Line 1729 - Commentary Note (CN) 
Commentary notes (CN):
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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.
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Notes for lines 1018-2022 ed. Eric Rasmussen
| 1729 When he himselfe might his quietas make | 3.1.74 |
|---|
1773 v1773
v1773
1729 his quietas make] Steevens (ed. 1773): “This first expression probably alluded to the writ of discharge, which was formerly granted to those barons and knights who personally attended the king on any foreign expedition, which was called a Quietus. The word is used for the discharge of an account by Webster, in his Dutchess of Malfy, 1623.‘You had the trick in audit time to be sick Till I had sign’d your Quietus.’”
c.1775 mmal1, BL 30,943 (f. 53r)
mmal
1729 his quietas make] Malone: “His own quitus make. Quietus was in Shakespeare’s time & is at this day the term for the acquittance which every sherif gets on setting his accounts at the lachequer--so called from the concluding words of the discharge - abimed recefsit quietus. Ib. With a bare bodkin. This, it should seem, was formerly the usual stage weapon--In a warning for faire women 1599 Comedy is introduced inveighing against Tragedy--Describing the usual eahibitions of the latter, she says “Then comes in two or three like to drovers With taylor’s bodkins stabbing one another.”
1784 ays1
ays1=v1773
1729 his quietas make] Ayscough (ed. 1784): “This expression probably alluded to the writ of discharge, which was formerly granted to those barons and knights who personally attended the king on any foreign expedition. This discharge was called a Quietus. It is at this time the term for the acquittance which every sheriff receives on settling his accounts at the exchequer.”
1784 davies
davies
1729 his quietas make] Davies (1784, p.76): "The word quietus is well explained, from good authority, by Mr. Steevens.--but to instance a Roman dagger for a bodkin, when the author most certainly means the smallest instrument of destruction that can be used, is surely a very great misapplication of criticism. Skinner explains bodkin to be crinium incerniculum, seu discerniculum; acus crinalis, a hair pin or needle, which, if properly applied, would dispatch a man as soon as a dagger or a sword. All the authorities, produced in this place to authenticate the application of the word bodkin as synonimous to dagger, or stilletto, serve only to mislead the reader.
“Wilks spoke this soliloquy with a pleasing melancholy of countenance and grave despondency of action. He was less skilfull in the utterance of sentiment than passion. His greatest fault, in deportment, proceeded from his aptness to move or shift his ground. It was said of him, by a sour critic, that he could never stand still.--This fault he never could entirely free himself from, though often put in mind of it.
“Barry, not having middle tones in his voice, could not give the requisite grave energy to sentiment; he was therefore obliged, in some situations of character, to raise his powers of speech above their ordinary tone. Garrick, by an expressive countenance and flexible voice, gave full force to the profound reflections of this meditation on futurity, which he pursued, through all their progress, with exquisite judgement and address."
1790 mal
mal
1729 his quietas make] Malone (ed. 1790): “Lydgate in his Fall of Princes, says that Julius Cæsar was slain in the Capitol with bodkins.
“The first Lord Lyttelton, it seems, was of opinion that Pope’s edition of Shakspeare was better than that of Theobald’s, because ‘Theobald was continually making alterations.’ ‘For bodkin,’ says the noble lord, ‘he would read dodkin, which he has found out to be an old word for dagger; whereas the beauty of the thought depends on the insignificance of the instrument.” Grave’s Recollections of some particulars in the life of William Shenstone, Esq;—His lordship’s meaning, as Fluellen says, was goot, ‘save the phrase is a little variations.’ Theobald never did propose to read dodkin, though he gave the ancient signification of the word bodkin, which, as we have seen was dagger.
“By a bare bodkin, does not perhaps mean, “by so little an instrument as a dagger,” but “by an unsheathed dagger.”
“In the account which Mr. Steevens has given of the original meaning of the term quietus, after the words, “who personally attended the king on any foreign expedition,” should have been added,—and were therefore exempted from the claim of scutage, or a tax on every knight’s fee.”
1791- rann
rann
1729 quietus] Rann (ed. 1791-): “—writ of discharge, release, acquittance.”
1815 becket
becket
1729 his quietas make] Becket (1815, p. 44): “How is it possible that quietus should in this place have any allusion to the discharge of an account. ‘Make his quietus’ is— kill himself. Quietus is one of the names of Pluto.” </p. 44>
1826 sing1
sing1
1729 his quietas make] Singer (ed. 1826): “The allusion is to the term quietus est, used in settling accounts at exchequer audits. Thus Webster in his Duchess of Malfy:-- ‘You had the trick in audit time to be sick,| Till I had sign’d your quietus.’ And, more appositely, in Sir Thomas Overbury’s character of a Franklin:-- ‘Lastly to end him, he cares not when his end comes; he needs not feare his audit, for quietus is in heaven.’”
-1845 mhun1
mhun1
1729 quietas] Hunter (-1845, f. 225r-225v): <f. 225r>“This is an Exchequer term— the term subscribed to accompt rendered in to that court by Sheriffs. Collectors &c is Quietus est. I take it as alluding specially to the whole passage from ‘The law’s delay &c and doubtless meant patience”</f. 225r><f.225v>was[?] often required from those who waited for the passing their accompt at the Exchequer: and generally to all the suits which are mentioned, when it loses its peculiar sense and becomes only a word meaning Quiet. Est. I do not find that he uses Quietus in any other play: but in the 126 Sonnet it occurs & in such a connection as to show that Shakespeare was acquainted with its use in the Exchequer, being connected with another like word, Audit. ‘Her Audit though delayed answered must be And her Quietus is to render thee.’ [S. Exchequer Tissu?].”</f. 225v>
1845 hunter
hunter = mhun1
1729 his quietas make] Hunter (1845, p. 241): <p. 241>“This is an Exchequer term. The mention of the law’s delay had introduced the idea of proceedings in the courts of law, which led him to think of the Exchequer. It is the word which denotes that an accomptant is
quit, and has been used from the original institution of these courts. It refers especially to ‘delay.’ Many an accomptant in that court has longed for his
quietus. He might himself make it says the poet with so insignificant an instrument as a bodkin, the meanest kind of pointed weapon. I do not find that he uses
quietus in any other play, but he has
audit and other Exchequer terms. In one of the Sonnets we have
quietus, and, what is remarkable, four other words which may be considered exchequer terms within the compass of two lines. ‘Her
audit, though
delay’d answer’d, must be, And her
quietus is to
render thee.’
Sonnet cxxvi.”<p. 241>
1847 verp
verp
1729-30 quietas . . .
bodkin]
Verplanck (ed. 1847): “The word ‘quietus’ signifies discharge or aquittance. Every sheriff received his ‘quietus’ on settling his accounts at the Exchequer. ‘Bodkin’ was the term in use to signify a small dagger.”
1858 rushtonn
rushtonN
1729 his quietas make] Rushton (1858, p. 36): “Quietus, is the same as to say freed or acquitted, and is used by the Clerk of the Pipe, and auditors in the Exchequer, in their discharges given to the accountants, which usually conclude with these words, Abinde recessit quietus, generally termed a Quietus est. There is a Roll in the Exchequer called the Pipe, otherwise the Great Roll. The Clerk of the Pipe is one in whose custody are conveyed, out of the offices of the King’s and Treasurer’s Remembrances, &c., (as water through a pipe into a cistern,) all accounts and debts due to the king; so as whatsoever is in charge in this Roll, or Pipe, is said in the law to be duly charged. (See Cowel’s Interpreter v. Clerk of the Pipe.) The Controller of the Pipe is the Chancellor of the Exchequer.—Wood’s Ist., 2nd edition, p. 470.”
1867 keightley
keightley
1729 quietas] Keightley (1867, pp. 418): “(Ham. iii. 1), ‘a word used by the Clerk of the Pipe and Auditors of the Exchequer, in their acquittances or discharges given to accountants, usually concluding with abinde recessit quietus; wich is called Quietus est’ (Reed, note in Dodsley’s Old Plays).”
1872 cln1
cln1
1729 quietas] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): "A law term for the official settlement of an account, the full phrase being ’quietus est,’ mentioned by Cotgrave as equivalent to ’discharge,’ ’aquittance,’ and the French descharge. It is suggested by ’the law’s delay.’ Compare Webster, Duchess of Malfy, i.1: ’ And ’cause you shall not come to me in debt, Being now my steward, here upon your lips I sign your "quietus est." ’ And see Sonnet cxxvi. 12: ’Her audit, though delay’d, answer’d must be, And her quietus is to render thee.’ "
1877 clns
clns
1729 quietas] Neil (ed. 1877): “Quietus — discharge, settlement; a technical law phrase.”
1899 ard1
ard1
1729 quietas] Dowden (ed. 1899): “acquittance; the law-term, ‘quietus est,’ for the settlement of an account; as in Sonnets, cxxvi. 12.”