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.

1726 theon

theon

1674-76 Good...delights.] Theobald (1726, p. 81): “But Two Speeches above, Rosencraus had informed the Queen, that there did seem a kind of Joy in Hamlet to hear of the Actors Coming, and that they had already Orders to play before him: What Occasion, therefore, was there to drive his Purpose into these Delights? He already seem’d to give into them; and the King desires Rosencraus and Guildenstern to promote and further that Bent and Disposition which Hamlet shew’d to that Sort of Pleasures. I think, therefore, the second Folio Edition expresses this Passage more rightly; ‘Good Gentlemen, give him a further Edge, And drive his Purpose ON TO these Delights. And so the Poet expresses himself before in the second Act of this Play, where the King entreats Rosencraus and Guildenstern, as old School-fellows of Hamlet, to stay a while at Court in order to divert him. See pag. 379. ‘ — I entreat you Both, That being of so young Days brought up with him, And since so neighbour’d to his Youth and Humour,That You vouchsafe your Rest here in our Court Some little Time, so by your CompaniesTo draw him ON TO Pleasures, — ’”

1867 ktlyn

ktlyn

1674-5 Keightly (1867, p. 291): “Here ‘edge’ seems used in a peculiar sense, as the substantive of egg, to urge, incite.”

1872 cln1

cln1

1674 giue him a further edge] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “whet him on, stimulate him.”

1885 macd

macd

1674-5 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “ ‘edge him on’—somehow corrupted into egg.”

1934 cam3

cam3

1674-5 Wilson (ed. 1934): “It is the K.’s policy to cure Ham. of his ‘melancholy’ ( which he does not believe to be madness) so that he will cease to brood over his ambitions.”