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Line 1878-80 - Commentary Note (CN) More Information

Notes for lines 1018-2022 ed. Eric Rasmussen
For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.
1878-80 uing | th’accent of Christians, nor the gate of Christian, Pagan, | {nor} 
1747 warb
warb
Warburton (ed. 1747): “These words a foolish interpolation.”
1748 edwards
edwards
1879 gate] Edwards (1748 [1st ed.], p. 22): “Mr. Warburton [8: 188 condems this passage in Hamlet as a foolish interpolation]: . . . ‘neither having the accent of Christian, nor the gate of Christian, Pagan, nor man,’ though there is a manifest reference to it in the words immediately following, ‘have so strutted and bellowed’.”
1765 heath
heath
Heath (1765, p. 538): "Mr. Warburton is pleased to call this ’a foolish interpolation.’ I say he is pleased to call it so; for he hath not condescended to give a reason for it, and I apprehend it would not be an easy task to find one which is to the purpose. See the Canons of Criticism, p. 42."
1773 v1773
v1773
Farmer (in Steevens ed. 1773 10: Qq5v): “I would read thus, . . . ‘Pagan, nor Mussulman’.”
Steevens (ed. 1773): “For “pagan or man”, Dr. Farmer would read “Pagan or Musoulman: and for “Nature’s journeymen had made men”, nature’s journeymen had made the men”.”
c. 1780
Folger MS. C.b.10 letter #161 from GS to [a pencilled note says to Dr. Farmer] Cambridge Farmer, on the back, has a couple of Hamlet notes:
nor Norman, 1 Folio. & 2d. [He’s talking abt TLN 1880]. The v1773 has “christian, pagan, or man” with a mss. note credited to Dr. farmer: “ ‘For pagan or man,’ Dr. Farmer wd read Pagan or Mussoulman: and for ‘nature’s journeymen had made men’, nature’s journeymen had made the men.” So, by 1780 he had changed his mind.
1815 becket
becket
1879-82 Christian...men] Becket (1815, pp. 48-49): <p. 48> “The objection raised against nature’s journeymen having made men, is weak, and frivolous, since the words cannot be understood as involving in them all mankind. Nothing more is meant by the expression than that nature, like to every capital artist, had her journeymen, and that the players, of whom he speaks, were not the work of her hands, but of the bunglers she had been led to employ: in a word, </p. 48><p. 49> that [unreadable text] her journeymen were occasionally put on the [unreadable text] of making men. There is no necessity whatever for Dr. Farmer’s mussulman. ‘Christian, Pagan, nor man— by ‘nor man,’ the poet means that they had scarcely any thing human about them. The text is every way right.” </p. 49>
1843 col1
col1
1878-80 or 1880-1 Collier (ed. 1843); “The folio absurdly reads, or Norman. Farmer suspected that we ought to read, ‘nor Mussulman,’ a suggestion that receives some countenance from the quarto, 1603, where the passage runs, ‘the gait of Christian, Pagan, or Turk.’ In the next line but one, Malone would read, ‘had made them,’ for ‘had made men,’ but every old copy has ‘men,’ and in fact no alteration is required.”
1853 coln
coln
1880 nor man] COLLIER (1853, p. 425): <p. 425> “The several misprints in the folio, 1623, in Hamlet’s directions to the players, are copied, and multiplied in the folio, 1632, but not one of them escapes correction: among them we may mention that ‘or Norman’ is altered to ‘nor man’ by striking out the conjunction, and dividing the word. This emendation entirely discountenances Farmer’s notion that Mussulman was intended. To the printed introduction of the scene, Enter Hamlet and two or three of the Players, is added unready; that is to say, not yet dressed for the parts they were to fill in the play within a play.” </p. 425>
1856b sing2
sing2
Singer (ed. 1856): “The folio has Norman. The quarto, 1603, ‘the gait of Christian, Pagan, or Turk;’ which made Farmer suppose that Musulman was intended.”
1858 col3
col2 = col1 +
Collier (ed. 1858): “It is ammended to ‘nor man’ in the corr. fo. 1632, and we presume that there will now be an end to the question.”
1861 wh1
wh1
1879-80 WHITE (ed. 1861): “The folio, ‘Christian, Pagan or Norman,’ which is absurd, and which is plainly the result of an attempt to correct the yet more absurd reading found in the 4to. of 1604, ‘Christian, pagan nor man:’—as if Christian, Turk, and Pagan was not uncommon. See, for instance, the quotation from Howell in Richardson’s Dictionary in v. ’pagan.’“
1864 hackett
hackett
1880 Hackett (1864, p. 267): “Modern editors have altered ‘or Norman’ to ‘nor man,’ by striking out the conjunction and diviting the word.
“Imprimis. As Christians and Pagans, too, were men, the change is pointless and nonsensical: and I would submit whether Shakespeare did not write ‘or Norman?”’ When one takes the pains to search, and discover, and reflect upon the following reference to ‘a Norman’: [quotes 3078-89].”
1872 cln1
cln1
1879-80 nor man] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): "So the quartos. The folios have ’or Norman,’ the quarto of 1603 ’nor Turke,’ and Farmer guessed ’nor Mussulman.’ ’Nor man’ means ’nor even man.’ "
1882 elze
elze
1880 nor man] Elze (ed. 1882): “Mr Alex. Ellis (Early English Pronunciation, p. 992): or Norweyan — a very valuable addition to the critical curiosity-shop. The whole passage neither having... nor man was bracketed by Warburton as a ‘foolish interpolation’. In my conviction there cannot be the least doubt, that QA presents the true and authentic reading.”
1880 bellowed] Elze (ed. 1882): “Compare Cornelia (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, V, 197): — ‘And thrice detain’d with doleful shrieks and cries (With arms to heaven uprear’d) I gan exclaim And bellow forth against the gods themselves’.”
1899 ard1
ard1
1880 nor man] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Farmer needlessly conjectured ‘nor Mussulman’; see Q1 reading.”
1878 1879 1880

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