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Line 484 - 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."

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4. Words from the play under discussion (lemmata). In the third line or lines of a record, the lemmata after the TLN (Through Line Number] are from Q2. When the difference between Q2 and the authors' lemma(ta) is significant, we include the writer's lemma(ta). When the gloss is for a whole line or lines, only the line number(s) appear. Through Line Numbers are numbers straight through a play and include stage directions. Most modern editions still use the system of starting line numbers afresh for every scene and do not assign line numbers to stage directions.

5. Bibliographic information. In the third line of the record, where we record the gloss, we provide concise bibliographic information, expanded in the bibliographies, several of which are in process.

6. References to other lines or other works. For a writer's reference to a passage elsewhere in Ham. we provide, in brackets, Through Line Numbers (TLN) from the Norton F1 (used by permission); we call these xref, i.e., cross references. We call references to Shakespearean plays other than Ham. “parallels” (//) and indicate Riverside act, scene and line number as well as TLN. We call references to non-Shakespearean works “analogues.”

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

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

484 The {safty} <sanctity> and health of {this whole} <the weole> state,	1.3.21

1723- mtby2

mtby2

484 Thirlby (1723-): “fsql [weak conjecture] the safety & the health vel wealth f. [strong conjecture] Sanity v. ad p. 386 v. 14 [2151] . D Safety Mr T [theo1] has it”

1726 Theobald

Theobald:

484 safty] Theobald (1726, pp. 21-4): <p. 21> “I do not well understand the Force, or Reason, of the Word Sanctity in this Place. Does it mean the Sacredness and Reve- </p.21> <p.22> rence due to Majesty? They could not so well suffer by Hamlet’s Choice of a Wife; but the Health, or Preservation of the State might, in some degree, be concerned by it. The Quarto Edition of 1637 has a Various Reading, which I find Mr. Hughs[wilk2 has espoused in his Impression of the Play, viz., The Safety and Health &c. The Meaning, ’tis true, of the Poet is here implied, tho’ not express’d in his own Termes; but the Versification is miserably crippled by it. To depart therefore not above a Letter or two from the present Reading for the Poet’s own Word, as I conceive; suppose he might have wrote, ‘—for on his Choice depends The Sanity and Heath of the whole State.’ i.e. The Welfare, Preservation &c. The Word Sanity might not be so well known to the first Editors, as the other; as therefore suspecting it a Mistake of their Copy, they, with the more Readiness, might substitute Sanctity in its Room. Not but this very Term occurs again afterwards in the second Act of this Play. And that Sanity and Health, put together may not be thought a Tautology to be question’d in our Author, in the next Passage, where I find it, it is likewise joined with a Synonymous Word of its own Efficacy and Signification. Hamlet, page. 386. [1248 ff:] ‘How pregnant, sometimes, his Replies are? A Happiness that often Madness hits on, Which Sanity and Reason could not be So prosp’rously deliver’d of.’ For by Sanity here is meant not the Health of Body, but Soundness of Understanding. Now to shew how natural it is for the Press to make a Mistake betwixt Words so like one another, as Sanctity and Sanity: It happens that the Quarto Edition of Hamlet, . . . printed in 1703, reads the very Passage, last quoted, in this corrupt Manner: ‘—How pregnant sometimes his Replies are! A Happiness that often Madness hits on, </p.22> <p.23>, which Reason and Sanctity could not so happily be deliver’d of.’ Here Sanctity, as in the other Passage, is erroneously substituted in the Place of Sanity. ” </p. 23> [He continues with his conjecture about Macbeth 23-24.]

1728 pope2

pope2: Theobald

484 safty] Pope (ed. 1728, Appendix Aa4r): “he [Theobald] conjectures shou’d be, Sanity and Health, (which seems the same thing).”

Ed. note: pope adds note “or, sanity ” but keeps sanctity in the text

1730 Bailey

Bailey

484 whole] Bailey (1730): weal from Sax. well: “Benefit, Advantage, as the Common-weal.”

1745 han2

han2: Warburton

484 safty] The annotator claims sanity as Warburton’s emendation—which is incorrect as we can see by Theobald 1726.

Ed. note: In Hanmer’s copy of theo1, where theo1 has sanctity w/o a note, an annotator has underlined and put sanity in the margin.

1747 warb

warb

484 safty] Warburton (ed. 1747): “What has the sanctity of the state to do with the prince’s disproportioned marriage? We should read with the old quarto safety.”

1765 john1

john1 = warb; ≈ theon without attribution

484 safty] Johnson (ed. 1765): “Hanmer reads very rightly, sanity. Sanctity is elsewhere printed for sanity, in the old edition of this play.”

1773 v1773

v1773 = john1

484 safty]

1774 capn

capn

484 safty] Capell (1774, 1:1:124) “‘sanity,’ though creating a pleonasm, is a very proper amendment of [484], made by the Oxford editor [han], . . . ”

1778 v1778

v1778 = john1 +

484 safty] Steevens (ed. 1778): “Sanity and health may have the same meaning. I therefore read with all the quartos, ‘The safety and the health,’ &c. ”

1783 mals2

mals2

484 safty] Malone (1783, p. 55): “The quarto reads—‘The safety and health of the whole state.’ and so perhaps our author wrote. Safety was, I believe, sometimes pronounced as a trisyllable. Thus in Locrine, a tragedy, 1595: ‘Fight always for the Britons’ safety.’”

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778; mals2

484 safty]

1790 mal

mal

484 safty] Malone (ed. 1790): “Thus the quarto 1604, except that it has—this whole state, and the second the is inadvertently omitted. [so he’s given up the trisyllable]. The folio reads: ‘The sanctity and health of the whole state.’ This is another proof of arbitrary alterations being sometimes made in the folio. The editor, finding the metre defective, in consequence of the article being omitted before health, instead of supplying it, for safety substituted a word of three syllables.”

1790- Wesley

Wesley: john

484 safty] Wesley (ms. notes 1790-, p. 44): “I think ‘safety’ best; I am sorry that Dr. J. does not.”

1793 v.1793

v1793 = mal

484 safty]

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

484 safty]

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

484 safty]

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

484 safty]

-1821 mAnon

mBoswell ≈ Malone (1783, p. 55) + Spenser analogue

484 safty] Anon (ms. notes in Malone, ed. 1790): “Safety is a tri-syllable in Spenser BI. C.ix.”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813. In his “Essay on . . . Metre,” mal ≈ Malone 1783, p. 55

484 safty] Boswell (ed. 1821, 1:570-1), after quoting Malone on the missing syllable says, <p.570> “Spenser makes safety a word of three syllables” in Fairy Queen [1.9.1]. </p.570> <p. 571> “We may doubt, upon Spenser’s authority, whether there was any omission.” </p.571>

1826 sing1

sing1: mal; Boswell + in magenta underlined

484 safty] Singer (ed. 1826): “Thus the quarto of 1604. In the folio it is altered to ‘The sanctity,’ &c. supposing the metre defective. But safety is used as a trisyllable by Spenser and others. Thus Hall in his first Satire, b. iii.: —‘Nor fish can dive so deep in yielding sea, Though Thetis self should swear her safëty.’”

1843 col1

col1 = sing1 on trisyllable without attribution

484 safty] Collier (ed. 1843): “‘Safety’ was often of old, as in this line, pronounced as a trisyllable.”

1844 verp

verp VN +

484 safty] Verplanck (ed. 1844): “If [the 4to] is followed, safety must be pronounced as a word of three syllables, as was often done by the poets of that age. I prefer the folio, as giving a better sense without tautology, and referring to the feeling of reverence towards the sovereign authority of the state.”

1853 Collier

Collier

484 safty] Collier (1853, p. 421): “The address of Laertes to his sister, instructing her how to receive and return Hamlet’s love, is full of verbal and literal errors in the folio, 1632; and, besides corrections of these in three places, the text is made to tally with that of the quartos: thus ‘safety’ is substituted for sanctity, and ‘act and place’ for sect and force, and ‘keep you in the rear’ for ‘keep within the rear.’ These three mistakes were transplanted from the earlier folio, and the setting of them right may look as if the authority of the quartos had been appealed to.”

Ed. note: See Perkin’s Folio in alphabib

1854 del2

del2

484 safty] Delius (ed. 1854): “So [sanctity] die Fol. Die Qs lesen safety, weit weniger bedeutsam.” [So the folio. The 4tos, much less meaningfully, read safety.]

1854 Walker

Walker

484 Walker (1854, p. 159): “I know not that safëty occurs anywhere in Shakespeare, unless the reading of the 4to Hamlet of 1604 (test Malone, Var. Shakespeare, vol. vii, p. 216), [484] be correct, which seems not impossible. [quotes] (Folio, sequente Equite, sanctity. Volebat sanity.)

1856 hud1

hud1 ≈ v1821; ≈ sing1 without attribution minus line ref.

484 safty] Hudson (ed. 1856): “Thus the quartos; the folio has sanctity instead of safety, supposing the metre defective. But safety is used as a trisyllable by Spenser and others. Thus Hall in his first Satire: ‘Nor fish can dive so deep in yielding sea, Though Thetis self should swear her safety.’”

1856 sing2

sing2 = sing1 with immaterial differences perhaps relying on Collier without attribution

484 safty] Singer (ed. 1856): “Thus the quarto of 1604. In the folio it is altered to ‘The sanctity,’ &c. supposing the metre defective. but the passage is there very incorrectly printed, and sanctity is probably an error for sanity. But safety is used as a trisyllable by Spenser and others. Thus Hall in his first Satire, b. iii.: —‘Nor fish can dive so deep in yielding sea, Though Thetis self should swear her safëty.’”

1857 dyce1

dyce1: standard, survey of editorial practices

484 safty] Dyce (ed. 1857): “The quartos, 1604, &c. have ‘The safety and health of this whole state,’ &c.; which Mr. Collier adopts, remarking that safety was often of old, as in this line, pronounced as a trisyllable:’ but qy.?— The folio has ‘The sanctity and health of the weole State,’ &c., which is kept by Caldecott and Mr. Knight, though the word ‘sanctity’ is evidently an error for ‘sanity,’ to which Hanmer altered it. According to Malone, ‘the editor [of the folio], finding the metre defective, in consequence of the article being omitted before ‘health,’ instead of supplying it, for ‘safety’ substituted a word of three syllables.’ —The reading (of Warburton and Malone) which I have given bids fair, to be the true one.”

1860 stau

stau : dyce1 without attribution

484 safty] Staunton (ed. 1860): “In the quarto of 1604, we get—‘The safety and health,’ &c. : ‘safety’ being pronounced as a trisyllable. In the folio the line stands,— ‘The sanctity and health of the weole State.’”

1860 Walker

Walker

484 safty] Walker (1860, 3:88), writing about sanctity in TN 3.4.84 (1607). “Certainly sanity; — the same corruption that has taken place in [484—quotes]; for there too sanity must surely be the right reading; sanctity, at any rate, is absurd. Frequentius, ut sæpe fil, pro rariori: the pulpit having familiarized sanctity to men’s minds.”

1861 wh1

wh1: standard

484 safty] White (ed. 1861): “‘The sanity and health of the whole State’: —The folio has, ‘The sanctity and health of the weole State,’ where “sanctity’ seems plainly a misprint for ‘sanity,’ a word which was rarely used in Shakespeare’s time, and of which his words afford only one other instance. The 4to. of 1604 has, ‘The safety and health of this whole State,’ where the halting rhythm favors the supposition that there was also a misprint or a misreading of the same unusual word.”

1865 hal

hal = mal; : Mr. Dyce’s note, p. 580

484 safty]

1866 dyce2

dyce2 = dyce1 minus enclosed in strike throughs

484 safty] Dyce (ed. 1866): “The quartos, 1604, &c. have ‘The safety and health of this whole state,’ &c.; which Mr. Collier adopts, remarking that safety was often of old, as in this line, pronounced as a trisyllable:’ ~~but qy.?—~~ The folio has ‘The sanctity and health of the weole State,’ &c., which is kept by Caldecott and Mr. Knight, though the word ‘sanctity’ is evidently an error for ‘sanity,’ to which Hanmer altered it. According to Malone, ‘the editor [[of the folio]], finding the metre defective, in consequence of the article being omitted before ‘health,’ instead of supplying it, for ‘safety’ substituted a word of three syllables.’ —~~The reading (of Warburton and Malone) which I have given bids fair, to be the true one.~~”

1869 strat

strat

484 safty] Stratmann (ed. 1869): “‘safty (sanctity)’ is evidently an error for ‘sanity.’”

1870 Abbott

Abbott

484 Safety] Abbott (§ 484): “Monosyllables containing diphthongs and long vowels . . . . [Quotes 484] could not be scanned without prolonging both ‘health’ and ‘whole.’ Such a double prolongation is extremely improbable, considering the moderate emphasis required. More probably ‘sanity’ should be read, as has been suggested, for ‘sanctity,’ the reading of the Folio.”

Abbott

484 Safety] Abbott (§ 477): “R, and liquids in dissyllables, are frequently pronounced as though an extra vowel were introduced between them and the preceding consonant: . . . .”

1872 cln1

cln1: standard on 3 syllables without attribution

484 safty] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “must be pronounced as a trisyllable.”

1872 hud2

hud2 ≈ dyce

484 safty] Hudson (ed. 1872): “The folio has sanctity instead of safety. The quartos have safety, but lack the article the before health. It is supplied by Dyce, to fill the line.”

1874 Corson

Corson: F1; cam1

484 Safety, this] Corson (1874, p. 12): “‘Sanctity is btter than ‘safety,’ and ‘the’ than ‘this,’ ‘state’ being used abstractly.”

1877 v1887

v1877: Rushton on Swinburn in 478 CN; cautel

484 safty]

v1877: Theobald, Walker (Crit. iii, 88, also Vers. 159), dyce, Abbott (§484), mal, col

484 safty]

v1877: Corson

484 this]

1877 dyce3

dyce3 = dyce2

484 safty]

1880 Tanger

Tanger

484 Tanger (1880, p. 123): Q2 “probably owing to the negligence, inattention, or criticism of the compositor.” and ascribes the variant in F1 as “probably due to the critical revision which the text received at the hands of H.C. [Heminge & Condell], when it was being woven together from the parts of the actors.”

1880 meik

meik ≈ Abbott § 477

484 safty]

meik

484 health] Meikeljohn (ed. 1880): “Prosperity.”

1881 hud3

hud3: mal; han; warb

484 safty] Hudson (ed. 1881): “The quartos read ‘The safety and health’; the folio, ‘The sanctity and health.’ Probably, as Malone thought, safety was altered to sanctity merely because a trisyllanle was wanted to complete the verse; the editor [of F1 presumably] not perceiving that the article had dropped out before health. Hanmer reads, ‘The sanity and health.’ The reading in the text is Warburton’s.”

1883 wh2

wh2 standard on 3 syll.

484 safty]

1885 mull

mull

483 Carue] Mull (ed. 1885): “Choose.”

1899 ard1

ard1: theo1 +

484 safty] Dowden (ed. 1899): While Theobald may be right about safty being trisyllabic, as in Spenser, elsewhere in Sh., including later in Ham., it is a di-syllabic.

1907 bull

bull: standard on tri-syllable

484 safty] Bullen (ed. 1907, 10: 432)

1924 vand

vand: theo; contra col

484 safty] Van Dam (1924, p. 140) asserts that since safty lacks the right number of syllables (he finds no corroboration of Collier’s view that the word was pronounced as a trisyllable) and the F1 variant is “absurd,” the correct word must be, as Theobald surmised, sanity.

1934 Wilson

Wilson MSH: han; john

484 Wilson (1934, p. 316) points out that the F1 variant leads the way to the correct word, sanity, because graphically it could have led to sanctity by a minim error.

1934 rid1

rid1: Spenser +

484 Ridley (ed. 1934) points out that safety, three syllables in Spenser, is two syllables in Sh. and therefore the best way to regularize the line is to insert the before health.

1934 cam3

cam3 ≈ WHH; ≈ rid1 w/o attribution

484 safty] Wilson (ed. 1934) accepts the argument that a syllable is missing, which must be supplied by substituting sanity or inserting the.

1939 kit2

kit2: VN; standard

484 safty] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "Trisyllabic. The Folio reads sanctity. Wilson accepts Theobald’s conjecture sanity."

kit2: gloss = theon without attribution

484 health] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "welfare."

1967 ShSt

Clayton

484 Clayton (1967, pp. 48, 44): <p. 48> “I am persuaded that ’surety’ is the strongest possible emendation of safty: sanctity in [484], and I agree, as probably few have ever doubted, that ’beguide’ is a misreading of ’beguile’ [597] in Shakespeare’s own hand.” </p. 48>

<p. 44> “The still vexed question of the precise relationship between Hamlet Q1, Q2, and F1 enters here, but no hypothetical answer to it is much help in deciding between some textual alternatives. Whether Act 1 of Q2 was set partly from Q1 or not is irrelevant: since the appropriate passage was wanting in Q1, Q2 has to have it from manuscript copy, that is, Shakespeare’s foul papers . . . .” </p. 44>

1982 ard2

ard2: Theobald; Sisson; Wither, and others

484 safty] Jenkins (ed. 1982) defines sanity, his choice, as “well-being. This emendation of Theobald’s is accepted by Dover Wilson and Alexander among others. It supposes that Q2 and F represent different misreadings. Q2 safty is good sense but not metre; for though the word is apparently trisyllabic in FQ, 5.4.46, Shakespeare affords no parallel and some 6o contrary instances. Other attempts to make Q2 scan are equally implausible, and the notion that the compositor may have omitted the before health is not supported by F. In defence of safety Sisson (New Readings) cites Prayerbook, ’the safety, honour, and welfare of our Sovereign and her dominions’. Cf. also Wither, Emblems, 1635, 4.14.6, ’where we In safety, health, and best content, may be’. But such collocations may be equally relevant to an author’s association of ideas and to a compositor’s error. Upholders of Q2 not only ignore the metrical deficiency but fail to explain sanctity in F. With this cf. Q2’s misreading, sanctity for sanity, at 1251. Sanity was still used more commonly to refer to physical than to mental health and a conjunction of synonyms is not unique in Shakespeare.”

1985 cam4

cam4; Theobald; Wilson; N. Alexander

484 safty] sanctity Edwards (ed. 1985): "So F. Q2 reads ’safty’ and most editions read ’safety’. Theobald conjectured ’sanity’ (= soundness of condition), which Wilson and others accept. ’Safety’ is altogether the feebler reading, and so scribe or compositor could have substituted ’sanctity’ in its stead. I believe N. Alexander is alone among modern editors in accepting ’sanctity’, glossing it ’holiness, sacred quality’. It seems to me, most powerfully, the correct reading. It fits admirably the rather fervent and excessive way in which Laertes speaks of everything. More than that, it illustrates how everyone in the play contributes, in his or her own marked manner of speaking, to the central meanings of the play. The health of the kingdom is a spiritual health, and it is indeed true, though Laertes cannot know it, that the present spiritual sickness of the kingdom arises from Gertrude’s infidelity to the king."

1987 oxf4

oxf4 = Theobald

484 safty] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "soundness, well-being. Theobald’s suggested emendation is adopted here because Q2’s safety gives an unmetrical line and F’s sanctity does not make good sense. Moreover, there is good evidence at 2.2.209, where F correctly reads Sanitie, while Q2 wrongly reads sanctitie, that the two words could be easily confused with one another."

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: cam4; ard2; oxf4, ard1; warb Theobald;

484 safty] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “F’s ’sanctity’ is retained by Edwards; Theobald (Restored) suggested ’sanity’ on the analogy of ’Reason and Sanitie’ in F at [1251] (where Q2 has ’reason and sanctity’). It goes better with health and is adopted by Jenkins and Hibbard, but safety makes acceptable sense. Dowden points to a trisyllabic pronunciation of safety in Spenser’s FQ (5.4.46), but acknowledges that it is usually disyllabic in Shakespeare, as at [506]. Warburton’s suggestion [see TNM] improves the metre.”