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Line 3507, 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.”

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

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

3507 Our indiscretion {sometime} <sometimes> serues vs well	5.2.8

3508 When our {deepe} <deare> plots doe {fall} <paule>, & that should {learne} <teach> vs

1747 warb

warb

3505 rashly . . . vs] Warburton (ed. 1747) : “Our rashness lets us know that our indiscretion serves us well, when &c. ]]But this could never be Shakespear’s sense. We should read and point thus: ‘—Rashness (and prais’d be rashness for it) lets us know; Or indiscretion sometimes serves us well, When, &c.’] i.e. Rashness acquaints us with what we cannot penetrate to by plots.”

1765 Heath

Heath : WARB

3505 rashly . . . vs] Heath (1765, p. 547-8) : “p.251. —Rashness (And prais’d be rashness for it ) lets us know; Or indiscretion sometimes serues us well,When our deep plots do fail .]] This too is an emendation of Mr. Warburton’s, according to which ‘Rashness is said to let us know, though nothing appears from whence we can learn what it is which Rashnesss lets us know.’ Our critick indeed informs us, that it lets us know ‘what we cannot penetrate to by plots.’ But then this information comes merely from him, not from the text, which in no construction of which it is capable acquaints us with any such matter. The common reading was, </p. 547> <p. 548>——Rashness (And praid’s be rashness for it) lets us know, Our indiscretion sometimes serues us welll,When our deep plots do fail. The sense is obvious; Rashness suggests to us, that a lucky indiscretion sometimes puts us in possession of those advantages which we should in vain hope for from deepp contrivance. What defect is there in this observation, that Mr. Warburton so positively assures us, ‘it could never be Shakespear’s sense?’ </p. 548>

1765 john1

john1 = warb +

3505 rashly . . . vs] Johnson (ed. 1765) : “Hamlet , delivering an account of his escape, begins with saying, That he rashly—and then is carried into a reflection upon the weakness of human wisdom. I rashly—praised be rashness for it—Let us not think these events casual, but let us know, that is, take notice and remember., that we sometimes succeed by indiscretion, when we fail by deep plots, and infer the perpetual superintendence and agency of the Divinity. The observation is just, and will be allowed by every human being who shall reflect on the course of his own life.”

1773 v1773

v1773 = john1

3505 rashly . . . vs]

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773 + Tyrwhitt (magenta underlined)

3505 rashly . . . vs] Tyrwhitt (apud Steevens, ed. 1778) : “This passage, I think, should be thus distributed. ‘— Rashly (And prais’d be rashness, for it lets us know, Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well, When our deep plots do fail; and that should teach us, There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough hew them how we will;—Hor That is most certain.—) Ham. Up from my cabin, &c.’ So that rashly may be joined in construction with in the dark grop’d I to find out them. TYRWHITT”

1783 MALSII

malsii

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall] Malone (1783, p. 60) : “When our deep plots do fail ]] “The folio reads—When our dear plots do paule .”

1784 ays1

ays1 ≈ v1778 (john1 only)

3505 rashly . . . vs]

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778

3505 rashly . . . vs]

v1785 = MALSII

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall]

1787 ann

ann = v1785

3505 rashly . . . vs]

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall]

1790 mal

mal = v1785

3505 rashly . . . vs]

mal = v1785 + magenta underlined

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall] Malone (ed. 1790) : “Thus the first quarto, 1604. The editor of the next quarto, for pall substituted fall. The folio reads—when our dear plots do paule .

“Mr. Pope and the subsequent editors read—when our deep plots do fail: but pall and fail are by no means likely to have been confounded. I have therefore adhered to the old copies. In [Ant. 2.7.81(1429)] our poet has used the participle: ‘I’ll never follow thy pall’d fortunes more.’ MALONE”

-1790 mWesley

mWesley

3505 rashly . . . vs] Wesley (typescript of ms. notes in ed. 1785): “I like this [Tyrwhitt’s punctuation; see n. above] and believe it right.”

3508 Wesley (typescript of ms. notes in ed. 1785): “Truth in Beauty’s words.”

1791- rann

rann

3508 fall] Rann (ed. 1791-) : “fail ]]: pale .”

1793 v1793

v1793 = mal

3505 rashly . . . vs]

v1793 = mal

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall]

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

3505 rashly . . . vs]

v1803 = v1793 +

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall] Steevens (ed. 1803) : “Again, in one of Barnaby Googe’s Sonnets, 1563: ‘Torment my paulded spryght.’ STEEVENS”

1805 Seymour

Seymour : v1803 (Tyrwhitt)

3505 rashly . . . vs] Seymour (1805, 2: 200) : <p. 200> “ —Rashly, (And prais’d be rashness for it—Let us know,)’ &c.]] I think the parenthesis should begin with the words ‘let us know,’ and that the passage ought to be pointed thus: ‘—Rashly, And prais’d be rashness for it,—(Let us know.’” </p. 200>

Seymour

3507-8 Our . . . fall] Seymour (1805, 2:200-01): <p. 200> “‘Pall,’ I believe, is right. When our deeplaid schemes and contrivances miscarry, surfeit—stain with policy. Thus, in [MM 5.1.107 (2469)], we find, ‘His purpose surfeiting.’

“i.e. His purpose pall’d by enjoyment. ‘There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will.’

“With an office resembling this of the deity, we find the poet dignified in [MND 5.1.14-6 (1852-4)]: ‘—As imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen Turns them to shapes.’—

“See Note on this passage, Act 5, Scene 1, Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

3505 rashly . . . vs]

v1813 = v1803

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall]

1815 Becket

Becket : v1785 (

3508 fall] Becket(1815, p. 71) : <p. 71> paule ]] “‘Paule’ is undoubtedly Shakspeare’s word. It stands for pall, a contraction of appal . We must likewise read, ‘Rashness , (And prais’d be rashness for it) lets us know,When our dear plots,’ &c. Hamlet is giving an account of his uneasy state of mind, and says, that ‘rashness prompted to that discovery which, had he pondered on it (had it been his dear plot ) he might have been frightened or discouraged from.’ This reason- </p. 71> <p. 72> ing is better and closer than that which the reading of the modern editors presents to us. B” </p. 72>

1819 cald1

cald1 ≈ v1813 ; Seymour +

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall] Caldecott (ed. 1819 ) : “Lose their spirit, poignancy, and virtue; become abortive. Mr. Seymour says, ‘Miscarry surfeit-slain with policy.’”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall]

v1821

3508 fall] Boswell (ed. 1821, 21:Glossary): “pall]] to fail.”

1826 sing1

sing1 = v1821 + magenta underlined

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall] Singer (ed. 1826) : “to become, as it were, dead, or without spirit: from the old French pasler .”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1 + ;magenta underlined

3508 deepe plots] Caldecott (ed. 1832): “Dear plots’ are ‘desperate as those on which we stake our fate and fortunes.’ And see ‘dearest foe.’” [Ham. 1.2.? (283) Haml.)

1833 valpy

valpy ≈ standard

3508 fall] Valpy (ed. 1833): “Fail.”

1843 col1

col1

3508 learne vs] Collier (ed. 1843) : “The folio has ‘dear plots’ for deep plots of the quartos: ‘pall’ is the reading of the quarto 1604, and of the folio: other quartos have fall . We adopt ‘teach’ from the folio, 1623, instead of ‘learn’ from the older copies. The reasoning in this passage is consecutive in Hamlet’s mind, but, perhaps, hardly so in his expressions.”

1853 Colb

Colb

3506-8 Collier (1853 [2nd ed.], pp. 445-6): <p. 445>“The usual reading, when Hamlet is beginning his narrative to Horatio, has been,—’Let us know, Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well, When our deep plots do pall.’ The folios have ‘dear plots,’ and some of the quartos have ‘pall,’ and others, fall. It seems that ‘pall’ and fall are errors of the press for fail, which is the word supplied in manuscript in the folio, 1632. There is, however, a previous change of ‘know’ to own, and both alterations may seem warranted. The whole, therefore, stands as follows, when amended,—’Let us own, Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well, When our deep plots do fail.’” </p. 445>

1854 del2

del2

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall , & that should learne vs] Delius (ed. 1854) : “to pall=matt, lässig werden, d.h. im dienst, ist hier dem serves us well so gegenübergestellt, wie dear plots (die uns am Herzen liegenden Anschläge) der indiscretion. Für dear plots, wie die Fol. liest mit der eigenhümlichen Anwendung des Adjectivs dear bei Sh., haben die Qs. deep. Für teach haben die Qs. learn, das allerdings bei Sh. oft=lehren steht.”[to pall [is ] feeble, to become idle, that is in employment, is here so contrasted with serves us well , as dear plots (which are plots lying in our hearts) to indiscretion . For dear plots , as the Fol reads with the peculiar application of the adjective dear for Shakespeare, the Qq have deep . For teach the Qq have learn , which indeed is used often in Shakespeare for teach . ]

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1 ≈ sing1

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall] Hudson (ed. 1856) : “To pall was to fade or fall away; to become, as it were, dead, or without spirit: from the old French pasler. Thus in [Ant. 2.7.81 (1429)]: ‘I’ll never follow thy pall’d fortunes more.’

1856 sing2

sing2 = sing1 +

3505-8 rashly . . . vs] Singer (ed. 1856) : “I have adopted Mr. Tyrwhitt’s arrangement of this passage. It is quite evident that rashly must be joined in construction with up from my cabin , and Hamlet’s doings recorded in his next speech.”

[Ed: SINGER2 thus seems to turn to 1821 for his use of Tyrwhitt.]

1857 dyce1

dyce1

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall] Dyce (ed. 1857) : “Compare ‘And, if I fail not in my deep intent ,’ &c. [R3. 1.1.149 (158)]”

1857 elze1

elze1: john1 ; Tyrwhitt ; mcol1

3505-8 rashly . . . vs] Elze (ed. 1857, 249): <p. 249>"Da diese Stelle so, wie sie in den Qs und Fs steht, einen ((allerdings gezwungenen)) Sinn giebt, den am besten Dr. Johnson erklärt hat, so haben wir nichts daran geändert, obwohl die von Tyrwhitt vorgeschlagene Verbesserung sich durch Einfachheit und Klarheit ausserordentlich empfiehlt. Er will nämentlich schreiben: [Tyrwhitt’s version]Pope, Theobald, und Warburton lesen: rashness ((And praised be rashness for it)) lets us know &c. Es ist nicht unwahrscheinlich, dass eine Verderbniss in der Stelle verborgen ist; MC hat sie in den Worten ’let us know’ gesucht, welche er in ’let us own’ geändert hat." ["If this passage thus, as it stands in the Qq and Ff, gives meaning ((indeed, forced)), which Dr. Johnson has explained the best, we haven’t thus altered it, although Tyrwhitt’s suggested emendation recommends itself for simplicity and extraordinary clarity. He writes namely: [see v1778 above].Pope, Theobald, and Warburton read, [see above]. It is not false that a corruption is secret in this passage; mCOL1 has searched in the words ’let us know,’ which he has changed to ’let us own.’]

elze1

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall] Elze (ed. 1857): "So hat MC corrigirt; QB und Fs: pall ((=schal werden)); QC folgg.; fall. ’Fail’ haben auch Pope, Theobald, Warburton u.A. geschrieben. Statt: our deep plots, lesen die fs: our dear plots." [So the mCOL1 corrector ["fail"]; Q2 (u) and Ff: pall ((=to become flat)); Q2ff: "fall." ’Fail’ Pope, Theobald, Warburton have written, and others. In place of ’our deep plots,’ the Ff read ’our dear plots.’]

1858 col3

col3 : col1

3508 When . . . vs] Collier (ed. 1858) : “The folio has ‘dear plots’ for deep plots of the 4tos: ‘pall’ is the reading of the 4to, 1604, and of the folio: other 4tos. have fall : and very possibly the true word was fail, as it stands in the corr. fo. 1632. We adopt ‘teach’ from the folio, 1623, instead of ‘learn’ from the older copies. The reasoning in this passage is consecutive in Hamlet’s mind, but, perhaps, hardly so in his expressions.”

1859 stau

stau : v1778 (n. 3506-08)

3506 And praysd be rashnes for it] Staunton (ed. 1859) : “We think, with Tyrwhitt, that Rashly should be joined in construction with—in the dark grop’d I to find out them, and the passage therefore distributed and read as follows:— ‘—Rashly (And prais’d be rashness, for it lets us know . . . certain) [continues to 3512).”

1860 Walker

Walker

3506 praysd] Walker (1860, 2:65): cites 3506 as one of his examples of a “confound[ing] of final d and final e.

1861 wh1

wh1

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall] White (ed. 1861): “So the [Q2]; the folio, ‘When our deare plots do paul,’ where ‘deare’ appears to me a sophistication; the later [Qs], ‘When our deepe plots do fall;’ for which some editors read, ‘do fail.’”

1864-68 c&mc

c&mc

3508 fall] Clarke (ed. 1864, Glossary, pall): “To decline, wane, fall away.”

3508 fall] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): “pall]] Used to express become ‘spiritless,’ ‘lifeless,’ ‘without vigour and vitality.’”

1866 dyce2

dyce2 ; dyce1 ; col3?

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall] Dyce (ed. 1866) : “The quarto 1604 has ‘When our deepe plots doe pall/’—The later quartos have ‘When our deepe plots doe fall.’—The folio has ‘When our deare plots do paule.’ Compare ‘And, if I fail not in my deep intent ,’ &c. [R3. 1.1.149 (158)]—1865. Dr. Ingleby would read here ‘fall;’ not scrupling to assert that ‘fall had in Shakespeare’s day the same meaning as “fail.”’ The Shakespeare Fabrications, p. 115.”

1869 stratmann

stratmann : pope ; theo ; warb ; dyce2 ; sing1 ; col1

3508 fall, learne] Stratmann(ed. 1869): “Instead of ‘fall’, Pope prints ‘fail’, and is followed by Theobald, Warburton, and Dyce [DYCE2]. Singer and Collier adopt the reading of ‘pall’. ‘Learne’ (docere) is ususal to Shakespeare (see [R2 4.1.220(2038-9); [Tem.1.2.362(497)], [Cym. 1.5.?[5.5.425] (3743?)]), yet Singer, Collier, and Dyce prefer the supposed correction of D [F1], ‘teach’.”

1869 tsch

tsch

3505 rashly . . . vs] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): ‘Ich halte die von Tyrwhitt vorgeschlagene Fassung für die richtige [[that rashly joins with up from my cabin]], doch lasse ich let für lets stehen, da das Verb offenbar als Präteritum (ae. lette) zu fassen ist, weil H. von einer Thatsache spricht, die geschehen ist. Demnach ist Rashly zu folgendem up from my cabin zu ziehn, und der lange Zwischensatz, ähnlich jener Stelle [[1.4.30]], als aus der zu Meditation geneigten Stimmung H.’s zu erklären. Es unterscheidet sich äusserlich meine Aufassung nur durch die Interpunction von der Ueberlieferung der Qs.” [“I judge the suggested draft of Tyrwhitt correct, though I allowed let to stand for lets, since the verb clearly is used as preterite [[O.E. lette]] since Hamlet speaks from fact of what happened. Accordingly, Rashly is to be extended to the following up from my cabin, and the long parenthetical, like that in passage [[621+15]], as an elaboration of a meditation from Hamlet’s sensitive disposition. My interpretion differs superficially only through the punctuation of the transmission of the Qq.”]

3508 learne] Tschischwitz (ed. 18869): Ich habe den Ausdruck aufgenommen,weil er bei Sh. im Sinne von teach noch sonst verwendet wird. So [[Oth. 1.3.183 (528-9)]]. My life and education both do learn me How to respect you.” [“I have taken the phrase, because it is used by Shakespeare in the sense of teach elsewhere. [[cites Oth.]].”

1872 del4

del4 ≈ del2

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall , & that should learne vs] Delius (ed. 1872) : “to pall=matt, lässig werden, d.h. im dienst, ist hier dem serves us well so gegenübergestellt, wie dear plots (die uns am Herzen liegenden Anschläge) der indiscretion. Für dear plots, wie die Fol. liest mit der eigenhümlichen Anwendung des Adjectivs dear bei Sh., haben die Qs. deep, und für pall der Qs. von 1604 und der Fol. haben spätere Qs. fall, woraus Pope fail machte. Für teach haben die Qs. learn, das allerdings bei Sh. oft=lehren steht.”[ “to pall [is ] feeble, to become idle, that is in employment, is here so contrasted with serves us well , as dear plots (which are plots lying in our hearts) to indiscretion . For dear plots , as the Fol reads with the peculiar application of the adjective dear for Shakespeare, the Qq have deep, and for pall, of the Qs. from 1604 and of the Folio, later Qs. have fall, wherein Pope made fail. For teach the Qq have learn , which indeed is used often in Shakespeare for teach .” ]

1872 cln1

cln1 : standard (STAUNTON? or v1821?)

3506 And praysd be rashnes for it] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “Tyrwhitt proposed to read: ‘And prais’d be rashness, for it lets us know,’&c. putting the passage ‘And prais’d . . . certain’ in a parenthesis. The folios put only the words ‘And praised be rashness for it’ in parenthesis.”

cln1 : standard

3506 let vs knowe] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “that is, recognize and acknowledge.”

cln1 : standard VN

3508 deepe] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “So the quartos. The folios have ‘dear.’”

cln1

3508 fall]Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “paule]] grow vapid and tasteless, like wine: hence become vain and worthless. Compare [Ant. 2.7.88 (1429)]: ‘I’ll never follow thy pall’d fortunes more.’”

cln1 : standard

3508 learne] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “So the quartos. The folios have ‘teach,’ a sense in which ‘learn’ was frequently used; as e.g. [R2 4.1.220 (2038-9)]: ‘True noblesse would Learn from forbearance from so foul a wrong.’”

1872 hud2

hud2 ≈ hud1; dyce2

3505 fall] Hudson (ed. 1872): “The quarto of 1604 [Q2 (u)] has pall instead of fail; the later quartos, fall; the folio, paule. Fail is Mr. Dyce’s reading. I am not sure but pall may be right; as from the old French palser, to fade or fall away. So, in [Ant.]: ‘I’ll never follow thy pall’d fortunes more.’ — Note that all after rashly, down to the beginning of Hamlet’s next speech is parenthetical. The passage well illustrates his irrespressible reflectiveness; or how particular events start him off on general observations.”

1874 Tyler

Tyler

3506-10 let . . . will] Tyler (1874, p. 22-23): <p. 22> “Among the particulars in which Hamlet’s philosophy resembles that of the Stoics is the doctrine of an overmastring Fate or Destiny—the belief that all things in the world do in reality eventuate comformably to a predestined design and intention. Thus with reference to the warrant for his </p. 22> <p. 23> execution which Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were conveying to England, Hamlet ascribes his success in intercepting the document to the governance of a higher power:—[cites 3506-10] And when he felt a serious presentiment with respect to the fencing match with Laertes, and Horatio urged him to decline the challenge, he replied that if the predestined time for his death had come, any attempt to avoid the stroke of destiny would be fruitless and vain:—[cites 3668-71] It is worth while to observe that in the Quarto of 1603 [Q1], instead of ‘there’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow,’ we have ‘there’s a presdestine providence in the fall of a sparrow.’

“It is, as it appears to me, in connection with this doctine of a special or predestinate providence, of a divinity ever shaping the ends which men rough-hew, that we may find a reasonable solution of some of the more difficult problems presented by the character and conduct of Hamlet.” </p. 23>

Tyler

3506-10 let . . . will] Tyler (1874, pp. 24-25): <p. 24> “The death of the King is destined to be the result of a seeming accident; an accident which, however, has in it a ‘special providence,’ and towards which the appearance of the Ghost, and Hamlet’s feigned madness, and the device of the play, had all been tending in asure, though circuituous course. Except at the time predestined for action, an invisible restraint keeps back Hamlet’s hand. When this restraint is removed there is no lack of decision. He can then suddenly leave his cabin in the dark, with his ‘sea-gown scarf’d about him;’ can seize the ‘grand commission’ of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and can at once devise and substitute a new commission, ordering the sudden death of the bearers, ‘not shriving time allowed.’ But there had been previously in his heart ‘a kind of fighting which would not let him sleep;’ and to the enterprise </p. 24> <p. 25> ‘was heaven ordinant’ ∗ [3551]. . . . And when the destined hour for the final catastrophe has at last come, Hamlet ‘defies augury.’ Thrusting aside with decision Horatio’s kindly proffered excuse, he expresses his fixed determination to accept the challenge of Laertes. But here again there is indication of the working of the invisible. ‘Thou wouldest not think,’ he says, ‘how ill all’s here about my heart; but it is no matter.’ † ‘But it is such a kind of gain-giving as would perhaps trouble a woman [3664-65].”

<n> ∗ “The Quarto (1604) [Q2] has ‘ordinant,’ the Folio ‘ordinate.’” </n>

<n> † “The Folio has probably a misprint:—’Thou wouldest not thinke how all heare about my heart.’ The Quarto of 1603 [Q1] gives:— ‘My hart is on the sodaine Very sore, all here about.’” </n>

1877 col4

col4 : col3, col2

3508 When . . . vs] Collier (ed. 1858) : “The folio has ‘dear plots’ for deep plots of the 4tos: ‘pall’ is the reading of the 4to, 1604, and of the folio: other 4tos. have fallfor ‘fail.’ : and very possibly the true word was fail, as it stands in the corr. fo. 1632. We adopt ‘teach’ from the folio, 1623, instead of ‘learn’ from the older copies; but nearly all the variations are trifling. The reasoning in this passage is consecutive in Hamlet’s mind, but, perhaps, hardly so in his expressions.”

1877 v1877

v1877 = john1 ; ≈ Tyrwhitt ; stau (paraphrased) ; col1 (“The reasoning . . . in his expressions.”) ; tsch (paraphrased)

3505 rashly . . . vs] Furness (ed. 1877) : “Although Staunton in a note said that he agreed with Tyrwhitt’s suggestion [see STAU above], he nevertheless did not conform his text thereto. Undoubtedly there is force in Tyrwhitt’s arrangement.”

3505 rashly . . . vs] Furness (ed. 1877) : “Tschischwitz follows Tyrwhitt, except that he prints ‘for it let us know,’ because ‘let’ is clearly the perfect tense, since Ham. is speaking of an act that is past.”

v1877 : Strachey

3505 rashly . . . vs] Strachey (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “That is to say, that when we have exhausted all our powers of thought and reasoning upon the consideration of the course we should pursue, and when it yet remains dark to us,—’sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,’—then as a higher wisdom and providence than our own will assuredly come to our aid, and employ some apparently unimportant accident,—something which to us seems merely a rashness or indiscretion,—to strike the hour and give command for action. This is Hamlet’s final, crowning, discovery; a discovery which every man of Hamlet’s tendency of mind must make for himself before it is possible for him to turn his intellectual powrs to practical account and to make his philosophical speculations available to the every-day service of God and man. Till such a man has learnt the value of accidents in breaking the thread of his meditations when it is spun long enough, and has formed the habit of seizing and using these accidents, he must remain an unpractical visionary.”

v1877 : ≈ warb; Heath (summarized)

3505 rashly . . . vs] Furness (ed. 1877) : Heath (p. 547) exposed the futility of this change.”

v1877 :≈ mal ;≈ cald2 (minus Seymour and Ham. //) ; col3 (misidentified as col2; subst) ; ≈ cln1 (minus Ant. //) ; Ingleby ; Littledale (paraphrased)

3505 fall] Clark & Wright (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “pall]] to grow vapid, and tastless, like wine hence to become vain and worthless.”

3505 fall] Ingleby (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “Ingleby (The Sh. Fabrications, p. 115) suggests that fall and ‘fail’ were used as synonymous by Sh., and cites in proof [Err.1.2.37 (201)]; and [Wiv 1.1.262 (149)]; and Sir John Oldcast;e: ‘London, you say, is safely look’d unto, Alas, poor rebels, there your aid must fall.’

3505 fall] Furness (ed. 1877): “In a note on ‘if ye fall in’t’ in [TNK 3.6.236 (2055)], Littledale says that Ingleby has confirmed him in thinking that ‘fall,’ and not fail, is the right reading in that passage, and he gives a fuller note from Ingleby than is contained in The Sh. Fabrications cited above, as follows: Compare line 272 [of this same scene in TNK]: ‘Let it not fall agen, Sir.’ There are remarkable instances of the use of this intransitive verb as a synonym of fail. Sh. affords us only two certain examples of this: ‘her better judgements May fall to match you with her country forms And happily repent.’—[Oth. 3.3.237 (1861). Here ‘fall’ is not happen (Schmidt, wrongly, begin, get into), but fail.”[The second instance is the present passage in Hamlet, where] pall is nonsense; and fall makes sense. Fall, of course, is the opposite of succeed. Now our word for this is ‘fail.’ There is also one example in The London Prodigal, and tow in Isaiah 31.3. and 57:14, 15. [Dyce disapproved of this suggestion of Ingleby’s.”

1881 hud3

hud3 ≈ hud1 ; hud2

3508 When our deepe plots doe fall] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Pall is from the old French palser, to fade or fall away. So, in [Ant.]: ‘I’ll never follow thy pall’d fortunes more.’ — Note that all after rashly, down to the beginning of Hamlet’s next speech is parenthetical. The passage well illustrates his irrespressible reflectiveness; or how particular events start him off on general observations.”

hud3

3508 fall] Hudson (ed. 1881): “pall]] So the second quarto. The others quartos have fall instead of pall. The folio has paule, which is probably but another spelling of pall. Pope substituted fail, and some editors have followed him. But what need of change? See [n. 3508]

1882 elze2

elze2

3507 sometime] Elze (ed. 1882): “[F1] sometimes, an evident correction; Om. [Q1]. Sometimes, in the text, is a misprint.”

1885 macd

macd

3508 fall] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “pall]] from the root of pale—’come to nothing.’ He had had his plots from which he hoped much; the king’s commission had rendered them futile. But he seems to have grown doubtful of his plans before, probably through the doubt of his companions which led him to seek acquaintance with their commission, and he may mean that his ‘dear plots’ had begun to pall upon him. Anyhow the sudden ‘indiscretion’ of searching for and unsealing the ambassadors’ commission served him as nothing else could have served him.”

1885 mull

mull

3508 deepe] Mull (ed. 1885): “dear]] most relied upon.”

mull

l] Mull (ed.1885): “pall]]”

1886 mor

mor

3506-10 Morley (ed. 1886, 12): ""But when he had returned he was again passive. He accepted passively the challenge to the fencing match, and when he at last did kill his own and his father’s murderer, it was by action on the impulse of the moment. It was done rashly, as Hamlet said to Horatio of an act of his on board the ship; and Hamlet’s comment on this rashness has in it the soul of the play— [cites 3506-10]

"How many Hamlets are there in the world with intellectual power for large usefulness, who wait, day by day and year by year, in hope to do more perfectly what they live to do; die, therefore, and leave their lives unused: while men of lower power, prompt for action, are content and ready to do what they can, well knowing that at the best they can only rough hew, but in humble trust that leaves to God the issues of the litle service they may bring. It is a last touch to the significance of this whole play that its close the man whose fault is the reverse of Hamlet’s--the man of ready action, though it be with little thought, the stir of whose energies was felt in the opening scene—re-enters from his victory over the Polack, and the curtain falls on Fortinbras, King."

1889 Barnett

Barnett

3508 fall] Barnett (1889, p. 62): <p. 62>“pall]] fail. The two words are doublets. Welsh pallu, to fail; the words has been confused with Fr. palir and E. pale.” </p. 62>

3508 learne] Barnett (1889, p. 62): <p. 62>“teach. The word is still so used in Scot.” </p. 62>

1890 irv2

irv2 ≈ v1877 w/o attribution

3508 fall] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “Ff. have paule, Q.2 [uncorrected Q2] has pall, the later Qq. fall. The reading in the text was introduced by Pope. It is difficult to see the sense of pall in this connection, though Malone compares Antony and Cleopatra, [Ant. 2.7.81 (1429)]: ‘I’ll never follow thy pall’d fortunes more;’ but is one thing to speak of fortunes as pall’d, or become tarsihed, decayed, and quite another to speak of plots in the same way. A plot succeeds or falls, it does not pall. Ingleby (The Shakespeare Fabrications, p. 115 and Littledale’s ed. [TNK], pp. 149-50) considers that fall was used as a synonym of fail, and he compares [Oth. 3.3.237 (1861); Com. 1.2.37 (201); TNK 3.6.236 (2055)]; Sir John Oldcastle, iv.1; but the instances seem to be doubtful, some not meaning fail, others more likely to be a misprint.”

1899 ard1

ard1 : standard (refers to Pope, Capell and Dyce (ed. 2) usage of “fail”, got perhaps through vv1877 or cln1 VN? ; Ingleby reference, through v1877?) ; Ant. // through cln1?) +

3508 fall] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Pall . . . has here the authority of both [Q2] and [F1].”

1905 rltr

rltr : standard

3508 fall]

1929 trav

trav

3508 doe] Travers (ed. 1929): “Do, though not stressed and possibly suggested by euphony, reinforces the assertion.”

1934 Wilson

Wilson

3507 sometime] Wilson (1934, 2:265) sometime CAP, Steev? [v1785?]; CAM1; sometimes v1821, GLO

Wilson

3508 learn] Wilson (1934, 2:265) learn jen, cam1; teach v1821, glo, v1877

Wilson

3508 fall] Wilson (1934, 1:123) lists the uncorrected pall as found in the Devonshire, Elizabethan Club of New York, and Folger copies of Q2, as compared with the corrected fall as found in the British Library, Capell copy of Trinity College, and Grimston in the Bodleian Library copies of Q2. Wilson suggests that this suggests a corrector’s presence between Q2 and the Sh. manuscript.

1934 Wilson

Wilson

3508 fall] Wilson (1934, 1:131) sees fall as a miscorrection arrising from a misunderstanding of Shakespeare’s meaning.” See also n. 3610+8.

1934 cam3

cam3

3506-10 let . . . will] Wilson (ed. 1934): “A parenthesis enlarging ‘praised be rashness.’ The sentence ‘Rashly . . . rashness for it’ is continued in l. 12. For ‘rashly’ and ‘know’ v.G.[lossary].”

cam3 : standard

3508 fall] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary, pall): “paule]] grow vapid, fail (cf. [Ant. 2.7.88 (000) ‘I’ll never follow thy palled fortunes more’).”

1938 parc

parc ≈ standard

3508 fall] pall]]

1939 kit2

kit2

3507 sometime] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary): “sometimes.”

kit2

3508 fall] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “paule]] fail; come to naught.”

3508 fall] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary, pall): “to fail.”

kit2

3506 rashnes] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary): “hasty impulse.”

1947 cln2

cln2 ≈ standard

3508 fall] pall]]

cln2

3507 indiscretion] Rylands (ed. 1947): “lack of judgement.”

1951 alex

alex ≈ standard

3508 learn] Alexander (ed. 1951, Glossary)

alex ≈ standard

3508 fall] Alexander (ed. 1951, Glossary, pall)

1951 crg2

crg2=crg1

3508 fall] pall]]

crg2=crg1

3508 learn] Craig (ed. 1954, Glossary)

crg2=crg1

3507 sometime] Craig (ed. 1954, Glossary)

1957 pel1

pel1 : standard

3508 fall] pall]]

1970 pel2

pel2=pel1

3508 fall] pall]]

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ standard

3507 indiscretion]

pen2 ≈ standard

3508 fall] pall]]

pen2 ≈ standard

3508 learn]

1982 ard2

Ard2 : john1(only “that is, take notice and remember”)

3505 rashly . . . vs]let us know]]

ard2 : OED

3508 fall] Jenkins (ed. 1982):” pall]]lose force, falter. OED v.12.. The variant fall in some copies of Q2, though followed ((or emended to fail)) by some eds., is apparently a miscorrection.”

ard2

3508 learn] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “F’s substitution of teach suggests that learn in this sense, common in Shakespeare and still surviving in dialect, may already have been losing favour.”

1984 chal

chal : standard

3508 learn]

1985 cam4

cam4

3506-10 Edwards (ed. 1985): “In the all-important colloquy with Horatio at the beginning of the final scene, Hamlet tells him of the strong sense he has that his impulsive actions on board ship were guided by a divinity which takes over from us ‘when our deep plots do pall’ and redirects us. This is a critical juncture of the play, implying Hamlet’s surrender of his grandiose belief in his power to ordain and control, and his release from the alternating belief in the meaningless and mindless drift of things. His recognition, vital though it is, is his own, and we do not necessarily have to share it.”

cam4

3507 indiscretion] Edwards (ed. 1985): “want of prudence and forethought ((rather than a misguided act)).”

cam4

3508 fall] Edwards (ed. 1985): “pall]] grow flat and stale, like wine that has gone off.”

cam4 ≈ standard

3508 learn]

1987 oxf4

oxf4 ≈ ard2 w/o attribution (OED) +

3508 fall] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “pall]]Compare [Ant. 2.7.81], ‘I’ll never follow thy palled fortunes more.’”

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

3507 indiscretion]

bev2: standard

3508 fall] pall]]

bev2: standard

3508 learn]

1992 fol2

fol2≈ standard

3507 indiscretion]

fol2≈ standard

3508 fall] pall]]

fol2≈ standard

3508 learn]

1993 dent

dent ≈ standard

3507 indiscretion]

dent ≈ standard

3508 fall] pall]]

dent ≈ standard

3508 learn]

2008 OED

OED ≈ standard

3508 fall] pall ]OED I. Senses relating to the loss of strength, vitality, etc. 1. a. intr. To grow weak or faint; to lose strength, courage, vitality, etc.; to fail, fall away. Obs.1. a.To grow weak or faint; to lose strength, courage, vitality,to fail, fall away. Obs. a1325 in W. Heuser Kildare-Gedichte (1904) 171, I poke, i pomple, i palle, i passe, As galli[th] gome igeld. a1393 GOWER Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) VI. 342 That on [sc. a love drink] is full of such piment, Which..makth a jolif herte in haste; That other biter as the galle, Which makth a mannes herte palle. ?a1439 LYDGATE tr. Fall of Princes (Bodl.) II. 292 His [sc. Saul’s] grace, his myht, gan pallen [and] appaire.