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.

1752 Anon.

Anon.

1501-2 Anon. (1752, pp. 21-22):“He who can understand what is meant by the Fires lending a tyrannous Light, is at Liberty to adhere to the old Reading. I own it is not so plain to me, but it seems to want an Emendation. Tho’ I would not willingly presume too far, and consult what Shakespeare should have written, rather than what he did really write, yet I will venture to assert that the following Reading would be much more natural than the former. ‘That lend a treacherous and damned Light, /To the vile Murtherer.’ i.e. The Streets being in Flames afford a treacherous Light. [p. 22] Treacherous because they betray their Masters, (who might otherwise have probably escaped by the Assistance of the Night) to the destroying Pyrrhus. The Speeches so warmly commended by the Poet in the Character of Hamlet, have been condemned as full of Bombast. But I never remember to have read a nobler Description of the Silence usually preceding a Hurricane. ‘-----We often see against some Storm, /A Silence in the Heav’ns, the Rack stand still, / The bold Winds speechless, and the Orb below /As hush as Death.’ It is manifest from Shakespeare’s Description of the Death of Priam, that he was not well acquainted with the Classics. Notwithstanding he has deviated from Virgil’s Account of that Event, yet he has found the Way to make the Catastrophe more moving and poetical.”

1874 Corson

Corson

1502 a ... a] Corson (1874, p. 23): “The repetition of ’a’ makes two distinct lights.”