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Line 1547 - Commentary Note (CN) More Information

Notes for lines 1018-2022 ed. Eric Rasmussen
For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.
1547 With Bison rehume, a clout {vppon} <about> that head2.2.506
1733 theo1
theo1
1547 Bison] Theobald (ed. 1733): note in Cor. with the ref to Ham. THEO1 at Cor. TLN 959 “beesome Conspectui- | ties” (6.33-4n11). He emends beesome to bisson, as in Ham.
1743 mf3bl
mf3bl
1546 flames With Bison rehume] mf3bl (1743, f. 7r): “edit. 1723 reads flames and omits with Bisson Rheume. i.e. with a filthy or nasty catarrh.”
1766-70 mwar2
mwar2
1547 Bison rehume] Warner (1766-70): “Bisson, Beesen, or Beezen, i.e. Blind, making Blind. a word still in use in the North of England, particularly Lincolnshire.”
1773 v1773
1547 With Bison rehume] Steevens (ed. 1773): “Bisson or beesen, i.e. blind. A word still in use in some parts of the north of England. So in Coriolanus. ‘What harm can your bisson conspectuities glean out of this character?’”
1784 ays
ays
1547 Bison] Ayscough (ed. 1784): “Bisson or beesen, i.e. blind; a word still in use in some parts of the North of England.”
1790- mtooke
mtooke: v1773
1547 Tooke (ms. notes, ed. 1790): Q2 At Steevens’ note for Bison rehume still used in “some parts,” Tooke writes, “what parts?”
1791- rann
rann
1547 Bison rehume] Rann (ed. 1791-): “—issuing from her blear eyes.”
1815 Becket
Becket
1547 Bison] Becket (1815, p. 39): “But the printed word bisson or bessen is no doubt received in the sense of blind. What can be understood of ‘blind rheum threat’ning the flames?’ The Poet no doubt wrote ‘besien rheum.’ Besien is found in early writers and signifies trouble, uneasiness, grief. The meaning of the passage is— That the queen ran about seeming as though she would extinguish the flames with her tears: the tears which were occasioned by her extraordinary grief. In Coriolanus, bisson certainly means, as the commentators have set down, blind: or I should rather say dim, or dull. ‘Bisson’ conspectuities— ‘dull in apprehension.’” </p. 39>
1819 cald1
cald1
1547 With Bison rehume] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Blinded with tears, and wildly and distractedly menacing the flames. ‘Blind or beasome born.’ Cëcigenus. Huloet’s Dict. Todd’s Dict. See ‘bisson conspectuities.’ Coriol. II. 1. Menen.”
1826 sing1
sing1
1547 Singer (ed. 1826): “Bisson is blind. Bisson rheum is therefore blinding tears. In Coriolanus we have, ‘Bisson conspecuities.’ [2.1.64 (956)].”
1843 col1
col1
1547 Bison] Collier (ed. 1843): “‘Bisson’ is blind. See Vol. vi. p. 172.”
1856 hud1 (1851-6)
hud1
1547 With Bison rehume] Hudson (ed, 1856): “Bisson is blind. Bisson rheum is therefore blinding tears See Coriolanus, Act ii. sc. 1, note 5; and Act iii. sc. 1, note 11.”
1856b sing2
sing2=sing1
1858 col3
1547 col2=col1+
Collier (ed. 1858): “We have had the word [Bisson] employed twice in ‘Coriolanus,’ [2.1.64 (959) ‘beesom’ & 3.1.131. (1828) ‘bosom’].”
1861 wh1
wh1
1547 White (ed. 1861): “‘With bisson rheum’:--i. e., with blinding rheum.”
1869 Romdahl
Romdahl
1547 Bison] Romdahl (1869, p. 29): “Bisson, O.E. bisen and bisne, A.S. bisen, is properly = blind, but in this passage it has the causative sense of making blind. The word occurs also in Coriol. A. II Sc. I, 70, but in its proper sense of blind. Beesen, blind, is still in use in some parts of northern England; and the phrase, as drunk as a beesen, is by Halliwell 1) called ‘a common expression.’” 1) 1 p. 158.
1872 cln1
cln1
1547 bisson] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872):"The word, spelt ’beesen,’ is given by Brogden, in his Provincial Words still current in Lincolnshire. It occurs in Coriolanus, ii. 1. 70: ’Your bisson conspectuities,’ where it means ’blind.’ Here it is rather ’blinding.’ "
1877 clns
clns
1547 Bison] Neil (ed. 1877): “Bisson — blinding; Dutch bij sien, near-sighted; beesen, bleared, a Lincolnshire provincialism.”
1881 hud2
hud2
1547 Hudson (ed. 1881): “A clout is simply a piece of cloth or of linen.”
1882 elze
elze
1547 a clout vppon that head] Elze (ed. 1882): “The long and the short of it is that Hecuba comes in her night-cap; she brings to mind Hieronimo in Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, V, 122) who, in his madness, appeals to the Painter to bring him forth, through alley and alley, still with a distracted countenance going along, and with his hair heaving up his night-cap. It is, indeed, difficult to believe, that Hieronimo should not have been before the poet’s mental eye, when writing this scene. The distracted Hieronimo comes on the stage in his shirt, from his naked bed, quite like Hecuba (Dodsley, l. c. 54 and 121); he wants to be drawn by the Painter with his torch in his hand and his sword rear’d up thus — and crying like old Priam of Troy, The House is on fire.”
1885 macd
macd
1547 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “—threatening to put the flames out with blind tears” ‘bisen,’ blind—Ang. Sax.”
1890 irv
irv
1547 Bison] Symons (in Irving & Marshall ed. 1890): “Bisson, blind, used here for blinding, occurs again in Coriolanus, ii. 1. 70: ‘bisson conspectuities,’ where it is beesome in Ff. See note 104 to that lay. –The Ff., and many editors after them, read about instead of upon (the reading of Qq.); but it is past belief that Shakespeare should have made such a wretched jingle as ‘a clout about.’ Q. 1 has a kercher on that head.”
1899 ard1
ard1
1547 Bison] Dowden (ed. 1899): “blinding. More commonly ‘blind’ or ‘purblind,’ as in Coriolanus, II. I. 70.”
1547

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