Line 2345 - Commentary Note (CN) 
Commentary notes (CN):
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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
| 2345 Art more ingaged; helpe Angels make assay, 2345 | 3.3.69 |
|---|
1755 Johnson Dict.
Johnson Dict.
2345 assay ] Johnson (1755): 1. “To make trial of; to make experiment of.”
2. “to try; to endeavor.”
1857 fieb
fieb
2345 assay] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “I.e. assist me in making assay, in this endeavour.”
1864a glo
glo: MM //
2345 assay] Clark and Wright (ed. 1864a [1865] 9: glossary, Assay): “sb. attempt. MM [3.1.162 (1384)].”
1866 ktlyn
ktlyn
2345 assay] Keightley (ed. 1866, glossary): “to take the assay, applied to those who tasted wine for princes.”
1872 cln1
cln1
2345 ingaged] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “hampered, entangled.”
1877 v1877
v1877 = cln1 for ingaged
v1877: Brae (xref.)
2345 assay]
Furness (ed. 1877): “See Brae’s forcible explanation of this word, [3.1.15 (1663)], p.208.”
1878 rlf1
rlf1: contra Worc. and Wb. ; Milton analogues
2345 ingaged] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Entangled. It is curious that Worc. nor Wb. recognizes this meaning, though both give ‘disentangle as one of the meanings of disengage. Cf. Milton, Comus, 193: ‘They had engag’d their wandering steps too far;’ and PR 3. 347 (where Satan is trying to ensnare Christ): ‘That thou mayst know I seek not to engage/Thy virtue,’ etc. In architecture, engaged columns are probably so called because they are caught or entangled, as it were, in the wall.”
rlf1: Brae (
apud v1877),
contra Worc. and Wb.,
Schmidt, J.H.
2345 make assay]
Rolfe (ed. 1878): “According to Brae (quoted in F.),
assay here = charge; onset, and
make assay = ‘throng to the rescue.’ Cf.
H5 [1.2.151 (298)]: ‘Galling the gleaned land with hot assays;’ and [2.2.71 (1096)] above: "the assay of arms.’ This meaning is not recognized by Worc. or Wb., but
Schmidt gives it for the two passages just quoted. Here he makes
assay = trial; but the other meaning would be at once more forcible and more poetical. J. H. thinks that
make assay is addressed to himself, not to the angels.”
1885 macd
macd ≈ cln1
2345 ingaged] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “entangled.”
macd
2345-6 helpe . . . knees] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “said to his knees. Point thus: — ‘Helpe Angels! Make assay—bow, stubborne knees!’”
1890 irv2
irv2 = macd for ingaged
1891 dtn
dtn
2345 make assay] Deighton (ed. 1891): “make vigorous effort to rescue me.”
1899 ard1
ard1=irv2 + magenta underlined
2345 ingaged] Dowden (ed. 1899): “entangled. So Florio, Montaigne: ‘’The Barble fishes, if one of them chance to be engaged.’”
ard1 ≈ rlv1 (H5 //)
2345 assay] Dowden (ed. 1899): “trial; but assay is used by Shakespeare, H5 [1.2.151 (298)], for an onset, attack, and perhaps that is the meaning here. It is suggested that ‘make assay’ may be addressed not to the angels but to the King’s own soul.”
1903 rlf3
rlf3 ≈ rlf1 minus contra Worc, Wb.; ≈ ard1 without attribution for ingaged
rlf3 ≈ rlf1 minus Brae,
contra Wor, Wb.;
Schmidt for
make assay
1904 ver
ver: Bond (Lyly analogue)
2345 ingaged] Verity (ed. 1904): “entangled; like a fluttering bird in a snare (“limed”) Mr Bond aptly quotes Lyly’s Euphues: “he that seeketh the depth of knowledge is . . . like the bird in the lime-bush, which the more she striveth to get out, the faster she sticketh in.”
1909 subb
subb
2345 make assay] Subbarau (ed. 1909): “Claudius, after invoking the aid of the angels, seems to exhort his soul to make a vigorous effert to save itself by prayer.”
1929 trav
trav
2345 make assay]
Travers (ed. 1929): “has no stopping before it in Q2; which supports the interpretation: “help me (to) make the attempt.” The comma after “Angels” in F. does not necessarily point to a different grammatical construction.—The note of exclamation usually inserted before “make” renders it uncertain whether the two last words of the line may not be addressed by Claudius to his own soul, as [3.3.70-2 (2346-8)] will be to his knees and to his heart.”
1931 crg1
crg1
2345 assay] Craig (ed. 1931): “trial.”
1934 rid
rid
2345 ingaged] Ridley (ed. 1934): “closely stuck.”
1939 kit2
kit2
2345 make assay] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “Addressed by the King to himself: ‘Though prayer seems impossible, yet make the attempt.”
1947 cln2
cln2
2345 ingaged] Rylands (ed. 1947): “entangled.”
1957 pel1
pel1
2345 engaged] Farnham (ed. 1957): “engaged embedded.”
pel1
2345 assay.] Farnham (ed. 1957): “assay an attempt.”
1974 evns1
evns1 = cln1 for ingaged
1980 pen2
pen2 = cln2 for ingaged
pen2
2345 make assay] Spencer (ed. 1980): “make a vigorous attempt (probably addressed to himself rather than to the angels or to his knees).”
1982 ard2
ard2: kit2, sis; OED; Mac. H5 //s
2345 Make assay] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Many eds. take (and Kittredge asserts) this to be addressed to the ‘limed soul’, presumably on the assumption that it would be inappropriate for ‘angels’. But an assay is more than a trial or attempt. It is a putting forth of all one’s powers (cf. Mac. [4.3.143 (1973)]), a concerted effort, sometimes a military enterprise (cf. [2.2.71 (1096)]) or even an actual onslaught (as in H5 [1.2.151 (298)]); and characteristically in FQ, as at 5.4.23). See OED Assay sb. 13-15. Sisson justly explains that ‘Claudius calls upon the angels to help him. . . in the struggle’ (NR), yet appears to regard make assay as an infinitive complement of Help instead of, more naturally, as a parallel imperative.”
1984 chal
chal=evns1 for ingaged
chal=pen1 + magenta underlined
2345 assay] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “assay attempt, attack.”
1984 klein
klein: contra kit
2345 helpe . . . assay] Klein (ed. 1984): “Kittredge refers make assay to Claudius himself – an (erroneous) result of the traditional punctuation, which establishes two exclamations: ‘Help, angels! Make assay!’ Q2 only has a comma after assay, F1 has a comma after Angels and a colon after assay. Therefore probably just one exclamation, in which Help ... make assay embraces the apostrophe.”
1987 oxf4
oxf4: OED
2345 ingaged] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “entangled (OED v. IIa); earliest example of this sense cited in OED.”
OXF4 ≈ pen2; OED
2345 make assay] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “make a determined effort (OED assay sb. I4).”
1988 bev2
bev2=pel1 for ingaged
bev2 ≈ crg1 + magenta underlined
2345 assay] Bevington (ed. 1988): “trial. (Said to himself).”
1998 OED
OED
2345 assay] OED (Sept. 14, 1998): “assay (se), sb. Forms: 4 assai, 4-5 asay(e, 4-7 assaie, assaye, 6 a saie, assey(e, 4- assay. Also aphetic SAY, and refashioned ESSAY, q.v. [a. OF. assai, assay, var. of essai, essay, cogn. with Pr. essai, assai, assag, Sp. asayo, Cat. assatg, It. assaggio (also Cat. ensatg, ensaig, Sp. ensayo, Pg. ensaio): – L. exagium `weighing,’ but used in Romanic in wider sense of `examination, trial, testing’; f. L. ex-agere, exigere to weigh, try, prove, measure, adjust, ascertain, examine, inquire into. For the sense of the L. cf. examen = exagmen: see EXAMINE; for the form cf. contagium = contamen f. con-tangere, naufragium f. frangere. Fr. essai = It. assaggio: – L. exagium may be compared to Fr. ai = OIt. aggio: – L. habeo. The etymological form from L. ex- was in es-, but in Romanic this was by confusion with other prefixes made as- and en-. In Fr. the etymological essai has now quite ousted assai, and in Eng., since the end of the 16th c., ESSAY has similarly taken the place of assay, exc. in the `assay of metals,’ and uses founded upon it. An aphet. SAY was very common down to 17th c.]I. The action or process of trying, trial generally.1. The trying (of a person or thing); trial imposed upon or endured by any object, in order to test its virtue, fitness, etc. Obs. exc. as fig. use of 6.
“1330 R. BRUNNE Chron. 341 Noblie regned he here, bi profe and gode assaies. c 1386 CHAUCER Wife’s Prol. 290 But folk of wyves maken non assay, Til thay ben weddid. c 1450 Merlin xiv. 219 Now lete se your cheualrye, for now be ye come to the assay. c 1500 W. DE WORDE Communyc. C iij, Whan thou of all thy frendes haste made assaye Thou shalte fynde none lyke to me. 1603 SHAKS. [3.1.162 (1384)] Angelo had neuer the purpose to corrupt her; onely he hath made an assay of her vertue. 1711 BUDGELL Spect. No. 307 12 To make an Assay of his Parts in Geometry. 1868 RUSKIN Pol. Econ. Art. Add. 211 A great assay of the human soul.”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2 ≈ oxf4
2345 engaged] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “involved, entangled.”
ard3q2
2345 assay] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “effort. It is not clear whether the King is addressing the angels or himself.”
2345