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.

1819 cald1

cald1

2840 impitious] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Swallows up, engulphs not the low lands with more unpitying fury. One of the quartos reads inpitious; another, as does the folio of 1632, reads impetuous.”

1841 knt1 (nd)

knt1

2840 impitious] Knight (ed. [1839] nd): “unpitying.”

1857 fieb

fieb

2840 Eates not the flats] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “Flat means a level, an even low ground exposed to inundations.—To eat, to devour, to swallow up.”

1866a dyce2

dyce2: contra Williams

2840 Eates not the flats] Dyce (ed. 1866): “The late Mr. W. W. Williams (under the signature W.D.) in The Literary Gazette for March 15, 1862, p. 263, would read ‘Beats not the flats.’ But is not ‘Eats’ to be defended on classical authority? ‘—et ripas radentia flumina rodunt.’ Lucretius, v. 257. ‘Non rura, quæ Liris quieta Mordet aqua taciturnus amnis.’ Horace, Carm. I. xxxi. 7.”

1869 tsch

tsch: Hor. Carm.; dyce

2840 Eates] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Cf. Hor. Carm. I, XXXI. 7. - non rura, quae Liris quieta M o r d e t aqua taciturnus amnis. S. Dyce VII. p. 235.” [Cf. Hor. Carm. I, XXXI. 7. - non rura, quae Liris quieta Mordet aqua taciturnus amnis. See Dyce VII. p. 235.]

1877 v1877

2840 Eates] Furness (ed. 1877): “Dyce (ed. 2): W. W. Williams (under the signature W.D.) in The Literary Gazette for March 15, 1862, p. 263, would read Beats. But is not ‘Eats’ to be defended on classical authority? ‘—et ripas radentia flumina rodunt.’ Lucretius, v. 256. ‘Non rura, quæ Liris quieta Mordet aqua taciturnus amnis.’ Horace, Carm. i. xxxi. 7.”

1878 rlf1

rlf1: 2H4 //

2840 Eates . . . hast] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Cf. 2H4 [1.1.47 (101)]: ‘He seem’d in running to devour the way.’”

1885 macd

macd

2840 impitious] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “I do not know whether this word means pitiless, or stands for impetuous. Q2 has one t.”

1891 dtn

dtn: KJ //

2840 Eates . . . flats] Deighton (ed. 1891): “does not swallow up the level stretches of country; cp. KJ 5.6.39-40 [2597-98], ‘half my power this night Passing these flats are taken by the tide.’”

1903 rlf3

rlf3 = rlf1 for Eates . . . hast

1934 Wilson

Wilson

2840 impitious] Wilson (1934, rpt. 1963, 2:288): “spellings like . . . ‘impiteous’ should certainly not be modernized. This [word], though, a recognized archaic variant of ‘impetuous,’ was as the Oxford Dictionary notes generally associated in the minds of those who used it with ‘piteous,’ so that the lines [quotes 2839-40] lose something of their meaning in modern dress.”

1934 cam3

cam3: OED; MSH

2840 impitious] Wilson (ed. 1934): “Q2 ‘impitious,’ F1 ‘impittious.’ v. G. Most edd. follow F2 ‘impetuous.’ N.E.D. [OED] gives the two forms as doublets, but notes that the older one ‘suggests association with “piteous.”’ It seems best to retain Sh.’s sp. MSH. pp. 287-88.”

1934 cam3 Glossary

cam3

2840 impitious] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “pitiless, impetuous (v. note).”

1935 ev2

ev2

2040 flats] Boas (ed. 1935): “level country.”

1939 kit2

kit2

2840 the flats] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “the low country near the sea.”

1957 pel1

pel1 ≈ knt1

2840 impitious] Farnham (ed. 1957): “pitiless.”

1980 pen2

pen2

2840 Eates . . . flats] Spencer (ed. 1980): “Shakespeare is doubtless thinking of the advancing tide of such places as the Essex coast and the Thames estuary, where it moves a considerable distance in a short time.”

pen2 ≈ cam3

2840 impitious] Spencer (ed. 1980): “Probably this is another form of ‘impetuous’, influenced by the meaning of the word ‘piteous’. But perhaps Shakespeare uses it to mean ‘pitiless’.”

1982 ard2

ard2

2840 impitious] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “impetuous] violent, of great impetus. The Elizabethan spelling impit(t)ious adds something to the meaning; but the impiteous of some modern eds. emphasizes these secondary connotations at the expense of the primary meaning.”

1984 chal

chal

2840 impitious] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “variant spelling of ‘impetuous’.”

1985 cam4

cam4

2840 impitious] Edwards (ed. 1985): “Some think this is a form of ‘impetuous’ but it is more likely a Shakespearean coinage = ‘pitiless’.”

1988 bev2

bev2 ≈ kit2

2840 flats] Bevington (ed. 1988): “i.e., flatlands near shore.”

bev2

2840 impitious] Bevington (ed. 1988): “violent (also with the meaning of impiteous [impitious, Q2], pitiless).”

1993 dent

dent: xrefs.

2840 impitious] Andrews (ed. 1993): “Both (a) pitiless, and (b) impetuous. Compare [2.1.79, 91 (978, 991)], [3.4.128 (2509)].”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2

2840 Eats. . . flats] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “does not consume or overrun the flat or low-lying land.”

ard3q2: 991 xref; Edwards, Tronch-Perez

2840 impiteous] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “often emended to ’impetuous’ (from Q3), but Edwards retains it as a Shakespearean coinage meaning ’pitiless’. Tronch-Perez notes that ’piteous’ is spelt ’pittious’ in both Q2 and F texts at 2.1.91 [991].”