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Line 3132 - 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.

3132 I bought an vnction of a Mountibanck	4.7.141

1668 Skinner

Skiner

3132 Mountibanck] Skinner (1668, mountebank): “mountebank; ab It. Montimbanco, Circulator, sic dictus quia in Scamnum ascendens populo nænias suas occinit, vide Mount & Bench.”

1755 John

John

3132 Mountibanck] Johnson (1755, Mountebank, 1): “ n.s. [montare in banco, Italian]1. A doctor that mounts a bench in the market, and boasts his infallible remedies and cures.

“[cites Hamlet] ‘She, like a mountebank, did wound An stab herself with doubts profound, Only to shew wih how small pain The sors of faith are cur’d again.’ Hudibras, p.1

“‘But Æschylus, says Horace in some page, Was the first mountebank that trod the stage.’ Dryden. ‘It looks so like a mountebank to boast of infallible cures.’ Baker’s Reflections on Learning.”

1818 Todd

Todd = John +

3132 Mountibanck] Todd (1818, Mountebank, 1): “†n.s. [montare in banco, Italian, Florio, 1598. To the etymology, viz. mounting on a bank, our old writers thus allude: ‘Fellows to mount a bank: —the Italian mountebanks. B. Jonson, Fox. ‘The paltriest mime that ever mounted upon bank.’ Milton, Apol. for Smectymnuus.] 1. A doctor that mounts a bench in the market, and boasts his infallible remedies and cures. [cites Hamlet] ‘She, like a mountebank, did wound An stab herself with doubts profound, Only to shew wih how small pain The sors of faith are cur’d again.’ Hudibras, p.1 ‘But Æschylus, says Horace in some page, Was the first mountebank that trod the stage.’ Dryden. ‘It looks so like a mountebank to boast of infallible cures.’ Baker’s Reflections on Learning.”

1872 cln1

cln1

3132 vnction] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “In [3.4.143 (0000)], where the word is used metaphorically, the word may either mean ‘ointment’ or the act of anointing.”

cln1

3132 Mountibanck] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “Quack-doctor. See [Oth. 1.3. 61 (0000)]: ‘medicines bought of mountebanks’; and in Bacon’s Advancement of Learning, 2.10, §2: ‘Nay, we see the weakness and credulity of men is such, as they will prefer a mountebank or witch before a learned physician.’ In Jonson’s Fox, Volpone, disguised as a mountebank, has a multitude of medicines to sell. In Italian he is called ciarlatano, whence the French charlatan, for which among others Cotgrave gives as equivalents, ‘A Mountebanke, a cousening drug-seller, a pratling quack-saluer.”

1877 v1877

v1877 = cln1 (minus Oth. quotation)

3132 Mountibanck] Clark & Wright (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “Quack-doctor. See [Oth. 1.3. 61 (0000)]; and in Bacon’s Advancement of Learning, 2.10, §2: ‘Nay, we see the weakness and credulity of men is such, as they will prefer a mountebank or witch before a learned physician.’ In Jonson’s Fox, Volpone, disguised as a mountebank, has a multitude of medicines to sell. In Italian he is called ciarlatano, whence the French charlatan, for which among others Cotgrave gives as equivalents, ‘A Mountebanke, a cousening drug-seller, a pratling quack-saluer.”

1881 hud3

hud3

3132 Mountibanck] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Mountebank commonly meant a quack, but is here put, apparently, for druggist or apothecary. The word seems to have been used originally of a pedlar or pretender who mounted a bench, or a bank by the wayside, and hawked off his wares or his skill.—Here, as generally in Shakespeare, mortal [3133] is deadly; that which kills.”

1885 mull

mull ≈ standard

3132 vnction]

3133

mull ≈ standard

3132 Mountibanck] (Volopone //)

1889 Barnett

Barnett

3132 vnction] Barnett (1889, p. 58) : <p. 58>“ointment.” </p. 58>

˙Barnett

3132 Mountibanck] Barnett (1889, p. 58): <p. 58>“a quack. One who mounts on a bench to proclaim his nostrums. Ital. montambanco, i.e. mount-in-banco.” </p. 58>

1890 Irv2

Irv2 : v1877 ; cln1

3132 Mountibanck] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “Cotgrave has: ‘Charlatan: m. A mountebanke, a cousening drug-seller, a pratling quack-salver’ (he continues, ‘a tatler, babler, foolish prater, or commender of trifles’). Boyer, French Dictionary, defines mountebank as ‘ a wandering and juggling physician, a quack.’ In [Oth. 1.3.61 (0000)] (‘medicines bought of mountebanks’), the word is used in the same sense. In the two other places in which Shakespeare uses it ([Com. 1.2.101 (0000), and 5.1.238 (0000)]) it is less clearly limited to the special sense of medicine-seller. The Clarendon Press edd. quote Bacon (Advancement of Learning, ii. 10.§2): ‘Nay, we see the weakness and credulity of men is such, as they will often prefer a mountebank or witch before a learned physician.’”

1899 ard1

ard1 : standard (v1877?)

3132 Mountibanck] Dowden (ed. 1899): “quack-doctor, as in [Oth. 1.3.61 (0000)].”

1931 crg1

crg1 ≈ standard

3132 Mountibanck]

1934 cam1

cam1

3132 vnction] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “ointment, salve, with a poss. reference to religious unction (cf. anoint).”

cam3 : standard

3132 Mountibanck] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary)

1936 Kit2

Kit2≈ standard

3132 vnction]

3132 vnction] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary):

Kit2≈ standard

3132 Mountibanck]

3132 Mountibanck] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary):

1938 parc

parc : standard

3132 Mountibanck]

1942 n&h

n&h ≈ standard

3132 Mountibanck]

1947 cln2

cln2 ≈ standard

3132 vnction]

cln2 ≈ standard

3132 Mountibanck]

1951 Alex

alex ≈ standard

3132 vnction] Alexander (ed. 1951, Glossary)

1951 crg2

crg2=crg1

3132 Mountibanck]

1954 Sis

Sis ≈ standard

3132 vnction] Sisson (ed. 1954, Glossary):

1957 pel1

pel1 : standard

3132 Mountibanck]

pel1 : standard

3132 vnction]

1970 pel2

pel2=pel1

3132 Mountibanck]

pel1 : standard

3132 vnction]

1974 evns1

evns1 ≈ standard

3132 vnction]

3132 Mountibanck]

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ standard

3132 vnction]

pen2 ≈ standard

3132 Mountibanck]

1982 ard2

ard2

3132 vnction] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “So fabulous a thing is obviously not to be identified with any known poison. But cf. Gerard on a kind of aconite ((wolfsbane)): ‘If a man . . . be wounded with an arrow or other instrument dipped in the juice hereof, doth die within half an hour remediless’ ((Herbal, 1597, p. 818)). Cf. [5.2.321 (0000)], ‘not half an hour’s life’.”

ard2 ≈ standard

3132 vnction]

ard2 ≈ standard

3132 Mountibanck] (Volopone //)

1984 chal

chal : standard

3132 Mountibanck]

chal : standard

3132 vnction]

1985 cam4

cam4 ≈ standard

3132 vnction]

cam4 ≈ standard

3132 Mountibanck] (no Volp. //)

1987 oxf4

oxf4 ≈ standard +

3132 vnction] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “Webster, probably influenced by Hamlet, refers to poison in the form of a powder as an ‘unction’ ((The White Devil 5.3.23)).”

oxf4 ≈ standard

3132 Mountibanck]

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

3132 vnction]

bev2: standard

3132 Mountibanck] (no Volp. //)

1992 fol2

fol2≈ standard

3132 Mountibanck]

1993 dent

dent ≈ standard

3132 vnction]

dent ≈ standard

3132 Mountibanck]

1998 OED

OED

3132 vnction] Vnction 5. Any soft composition used for anointing or lubricating; an unguent or ointment. [etc.]

3132 Mountibanck] OED mountebank 1. An itinerant quack who from an elevated platform appealed to his audience by means of stories, tricks, juggling, and the like, in which he was often assisted by a professional clown or fool. etc.]