HW Home	Previous CN	View CN	View TNM	View TNI	Next CN

Line 756 - 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."

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.

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

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

756 And a most instant tetter {barckt} <bak’d> about	1.5.71

1611 Cotgrave

Cotgrave

756 tetter]

Ed. note: Cotgrave trans into English; earlier works from 1580, 1593 (see cln1 below).

1723- mtby2

mtby2

756 barckt] Thirlby (1723-): “I had wrote in the margin of Rowe [which had bak’d] bark’d cum Q. But upon this 2d reading I begin to leap to doubt. Sure it is the love of contradiction that makes me nb. crust v. 22 [757]. see whether the course of the sentence does not seem to intimate (for I dare go no further) that better shd be the accusative case. nb. on the other hand the order of words of 21, 2, 3 [756-8] & consider whether lazar-like does not follow better after barkd than after bak’d and nb. smooth body. but there is little or nothing in that.”

1755 Johnson Dict.

Johnson

756 tetter] Johnson (1755): “A scab; a scurf; a ringworm.” Derivation Saxon. He quotes Ham.

Ed. note: Johnson defines scurf (see Valpy) as a kind of dry scaly rash.

1773- v1773

mstv1:

756 barckt] Steevens (1773-): “covered as with a bark or rind.”

1833 valpy

valpy

756 tetter] Valpy (ed. 1833): “Scurf.”

1843 col1

col1

756 barckt] Collier (ed. 1843): “Here the quarto, 1603, comes again to our aid: it has ‘bark’d,’ which is the reading of all the other quartos, and no doubt the right word, though in the folio it is misprinted bak’d, for which some editors contend.”

1844 Dyce

Dyce

756

Ed. note: CN 756 is tacked onto CN 754.

1854 del2

del2

756 instant tetter barckt] Delius (ed. 1854): “Die Uebereinstimmung der Q. A. und der Qs. spricht für diese Lesart, so dass der Ausschlag augenblicklich (instant ist, obwohl adjectivisch, so zu fassen) eine Rinde bildete. Die Lesart der Fol. bak’d würde das Festbacken an der Haut ausdrücken.” [The agreement of Q1 and the 4tos speaks for this reading, so that the rash instantly (instant is, however, adjectival, so as to connect) builds a crust. The reading of the folio, bak’d, would signify the crust of the rash.]

1856 hud1

hud1

756 instant] Hudson (ed. 1856): “Instant seems to be here used in its Latin sense; pressing, urgent, harassing. H.”

hud1 ≈ col1 without attribution

756 barckt] Hudson (ed. 1856): “So all the quartos; the folio has bak’d instead of bark’d; a misprint, probably, but preferred by some editors.”

1858 col3

col3 = col1

756 barckt]

1872 cln1

cln1

756 instant] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “instantaneous, as in [1556].”

cln1: Cotgrave + in magenta underlined ?

756 tetter] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “Cotgrave explains the French dartre, by ‘tetter, or Ring-worme.’ See [Tro. 5.1.27 (2887-90)].”

Ed. note: cln1 does not mention it but in Tro. the meaning is venereal—see n. in Riverside, which calls this a “preposterous” list.

1872 hud2

hud2 ≈ hud1 + variations in magenta

756 instant] Hudson (ed. 1872): “is used in the Latin sense of instans, urgent, importunate, itching.”

hud2 ≈ hud1 (minus ref. to other editors) + in magenta underlined

756 barckt] Hudson (ed. 1872): “So the quartos; the folio has bak’d instead of bark’d, which means formed a bark or scab.”

1877 v1877

v1877 = hud2

756 instant]

1878 rlf1

rlf1 ≈ cln1 without attribution + 779 xref.

756 instant] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Instantaneous.” Similarly in 1556, while in 779 adverbially.

1880 Tanger

Tanger

756 barckt] Tanger (1880, p. 125) F1 variant “probably owing to the negligence, inattention, or criticism of the compositor.” The Q1 reading “confirms, or at least countenances, [the Q2] reading.”

1881 hud3

hud3

1885 macd

macd: standard + in magenta underlined

756 barckt] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “This barckt—meaning cased as a bark cases its tree—is used in 1st Q. also: [quotes]. The word is so used in Scotland still.”

1885 mull

mull ≈ hud2

756 tetter] Mull (ed. 1885): “scab.”

1899 ard1

ard1 = rlf1 without attribution , including 1 xref.

756 instant]

1904 ver

ver= JohnD “scurf” without attribution + Milton

756 tetter] Verity (ed. 1904): “Milton uses the word grimly, speaking of an early period of the Church: ‘What universal tetter of impurity had envenomed every part, order and degree of the church!’ (Of Reformation, I.). See also Webster’s Duchess of Malfi, ii. i. It occurs as a verb in [Cor. 3.1.79 (1771)].”

1934 Wilson

Wilson MSH

756 barckt] Wilson (1934, pp. 59-60) <p.59> thinks that the F1 variant, </p.59> <p.60> “which looks like a case of omitted letters, may quite possibly be due to ‘crust’ in the next line.” </p.60>

1938 parc

parc

756 tetter] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “scab, scurf.”

1939 kit2

kit2 ≈ mstv1 without attribution

TLN barckt] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "covered (as with the bark of a tree)."

1947 cln2

cln2

756 tetter] Rylands (ed. 1947): "scurf, eruption."

cln2

756 barckt about] Rylands (ed. 1947): "encrusted, coated."

1957 pel1

pel1: standard

756 tetter] Farnham (ed. 1957): “eruption.”

pel1: standard

756 barckt] Farnham (ed. 1957): “covered as with a bark.”

1957 pen1b

pen1b

756 tetter barckt about] tetter bak’d about Harrison (ed. 1957): “crusted over with blotches.”

1970 pel2

pel2 = pel1

756 tetter] Farnham (ed. 1970): “eruption”

pel2 = pel1

756 barckt] Farnham (ed. 1970): “covered as with a bark”

1980 pen2

pen2: standard

756 tetter] Spencer (ed. 1980): “scurf.”

pen2: standard

756 barckt about] Spencer (ed. 1980): “(coated with a crust).”

1982 ard2

ard2: analogues

756 tetter] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “eruption of the skin. Cf. Duchess of Malfi, 2.1.81, ’a foul tetter, that runs all over a man’s body’. Hence bark’d. Dover Wilson compares Deloney’s ballad on the poisoning of Edward III (Works, ed. Mann, p. 405): ’An ugly scab o’erspreads his lily skin’, ’foul blotches’ break out on his face, and he becomes like ’a lazar’”

1985 cam4

cam4

756 barckt about] Edwards (ed. 1985): "surrounded like bark."

1987 oxf4

oxf4: standard

756 instant] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "immediately occurring, instantaneous."

oxf4: standard

756 tetter] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "rash, eruption of the skin."

oxf4: standard

756 barckt about] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "covered as with bark, encrusted (the only use of bark, in this sense, in Shakespeare)."

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

756 tetter] Bevington (ed. 1988): “eruption of scabs.”

bev2: standard

756 barckt] Bevington (ed. 1988): “covered with a rough covering, like bark on a tree.”

1992 fol2

fol2: standard

756-8 a most instant tetter . . . body] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “i.e., sores and scabs, as on a leper, covered my body with a vile crust like the bark of a tree”

fol2: standard

756 tetter] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “a skin disease marked by sores and scabs”

1994 Fabicius

Fabricius

756 tetter] Fabricius (1994 apud Charney, 1996, pp. 5, 24) believes that Sh. alludes here and elsewhere to syphilus. Charney, however, thinks that Fabricius overstates the case.

Ed. note: Johannes Fabricius, dissertation for degree of Dr. of Medicine at Copenhagen in Sept. 1994, published Syphilis in Shakespeare’s England (London and Bristol, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1994), Reviewed by Maurice Charney in SNL (Spring 1996) 5, 24 (see also 747, 302): Charney says that “We often do not know whether a Renaissance author is speaking of leprosy, gonorrhea, some other sexually transmitted disease, herpes, or some innocent form of acne. The word ‘tetter,’ used in Hamlet and elsewhere in Shakespeare, is a good example of this ambiguity. Fabricius tends to think that all dermatological words in Shakespeare and in Renaissance discourse have a syphilitic connotation. Thus in Fabricius’ view most (if not all) of the numerous skin references in Hamlet are to syphilis.”

1994 OED 2nd edition on Internet

OED

756 tetter] OED confirms Charney: “1. A general term for any pustular herpetiform eruption of the skin, as eczema, herpes, impetigo, ringworm, etc.”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: standard; analogue

756-8 Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “’an immediate blistering (tetter) resembling leprosy (lazar-like) encrusted my smooth skin like the bark of a tree.’ The metaphor suggests an Ovidian metamorphosis, as when Daphne is transformed into a tree (Book 1), but it also anticipates the decomposition of the body after death.”