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Line 2577+6 - Commentary Note (CN) More Information

Notes for lines 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary
For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.
2577+6 {Hoist with his owne petar, an’t shall goe hard}3.4.208
1723- mtby2
mtby2
2577+6 an’t] and’t mtby2 conj.
BWK notes: “and’t is marked L [strong conj.]. Theobald does use this emendation, and mtby3 has no comment.”
1744 han1
han1
2577+6 petar] Hanmer (ed. 1744: glossary, petar): “A PETAR (Vol. 6. 395) a kind of little Cannon filled with powder, and used for breaking down the gates of a town, and for countermining. Fr. Petard.”
1745 han2
han2 = han1
1773 mstv1
mstv1
2577+6 petar] Steevens (ms. notes in Steevens, ed. 1773): “an engine of metal, almost in the shape of a hat, and about seven inches deep, which when charged with powder, is applied to gates and barriers, in order to blow them up. The meaning then of the phrase is, ‘’tis sport to have the engineer hoist, or be blown up into the air, with his own engine.”
1774 capn
capn
2577+6 petar] Capell (1774, 1:1: glossary, petar or petard): “(H. 88, 4.) a Kind of little Cannon; fill’d with Powder, and us’d for breaking down the Gates of a Town, or for counter-mining. Fre.
1778 v1778
v1778 = john1 +
2577+6 Hoist] Steevens (ed. 1778): “Hoist for hoised; as past for passed. Steevens.”
Note added in ed. 1773, expressing regret at not being able to cut the text, is omitted. Also, note on omission is corrected (from ten>nine).
1784 ays1
ays1 = v1778 minus john
2577+6 Hoist] Ayscouth (ed. 1784): “Hoist for hoised; as past for passed.”
1791- rann
rann
2577+6 Hoist . . . petar] Rann (ed. 1791-): “Tossed into the air, blown up by his own cannon.”
1819 cald1
cald1
2577+6 Hoist . . . petar] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “i.e. mount. Hoist is used as a verb neuter. Petard, Fr. is an engine to blow up gates, &c.”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813 +
2577+6 petar] Boswell (ed. 1821): “In Fletcher’s Fair Maid of the Inn, we have a similar image: ‘—’Twas he Gave heat unto the injury, which returned Like a petar ill-lighted into th’ ’bosom Of him gave fire to’t.’ Boswell.”
1826 sing1
sing1
2577+6 Hoist . . . petar] Singer (ed. 1826): “Hoist for hoised. To hoyse was the old verb. A petar was a kind of mortar used to blow up gates.”
No attributions are provided, though gloss is traceable to v1778 and han1, respectively.
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1 +
2577+6 Hoist . . . petar] Caldecott (ed. 1832): “Vehiculum Spiritûs Sancti, that was the Petard, that broke open thy iron gate.’ Dr. Donne’s Sermon before the Company of the Virginian Plantation. 4to. 1622. p. 24.”
1841 knt1 (nd)
knt1
2577+6 Hoist . . . petar] Knight (ed. [1839] nd): “blown up with his own engine.”
1847 verp
verp: standard
2577+6 Hoist . . . petar] Verplanck (ed. 1847): “A petard was a small mortar, used to blow up gates. The engineer is hoysed, thrown up, with his own engine.”
1854 del2
del2
2577+6 hoist] Delius (ed. 1854): “hoist ist Particip von dem veralteten to hoise = in die Luft bringen, auffliegen lassen; in ähnlichem Sinne steht gleich nachher blow.” [hoist is the past participle of the archaic to hoise meaning to bring into the air or to make fly; in a similar sense blow stands immediately after this.]
1857 fieb
fieb
2577+6 Hoist. . . petar] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “Hoist, for hoised. To hoise or to hoist, means, to raise up on high: blown up with his own bomb.”
1861 wh1
wh1: Woodstock analogue
2577+6 Hoist . . . petar] White (ed. 1861): “A petar, or petard, was an engine charged with powder, used to blow in the gates of forts and castles; as no reader of the scene in Woodstock, where Cromwell uses one to force the stout doors which stand between him and Sir Henry Lee, can ever forget.”
1865 hal
hal: v1821 (attribution to Boswell but not to Steevens for definition)
2577+6 petar] Boswell (apud Halliwell in ed. 1865): Hoist, for hoised; as past, for passed. In Fletcher’s Fair Maid of the Inn, we have a similar image: ‘—’Twas he Gave heat unto the injury, which returned Like a petar ill-lighted into th’ ’bosom Of him gave fire to’t.’— Boswell.”
hal includes Steevens’ def from v1778, included in v1821, before appending Boswell‘s addendum.
1869 tsch
tsch ≈ del2 (grammar only)
2577+6 Hoist] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “heist, Part. Perf. von to hoise.” [heist, past participle of to hoise.]
1869 Romdahl
Romdahl ≈fieb + magenta underlined
2577+6 Hoist] Romdahl (1869, p. 36): “for hoised, participle of an old verb to hoise, which is now written to hoist=to raise. It is cognate to the Germ. hissen; concerning this rather uncommon change of the vowel, compare for example, foist, Ger. fiesten, fisten; boil (a swelling sore), A.S. bile.”
Romdahl
2577+6 petar] Romdahl (1869, p. 36): “petard; nowhere else in Sh.”
1870 Abbott
Abbott
2577+6 Hoist] Abbott (1870, §342):“Some verbs ending in –te, -t, and –d, on account of their already resembling participles in their terminations, do not [take d or ed in past constructions]. The same rule, naturally dictated by euphony is found in E.E. ‘If the root of a verb end in –d or –t doubled or preceded by another consonant, the –de or –te of the past tense, and –d or –t of the past participle, are omitted.’ Thus –Hoist. – ‘For ‘tis the sport to have the enginer Hoist with his own petard.”
1872 hud2
hud2 = hud1 for Hoist . . . petar
hud2
2577+6 an’t . . . hard] Hudson (ed. 1872): “It shall go hard means, I will try hard. See page 134, note 8.”
1872 del4
del4 = del2
1872 cln1
cln1:
2577+6 Hoist] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “may be the participle either of the verb ‘hoise’ or ‘hoist.’ In the latter case it would be the common abbreviated form for the participles of verbs ending in a dental.”
cln1: Cotgrave
2577+6 petar] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “So spelt in the quartos and by all editors to Johnson, who writes ‘petard.’ In Cotgrave we have: ‘Petart: A petard, or Petarre; an Engine (made like a Bell, or Morter) wherewith strong gates are burst open.’”
1877 v1877
v1877 ≈ Dyce (Gloss.), cln1
2577+6 Hoist] Furness (ed. 1877): “Dyce (Gloss.): For hoised or hoisted (not as Caldecott explains it: i.e. mount. Hoist is used as a verb neuter’). Clarendon: If it is the participle of the verb hoist, it is the common abbreviated form for the participles of verbs ending in a dental. [See [1.2.20 (198)].“
v1877 ≈ cln1
2577+6 petar] Furness (ed. 1877): “Clarendon: Cotgrave gives: ‘Petart: A Petard, or Petarre; an Engine (made like a Bell, or Morter) wherewith strong gates are burst open.”
1878 rlf1
rlf1: Schmidt, Abbott; 2H6, R3, Son., Ant. //s
2577+6 Hoist] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Schmidt makes this the participle of hoise, which occurs in 2H6 [1.1.169 (176)]: ‘We’ll quickly hoise Duke Humphrey from his seat;’ and in R3 [4.4.527 (3334)]: ‘Hoised sail.’ S. also uses the verb hoist; as in Son. 177.7: “I have hoisted sail;” Ant. [3.10.15 (1994)]: “Hoists sails,” etc. Cf. Abbott 342.”
rlf1 ≈ cln1 (for Cotgrave)
2577+6 petar] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “The same as petard. Wr. quotes Cotgrave, Fr. Dict.: ‘Petart: A Petard, or Petarre; an Engine (made like a Bell, or Morter) wherewith strong gates are burst open.’”
rlf1: MV, 1H4 //s
2577+6 ’t shall goe hard] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Cf. MV [3.1.72 (1282)], 2H4 [3.2.329 (1855)], etc.”
1881 hud3
hud3 ≈ hud2 + magenta underlined
2577+6 Hoist] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Hoist for hoisted, as in note 33.”
hud3 ≈ hud2 + magenta underlined
2577+6 petar] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Petar, now spelt petard, is a kind of mortar used for blowing open gates and doors.”
hud3
2577+6 an’t . . . hard] Hudson (ed. 1881): “It shall go hard,’ &c. means, ‘It must be a hard undertaking indeed, if I do not effect it.’”
1882 elze2
elze2: Dekker analogue
2577+6 Hoist . . . petar] Elze (ed. 1882): “Compare Dekker’s Honest Whore, Part I, 5.2, (Middleton, ed. Dyce, III, 103): —’Then all our plots Are turn’d upon our heads, and we’re blown up With our own underminings.
1885 macd
macd
2577+6 Hoist] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Hoised, from verb hoise—still used in Scotland.”
macd
2577+6 petar] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “a kind of explosive shell, which was fixed to the object meant to be destroyed. Note once more Hamlet’s delight in action.”
1889 Barnett
Barnett
2577+6 petar] Barnett (1889, p. 53): “a petard. Cotgrave spells it both petard and petarre. Lat. peditum, a breaking wind, a slight explosion. The suffix is Ger. art.”
1890 irv2
irv2 ≈ Cotgrave; Elze (for Dekker anal.);
2577+6 petar] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “petard.”
2577+6 petar] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “Petar was formerly an alternative spelling of petard. Cotgrave has: ‘Petart: m. A Petard, or Petarre; an engine (made like a Bell, or mortar) wherewith strong gates are burst open.’ Elze compares Dekker, The Honest Whore, Part I. 5.2: ‘Then all our plots Are turn’d upon our heads, and we’re blown up With our own underminings.’—Works, vol. ii. p. 75.”
1891 dtn
dtn
2577+6 Hoist] Deighton (ed. 1891): “probably the past participle of the old verb to hoise, or perhaps an instance of the omission of the participial termination.”
dtn: standard
2577+6 petar] Deighton (ed. 1891): “a war engine filled with explosive materials.”
dtn
2577+6-2577+8 an’t shall . . . Moone] Deighton (ed. 1891): “and it will be strange if I do not manage to drive my mine beneath theirs and blow them high into the air.”
dtn
2577+6 shall go hard] Deighton (ed. 1891): “i.e. the difficulty must be a great one if I do not manage to overcome it.”
1899 ard1
ard1
2577+6 Hoist] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Shakespeare has both the forms hoise and hoist, to either of which forms of the verb this may belong.”
ard1 ≈ cln1 (Cotgrave)
2577+6 petar] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Clar. Press quotes Cotgave: ‘Petart: a Petard or Petarrel an Engine . . . wherewith strong gates are burst open.”
1903 p&c
p&c
2577+6 Porter & clarke (ed. 1903): “Hamlet’s intention to devise some counter-plot is certainly indicated here, and the rudiments of some design to show that his capture by pirates, later, is not altogether accidental seem almost to appear. In the ‘Hystorie’ this counter-plot, to be made us of on his return, is too elaborate for stage presentation, and a new one had to be invented. The only parts of the ‘Hystorie’ counter-plot that are used in the play are the stealing of the commission to kill him and forging a substitute to kill the spies instead, and the change of rapiers (see quotations, Sources, p. 158). The pirates are the new invention. But the new invention is merely outlines; it is not worked out.”
1903 rlf3
rlf3 = rlf1 minus Abbott for hoist (2577+6)
1904 ver
ver: v1877 + magenta underlined
2577+6 petar] Verity (ed. 1904): “commonly petard; a mortar filled with explosives, used for blowing up obstacles such as the walls and gates of a besieged city. F. petard, from peter, ‘to explode, burst,’ the suffix –ard being intensive. Florio uses the word as a verb; cf. his Montaigne, I. 56: “if he [a soldier] but goe to besiege a cottage, to seale a castle, to pettard a gate” etc.”
1905 rltr
rltr: standard
2577+6 petar] Chambers (ed. 1905): “petard, bomb.”
1929 trav
trav: standard + magenta underlined
2577+6 petar] Travers (ed. 1929): “an engine, made like a bell or mortar, and filled with explosives, used especially for blowing up gates. This was the sense of the French word also; and, according to Agrippina d’Aubigne, actively interested in matters of this kind, ‘ces petards qui ont fait tant parler d’eux’ had come into frequent use only since the last decade of the sixteenth century.”
1931 crg1
crg1
2577+6 Hoist] Craig (ed. 1931): “blown up.”
crg1
2577+6 petar] Craig (ed. 1931): “defined as a small engine of war used to blow in a door or make a breach, and as a case filled with explosive materials.”
1934 rid
rid
2577+6 petar] Ridley (ed. 1934): “mortar (explosive).”
1937 pen1
pen1
2577+6 petar] Harrison (ed. 1937): “a land mine for breaching walls and gates. Elizabethan military engineers were familiar with trench warfare which had been much used in the wars in France in 1591-1594.”
1939 kit2
kit2 ≈ crg1
2577+6 Hoist] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “hoisted, blown up.”
1942 n&h
n&h ≈ rltr
2577+6 petar] Neilson & Hill (ed. 1942): “bomb.”
1957 pel1
pel1=crg1 for Hoist
pel1 ≈ n&h
2577+6 petar] Farnham (ed. 1957): “petard, bomb or mine.”
1974 evns1
evns1 ≈ pel1
2577+6 Hoist with] Evans (ed. 1974): “blown up by.”
evns1 ≈ pel1
2577+6 petar] Evans (ed. 1974): “petard, bomb.”
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ evns1 for Hoist and petar
pen2
2577+6 ‘t shall goe . . . delue] Spencer (ed. 1980): “it will be unlucky if I don’t succeed in delving.”
1982 ard2
ard2: OED (for Drayton analogue), Jonson analogue; xrefs.
2577+6 Hoist . . . petar] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “’Blown into the air by his own bomb’ (OED hose 2b). Hoist is the past pple. of hoise, from which hoist as a present form apparently arose through confusion. The ‘engine’ called (from Fr.) a petard was an explosive device, recently invented, for braking through gates, walls, etc. Most eds. retain the Q2 form petar, no doubt a pointer to pronunciation (and OED shows Drayton rhyming it with far), but it seems proper in a modernized text to adopt the more regular spelling. Jonson (Epicoene, iv.v.222) has petarde. The phrase sums up the ironic pattern to be fulfilled in the catastrophe. Cf. [5.2.56-9 (3559-62); 5.2.306-7 (3783-5); .2.317-8 (3798-9); 5.2.327-8 (3811-2); 5.2.327-8 (3811-2)].”
1984 chal
chal ≈ kit2
2577+6 Hoist] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “blown into the air.”
chal = n&h + megenta underlined
2577+6 petar] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “a bomb fired by fuse.”
1987 oxf4
oxf4: Dent, Tilley
2577+6 Hoist . . . petar] Hibbard (ed. 1987, Appendix): “This phrase, which has itself become proverbial (Dent P243.1) is an ingenious variation on two older expressions: ‘The fowler is caught in his own net’ and ‘To beat one at his own weapon’ (Tilley F626 and W204).”
1988 bev2
bev2 = evns1 for Hoist
bev2
2577+6 petar] Bevington (ed. 1988): “an explosive used to blow in a door or make a breach.”
bev2
2577+6 an’t shall . . . will] Bevington (ed. 1988): “unless luck is against me, I will.”
1997 evns2
evns2 = evns1
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: Jenkins, Drayton, OED
2577+6 Hoist. . . petard] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “blown up by his own bomb. Jenkins adopts ’petard’, though he notes that OED shows Drayton rhyming it with ’far’. He does not comment on the internal rhyme with hard created by ’petard’.”

ard3q2
2577+6-7 and’t. . . will] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “and it will be hard luck if I do not.”
2577+6