Line 2930-31 - 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
2930-1 Laer. A document in madnes, thoughts and {remembrance} <remem-| brance>fitted. 2930 | |
---|
1854 del2
del2
2930 document in madnes] Delius (ed. 1854): “document, = Lehre, Verschrift, steht im Gegensatz zu madness.” [“document” meaning doctrine or document stands in contrast to “madness.”]
1857 fieb
fieb: xref.
2930 document] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “A document, a precept which nobody might expect from a mad girl. Compare what Polonius says at hearing Hamlet reasoning in his madness, p. 68, 1 [2.2.205, 208 (1243-44, 48)]: ‘Though this be madness, yet there’s method in it,’ and ‘How pregnant sometimes his replies are!’”
1872 hud2
hud2: FQ analogue
2930 document in madnes] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Document, from the Latin docco, was often used in the original sense of lesson, or something taught. So in The Faerie Queene, i. 10, 19, where Fidelia takes the Redcross Knight under her tuition. “‘That of her heavenly learning he might taste, And heare the wisedom of her wordes divine’; And that her sacred Booke, with blood yritt, That none could reade except she did them teach, She unto him disclosed every whitt; And heavenly documents thereout did preach, That weaker wit of man could never reach. Of God, of Grace, of Justice, of Free-will; That wonder was toheare her goodly speech.’”
1872 cln1
cln1: Spenser analogue
2930 document] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “used apparently in its literal sense of precept, instruction. Cotgrave gives ‘Document; m. A document, precept; instruction, admonition; experiment, example.’ Compare Spenser, Fairy Queen, i. 10. 19, quoted in the Edinburgh Review for July 1869: ‘And heavenly documents thereout did preach.’”
1877 v1877
v1877: Edinburgh Rev., cln1 (FQ analogue, Cotgrave)
2930 document]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Edinburgh Review (
Shakespearian Glossaries, July, 1869): This word is here used in its earlier and etymological sense of instruction, lesson, teaching. This early signification is well illustrated in the
Fairy Queen [I, 10, 19—Clarendon], ‘her sacred booke . . . . She unto him disclosed every whit, And heavenly documents thereout did preach.’ The word was habitually used in this sense in Shakespeare’s day, but has now wholly lost its primitive signification and is restricted to its secondary sense of written precepts, instructions, and evidences.
Clarendon: Cotgrave gives ‘Document: m. A document, precept; instruction, admonition; experiment. example.”
1877 neil
neil ≈ cln1 (Spenser analogue) without attribution + magenta underlined
2930 document] Neil (ed. 1877): “from doceo, I teach; instruction, precepts carefully delivered. So Fidelia, at Una’s request, taught the Redcrosse Knight from her sacred book: ‘And heavenly documents thereout did preach’ – Spenser Fairie Queene, I, x, 19.”
1878 rlf1
rlf1: Spenser analogue
2930 document] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Lesson, precept; used by S. nowhere else. Cf. Spenser, FQ 1.10.19: “And heavenly documents thereout did preach.””
1881 hud3
hud3 = hud2 minus sections of Spenser analogue: “‘That of her . . . whitt” and “Of God . . . speech.” + magenta underlined,
2930 document in madnes] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Document, from the Latin docco, was often used in the original sense of lesson, or something taught. So in The Faerie Queene, i. 10, 19, where Fidelia takes the Redcross Knight under her tuition, and draws upon ‘her sacred booke,’ ‘And heavenly documents thereout did preach, That weaker witt of man could never reach.’”
1883 wh2
wh2
2930 document] White (ed. 1883): “precept, that which instructs: the radical sense.”
1885 macd
macd
2930 document] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “a teaching, a lesson—the fitting of thoughts and remembrance, namely—which he applies to his intent of revenge. Or may it not rather be meant that the putting of these two flowers together was a happy hit of her madness, presenting the fantastic emblem of a document or writing—the very idea of which is the keeping of thoughts in remembrance?”
1888 Morgan
Morgan
2930-1 thoughts . . . fitted ] Morgan (1888, p. 105): <p.105> “i.e., mingled all in one.” </p.105>
1889 Barnett
Barnett
2930 document in madnes] Barnett (1889, p. 57): “A sermon preached in madness.”
1890 irv2
irv2
2930 document] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “instruction.”
irv2 ≈ cln1 (Cotgrave)
2930 document] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “Cotgrave has ‘Document; m. A document, precept; instruction, admonition,; experiment, example.’ The meaning here is the etymological one of instruction (doceo). The word is not used by Shakespeare in any other place.”
1891 dtn
dtn: v1877 (Edinb. Rev.)
2930 document] Deighton (ed. 1891): “a writer in the Ed. Rev. for July 1869 shows that the word is her used ‘in its earlier and etymological sense of instruction, lesson, teaching.’”
dtn
2931 fitted] Deighton (ed. 1891): “each with its fitting emblem.”
1899 ard1
ard1: Spenser
2330 document] Dowden (ed. 1899): “a piece of instruction, lesson. So Spenser, Faerie Queene, I. x. 19: ‘And heavenly documents therout did preach.’”
1903 rlf3
rlf3 = rlf1 dour document (2930)
1906 nlsn
nlsn: standard
2330 document] Neilson (ed. 1906, glossary): “instruction.”
tut2
2930 document] Goggin (ed. 1913): “’precept, instruction,’ the literal meaning (Lat. docere, to teach).”
1931 crg1
crg1 = ard1 minus Spenser analogue
2930 document] Craig (ed. 1931): “piece of instruction or lesson.”
1934 rid1
rid1 ≈ crg1
2330 document] Ridley (ed. 1934): “lesson.”
1939 kit2
kit2
2930 Kittredge (ed. 1939): “A piece of instruction given to me in this mad talk! What the instruction is we learn from the next sentence: Thoughts and remembrance would indeed be fitting for me now.’”
1974 evns1
evns1 ≈ crg1
2930 A document in madnes] Evans (ed. 1974): “a lesson contained in mad talk.”
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ evns1
2930 A document in madnes] Spencer (ed. 1980): “something from which one can gain instruction in the study of madness.”
pen2
2930 thoughts and remembrance] Spencer (ed. 1980): “By thoughts Laertes probably means ‘melancholy thoughts’: ‘she appropriately brings together melancholy and memories (of happier things)’.”
1982 ard2
ard2 ≈ crg1 +
2930 document] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “piece of instruction (the literal sense, from L. docere).”
ard2: standard
2931 fitted] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “bestowed where they fit or belong.”
1984 chal
chal: OED
2930 document] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “‘a piece of instruction, a lesson’ OED.”
chal
2931 fitted] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “i.e. a) to appropriate flowers b) to the recipient of the flowers.”
1987 oxf4
oxf4: OED; Spenser analogue
2930 document in madnes] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “i.e. lesson (OED document sb 2) from which a student of madness might learn much. Compare The Faerie Queene I.X.I9, ‘and that her sacred book . . . She unto him disclosed every whit, / And heavenly documents there out did preach’.”
1988 bev2
bev2 = crg1
2930 document] Bevington (ed. 1988): “instruction, lesson.”
1993 dent
dent: xrefs.
2930 document] Andrews (ed. 1993): “Laertes probably has in mind a written record, comparable to the ‘Tables’ with which Hamlet resolves to ‘remember’ the Ghost’s commands; see [1.5.95-111 (780-96)]. Ophelia’s madness will ‘persuade Revenge’ [3.2.70-71 (1921-22)] for Laertes in a way that parallels the Ghost’s charge to Hamlet. The literal meaning of document is ‘lesson (from Latin docere, to teach).”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2
2930 document] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “object lesson.”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2
2931 fitted] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “put together appropriately.”
2930 2931