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Line 1192-93 - 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 1018-2022 ed. Eric Rasmussen

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

1192-3 Pol. You know sometimes \| he walkes foure houres together

1773 v1773

v1773

1193 foure houres together] Tyrwhitt (apud ed.1773): “Perhaps it would be better were we to read indefinitely, —for hours together.” TT

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773

1780 mals

mals: v1778

1193 foure houres together] Malone (1780, p.352): “I should not hesitate to admit Mr. Tyrwhitt’s conjecture into the text. The same mistake has, I think, happened in Webster’s Dutchess of Malfy, 1623: ‘She will muse four hours together; and her silence Methinks expresseth more than if she speak.’”

1785 v1785

v1785 = mals (but reads “expressed” for “expresseth”)

1790 mal

mal : v1778

1193 foure houres together] Malone (ed. 1790): “I formerly was inclined to adopt Mr. Tyrrwhitt’s proposed emendation, but have now no doubt that the text is right. The expression, four hours together, two hours together, &c. appears to have been common: So, in King Lear, Act I: ‘Edm. Spake you with him? Edg. Ay, two hours together.’ Again, in The Winter’s Tale: ‘—ay, and have been, any time these four hours.’ Again, in Webster’s Duchess of Malfy, 1623: ‘She will muse four hours together, and her silenceMethinks expresseth more than if she spake.’”

1791- rann

rann

1193 For] Rann (ed. 1791-): “—four.”

1793 v1793

v1793 = mal (but reads “proposed emendations” for “proposed emendation”)

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

1865 hal

hal = v1821

1858 col3

col3 ≈ mals

1192-3 foure houres together] Collier (ed. 1858): “The old copies have ‘four hours together,’but no doubt misprinted: it is not likely that Polonius would specify precisely how long Hamlet walked in the lobby, and the corr. fo. 1632 tells us to read ‘for hours together’ as in our text.”

1861 wh1

wh1 ≈ mal

1193 foure houres together] White (ed. 1861): “The obvious reading, ‘for hours together,’ has occurred to many critical readers; and to modern taste this would seem am improvement. But similar phrases, ‘two hours together,’ are of common occurrence in old books.”

1866a dyce2

dyce : collier, malone. tyrwhitt, hanmer

1192-3 foure houres together] Dyce (ed. 1866): “‘The old copies,’ says Mr. Collier, in the second edition of his Shakespeare, ‘have ‘four hours together,’ but no doubt misprinted: it is not likely that Polonius would specify precisely how long Hamlet walked int the lobby, and the corr. fo. 1632 tells us to read ‘for hours together,’ as in our text.’ Again, in his ‘Supplemental Notes,’ vol. i. p. 276, Mr. Collier adds; ‘The same probable misprint of four for ‘for’ is contained in Webster’s ‘Duchess of Malfi,’ act iv. (edit. Dyce, i. 260), where Bosola is giving to Ferdinand a description of the demeanour of the heroine; ‘She will muse four hours together,’ &c. This ought most likely to be ‘for hours’; but Mr. Dyce prints ‘four hours.’’ Mr. Collier reasons very oddly. Since the old copies of Hamlet agree in having ‘four hours,’ and since the old copies of The Duchess of Malfi have ‘four hours’ also, surely the inference is, that ‘four hours’ is the right reading in both tragedies.

“In his note on the present passage Malone observes; ‘I was formerly inclined to adopt Mr. Tyrwhitt’s proposed emendation (in which Hanmer had anticipated him, —’for hours together’); but have now no doubt that the text is right. the expression ‘four hours together,’ ‘two hours together,’ &c. appears to have been common. So, in King Lear, [1.2.154-5. (476-7)]; ‘Edm. spake you with him? Edg. Ay, two hours together.’ Again, in The Winter’s Tale, [5.2.136. (3145)]; ‘Ay, and have been so any time these four hours.’ Again, in Webster’s Duchess of Malfi, 1623, ‘ &c. “

1872 hud2

hud2 ≈ v1773

1192 foure houres] Hudson (ed. 1872): "I have little doubt that this should read ’walks for hours together.’"

1872 cln1

cln1 : hanmer

1192 foure houres] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): "Hanmer read ’ for hours.’ But the same phrase occurs in Puttenham’s Arte of English Poesie (p. 307, Arber’s Reprint) ’ laughing and gibing with their familiars foure houres by the clocke.’ "

1882 elze

elze : wulcker

1193 foure houres] Elze (ed. 1882): “See my Notes on Elizabethan Dramatists, No. XCI. — Prof. Wülcker (in Zarncke’s Centralblatt, 1880, No. 35) pretends to have been the first to show that four was used to denote an indefinite number; those readers that are not the merest tiros in Shakespearean literature, need not be told, how unfounded this pretension is.”

1890 irv

irv: hanmer, elze

1193 foure houres together] Symons (in IRVING & MARSHALL ed. 1890): “Hanmer printed ‘for hours together.’ But the expression four hours together was a common one, four and forty being used loosely for an indefinite number. Compare Winter’s Tale, v. 2. 148: ‘Ay, and have been so any time these four hours;’ and Webster, Duchess of Malfy, iv. 1. 9: ‘She will muse four hours together.’ See Elze’s list of similar expression in the Shakespeare-Jahrbuch, bd. Xi. Compare v. 1. 292: ‘forty thousand brothers.’

1899 ard1

ard1 : hanmer, elze, malone, cln1

1193 foure houres together] Dowden(ed. 1899): “Hanmer’s emendation for is specious. But Elze (Shakespeare Jahrbuch, B. xi) has shown the use by Elizabethan writers of four, forty, forty thousand to express an indefinite number. Malone cites Webster, Duchess of Malfi: ‘She will muse four hours together’; and Clar. Press, Puttenham, Arte of English Poesie: ‘laughing and gibing . . . foure houres by the clocke.’”

1934a cam3

1192-3 Wilson (ed. 1934): “four hours The ‘four’ is indefinite; Cf. Wint. [5.2.136. (3145)].”