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.

1747 warb

warb

1342-1357 I haue...so] Warburton (ed. 1747): “This is an admirable description of a rooted melancholy sprung from thickness of blood; and artfully imagined to hide the true cause of his disorder from the penetration of these two friends, who were set over him as spies.”

1765 john1

john1 = warb

1770 Gentleman

Gentleman

1342-54 I...Annimales] Gentleman (1770, p. 20-21): “In the foregoing passage we have as concise and beautiful a delineation of human nature as thought can conceive or words express; and the immediate transition to mention of the players, who, though seemingly intruders are material agents for the plot, is excellently contrived by the author; since Hamlet, </p. 20><p. 21> as we may justly suppose from his proceedings, immediately suggests that use for the Actors in th[text missing] profession, which soon after he makes of them.” </p. 21>

1773 v1773

v1773 = warb

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778

1793 v1793

v1793= v1785

1803 v1803

v1805 = v1793

1805 seymour

seymour

1342-1357 I haue of late...to say so.] Seymour (1805): “Thomson seems to have had Hamlet in view, when he wrote the following lines: ‘Tis nought but gloom around; the darken’d sun Loses his light; the rosy-bosom’d spring To weeping fancy pines—and yon bright arch, Contracted, bends into a dusky vault.’”

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

1926 Bradby

Bradby

1342- 9 I . . . vapoures] Bradby (1926, p. 49-50): “Shakespeare’s prose has a marked rhythm, which often recalls that of the Bible, especially the Old Testament. This need not mean that his style was consciously, or unconsciously, influenced by the translators of the Bible (Genevan and Bishops’); but that this particular rhythm was the one which came most naturally to the writers of the period. It has much of the swing of the Latin Church services.

“At first Shakespeare used prose very sparingly, chiefly for clowns and other comic characters, or for such as were definitely unromantic. But , as he acquired mastery over his art, he employed it with increasing freedom, so that the frequent or restricted use of prose, in any given play, helps to fix its date. In the later plays many of the most dramatic scenes are written entirely in prose, especially where realism was essential; as, for example, in the sleep-walking scene in Macbeth. In Hamlet it is even used to produce the same effect as poetry: [quotes 1342- 9] </p. 49> <p. 50>

“There is sometimes a looseness of construction about Shakespeare’s prose which might offend the scholar. But it moves very freely, and it is questionable whether English, as a literary language, did not lose more than it gained by a rigid submission to the laws of Classical syntax.” </p. 50>