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Line 747 - Commentary Note (CN)

Commentary notes (CN):

1. SMALL CAPS Indicate editions. Notes for each commentator are divided into three parts:

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

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

747 With iuyce of cursed {Hebona} <Hebenon> in a viall,	1.5.62

45-96 C. E. Statius

Statius

747 Hebona] Statius (apud Harrison, p. 295): “Metuendaque succo Taxus.” Thebaid 6.101; translated by Harrison: “dreaded Juice of the yew.”

1589 Spenser

Spenser F.Q.

747 Hebona] Spenser (Intro. F.Q. apud Nicholson, p. 26): <p. 26>“Faire Venus sonne . . . Lay now thy deadly Heben bow apart And with thy mother mylde come to mine ayde” </p. 26>

747 Hebona] Spenser (F. Q. 4:7:52 apud Nicholson, p. 27): <p.27 > Mammon’s garden: “Of direfull deadly black, both leaf and bloom Fitt to adorne the dead, and deck the drery toombe, There mournful Cypresse grew in greatest store, And trees of bitter gall, and Heben sad . . . .”

747 Hebona] Spenser (F. Q. 2:8:17 apud Nicholson, p. 27): Arthur “Till that they spyde where towards them did pace An armed knight, of bold and beauteous grace, Whose squire bore after him an heben launce, and coverd shield.”

Ed. note: See Nicholson’s comments on these, below

1595 Lyte’s Herbal

Lyte

747 Hebona] Lyte (apud Harrison, p. 305): <p. 305>“The yew, in High Dutch is Iben-baum, and in base Almaine Iben-boom. It is altogether venimous and against man’s nature . . . It grows in the forest of Arden.. . . It is so hurtful and venimous that such as only sleep under the shadow thereof become sick and sometimes they die.” </p. 305>

1601 Pliny

Pliny, trans. Holland

747 Hebona] Pliny (ed. 1601, 25:4: 214) discusses henbane: “An oile (I say) is made of the seed thereof, which if it be taken into eares, is ynough to trouble the braine.”

In the Loeb edition, this reference is in 25:17:35-37: “It has the character of wine, and therefore injures the head and brain . . . . The juice is extracted separately also from the stem and leaves [as well as seeds]. They also use the root, but the drug is, in my opinion, a dangerous medicine in any form. . . . . An oil is made from the seed, as I have said, which by itself if poured into the ears deranges the brain.” He considers it a poison, for which antidotes have been devised, and wonders that it should be used as a medicine.

Ed. note: See bibliography

1606 Raynolds

Raynolds

747 Hebona]

See Nicholson for the quotation.

1611 Cotgrave

Cotgrave

747 Hebona] Cotgrave (1611): “Hebene: m. Heben, or Ebonie; the blacke, and hard wood of a certaine tree growing in Æthyopia, and the East Indies.” “Hebenim . . . Of, or belonging to Ebonie.”

1730 Bailey

Bailey

747 Hebona] Bailey (1730): fr. Sax. hen-bana, “an herb.”

No suggestion of poison.

1754 Grey

Grey:

747 Hebona] Dr. T[athwell] (apud Grey (1754, 2:286-7): <p.286> “This can never be intended for the juice of Ebony, Dioscorides describes two sorts of the ebe- </p.286> <p.287> nus, one from Ethiopia, and another from India: and the modern are not agreed what particular trees answer these descriptions. However, it is certain these plants were never reputed poisonous. The dust of their wood was generally recommended by the ancients, as a medicine for the eyes.

“The word here used was more probably designed by a metathesis, either of a poet, or a transcriber, for henebon; that is, henbane; of which the most common kind (hyoscyamus niger) is certainly narcotic, and perhaps, if taken in a considerable quantity, might prove poisonous. Galen calls it cold in the third degree; by which in this, as well as opium, he seems not to mean an actual coldness, but the power, it has of benumbing the faculties. Dioscorides ascribes to it the property of producing madness [[noskykmos manivdhs[i.e., producing or generating mental disturbance or madness]]] These qualities have been confirmed by several cases related in modern observations. In Wepfer we have a good account of the various effects of this root, upon most of the members of a convent in Germany, who eat of it for supper by mistake, mixed with succory;—heat in the throat, giddiness, dimness of sight, and delirium. Cicut. Aquatic. c. 18.

“Sir Hans Sloan saw the same kind of symptoms in four children, from eating the seeds, which from the gross resemblance of the hulks, they mistook for filberds. Philosophical Transactions, </p.287> <p.288>

“A physician in France tells us of a violent mania, with convulsions, in a pregnant woman, and eight children of different ages, from two to eighteen, occasioned by their eating some soup in which this root was boiled by mistake, instead of parsnips. Philosophical Transactions, No. 451.

“Yet in their various cases, which take in almost all ages and circumstances, not one patient died, but were all well in a few days. Dr. T. ”

“I will beg here to add from Pliny, [[Nat . Hist. lib. xxv. cap. 4]], that the oil made from the seeds of this plant, instill’d into the ears, will injure the understanding.

“Oleum auribus infusum, tentat mentem.”

1765 john1

john1 = Grey

747 Hebona] Gray (in ed. 1765, 8: L12r - L12v): “The word here used was more probably designed by a Metathesis, either of a poet, or a transcriber, for henebon; of which the most common kind (byoscyamus [not completely legible] niger) is certainly narcotic, and perhaps, if taken in a considerable quantity, might prove poisonous. Galen calls it cold in the third degree; by which in this, as well as opium, he seems not to mean an actual coldness, but the power, it has of benumbing the faculties. Dioscorites ascribes to it the property of producing madness [Greek quotation; Hardin help; note that Errata in v1778, 1: [Y8r] corrects by supplying an accent over the 1st letter—it looks like a “c”.) These qualities have been confirmed by several cases related in modern observations. In Wepfer we have a good account of the various effects of this root upon most of the members of a Convent in Germany, who eat of it for supper by mistake, mixed with succory;—heat in the throat, giddiness, dimness of sight, and delirium. Cicut. Aquatic. c. 18. Dr. Gray [sic]

1765- mDavies

mDavies: john appendix (Grey, actually Tathwell)

747 Hebona] Davies (1765-): Dr. Gray believes that the Author or his Transcriber put by a Metathesis made an put Hebenon for Henebon—which is Henbane. I believe it w od. puzzle one that is not a very curious Searcher to find the word Henebon [overleaf] in our botanical books—And I could wish the word Henbane was substituted for it, at least on the Stage Tho Dr Gray has quoted Galen Diocoridess & Wepfer to prove its narcotic quality- the two last indeed ascribe to it ye power of producing a madness delerium—

“But Hippocrates & Celsus admitted the Henbane into their prescriptions for certain disorders, and especially for melancholy—and Scribonius Largus prescribes it in some cases under the name of Altericus.”

1772 SJC

Anon. ≈ grey (in john1) without attribution

747 Hebona] Anon. [Horatio] (St. James’s Chr. no 1799 [25-27 Aug. 1772]:1): “I cannot conceive why the Ghost should be suffered perpetually to persist in an Error: With Juice of cursed Hebenon in a Phial.

“I have looked into several Dictionaries, and can find no such Word as Hebenon. The Latin Word Ebenus signifies Ebony, a very harmless plant, the Juices of which cannot affect the Nerves of any Creature. I am persuaded that the Poet either wrote Henbane, or was himself mistaken with respect to the Properties of the Plant Ebenus, or Ebony.

“He is generally very exact in his Natural History, and I should wish that, for the Future, the Players would adopt the Word Henbane, which is a very poisonous Plant, and is certainly the Word which Shakespeare intended.”

1773 v1773

v1773: john1’s version of Grey +

747 Hebona] Steevens (apud 1773 ed.) “So in Drayton. Baron’s Wars, p. 51. ‘The pois’ning henbane, and the mandrake drad’. In Heywood’s [sic] Jew of Malta, 1633, the word is written in a different manner, ‘— the blood of Hydra, Lerna’s bane, The juice of Hebon, and Cocytus breath.’ Steevens.”

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773 + in magenta underlined

747 Hebona] Steevens (ed. 1778): “So in Drayton. Baron’s Wars, p. 51. ‘The pois’ning henbane, and the mandrake drad’. Again, in the Philosopher’s 4th Satire of Mars, by Robert Anton, 1616: ‘The poison’d Henbane whose cold juice doth kill’. Again, in Glapthorne’s Hollander, 1640: ‘— these are tears Such as distill from Henbane full of poison’. Again, in the Noble Solider, 1634: ‘Henbane and poppy, and that magical weed, &c. ’. In Heywood’s [ sic] Jew of Malta, 1633, the word is written in a different manner, ‘— the blood of Hydra, Lerna’s bane, The juice of Hebon, and Cocytus breath.’ ”

1778 v1778

Steevens v1778 errata:

747 Hebona] Of the errata list on the verso side, Steevens says, “The following Mistakes are chargeable on the Editor only. ” Heywood for Marlowe is one.

v1785, mal, and 1793 say Marlowe. Since some of these analogues come after Sh., the analogues could be derived from him. I am pretty sure Milton uses it too as a poison.

1784 Davies

Davies ≈ mDavies immaterial variants in magenta

747 Hebona] Davies (1784, 3:21): Dr. Gray is of opinion, that the author, or his transcriber, by a metathesis, put hebenon for henebon, which is henbane. I believe it would. puzzle the most curious searcher to find the word henebon in any of our botanical books; and I could wish the word henbane were substituted for it, at least on the stage. The doctor has quoted Galen, Dioscorides, and Wepfer, to prove its narcotic quality. The two last ascribe to it the power of producing a delerium. But the doctor did not know, perhaps, that Hippocrates & Celsus admitted the henbane into their prescriptions for certain disorders, and especially for melancholy. Scribonius Largus prescribes it, in some cases, under the name of altericus.”

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778, errata

747 Hebona]

1790 mal

mal = v1785 Grey (must check and compare v1778 and mal thoroughly)

747 Hebona]

1791- rann

rann: standard

747 Hebona] Rann (ed. 1791-): “henbane.”

1793 v1793

v1793: Grey [so spelled], Steeven’s analogues of Drayton, Anton, Marlowe,

747 Hebona]

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793 with Grey, and Steevens on Drayton, Anton, Marlowe

747 Hebona]

1807 Douce

Douce: v1803 + in magenta underlined

747 Hebona] Douce (1807, 2: 225-6): <p. 225> “Dr. Grey had ingeniously supposed this word to be a metathesis for henebon or henbane; but the best part of his note on the subject has been omitted, which is his reference to Pliny, who says that the oil of henbane dropped into the ears disturbs the brain. Yet it does not appear that henbane was ever called henebon. The line cited by Mr. Steevens from Marlow’s Jew of Malta, shews that the juice of hebon, i.e. ebony, was accounted poisonous; and in the English edition by Batman, of Bartholomæus de propietatibus rerum, so often cited in these observations as a Shakspearean book, the article for the wood ebony is entitled, ‘Of Ebeno, chap. 52.’ This comes so near to the text, that it is presumed very little doubt will now remain on the occasion. It </p.225> <p. 226> is not surprising that the dropping into the ears should occur, because Shakspeare was perfectly well acquainted with the supposed properties of henbane as recorded in Holland’s translation of Pliny and elsewhere, and might apply this mode of use to any other poison.”

Ed. note: See also Douce’s n. 719.

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

747 Hebona]

1819 cald1

cald1 hebona = v1813 +

747 cursed hebona] Caldecott (ed. 1820): After Grey and Steevens: “But, that it should, when administered as Shakespeare describes, produce the consequences which he states, must, it is presumed, be taken altogether as a poetical license, See ‘the insane root.’ [Mac. 1.3.? (186)] Banquo.”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813, Douce + Boswell inserts into Douce’s note the phrase in brackets in magenta underlined

747 Hebona] Boswell (ed. 1821) “This comes so near to the text [particularly that of the quarto, ] that it is presumed very little doubt will now remain on the occasion. . . . Douce.”

1822 Nares

Nares: F. Q. 1,7,37, Minshew, Cotgrave, [Grey, on transposition without attribution], Douce

747 Hebona] Nares (1822): “Ebony, the juice of which was supposed to be a deadly poison. [Spenser]. And Minshew, as well as Cotgrave, acknowledges the same orthography. [quotes 747]. [Quotes Jew of Malta, ‘. . . juice of heben . . . . ’ O Pl. viii. 355].

“It has been conjectured, that it is put in [Ham.] for henbane, but such a transposition of letters is very improbable; and it is still more so, that two authors should coincide in using it. Shakespeare, it is true, has elsewhere the word ebony; but uniformity in spelling did not belong to his days. The old quarto also has hebona, which less favours the change. Mr. Douce is of the same opinion, and refers to Batman’s translation of Barthol. de Propr. ch. 52. where it is called ebeno in English.”

1826 sing1

sing1: secure = cald1 + in magenta underlined

747 secure] Singer (ed. 1726): “This is also a Latinism, securus, quiet, or unguarded.”

sing1 hebenon = Grey, Steevens v1778 (Anton), Steevens v1773 (Drayton), v1785 Jew of Malta (from v1773) but v1785 corrects to Marlow +

747 Hebona] Singer (ed. 1826): “The French word hebenin, which would be applied to any thing made from ebony, comes indeed very close to the hebenon of Shakspeare. In confirmation of my conjecture, I find the newly discovered quarto, 1603, reads—hebona.”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1 hebona +

747 Hebona] “Still it is by no means ascertained what was the operative drug, here alluded to; ebony or henbane. On the one hand, the necessities of the poet’s measure certainly did not require, that hebenon should be substituted for henbane. On the other, though the juice of herbs, or plants capable of easy pressure, is a language of obvious meaning and as familiar as any, that we know, ‘the juices of trees’ is a phraseology hardly acknowledged. Dr. Sherwen informs us, that in Gower’s Confessio Amantis Hebenus is described as a large tree; the couch of the god of sleep being made of its boards: ‘Of Hebenus, that sleepie tree The bordes allaboute bee.’ And we have Eben wood. [F.Q. 1.7.37].”

1832- mEliot

mEliot = cald2 ref to Marlowe’s Jew of Malta, Gower and F.Q.

747 Hebona]

1833 valpy

valpy = rann without attribution

747 Hebona] Valpy (ed. 1833): “Henbane.”

1839 knt1

knt1 = cald2; Grey

747 Hebona] Knight (ed. [1839]): “Dr. Grey thinks that hebenon was a poetical modification of henbane. Our indigenous henbane (hyoscyamus niger) is well known in medicine for its soothing and narcotic properties; and a large dose, no doubt, would be poisonous. That it was considered as a poison in Shakspere’s time, we have sufficient evidence. In Drayton’s ‘Barons’ Wars,’ we have— ‘The pois’ning henbane, and the mandrake dread.’ It was a belief also, even of the medical professors of that day, that poison might be introduced into the system by being poured into the ear. Ambrose Paré, the celebrated French surgeon, was charged with having administered poison in this way to Francis II. It is, however, by no means clear that, by hebenon, Shakspere means henbane. In Marlow’s ‘Jew of Malta’ we have, amongst an enumeration of noxious things, ‘the juice of hebon’ (ebony); and much earlier, in Gower’s ‘Confessio Amantis,’ we find the couch of the god of sleep made of the boards ‘Of Hebenus, that sleepie tree.’ ”

1854 del2

del2 standard

747 Hebona] Delius (ed. 1854): “Einige Herausgeber denken bei hebenon, wofür Q. A.und die Qs. Hebona lesen, an henbane = Bilsenkraut. Sh. verstand unter dem Worte aber wohl dasselbe, was sein Zeitgenosse Marlowe in seinem Jew of Malta unter juice of hebon —auch ebon geschrieben— nämlich: den Saft des Ebenholzes—ebon oder ebony—der für giftig galt.” [Some editors think that by hebenon —for which Q1 and the 4tos read Hebona—is meant henbane or [?] weed. Sh.. however, undertands by the word exactly as does his contemporary Marlowe in his Jew of Malta for juice of hebon, which is also written ebon— namely: the juice (sap) of ebony-wood.]

1856 hud1

hud1 = sing1 without attribution

747 Hebona

BWK: Pliny, Anton, Drayton, Marlow, French word

1856 sing2

sing2 = sing1; cald 2 on Gower without attribution

747 Hebona]

1858 Dyce

Dyce: See note in cln1 for hebona; I must look up the original

1860 Bucknill

Bucknill

747-9 Hebona . . . leaprous distilment] Bucknill (1860, pp. 260-1): <p. 260> “Shakespeare is not wholly responsible for the impossible manner of the murder which the ghost describes, since he but adheres to the story as given in the tale of Saxo-Grammaticus. Commentators, probably led by the similarity of the sound, have been satisfied to suppose that the juice of cursed hebenon is the juice of henbane; but henbane is by no means a virulent poison; and the word is much more likely to have been a generic name for poison producing hebetudo animi. The leperous distilment doubtless means, a juice of distilment supposed to be capable of producing leprosy. [quotes 744-60]. “In the players’ representation of the murder, the poison </p. 260><p. 261> which has these effects, impossible to any natural substance, is represented to be a compound, endued with its virus by the ceremonial of witchcraft” (2127-8). </p. 261>

1861 wh1

wh1= sing1 (Grey, Steevens)

747 Hebona

1865 Stearns

Stearns

747-55 Stearns (1865, p. 74): “This may stand for a pretty good description of the effects of an animal poison on the blood, but not for the effects of a vegetable or mineral poison.”

1865 hal

hal ≈ Grey, cald2 with ∑ Marston for Marlow

747 Hebona

1868 c&mc

c&mc: standard on henbane, Pliny, ebony.

747 Hebona] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): ebony “was believed to possess soporific and poisonous qualities. The 1603 Quarto gives the word ‘hebona.’”

Further evidence that c&mc did not have a copy of Q2 since it too has “hebona.”

1869 elze

elze

747 Hebona] Elze (ed. 1869, apud Furness, ed. 1877): “If the citation from Marlowe be correct, it might be better to read the line: ‘With juice of cursèd hebon in a phial.’ Or perhaps should we not conjecture that hemlock was intended here?”

1869 tsch

tsch

747 Hebona] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869, apud Furness, ed. 1877): “The hebona of the Qq can be only a mistaken substitution of the Spanish and Italian, ebano; French ébène; Latin, ebenus and hebenus. Probably the -on of ‘hebenon’ was caused by the following ‘in,’ so that we may suppose that originally the word here was hebon.”

1873 rug2

rug2 ≈ cald2 + in magenta underlined

747 Hebona] Moberly (ed. 1873): “Not surely ebony (diospyros), the fruit of which is often edible; but henbane, or hyoscyamus, which is a strong narcotic poison. It does not indeed produce any leprous symptoms; but the belief of its doing so would, on the theory of signatures, be founded on the clammy appearance of the plant. Nor would it do any harm when poured into the ear; but Mr. Caldecott points out that Shakspere only followed received opinion in thinking that it would; as Ambroise Paré, his contemporary, was suspected of pouring poison into the ear of Francis II. as he dressed it.”

Checker’s note: The doctrine of signatures holds that the appearances of natural substances reflect the inherent characteristics of that substance, such that foul-smelling flowers are noxious, a red plant might be thought to be good for the blood, etc., hence the connection between the whiteness of the plant and leprosy, but I don’t have a citation for this.

1872 cln1

cln1: standard, including dyce, Grey, Steevens, Pliny, Marlowe (all with attribution), +

747 Hebona] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “So the folios. The quartos (including that of 1603) have ‘hebona,’ which Shakepseare may have first written and subsequently revised.”

1872 hud2

hud2 = hud1

746 secure]

hud2 = hud1 (minus last sentence on French word)

747 Hebona]

1873 rug2

rug2 = rug1

747 Hebona]

v1877: Grey, Steevens, Douce, cald, sing, elze, Beisley (Sh,’s Garden, p. 4), tschisch, moberly

747 Hebona] Beisley (Sh,’s Garden, p. 4, apud Furness, ed. 1877): “‘Hebenon’ might have been originally written enoron, one of the names at that time of Solanum maniacum, called also deadly nightshade, a more powerful poison than henbane.”

1880 Tanger

Tanger

747 Hebona] Tanger (1880, p. 125) ascribes the variant in F1 as “probably due to the critical revision which the text received at the hands of H.C. [Heminge & Condell], when it was being woven together from the parts of the actors.” The Q1 reading “confirms, or at least countenances, [the Q2] reading.”

1882 Nicholson

Nicholson: Pliny, Spenser, Marlowe,

747 Hebona] Nicholson (1882, pp. 23-): <p. 23>“ . . . the effects of Henbane, either as ascertained now or as believed in Shakspere’s days, are as perfectly distinct from those assigned to Hebenon as the effects of one poison can be from those of another. I would add, that the effects of Henbane, the Insana radix, were so well known that had Shakspere attempted to describe them as those of his Hebenon he would have been mercilessly laughed at by any audiences who had the slightest pretensions to learning, and by the critical Jonson, who about that time was sneering at and ridiculing Ophelia for having, even at her maddest, so much as thought of a coach. </p. 23><p. 24>

[He distinguishes between Pliny and Shakespeare, and summarizes the argument for Henbane, rejecting it. He argues against ebony and for yew. “ . . . the Yew was accounted, from ancient times, the most deadly of poisons. [quotes Holland’s Pliny, 1.16, c.x. p. 463— and others]. </p. 24> <p. 25> . . . It remains to show that the Yew was considered an Hebenus or Hebenon. [He then covers a good number of sources to support his assertion] </p. 25><p. 26> [Because of the similarity of names, Yew and Ebony are often confounded].

“ . . . In Marlowe’s ‘Jew of Malta’ we have, in Act III., Hebon named with the direst poisons. Barabas, venting imprecations on his daughter whom he about to poison, cries: ‘In few, the blood of Hydra, Lerna’s bane, The juice of hebon, and Cocytus breath, And all the poisons of the Stygian pool Break from the fiery kingdom, and in this [[the poisoned broth]] Vomit your venom and envenom her.’ Here Hemlock, a much more potent poison than henbane, and opium are apparently omitted as too weak. [He should not argue from absence.]

“Spenser again has ‘heben’ three times. The Introduction to the ‘Faerie Queen’ has ‘Faire Venus sonne . . . Lay now thy deadly Heben bow apart And with thy mother mylde come to mine ayde;’ and here I would remark that deadly must be an epithet of ‘Heben’ </p. 26><p. 27> and not of the ‘bow,’ for neither was Cupid’s bow ‘deadly,’ nor is there any thing in this Introduction to show that Spenser either thought or feigned to think it ‘deadly.’ Again, in B.IV. c. vii. st. 52, describing Mammon’s garden as ‘Of direfull deadly black, both leaf and bloom Fitt to adorne the dead, and deck the drery toombe, There mournful Cypresse grew in greatest store, And trees of bitter gall, and Heben sad,’ where the epithet sad again almost identifies it with the Yew, this having been so-called since Pliny’s time, both from its dismal hue, and from its appropriation (perhaps from its hue and appearance) to churchyards, Thirdly, in B. II. c. viii. st. 17, Arthur is thus described: ‘Till that they spyde where towards them did pace An armed knight, of bold and beauteous grace, Whose squire bore after him an heben launce, and coverd shield.’ Not to speak of the absurdity of supposing that an English poet of classical education armed a Greek god and a British Prince with a bow and spear of Indian or Ethiopian wood, I would note that none could have been chosen by a soldier poet more unfit for a bow than Ebony from its brittleness and want of pliability, and none, from these qualities and its weight, more unfit for a lance. And, by the way, as to Heben being Henbane, think of Spenser making Cupid’s bow and Arthur’s spear of Henbane stalks. . . . Aldis Wright had long ago, and I believe quite irrespective of this Hamlet argument, placed ‘yew’ opposite ‘heben’ in his copy of Spenser. . . . </p. 27>

<p. 28> “In Dolarny’s [[J. Raynold’s]] ‘Primrose,’ 1605, p. 118 (Dr Grosart’s reprint), he, speaking of the ancient Britons, says, ‘Their weapons were of Ibeame, witch, and thorne, Some had a skeane,’ &c. Will the supporters of Hebenon as the equivalent of Ebony suppose that this author was so devoid of sense as to introduce an Indian wood, in his own time but little known in England, and depict the savages of these isles as making their rude weapons of witch and thorn, but firstly and mainly of Ebony? . . . .

Q1 “has ‘Ebona’ simply.” He suggests that between the writing of Q1 and Q2 he had seen Holland’s Pliny and used the adjective cursed from that source. </p. 28> <p. 29> He continues with attempts to show that the Yew produces the effects or was thought to produce the effects that Sh. describes. </p.29 > <p. 30> He next answers the question why Sh. did not use the plainer term “Yew”: because he had read the word heben in Spenser, Marlowe, and it was later used by Raynold, showing heben to be in current use; because heben is more exotic, and because he was not perhaps sure about the poisonous effects of yew. He sums up his argument:

“(a) That, anciently and mediævally, the yew was considered the most deadly poison known.

(b) That the term Ebenus was mediævally applied to different trees, including the yew.

(c) That the names of the yew in five languages still bear witness to the fact, that if it was not derived from Ebenus it led to its confusion with it.

(d) That in English, Marlowe, Spenser, and Raynolds, used Heben in senses which can only be predicated of yew.

(e) That is the epithets ‘cursed’ and ‘at enmity with blood of man,’ Shakspere has but copied phrases contemporaneously applied to the Yew, and, so far as can be found, to no other tree.

(f) That the effects of Hebenon do not at all tally with the </p. 30><p. 31> effects know or supposed of any other poison. But that to the Yew some similar effects were attributed, notably that of causing a skin disease, and that the real effects of yew were so little known that Shakspere could with impunity indulge in such latitude of description as suited his purpose.1

<n.1> <p. 31>“ 1 I would add, that Shakspere’s noting of the curdling of the blood may have been due, not to the ‘via adstrictoria’ attributed by some to the yew, but to some of the medical theories then prevalent as to the mode of production of skin diseases generally, or of some in particular.

“It might also be worth observing, that the effects of yew are as little known now as then. It is generally believed that yew berries are innocuous, yet persons who come from yew-growing districts maintain the reverse, and cases are still reported, one in 1879, and I think is a ‘Medical Journal,’ where a child is reported to have died, after having eaten yew berries the day before. The question of their poisonous quality, as well as that of yew leaves, &c., &c. deserves investigation.” </p. 31> </n.1 >

1881 hud3

hud3 = hud2 minus (all after Anton)

747 Hebona]

1882 Furnivall

Furnivall: contra Nicholson

747 Hebona] Furnivall (note added to Nicholson n.1, p. 31 n.): “ I have eaten the viscous flesh of some hundreds of ripe yew berries in different autumns, and so have my wife and boy. We always have a feed on em when we see em. F. J. F.”

1883? Harrison

Harrison: Nicholson; Statius; Grey,

747 Hebona] Harrison (188?, p. 295): <p. 295> He has found evidence to corroborate Nicholson on the poisonous effects of yew. </p. 295>

<p. 296>“Had Shakspere meant—as Dr Grey maintains—that Hengane was the poeson employed by Claudius to destroy his brother, he would surely have written it, it would have been so printed. It is a word, which then was in common use, and one which would not be likely to puzzle a compositor. [quotes analogues with henbane.] </p. 296> <p. 297> Henbane, moreover, suits the rhythm and metre of the line so very much better, that had it ever been there no one would have thought of displacing it for such a word as Hebenon. Clearly, therefore, Hebenon is not a misprint for Henbane. [ [The word he favors in hebona, in 4tos] </p. 297> <p. 298> Would Shakspere . . . be guilty of such a line as we find int he Folios, with the execrable cacophony of its three ‘n’s in the middle—HebeNoNiNa?” </p. 298> <pp. 301-3> [discusses the etymology and characterisic of ebony, concluding that it is not poisonous: “Ebony, then, is certainly not poisonous; nor is ther any proof whatever that it was so regarde in the sicteenth century.” </p. 301> <p. 302> </p. 302><p. 303> </p. 303> [<p. 304> He refers to four parallel passages, and discovers that in Mac. 4.1.27 (1552) and in R2 3.2.113, Sh. refers to it as a poison. </p. 304><p. 305> After quoting Lyte’s Herbal (see above), he points out that Lyte’s expression “contrary to man’s nature” . . . </p. 305><p. 306> is echoed in Ham. where “‘cursed hebona’ is said is ‘hold . . . enmity with blood of man.’

“But Hebona is further characterized as being ‘a leprous distilment,’ and also as being such as would produce upon the body of the victm of its deadly effects, appearances similar in character tonthose which follow upon the bite of a poisonous serpent” —which he quotes sources as likening to the effect of leprosy: </p. 306><p. 307></p. 307><p. 308> “I can show, by a citation of authorities, that the yew is a rapid poison; that it produces the ‘leprous’ effect upon the skin which, according to the medical evidence I have just given, is so marked a characteristic of snake-poisoning; . . . </p. 310><p. 311> [He admits that the berries may be edible but asserts that every other part of the yew is poisonous, citing modern authorities] </p. 311> <p. 312> “No other known poison produces such as effect upon the body as Shakspere thus describes.” [he continues with further authorities.] </p. 312><p. 313> </p. 313><p.314 >[and more] </p. 314><p. 315>[and more, including Gent. Mag. 1790: 691] He discusses the effect Sh, dscribes on the blood </p.315 > <p. 316> [and offers authorities for that] </p. 316> <p. 317>

“Suetonius related of the Emperor Claudius . . . (Vita Claud. XVI.) that the Emperor issued a public edict, in which he informed the citizens of Rome . . .That the juice of the yew should be held to be an antidote for the bite of the viper, proceeds on the principle embodied in the saying ‘similia similibus curantur.” . . . [He sums up the main points of the paper] </p. 317><p. 318> [and more. He then answers the objection: would Sh. have known about the yew? His response </p. 318><p. 319> “ . . .if he did not know them [the effects] of yew, he certainly did not know them of any other poison; for no poison except the yew does produce these specific effects.” . . . </p. 318><p. 320> </p.320 ><p. 321>He adds a note about the F1 spelling and the poison of the berries </p. 321>

1883 wh2

wh2 : standard

747 Hebona] White (ed. 1883): “perhaps henbane, perhaps ebony. S. himself was probably not very clear on the point, but used the word that would convey the meaning he intended.”

Rather, I would say he used a word and expected the context to support the meaning he intended.

1885 macd

macd: standard

747 Hebona] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Ebony.”

Ed. note: some commentators argue for, some against ebony; macd simply asserts it.

1885 mull

mull : standard

747 Hebona] Mull (ed. 1885): “henbane.”

1899 ard1

ard1: Douce, Elze, Beisley, Nicholson ; Holland’s Pliny; Marlowe, Spenser, Reynolds

747 Hebona] Dowden (ed. 1899)

1902 Reed

Reed: claims Bacon is Shakespeare, supported by Promus notebooks begun Dec. 1594.

747 Hebona] Reed (1902, § 39) quotes Bacon Natural History 1622-1625: “Simple opiates are . . . (1) the plant and seed of the poppy, (2) henbane, (3) mandragora. . . .. ”

1917 yal1

yal1

747 Hebona] Crawford (ed. 1917), without indicating that the term has given trouble, says it means yew, “notorious for its poisonous properties”

1921 TLS

Montgomery, M

747 Hebona] Montgomery (1921, p. 517): Hebona “is lignum vitae (identified with the ancient ebenus, i.e., ebony, by Paracelsus and other writers of the sixteenth century). From this wood was made acqua guaiaci, a dangerous drug, which sometimes cured, but sometimes produced the French pocks, &c., as I have shown in the lecture I enclose. Perhaps it was used in Darnley’s case.”

1924 vand

vand: elze; analogues in Marlowe, Spenser; agrees with Nicholson Trans of New Shakspere Society

747 Hebona] Van Dam (1924, p. 149) selects Elze’s emendation Hebon, because a disyllabic word is required, and the word occurs in Marlowe and Spenser, while the Q2 and F1 spellings are not found elsewhere. The a added to Q2 is a “tautophonical misprint for Hebon in a and . . . . may have been wrongly corrected . . . .”

1929 trav

trav: standard review of possibilities, Marlowe,

747 Hebona] Travers (ed. 1929), after reviewing the various options mentioned by prior writers, says that yew leaves are “certainly [poisonous] for animals.”

1934 Wilson

Wilson MSH

747 Hebona] Wilson (1934, p. 273) defends the Q2 form because it probably follows hebon from Marlowe’s Jew of Malta, “a form which is more likely to have given rise to the Q2 than the F1 variant.”

1936 cam3b

cam3b: //

747 Hebona] Wilson (ed. 1936, rpt. 1954, add. notes): “Cf. ‘Morpheus, leaue here thy silent Ebon caue.’”

1938 parc

parc

747 Hebona] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “yew.”

1939 kit2

kit2: standard

747 Hebona] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "ebony, the sap of which was thought to be rank poison. So in Marlowe, The Jew of Malta, iii (ed. Dyce, I, 298), ’the juice of hebon’ is mentioned as deadly."

1957 pel1

pel1: standard

747 Hebona] Farnham (ed. 1957): “some poisonous plant.”

1970 pel2

pel2 = pel1

747 Hebona] Farnham (ed. 1970): “some poisonous plant”

1980 pen2

pen2: F1

747 iuyce . . . Hebona] Spencer (ed. 1980): “It is doubtful what precisely Shakespeare and his contemporaries meant by this poison. F uses the form ’Hebenon’. The word is related to ’ebony’, but here it seems to be combined with some of the qualities of henbane.”

1982 ard2

ard2: derivations; analogues; //; explications

747 Hebona] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “The problems of this are the form of the word and the plant that it refers to. The word is the same as ebony ( Latin ebenus or hebenus, Gk.[Greek here], which the Elizabethans often spelt (h)eben(e) as well as ebon. The Jew of Malta (3.4.98) refers to ’the juice of hebon’ as a poison, but even if Shakespeare took it from there and not from a common tradition, a play unprinted till 1633 can hardly have suggested his spelling. If, as seems likely Q2 derived Hebona from Q1, F Hebenon may represent the Shakespearean form. Yet Shakespearean texts have Ebony (-ie) elsewhere (LLL 4.3.243-4, TN 4.2.38), with ebon for the adjective (Ven. 948, 2H4 5.5.37). In those instances, however, there is the traditional association of ebony with blackness: the unique form here suggests that Shakespeare may have thought the poison-juice as belonging to a different plant. There is no evidence that ebony itself was ever regarded as poisonous. Henry Bradley (MLR 15: 85-7) supposed that Marlowe’s poisonous ’hebon’ derived from a misunderstanding of Gower, who, from the ebony resting-place of the God of Sleep in Ovid (Met., 11.610), referred to hebenus as a ’sleepy tree’ (Confess. Am., 4: 3017), and that Shakespeare associated ’hebon’ with henbane. But all this, though it persuaded Dover Wilson, is no more than conjecture. It is true that Pliny speaks of pouring oil of henbane in the ears (Nat. Hist., 25: 4), but he gives the result of this as mental derangement not death; and assertions to the contrary notwithstanding, the effects ascribed to henbane in Pliny and Elizabethan herbals show little correspondence with what Shakespeare here describes. Alternative identifications have fixed on guaiacum (MLR 15: 304-6) and especially yew (New Shakspere Soc. Transactions, 1880-6, pp. 21ff., 295ff.), these being among a number of trees which early writers seem to have referred to as hebenus. Yew was known for a deadly poison; it is even called ’cursed’ in Holland’s translation of Pliny (1600, i.463); and later accounts of yew-poisoning stress the rapidity of its action and eruptions of the skin. But it is probably a mistake to seek to equate hebenon with any familiar plant. No doubt Shakespeare drew on what he had heard or read of well-known poisons, but be surely relied (like Marlowe, to judge from his context) on a suggestion of the fabulous to intensify the horror.”

1985 cam4

cam4; R. R. Simpson

747 Hebona] hebenon Edwards (ed. 1985): "Both the true reading and the meaning are uncertain. Q2’s ’Hebona’ seems to derive from Q1. Marlowe has ’the juice of hebon’ as a poison in Jew of Malta 3.4.101. Hebenus is Latin for ebony, but was applied to other trees, and the resin of the guaiacum tree has been suggested as the drug in question. Possibly there is confusion with henbane, which is a poison. See R. R. Simpson in The Listener, 17 April 1947."

1987 oxf4; Marlowe

oxf4: OED

747 Hebona] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "‘Hebenon, Hebon, Hebona. Names given by Shakespeare and Marlowe to some substance having a poisonous juice’ (OED). It seems likely that Shakespeare took the word from Marlowe, who writes in The Jew of Malta of ‘the blood of Hydra, Lerna’s bane, The juice of hebon, and Cocytus’ breath’ (3.4.97-8). Attempts to define hebenon more specifically have been inconclusive."

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

747 Hebona] Bevington (ed. 1988): “a poison. (The word seems to be a form of ebony, though it is thought perhaps to be related to henbane, a poison, or to ebenus, yew.).”

1994 Fabricius

Fabricius:

747 Hebona] Fabricius (1994 apud Charney, 1996, pp. 5, 24). According to the review by Charney, Fabricius identifies the poison as “wood of the guaiac tree used to treat syphilis in place of the more toxic mercury. It is only a quick step from here to understand Hamlet’s father’s “crimes” as primarily having to do with venery (50-51). Clearly, Charney is skeptical about Fabricius’s thesis.

1995 OED

OED:

947 Hebona] OED, under yew, has no form close to heben except, an unlikely, Cornish hivin.

1995 Goddard

Goddard

747 Hebona] Goddard (SNL Winter 1995, p. 85), referring to Gerard’s Herbal, suggests that hebona is “Herb Bennet, also known as Blessed Herb and Avens in the vernacular of Shakespeare’s day” or “Gerum urbanum” in Linnæus’s classification. . .The clever selection of an innocuous herb . . . modified by the adjective ‘cursed’ is a perfect example of oxymoron.”

1995 Keyishian

Keyishian

747 Hebona] Keyishian (1995, p. 54): Poison was “the most despised form of murder among Elizabethans.” Laertes is also tainted by his willingness to use poison (3131-3137).

1997 Skura

Skura: Marlowe

747-52 Skura (1997, pp. 46-7): <p. 46> “ . . . Marlowe’s villain turns up again in what is perhaps the most famous of all Shakespearian lines about ears. It appears in Hamlet, another story about brothers who were rival twins, though not actual twins. 21 There, Old Hamlet’s Ghost describes his own death in an attack that had first been conjured up by Mortimer’s hired assassin, Lightbourne, in Edward II. As the Ghost tells it, while he was sleeping in his orchard Claudius style [quotes 747-52]. In Marlowe’s play, Lightbourne boasts: ‘Tis not the first time I have kill’d a man. I lear’d in Naples how to poison flowers; To strangle with a lawn thrust down the throat Or pierce the windpipe with a needle’s point; Or whilst one is asleep, to take a quill And blow a little powder in his ears; Or open his mouth and pour quicksilver down. And yet I have a braver way than these. (5.4.29-36) n. 22 </p.46 ><p. 47>

“Here Lightbourne lists six kinds of undetectable penetration through four orifices, and tantalizes us with hints of ye a ‘braver’ one. Shakespeare condenses Lightbourne’s last two possibilities in Claudius’ similarly deadly-but-undetectable attack on Old Hamlet.” </p. 47>

<n.21> <p. 46> “n. 21 Fineman describes them in these terms in ‘Fratricide.’” </p.46> </n.21>

<n.22> <p. 46> “n. 22 William Dinsmore Briggs, Marlowe’s Edward II (1914), p. 194; John Bakeless, The Tragical History of Christopher Marlowe (Cambridge, Mass., 1942). pp. 11, 209.” </n. 22> </p. 46>

1987 oxf4; Marlowe

oxf4: OED

1992 fol2

fol2: standard

747 Hebona] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “ a poison (The word may be linked to ’henbane,’ a poisonous weed, or to ’ebony,’ the sap of which was thought to be poisonous. Marlowe, in The Jew of Malta, mentions ’the juice of hebon’ as deadly.)”

1999 Dessen&Thomson

Dessen&Thomson

747 viall] Dessen & Thomson(1999): “a small container for liquids, usually poison. . . . ” See Q1 CLN 526 (747) and 1294 (1996).

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: analogue

747 iuyce . . . Hebona] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “poison. Marlowe mentions ’the jouyce of Hebon’ as a poison in The Jew of Malta (1589; 3.4.101), but the specific nature of this poison has not been identified; these names may be just exotic variants of the more homely ’henbane’, the plant hyoscamus niger, whose Latin name also suggests ebony (niger = black).”

ard3q2: standard

747 viall] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “(phial) small container for liquid”