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Line 3544 - 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).

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

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

3544 And stand a Comma tweene their amities,	5.2.42

1656 Blount

Blount

3544 Comma] Blount (1656; rpt. 1969, comma): “Comma] (Gr.) the least note of distinction, or a point in the part of a Sentence without perfect sense, and is made thus (,).”

1676 Cole

Cole : Blount w/o attribution

3544 Comma] Cole (1676, rpt. 1971, Comma): “g. (Section, cutting,) the smallest of our stops (,).”

1730 theol

theol

3544 Comma] Theobald (26 Mar. 1730, [fol. 122r] [Nichols 2:576-7]): <fol. 122r> “I do not know what a comma can signify, but a stop; which, methinks, is opposite to the sense here required. According to the idea I have at present conceived of the passage, it should be, either, ‘And stand NO comma ‘tween their amities.’ i.e. as no bar should stand between their friendships:—Or, ‘And stand a comma ‘tween their ENMITIES.’ i.e. as peace should intervene, and prevent their enmities.” <fol. 122r>

1733 theo1

theo1

3544 Comma] Warburton (apud Theobald, ed. 1733) : “Peace is finely and properly personaliz’d here, as the Goddess of good League andFriendship: but what Ideas can we form of her standing as a Comma, or Stop, betwixt their Amities? I am sure, she stands rather like a Cypher, in this Reading. I have no Doubt, but the Poet wrote;‘And stand a Commere ‘tween their Amities;’

“i.e. a Guarantee, a Common Mother. Nothing can be more picturesque than this Image of Peace’s standing drest in her wheaten Garland between the two Princes, and extending a Hand to each. In this Equipage and Office we frequently see her in Roman Coins: particularly, on two exhibited by Baron Spanheim; one of Augustus, and the other of Vespatian. The Poets likewise image to us Peace holding an Ear of Corn, as the Emblem of Plenty. Tibull. lib. I. Eleg. x. ‘At nobis, Pac alma, veni, spicamqs teneto. Mr. Warburton.”

1740 theo2

theo2=theo1

3544 Comma]

1747 warb

warb:theo1 (compressed)

3544 Comma] Warburton (ed. 1747): <cn>“Peace is here properly and finely personaliz’d as the Goddess of good League and Friendship; and very classically dressed”: but what Ideas can we form of her standing as a Comma, or Stop, betwixt their Amities? I am sure, she stands rather like a Cypher, in this Reading. I have no Doubt, but the Poet wrote;

And stand a Commere ‘tween their Amities;

i.e. a Guarantee, a Common Mother. Nothing can be more picturesque than this Image of Peace’s standing drest in her wheaten Garland between the two Princes, and extending a Hand to each. In this Equipage and Office we frequently see her in Roman Coins: particularly, on two exhibited by Baron Spanheim; one of Augustus, and the other of Vespatian. The Poets likewise image to us Peace holding an Ear of Corn, as the Emblem of Plenty. Tibull. lib. I. Eleg. x.

“Ovid says, ‘Pax Cererem nutrit, Pacis alumna Ceres.’

“And Tibulus, ‘At nobis, Pax alma! veni, spicamove teneto.’

“But the placing her as a Comma, or stop, between the amities of two Kingdoms, makes her rather stand like a cypher. . . . The term is taken from a traficker in love, who brings people together, a procuress. And this Idea is well appropriated to the satirical turn which the speaker gives to this wicked adjuration of the King, who would lay the foundation of the peace of the two kingdoms in the blood of the heir of one of them. Periers in his Novels, uses the word Commere to signify a she-friend. A tous ses gens, chacun une Commere. And Ben Johnson, in his Devil’s an Ass, englishes the word by a middling Gossip. ‘Or what do you say to a middling Gossip ’To bring you together. “ 1.333.247-8 [Four Jacobean City Comedies . Ed. Gamini Salgado]</cn>

1750 Edwards

Edwards: WARB

3544 Comma] Edwards (1750 [3rd ed.], p. 127; rpt. 7th ed., 1972, pp. 205-6) : <p. 127> “commere]] Mr. Warburton, who brought in this middling gossip [a commere] , as he afterwards calls her, ought best to know from whence she came.’] </p. 127>

[Ed: This is Canon XX : As the design of writing notes is not so much to explane the author’s meaning, as to display the critic’s knowledge; it may be proper, to shew his universal learning, that he minutely point out, from whence every metaphor and allusion is taken. This particular example is number 28, ‘Bawdyhouse.’]

1755 John

John : standard

3544 Comma] Johnson (1755, comma, 1): “n.s. [Greek: komma.]1. The point which notes the distinction of clauses, and order of construction in the sentence, marked thus [,] ‘Comma’s and points they set exactly right.’ Pope.”

1757 theo4

theo4=theo2

3544 Comma]

1765 Heath

Heath : warb

3544 Comma] Heath (1765, pp. 549-50): <p. 549> “P.253. And stand a commere ‘tween their amities .

“So Mr. Warburton assures us ‘Shakespear without doubt wrote,’ understanding by the word, commere , ‘a bawd or procuress.’ But he hath not been able to shew, that this word is ever used in this signification, as in truth it never is, in the French, much less in the English,, language; nor indeed hath he so much as attempted to prove, that in the latter language it hath ever been once used in any signification whatever. The common reading was, ‘And stand a comma ‘tween their amities .’

“The only circumstance of resemblance the poet seems to have had in view in his similitude is merely that of standing between. As a comma stands between two several members of a sentence, without separating them, otherwise than by distinguishing the </p. 549>/ <p. 550> one from the other, in like manner peace personized, or the Goddess of peace, is understood to stand between the amities of the two Kings.”</p.550>

mtol2

Tollett provides JOHN1’s marginal mss. note on p. 549-50 for this passage from HEATH, borrowing from JOHNSON’s 1765 ed. [ : “The comma is the note of connection & continuity of sentences; the period is the note of abruption & disjunction. Shakespeare had it perhaps in his mind to write, that unless England complied with / the mandate, war should put a period to their amity, he altered his mode of diction and thought that in an opposite sense he might put, that Peace should stand a comma between their amities. JOHNSON”]

[Ed: BWK identifies these notes as mTOL2 in the bib.]

1765 john1 (see n.3543)

john1=warb+

3544 Comma]Johnson (ed. 1765): “Hanmer reads, And stand a cement–

“I am again inclined to vindicate the old reading. That the word Commere is French, will not be denied; but when or where was it English ?

“The expression of our authour is, like many of his phrases, sufficiently constrained and affected, but it is not incapable of explanation. The Comma is the note of connection and continuity of sentences; the Period is the note of abruption and disjunction. Shakespeare had it perhaps in his mind to write. That unless England complied with the mandate, war should put a period to their amity; he altered his mode of diction, and thought that, in an opposite sense, he might put, That Peace should stand a Comma between their amities. This is not an easy style; but is it not the style of Shakespeare ?”

1773 v1773

v1773 = john1

3544 Comma]

1773 jen

jen

3544 Comma] Jennens (ed. 1773) : “a go-between, a procuress. See Heath in loc.”

1774 capn

capn

3544 Comma]Capell 1774:1:1:147} : “If the description of “ Peace “ in this passage, her position, her dress, and her office, be consider’d by any Judicious person, he will be inclin’d to embrace an opinion advanc’d by the third modern,—that the Poet took his idea from some medal or medals that he had met with; upon which this identical goddess, attir’d in part as above, is seen standing between the princes united, whose “amities “ those same medals commemorate: and, if this was his idea, “ commere “ (a word in use with the French, in that sense which may be found in the Glossary ) must have been his word in this place; and chang’d by his first printer, for one familiar and known to him, and that has a seeming propriety. The opinion is further confirm’d by what we find in l. 18, for in that too the image looks the same way; “palms “ being the emblems of Peace, and, as such, are often found upon medals that have been struck upon occasion of one of them. ≈ In the page after this, l. 7, “by their own insinuation “ signfied -- by their having insinuated themselves into this office, made court for it, fought for it. ≈ “ think thee,” l. 12, a reading of the first and best quarto) is--bethink thee. “</p. 147>

capn

3544 Comma]Capell 1774:1:1:Glossary) : “Commere (H. 123, 20.) a common Mother or Godmother. Fre. “

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773

3544 Comma]

1784 ays1

ays1 ≈ v1778 (only john1; only “The comma is . . . style of Shakespeare”)

3544 Comma]

1785 v1785

v1785=v1778

3544 Comma]

3545

1787 ann[Annotations by Sam. Johnson & Geo. Steevens, . . ]

ann:v1785 (abbreviated)

Warburton (apud Annotations, 1787, p. . )“Peace is here properly and finely personaliz’d as the Goddess of good League and Friendship; and very classically dressed”: but what Ideas can we form of her standing as a Comma, or Stop, betwixt their Amities? I am sure, she stands rather like a Cypher, in this Reading. I have no Doubt, but the Poet wrote;

And stand a Commere ‘tween their Amities;

“Ovid says,‘Pax Cererem nutrit, Pacis alumna Ceres.’

“And Tibulus,‘At nobis, Pax alma! veni, spicamove teneto.’ WARBURTON”

Johnson (apud Annotations , 1787, p. )But the placing her as a Comma, or stop, between the amities of two Kingdoms, makes her rather stand like a cypher. . . . The term is taken from a traficker in love, who brings people together, a procuress. And this Idea is well appropriated to the satirical turn which the speaker gives to this wicked adjuration of the King, who would lay the foundation of the peace of the two kingdoms in the blood of the heir of one of them. Periers in his Novels, uses the word Commere to signify a she-friend. A tous ses gens, chacun une Commere. And Ben Johnson, in his Devil’s an Ass, englishes the word by a middling Gossip.

‘Or what do you say to a middling Gossip ’To bring you together. “ 1.333.247-8 [Four Jacobean City Comedies . Ed. Gamini Salgado]

Hanmer reads, And stand a cement–

I am again inclined to vindicate the old reading. That the word Commere is French, will not be denied; but when or where was it English ?

The expression of our authour is, like many of his phrases, sufficiently constrained and affected, but it is not incapable of explanation. The Comma is the note of connection and continuity of sentences; the Period is the note of abruption and disjunction. Shakespeare had it perhaps in his mind to write. That unless England complied with the mandate, war should put a period to their amity; he altered his mode of diction, and thought that, in an opposite sense, he might put, That Peace should stand a Comma between their amities. This is not an easy style; but is it not the style of Shakespeare ?” JOHNSON

1790 mal

mal = v1785

3544 Comma]

-1790 mWesley

mWesley

3544 Comma] Wesley (typescript of ms. notes in ed. 1785): “ I believe something to be wrong in the text, which I know not how to amend. ‘Commere’ is wholly indefensible.”

1791- rann

rann

3544 Comma]Rann (ed. 1791-) : “and subsist but for another instant between them.”

1793 v1793

v1793 = v1785

3544 Comma]

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

3544 Comma]

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

3544 Comma]

1815 Becket, Andrew.

Becket : warb ; john1 +

3544 Comma]Becket (1815, 2: 73) : <p. 73> “‘Comma,’ if it does not absolutely mean stop , must yet be understood as making a pause , a sense which will not do here. There can be little question but that Shakspeare wrote— ‘be a co-mate ‘tween their amities.’ ‘Co-mate,’ i.e. companion . The meaning of the passage is: ‘that peace should be associate with them.’ B” </p. 73>

1819 cald1

cald1

3544 Comma] Caldecott (ed. 1819) : “ Continue the passage or intercourse of amity between them, and prevent the interposition of a period to it: we have the idea, but used in a contrary sense, in an author of the next age. “As for the field, we will cast lots for the place, &c. but I feare the point of the sword will make a comma to your cunning.’ Nich. Breton’s Packet of Letters, 4to. 1637, p. 23

“In the Scornful Lady we have something like this mode of expression:‘No denial--must stand between your person and the business.’ A. III.” [3.1.112-3 ;Beaumont & Fletcher.]

1819 Jackson.

Jackson

3544 Comma]Jackson (1819, p. 361) : <p. 361> “Though this passage, by the ingenuity of Dr. Johnson, is considered correct, yet a note of admiration , if a point was to determine the matter, would have been more apposite; for never was comma so misplaced as in the present instance. I hesitate not to say, that our Author wrote:‘As love between them like the palm might flouish; As peace should still her wheaten garland wear,And stand a column ‘tween their amities;’

“What figure can be more expressive of a good understanding between two monarchs? Peace, with her wheaten garland, denoting plenty, was to be the grant column to perpetuate that friendship they had sworn to maintain.

“The top of the l , in the word column , not being sufficiently clear, and being immediately followed by um , made lum appear as mm , and the terminating n , which, in the writings of former times, nearly resembled an a , was taken by the compositor for that character.” </p. 361>

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

3544 Comma]

1822 Nares

Nares : warb

3544 Comma] Nares (1822; 1905):”comart]] A word hitherto found only in the old 4to. ed. of Hamlet, but restored by Warburton, as better suiting the sense than covenant, which had been substituted. It may, very analogically, mean bargain or covenant between two. Shakespare also used to mart, for to traffic. ‘As by the same comart, And carriage of the articles designed, His fell to Hamlet.’ [Ham. 1.1.97 (110)]

“It might even mean single combat, for mart is also war, or battle. See Mart.”

1826 sing1

sing1

3544 Comma] Singer (ed. 1826): “Stand as a comma , i.e. as a note of connexion between their amities, to prevent them from being brought to a period .’”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

3544 Comma]

1833 valpy

valpy ≈ standard

3544 Comma] Valpy (ed. 1833): “A note of connexion.”

1841 knt1 (nd)

knt1:cald1

3544 Comma] Knight (ed. 1841) : “Caldecott explains this— ‘Continue the passage or intercourse of amity between them, and prevent the interposition of a period to it.’”

1843 col1

col1 = john1

3544 Comma]

1844 verp

verp = knt1 w/o attribution

3544 Comma]

1845 Hunter

Hunter : mHunter (see -1855 note below)

3544 Comma] Hunter (1845, 2:264) : <P. 264>“Dr. Johnson’s note is ingenious, but the Poet’s intention appears to have been to ridicule such an absurd expression in some speech or document of the time.” </p. 264>

1853 col2

col2

3544 Comma]

1853 Singer (Shakespeare Vindicated)

Singer : warb ; han1

3544 comma] Singer (1853, p. 268): <p. 268>“It seems to me that a passage in the dialogue between Hamlet and Horatio, at the commencement of this scene, which has baffled the commentators, contains a misprint, and that its correction would make it much more intelligible. It is where Hamlet is describing the commission he wrote, and substituted for that in which the King had requested the King of England to put him to death:—[cites 3537-3544]Warburton suggested ‘stand a commére; ‘ Hanmer, ‘stand a cement ;’ others, ‘a column ,’ and “stand commercing .’ Well might some one say, ‘none of these words please me, yet I would rather it should be ‘stand an elephant than a comma .’ It is evident that Peace is personified, and if we read ‘stand a co-mere ‘tween their amities,’ it would be that Peace might stand as a mark or euidence between them. A co-mere would be a joint landmark , the Lapis Terminalis of the ancients; and it should be remembered that the God of meres or bounds, Terminus, was wont to end the strifes and controversies of people in dividing their lands. Shakespeare has the mered question in Antony and Cleopatra [Ant.], and Co-mart in this play as well as Co-mates in As You Like It [AYL]. The words stand and ‘tween show that a word with the meaning of co-mere is requisite.”</p. 268>

1854 del2

del2

3544 Comma]Delius (ed. 1854) : “Wie ein Komma die Sätze, zwischen denen es steht, verbindet, so sollte auch zum verbindenden Zeichen der Friede zwischen den freundschaftlichen Gesinnungen Englands und Dänemarks stehen. “ [As a comma combines the sentences between which it stands, so should also the unifying design of peace stand between the friendly opinions/designs of England and Denmark.”]

-1855 mHunter

(Prolegomena and Notes on Shakespeare [BL ADD. MS. 24495 ] : pp. 219-46)

mHunter

3544 Comma] Hunter (-1855, p. 229) : <p. 229> “Notwithstanding the ingenuity of Johnson’s note, I take the sense of this line to be thus:—Hamlet is alluding sarcastically to [word unclear?] which may be found in [word unclear?] creation of peace & unity, perhaps in some one then well known--in which this absurd expression is used, & he thus ridicules it. The lines before it are evidently so & in the II act we have lines ridicule of the priorities of the politicians of the time ‘Too expostulate why he’ indeed the whole character of Polonious was evidently intended to ridicule the [words run vertically in the binding and are thus unreadable] </p. 229>

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1 : john1, sing1

3544 Comma]Hudson (ed. 1856): “This is oddly expressed, as Johnson observes; but the meaning appears to be, ‘Stand as a note of connexion between their amities, to prevent them from being brought to a period .’”

1856 sing2

sing2 : sing1 + magenta underlined

Singer (ed. 1856) seems to refer to CAP somewhat with his reading of “co-mere”: “The old copies read, ‘stand a comma ‘tween their amities.’ Johnson supposes that the meaning may be, ‘Stand as a comma , i.e. as a note of connextion between their amities, to prevent them from being brought to a period . But think of Peace standing as a comma ! I have no doubt that we should read:--‘And stand a co-mere ‘tween their amities,’

“i.e. as a mark defining them . Mere is a boundary mark , the lapis terminalis of the ancient; and it should be remembered that the god meres or bounds, Terminus, was wont to end the strifes and controversies of people in dividing their lands.”

1857 dyce1

dyce1 : Singer (Sh. Vindicated)

3544 Comma] Dyce (ed. 1857) : “On this line Mr. Singer writes: ‘Warburton suggested “stand a commére” Hanmer, “stand a cement ;” others, “a column ,” and “stand commercing .” Well might some one say, “none of these words please me, yet I would rather it should be ‘stand an elephant than a comma .’ It is evident that Peace is personified,and if we read ‘stand a co-mere ‘tween their amities,’ it would be that Peace might stand as a mark or euidence between them. A co-mere would be a joint landmark ,’ &c. Shakespeare Vindicated , &c. p. 268.—But our author’s text is not to be amended by the insertion of words coined expressly for the occasion: and to me at least a tampering of critics with the passage does not prove that it is corrupt.”

1857 elze1

elze1=

3544 Comma] Elze (ed. 1857): "So lesen sämmtliche Drucke. Warburton hat geschrieben: And stand a commere &c., was er durch ’a guarantee, a common mother’; order durch ’a procuress’ erklärt. ’The comma, sagt dagegen Johnson als echter Sprachgelehrter, is the note of connection and continuity of sentences’, und will so die überlieferte Lesart vertheidigen, so dringend auch der Verdacht einer Verderbniss an dieser Stelle ist.—Warburton macht darauf aufmerksam, dass sich eine derartige Darstellung häufig auf römischen Münzen findet und vergleicht Tibull. I, 10, 67 (ed. Lachm.): ’At nobis, Pax alma! vEni, spicamque teneto.’" ["So read collected printings. Warburton has written, ’And stand a commere &c, which he explains as ’a guarantee, a common mother,’ or as ’a procuress.’" The comma, says the differing Johnson as a true grammarian, is the note of connection and continuity of sentences,’ and so desires to defend the traditional reading, even so strong the suspicion of a corruption at this place.—Warburton calls attention, that such a frequent representation finds in Roman coins and compare Tibull I,10, 67 "At nobis, Pax alma! Veni, spicamque, teneto."[And to us, mental peace! I come, I speak, I hold."]

1858 col3

col3

3544 Comma] Collier (ed. 1858: Glossary):”connexion.”

1859 stau

stau : john1 ; warb ; han1. sing1

3544 comma]Staunton (ed. 1859): “Johnson thinks this not incapable of explanation,—’The comma is the note of connection and continuity of sentences; the period is the note of abruption and disjunction.’ To us it is much easier to believe that ‘comma’ is aa typographical slip than that Shakespeare should have chosen that point as a mark of connection : at the same time, having no faith in the substitution,cement , by Hanmer, or commere , by Warburton, or co-mere (a boundary-stone ), by Singer, we leave the text as it stands in the old copies, simply suggesting the possibility of ‘comma’ being a misprint for co-mate .”

[seems to summarize Johnson, Warburton, Hanmer, and Singer]

1861 wh1

whi : han1

3544 comma] WHITE (ed.1861): “cement]] Hanmer silently made the correction, which is supported, in accent and all, by the following passage in Antony and Cleopatra , Act III. Sc.2:‘Let not the piece of virtue which is set Between us as the cement of our love.’ &c.

“And see Octavia’s subsequent description of herself (Sc. 4) as standing between, praying for both parts.” explains why he chooses Hanmer over the Qq reading:

1862 Bailey

Bailey : Singer ; dyce2? ; Jackson

3544 Comma] Bailey (1862, pp. 55-9) : <p. 55> “The phrase, a comma, in the fifth line of the last speech, I should have thought self-evidently corrupt had it not been defended.

“It is admitted by all, as far as I know, to be an unprecedented expression. In the only other passage in which the word comma is used by Shakespeare, it signifies part of a sentence, a clause, as period is employed to denote a whole sentence. In the line now under consideration it can designate literally or figuratively nothing of the kind, nor yet denote a grammatical stop; and to my apprehension it has no meaning whatever. That Peace wearing a garland should stand as a punctuation-mark between persons or abstractions of any kind, is surely as pure nonsense as ever flowed from penman or printer.

“The emendation which I have to suggest is, ‘As peace should still her wheaten garland wear, And hold her oliue ‘tween their amities.’

“The poet had before given us the palm and the </p. 55> <p. 56>wheaten garland; and in the same strain of figurative expression, it is natural that he should complete the flourish by presenting us with the olive, the universal symbol of peace. Thus the proposed emendation corresponds in thought and tone with the context. I scarcely need to quote more than a single passage in support of the mere phraseology of my suggestion. Take the following from [2H4 4.4.86-7 (2466-7)]:—’There is not now a rebel’s sword unsheath’d; But peace puts forth her olive everywhere.’

“Or, better still, a pasage in [TN 1.5.208-11 (502-4)], where Viola says: ‘I bring no overture of war, no taxation of homage: I hold the olive in my hand: my words are as full of peace and matter.’

“But now comes the task of accounting for the transformation of holds her oliue into stands a comma. How could one be possibly changed into the other?

“By a very simple blunder. It is clearly (in my apprehension) a case of the incorporation of a marginal direction into the text. The compositor had before him the genuine line, and put it accurately into type, except that he omitted to place the mark of elision (‘) before tween, and the reviser of the proof-sheet, in order to have the defect supplied, </p. 56> <p. 57> directed in the margin that it should be inserted before the truncated preposition, thus: ‘A comma. And hold her olive _^tween their amities.’

“The compositor, mistaking the marginal direction, instead of putting the mark of elision, inserted a comma in words before tween, under the misconception that those two words were to be substituted for her oliue, which might have been accidentally blotted or crossed with the pen.

“The line would then assume the form,—’And hold a comma ‘tween their amities.’

“But hold a comma would be so strikingly absured that he or the reviser of the proof-sheet would be foreced t adopt some other verb: be might possibly do; but then be could hardly have been changed into hold, and he must find a verb that at least ends in d. Under these difficulties stand presents itself, is accepted, and the received text emerges into day, ‘And stand a comma ‘tween their amities.’

“In this hypothetical account of the rise and progress of the blunder, I do not of course pretend to accuracy in detail. The error might have been committed, not in the compositor’s room but in the copyist’s office, and in several different ways easy to be imagined; but that the whimsical substitution of the alien phrase ws substantially brought about in the way described, —that it was the incorporation </p. 57> <p. 58> of a marginal note into the text, I have little doubted, or rather none.

“In the 4to edition of Hamlet, A.D. 1604, the first extant in which the passage appears (for it does not occur in the edition of 1603), there is no elision mark before tween, which is just what my theory requires; for, supposing the error to have been originally made in the first-mentioned edition, it is obvious that the words a comma would be introduced into the text instead of the elision-mark, and consequently that mark ought not to be found there. But no reason fo rits absence existing after the blunder had once gained a footing, we find the elision duly noted by its usual symbol in the folio of 1623.

“Should the reader, adopting my theory of the mistake, turn to the various remarks of the commentators on the disputed expression, he cannot fail to be greatly amused. Dr. Johnson justifies and explains the received text with so much ingenuity that we regreat the waste of intellectual breath while we smile at the bubble which it was expended in blowing. Warburton suggests a commere, Hanmer a cement, Jackson a column, and some one else commercing.

“Mr. Singer, who enumerates these several failures, adds (after another writer), “I would rather it should be ‘stand an elephant’ than ‘a comma’” and then he tries his own skill with the success (if I may use an antithesis suggested by this colossal </p. 58> <p. 59> object of preferences) of the mountain in labour. The ridiculous mus in this case is co-mere as the equivalent of common boundary, or joint land-mark: ‘And stand a co-mere ‘tween their amities,—’ an emendation which is disposed of by two considerations: first, the word is a compound manufactured for the occasion, and not to be discovered in Shakespeare or elsewhere; secondly, it is difficult to conceive in what sense ‘peace’ could be said to stand as a land-mark at all, especially with a garland on her head; while we may be quite sure that in such a simple passage as this, containing designedly the mere commonplaces of rhetoric, the meaning would not have been left to be hammered out with difficulty, or even to raise a doubt. The genuine reading of this line must correspond in obviousness and lucidity with the rest of the ‘conjuration.’” </p. 59>

1864 ktly

ktly

3544 Comma] Keightley (ed. 1864 [1866]: Glossary):”comart]] a bargain.”

1864 c&mc

c&mc

3544 Comma] Clarke (ed. 1864, Glossary): “As a link of amicably harmonious connexion. [Ham. a.s.? (3544)]. In the latter instance, commentators have explained the allusion as being to the smallest point in punctuation; but we take it to be ‘comma,’ the term applied by theoretical musicians to ‘the least of all the sensible intervals in music’ showing the exact proportions between concords. Tuners of organs and pianofortes use the word thus to the present day. For a farther explanation of ‘comma,’ as a musical term, see Hawkin’s Hist. of Music, pp. 28, 122, and 410, Novello’s ediiton, 1853. The context of the passage in ‘Hamlet,’ shows the far greater probability that Shakspeare had in view a term referring to concord, than one alluding to the method of stopping.”

3544 Comma] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): “The word has been changed by some commentators; and, by others who retain it, it has been explained to mean the smallest point in punctuation, while they interpret the line accordingly. We think, however, that in the present passage Shakespeare uses the word in a different sense from the one in which he uses it as pointed out in Note 17, act I, [Tim.] There he probably employs it with reference to the minutest stop; hwere, we believe that he employs it as the term applied by theoretical musicians to express ‘the least of all the sensible intervals in music,’ showing the exact proportions between accords. Tuners of organs and piano-fortes use the word ‘comma’ thus to the present day. The term in its musical sense is fully explained in Hawkins’s Hist. of Music (Novello’s Edition, 1853) at pp. 28, 122, and 410. From the context of the present passage, there is far greater probability that Sh. had in view a term referring to concord, than one alluding to the method of stopping; and we think that he here uses the word ‘comma’ to express a link of amicably harmonious connection. That he was well acquainted with various technical terms in music we have several proofs in his writings. See, among others, Notes 46 and 47, Act iv, [Rom.]”

1865 hal

hal : cald2

3544 Comma] Halliwell (ed. 1865) paraphrases this line [stolen from CALD?]: “That is, continue the passage or intercourse of amity between them, and prevent the interposition of a period to it: we have the idea, but used in a contrary sense, in an author of the next age. ‘As for the field, we will cast lots for the place, &c. but I feare the point of the sword will make a comma to your cunning,’ Nich. Breton’s Packet of Letters , 4to. 1637, p. 23. In the Scornful Lady we have something like this mode of expression: — ‘No denial—must stand between your person and the business.’ —Caldecott .”

1866 dyce2

dyce2 : Heath (abbreviated)

3544 Comma] Heath (apud Dyce, ed. 1866) : “Here ‘comma ‘ has been altered to ‘commere,’ ‘cement,’ &c.—’The only circumstance of resemblance the poet seems to have had in view in this similitude is merely that of standing between. As a comma stands between two several members of a sentence, without separating them, otherwise than by distinguishing the one from the other, in like manner peace personized, or the Goddess of peace, is understood to stand between the amities of the two Kings.” HEATH.

3544 Comma] Dyce (ed. 1866) : “—Perhaps so.”

1866 cam1

clark (ed. 1866) has no commentary but for the textual variants I cite above.

1866 Cartwright

Cartwright

3544 a Comma tweene] Cartwright (1866, p. 37): <p. 37> “Read as one atween,” </p. 37>

I think Cartwright conjectures that a Comma tweene should read, as one atween.

1866 Elze

Elze

3544 And stand a Comma tween their amities] Elze (1866, p. 186):<p.186> “ Some time ago I communicated to my learned friend, Dr. F. A. Leo, of Berlin, an alteration of the well-known line (act i, scene 2), — ‘And stand a comma ‘tween their amities,’ into – ‘And stand a co-mate ‘tween their amities.’ He replied that this conjecture had already been made by Becket, whose ‘Shakespeare’s Himself Again’ I have never seen yet, and I now find it quoted as Becket’s In the Cambridge edition. To me this coincidence seems convincing. It is true that in the only passage in which the word ‘co-mate’ occurs in Shakespeare it is accented on the second syllable: ‘Now my co-mates, and brothers in exile,’ As You Like It, act ii, scene 1. There can, however, be little doubt that, like ‘exile,’ which, curiously enough, occurs in the same line, like ‘comrade,’ and a number of similar words, co-mate had a shifting accent, and Webster’s dictionary gives, indeed, ‘co-mate.’ The similarly compounded ‘co-heir,’ also has the accent on the first syllable. ‘Love,’ and ‘Peace,’ in the preceding lines, should be printed with capitals.”

1866d Athenæum

Elze

3544 Comma] Elze (1866, p. 186): <p. 186): “Some time ago I communicated to my learned friend, Dr. F.A. Leo, of Berlin, an alteration of the well known line (act I, scene 2),—’And stand a comma ‘tween their amities,’ into—’And stand a co-mate ‘tween their amities.’ He replied that this conjecture had already been made by Becket, whose ‘Shakespeare’s Himself Again’ I have never seen yet, and I now find it quoted as Becket’s in the Cambridge edition. To me this coincidence seems convincing. It is true that in the only passage in which the word ‘co-mate’ occurs in Shakspeare it is accented on the second syllable: ‘Now, my co-mates, and brothers in exile’ [AYL 2.1. (605)] There can, however, be little doubt that, like ‘exile,’ which, curiously enough, occurs in the same line, like ‘comrade,’ and a number of similar words, co-mate had a shifting accent, and Webster’s Dictionary gives, indeed, ‘comate.’ The similarly-compounded ‘có-heir,’ also, has the accent on the first syllable. ‘Love,’ and ‘Peace,’ in the preceding lines [3542-3], should be printed with capitals.” </p. 186>

1869 tsch

tsch : Elze

3544 Comma] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Die Aenderung cómate rührt von Elze her und ist jedenfalls ein glücklicher Gedanke zu nennen.” [“The variant cómate is presented by Elze and is by all a means a fortunate idea to speak of.”]

[Ed: Actually, Elze takes it from Becket first.]

1872 del4

del4=del2

3544 Comma]

1872 cln1

cln1 : standard

3544 a Comma] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “comma is here used as opposed to ‘period,’ or full stop, and in this view a mark of connection, not division.”

1872 hud2

hud2

3544 Comma] Hudson (ed. 1872): “Instead of cement , all the old copies have comma, out of which it is hardly possible extract any sense. Hanmer made the change, and it is clearly right. So in Ant. 3.2. 28-29 (1570-1) Cæsar speaks to Antony of Octavia, as “the piece of virtue which is set betwixt us as the cement of our love, to keep it builded.’

1873 rug2

rug2 ≈ standard

3544 a Comma] Moberly (ed. 1873): “so as to separete them as little as possible.”

-1875 Bullock1

Bullock1

3544 a Comma]Bullock (1875, New Readings #29): “It is to the phrase ‘a comma’ in the last line we wish to draw attention, for certainly if it be the usual printer’s comma that we are accustomed to, it does appear to be a rather insignifcant symbol to express peace as existing between two great countries. That others are not satisfied with the expression may be gathered from the Cambridge editors’ notes in which we have Warburton suggesting such a phrase as a commere, an old word for comrade, and adopted by Theobald. Again we have Theobald himself at one time conjecturing that the passage should read no comma, while Hanmer adopts a cement, Singer in his second edition a co-mere meaning a joint mother, Becket conjectures that it should be a co-mate, Jackson a column, an anonymous conjecture makes it to be commercing, and Dr. Nicholson proposes a comare, a term probably allied to the wor co-mart or comart, the term used in all the Quarto copies at [110], but which in the Folio copies is changed to covenant. Besides these we have a conjecture of Mr. Bailey’s of Sheffield, in his lately published work in two volumes, ‘On the Received Text and its improvement,’ in which he boldly cuts the knot by reading the line thus:— ‘And hold her olive ‘tween their amities.’

“In this last we have doubtless the very idea intended to be conveyed, but with a licence of expression that the printed letters of the text could never by any possibility be made to represent. Our own conjecture may by some be considered to be liable to the same charge, ut at all events we do not hesitate to set it before our readers. To our mind in the passage before us we have Peace personified in statuesque form looking complacently on the two states also personified and interchanging mutual acts of kindness, and her peculiar attitude is specially expressed in the two words which have got printed as we see it in the text. Though some may be inclined to consider a comma as a connective, it would rather appear to be a disjunctive, as it separates clauses in order to render them more distinct, the very opposite of the meaning intended. We would, therefore, propose to read the passage with a word for which we have no earlier authority than Dryden, but this no way militates against the supposition of Shakespeare having used it, for in much his phraseology was far in advance of his day, and to him we are indebted for many expressions to which he was the first to give currency. The two lines we therefore propose to read thus:—’As peace should still her wheaten garland wear And stand akimbo ‘tween their amities.’

“The word thus given is of the same class as the expression in [H5] before the battle of Agincourt:—’He that outlines this day, and comes safe home, Shall stand a tip-toe when this day is named,’ and when Romeo describing sunrise, says—’Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tip-toe on the misty mountain tops.’

“Again, in [Tro.], we have Agamemnon relating the deeds of one of the Trojan heroes who ‘Hath Doreus prisoner, and stands colossus-wise, waving his beam, Upon the pashed corses of the kings.’”

1877 col4

col4=col3

3544 Comma]

18?? dyce3

dyce3 = dyce2’s note

3544 Comma]

1877 v1877

v1877 ≈ theol ; ≈ theo1(warb’s note) ; ≈ capn (summarized) ; ≈ Heath (only As a comma stands . . . between the amities of the two Kings.”) ; ≈ dyce2 ; ≈ john1;≈ Becket; ≈ stau (summarized) ; Elze (The Athenæum) ; cald2 (only BRETON analogue) ; Hunter (New Illustrations; subst) ; ≈ sing2 ; ≈ dyce1 ; ≈ whi ; clarke ; Bailey (minus final Singer & JOHNSON ¶s) ; Cartwright (both New Readings & N & Qu.) ; J. Wetherell (N & Qu.)

3544 Comma] Furness (ed. 1877): “And Elze (Athenæum, 11 Aug. 1866) lit upon the same conjecture independently of Becket, and thinks that this coincidence adds strength. It should be added that Elze, one of the very best English scholars in Germany, had merely heard at the time of Becket’s conjecture, and had no knowledge of the quality of the rest of that wild ‘Nonsense Book.’ Tschischwitz follows Becket.”

3544 Comma] Clarke (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “‘Comma’ is here employed as the term applied by theoretical musicians to express ‘the least of all the sensible intervals in music,’ showing the exact proportions between accords. Tuners of organs and piano-fortes use the word ‘comma’ thus to the present day. The term in its musical sense is fully explained in Hawkins’s Hist. of Music (pp. 28, 122, 410, ed. Novello, 1853). From the context of the present passage, there is far greater probability that Sh. had in view a term referring to concord, than one alluding to the method of stopping; and we think that he here uses the word ‘comma’ to express a link of amicably harmonious connection. That he was well acquainted with various technical terms in musci we have several proofs in his writings.”

3544 Comma] Furness (ed. 1877): “if Bailey had said comma here [afterBAILEY’s ‘there is no elision mark’], would it not have realed the fallacy of his whole theory? would the proof-reader have called for ‘comma’ when he meant an apostrophe?”

3544 Comma] Furness (ed. 1877): “Cartwright proposed, ‘And stand as one atween;’ two years later (N. & Qu., 20 June 1868) he conjectured, ‘And stand as concord.’” J. Wetherell (N & Qu. 27 June, 1868): Read: ‘And stand at-one between their majesties.’”

1878 Bulloch2

Bulloch2 : ≈ Bulloch1 ; CAM1 [for variant notes]

3544 Comma] Bulloch (1878, pp. 234-5) : <p. 234>“It is to the expression ‘a comma’ I wish to draw attention, for certainly if it be the usual printer’s comma, it does appear an insignificant symbol to express peace existing between two great countries. The Cambridge notes present the following—a commere adopted by Theobald (from Warburton); no comma, a conjecture by Theobald (withdrawn); a cement, by Hanmer; a co-mere, by Singer, ed. 2; a co-mate, conjecture by Becket; a column, conjecture by Jackson; commercing, Anonymous conj.; a comare, by Nicholson. A conjecture by Bailey for ‘stand a comma’ is hold her oliue; and a conjecture by Cartwright for ‘a comma ‘tween’ is as one atween. In addition for ‘amities’ at the end of the line, Theobald conjectured enmities; but withdrawn.

“In line 93 [110] of the first scene of the play, the word ‘covenant,’ from the Folio text, appears in the Quartos as comart, co-mart and compact.

“In the passage before us we have Peace personified in Statuesque form looking complacently on the two countries, and interchanging acts of kindness. Her attitude is specially expressed in the term I propose. We have no earlier authority that I know of for akimbo than Dryden, but probably it may have been used before his day. Much of Shakespearean phraseology was in advance of the time, and to the great dramatist we are indebted for many expressions he was the first to give currency. The two lines specially being on the matter are thus—’As peace should still her wheaten garland wear And stand akimbo ‘tween their amities.’

“In [1.5.174 (870), I have every reason to believe that the same word in a participial form appears as encumber’d, when Hamlet warns Horatio against betraying confidence in the matter of his future conduct. ‘[cites 868-75].”

1877 col4

col4=col3

3544 Comma]

1877 neil

neil = cln1 ; = Singer (Sh. Vindicated; only “It is evident . . . lands”) ; warb (only “a commere . . . common mother”) +

3544 Comma] Neil (ed. 1877, Notes): “Becket, Elze, Staunton, and Tschischwitz favour comate; Hanmer, Hudson, and White adopt cement; Bailey, hold her olive; Cartwright, as one atween or as concord; Wetherell, at one; Theobald, no coma. Clarke explains comma as musical term, meaning ‘the least of all the sensible intervals in music.’ Caldecott qutoes in favour of the text from Nicholas Breton’s Packet of Letters, 1637: ‘I feare the point of the sword will make a comma in your cunning’—p. 23. Johnson, Hunter, Heath, and Dyce accept the text. Commercing[see Singer, 1853 above] and comare [Nicholson] have also been proposed as emendations.”

[Ed: I suspect that Neil is merely summarizing v1877 notes.]

1879 Herr

Herr : v1877? rug2

3544 Comma] Herr (1879, pp. 127-8) : <p. 127> “Moberly explains this, ‘so as to separate them as little as possible;’ Schmidt, ‘keep their amities from falling together by the ears.’ Hanmer, followed by White and Hudson, reads ‘cement.’ The last version is certainly more plausible and preferable; but it hardly fits in the line, and reads very awkwardly. In the three other only instances where Shakespeare applied the word, it is done naturally and properly; as, ‘burned in their cement;’ ‘may cement their divisions;’ and ‘as the cement of our love.’ ‘Comma’ is of course a corrupt word, and all explanations of it must necessarily be mere guess-work founded upon the meaning apparent from connection with the context; so in guessing, Schmidt and Moberly’s interpretations may be </p. 127><p. 128> considered sufficiently adequate and may possibly answer every purpose. But as it is at all times better to restore the right word to the text, the following is here inserted as being in all probability the true one:—’As love between them like the palm might flourish, As peace should still her wheaten garland wear And stand a calm between their amities.’

“‘Calm, calmed, and calmly’ are very often employed by Shakespeare in various senses of course. Of this, compare [Tro. 1.3.100 (559)]: ‘The unity and married calm of states.’ ‘A sould as even as a calm.’ [H8 3.1.165 (1802)] ‘The cankers of a calm world and a long peace.’ [1H4 4.2.29-30 (2404-05)] ‘But heaven hath a hand in these events, To whose high will we bound our calm contents.’ [R2 5.2.37-8 (2404-5)] ‘And calmly run on in obedience Even to our ocean, to our great King John.’ [KJ 5.4.56-7 (2517-18)]” </p. 128>

1881 hud3

Hud3 ≈ hud2

3544 Comma] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Instead of cement , which is Hanmer’s reading, the old copies have comma . The image of peace standing as a comma between two persons, to hold them friends, goes rather hard. In Ant. 3.2. 28-29 (1570-1) Cæsar speaks to Antony of Octavia, as “the piece of virtue which is set betwixt us as the cement of our love, to keep it builded.’ Some editors, following Johnson, retain comma , on the ground that the comma is in itself ‘a note of connection.’ This seems to me a reason invented purely for the case in hand. The comma is no more a note of connection than other punctuative marks are: it is just as truly a note of division as a semicolon, a colon, or a period; the same in kind, but differing in degree. So, in writing or printing, it is often immaterial whether a comma or a semicolon be used; and some use the latter where others use the former.”

[Ed: HUDSON appropriates WHI’s reading and note, without attribution?]

1882 elze2

elze2

3543 comma] Elze (ed. 1882): “No reader of Mr. Blades’ ingenious book on Shakspere and Typography (London, 1872), however playful and humourous its meaning may be, can entertain a doubt of the authenticity of this reading. It is an established fact, that allusions and metaphors taken from the art of printing were widely popular in Shakespeare’s day. Compare, amongst numerous other passages, Marston’s Antonio and Mellida, IV, I (Marston, ed. Halliwell, I, 51)—’We’ll point our speech With amorous kissing, kissing commas, and even suck The liquid breath from out each other’s lips.’ Dekker, The Honest Whore, Part II, III, I (Middleton, ed. Dyce, III, 173 seq.):—’I read Strange comments in those margins of your looks: Your cheeks of late are, like-bad-printed books, So diminly character’d, I scarce can spell One line of love in them: sure all’s not well.’

”[Ham. a.s.l. (2436)]: index; [Ham. a.s.l. (3622+1)]: margent. [Per. 2.3.4 (771)]: title-page. Edward III 2.2. (ed. Delius, p. 34): The register of all fair rarities (Delius : varieties).”

1883 wh2

wh2 ; wh1

3543 comma] White (ed. 1883): “a very perplexing word; not improbably a misprint of ‘cement:’ but a comma is a connecting as well as a separative point in a sentence, the old reading cannot safely be disturbed.”

1883 Kinnear

Kinnear : ≈ sing2 ; ≈ dyce2?

3544 And stand a Comma tweene their amities] Kinnear (1883, p. 409-10): <p. 409> “‘And stand’—i.e. And as should stand, &c. Hamlet begins and finishes tieh the purpose of the letter,—’As England was his faithful tributary, And [as should] stand the cov’nant ‘tween their amities.’ the figures of Love and Peace are the flourishes,—without the last line the letter is deprived of force. Compare [2H4 4.1.181-6 (2050-55)]—’Mowb. There is a thing within my bosom tells me That no conditions of our peace can stand. Hast. Fear you not that: if we can make our peace Upon such large terms and so absolute As our conditions shall consist upon, Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains.’ The old eds. have ‘And stand a Comma’—a mis-</p. 409><p. 410>print arising probably from covenant being written in an abbreviated form. In 1.1.93 [110], we find—’as, by the same cov’nant [Cov’nant, folio].’ here the quartos have ‘comart’—probably a mistake for the former word. (Dyce and Singer print ‘co-mart’—the other compared eds. follow the folio.) In [Tim., ], see Note (1), ‘comma’ is similarly a probable misprint for ‘comment.’ In the present passage Singer prints ‘a co-mere.’ The other compared eds. retain ‘a comma.’ The change of ‘the’ to ‘a’ would almost necessary follow the misprint.” </p. 410>

1885 Leo

Leo

3543 comma] Leo (1886, p. 107): <p. 107>Instead of ‘comma,’ I should prefer the reading ‘comart;’ see [Ham. 1.1.93 (Folio: covenant).” </p. 107>

1885 macd

macd

3543 comma] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “‘as he would have Peace stand between their friendships like a comma between two words.’ Every point has in it a conjunctive, as well as a disjunctive element: the former seems the one regarded here—only that some amities require more than a comma to separate them. The comma does not make much of a figure—is good enough for its position, however; if indeed the fact be not, that, instead of standing for Peace, it does not even stand for itself, but for some other word. I do not for my part think so.”

1885 mull

mull : contra rug2 ; Hunter? ; cln1 ; john1

3544 Comma] Mull (ed. 1885, pp. lviii-lix): <p. lviii>“The mutilation that has depraved the text and worried the commentators, in the substitution of the obnoxious word ‘comma,’ is one of the grossest, perhaps, that has mocked the poet, corrupted a beautiful passage, and confounded every reader. It is another of the numerous instances in which, no doubt, a similarity of sound between two words has led astray the careless printer or copyist.

“The poet finely says, ‘Peace should stand as a representation, an emblem or symbol, of their friendly alliance.’ ‘Counter’ is a piece of money used as a means of reckoning or representing; the fitness of the word here is obvious. The commentators have wrestled with the mutilation in various ways:

“The Rugby editor [mob] says, [cites mob above]

“The Rev. John Hunter, ‘It denoted properly the clause terminated by the point we call a comma, but whether the word may be thus shown to make proper sense here seems doubtful. Staunton’s suggestion that Shakespeare may have written co-mate is a very good one.’ Hardly: and what metrical recommendation has it? something representing Peace is obviously what is wanted, and what Staunton was seeking.

“The Cambridge editors [cln1] say, [cites cln1 above]. But the comma is a break nevertheless, and therefore is fatal to the view here set forth.

“Remarking on this latter explanation, which Johnson was the first to suggest, Staunton completely disposes of it: he </p. lviii> <p. .ix>says, ‘To us it is much easier to believe that ‘comma’ is a typographical slip than that Shakespeare should have chosen that point as a mark of connection.’ He adds, [cites “at the same time . . . co-mate.’]

Johnson writes thus: [cites JOHN1 above, “The expression of our author . . . disjunction”] As the ‘comma’ absolutely disconnects, in the degree of its proper force ((the ‘period’ the same relatively)), the Doctor’s argument fails completely. He says further, [cites “Shakespeare had . . . style of Shakespeare”] Surely not: his style is sometimes rugged, and he indulges in mixed metaphors, but never in unmixed contradictions, as Staunton believes the ‘comma’ conjecture to be.”</p. lix>

1885 Perring

Perring : contra SING

3544 Comma] Perring (1885, pp. 318-20): <p. 318>“I shall be expected to say something on Act V, 2, 39-42, and I shall commence with Singer’s apt exclamation, ‘Think of peace standing as a comma!’

“We must admit that such a comparison, even when we look at it by itself apart from the context, is in the highest degree improbable; when, hwoever, we view it in connexion with a passage, which is adorned with a succession of grand images grandly expressed—when we read it in sequence to such beautiful lines as [cites 3541-3] the improbability, it is hardly too much to say, waxes into an impossibility. It is a step from the sublime to the ridiculous—a fall from a firmament powdered with stars to a realm of mist and Tartarean gloom. ‘Comma’ is not the legitimate issue of Shakespeare’s genius, but a bastard slip of a copyist, whose eye deceived him, but whose intellectual faculty was not strong eno9ugh to correct him. Fortunately in this instance we have not much difficulty in discovering with—I had almost said, certainty the actual word which Shakespeare inserted. Let it be granted—no very extravagant concession—that lu may be somewhat indistinctly written, so as to differ not very much from an m—let it be granted that an n may easily melt into and be confused with a, and then there is positively no difference whatever between column </p. 318> <p. 319>and comma, in respect of form, though in respect of meaning and suitableness to the present passage there is a vast immeasurable distance.

“‘Peace’ and ‘column’ are a natural couple, linked together over and over again by historic associations. The column, or pillar, was set up as a witness that peace had been formally concluded; the names of the parties, the terms of the agreement were graven upon it; it stood as a monument and testimony of amicable relations in the past, and a pledge of continued amity in the future.

“A figure of peace, then, wearing a garland of wheat, standing columnar-like ((these are all but the very words of the text)) between two friendly powers, if it had not in some part of the world been seen by the author as an architectural or pictorial reality, is at any rate an artistic possibility, and quite worthy to figure in a great poet’s airy creation.

“I commend, therefore, to the cold calm severe scrutinizing eye of the impartial critic, how far ‘column’ and ‘comma’ resemble—how far they differ from each other. The result of that scrutiny, unless I am too sanguine, will be to get rid of such rubbish as ‘comma,’ to set up again the ‘column’ that has been displaced, and to restore ‘peace,’ if not to the members of the Shakespeare Societies, at any rate to the ghost of Shakespeare and to the text.</p. 319> <p. 320>

“I conclude, as I commenced, with Singer’s words, but slightly varied, ‘Think of peace standing as a column’!”

1889 Barnett

Barnett : standard

3544 Comma] Barnett (1889, p. 62): <p. 62>“a mark of connection, not of division.” </p. 62>

1890 irv2

irv2 : v1877

3544 Comma] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “--Johnson very well defines the precise force of comma (a question to which Furness devotes two pages) as the note of conection and continuity (in sentences), as opposed to the period, or note of abruption and disjunction. The expression seems to me so natural, and its meaning so obvious, that I do not see why so much difficulty should have been foisted into a plain enough passage. Elze compares Marston, Antonio and Mellida, iv.1 [ed. G.K. Hunter, 4.1.213-5]: ‘We’ll point our speechWith amorous kissing, kissing commas , and even suck The liquid breath from out each other’s lips.’--Works, ed. Halliwell, vol. I. p. 51”

1891 oxf1

oxf1 : standard

3544 Comma] Craig (ed. 1891: Glossary): “sub. the smallest break or stop.”

1899 ard1

ard1 : standard (including cln1 ; v1877?)

3544 Comma] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Theobald substitutes commere; Hanmer, cement; other suggestons are co-mate, column, counter. No emendation is required; the obscurity has arisen through forgetting an earlier meaning of comma , a phrase or group of words forming a short member of a sentence or period. The New Eng. Dict. , which gives several examples, so explains comma in the only other instance in which it is used by Shakespeare-- Tim. 1.1. 48 (63-4): ‘No levelled malice Infects one comma in the course I hold.’ Here amity begins and amity ends the period, and peace stands between like a dependent clause. Clar. Press, following Johnson, explains otherwise: ‘comma is used here as opposed to ‘period’ or full stop, and in this view a mark of connection, not division’; but there is no suggestion of a full stop here, and a comma in this sense always marks a division; nor is the idea that peace connects amities, but that it derives its force through dependence on mutual love.”

1931 crg1

crg1 ≈ Gollancz , ard1

3544 Comma]

1934 rid1

rid1: standard

3544 Comma] Ridley (ed. 1934, Glossary):

1934 cam3

cam3 : OED

3544 Comma] Wilson (ed. 1934): “Much discussed, and many emendations of ‘comma’ proposed. But Ham. talks of writing and speaks as a scribe, a ‘comma’ being the shortest of all pauses in punctuation. N.E.D. quotes an exact parallel from Fuller’s Worthies , 1662, ‘Though a truce may give a comma or colon to the war, nothing under a peace can give a perfect period.’ The word ‘amities’ is ironical, like ‘faithful tributary’ and ‘love between them’; Ham. means that the two nations are inveterate foes who will, after the briefest possible pause, be at each other’s throats again.”

cam3 : standard

3544 Comma] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “brief pause or interval (v. note [above]).”

1939 kit2

kit2 ≈ standard (john1) +

3544 Comma] Kittredge (ed. 1936): “The language is scornfully grotesque.”

3544 Comma] Kittredge (ed. 1936, Glossary): “a connecting link.”

1938 parc

parc ≈ standard

3544 Comma]

1942 n&h

n&h ≈ standard

3544 Comma]

1947 yal2

yal2

3544 Comma] Brooke & Crawford (ed. 1947) gives two brief notes glossing comma : “bond of connection ; cf. n. “. In the latter note, the editors observe: “A symbol of relation between two parts of the same whole.”

1947 cln2

cln2 ≈ standard

3544 Comma]

cln2 : cam3 (Fuller’s Worthies)

3544 Comma] Rylands (ed. 1947, Notes)

1951 crg2

crg2=crg1

3544 Comma]

1957 pel1

pel1 : standard

3544 Comma]

1970 pel2

pel2=pel1

3544 Comma]

1974 evns1

Evns1 ≈ standard

3544 Comma]

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ standard (Ard1?) Herr (1879) ; Neil ; Bulloch (1878)

3544 Comma] Spencer (ed. 1980): “This, the reading of both Q2 and F1, is difficult. Perhaps it is used in the sense of ‘a short part of a sentence’. But the word may be wrong. The suggested emendations ((‘commere’, ‘cement’, ‘column’, ‘concord’, ‘calm’, ‘compact’, etc.)) are unsatisfactory.”

pen2

3544 amities] Spencer (ed. 1980): “Perhaps Hamlet is ironical; for England’s cicatrice looks raw and red|After the Danish sword ((IV.3.62-3)), and Shakespeare could hardly have been ignorant of the terrible conflicts between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes.”

1982 ard2

ard2 : standard

3544 Comma] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “the least of the marks of punctuation, and therefore a type of something small and insignificant. LN [Longer Notes]”

ard2 : contra john1 ; contra Alexander (TLS) ; c&mc ; ard1 ; cam3

3544 Comma] Jenkins (ed. 1982, Longer Notes, 557-8) : <p. 557>“ A review of the diverse explanations finds none satisfactory and most tendentious. Some maintain that a comma, while marking off one clause from another, links them in sense. This goes back to Johnson, who says that the comma, in contrast to the period, signals ‘connection and continuity of sentences’. Alexander, in accordance with his theory of Shakespearean punctuation (cf. II.ii. 304-6 LN), believes that Shakespeare’s own practice with the comma shows ‘how he came to use it as a metaphor for a bond instead of a break’ (TLS , 1931, p. 754). Yet to gloss comma as a ‘connecting link’, as is becoming all too frequent seems to me wholly unacceptable. Nor is it what the context requires: for what is not in itself a link is not made so by happening to stand . . . ‘tween , and if the two kings are joined together, they are so by their amities , of which peace is not the agent but the consequence. Other senses of comma have been canvassed: Cowden Clarke appealed to musical usage, in which a comma is the least of the sensible intervals, to suggest that it is here a metaphor for a ‘harmonious connection’ (The Shakespeare Key , p. 443n.); Dowden reminds us that a comma in its original meaning was ‘a phrase or group of words forming a short member of a sentence or period’, and so sees peace like a dependent clause, deriving its significance from what it stands between. Perhaps it is not surprising that many emendations have been suggested. They include commere, cement, co-mate , cou’nant, compact. None is </p. 557> <p. 558> satisfactory; but one cannot quite quell a suspicion that comma may be one of Q2’s stopgaps (see Intro., p. 60 and n.), which F in this case failed to correct.

“If we are to interpret the word as it stands, I think it best to take it in its ordinary sense. A mere pen-stroke on the page, as a mark of punctuation it is the one of least significance. This accords with the only other use of the word in Shakespeare: when the Poet in Timon says ‘no levell’d malice Infects one comma in the course I hold’ (I.i.51(63-4)), he refers to a comma as the smallest item of literary composition. That a comma may indicate a break or pause (OED 2c, quoting this passage) led Dover Wilson to interpret Hamlet’s comma ‘’tween their amities as ‘the briefest possible pause’ in a conflict between ‘inveterate foes’. This catches something of Hamlet tone: but the irony that Dover Wilson detects in words like faithful , love , amities cannot be one of simple opposites. These are words which Claudius in his ‘conjuration’ might well use; the irony is in their use by Hamlet simulating Claudius to mock their fulsomeness, which a comma then deflates. In this context peace can hardly be represented as a temporary cessation of hostilities. What one might expect peace to be, standing (with a garland) between faithful friends, is something like a monument created by and celebrating their amities . When it appears as no more than a comma , the effect is one of bathos, which leads on to the open contempt of the next line.” </p. 558>

1984 chal

chal : oxf1

3544 Comma]

1985 cam4

cam4 : OED ; Puttenham

3544 Comma] Edwards (ed. 1985) :“An odd phrase, but the language is meant to be affected. OED points to the definition of a comma given by Puttenham (Art of English Poetry , 1589, II.iv) as ‘the shortest pause or intermission’ between sections of speech. So the kingdoms are meant to be as near together as separate institutions can be, and what is between is peace, not discord.”

1987 oxf4

oxf4 : OED

3544 Comma] Hibbard (ed. 1987) :“OED comma 2c, citing this passage, defines comma as ‘break of continuity, interval, pause’. It also quotes a parallel from Fuller’s Worthies : ‘Though a truce may give a comma or colon to the war, nothing under a peace can give a perfect period.’ Hamlet’s statement then becomes ironical, implying that the peace between the two ‘friendly’ nations is a very precarious one and will be broken by Denmark, unless England does what Claudius requires of it. This interpretation fits in with what Claudius himself has said in his final speech in 4.3.”

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

3544 Comma]

1992 fol2

fol2≈ standard

3544 Comma]

1993 dent

dent ≈ standard

3544 Comma]

1998 OED

OED

3544 comma] OED etc.The OED cites Latin and Greek roots to comma for a “stamp, piece cut off, short clause.” Most critics cite definition 1(“a short member of a sentence or period”) and the quotation from Tim as one gloss on this word. Others turn to 2c , in which the OED provides a figurative definition of comma as a “Break of continuity, interval, pause ” and gives this line from Hamlet as well as other contemporary sources: 1602 SHAKS. Ham. V. ii. 42 As Peace should still her wheaten Garland weare, And stand a Comma ’tweene their amities. 1602 MARSTON Ant. & Mel. IV. Wks. 1856 I. 51 Weele point our speech With amorous kissing, kissing commaes.