Line 124+2 - 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.”
7. Further information: See the Introduction for explanations of other abbreviations.
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Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
124+2 {Well may it sort that this portentous figure}
1723- mtby2
mtby2
124+2 may it] Thirlby (1723-) conj. may’t fsql [weak conjecture]
1747 mtby4
mtby4
124+2 Well] Thirlby (1747-) And well fsql
1773 v1773
v1773
124+2 Well may it sort] Johnson (ed. 1773): “The cause and effect are proportionate and suitable.”
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773
124+2 Well may it sort]
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778
124+2 Well may it sort]
1787 ann
ann = v1785
124+2 Well may it sort]
1790 mal
mal = v1785
124+2 Well may it sort]
1791- rann
rann ≈ mal
124+2 Well may it sort] Rann (ed. 1791-): “The cause and effect perfectly correspond.”
1793 v1793
v1793 = mal
124+2 Well may it sort]
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
124+2 Well may it sort]
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
124+2 Well may it sort]
1819 cald1
cald1
124+2 Well may it sort] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Fall in with the idea of; suit, accord.”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
124+2 Well may it sort]
1826 sing1
sing1 = cald1 without attribution
124+2 Well may it sort] Singer (ed. 1826): “i.e. fall in with the idea of, suit, accord.”
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1
124+2 Well may it sort]
1833 valpy
valpy ≈ sing1 without attribution
124+2 sort] Valpy (ed. 1833): “Suit.”
1843 col1
col1 ≈ cald2 without attribution
124+2 Well may it sort] Collier (ed. 1843): “i.e. agree or accord.”
col1 ≈ cald2
124+2 Well may it sort] Collier (ed. 1843, 1: Glossary, p. ccciii): “to agree, to befit, [. . . 7:199, i.e. Ham.]; “to happen, to turn out [5:121; 257].
1854 del2
del2 : Schlegel +
124+2 may] Delius (ed. 1854): “Die Worte drücken einem Wunsch aus: Möge sich das wohl sügen, dass diese worbedeutungsvolle Gestalt u.s.w. Schlegel übersetzt, das may nicht berücksichtigent: Wohl trifft es zu u.s.w.” [The word expresses a wish: may it happen that this portentous apparition and so forth. Schlegel translates without taking may into consideration. It bodes well and so forth.]
1856 hud1
hud1 ≈ sing1
124+2 Well may it sort] Hudson (ed. 1856): “That is, fit, suit, or agree: often so used.”
1858 col3
col3 = col1 except for variations in vol. #s; His glossary is somewhat different, but not materially: “To agree with, to accord”
124+2 Well may it sort]
1868 c&mc
c&mc ≈ hud1 without attribution
124+2 sort]
Clarke &
Clarke (ed. 1868): “ Here used for ‘fit,’ ‘suit,’ ‘agree,’ ‘cohere.’”
1872 cln1
cln1: standard + //
124+2 sort] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “suit. See [Ado. 5.4.7 (2561)]: ‘I am glad that all things sort so well.’”
1872 hud2
hud2 = hud1
124+2 Well may it sort]
124+2 well may it sort]
Schmidt (1875): v. instr. 2c. “to fall out, to have an issue [. . . ] (or = it may be in accordance with your supposition?)”
1877 v1877
v1877= john
124+2 Well may it sort]
1878 rlf1
124+2 sort]
Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Suit, accord.
Schmidt wavers between this sense and ‘fall out, have an issue’ as in [
Ado 5.4.7 (2561);
MND 3.2.352 (1393), etc.].”
1880 meik
meik: standard
124+2 sort]
meik
124+2 portentous] Meikeljohn (ed. 1880): “ominous or full of portents. Cf. [JC 1.3.31 (463) and quotes]: “They are portenous things Unto the climate that they point upon.’”
1881 hud3
hud3 = hud2 underlined twice, colG underlined once
124+2 sort] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Sort, probably for happen, or fall out. Often so. The word was sometimes used for suit, fit, or agree; which may be the sense here.”
1883 macd
macd
124+2 Well may it sort] MacDonald (ed. 1883): “suit; so used in Scotland still, I think.”
1899 ard1
ard1: standard gloss without attribution;
Schmidt + //
MND 5.1.55 (1852)
124+2 sort]
1903 rlf3
rlf3 = rlf1 gloss (
minus Schmidt), //
MND 124+2 sort]
1904 ver
ver ≈ macd +
124+2 sort] Verity (ed. 1904) thinks that of the two meanings (to befall, to suit) “perhaps the latter is better here.”
1905 rltr
rltr: standard
124+2 sort] Chambers (ed. 1905): “agree.”
1912 dtn3
dtn3
124+2-124+3 Well . . . watch] Deighton (ed. 1912): “quite in keeping with such a state of things is it that this ominous apparition should pass through our midst when keeping watch, itself clad in armour as though prepared for battle.”
dtn3: standard + in magenta underlined
124+2 sort] Deighton (ed. 1912): “agree with the present state of things; the substantive form (from which the verb comes) means a lot, class, species, and is ultimately from the Lat. sors, sortis, destiny, chance, condition, state.”
1913 tut2
tut2 ≈ hud3; ≈ macd
124+2 sort] Goggin (ed. 1913): “either ‘may it turn out, befall’ (a wish), or ‘it may suit, accord,’ i.e. with the explanation just given [by Hor.]; both senses occur in Shakespeare; the latter gives the better meaning here, but the former fits better with [124+5].”
124+2 124+5
1917 yal1
yal1 ≈ gog without attribution
124+2 sort] Crawford (ed. 1917): fit
1937 Schücking
Schücking
124+2 Schücking (1937, p. 71) points out that none of the men’s guesses turns out to be true.
1939 kit2
kit2: standard
124+2 Well may it sort] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "It may well be in accord with this state of things."
1947 cln2
cln2: standard w/ variation in wording
124+2 sort] Rylands (ed. 1947): “agree with this account.”
1957 pel1
pel1
124+2 sort] Farnham (ed. 1957): “suit.”
1970 pel2
pel2 = pel1
124+2 sort] Farnham (ed. 1970): “suit”
1980 pen2
pen2
124+2-124+4 Spencer (ed. 1980): These lines reveal no suspicion about King Hamlet’s death.
pen2: standard
124+2 sort]
1982 ard2
ard2: standard
124+2 Jenkins (ed. 1982): “accord. [. . . ] The appearance of the Ghost accords with the fact that King Hamlet is the question or occasions of the war. Its being ‘armed’ accords with the danger of war.”
1987 oxf4
oxf4
124+2 portentous] Hibbard (ed. 1987) says that Sh. uses this word only thrice and wonders if its use in JC 1.3.31 (463) triggered its use here where Horatio is talking about the same events.
1992 fol2
fol2: standard
124+2 Well may it sort] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “i.e., it would thus be fitting“
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: standard
124+2 sort] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “accord (with Horatio’s explanation)”
ard3q2: oxf4
124+2 portentous] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “in the literal sense: heralding or foreboding some calamity. Hibbard points out that Shakespeare’s only other use of the word is at JC 1.3.31 , where Caska describes the strange sights before the death of Caesar as ’portentous things’.”