used in this sense of bond or contract; but whether to speak by the card is to speak by the chart, or by the bond, it, like the synonymous expression, ‘to speak by the book’ means to confine oneself exactly to what is written or laid down. Benj. Easy.”

1865 hal

hal = john1

3329 by the card

1868 c&mc

c&mc ≈ stau w/o attribution

3329 by the card] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): “It has been thought that here allusion is made to ‘the shipman’s card’ explained in Note 27, Act I. [Mac.]; be we think it more likely judging from the succeeding words (‘the age is grown so picked,’ &c.), that the reference is rather to the ‘card or calendar of gentry,’ mentioned by Osric, and explained in Note 74 of this Act [3610+3]: ‘speak by the card’ signifying ‘speak according to the rule laid down in the register of etiquette—correctly, accurately, precisely.’”

1869 tsch

tsch

3328 absolute] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Nicht: resolute, sondern: frei, ungenirt. auch dem Clown hat die Zeit ihre Signatur aufgedrückt.” [Not resolute; on the contrary, free, unabashed. Even for the clown, the time has imprinted its signature.]

1872 del4

del4 ≈ del2

3328 absolute] Delius (ed. 1872) : “absolute = bestimmt, in sich fertig und abgeschlossen.” [absolute is certainty, in itself finished and completed.]

del4 ≈ del2

3329 by the card] Delius (ed. 1854) : “by the card eigentlich=nach der Karte, auf der mit mathematischer Genauigkeit Länder und Meere verzeichnet stehen, oder, wie Staunton erklärt, nach solcher Etiquettenvorschrift, wie sie zu Sh.’s Zeit in eigens dazu verfassten books of manners enthalten waren. —equivocation ist ein Spiel mit Worten in ihren Doppelsinnigkeit, wie es der Clown eben geübt hatte. “ [specifically, by the card is after the map, through which with mathematical certainty one represents lands and seas, or as Staunton explains, after such books of etiquette, as they in Sh’s time, particularly to that end, were contained in collected books of manners. —equivocation is a wordplay in its double meanings as the clown had even used it.]

1872 cln1

cln1

3328 absolute] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “positive. See [Cym. 4.2.106 (2385)]: ‘I am absolute ‘Twas very Cloten.’”

cln1 :standard

3329 by the card] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “‘Card’ means sometimes the circular card on which the points of the compass are marked, and over which the needle moves, as in [Mac. 1.3.17 (115)]. Sometimes it means a chart or map, as in Bacon’s Essays, Of Trvel, xviii. In either of these senses, ‘to sail by the card’ meant to sail carefully. Hence ‘to speak by the card’ is to speak carefully.”

1872 hud2

hud2=hud1

3329 by the card]

1877 v1877

v1877 : Dyce (Glossary)

3328 absolute] Dyce (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “Positive, certain.”

v1877 : john1(summary) ; v1778 (summary STEEVENS without attribution) ; mal (minus analogues) ; Dyce (Glossary summary) ; stau (subst.) ; Ritson (Osrick reference) + magenta underlined

3329 card] Furness (ed. 1877): “Whatsoever its immediate derivation, ‘to speak by the card’ undoubtedly means to speak with precision.”

1881 hud3

hud3=hud2

3329 card]

1882 elze2

elze2

3329 by the card] Elze (ed. 1882): Compare Benj. Easy in N. & Q., Dec. 27, 1862, p. 503.—Card means either a chart or a map. See Gosson’s School of abuse (ed. Collier for the Shakespeare Society, p. 4, and Thomas Heywood, If you know not me, you know nobody (ed. Collier for the Shakespeare Society), p. 153.”

1883 wh2

wh2

3328 absolute] White (ed. 1883): “positive, precise and dogmatic.”

1885 macd

macd ≈ standard

3328 absolute] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “‘How the knave insists on precision!’”

macd : Skeat

3329 card] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “chart: Skeat’s Etym. Dict.”

1885 mull

mull ≈ standard

3329 card]

1889 Barnett

Barnett : standard

3328 absolute] Barnett (1889, p. 60): <p. 60> “exact, positive. The root meaning, from ab and solverre, is to set free. Hence came the difference uses of the word.

“1. Unrestrained or unrestrainable, as, ‘An absolute and excellent horse.’ (But this may be for an absolutely excellent horse, in accordance with Fr. and Lat. idiom.)

“2. Decided, as in [Mac. 4.3.38 (1858)], and as ‘An absolute shall,’ cf. [Cor. 3.1.97(1783),} and in [Cym 4.2.108-9 (2385)]—’I am absolute ‘Twas very Cloten.’

“3. Free from control; the modern meaning.

“4. The meaning exact, as here.” </p. 60>

3329 by the card] Barnett (1889, p. 60): <p. 60> “according to what is set down, either on the programme, or on a chart, or on the shipman’s card.” </p. 60>

1890 irv2

irv 2: standard

3328 absolute] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “positive.”

irv2 ≈ v1821 (MAL’s 1790 note in entirety)

3329 by the card] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “The origin of the familar phrase, now become proverbial, to speak by the card, is not certain. Malone defines it thus: [cites MAL’s 1790 note and analogues].”

1891 oxf1

oxf1

3328 absolute] Craig (ed. 1891: Glossary): “perfect [H53.7.27 (1651); Ham. 5.2.112 (3328)].”

1899 ard1

ard1 ≈ cln1 w/o attribution (Cym. //)

3328 absolute]

ard1 ≈ cln1 (minus Bacon //) w/o attribution

3329 by the card]

1900 ev1

ev1=≈ standard +

3329 by the card] Herford (ed. 1900): "But the actor’s copy of his part was also called a ’card’; so that ’to speak by the card’ may originally have been a player’s synonym for accurate speech."

1905 rltr

rltr : standard

3328 absolute]

rltr: standard

3329 card]

1906 nsln

nlsn : standard

3328 absolute] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary)

nlsn : standard

3329 card] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary)

1931 crg1

crg1 ≈ standard

3328 absolute]

crg1 ≈ standard

3329 card]

1934 rid1

rid1 : standard

3329 card] Ridley (ed. 1934, Glossary):

1934 cam3

cam3 : standard

3328 absolute] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “(cf. [Cor. 3.1.89 (1783)] ‘Mark you his absolute ‘shall’?’).”

cam3 : standard

3329 card] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary):

1939 kit2

kit2 ≈ standard

3328 How . . . is]

kit2 ≈ standard

3329 card]

kit2 ≈ standard

3328 absolute] Kittredge (ed. 1936, Glossary):

1937 pen1a

pen1a : standard

3329 card]

1938 parc

parc ≈ standard

3329 card]

1942 n&h

n&h ≈ standard

3329 card]

1947 cln2

cln2 ≈ standard

3328 absolute]

cln2 ≈ standard

3329 card]

1951 alex

alex ≈ standard

3328 absolute] Alexander (ed. 1951, Glossary)

1951 crg2

crg2=crg1

3328 absolute]

crg2=crg1

3328 absolute]Craig (ed. 1951, Glossary)

crg2=crg1

3329 card]

1954 sis

sis ≈ standard

3328 absolute] Sisson (ed. 1954, Glossary)

sis ≈ standard

3329 card] Sisson (ed. 1954, Glossary):

1957 pel1

pel1 : standard

3328 absolute]

pel1 : standard

3329 card]

1964 Falconer

Falconer

3329 card] Falconer (1964, p. 89): “The card or seacard, mentioned in Macbeth: ’All the quarters that they know I’ th’ shipman’s card, 1.3.17’ was a ’geographical description of coasts, with the true distances, heights and courses, or winds laid down in it; not describing any inland, which belongs to maps’ [Mainwaring, Sir H., Works, 2:117]. It was a kind of chart and is twice referred to figuratively in Hamlet: ’We must speak by the card or equivocation with undo us’ 5.1.149 or later, with the same play on words [1610+3]: ’he is the card or calendar of gentry, for you shall find in him the continent of what parts a gentleman would see.’ 5.2.114. In Shakespeare, card does not mean the graduated compass card or ’fly,’ because it did not come to have this sense till after his day.”

1970 pel2

pel2=pel1

3328 absolute]

pel2=pel1

3329 card]

1974 evns1

evns1 ≈ standard

3328 absolute]

evns1 ≈ standard

3329 card]

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ standard

3328 absolute]

pen2 ≈ standard

3329 card]

1982 ard2

ard2 : contra standard

3328 absolute] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “strict, puristic ((rather than, as usually glossed, positive)).”

ard2 ≈ standard

3329 card]

1984 chal

chal :

3329 card] Wilkes (ed. 1984): "precise."

chal :

3329 by the card] Wilkes (ed. 1984): "according to rule."

1985 cam4

cam4

3329 card] Edwards (ed. 1985): “i.e. with the precision of a sailor, navigating by his compass. ‘card’ could mean either the seaman’s chart, or the face of the compass. It is not clear that Shakespeare meant definitely the one or the other either here or in Macbeth 1.3.17. In 5.2.103 below ‘card’ probably means ‘map’.”

1987 oxf4

oxf4 ≈ standard

3328 absolute]

oxf4 : OED (4c) [4c. to speak by the card: to express oneself with care and nicety; to be exact to a point.]

3329 card]

1992 fol2

fol2≈ standard

3328 absolute]

fol2≈ standard

3329 card]

1993 dent

dent

3328 absolute]

dent

3329 card]

1998 OED

OED

3329 card] OED Card

3. a. A map or plan; = CHART sb.’ Obs. 1527 R. THORNE in Hakluyt Divers Voy. (1582) B iv b, A little Mappe or Carde of the worlde. Ibid. C ij a, The first lande from the sayd beginning of the carde towarde the Orient is certaine Ilandes of the Canaries. [etc.]