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Line 3427 - 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.

3427 To sing {a} <sage> Requiem and such rest to her	5.1.237

1755 John

John

3427 Requiem] Johnson (1755, requiem, 1): “ n.s. [Latin] 1. A hymn in which they implore for the dead requiem or rest. [cites Hamlet]”

1773 v1773

v1773

3427 Requiem] Steevens (ed. 1773) : “A Requiem is a mass performed in Popish churches for the rest of the soul of a person deceased. STEEVENS.”

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773 +VN [“The folio reads—sing sage requiem.”Steevens]

3427 Requiem]

1784 ays1

ays1 = v1778 w/o attribution

3427 Requiem]

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778

1787 ann

ann = v1785

3427 Requiem]

1790 mal

mal = v1785

1791- rann

rann

3427 Requiem] Rann (ed. 1791-) : “a mass performed for the rest of the soul.”

1793 v1793

v1793 =mal

3427 Requiem]

1803 v1803

1803 = v1793

3427 Requiem]

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

3427 Requiem]

1818 Todd

Todd = John +

3427 Requiem] Todd (1818, requiem): “†n.s. [Latin ‘It is called requiem, because the introits in the masses for the dead begin with this word.’ Pegge] 1. A hymn in which they implore for the dead requiem or rest. [cites Hamlet].”

1819 cald1

cald1

3427 Requiem] Caldecott (ed. 1819) : “Whatever foundation there may have been for the course here taken, either in the rigid notions of the age, or the severity of ecclesiastical rules, to us she has ever appeared throughout, and as her story is told by the queen, to have been a most unhappy and pitiable maniac; and hence the prodigious interest she at all times excites. Sage , it is conceived, is grave and solemn requiem. The modern editors, with the quartos, read ‘a requiem.’”

1819 Jackson

Jackson

3427 a Reuiem] Jackson (1819, p. 358) : <p. 358> “The folio reads:—’To sing sage requiem.’

“We may be perfectly convinced that a requiem is not the original reading; the difference between the article a and the word sage being too great for any blunderer, either transcriber or compositor, to make.

“The f and g, in the letter case, are next each other, and frequently the one is found in the other’s compartment. In my opinion, a g was in the f box, by which, in composing the word safe, the wrong letter made it sage. We should read: ‘To sing safe requiem, &c.’

“Meaning: that safe and immediate flight to the regions of bliss, which they sing for those who depart this life in perfect peace with the world, and in the joyful hope of salvation. The Author evidently aims at the illiberal principles of the Priest, who, if it were in his power, by merely chaunting what he terms safe requiem, would not do it, even to save that soul from suffering the torments of purgatory.”</p. 358>

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

3427 Requiem]

1826 sing1

sing1 ≈ v1821 (minus ‘in popish churches’ + magenta underlined

3427 Requiem] Singer (ed. 1826) : “Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine,” &c.”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

3427 Requiem]

1833 valpy

valpy ≈ standard

3427 Requiem] Valpy (ed. 1833): “A mass for the dead.”

1841 knt1 (nd)

knt1

3427 sage] Knight (ed. [1839]) : “Sage is said to be used for grave, solemn . We suspect some corruption.”

1854 del2

del2

3427 Requiem] Delius (ed. 1854) : “Die Fol. hat sage requiem, was ‘feierliches Requiem’ bedeuten müsste, aber die Lesart ist verdächtig, daher die der Qs. a requiem vorzuziehen ist.” [The folio has sage requiem , what must mean ‘funeral requiem’[reierliches Requiem], but the reading is suspect; therefore the [reading] of the Qq a requiem is applied.]

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1 = sing1 without attribution

3427 Requiem]

1856b sing2

sing2 = sing1

3427 Requiem]

1857 dyce1

dyce1 : VN ; COL2

3427 Requiem] Dyce (ed. 1857) : “sage Requiem]] an error of the transcriber or printer,—which Caldecott and Mr. Knight adopt. (In Mr. Collier’s one-volume Shakespeare , I find the ‘sage’ of the folio altered, on the authority of his Ms. Corrector, to ‘sad:’ but qy. is it not rather a mistake for ‘such’?)”

1861 wh1

wh1 : dyce1

3427 Requiem] White (ed. 1861) : “sage requiem]] The folio has, ‘sage requiem,’ which, with Mr. Dyce, I deem to be a misprint of ‘such requiem.’ The 4tos. have, ‘a requiem.’”

1864a glo

glo

3427 Requiem] Clark & Wright (ed. 1864) : “sb. mass for the dead, so called because it begins with the words, Requiem eternam dona eis, Domine.”

1866a dyce2

dyce2 ≈ dyce1

3427 Requiem] Dyce (ed. 1866) : “sage Requiem]] an error of the transcriber or printer,—which Caldecott and Mr. Knight adopt. (Mr. Collier’s Ms. Corrector alters the ‘sage’ of the folio to ‘sad:’ but is it not a mistake for ‘such’?)”

1868 c&mc

c&mc ≈ VN

3427 Requiem] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “The reading of the Quartos; while the Folio gives ‘sage’ instead of ‘a.’”

1872 del4

del4 ≈ del2

3427 Requiem] Delius (ed. 1854) : “Die Fol. hat sage requiem, vielleicht für such requiem, wie Dyce vermuthet.” [“The folio has sage requiem, perhaps for such requiem, as Dyce strives for.]

1872 hud2

hud2=hud1

3427 a Requiem]

1877 v1877

v1877 : ≈ cald2 (only Sage , it is conceived, is grave and solemn requiem.) ; mcol1 ; ≈ dyce2; ≈ sing2

3427 a Requiem]

1877 clns

clns ≈ glo w/o attribution +

3427 a Requiem] Neil (ed. 1877, Notes): “‘Grant Thou to them, O Lord, eternal rest,’ etc.”

A translation of the Latin

1881 hud3

hud3 = hud2

3427 a Requiem]

1884 Gould

Gould

3427 a Requiem] Gould (1884, p. 40) : <p. 40> “sage requiem]] ‘Sage’ does not appear to be wanted. Perhaps it was ‘say requiem.’ Thee does not appear to be any singing.” </p. 40>

1885 macd

macd

3427 a Requiem] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “sage]] Is the word sage used as representing the unfitness of a requiem to her state of mind? or is it only from its kindred with solemn? It was because she was not ‘peace-parted’ that they could not sing rest to her.”

1890 irv2

irv2

3427 a Requiem] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “Ff. print sage requiem, which some editors have endeavoured to defend, to explain, or to amend.”

1899 ard1

ard1 ≈ v1877 (mcol1 conj. ; wh1 (dyce2 conj.))

3427 a Requiem]

1934 Wilson

Wilson

3427 a Requiem] Wilson (1934, 1:11-12): <p. 11> “The importance of an exact definition of the two copies becomes even more evident when we turn to the other passage I have selected to illustrate the argument, since here, once again flying in the face of the whole editorial tradition, I believe that F1 should be followed in preference to Q2. ‘To sing a Requiem’ [3427 (5.1.260)] are words given to the churlish priest at Ophelia’s funeral by the latter text, words that appear in F1 as ‘to sing sage Requiem’. Now ‘sage’ means grave or dignified, and when Milton in Il Pensoeroso writes ‘In sage and solemn tunes have sung,’ we have an almost exact parallel, whihc may indeed owe something to the folio Hamlet. Rowe, of course, followed F1 here as in most readings, but ‘sage’ seems to have dropped out since; and though Knight and Caldecott tried to revive it early in the nineteenth century, it has failed to win a place in the modern text. The main reason for this remarkable desertion of F1 by editors is, I suspect, sheer ignorance. Despite Milton’s use of the word, its meaning had become forgotten and it was taken as printer’s nonsense, so that we find, for example, Grant White and Collier attempting to emend it. And yet, once it be rightly interpreted, the temptation to believe it Shakespeare’s and to read it in place of the indefinite article of Q2 is very strong indeed, since we feel that no transcriber or compositor can possibly have added it to the text. Nevertheless, we can only read it with confidence if from our knowledge of the texts we can demonstrate one of two things: either (1) that </p. 11> <p. 12> Shakespeare himself had somehow a finger in the preparation of the F1 version of the play,1 or (2) that those responsible for the transmission of the Q2 version were prone first to omit words and then to fill up the metrical lacunae thus created with makeshift words of their own. 2“ </p. 12>

<n> “1Cf. pp. 152-70 below” </n>

<n> “2Cf. pp. 139-43 below.” </n>

3427 a Requiem] Wilson (1934, 1:140) records the Q2 reading as an omitted word that F1 attempts to fill in.

1934 Wilson

Wilson

3427 a Requiem] Wilson (1934, 2:259) offers this example, and its F1 version sage Requiem as an example of a preferred reading in which the Q2 compositor first omits a word and then the corrector attempts to fill up the gap “by guesswork.”

Wilson

3427 a Requiem] Wilson (1934, 2:280) :prefers F1’s sage Requeim (adopted by ROWE, CALD, KNT1,) over Q2’s reading. He also presents the following pairs of F1/Q2 variants: <p. 281>

crimefull :criminall

doubts (=douts) : drownes

intill : into

rude : madde

sage : a

wisenssse : wisedome

vnseale : vnfold

Beauy : breede

affear’d : sure

Wilson concludes: “Inspecting this list no one, I think, can reasonably doubt that the first word in each pair belongs to Shakespeare, while the fact that the inferior readings here come from the better text [Q2] should not, I hope, trouble readers who have followed the argument up to this point; some of them have already been explained as misprints, misreadings or miscorrections, and the rest may be with confidence assigned to the same categories. In a few instances the balance does not tilt so definitely on the side of F1, though since the latter gives an easier reading, attested by the votes of most editors, and since the Q2 variant is readily explicable in every case, there need be no hesitation in following the 1623 text.” </p. 281>

1934a cam3

cam3 : OED

3427 a Requiem] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “sage]] ‘grave, dignified, solemn’ (N.E.D.)”

cam3 ≈ Wilson

3427 a Requiem] Wilson (ed. 1934): “Cf. Il Penseroso ‘In sage and solemn tunes have sung.’ For ‘requiem,’ which means solemn music (v. Sh. Eng. ii. 150) and not a mass, v.G[lossary]., and cf. The Phœnix and the Turtle: ‘Let the priest in surplice white, That defunctive music can Be the death-divining swan, Lest the requiem lack his right.’ Here the words ‘surplice white’ show that the ‘priest’ is not a Roman one. I owe much of this note to Canon Dearmer.”

1934a cam3

cam3 : OED

3427 a Requiem] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “‘any dirge or solemn chant for the repose of the dead (chiefly poet.),’ N.E.D. Cf. Beau. & Fletch. Philaster, 5.1. ‘sing sad requiems to your departing souls,’ and v. note [above].”

1939 kit2

kit2

3427 a Requiem] Kittredge (ed. 1936): “sage Requiem]] ‘a requiem in due form.”

1942 n&h

n&h ≈ standard

3427 a Requiem] sage]]

1947 cln2

cln2 ≈ standard

3427 a Requiem] sage]]

1956 Sisson

Sisson

3427 To sing a Requiem] Sisson (1956, 2:227): <p. 227>“The puzzling Folio reading sing sage Requiem suggests copy in which saye was first written, then deleted and sing interlined. The Folio compositor printed both, misreading saye as sage.”

1974 evns1

evns1 ≈ standard

3427 a Requiem]

1982 ard2

ard2 : cam3 w/o attribution; Wilson (MSH)

3427 a Requiem]

1985 cam4

cam4

3427 a Requiem] Edwards (ed. 1985): “sage requiem]] ‘sage’ certainly looks odd, and many editors prefer Q2, but the word cannot possibly be a scribal interpolation; it is used to mean ‘grave’ as well as ‘wise’. ‘requiem’ is funeral music.”

cam4

3427 such rest] Edwards (ed. 1985): “i.e. invoke or pray for such rest.”

1987 oxf4

oxf4 : OED

3427 a Requiem] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “sage]]solemn ((OED a.3)).”

1992 fol2

fol2≈ standard

3427 such rest]

1993 dent

dent ≈ standard

3427 a Requiem]sage requiem

1998 OED

OED

3427 a Requiem]OED 3. An invitation to rest or repose. Obs. 1607 HIERON Wks. I. 432 We dwell carelesse, quiet and sure in our owne opinion. Euery man sings a requiem to his own heart. [etc.]