HW Home	Previous CN	View CN	View TNM	View TNI	Next CN

Line 395 - 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. Click here for more information about browsing the entries and here for more information about the special symbols used in Hamletworks. Click the question mark icon above to remove this help message.

Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman

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

395 Within his tronchions length, whil’st they {distil’d} <bestil’d>	1.2.204

1733- mtby3

mtby3 apud mtby4

395-6 distil’d . . . feare] Thirlby (1747-): “MT nb. operation.”

1747 warb

warb

395-6 distil’d . . . feare] Warburton (ed. 1747): “Shakespear could never write so improperly as to call the passion of fear, the act of fear, Without doubt the true reading is, ——with th’effect of fear.”

1747- mtby4

mtby4 = mtby3

395-6 distil’d . . . feare]

1747-60 mBrowne

mBrowne

395-6 distil’d . . . feare] Browne (ms. notes, 1747-60, BL Ms 0.12.575): “Warb. says Shakespeare could never write so improperly as to call the passion of Fear the Act of Fear, and therefore reads—The Effect of Fear. But why may not Fear tho’ a passion be said to act upon the Human body. as here in distilling the persons [. . .] of almost to Jelly? While being itself the effect of their fear is really more improperly attributed by Mr. W. to the Effect of their fear, i.e. that their being distilled almost to a Jelly was the effect of the Effect of their fear—”

1765 john1

john1 = warb +

395-6 distil’d . . . feare] Johnson (ed. 1765): “Here is an affectation of subtilty without accuracy. Fear is every day considered as an agent. Fear laid hold on him, fear drove him away. If it were proper to be rigorous in examining trifles, it might be replied, that Shakespeare would write more erroneously, if he wrote by the direction of this critick; they were not distiled, whatever the word may mean, by the effect of fear; for that distilation was itself the effect; fear was the cause, the active cause, that distilled them by that force of operation which we strictly call act in voluntary, and power in involuntary agents, but popularly call act in both. But of this too much.”

1765 Heath

Heath ≈ john without attribution (contra warb)

395-6 distil’d . . . feare] Heath (1765, pp. 524-5): <p. 524> “ ‘—Whilst they (distill’d Almost to jelly with th’ effect of fear)’ Mr. Warburton’s exception to the common reading, ‘Almost to jelly with the act of fear, is trifling. It is undoubtedly true, and every one knows it as well as our critick, that fear is a passion and therefore in its natural and strictest acceptation cannot properly be called an act. But he did not reflect, that even a passion, when it is considered as a cause producing a certain effect, may so far be denominated an agent, at least in the looser language of poetry, which hath a natural tendency to represent every thing as a person. The act of fear signifies no more than the influence or operation of fear on the persons affrighted. On the other hand, Mr. Warburton’s conjecture [quotes] </p. 524> <p. 525> gives us plain downright nonsense. For the effect of fear is that very melting and distillation here spoken of, which is thus, by his very judicious management, represented as the effect of itself.” </p. 525>

1773 v1773

v1773 = john

395-6 distil’d . . . feare]

1774 capn

capn

395-6 distil’d . . . feare] Capell (1774, 1.1:124) “Inattention, and the example of the four latter moderns [pope, theo, han, warb], together with the authority of all the quarto’s (the first of which [Q2] has been the editor’s text in this play) have betray’d him into the choice of a wrong word: The folio word is —‘bestill’d;’ and was, perhaps, an after-thought of the Poet’s: who reflected—that things are not ‘distill’d to a jelly,’ though some of them are turn’d to it afterwards; but that ‘blood,’ the thing alluded to here, takes the form of one instantly, when arrested by the action of cold; which he terms—a bestilling it here, but, in another place,—freezing [701], and ascribes to the same cause.”

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773 + F1 VN signed Steevens

395-6 distil’d . . . feare]]

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778

395-6 distil’d . . . feare]

1787 ann

ann = v1785

395-6 distil’d . . . feare]

1790 mal

mal = v1778 minus warb and most of john

395-6 distil’d . . . feare] Johnson (apud ed. 1790): “Fear was the cause, the active cause, that distilled them by that force of operation which we strictly call act in voluntary, and power in involuntary agents, but popularly call act in both. Johnson.”

1791- Wesley

Wesley: warb, john +

395-6 distil’d . . . feare] Wesley (1790-, p. 44): “[Johnson’s] note is quite conclusive against Warburton’s reading. He is, for the most part, a vile critick. What a poor thing is a pedant! especially one who rarely hath Truth to palliate his Insolence.” [In John’s note:] “Divide thus, in voluntary; the blunder is of the compositor.”

Ed. note: v1785 wrongly connected the words in voluntary, which were correctly divided in john.

1791- rann

rann ≈ capn without attribution

395 distil’d] Rann (ed. 1791-) “frozen”

1793 v1793

v1793 = mal

395-6 distil’d . . . feare]

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

395-6 distil’d . . . feare]

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1793

395-6 distil’d . . . feare]

1819 cald1

cald1 ≈ capn in part

395-6 distil’d . . . feare] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “ ‘bestill’d . . . ’ Dissolved by the action or effect of fear.

“Distilled, the reading of the quartos, has been adopted by the modern editors: but the prefixing of the augmentative be to the radical word still, is a legitimate formation of an English verb; and bestilled is the reading of the folios.”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1803

395-6 distil’d . . . feare]

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

395-6 distil’d . . . feare]

1839 knt1

knt1: cald2 without attribution + in magenta underlined

395-6 distil’d . . . feare] Knight (ed. 1839): “To still, is to fall in drops; —they were dissolved—separated drop by drop. ‘Almost to jelly, by the act of fear.’ ”

Ed. note: Note that he does not quote Ham. accurately.

1843 col1

col1

395 distil’d] Collier (ed. 1843): “Every quarto has ‘distill’d,’ and the folio bestil’d. It was probably a mere misprint, and so Southern considered it in his copy of the folio, 1685.”

1853 Collier

Collier

395-6 distil’d . . . feare] Collier (1853, pp. 419-20): <p. 419>“Horatio, describing the effect of the appearance of the Ghost upon Bernardo and Marcellus, tells Hamlet, as the text of the quartos has it,— </p. 419> <p. 420> [quotes]. The folios, on the other hand, read,— [quotes]. Neither word, ‘distill’d’ or bestill’d, can be perfectly satisfactory; but it is apparent that bestill’d was a misprint in the folio, 1623 (and from thence copied into the folio, 1632). for a word, very like it in letters, but affording a very clear and sensible meaning:— ‘Whilst they, bechill’d Almost to jelly with the act of fear, Stand dumb, and speak not to him.’ Bernardo and Marcellus were almost chilled to jelly by their apprehensions, ‘the cold fit of fear’ having come powerfully upon them. This must be deemed a text superior to that of any old or modern edition.” </p. 420>

1853 Dyce

Dyce : Collier + in magenta underlined

395-6 distil’d . . . feare] Dyce (Notes, 1853, pp. 135-6): <p. 135> “The quartos have ‘distill’d:’ the folio has ‘bestil’d.’ ‘Neither word, ‘distill’d’ or bestill’d, can be perfectly satisfactory; but it is apparent that bestill’d was a misprint in the folio, 1623 (and from thence copied into the folio, 1632). for a word, very like it in letters, but affording a very clear and sensible meaning:— “Whilst they, bechill’d Almost to jelly with the act of fear, Stand dumb, and speak not to him.” Bernardo and Marcellus were almost chilled to jelly by their apprehensions, ‘the cold fit of fear’ having come powerfully upon them. This must be deemed a text superior to that of any old or modern edition.’ Collier’s Notes and Emendations, &c. p. 420.

“Is there not something strange in such an expression as ‘Human bodies chilled almost to jelly by fear”? </p. 135> <p. 136> (One modern editor of Hamlet has given ‘bestill’d:’ but I doubt if the verb still (to fall in drops, melt) ever was, or could be, used with the augmentative prefix be.)

“Why should the ‘distill’d of the quartos be considered as ‘not perfectly satisfactory?’—‘they, melted, dissolved almost to jelly with the act of fear,’ &c. Examples of the word in that sense are not wanting in modern writers: a passage of Claudian (De Sexto Cons. Hon. v. 345), ‘liquefactaque fulgure cuspis Canduit, et subitis fluxere vaporibus enses,’— is thus rendered by Addison, ‘Swords by the lightning’s subtle force distill’d, And the cold sheath with running metal fill’d.’ Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. p. 208, ed. 1745.” </p. 136>

1853 Singer

Singer ≈ Collier, p. 420

395-6 distil’d . . . feare] Singer (1853, p. 261): “I cannot think with Mr. Collier that ‘bechill’d to jelly with the act of fear,’ is a superior reading to that of the quartos, distilled; but it is of course a mere matter of ‘taste,’ only the reading of the quartos is undoubted, and therefore to be preferred to any conjecture.”3/12/97: Bob Miola helped me with this but could not make out Caudrick. This was the one ms. note in msing; it requires no siglum but we do need to work out an easy way to cite it and others like it.

1853 Blackwood’s

Anon. contra Collier

395 distil’d] Anon. (1853, p. 462): “The folios read ‘bestilled.’ The MS. correction is bechill’d. And this we prefer to bestilled. It is quite in keeping with Macbeth’s expression—‘My senses would have cool’d To hear a night-shriek.’ Shakespeare probably knew that ‘jelly’ was gelu, ice. But ‘distilled,’ the common reading, affords quite as good a meaning as bechilled, and therefore, as this word has authority in its favour, which bechilled has not, we advise no alteration of the text.”

Ed. note: Refers to Perkins F2 annotation, printed by Collier.

1853- Singer

Singer: Dyce

395-6 distil’d . . . feare] Singer (ms. note in Singer, 1853, p. 261): “Mr. Dyce says ‘Why should distill’d of the quarto’s not be “perfectly satisfactory”? —‘Why melted dissolved almost to jelly with the act of fear,’ &c. Examples of the word in that Sense are not wanting in modern writing: Apapage of Claudian (De Sento Cons. Hon. v. 345 ‘liquefactaque fulgure cuspis Caudrick [?] es subitis fluxere vaporibus ensis’ is thus rendered by Addison:‘ Swords by the ligh’ning’s subtle force distill’d And the cold sheath with running metal fill’d.’ Rem on Italy. p. 208 Ed. 1795.

“A better example may be adduced from a book Mr Dyce has quoted elsewhere: ‘Melt thee, distill thee, turne to [waste? water] or snowe; Make sad thy gesture, tune thy voice to woe’ Sylvester’s DuBartus p. 7b4 4th Ed. 4to.

1854 del2

del2

395-6 distil’d . . . act of feare] Delius (ed. 1854): “Das Schauspiel des Grauens (act of fear) das sich ihnen darbot, hatte sie fast zu Gallert aufgelöst, ihnen jede körperliche Kraft und Festigheit geraubt. Die Lesart der Fol. bestill’d ist wohl nur Druckfehler.” [The spectacle of horror (act of fear) that appeared to them had practically turned them to jelly, robbed them of every physical power and strength. The reading of the folio, bestil’d, is certainly only compositor error.]

1856 hud1

hud1: standard gloss; Collier’s Perkins

395 distil’d] Hudson (ed. 1856): “So all the quartos; the folio has bestill’d instead of distill’d. Of course to distill is to fall in drops, to melt; so that distill’d is a very natural and fit expression for the cold sweat caused by intense fear, Mr. Collier finds bechill’d in his famous second folio, and is greatly delighted with it, as usual. The idea of human bodies being chilled or frozen to a jelly is rather queer.”

Here is one ref that is similar to sing2. Of course they could have derived their comments independently.

1856 sing2

sing2 = Singer

395 distil’d] Singer (ed. 1856): “Thus all the quartos. The folio reads bestill’d. As Mr. Collier’s corrector has wantonly substituted bechill’d, and that gentleman says, neither of the old readings is satisfactory, it becomes necessary to show that distill’d for melted or dissolved was at least familiar to the poet’s time. Thus in Sylvester’s Du Bartas, 4th Ed. 4to. p. 764:— ‘Melt thee, distill thee, turne to waxe or snowe, Make sad they gesture, tune thy voice to woe.’ ”

1857 dyce1

dyce1 = Dyce, Singer +

395 distil’d] Dyce (ed. 1857): “ . . . Mr. Collier’s Ms. Corrector alters ‘bestill’d’ to ‘bechill’d.’—But, in all probability, the quartos give the poet’s word.—Compare a passage (which Mr. Singer lately pointed out to me) in Sylvester’s Du Bartas, —A Dialogue, &c.,—p. 281. ed. 1641, ‘Melt thee, distill thee, turne to waxe or snowe, Make sad they gesture, tune thy voice to woe.’ &c. and see my Few Notes, &c. p. 137.”

1858 col3

col3 ≈ Collier; contra dyce

395 distil’d] Collier (ed. 1858): “The 4tos have distil’d, the folios bestil’d; and as neither word can be pronounced satisfactory, we rejoice in obtaining from the corr. fo. 1632 what must have been the poet’s language,— ‘bechill’d.’ ‘Jelly’ become jelly only by being ‘bechill’d’; and when the Rev, Mr. Dyce and others argue that distil’d may mean melted, they forget that Horatio does not say that Marcellus and Bernardo were melted to ‘jelly,’ for jelly is no longer jelly when melted, but that there were ‘bechill’d to jelly’: it is jelly because it has been ‘bechill’d.’ Besides, Shakespeare himself never uses ‘distilled’ (often as it occurs in his plays) as melted, but as extracted; and even in this very tragedy, and in this very Act, he speaks of a ‘leperous distilment’ as procured by distillation from ‘cursed hebenon.’ Therefore, we feel morally certain that Shakespeare’s word here was ‘bechill’d’; but there is hardly any extremity of obtuse perverseness to which some persons will not go, rather than adopt the most indisputable emendation from the source of so much improvement in the text of Shakespeare.”

col3: analogues

395 distil’d] Collier (ed. 1858, 1: 276): “In Marston’s ‘Antonio and Mellida,’ Part II., A. 1., the hero has been dreadfully alarmed in sleep, and he describes his condition much in the same way, viz. as frozen, or ‘bechill’d to julley,’ and he tells those present that he has hardly yet recovered:— ‘My gellied blood’s not thaw’d’.”

from “Supplemental Notes”

1862 Bailey

Bailey: contra Collier +

395 distil’d] Bailey (1862, pp. 45-50): <p. 45>, discussing the Q2/F1 and Perkins variants, says, none will do: “Distilled is inadmissible, for the reason that jelly is not made by distillation, and consequently there is incongruity of thought in employing the term in the place where it stands. The physical effect attributed to fear is described as accomplished through a process which never produces it. * </p. 45><p. 46>

“The other two words are neither of them strictly English, and are not to be found anywhere in Shakespeare.

“The first of them—bestill’d—is harsh and clumsy, as well as unauthorized by good writers; and I can find no meaning in it consistent with the context. Instead of being bestill’d the frightened spectators are set a trembling.

“The second phase—bechill’d—is also unauthorized although not unmeaning, and is never used by our great dramatist. Even the word chill (including its paronymes) occurs only three times in his pages, and then as an adjective or present participle. [quotes Collier from his Seven Lectures on Shakespeare and Milton, Preface, p. lxxviii] </p. 46> <p. > [quotation continues].

“Now I might possibly have concurred with Mr. Collier in his argument had Bernardo and Marcellus been in a liquid state previous to the apparition of the ghost, but as I am obliged to regard them both as being at that time men of undoubted solidity, I must take the liberty of expressing my dissent from his confident consolation. Solids cannot obviously be chilled into gelatine: they can be reduced to such a consistence only by the opposite process of first loosening the coherence of their particles by heat. It is the exclusive privilege of liquids (and liquids only of a certain description) to be cooled down into that tremulous substance. Hence the true reading seems to stare us in the face: ‘whilst they, dissolv’d Almost to jelly with the act of fear Stand dumb, and speak not to him.’

“The intention evidently was to describe, not the cold, but the trepidation, the tremulousness, produced by fright. If this reading required support or elucidation by analogous language we should not have far to search for it. It may be found in </p. 47><p. 48> an immediately preceding passage of the same scene: ‘O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew.’ *

“I scarcely need add that the substitution of distill’d for dissolved was an error of easy occurrence in itself, and quite as easy as substituting it for bechill’d.

“It may deserve mentioning that when the chilling effects of any passion are chiefly in view, it is the blood which is usually described by Shakespeare as the seat of the refrigeration.

“Thus in [Shr. Ind. 2.131 (285)] we find: ‘For so your doctors hold it very meet, Seeing too much sadness hath congeal’d your blood.’ And in [Ham.1.5.15 (700)]: “I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood’—“Again in [Rom. 4.3.15 (2496)], we have—“I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins That almost freezes up the heat of life.’ </p. 48>

<p. 49> “This last extract suggests, that if it were needful (which it plainly is not) to find a word ending in ill’d as a substitute for distill’d or bestill’d, a better one might be found in thrill’d, or, to coin one after the same fashion, bethrill’d, than in bechill’d; for it is observable that Shakespeare in several other places describes the operation of passion, especially of fear, by that verb.

“Thus in [Jn 5.2.143 (2397)], where the Bastard is boasting to the French that the English king had made them ‘to thrill and shake Even as the crowing of your nation’s cock *, Thinking his voice an armed Englishman.’ And in [1H4 2.4.369 (1326)]: ‘Art thou not horribly afraid, doth not thy blood thrill at it?’

“With the support of these passages, a plausible reading made be made out; although it would be exposed to some of the objections brought against its competitors: ‘While they, both thrill’d almost to jelly by the act of fear, Stand dumb and speak not to him.’

Or, if the prefix be should be preferred, we might read, ‘while they bethrill’d,’ which, if not good, would be no worse English than ‘while they </p.49 > bechill’d.’ It will be generally thought, however, if I mistake not, that dissolv’d is the genuine reading.” </p. 49>

<n45> “* That Shakespeare was acquainted with the various domestic operations of which distillation is one, and there not likely to blunder in applying the term, may be gathered from a passage in ‘Cymbeline:’ ‘Hast thou not learn’d me how To make perfumes? distil? preserve?’ [1.5.12 (504)].” </n45>

<n48> “ * Further examples may be found: ‘Look up, behold; That you in pity may dissolve the dew’ [R2 5.1.8 (2269)]. And in Lear: ‘I am almost ready to dissolve Hearing of this.’ [5.3.204 (3168)].” </n48 >His examples suggest dissolution was part of pity rather than fear.

<n48> “The substitution of crowing for crying, and cock for crow, in this line, is a capital correction of the Perkins folio.” </n49 >

1865 hal

hal: dyce1

395 distil’d] Halliwell (ed. 1865): “Distill, to melt. ‘Melt thee, distill thee, turne to wax or snow.’ Sylvester’s Du Bartas, ap. Dyce.”

1866 dyce2

dyce2 = dyce1

395 distil’d]

1868 col4

col4 ≈ col3

395 distil’d] Collier (ed. 1868): “So [bechill’d] the Corr. fol. 1632, for distill’d of the old copies—an indisputable emendation.”

1868 c&mc

c&mc: standard gloss

395 distil’d] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “ . . . ‘melted,’ ‘dissolved.’”

1872 cln1

cln1 ≈ dyce2 [with attribution]

395 distil’d] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “The word ‘distill’ was used in a wider sense than at present. It is here equivalent to ‘melt.’ . . . .”

1872 hud2

hud2 = hud1 (minus mcol1)

395 distil’d]

1874 Corson

Corson: F1, cam1 +

395 distil’d] Corson (1874, p. 10): “‘bestil’d’ seems to be a strong form of ‘still’d,’ as the next line, ‘Stand dumbe and speake not to him,’ shows. I get no meaning out of the other [Q2] word.”

1874 Collier

Collier ≈ Collier 1853

395 distil’d]

1877 v1877

v1877: knt, Collier, Dyce, sing2, col3, Bailey, hud, Corson

395 distil’d]

1877 dyce3

dyce3 = dyce2

395 distil’d]

1880 Tanger

Tanger

395 distil’d] Tanger (1880, p. 123): F1 variant “probably owing to the negligence, inattention, or criticism of the compositor.”

1880 meik

meik: standard + in magenta underlined

395 distil’d] Meikeljohn (ed. 1880): “melted. The only passage in S. with the word in this sense. The folios have bestill’d.”

1881 Gould

Gould

395 distil’d] Gould (1884, p. 38): “I entirely dissent from the usual meaning given to this word [‘bestill’d’], notwithstanding the authority of the quarto. It means that they stood still, but quaking like jelly.”

1881 hud3

hud3 = hud2

395 distil’d]

1885 macd

macd

395 distil’d] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Either word would do: the distilling off of the animal spirits would leave a man a jelly; the cold of fear would bestil them and him to a jelly. 1st Q. distilled. But I judge [F1] bestil’d the better, as the truer to the operation of fear. Compare [WT 5.3.39 (3230):— ‘There’s magic in thy majesty, which has . . . From thy admiring daughter took the spirits, Standing like stone with thee.’”

1899 ard1

ard1= Dyce “” Du Bartas +

395 distil’d] Dowden (ed. 1899): jelly suggests the quivering from fear.

1917 yal1

yal1

395 tronchions] Crawford (ed. 1917): “officer’s staff.”

1934 Wilson

Wilson MSH: contra capn

395 distil’d] Wilson (1934, p. 273) argues against Capell’s preference for F1: “He forgot that a ‘jelly’ quakes and is not easily to be stilled.”

1934 rid1

rid1

395 trunchions] Ridley (ed. 1934, Glossary): “baton, (or) shaft of spear”

1938 parc

parc

395 distil’d] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “melted.”

1939 kit2

kit2 = yal1 + Tro. //

395 tronchions] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "The truncheon was a short staff or baton, carried as a sign of military command. Cf. [Tro. 5.3.53 (3258)]: ’The hand of Mars/ Beck’ning with fiery trucheon my retire.’ "

kit2: standard

395 distil’d] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "dissolved, disintegrated."

1947 cln2

cln2: standard

395 tronchions] Rylands (ed. 1947): "truncheon: field-marshall’s baton."

cln2: standard

395 distil’d] Rylands (ed. 1947): "melted."

1957 pel1

pel1: standard

395 tronchions] Farnham (ed. 1957): “military commander’s baton.”

1958 fol1

fol1: standard

395 tronchion] Wright & LaMar (ed. 1958): “short staff, a symbol of authority which the elder Hamlet as King would have carried when armed for combat.”

1970 pel2

pel2 = pel1

395 tronchion] Farnham (ed. 1970): “military commander’s baton”

1980 pen2

pen2: standard

395 tronchions] Spencer (ed. 1980): “military baton.”

pen2: standard

395 distil’d] Spencer (ed. 1980): “melted.”

1982 ard2

ard2: standard

395 tronchion] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “a staff carried as a symbol of military command.”

ard2:

395 distil’d] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “dissolved. See OED distil v. 7. Some earlier eds. made a difficulty of this, and the F bestil’d, though without parallel, has been defended as going aptly with stand dumb. But it is not by being struck motionless that bodily substance turns to jelly, which makes the sense quite clear”

1985 cam4

cam4

395 distil’d] distilled Edwards (ed. 1985): "dissolved."

1987 oxf4

oxf4

395 tronchions] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "military commander’s staff of office. Compare [MM 2.2.61 (811)], ‘The marshal’s truncheon.’ "

oxf4

395 distil’d] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "melted, dissolved (OED 7). The word was often spelt ‘destil’d’, which may help to explain F’s mistake."

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

395 tronchions] Bevington (ed. 1988): “officer’s staff.”

bev2: standard

395 distil’d] Bevington (ed. 1988): “dissolved.”

1992 fol2

fol2: standard

395 tronchions] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “short staff (here carried as a symbol of authority)”

1995 Kliman

Kliman: OED, Ant.

395 trunchions] Kliman (1995): OED defines it, among other things, as a badge of office or authority: “a staff carried as a symbol of office” from 1576, but perhaps more tellingly, an earlier definition is “the fragment of a spear,” which can suggest the apparition appears as a frustrated warrior, as does Antony—“the Souldiers pole is falne” Ant. 4.15.65 (3077)—with the same sexual subtext of emasculation.

1996 Snyder

Snyder

395 tronchions] Snyder (1996, rpt. 2002, p. 94): along with the armor, a trunchion “marks the military commander.”

1999 Dessen&Thomson

Dessen&Thomson

395 tronchions] Dessen & Thomson(1999): “a club/cudgel linked to a fight/battle.”

2000 Edelman

Edelman

395 tronchions] Edelman (2000): “The authority of Mars as supreme general of all wars is symbolized, as Troilus says, by his ‘fiery truncheon’ (Tro. 5.3.53 [3258]), the baton of command he often holds in pictorial representations. Having been commander of all Denmark’s armies when alive [King Hamlet] would need to bear such a truncheon to be ‘armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe’ 1.2.200 (391), hence Horatio’s [description of him with truncheon].”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2

395 tronchions] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “A truncheon was a military staff. This implies either that the Ghost was a truncheon’s length away from them, or that he measured his pace with his truncheon.”

ard3q2: cap; cald; macd; cam4, oxf4

395 distil’d] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “ dissolved, reduced. F has ’bestil’d’ (bestilled), defended by Capell and Caldecott. MacDonald argues: ’Either word would do: the distilling off of the animal spirits would leave the man a jelly; the cold of fear would bestil them and him to a jelly . . . But I judge bestil’d the better, as the truer to the operation of fear.’ Edwards, Hibbard and Oxf, however, follow Q2.”