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Line 3200-02 - 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. 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.

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

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

3200-01 three branches, it is {to} <an>\| act, to doe, <and> to performe, {or all;} <argall> she drownd her

3201-2 selfe \| wittingly.

1726 theon

theon

3200 three branches] Theobald (1726, p. 124): <p. 124> “Very notably made out! If an Act has Three Branches, as the honest Clown here defines it to have, it would puzzle a good Arithmeticisn to find them out from this Reading. ‘Tis true, the Folio Editions exhibit it thus; and so, indeed, does the Duodecimo Edition publish’d by Mr. Tonson in 1714. But, surely, to do, and to perform, can be but two Branches; and if we admit This for the true Reading, then we ought to correct the Passage:— And an Act hath Two Branches; it is an Act to do, and to perform. But the Quarto Edition of 1637, I believe, will instruct Us to read the Place exactly as the Poet intended it. For here lies the Point; if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an Act; and an Act hath three Branches; it is,— to ACT, — O—and to PERFORM,—argal, &c.“</p. 124>

1733-47? mtby3 Thirlby, Styan (mtby3) ms. notes in theo1 (1733) Folger

mtby3=textual notes cited in textual section

1743 mF3

mF3

3201 or all] : “argall]] The same word occurs p. 755. col. 1[3237].—’Argall, the Gallows may do well to thee.’ It seems a corruption of the Latin word Ergo, suited to the character of a Clown.”

1747 warb

warb:

3200 three branches] Warburton (ed. 1747) : “Ridicule on scholastic divisions without distinction; and of distinctions without difference.”

1747-53 mtby4

mtby4:textual note only cited in above section

1765 john1

john1 = warb

3200 three branches]

1770 mwar

mwar:warb+

3201 or all] Warner (ms notes in ed. 1734) : “argall]] He would say ergo , therefore.”

1773 jen

jen

3200 or all] Jennens (ed. 1773) observes that Qq’s reading of “or all” is an “error of the press; for this clown in his next speech sums up his argument again with argal for ergo, and the Qq [Qs] there read argall.”

1773 v1773

v1773=WARB; see also 3211n

3200 three branches]

mstv1 Mss. notes by Steevens in v1773 (Folger Library)

[Ed. no notes; but see mss. note at 3211n].

1779-83 capn

capn

3200 three branches] Capell (1779-83 [1774]: 1:1: 145-6):<p. 145>“ Distinctions no whit wiser than these may have been heard as well at the bar as in the schools, and the Poet may have rais’d this good pleasantry out of some particular instance which had been the subject of mirth in his time; the applicati- </p. 145> <p. 146> on, and the consequence drawn from it, ar height’nings which we owe to himself.” </p. 146>

1779-83 capn

3201 or all] Capell (1779-83 [1774]:1:1:Glossary) : “argall]] Argal a Corruption of— ergo , therefore.”

1778 v1778

v1778=WARB, v1773

3200 three branches]

1784 ays1

ays1 = v1778 w/o attribution

3200 three branches]

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778

3200 three branches]

1787 ann[Annotations by Sam. Johnson & Geo. Steevens, . . ]

ann=v1785

3200 three branches]

1790 mal

MAL= v1785

3200 three branches]

-1790 mWesley

mWesley : warb

3200 three branches] Wesley (typescript of ms. notes in ed. 1785):”Good.”

Wesley is referring to Warburton’s note on the “ridicule on scholastic divisions”

1793 v1793

v1793=mal,

3200 three branches]

1803 v1803

v1803=v1793

3200 three branches]

1813 v1813

v1813=v1803

3200 three branches]

1819 cald1

cald1=warb

3200 three branches]

1821 v1821

v1821=v1813,

3200 three branches]

1822 Nares

Nares : standard

3201 or all] Nares (1822; 1905): “argal]] A vulgar corruption of the Latin word ergo, therefore. ‘But if the water come to him, and drown him, he drowns not himself: argal, he that is not guilty of his own death, shortens not his own life.’ Ham. v.1. ? (3208)

“‘Also a name for the tartar of wine.‘Jonson’s Alchem.“

1826 sing1

sing1; warb, hawkins, mal and Malone’s Life. See 3211n

3200 three branches]

1839 knt1 (nd)

knt1:warb+hawkins+Plowden’s Commentaries perhaps [see 3211n]

3200 three branches]

1843 col1

col1

3201 or all] Collier (ed. 1843) : “[I]n the same way [as se offendendo in 3198], instead of “argal” he [the compositor] printed or all

1854 del2

del2

3201 or all] Delius (ed. 1854 ) : “argal, enstellt aus dem lateinischen ergo, mit dem die Schlussfolgerung anfÑngt.” [“argal , distorts the Latin ergo , with which the conclusion begins.”]

1856 hud1

hud1≈ sing1+knt1

3200 three branches]

Hudson (ed. 1856) See 3211n for HUDSON’s attributed note, which he signs with his proverbial “H”; it is derived [w/o attribution] from these previous critics mentioned[SINGER, KNIGHT]

1856b sing2

sing2=sing1

3200 three branches]

1857 elze1

elze1

3200 three branches] Elze (ed. 1857): "Die Fs lesen: an act, was MC in ’to act’ verfbessert hat.—’Ridicule on scholastic divisions wihout distinction; and of distinctions without difference.’ Warburton.—Sir J. Hawkins findet hierin eine Anspielung auf den zu des Dichters Zeit berühmten Fall des Sir James Hales, des Richters, welcher Lady Jane Gray zum Tode verurtheilt hatte and darüber in Schwermuth fiel und sich ertränkte. Alle hier lächerlich gemachten Spitzfindigkeiten kamen bei dieser Gelegenheit wirlich vor Gericht vor, namentlich wurde weitläufig untersucht, ob Sir James dabei ’agent’ oder ’patient’ gewesen sei.— Merwürdig ist es, dass sich dergleichen dreifache Umschreibungen desselben Begriffs öfters in der History of Hamblett vorfinden, z.B.: They used to rob, pill, and spoyle other provinces ((Collier Sh.-Loibr. I, 132)); a valiant, hardy, and courageous prince ((ebenda)); My gestures, countenances, and words ((I, 145)); I must stay the time, meanes, and occasion ((I, 146)): Reason alloweth me dissimulation, subtiltie, and secret practises to proceed therein ((ebenda)). Auch Walter Scott lässt seinen würdigen Sir Robert Hazlewood of Hazlewood in Guy Mannering stets in solchen ’Triaden’ sprechen; ’an offence, sagt Sir Robert Hazlewood u.A. ((Chap. XXX, p. 421)), is perpetrated, committed and done.’" ["The Ff read, ’an act,’ what mCOL1 has improved to ’to act.’—[cites Warburton]—Sir J. Hawkins finds here an allusion to the writer’s time the famous case of Sir James Hale, the judge, which Lady Jane Gray had sentenced to death and thereby drowned himself in great melancholy. Herein occurred the absurdly produced subtleties of this actual occasion before the magistrate, namely it was investigated in detail if Sir James may have been thereby the ’agent’ or the ’patient.’ —It is remarkable that the concept of the same threefold paraphrase is found often in the History of Hamblett, for example, They used to rob, pill, and spoyle other provinces ((Collier Sh.-Libr. I, 132)); a valiant, hardy, and courageous prince ((exactly)); My gestures, countenances, and words ((I, 145)); I must stay the time, meanes, and occasion ((I, 146)): Reason alloweth me dissimulation, subtiltie, and secret practises to proceed therein ((exactly)). Even Walter Scott allows his worthy Sir Robert Hazlewood of Hazlewood in Guy Mannering stand to speak in such ’Triads’ ; ’an offence, sagt Sir Robert Hazlewood u.A. ((Chap. XXX, p. 421)), is perpetrated, committed and done.’"]

3201 or all] Elze (ed. 1857): "argall]] ’Argal’ is eine Verstümmelung des lat. Ergo." ["Argal’ is a corruption of the Latin ergo."]

1858 col3

col3=col1+

3200-1 to act] Collier (ed. 1858): “the last [to act] is made the reading in the corr. fo. 1632.. The folio, however, by mistake has ‘it is an act, for ‘it is to act.’”

1864a glo

glo : standard

3201 or all] Clark & Wright (ed. 1864, Glossary) : “argal]] “ a ridiculous word intended for the Latin ergo.”

1864-68 c&mc

c&mc

3201 or all] Clarke (ed. 1864): “argal]] A corruption of the Lat. word Ergo, therefore.”

3200 three branches] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): see n. 3211

c&mc ≈ standard

3201 or all] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): “argall]] The gravedigger’s blunder for the Latin word ergo, ‘therefore.’”

1869 Romdahl

Romdahl

3201 or all] Romdahl (1869, p. 40): <p. 40>“Argal, a vulgar corruption of the Latin ergo. It does not occur elsewhere in Sh.” </p.40>

1869 tsch

tsch

3200 three branches] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Die dreigliedrige Form dieser Tautologie ist uralter germanischer Rechtsgebrauch, und findest sich nach Grimm R.A. p. 22 auch im Altfr. Elze macht auf die dreigliedrigen Tautologien aufmerksam, die sich in der History of Hamlet und in Scott’s Guy Mannering finden. Eine Parallele zu unserer Stelle findet sich in den bei Grimm p. 24 citirten egeris, feceris, gesserisve.” [“The 3-part structure of the tautologie is from ancient German legal use and finds itself according to Grimm R.A. p. 22 also in Old French. Elze draws attention to the 3-part tautologies which are found in the History of Hamlet in in Scott’s Guy Mannering. A parallel to our current passage is found in the citation in Grimm, p. 24 egeris, feceris, gessrisve.”]

3201 or all] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “or all der Qs. würde sein: oder in Summa. Das argal der F. ist eine Corruption von ergo, wie aus Q.1 hervorgeht, wo sich das latein Wort richtig degruckt findet.” [“or all of the Qs. might be “or in total.” The argal of the F. is a corruption of ergo, as Q1[[see CLN 1912]] earlier presents it, where one finds the correct Latin word is printed.”

1872 del4

del4=del2+VN

3201 or all] Delius (ed. 1872) : “Die Qs. lesen or all für argal der Fol.. Q.A. [Q1] hat ergo.—Für to act der Qs. hat die Fol. an act.”

1872 cln1

cln1 : standard

3201 or all] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “argal]] ‘Ergo’ is the word meant.”

1872 hud2

hud2 ≈ hud1

3200 three branches] see n. 3211

1873 rug2

rug2 : see n. 3211

1877 v1877

v1877 = warb ; ≈ elze1 (paraphrased) ; tsch

3200 three branches] Furness (ed. 1877): “Elze calls attention to the frequency in The Hystorie of Hamblet of these threefold ‘branches of the same idea, e.g.: ‘rob, pill, and spoyle;’ ‘A valiant, hardy, and courageous prince;’ ‘gestures, countenances, and words;’ ‘time, means, and occasions,’ &c.”

3200 three branches] Furness (ed. 1877): “Tschischwitz says that this threefold tautological form belongs to the most ancient Germanic legal usage, and cites Grimm as an authority that it is also true of the Old French. A parallel to the present passage is to be found in Grimm: ‘egeris, feceris, gesserisve.’”

1881 hud3

hud3

3201 or all] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Argal is an old vulgar corruption of the Latin ergo, therefore.”

[Ed. hud3 removes from 3200 hud1/2’s original note and repositions it at 3211n].

1882 elze2

elze2

3200-01 to act] Elze (ed. 1882): “These three-fold tautological forms of speech which originally belong to legal usage and abound in the legal instruments of Shakespeare’s day, frequently occur also in The Hystorie of Hamblet and seem to justify the inference, that this translation from belleforest was done by some clerk or scrivener”

elze2

3201 or all] Elze (ed. 1882): “Immediately after, [Q1] reads Ergo instead of argall.”

1883 wh2

wh2

3201 or all] White (ed. 1883): “se offendendo]] the clown’s blunder for defendendo, as argal is for ergo.”

1885 macd

macd ≈ standard

3201 or all] MacDonald (ed. 1885): argall]]

1889 Barnett

Barnett : standard

3201 or all] Barnett (1889, p. 58): <p. 58>“argall]] for ergo.” </p. 58>

1890 irv2

irv2 : standard

3201 or all]] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “the Clown’s form of ergo.”

1899 ard1

ard1 : standard see n. 3211

3200 three branches] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Shakespeare seems to hve read or heard of Plowden’s report of Hales v. Petit. Sir James Hales had drowned himself; the coroner’s jury returned a verdict of felo de se. Dame Hales’s counsel argues that the act of suicide cannot be completed in a man’s lifetime. Walsh, Serjeant, contra replied that ‘the act consists of three parts’—the imagination, the resolution, and the execution. Plowden’s Commentaries were not translated from the French until the eighteenth century.”

ard1 : standard

3201 or all] Dowden (ed. 1899): “argall]]the Clown’s perversion of ergo.”

1905 rltr

rltr : standard

3201 or all]

1906 nlsn

nlsn: standard

3201 or all] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary, argal)

1931 crg1

crg1 ≈ standard

3200 three branches] See n. 3211.

3201 or all]

1934 Wilson

Wilson

3201 doe, to performe] Wilson (1934, 2:248) characterizes the Q2 omission as “certainly omitted.” </p. 248>

3201 or all] Wilson (1934, 1:138): <p. 138>“[cites 3200-01] argues the legally minded Grave-digger at [3200-01]. The quarto prints the latter part of this ‘to doe, to performe, or all; she drownd her selfe wittingly’; and we hardly need to conjecture what has happened, the whole business is so patent. First the compositor has misread ‘argall’, a word probably new to him, as ‘orgall’, then he has set it up without its ‘g’ through inadvertence, and last of all the corrector has come along and transferred the semi-colon from one side of the word to the other in the interest of what he takes to be the meaning of the passage.” </p. 138>

1934 rid1

rid1 : standard

3201 or all] Ridley (ed. 1934, Glossary, argal):

1934 cam3 (see n. 3211)

cam3 : standard

3200 three branches] Wilson (ed. 1934): See n. 3211.

3201 or all] Wilson (ed. 1934): “argal]]“A corruption of ‘ergo’; cf. ‘argo,’2HenVI . 4.2.31(2348), and Sh.’s ‘Addition’ to Sir Thomas More , l. 5, and v. R.W. Chambers in M.L.R. xxvi. 256-7.”

3201 or all] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “a perversion of ‘ergo.’”

He also provides a parallel in lines 19 and 48 (3208 and 3237) of this scene.

1939 kit2

kit2: standard

3200 three branches] See n. 3211.

3201 or all]

1938 parc

parc ≈ standard

3201 or all] argal]]

1942 n&h

n&h ≈ standard

3201 or all] argal

1947 yal2

yal2: standard

3200 branches] Brooke and Crawford (ed. 1947): “divisions.“

3201 or all] Brooke and Crawford (ed. 1947)

1947 cln2

cln2 ≈ standard

3201 or all] argal

1951 alex

alex ≈ standard

3201 or all] ALEXANDER (ed. 1951, Glossary): “argo , ergo , therefore, Ham. 5.1.12 (3201).”

1951 crg2

crg2=crg1

3200 three branches] See n. 3211.

3201 or all]

1954 sis

sis ≈ standard

3201 or all] SISSON (ed. 1954, Glossary)

1957 pel1

pel1 : standard

3201 or all]

1970 pel2

pel2=pel1

3201 or all]

1974 evns1 (see 3204n and 3211n)

evns1 ≈ standard

3201 or all] argal

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ standard

3200 three branches] See n. 3211.

3200 branches] Spencer (ed. 1980): “divisions of an argument. Shakespeare is doubtless making fun of the over-systematic distinctions and quibbles of lawyers.”

3201 or all]

1982 ard2

ard2 ≈ cam3 +

3201 or all] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “This further corruption allows a pun on the name of the Elizbethan logician John Argall ((for whom see Kneale, Development of Logic, p. 299)).”

3200 three branches] See n. 3211.

Jenkins (ed. 1982) has notes on Plowden’s Reports on the three branches . See 3211n.

Jenkins (ed. 1982) also has a note on argal :<cn>“Cf. argo (2H6 4.2.28 [3248]; Sir Thomas More , Addn II, 127 [Jenkins line number seems wrong here; see Wilson]), an uneducated pronunciation of L, ergo , therefore. This further corruption allows a pun on the name of the Elizabethan logician John Argall (for whom see Kneale, Development of Logic.“ </cn>

See xref at ll. 19, 48. (3208 and 3237).

1984 chal

chal : standard ; Q2 VN√

3201 or all] argal

1985 cam4

cam4 ≈ standard

3200 three branches] See n. 3211.

3201 or all]

1987 oxf4

oxf4 ≈ standard

3200 three branches] See n. 3211.

3201 or all]

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

3201 or all] argal

1992 fol2

fol2≈ standard

3201 or all]

1993 dent

dent ≈ ARD2 without attribution

3201 or all]

1998 OED

OED

3201 or all] OED (argal): argal, conj. adv. Perversion of L. ergo `therefore’; hence subst. a clumsy piece of reasoning. 1602 SHAKS. Ham. V. i. 21 He drownes not himselfe. Argal, he..shortens not his owne life.