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Line 613 - Commentary Note (CN)

Commentary notes (CN):

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

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

613 Keepes {wassell} <wassels> and the {swaggring} <swaggering> vp-spring reeles:

-1634 Chapman

Chapman

613 vp-spring] Chapman (Alphonsus, 3.2.150, p. 435): “We Germans have no changes in our dances, An Almain and an upspring, that is all. So dance the princes, burghers, and the boors.”

Ed. note: Kittredge questions the authorship of Chapman; see below, 1939.

1744 han1

han1

613 wassell] Hanmer (ed. 1743, 6: Glossary): “the merriment of twelfth-night with a great bowl carried about from house to house: the word is compounded of two Saxon words signifying, health be to you! . . . ”

1755 Johnson

Johnson

613 Keepes] Johnson (1755), for transitive verb 18, defines keep: “to practice; to use habitually.”

1765 john1

john1

613 swaggring vp-spring] Johnson (ed. 1765): “The blustering upstart.”

1773 v1773

v1773 = john1

613 vp-spring]

1773- mSteevens

mSteevens

613 keeps wassell] mSteevens (1773-): “Wassel, a drunken bout.”

1778 v1778

v1778

613 keeps wassell] Steevens (ed. 1778): “See [Mac. 1.7.64 (545)] Again, in The Hog hath lost his Pearl, 1614: ‘By Croesus name and by his castle, Where winter nights he keepeth wassel.’”

v1778 Mac. 1.7.64 (545)

613 keeps wassell] Steevens (ed. 1778, 4:190-1, n. 6), re Mac. 1.7.64 (545): “What was anciently called was-haile (as appears from Selden’s notes on the ninth song of Drayton’s Polyalbion) was an annual custom observed in the country on the vigil of the new year; and had its beginning, as some say, from the words, which Ronix, daughter of Hengist used, when she drank to Vortigern, loverd king was-heil; he answering her, by direction of an interpreter, drinc-heile; and then as Geoffrey of Monmouth says:

‘Kuste hire and sitte hire adoune and glad dronke hire heil,

‘And that was tho in this land the verst was-hail,

‘As in langage of Saxoyne that me might evere invite,

‘And so wel he paith the folc about, that he is not yut voryute.’

Afterwards it appears that was-haile, and drinc-heil, were the usual phrases of quaffing among the English, as we may see from Thomas de la Moore in the Life of Edward II, and in the lines of Hanvil the monk, who preceded him:

‘Ecce vagante cifo distento gutture wass-heil,

‘Ingeminant wass-heil——.

But Selden rather conjectures it to have been a usual ceremony among the Saxons before Hengist, as a note of health-wishing, supposing the expression to be corrupted from wish-heil.

“Wassel or Wassail is a word still in use in the midland counties, and signifies at present what is called Lambs Wool, i.e. roasted apples in strong beer, with sugar and spice. See Beggar’s Bush, act IV, sc. 4:

‘What think you of a wassel?

‘——thou and Ferret

‘And Ginks to sing the song: I for the structure,

‘Which is the bowl, &c.’

Again, in a song introduced in Laneham’s Narrative of Queen Elisabeth’s Entertainment at Kenilworth Castle, 1575:

‘For wine and wassell he had at will.’

Wassel is, however, sometimes used for general riot, intemperance, or festivity. On this occasion [i.e. Mac. 1.7.74 (545)] I believe it means intemperance.

“Ben Jonson personifies wassel thus: —Enter Wassel like a neat sempster and songster; her page bearing a brown bowl drest with ribbands and rosemary, before her. Steevens.”

v1778 = 1773 +

613 vp-spring] Steevens (ed. 1778): “It appears from the following passage in Alphonsus Emperor of Germany by Chapman, that the up-spring was a German dance: ‘We Germans have no changes in our dances; An almain and an up-spring, that is all.’ Spring was anciently the name of a tune, so in B [eaumont] and Fletcher’s Prophetess: ‘— we will meet him, And strike him such new springs—.’ This word is used by G. Douglas in his translation of Virgil, and, I think, by Chaucer. Again, in an old Scots proverb.— ‘Another would play a spring, ere you tune your pipes.’ ”

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778

613 keeps wassell]

v1785 = v1778

613 vp-spring]

w ref. to Mac. 4:509; from here on Beaumont is spelled out.

1787 ann

ann = v1785 minus B&F analogue)

613 keeps wassell]

ann = v1785 minus john1

613 vp-spring]

1790 mal

mal ≈ v1785 LLL and Mac.

613 keeps wassell] Malone (ed. 1790): “Devotes the night to intemperance. See [2: 411 n. 9; 4: 311 n.2]”

mal = Steevens LLL

613 wassell] Steevens (apud ed. 1790, 2: 411 n. 9) re LLL 5.2.17 (2242) “He is wit’s pedler; and retails his wares At wakes, and wassels”: “Wassels were meetings of rustic mirth and intemperance. Steevens.”

mal

613 wassell] Malone (ed. 1790, 2: 411 n. 9) re LLL 5.2.17 (2242) “He is wit’s pedler; and retails his wares At wakes, and wassels”: “Waes heal, that is be of health, as a salutation first used by the lady Rowena to King Vortiger [sic]. Afterwards it became a custom in villages on new year’s eve and twelfth night, to carry a Wassel or Wassel bowl from house to house, which was presented with the Saxon words above mentioned. Hence in process of time wassel signified intemperance in drinking, and also a meeting for the purposes of festivity. Malone.”

mal = Steevens Mac. v1778 minus some examples

613 keepes wassell] Steevens (apud ed. 1790, 4: 311 n. 2): “What was anciently called was haile (as appears from Seldon’s notes on the ninth song of Drayton’s Polyalbion) was an annual custom observed in the country on the vigil of the new year; and had its beginning, as some say, from the words, which Ronix, daughter of Hengist used, when she drank to Vertigern, loverd kyng was-heil; he answering her, by direction of an interpreter, drinc-heile. Afterwards it appears that was-haile, and drinc heile, were the usual phrases of quaffing among the English, as we may see from Thomas de la Moore in the Life of Edward II. and in the lines of Hanvil the monk, who preceded him: ‘Ecce vagante cifo distento gutture was-heil, Ingeminant wass-heil—.’ But Selden rather conjectures it to have been a usual ceremony among the Saxons before Hengist, as a note of health-wishing, supposing the expression to be corrupted from wish-heil.

“Wassel or Wassail is a word still in use in the midland counties, and signifies at present what is called Lambs Wool, i.e. roasted apples in strong beer, with sugar and spice. Wassel is, however, sometimes used for general riot, intemperance, or festivity. On this occasion [i.e. Mac. 1.7.64 (545)] I believe it means intemperance. Steevens.”

mal = v1785 minus B&F, G. Douglas, Chaucer

13 vp-spring]

1793 v1793

v1793 Upspring = v1785

613 vp-spring] Steevens (ed. 1793): “i.e. devotes his nights to jollity.”

1793 v1793

v1793 = mal

613 wassell]

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793 ref to 10:88 n.4

613 vp-spring]

1807 Douce

Douce: a ref to Ant. 2.7.94 (1443): “drink thou; increase the reels.” It also has a long note for Ham. 2: 206-219.

613 reeles] Douce (1807, 2:91-2): <p.91> “Here is some corruption, and unless it was originally revels, the sense is irretrievable. In all events Mr. Steevens has erred in saying that ‘reel was not in our author’s time. employed to signify a dance.’ The following passage in a book with which the learned editor was well acquainted, and which had escaped his excellent memory, proves the contrary. ‘Agnis Tompson was brought againe before the king’s majestie and confessed that upon the night of All-hollon even last, she was accompanied with a great many witches to the number of two hundreth; and that all they together went by sea each one in a riddle or cive, and went in the same very substantially with flaggons of wine making merrie and drinking by the waye in the same riddles or cives, to the kerke of North Barrick in Lowthian, and that after they had landed, tooke hands on the land, and danced this reill or short daunce, singing all with one voice, “Commer goe ye before, commer goe ye Gif ye will not goe before, commer let me.’ </p.91> <p.92> At which time she confessed, that Geilles Duncane did goe before them playing this reill or daunce upon a small trump, call a Jewes trump, untill they entered into the kerk of North Barrick.’ Newes from Scotland declaring the damnable life and death of doctor Fian, a notable sorcerer, who was burned at Edinbourgh in January last, 1591, sign. Biij.” </p.92>

Douce

613 keepes wassell] Douce (1807, 2:206-19) discusses the Saxon background of the word and customs surrounding it (206-). He reviews the notes by Steevens and Malone (209). He connects wassel with wastel-bread, a fine white bread mistakenly called wassel-bread, and connected with wassel (210-212) and discusses the errors of several commentators in this regard. He mentions Chaucer’s Prioress (213) and other references to this bread (214). He goes on to wassel song—i.e., Christmas song—with a Norman example and translation (214- 219). He ends with the final couplet: “Now wassel to you all! and merry may ye be! But foul that wight befall, who drinks not health to me!”

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

613 vp-spring]

1813 Gifford

Gifford See n. 310

613 wassell]

1819 cald1

cald1 ≈ v1813 Steevens LLL note without attribution; mal refers to it, above

613 keeps wassell] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Wassail is a jovial feast. See [LLL 5.2.17 (2242) Bir. & [Mac. 1.7.4 (545)] Lady M.”

cald1: v1813 (john1, Steevens) + in magenta underlined

613 vp-spring] Caldecott (ed. 1820): “Upspring, associated with ‘swaggering’ may have the familiar sense of ‘upstart,’ assigned to it by Dr. Johnson: but Mr. Steevens having shewn, from Chapman’s Alphonsus, that upspring was a German dance (at least a figure in their dances) ‘We Germans have no changes in our dances; An almain and an upspring, that is all,’ the term seems, like upsy freeze, to be connected with the musical accompaniments and riotous gesticulations of a northern or German debauch.

“The language of Lodge’s Wit’s Miserie, 4to. 1596, p. 20, seems to countenance this idea: ‘Dance, leap, sing, drink, upsefrize.’ ‘For Upsefreese he drunke from four to nine, So as each sense was steeped well in wine: Yet still he kept his rouse, till he in fine Grew extreame sicke with hugging Bacchus’ shrine.’ A new Spring shadowed in sundrie pithie Poems by Musophilus, 4to. 1619. signat. 1.b. where Upsefreese is the name given to the Frier.”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

613 vp-spring]

v1821 = v1813

613 keeps wassell]

1822 Nares

Nares

613 vp-spring] Nares (1822, apud ed. 1877): “one insolent from sudden elevation.”

1826 sing1

sing1: cald1 + in magenta underlined

613 keeps wassell] Singer (ed. 1826): “The origin of the word wassel is thus related by Geffrey of Monmouth:—‘On Vortigern’s first interview with Rowena she kneeled before him, and presenting him a cup of wine said to him Lord king wæs hæl, i.e. be health, or health be to you! Vortigern, unacquainted with the Saxon language, inquired the meaning of these words, and being told that he should answer them by saying Drinc heil, he did so, and commanded Rowena to drink; then taking the cup from her hand he kissed the damsel and pledged her. From that time the custom remained in Britain that whoever drank to another at a feast said Was hæl, and he that immediately after received the cup answered Drinc heil.’ The story is also told in the Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Brunne. To keep wassell was to devote the time to festivity. Vid. [LLL 5.2.17 (2242)]

sing1: john1 without attribution; Steevens v1813

613 vp-spring] Singer (ed. 1826): “I take upspring here to mean nothing more than upstart. Steevens, from a passage in Chapman’s Alphonsus, thought that it might mean a dance.

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

613 wassell]

cald2 = cald1

613 vp-spring]

1833 valpy

valpy

613 wassell] Valpy (ed. 1833): “A convivial entertainment.”

valpy: standard

613 vp-spring] Valpy (ed. 1833): “A dance.”

1844 verp

verp: standard

613 Verplanck (ed. 1844): “Wassel ordinarily meant holiday festivity, but was applied to any sort of bacchanalian revel. The ‘swaggering up-spring’ means, according to Johnson, ‘the bloated upstart;’ but as up-spring is the name of a German dance, in Chapman, the line may mean, that the king keeps his drunken revels, and staggers through some boisterous heavy dance.”

-1845 mHunter

mHunter

613 wassell] Hunter (-1845, fol. 223v): “No doubt this word has been amply illustrated by the Commentators. I shall add the instance of an early use of it from Camden’s Remains p. 283 [quotes 4 lines of Latin verse] By [?] John Hasvil [?], a monk of St Albans.”

1856 hud1

hud1 standard

613 wassell] Hudson (ed. 1856): “Wassel originally meant a drinking to one’s health; from wæs hæl, health be to you: hence it came to be used for any festivity of the bottle and the bowl. See [LLL 5.2.17 (2242)] n 19; and [Mac. 1.7.4 (545)] n.10.—

hud2: standard

613 vp-spring] Hudson (ed. 1856): “probably means the same as upstart. H.”

1856 sing2

sing2 = sing1 minus everything but the last sentence

613 wassell] wassel

sing2 = sing1

613 vp-spring]

1856 Badham

Badham: Steevens +

613 vp-spring] Badham (1856, p. 283): “The editors are not agreed whether the swaggering upspring means the swaggering upstart—i.e., Hamlet’s uncle (a likely epithet to be uttered before to persons, and that when he has not yet seen the Ghost, and has no other feeling towards his uncle but one of vague aversion!)—or whether it is a sort of dance; (as if the descendants of the Berserker would interpolate their serious drinking with such a frivolous thing as a dance!) I read ‘keep wassel and the swaggering upsy freeze.’ Not that I know what upsy freeze is, or whence it is derived; but it is evident, from the passage in Gul’s Hornbook, which Steevens quotes on the word rouse in this place, that it was a species of drinking, and therefore appropriately joined to wassel. I find the same word in Will Summers’ Last Testament, where it seems to be used in the sense of [Greek]. ‘I know thou art but a micher, and darest not stand me. A vous, Monsieur Winter, a frolick upsy freeze: cross, ho: super nagulum.’”

1860 stau

stau: v1821, Douce

613 keeps wassell] Staunton (ed. 1860): “Of ‘Wassail’ from the Saxon wæs hael, abundant illustrations will be found in the Variorum Shakespeare, and in Douce;”

stau ≈ Steevens v1778 + in magenta underlined

613 swaggring vp-spring reeles] Staunton (ed. 1860): “but the expression, ‘swaggering up-spring reels,’ still admits of further explanation. At one time it was generally believed to be a derogatory epithet applied by Hamlet to the upstart king, until Steevens proved by a quotation from Chapman’s ‘Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany,’ — ‘We Germans have no changes in our dances; An almain and an up-spring, that is all.’— that a particular kind of dance was meant. Up-spring, indeed, is from the Anglo-Saxon, and also the Danish Op-springer, and Low-Dutch Op-springen, to leap up; and the ‘upspring reels” we conceive to have been some boisterous dance in which the performers joined hands in a ring and then indulged in violent leaps and shoutings, somewhat in the manner of our leaping dances of Hoppings at a country wake.”

1861 wh1

wh1: Steevens + in magenta underlined

613 swaggring vp-spring reeles] White (ed. 1861): “—i.e., reels through the swaggering up-spring. The up-spring was a rude and boisterous German dance, as Steevens showed by the following quotation from Chapman’s Alphonsus:—[and he quotes].”

Ed. note: wh1 has it both ways, the drunkenness and the dancing.

1862 cham

cham = Steevens

613 vp-spring]

1865 hal

hal ≈ sing1 + in magenta underlined

613 keeps wassell] Halliwell (ed. 1865): “Wassel, from the A.-S. waes hael, be in health. It was anciently the pledge word in drinking, equivalent to the modern your health. The term in later times was applied to any festivity or intemperance; and the wassail-bowl still appears at Christmas in some parts of the country. The liquor termed wassel in the provinces is made of apples, sugar, and ale. ‘Who so drynkes furst i-wys, Wesseyle the mare dele.’ — MS. Cantab. Ff. v. 48, f. 49.

“The following curious old wassail song occurs in Bale’s play of Kynge Johan,— ‘Wassayle, wassayle, out of the milke payle, Wassayle, wassayle as whyte as my nayle. Wassayle, wassayle in snowe, froste, and hayle, Wassayle, wassayle with partriche and rayle, Wassayle, wassayle that muche doth avayle, Wassayle, wassayle that never wyll fayle.”

hal = Steevens

613 swaggring vp-spring reeles]

1867 Keightley

Keightley

613 swaggring vp-spring reeles] Keightley (1867, p. 288): “I would for ‘swaggering’ read staggering. ‘Upspring’ is probably used collectively for the risers from the table, a mode of expression not yet obsolete. ‘The space was filled by the in-rush before he had time to make his way out.’—Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s Lovers, ch. xii.”

1867 N&Q

Cartwright: Steevens, cald, stau all without attribution

613 swaggring vp-spring reele] Cartwright (1867, p. 3): “There has lately been published in Germany (Brockhaus, Leipzig) a new edition of Chapman’s Tragedy of Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany, edited by Dr. Karl Else of Dessau. The learned editor has added numerous notes and a preface full of research, showing there was a far greater intercourse between England and Germany in those times than is generally imagined. The work cannot fail to be welcomed in this country as a valuable contribution to Elizabethan literature, especially as both notes and introduction are written in English. At p. 83, we read—‘An Almain and an upspring that is all.’ To this passage the editor appends the following note:—‘ “Upspring” neither means an “upstart,” as most Shaksperian editors [[as well as Nares, though he cites the present line from Alphonsus]] have imagined, nor the German “Walzer,” as Schlegel has translated it in Hamlet [613]. but it is the “Hüpfauf,” the last and consequently the wildest dance at the old German merrymakings. See Ayrer’s Dramen, ed. by Keller, iv. 2840 and 2846:— “Ey, jetzt geht erst der hupffauff an. Ey, Herr, jetzt kummt erst der hupffauff.” No epithet could therefore be more appropriate to this drunken dance than Shakspere’s ‘swaggering.’ I need hardly add, that ‘upspring” is an almost literal translation of the German name.”

1868 c&mc

c&mc: standard on Alphonsus and gloss

613 swaggring . . . reeles] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “‘Reels through the swaggering dance called an up-spring.’ [follows with ref. to Chapman].”

1870 rug1

rug1: Steevens on Chapman

613 swaggring . . . reeles] Moberly (ed. 1870): “Steevens quotes from Chapman:

‘We Germans have no changes in our dances

An almain and an upspring, that is all.’”

1872 cln1

cln1 : standard gloss w A.S., and ref. to Mac. without attribution

613 keeps wassell]

cln1: Elze; Pope; Steevens without attribution

613 vp-spring] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “The English rendering of the German ‘Hüpfauf’: according to Elze, the last and consequently the wildest dance at the old German merry Makings. It occurs in Chapman’s Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany’ [[p. 83, ed. Elze, 1867]]: ‘We Germans have no changes in our dances, An Almain and an up-spring, that is all.’ Some interpreters of the present passage take ‘up-spring’ as a substantive in the sense of ‘up-start,’ which Pope actually substitutes for it.”

1872 hud2

hud2 = hud1 minus //

613 wassell]

hud2 : Cartwright or cln1 without attribution

613 swaggring vp-spring reeles] Hudson (ed. 1872): “Reels through the swaggering up-spring, which was the name of a rude, boisterous German dance, as appears from a passage in Chapman’s Alphonsus: ‘We Germans have no changes in our dances; an almain and an up-spring, that is all.””

1873 rug2

rug2: cln1 on A.S. without attribution; Gifford on garaus without attribution

613 wassell] Moberly (ed. 1873):“From the well-known “was haél’ of Saxon history. Similarly, the word ‘carouse’ is suppose to come from ‘garaus,’ drinking one’s glass right out.”

§§ not in rug1

rug2 = rug1 + ≈ Keightley on risers from table without attribution

613 swaggring vp-spring reeles] Moberly (ed. 1873): “ . . . The ‘upspring’ (Hupfauf) was a riotous dance, to which Hamlet compares the reeling and unsteady rise of the guests to do honour to the king’s toasts.”

1875 Schmidt

Schmidt

613 vp-spring reeles] Schmidt (1875) calls reels a verb and vp-spring the object of the verb: reels means “to stagger as one drunk.”

1876 Elze

Elze

613 vp-spring] Elze (1876, p. 171,1901, p. 148) discusses the dance, which Sh. must have known from visiting the Steelyard. Elze had edited Alphonse and included a passage about the dance. This note is a little different because it opines that Sh. visited ships and knew German customs first-hand from seeing Germans in action.

1877 v1877

v1877: standard (i.e. = cln1 without attribution minus A. S.)

613 wassell]

v1877: summarizes 4 interps: [upstart variations] Pope, Hanmer, john, Nares, sing; [German dance] Steevens, Elze, stau + in magenta underlined; [a diff. dance] Steevens, cald, badham; [those who rise from table] Keightley

613 vp-spring] “Four explanations have been proposed. First: Pope (followed by Hanmer) referred it to the King, and changed it into upstart; Johnson retained ‘up-spring,’ but adopted in a paraphrase Pope’s emendation, ‘a blustering upstart.’ Nares[see] . . . . Second: Steevens [on dance] . . . . . Elze [Alphonsus, p. 144] confirmed [Steevens when] . . . he showed that this ‘up-spring” was ‘the “Hüpfauf,” the last and consequently the wildest dance at Old German merry-makings. See Ayrer’s Dramen, ed. by Keller, iv, 2840 and 2846: ‘Ey, jtzt [sic] geht erst der hupfauf an. Ey, Herr, jtzt kummt erst der hupfauf.’ No epithet could therefore be more appropriate to this drunken dance than Shakespeare’s ‘swaggering.’ I need hardly add that ‘up-spring’ is an almost literal translation of the German name. Staunton, while assuming that ‘up-spring’ refers to a dance, understands ‘reels’ as a plural noun, qualified by ‘up-spring.’ [[I have always supposed it to be a verb, in the same construction as ‘keeps.’ Ed.]] Third: Steevens, in his note on ‘rouse,’ having quoted from Decker’s Gul’s Hornbook: ‘Teach me [etc. this is probably in TLN 310]. Caldecott inferred that the ‘up-spring’ dance might be like the ‘upsy-freeze, both connected with the music and riot of a German debauch.” Badham [see above, 1856]. Fourth: Keightley (Expositor, p. 288) says that it is [quotes from “used” to “obsolete.”]

1878 rlf1

rlf1

613 reeles] Rolfe (ed. 1878) agrees with Schmidt and Furness that reels “is a verb with upspring for its object.”

1880 Tanger

Tanger

613 wassell]Tanger (1880, p. 125): F1 variant “probably owing to the negligence, inattention, or criticism of the compositor.”

1881 hud3

hud3 = hud2 minus wæs hæl and def.

613 wassell]

hud3 = hud2

613 vp-spring]

1883 wh2

wh2: standard on dance

613 vp-spring]

1885 macd

macd :standard + in magenta underlined

613 swaggring vp-spring reeles] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Does Hamlet here call his uncle an upspring, an upstart? or is the upspring a dance, the English equivalent of ‘the high lavolt’ of [Tro. 4.4.86 (2477)], and governed by reels—‘keeps wassels, and reels the swaggering upspring.’—a dance that needed all the steadiness as well as agility available, if, as I suspect, it was that in which each gentleman lifted the lady high, and kissed her before setting her down? I cannot answer, I can only put the question. The word swaggering makes me lean to the former interpretation.”

1899 ard1

ard1: pope; Chapman; elze; stau (all ≈ v1877 without attribution);

613 vp-spring]

1904 ver

ver

613 vp-spring] Verity (ed. 1904): “ [. . . ] another touch of northern local colour, such as Shakespeare may have got from his friends among the English players in Germany [. . . ].”

1929 trav

trav: pope; NED; Onions (1911 ed.); Chambers; Elze (1867); Furness; ver

613 vp-spring reeles] Travers (ed. 1929): could mean upstart in which case reels would = revels, contracted. He approves of the Furness and Verity solution that sees reels as a transitive verb “(= staggers drunkenly through . . . governing ‘the swaggering upspring’ and picturesquely emphasized by coming last. This seems to give the line most ease and vigour of swing.”

1936 cam3b

cam3b

613 Wilson (ed. 1936, rpt. 1954, additional notes): “For this Danish custom and contemporary English opinion upon it v. the account of ‘The Earle of Rutland his Ambassage into Denmarke’ (June and July, 1603), on the occasion of a royal christening and for the presentation of the order of the Garter to Christian IV (King James I’s brother-in-law), given in Stow’s Annals (pp. 1433-37) and based upon a note supplied by ‘Maister William Segar, Garter King at Armes.’ Two extracts may be quoted: [quotes, see 1603, above].

1938 parc

parc

613 wassell] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “revelry.”

parc

613 vp-spring] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “a dance.”

1939 kit2

kit2: v1778 Alphonsus, corrected; elze; Child

613 vp-spring] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "This was a dance or a dance movement (figure), as Steevens proved from the old play of Alphonsus, wrongly ascribe to Chapman (Pearson ed., III, 238): [quotes as above]. Perhaps the upspring was identical, as Elze supposes, with the old German dance called the huplauf (or hüplauf, i.e. ’hop-up.’ We are not to suppose that the King is dancing. He might ’open the ball, perhaps, but would hardly go capering about the chamber! Upspring seemd to be the subject of reels: ’That swaggering dance, the upspring, is reeling thropugh the hall!’ (Child)."

1947 cln2

cln2

613 swaggring vp-spring reeles] Rylands (ed. 1947): "blustering new-fangled revels."

1957 pel1

pel1: standard

613 vp-spring] Farnham (ed. 1957): “a German dance.”

1970 pel2

pel2 = pel1

613 vp-spring] Farnham (ed. 1970): “a German dance”

1980 pen2

pen2

613 Keepes wassell] Spencer (ed. 1980): “gives a drinking-party.”

pen2: standard

613 swaggring . . . reeles] Spencer (ed. 1980): “ Probably the rare noun upspring indicates some kind of Teutonic dance which Shakespeare introduces as local colour.”

1982 ard2

ard2: standard summary of opinions

613 the . . . reeles] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “riotously dances the upspring (a wild dance). Reels, with its suggestion of drunken motion, is variously taken as a plural noun, an intransitive verb, or (best) a transitive verb with upspring as its object. Johnson interpreteted upspring as ’upstart’, referring to the King. But that an upspring was a German dance (or part of one) seems established by the play Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany, printed 1654, formerly attributed to Chapman: ’We Germans have no changes in our dances, An Almain and an upspring, that is all’ (Chapman’s Tragedies, ed. Parrott, p. 435). Elze (ed. of Alphonsus, p. 144) identified it with a wild dance traditional in German merrymaking called the Hüpfauf and was able to refute (ed. of Hamlet, 1882, p. 133) Schmidt’s assertion that the Hüpfauf was apocryphal. Presumably Shakespeare knew of the upspring as a feature of carousals and associated it with northern Europe. Kittredge, persuaded that the King would not himself ’go capering about the chamber’, makes upspring the subject of reels. But this involves an awkward change of subject; the syntax points to reels as parallel with keeps. The transitive use, though rare, is hardly unidiomatic. (Cf., though with dissimilar object, Ant. 1.4.20, ’To reel the streets’.) OED and Kökeritz (p. 189 prefer reels as a noun, as in Ant. 2.7.92, ’Drink thou; increase the reels’. This makes upspring an adjective, and as such (= ’upstart’) OED records it in 1591 (’the new upspring nobility’), encouraging Dover Wilson to paraphrase upspring reels as ’newfangled revels’. But with the revelry insisted on as customary (618), the aptness of this is not obvious."”

1985 cam4

cam4; Jenkins

613 swaggring vp-spring reeles] Edwards (ed. 1985): "The meaning is uncertain. ’up-spring’ may be a German dance, in which case Jenkins solution is best. He argues that ’reel’ means to dance riotously, and that the subject of the verb is Claudius, who dances the up-spring."

1987 oxf4

oxf4: standard

613 Keepes wassell] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "holds a drinking-bout."

oxf4: OED

613 swaggring . . . reeles] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "blustering new-fangled revels. This gloss is substantially that of OED, and takes upspring as an adjective qualifying reels, meaning ‘revels’, the sense it has in Antony 2.7.92, ‘Drink thou; increase the reels.’ The alternative possibility is to take reels as a verb, meaning ‘drunkenly dances’, an upspring as a noun, translating the German hüpfauf, a wild dance."

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

613 wassell] Bevington (ed. 1988): “carousal.”

bev2: standard

613 vp-spring] Bevington (ed. 1988): “wild German dance.”

bev2: standard

613 reeles] Bevington (ed. 1988): “dances.”

1992 OED

OED

613 vp-spring] OED includes upspring in its discussion of upstart. They appear to be synonyms. Upspring has a reference to Ham.; with reels it means some sort of dance.

OED

613 wassell]: OED. “As an ordinary salutation ( = ‘hail’ or ‘farewell’) the phrase, or an approximation to it, occurs both in OE. (hál wes flú, and in pl. wesa› hále: see BE v. A. 3) and in ON. (pl. veri› heilir). But neither in OE. nor in ON., nor indeed in any Teut. lang., has any trace been found of the use as drinking formulas, of the phrases represented by wassail and drinkhail. It seems probable that this use arose among the Danish-speaking inhabitants of England, and became more or less common among the native population; in the 12th c. it was regarded by the Normans as markedly characteristic of Englishmen. The earliest known occurrence of the phrases is in Geoffrey of Monmouth VI. xii. (c 1140), in the well-known story of Rowena (wes heil..drinc heil: v.r. was heil, printed edd. corruptly wacht heil). Geoffrey’s attribution of the phrases to the 5th century is an anachronism; the original story as told by Nennius contains nothing corresponding to them. In Wace’s Brut (c 1180), which is a metrical version of Geoffrey, various MSS. have weshel, waisseil, gasel; drinkel, drincheheil, drechehel. That Wace’s acquaintance with the `English’ phrases was not wholly derived from the passage in Geoffrey is shown by his reference to them in the Roman de Rou, where it is said that the night before the battle of Hastings was spent by the English in revelry, with cries of weissel (v.rr. wesse heil, welseil, weseil) and drincheheil (v.rr. drinceseil, drinqueheil, drinkeil). In the Speculum Stultorum of Nigellus Wireker (c 1190) the English students at the university of Paris are praised for generosity and other virtues, but are said to be too much addicted to wessail and dringail. The earliest example of the phrases in an English context is in Layamon’s translation of Wace. In drinkhail the second element is, as in wassail, the ON. adj. heill used as complement. Although the phrase drekk heill is not recorded in ON., it has an exact syntactical parallel in sit heill, `sit in health’. Whether the form of the first element in drinkhail is due to OE. influence or is archaic Scandinavian is doubtful; the form drechehel in one MS. of Wace is noteworthy from its resemblance to the ON. of the literary period.]1. A salutation used when presenting a cup of wine to a guest, or drinking the health of a person, the reply being DRINK-HAIL.

“sb. 4: A carousal; riotous festivity, revelling. 1602 SHAKS. Ham. I. iv. 9 The King doth wake to night, and takes his rouse, Keepes wassels. 1606 -- Ant. & Cl. I. iv. 56 Anthony, Leaue thy lasciuious Vassailes.”

1992 fol2

fol2: standard

613 Keepes wassell] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “carouses”

fol2: standard

613 vp-spring] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “a German dance, particularly associated with heavy drinking”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: standard

613 Keepes wassell] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “To ’keep wassail’ was a formulaic or idiomatic expression meaning to drink numerous toasts (and hence often to become disorderly).”

ard3q2: elze; klein

613 the . . . reeles] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “a difficult expression found in virtually identical form in all three texts. The general meaning is that a riotous form of dancing accompanies the drinking. Most editors take reels to be a verb, with The King as the subject and the . . . upspring as the name of a lively dance (Elze says the word literally translates the German Hupfauf, which was ’the last and consequently the wildest dance at the old German merrymakings’, and Klein considers this plausible), but Hibbard takes upspring as an adjective qualifying reels (=revels) and reads the whole line to follow on from Keeps (i.e. holds) ’blustering new-fangled revels’. See also Jenkins (LN).”