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.

1780 The Mirror

Anon.

3308-9ff Whose graue’s this sirra . . . ] Anon. (The Mirror, no. 100 [22 April 1780]; rpt. 1781, 3:244-5): “The conversation of Hamlet with the Gravdigger seems to me to be perfectly accounted for under this supposition; and, instead of feeling its counteract the tragic effect of the story, I never see him in that scene, without receiving from his transient jests with the clown before him, an idea of the deepest melancholy being rooted at his heart. The light point of view in which he places serious and important things, marks the power of that grat impression, which swallows up every thing else in his mind, which makes Cæsar and Alexander so indifferent to him, that he can trade their remains in the plaster of a cottage, or the stopper of a beer barrel. It is from the same turn of mind, which, from the elevation of its sorrow, looks down on the bustle of ambition, and the pride of fame, that he breaks forth into the reflection in the 4th act, on the expedition of Fortinbras.

“It is with regret, as well as deference, that I accuse the judgement of Mr. Garrick, or the taste of his audience; but I cannot help thinking, that the exclusion of the scene of the Grave-digger, in his alteration of the tragedy of Hamlet, was not only a needless, but an </p. 244> <p. 245> unnatural violence done to the work of his favourite poet.” </p. 245>

1819 cald1

cald1

3308 fellow] Caldecott (ed. 1819) : “With an eulogy of our author, most of the topics in this dialogue are imitated in a poem called Dolarny’s Primerose, 4to. 1606. It is a very mean performance, and the fact is mentioned merely to show the popularity of this piece.”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

3308 fellow]

1877 v1877

v1877

3309 sirra] Furness (ed. 1877): “See [Mac. 4.2.30 (1746)].”

v1877 : Coleridge

3308-9 Coleridge (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “O, the rich contrast between the Clowns and Ham. as two extremes! You see in the former the mockery of logic, and a traditional wit valued, like truth, for its antiquity, and treasured up, like a tune, for use.” (see n. 3189 for original marginalia)

1939 kit2

kit2

3309 sirra] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “A form of sir, used (as here) in addressing an inferior or to express anger or contempt; often (to boys) as a playful and affectionate term.”

1947 cln2

cln2

3308 that] Rylands (ed. 1947): “i.e. parchment.”

1951 crg2

crg2 ≈ standard

3309 sirra] Craig (ed. 1954, Glossary)

1974 evns1

evns1 ≈ standard

3309 sirra]

1980 pen2

pen2

3308-9 Whose . . . sirra] Spencer (ed. 1980): “Horatio, as well as Hamlet, is ignorant of Ophelia’s death, having left the court at the end of IV.6.”

1982 ard2

ard2 ≈ standard

3309 sirra]

1984 chal

chal ≈ kit2

3309 sirra]

1987 oxf4

oxf4 ≈ cln2 w/o attribution

3308 that]