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.

1774 capn

capn

621+13 ore-leauens] Capell (1774, 1:1:126): “is—covers with leaven, throws a leaven upon them

capn on Cym.

621+13 ore-leauens] Capell (1774, 1:1:112, re Cym. 3.4.62 (1734) “Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men”: “lay the leaven on” any thing, is a scripture expression; and us’d (as grammarians are wont to term it) in malam partem, for —vitiate or corrupt it, which is the sense it has here; and is also that of ‘o’erleaven’ in ‘H.’ at [621+13].”

1790 mal

mal ≈ capn without attribution? +

621+13 ore-leauens] Malone (ed. 1790): “That intermingles too much with their manners; infects and corrupts them. See [8:393 n.2, below].

mal Cym. “Wilth lay the leaven on all proper men” = Upton

621+13 ore-leauens] Malone (ed. 1790, 8:392, Cym. 3.4.62. [1734]): “i.e. says Mr. Upton, ‘wilt infect and corrupt their good name, (like sour dought that leaveneth the whole mass) and wilt render them suspected.’”

1793 v1793

v1793 = mal

621+13 ore-leauens]

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

621+13 ore-leauens]

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

621+13 ore-leauens]

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

621+13 ore-leauens]

1854 del2

del2

621+13 ore-leauens] Delius (ed. 1854): “Sauerteig zu sehr durchdringt” [leaven too much pervades]

1885 macd

macd

621+13 See n. 621+8

1938 parc

parc

621+13 ore-leauens] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “corrupts.”

1939 kit2

kit2: standard

621+13 ore-leauens] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "pervasively modifies (as leaven changes dough)."

1970 pel2

pel2: standard

621+13 ore-leauens] Farnham (ed. 1970): “works change throughout, as yeast ferments dough”

1980 pen2

pen2

621+13 habit] Spencer (ed. 1980): “acquired habit.”

pen2

621+13 too . . . ore-leauens] Spencer (ed. 1980): “has too strong an effect upon (like something damaged by excessive fermentation).”

1982 ard2

ard2: Onions; xref

621+13 habit] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Onions cites this as one of only three instances in Shakespeare in which habit has its ordinary modern sense of ’settled practice’. (But see 2544+2.) Note, however, that a ’habit’ is not regarded as an acquired characteristic merely (cf. CN 621+12). It may have been the idea of habit as a manifestation of nature, a form that nature assumes, that here suggested the word habit itself. The common Elizabethan meaning, ’dress’ (as in 535, 2518, seems to be latent, giving rise to ’Nature’s livery’ in 621+16. Cf. 2544+1- 2546.”

ard2: Dover Wilson; contra OED; xref; //s; bible;

621+13 - 621+14 ore-leauens . . . manners] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “corrupts the pattern of approved behaviour. The commentators give little clue to the meaning they attach to this—except for Dover Wilson, who says that ’to o’erleaven is to have too much a good thing’. But leaven is not always good. Cf. Matthew 16.6, ’the leaven of the Pharisees’; Latimer, Last Sermon before Edward VI (Sermons, Parker Soc., 1: 256) ’their sin doth leaven you all’; Cym. 3.4.60, ’Thou, Posthumus, Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men’; Bacon, Henry VII (Works, ed. Spedding, 6: 152), ’A little leaven of new distaste doth commonly sour the whole lump of former merits’. To leaven here, then, is ’to taint’, ’to work corruption (in)’. And to o’erleaven is not, as OED would have it, ’to leaven too much’, but ’to leaven over’, to spread a corrupting influence over (or through). It is practically equivalent to ’lay the leaven on all’ in the Cymbeline passage, where the evil in Posthumous brings others into disrepute and Sinon’s hypocritical tears ’Did scandal’ those of genuine grief (cf. scandal, 621+22). For form, see 1820; and for plausive the ’plausive words’ of AWW 1.2.53, where the sense (though unknown outside Shakespeare) is usually and reasonably taken to be ’deserving of applause’. The passages cited describe Hamlet and Rousillon as models. But ’some habit’ may spread an infection through accepted codes of conduct.”

1985 cam4

cam4

621+13 too much ore-leauens] Edwards (ed. 1985): "Too much leaven in the dough will ruin the bread. So too great an admixture of ’some habit’ will ruin the form of pleasing manners."

1987 oxf4

oxf4: //s Cym. = mal without attribution + AWW

621+13-621+14 some . . . manners] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "i.e. some spontaneous touches of grace and charm that have been over-cultivated until they have become an annoying habit. The notion of excess, already present in o’ergrowth, is carried further in too much o’re-leavens, which suggests something so blown up that it has become insubstantial, a mere form of what it once was – a praiseworthy and pleasing attitude to others. The notion of leaven having a bad effect is clear in Imogen’s words, ‘So thou, Posthumus, Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men’ [Cym. 3.4.62 (1764)]; and there is a close parallel to the unusual sense plausive has here in the King’s praise of Bertram’s father – ‘his plausive words He scattered not in ears, but grafted them To grow there, and to bear’ [AWW 1.2.53-5 (300-2)]."

oxf4

621+13-621+14 that] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "picks up the previous That of [621+8]."

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

621+13 ore-leauens] Bevington (ed. 1988): “induces a change throughout (as yeast works in dough).”

1992 fol2

fol2 ≈ kit2 without attrubution

621+13 ore-leauens] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “radically changes”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: //; analogue

621+13-621+14 ore-leauens . . . manners] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “causes an excess in what would otherwise be acceptable behaviour (over-leavened bread rises or swells too much). Imogen uses a similar metaphor at Cym. 3.4.60-3 : ’So thou, Posthumus / Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men; / Goodly and gallant shall be false and perjur’d / From thy great fail.’ Shaheen cites a biblical analogy in 1 Corinthians, 5.6-8.”