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.

1778 v1778

v1778

1132 Perpend] Steevens (ed. 1778, 1:262 n. 5) re Wiv. 2.1.? (0000): “—Ford, perpend .]This is perhaps a ridicule on a passage in the old comedy of Cambyses: ‘My sapient words I say perpend.” Again: ‘My queen perpend what I pronounce.’ Shakespeare has put the same word into the mouth of Polonius. Steevens.”

[No note in Wiv. ed. 1773, 1: 224. No note in v1773 for Ham at this line. Not only does v1778 Ham have no note, but it also punctuates in a way that eliminates the sense of the v1778 Wiv. note. Check it out.]

1791- rann

rann

1132 Perpend] Rann (ed. 1791-): “—Weigh his circumstance with due attention. HENRY V. A.IV. S. 4. Pist.

1819 cald1

cald1 = john1 +

1132 Thus . . . Perpend] Caldecott (ed. 1819): Because Pope, speaking of Shakespeare, had said what isgenerally true, that "to the life and variety of his characters wemust add the wonderful preservation of them," Warburton must make it out, Reed’s edit. XVIII. 110. that it is so in this instance; and, if you will take his word for it, you may believe it to be so here. But the idle suggestions that he makes, though rejected by Dr. Johnson, seem to have led the Doctor to take up the point; and he has certainly played the advocate with talent, and some plausibility: and, if not more convincing than his predecessor, at least entitles himself to some attention and respect. Nothing can be more easily conceivable or intelligible that the idea of dotage encroaching upon wisdom: but the question is, the application of this maxim to the person and character of Polonius. To be extinguished, talent or faculty must first have existence: to be impaired, it must have had something like integrity. Now we have nothing in this drama that directly goes to establish the fact of his having at any time a clear and contrary, an opposite bearing; for the very circumstance of quality relied upon in this view, appears to us to be one of those that most strongly indicates imbecillity of mind: viz. having the memory stored with sage rules and maxims, fit for every turn and occasion, without the faculty of making application or effective use of them upon any. Warburton, though it is ill adapted to his purpose in this place, pronounces him "weak, a pedant, and a fop;" and, presently afterwards, "a ridiculous character, and acting as a small politician:" and Hamlet, repeatedly branding him with folly, is in III. 4, made to characterize him as one.

"Who was in life (i. e. while living) a foolish prating knave."

“The poet has not here made false (i. e. tedious and encumbered)modes of reasoning, and false wit, ("formality of method and the gingle and play of words," the idols of a pedantic age) ridiculous, without uniformly subjecting the character itself, which he makes the vehicle of this purpose, to the same imputation and censure: not can any facts be pointed out sufficient to remove the strong impressions left of the natural imbecillity of his mind: and without these, the argument of Dr. Johnson proceeds upon an assumption altogether unfounded, and contradicted as well by his predecessor and associate as by his author. Had he considered Polonius as really intelligent, he would not, in the close of the foregoing scene, have pointed out a "remark of his as not being that of a weak man." Throughout this detail, as in his general conduct, unmixt folly of dotage is visible at every turn: but the lesson of life given to Laertes is a perfect whole, delivered with all the closeness and gravity of a philosophic discourse: Plenius et melius Chrysippo et Crantore: and had it been dictated by a mind any way enfeebled, at some point or other we should, as here, have seen "wisdom," according to Dr. Johnson, "encroached upon by dotage." But what he offers is a mere advocating, is what may be said, rather than what either ought to be said, or in fact exists; it is prize-fighting, and nothing like a search after truth. For, when elaborate discussion has been employed to give a sense not obvious but different from the generally received meaning, if that interpretation does not leave its impression long upon any plain mind, the presumption is that it cannot be sound. See note 71.

“This species of criticism, of which the forgotten commentaries of Warburton afford more apt and tiresome examples, reminds is of the ingenious confession, recorded by the late Mr. Cumberland, his grandson, of the great hero of this school, Bently, respecting the use he made of the great writers of antiquity. His favourite daughter Joanna, the Phoebe of Byron’s charming pastoral, and with of Cumberland, bishop of Kilmore, lamenting to him that he had employed so much of his time on criticism, he acknowledged the justice of the remark, and remained for a time thoughtful and seemingly embarrassed by it: at last, recollecting himself, he said, "Child, I am sensible I have not always turned my talents to the use for which they were given to me; but the wit and genius of those old heathens beguiled me: and, as i despaired of raising myself up to their standard upon fair ground, I thought the only chance I had of looking over their heads, was to get upon their shoulders." Memoirs, 4to, 1806, p. 14.”

1872 hud2

hud2 ≈ rann

1132 Perpend] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Perpend is weigh or consider.”

1872 cln1

cln1

1132 Perpend] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “consider. See As You Like It, iii. 2. 69 :’ Learn of the wise, and perpend.’ The word is used here, as ’ gather and surmise,’ line 108, in accordance with Polonius’s pedantic style."

1877 clns

clns

1132 Perpend] Neil (ed. 1877): “an affected term for reflect upon, consider. See Merry Wives, II, I, 119.”

1881 hud3

hud3 = hud2

1132 Perpend] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Perpend is weigh or consider.”

1890 irv

irv ≈ cln1

1032 Perpend] Symons (in IRVING & MARSHALL ed. 1890): “This word is only used in Shakespeare as a sign of affection or mockery; it is put into the mouth of the braggadocio Pistol, of the pedantic Polonius, and of the clowns in As You Like It and Twelfth Night.

1899 ard1

ard1 ≈ irv

1132 Perpend] Dowden (ed. 1899): “ponder, consider. Schmidt observes: ‘a word only used by Pistol, Polonius, and the clowns.’”