Line 2628+1 - 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
| 2628+1 {Whose whisper ore the worlds dyameter,} 2628+1 | 4.1.42 |
|---|
1774 capn
capn
2628+ 1 dyameter] Capell (1774, 1:1:141): “‘diameter’ (l.4) is us’d something licentiously, and ‘tis not easy to say what the poet intended by it; extent seems the likeliest.”
1791- rann
rann
2628+1 dyameter] RANN (ed. 1791-): “extent.”
1819 cald1
cald1
2628+1 Whose whisper] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “i.e. the rumour of our further intention, and of what has been unreasonably, or inconsiderately done.”
1857 dyce1
dyce1: theon (see 2628)
2628+1-2628+4 Whose whisper . . . ayre] Dyce (ed. 1857): “This passage (from ‘Whose whisper’ to ‘woundless air’ inclusive) is only in the quartos, 1604, &c., and imperfect at the commencement. To complete the sense, Theobald inserted ‘for haply, slander,’ which was afterwards slightly altered as above [so haply slander].”
1857 fieb
fieb: mal, theo (see 2628 for both citations); Cym. //
2628+1-2628+4 Whose . . . ayre] Fiebig (ed. 1857): so, haply, slander] “Neither the words, ‘so, haply, slander,” nor the following three lines and a half, says Malone, are in the folio. In the quarto, 1604, and all the subsequent quartos, the passage stands thus: “—And what’s untimely done,/Whose whisper o’er the world’s diameter,” etc. the composer having omitted the latter part of the first line, as in a former scene. Theobald supplied the lacuna by reading,—For haply slander, etc. So appears to suit the context better; for these lines are rather in apposition with those immediately preceding, than an illation from them. Malone reads—“So viperous slander.” – Shakespeare again expatiates on the diffusive power of slander, in Cym. [3.4.33-7 (1704-8)]: “—No, ‘tis slander;/Whose edge is shaper than the sword, whose tongue/Out –venoms all the worms of Nile, whose breath/Rides on the posting winds, and doth bely/All corners of the world.’”
1866a dyce2
dyce2 ≈ dyce1 + magenta underlined
2628+1-2628+4 Whose whisper . . . ayre] Dyce (ed. 1857): “This passage (from ‘Whose whisper’ to ‘woundless air’ inclusive) is only in the quartos, 1604, &c., and imperfect at the commencement. To complete the sense, Theobald inserted ‘for haply, slander,’ which was afterwards slightly altered by Capell as above [so haply slander,].”
1869 tsch
tsch: xref.
2628+1-2628+2 dyameter . . . leuell] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Die Anwendung von level stimmt zu 4.5.151. Der Ausdruck rechtfertigt die eigenthümliche Verwendung des Wortes diameter. Die Erde ist hier als eine durch den sichtbaren Horizont bestimmte Kreisfläche gedacht, so dass folgerichtig der Diameter ihre Ausdehnung nach allen Richtungen bezeichnet, die das Flüstern des Verdachts durchkreuzt.” [The use of level agrees with .[4.5.152 (2902)]. The expression justifies the strange use of the word diameter. The earth is here thought of as a circular surface defined by the visible horizon, so that in consequence the diameter marks its extent in all directions that the whispering of suspicion traverses.]
1870 rug1
rug1: theo
2628+1 Moberly (ed. 1870): so haply, slander] “These words have been well inserted by Theobald. The half line is accidentally omitted in the quarto editions.”
rug1
2628+1 the worlds dyameter] Moberly (ed. 1870): “That is, slander can pass in direct line from hence to the antipodes, without going round by the semi-circumference of the earth.”
1877 v1877
v1877 = rug
2628+1 dyameter]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Moberly: That is, ‘slander can pass in direct line from hence to the antipodes without going round by the semi-circumference of the earth.’”
1877 neil
neil ≈ mob for dyameter (2628+2)
1903 rlf3
rlf3 = rlf1 minus contra rug for ore . . . dyameter
1891 dtn
dtn
2628+1-2628+4 Whose whisper . . . ayre] Deighton (ed. 1891): “whose poisonous whisper flies from end to end of the world as unerringly and as fatally as the cannonball to its mark, may pass by us and only hit the air which feels no wound.”
1931 crg1
crg1
2628+1 dyameter] Craig (ed. 1931): “extent from side to side.”
1934 cam3
cam3: MSH
2628+1-2628+4 Whose whisper . . . ayre] Wilson (ed. 1934): “F1 omits. MSH. p. 30.”
1939 kit2
kit2
2628+1 ore . . . dymeter] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “across the whole breadth of the world.”
1947 yal2
yal2
2628+1 dyameter] Cross & Brooke (ed. 1947): “extent from side to side.”
1958 mun
mun: cam3 for MSH
2628+1-2628+4 Munro (ed. 1958): “F’s omission is doubtless due to the unusual construction in Q2. Of three possible explanations of the passage Dover Wilson’s third (MSH, 30) is that [4.1.41-44 (2628+1-2628+4)] were perhaps marked for deletion in the MS. but were so marked that the compositor understood that only one half of . [4.1.40 (2628)] was involved, so that he set up the rest. On the other hand, the line And what’s untimely done. O, come away! [4.1.40, 44 (2628, 2628+4)] reads perfectly and the remainder looks like an addition resulting in a not uncommon anacoluthon. So interpreted the passage means that the whispered rumour of what’s untimely done, usually as direct and deadly as the cannon shot, may miss our name, etc.”
1980 pen2
pen2
2628+1 the worlds dyameter] Spencer (ed. 1980): “the extent of the world from side to side.”
1982 ard2
ard2 ≈ pen1; OED
2628+1 dyameter] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “whole extent from end to end (OED 2g).”
1987 oxf4
oxf4: cap
2628+1-2628+4 Hibbard (ed. 1987, Appendix): “These lines peculiar to Q2 were evidently marked for exclusion. The hiatus with which they begin, a hiatus that leaves the sentence without a subject, is almost certainly due to a careless marking of the manuscript. The hook about the missing words, denoting the start of the cut, was read by the compositor as a deletion sign. Various conjectures have been made as to what the missing words should be. The time honoured stopgap is Capell’s ‘So, haply, slander’.”
1988 bev2
bev2
2628+1 dyameter] Bevington (ed. 1988): “extent from side to side.”
1993 dent
dent: xref.
2628+1 Andrews (ed. 1993): “Rumours of which (‘what’s untimely doone’). Modern editors tend to assume that a phrase is missing from the preceding line. Perhaps, but it seems equally likely that Shakespeare deliberately inserted a short (metrically ‘untimely’) line at this point to signal a brief pause after ‘doone’ for dramatic emphasis. The word doone provides a near rhyme for do in [4.3.41 (2702)] (a word it balances rhetorically).”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: Edwards, Hibbard, MacDonald
2628+1-4 Whose. . . air] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “not in F; Edwards and Hibbard agree these lines must have been marked for deletion; Edwards describes them as ’sententious’ and relates the ’cut’ to others in 1.1 and 1.4. MacDonald, however, defends the lines despite their obscurity, which he says results from ’over-condensation with its tendency to seeming confusion -- the only fault I know in the Poet. . . It is much as if, able to think two thoughts at once, he would compel his phrase to utter them at once.’”
ard3q2
2628+1 Whose whisper] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “Without emendation this must mean ’the rumour of which deed’ (i.e. the killing of Polonius).”
ard3q2
2628+1 o’er. . . diameter] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “throughout the world.”
2628+1