Line 2288 - 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 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary
| 2288 The liues of many, the {cesse} <cease> of Maiestie | 3.3.15 |
|---|
1710 Gildon
Gildon
2288 cesse] Gildon (1710, 7: lxviii: glossary, cess): “a Tax.”
This definition loses currency in Rowe’s adoption of Ff emendation cease.
1736 Stubbs
Stubbs
2288-96 the cesse . . . grone] Stubbs (1736, p. 32) “What Rosincrantz says of the Importance of the King’s Life, is express’d by a very just Image.”
1755 Johnson Dict.
Johnson Dict.
2288 cesse ] Johnson (1755): 1. “a levy made upon the inhabitants of a place, rated according to their property.”
2. “the act of laying rates.”
3. “it seems to have been used by Shakespeare for boundaries or limits.”
1819 cald1
cald1: Lr. //
2288 cesse] Caldecott (ed. 1813): “Demise, fall. Throughout our author a strong sense is attached to the verb cease. See ‘fall and cease,’ Lr. [5.3.265 (3226)]Alb.”
1822 Nares
Nares: Spenser analogue
2288 cesse] Nares (1822, glossary, cesse): “To cease. Cesso, Lat. So written by Spenser: ‘For natural affection soon doth cesse, And quenched is with Cupid’s greater flame.’ FQ 4.9.2.”
1854 del2
del2
2288-9 the cesse . . . alone] Delius (ed. 1854): “Die Construction ist ungenau, da dies sich eigentlich nur auf majesty, nicht aber auf cease of majesty bezieht: die Majestät in ihrem Aufhören stirbt nicht allein.” [The construction is not precise since dies really refers only to majesty, not to cease of majesty: in its cessation, majesty does not die alone.]
1864a glo
glo
2288 cesse] Clark and Wright (ed. 1864a [1865] 9: glossary, Cease): “SB decease.”
1866 Bailey
Bailey: Cym. //
2288 cesse] Bailey (1866, 2: 10-11): <2:10> “Cease, as a noun, is not found elsewhere: here it means death, so that the speaker is made to assert that death dies not alone, and that it is a massy wheel as well as like a gulf; whereas the author evidently meant to predicate these things of majesty itself. </2:10>
<2:11> “I therefore propose to read: ‘Deceasing majesty Dies not alone:’ which remedies the defects pointed out, and would readily lapse into the received mis-reading.
“There is a similar blunder, which will be found noticed under the head Cym. where the shrine of Venus is absurdly substituted in the current text for the shrinking Venus. Of and ing seem, unaccountably enough, to be sometimes interchanged.” </2:11>
1866 ktlyn
ktlyn
2288 cesse] Keightley (ed. 1866, glossary): “cease] decease, die.”
2288 cesse] Keightley (ed. 1866, glossary): “cess] measure, tax, subsidy.”
1869 Romdahl
Romdahl ≈ glo + magenta underlined
2288 cesse] Romdahl (1869, p. 35): “cessation, decease; this noun, probably a GREEK HERE, does not elsewhere occur in Sh.”
1872 hud2
hud2=hud1
2288-9 cesse . . . alone] Hudson (ed. 1872): “Tautological in word , but not in sense. The death of Majesty comes not alone.”
1872 cln1
cln1
2288 the cesse of Maiestie] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “used here for the king dying, as ‘life,’ in line [3.3.11 (2284)], is used for the living man.”
1877 v1877
v1877 ≈ cald, hud, Bailey, cln1
2288 cesse]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Caldecott: The demise. Throughout Sh. a strong sense is attached to this verb ‘cease.’
Hudson: ‘Cease’ and Dies’ are tautological in word, not in sense. The
death of Majesty
comes not alone.
Bailey (ii,
io): ‘Cease’ as a noun is not found elsewhere; here it means death, so that the speaker is made to assert that death dies not alone, and that it is a massy wheel as well as like a gulf; whereas Sh. evidently meant to predicate these things of majesty itself. Read, therefore, ‘
Deceasing majesty,’ &c.
Clarendon: Here used for the king dying, as ‘life’ in line
ii is used for the living man.”
1878 rlf1
2288 cesse]
Rolfe (ed. 1878): Cease] “Decease. The only other instance of
cease as a noun noted by
Schmidt is in
Lr. [5.3.265 (3226)], where he thinks it may be a verb.”
1881 hud3
hud3 ≈ hud2
2288-9 cesse . . . alone] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Tautological in word, but not in sense. The cease (decease) of majesty comes not alone.”
1885 macd
macd
2288-9 cesse . . . alone] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “The same as to say: ‘The passing, ceasing, or ending of majesty dies not—is not finished or accomplished, without that of others’; ‘the dying ends or ceases not,’ &c.”
1890 irv2
irv2
2288 cesse] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “cease] extinction.”
1899 ard1
ard1: pope
2288 cesse] Dowden (ed. 1899): “cessation; cease of majesty, death of a king. Pope substituted ‘decease’ for ‘the cease.’”
1903 rlf3
rlf3 ≈ rlf1 minus Schmidt attribution
2288 cesse] rolfe (ed.1903): “Decease. The only instance of cease as a noun in S. except the doubtful one in Lr. [5.3.265 (3226)].”
1906 nlsn
nlsn: standard
2288 cesse] Neilson (ed. 1906, glossary): “decease.”
1891 dtn
dtn
2288-9 the cesse . . . alone] Deighton (ed. 1891): the cease . . . alone] “the extinction of majesty in the death of a king is much more than a single death of an ordinary man.”
1934 rid
rid ≈ ard1 minus pope
2288 cesse] Ridley (ed. 1934): “cessation.”
1934 Wilson
Wilson: DeFoe analogue; OED
2288 cesse] Wilson (1934, rpt. 1963, 2:275): “Q2 ‘cesse,’ F1 ‘cease.’ The two are different forms of the same word, but ‘cesse’ has at once a more archaic and more legal flavour. DeFoe uses it in 1703 in exactly Shakespeare’s sense: ‘If Power at any time meets with a Cess, if Government and Thrones become vacant, to this Original all Power . . . returns’ (N.E.D. [OED]‘Cess,’ sb. 3).” </2:275>
1934 cam3
cam3: OED; MSH
2288 cesse] Wilson (ed. 1934): cess] “Q2 ‘cesse,’ F1 ‘’cease.’ v. G. Cf. De Foe, The Original Power of the People, 1703, ‘If Power at any time meets with a Cess, If Governmental Thrones become Vacant...’ (v. N.E.D. [OED] 3), and MSH, p. 275.”
cam3
2288 cesse] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “(sb.), cessation, extinction (v. note).”
1935 ev2
ev2
2288 cesse of maiestie] Boas (ed. 1935): “a monarch when he dies.”
1939 kit2
kit2 ≈ rid
2288 cesse] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “cessation, decease.”
1942 n&h
n&h: standard
2288 cesse] Neilson & Hill (ed. 1942): “death.”
1947 cln2
cln2 ≈ ard1
2288 cesse of Maiestie ] Rylands (ed. 1947): “death of a king.”
1974 evns1
evns1 ≈ kit2
2288 cesse] Evans (ed. 1974): “cess] cessation, death.”
1980 pen2
pen2
2288 cesse of Maiestie] Spencer (ed. 1980): “cessation of royal rule (by the death or deposition of the king).
1982 ard2
ard2: OED, AWW //
2288 cesse] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “decease. OED sb.2. Cf. AWW [5.3.72 (2779)], ‘in me, O nature, cesse’.”
1984 chal
chal ≈ evns1
2288 cesse] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “cessation.”
1988 bev2
bev2=kit2
2288 cesse] Bevington (ed. 1988): “decease, cessation.”
1998 OED
OED
2288 cesse] OED (Sept. 10, 1998): “cease (sis), sb. Also 4 ses, 5 ceasse. [a. OF. ces, f. cesser: see prec.] = ceasing, cessation. Obs. exc. in the still occasional without cease, without end, incessantly. (Cf. F. sans cesse.) c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 3188 Of swiche bataile nas no ses To the night fram arnemorwe. 1490 CAXTON Eneydos xvi. 64 The other he made to watche without ceasse. 1583 STUBBES Anat. Abus. II. 57 They brought the world into a woonderfull perplexitie and cease. 1602 SHAKS. Ham. III. iii. 15 The cease of Maiestie dies not alone. 1662 R. MATHEW Unl. Alch. §99. 163 Which instantly hath caused cease of pain. 1798 Log Vanguard 2 Aug. in Nicolas Disp. Nelson (1845) III. 54, 55 minutes past 2, a total cease of firing. 1877E. CONDER Bas. Faith ii. 65 We..think of space as..extending without cease in all directions. 1880 A. MITCHELL What is Civilis. 183 It is without cease and everywhere undergoing change.”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2 ≈ bev2
2288 cess of majesty] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “cessation or decease of royalty. Given the age of Elizabeth I and her unwillingness to name an heir, this must have been a topical issue when Hamlet was written.”
2288