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Line 475 - Commentary Note (CN) More Information

Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.
475 In thewes and {bulkes,} <Bulke:> but as {this} <his> temple waxes1.3.12
1575 Gascoigne
OED
475 thewes] OED 2nd ed. thew: “1575 GASCOIGNE Notes Instr. in Steele Gl. etc. (Arb.) 37 This poeticall license..turneneth all things at pleasure, for example, ydone for done, thewes for good partes or good qualities.”
1710 Gildon
Gildon
475 thewes] Gildon (ed. 1710, 7: lxxii): “Sinews, or Modes, Manners, Customs, &c.”
Ed. note: See Gifford note, below, which confirms Gildon. OED has these two disparate meanings.
1723 pope1
pope1 ≈ Gildon
475 thewes] Pope (ed. 1723): “thews, or qualities.”
pope1 JC 1.3.81 (521)
475 thewes] Pope (ed. 1725, 5:233n) for JC: [1.3.81 (521)] “manners or capacities.”
Ed. note: Glossary by Sewell ≈ Gildon without attribution; pope chooses the second of Gildon’s two definitions.
1728 pope2
pope2= pope1
475 thewes]
Ed. note: Glossary by Sewell 10.56b ≈ Gildon without attribution
1733 theo1
theo1 JC
475 thewes] Theobald (ed. 1733, 6:139 n. 6): for JC 1.3.81(521) “Romans now Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors.” Sh. always means “Muscles, Sinews, bodily Strength.”
1744 han1
han1theo1 without attribution
475 thewes] Hanmer (ed. 1743, 6: Glossary): “sinews, muscles, bodily strength.”
-1761 Rochester?
Rochester
475 this] Rochester? (-1761, p. 200): “His, will not agree with Nature, nor yet with Ophelia.
1773- mSteevens
mSteevens ≈ han1 without attribution
475 thewes] Steevens (ms. note in Steevens, ed. 1773): “bulk, size.”
1773 jen
jentheo1 without attribution
475 thewes] Jennens (ed. 1773): “i.e. sinews.”
1774 capn
capn
475-6 Capell (1774, 1:1:124) writes that “The fine image . . . of considering the body as the ‘temple’ of God, the Poet had from his bible; but has superadded to it an image of no less beauty, in making the ‘soul’ and her actions the ‘service’ that is perform’d in that temple.”
1778 v1778
v1778 ≈ theo1 without attribution
475 thewes] Steevens (ed. 1778): “i.e., in sinews, muscular strength.”
v1778, 5: 531 on 2H4 theo without attribution +
475 thewes] Steevens (ed. 1778, 5:531 n. 3) “Fal. Care I for the limb, the thewes, the stature, bulk and big assemblance of a man?” 2H4 3.2.258 (1791): “i.e. the muscular strength or appearance of manhood. So. again: ‘For nature crescent, does not grow alone In thewes and bulk.’
In other ancient writers this term implies manners, or behaviour only. Spenser often uses it; and I find it likewise in Gascoigne’s Glass of Government, 1575: ‘And honour’d more than bees of better thewes.’
“Shakespeare is perhaps singular in his application of it to the perfections of the body. Steevens.
1780 mals1
mals1
475 bulkes] Malone (1780, 1:501 n. 9): “Bulk is frequently used by our author and other ancient writers for body. So, in [R3 1.4.40 (876)]: ‘—still the envious flood Kept in my soul, and would not let it forth, To seek the empty vast, and wandring air, But smother’d within my panting bulk.’ Again, in [Ham. 991-3]. Malone.”
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778
475 thewes]
1787 ann
ann = v1785
475 thewes]
1790 mal
mal = v1785
475 thewes]
1793 v1793
v1793 = mal +
475 thewes] Steevens (ed. 1793): “So, in [2H4 3.2.258 (1791)] ‘Care I for limb, the thews, the stature,’ &c. See [9:137 n.7].”
v1793 2H4
475 thewes] Steevens (ed. 1793, 9:137 n. 7): “i.e. the muscular strength or appearance of manhood. So again; ‘For nature crescent, does not grow alone In thewes and bulk.’
“In ancient writers, this term usually implies manners, or behaviour only. Spenser often employs it; and I find it likewise in Gascoigne’s Glass of Government, 1575: ‘And honour’d more than bees of better thewes.
“Shakspeare is perhaps singular in his application of it to the perfection of the body. Steevens.”
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793 with diff vol. XII p.141 n6
475 thewes]
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
475 thewes]
1816 Gifford
Gifford ≈ Gildon without attribution +
475 thewes] Gifford (1816, 8:127) distinguishes between Jonson’s and Sh.’s use of the word; in Love’s Welcome at Welbeck, “by his thewes he may” means “by his manners, accomplishments. Shakspeare in Henry IV. ‘Care I for the thewes,’ &c. seems to use it in the sense of sinews, which, after all, may be the genuine word.”
1819 cald1
cald1
475 thewes] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Sinews, muscular strength. [2H4 3.2.258 (1791)] Falst.”
cald1
475-7 as this temple . . . withall] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “As the body increases in bulk, the duties calling forth the offices and energies of the mind increase equally. The term temple, which signified a place appropriated to the acts of religion, is never but on grave occasions applied to the body: nor generally, but where it is described as the sacred receptacle or depository of the soul; as in [Luc.] ‘His souls fair temple is defaced.’ And, ‘The outward shape The unpolluted temple of the mind.’ [Comus] 460.”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813 +
475 thewes] Boswell (ed. 1821, 1:517): “In one instance Shakspeare, as it has been conjectured, did not invent a new word, but employed it in a sense very different from that ascribed to it by all his contemporaries. ‘Thewes, (says Mr. Steevens, after having stated it to have meant in two passages of Shakspeare, muscular strength,) is perhaps applied by Shakspeare alone, to the perfections of the body; in all other writers of the time, it implies manners and behaviour.’ Yet, the following quotation from Gascoigne, in his ‘Certayn Notes of Instruction concerning the making of Verse or Ryme [sic] in English,’ seems to prove that Shakspeare used it with its strict and original signification, and that it was, in the others, a metaphor, the old critick thinks rather a daring one.
1826 sing1
sing1: Steevens, probably through v1821, without attribution
475 thewes] Singer (ed. 1726): “i.e. sinews and muscular strength. Vide note on [2H4 3.2.258 (1791)].”
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1
475 thewes]
1833 valpy
valpy: standard
475 thewes] Valpy (ed. 1833): “Muscular strength.”
1843 col1
col1: standard
475 thewes] Collier (ed. 1843, Glossary, 1: ccciv): “strength, [7:22]”
1854 del2
del2: standard + //s
475 thewes] Delius (ed. 1854): “thews steht auch an den beidem andern Stellen, wo Sh. es hat, in ähnlicher Verbindung: [JC 1.3.81 (521)]. thews and limbs und [2H6 3.2.58 (1791)] the limb, the thews, the stature, bulk and big semblance of a man. Es muss, obwohl jetzt nicht mehr in diesem Sinne gebräuchlich, ‘Sehnen’ bedeutet haben.” [thews, in both other places where Sh. has it, has similar associations: [JC 1.3.81 (521)]. thews and limbs and [2H6 3.2.58 (1791)] the limb, the thews, the stature, bulk and big semblance of a man. Though no longer useful in this sense, it must have meant sinews.]
Either I got the // wrong or he did. Check.
1856 hud1
hud1 del without attribution, especially the //
475 thewes] Hudson (ed. 1856): “That is, sinews and muscular strength. See [2H6 3.2.58 (1791)], note 12/”
1856 sing2
sing2 = sing1
475 thewes]
1861 wh1
wh1 = hud1; the ref. to wh1 note at 2H4 3.2.258 (1791) p. 549. ]
475 thewes]
1865 hal
hal = cald2
475 thewes]
1868 c&mc
c&mc: standard + // JC 1.3.81 (521), n. 80
475 thewes] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “‘Muscular power,’ ‘physical strength,’ ‘sinewy vigour.’”
1869 tsch
See v1877
tsch
475 thewes] Tschischwitz (ed. 1868, apud Furness, ed. 1877): “The s is probably not a sign of the plural but a derivative affix for th, whence we may infer an abstract theôvth, denoting growth, in later English thewth.”
1872 cln1
cln1pope, without attribution on JC; 1.3.81 (521); theo, without attribution on 1H4; def. standard
475 thewes]
cln1capn + analogue in magenta underlined
475 this temple . . . seruice] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “The mention of ‘this temple,’ i. e. the body (See John ii. 21), suggests the word ‘service.’”
1872 hud2
hud2 ≈ hud1
475 thewes] Hudson (ed. 1872): “ See page 447, note 13.”
hud2 on JC 1.3.? (000) (p. 447 n. 13) = theo
475 thewes] Hudson (ed. 1872, JC): “Thews is an old word, and a right good one, too, for sinews or muscles.
1874 Corson
Corson: F1, cam1 +
475 Corson (1874, p. 12): “‘his,’ in the F. stands for ‘nature:’ as nature’s temple grows, the service within widens. There is a metaphor implied. Nature does not grow only in thews and bulk, but as nature’s temple waxes in thews and bulk, the inward service of the mind and soul grow wide withal.”
1877 v1877
v1877 = Rolfe, Madden, tsch
475 thews] Furness (ed. 1877): “ Rolfe (Craik’s [JC 1.3.81 (521)]: That is, muscular powers; as in all the three instances in which Sh. uses the word (the third is [2H4 3.2.258 (1791)]. It comes from the Saxon theow or theoh, whence also thigh, and must not be confounded with the obsolete thews = manners, or qualities of mind, which is from the Saxon theaw. This latter thews is common in Spenser, Chaucer, and earlier writers; the former is found very rarely before Shakespeare’s day. It occurs (as cited by Nares) in Turberville’s Ovid Epistles, 1567: ‘the thews of Helens passing form.’ In the earlier version of Layamon’s Brut, at the end of the twelfth century (verse 6361): ‘Monnene strengest of maine and of theawe of all thissere theode’ (of men strongest of main, or strength, and of sinew, of all this land). But Sir F. Madden remarks (III, 471): ‘This is the only instance in the poem of the word being applied to bodily qualities, nor has any other passage of an earlier date than the sixteenth century been found in which it is so used.”
Ed. note: Without referring to pope, Furness has a long note from Rolfe refuting Pope’s definition. But theo1 refuted it in a note to JC; see above.
v1877 ≈ Corson (minus last sentence)
475 this]
v1877: cald
475 temple] Furness (ed. 1877): “See [Mac. 2.3.67 (820), Luc. 719 and 1172, in proof of Caldecott’s remark that this is never but on grave occasions applied to the body.”
1878 rlf1
rlf1Rolfe re JC (see Furness)
475 thewes]
1880 Tanger
Tanger
475 bulkes] Tanger (1880, p. 123): “plural s caught from ‘thewes.’”
1880 meik
meik: standard
475 thewes]
meikcln1 without attribution + Tmp. 1.2.458 (612) //
475-6 this temple . . . seruice]
1881 hud3
hud3 ≈ hud2
475 thews] Hudson (ed. 1881): “See page 31, note 23).”
1885 macd
macd; standard
475 thewes] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “muscles.”
macd
475 temple . . . withall] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “The body is the temple, in which the mind and soul are the worshippers: their service grows with the temple—wide, changing and increasing its objects. The degraded use of the grand image is after the character of him who makes it.”
1918 TLS
Sargeaunt
475 thewes and bulkes] Sargeaunt (“Hamlet’s Solid Flesh,” TLS 1918: 417-18) <p. 417> interprets these as possessives, “i.e. in thews and bulks service. The man is served with a fuller mind and soul as he grows to be served with stronger thews and bulk.” </p.417>
1929 trav
travver on Cor. without attribution +
475 temple] Travers (ed. 1929): “For the moment it seems as if the speaker was not so much the young courtier as his ‘myriad-minded creator, anticipating Milton almost.”
1936 cam3
cam3: Kellett
475-6 temple . . . seruice] Wilson (ed. 1936, rpt. 1954, add. notes): “E. E. Kellett, Suggestions, p. 74, anticipates me here.”
1989 OED
OED
475 temple] OED “thew: thew (ju), sb.1 Forms: 1–3 fleaw, fleau, (1 ›eow), 2–3 flæw, 2–5 flew, flewe, 3 fleauw, fleuw, fleæw, fleu, 4 theaw, 4–5 theu, thue, 4–9 thewe, (5 thegh), 4– thew. [OE. fléaw = OS. thau usage, custom, habit, OHG. thau (dau) discipline. Not recorded outside WGer. langs. Ulterior etymology uncertain.]
“1. a. A custom, usage, general practice (e.g. of a people, community, or class). Obs. . . .
“2. a. A custom or habit of an individual; manner of behaving or acting; hence, a personal quality (mental or moral); a characteristic, attribute, trait. Chiefly in pl. Obs. . . . [This obsolete form is recorded as late as Spenser 1590 and Southey 1805].
“b. Without qualification: A good quality or habit; a virtue; courteous or gracious action. Obs. c 1205 LAY. 300 fiis child leuede & wel iflei, & fleweas [c 1275 fleuwes] hit luuede. a 1225 Ancr. R. 278 fies fleau [humility] is alre fleauwene moder. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2757 Hu a unge man, at te welle[n] ‹ewe and wursipe hem dede. 13.. Cursor M. 20996 (Cott.) A man o mekenes and o theu. 1357 Lay Folks Catech. 406 The third vertu or thew is charite. c 1400 Emare 58 She thawth [ = tawt] hyt curtesye and thewe, Golde and sylke for to sewe. 1575 GASCOIGNE Notes Instr. in Steele Gl. etc. (Arb.) 37 This poeticall license...turkeneth all things at pleasure, for example, ydone for done..thewes for good partes or good qualities.
“3. pl. Physical good qualities, features, or personal endowments. b. The bodily powers or forces of a man (L. vires), might, strength, vigour; in Shaks., bodily proportions, lineaments, or parts, as indicating physical strength; in modern use after Scott, muscular development, associated with sinews, and hence materialized as if = muscles or tendons. Also in sing. and fig.
“1566 NUCE tr. Seneca’s Octavia I. iv. B iij b, Ere while thilke wretch recoyleth backe againe, And to my thews for ayde retyres amaine. 1597 SHAKS. 2 Hen. IV, III. ii. 276 Care I for the Limbes, the Thewes, the stature, bulke, and bigge assemblance of a man? giue mee the spirit. 1601 -- Jul. C. I. iii. 81 Romans now Haue Thewes, and Limbes, like to their Ancestors. 1602 -- Ham. I. iii. 12 Nature cressant does not grow alone, In thewes and Bulke.”
1939 kit2
kit2: standard
475 thewes] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "sinews."

kit2
475-7 this temple . . . withall] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "the body. The metaphor is carried out in the next lines: ’As the body (the temple) grows larger, the services conducted therein by the mind and soul (the priests of the temple) grow more extensive and elaborate,’ i.e. ’greater and greater objects occuply the thoughts and affections. The figure is Biblical. See 1 Corinthians, vi, 19: ’Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? In [Mac. 2.3.68 (821), the King’s body is called ’the Lord’s anointed temple.’ "
1957 pel1
pel1: standard
475 this temple] Farnham (ed. 1957): “the body.”
1970 pel2
pel2 = pel1
475 this temple] Farnham (ed. 1970): “the body”
1980 pen2
pen2: standard
475 thewes] Spencer (ed. 1980): “muscles, bodily strength.”

pen2: bible
475 this temple] Spencer (ed. 1980): “the human body that each of us possesses (a biblical phrase: ’ye are the temple of God’, 1 Corinthians 3.16 etc.).”
1982 ard2
ard2: standard
475 thewes and bulkes] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “thews, physical parts, strength. Bulk here combines the senses of (1) physical size and (2) the trunk of the body, for which see992 CN. Cf. 2H4 3.2.258 (1791), ’the thews, the stature, bulk, and big assemblance of a man’ (in contrast to ’the spirit’)”

ard2 kit2 without attribution
475 this temple] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “The familiar scriptural image for the body as the house of the spirit. See Corinthians 3.16-17, 6.19 (Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you’), etc.”
1987 oxf4
oxf4: standard
475 thewes and bulkes] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "physical strength and size. Compare [2H4 3.2.258 (1791)], ‘Care I for the limb, the thews, the stature, bulk, and big assemblance of a man! Give me the spirit.’ "

oxf4
475 temple] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "i.e. body as the temple of the soul. Compare 2 Corinthians 6:16, ‘ye are the temple of the living God.’ "
1988 bev2
bev2: standard
475 thewes] Bevington (ed. 1988): “bodily strength.”

bev2: standard
475 temple] Bevington (ed. 1988): “i.e., body.”
1992 fol2
fol2: standard
475 this temple] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “the body”

fol2: standard
475 waxes] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “grows larger”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: standard
475 thewes and bulkes] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “physical sinews and strength. F has ’Bulke’, and it is possible an extra ’s’ may have been picked up from one of the other words ending in ’s’ in this line, or from confusion about an attached comma in some hands; Shakespeare does not use ’bulks’ elsewhere.”

ard3q2: standard
475 this temple] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “the body (seen as the temple of the soul)”

ard3q2: standard
475 waxes] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “grows larger”
475