Notes for lines 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary
| 2502 Your bedded haire like life in excrements | 3.4.121 |
|---|
1728 pope2
pope2
2502 life in excrements] Pope (ed. 1728): “The hairs are excrementitious, that is, without life or sensation: yet those very hairs, as if they had life, start up. &c.”
1733 theo1
theo1: Mr. Hughs; Macrobius analogue; Mac., Err., MV, LLL //s
2502 life in excrements] Theobald (ed. 1733): “I took Notice, in my SHAKESPEARE restor’d, that this Expression as much wanted an Explanation, as any the most antiquated Word in our Poet wants a Gloss. Mr. Hughs, in his Impression of this Play, has left it out: either because he could make nothing of it, or thought it alluded to an Image too nauseous. The Poet’s Meaning is founded on a physical Determination, that the Hair and Nails are excrementitious Parts of the Body (as indeed, they are) without Life or Sensation. MACROBIUS in his Saturnalia, (lib. vii. cap. 9) not only speaks of those Parts of the human Body which have no Sensation; but likewise assigns the Reasons, why they can have none. Ossa, Dentes, cum Unguibus & Cappilis, nimiâ Siccitate ità densata sunt, ut penetrabilia non sint effectui Animæ qui Sensum ministrat. Therefore the Poet means to say, Fear and Surprize had such an Effect upon Hamlet, that his Hairs, as if there were Life in those excrementitious Parts, started up and stood on End. He has express’d the same Thought more plainly in Mac. [5.5.11-12 (2332-33)]. ‘—and my Fell of Hair Would at a dismal Treatise rowze, and stir, As Life were in’t.’
“That our Poet was acquainted with this Notion in Physics, of the Hair being without Life, we need no stronger Warrant, than that he frequently mentiolns it as an Excrement. ‘Why it is Time such niggard of Hair, being, as it is, so plentiful an Excrement?’ Err. [2.2.77-78 (471-72)] ‘How many Cowards, whose Hearts are all as false As Stairs of Sand, wear yet upon their Chins The Beards of Hercules, and frowning Mars; Who, inward search’d have Livers white as Milk? And these assume but Valour’s Excrement To render them redoubted.’ MV [3.2.83-87 (1429-34)]. ‘For I must tell thee, it will please his Grace (by the World!) sometime to lean upon my poor Shoulder, and with his royal finger, thus dally with my Excrement, with my Mustachio. &c. &c.’ LLL. [5.1.100-104 (1834-38)].”
1744 han1
han1
2502 excrrements] Hanmer (ed. 1744): “In this Author the Hair is often call’d an excrement.”
1745 han2
han2 ≈ han1
han2 adds attribution to “Theobald.”
1748 Upton
Upton: Milton, Spenser, Chaucer, 1Tim., 1Peter analogues
2502 bedded . . .
excrements] U
pton (1748, pp. 253-4): <p.253> “I would read,
braided hairs. So Milton, ‘
Braid your locks with rosie twine.’ Spencer. B. 1. c.2. st. 15. ‘
Her golden locks she roundly did uptye In breaded
tramels.’ Chaucer in the Knight’s tale. 1051.
‘Her yellow heer was broidid
in a tress Behind her back.’ 1Tim. 2. 9. ‘
With broidred hair: GREEK HERE. 1Peter iii, 3. ‘Whose adoring, let it not be that outward adorning of
plaiting the hair:’
GREEK HERE. This in the Bishop’s Bible is translated,
with broyded heare. To broide, </p. 253><p. 254> or
braide the hair, à Teut.
Breyden,
nectere, crispare capillos.”
Upton: Lucan analogue
2502 excrements] Upton (1748, p. 254n): “From the Latin Excrementa, the excrementitious parts. Lucan VI, 543. Excrementa manus, the nails.”
Neither this conjecture nor its grounding are found in the 1746 edition.
1752 Dodd
Dodd ≈ theo1 (Mac. //) + Saxo Grammaticus S&A magenta underlined
2502 excrements] Dodd (1752, p. 249): “Sh. very frequently calls the hair an excrement, that is, without life or sensation, and his meaning here is, Hamlet’s, surprize had such an effect on him, that his hairs, as if there was life in those excrementitious parts, started up and stood an end. So, in Mac. [5.5.11-12 (2332-33)], ‘And my fell of hair Wou’d at a dismal treatise rowze and stir As life were in it.’
“My notes on this play have so much swelled under my hand, I am obliged to lay aside a design I had of giving the reader a translation of the discourse between Hamlet and his mother, from Saxo Germanicus [sic], which is extreamly fine, and will be no small amusement to the reader if he thinks proper to consult that historian; from whom Sh. has taken the whole of Hamlet’s disguis’d madess; the scene before us; his friendship with Horatio; the death of Polonius; his banishment into England; his return from thence, and killing the usurper.—The ghost seems to have been his own invention.”
1755 Johnson Dict.
Johnson Dict.
2502 excrements ] Johnson (1755): “ that which is thrown out as useless, noxious, or corrupted from the natural passages of the body.”
1765 john1
john1, john2 = warb
1773 jen
jen = pope2
2502 excrements]
Jennens (ed. 1773): “The hairs are excrementitious, that is without life or sensation: yet those very hairs, as if they had life, start up, &c.
P.”
1773 mstv1
mstv1
2502 bedded] Steevens (ms. notes in Steevens, ed. 1773): “hair laid in order.”
1774 capn
capn
2502 life in excrements] Capell (1774, 1:1:141): “means—as there were life in those excrements; for so the ‘hair’ is frequently call’d in many parts of this Poet: See the word in the ‘Glossary’.”
capn ≈ pope2
2502 excrements] Capell (1774, 1:1: glossary, excrements): “Excrescence, Part excrementitious.”
1785 v1785
v1785=v1778 + Walton analogue magenta underlined
2502 life in excrements] Whalley (apud Editor, ed. 1785): “Not only the hair of animals having neither life for sensation was called an excrement, but the feathers of birds had the same appellation. Thus in Walton’s Complete Angler, P.I. c.i. p.9. edit. 1766: ‘I will not undertake to mention the several kinds of fowl by which this is done, and his curious palate pleased by day; and which, with their very excrements, afford him a soft lodging at night. Whalley.”
1790 mal
mal = v1778; ≈ Dodd (Mac.//)
2502 life in excrements] Malone (ed. 1790): “So, in Mac. [5.5.11-12 (2332-33)]: ‘The time has been—my fell of hair, Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir, As life were in’t.’ Malone.”
1791- rann
rann: pope2
2502 rann (ed. 1791-): “Your hair laid naturally straight, as if those excrementitious parts had life.”
1793 v1793
v1793 = v1785, mal
1805 Seymour
Seymour
2502-3 our . . .
end] S
eymour (1805, pp. 187-8): <p.187> “Your hair, which had been composed, as it were, in bed. There is here, I suspect, a coarser image than the editors seem to have recognised: </p.187><p.188> the allusion, I believe, is to the worms which extrude and start forth from excremental inertion. I wish the queen had introduced a more
savory simile.” </p.188>
1819 cald1
cald1: Nevile, Whalley, Ferrand analogues; Seymour (contra pope)
2502-3 Your . . . end] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Bedded is smoothed, laid down, as in a bed. With respect to excrement, such is everything that is an excrescence, or is extruded; as the hair, nails, feathers, fæces. ‘Nor force they bite thy finger’s excrement.’ Commend. Verses to Robt. Nevile’s Poor Scholar, 1662.
“And Mr. Whalley instances, in Iz. Walton’s Complete Angler, c. 1. ‘the several kinds of fowl by which is curious palate is pleased by day, and which, with their very excrements, afford him a soft lodging at night.’
“‘Hairiness is a signe (GREEK HERE Aristot.) of the abundance of excrements.’ Ferrand’s GREEK HERE, 12mo. 1640, p. 143. But as hair, being the subject, cannot well be likened to itself, Mr. Seymour says, ‘the idea is coarser than Pope interprets it, who merely says, ‘the hairs are excrementitious.’ It is that of vermin, generated in filth and putrefaction.’”
1822 Nares
Nares ≈ theo1 (Err., LLL //s) + WT //s; Soliman & Perseida, Randolph’s Amyntas analogues
2502 excrements] Nares (1822: glossary, excrement): “from excresco. Every thing that appears to vegetate, or grow upon the human body; as the hair, the beard, the nails ‘Why is Time such a niggard of hair, being as it is so plentiful an excrement.’ Err. [2.2.77-78 (471-72)], ‘Dally with my excrement, my mustachio.’ LLL. [5.1.100-104 (1834-38)]. Whose chin bears no impression of manhood, Not a hair, not an excrement.’ Soliman & Perseida. ‘But above all things wear no beard; long beards Are signs the brains are full; because the excrements Come out so plentifully.’ Randolph’s Amyntas, I.3. Which passages explain the following, where the usage is more obscure: ‘Let me pocket up my pedlar’s excrement. WT [4.4.713 (2596)], that is, my pedlar’s beard; and in Hamlet [cites line] that is, as if there was life in these excrements.”
1826 sing1
sing1 ≈ mal (incl. Mac.//) without attribution
2502 life in excrements] Singer (ed. 1826): “‘The hair is excrementitious; that is, without life or sensation; yet those very hairs, as if they had life, start up,’ &c. So Mac. [5.5.11-12 (2332-33)]:‘—my fell of hair Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir As life were in’t.’”
1841 knt1 (nd)
knt1: cald (Walton analogue)
2502 excrements] Knight (ed. [1839] nd): “hair, nails, feathers, were called excrements. Isaac Walton, speaking of fowls, says, ‘their very excrements afford him a soft lodging at night.’”
1843 col1
col1 ≈ sing1 (Mac. // only), ≈ Nares (WT // only)
2502 excrements] Collier (ed. 1843): “In the WT [4.4.713 (2596)] a beard is called an ‘excrement.’ Compare also Mac. [5.5.11-12 (2332-33)], where the hero speaks of his ‘fell of hair’—‘as life were in’t.’”
1853 Dyce (Notes)
Dyce (Notes): Whalley; Chapman analogue
2502 excrements] Dyce (1853, p. 143): “In the Variorum Shakespeare, on the word ‘excrements,’ there is a note by Whalley, which is more to the purpose than much of the annotation in that omnium gatherum: still it may not be useless to cite here a passage from Chapman’s Justification of a strange action of Nero, &c., 1629; ‘And albeit hayre were of it selfe the most abiect excrement that were, yet should Poppoæas hayre be reputed honourable. I am not ignorant that hayre is noted by many as an excrement, a fleeting commodity . . . . An excrement it is, I deny not,” &c. Sig. B2.”
1854 del2
del2
2502 excrements] Delius (ed. 1854): “excrements = Auswuchs, von Haaren und Nägeln der Menschen, wie von den Federn der Vögel gebraucht. Hamlet’s sonst glattgestrecktes Haar (bedded nähert sich der Vergleichung an) fährt plötzlich auf, als ob in diese Auswüchse Leben käme, wie schlafende Krieger bei plötzlichem Waffenruf auffahren.” [excrements means growth or protuberence, used for human hair and nails as for birds’ feathers. Hamlet’s normally smooth hair (bedded comes close to the comparison) suddenly rises as if life came into it, as sleeping soldiers start up at a sudden call to arms.]
1856 hud1 (1851-6)
hud1 ≈ col (incl. WT //)
2502 excrements] Hudson (ed. 1851-6): “That is, like excrements alive, or having life in them. Hair, nails, feathers, &c., where called excrements, as being without life. See WT, [4.4.713 (2596)], note 47. H.”
1856b sing2
sing2 ≈ sing1 minus “The hair . . . start up.”; theo1 (Err. //); v1785 ( Whalley on Walton) all without attribution
2502 excrements] Singer (ed. 1856): “Thus in Err. [4.4.713 (2596)] ‘Why is time such a niggard of hair, being as it is so plentiful an excrement?’
“Not only the hair of animals having neither life nor sensation was called excrement, but the feathers of birds had the same appellation. Thus in Walton’s Complete Angler, ch. 1. p. 9, ed. 1766, ‘the several kinds of fowl . . . with their very excrements, afford him a soft lodging at night.’”
1857 fieb
fieb = mal for bedded . . . excrements
1858 col3
col3 = col1 + contra Dyce (“Notes”)
2502 excrements] Collier (ed. 1858): “When once a point of the sort is established, especially on Sh’s own evidence, it seems to us enough, without wandering after quotations from other authors: the Rev. Mr. Dyce seems to be of opinion that quotations, which happen to have the word ‘excrement’ in them, cannot be too often multiplied. In ‘Few Notes,’ 129, &c., he has nearly three pages of small extracts to establish what nobody denied. With all respect, this is a mere waste of time and paper: it illustrates the editor’s reading, not the author’s meaning.”
1860 Walker
Walker: Lr. //; Spenser analogue
2502-3 Your . . . end] Walker (1860, 3:267): “‘Your bedded hairs Start up,’ &c. Lr [2.3.10 (1262)], the converse variation occurs in the folio,—’elf all my hair in knots;’ fol., haires; perhaps rightly. Yet we have in Spenser, F.Q., B. vi. C..xii. St.xv. (speaking of Pastorella),—’having her snowy brest As yet not laced, nor her golden haire Into their comely tresses dewly drest.’ Is this a licence of Spenser’s?”
1861 wh1
wh1
2502 excrements] White (ed. 1861): “The hair, the beard, the nails, and all things cast off from the body are properly excrements. These are parts of the body which, under ordinary circumstances, show no life.”
1864a glo
glo ≈ theo1 (LLL, MV //s); ≈ hud1 (WT //)
2502 excrements] Clark and Wright (ed. 1864a [1865] 9: glossary, Excrements): “sb. that which grows outwardly from the body and has no sensation, like the hair or nails. LLL. [5.1.100-104 (1834-38)]; Ham. [3.4.121 (2502)]. Any outward show. MV [3.2.83-87 (1429-34)]; WT [4.4.713 (2596)].”
1865 hal
hal ≈ Dyce (Notes) (Chapman) without attribution
2502 like . . . excrements] Halliwell (ed. 1865): “Hair and feathers were commonly termed excrements. ‘And albeit hayre were of itselfe the most abject excrement that were, yet should Poppæs’ hayre be reputed honourable,’ Chapman’s Justification of a Strange action of Nero, 1629.”
1866 ktlyn
ktlyn ≈ wh1 (one synonym)
2502 excrements] Keightley (ed. 1866, glossary): “excrement] the beard.”
1868 c&mc
c&mc ≈ glo (MV //); ≈ v1785 (Whalley for Walton analogue)
2502 like life in excrements]
Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868, rpt. 1878): “‘As though there were vitality in that excrescent portion of the human frame.’ Not only was the term ‘excrement’ applied to hair in Sh’s time (see Note 22, Act 3.,
MV [3.2.83-87 (1429-34)], but also to the feathers of birds; for Walton, in the first chapter of his
Complete Angler, says, ‘I will not undertake to mention the several kinds of fowl by which this is done; and his curious palate pleased by day, and which with their very
excrement afford him a soft lodging for the night.’”
1869 tsch
tsch
2502 excrements] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Bei excrements übersehe man nicht die d o p p e l t e A b l e i t u n g des Wortes schon bei den Römern von excernere und excrescere, und den darnach modificirten Sinn: Auswurf und Erhöhung; z. B. excrementum costarum. Hier also: Auswüchse, die Nägel, Haare u. s. w.” [With excrements one should be aware of the double derivation of the expression, present already with the Romans in excernere amd excrescere and the sibsequently modified meanings: discard and elevation; for example excrementum costarum. Here thus excrescences, nails, hair, etc.]
1870 rug1
rug1
2502 like . . . excrements] Moberly (ed. 1870): “= like sudden life and motion in that which appears dead.”
1872 hud2
hud2 = hud1 minus WT //
1872 cln1
cln1
2502 bedded] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “for ‘matted,’ was doubtless suggested by an association of ideas from ‘sleeping’ in the previous line.”
cln1 ≈ c&mc (MV //) + Bacon analogue magenta underlined
2502 excrements] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “used of the hair and nails. See MV [3.2.83-87 (1429-34)], and our note. Bacon, Natural History, cent. 1. sect. 58, says, ‘Living creatures put forth (after their period of growth) nothing that is young but hair and nails, which are excrements and no parts.”
cln1: xref.; ≈ sing1 (Mac. //)
2502-3 haire . . . stand] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “We have retained the reading of the earliest quartos and the folios, although the singular ‘hair’ is thus made to govern two plural verbs ‘start, ‘stand.’ ‘Hair’ in fact may be considered as a noun of multitude, and the intervention of the plural substantive ‘excrements’ would also suggest the plural verb. See note on [1.2.38 (217)]. For the sense compare Mac. [5.5.11-12 (2332-33)].”
1872 Staunton
Staunton
2502 bedded] Staunton (1872, p. 530): [Staunton cites this word as evidence of] "the extent to which confusion of final d and e prevails in our old dramatists . . . in Sh’s plays alone there are probably fifty examples as undeniable as these.”
1877 v1877
v1877 ≈ cln1
2402-3 haire . . .
Starts]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Clarendon [reading ‘hair . . .Start’]: ‘Hair,’ in fact, may be considered as a noun of multitude, and the intervention of the plural substantive, ‘exrements,’ would also suggest the plural verb.”
v1877 ≈ pope, mal, v1785 (Whalley), Nares, Dyce (Gloss.), cln1
2502 excrements]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Pope: The hairs are excrementitious, that is, without life or sensation.
Malone: See
Mac. [5.3.11-12 (2232-33)].
Whalley: Not only the hair of animals having neither life nor sensation was called an excrement, but the feathers of birds had the same appellation. Thus, in Izaak Walton’s
Compleat Angler, P. I. c. i, p. 9, ed. 1766: ‘I will not undertake to mention the several kinds of fowl by which this is done, and his curious palate pleased by day; and whch, with their very excrements, afford him a soft lodging at night.’
Nares: Everything that appears to vegetate or grow upon the human body; as the hair, the beard, the nails. Dyce (
Gloss.): ‘And albeit hayre were of itselfe the most abiect excrement that were, yet should Poppæas hayre be reputed honourable. I am not ignorant that it is, I deny not,’ &c.—Chapman’s
Justification of a strange action of Nero, &c. 1629, sig. B2.
Clarendon: Bacon,
Natural History, cent. I, sect. 58, says, ‘Living creatures put forth (after their period of growth) nothing that is young but hair and nails, which are excrements and no parts.’”
mal’s Mac. // interpolated before Whalley note.
1878 rlf1
2502 bedded]
Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Lying flat (
Schmidt). Wr. explains it as “matted.””
rlf1: cam, cln1 + JC, Ant. //s magenta underlined
2502 haire] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “The quartos and 1st and 2d folios have “haire,” and are followed by most of the modern eds. The Camb. and W. give “hairs.” Sh. uses the plural very often in this way. Cf. MV [3.2.83-87 (1429-34)], JC [2.1.144 (776)], Ant. [2.7.116 (1469)], etc.”
rlf1: Nares (Err., LLL, WT, //s ), cln1 (MV //) + magenta underlined
2502 excrements] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Excrescences, outgrowths (as if from excrescere, like increment from increscere). Cf. Err. [2.2.77-78 (471-72)], LLL [5.1.100-104 (1834-38)], MV [3.2.83-87 (1429-34)], and WT [4.4.713 (2596)]. See Mer. p. 149. Sh. uses the word only once in its modern sense (Tim. [4.3.442 (2092)]).”
1889 Barnett
Barnett
2502 bedded] Barnett (1889, p. 52): “means flat.”
Barnett: standard WT, MV //s
2502 excrements] Barnett (1889, p. 52): “that which grows out of, as the hair, and nails, and feathers. In WT [4.4.713 (2596)], Autolycus says, as he takes off his false beard—’Let me pocket . . . excrement.’ Cf. MV. [3.2.83-87 (1429-34)].”
1890 irv2
irv2
2502 bedded] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “matted.”
irv2: cln1 (incl. Bacon analogue), theo1 (LLL //); glo (WT //) + magenta underlined
2502 excrements] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “In five out of the six instances of this word in Sh., excrement is used for hair—a meaning commonly (and, in strict etymology, correctly) given to it at the time, as in the passage quoted by the Clarendon Press edd. from Bacon, Natural History, cent. 1, sect. 58: ‘Living creatures put forth (after their period of growth) nothing that is young but hair and nails, which are excrements and no parts.’ See lll [5.1.100-104 (1834-38)] note 159, and wt [4.4.713 (2596)], note 205.”
1891 dtn
dtn
2502 excrements] Deighton (ed. 1891): “anything that grows out from the body, such as hair, nails; from Lat. excrescere, to grow out.”
1899 ard1
ard1 ≈ cln1 (MV //), rowe
2502 excrements] Dowden (ed. 1899): “outgrowths; used especially of hair, nails, feathers; used for the beard in MV [3.2.83-87 (1429-34)]. Rowe read hairs, and is followed by several editors.”
1900 ev1
ev1 ≈ del2
2502 bedded] Herford (ed. 1900): “The adjective is suggested by the image of the recumbent soldiers.”
1906 nlsn
nlsn ≈ dtn (one term)
2502 excrements] Neilson (ed. 1906, glossary): “excrement] hair.”
1931 crg1
crg1 ≈ nlsn
2502 excrements] Craig (ed. 1931): “The hair was considered an excrement or voided part of the body.”
1934 Wilson
Wilson
2502 haire] Wilson (1934, rpt. 1963, 2:300): <2:300> “it is clear that ‘hairs’ should have been written for ‘hair,’ more especially as ‘soldiers’ [3.4.120 (2501)] and ‘excrements’ [3.4.121 (2502)] belong to the context.”
1934 rid1
rid1
2502 excrements] Ridley (ed. 1934): “outgrowths (i.e. as though the outgrowths had life of their own).”
1934 cam3
cam3: MSH
2502 haire] Wilson (ed. 1934): “(Rowe) Q2, F1 ‘haire.’ MSH. p. 300.”
1935 ev2
ev2
2502-03 Your . . . an end] Boas (ed. 1935): “Your hair which was smoothed down starts up as though imbued with life.”
1937 pen1
pen1 ≈ dtn minus Lat. etym.
2502 excrements] Harrison (ed. 1937): “that which grows out of the body, hair and nails.”
1939 kit2
kit2: xref.
2502 bedded haire] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “hairs] ‘thy knotted and combined locks’ [1.5.18 (703)).”
kit2 ≈ wh1
2502 excrements] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “in the literal sense of ‘outgrowths.’ The hair and nails, being not exactly a part of the body but rather something growing out of it, were often so called.”
1942 n&h
2502 bedded] Neilson & Hill (ed. 1942): “lying flat.”
n&h ≈ nlsn
2502 excrements] Neilson & Hill (ed. 1942): “growths, i.e. hair.”
1947 cln2
cln2 ≈ n&h
2502 bedded ] Rylands (ed. 1947): “supine, flat.”
1947 yal2
yal2 ≈ n&h
2502 bedded] Cross & Brooke (ed. 1947): “smooth, flatly brushed.”
yal2 ≈ n&h
2502 haire] Cross & Brooke (ed. 1947): “hairs.”
yal2
2502 life in excrements] Cross & Brooke (ed. 1947): “dead tissue come alive.”
1957 pel1
pel1 = rid1 (def. only)
1974 evns1
evns1 ≈ pen1
2502 excrements] Evans (ed. 1974): “outgrowths; here, hair (also used of nails).”
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ n&h
2502 bedded] Spencer (ed. 1980): “normally lying flat (like soldiers on their beds).”
pen2
2502 haire] Spencer (ed. 1980): “This is sometimes emended to ‘hairs’, but the plural forms Start and stand may be influenced by excrements.”
pen2 ≈ ev1
2502 excrements] Spencer (ed. 1980): “outgrowths (hair grows out of the body, but has no independent life).”
1982 ard2
ard2: Bacon analogue
2502 excrements] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “outgrowths (L. ex + cresco). Bacon describes ‘hair and nails’ as ‘excrements and no parts’ (Sylva Sylvarum, i.58). That they do not belong to the living organism was held to be evidenced by their lack of sensation. Hence the preternatural effect of the ‘life’ manifest here.”
1988 bev2
bev2 ≈ yal2
2502 bedded] Bevington (ed. 1988): “laid in smooth layers.”
bev2
2502 like life in excrements] Bevington (ed. 1988): “i.e., as though hair, an outgrowth of the body, had a life of its own. (Hair was thought to be lifeless because it lacked sensation, and so its standing on end would be unnatural and ominous).”
1998 OED
OED
2502 excrements] OED (Sept. 14, 1998): “excrement 2. Obs. [ad. L. excrement-um, f. excre-, excrescere, f. ex- out + crescere to grow.]1. That which grows out or forth; an outgrowth; said esp. of hair, nails, feathers.
“1588 SHAKS. L.L.L. V. i. 109 It will please his Grace..to dallie with my excrement, with my mustachio. 1609 C. BUTLER Fem. Mon. i. (1623) Cj, Men, beasts and fowles..haue outwardly some offensive excrement, as haire, or feathers. 1615 W. HULL Mirr. Maj. A iv a, Siluer and gold, the white and yellow excrements of the earth? 1688 R. HOLME Armoury II. 85/2 Agarick, an Excrement or hard Mushroom, growing out of the sides of old Trees. 1705 BOSMAN Guinea xiv. 236 That Excrement in the Negroes being more like Wool than hair.”
1998 ShSu
Walsh
2502 Walsh (1998, p. 137): “The explanation of obscurities by reference to equivalent but clearer parallels had of course been a fundamental validating principle in classical editing. . . and of parallels from Macbeth, Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Merchant of Venice to demonstrate Shakespeare’s familiarity with the psychological understanding that lies behind Gertrude’s description of Hamlet’s hair standing ’like life in excrements’ (Hamlet, 3.4.112 [sic], [TLN 2502, III.iv.121]”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: Hibbard
2502 bedded hair] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “rooted hairs (regarded as plural). Hibbard glosses bedded as ’lying flat’.”
ard3q2: CE, LLL, WT //; Theobald, Hughes
2502 like. . . excrements] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “as if an excrement or outgrowth of the body like hair could have a life of its own. This phrase was marked for cutting in the quartos from 1676; Theobald noted that Hughes omitted it in his 1723 text ’either because he could make Nothing of it, or thought it alluded to an Image too nauseous’, indicating that excrementt had taken on a narrower meaning by then. Of Shakespeare’s six uses of the word, four are in relation to hair (see CE 2.2.77, LLL 5.1.96, WT 4.4.716).”
2502