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Line 2612 - 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. Click here for more information about browsing the entries and here for more information about the special symbols used in Hamletworks. Click the question mark icon above to remove this help message.

Notes for lines 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary

For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.

2612 Ore whom, his very madnes like some ore	4.1.25

1747-53 mtby4

mtby4

2612 some] Thirlby (1747-53): “fsql fine.”

1765 john1/john2

john1

2612 like some ore] Johnson (ed. 1765): “Shakespeare seems to think ore to be Or, that is, gold. Base metals have ore no less than precious.”

1773 v1773

v1773 = john1

1773- mstv1

mstv1

2612 ore] Steevens (ms. notes in Steevens, ed. 1773): “Ore is metal unrefined, yet in its mineral state.”

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778

1784 ays1

ays1 = john

2612 ore] Ayscouth (ed. 1784): “Shakespeare seems to think ore to be or, that is, gold. Base metals have ore, no less than precious.”

1785 Mason

Mason: contra john

2612 ore] Mason (1785, p.391): “Johnson suspects that Shakespeare mistook ore for or, that is gold; but he uses the general word ore to express gold, because it was the most excellent of ores.”

1790 mal

mal = v1785 +

2612 ore] Malone (ed. 1790): “He has perhaps used ore in the same sense in his Luc.: ‘When beauty boasted blushes, in despite Virtue would stain that ore with silver white.’ See Vol. X. p. 90, n.6.”

1791- rann

rann

2612 some ore] Rann (ed. 1791-): “more precious vein, interspersed with baser metal in a mine.”

1793 v1793

v1793 = mal minus Luc. //+

2612 ore] Mason (apud ed. 1793): “Shakspeare uses the general word ore to express gold, because it was the most excellent of ores.—I suppose we should read, “of metal base,” instead of metals, which much improves the construction of the passage. M. Mason.”

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

1805 Seymour

Seymour: contra Mason

2612-3 like . . . base] Seymour (1805, p. 192): “Dr. Johnson appears to be mistaken here: some precious ore is clearly meant, in contradistinction to common ores. Mr. M. Mason proposes ‘metal,’ instead of ‘metals;’ but he seems to forget that the preposition ‘among’ requires, indispensibly, for its object, plurality. The poet, indeed, talks of a mineral, but the sense implied is, the metals abounding in that mineral.”

1807 Pye

Pye = john1, v1793 +

2612 ore] Pye (1807, p. 322): “As if there was any doubt that by ore Shakspear could mean any thing except gold, adding the final e to give the proper sound to the word when anglicised, as most of the colors of heraldry are, as well as the other metal, argent.”

1808 Weston

Weston

2612-3 like . . . base] Weston (1808, p. 18): “That is, some ore of lead in a mine amidst blende, shews itself pure. Blende is the mock ore, galæna inanis Agricola, wiht good lead ore, See Georgium Agricolam de re metallica, 1561, fol. When miners find blende, or pseudo galene, they know they are not far from true lead. See Sciagr. T. II. p. 236. Blende lies over the veins of lead ore. Agricol. lib. XII. Basil. 1657.”

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

1819 cald1

cald1 = v1813

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

1826 sing1

sing: Bullokar, Blount

2612 ore] Singer (ed. 1826): “Shakspeare, with a license not unusual among his contemporaries, uses ore for gold, and mineral for mine. Bullokar and Blount both define ‘or or ore, gold; of a golden colour.’”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

1854 del2

del2

2612-3 ore . . . mettals base] Delius (ed. 1854): “ore, im Gegensatz zu dem base metals, muss = edles Metall sein. Wenn dieser Gebrauch Sh. eigenthümlich ist, so kommt dagegen mineral im Sinne von "Mine" auch bei andern Schriftstellern vor.” [ore in contrast to base metals must be noble metal. This usage of ore may be peculiar to Shakespeare, but mineral in the sense of mine appears in the works of other writers also.]

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1 = sing1

2612 ore] Hudson (ed. 1851-6): “Shakespeare, with a license not unusual among his contemporaries, uses or for gold, and mineral for mine. Bullokar and Blount both define ‘or or ore, gold; of a golden colour.’ And the Cambridge Dictionary, 1594, under the Latin word mineralia, will show how the English mineral came to be used for a mine. Thus also in The Golden Remaines of Hales of Eton, 1693: ‘Controversies of the times, like spirits in the minerals, and with all their labour nothing is done.’”

1856b sing2

sing2 = sing1

1857 fieb

fieb ≈ hud1 minus Bullokar and Blount

2612 ore] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “Shakespeare seems to think ore to be or, that is gold; or he uses the general word ore (that is, metal unrefined, metal yet in its mineral state,) to express gold, because it was the most excellent of ores.”

1860 stau

stau

2612 ore] Staunton (ed. 1860): “‘Ore’ is here used for gold, the most precious of ores.”

1861 wh1

wh1: xref.

2612 ore] Staunton (ed. 1860): “See [4.1.25 (2612)].”

1872 del4

del4 = del2

1872 hud2

hud2 ≈ hud1 minus “thus . . . done.” for ore . . . metals

1872 cln1

cln1: Cotgrave

2612 ore] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “In the English-French Dictionary appended to Cotgrave ‘ore’ is confined to gold. In this passage the context shows that it is used of precious metals.”

1877 v1877

v1877 = Walker

2612 some] Furness (ed. 1877): “fine] Walker (ii, 299): “Read fine [for some of QqFf]; the courruption would perhaps be still easier if ‘some’ was written in the MS ut sape: ∫om.”

v1877 = john minus “Base . . . precious.”; cln1

2612 ore] Furness (ed. 1877): “Johnson: Sh. seems to think ‘ore’ to be or, that is, gold. Clarendon: In the English-French Dict. appended to Cotgrave ‘ore’ is confined to gold.”

1877 neil

neil = sing1 minus Bullokar, Blount

1878 rlf1

rlf1 ≈ cln1 minus “In this context . . . metals.” + magenta underlined

2612 ore] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Apparently used by S. only of gold. Cf. AWW [3.6.7 (1769)]: ‘this counterfeit lump of ore.’ In Luc. 56, some eds. read ‘ore,’ but ‘o’er’ is better. In the English-French appendix to Cotgrave’s Dict. ore is confined to gold (Wr.).”

1881 hud3

hud2: Walker conj.; v1877

2612 some] Hudson (ed. 1881): “fine] So Walker. The old text has some instead of fine. As some would naturally be written with the long s, such a misprint might easily occur. Furness prints fine.”

1882 elze2

elze2: Walker conj.

2612 some ore] Elze (ed. 1882): “fine ore, Walker conj. Ore is used in the sense of gold.”

1883 wh2

wh2

2612-3 ore . . . mettals] White (ed. 1883): “gold among ore of inferior metals.”

1885 macd

macd

2612 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “‘he, although mad’; ‘his nature, in spite of madness.’”

1885 mull

mull

2612-4 Mull (ed. 1885): “The punctuation of this speech in all the editions is as follows: ‘O’er whom his very madness, like some ore Among a mineral of metals base, Shows itself pure; he weeps for what is done.’ But I understand the Queen to say, ‘O’er whom he weeps for what is done,’ and so I point it. Also by intimately connecting ‘madness’ with its illustration, I restore the integrity of the interposed or parenthetical sentences, as I read it [‘—his very madness like some ore Among a mineral of metals base Shows itself pure—’].”

1889 Barnett

Barnett

2612 ore] Barnett (1889, p. 53): “one of the native metals, and thus one of the precious metals. The A.S. or is another form of ar, brass.”

1890 irv2

irv2: standard

2612 ore] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “probably gold.”

irv2 ≈ cln1 (Cotgrave def. for ore; Minsheu def. and Hall anal., see [4.1.26 (2613)], for mineral)

2612-3 ore . . . mettals] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “In the English-French Dictionary annexed to Cotgrave ore is used only of gold: ‘Oare of gold, Balluque.’ Minsheu defines mineral as ‘anything that grows in mines, and contains metals.’ In Hall’s Satires, vi. 148, it is used for a mine (‘fired brimstone in a mineral’). Here it means apparently a metalic vein or lode.”

1891 dtn

dtn

2612-4 Ore whom . . . done] Deighton (ed. 1891): “over which he shed tears of repentance, his very madness showing in this a touch of soundness, like a vein of pure ore in the midst of base metal.”

dtn: standard

2612 ore] Deighton (ed. 1891): “probably used for the finest of ores, gold.”

dtn: v1793 (for Hall anal.), stau

2613 minerall] Deighton (ed. 1891): “for mineral, = mine, Steevens compares Hall’s Satires, ‘Shall it not be a wild-fig in a wall, Or fired brimstone in a minerall?’ Staunton takes the word for metallic vein, lode.”

1899 ard1

ard1: Schmidt, cln1, Walker

2612 ore] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Schmidt gives no meaning for ore in Shakespeare except ‘a vein of gold.’ Clar. Press: ‘in the English-French Dictionary appended to Cotgrave ore is confined to gold.’ Walker proposed and Furness reads ‘like fine ore.”

1903 rlf3

rlf3 ≈ rlf1 minus cln1, Luc. //

1934 rid

rid: standard

2612 ore] Ridley (ed. 1934): “precious metal.”

1934 cam3

cam3

2612-13 some ore . . . base] Wilson (ed. 1934): “a vein of gold in a mine of base metal. v. G. ‘ore.’”

1934 cam3 Glossary

cam3 ≈ john; Cotgrave

2612 ore] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “gold. By confusion with ‘Or’ the heraldic name for gold (Dr Johnson; Cotgrave glosses ‘ore’ as ‘gold’).”

1939 kit2

kit2 ≈ stau

2612 ore] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “precious metal (especially gold).”

1942 n&h

n&h = Schmidt

2612 ore] Neilson & Hill (ed. 1942): “vein of gold.”

1947 cln2

cln2:

2612 ore] Rylands (ed. 1947): “gold (as heraldic or).”

1957 pel1

pel1 = n&h

1974 evns1

evns1 = pel1

1980 pen2

pen2

2612 Ore . . . madnes] Spencer (ed. 1980): “over which his madness itself.”

pen2 = evns1 for ore

1982 ard2

ard2 ≈ john conj. without attribution

2612 ore] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Often used by the Elizabethans for precious metal, and specifically for gold, perhaps through confusion with Fr. and heraldic or.”

ard2: Walker, v1877

2612 some] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Walker’s conjecture (Critical Exam., ii.299) fine for some, adopted by Furness, is very plausible.”

1988 bev2

bev2 = evns1

1993 dent

dent: xref.

2612 Ore] Andrews (ed. 1993): “Either (a) a piece of pure metal (usually referring to gold), or (b) a vein of a particular metal in a mine. This word plays on O’er (at the beginning of the line), and it recalls [1.1.96 (113)].”

1997 evns2

evns2 = evns1

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2

2612-14 O’er. . . pure] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “The gist seems to be that even in his madness Hamlet shows evidence of his pure strain of superiority.”

ard3q2: Johnson

2612 ore] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “deposit or vein of [precious] metal. ’Shakespeare seems to think ore to be Or, that is, gold. Base metals have ore [deposits or veins] no less than precious’ (Johnson).”