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Line 1453-5 - 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.

1453 Pol. What a treasure had he my Lord?	2.2.405

1454-5 Ham. Why one faire daughter and no more, | the which he loued

1455 passing well.

1826 sing1

sing1

1454-5 Why...well] Singer (ed. 1826): “An imperfect copy of this ballad, of ‘Jephtha, Judge of Israel,’ was given to Dr. Percey by Steevens. See Reliques, ed. 1794, vol.i.p.189. There is a more correct copy in Mr. Evans ‘s Old Ballads, vol.i.p.7, ed 1810.”

1839 knt1

knt1

1454-5 Why...well] Knight (ed. 1839): “Ther is an old ballad, which was first printed in Percy’s Reliquws, under the title ‘Jepthah, Judge of Israel,’ and is there given as it ‘wasretrieved fom utter oblivion by alady who wrote it sug by her father.’ A copy of the ballad has since been recovered; and is reprinted in Evans; Collection, 1810. The first stanza is as follows:--- ‘I have read that many years agoe, | When Jepha, judge of Israel, | Had one fair daughter and no more, | Whom he loved passing well. | As by lot, God wot,| It came to passe most like it was, | Great warrs there should be, | And who should be the chiefe, but he, but he.’ The lines quoted by Hamlet almost exactly correspond with this copy. Hamlet, in the text of the quarto of 1611, calls the poem, ‘The Pious Chanson;’ but in the quarto of 1604, and the folio of 1623, it is ‘the Pons Chanson.’ Pope says, this refers to the old ballads sung on bridges. We believe Pons is typographical error; for in the quarto of 1603, we find ‘the first verse of the godly ballet.’”

1843- mlewes

mlewes

1454-5 one . . . well] Lewes (ms. notes in Knight, ed. 1843): “Sings”

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1 (1851-6)

1454-5 Why...well] Hudson (ed. 1856):: "These lines are from an old ballad, entitled ’Jephtha, Judge of Israel.’ It was first printed in Percy’s Reliques, having been ’retrieved from utter oblivion by a lady, who wrote it down from memory, as she had formerly heard it sung by her father.’ A more correct copy has since been discovered, and reprinted in Evans’ Old Ballads, 1810; where the first stanza runs thus: I have read that many years agoe. When Jephtha, judge of Israel, Had one fair daughter and no moe, Whom he loved passing well; As by lot, God wot, It came to passe, most like it was, Great warrs there should be, And who should be the chiefe but he, but he.’ H."

1856b sing2

sing2=sing1

1861 wh1

wh1

1454-5 Why...well] White (ed. 1861): “‘One fair daughter, and no more’:--These line and the two below are from the old ballad Jephtha, Judge of Israel. See Child’s British Ballads, Vol. VII. P. 198.”

1885 macd

macd

1453 What...my Lord?] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Polonius would lead him on to talk of his daughter.”

1454-64 Why...pious chanson] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “These are lines of the first stanza of an old ballad still in existence. Does Hamlet suggest that as Jeptha so Polonius had sacrificed his daughter? Or is he only desirous of making him talk about her?”