Line 1935 - Commentary Note (CN) 
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.
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Notes for lines 1018-2022 ed. Eric Rasmussen
| 1935 As Vulcans {stithy;} <Stythe.> giue him {heedfull}<needfull> note, | 3.2.84 |
|---|
1723 pope1
pope1
1935 stithy] Pope (ed. 1723): “Stithy, a smith’s anvil.”
1733 theo1
theo1
1935 stithy] Theobald (ed. 1733): “I have ventur’d, against the Authority of all the Copies, to substitute Smithy here. I have given my Reasons in the 40th Note on Troilus , to which, for Brevity’s sake, I beg Leave to refer the Readers.”
Theobald (ed. 1733, VII:96): “A Stithy, or Stith, signifies an Anvil [cites Chaucer]. And the Word is still current in our Northern Counties [but] ... an Anvil is far from being the dirtiest thing in a Smith’s Shop ... ”
1743 mf3bl
mf3bl = theo
1935 stithy] mF3BL (1743, f.8): “or Anvil, Forge.”
1765 john1
john1: standard
1935 stithy] Johnson (ed. 1765): “Stithy is a smith’s anvil.”
1766-70 mwar2
mwar2: standard
1935 stithy] Warner (1766-70): “A Stithy or Stith i.e. An Anvil. vid. Skinner & Iunius ad voc. So Chaucer, The Knight’s Tale 2028. ‘—and the Smith That forgith sharpe swerdis on the Stith.’”
1773 v1773
v1773 = john1 +
1935 stithy] Steevens (ed. 1773): “Not simply an anvil, but a forge in general. So in another play, ‘Now by the forge that stithied Mars helm’.”
1778 v1778
v1778 ≈ v1773 +
1935 stithy] Steevens (ed. 1778): “So, in Troilus and Cressida: ‘Now by the forge that stithied Mars’s helm.’ So, in Greene’s Card of Fancy, 1608: —‘determined to strike on the stith while the iron was hot.’ Again, in Chaucer’s celebrated description of the Temple of Mars, late edit. ver. 2028: ‘—the smith That forgeth sharpe swerdes on his stith’.”
1784 ays
ays: standard
1935 stithy] Ayscough (ed. 1784): “Stithy is a smith’s anvil.”
1791- rann
rann
1935 stithy] Rann (ed. 1791-): “—forge, anvil, trough in which the iron is quenched.”
1793- Edwards
Edwards ≈ v1778 +
1935 stithy] Edwards (ms. notes, ed. 1793): “The stith is the anvil, the stithy, the smith’s shop. These words are familiar to me, being in constant use at Halifax, my native place.”
1819 cald1
cald1: standard +
1935 stithy] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Stithe is to be pronounced as a disyllable. It is written stithy in the quartos. The folio of 1632 reads stith. The words stithy, stithe, and stith, were the same, and used indifferently to express either the iron to work upon, or the locus ignis, the forge, or the workshop; though in later times stith has been confined to the sense of "anvil," and stithy to threat of "the shop." Baret, in his Alv. fo. 1580, writes stithie, and refers to anvils, and stithees, sans enclumes et soufflets." In Arth. Golding’s Jul. Solinus, 4to. 1587, ch. 64, stythes is his translation of incudibus: and such must be the sense of the verb in our author, Tr. & Cr. IV. 5. "Now, by the forge that stithied Mar’s selm." Hector. The word itself was written any way. Huloet has stith. Junius, Skinner, Holyoke, Littleton, have stithy. The Promptuar. parvulor. "Stythe, incus." The Ortus Vocabulor. "Incus, and anvelde or stedy." 1514.”
1826 sing1
sing1: standard
1935 stithy] Singer (ed. 1826): “Vulcan’s stithy is Vulcan’s workshop or smithy; stith being an anvil.”
1839 knt1
knt1: standard
1935 stithy] Knight (ed. 1839): “Stithe-— a dissyllable— stithy.”
1843 col1
col1: standard
1935 stithy] Collier (ed. 1843): “i.e. Vulcan’s forge. See Vol. vi. p. 107. It is stithe in the folio, which makes another misprint in the line, needful for ‘heedful.’”
-1845 mhun1
mhun1 ≈ theo without attribution
1934-35 And...stithy] Hunter (-1845, f. 225v): “Surely he must have written Smithy. In a blacksmith’s shop the stithy is the cleanest thing about it. The note tisend J. Edv and must contain a cuir-revolution.”
1845 hunter
hunter ≈ theo without attribution
1934-35 And...stithy]
Hunter (1845, p. 248): <p. 248>“
Smithy must rather have been the word.”</p. 248>
1856 hud1
hud1: standard
1935 stithy] Hudson (ed. 1856): "That is, Vulcan’s workshop or smithy; stith being an anvil."
1858 col3
col3 = col1 +
1935 stithy] Collier (ed. 1858): “In ‘Troilus and Cressida,’ [4.5.255. (2827)], ‘stithied’ occurs in the sense of forged.”
1872 cln1
cln1: standard +
1935 stithy] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “a smithy, forge, the place where the stith, or anvil, stands. We have the word as a verb, meaning ’to forge,’ in Troilus and Cressida, iv. 5. 255: ’The forge that stithied mars his helm.’ It also denoted the anvil itself, as in Coverdale’s rendering of Job xii. 24: ’His hert is as harde as a stone, and as fast as the stythye that the hammer man smytheth vpon.’
1874 corson
corson
1935-6 Corson (1874, p. 26): “Giue him needfull note, For I mine eyes will riuet to his Face: F. ‘For’ depends, for its force, on what Hamlet says in the 74th and 75th lines, ‘Even with the very comment of my soul Observe mine uncle: ‘then having again enjoined Hoaratio to ‘Give him needful note,’ or as the Quartos have it, which the C. follows, ‘heedful note,’ he adds, ‘For I mine eyes will rivet to his face’.”
1885 macd
macd
1935 stithy] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “a dissyllable: stithy, anvil; Scotch, studdy.
“Hamlet’s doubt is here very evident: he hopes he may fond it a false ghost: what good man, what good son would not? He has clear cause and reason—it is his duty to delay. That the cause and reason and duty ate not invariable clear to Hamlet himself—not clear in every mood, is another thing. Wavering conviction, doubt of evidence, the corollaries of assurance, the oppression of misery, a sense of the worthlessness of the world’s whole economy—each demanding delay, might yet well, all together, affect the man’s feeling a mere causes of rather than reasons for hesitation.
“The conscientiousness of Hamlet stands out the cleared that, throughout, his dislike to his uncle, predisposing him to believe any ill of him, is more than evident. By his incompetent or prejudiced judges, Hamlet’s accusations and justifications of himself are equally placed to the discredit of his account. They seem to think a man could never accuse himself except he were in the wrong; therefore if ever he excuses himself, he is the more certainly in the wrong: whatever point may tell on the other side, it is to be disregarded.”
1899 ard1
ard1
1935 stithy] Dowden (ed. 1899): “possibly here a forge; often an anvil.”