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Line 2072 - 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.”

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Notes for lines 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary

For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.

2072 The great man downe, you marke his {fauourite} <fauourites> flyes,	3.2.204

1854 del2

del2

2072 The great man downe] Delius (ed. 1854): “wenn der Grosse gestürzt wird. Dem gestürzten Grossen wird der emporgekommene Arme gegenübergestellt.” [When the great man is felled. To the fallen great man is opposed the risen poor man. ]

1870 Abbott

Abbott: xref.

2072-3 fauourite flyes] Abbott (1870, §333): fauourites] “This form is extremely common in the Folio. It is generally altered by modern editors, so that its commonness has not been duly recognized. Fortunately, there are some passages where the rhyme or metre has made alteration impossible. In some cases the subject-noun may be considered as singular in thought, e.g. ‘manners,’ &c. In other cases the quasi-singular verb precedes the plural object; and again, in others the verb has for its nominative two singular nouns or an antecedent to a plural noun (see §247). But though such instances are not of equal value with an instance like ‘his tears runs down,’ yet they indicate a general predilection for the inflection in –s which may well have arisen from the northern E.E. third person plural in –s. ‘The great man down, you mark his favourites flies, The poor advanced makes friends of enemies.’”

1874 Corson

Corson: Abbott

2072 fauourite flyes] Corson (1874, p. 27): “The plural ‘favourites’ suits the context better; it is, in fact, demanded; and in regard to ‘flies,’ see Abbott’s Shakespearian Grammar, § 333, where this passage is quoted.”

1877 v1877

v1877 ≈ Abbott, Corson

2072 fauourite flyes] Furness (ed. 1877): “Abbott, § 333: The reading, favourite, completely misses the intention to describe the crowd of favorites scattering in flight from the fallen patron. [See this paragraph in Abbott for instances of the third person plural in s.] Corson (p. 27): The plural, ‘favourites,’ is, in fact demanded.”

1878 rlf1

rlf1: Abbott; Ven., Sonn. //s

2072 fauourite flyes] Rolfe (ed. 1878): Favourites flies] “The quartos have ‘favourite,’ a reading which, as Abbott says (Abbott 333), ‘completely misses the intention to describe the crowd of favourites scattering in flight from the fallen patron.’ Cf. Ven. 1128: "She lifts the coffer-lids that close his eyes / Where, lo! two lamps burnt out in darkness lies." There, as here, the form seems to be due to the rhyme. See also Sonn. 41.3.”

1879 Bullock

Bullock: Proverbs, Psalms analogues

2072 Bullock (1879): “Prov. xiv. 20; xix. 4. 7—Psalm xxxviii. 11.”

1882 elze2

elze2 ≈ v1877 (Abbott only)

2072 his fauourite flyes] Elze (ed. 1882): “Flyes is the old Northern plural; see Dr Abbott, Sh. Gr., § 333.”

1883 wh2

wh2

2072 fauourite flyes] White (ed. 1883): “This has been commonly changed to ‘favourite flies,’ much to the detriment of the descriptiveness of the passage. But here ‘flies’ is not an instance of the old ‘third person plural in s.’ If it were not for the rhyme, the reading should be, and would rightly have been, ‘favourites fly.’ “

1890 irv2

irv2 ≈ v1877 (Abbott)

2072 fauourite] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “F.1 has favourites, which Abbott defends and Furness adopts, considering flies one of the numerous instances of the third person plural in s. The sense is certainly much better in this reading, for it expresses (better than the singular would do) the defection of the diminished great man’s swarm of favourites and flatterers. I should adopt it were it not for the hideous sound produced by the sequence favorities flies—an effect on the ear so grating that I cannot for a moment believe that Shakespeare would have tolerated it.”

1891 dtn

dtn: standard (Abbott)

1903 rlf3

rlf3=rlf1 minus text variant note; Abbott

1904 ver

ver: Abbott

2072 fauourite] Verity (ed. 1904): “so the Quarto and 2nd Folio; the 1st Folio has favourites. Grammatically the plural is not indefensible, because flies might be defended as either a “northern plural” or a singular attracted to the termination of the preceding word. But the sound favourites flies is atrocious.

“Abbott argues that the singular, favourite, ‘completely misses the intention to describe the crowd of favourites scattering in flight from the fallen patron.” This criticism would apply to flatterers, of whom a great man has many, rather than to a favourite.

“Had Shakespeare in mind the fall of the great Essex and his treatment by Bacon? At any rate, the line had special significance in the days of political and literary ‘patronage.’”

1934 Wilson

Wilson: contra Abbott

2072 fauoruite] Wilson (1934, rpt. 1963, p. 238): <2:238> “Abbott defends [the F1 reading ‘fauourites”] on the ground that the Globe, which reads ‘favourite’ (he ignores Q2), completely misses ‘the intention to describe the crowd of favourites scattering in flight from the fallen patron.’ It is an ingenious plea, but it must be non-suited not only by the superior authority of Q2 but also by the peculiar harshness of ‘his fauourites flies’ which is surely impossible. Indeed, Abbott is too little prone to allow for the corruption of compositors and transcribers. It is true, as he writes, that ‘the third person plural in -s . . . is extrememly common in the Folio’1; but it is also true that a large proportion of such instances must be set down to the account of the corruption of agents of transmission. Grammarians are apt to o’erleap themselves in their ambition to accumulate collections of abnormalities.” </2:238>

[<2:238> “1Shakespearian Grammar, § 333.” </2:238>]

1934 cam3

cam3=ver

2072 The great man . . . flyes,] Wilson (ed. 1934): “’Had Sh. in mind the fall of the great Essex and his treatment by Bacon?’ (Verity).”

1980 pen2

pen2

2035 downe] Spencer (ed. 1980): “being displaced.”

1988 bev2

bev2

2072 downe] Bevington (ed. 1988): “fallen in fortune.”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2 ≈ bev2

2072 down] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “disgraces, out of favour.”

ard3q2

2072 favourite flies] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “flavoured supporter runs away, abandons him.”