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Line 3028 - Commentary Note (CN) More Information

Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand
For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.
3028 {Worke} <Would> like the spring that turneth wood to stone,4.7.20
1765 john1
john1
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone] Johnson (ed. 1765): “The simile is neither very seasonable in the deep interest of this conversation, nor very accurately applied. If the spring had changed base metals to gold, the thought had been more proper.”
1773 v1773
v1773=john1
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone
1778 v1778
v1778=v1773+
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone] Steevens (ed. 1778): “The folio, instead of — work, reads — would.”
1783 Ritson
Ritson : v1778 ; john1
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone] Ritson (1783, p. 209) : <p. 209>“The folio, mr. Steevens observes, instead of work reads would. And should not the present edition have done so? Dr. Johnson seems not to understand the passage: the king says that the common people would turn Hamlets faults into virtues, as strange a perversion, adds he, as that produced by the spring which changes wood to stone. The learned and sagacious editor has a similar property; but his alchemy only serves to convert gold to lead: he has a very ready knack at changing the most perfect sense to the most absolute nonsense.” </p. 209>
1785 v1785
v1785=v1778
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone]
1787 ann
ann = v1785
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone]
1790 mal
mal=v1785
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone]
1793 v1793
v1793=v1785+
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone] Steevens (ed. 1793): “The same comparison occurs in Churchyard’s Choise : ‘So there is wood that water turns to stones.’
“In Thomas Lupton’s Third Book of Notable Thinges , 4to. bl. l. there is also mention of ‘a well, that whatsoever is throwne into the same, is turned into a stone.’” STEEVENS
v1793=v1785+
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone] Reed (apud Steevens, ed. 1793): “The allusion here is to the qualities still ascribed to the dropping well at Knaresborough in Yorkshire. Camden (edit. 1590, p. 564,) thus mentions it: ‘Sub quo fons est in quem ex impendentibus rupibus aquæ guttatim distillant, unde Dropping Well vocant, in quem quicquid ligni immittitur, lapideo cortice breui obduci & lapidescere observatum est .” REED
1803 v1803
v1803=v1793 +
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone] Steevens (ed. 1803): “This, however, we learn from Ovid, is no modern supposition: ‘Flumen habent Cicones, quod potum faxea reddit Viscera, quod tactis inducit marmora rebus.’
“See also, Hackluyt, Vol. I. p. 565. Steevens.”
1813 v1813
v1813=v1803
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone]
1819 cald1
cald1≈v1813
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Would, by a process like that with which wood is turned into stone by the action of a petrifying well, convert the iron fetters that load and encumber him, into elegant and graceful ornaments: Mercurii talaria.
“Mr. Reed refers to such a spring, called the dropping well, in Camden, edit. 1590, p. 564: ‘Sub quo fons est in quem ex impendentibus rupidbus aquæ guttatim distillant, unde DROPPING WELL vocant, in quem quicquid ligni immittitur, lapideo cortice breui & lapidescere obseruatum est. “ REED.
1821 v1821
v1821=v1813
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone]
1826 sing1
sing1≈cald1
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone] Singer (ed. 1826): “‘Would, like the spring which turneth wood to stone, convert his fetters into graces:’ punishment would only give him more grace in their opinion. The quarto reads work for would .”
1832 cald2
cald2=cald1
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone]
1854 del2
del2 : standard
3028-9 Worke . . . graces] Delius(ed. 1854): “Would ]]So die Fol., die mit Recht, den Satz als einen bedingten auffasst, da Hamlet noch keine, als Verrecher ihm anzulegende Fussfesseln trägt, welche die Liebe des grossen Haufens in einen Schmuck verwandeln könnte. die Qs. lesen work für would und machen convert , den zu would gehörigen Infinitiv, zum Indicativ.—Die Eigenschaft, Holz in Stein zu verwandeln, wurde u.A. einer Quelle in Yorkshire zugeschrieben [So the Folio, which justly comprehends the sentence as a conditional, since Hamlet, still nothing like a criminal occupies a foothold, which could transform the love of the great crowds into an ornament. The Qq. read work for would and make convert, which belong s to would as an infinitive, into an indicative. The quality of turning wood into stone is attributed to a site in Yorkshire.]
1856 sing2
sing2=sing1
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone]
1857 elze1
elze1=
3028-9 Worke . . . graces] Elze (ed. 1857): "Statt ’Work’ liest FA: Would.—Shakespeare spielt hier auf die sogennante ’trofende Quelle’ zu Knaresborough in Yorkshire an, welcher die erwähnte Eigenschaft zugeschrieben wird. Sie muss also von ähnlicher Beschaffenheit sein wie der Karlsbader Sprudel. Johnson tadelt die Anbringung dieses Gleichnisses als unpassend in einem so inhaltschweren Gespräch." ["In place of ’Work’ the F1 reads Would—Shakespeare alludes here to the so-called dripping spring of Knaresborough in Yorkshire, for which the mentioned quality was written. It must also be a similar connection to the Karlsbad spring. Johnson reproves the mention of this allusion as unsuitable in such a deeply structured conversation."]
1860 Walker
Walker
3028-9 Worke] Walker (1860, 3:269) : <p.269>“Of course, with the folio,—[folio version cited]” </. 269>
1864-68 c&mc
c&mc ≈ standard
3028-9 Worke . . . graces] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): “In allusion to waters that possess a petrifying power, such as those of the dropping well at Knaresborough.”
1872 del4
del4 = del2
3028 Worke like the spring that turneth wood to stone]
1872 cln1
cln1
3028 Worke] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “Would]] Instead of ‘would,’ the reading of the folios, the quartos have ‘Worke,’ thus making ‘Convert’ indicative instead of infinitive. But ‘would convert’ seems required by the context.”
cln1 ≈ v1821(minus Churchyard Choise ; Lupton’s Third Book]
3028 spring] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “Reed thinks that the spring to which Shakespeare refers is the dropping-well at Knaresborough, which encrusts with a calcareous deposit the objects placed beneath it. ‘The simile,’ says Johnson, ‘is neither very seasonable in the deep interest of this conversation, nor very accurately applied. If the spring had changed base metals to gold, the thought had been more proper.’ Lily (Euphues, p. 63, ed. Arber) has: ‘Would I had sipped of the ryuer in Caria, which turneth those that drinke of it to stones.’”
1877 v1877
v1877 : ≈ cln1
3028 Worke] Clark & Wright (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “Would]] The Qq make ‘convert’ indicative instead of infinitive. But ‘Would convert’ seems required by the context.”
v1877 : john1 ; v1793 (REED only “The allusion . . . ‘observatum est’”) : cln1 (only the Lily //)
3028 spring] Clark & Wright (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “Lily has: ‘Would I had sipped of the ryuer in Caria, which turneth those that drinke of it to stones.’—Euphues, p. 63, ed. Arber.”
1877 neil
neil ≈ standard
3028 spring] Neil (ed. 1877, Notes): “Those which, like the dropping well on the banks of the Nid at Knaresborough, by their limestone deposits, ‘petrify’ articles exposed to its influence.”
1882 elze2
elze2
3028 Worke like the spring] Elze (ed. 1882): “The reading of Q2 [cites 3028] has inadvertently been admitted into the text. Om. [Q1] According to Harrison’s Description of England, ed. Furnivall, p. 334 and 349 the “wonderful vertue” of turning wood to stone was ascribed to several springs, one of them (King’s Newnham) being situated in Warwickshire, and therefore, no doubt, well known to the poet.’
1890 irv2
rv2 : elze1 ; v1877 (Reed, Clarke & Wright) w/o attribution
3028 Worke . . . stone] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “Qq have work, which some editors have followed, thus making a different construciton, and changing convert in the next line into a second indicative. The reading seems to me distinctly inferior, and may well be due to a printer’s error. Reed thinks that the spring alludes to is the famous dropping-well at Knaresborough. Elze says: ‘According to Harrison’s Description of England, ed. Furnivall, p. 334 and 349, the “wonderful vertue” of turning wood to stone was ascribed to several springs, one of them (King’s Newnham) being situated in Warwickshire, and therefore, no doubt, well known to the poet.’ The Clarendon Press edd. quote Lyly’s Euphues (p. 63, ed. Arber): “Would I had sipped of that ryuer in Caria, which turneth those that drinke of it to stone.”’”
1899 ard1
ard1irv2 w/o attribution
3028 Worke . . . stone] Dowden (ed. 1899): “In Harrison’s Description of England (ed. Furnivall, p. 349) it is stated that the baths of King’s Newsham, in Shakespeare’s county, Warwickshire, have the property of turning wood to stone. The reference was supposed by Reed to be to the dropping well at Knaresborough.”
1931 crg1
crg1 ≈ standard
3028 Worke . . . stone]
1934 Wilson
Wilson
3028 Worke] Wilson (1934, 1:145) believes that would is the proper reading but that Shakespeare’s penchant for writing an “l” or “t” in a way that would be confused with a “k” render this Q2 an error.
Wilson
3028, 3184, 3276, 3418, 3427, 3517, 3652, 3773, 3831 Wilson (1934, 1:165): <p. 165> “And yet every one of these seventeen variants [including these 9] is relevant to his [Greg’s] argument [that traces of Shakespeare’s hand can be found in these variants], and with a little search I have no doubt he might have found as many more again. His lists, in short, are highly selective; and selective lists of this kind are bound to be misleading, because they inevitably suppress a portion of the evidence. Had he, for example, included the seventeen variants just cited, he could hardly, I think, have helped suspecting that misreading on the part of the Q2 compositor might have something to do with them, since, in the case of nine at least, graphical similarity stares one in the face, while further consideration might have shown him that the phenomenon of omission would account for most of the rest.” </p. 165>
1934a cam3
cam3 ≈ ard1
3028 Worke . . . stone]
1939 kit2
kit2 ≈ v1803 ; ard1 +
3028 Worke . . . stone] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “Nearer home for Shakespere were the baths of King’s Newnham (Warwickshire), for which Dowden refers to Harrison’s Description of England, ii. 23 (ed. Furnivall, I, 348, 349). Cf. Greene, The Carde of Fancie, 1587 (ed. Grosart, IV, 136): ‘As though I had drunke of the Riuer Lincestis in Bohemia, which presentlie turneth whatsoeuer it toucheth into stones.’”
1938 parc
parc ≈ standard
3028 Worke . . . stone]
1947 cln2
cln2 ≈ kit2
3028 Worke . . . stone]
1951 crg2
crg2= crg1
3028 Worke . . . stone]
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ standard
3028 Worke . . . stone]
pen2
3028 Worke] Spencer (ed. 1980): “act.”
1982 ard2
ard2 ≈ standard +
3028 Worke . . . stone] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “There is thus no reason to derive this from Saxo.”
1984 chal
chal ; standard
3028 Worke . . . stone]
1985 cam4
cam4 ≈ standard
3028 Worke]
cam4ard1 +
3028 Worke . . . stone] Edwards (ed. 1985): “R. Scot’s Discovery of Witchcraft ((1584; ed. Nicholson, 1886)) says ‘wood is by the quality of divers waters here in England transubstantiated into a stone. ((Of late experience near Coventry, etc.))’ ((p. 238)).”
1987 oxf4
oxf4
3028 Worke . . . stone] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “A close parallel to the idea expressed in these lines is provided by [Cor.1.1.172-4 (185)], where the hero tells the plebians of Rome, ‘Your virtue is|To make him worthy whose offence subdues him,|And curse that justice did it’.”
oxf4 ≈ standard ; ard1
3029 Worke . . . stone]
1988 bev2
bev2 ≈ standard
3028 Worke . . . stone]
1992 fol2
fol2≈ standard
3028 Worke . . . stone]
1993 dent
dent ≈ standard
3028 Worke . . . stone]
3028