Line 548 - Commentary Note (CN) 
Commentary notes (CN):
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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
| 548 Pol. The time {inuests} <inuites> you goe, your seruants tend. | 1.3.83 |
|---|
1733 theo1
theo1
548 inuests] Theobald (ed. 1733): “This reading [invites] is as old as the first Folio; however, I suspect it to have been substituted by the Players, who did not understand the Term which possesses the elder Quarto’s”: ‘The Time invests you,’ i.e. besieges, presses upon you on every Side. To invest a Town, is the military Phrase from which our Author borrow’d his Metaphor.”
Ed. note: The players texts Q6 - Q10 retained the Q2 word invests, but Theobald had not seen most of these.
1740 theo2
theo2 = theo1
548 inuests]
1755 Johnson Dict.
Johnson ≈ theo without attribution
548 inuests] Johnson (1755): “5. “To inclose; to surround so as to intercept succours or provisions: as, the enemy invested the town.”
Johnson
548 tend] Johnson (1755) uses this passages for one of his definitions of tend from attend.
1757 theo4
theo4 = theo2
548 inuests]
1765 john1
john = theo
548 inuests]
1765 Heath
Heath
548 inuests] Heath (1765, p. 527): “That is, you are now in the midst of that very juncture which hastens your departure. Part of that juncture is already past.”
1773 v1773
v1773 = john +
548 inuests] Steevens (ed. 1773): “Either reading may serve. Macbeth says (2.1.62 [643]), ‘I go, and it is done, the bell invites me.’”
v1773
548 tend] Johnson (ed. 1773): “i.e., your servants are waiting for you. Johnson.”
1774 capn
capn: theo without attribution in magenta underlined
548 inuests] Capell (1774, 1:1:124): follows Theobald in saying that invests means “straitens you, presses urgently on you,” adding that it is a typical Polonian image, “flowers of speech is his way,” different from the precepts that preceded this line and which some think Polonius may have “con’d.”
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773
548 inuests]
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778 minus theo and “either reading may serve”
548 inuests]
1787 ann
ann = v1785
548 inuests]
1790 mal
mal ≈ theo; = Steevens v1778 +
548 inuests] “Thus [invites] the folio. The quarto, 1604, reads— The time invests you: which Mr. Theobald preferred, supposing that it meant, ‘the time besieges, presses upon you on every side.’ But to invest, in Shakspeare’s time, only signified, to clothe, or to give possession. Malone.”
1793 v1793
v1793 = v1785; = Malone from mal
548 inuests]
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
548 inuests]
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
548 inuests]
1819 cald1
cald1 = Steevens’ Mac // from 1773 without attribution +
548 inuests] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “‘ The time inviting thee.’ [Cym. 3.4.105 (1782)] Imog.”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1793
548 inuests]
1826 sing1
sing1 ≈ Johnson without attribution
548 tend] Singer (ed. 1826): “Wait.”
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1 +
548 inuests]
Caldecott (ed. 1832): “
The time invites you]] i.e. ‘holds out inducements.”
1854 del2
del2 = Johnson without attribution
548 tend] Delius (ed. 1854): “tend = attend.”
1858 col3
col3 = col1 VN +
548 inuests] Collier (ed. 1858): “So in [AWW] Vol. ii. p. 609, we would read, as here, ‘the time invites us’ instead of ‘revives us,’ as it stands in the old copies.”
1868 c&mc
c&mc≈ Johnson Dictionary and/or 1773, partly by way of sing1, without attribution, + in magenta underlined
548 tend]
Clarke &
Clarke (ed. 1868): “Abbreviated form of ‘attend;’ used in the sense of ‘wait.’ See
[Cor. 1.1.76. (77), n. 107].”
1872 cln1
cln1 ≈ c&mc without attribution + xref in magenta underlined
548 tend] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “attend, wait. See [2076].”
1877 v1877
v1877: theo
548 inuests]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Theobald preferred
invests, supposing the term was military, and that it meant ‘besieges, presses upon you on every side.’”
The word “supposing” is disdainful (and comes from Malone) but OED and Johnson’s dictionary confirm. This would, in fact, be the kind of obscure metaphor that Polonius would like to use—as CAPN notes.
v1877 = Johnson (1773)
548 tend]
1880 Tanger
Tanger
548 inuests] Tanger (1880, p. 124): Q2 variant “probably owing to the negligence, inattention, or criticism of the compositor.”
1899 ard1
ard1: theo on invests
548 inuests]
1929 trav
trav: standard + in magenta underlined
548 tend]
Travers (ed. 1929): “‘attend’ . . . = wait
in readiness.” tend was a not an uncommon meaning or shortening. 1934 rid1
rid1: standard
548 inuests you goe] Ridley (ed. 1934) comments that the Q2 variant appears to mean ‘urges you to [go].’”
1938 parc
parc
548 tend] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “attend.”
1939 kit2
kit2: standard
548 tend] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "are waiting."
1947 cln2
cln2: standard
548 tend] Rylands (ed. 1947): "attend you."
1957 pel1
pel1: standard
548 tend] Farnham (ed. 1957): “wait.”
1970 pel2
pel2 = pel1
548 tend] Farnham (ed. 1970): “wait”
1980 pen2
pen2
548 inuests you] Spencer (ed. 1980): “requests your presence.”
pen2: standard
548 tend] Spencer (ed. 1980): “attend you.”
1982 ard2
ard2: Theobald; //s
548 inuests] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “besieges, hence presses upon. (So Theobald.) F invites has usually been preferred and accords with Shakespearean usage: cf. Cym. 3.4.104, ’the time inviting thee’; Mac. 2.1.62, ’The bell invites me’. Time calls upon us at Mac. 3.1.36 and Ant. 2.2.162. But invests, if without parallel, has the character of a Shakespearean metaphor and is not easily attributable to the Q2 compositor”
ard2: standard
548 tend] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “attend (Fr. attendre), i.e. wait. So too at 4.3.45.”
1985 cam4
cam4
548 tend] Edwards (ed. 1985): "attend."
1987 oxf4
oxf4
548 inuests] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "Jenkins argues strongly for Q2’s inuests, meaning ‘presses on’, because it ‘has the character of a Shakespearian metaphor’; but unusual metaphors are not part of Polonius’s currency. Invites has numerous parallels, including ‘th’ inviting time’ (Sonnets 124.8), and ‘The time inviting thee’ [(Cym. 3.4.104 (1782)]."
oxf4: standard
548 tend] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "are waiting."
1988 bev2
bev2: standard
548 inuests] Bevington (ed. 1988): “besieges, presses upon.”
bev2: standard
548 tend] Bevington (ed. 1988): “attend, wait.”
1992 fol2
fol2: standard
548 inuests] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “i.e., presses upon (Many editors prefer the Folio’s ’invites.’)”
1995 Kliman
Kliman
548 Kliman (1995): With no comma before go, Q2 sounds like a statement of fact: the time is propitious for going and the servants are waiting. With a comma before go, F1 sounds like a command. Depending on tone, Polonius could be as controlling with Laertes as he is with Ophelia; he could be concealing his feelings of regret or abrupt and peremptory, perhaps to hide his feeling for this son.
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: //; F1
548 inuests] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “If this Q2 reading is correct, it could mean something like ’vests power in you’ or ’makes an investment in you’ (as at Lr. 1.1.131 : ’I do invest you jointly with my power’); Jenkins retains and glosses ’besieges, presses upon’, noting that this is a unique usage but one which ’has the character of a Shakespearen metaphor’. F’s easier reading [see TNM] is often preferred.”
ard3q2: standard
548 tend] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “attend, are waiting”
548