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

1347 this braue orehanging firmament] Steevens (ed. 1778): “Thus the quarto. The folio reads, --this brave o’er-hanging, this &c.”

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778

1793 v1793

v1793 = v1785

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

1841 knt1 (nd)

knt1 ≈ Steevens +

1347-8 this braue orehanging firmament] Knight (ed. 1839): “Firmament. So the quarto (B). Using o’erhanging as a substantive, and omitting firmament, (the reading of the folio,) the sentence is, perhaps, less solquent but more coherent. The air is the canopy; the o’rhanging; the majestical Here, it appears to us, there ate three distinct references to the commonbelief of the three regions of the air. Ben Jonson, in hes description of the scenery of the ‘Masque of Hymen,’ has this passage;--- ‘A cortine of painted coluds reached to the utmost roof of the hall, and suddenly opening, revealed the three regions of air: in the highest of which sat Juno, in a glorious throne of gold, circled with comets and fiery meteors, engendered in that hot and dry region; her feet reaching to the lowest, where was made a rainbow, and within it musicians seated, figuring aëry spirits, their habits various, and resemboing the several colours caused in that part of the air by reflection. The midst was all of dark and condensed clouds, as being the proper place where rain, hail, and other watery meteors are made.’ The ‘canopy,’ we believe, is the lowest regoin of ‘colours caused by reflection;’ the ‘ o’erhanging,’ the midst of ‘dark and condensed clouds;’ the ‘majestical rooof fretted with golden fire,’ the highest, where Juno sat, ‘circled with comets and fiery meteors.’ The air, in its three regions, appears to Hamlet no other thing ‘than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.’ If this interpretation be correct, the word ‘firmament,’ which is applied to the heavens generally, might have been rejected by the poet, as conveying an image unsuited to that idea of a part which is conveyed by the substantive ‘o’erhanging.’”

1847 verp

verp ≈ steevens +

1347 this braue orehanging firmament] Verplanck (ed. 1847): “‘This brave o’erhanging firmament.’ — The folio omits the word ‘firmament’ which had appeared in the prior editions. If this be an intentional correction of the author, as has been suggested, then ‘o’erhanging’ is to be taken substantively : ‘This brave o’erhanging, this magnificent roof,’ &c. The eloquence of the passage loses nothing by the condensation, and the transmutation of the participle into a substantive is very Shakespearian. ‘The thankings of a king;’ ‘Strewings for graves,’ &c.”

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1 ≈ verp

1347 this braue orehanging firmament] Hudson (1856, p.256): "So the quartos; the folio omits firmament, and so of course turns o’erhanging into a substantive. It may well be thought, that by the omission the language becomes more Shakespearian, without any loss of eloquence. But the passage, as it stands, is so much a household word, that it seems best not to change it.--The folio also has, ’appeareth nothing to me but.’ H."

1857 dyce1

dyce1 : cald

1347 this braue orehanging firmament] Dyce (ed. 1857): “Here the word ‘firmament’ has dropt out of the folio; and Caldecott omits it too.--Though Mr. Knight now follows the quartos in this passage, he shows a lingering fondness of the error of the folio: he says, ‘Using o’erhanging as a substantive, the sentence is perhaps less eloquent, but more coherent, &c.’”

1872 hud2

hud2 = hud1 + magenta

1347 this braue orehanging firmament] Hudson (1856, p.256): "So the quartos; the folio omits firmament, and so turns o’erhanging into a substantive. It may well be thought that by the omission the language becomes more Shakespearian, without any loss of eloquence. But the passage, as it stands, is so much a household word, that it seems best not to change it. Brave is grand, splendid.”

1872 cln1

cln1

1347-8 fretted] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): "Compare Cymbeline, ii. 4. 88 : ’Tis roof o’ the chamber With golden cherubins is fretted.’ ’Fret’ is an architectural term which Shakespeare employs in a looser sense. Bacon, in the following passage, uses it more strictly: ’For if the great workmaster had been of an human disposition, he would have cast the stars into some pleasant and beautiful works and orders, like the frets in the roofs of houses; whereas one can scarce find a posture in square, or triangle, or straight lin, amongst such an infinte number.’ (Adv. of Learning. ii. 14. 9.)"

1881 hud3

hud3 = hud2 minus quarto/folio note

1347-8 braue orehanging] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Here, as often, brave is grand, splendid. See vol. vii. p. 14, n.2 [a.s.l. (000)]”

1899 ard1

ard1 ≈ cln1

1348 fretted] Dowden(ed. 1899): “Clar. Press compares Cymbeline, II. iv. 88: ‘The roof o’ the chamber With golden cherubins is fretted.’ Fret is an architectural term, used here loosesly for emboss, or adorn.”

1934 cam3

cam3 ≈ ard1

1347-8 fretted] Wilson (ed. 1934): “In M.V. [5.1.58-9. (2470-1)] (‘the floor of heaven...thick inlaid with patens of bright gold’) the firmament is considered from the other side, as it were; the stars being balls of fire fixed in transparent spheres which revolved within the firmament. ‘Fretted’ (v. G.) = embossed —an architectural term.”

1934 clowes

clowes

1347 orehanging firmament] Harrison (ed. 1934): “Using o’erhanging as a substantive, and eliminating firmament, (the reading of the folio,) the sentence is, perhaps, less eloquent, but more coherent.”