Line 2303 - 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
| 2303 Behind the Arras I’le conuay my selfe | 3.3.28 |
|---|
1790 mal
mal
2303 Arras] Malone (ed. 1790): “The arras-hangings, in Shakspeare’s time, were hung at such a distance from the walls, that a person might stand behind them unperceived. The principal witness against the Countess of Exeter, who was unjustly charged in the 1616, with a design to poison lady Lake and lady Rosse, was Sarah Wharton, a chambermaid, who swore that she stood behind the hangings at the entrance of the great chamber at Wimbleton, and heard the countess confess her guilt. The plot against this innocent lady was discovered by king James, who went to Wimbleton, and found that the hangings, which had not been changed for thirty years, were two feet from the ground, so that the chambermaid must have been discovered, had she been there. His majesty observing a great distance between the window, near which the countess was supposed to have stood, and the lower end of the room, where the maid was said to have stood, placed himself behind the hangings, and finding that the could not hear the lords at the window, though they purposely spoke loud, obtained evidence of the falsehood of this charge. Malone.”
1793 v1793
v1793=mal minus (The principal . . . . charge.) +
2303 Arras] Malone (apud Steevens ed. 1790): “See Vol. VIII. p. [number illegible] n.9. Steevens.”
1803 v1803
v1803=v1793
Adjusted // ref.: “See Vol. XI. p. 311, n.9. Steevens."
1821 v1821
v1821=v1813
Adjusted // ref.: “See 1H4 [2.4.500 (1460)]. Steevens."
1822 Nares
Nares: mal + magenta underlined
2303 Arras] Nares (1822: glossary, arras): “The tapestry hangings of rooms, so called from the town of Artois, where the principal manufacture of such stuffs was. Dr. Johnson thought that Shakespeare had outstepped probability in supposing Falstaff to sleep behind the hangings, on account of his bulk (1H4. [2.4.500 (1460)]); but an author quoted by Mr. Malone proves that still larger bulks might be concealed there. ‘Pyrrhus, to terrify Fabius, commanded his guard to place an elephant behind the arras.’ Braith. Survey of Histories, 1614. Denham, in his Sophy, conceals a guard there. Hamlet suspects the king to be behind the arras; and other royal personages have been thus concealed. In an interview between Qu. Mary and Elizabeth, Philip of Spain was hid behind the tapestry. Nichols’s Progr. of Eliz. vol.i.p.13. Thus it is clear that there was often a very large space between the arras and the walls.”
1826 sing1
sing1=v1821 (1H4 //) without attribution
1857 fieb
fieb: xrefs.; mal
2303 Arras . . . my selfe] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “See [2.2.163 (1197)]: ‘Be you and I behind an arras then;’ and [3.1.31-3 (1681-3)]: ‘Her father and myself (lawful espials), Will so bestow ourselves, that seeing unseen, We may of their encounter frankly judge.’—The arras-hangings in Shakespeare’s time, says Malone, were hung at such a distance from the walls, that a person might easily stand behind them unperceived.”
1865 hal
hal ≈ Nares (deriv. of arras from Artois)
2303 Arras] Halliwell (ed. 1865): “Arras was a superior kind of tapestry, so named from Arras, the capital of Artois in the French Netherlands, which was celebrated for its manufacture. In the rooms of old houses hung with arras, there were generally large spaces between the hangings and the walls, and these were frequently made hiding places in the old plays.”
1867 ktlyn
ktlyn: Ado, Wiv., 1H4 //s
2303 Arras] Keightley (1867, Index): “(so called from the town of that name), tapestry for covering the walls of rooms. It was fixed on wooden frames a little distance from the wall; hence people could go behind it. (Ado [1.3.61 (399)], Wiv. [3.3.90 (1434)], 1H4 [2.4.500 (1460)], et alib.).”
1868 c&mc
c&mc ≈ ktln (Wiv. //)
2303 Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868, rpt. 1878): “See Note 27, Act 3, ‘
Wiv. [3.3.90 (1434)].’”
1882 elze
elze: Lay of the Nibel., Koch
2303 Arras] Elze (ed. 1882): “Kulter spaehe von Arraz occurs in the Lay of the Nibelungen (ed. Zarncke, 1871, p. 279, str. 3). Compare bilboes, damask, mantua, shalloon, toledo, &c. See Koch, Grammatik der Englischen Sprache, III, 212 seq.”
1904 ver
ver: Wiv., Lr., 3H6 //s
2303 conuay] Verity (ed. 1904): “implying secrecy. Convey often has a bad sense in Shakespeare, e.g. as a colloquial word for ‘steal’; cf. Wiv. [1.3.27-30 (324-6)]: “Nym. The good humour is to steal at a minute’s rest. Pistol. ‘Convey,’ the wise call it. ‘Steal’! foh” a fico for the phrase!” We find convey = ‘to act stealthily,’ and conveyance = ‘dishonesty, tirckery.’ Cf. Lr [1.2.101-2 (433-4)], “I will convey the business,” i.e. manage the plot, and 3H6 [3.3.160 (1900)], “Thy sly conveyance and thy lord’s false love.”
1905 rltr
rltr
2303 Arras] Chambers (ed. 1905): “tapestry.”
1931 crg1
crg1 ≈ rltr
2303 Arras] Craig (ed. 1931): “screen of tapestry placed around the walls of household apartments.”
crg1 ≈ ver minus //s
2303 conuay] Craig (ed. 1931): “implication of secrecy; convey was often used to mean ‘steal.’”
1939 kit2
kit2
2303 conuay my selfe] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “slip quietly, without being seen.”
1980 pen2
pen2
2303 Arras] Spencer (ed. 1980): “Again Polonius enjoys spying on Hamlet from a hiding-place.”
pen2
2303 conuay] Spencer (ed. 1980): “surreptitiously place.”
1982 ard2
ard2 ≈ ver (3H6 //)
2303 conuay] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “This word often has the suggestion of furtiveness or stealth. Cf. 3H6 [3.3.160 (1900)], ‘thy sly conveyance’.”
1984 chal
chal: (xref.)
2303 Arras] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “arras [2.2.163 (1197)].”
1988 bev2
bev2=crg1 + magenta underlined
2303 Arras] Bevington (ed. 1988): “screen of tapestry placed around the walls of household apartments. (On the Elizabethan stage, the arras was presumably over a door or discovery space in the tiring-house façade.).”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2
2303 arras] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “well-hanging.”
ard3q2: MW //
2303 convey] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “gloss.”
2303