Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand
| 3610+6 {Ham. Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you, though I} | 5.2.113 |
|---|
3610+7 {know to deuide him inuentorially, would dazzie th’arithmaticke of}
1747 warb
warb
3610+6-3610+12 Ham. Sir . . . more] Warburton (ed. 1747) : “This is designed as a specimen, and ridicule of the court-jargon, amongst the precieux of that time.” His paraphrase is as follows: “Sir, he suffers nothing in your account of him, though to enumerate his good qualities particularly would be endless; yet when we had done our best it would still come short of him. However, in strictness of truth, he is a great genius, and of a character so rarely to be met with, that to find any thing like him we must look into his mirrour, and his imitators will appear no more than his shadows.”
1755 John
John
3610+7 dazzie] Johnson (1755, to dizzy): “v.a. [from the adjective]. To whirl round; to make giddy. ‘Not the dreadful spout, Which shipmen do the hurricano call, Shall dizzy with more clamour Neptune’s ear In his descent, than shall my prompted sword Falling on Diomede.’ [Tro. 5.2.178(3176)].”
1765 john1
john1 = warb
3610+6-3610+12 Ham. Sir . . . more
1773 v1773
v1773 = john1
3610+6-3610+12 Ham. Sir . . . more
1778 v1778
v1778 = 1773
3610+6-3610+12 Ham. Sir . . . more
1784 ays1
ays1 = v1778
3610+6-3610+12 Ham. Sir . . . more]
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778
3610+6-3610+12 Ham. Sir . . . more
1787 ann
ann = v1785
3610+6-3610+12 Ham. Sir . . . more
1790 mal
mal = v1785
3610+6-3610+12 Ham. Sir . . . more ]
-1790 mWesley
mWesley
3610+6-3610+12 Wesley (typescript of ms. notes in ed. 1785): “No, no, no. This is not even a true paraphrase, as any tolerable critick will discover. What Warburton means by ‘the sense in English’ I doubt if he himself understood. In what language is the text?”
1791- rann
rann : standard
3610+6-3610+12 Ham. Sir . . . more]Rann (ed 1791-) : “ This is designed as a specimen, and ridicule of the court-jargon of that time. The sense in English, is, ‘Sir, he suffers nothing in your account of him, though to enumerate his good qualities particularly would be endless, and yet he is but his good qualities particularly would be endless, and yet he is but young in respect of the rapid progress he hath made in all polite attainments. However, in strictness of truth, he is a great genius, and of a character so rarely to be met with, that to find any thing like him we must look into his mirrour, and his imitators will appear no more than than his shadows.’”
1793 v1793
v1793 = v1785
3610+6-3610+12 Ham. Sir . . . more]
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
3610+6-3610+12 Ham. Sir . . . more]
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
3610+6-3610+12 Ham. Sir . . . more]
1819 cald1
cald1 : warb (minus However . . . shadows) + magenta underlined
3610+6-3610+12 Ham. Sir . . . more] Caldecott (ed. 1819) : “‘His qualifications lose nothing in your detail of them: though to make an exact enumeration would distract the arithmetic and utmost powers of memory; and yet these most elaborate efforts would appear no better than sluggish inaptitutde, in comparison with his quick conceptions, and the rapidity of his mind.’ But it has been rendered very naturally and simply by Dr. Warburton: [cites WARB’s note up to “short of him”].
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
3610+6-3610+12 Ham. Sir . . . more]
1843 col1
col1
3610+7 would dazzie] Collier (ed. 1843) :”would dizzy]] “So all the quartos but that of 1604, which has dozie : it has also yaw for “raw,” which itself may be a misprint: Warburton would read slow for “raw.”
1869 Romdahl
Romdahl
3610+6 definement]
Romdahl (1869, p. 42): <p.42>“description; probably a
§pax legomenon. [apaks legomenon : unique reading]
” </p. 42>
1869 tsch
tsch
3610+7 inuentorially] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): ‘Ihn wie ein Inventarium in seinen einzelnen Bestandtheilen zu verzeichnen, würde die Rechenkunst des Gedächtnisses verwirren. Das folgende Bild ist der Schiffahrt entnommen, der Sinn: Mit seinen vortrefflichen Eigenschaften gleicht Laertes einem Schiff, das vor dem Winde mit vollen Segeln geht; um nun seine Vorzüge inventariumsmässig zu beschreiben, würde das Gedächtniss selbst mit Hilfe der Arithmetik diesen Schnellssegler nicht einholen können, sondern nur rudern während er segelt. Heut zu Tage würde es heissen: and yet but sail neither in respect of his full steam.” [to inventory him as an inventory of his single components would disorder the arithmatic of memory. The following image takes its meaning from the ship’s voyage: with his excellent qualities, Laertes is comparable to a ship,, which goes with full sails by the wind; to write down now a moderate inventory of his excellence, the memory itself could not take in this quick sail with the help of arithmatic; on the contrary, as he sails he rudders. Today it would be phrased: and yet but sail neither in respect of his full steam.]
1872 cln1
cln1
3610+6 definement] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “definition. The only illustration which can be given of the language of this dialogue, in which Hamlet talks nonsense intentionally, and Osric without knowing it, is the dialect of Parolles, in [AWW ] and of Don Armado and Holofernes in [LLL].”
cln1 : WARB ; TSCHISCHWITZ ; DYCEN1 (“it” for “yet” ; MASSINGER //) ; STAU [obtained through DEL4?)
1881 hud3
hud3
3610+6 Ham. Sir . . . you] Hudson (ed. 1881): “‘He suffers no loss in your description of him.’”
hud3
3610+7-+8 arithmaticke of memory] Hudson (ed. 1881): “‘To distinguish all his good parts, and make a schedule or inventory of them, would be too mcuch for the most mathematical head.’”
1885 macd
macd
3610+6-3610-+12 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Hamlet answers the fool according to his folly, but outdoes him, to his discomfiture.”
macd
3610+6 suffers no perdition] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “‘his description suffers no loss in your mouth.’”
macd ≈ standard
3610+7 inuentorially]
macd ≈ standard
3610+7 dazzie] dosie]]
mull : contra cln1 ; contra stau ; col3-4
3610+6-3610+8 Ham. Sir . . .
saile]
Mull (ed. 1885, pp. xxvii-viii):<p. xxvii> “‘
Ham. Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you; though I know, to diuide him inuentorially would dizzy the arithmetic of memory, and yet but yaw neither in respect of his quick sail.’
“This is the text adopted by the Cambridge editors [cln1], by Staunton, and by some other editors of repute. The first named remark upon it as follows [see cln1 n. above, which mull cites]
“Staunton says, ‘Mr. Dyce, of course, adopts ‘yaw,’ but conceiving ‘yet,’ often written ‘it,’ to be a misprint for it , he reads ‘—and it , but yaw neither.’ &c. which we must admit our inability to understand. ‘Yet ‘ is certainly is suspicious, but the word displaced we have always thought was wit, not it , and the drift of Hamlet’s jargon to be this:—his qualifications are so numerous, and so far surpass all ordinary reckoning, that memory would grow giddy in cataloguing, and wit be distanced in attempting to keep pace with them.’ i.e. Laertes’ qualifications.
Delius reads, ‘and it but yaw neither, in respect of his quick sale.’ [mull is in error here; COL3-4 have sale].’
“If we accept the change in the last word,
sale, a clear and satisfactory meaning may, I think, be easily seen. Hamlet would then says, ‘his qualifications are so numerous that memory would grow giddy in rehearsing ((‘cataloguing’)) them, and yet only delay ((‘yaw’)) their quick acceptance ((‘sale’)), i.e. the ‘excellent differences’ you proffer me.” Confirmation of this rendering may be found in Hamlet’s immediate remark, ‘I take him to be a soul of great
article,’ such as you repre- </p. xxvii> <p. xxviii>sent, and so calculated to obtain a ready sale. I am aware that
Johnson explains this sentence as ‘a soul of large comprehension,’ but this need not affect my explanation, for the reason that Shakespeare often plays with two meanings in one word, but probably the commercial sense only is here intended.” </p. xxviii>
1885 Perring
Perring : contra cln1
3610+6-3610+8 Ham. Sir. . .
saile]
Perring (1885, pp. 320-1): <p. 321>“There is a passae in Act V, 2,118, the depths of which no critic’s plumb-line has yet sounded, nor perhaps ever will. It is where Osric, sent by the King to Hamlet on an insidious and sinister errand, approaches him with strained courtesy, and in langauge with more sound than sense proceeds to pass an extravagant eulogium on Laertes. Hamlet, perceiving his evil purpose, mimics his bombastic nonsense: ]cites lines]
“Mr. Aldis Wright [cln1], who is entitled to be listened to, especially when we want to know the meaning of a word, tells us that ‘to yaw’ is a nautical phrase, used of a ship which moves unsteadily, and does not answer her helm; but neither he, nor any one else, can apply the meaning to the passage without making other alterations which may not be tolerated. On the presumption that any solution will be listened to, where none has yet been forthcoming, I will hazard an explanation, which, be its worth what it may, shall at least give sense and consistency to the passage.
“I conceive that the actual words, which Hamlet uttered, were ‘and yet
boot you neither,’ or possibly, </p. 320> <p. 321>as ‘yet’ and ‘not’ are sometimes confused, ‘and
not boot you neither’; but that, as Hamlet took off Osric’s affected tone and manner, ‘boot’ he minced to ‘but,’ and ‘you’ he drawlingly pronounced ‘yaw’: what the actor, to sustain the part, did on the platform, the shorthand writer, consciously or unconsciously, might have done on his paper: the transcriber and the printer followed suit. Thus we have the tone of the speaker rather than the terms of his speech. The words, as I have given them, explain themselves. Hamlet tells Osric that to divide Laertes inventorially would dizzy the arithmetic of his memory, and yet be of no advantage to him, in respect of Laertes’ ‘quick sail,’ that is to say, because of his shifting Protean-like charcter. Elsewhere editors have not hesitated to read ‘
boat,’ where the reading of the Folios is unquestionably ‘
butt’—’
but.’
“But I may be asked, ‘Whence comes ‘yaw,’ and what authroity is there for making it the ground of a conjecture’? I answer that ‘yaw’ is the reading of the Quarto which was printed in 1604, and it has been though peculiarly deserving of consideration, because that was the edition in which the tragedy appeared for the first time as it has come down to us. The other editions in Quarto, and the Folios, have ‘raw.’”</p. 321>
1889 Barnett
Barnett
3610+6 definement]
Barnett (1889, p. 63): <p. 63>“
description.” </p. 63>
1890 Orger
Orger
3610+7-3610+8 to . . .
saile]
Orger (1890, pp. 85-6): <p. 85>“Hamlet, means, I apprehend, the utmost effort of memory, though it made the mind dizzy, would </p. 85> <p. 86> yet come far behind the enumeration of his excellencies.
“‘Yare’ is used for ‘agile,’ for ‘quick,’ in several places as [TN 3.4.214 (1752), ‘Be yare in thy preparation, for thy assailant is quick.’ It seems to have been especially employed in nautical language. [Tem. 1.1.6 (6); Ant. 3.7.38 (1905)]; which recommends its adoption here, where ‘quick sail’ follows immediately. ‘But’ is apparently a mistake for ‘be not.’
“I would accordingly propose—’To divide him inventorially would dizzy the arithmetic of memory, and yet be not yare neither, in respect of his quick sail.’”</p. 86>
1899 ard1
ard1: OED
3610+6 definement] Dowden (ed. 1899): “definition. Hamlet uses an affected preciosity; no other example of the word in this sense earlier than 1867 is recorded in New Eng. Dict. [OED]; no other example in any sense before 1643.”
ard1
3610+7 dazzie] Dowden (ed. 1899): “[Q2] dosie is only an obsolete form of dizzy (see New Eng. Dict., dozy).”
ard1 : cln1
3610+7 arithmaticke] Dowden (ed. 1899): “‘The two metaphors (arithmetic and quick sail),’ says Clar. Press [cln1], ‘are a litle difficult to separate.’ Perhaps they should rather be united. The card and continent suggest a voyage to discover Laertes’ parts. The arithmetic of memory may be the computations made in anavigator’s head; in 1625 T. Addison published his Arithmetical Navigation.”
1931 crg1
crg1 ≈ standard
3610+6 definement]
crg1 ≈ standard
3610+6 perdition]
crg1 ≈ standard
3610+7 deuide him inuentorially]
1934 Wilson
Wilson
3610+7 dazzie] Wilson (1934, 1:123) lists the uncorrected dosie of the Devonshire, Elizabethan Club of New York, and Folger copies of Q2 compared with the corrected dazzie in the British Library, Capell copy in Trinity College, and Grimston of the Bodleian Library copy of the Q2 as an example of a corrector interceding between Shakespeare and the Q2.
3610+7 dazzie] Wilson (1934, 1:131) sees this reading as a miscorrection arising from a misunderstanding of Shakespeare’s dosie.
3610+7 dazzie]
Wilson (1934, 1:132): <p. 132> “‘Dosie’ is an old-fashioned spelling of an unusual verb ‘dizzy’ (
vide N.E.D. ‘dozy’), and it looks as if the press-corrector may have altered it in the margin to ‘dazzle’, a word the compositor in his turn misread ‘dazzie’, which is of course sheer nonsense. The miscorrections of the second and third class are likely to be fairly numerous, since the corrector would soon grow aware of the the compositor’s propensity to miss out letters and words and be on his guard against it; at times too much on his guard, for there can be little doubt that he now and then discovered omissions that were not there. Those of the third class ought also to be easy to recognize, inasmuch as there being no clue to the lost word beyond the general context the corrector could only take a short which would of course be generally wide of the mark.” </p. 132>
1934 cam3
cam3
3610+6-3610+12 Wilson (ed. 1934): “Osric has mixed the metaphors of the shop and the ship; and Ham. follows suit. To paraphrase: the specification (definement) of his perfections has lost nothing at your hands, though I know they are so numerous that to make a detailed inventory of them (as a shopkeeper might) would puzzle (dizzy) the mental arithmetic of the ordinary commercial man, who would, moreover, be left staggering (‘and yet but yaw neither’) by his quick sale (with a quibble on ‘sail’); but in truth I take him to be a soul of great scope (‘article,’ with a commercial quibble: ‘the particulars of an inventory are called articles,’ Johnson), and his essence (‘infusion’) of such costliness (‘dearth’) and rarity, that indeed I can compare him nothing save his own looking-glass; for what can better describe him than a shadow? The whole speech is rattled off and intended, of course, to be a rubbish-heap of affectation; but there is more in it than has hitherto been perceived. For the individual words v.G[lossary].”
cam3 : standard
3610+7 dazzie] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary, dizzy)
cam3
3610+6 definement] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “description, specification.”
cam3
3610+7 deuide] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary, divide inventorially): “classify in detail.”
cam3
3610+7 inuentorially] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “as with a list of goods.”
1939 kit2
kit2≈ standard
3610+6 definement]
kit2
3610+6 perdition] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “loss.”
3610+6 perdition] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary):
kit2
3610+7 dazzie] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “dosy]] confuse, stagger.”
3610+7 dazzie] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary):
kit2 ≈ standard +
3610+7-3610+8 to . . . saile] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “The excellence of Laertes is a fast boat that sails steadily on; the inventory is another boat, which tries to overtake the leader, but yaws continually and thus falls far behind. A boat yaws when she steers badly, so that she does not hold her course but swings her bow from side to side and thus loses headway.”
1937 pen1a
pen1a : standard
3610+6 definement] HarrisonK (ed. 1937) simply notes that Hamlet’s intentional affection silences Osric’s responses.
3610+7 deuide him inuentorially]
1938 parc
parc ≈ standard
3610+6 definement]
1947 Cln2
Cln2
3610+6-3610+12 Rylands (ed. 1947, Notes): “Hamlet bewilders and disconcerts Osric with court jargon equal to his own.”
3610+6-3610+12 Rylands (ed. 1947): “i.e. his graces, sir, lose nothing in your specification of them. To make a detailed inventory of them would puzzle a man’s mental arithmetic and yet lag behind his speedy progress. To praise Laertes truly, I think of him as a soul of great worth. His essential quality is so valuable and so rare that I can indeed compare him with nothing except his own looking-glass: any other representation of him would be a mere shadow, nothing more.”
1951 crg2
crg2=crg1
3610+6 definement]
crg2=crg1
3610+6 perdition]
crg2=crg1
3610+7 deuide him inuentorially]
1954 sis
sis ≈ standard
3610+6 perdition] Sisson (ed. 1954, Glossary):
1957 pel1
pel1 : standard
3610+6 definement]
pel1 : standard
3610+6 perdition]
pel1 : standard
3610+7 dazzie] dozy
1970 pel2
pel2=pel1
3610+6 definement]
pel2=pel1
3610+6 perdition]
pel2=pel1
3610+7 dazzie] dozy
1974 evns1
evns1 ≈ standard
3610+6 perdition]
evns1 ≈ standard
3610+7 dazzie] dozy
1980 pen2
pen2
3610+6 definement . . . you] Spencer (ed. 1980): “he loses nothing by being described by you.”
pen2
3610+7-3610+8 dazzie th’ arithmaticke of memory] Spencer (ed. 1980): “((the number of his qualities would be so large that one’s memory would become confused in trying to remember them)).”
pen2≈ standard
3610+7 deuide him inuentorially]
1982 ard2
ard2 ≈ standard
3610+6 perdition]
ard2 ≈ standard
3610+7 deuide him inuentorially]
ard2
3610+7 dazzie] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “dozy]] bewilder, stupfey. Q2 gives a rare but accept form which is difficult to explain except as the ms. reading and which the corrector, falling between dizzy and dazzle, failed to improve.”
1984 chal
chal : standard
3610+6 definement]
chal : standard
3610+7 deuide him inuentorially]
1984 chal
chal :
3610+6 perdition] Wilkes (ed. 1984): "loss ((Hamlet mocks Osric’s affected diction))."
1985 cam4
cam4 ≈ standard
3610+6 perdition]
cam4 ≈ standard
3610+7 deuide him inuentorially]
cam4 ≈ kit2
3610+7 dazzie] dozy]]
1987 oxf4
oxf4 : OED
3610+6 definement]
Hibbard (ed. 1987, Appendix A, p. 367): <p. 367>“description ((earliest example cited by
OED)).”
oxf4 : OED
3610+6 perdition in you]
Hibbard (ed. 1987, Appendix A, p. 367): <p. 367>“loss or diminution in your mouth.
OED’s first instance of this affected use of
perdition (
sb. 1b)), which seems peculiar to Shakespeare, is Fluellen’s ‘The perdition of th’athversary hath been very great’ ((
H5 3.6.100-1(1545)).”</p. 367>
3610+7 deuide him inuentorially]
Hibbard (ed. 1987, Appendix A, p. 367): <p. 367>“list his accomplishments one by one ((earliest instance of
inventorially cited by
OED)).”</p. 367>
oxf4
3610+7-3610+8 th’arithmaticke of memory]
Hibbard (ed. 1987, Appendix A, p. 367: <p. 367>“This could be a reference to one of the memory systems described by Frances A. Yates in her
The Art of Memory ((1966)).” </p. 367>
1988 bev2
bev2: standard
3610+6 definement
bev2: standard
3610+6 perdition]
bev2: standard
3610+7 deuide him inuentorially]
bev2: standard
3610+7 dazzie] dozy]]
1993 dent
dent ≈ oxf4
3610+6 definement
dent ≈ oxf4
3610+6 perdition]
dent ≈ oxf4
3610+7 dazzie]
1992 fol2
fol2≈ standard
3610+6 definement
fol2≈ standard
3610+6 perdition]
fol2≈ standard
3610+7 deuide him inuentorially]
1998 OED
OED
3610+7 dazzie] OED dizzy (dz), v. [OE. had dysian, -eian, dysian to be foolish, to act or talk
foolishly = OFris. dusia, whence the intr. sense 1; but the trans. sense seems to be
a later formation, f. the adjective in its modern form and sense.] 1. intr. To act
foolishly or stupidly. Obs.
c 888 K. ÆLFRED Boeth. v. §2 Thonne dyseath se the thonne wile hwilc sæd othfæstan tham
dryum furum. a 1275 Prov. Ælfred 466 in O.E. Misc. 131 Ac [gif] he drinkit and desiet there a
more, so that he fordrunken desiende werchet.
b. To talk foolishly, blaspheme (in OE.).
c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark ii. 7 Hwi spycth thes thus . he dyseath. Ibid. Luke xxii. 65 Manea
othre thing hi him to cwædon dysiende.
2. trans. To make dizzy or giddy; to cause (any sense) to reel; to produce a
swimming sensation in, to turn the head of.
1501 DOUGLAS Pal. Hon. Prol. 109 And with that gleme sa desyit was my micht. 1606 SHAKS.
Tr. & Cr. V. ii. 174 Not the dreadfull spout..Shall dizzie with more clamour Neptunes eare In his
discent, then [etc.]. 1663 COWLEY Cutter of Coleman St. V. xiii, You turn my Head, you dizzy
me. 1785 MRS. A. GRANT Lett. fr. Mountains (1813) II. xix. 99 It dizzies one to look down from
the tower. 1820 SOUTHEY Lodore, Confounding, astounding, Dizzying and deafening the ear with
its sound.
3. To render unsteady in brain or mind; to bewilder or confuse mentally.
1604 SHAKS. Ham. V. ii. 119 (Qo. 2) To deuide him inuentorially would dosie [Qo. 3 dazzie,
Qq. 4 & 5 dizzie] th’ arithmaticke of memory. 1801 HEL. M. WILLIAMS Sk. Fr. Rep. I. i. 7 That
wild and chimerical equality, the fumes of which dizzy the head of the demagogue. 1852 MRS.
STOWE Uncle Tom’s C. xxi, Giving her so many..charges, that a head less systematic and
business-like than Miss Ophelia’s would have been utterly dizzied and confounded.
absol. 1864 J. H. NEWMAN Apol. 378 All this is a vision to dizzy and appal.
Hence dizzied ppl. a., dizzying vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
OED
3610+10 dixion] OED diction (dkn). [a. F. diction (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), or ad. L.
diction-em saying, diction, mode of expression; in late L., a word; n. of action
from dicere to say.
Apparently not in English Dictionaries before Johnson.] 1. A word. Obs.
1542 UDALL Erasm. Apophth. I. (1877) 136 Two sondrie wordes, albeit by reason of the figure
called Synalephe, it seemeth in maner no more but one diction. 1549 Compl. Scot. Prol. 17 The
quhilkis culd nocht be translatit in oure Scottis langage, as.. pretours, tribuns, and mony vthir
romane dictions. 1652 GAULE Magastrom. L iv a, Dictions, syllables, letters, numbers. 1697 tr.
Burgersdicius his Logick I. xxv. 99 In Dictions are first to be consider’d their Etymology and
Conjugation, and then their Synonymy and Homonymy, and Acception Words.
2. A phrase, locution, mode of speech. Obs.
a 1660 HAMMOND Wks. I. 425 (R.) We are not wont to require the dictions of the New
Testament..to be tryed by Attical heathen Greek writers. 1709 STEELE Tatler No. 62 7 An easy
Flow of Words, without being distracted (as we often are who read much) in the choice of Dictions
and Phrases.
3. Expression of ideas in words; speech; verbal description. Obs.
(In Shakspere in an intentionally Euphuistic passage.)
1581 SIDNEY Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 68 Now, for the out-side of it..which is words, or..Diction.
1602 SHAKS. Ham. V. ii. 123 To make true diction of him, his semblable is his mirror.
3610+6 3610+7
