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Line 3169 - 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.”

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Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand

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

3169 Which time she chaunted snatches of old {laudes} <tunes>,	4.7.77

1747 warb

warb

3169 Which . . . laudes] Warburton (ed. 1747) : “Fletcher, in his Scornful Lady, very invidiously ridicules this incident. I will run man first, and if that| get not pity, | I’ll drown myself to a most dis-|mal ditty.”

1755 John

John

3169 snatches] Johnson (1755, snatch, 3): “n.s. [from the verb, ‘to bite, or cath eagerly at something’]

“3. A small part of anything; a broken part. [cites Hamlet] ‘In this work attempts will exceed performances, it being composed by snatches of time, as medical vacations would permit.’ Brown’s Vulgar Errours.”

John

3169 laudes] Johnson (1755, Laud, 2): “n.s. [laus, Latin] 2. That part of divine worship which consists in praise. ‘We have certain hymns and services, which we say daily, of laud and thanks to God for his marvellouw works.’ Bacon. ‘In the book of Psalms, the lauds make up a very great part of it.’ Government of the Tongue.”

1765 john1

john1 = warb

3169 Which . . . laudes]

1773 v1773

v1773 = john1

3169 Which . . . laudes]

1773 jen

jen

3169 laudes] Jennens (ed. 1773): “tunes]] tunes gives an uncertain notion of what she sung; the word lauds, i.e. hymns or psalms, fixes the idea of the kind of music she entertained herself with just before she died.”

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773 +

3169 laudes] Steevens (ed. 1778) : “The quartos read— “snatches of old lauds ,” i.e. hymns . “

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778

3169 laudes]

1787 ann

ann = v1785

3169 laudes]

1790 mal

mal=v1785

3169 laudes]

1791- rann

rann: standard

3169 laudes] Rann (ed. 1791) : “lauds —hymns”

1793 v1793

v1793 = mal

3169 laudes]

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

3169 laudes]

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

3169 laudes]

1819 cald1

cald1

3169 snatches ] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Scraps. See ‘snatches, i.e. catches, of his voice.’ (Cym 4.2. [0000] Belar and (MM 4.2. [0000]) Clown.”

1821 v1821

v1821 = JEN , v1813 + magenta underlined

3169 laudes] Steevens (apud Boswell, ed. 1821): “The quartos read— “snatches of old lauds ,” i.e. [as Mr. Jennens remarks] hymns.“

1826 sing1

sing1 = v1778 +

3169 laudes] Singer (ed. 1826) : “Hymns of praise were so called from the psalm Laudate Dominum .”

1843 col1

col1

3169 laudes] Collier (ed. 1843) : “i.e. old songs of praise. The folio substitutes tunes , and is incorrectly printed here, for it gives ‘ their drink,’ ‘her drink,’ and ‘her melodious lay,’ ‘her melodious buy .’”

1847 verp

verp : standard

3169 laudes] Verplanck (ed. 1847, p. 75): “Instead, however, of ‘the snatches of old tunes,’ of the folio and modern editions, I have restored the reading of the quarto, ‘old lauds,’ i.e. hymns of praise, psalms, canticles, or chants of thanksgiving. This word could not have crept accidentally into all the earlier editions; while tunes, as more familiar, may well have been afterwards substituted in the playhouse copies. Besides, this is more congruous to the next line; chanting harmonizes best with lauds; and the ‘chanting snatches of lauds,’ would indicate one ‘incapable of her own distress;’ while tunes might have been wild—expressive of sorrow and lament.”

1854 del2

del2 : Q1

3169 laudes] Delius (ed. 1854) : “tunes]] So die Fol.; die Qs. haben, weit weniger passend, lauds=Lobpsalmen. Dass Ophelia aber nicht solche, sondern old tunes sang, ergeben die vorigen Scenen. Auch Q.A. [Q1] hat: old sundry tunes.” [“tunes]] So the Folio; the Qs have lauds (or songs of praise), a far less acceptable reading. That Ophelia sang old tunes and not [lauds] the last scene demonstrates. “]

Also, Q1 has old sundry tunes.”Also he gives the Q1 reading of old sundry tunes, which is the first time I’ve seen DELIUS refer to Q1.

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1

3169 laudes] Hudson (ed. 1856) : “That is, old hymns or songs of praise. The folio has tunes instead of lauds ; which, besides that it loses a fine touch of pathos, does not agree so well with chanting .—-Incapable is evidently used in the sense of unconscious .”

1856 sing2

sing2=sing1

3169 laudes]

1857 elze1

elze1

3169 laudes] Elze (ed. 1857): "So StR ohne Variante. Pope, Theobald, Warburton und Steevens: of old tunes; whoher? QA hat allerdings: Chaunting olde sundry tunes. ’Lauds’ sind Loblieder; ausserdem war es auch der Name eines besonderen katholischen Morgengebetes.—Beaumont und Fletcher verspotten dies tragische Ende der armen Ophelia in The Scornful Lady III, 2, wo es am Schlusse heisst: ’I will run mad first, and, if that get no tpity, I’ll drown myself to a most dismal ditty.’" ["So StR [Steevens’ 1766 edition] without variants. POPE, THEO, WARB and STEEVENS: ’of old tunes’; from where? Q1 in fact has, ’Chaunting olde sundry tunes.’ ’Lauds" are psalms; out of which it was the name of a special Catholic morning prayer.—Beaumont and Fletcher mock the tragic end of poor Ophelia in The Scornful lady III, 2, where it suggests at the conclusion: ’’I will run mad first, and, if that get no tpity, I’ll drown myself to a most dismal ditty.’"]

1858 col3

col3 : standard

3169 laudes] Collier (ed. 1858, Glossary): “songs of praise.”

col3 = col1

3169 laudes]

1861 wh1

whi

3169 laudes] White (ed. 1861): “a word singularly inappropriate.”

1869 tsch

tsch

3169 laudes] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Die Lesart der Qs. scheint die richtige: Wie Eine, die keinen Begriff von ihrem Jammer hat, singt sie Bruchstücke aus alten Lobpsalmen.” [“The reading of the Qq. appears the correct one: as one who has no idea of her misery, she sings fragments of old hymns.”]

1870 Abbott

Abbott

3169 Which . . . laudes] Abbott (§202): “Preposition omitted in adverbial expression of time, manner, &c. [cites [3168-9].”

1872 del4

del4 = del2

1872 cln1

cln1

3169 Which time] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “Compare [TN 4.3.30 (0000)]: ‘What time we will our celebration keep.’ And [3H6 2.5.3 (0000)]: ‘What time the shepherd, blowing of his nails.’ For the omission of the preposition in adverbial expressions of time, &c., see Abbott, §202.”

3169 laudes] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “tunes]] So the folios, for ‘laudes,’ which is the reading of the quartos. We retain ‘tunes,’ which is found in the quarto of 1603 [Q1].”

1872 Hudson

Hudson : Hazlitt (see n. 3435)

3169 Which . . . laudes] Hudson (1872, p. 310): <p. 310> “Of her death what shall be said. The ‘snatches of old tunes’ with which she chaunts, as it were, her own burial service, are like smiles raying from the heart of woe. I must leave her with the words of Hazlitt: ‘O rose of May! O flower too soon faded! Her love, her madness, her death are described with the truest touches of tenderness and pathos. It is a character which nobody but Shakespeare could have drawn, and to the conception of which there is not the smallest appraoch, except in some of the old romantic ballads.’”

For Hazlitt’s lines, see 3435

1872 hud2

hud2 ≈ hud1

3169 laudes] Hudson (ed. 1872): “tunes]] So the folio; instead of tunes, the quartos have lauds; which might well be preferred, as agreeing better with chanted, and as conveying a touch of pathos which tunes does not quite reach. The weight, however, of editorial judgment is in favour of tunes.—Incapable is evidently used in the sense of unconscious.”

1877 col4

col4 ≈ col3

3169 laudes] Collier (ed. 1877) : “i.e. old songs of praise. The folio 1623 substitutes tunes , and is incorrectly printer here, for it gives ‘ their drink,’ ‘her drink,’ and ‘her melodious lay,’ ‘her melodious buy.’ We may omit other smaller variations”

1877 v1877

v1877 ≈ Abbott

3169 Which time] Furness (ed. 1877): “For instances of the omission of the preposition in adverbial expressions of time, manner, &c., see Abbott, §202.”

v1877 : ≈ jen ; sing1-2 ; ≈ whi ; ≈ hud1-2

3169 laudes

1882 elze2

elze2

3169 laudes] Elze (ed. 1882): “Ophelia does not sing lauds, which are entirely foreign to her form of mental disease, but love ditties and songs of mourning.”

1885 macd

macd

3169 laudes] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “They were not lauds she was in the habit of singing, to judge by the snatches given.”

1890 irv2

irv2 ≈ v1877

3169 laudes] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “Qq. instead of tunes print lauds, which has a rather quaint and pretty sound, but is less likely to be the right word, as Q.1 agrees with the Ff. in reading tunes. Lauds were psalms, and Jennens (quoted by Furness) is convinced that they are the right reading, and imply that Ophelia made an edifying end.”

1899 ard1

ard1 ≈ Irv2 w/o attribution ?

3169 laudes] Dowden (ed. 1899): “The agreement of Q1 and F argues strongly against the Q lauds, which some editors prefer, probably as heightening the pathos.”

1934 Wilson

Wilson

3169 laudes] Wilson (1934, 1:71-2): <p. 71> “The same story [of Scribe P’s intrusive emendations] is repeated in a very different connection at 4.7.178, which in the three texts gives us these variants: ‘(Q2) she chaunted snatches of old laudes (F1) she chaunted snatches of old tunes (Q1) Chaunting olde sundry tunes,’ the last being of course simply a report of the F1 version. All modern editors have accepted the F1 emendation, and by doing so have sacrificed a beautiful reading. For ‘laudes’ means hymns of praise and is apparently a reference to the laude or vernacular hymns which were first heard of in Italy at the end of the thirteenth century, were sung by wandering bands or guilds of singers called laudesi, and were still very popular at the end of the fifteenth.Whether they were also the fashion in England or how </p. 71> <p. 72> Shakespeare came to know of them is not clear. But it can hardly be questioned that his use of the word here was intended to show the drowning Ophelia crowned with flowers and singing hymns of praise to God for the wonders of creation.1” </p. 72>

<n> “1I am indebted for the information to Old Picture Books (pp. 15-22) by Dr. A. W. Pollard. It is possible that Shakespeare had in mind also Psalms cxlviii-cl which are sung at the service of Lauds.”

1934 Wilson

Wilson

3169 laudes] Wilson (1934, 2:272): Wilson feels that Q2 offers the more “attractive reading” than F1. Wilson observes that JEN, Collier follow Q2 and that “most” follow F1

3169 laudes] Wilson (1934, 2:278) <p. 278> Wilson provides a table of Q2 and F1 words to indicate that Q2 often has the more poetic form:

iump : iust

deuise : aduise

topt : past

prefard : prepar’d

ascaunt :aslant

cronet : Coronet

laudes : tunes

clawed : caught

Crants : Rites

Wilson’s conclusion is: “A study of these variants is a lesson at once in Shakespearian diction and in the kind of degradation his verse suffered at the hands of those responsible for the F1 text, for what the context loses in every instance is poetic value rather than meaning.”

1934 rid1

rid1 : standard

3169 laudes] Ridley (ed. 1934, Glossary):

1934 cam3

cam3 ≈ Wilson

3169 laudes] Wilson (ed. 1934): “. . . Sh. seems to refer to the laude or vernacular hymns of praise sung by wandering bands or guilds of singers in Italy from 13th to 16th c., though it is not clear that they were ever the fashion in England (v. A.W. Pollard, Old Picture books, pp. 15-22). Perhaps Sh. also had in mind Pss. cxlviii-cl, the psalms of praise sung at the service of Lauds. Oph. dies crowned with flowers and singing hymns of praise to God.”

1939 kit2

kit2 ≈ standard

3169 laudes]

3169 laudes] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary): “hymns of prase.”

1938 parc

parc ≈ standard

3169 laudes]

1947 cln2

cln2 ≈ standard (cam3 or kit2)

3169 laudes]

3169 laudes] Rylands (ed. 1947, Notes)

1951 alex

alex ≈ standard

3169 laudes] Alexander (ed. 1951, Glossary)

1956 Sisson

Sisson

3169 laudes] Sisson (1956, 2:226): <p. 226>“Folio and Q1 read tunes for laudes, followed by most editors. New Cambridge and Alexander, however, read lauds. There is no evidence of the popularity of lauds in England. The picture of Ophelia dying in songs of praise to God is not consistent with what we see in Hamlet, or hear from her in 4.5. The very next line describes her as ‘incapable of her own distress’, i.e. unaware or innocent of her plight. She did not ‘make a good ending’. tunes could well be misread as lauds.”

1957 pel1

pel1 : standard

3169 laudes]

1970 pel2

pel2=pel1

3169 laudes]

1974 evns1

evns1≈ standard

3169 laudes]

1980 pen2

pen2

3169 laudes] Spencer (ed. 1980): “Q2 has ‘laudes’, a strange word in this context, but just possible, referring to parts of the Psalms sung at the service of Lauds. The F reading ‘tunes’ is supported by Q1, ‘Chaunting olde sundry tunes’.”

1982 ard2

ard2 : contra Sisson (New Readings) ; Wilson (1934)

3169 laudes] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “songs of praise. A rare word, retrieved by Dover Wilson ((see MSH, pp. 71-2)) and since usually accepted. Objectors to it ((e.g. Sisson, NR [New Readings])) face the difficulty of explaining how it could get into Q2 if not from Shakespeare’s ms. See [3158] LN [Longer Notes].”

1984 chal

chal : standard

3169 laudes]

1985 cam4

cam4 : Sisson

3169 laudes] Edwards (ed. 1985): “hymns. So Q2; F gives ‘tunes’, as does Q1, probably an intentional simplification by the playhouse scribe. ‘laud’ is an unusual word, not frequently used outside its technical reference to the second of the canonical hours in the Catholic breviary. C.J. Sisson objected to ‘the picture of Ophelia dying in songs of praise to God’ after the improper songs we have heard ((New Readings in Shakespeare, 1956, II, 226)). Perhaps Gertrude is covering up. But crazy hymn-singing might well have marked Ophelia’s death.”

1987 oxf4

oxf4 : standard

3169 laudes] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “This F reading [tunes], supported by Q1, is preferred here to the luads of Q2 on the assumption that it is the product of authorial revision, designed to replace a rare word with a more immediately intelligible one.”

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

3169 laudes]

1992 fol2

fol2≈ standard

3169 laudes]

1993 dent

dent : standard

3169 laudes]

1998 OED

OED

3169 snatches] OED 8. a. A short passage, a few words, of a song, etc.; a small portion, a few bars, of a melody or tune. 1602 SHAKS. Ham. IV. vii. 178 Which time she chaunted snatches of old tunes. 1795– [etc.]

3169 laudes] OED laud L. laud-em, laus praise.] OED 3. A hymn or ascription of praise 1530 PALSGR. 237/2 Laude a prayse, laude. 1604 SHAKS. Ham. IV. vii. 178 (2nd Qo.) Which time she chaunted snatches of old laudes.